San Jose Mercury News: April 27, 2016 – Junior Niki Iyer is highlighted for her fourth place finish in the girls 1600-meter run at the CCS Top 8 Classic.
Pepperdinesports.com: April 16, 2016 – Izzy Connell ’13, now at Pepperdine, is highlighted for breaking a personal record in the 200-meter run at a recent track competition.
The Hindu: April 9, 2016 – Vignesh Panchanatham, grade 10, is the subject of a brief story about his win at the US Chess National High School Championships.
Last month, lower, middle and upper school dance groups got together for Just Dance, an annual performance for the Harker community. Groups who performed at the show were the grades 4-6 girls and boys group Dance Fusion, grades 7-8 girls group Showstoppers, grades 7-8 boys group High Voltage, the JV Dance Troupe, the grades 9-12 boys group Kinetic Krew and the Varsity Dance Troupe.
“Just Dance not only serves as another performance opportunity for our dancers,” said Kimberley Teodoro, K-8 dance teacher, “it’s a wonderful bonding experience for all of our dance teams from the lower school, middle school and high school that provides them with a sense of community and family.”
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Middle school library assistant Renee Ting was awarded a travel grant from the Public Library Association. Ting was one of 10 winners nationwide, selected based on essays about be- ing librarians and why they deserved to receive the grant. Ting received a free registration for the 2016 PLA Conference, held in Denver in April, and $1,000 to help with travel.
Middle school debate teacher Karina Momary was recently profiled in the 2015 edition of Rostrum, the National Speech and Debate Association’s quarterly magazine. In the story, she discusses her teaching method, the annual “Teamsgiving” event and how she got started in speech and debate. Read the whole story at https://issuu.com/speechanddebate/docs/2016_winter_rostrum_web.
In December, middle school soccer coach Brighid Wood worked as a team liaison for USA Soccer as China played the U.S. in the final two games of the World Cup’s Victory Series. She traveled to New Orleans for the final game of the series. Wood also has worked for legendary players such as Brandi Chastain, Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy.
Sandra Berkowitz earned a Second Diamond degree of membership in the National Speech & Debate Association’s Honor Society, based on points earned by students she coached. She will be recognized at the 2016 National Speech and Debate Tournament in Salt Lake City in June and in Rostrum, the association’s quarterly magazine.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Violinist Jessica Lee and pianist Reiko Uchida teamed up for a crowd-pleasing night Feb: 19 at this season’s second Harker Concert Series performance, which featured the works of composers from a variety of eras.
As the first piece of the evening began, Lee stood still with her instrument at her side while Uchida marched through the solemn opening chords. A slow uplift gave way to a weepy melody, accentuated by Lee’s superb vibrato and interpretive clarity. Their interplay soon drifted into a jaunt of arpeggios, tempo changes and volume swells. Lee’s and Uchida’s mastery of tone and technique served them well through these challenging sections, maintaining astonishing accuracy without losing the emotional impact. This was most apparent just past the midway point of the piece, with Lee’s melodies sweeping across the tapestry created by Uchida’s colorful piano work.
Sergei Prokofiev’s “Five Melodies” – “beautiful little jewels,” as Lee called them – began with a plaintive melody and chords that were written in sunny California but sounded more akin to a rainy day. Lee’s animated, dramatic interpretation lent a kind of imagery to Prokofiev’s melodies. The busy second movement brought to mind a busy city street, perhaps the kind the composer encountered while in 1920s Los Angeles. Speaking of busy, the frantic and anguished third movement called back to a Prokofiev quote Lee cited just before the piece began: “I am as ecstatic about California as it is about me.”
Lee prefaced her performance of Leoš Janácek’s “Sonata for violin and Piano” with a personal anecdote about her visit to the composer’s home in the Czech countryside. The piece, she said, contained “explosive fragments,” a result of Janácek’s interest in speech patterns, the various in ections of which found their way into this particular piece. Certainly, the piece often played out like a heated conversation between various parties, shifting moods, coming in ts and starts. It was unconventional material, rhythmically challenging and thematically complex, but Lee and Uchida were up to the task. The transition from the anxiety-fraught first movement to the more organized, daydream-like Balada: con moto was no trouble at all.
The pleasant, strong melodies of Beethoven’s “Sonata for violin and Piano in Major” welcomed the audience back from the intermission, Lee and Uchida going back and forth with delightful flurries and strolling melodies before drifting into the thoughtful and reflective Adagio. Though Lee’s violin was center stage, Uchida shined in the space provided with her steady rhythms and playful interpretation.
