Anika Gupta, Gr. 8, sang at an October fundraiser for the Akshaya Patra organization, which works to combat hunger and improve education in India. There, Gupta also got to meet keynote speaker Narayana Murthy, founder of the information technology services company Infosys and the highly regarded “Bill Gates of India.” The event raised more than $500,000 and Gupta’s performance of the Dionne Warwick hit “That’s What Friends are For” was enthusiastically received.
Instead of kicking back their feet and embracing the week-long idleness that is spring break, a group of middle school students dedicated their time to social justice and organized a Peace2Peace garage sale at Blackford on March 17.
Honoring Liza’s Home in Bangalore, India, Peace2Peace students placed bins around the school and collected lightly-used goods to sell. Liza’s Home houses orphan girls with mental and physical disabilities, and runs solely on donations and money from these young girls’ handmade crafts. The proceeds from the garage sale will go directly to providing these young women with more food and resources.
Students at the middle school recently participated in an assembly featuring crime prevention specialists from the San Jose Police Department. The main topic was Internet safety, but other forms of digital media safety were also covered. The SJPD experts urged students to use the Internet responsibly.
Digital media, including television and radio, has a considerable effect on children, one that is often overlooked. A letter was sent home in conjunction with the assembly asking parents to discuss these issues with their children.
One of the major themes was cyber bullying and what students can do to identify and stop it. Students were asked to think about how they use the Internet and television, and were urged to talk with their parents about how media can influence their choices.
Regina Chen, Gr. 8, took the silver medal in the Youth-14 women’s sabre event at the Super Youth Circuit tournament held at the San Jose Convention Center in late March. The second place finish earned her national points and qualified her to fence in the Summer National Championships in July in the Y14WS bracket.
Chen stands fourth in the adjusted Bay Cup rankings for Y14WS and also fences in Regional Youth Circuit events. She also earned the gold medal in the Central California Division Senior (adult) Women’s Div 2 and 3 Summer National qualifier in late February, earning an E-10 rating. Ratings start at E and climb to A; Chen was previously unrated (U). She is now qualified to fence as a senior in both Division 2 (C-rated and under) and Division 3 (D-rated and under) WS events. Chen trains at Cardinal Fencing Club on the Stanford University campus.
Don Chamberlin, a retired IBM fellow and scientist visited Raji Swaminathan’s middle school science classes on March 11 for the third time in as many years. Chamberlin, who holds a Ph.D. from Stanford in electrical engineering, talked to the students about engineering as a career choice and the importance of studying math and science. Chamberlin is a staunch proponent of getting more women interested in engineering careers.
Students discussed several “cool” and “not cool” things about engineering, and did an activity where they estimated how many plastic balls could into Swaminathan’s classroom “to a great degree of precision using various estimation techniques.” Finally, Chamberlin shared with the class a five-minute movie clip made by his colleague John Cohn, who is also an IBM fellow. Titled “Engineering Paradise,” it uses rap music to send an inspiring message to students to study math and science and become engineers.
Dance Jamz, the annual middle school dance show, wowed audiences in early March, as nearly 150 dancers from all middle school grade levels performed a series of elaborate routines, covering several dance styles. The students performed a total of three shows from March 4-6, first showcasing their talents for Gr. 5, then entertaining their middle school classmates and finally performing for friends and family.
Directed by middle school dance teacher Gail Palmer, with co-direction by dance teachers Amalia Vasconi and Karl Kuehn, the show highlighted a number of different styles, including swing, contemporary modern, musical theater and hip hop, with elements of Bollywood and Latin.
The dynamic lighting by middle school performing arts teacher Paul Vallerga brought more flair to each performance, such as the silhouetted group of dancers that took the stage during the hip-hop portion of the show. Harker’s production manager Brian Larsen handled sound for the event. Dance Jamz, as usual, was a hit with both students and parents alike, who were thrilled to see the talented young dancers perform their hearts out onstage!
Latin student Helena Huang, Gr. 8, was announced the winner of last year’s Ancient Coins for Education (ACE) fall essay contest. Every year Gr. 8 Latin students participate in the ACE program, the goal of which is to encourage learning about the classical world through the use of primary sources. This is achieved not only by providing ancient coins for the students to identify but through essay contests held throughout the year. Huang wrote her essay on the Roman emperor Gallienus, and she noted she is fascinated by “the historical [and] cultural information you can obtain from the designs and inscriptions on each side [of the coins].” As recognition for her achievement, Huang recently received both a coin and a certificate.
