Over the weekend, four Harker teams won awards in the 2018 Tech Challenge Showcase, held at the Tech Museum in San Jose. At the event, teams of grade 4-12 students demonstrated the devices they had constructed for this year’s contest. More than 600 teams comprising 2,000 students entered the competition, which challenged them to design and build a device that could successfully fall 10 feet into a drop zone, then deliver a payload to a target situated on a ramp, without the aid of batteries or electricity.
Grade 4 students Sofia Shah, Minal Jalil, MacEnzie Blue, Tiffany Zhu, Tanvi Sivakumar, Arushi Sahasi and honorary team member Rocky (Jalil’s dog) formed team “SMMARTT,” which received an outstanding overall award in the grades 4-5 category.
Sixth graders Nathan T. Liu, Adrian Liu and Aniketh Tummala, known as the “Huskies,” won the award for top tech challenge story, which explained the origins of the device they built. The “FlyteZON” team, made up of Neel Handa, Om Tandon and Zachary Blue, all grade 6, won an award for being outstanding overall.
Team “Flopper Waffles” – grade 7 students Brian Chen, Andrew Fu, Jacob Huang and Nicholas Wei – received an award for outstanding device performance.
Harker students from the lower, middle and upper schools headed to San Diego last weekend for the Future Problem Solving California State Bowl, where teams from all three divisions won in various categories.
In the senior division (grades 10-12), the grade 11 team of Taylor Lam, Sara Min, Kelly Shen, and Tiffany Wong won for Presentation of Action Plan. In Global Issues Problem Solving, Jin Tuan, Amla Rashingkar, Sriya Prathuri, and Arushi Madan, all grade 10, took third place. Tuan also did well in Individual Global Issues Problem Solving, placing fourth overall.
Middle division students (grades 7-9) were especially successful, with the grade 8 team of Rohan Thakur, Shahzeb Lakhani, Daniel Wu and Kailash Ranganathan emerging as the winners in Global Issues Problem Solving, qualifying them for the international competition in June. Ninth graders Stephanie Shen, Luisa Pan and Elaine Zhai all participated in the MAGIC (Multiple Affiliate Global Issues Competition) event, in which teams are formed with students from different schools. Shen’s team placed first in Presentation of Action Plan, in which Zhai’s team took second place. In Global Issues Problem Solving, Pan’s team placed first.
Competing in the junior division (grades 4-6) was the grade 5 team of Daniel Chen, Anika Pallapothu and Anandita Arun, who earned third place in Presentation of Action Plan.
Watch for the article on Future Problems Solvers and other competitive programs in the 2018 summer issue of Harker Magazine to be delivered in late June.
Earlier this week, Lisa Masoni’s grade 6 Latin students celebrated Rome’s 2,771st birthday (which fell on April 21) by preparing and sampling various foods from ancient Rome, including dates dipped in honey, sesame candy, meatballs and libum (Roman cheesecake). Students also had their first taste of garum, a fish sauce used by ancient Romans as a condiment. Sixth grader Ronald Cartee’s take on garum was that it would be “popular for a taste-test challenge,” Masoni said. Sensing a rare photo opportunity, Masoni had several students make faces that approximated their reactions to tasting garum for the first time, with varied (and very amusing) results.
On April 16, students in Kumi Matsui’s Japanese 2M class went on a special field trip to learn more about Japanese culture and customs, starting with a visit to Japanese restaurant Tomisushi.
“They ordered dishes using Japanese expressions they have been practicing in class and enjoyed a tasty, authentic, Japanese lunch,” Matsui said. “The students benefited from practicing Japanese outside the classroom while learning Japanese food culture.”
Later, the students visited the Hakone Gardens in Saratoga to observe a tea ceremony, “a wonderful opportunity for the students to learn about the choreographic movement of this special Japanese ritual,” Matsui added. To finish the trip, the students toured the gardens, enjoying the beautiful scenery and feeding fish in its koi pond.
Harker students did extremely well last weekend at the California High School Speech Association state tournament, with four Eagles making it to finals! Avi Gulati, grade 10, was second in original oratory; Haris Hosseini, grade 11, was third in original oratory; Nikki Solanki, grade 10, was seventh in thematic interpretation; and Jason Huang, grade 11, was seventh in congressional debate. Jason Lin, grade 9, also qualified to compete in congressional debate. Congrats to the students and coach Scott Odekirk on a great season. Watch for more speech and debate news from National Speech & Debate Association Nationals in June.
