The speech and debate team had some outstanding success in June! The upper school team was represented by Nikhil Dharmaraj, rising sophomore, at the National Speech & Debate Association championship in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 12-17. The tournament is the most competitive national championship for individual speaking events, which are his specialty.
Dharmaraj was one of 250 students in the country to qualify in original oratory (out of thousands who tried to qualify). He made it to the quarterfinals, ranking him 28th in the nation as a ninth grader. His topic was how we need to be better about avoiding the “sunk cost” fallacy or why it is better to admit mistakes and move on than to keep pouring resources into failed strategies based on bad decisions.
During the same week, the middle school team was represented by a large group at the National Junior Forensic League Tournament, also in Salt Lake City, June 14-17. The biggest news from NJFL was that Harker won the top Overall School of Excellence Award for the fifth consecutive year!
A detailed breakdown of individual accomplishments at the NJFL is below. All grades listed are for the 2016-17 school year:
Original oratory
Avi Gulati, grade 9, 2nd place
Arusha Patil, grade 8, 6th place
Public Forum Debate
Jeremy Ding and Kenneth Liou, both grade 9, double octofinalists
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Sachin Shah, grade 9, finalist (2nd place)
Akshay Manglik, grade 8, quarterfinalist
Aditi Vinod, grade 8, octofinalist
Policy Debate
Jai Bahri, grade 9 and Jason Lin, grade 8, semifinalists
Andy Lee, grade 8 and Deven Shah, grade 7, quarterfinalists
Dramatic Interpretation
Nikki Solanki, grade 9, 9th place
Storytelling
Avi Gulati, grade 9, 6th place
Impromptu
Avi Gulati, grade 9, 2nd place
Prose Interpretation
Nikki Solanki, grade 9, 6th place
The coaches were incredibly proud of all of our students. They represented Harker very well as strong competitors and excellent community citizens. Recent graduates Karen Qi, Zarek Drozda and Panny Shan, all Class of 2016, came along to coach the middle school students. “Harker has a reputation for being smart, well spoken and gracious whether we win or lose, and that image is a result of how our students conduct themselves at every tournament,” noted Jenny Alme, department chair of communication studies.
Thanks to a nationwide effort co-sponsored by Harvest Snaps and Table for Two (TFT), Harker’s middle school students were able to help combat hunger simply by enjoying free samples of Harvest Snaps snacks handed out by members of the Academic and Cultural/Cuisine Exchange (ACE Club).
The ACE Club, co-led by Jennifer Walrod, director of global education, and middle school math teacher Kathy Pazirandeh, coordinated the arrival and distribution of the snack donations. They were handed out to students during lunchtime last month.
For each snack handed out, Harvest Snaps donated 25 cents to TFT to provide healthy school meals for children in East Africa, as well as in low-income communities in the U.S. ACE Club members raised $250 by distributing 1,000 bags of Harvest Snaps, reported Walrod.
By participating, Harker students had the opportunity to learn about healthy eating habits while providing nutritional school meals for malnourished children. The goal of the program was to elevate awareness on both childhood hunger and obesity around the world.
Through their partnership, Harvest Snaps and TFT raised enough money nationwide to provide more than 100,000 school meals to African children in Rwanda, Tanzania and Ethiopia, as well as in the U.S. In Africa, 25 cents funds one school meal for a child, and in the U.S. it enables school meal upgrades for healthier options in low-income neighborhoods.
“It was fun – and easy!” recalled Walrod, sharing that ACE Club members had created a PowerPoint about the project, which they presented at a schoolwide meeting in advance of the effort.
ACE Club members Jackie Hu, Ritika Rajamani and Niecey Atwood, all grade 6, called the project a great way to have fun while helping others.
“It’s a creative way to not only advertise their project but to raise awareness of the needs of good school lunches. We have good lunches but other schools do not,” said Rajamani.
“It’s something where you can be social and raise awareness of a good cause,” added Atwood.
