This article originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
The late winter sports season is coming to an end. Congratulations to all the boys soccer, girls basketball and wrestling teams for a great season!
We had a near league championship, lost by just one point (grade 6-7 girls basketball). Read on for details!
Varsity A girls basketball, coached by Allison Burzio and Chrissy Chang, finished 1-7, eighth place in the WBAL. Team awards went to Tiffany Shou (MVP), Selin Sayiner (Eagle), and Megan Huynh (Coaches), all grade 8.
Varsity B girls basketball, coached by Dan Pringle and C.J. Cali, finished 7-1, second in the WBAL. Team awards went to Jennifer Hayashi, grade 7 (MVP); Prameela Kottapalli, grade 7 (Eagle); and Alexandra Janssen, grade 7 and Charlotte Blanc, grade 6 (Coaches).
Junior Varsity A girls basketball, coached by Gus Cordova and Therese Wunnenberg, finished 1-8, ninth place in the WBAL. Team awards went to Haley Arena (MVP), Annabelle Ju (Eagle), and Cassandra Ruedy (Coaches), all grade 6.
Varsity A boys soccer, coached by Brighid Wood, finished 4-2-2, third place in the WBAL. Team awards went to Nicolas Acero (MVP), Mason Menaker (Eagle), and Erik Tran (Coaches), all grade 8.
Varsity B boys soccer, coached by Matt Arensberg and Joe Newman, is currently 2-2-1 in the WBAL. Team awards went to Edwin Su (MVP), Krish Kapadia (Eagle), and Alex Rule and Rahul Goyal (Coaches), all grade 7.
Junior Varsity A boys soccer, coached by Cyrus Merrill and Sean Kamkar, is currently 0-6 in the WBAL. Team awards went to Andrew Cheplyansky (MVP), Asmit Kumar (Eagle), and Karthik Nukala (Coaches), all grade 6.
Wrestling is coached by Karriem Stinson and Jason Mendel. Team awards went to Anthony Contreras (MVP), grade 8; Kobe Howard (Eagle), grade 7, and Arjun Kilaru (Coaches), grade 7.
This report submitted by Vandana Kadam, Harker math teacher. Kadam coached the state championship team and will coach them for the national competition. This is her fourth competition; in 2011, she led the California team to the national championship.
Harker’s team is the 2014 state MathCounts champion, a repeat of 2008 and 2011 victories for Harker.
Last Saturday, Harker’s MathCounts team was represented at the state MathCounts competition by Jimmy Lin, Rajiv Movva, Shaya Zarkesh, all grade 8, and Katherine Tian, grade 7. In addition to the Harker team members, Jerry Chen, grade 8, went in as an independent competitor. Everyone performed exceptionally well.
Movva placed second among the top 10 individuals and will represent California in the national competition to be held May 8-10 in Orlando, Fla. Zarkesh placed 14th and Lin was ranked 23rd (just two points behind Zarkesh).
It was a tough competition, with Cupertino, Redwood and Miller schools also fielding extremely strong teams. Harker beat defending state champion William Hopkins School from Fremont, and also passed champions Miller and Redwood to clinch the No. 1 spot. The point separation between the top four teams was small so it was a nail-biting finish for Harker, giving it the flavor of March Madness! Harker had the best performance of all the teams in the entire state.
The top four teams were all from the Santa Clara chapter, with three more teams from this chapter among the top 10 teams in the Northern California competition.
The top 175 students (34 teams, including all chapter champions, and 39 top independents) from 14 different chapters from Northern California participated in the competition at Stanford.
A similar number of students from 12 different chapters from Southern California participated in the same contest held on March 15 at University of California, Irvine. The top 10 students were recognized at each of these venues. Four top students from these 300-plus students (both venues) were chosen to be part of the California team to go to the national MathCounts competition in Orlando.
All four of these toppers came from Northern California and, as hard as it is to believe, three of these students are from our Santa Clara chapter. There was a tie for first place with four students scoring 43 out of 46 points. (Rankings were then determined based on which problems they had missed, giving more weight to harder problems.) Movva was one of the students who scored 43. Joining Movva in representing California at the national competition will be students from Cupertino Middle School, Raymond J. Fisher Middle School in Los Gatos and Harvest Park Middle School in Pleasanton.
Saturday’s success is highly encouraging. Most of these students have been with the MathCounts program for two years and the title of California state champions is well deserved for each one of them. This is an incredible achievement for the students and for the school.
Please congratulate them on their accomplishment, and thank you all for your support.
On March 2, Harker held the 13th annual Diana Nichols Math Invitational for grades 6-8. More than 300 students from 16 schools attended, including 52 competing teams and four non-competing teams.