Prior to the MLK break, middle school students were invited to post their feelings regarding Martin Luther King, Jr. online. The prompt, “Martin Luther King inspires me to …” garnered over three dozen posts. Students’ advisors encouraged them to post, and they could add their names or do so anonymously. The majority of the responses center on the ideals of hard work, determination and equal rights, all of which were central to King’s teachings. The wall can be viewed online at www.wallwisher.com/wall/harker.
Katherine Paseman, Gr. 8, has been selected as a member of this year’s Organization of American Kodaly Educators’ (OAKE) National Youth Choir. The OAKE National Youth Choir is one of three honor choirs that perform at the annual OAKE national conference. This year’s conference will be held in Dallas, Texas, in March. Those selected must audition via a recording, then a selection committee from OAKE goes through recordings from throughout the nation and selects about 150 members for this special ensemble. Paseman is the only middle school student selected from Crystal Choir to attend this Honor Youth Choir.
Varsity A Soccer Varsity A soccer had an exciting season, led by Mercedes Chien and Urvi Gupta, both Gr. 8, and Alyssa Amick, and Gabi Gupta, both Gr. 7. Coach Chrissy Chang, reports, “We faced many tough opponents but were still able to put the ball in the back of the net.” She added, “Every player contributed to our awesome soccer season.“ Nikita Parulkar, Gr. 7, was a big contributor with her offensive arsenal, while Claudia Tischler and Alicia Clark, both Gr. 8, played outstanding offense and defense for the lady Eagles.
Basketball
The Gr. 6 boys basketball team finished the season strong after battling injuries early in the year. Early in the season, they lost Jacob Diaz with a shoulder injury, and sustained many other minor injuries to key players. After overcoming these setbacks, the Eagles rebounded through the leadership of superstars Nicholas LaBruna and Rohan Desikan to finish strong in league. Coach Walid Fahmy, said, “Overall, the season was a great success. Look out for these boys as they move on to seventh grade!”
Coach Mousa Katwan credits the camaradarie of the JV B1 team for helping them finish the season strongly. On December 14, the boys beat Saint Joseph’s Sacred Heart in the WBAL tournament, after losing to them twice earlier in the season. Katwan remarked, “Strong play down low from Alex Mo gave us an advantage on offense, while the strength and heart of Nick Bean on defense stopped opposing teams’ efforts. Overall the boys learned a lot and grew together while having fun.”
The Gr. 4 team got off to a slow start with only two days of practice before the team’s first game. Coach Jim McGovern reported, however, “The boys jelled quickly and worked on playing an exciting fast-break style of basketball.” Although the season record was 3-5, the boys were very close to flipping those numbers as two losses were only by one point each. Standout performances were by Eric Andrus, who received the Eagle award for his outstanding effort and team play all season long, and Sid Chari and Brando Pakel who received Coaches awards for their extraordinary defense and hustle. McGovern added, “I look forward to the continued effort and love for the game by this group of players.”
Jan. 26 2001 The lower and middle schools’ early winter sports of boys basketball and girls soccer recently concluded with some impressive results from our young athletes; but first, some wrapping-up information from last season:
Harker News Online mis-reported the varsity A flag football team final record. The team finished the season with an impressive 13-3-2 record.
The Gr. 4-5 JV girls softball team was league champion with a 5-1-1 record.
The cross country team, boys and girls, took second place overall at the WBAL meet at Bayfront Park in Menlo Park in mid-October.
Both boys and girls swim teams, Gr. 5-8, took third place at the end-of-season WBAL meet at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep in San Francisco in Mid-October.
On to this season!
MS Basketball In middle school boys basketball the Gr. 8 varsity A team finished 3-7. In the last game, the boys lost to Pinewood in the in the fifth-place game of the WBAL tournament. The team was led in scoring all season long by Brian Bither, who was also the team’s best defender. One big blow to the team came when starting forward Kevin Moss broke his finger at the beginning of winter vacation and was unable to play for the remainder of the season. In his place, Huck Vaughan and Adarsh Battu stepped up and played much bigger roles in his stead to complement the team’s other primary forward, Sean Youn. The team’s Gr. 7 player, lefthander Eric Holt, showed a great deal of promise for the future and had a couple of strong games, including one in the WBAL playoff game versus Crystal Springs. Nick Navarro and John Hughes shared the other guard spot most of the season, and Ashwin Chalaka played a supporting role, along with Travis Chen. Kevin Duraiswamy also provided some help early in the season before moving on to success in debate. The team’s three victories came against Pinewood, Crystal Springs and Woodside Priory.