According to TFT statistics, of the more than 7 billion people in the world, 1 billion suffer from hunger and malnutrition, while 2 billion are overweight or obese.
In mid-May, grade 7 students, on the threshold of reaching their much-anticipated “senior status” at the middle school, participated in some special activities alongside their advisors.
“We were very fortunate to have had facilitators from Synergy Learning Systems, a team and leadership development company who works with clients worldwide, here to guide and direct us all through many interesting activities,” recalled Cindy Ellis, middle school head.
Synergy Learning Systems has worked with many of Silicon Valley’s largest companies, as well as with startups, nonprofits and student groups. They use fun and challenging activities paired with thoughtful facilitation to promote learning in leadership and communication, reported Ellis.
The Harker middle school students were encouraged to participate in a series of experiential learning exercises designed to foster their understanding of many different styles of leadership and communication. During these activities, students were asked to engage fully, step outside their comfort zone to promote growth and reflect on each activity to highlight key concepts.
“One of Synergy’s core values is the mantra ‘challenge by choice.’ Though we asked all students to participate fully, they individually determined how to engage with these activities while taking care not to detract from other students’ learning,” said Ellis.
After an informative morning of activities, the students enjoyed a celebratory Mexican lunch fiesta while Ellis discussed what it would be like to become members of the middle school’s senior class. Students were then invited to relax and enjoy a movie, as well as engage in a fun “selfie” station, complete with props.
“The day was enriching and fun – just like eighth grade will be for this exceptional class!” said Ellis.
Shortly before the school year came to a close, middle school math teacher Kathy Pazirandeh and her advisees delivered toiletries they had collected to LifeMoves (formerly known as InnVision Shelter Network), a local shelter for homeless women and children.
“As an advisory, we collect toiletries all through the year and make care packets and donate them to the shelter at the end of the school year. This year we made 210 care packets, which we sorted, packed and delivered,” reported Pazirandeh.
According to the LifeMoves website, the nonprofit’s recent name change captures its mission and expectation that its clients will break their cycle of homelessness. Last year, 97 percent of families and 82 percent of individuals in interim housing who completed the LifeMoves program successfully returned to stable housing and self-sufficiency, according to the site.
Three Harker eighth graders received accolades for their scientific research at the California State Science Fair, held in late May in Los Angeles. Cynthia Chen placed fourth in the environmental engineering category for her project, titled “A Novel Method to Reduce Water Consumption in Germinating Seeds.” The team of Aarzu Gupta and Maya Shukla received the Clinical Chemistry Award, which included a $150 cash prize, for their project, “A Test of the Mutagenic and Carcinogenic Potential of Nicotine-Free Electronic Cigarette Additives.” They also received a $100 second-place award from the UCLA Brain Research Institute.
Other projects by Harker students displayed at the fair were “Effects of Emotions on Test Takers” by eighth graders Vibha Arramreddy and Sejal Krishnan and “Delicious or Disgusting?: The Effects of Priming on a Taster’s Reaction and Perception of Food” by eighth graders Allison Jia and Jasmine Wiese. This year’s California State Science Fair featured projects by 941 students from 421 schools across the state.
All of these projects were first-place winners in their respective categories at the Synopsys Science and Technology Championship, which qualified them for participation at the state level. The students were also enrolled in the middle school’s research program, an after-school class taught by middle school science teachers Kristen Morgensen, Kathy Peng and Thomas Artiss. “Students make the commitment to attend a one-hour per week class on a specified day,” said Morgensen “While we teach and mentor the students in the class, the projects are all created and derived by the students themselves.” The primary goal of the class, Morgensen added, is to “foster good scientific thinking and experience the entire scientific process.”
Harker’s Future Problem Solving Team – ninth graders Kelly Shen, Sara Min and Tiffany Wong, and seventh grader Elaine Zhai – has advanced to the Presentation of Action Plan finals at the international competition! A celebration was in order, and with temperatures on the rise, the destination seemed obvious. “We celebrated by hitting up the Michigan State University on-campus Dairy Store for some homemade ice cream!” reported upper school debate teacher and team advisor Carol Green. The team competes in the final around on June 4. Wish them luck!
