Virtually the entire population of the Blackford campus arrived at the field on April 24 for the third annual Harker Cancer Walk. Students, parents, faculty and staff all showed up with their walking shoes on to raise money for Camp Okizu, an organization that provides recreational activities and peer support to families with cancer-stricken children.
Money was raised by selling t-shirts, wrist bands and bake sale items, as well as through donations, which were still being collected after the event concluded. The current total is $9,677, most of which was raised on the day of the Cancer Walk. “I continue to be humbled by the level of giving from this community as this year we raised even more than we have in the past,” said MS computer science teacher Michael Schmidt, who began coordinating the Cancer Walk in 2007 after his mother passed away battling the disease the previous year. “In fact, we achieved an unprecedented feat – we sold out of everything! I think the teachers would have sold the tables and chairs if possible.”
The event had visitors from the Bucknall and Saratoga campuses as well, making it a collaborative schoolwide effort. As a highlight, Schmidt performed a special victory dance, and was soon joined by dozens of others to bring the event to a fittingly celebratory close.
“It is truly a blessing to find myself amongst such a wonderful group of people,” Schmidt said. “The outpouring of support for the Cancer Walk is why it’s such a wonderful time.”
There is lots to report on the MS sports front following the end of the late winter sports season.
MS Girls Basketball
According to coach Tang Kitporka, the Gr. 8 girls varsity A team had lots of fun this season, playing their best to a 3-7 overall record. Priscilla Auyeung, Jacqueline Jordan and Shreya Vemuri were key players throughout the great season.
The Gr. 7 girls of the varsity B team, coached by Loreen Talagtag and Joe Mentillo, went undefeated with a record of 10-0 this season. They took first place in the WBAL league season and won the WBAL tournament, defeating Woodland School in the finals! Standout players included Regina Chen, Nithya Vemireddy and Mercedes Chien.
MS Boys Soccer
The Gr. 8 varsity A soccer team, coached by Manny Martinez, ended their season undefeated with a record of 9-0-1 this season. They took first place in the WBAL league and even beat a tough St. Joseph’s Sacred Heart team, who has not lost a match in years, 1-0. Their combined scoring total was 47 goals to 12 for their opponents. The team was led by Andy Perez, Michael Amick, Baris Demirlioglu and Kiran Arimilli.
The Gr. 7 varsity B boys, coached by Chris Fanara, had a respectable season at 4-4 overall. All of their games were close games and they did not lose any match by more than one goal. They finished the season with a convincing victory over non-league opponent San Jose Christian, 4-1. The team was led by Kevin Mohanram, Jeffrey Hanke and Kevin Moss.
Coach Cyrus Merrill reported, ”The sixth grade boys junior varsity A team scored more total goals this year than in both prior seasons!” Nikhil Kishore scored three goals in just one game. The team also received strong play from the defensive midfield play of Rishabh Jain and the vocal leadership of sweeper Allen Huang. The boys really began incorporating their one-touch passing and foot skills, focal points of Merrill’s training, into their play, even eliciting a compliment from a referee who commented on their improvement in play from the beginning up until the end of the season. Merrill summarized, “Although they ended up with a losing record, they did defeat a traditionally strong team from up the peninsula and they scored three goals against perennial soccer power Menlo. Although they lost the game they put a considerable scare into the opposition!”
MS Wrestling
Although wrestling is an early winter sport, the short season finished too late for last month’s issue. Coaches Karriem Stinson and James Arballo are excited about the progress of this year’s wrestlers. In two back-to-back weekends of impressive wrestling, the boys indicated the strong future of Harker wrestling. At the Mission Hills tournament Harker took fifth out of 16 teams with only 11 wrestlers. Baris Demirlioglu and Michael Chen, Gr. 8, and Koshu Takatsuji, Gr. 7, went undefeated at 5-0. At the New Brighton Classic, Harker had four second place finishers (Demirlioglu, Nikhil Baradwaj, Canaan Linder and Christian Lantzsch, all Gr. 8); Daniel Wang, both Gr. 8, took third place, with Corey Gonzales, Gr. 6 and Chen both placing fourth.
Sierra Lincoln, Gr. 8, hauled in three awards at the VEX Robotics Championship of the Americas, held April 2-4 in Omaha, Neb. Lincoln won the Tournament Finalist Award, Second Place, in addition to being named the Programming Skills Champion and Robot Skills Champion.