Ever the entertainer, Lee elected to close the evening with Pablo de Sarasate’s “Introduction and Tarantella,” displaying not only the technical ability of both musicians, but also their air for theatrics, sending a very appreciative crowd smiling into the drizzly evening. But not before stopping in the atrium for an autographed CD.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Winter Sports Wrap
The winter sports season was one for the Harker history books! Harker’s teams set scoring records, broke opponents’ streaks and reached new heights in the playoffs. And the Eagles continue to soar as the spring season gets underway.
Girls Basketball
The girls varsity basketball team started the season on fire, winning nine of its first 10 games by an average margin of victory of 31 points. The team finished with an impressive 16-8 regular season record, and third place in the West Bay-Skyline Division.
The Eagles headed into CCS with a No. 10 ranking in the Division 4 tournament, which gave them home court advantage against their first round opponent, Terra Nova. However, injuries and illnesses left the Eagles shorthanded and the team fell to the Tigers 52-44, ending Harker’s season.
Leading the way for the Eagles were Joelle Anderson and Jordan Thompson, both grade 11. Anderson averaged 14.3 points per game, while Thompson averaged an amazing 27.2 points per game, the best in the CCS and fifth in the state, according to MaxPreps.com. Thompson also became Harker’s all-time leading scorer this season, with her senior year still ahead of her.
Thompson was honored with a WBAL first-team selection, Anderson was named to the second team, and Satchi Thockchom and Selin Sayiner, both grade 10, received honorable mentions. Coach Tomas Thompson has his sights set high for the program’s future. “This was a great year for Harker girls basketball. Next year we return all five starters and, if we continue to work hard, we will contend for the league championship and have goals to advance in CCS,” he said. “This is the start of something special, and we can’t wait to get back to practice to get to the next level.”
Boys Basketball
The Eagles opened the year by winning the James Lick Invitational Tournament, the first tournament championship under coach Butch Keller. Elijah Edgehill, grade 12, was named tournament MVP, averaging 14 points and 14 rebounds a game.
The Eagles finished the season with a 12-12 record, making the playoffs as the No. 11 seed in the CCS Division 4 playoffs. They traveled to San Lorenzo Valley for their first round game, where the very talented Cougars defeated Harker 67-47, ending the team’s season. Edgehill and Roy Yuan, grade 9, led the Eagles offensively as Edgehill averaged 13.8 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, while Yuan dropped in a team high 15.2 points per game.
The boys basketball team also racked up accolades. Edgehill was named to the WBAL first team, Rohan Desikan, grade 12, received an honorable mention, and the team shined in the classroom, as it won the CCS scholastic championship with a 3.655 team GPA.
“This group worked really hard all year, from summer league to the Thanksgiving and winter breaks,” stated Keller. “This was a remarkable team.”
Wrestling
Although the varsity wrestling team was winless this year, several of its wrestlers had impressive individual seasons. Davis Howard, grade 11, became only the fourth Harker wrestler in school history to reach the league finals.
Howard finished second in league in his weight class and qualified for the CCS tournament, where he went 3-2 and became just the sixth Harker wrestler to reach the second day of the CCS tournament.
Anthony Contreras, grade 10, placed third in league and also qualified for CCS, where he had a solid 1-2 performance. Meanwhile, Daniel Reidenbach, grade 11, placed eighth in league for his weight class, although he didn’t qualify for CCS. Howard, Contreras and Reidenbach were each named to the all-league team. As a team, the Harker wrestlers were named the CCS scholastic champion with a 3.475 team GPA.
Coach Karriem Stinson said, “I have been working with these guys since middle school. It’s great to see them grow up.”
Girls Soccer
It was a rebuilding year for a very young varsity girls soccer team. They fielded only one senior, lost multiple starters and played up to a higher division. The Eagles went 0-15-1 on the season, but with a team comprising mostly underclassmen, the future looks bright.
The team always worked hard and stayed positive, and it showed as four Eagles were named to the WBAL all- league team. Lyndsey Mitchell, grade 11, was a first team selection, Anuva Mittal, grade 11, was named to the second team, and Layla Walker, grade 12, and Maile Chung, grade 11, were both honorable mentions.
“Throughout the year, we really grew as a team and became more comfortable with each other,” said Mitchell. “I’m really excited for next year.”
Boys Soccer
The boys varsity soccer team played well all season, finishing with a 7-9-1 record and fourth place in the WBAL.
The Eagles started the season off on the right foot with a couple of big wins. First, they defeated Valley Christian 3-0 on Davis Field. Two days later, the Eagles made history as they upended Sacred Heart
Prep 2-1 on their home field. Jared Anderson, grade 9, scored both goals in Harker’s first win at SHP in nearly 10 years and the Gators’ first home loss in five years!