At last month’s Synopsys Science & Technology Championship, Harker juniors Cameron Jones, Krish Kapadia, Anjay Saklecha and Ruhi Sayana were grand prize winners, which earned them a trip to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, to be held in Philadelphia in May. Junior Katherine Zhang, a grand prize alternate winner, was awarded a trip to the California Science & Engineering Fair in Los Angeles. Many more Harker students also were successful at the event, and Harker was named an outstanding school at both the middle and upper school levels. The full list of middle and upper school winners is as follows:
Upper School
Allison Jia, grade 10, $100 first prize, Morgan Lewis; second award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Ankita Kundu, grade 9, $100 first place, certificate of achievement and letter, Inez M. Lechner Award
Johnny Wang, grade 11, high school finalist certificate and Amazon.com gift certificate, Synopsys Outreach Foundation n+1 prize; honorable mention, certificate of achievement, Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC); first award, Physical Science and Engineering Category
Lizhi Yang, grade 11, high school finalist certificate and Amazon.com gift certficate, Synopsys Outreach Foundation n+1 prize; honorable mention, certificate of achievement, Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC); first award, Physical Science and Engineering Category
Sahil Jain, grade 10, ASEI Silicon Valley Emerging Technology certificate of achievement award and membership to American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin, American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin Award
Krish Kapadia, grade 11, grand prize (best of championship), Biological Sciences, trip to Intel ISEF and certificate, Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association, board of directors awards, high school; first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Anjay Saklecha, grade 11, grand prize (best of championship), Biological Sciences, trip to Intel ISEF and certificate, Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association, board of directors awards, high school; first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Sidra Xu, grade 9, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Russell Yang, grade 9, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Ruhi Sayana, grade 11, grand prize (best of championship), Biological Sciences, trip to Intel ISEF and certificate, Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association, board of directors awards, high school; $100 first prize, Morgan Lewis; first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Ayush Alag, grade 11, first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Cynthia Chen, grade 10, first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Cameron Jones, grade 11, grand prize (best of championship), Physical Sciences, trip to Intel ISEF and certificate, Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association, board of directors awards, high school; honorable mention student award, $50 and certificate of achievement, Association for Computing Machinery, San Francisco Bay Area Professional Chapter; first award, RRI Physical Science and Engineering Category
Kaushik Shivakumar, grade 11, Intel ECS certificate of achievement and forms to submit for $200, Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award
Katherine Zhang, grade 11, grand prize alternate, Biological Sciences, trip to state science fair and certificate, Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association, board of directors awards, high school; first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Amy Dunphy, grade 12, second award, Physical Science and Engineering Category
Swapnil Garg, grade 12, first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Michael Kwan, grade 12, ASEI Silicon Valley Emerging Technology certificate of achievement award and membership to American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin, American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin Award
Rajiv Movva, grade 12, second award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Katherine Tian, grade 11, first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Zachary Clark, honorable mention, Physical Science and Engineering Category; honorable mention award, Popular Science magazine subscription and certificate of achievement, ASM International, A Society for Materials, Santa Clara Valley Chapter
Syna Gogte, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Kate Olsen, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Brandon Park, honorable mention, Physical Science and Engineering Category; honorable mention award, Popular Science magazine subscription and certificate of achievement, ASM International, A Society for Materials, Santa Clara Valley Chapter
Alice Feng, nominated to compete envelope, Broadcom MASTERS – 8th grade; first award, Physical Science and Engineering Category
Angela Gao, honorable mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Angela Jia, honorable mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Aaron Lo, honorable mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Anishka Raina, middle school cash award ($50) and letter of recognition, Northern California Institute of Food Technologists
Riyaa Randhawa, certificate of achievement, American Psychological Association
Liza Shchegrov, certificate of achievement, American Psychological Association
Arely Sun, nominated to compete envelope, Broadcom MASTERS – 8th grade; first award, Physical Science and Engineering Category
Zeel Thakkar, honorable mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Nicole Tian, honorable mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Thresiamma Vazhaeparambil, middle school cash award ($50) and letter of recognition, Northern California Institute of Food Technologists
Melody Yazdi, honorable Mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Akhilesh Chegu, nominated to compete envelope, Broadcom MASTERS – 8th grade; first award, Biological Science and Engineering Category; first place award, $125 and certificate of achievement, American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, Northern California Branch
Harsh Deep, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Shounak Ghosh, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Pranav Gupta, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Prakrit Jain, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Rishi Jain, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Ishaan Mantripragada, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Deven Shah,nominated to compete envelope, Broadcom MASTERS – 8th grade; first award, Biological Science and Engineering Category; first place award, $125 and certificate of achievement, American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, Northern California Branch
Four Harker upper school students and one middle school student have advanced to the third round of the USA Math Olympiad and Junior Math Olympiad, respectively. Sophomores Cynthia Chen, Rohan Cherukuri and Jeffrey Kwan, senior Swapnil Garg and eighth grader Rishab Parthasarathy were among the top 500 students from the roughly 75,000 who took the American Math Contest in February to qualify for the third round. The nine-hour test is taken over the course of two days. Top scorers will have the chance to represent the United States at the International Mathematical Olympiad, set to take place this summer in Romania.