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Future Problem Solvers Taylor Lam, Kelly Shen, Sara Min and Tiffany Wong, all grade 9, are headed to internationals! In their division, the team placed first in presentation of action plan and second in global issues problem solving at the recent California Future Problem Solving championship. They will compete as California representatives at the international competition, which will be held at Michigan State University in June.
In the MAGIC competition –in which students meet their teammates for the first time on the day of competition – Evani Radiya-Dixit, grade 11, took first place in the middle/senior division, while Elaine Zhai, grade 7, took second. Earlier this semester, eighth graders Vishnu Jaisim and Jack Hansen took second and third, respectively, in the FPS scenario writing competition.
Middle school performers celebrated the work of Dr. Seuss during the production of “Seussical,” this year’s middle school spring musical, directed by Monica Colletti. The production stitched together characters and themes from Seuss’ most famous stories, including “Horton Hears a Who!” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Lorax.” The plot from “Horton,” in which an elephant tries to save the tiny people of Who-ville, made up most of the story, while themes from Seuss’ other works found their way into the songs.
In addition to the sturdy work of the performers, set designer Paul Vallerga, costume designer Caela Fujii, lighting designer Spencer Doughtie and a host of others worked together to bring the world of Dr. Seuss to life, with crowd-pleasing results!
Grade 8 students Kathy Fang and Amla Rashingkar received certificates of recognition from the Promising Young Writers Program, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Fang and Rashingkar were among just 122 eighth graders in the United States and Canada who received this recognition for superior writing. Papers were judged for content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development and style.
“This contest was an opportunity for me to see if my voice in writing is eloquent enough to be heard. The results of the contest have proven the saying ‘be yourself’ to be true; by expressing my thoughts and testing my creativity, I have emerged as a winner,” said Fang.
Rashingkar added that the competition really helped push her limits as a writer. “Moreover, I now can say I am one of the top writers in the nation, and the win inspired me to keep writing,” she said.
The Promising Young Writers program represents NCTE’s commitment to early and continuing work in the development of writing. The school-based writing program was established in 1985 to stimulate and recognize students’ writing talents and to emphasize the importance of writing skills among eighth-grade students.
Students, who must be nominated for the honor by their teachers, are required to submit a best writing sample in response to a themed topic.
It was another great season for lower- and middle school athletes!
VA (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity A team, coached by Diana Melendez and Stephanie Coleman, finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS in the WBAL with a record of 7-1. Team awards went to Emily Cheng, grade 8 (Eagle), and Julia Yusupov, grade 7, and Laruen Beede, grade 8 (Coaches).
VB (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity B team, coached by Xiaofeng Foret, finished in third place in the WBAL with a record of 5-2. Team awards went to Rachel Abellera, grade 8 (MVP), Hannah Grannis, grade 7 (Eagle) and Anvitha Tummala, grade 7 (Coaches).
VB2 (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The Varsity B2 team, coached by Josh Miller, finished in sixth place in the WBAL with a record of 3-4. Team awards went to Anu Selvaraj, grade 8 (MVP), Aria Wong, grade 7 (Eagle) and Ayla Tanurhan, grade 8 (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Tina Mai, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 2-4. Team awards went to Tara Ozdemir (MVP), Leyla Artun (Eagle) and Sarah Leafstrand (Coaches).
JVB6 (Grade 6) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B6 team, coached by Sarah Bell, finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS in the WBAL with an undefeated record of 6-0. Team awards went to Michelle Liu (MVP), Emily Tan (Eagle) and Elizabeth Shchegrov (Coaches).
JVB1 (Grade 5) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B1 team, coached by Ellie Pereria, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 5-1. Team awards went to Clarie Chen (MVP), Shea Bryden (Eagle) and Lexi Nishimura (Coaches).
