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THE HARKER SCHOOL

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500 SARATOGA AVE. SAN JOSE, CA 95129

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE HARKER UPPER SCHOOL

VOL. 22 NO.4

500 SARATOGA AVENUE, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA 95129

Feb. 27

The second pick-up day of the semester

Biden, Harris take office with Inauguration following Jan. 6 riots, election fraud claims President signs 29 executive orders undoing Trump policies lucy ge

UPCOMING DATES Feb. 8 to 15: School closed for President’s Week Feb. 26: Second Dr. Ron McCurdy Master Class March 8: Grade Book Detail #4 March 10: PSATs PROVIDED BY WHITEHOUSE.GOV

March 13: Third pick-up date of the semester March 16: Third Dr. Ron McCurdy Master Class

sabrina zhu A total of 49.9 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been distributed across the country. California has administered 3.5 million doses, or about 8,740 per 100,000 people. Bay Area counties, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma, have administered a total of 752,454 doses. Go to p. 13 for more.

SPECIAL COVERAGE With Black History Month, we want to broaden the discussion on the current and historical issues of structural racism, diversity and inclusion.

Go to the following pages: • Professor Dr. Bettina Love’s speaker event in Pulse of the People on p. 6 • Editorial “Equity and inclusion requires showing up” on p. 11 • Back page for Black History Month-themed crossword + full text of “The Hill We Climb” by Amanda Gorman

Upper school unlikely to return to campus soon but continues planning for senior activities

LIFE Board hosts sex educator for student assembly on consent

sara yen Head of upper school Butch Keller wrote in an email with Harker Aquila that as long as Santa Clara County remains in the purple tier, and teachers are not vaccinated, the chances of returning to full in-person learning are “not very strong.” The purple tier, also known as Tier 1, is the

“We are planning every detail as if the Senior activities including the Senior Trip are going to happen. If we can do all of these activities safely and by the rules we are given, we will” BUTCH KELLER HEAD OF UPPER SCHOOL

most restrictive in California’s four-tier system and describes the virus as “widespread.” “As the county shifts tiers, and vaccines become available, the discussion will change according to county guidelines,” Keller wrote. “In other words, I honestly don’t know because returning

ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

Vaccine distributions advance across country, California receives 5.7 million doses

SWORN IN Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president on Jan. 20. His vice president, Kamala Harris, made history as he first woman and person of color to hold the office.

PROVIDED BY MARK KOCINA / OFFICE OF COMMUNICATION

March 29 to April 2: School closes for Spring Break

President Biden has signed 29 executive orders in his first few weeks in office aimed at reversing Trump policies and addressing the pandemic as well as other issues since taking office on Jan. 20. After taking office, Biden has rejoined the World Health Organization and the Paris Climate Agreement, increased refugee admissions, used the Defense Production Act to increase production of COVID-19 testing supplies and required masks in federal buildings. “What [the Biden administration] needs to do is get COVID relief to people, improve the situation with the pandemic, improve the economic situation and show to people that government can work,” upper school history teacher Byron Stevens said. “Getting the job done is the most important thing that will help heal the nation, because people will have faith in government again.” Go to pg. 8 for more on politics.

CAMPUS PLANS The upper school does not currently have definite plans for students and teachers to return to campus.

depends on so many variables beyond the school’s control.” Keller said, however, that vaccines are a personal choice, and more definitive answers regarding them will come in the near future. He added that the school is moving forward with preparing for senior activities, such as graduation and the traditional trip to Laguna Beach. “We are planning every detail as if the Senior activities including the Senior Trip are going to happen,” Keller wrote. “At this point I have no idea what any of this really looks like because I cannot predict the situations that I discussed above, but if we can do all of these activities safely and by the rules we are given, we will.”

PROVIDED BYJUSTINE FONTE

NEXT UP IN FEBRUARY

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2021

Justine Fonte speaks about sex positivity, gender roles, rape culture using examples from modern entertainment, media

sabrina zhu The LIFE Program invited sex educator Justine Fonte to speak with upper school students about sexual consent last Thursday. She discussed the importance of enthusiastic consent and also gave a “Sex 101” presentation to parents on Thursday. Upper school counselor Jonah Alves and upper school LIFE program director Jane Keller were available last Friday to discuss with students about the presentation. Although freshmen and juniors have discussions on relationships, decision making and sexuality every year, Keller felt a speaker event on consent would be helpful for all students. “Justine Fonte is an amazing speaker, she’s dynamic, and she’s very effective in her words,” Keller said. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. DESIGN BY SARA YEN

22 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 12, 2021 NEWS VOLUME

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Students pursue innovative virtual initiatives

CLUBS & ORGANIZATIONS UPDATES

11 months into pandemic, student leaders continue to adapt club functions lucy ge & mark hu

lucy ge

PROVIDED BY ANU AIYER

HARD AT WORK Math Club members solve problems during a Zoom meeting. Club adviser Dr. Anu Aiyer worked with student officers to adjust meetings to a virtual format.

the club’s members. “There’s less interaction within the members in the club, but I feel like we’ve kept it pretty consistent in the activities we offer,” Utkarsh Priyam (12), co-president of Math Club, said. “Online learning has given us more opportunities to provide lecture options and allow more people to take contests.” Math Club also held multiple AMC preparation sessions over the weekend ahead of the AMC A exam this Thursday.

PROVIDED BY UTKARSH PRIYAM

FEM Club and WiSTEM FEM Club and WiSTEM collaborated to host a discussion about issues women face in STEM fields on Jan. 29. Upper school computer science teachers Susan King and Anu Datar and upper school physics teacher Lisa Radice talked about discrimination women in STEM may face, drawing upon personal experiences. WiSTEM is also partnering with TechGirlz, a local non-profit dedicated to hosting technology-related workshops for middle school girls, to help deliver workshops in February.

UTKARSH PRIYAM MATH CLUB CO-PRESIDENT

tition (CAML), a six-question, 30-minute monthly contest and has provided a weekly challenge problem ranging from proofs to various geometry questions for

Equilibrium Harker Equilibrium released a miniElection issue on Jan. 20, covering issues ranging from student debt to economics of cash bail. They will release their main issue of the year in spring.

Upper school offers 8 new semester electives

In contrast to AP Gov, Civics, taught by history teacher Carol Green, focused more on local government as well as on citizen engagement. “I had students who were working within local community groups to try to implement change on COVID safety policies for health and wellness [as part of fieldwork for Civics],” Green said.

INTRO TO ETHNIC STUDIES

This class covered units on Asian American Studies, African American Studies and Latinx American Studies. “[Classes like Ethnic Studies and Social Justice] tap into students’ passions and their emotions. It’s a way to connect intellectual learning with emotional feeling that very often we miss,” history teacher Mark Janda said.

LUCY GE

HONORS MODERN INTERNATIONAL TOPICS

PROVIDED BY DAMON HALBACK

EMAILED AGAIN

In Arranging and Composing, taught by vocal music teacher Susan Nace, students focus on arranging and composing assignments based on their interests. “What makes [this class] so exciting is just watching the creativity and the innate musicality of people expressing themselves,” Nace said.

INTRO TO SOCIAL JUSTICE

Taught by history teacher Mark Janda, Introduction to Social Justice delves into the Black Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Rights Movement and LGBTQ+ efforts. Students also conduct research based on a social justice movement.

ISHA MOORJANI

CIVICS

ANNA VAZHAEPARAMBIL

This second semester elective, upper school psychology teacher Dr. Julie Turchin, focuses on how people’s thoughts, behaviors and feelings are impacted by others. “Once you’ve studied social psychology, you view the world differently forever,” Turchin said. This elective will be offered every other year.

ARRANGING AND COMPOSING

PROVIDED BY NATASHA YEN

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY

This second semester elective The Modern Essay, taught by upper school English teacher Christopher Hurshman, focuses on teaching students how to write creative nonfiction and various subgenres such as memoirs and cultural critiques.

SDC

The uniqueness of this class comes from the fact that it encourages students to study current issues from a philosophical point of view. “[This class] gives an opportunity for a multi-disciplinary examination of material that matters to my students,” upper school history and social science teacher Damon Halback said.

CONDUCTING BASICS

In honor of Black History Month, Student Diversity Coalition hosted a webinar covering abolitionist teaching with Professor Dr. Bettina Love on Feb. 1. SDC hosted rapper and activist Tyson Amir for a personal reflection activity on Jan. 22.

Model UN 17 students attended the Santa Clara Model UN conference on the weekend of Jan. 30. The 69th session of Berkeley Model United Nations will occur on Feb. 26-28.

DECA PROVIDED BY SUSAN NACE

From Social Justice to Conducting, eight new semester electives were introduced this year, many of them only offered every other year in rotation.

ALYSA SULEIMAN

THE MODERN ESSAY

PROVIDED BY CHRISTOPHER HURSHMAN

New courses allow students to explore various interests, passions isha moorjani

PROVIDED BY VIVIAN BI

International Outlook Foundation The International Outlook Foundation, which is dedicated to fostering multicultural relationships between American and Chinese high schoolers and aiding impoverished Chinese schools, is launching a Chinese New Year fundraiser. Profits will go towards red envelopes and donations for underprivileged students in China. To donate, visit intloutlook.org/ donate. “We thought it was really important that we give them a special gift for the Chinese New Year, because we have talked with them a lot and have given them cultural lessons, and we see that they’re wonderful students who deserve a lot of love,”

Art Club and Harker Eclectic Literary Magazine released their first collaborative issue of the HEART zine on Jan. 29. Students can submit for the February issue at tiny.cc/HEART.

PROVIDED BY ARUSHI SAXENA

“Online learning has given us more opportunities to provide lecture options and allow more people to take [part in] contests”

Art Club and HELM

LUCY GE

Math Club Although Math Club is unable to travel to extended events this year, the club has continued smaller contests, such as the California Math League Compe-

PROVIDED BY KRISH MANIAR

VP of Communications Alina Yuan (11).

Conducting Basics focused on gesture, score study, body movement, instrumental conducting and choral conducting. “[Conducting has] my students think [in] a completely different way about music; with this, there’s more philosophy, there’s more body involvement, and that makes it really exciting,” Nace said.

132 students attended the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference from Jan. 11-14, winning numerous awards. State Career Development Conference, the largest DECA event of the year, will occur on March 5-8.

PROVIDED BY CATHERINE HE

Philosophy Club The Philosophy Club is now accepting submissions for their annual essay competition, where students can submit an entry for a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card. This year’s prompts include questions on the ethics of COVID-19 vaccine distribution, the possibility of machine gaining autonomy and epistemological methods to determine truth. “What’s really interesting about the essay contest that we get to hear from a lot of new voices,” Philosophy Club treasurer Akshay Manglik (12) said.

The Upper School and Middle School Green Teams recently shipped 28 boxes of 1,016 books to Kenya as part of The African Library Project. These books supplied a library to the Namilama School for students grades 4-8.

LUCY GE

Green Team

Prep sessions for math contests. Fundraisers for underprivileged students in China. Speaker events on discrimination towards women in STEM. Across the upper school’s abundance of clubs and organizations, student leaders have been adapting to continue hosting events and driving change through virtual means.

DESIGN BY LUCY GE

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22 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 12, 2021 NEWS VOLUME

Student Council strives to ‘make Harker feel like home’

STUDENT COUNCIL PERSPECTIVES

From virtual road trips to voice channels, Student Council fosters welcoming environment

“The central theme here is just emulating the sense of community for everyone to feel at home, not only because we are all physically at home, but [to] make the virtual Harker community feel like home, too”

OV E ID E D B Y H

KRIS ESTRADA (10) MEMBER OF THE HAPPINESS COMMITTEE

we’re starting a monthly spotlight project where we publicize one student run community service initiative each month,” Dawson said. “We’re also setting up a joint

CollegeBoard discontinues SAT Subject Tests

STUDIOUS A stack of SAT-prep books. The College Board announced that administration of SAT Subject Tests and the optional SAT Essay would be eliminated on Jan. 19.