According to coach Greg Lawson, “The varsity A squad improved defensively over the course of the season, but were frustrated at times by difficulty putting the ball in the basket.” He added, ”There was wonderful and broad support from the boys’ parents, who were regulars at every game. I want to make sure that they know how much I and the boys appreciated their presence and support.” Lawson added that he also thanks the boys for their effort and hard work throughout the season.
The Gr. 7 varsity B team finished league play 7-0 making them league champs!The Gr. 7 varsity B2 team finished 3-4, and our Gr. 7 varsity B3 team finished 1-6. In Gr. 6, our JV A team finished 2-7 and our JV B team finished 4-5.
LS Basketball Our Gr. 5 JV B1 team finished 4-4, and the JV B2 team finished 2-7. The Gr. 4 JV C team finished 3-5.
Coaches Tobias Wade, also a LS social studies teacher, and David Ramos both enjoyed the season with the B2 team. “Our boys practiced and played hard,” Wade reported. “Even though our record did not have as many wins as we wanted, we gave our best effort. We left everything we had on the court. It was a learning experience for our boys and everyone improved throughout the whole season.
“Our boys matured and developed both on and off the courts. Good sportsmanship and fun were a priority. I am proud of their effort, and have nothing but respect for them. Well done, guys!” Finally, the coaches thank all the parents for their help and support. Wade concluded, “We could not have done it without you!”
MS Soccer In middle school girls soccer our Gr. 8 varsity A team finished the season with a 2-5 record. The Gr. 7 varsity B team was 2-5 and Gr. 6 varsity A ended 1-5.
Coach Justin “Sully” Sullivan commented on the vast improvement of the Gr. 7 varsity B team, which showed in their strong finish of their final four games, where they won two of the four and nearly earned a draw in another. Excellent goaltending and field play by Savi Joshi was an important part of the team’s improvement.
Sullivan mentioned several field players as having particularly strong play, including Diba Massihpour, with excellent hustle and consistent hard play, Megy Appalaraju, who displayed dedication, hard work and a positive attitude and team leader Reena Sandhu, who had a late season goal streak. With several returning players, next year’s soccer season looks to be an exciting one.
Despite the season record of the JV A team, coach Cyrus Merrill, also a MS history and social science teacher, has many memories that show the strength and growth of his team. He recalls Mary Najibi incorporating scissors (a foot maneuver she learned in practice) “to burn by a defender,” and contributing fast runs down the flank, making nice crosses to Alisa Wakita,” who used her incredibly quick feet to score several goals. Regan Heslop was commended for a strong dominant lead in both the central defense and in helping to tutor the goalkeeper. Tong Wu never missed a practice and developed into a very tough outside defender and Ankita Sharma contributed a very strong leg on long crosses. Shannon Richardson played physically tough at forward and scored on one of the league’s toughest teams, while Jenny Kim helped anchor the defense with confidence and excellent ball control.
Merrill added, “The ladies played even with a number of the teams in the league and surprised many of them with early goals and strong play. We played a number of nail-biter games where we would either go ahead and the other team would come back to score goals to tie it up … or in dramatic fashion we scored three goals in the second half to come back and draw even with one of the other soccer powers in our league.” The girls enjoyed practicing next to the upper school girls soccer team at Blackford this season. Merrill noted, “These ladies should contribute in the years to come and to hopefully one day be members of the high school varsity soccer team.”
LS Soccer
The Gr. 5 JV B girls soccer team finished 5-0-1 to take the league championship! This makes it back-to-back league championships for the Gr. 5 girls softball and soccer teams this year. Coach Casey Henderson reports that goal keeper Marti Sutton was amazing and fearless of the ball. She also added, “The girls demonstrated a wide variety of skills and enthusiasm during the season. We can only be proud and hope that the girls continue to develop their skills for years to come.”
Henderson also coached the combined Gr. 4-5 intramural team. “The girls showed a lot of heart and love for the game. They were always in a great mood with their amazing encouragements for their fellow players. Vanessa Tyagi, Gr. 4 and Amrita Singh, Gr. 5, could always brighten the field.”