The Gr. 8 trek to China was once again a gratifying and memorable experience for all involved.
After arriving in Shanghai, students had the opportunity to explore the city, see the sights, sample local eateries and of course, shop. On Monday morning, the students went to Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School (SWFLMS), whose own students treated them to a singing of their national anthem and school song. Harker students then got to learn about Chinese opera and play various instruments in the school’s Chinese music class.
The next day, students observed lessons and picked up a few more phrases to add to their Mandarin repertoire. They also got to view some fabulous artifacts and works of art at the Shanghai Museum, and some even made attempts to barter with the locals!
Tuesday’s real treat, however, was an acrobatic show that wowed those in attendance. “From hoops and trapeze to trampolines and motorcycles it was definitely a feast for the eyes!” said Jennifer Abraham, global education director.
The following day, the Harker group got to watch the SWFLMS students do their morning exercises. “It was quite a sight to see with hundreds of kids quickly, yet quietly, exiting the school and lining up on the sports field,” Abraham said.
More class observations followed, with some Harker students sitting in on an English class session. “The kids have commented on several differences between our two schools,” Abraham noted. “The two things that apparently stand out the most are that the teachers change classrooms, and not the students, and that they have a full 10 minutes between classes.”
Later that day, some students learned how to sing in Chinese during one of the language classes. “Surprisingly,” Abraham said, “the boys really got into singing!”
On Thursday, the group visited Zhujiajiao, an ancient water town famous for its boat-filled canals and centuries-old bridges built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. During their stay, the students bought fish to let free in the river along with a wish, and took a boat ride through the town’s canals.
Friday kicked off with a visit to the Wahaha bottled drinks factory. From there, it was off to the Six Harmonies Pagoda, originally constructed more than 1,000 years ago. “The kids raced to the top of the pagoda where they were able to take pictures of the West Lake below,” Abraham said. The group continued to a tea plantation to sample and buy various types of tea, in addition to learning about the process of making tea leaves. After a quick visit to the Chinese Medicine Museum, the tired group headed home.
To celebrate their final day with the Shanghai students, the SWFLMS threw a farewell party that included singing, dancing, heartfelt speeches and poetry.
The group began the following week in Beijing, with a visit to the famous Temple of Heaven. “Walking to the Temple was very entertaining!” Abraham reported. “We stopped to watch people dancing, with a few of our students giving it a try. We followed a long corridor passing older people playing cards, talking and generally just enjoying themselves.”
Afterward, the group visited a family living in Beijing’s “hutongs,” narrow streets and alleys lined with courtyard homes. “We all packed into their living room and, through a translator, spent the next half hour asking all sorts of questions,” Abraham recalled. “The kids had great questions ranging from the one-child policy to experiencing the Cultural Revolution to Chinese perception of Americans. The man was very honest and interesting to talk to.”
As they left the hutongs on rickshaws, the drivers decided to have a little fun and race one another. “It was a sight to see, with 12 rickshaws racing through the very narrow alleys,” said Abraham. “We all had a good laugh and lots of fun.”
The next two days yielded more amazing sights. Students visited the Great Wall of China and took in the fabulous views offered by the ancient fortification. They then took toboggans to the foot of the mountain, where they picked up some souvenirs before heading back to the city. The following day included a visit to Tiananmen Square and the Chinese imperial palace, also known as the Forbidden City.
The group wound up their trip to Beijing with a brief visit to the Summer Palace before returning to prepare for the trip home.
Spirit Week, that rite of spring and the bridge between spring break and Memorial Day, arrived after a week of wet weather, and students were ready to show their spirit! Each day had a special free dress-up theme as well as an activity for the advisories or Houses to compete in. The overall winning advisory – not available at press time – received an extra-abundant Black Ford (this is a custom-painted pedal car stuffed with goodies that resides in the winning advisory’s homeroom). Monday was sports day (no lacrosse sticks allowed), Tuesday was clashing clothes and crazy hair day, Wednesday was pajama day, Thursday was dress for the decade and Friday was rock star day. In keeping with the rock star theme, Friday culminated with a magnificent lip sync contest that got the whole school laughing!
On Feb. 25, 35 MS students took the American Mathematics Competitions AMC-10B test. Some also participated in the AMC-10A contest held on Feb. 10. Sierra Lincoln, Pranav Sharma, Ashvin Swaminathan and Wilbur Yang, all Gr. 8, and Vikram Sundar and Alex Pei, both Gr. 7, each scored 120 or higher and were invited to take the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) which was held on March 17. Results of the AIME were not available at Harker News press time.
