In mid-September, three Harker sixth graders took top spots at the World Robot Olympiad USA national championship in Sunnyvale. Kallie Wang and her teammates won first place in the elementary group (for ages 12 and under) in the regular category, and Mikhil Kiran and Aidan Okyar’s team placed third and won the best robot design award. As a result, both teams have been invited to the international finals in Hungary, set to take place in November.
Since its inaugural season in 2004, the World Robot Olympiad robotics competition has provided young people from more than 65 countries the opportunity to develop their design and problem solving skills. Each year it attracts more than 26,000 teams.
Earlier this month, eighth grader Arjun Gurjar earned his second-degree black belt in karate after a rigorous series of tests spanning three days, which covered sparring, grappling, open forms and other techniques. Gurjar, who has studied martial arts for eight years, plans to take a break before pursuing his third-degree black belt. Congratulations and best of luck!
As a top 10 finalist in this year’s 3M Young Scientist Challenge, eighth grader Reshma Kosaraju is eligible to win the Improving Lives Award, which is given to the project that the public believes to be the most beneficial. Voting is now open, and visitors can vote for their favorite project once a day until Oct. 25 at 5 p.m. eastern time.
June 26, 2019:
Yesterday, rising eighth grader Reshma Kosaraju was named one of the top 10 national finalists in the 2019 3M Young Scientist Challenge. Her project investigated how machine learning and neural networks could be used to predict and prevent forest fires. Each student participating in the competition submitted a video about a solution they devised for a common problem. As a finalist, Kosaraju has earned the opportunity to enter a special mentorship program, in which she will work with a 3M scientist to create a prototype of her project. She also is eligible to participate in the final competition, which will take place in late October at the 3M Innovation Center in St. Paul, Minn. The grand prize winner will receive $25,000.
This past spring, Harker received an endorsement from the Global Education Benchmark Group, a nonprofit organization that “researches and establishes best practices in the field of global education and supports member schools to prepare students to thrive in increasingly interconnected world systems,” according to its website. Endorsements are awarded to GEBG member schools that exemplify the high standards established by the organization.
GEBG representatives visited Harker last winter and met with administrators, students, parents, department chairs, teachers and other people in the Harker community who were involved with the Global Education program. The committee’s report commended many aspects of the program, including the level of support from school administration, the availability of professional development opportunities (such as the Vegesna Foundation’s Teacher Excellence Program) and the school’s capacity for creating global citizens who are knowledgeable and empathetic.
“Over the past many years, I’ve observed students and teachers embark on life-changing international experiences, participate in hands-on global projects that enhanced their classroom experiences and met talented educators from across the world,” said Global Education director Jennifer Walrod. “I’m thrilled that we received this endorsement and look forward to our continued growth as I work towards implementing all the committee’s constructive feedback.”
Last week, Abigail Joseph, the middle school’s learning, innovation and design (LID) director, was named one of the first-ever recipients of the Computer Science Teachers Association’s Equity Fellowship. “I am part of a cohort of 10 educators from around the U.S. that are participants of the Computer Science Teachers Association organization’s inaugural Equity Fellowship,” Joseph said yesterday. “This is a true honor to be chosen out of 112 applicants, and I am happy to share my journey with all of you.”
The program provides various opportunities for career development to support efforts to increase equity in computer science education. “CSTA’s Equity Fellowship is a selective, year-long program that elevates educators who have demonstrated success in disrupting the disparities impacting females, underrepresented students of color, English language learners, and students with special needs in order to bring their inclusive teaching practices and leadership to educators across the country and around the world at the 2020 CSTA Annual Conference,” according to the organization’s website.
Brian Chen is headed to Washington, D.C.! Today, the freshman was named as a finalist in the 2019 Broadcom MASTERS competition. He and the other finalists will spend Oct. 25-30 in the nation’s capital, competing in the final stage of the competition, as well as meeting government officials and displaying their projects to the public. Winners will be announced on Oct. 29. Best of luck!
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Seven students were named to the Top 300 in the 2019 Broadcom MASTERS competition! Arjun Barrett, Rohan Bhowmik, Gordon Chen, Brian Chen, Jacob Huang and Nicholas Wei, all grade 9, and Reshma Kosaraju, grade 8, were selected from more than 2,300 applicants for this year’s competition. The students were selected for projects they entered in science fairs last year, when they were in middle school.
On Sept. 18, 30 of the Top 300 will be announced as finalists and will travel to Washington, D.C., in October to compete for awards and prizes totaling more than $100,000. Each year, the Society for Science & the Public selects the top 10 percent of middle school science projects submitted to society-affiliated science fairs to enter the Broadcom MASTERS competition.
Eighth grader Sriram Bhimaraju appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon last night to showcase an apparatus he created that can help archers improve their accuracy using a smartphone app and a series of sensors. During the “Fallonventions” segment of the show, Sriram demonstrated how well his invention works by shooting an arrow at a target while blindfolded. Sriram was named a finalist in the 2018 3M Young Scientist Challenge for creating the tool, which also has benefits for the visually impaired.
Over the summer, fourth grader Omya Vidyarthi traveled to two international chess tournaments, taking first place in the U1700 Women’s category at the World Amateur Championship in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, and winning gold at the PanAmerican Youth Championship in the U10 Girls category in Guayaquil, Ecuador, her third consecutive PanAmerican Youth gold medal. At the World Amateur Championship, she was the youngest player in her section, squaring off against adult players for most of her run.
Also finding success this past summer was eighth grader Dominic Ortiz, a bowling enthusiast who in August took first place in the boys handicap division at the All Star Tournament held in Reno, Nev., by the Northern California Bowling Centers Youth Bowling Association.
The middle school and upper school speech and debate teams held their annual retreat Aug. 23-25 in Milpitas. Seventy students attended the retreat and got a head start preparing new topics and speeches for the 2019-20 season. They also won prizes at the team bonding event at Dave & Busters! Check out the photos!