In the individual grade 6 event, Harker students Cynthia Chen and Jeffrey Kwan took first and fourth place, respectively. Meanwhile, Rose Guan and Katherine Zhang took first and third place, respectively, in the individual grade 7 event.
In the team contests, Harker’s grade 6 team of Gabriel Chai, Cynthia Chen, Grace Huang, Matthew Jin, Jeffrey Kwan, Eileen Li and Vani Mohindra took second place. The grade 7 team of Rose Guan, Jason Huang, Leon Lu, Kaushik Shivakumar, Cindy Wang, Alexander Young and Katherine Zhang took first in their contest. Finally Harker’s grade 8 team of Michael Kwan, Edgar Lin, Sahana Srinivasan, David Wen and Randy Zhao finished second in the grade 8 team event.
Mar. 19, 2014 In mid-February, Shafieen Ibrahim, grade 7, participated in the 2014 US Amateur Team West chess tournament, winning two games to help his team advance to the playoffs. Ibrahim needed only one win for his team to advance, but he won two games in a row against higher-rated players. His NorCal House Team now moves on to Nationals. Last year at Nationals, the team beat Princeton to become the National Champions. “We were at a loss for words when Coach Ted Castro of NorCal House of Chess informed us that Shafieen was selected for this very high-profile team as their board four player,” said him mom, Zeba. Playoffs are on March 29. Good luck Shafieen!
The following was submitted by Harker parent Sanjay Sengupta (Anooshree, grade 8): Last weekend, Harker middle school teams Raining Sunshine and EagleBots won the California State VEX Robotics Tournament championship hosted at the Great America Park in Santa Clara, Calif. Raining Sunshine team members (all grade 8) are: Maya Kumar, Mona Lee, Anooshree Sengupta, Jessica Susai and Aria Coalson. EagleBots team members (all grade 7) are: Rithvik Panchapakesan, Christopher Gong, Andrew Chang and Kaushik Shivakumar.
At the State Championship, Raining Sunshine won every qualifying match and ranked at the top of the field of 27 teams from across California. They received four awards including the State Tournament Championship, the Think Award for the best autonomous program, the Amaze Award for overall robot quality, and the Robot Skills Award for robot driving skills. Going into the elimination rounds, they selected as their alliance partners the EagleBots from Harker Middle School and the GrizzlyBots from Grange Middle School in Fairfield. The alliance proved to be invincible as they cruised through the elimination rounds without giving up a single match, and won the Tournament Champions Award.
Prior to this, Raining Sunshine won the Champions Award at the VEX Middle School Tournament held in Fairfield, CA on February 22. The team also took home the Programming Skills and Robot Skills awards at that event. The win in Fairfield qualified the team to compete in the California State Championship.
Now, with the State Championship in the bag, the teams move on to the VEX World Championship Tournament in Anaheim California April 24-26. The World event hosts over 140 middle school teams from many states across the US as well as teams from the Americas, China, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore.
VEX Robotics is the leading and fastest growing robotics program for middle school and high school level students. VEX Robotics competitions are held in cities, states and countries all over the world. In addition to providing a platform to learn engineering and programming, a VEX Robotics project encourages teamwork, leadership and problem solving.
Last year, as a participant in Harker’s Summer Camp+ program, grade 6 student Jeremy Ding wrote a letter to President Obama about the dangers of smoking. It was part of a summer language art class assignment and Ding was both surprised and thrilled when, in early February, he received a letter from the president in response.
The letter thanked Ding for writing and explained that finding new ways to help both children and adults lead healthy lives has been a priority for the Obama administration. In addition to discussing the Affordable Care Act, the letter highlighted the first lady’s Let’s Move! initiative, which teams up with schools and communities nationwide to help ensure kids are getting enough healthy food and exercise.
“It was plain amazing. After that, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Maybe many people receive these letters, but it would still be (I think) a minority,” said Ding, about his experience receiving the response from the president.
On March 14, the Harker community united for the eighth-annual Harker Cancer Walk. The symbolic effort, held on the middle school field, netted more than $12,000 for Camp Okizu, a record-breaking total.
“It was an unprecedented amount. We have never cleared the five-digit figure before, but this year we … shot past it like a rocket. That’s enough to send as many as 15 children to Camp Okizu, which makes me so delighted, I can’t keep from smiling!” enthusedMichael Schmidt, middle school computer science teacher. He had the idea for the fundraiser following the passing of his mother due to cancer.
Students, parents, faculty, staff and family members from all of Harker’s campuses walked in support of Camp Okizu, which for more than 30 years has provided peer support, respite, mentoring and recreational programs for those affected by childhood cancer.