Angela Gu, Gr. 6, and seventh graders Travis Chen, Rahul Sridhar and Nathan Wong also had very high scores but missed the AIME qualification score by very few points.
MS students also participated in the annual Santa Clara Valley Math Association contest on March 21. Students were competing with high schoolers in the area for the Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and Geometry contests. The team comprising Deniz Celik, Gr. 8 and Pei placed fourth in the Leap Frog contest. Wong placed fifth in the Algebra 2 contest and Chen placed twelfth in Geometry. Allison Wong, Gr. 5, placed 10th in the Algebra 1 contest. Harker MS placed third overall in this competition.
In early April, Gr. 6 students used their school laptops to work on experiments that they designed themselves. “This is the first year that the sixth grade has had laptop computers and they are an amazing resource for learning science by doing science,” said Daniel Sommer, who, along with colleague Ben Morgensen, is running the activities in their science classes. “The students have already completed seven computer-based labs this year, but this week they got to ask a scientific question and design an experiment to test their own hypothesis,” said Sommer.
“My students probably completed 30-plus different experiments today related to heat, heat transfer, magnetism, density, temperature of a chemical reaction, and basic physical proper ties of matter,” he added. “This was a great culminating activity for ever ything students have learned about experimental design, especially identifying their experimental variable and controlling variables.”
“It also gave them an opportunity to demonstrate their ability to use the Logger Lite data collection software we have been using this year,” said Sommer. ”I am sure ‘design your own experiment’ week will be a highlight of the sixth grade science curriculum for many years to come.”
San Jose Taiko returned with their high-energy Japanese style drumming to the MS gym in early April. The group last performed at Harker in 2005. On this visit, students enjoyed the deep rhythms only a big drum can provide and learned the history behind the ritual performances as well.
Over fifty Harker MS students received awards at the National Latin Exam this year, including 11 gold medals and two per fect papers. The exam was taken by more than 135,000 students from the U.S. and 11 foreign countries.
Introduction to Latin (Gr. 6 except where noted): Outstanding Achievement: Ben Montrym (per fect paper), Aadyot Bhatnagar, Tiara Bhatacharya, Sahana Rangarajan, Madhuri Nori, Simran Singh, Angela Gu, Christopher Sund, Gr. 8, Jackelyn Shen, Lydia Werthen, Gr. 8, Maya Nandakumar; Achievement: Divyahans Gupta, Eric Holt, Reena Sandhu, Neel Bedekar, Rasika Raghavan, Annirudh Ankola, Sahithya Prakash, Gr. 7
Latin I (Gr. 7 except where noted): Gold/Summa Cum Laude – Oishi Banerjee, Kevin Duraiswamy, Helena Huang, Pranav Batra; Silver/Maxima Cum Laude – Saachi Jain, Brian Tuan, Richard Min, Sarika Bajaj, Arthur Shau, Connie Li, Anika Ayyar; Magna Cum Laude – Andrew Wang, Shenel Ekici, Urvi Gupta, Nikhil Dilip; Cum Laude – Tiffany Chu, Allison Chang, Piyush Prasad Gr. 8, Charles Manchester, Simon Orr, Gr. 8
Latin 2 (Gr. 8): Gold/Summa Cum Laude – Pranav Sharma (per fect paper for the third year), Ashvin Swaminathan, Anuj Sharma, Jenny Chen, Niharika Bedekar, Shannon Su, Michael Cheng; Silver/Maxima Cum Laude – Richard Fan, Suchita Nety, Jonathan Cho, Nikhil Baradwaj, Rahul Desirazu, Eric Zhang, Sean Fernandes, Ravi Tadinada; Magna Cum Laude – Nisha Bhikha; Cum Laude – Jacob Hoffman, Laura Pedrotti
In late March, several bags of toiletries were donated to the Gloria Travis Shelter for Women and Children. MS history teacher Pat White organized the donation with 11 of her Gr. 7 advisory students. The students collected items such as toothpaste, soap, shampoo and other items that were acquired by students, faculty and staff during the holiday break.
White’s advisor y helped sort and bag the items, three full shopping bags of which were donated during the week of March 30. The donation project continues throughout the year, and White expects that another donation will be made before the summer break.