JVB2 (Grade 4) Girls Volleyball: The Junior Varsity B2 team, coached by Sydney Voss, finished in ninth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-6. Team awards went to Kate Grannis (MVP), Margaret Cartee (Eagle) and Masha Velikhovskaya (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Volleyball: Team awards went to Emily McCartney and Maggie Yan, both grade 4 (Eagle), and Emma Cai, Ceren Erdogan and Cecilia Yang, all grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Maria Maldonado.
VA (Grade 8) Boys Volleyball: The Varsity A team, coached by Pete Anderson, finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS in the ADAL with an undefeated record of 8-0 and an overall record of 9-0. Team awards went to Jeffrey Kwan (MVP), Vedanth Sundaram (Eagle) and Vance Hirota (Coaches).
JVA (Grades 6-7) Boys Volleyball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Pete Anderson, finished in second place in the ADAL with a record of 6-2. Team awards went to Marcus Page, grade 6 (MVP), Avery Young, grade 7 (Eagle) and Sujith Pakala, grade 6 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 7-8) Baseball: The Varsity A team, coached by Jeff Paull and Matt Arensberg, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 1-4 and an overall record of 2-4. Team awards went to Nicholas Coulter (MVP), Marcus Anderson (Eagle) and John Lynch (Coaches), all grade 7.
JVA (Grades 6-7) Baseball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Jon Cvitanich and Richard Amarillas, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-3-1 and an overall record of 0-5-1. Team awards went to Richard Amarillas, grade 6 (MVP), Chirag Kaushik, grade 6 (Eagle) and George Wehner, grade 7 (Coaches).
JVB (Grades 4-5) Baseball: The Junior Varsity B team, coached by Dan Pringle, Randy LeGris and Kristian Tiopo, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a record of 2-4. Team awards went to Frederick Hoch, grade 5 (MVP), Tyler Beede, grade 5 (Eagle), and Wyatt Cote, grade 5, and Ashwin Kuppahally, grade 4 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 6-8) Water Polo: The Varsity A team, coached by Ted Ujifusa and Allie Lamb, finished with a WBAL record of 0-5 and an overall record of 1-6. Team awards went to Cassandra Ruedy, grade 8, and Bayden Yazalina, grade 7 (MVP), Anna Arnaudova, grade 7 (Eagle) and Chloe Affaki, grade 7 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 6-8) Tennis: The Varsity A team, coached by JP Fruttero and John Fruttero, finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS and TOURNAMENT CHAMPS of the WBAL with a record of 7-0. The team also finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS of the MTP with a record of 4-0. In the MTP playoffs, Harker lost 5-4 to Kennedy in the finals. The Eagles finished the season with an impressive 13-1 record. Team awards went to Mihir Sharma and Ramanand Vegesna (MVP), Simar Bajaj and Gina Partridge (Eagle), and Jack Hansen, Bryan Wang and Rachel Broweleit (Coaches), all grade 8.
VB (Grades 6-8) Tennis: The Varsity B team, coached by Matt McGee, JP Fruttero and John Fruttero, finished as LEAGUE CHAMPS and TOURNAMENT CHAMPS of the WBAL with an undefeated record of 6-0 and an overall record of 8-0. Team awards went to Fonda Hu, grade 7, and Shika Tseitlin, grade 6 (MVP), Dawson Chen, grade 6 (Eagle) and Alexander Liou and Dhruv Saoji, both grade 6 (Coaches).
Last Saturday, the Grades 7-8 Orchestra participated in the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) Music Festival at Independence High School and, for the first time ever, received a Unanimous Superior Rating. The orchestra performed about 20 minutes of prepared music for three judges and was evaluated on sight reading as well. About 40 students participated.
“This is the highest possible rating an ensemble can receive at CMEA,” said Dave Hart, orchestra director, “and it just shows all the hard work they put in individually and as a group! There were wonderful displays of team work throughout the entire festival. Please join me in congratulating the students!”
Congratulations to the entire Grades 7-8 Orchestra and director Dave Hart!