Synchronized swimmer Kate Chow, grade 12, recently competed at the U.S. Senior National Championships at Oro Valley Aquatic Center in Tucson, Ariz. The event is the most prestigious national competition for amateur swimmers. Chow won the individual high point award as she took home two first places, a second and a third while competing in technical team, free team, combo and free duet. This is Chow’s eighth year in synchronized swimming. She swims for the Santa Clara Aquamaids.
Congratulations to Carter Chadwick, grade 8, and his San Jose Jr. Sharks teammates on their California Amateur Hockey Association State Championship win last weekend in Southern California. Chadwick and his team went 8-0 and defeated the Anaheim Jr. Ducks in the finals on the road to the 14U B state title. Carter has been playing since he was 4 years old.
In the world of fencing, John Cracraft, grade 7, fenced in the Silicon Valley Regional Youth Circuit, held in Mountain View in early April, taking 30th out of 73 fencers in the Youth-12 boys foil event. Cracraft won two pool bouts and lost a third 4-5, seeding 42nd into the table. He then ran up against the 22nd seed, a tough left-hander and beat him 7-6 in overtime, flipping himself into the 32 bracket. He next fenced the No. 10 seed, an even tougher left-hander to end his day at 30th, a respectable finish in a tough event. Cracraft fences for Halberstadt Fencing Club and The Fencing Center, and is unrated. Ratings are earned in competitions and run A-E, A being the best fencers, combined with the year earned.
Ishani Sood, grade 6, fenced in the Super Youth Circuit in Escondido in mid-April and turned in some excellent results. In the Youth-14 women’s foil event, Sood, who holds a D-2017 rating and has earned several medals at national events, took 18th out of 62 fencers. She won all six pool bouts, seeding sixth into the table. She won her first elimination bout 14-5, then fell to the 27th seed. In the Youth-12 event, Sood medaled, taking fifth place out of 56 fencers. She again won all of her pool bouts and seeded sixth into the table. She had a bye in the first round, then cleaned up, winning 15-3 and 14-9 before hitting the 14th seed and losing 9-15. Sood fences for California Fencing Academy.
Harker had a solid contingent of fencers at the Regional Junior-Cadet Circuit held in San Jose this past weekend. The event drew fencers from all over the state and from as far away as Denver.
Ethan Choi, grade 9, took 15th in the cadet (16 and under) event out of 62 fencers, an exceptional finish in a very tough field. Choi went 4-2 in pools to seed into the 19th slot on the table. He cleaned up his first opponent, then ran into the 14th seed, who he flipped in a tough 15-13 bout. Choi then lost to the No. 3 seed. Choi also fenced in the junior event (19 and under) and finished 21st. He went 3-2 in pools, seeding 21st. He won his first elimination bout handily, then ran into the No. 12 seed, and that finished his day in a tournament that included a substantial contingent of college-age fencers. Choi fences for M-Team and is rated D-2018.
Sana Pandey, grade 10, participated in the Harker Research Symposium on Saturday and then fenced in cadet women’s epee on Sunday. Pandey, a co-president of the Harker Fencing Club, did well in pools, coming out 4-2, seeding 15th into the table. She had a bye in the first round, then fenced the 18th seed, losing 11-15 to finish up a busy weekend. Pandey fences for the International Fencing Academy of California and holds a C-2017 rating.
