This story was submitted by Ariana Gauba, grade 10.
From April 21-26, more than 40 Harker DECA members attended the International Career Development Conference (ICDC), at the Orlando Convention Center.
“ICDC was a truly unique experience where I got to meet new people and network with people across the globe!” said Harker DECA’s 2023-2024 VP of Public Relations Gabriel Jacob Li, grade 10.
Throughout the conference, chapter members explored Orlando, visited Disney’s Epcot Park and Universal Studios, and competed in their events. Harker DECA was extremely competitively successful, having multiple teams placed in the top 5, including Entrepreneurship Team Decision Making and Franchise Business Plan.
Over spring break, artistic swimmer Alina Zhu, grade 5, competed at the Pacific Association Intermediate Championships at the Miwok Aquatic Center in Novato, Calif. Zhu took home four gold medals for competing in figures, solo, trio and team routines. “It isn’t an easy sport, but I like the challenges,”said Zhu, who started artistic swimming with Santa Clara Aquamaids as a fourth grader. “[Artistic swimming] combines gymnastics, dance and swimming, and previously I had experiences in all three separately.” Zhu won her first gold medal in a mixed duet last June, followed by her second gold medal in a team routine in February. This was the first time she competed in every individual and team event in a single day and she was happy for both her and her team’s success.
The 17th Harker Research Symposium on April 15 brought hundreds from the Harker community to the upper school campus to view student research, hear from fascinating speakers, explore a variety of booths and exhibits and more.
Opening speaker Janice Chen, co-founder and CTO of Mammoth Sciences, spoke on recent advances that have “really paved the way in helping us understand the relationship between our genes and our health.” Her talk covered, among other things, CRISPR sequences that have enabled key advances. “We’ve…been able to train our immune cells for instance, therapies to specifically find cancer cells while avoiding the healthy ones,” she said. “CRISPR is one of those breakthrough technologies that’s really making a difference in research and development.”
Rohit Vashisht, the morning keynote speaker, spoke on how data science can help address the disparity in the quality of healthcare in the United States, which negatively affects Black Americans, women and those who lack access to quality education, employment and housing. In his presentation, Vashisht covered his ongoing research in collecting and analyzing data across the country, efforts to curb inequalities in healthcare and methods to produce data that will result in more equitable decision-making.
Students and student clubs held several workshops during the day, including an introductory class on medical illustration, led by junior Anika Mantripragada and a beginner’s class on artificial intelligence held by the AI Club. Breakout sessions were held throughout the day, showcasing the research done by Harker upper school students, including Regeneron Science Talent Search semifinalists.
This year’s alumni speaker, Simar Bajaj ’20, presented on the importance of storytelling in passing good scientific policy. Bajaj, who has been involved in science journalism since 2020 and won Science Story of the Year from the Foreign Press association in December, discussed how facts and figures are not enough to sway public opinion. “The reality is that there was never a policy in the history of our country that would just pass because it was a good idea,” he said. “They pass because they’re able to open someone’s eyes, someone’s soul, to the impact, to the purpose.”
At a special alumni panel, Harker alums discussed the various ways their time at Harker led them to their current careers. Alison Rugar ’13 shared the story of how she discovered her love of science through softball. “Softball was actually the basis for my first science project, which I presented here at the Symposium,” she said. “As a pitcher, I depended really heavily on my curveball, and in order for breaking pitches to actually move when they cross the plate, you need to put a lot of spin on the ball…so my dad and I set out to measure how much spin I was putting on my pitches. We drilled a hole in a softball, stuck a magnet in, wound a coil of wire and used Faraday’s law of induction. And that was a really great experience. It gave me a lot of basic skills.”
Throughout the day, visitors headed to the auxiliary gym, where middle school students had set up posters to present their research, happily answering questions about their methods and findings. Younger attendees enjoyed the many activities set up at the STEM Buddies area, where stations were run by upper school students who guided the visitors through a series of fun experiments. During lunchtime, the much-loved chemistry magic show wowed the audience with eye-catching displays of various chemical reactions.
Last weekend, five Harker students were awarded in the Journalism Education’s spring 2023 National Student Media Contest. Jessica Wang, grade 10, received a Superior award in Editorial Writing; junior Desiree Luo was given an Excellent award in the Sports Writing category; sophomore Felix Chen received an Excellent award in Press Law and Ethics; Mirabelle Feng, grade 10, was awarded Superior in Literary Magazine: Illustration; and senior Katie Wang received an Honorable Mention in Photography Portfolio.
National Student Media Contests are held twice a year in the fall and spring. Submissions are evaluated by a team of judges, whose critiques are made available to the students entering the competition. Winning entries receive awards at three levels: Superior, Excellent and Honorable Mention.