“This very special summer camp provides the facilities of a hospital, while also providing wide open countryside and camp activities to the children and their families. It’s a place where campers can run, swim, kayak and just be a kid. It costs roughly $700 to $1,000 to send one child to this camp,” reported Schmidt.
Participants wore ribbons and music played throughout the event. To supplement direct donations, volunteers sold T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wristbands.
In a special activity following the walk, all of the advisories made gifts for camp members. Harker students diligently prepared some 150 wooden photo frame decoration kits for use by campers and their families.
“Eight years ago, we started an event at the middle school called the Harker Cancer Walk. It brought the entire campus together in the name of cancer awareness. Cancer is a disease that is vast and, in one form or another, touches nearly everyone. It can be a heart-wrenching experience when neighbors, co-workers, friends and loved ones are struck with this potentially devastating diagnosis,” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head.
Ellis explained that prior to the event, advisories had been busy decorating the “biggest Cancer Walk poster ever created.” The result of the collaborative effort – a poster that was 8 feet tall by more than 30 feet wide – hung on the gym wall from March 10-14.
“Harker was good enough to let me start this event after my mom passed away in 2006 and it has been used as a healing process for me and many others over the years. I’m honored to keep up the tradition,” said Schmidt.
Located in the Berry Creek area of the Sierra Foothills and mirroring a residential camp experience, Camp Okizu provides a safe place for young cancer patients to enjoy regular camp activities and social events. The name Okizu (oak-eye-zoo) comes from the Sioux language and means unity. For more information about the camp, go to: http://www.okizu.org/about.
On March 14, the Harker community united for the eighth-annual Harker Cancer Walk. The symbolic effort, held on the middle school field, netted more than $12,000 for Camp Okizu, a record-breaking total.
“It was an unprecedented amount. We have never cleared the five-digit figure before, but this year we … shot past it like a rocket. That’s enough to send as many as 15 children to Camp Okizu, which makes me so delighted, I can’t keep from smiling!” enthusedMichael Schmidt, middle school computer science teacher. He had the idea for the fundraiser following the passing of his mother due to cancer.
Students, parents, faculty, staff and family members from all of Harker’s campuses walked in support of Camp Okizu, which for more than 30 years has provided peer support, respite, mentoring and recreational programs for those affected by childhood cancer.
“This very special summer camp provides the facilities of a hospital, while also providing wide open countryside and camp activities to the children and their families. It’s a place where campers can run, swim, kayak and just be a kid. It costs roughly $700 to $1,000 to send one child to this camp,” reported Schmidt.
Participants wore ribbons and music played throughout the event. To supplement direct donations, volunteers sold T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wristbands.
In a special activity following the walk, all of the advisories made gifts for camp members. Harker students diligently prepared some 150 wooden photo frame decoration kits for use by campers and their families.
“Eight years ago, we started an event at the middle school called the Harker Cancer Walk. It brought the entire campus together in the name of cancer awareness. Cancer is a disease that is vast and, in one form or another, touches nearly everyone. It can be a heart-wrenching experience when neighbors, co-workers, friends and loved ones are struck with this potentially devastating diagnosis,” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head.
Ellis explained that prior to the event, advisories had been busy decorating the “biggest Cancer Walk poster ever created.” The result of the collaborative effort – a poster that was 8 feet tall by more than 30 feet wide – hung on the gym wall from March 10-14.
“Harker was good enough to let me start this event after my mom passed away in 2006 and it has been used as a healing process for me and many others over the years. I’m honored to keep up the tradition,” said Schmidt.
Located in the Berry Creek area of the Sierra Foothills and mirroring a residential camp experience, Camp Okizu provides a safe place for young cancer patients to enjoy regular camp activities and social events. The name Okizu (oak-eye-zoo) comes from the Sioux language and means unity. For more information about the camp, go to: http://www.okizu.org/about.
On March 14, the Harker community united for the eighth-annual Harker Cancer Walk. The symbolic effort, held on the middle school field, netted more than $12,000 for Camp Okizu, a record-breaking total.
“It was an unprecedented amount. We have never cleared the five-digit figure before, but this year we … shot past it like a rocket. That’s enough to send as many as 15 children to Camp Okizu, which makes me so delighted, I can’t keep from smiling!” enthusedMichael Schmidt, middle school computer science teacher. He had the idea for the fundraiser following the passing of his mother due to cancer.
Students, parents, faculty, staff and family members from all of Harker’s campuses walked in support of Camp Okizu, which for more than 30 years has provided peer support, respite, mentoring and recreational programs for those affected by childhood cancer.