The College Board announced on Jan. 19 that they will eliminate SAT Subject Tests and the optional essay component of the SAT and investing in creating a flexible, online version of the regular SAT examination. “The pandemic accelerated a process already underway at the College Board to reduce and simplify demands on students,” the announcement stated. “We’re working to provide as many opportunities as possible for students in the class of 2022 to take the SAT this year, including by…allocating seats that would have gone to students taking Subject Tests to students who want to take the SAT.” Subject Tests administration in the U.S. will be discontinued immediately, with all registered students automatically receiving refunds. The SAT-with-essay will continue to be offered until June 2021, although students can cancel existing sig-

nups for the essay portion for no additional charge. Several in-person standardized testing dates have been canceled since March because of coronavirus restrictions. In response, most colleges moved toward either only optionally considering SAT/

“The SAT Subject Tests have really been of decreasing importance for some time now” PROVIDED BY ANDREW QUINN

aditya singhvi

VARSHA RAMMOHAN

SAT essay eliminated after June, simplifying testing requirements

ANDREW QUINN UPPER SCHOOL COLLEGE COUNSELOR

ACT scores or not considering them at all, occasionally deciding to preserve these changes beyond the pandemic. Notably,

event with nearby public schools to discuss ways of supporting one another in remote learning and to set up a coalition to potentially organize some joint fundraisers together in the future.” Kris Estrada (10), a member of the Happiness Committee and the new Unity Committee, strives to boost student morale with new activities and events. “We are working on these Wednesday Weeklies that we send out on Schoology. They’re just like an open forum, where we post like these jokes, fun facts, puzzles for people to solve, and there’s just an open space for them to respond and just get like a shout out in the next week’s edition,” Kris said. Along with continuing initiatives like Valentine’s grams, the Student Events Committee and Happiness Committee looks to do more events such as Staff Spotlight Project as well as a pickup project to make a pickup day in the future with more tangible items delivered by the student council. the UCs were ordered to go test-blind by an Alameda judge in September 2020. “Colleges already have an abundance of information to help them get a clear picture of applicants, even beyond standardized testing,” upper school college counselor Andrew Quinn said. “And frankly, in my opinion, despite students’ enthusiasm for them, the SAT Subject Tests have really been of decreasing importance in the process for some time now.” For some Harker students, the announcement was met with relief as they already struggled with numerous cancellations to the regular SAT, often driving for hours to find available testing sites. “I think my test [was] canceled three times before I was finally able to get a slot that was two hours away, so I had to drive there,” said Melody Luo (11), who took the regular SAT with the optional essay section in December in Woodland, CA. “[That] meant that the test was, in general, pretty inaccessible to people who didn’t have such a socioeconomic background.” In the announcement, the College Board suggested Advanced Placement (AP) tests as an alternative to SAT Subject Tests, touting the AP Program’s “expanded reach” and “widespread availability for low-income students and students of color.” However, Quinn does not believe that the lack of subject tests will lead to an uptick in AP testing at Harker, citing the intensive nature of a three-hour AP examination compared to the relative ease of an hour-long subject test. “An AP class, which demands so much from students over an entire school year or semester, is very different from a one-hour test,” Quinn said. Junior Aimee Wang echoed Quinn’s assessment, agreeing with the decision to focus on regular SAT administration. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

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RECENT AND UPCOMING STUCO INITIATIVES Manzanita Tables: schoolwide Discord server where you can hang with friends in voice rooms [sign up at tiny.cc/mytables] Staff Spotlights: features on faculty who might not be seen as often in a virtual setting Spring Zoomchella: virtual version of the biannual Quadchella talent show Schools-Unite Event: a joint event with nearby schools to discuss ways to show support in quarantine

USC professor speaks on Harlem Renaissance, history of inequality

LUCY GE

“We are working on Wednesday Weeklies that we send out on Schoology. They’re an open forum, where we post jokes, fun facts [and] puzzles” PROVIDED BY KRIS ESTRADA

The upper school Associated Student Body (ASB) and class councils aim to continue events like Zoomchella, previously known as Quadchella before quarantine, in order to emulate a more realistic school environment during online learning. “I think it’s to cheer up everyone a bit. Through the fun events during quarantine, we are trying to maintain a sense of community in the virtual environment,” ASB Secretary Helen Li (12) said. “The central theme here is just emulating the sense of community for everyone to feel at home not only because we are all physically at home but make the virtual Harker community feel like home too. Student council is trying to make the most out of challenging times like these for every single member of our Harker family.” As the head of the community service committee on student council and president of the junior class, Dawson Chen (11) has worked with others on council to

bring various volunteer opportunities for students. “We’re compiling a list of virtual volunteer opportunities with [Ms. Enzensperger] that should be up this week and

DAWSON CHEN JUNIOR CLASS PRESIDENT

W ID E D B Y D A

anmol velagapudi

“We’re starting a monthly spotlight project where we publicize one student run community service initiative each month” OV

TASTE TESTING Attendees laugh at upper school Director of Learning, Innovation and Design Diane Main’s joke during a Zoom cookoff held by junior class council, where contestants gave presentations and taste tests of their dishes.

PROVIDED BY YEJIN SONG

HELEN LI (12) ASB SECRETARY

lucy ge & alysa suleiman USC music professor Dr. Ron McCurdy presented to over 390 upper school students and faculty on Jan. 26 on the artistic, musical and literary movements from the Harlem Renaissance as well as the history of racism against Black Americans leading up to the early nineteenth century. He focused on the prominence of Black culture in the entertainment world during the Harlem Renaissance, and he also talked about the inequalities African Americans faced prior to the nineteenth century and continue to face today, referencing modern-day instances of racial violence. Dr. McCurdy also emphasized the possibility for young people to effect change. “Whether dealing with social justice, or dealing with climate change, whatever your passion is, right now is a time to start thinking of what can you do individually to make the world better,” he said. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. DESIGN BY LUCY GE

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22 • ISSUE 4 GLOBAL VOLUME FEBRUARY 12, 2021

GLOBAL NEWS

Biden changes immigration, climate change policy Executive orders from first 2 weeks include travel ban reversals, DACA protection, halting of U.S.-Mexico border wall construction and rejoining Paris Climate Accord In the first days of his presidency, President Biden signed several executive orders regarding immigration, including defending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, ending the “Muslim-travel ban,” changing immigration enforcement policies and stopping border wall construction. Biden’s executive order “ending discriminatory bans on entry to the United States” fulfilled a promise he made to Muslim supporters that he announced virtually to a Muslim American advocacy organization at a livestreamed event in July. This order reversed the “Muslim-travel ban” that was issued four years ago, during former President Trump’s first week in office. Since its issuing, more than 41,000 visa requests have been denied. In addition to reversing the ban, Biden’s new order also allows federal immigration agencies to “set civil immigration enforcement policies” and calls for a review of any practices developed in regards to the 2017 executive order and can revise them as necessary. In addition to the order regarding discriminatory bans, Biden also announced that he will send the U.S. Citizenship Act to Congress. Included in this act is the No Ban Act, which passed in the House six months ago and would prevent presidents in the future from enacting discriminatory travel bans. Advocates are calling for the government to review all denied cases and allow requests to proceed without additional fees or interviews for people who have already gone through them. They hope this will be the beginning of a more wide-

spread immigration revision effort that will go on to raise the refugee resettlement cap and expand the DACA program. In regards to DACA, another one of Biden’s executive orders called on the Secretary of Homeland Security to take all appropriate actions to “preserve and fortify” DACA. It is estimated that nearly 646,000 people are enrolled in DACA and 1,331,000 qualify for it, but, under the Trump administration, new applications had stopped being accepted by the government for over three years.

“[Rejoining international agreements] underscores an idea of cooperation, which I think does more for United States national interest in the long run than more of a ‘go it alone, America first’ attitude” PROVIDED BY BYRON STEVENS

irene yuan

BYRON STEVENS UPPER SCHOOL HISTORY TEACHER

“I think we can all come together and agree that Biden’s vision of America is a fundamentally more optimistic one,” Ethan Choi (12), co-president of the upper school’s Youth Activism Club, said. “It’s one that values the impact of immigrants so much more so than [former President] Trump.” Besides just strengthening the program, Biden urged Congress to pass legislation that would make Dreamers eligible first for permanent residency in the U.S. and then citizenship three years later. In

tandem with this, he also proposed immigrants living illegally in the U.S. to be eligible for permanent residency in five years and citizenship in eight. This has received pushback from Republican lawmakers concerned about creating a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who broke the law, which would be roughly 11 million people. Biden also rescinded the national emergency declaration that President Trump had used to divert roughly $10 billion from the Defense Department accounts toward building a wall on the border of Mexico, directing private contractors to stop work “as soon as possible but in no case later than seven days.” In the meantime, the project will be assessed fully to see if the funding is legal and if the funding can be diverted elsewhere. The proclamation issued directs federal agencies to make a plan to redirect border wall funds and “resume, modify, or terminate” segments of the structure that remain under construction. The previous administration finished 455 miles of new barriers along the Mexico boundary. Beyond the orders regarding DACA, immigration and the border wall Biden signed on his first day, he also signed other orders that reversed more of Trump’s policies, such as rejoining the Paris Climate Accord. “I particularly like the fact that [Biden’s] sort of recommitting the United States to international agreements and efforts,” upper school history teacher Byron Stevens said. “And it underscores an idea of cooperation, which I think does more for United States national interest in the long run than more of a ‘go it alone, America first’ attitude.”

A fire broke out at the largest vaccine manufacturer in the world, the Serum Institute of India, on Jan. 21, leaving at least five people dead. According to the institute, the fire has neither affected their supply of 50 million AstraZeneca and Oxford University COVID-19 vaccines nor their current facilities, as the fire started in a facility that was in the process of being built. The Serum Institute of India is located in Pune, Maharashtra, and mayor Murlidhar Mohol said that those killed were most likely construction workers. The cause of the fire remains unknown.

ISHA MOORJANI

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION Flags of different countries stand outside a 2016 meeting of the International Syria Support Group.

Fire at world’s largest vaccine manufacturer in India leaves at least 5 dead

London approves removal of statues related to city’s role in slavery The removal of the statues of William Beckford and Sir John Cass from the Guildhall home of statues was approved by the Policy and Resources Committee of the City of London Corporation on Jan. 21. Beckford, who lived during the 18th century, used to be Lord Mayor of London, and he used enslaved labor and a Jamaican plantation. Cass, who lived during the early 18th century, was a member of Parliament and also contributed to the transatlantic slave trade as a merchant. The Tackling Racism task force pushed for the removal of the statues, and this approval follows the removal of a statue of Edward Colston in 2020, where Black Lives Matter protestors removed it and disposed of it in the Bristol Harbor. Colston was a member of Parliament, a merchant and a contributor to the slave trade. PROVIDED BY THE CENTERS FOR DISEASE COTROL AND PREVENTION

PROVIDED BY U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE

EMILY TAN

isha moorjani

IMMEDIATE POLICY SHIFTS IN BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION CLIMATE CHANGE

Coronavirus variants detected around world

NINA GEE

ERIC FANG

DISCRIMINATORY BANS

NICOLE TIAN

IMMIGRATION

BARRED A man holds up a political poster showing a girl in a cage labeled “ICE” (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) at a 2019 rally.

REFUGE An illustration depicts the strife of refugees seeking a new home, highlighting military and travel barriers to entry into countries like the U.S.

CONFRONTING CRISIS Climate change activists gather outside a 2019 Democratic National Committee meeting to demand environmental action.

President Biden wants to “preserve and fortify” the DACA program and has pushed for legislation that allows Dreamers to be eligible for permanent residency first and then for citizenship after three years. Biden has also halted construction of the border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, which had started under former President Trump.

President Biden’s executive order ending “discriminatory bans on entry to the United States” reversed the “Muslim-travel ban” issued in the first week of former President Trump’s term. This executive order calls for a review and implementation of any necessary changes of practices related to the 2017 executive order as well.

In addition to changes in immigration policy, President Biden has taken action against climate change by reversing an action taken by former President Trump to leave the Paris Climate Accord. Biden has rejoined the Paris Climate Accord, which aims to decrease global warming to under 2 degrees Celsius.