Laura Lang-Ree, Harker performing arts chair, and Ann Luceña ’04 both performed Saturday at South Bay Musical Theatre’s 60th anniversary celebration, “Welcome to the Sixties.” Lang-Ree sang a solo rendition of “See What It Gets You” from Stephen Sondheim’s “Anyone Can Whistle,” while Luceña was a part of a group that performed a medley of 1960s folk songs, including “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” and “Scarborough Fair/Canticle.” During her time at Harker, Luceña was a member of the middle school choral group, Harmonics. She most recently served as the CEO of San Ramon Regional Medical Center.
Arushi Sharma, grade 11, performed earlier this month at Carnegie Hall in New York City as part of the Winners Recital of the American Protégé International Vocal Competition. Sharma was named a second place winner in the competition’s intermediate category. Her performance of Giacomo Puccini’s “O Mio Babbino Caro” was well-received by the audience in attendance. Sharma, who has been in vocal training for more than 10 years, is a member of Harker’s Cantilena vocal group and also has participated in Harker musical theater productions since grade 9.
At the University of Kentucky’s 2023 Tournament of Champions, held earlier this month, senior Muzzi Khan won the national championship in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. The topic was “Resolved: Justice requires open borders for human migration.” After an excellent preliminary record, Khan went on to win five single elimination rounds. In the final round, he successfully defended the affirmative side of the resolution against a team from Strake Jesuit in Houston. Harker also won the National Debate Coaches Association national championship, making it only the third time in history that a team has won both titles in the same year.
Several other students also had excellent showings at the tournament. Gordy Sun, grade 11, was named second in the nation in extemporaneous speaking. Fellow junior Daniel Lin was a finalist in congressional debate. The duo of Sasha Masson and Adrian Liu, both juniors, made it to the elimination rounds of public forum debate. Dyllan Han, grade 11, and Joy Hu, grade 9, won awards in original oratory. Lastly, juniors Ansh Sheth and Kabir Buch advanced in Lincoln Douglas debate.
Because qualifying for the Tournament of Champions is a difficult task, coaches expressed their pride in the following participants who competed in a variety of speech and debate events: Michelle Jin and Carol Wininger, grade 12; Iris Fu, Panav Gogte, Ariav Misra, Max Xing and Fiona Yan, grade 11; Robert Fields, Jacqueline Huang, Kashish Priyam, Ruhan Sahasi, Veer Shasi and Jason Shim, grade 10; and Roshan Amurthur, Pavitra Kasthuri and Sofia Shah, grade 9.
On March 25, a team of seven Harker students coached by middle school math teacher Vandana Kadam participated in the California State MathCounts competition held at the University of Pacific in Stockton. The competition included 166 top-performing students from the various chapter MathCounts competitions in Northern California. Harker’s team – Sylvia Chen, Shamik Khowala, Jonathan Li and Heather Wang, all grade 8 – did exceptionally well, placing third. Independent grade 7 competitors Vihaan Gupta, Aarav Mann and Andrew Shi also performed well.
In addition, Chen placed sixth and Gupta placed ninth in the individual competition, where every point differential made a significant difference in the rank.
Chen and Gupta also reached the finals of the Countdown Round, a rapid-fire oral buzzer round where students get 45 seconds to solve problems. Chen won by being the first to answer three out five questions correctly. The top sixteen performers (from the group of 166 mathletes) are invited to participate in this round. This is the first time in Harker’s MathCounts history that two Harker students have participated in the final round of the Countdown competition.
Ava Bhowmik, grade 9, recently received a first place award at the National Junior Science and Humanities Symposium. Her project, which measured fluid droplet sizes and the efficacy of protective masks, was the top oral presentation in the Engineering and Technology category, earning her a $12,000 scholarship.
Sponsored by the United States Department of Defense, the National JSHS took place April 12-15 in Virginia Beach, Va., and invited 227 high school students to compete, judged by teachers, university faculty, STEM industry professionals and more. Bhowmik was among the 48 national winners who reached the national stage by participating at one of the 49 regional competitions hosted in the United States, Puerto Rico and Department of Defense Education Activity schools across the world.
Alec Zhang, grade 11, and Jingjing Liang, grade 9, were recently awarded Project of the Year in the senior division at the California Science & Engineering Fair. Their project, titled “Development of an Innovative Eye-Tracking and Audio Hybrid System for ASD Early Detection,” won the pair the top prize of $5,000.
“We really appreciate the wonderful research programs at Harker, the intellectual vitality of the environment and the amazing mentors and peers at school to support us along this journey,” Zhang said. The two students plan to donate half of their winnings to science fairs serving underprivileged communities and the other half to youth with special needs.
Many other Harker students also performed well at CSEF.
Junior Division:
Brandon Labio, grade 8, Honorable Mention, Applied Mechanics and Structures
Nathan Yee, grade 8, Honorable Mention, Applied Mechanics and Structures
Anish Kosaraju, grade 8, Honorable Mention, Behavioral and Social Sciences