“This very special summer camp provides the facilities of a hospital, while also providing wide open countryside and camp activities to the children and their families. It’s a place where campers can run, swim, kayak and just be a kid. It costs roughly $700 to $1,000 to send one child to this camp,” reported Schmidt.
Participants wore ribbons and music played throughout the event. To supplement direct donations, volunteers sold T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wristbands.
In a special activity following the walk, all of the advisories made gifts for camp members. Harker students diligently prepared some 150 wooden photo frame decoration kits for use by campers and their families.
“Eight years ago, we started an event at the middle school called the Harker Cancer Walk. It brought the entire campus together in the name of cancer awareness. Cancer is a disease that is vast and, in one form or another, touches nearly everyone. It can be a heart-wrenching experience when neighbors, co-workers, friends and loved ones are struck with this potentially devastating diagnosis,” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head.
Ellis explained that prior to the event, advisories had been busy decorating the “biggest Cancer Walk poster ever created.” The result of the collaborative effort – a poster that was 8 feet tall by more than 30 feet wide – hung on the gym wall from March 10-14.
“Harker was good enough to let me start this event after my mom passed away in 2006 and it has been used as a healing process for me and many others over the years. I’m honored to keep up the tradition,” said Schmidt.
Located in the Berry Creek area of the Sierra Foothills and mirroring a residential camp experience, Camp Okizu provides a safe place for young cancer patients to enjoy regular camp activities and social events. The name Okizu (oak-eye-zoo) comes from the Sioux language and means unity. For more information about the camp, go to: http://www.okizu.org/about.
Each year grade 8 Latin students participate in contests sponsored by Ancient Coins for Education (ACE). Harker students Edgar Lin and Praveen Batra were named school winners in ACE’s recent essay contest.
Batra’s essay on Roman emperor Tiberius went on to win first place in the junior category, according to middle school Latin teacher Lisa Masoni. Both students received ancient Roman coins as prizes.
ACE’s goal is to encourage learning about the classical world through the use of primary sources. This is achieved by providing ancient coins for the students to identify and holding essay contests throughout the year.
Meanwhile, at the upper school, Harker recently received results from the National Classical Etymology Exam, which students in grade 9 and 10 took late last year. Fourteen Harker students participated in exam, sponsored by the National Junior Classical League, reported upper school Latin teacher John Hawley.
“The exam is designed to test a student’s ability to handle both Latin and Greek derivatives and their usage in the English language,” he said.
Of the 14 participants, 13 received either gold or silver medals for their prowess. Advanced level students who earned gold medals are Kevin Duraiswamy and Helena Huang, both grade 12, and Sophia Shatas, grade 11. Silver medals went to Tiffany Chu and Sreyas Misra, both grade 12, and Maya Nandakumar, grade 11.
Intermediate level students who earned gold medals are Rishabh Chandra, Elisabeth Siegel and Allison Wang, all grade 10, and Venkat Sankar and Arjun Subramaniam, grade 9. Silver medals went to grade 9 students Aditya Dhar and Nikhil Manglik.
This story was submitted by Harker middle school math teacher Vandana Kadam.
Harker students had great success at the Mathcounts chapter level contest in mid-February. Harker brought a team of four students, as well as six others who participated as individuals. This year, seven grade 8 and three grade 7 students represented Harker. The team comprised Jimmy Lin, Rajiv Movva and Shaya Zarkesh, all grade 8, and Katherine Tian, grade 7.
The individual participants were grade 8 students Jerry Chen, Michael Kwan, Jeffrey Ma and and Randy Zhao, as well as grade 7 students Rose Guan and Cindy Wang. Everyone performed exceptionally well. The Santa Clara Valley Chapter is known to be the toughest chapter for Mathcounts nationwide, with about 430 students from 52 schools participating. Harker’s team placed fourth in the chapter behind Miller Middle School, Cupertino Middle School and Redwood Middle School, who were all within three points of each another. Harker’s team will head to the state competition on March 22 at Stanford University.
In addition to the four team members, Chen will go to the state competition as an individual participant (not on the regular team) due to his excellent performance at the chapter competition. Also noteworthy is that Movva placed first in the countdown round, in which a group of students is given 45 seconds to answer a question. The student who buzzes first gets to answer and, if they answer correctly, they move to the next round. Prior to the final round, there were several rounds where the first student to answer two out of three problems correctly was declared the winner. In the Santa Clara Valley Chapter, students buzz within the first three seconds of the question being shown on the projector, creating pressure to buzz quickly and give the correct answer. The students worked very hard to reach this level of success, even attending weekend training sessions and after-school sessions since September.