INFORMATION AND QUOTED MATERIAL FROM PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS ON WHITEHOUSE.GOV

According to the CDC, many variants of the virus that leads to COVID-19 have been spreading globally, including B.1.1.7, B.1.351 and P.1. B.1.1.7 was first detected in the U.K., and it was later detected in the U.S. in late December 2020. Current COVID-19 vaccines are reported to protect against the B.1.1.7 variant. The B.1.1351 variant was first detected in South Africa in October 2020, but it was first detected in the U.S., specifically in South Carolina, in late January 2021. It is possible that the COVID-19 vaccines do not offer strong protection against this variant, but the company Moderna has been creating a booster shot to protect against the variant. The P.1 variant was first detected in travelers coming from Brazil to Japan, and it was found in the U.S. in late January 2021. DESIGN BY ISHA MOORJANI

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22 • ISSUE 4 FEATURES VOLUME FEBRUARY 12, 2021

A JOURNEY INTO STORY AND COMMUNITY Economics teacher finds joy in board games

3RD YEAR AT HARKER

PROVIDED BY DEAN LIZARDO

DISNEY FAN

OWNS OVER 200 BOARD GAMES

FAVORITE MOVIE: APOLLO 13

READY TO PLAY Upper school Economics teacher Dean Lizardo wraps his arms around the myriad of board games he enjoys playing, whether it be with friends, family or his advisory.

arely sun Behind his desk, Economics teacher Dean Lizardo keeps a stash of board games. The cubby of a tall bookshelf is stuffed full of multicolored boxes. “It would probably be pretty clear once you walk into my classroom that I like to play board games—I do it a lot with my advisory as well,” Lizardo said. The first game that sparked Lizardo’s interest in board games was Carcassonne, a simple tile-laying game modeled after a city in France. After enjoying his experience with it about 10 years ago, he discovered boardgamegeek.com, an online forum for fellow board gaming hobbyists that consolidates reviews, images and vid-

eos of over 101,000 games. “When I discovered that website, I was like ‘Oh, my goodness, there are actually more board games out there than just the stuff that I know,’” Lizardo said. “And then from there, it just took off. I was like ‘That’s a really cool hobby, and there’s a lot of stuff there.’” Beyond his own enjoyment of the hobby, Lizardo’s favorite aspect of board games is the social connection made by playing with others. He cherishes genuine memories created over game nights. “The big draw to me is that board games allow you to connect with people in ways that you normally wouldn’t be able to,” Lizardo said. “Because sometimes we’re just looking at a screen or playing

video games, you don’t actually get to see or talk to those people.” While most are familiar with mainstream games such as Monopoly, Lizardo views them as less exciting since they rely solely on luck-based mechanics such as dice-rolling and don’t emphasize decision-making and strategy as much. “With mainstream games, the mechanics or the things that you do in the game are simple … With Monopoly, you roll the dice, you move and you’re forced to do whatever you’re supposed to do,” he said. “With some of these other board games that I play, there’re a lot more decisions that you can make–it’s not just the luck of the draw.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

In face of pandemic, Spirit Club creates new YouTube channel, Activity Guide and live Zoom events sarah mohammed Shots of farm goats and pigs accompanied with pop-up banners of fun facts fill the main page of the Harker Spirit Club YouTube channel. This new and recurring

HELEN YANG

“What we do through spirit is make people remember there’s perspective and there’s balance that we need” LISA BAROOAH (12) HSLT PRESIDENT

series, “Kerry’s Farm Time,” is produced by Harker Spirit Leadership Team and features upper school Director of Community Service Kerry Enzensperger. “I love animals, and I love sharing my animals with people,” Enzensperger said. “When you get involved in spirit, you lose yourself. You are in the moment: you really enjoy yourself, and you’re happy.”

Recently, Harker Spirit Leadership Team (HSLT) created the Harker Spirit Club YouTube channel, producing videos ranging from podcasts to games. Although HARKER GOOD NEWS Samvita Gautham 10), a member of the community events branch in HSLT, speaks with fellow member Alysa Suleiman (11) on some holiday baked live Zoom spirit events will still happen, goods she made over winter break in her new series Harker Good News (HGN). the channel will also host asynchronous spirit events. Andrew Irvine as his alter-ego, “Captain make people remember that there’s per“It’s really exciting that we’re tran- Spirit.” spective and there’s balance that we need,” sitioning,” Director of Student Organiza“These videos are just a way for peo- Lisa said. “It’s been really rewarding for tions and Assistant Upper School Activi- ple to share the positive things in their me just to be able to emphasize that.” ties Coordinator Eric Kallbrier said. “We’re lives with each other,” Kallbrier said. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. moving a lot of our opportunities during HSLT’s work to maintain its YouTube remote mode to our YouTube channel channel and live events has paid off, helpwhere people can engage in our activities ing increase student participation in comin a more relaxed environment.” munity activities this year. HSLT hopes to connect the commu“Our theme was making this pannity through these various initiatives. demic into opportunities for Spirit. Our “We’re not all together physically, but Monday activity period has given us the we can still be together through Zoom and potential to really reach out to the new stuFeb. 16-19: through these fun spirit activities,” HSLT dents,” Kris said. “I’ve seen that, through Instagram Fashion Week member Kris Estrada (10) said. “We try to this pandemic, we’ve been able to garner improve the campus environment and the more people into spirit, so I’m proud of Feb. 22: sense of community.” that.” Currently, HSLT is working on a Lisa Barooah (12), the president of Carpool Karaoke with Hannah S. “Harker Good News” series inspired by HSLT, feels a similar pride in creating a John Krasinski’s “Some Good News” fun and lighthearted community space Feb. 25: channel, along with cooking and jazzer- through spirit. Minecraft Design Competition cise videos. The team is also releasing a “I feel like at Harker a lot of people light-hearted interview and variety show sometimes get too caught up in academfeaturing upper school chemistry teacher ics, so what we do through spirit is try to

UPCOMING SPIRIT EVENTS

DESIGN BY SARAH MOHAMMED

VARSHA RAMMOHAN

“We can still be together” together”

6 WINGED POST

OF THE PEOPLE

FEATURES

VOLUME 22 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 12, 2021

“Call out injustice, call out racism” University of Georgia professor discusses Abolitionist Teaching, equity in speaker event hosted on first day of Black History Month

Pulse of the People covers timely social justice stories relevant to our community.

“Shut it Down, Ferguson is Everywhere,” read a framed portrait in the background of Dr. Bettina Love’s Zoom screen in reference to the 2014-2015 protests after the police shooting of Michael Brown. Dr. Love, who is the Georgia Athletic Association Professor in Education at the University of Georgia, spoke to over 470 students and faculty on Feb. 1, discussing modern-day racism and Abolitionist Teaching in America as part of a Black History Month webinar. In the event, hosted by the Black Students Union and the Student Diversity Coalition, Dr. Love spoke about issues of diversity, equity and inclusion Black people face today as well as abolition, which she defined as “a radical framework that is asking us to look deeply at our structures, to look deeply at our institutions, and not try to reform them, but to try to build something that is more kind to all human beings.” “I believe we live in a country that has the love and imagination, the creativity and the people for liberation of Black folks, liberation of human beings and liberation from capitalism—we have the capacity to

PUSHING FOR PROGRESS Dr. Bettina Love of the University of Georgia kicked off Black History Month at the upper school with her talk on issues like structural racism, the evolution of Black culture and the history of African American oppression and its lasting impacts.

do it,” she said. “But we need a framework that pushes us there, that makes us think about a new world.” After an introduction from Black Student Union co-leaders Brian Pinkston (12) and Dylan Williams (12), Dr. Love began her discussion of structural racism by pointing to educational redlining, noting that activist Ruby Bridges, who was the first Black student to attend an all-white elementary school in the South at six years old, is now only 66. Dr. Love then examined the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on the Black community as a result of generational discrimination. “You have not been allowed access to, discriminated from, your jobs, education, college, food access, housing,” Love said. “You have been denied all that generationally, so when a global pandemic hits, if you are not allowed to have all of those things, you are not allowed to have a social safety net. Racism is a preexisting condition, and your country makes you more vulnerable.” She emphasized racism as a structural problem, defining anti-Blackness as a

disregard for Black Americans and racism as the policies that allow anti-Blackness to go unnoticed.

“I believe we live in a country that has the love and imagination, the creativity and the people for liberation of Black folks, liberation of human beings and liberation from capitalism” DR. BETTINA LOVE UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA PROFESSOR

LUCY GE

lucy ge, nicole tian, emily tan & sarah mohammed

NICOLE TIAN

In this issue, we feature Dr. Bettina Love’s speaker event at the upper school on improving equity and eliminating racism based on historical contexts and current conditions in the modern world.

“It’s still worth mentioning that some people don’t believe in institutionalized, systemic racism, and the fact that it [results in] genuine brutality is important,” Kailash Ranganathan (11) said.

ADAPTATION, GROWTH AND GRATITUDE

Dr. Love’s call to action for educating youth about racial issues resonated with attendees like Ritu Belani (9) who, through the media, gradually gained a nuanced understanding of modern-day inequalities. “[Getting kids started talking about race from an earlier age] is so important because when people have that notion that everyone’s equal because that’s what they learned in fifth grade, then they’re less likely to pay attention to social causes that matter,” Ritu said. Dr. Love also talked about the difference between “co-conspirators” and “allies,” encouraging the upper school community to continuously push to find solutions and create solidarity to improve society. “We need folks who are willing to be co-conspirators, young people like yourselves, who realize that, to make this world better, [you] need to call out injustice, [you] need to call out racism. That’s what it means to be a co-conspirator,” Dr. Love said. Visit harkeraquila.com for full story.

PANDEMIC JOURNAL

Business owner, teacher and student reflect on challenges brought by pandemic VI D E D B

PRO

VID E D

PR O VID E D B

EA T HIA

NE SALH AB

O C LE

SUSANNE SALHAB UPPER SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER

MY NGOC LE CO-OWNER OF BRANCH OF LEE’S SANDWICHES, HARKER PARENT

ANDREA THIA (11) PARENTS TESTED POSITIVE FOR COVID-19

“We were dead silent for a month”

“It’s okay to make mistakes”

“It was hard to admit at first”

I didn’t know what the future was holding for us. We were more afraid of how to keep our employees safe because our employees are key. We were doing our best to follow every single guideline that was out there from the county of Santa Clara. I want to be right there when our customers are afraid to even come in. During that time, everyone was paranoid. Because of the pandemic, I had to reorganize the sandwich shop and turn it into a small grocery store. [Customers] don’t want to enter supermarkets where there’s too many people. Right now we have a maximum limit of 10 people in the store at all times. Learning from the pandemic, I think it helped me reorganize my store and boost our business. I know a lot of businesses are struggling at this time, but I must admit the grant that the government gave us the first round was a big boost to help us because when we first hit shelter in place, we were dead silent for a month. A restaurant or any business that has barely any customers for a month is a big shock.

I had never used Zoom in my life; that was really intimidating for me. I was really terrified that I would not know how to do anything. Thankfully, some of those fears have lessened. Again, it’s a good opportunity for growth. Was I initially terrified? Yes. But it’s important that we always be lifelong learners. The biggest challenge for me, on the surface, was my fear of technology, but it was deeper than that. It really wasn’t about the technology. The idea of things that were new [and] being in a new environment was stressful for me. Many of us in the Harker community and in the world at large suffer from this demand of perfectionism that we put on ourselves that we must perform all the time, we must execute all the time. It’s just not realistic even in non-COVID times, so it’s about us having more realistic expectations of ourselves and to say that it’s okay to make mistakes. I want to be this rock of positivity for students. Yes, I want my students to know what a metaphor is, but ultimately, I just want students to be happy and healthy.

A few months ago, we helped my sister move into her [college] dorm in Missouri. About three to four days later, my dad started feeling sick, so he got tested. He was positive. My mom got tested. She was positive, too. I was shocked. I was distraught. I think what made us so afraid was the uncertainty at that time. It was really hard to admit at first. I couldn’t tell anyone because there is a stigma. I stayed in my room for maybe 20 days straight. Being in your room all day, 24/7, getting out maybe two times to use the restroom each day, it’s really demotivating. You really don’t feel like doing anything after that. During those two weeks, going to classes, I just didn’t want to do it. I’m not traumatized, I’m not looking for pity, I’m not looking to dramatize the situation. That’s just plain facts, how I felt and what happened. After those two weeks, I got to eat with my parents again. It’s so easy to take things for granted. When it hits so close to home, you’re almost shocked back into reality.

ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY TAN

PRO

The Pandemic Journal documents our stories of living through the world of COVID-19. In this issue, upper school students, faculty and family members share how the pandemic has directly impacted them. DESIGN BY EMILY TAN

7 WINGED POST

22 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 12, 2021 FEATURES VOLUME

THE FATAL FUTURE OF MUSEUMS

MICHELLE LIU

COVID-19 leaves museums uncertain about their survival — unless we help

michelle liu As I turn the corner into the expansive white gallery, a pastel painting framed in light beech wood catches my eye. Set against a clean slate of wall, Wayne Thiebaud’s “Dessert Tray” can be considered one of the most iconic pieces in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s collection. Sleek strokes of oil form a variety of enticing, colorful cakes and tarts arranged atop a circular tray. I take a step closer, and a thin rainbow outline of paint around each dessert becomes visible, adding color and movement to the sweet delights in the panting. I can see the ridges of paint that Thiebaud’s hand traced into the canvas, with the same precision and life given to a portrait of a human being. One year later, struck by the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic for 11 long months, my keyboard clicks quietly as I type “sfmoma.org” into my waiting search bar. The website greets me with a colorful graphic, advertising a virtual event “closing the distance” that the pandemic has created. A red banner blazes across the top of my screen:

“SFMOMA is currently closed.” I click through the gallery of works slowly, a collection of colored rectangles set against the blinding white site background. Each painting takes up the size of a postcard on my computer screen, labeled

The cakes and pies remain stubbornly pixelated, colored forms. The human touch, and the lively oil, have been reduced to pixels on my screen with a small collection of artwork title, artist, and date of creation. Lesende (Reader), by Gerhard Richter, 1994. Frieda and Diego Rivera, by Frida Kahlo, 1931. And finally, Dessert Tray, by Wayne Thiebaud, 19921994. I click. I try zooming in with my trackpad, but the cakes and pies remain stubbornly pix-

elated, colored forms. The human touch, and the lively oil, have been reduced to pixels on my screen. I search for the feeling that I remember the piece evoking all those months ago, but the painting on the LED screen in front of me remains distanced, unreal. The effects of COVID-19 have transformed the art scene, forcing museums to close their doors and rely on a virtual presence. Although museums have strove to remain centers of artwork and creativity, the pandemic poses a dangerous threat to their survival in the future. Based on a survey of 850 museums, the American Alliance of Museums Museums reports that over half (52%) have only six months or less of operating reserves, and one third of museum directors revealed there is a significant risk they will be unable to survive past this fall. On average, each individual museum surveyed lost approximately $850,000 in revenue in 2020 due to the pandemic. These virtual galleries may always be available to us on the web, but the in-person art experience can never be replaced by browsing through virtually. The road for

museums ahead will be a difficult one, but we can make a beautiful difference even through the distance of our screens. Monetary donations, visiting the virtual galleries, and participating in online events all show board members the community cares. Museums Advocacy Day 2021, taking place virtually February 22-23rd, will see proponents connecting across the country to work with Congress and discuss upcoming legislation. Sending a message to urge our local legislators to provide support takes no more than 2 minutes, but it can help lay the groundwork for a significant change. In 2020, the American Alliance of Museum saw more than 60,000 messages sent through their services, leading the way to a Congressional agreement providing $284 billion for loans targeting non-profits, including museums, suffering due to the pandemic. With our efforts, we can help stabilize the future for these beloved pillars of our community. If we all contribute our individual voices, we can create a stronger advocacy to support museums and taste the sweet results.

head, mesmerized and in disbelief to find them just grazing the top of my hips. An utter nightmare. I faced myself in the mirror. Eight months in quarantine with barely any face-to-face encounters. Eight months by myself, with no audience and no judgement but my own. Eight months of holding onto an incredible load of dead weight. So, I made my decision, stepping into the bathroom with my trusty sewing scissors. I hacked through the pigtail, thick as a small birch branch, and triumphantly gripped the severed limb in my hand, staring at the specimen with an odd satisfaction. Then after repeating on the other side, I threw the two swaths into the trash

can with a decisive thwack, marveling at how the new length, noweight inches shorter, sprang out and bounced with every step. I was free. I felt powerful. Perhaps quarantine did fill me with enough confidence to finally drop the shield that had become a deadweight. But now there is one thing I know for sure: everytime I walk out into the crisp autumn air, the wind playfully lifts and blows the knot-free strands around my face, and I’m reminded that I have no regrets, only a happier state of mind. And when I step back inside and face my reflection, the girl in the mirror smiles widely back.

alysa suleiman Rough, dry, prickly. My eyes traveled down a straight line of hair, pulled taut from root to tip. As I roll the semibleached strands between the pads of my fingers, more uneven bristles twist outwards, creating the haywire tangle of a now familiar quarantine hairdo. What a bother, I think, grimacing at my reflection. Ever since first grade, I remember adamantly demanding my parents to keep my hair long, glowering in the salon seat as they pleaded to do away with just one more inch. Perhaps I first drew inspiration from the beautiful fairytale princesses in kindergarten cartoon books, who all sported flowing golden manes beneath sparkling pink tiaras. Or perhaps I refused to cut my hair in second grade as I watched writer Laura Ingalls dance across the pages of a lamp-lit room, describing her aunts’ hair as “glistening, smooth wings” during their 19th century dinner party. Or maybe it was the incredulous look of surprise on the face of a classmate when I showed up to school the day after my mother finally convinced me to chop off a solid eight inches. It was a look that spurred inward shame within my sixth grade self, who was just stepping across the awkward

ALYSA SULEIMAN/PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

Learning to smile back at the girl in the mirror threshold of puberty and into an unfamiliar world of braces and ruthless middle school girls. Uncomfortable and unmanageable as it was, my long hair was still my confidence, my armor and shield. So when high school rolled around, a terrifying whirlwind of new changes, I wrapped myself tight within the layers of my long hair and hid in its shadows.

The wind playfully lifts and blows the knot-free strands around my face, and I’m reminded that I have no regrets, only a happier state of mind My hair isn’t naturally straight nor is it perfectly curly. Rather, it’s a strange combination of both, with a tendency to present an original masterpiece on my head each morning. Although I’ve desperately clung on to my hair for years and years, it began to demand impossible amounts of constant care and effort. As the months flew by and summer hardened into brittle autumn leaves, the split ends silently crept down my back until one day, I turned my

DESIGN BY NICOLE TIAN

22 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 12, 2021 INAUGURATION VOLUME

8 WINGED POST

“We have much to do

in this winter of p and poss

...much to repair, much to restore “Enough is enough is enough:” Attacks at Capitol expose our crippled democracy, laborious work of repair nicole tian “Enough is enough is enough!” With these words, President-elect Joe Biden, in a speech from Delaware on Wednesday, Jan. 6, declared democracy under “unprecedented assault.” At 12:15 p.m. on Jan. 6 during the Senate confirmation of election results, a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump broke into the Capitol. Members of Congress who met to count electoral votes in the 2020 presidential elections evacuated and sheltered in place, and the U.S. Capitol Police failed to prevent rioters, some of whom were armed, from storming the building. Five died from the attack. Rioters lounged carelessly in vandal-

BIDEN’S FIRST 21 DAYS IN OFFICE Taking a look at Biden and Harris’ most significant executive orders and actions done in the last three weeks since they took office.

ized seats of government. They tore off gilded placards of the names of Congress members and hoisted the broken pieces as bounty. They shattered centuries-old glass windows untouched since British soldiers burned down the building in the War of 1812. Barely half a year ago, the killing of George Floyd sparked nationwide Black Lives Matter protests, calling for an end to police brutality. Trump’s response was to label peaceful protestors as “thugs,” threatening immediate military intervention from the National Guard. Seven months later, the D.C. National Guard was not mobilized until the Capitol Police lost control of the rioters.

PROTECTING FEDERAL WORKFORCE AND REQUIRING MASK-WEARING

The preferential treatment of white rioters over Black Lives Matter protesters seethes with racism. In contrast to the photos of lines upon lines of police forces with shield and baton in hand, tear gassing and slamming people of color to the ground, yesterday’s looting of the Capitol presents a stark contrast. Rioters wielded batons, strapped on bulletproof vests and shot back pepper spray. As they strolled around the Rotunda, jumping on statues and posing with Confederate flags, barely any police presence appeared in the room and much less intervened. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

This executive order requires people to wear masks and social-distance on federal property.

ACCEPTANCE OF PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT

WHAT THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION HAS TO FACE

10.1M

unemployed

4.4 million more than in February 2020

nearly

100k businesses

permanently closed as of September 2020

27M

COVID cases

in the United States as of Feb. 8 Data from Bureau of Labor Statistics, Yelp: Local Economic Impact Report and The New York Times

Former President Donald Trump withdrew from this agreement, which aims to keep global warming below 2 degrees Celsius.

PROCLAMATION ON ENDING DISCRIMINATORY BANS ON ENTRY TO THE UNITED STATES

22 • ISSUE 4 INAUGURATION VOLUME FEBRUARY 12, 2021

WINGED POST 9

...much to heal, much to build Trump acknowledges Biden’s electoral victory after violent, pro-Trump riots

HARKER AQUILA CO-MANAGING EDITOR

“America has denied and ignored its history of violence, oppression and white supremacy for centuries. I think that the attacks on Washington on Jan. 6 were largely a result of this denial, and we cannot truly move forward from this moment without facing our past” PR

VI DE D B Y A RIA

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

ADITYA SINGHVI (12)

A D B Y R IT U R

This request extends the pause on student loan payments and interest until Sept. 30.

This executive order reverses Trump’s travel ban on primarily Muslim and largely African countries.

PAUSING FEDERAL STUDENT LOAN PAYMENTS

ALL HEADSHOTS FROM WHITEHOUSE.GOV

* Named, not confirmed

“I’d implore everybody to read, and understand history. it feels impossible to change the inherent biases of so many; but even with these biases, this kind of violent insurrection [on Jan. 6] should never be an option” O

Secretary of Transportation

Secretary of the Treasury

Pete Buttigieg

Attorney General

Secretary of the Interior

ISHA MOORJANI (10) GLOBAL EDITOR

D B Y A RIA

Dr. Janet Yellen

Secretary of State

“It’s 2021, and we have a fresh start. We will soon have a new administration and a COVID-19 vaccine, and I’m hoping that we can work together to make 2021 a better year than 2020” DE

Deb Haaland*

Antony Blinken

LUCY GE (11) NEWS EDITOR

lucy ge

Vice President

ERICA CAI (11) HUMANS OF HARKER CO-MANAGING EDITOR

Biden, Harris begin executive duties

Secretary of Defense

Merrick Garland*

Lloyd Austin

Kamala Harris

President

...and much to gain.”