Nerine Uyanik, grade 10, co-president of the Harker Fencing Club, fenced in two foil events, finishing 28th out of 50 in the junior event and 30th out of 48 in the cadet event, following a break to recover from an injury. In the junior event, Uyanik was 2-3 in pools, seeding 27th into the table, where she won her first bout and lost her second to the No. 6 seed, an A-rated fencer who eventually won the tournament, pushing the bout to time. In the cadet event, she went 2-4 in pools, seeding 34th, won her first elimination bout then fought the No. 3 seed to a standstill in an incredibly tough bout, losing 15-14. Uyanik fences for San Francisco Fencing Academy and holds a B-2017 rating
Kishan Sood, grade 9, also coming off an injury, fenced in men’s cadet foil, finishing 41st out of 62. Sood went 2-4 in pools to seed 36th. He lost his first elimination bout to the 29th seed. Like his sister, Sood fences for California Fencing Academy. He holds an E-2017 rating.
Jerrica Liao, grade 12, fencing one of her last events as a high schooler, had a fine day, finishing third in junior women’s foil for a bronze medal. Liao, who has signed on to fence at Northwestern University, cleaned up in pools, 5-0, seeding fourth out of 50 fencers. Following a first round bye, she had one easier and two hard elimination bouts, with scores of 14-8. 14-13 and 14-13, before ending her day 14-8 against the top seed. Liao fences for Silicon Valley Fencing and holds a A-2015 rating.
William Cracraft, Harker Fencing Club advisor, fenced in the Bay Cup Series Veteran (40 and over) foil event on Sunday, taking the gold and improving his rating. He went 5-2 in pools, then ran through the table, beating two B-rated fencers and an A-rated fencer, all national point holders (as is Cracraft) to take top honors. The gold medal match score was 10-1. Cracraft, who has been fencing for more than 35 years, fences for Halberstadt Fencing Club and The Fencing Center. He now holds a B-2018 rating.
To report non-Harker athletic results and other student accomplishments, email news@harker.org.
In late March, two dozen grade 7 and 8 students visited Greece for a weeklong journey, visiting the sites of many pivotal historical events and experiencing its complex culture firsthand. Students detailed their daily activities on their blog of the trip.
Major events during the first two days included a stop at the massive Corinth Canal and exploring the seaside town of Nafplio, as well as seeing the Theatre of Epidaurus and learning of its importance in the formation of theater arts. Students also visited a Mycenaean tomb and an acropolis.
At Crete, the largest of the Greek Islands, students viewed ancient frescoes and artifacts at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum and toured the storied palace of Knossos, believed to be the inspiration for the myth of the labyrinth and its prisoner, the Minotaur. Other stops included the Arkadi Monastery, which dates back to the fifth century and today still operates as an Eastern Orthodox monastery.
In Athens, students visited the site of the Battle of Marathon, as well as other famous landmarks including the Agora, the Acropolis and the Parthenon, learning history and purpose of each of the ancient structures.
Naturally, the students also made the most of every opportunity to shop and sample the country’s tremendous variety of foods!
Harker middle and upper school students competed at three tournaments in March, all against high school students.
San Francisco State University
From March 10-11, 31 schools across two states representing 157 entries competed in debate events. Fifty-one Harker middle and upper school students competed.
Junior Varsity Policy
10th – Helen Li, grade 9, and Mir Bahri, grade 7, 3-2 record
On March 21, about 50 Harker middle schools students competed in three distinct events.
Speech (Impromptu & Memorized Interpretation)
1st – Zubin Khera, grade 7
2nd – Madeleine Hansen, grade 8
Public Forum
1st – Krish Mysoor and Ansh Sheth, both grade 6
2nd – Joe Li and Ramit Goyal, both grade 6
Public Forum Speaker Awards
1st – Krishna Mysoor, grade 6
2nd – Ansh Sheth, grade 6
3rd – Deeya Viradia, grade 7
4th – Sathvik Chundru, grade 6
5th – Carol Wininger, grade 7
6th – Lexi Nishimura, grade 7
7th – Joe Li, grade 6
8th – Aniketh Tummala, grade 6
Lincoln-Douglas
1st – Krish Maniar, grade 7
Santa Clara University No. 2
From March 23-25, 87 schools across two states, representing 1,012 entries, competed in speech and debate events. About 75 Harker middle school students competed.
Novice Duo Interpretation
3rd – Nikhil Devireddy and Zubin Khera, both grade 7, finalist