NOTABLE FIGURES IN THE BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION Joe Biden

D BY ARNA

JANUARY 20, 2021

Inauguration Address

Former President Trump condemned Jan. 6’s riots and announced his new focus on “ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power” to the BidenHarris administration in a video statement released on Twitter at 4:10 p.m. on Jan. 7. While he continued to uphold false claims of election fraud, he acknowledged his defeat to Biden, “A new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. This moment calls for healing and reconciliations.” Congress officially certified the electoral votes of the 2020 presidential election in a joint session early today morning, ratifying Biden’s victory after pro-Trump rioters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in an unprecedented rampage of violence and destruction. Former Vice President Mike Pence tweeted on Jan. 6 that he does not have the unilateral authority to determine the validity of electoral votes, in contrast to Trump’s false claims that the vice president can reject fraudulent electors. The president spoke to a crowd of his supporters in his “Save America” rally on Jan. 6, encouraging them to “stay strong” and to “fight.” In a video statement published on Twitter at 6:15 p.m. on Jan. 7, Biden accused Trump for leading an attack against democracy since he became president. “What we witnessed [on Jan. 6] was not dissent, it was not disorder, it was not protest, it was chaos,” Biden said. “They weren’t protesters. Don’t dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. And I wish we could say we couldn’t see it coming. But that isn’t true.” According to an update from the D.C. Police Department, four people died after Jan. 6’s insurrection, with one woman shot by a Capitol police officer during a stand-

“Try to listen and understand why people believe what they do. Promoting a ‘us versus them’ mentality will only further tear America apart and deepen the divide that we’ll be facing alongside a host of problems in the coming years” VI

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

off in the building and three others suffering “medical emergencies.” More than 52 people were arrested, 47 of those being curfew violations. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted on Jan. 6 that the Pentagon had mobilized around 1100 National Guard members to assist D.C. law enforcement. The Associated Press (AP) also reported that the Department of Homeland Security deployed additional officers from the Federal Protective Service and the U.S. Secret Service. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund will leave his post effective Jan. 16 after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Capitol Police Labor Committee demanded his resignation. Despite the chief promising that police were prepared to handle Jan. 6’s events and even rejecting federal help three days prior, the mob successfully infiltrated the Capitol, scaling walls and storming private chambers while videos showed law enforcement providing little resistance to rioters. “There’s a lot of unprofessionalism from the police. They weren’t doing a good job of enforcing their policies,” Eric Fang (‘20) said. “It really is embarrassing for the country that one of the most important buildings was violated like that. A lot of things were sacrificed and violated that day that shouldn’t have been.” Biden also criticized the response from law enforcement today on Twitter, comparing it to the BLM marches last summer, when officials violently confronted protestors with heavy use of tear gas and rubber bullets. “No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they wouldn’t have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” Biden said. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

varsha rammohan & anna vazhaeparambil

peril sibility...

WHAT OUR STAFF WANTS TO SAY TO AMERICA

Wearing a Ralph Lauren suit in his signature campaign color of navy blue, Joseph R. Biden, Jr. stood on Jan. 20 in front of the Capitol where, just two weeks before, protestors seeking to undermine democracy violently stormed the Capitol building. Facing a limited crowd and a sea of American flags on the National Mall, Biden delivered some of his first words as the 46th president of the United States: “This is America’s day. This is democracy’s day.” Biden faces a historic set of challenges as the new president, including an extreme political divide as highlighted by the Capitol attack, a pandemic that has taken over 450,000 lives in America, continued

REJOINING THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

This ends the U.S.’s withdrawal from WHO and instates Dr. Anthony Fauci as head of the American Delegation of WHO.

racial injustice, a battered economy and the worsening effects of climate change. As of Feb. 6, the Senate has confirmed six out of 23 of Biden’s cabinet picks. Including Vice President Kamala Harris, half of Biden’s 26 Cabinet-level nominees are people of color, making it the most racially diverse Cabinet in U.S. history. Harris made history by becoming the first woman, first Black person and first person of Asian descent to hold national office as vice president. In her first act as vice president, Harris swore in Sens. Raphael Warnock (DG.A), Jon Ossoff (D-G.A) and Alex Padilla (D-C.A.) today, resulting in a 50-50 split in the Senate between the Democrats and the Republicans. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

Visit harkeraquila.com for full versions of each article

22 • ISSUE 4 LIFESTYLE VOLUME FEBRUARY 12, 2021

RISING

HIDDEN GEMS Bay Area destinations for your next getaway anika mani & lavanya subramanian

Junior duo releases “Galvanized Extended” Two high school students, one love for music. Music production pair “holyrico,” formed by juniors Arnav Dani and Ayan Nath, released the extended version of their debut album “Galvanized Extended” on four music streaming platforms, Spotify, Apple Music, iTunes and Amazon Music on Jan. 8. The album, which has 11 songs total, features both Harker students as well as non-Harker vocalists. Living just a short three-minute walk from each other’s houses, Arnav and Ayan started their music collaboration early on for student council videos in middle school simply out of convenience. A few years and music collaborations later, they knew they wanted to take their creative mindset to the next level, naming themselves holyrico and officially establishing their music platform. From recording during 2 a.m. music production sessions to creating new songs for an English project, the pair not only discovered each other’s strengths and skills as musicians but also simultaneously developed a strong friendship. Even when the pandemic sent them both into lockdown, the pair continued to create and produce music. Since most of their recording and editing is largely done online using different technologies and software, music production can be done at home very easily. On April 20, 2020, Arnav and Ayan released their first song “Boxed Laddoos” on SoundCloud, followed by other singles such as “Boeing.” After some research, they decided to move their music to Spotify and other more common platforms to both generate money and make their music more accessible, before releasing the original version of their debut album,

“Galvanized.” “In [the editing] process, Ayan’s singing is also interweaved in and so we keep slowly updating it based on that,” Arnav said. “It’s more a back and forth, not just I do one thing and it’s independent. It’s more collaborative.” “Galvanized Extended” features many different music genres since Arnav and Ayan do not have a favorite genre of music. They wanted to explore the possibilities, from rap and R&B to pop and country, and they take inspiration from the music they listen to. “I just like music in general. I can sing along to any song,” Ayan said. “If we look at the songs I listen to as well, there’s this complete random assortment of many different genres.” Holyrico’s process for making songs all starts from a music style with drums or

PROVIDED BY ARNAV DANI

sally zhu

STRUMMING ALONG Arnav Dani (11) smiles as he strums a chord to one of holyrico’s songs, just one step of the duo’s creative process.

WINDOWS INTO THE WORLD Ms. Pelman recommends recent nonfiction reads for new perspectives across genres THE END OF EVERYTHING: (ASTROPHYSICALLY SPEAKING)

HIDDEN VALLEY ROAD

by Katie Mack

by Robert Kolker

“Katie Mack has this uncanny ability to make these major astrophysical theories accessible, which is incredible. The thing I like about it is it constantly gets me to that place where I’m thinking on a cosmic scale, which is totally amazing.”

a bass beat. They often use drum sounds or piano keys from the Internet that they weave into the melody, passing the developments back and forth until they are satisfied. After edits upon edits using Garage Band and FL Studio software, they add vocals and lyrics, often from other Harker students. Melody Yazdi (11), who describes herself as a more “classical” vocalist, says that her collaboration with holyrico was the first time she had the opportunity to create her own music. Though she was nervous at first about the release of their collaborative single, “Solitaire,” she feels proud of her accomplishment. “I’d say I was nervous, but also really excited because now I could just go on Spotify and see my name, and I was like, ‘Oh, cool. I can just listen to myself singing on Spotify now if I wanted to,’” Melody said. After adding vocals, Arnav and Ayan finish the song with some final tuning and additional effects, which include pitch correction for reverb and compressors to change the way the voice sounds, extensively working on minute details until they reach their desired result. Holyrico also appreciates the supportive environment that the Harker community provides. They are grateful for their friends’ listening to the music they made and also for their feedback. “Everybody, especially since it’s Harker, is doing their own little thing because of the culture at Harker. Everyone respects whatever unique thing that everyone else is doing,” Arnav said. “So I think that creates a more positive environment where you can just accept people giving good criticism, good feedback.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

Books sometimes transport us to imaginary universes, but they can also help us understand the world that we live in. If narrowing down the seemingly-infinite number of nonfiction books seems daunting to you, upper school librarian Amy Pelman suggests these nonfiction reads. Head to harkeraquila.com for more book recommendations and reviews.

“Hidden Valley Road is an incredible piece of reporting very deeply on the topic of schizophrenia. All along, the author is giving us the history of our understanding of this terrible illness. It’s heart wrenching, but it’s also just fascinating.”

HOW WE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES by Saeed Jones

“This is a memoir of growing up Black and gay in the South, so all of those things combined to make identity really difficult. He had to go through those things to come through the other side and become the artist that he became.” ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARELY SUN

Looking for a perfect, socially distanced beach trip? Wilder Ranch State Park is just the place for you. Even in the winter, the air is warm with just a hint of breeze. After walking along the cliffside that perfectly overlooks the sparkling blue Pacific, climb down a quiet, secluded path into a small stretch of sand. The soothing sound of waves crashing against the shore echo throughout the cliff sides. From the stunning scenery to the serenity, this “secret” cove is a perfect way to spend quality time with your loved ones.

Penchant for art?

LAVANYA SUBRAMANIAN

HARD AT WORK Ayan Nath (11) edits “Boeing,” one of the songs in “Galvanized Extended,” the extended version of their debut album “Galvanized.” Ayan and Arnav Dani (11) released “Galvanized Extended” on Jan. 8 as part of the music production duo holyrico.

PROVIDED BY AYAN NATH

the charts

PROVIDED BY SAMVITHA GAUTHAM

Yearning for a beach hike?

On the outside, the Pace Art and Technology Museum looks like any other building on Hamilton Avenue, but one look inside will reveal that the gallery is anything but. From the aesthetic and interactive displays to the elaborate mazes filled with artwork, it’s hard to pick just one remarkable aspect of the museum. One thing’s for sure: the unique fusion of art, animation and technology makes for an incredible experience that no one should miss out on.

Looking for a cozy town?

PROVIDED BY NAGEENA SINGH

10 WINGED POST

A little over an hour away from the Bay Area, Carmel holds countless places to explore such as the beach, cute cafes and small businesses like The Pilgrim’s Way: a bookstore. The town is full of tucked-away alleys to venture through, and towards the back of the store is a secret garden. Make sure to plan a full day trip and bring a camera, as there are many opportunities to take aesthetic photos. DESIGN BY ARELY SUN

WINGED POST 11

22 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 12, 2021 OPINION VOLUME

Aquila Managing Editors Arushi Saxena Aditya Singhvi Aquila A&E Editor Alysa Suleiman Aquila Sports Team Vishnu Kannan Kushal Shah Muthu Panchanatham Saurav Tewari Humans of Harker Editor-inChief Saloni Shah Humans of Harker Managing Editors Erica Cai Esha Gohil Humans of Harker Team Nicholas Wei Sally Zhu Reporters Sriya Batchu Anika Mani Anmol Velagapudi Lavanya Subramanian

Equity and inclusion requires showing up Improving diversity requires stronger commitment from students and school

EDITORIAL: THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST

editorial board Two years before performing her poem last month as the youngest inaugural poet in American history, Amanda Gorman delivered a TED-Ed talk about making a political statement with her poetry, identifying herself as “the daughter of Black writers who descended from freedom fighters, who broke their chains and changed the world.” On Inauguration Day, Gorman delivered her poem “The Hill We Climb” to an audience of 800,000 attendees and almost 30 million viewers from home, among whom were our former California senator and now first Black woman vice president Kamala Harris, as well as former President Barack Obama. Almost a century after the founding of Black History Week in 1926 by historian Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), which later became a month, the making of history continues. This January, the Black Lives Matter movement was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize as a result of its efforts “to carry forward a movement of racial justice and to spread that to other countries.” Spurred by the police killings of George

Floyd and other Black Americans, the nation and our local community faced a reckoning of how our society perpetuates racism. At school, honest reflections that began last summer through a community vigil and town hall discussions on the state of diversity and equity at Harker have propelled new initiatives this year, including those recently hosted by the Student Diversity Coalition and Black Student Union. This semester, the upper school has invited speakers including University of Southern California Professor of Music Dr. Ronald McCurdy, who spoke about the Harlem Renaissance on Jan. 26, and University of Georgia Professor Dr. Bettina Love, who emphasized the importance of calling out injustice and used the framework of abolition to picture a world without oppression on Feb. 1. But only around 470 of the 958 upper school students and faculty attended Dr. Love’s talk: more than half the school opted not to attend. Presence speaks louder than posting. At a time when social media is flooded with posts from students highlighting the Black Lives Matter movement, choosing to ignore an event centered around racial justice reveals empty

Building on this moment of hope

NICOLE TIAN

Editors-in-Chief Arya Maheshwari Sara Yen Managing Editor Srinath Somasundaram News Editor Lucy Ge Assistant News Editor Isha Moorjani Features Editor & Graphic Designer Emily Tan Assistant Features Editor Sarah Mohammed Lifestyle Editor & Social Media Editor & Graphic Designer Arely Sun Opinion Editor & Graphic Designer Nicole Tian STEM Editor Mark Hu Assistant STEM Editor Sabrina Zhu Sports Editors Vishnu Kannan Muthu Panchanatham Photo Editor Esha Gohil Multimedia Editors Michael Eng Irene Yuan Design Editor Michelle Liu Adviser Ellen Austin, MJE Aquila Editor-in-Chiefs Varsha Rammohan Anna Vazhaeparambil

intentions behind performative virtual activism. Even if the event wasn’t mandatory, the responsibility to listen is. We cannot improve as a community if only half of us acknowledge the hill ahead. Black History Month is not an elective: it’s an imperative to improve our awareness. Our current mandatory studies barely touch upon the vibrant culture of the Harlem Renaissance that Dr. McCurdy taught in his presentation. To be sure, the History Department began an Intro to Social Justice elective to discuss the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Rights Movement and LGBTQ+ efforts last fall. Next year, the English Department will offer a new elective on Black American Literature, drawing from authors such as Ta-Nehisi Coates, Toni Morrison and Octavia Butler. We commend the administration and faculty for taking steps to strengthen curricular options, but we also need to open our doors more widely to make more space for Black individuals, who continue to be underrepresented in our student body, faculty and staff. A true commitment to inclusion means making admissions more accessible and welcoming to Black and Hispanic families. According to online sources including USA School Info and Niche. com, over two-thirds of Harker’s student population identifies as Asian, about 20% identifies as white, while less than 1% identify as Black and roughly 2% identify as Hispanic. We call upon the upper school to address our lack of racial diversity, while continuing to work toward fostering a more welcoming environment for Black and Hispanic students, faculty and staff. We must not only acknowledge and honor the contributions of minorities in our curricula, but also ensure that our campus actively represents the world in which we live. For full text of Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb,” go to p. 16.

DIVE INTO MORE DISCOURSE

For more opinion content, check out these excerpts from articles that can be read in full on harkeraquila.com.

Learning from legacy

arya maheshwari & srinath somasundaram & sara yen Two months ago, we were counting down the days to a new year — hoping that a changed calendar would bring a blank slate, free from the stains of 2020. But 2021 didn’t start that way. Just six days in, rioters gathered in mobs outside the Capitol before violently breaking into the building, attacking the center of our democracy and shaking the foundations of our faith in it. A week later, history was made once more as Congress impeached President Trump for the second time, marking an unprecedented and symbolic move to hold him accountable for inciting the prior week’s insurrection. So we held our breath the week after, wondering what was in store as President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’s inauguration began. And just as we were perhaps beginning to give up on it, hope resurfaced. The messages shared on inauguration day — from President Biden’s speech to Amanda Gorman’s poem — laid out an inspiring vision for a brighter future,

while reminding us that it would not arrive on its own: it will take active effort and a commitment to progress on our part. Our problems aren’t solved, but they don’t feel as intractable as they did before. When Gorman took the stage, she paved the way for the youth of America— the next generation—us—to take charge and begin remedying the injustices around us. As we look to the year ahead for the Winged Post, we hope to build on this moment. In this issue, we highlighted Black History Month speakers and community events, beginning to address a longterm blind spot in our coverage, while dedicating a two-page package to reflect on the events that have defined our political climate. We’re also excited to continue our coverage through deeper dives into issues of equity and justice in the future. As we reaffirm our commitment to our mission as a publication, we will bring this improved perspective of inspired action to our reporting — not despairing what might await us, but hoping, and fighting, for what could.

NICOLE TIAN

erica cai “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail.” It has been decades since the Civil Rights movement, yet we are still witnessing countless racial injustices occur across the nation. – most recently, the blatant display of deeply rooted white supremacy and anti-Blackness in our country at the breach of the Capitol on Jan. 6. This injustice, and many others, prompted the Harker community to reflect on our own role in the pervasiveness of racial injustice.

Breaking up big tech NICOLE TIAN

The Winged Post is published every four to six weeks except during vacations by the Journalism: Newspaper Concentration and Advanced Journalism: Newspaper Concentration courses at Harker’s upper school, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, California 95129. The Winged Post staff will publish features, editorials, news, sports and STEM articles in an unbiased and professional manner and serve as a public forum for the students of The Harker School. Editorials represent the official opinions of The Winged Post. Opinions and letters represent the personal viewpoints of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Winged Post. All content decisions are made by student editors, and the content of The Winged Post in no way reflects the official policy of The Harker School. The opinions expressed in this publication reflect those of the student writers and not the Harker board, administration, faculty or adviser. Letters to the Editor may be submitted to Manzanita 70 or emailed to wingedpost2020@gmail.com and must be signed, legible and concise. The staff reserves the right to edit letters to conform to Post style. Baseless accusations, insults, libelous statements, obscenities and letters that call for a disruption of the school day will not be considered for publication. Letters sent to The Winged Post will be published at the discretion of the editorial staff. The Winged Post is the official student newspaper of Harker’s upper school and is distributed free of cost to students. 2019-2020 Crown Recipient 2019-2020 NSPA Pacemaker Winner 2018-2019 NSPA Pacemaker Finalist 2017-2018 NSPA Pacemaker Winner 2017-2018 NSPA Best-in-show publication 2017-2018 Gold Crown-winning publication 2016-2017 NSPA Pacemaker Finalist 2016-2017 Silver Crown-winning publication 2015-2016 Gold Crown-winning publication

MICHELLE LIU

Visit The Winged Post online at www.harkeraquila.com Follow us on Instagram with the handle @harkeraquila

nicole tian Because social media platforms bear no responsibility for content, they currently lack motivation to be the “Good Samaritan” moderator. Section 230 trusts tech companies to selfregulate, an idealistic illusion. A more tangible approach is to break up tech companies and increase competition, providing an incentive to up standards in areas like user privacy and mitigating the threat of one company wielding power over the judgement of hate speech. DESIGN BY NICOLE TIAN

12 WINGED POST

22 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 12, 2021 STEM VOLUME

Bright lights tarnish dark starry nights

NEWS UPDATE

Light pollution concerns grow as outdoor light, satellite numbers continue to rise Because different types of lamps produce varying spectrums of light, those that only emit light in a narrow wavelength are optimal for astronomers as they are able to filter out those colors to continue their research. However, those that produce light of various colors cannot simply be filtered out as they affect the entire spectrum of astronomical observation. The Lick Observatory, situated on Mount Hamilton and about an hour drive from downtown San Jose, receives about 70% of its man-made light from San Jose. The observatory requests that cities in the Santa Clara Valley use low pressure sodium lamps (LPS) as they emit only yellow light. However, as cities begin to shift to LED lighting, serious impact on astronomers’ work can be noticed. Individually, to combat such effects on the night sky, efforts such as reducing or covering upward pointing light, which reflects off the Earth’s atmosphere and comes back down on the Earth, can reduce interference with upward pointed telescopes. “I think the main way to address [the long term effects of light pollution] is to make sure that there’s separation between city life and natural life where people conduct observations, so that places like the Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton can remain less light polluted

and be a place where star gazers and astronomers can effectively use that space,” Andrew Lu (12), co-president of Astronomy Club, said. In addition, about $3 billion per year in energy is lost to sky glow, equaling about $10 spent per person in the United States each year. Being conscious of light usage around the house during the night can reduce these numbers. “We should make sure to be conscious and proactive about reducing the amount [of light] that we’re using just like water — if you’re not using the light, it’s best to just turn it off,” Emily Zhou (11), who has conducted astronomy research, said. Visit harkeraquila. com for full article.

ILLUSTRATION BY MICHELLE LIU

“The easiest thing we can do is look around our own households and [reduce] any exposed lights that are blasting light straight up”

CHRIS SPENNER UPPER SCHOOL PHYSICS TEACHER, ASTROPHOTOGRAPHER

In September 2020, a new coronavirus variant detected in the United Kingdom rapidly spread around Britain before coming to the United States, specifically to California and Colorado. More recently, the variant has continued to spread across the country, with Lake County, Illinois recording their first case on Feb. 6.

NASA’s megarocket faces problems at engine test On Jan. 16, NASA’s plan to launch the Space Launch System, whose purpose was to send astronauts to the moon for the first time in decades, was delayed after an eight-minute test of four engines stopped after just one minute. Former President Donald Trump pledged to send astronauts back to the moon by 2024, but NASA is not expected to make the deadline. NASA officials say they will attempt to conduct a second test in February.

Intel to outsource chip production in coming years Intel is looking to outsource more chip production over the coming years to partners such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Intel ran into delays this year introducing their own 7-nanometer chip manufacturing technology. Intel’s market share has suffered recently due to these delays and the rise of Asian chipmakers like TSMC. Despite these delays and pressure, Intel had record sales in the December quarter due to the holiday season and increasing demand for computer products during the pandemic.

WHAT CAN INDIVIDUALS DO TO COMBAT LIGHT POLLUTION?

New COVID variant spreads across country

Tesla Model Y crossover looks to take over Chinese EV market

“We should make sure to be conscious and proactive about reducing the amount that we’re using just like water; if you’re not using the light, it’s best to just turn it off”

M O VID E D BY E

IL Y

EMILY ZHOU (11) CONDUCTED ASTRONOMY RESEARCH

“I think the main way to address [the long term effects of light pollution] is to make sure that there’s separation between city life and natural life”

N ID E D B Y A

ANDREW LU (12) ASTRONOMY CLUB CO-PRESIDENT

BRIGHT NIGHT Turning off unnecessary lights at night illuminates the natural glow and beauty of the stars and galaxies visible in the night sky.

Electric car maker Tesla has allegedly started delivering the first Chinesemade Model Y crossovers in China. The deliveries began on Jan. 18, signaling a growing presence for Tesla in the Chinese market. China is the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) market, and gaining control is vital for Tesla’s growth plans. The Model Y is expected to challenge Chinese automaker Nio’s line of electric SUVs. Tesla has plans to establish presence in other parts of Asia, and they are looking to launch operations in India later this year.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY ARELY SUN

Traveling hours away from the Bay Area’s brightly lit sky to take photos of the galaxies in our universe, one finds oneself in a vast wilderness as stars twinkle above across the night sky. A swarm of satellites streak across the sky, leaving marks running across the photos. Light pollution, caused by artificial light, and sky pollution, due to the ever-increasing amount of satellites orbiting the Earth, interfere with professional astronomical research to amateur photographers attempting to study the dark skies. In 2016, scientists determined that more than 80% of the world’s population live under light-polluted skies, as well as more than 99% of the U.S. and European population. Light pollution is an ever increasing problem as city lights block out the dim glow that celestial objects give off. “The job of a telescope is to collect as much light as possible, which is why scientists work on making giant mirrors and lenses. Most of what’s interesting in the night sky is really dim; it’s not producing much light compared to the background light, so you need a big bucket basically for catching all that light,” Chris Spenner, upper school physics teacher and avid astrophotographer, said. “Because those objects are very dim, the more light pollution there is in the sky at night, the harder it is to see them. Eventually, they’re just lost or washed out because there’s too much stuff bouncing around.” Street lights and other artificial outdoor lighting play a major role in the increasing spread of pollution as well as affecting astronomers’ work. The type of light sources are of equal importance in the effects they cause on astronomers.

ILLUSTRATIONS BY MICHELLE LIU

mark hu

saurav tewari

DESIGN BY MARK HU

WINGED POST 13

22 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 12, 2021 STEM VOLUME

Vaccine distribution proceeds in phases

CHIEF OF THE DIVISION OF GENERAL PEDIATRICS AT STANFORD

effects, no episode of headache or fever or chills. [It was] no different than my reaction to the normal flu vaccine,” said Dr. Chung Yen, oral and maxillofacial surgeon and Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University and father of Sara Yen (12). Dr. Lee Sanders, Chief of the Division of General Pediatrics and Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Health Policy at Stanford University and father of Zoe Sanders (12), received the Pfizer vaccine

Shray Alag

Research places them in top 300 Shray examined scholars out of 1,760 applicants 360,000 COVID-19 mark hu Seniors Shray Alag, Saloni Shah, Aditya Tadimeti and Sidra Xu were named Regeneron scholars in the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS) last week as part of the top 300 scholars out of 1,760 applicants across 611 schools and 49 states. Each scholar and their school will receive $2,000 from the competition. This year's scholars came from 193 high schools in 37 states, Puerto Rico and two other countries. Regeneron STS was founded in 1942 as a competition allowing high school seniors to submit their individual research in scientific fields ofw study. Contestants are judged on their research, academic achievements and promise as scientists.

clinical trials with natural language processing to determine insights in his project, “Analysis of COVID-19 Clinical Trials: a Data-Driven, Ontology-based, Longitudinal, and Natural Language Processing Approach.”

Aditya Tadimeti In “Machine Learning and Wildfire Burned Area: Examining Computational Techniques to Predict Fire Size for Practical Insights,” Aditya used machine learning to predict the size of wildfires based on physical and socioeconomic variables at start locations.

Saloni Shah Saloni’s project, “Identifying Resilience Mutations in an Alzheimer’s Disease Whole-Genome Sequencing Cohort,” used bio-computational tools to determine rare mutations in genes. She identified eight genes significantly associated with Alzheimer’s.

Sidra Xu Sidra’s project, “Application of Gene Embedding for Improved Somatic Mutation-Based Primary Cancer Typing and Biomarker Discovery,” focused on using natural language processing to improve machine learning models to understand genes and classify cancer.

LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS CLUB mark hu The Language and Linguistics Club (LALC), which was founded in 2006 by club adviser Dr. Shaun Jahshan, has sponsored the North American Computational Linguistics Open (NACLO), a three-hour contest including logic and computational linguistics problems, every year since then. While on campus, the club usually meets every Monday after school to discuss various topics in linguistics in lectures led by club officers, but during remote learning, the club has focused on holding more content-packed meetings, such as a lecture on the Klingon language, and various speaker events, including a

“[Remote learning] definitely changed a lot, especially the structure [of the club]. A lot of students are more hesitant to join weekly club meetings, so we’ve had them a lot more spaced out” SABRINA ZHU

DR. LEE SANDERS

PROVIDED BY SHRAY ALAG

4 seniors named as Regeneron scholars

“There is no reason for people to be fearful, as long as they are learning and [adhering] to the recommended mitigation behaviors”

PROVIDED BY ADITYA TADIMETI

After the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines received emergency use authorization (EUA) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in December, COVID-19 vaccinations have been initiated in all states in the U.S. Those in high-risk groups, including healthcare workers, essential works, and the elderly, are given first priority. A total of 31.2 million doses have been distributed, and 12.3 million people have already received at least the first dose in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These include both the Pfizer vaccine and the Moderna vaccine, which show efficacies of 95% and 94.1%, respectively. California has received 5.4 million doses and has administered 2.6 million doses, or about 6529 per 100,000 people. Bay Area counties, including Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano and Sonoma, have administered a total of 603,464 doses. Alex Baeckler (12), works at a veterinary clinic and was eligible to receive the vaccine as a part of the Phase 1A group, which includes healthcare workers. “I got the Moderna vaccine, so I’ll be getting my booster 28 days after that. The vaccine itself was honestly pretty painless, they were really fast at giving it [and there was] no pain [after] getting the vaccine,” Alex said.

“I got my first dose about two weeks ago. I had the Pfizer vaccine. It was a very inconsequential event: [I had] very little soreness in the arm, minor [discomfort] the next day or two, [and it] did not affect movement or mobility. I had no real side

SABRINA ZHU

sabrina zhu

PROVIDED BY SALONI SHAH

VACCINATIONS A nurse administers a dose of the Moderna vaccine to Cigeng Zhu, grandfather of Sabrina Zhu (10), at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Center. Those in highrisk groups, including healthcare workers and the elderly, are given first priority.

and similarly experienced “no major side effects.” The state continues to prioritize Californians in the Phase 1A priority group, or health care workers and long-term care residents. However, on Jan. 13, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that residents 65 years old or older are eligible to receive the vaccine, lowering the age limit from 75. The CDC’s current goal is to reach herd immunity by vaccinating enough people. “[Herd immunity] is generally established as more than 70% of the population exhibiting immunity. Immunity can be exhibited by either completing a vaccine schedule or showing serological evidence of immunity, usually through antibody testing,” Dr. Sanders said. “We’re hopeful that we might reach herd immunity by this summer or this fall, but the idea that we will return to normal, that is, pre-pandemic, is probably a little too optimistic.” On Jan. 4, California also added 36,000 dentists to the list of healthcare professionals cleared to administer the vaccine. There are now over 100,000 professionals able to provide vaccinations in the state. Even with the growing number of certified professionals, the distribution of the vaccine has been difficult. “The distribution and the efficacy of getting it out to the public has been not great. Clearly, the lack of a national coherent policy on distribution and administration of vaccines was not good,” Dr. Yen said. “Most of the local efforts have been disorganized, and even the distribution of the vaccine along the Bay Area has been very fragmented across counties.” While the vaccine rollout continues, cases across the country continue to rise. 3.3 million cases and 40,908 deaths have been reported in California. The daily total cases on Jan 31. was 15,358, which is a 0.5% rise from the previous day. “There is no reason for people to be fearful, as long as they are learning and [adhering] to the recommended mitigation behaviors. This is a very important time to trust the authorities, the public health authorities, and to trust in science,” Dr. Sanders said. “Never did we think that we could develop a vaccine against a fatal disease in less than a year and start to bring it out, so I’m very optimistic about all of those things.” Visit harkeraquila.com for full article.

PROVIDED BY SIDRA XU

SABRINA ZHU

State lowers age limit to 65, new strand appears in Bay Area

LUISA PAN (12) PRESIDENT OF LALC

talk given by Sarah Roberts, upper school journalism and middle school speech and debate teacher, on her experience as a Linguistics major at UC Berkeley. “[Remote learning] definitely changed a lot, especially the structure [of the club],” Luisa Pan (12), club president, said. “A lot of students are more hesitant to join weekly club meetings, so we’ve had them a lot more spaced out. We’re trying to make each meeting count a lot more in terms of importance.” The club has planned a speaker series including professors from Northwestern University, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that began with a talk by Dr. Brian Dillon, Associate Professor in Linguistics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, on garden path sentences, fixations, and predictive texting. 'The talk was pretty interesting. When [Dr. Dillon] talked about using neural networks to predict the next words in a phrase or sentence, that was really cool,” Olivia Xu (9), who attended Dr. Dillon’s talk, said. “I’m looking forward to the other speaker events.” The virtual format poses challenges for the club in the process of explaining and discussing the strategies to solving sample problems. “In past years, we would prepare for NACLO by having big sessions working with people in person in Dr. Jahshan’s room on the whiteboard, but that’s not possible this year, and it’s a lot harder to convey that kind of teamwork aspect and preparation through remote learning,” Alex Zhai (12), vice president, said. Visit harkeraquila.com for full article. DESIGN BY SABRINA ZHU

14 WINGED POST

22 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 12, 2021 SPORTS VOLUME

WORK HARD, PLAY HARD Ishaan Mantripragada leads with conviction

years of playing soccer

MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

year varsity athlete

Cal-High Play of the Week (Dec. 2019) Surf Cup champion with De Anza Force NorCal Division 3 runner-up CCS Division 3 champion

vishnu kannan & muthu panchanatham Joelle Anderson (‘17) was drafted 26th overall by the Houston Dash in the 2021 National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) draft. After scoring 101 goals during her illustrious Harker soccer career, Anderson went on to play Division 1 soccer at Pepperdine University, where she started for the Waves for three years. Before attending Pepperdine, Anderson played on the varsity girls soccer team for three years, accumulating the second-most career goals in Harker history. After committing to Pepperdine at the beginning of her sophomore year, Anderson went on to become the team MVP and was named the WBAL forward of the year twice. She also played for the De Anza Force soccer club, helping her team win seven NorCal State Cup Championships. “I will always be grateful for getting the opportunity to play soccer and other sports during my time at Harker because it allowed me to grow as an athlete. Harker offers its students tremendous athletic programs and I was fortunate enough to have amazing experiences on both the soccer and basketball teams,” Anderson said. Upper school athletics director Dan

“I kept working towards my dream until it became a reality. My journey has had its highs and lows, but I think I learned the most from the obstacles I experienced” JOELLE ANDERSON (‘17) 26TH IN NWSL DRAFT

“The journey from high school soccer to playing in the NWSL has been a wild ride. It has always been my dream to play soccer at the professional level, and I kept working towards my dream until it became a reality,” Anderson said. “My journey has had its highs and lows, but I think I learned the most from the obstacles I experienced. ”

101 in

SASVATH RAMACHANDRAN (11) ISHAAN’S TEAMMATE

Ishaan demonstrated his abilities on the field when he helped lead the soccer team to a CCS championship and a NorCals second place finish, scoring goals in pivotal moments along the way. Along with his playmaking ability, Ishaan’s leadership and unwavering conviction proved invaluable in a record-setting season. “Before the season started, a big topic of discussion on the team was whether or not Ishaan would be playing. The fact that we were discussing one player to such a large extent exemplifies the impact he has,” Sasvath Ramachandran (11), one of Ishaan’s Harker teammates, said. “He ended up playing, and he lived up to [expectations] and was one of the highest scorers on our team. I don’t think we would have made it [in the playoffs] as far as we did without him.”

ATHLETICS UPDATE

goals scored

3 high school seasons

second most in school history two time WBAL forward of the year

goals scored

3 seasons at Pepperdine

ninth most in school history one time All-WCC first team two time All-WCC second team

26th

pick in the 2021 NWSL draft

selected by the Houston Dash

“Joelle made others around her better, and her teammates appreciated that and worked harder as a result” PROVIDED BY DAN MOLIN

SOCCER STRIKE Joelle Anderson (‘17) passes the ball to a Harker teammate in a game against Priory in 2017. Joelle was drafted 26th overall in the NWSL draft.

Molin praises Anderson for her humble nature and her ability to inspire and bring out the best in her teammates. “Joelle was always the best player on the team, but she carried herself with humility as she truly enjoyed playing for her school,” Molin said. “She made others around her better, and her teammates appreciated that and worked harder as a result.” During her time at Pepperdine, Anderson scored 21 goals and racked up 13 assists, making the All West Coast Conference (WCC) as a junior and All-WCC second team in both her freshman and sophomore years. Anderson is the seventh player all time from Pepperdine to be selected by the NWSL. Currently ninth in the Pepperdine career scoring list, she looks to continue her outstanding play in her senior season, which began on Sunday after being delayed due to COVID-19.

JULIA AMICK

PROVIDED BY MARK KOCINA

Joelle Anderson (‘17) drafted into the NWSL

“He lived up to expectations and was one of the highest scorers on the team. I don’t think we would have made it [in the playoffs] as far as we did without him”

MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

23 12 4

goals scored last season

A complacent defender watches as the ball arrives at his feet, believing he has time to control it. Seemingly out of nowhere, a figure clad in dark green flies at him with incredible speed, taking the ball off his foot. Driving towards the opponent’s goal, the forward outruns his defender and finds that the keeper is the only player between him and the goal. Assessing the situation, he calmly cuts to the left, leaving the keeper on the ground behind him, and passes the ball into the net with ease. A natural scorer, Ishaan Mantripragada (11) isn’t afraid of missing: partially because it doesn’t happen very often. Ishaan’s strengths lie in his speed and toughness. Over time, he has honed his technical skills in order to weave through defenders and hold his own against players with a size advantage. “Since I started playing, I’ve been one of the faster players on the field. I used to be able to just kick the ball and run. I didn’t have to rely on my technical skills,” Ishaan said. “Over the past few years, opponents have been getting bigger and stronger, so I’ve started to develop my dribbling more.” In addition to his physical capabilities, Ishaan’s calmness and awareness allows him to control the tempo of the game. His mental strength influences those around him, encouraging them to work even harder. “He’s able to play the ball behind the defensive line, or drive past them and deliver a cross. Ishaan scored some pretty important goals in important matches,” Arthur Kajiyama (11), one of Ishaan’s Harker and De Anza Force teammates, said. Determined to improve his own

skills, Ishaan believes that bettering one’s self everyday is crucial to being a good player. He finds practice rewarding and dedicates himself to eliminating his weaknesses. “Be better than you were yesterday. If I couldn’t do something well in practice the previous day, I make it a point to to fix that before the next practice,” Ishaan said.

LUCY GE

muthu panchanatham

DAN MOLIN UPPER SCHOOL ATHLETICS DIRECTOR

LUNGING LEFT Rigo Gonzales (10) lunges with a medicine ball during a workout session in July. The strength and conditioning program resumed on January 21.

vishnu kannan & muthu panchanatham The upper school’s strength and conditioning program resumed on Jan. 21 after a brief hiatus due to the regulations implemented by the California Department of Public Health in response to a surge in COVID-19 cases in December. Cross-country officially began their team practices on Jan. 19. Those interested in joining the team should email Coach Mia Purnell at miap@staff.harker.org. The “Purple Tier” sports (cross country, golf, tennis, swimming, and track and field) have also been allowed to resume following the most recent county COVID-19 regulations, as per an email from athletics director Dan Molin. The remaining sports, which are split up into the “Red,” “Orange,” and “Yellow” Tiers, will only resume if county guidelines permit. In order to help students fulfill the graduation requirement for two units of physical education, the administration will be offering a variety of other exercise options for credit. Students can visit the Upper School Physical Education Information Site for more details. “Regarding [physical education] credits, [the administration] will be understanding and grant what is reasonable given these unusual times,” Molin said. DESIGN BY VISHNU KANNAN AND MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

WINGED POST 15

22 • ISSUE 4 FEBRUARY 12, 2021 SPORTS VOLUME

Super Bowl LV: Buccaneers vs. Chiefs Buccaneers dominate game with 31 - 9 win Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Kansas City Chiefs

1st

team to play and win Super Bowl at home

consecutive Super Bowl appearances (2021, 2020)

80.6

30.7

offense on average per game (most most in the league)

Super Bowl Championships (2020, 1970)

points per game on average (second second most in the league)

Packers vs. Rams

Buccaneers vs. Packers

Chiefs vs. Bills

31 - 26

38 - 24

Buccaneers vs. Saints

Bills vs. Ravens

32 - 18

30 - 20

Pro-Bowlers (tied for the most in the league)

Chiefs vs. Browns

17 - 3

22 - 17

Rams vs. Seahawks

Saints vs. Bears

Buccaneers vs. WFT

Ravens vs. Titans

Bills vs. Colts

Browns vs. Steelers

30 - 20

38 - 24

31 - 23

20 - 13

27 - 24

48 - 37

MEMORABLE PLAYOFFS MOMENTS

Backup QB Taylor Heinicke dove for a touchdown run in his first playoff start. Darious Williams recorded the only Pick6 of this year’s playoffs. Backup QB Chad Henne led the Chiefs to a win after Mahomes’ injury.

“I personally am very impressed that we were able to have the Super Bowl this year. At the beginning of the season, the odds we would make it here were very low because of COVID, we expected everything to get shut down since the NFL can’t do a bubble like the NBA did”

“I think the Chiefs will win since their offense is the best in the league with Mahomes, Hill and Kelce. The Buccaneers have a good defense, but truly good offenses beat good defenses. Overall, I am looking forward to watching Brady vs. Mahomes, the ‘GOAT’ vs. the ‘kid’”

D BY SALO

D BY B OD H

D BY RO HA

Drew Brees played possibly the last game in his illustrious 20 Mike Evans caught a TD in his playoff debut after a record-setting Stefon Diggs remained on the field as the Chiefs celebrated their victory.

“Our Super Bowl tradition is more of a small family gathering. We always make sure to get some chips, salsa, popcorn, and sometimes even a coke or two. In general, just unhealthy eating. We’re getting fat while watching super athletic players play football” O

O O

BODHI SAHA (11) GREEN BAY PACKERS FAN

Tom Brady made it to his 10th Super Bowl, 7 of which he won.

SUPER BOWL TRADITIONS

SUPER BOWL PREDICTIONS

ROHAN GORTI (10) SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS FAN

Aaron Rodgers lost his fourth straight NFC Championship game.

ILLUSTRATION BY MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

Lamar Jackson had the second longest TD run by a QB in the playoffs.

THOUGHTS ON THE SEASON

STATISTICS FROM NFL.COM

ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY TAN

Super Bowl Championships (2021, 2003)

kushal shah

418.3 yards of

rushing yards allowed on average per game (fewest fewest in the league)

The Kansas City Chiefs obtained a first round bye in the playoffs.

Underdogs once more, Warriors ready for comeback

SALONI SHAH (12) SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS FAN

Boy, oh boy has it been an interesting first 20 games for the Golden State Warriors. After two absolute thrashings in the Warriors’ opening games against the Brooklyn Nets and the Milwaukee Bucks, basketball fans diagnosed the Warriors with terminal Grade A suckiness and predicted at least another year before the Dubs returned to true playoff contender status. Well. It certainly doesn’t look like that’s the case any longer. Sure, we may not be first, or second, or even third, but we don’t need to be — in order for us to be a contender we need to continue to sit at least the eighth seed which will be enough for us to squeak into the playoffs. Now, that’s not to say that we’re going to win the championship this year, much less even get to the Finals, but it shows that even when we’re searching for our identity as a team, we are strong enough to go toe-totoe with some of the league’s best teams. Which teams, you ask? Good question. Just a few weeks ago, we defeated the reigning champions — the Los Angeles Lakers, and even before that we defeated their counterpart from Los Angeles — the LA Clippers. But, honestly, that’s not even the most noteworthy ability of our Golden State Warriors.

Basketball fans diagnosed the Warriors with terminal Grade A suckiness and predicted at least another year before the Dubs returned to true playoff contender status You see, we didn’t just beat two of the arguably best teams. We came back, despite us being down deep in double digits. Let’s start with the Clippers game. Down by 21 points in the third quarter, our team simply refused to let up and stop fighting. Everybody pitched in — and I literally mean everybody, from the guys in our second unit who kept us in the game and trimmed the Clipper’s lead to our Steph Curry-led starting lineup. In the end, our efforts paid off with a 10 point victory. It was the same story against the Lakers — we were down 19 points, but the Dubs clawed their way back in the fourth quarter, rallying behind the unselfish leadership of Steph Curry to overcome the deficit and win by 2. Ultimately, I guess what I’m trying to say is — even though we may not be the best team in the league anymore, we’re once again the underdogs and we will scratch and claw for each win if we have to, and hopefully in the end (maybe not this year, but definitely next year!), we’ll be back right where we left off in the Finals three years ago, with Steph hoisting up another Larry O’Brien trophy.

WANT MORE KICK BACK? TUNE IN ON HARKERAQUILA.COM FOR THE LATEST FROM KUSHAL SHAH

DESIGN BY VISHNU KANNAN AND MUTHU PANCHANATHAM

22 • ISSUE 4 BACK PAGE VOLUME FEBRUARY 12, 2021

16 WINGED POST

MICHELLE LIU

HONORING THE STRUGGLE The earliest form of Black History Month was started in 1926 by Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), when it began as a week-long celebration in February known as Black History Week. Situated based on the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln in midFebruary, Black History Month celebrates Black accomplishments and contributions across history, honoring stories and

struggles that have long gone uncovered and ignored. The following crossword focuses on significant facts and ideas relating to Black History Month—some answers are based on our coverage of Black History Month throughout this issue, while others require additional research beyond the newspaper. Test out your puzzle-solving skills while—more importantly—using this crossword as a stepping stone to continue educating yourself about Black history!

ACROSS 6. Historian Carter G. _______, founder of Black History Month in 1926 7. First National Youth Poet Laureate (last name) 8. “We need folks who are willing to be ____[s], young people like yourselves” - Dr. Bettina Love 10. US Civil Rights Org. founded in 1909 by W.E.B DuBois, Ida B. Wells among others 11. Constitutional Amendment abolishing slavery 14. Toni Morrison’s The _______ Eye

DOWN 1. Their Eyes Were Watching God author (last name) 2. Former NFL QB who kneeled to protest police brutality against Black people 3. 2016 film examining the role of Black women in the early years of NASA 4. Prominent 19th-century Black activist whose birthday falls within the second week of Black History Month 5. Hughes’ 1961 “__ __ ___: 12 moods for Jazz” 9. ___ professor Dr. Ron McCurdy 12. Alabama HBCU founded by Booker T. Washington 13. District of NYC key to the revival of African-American arts and culture in early 20th century

In 710 words, Amanda Gorman delivered a message on Inaugaration Day that moved many across the nation—a reminder to remember the past while focusing on repairing and rebuilding for the future. Here is the full text of her inaugural poem, "The Hill We Climb."

THE HILL WE CLIMB BY AMANDA GORMAN

When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade We’ve braved the belly of the beast We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace And the norms and notions of what just is Isn’t always just-ice And yet the dawn is ours before we knew it Somehow we do it Somehow we’ve weathered and witnessed a nation that isn’t broken but simply unfinished We the successors of a country and a time Where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president only to find herself reciting for one And yes we are far from polished far from pristine but that doesn’t mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect We are striving to forge a union with purpose To compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters and conditions of man And so we lift our gazes not to what stands between us but what stands before us We close the divide because we know, to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another We seek harm to none and harmony for all Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true: That even as we grieved, we grew That even as we hurt, we hoped That even as we tired, we tried That we’ll forever be tied together, victorious Not because we will never again know defeat but because we will never again sow division Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree And no one shall make them afraid If we’re to live up to our own time Then victory won’t lie in the blade

But in all the bridges we’ve made That is the promise to glade The hill we climb If only we dare It’s because being American is more than a pride we inherit, it’s the past we step into and how we repair it We’ve seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it Would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy And this effort very nearly succeeded But while democracy can be periodically delayed it can never be permanently defeated In this truth in this faith we trust For while we have our eyes on the future history has its eyes on us This is the era of just redemption We feared at its inception We did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour but within it we found the power to author a new chapter To offer hope and laughter to ourselves So while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe? Now we assert How could catastrophe possibly prevail over us? We will not march back to what was but move to what shall be A country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation Our blunders become their burdens But one thing is certain: If we merge mercy with might, and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children’s birthright So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left with Every breath from my bronze-pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one We will rise from the gold-limbed hills of the west, we will rise from the windswept northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the midwestern states, we will rise from the sunbaked south We will rebuild, reconcile and recover and every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful will emerge, battered and beautiful When day comes we step out of the shade, aflame and unafraid The new dawn blooms as we free it For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it If only we’re brave enough to be it

WHAT SHOULD I DO WITH MY HEART?

February 14th might be a special time for those with a special someone, but the spirit of Valentine’s Day extends beyond one day and romantic relationships.

We recommend giving your paper heart to someone — even if it means sending a picture, in case physical delivery isn’t possible! If you’re feeling up to it, write a haiku love poem on your heart, or go all out with a Petrarchan sonnet, which is sure to wow the recipient while putting your literary skills to good use. Alternatively, consider jotting down a phrase that represents what you love about someone before sending origami affection their way. And if you’d rather keep your heart to yourself, you can use this heart as a bookmark or a desk ornament to remind you to keep love at the forefront of whatever you do.

To get started bonding with your loved ones and sending affection their way this Valentine’s Day, here’s a quick step-bystep tutorial to making an origami heart.

STEP 2: Make a diagonal crease, bringing the top right corner down to the bottom left.

STEP 5: Bring the bottom corner up to the top edge’s midpoint with a horizontal fold.

All you need is a square sheet of colored paper (with one colored side or two, either works). Each step shows the fold on the left and the result on the right. Creases are shown with dashed blue lines, while points to bring together and edges to align are higlighted in purple.

STEP 3: Unfold, and repeat with the other diagonal, matching corners again as shown.

STEP 6: Now, fold along the marked diagonals to bring the heart’s flaps on top.

STEP 1: Begin with a square sheet. Start with the blank side facing up.

STEP 4: Unfold. Then, fold the top corner down into the center of the square.

STEP 7: Fold small triangles as marked back behind the heart to make the shape curved.

INSTRUCTIONS

DIAGRAMS BY ARYA MAHESHWARI

MAKING HEARTS, SHARING LOVE

Heart finished!

Share a picture of your creation on Instagram and tag Harker Aquila (@harkeraquila)! DESIGN BY ARYA MAHESHWARI

Harker Aquila

Published on Feb 11, 2021

Winged Post Volume 22, Issue 4

Published on Feb 11, 2021

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