The Eagles were well represented in the WBAL All-League awards as Oisin Coveney, grade 12, was a first-team selection, Omar Hamade, grade 12, was named to the second team, and Rohit Shah, grade 10, and Anderson were both honorable mentions. The boys soccer team also finished third for the CCS scholastic championship with team GPA of 3.680. “We had a really talented group with lots of raw talent,” stated Hamade. “It was super fun working with everyone on the team. We are all a family.”
Lower and Middle School Results
The early winter sports season for grades 4-8 has concluded. Nearly 220 lower and middle school students participated in boys basketball and girls soccer.
Our varsity B and JVB1 boys basketball teams were both league and tournament champs!
Here are the teams’ final results:
VB (Grades 7-8) Boys Basketball: The varsity B team, coached by Josh Miller and Rich Amarillas, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record and went 9-0 overall. They were league champs of the south division and tournament champs!
Team awards went to Michael Mitchell, grade 7 (MVP), Vance Vu, grade 8 (Eagle) and Vedanth Sundaram, grade 8 (Coaches).
VB2 (Grade 7) Boys Basketball: The varsity B2 team, coached by Jon Cvitanich, finished in sixth place in the WBAL with a 3-4 record. Team awards went to Levi Sutton (MVP), Marcus Anderson (Eagle) and Anmol Velagapudi (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity A team, coached by Mike Delfino, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a 3-3 record and went 3-4 overall. Team awards went to Rishi Jain (MVP), Anquan Boldin Jr. (Eagle) and Alex Zhang (Coaches).
JVB6 (Grade 6) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B6 team, coached by Matt Arensberg, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a 3-4 record. Team awards went to Marcus Page (MVP), Josh Tseitlin (Eagle) and Jack Hayashi (Coaches).
MS Intramural Boys Basketball: Team awards went to Tuhin Chatterjee, grade 7 (MVP), Alex Shing, grade 8 (Eagle) and Harrison Chang, grade 6, and Akshay Manglik, grade 7 (Coaches). The team was coached by CJ Cali, Jeff Martarano and Raul Rios.
JVB1(Grade 5) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B1 team, coached by Dan Pringle and Karriem Stinson, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record and went 9-0 overall. They were league champs and tournament champs! Team awards went to Matthew Chen (MVP), Zeke Weng (Eagle), and Michael P aging and Armaan Thakker (Coaches).
JVB2 (Grade 5) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B2 team, coached by Kristian Tiopo, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a 4-3 record. Team awards went to Boulus Ajlouny (MVP), Max Pflaging (Eagle) and Pranav Mullappalli (Coaches).
JVC (Grade 4) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity C team, coached by Jim McGovern, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a 4-3 record. Team awards went to Om Tandon (MVP), Rohin Bhagat (Eagle) and Spencer Mak (Coaches).
LS Intramural Boys Basketball: Team awards went to Panav Gogte, grade 4 (MVP), Jack Ledford and Kyle Leung, both grade 4 (Eagle) and Vivek Nayyar, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Ken Allen and Jeff Paull.
VA (Grades 7-8) Girls Soccer: The varsity A team, coached by Brighid Wood, Brittney Moseley and Kelcie Lai, finished in seventh place in the WBAL with a record of 2-5-0. Team awards went to Aria Wong and Hannah Grannis, both grade 7, (MVP), and Dylan Williams, grade 7, and Delaney Logue, grade 8 (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Girls Soccer: The junior varsity A team, coached by Cyrus Merrill and Mandy Schroeder, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 2-3-1. Team awards went to Ashley Barth (MVP), Angela Jia (Eagle) and Diana Kohr (Coaches).
JVB (Grade 5) Girls Soccer: The junior varsity B team, coached by Lisa Lubke and Jared Ramsey, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 2-1- 1 and went 2-3-1 overall. Team awards went to Anya Chauhan (MVP), Anika Muddu (Eagle) and Jia Parikh (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Soccer: Team awards went to Ananya Sriram, grade 4 (Eagle) and Kinnera Mulam, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Randy Le Gris and Maria Maldonado.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
A lower school dress drive brought smiles to the faces of at-risk and underprivileged youth at the Starbird Youth Center in San Jose. The clothes were part of a larger donation of more than 500 gifts collected for clients of the center.
“There were about seven bags of boys and girls party clothing donated,” recalled Teré Aceves, Harker’s director of event fundraising.
The gently used clothing was collected during a holiday cookie-decorating event. About 60 parents heeded the call for such items.
Harker parent Erin Vokey (Miles, grade 1) is the youth activities supervisor at the Starbird Youth Center and is in charge of the center’s day-to-day activities, as well as its literacy programs.
“We are an after-school program that works with at-risk and under-privileged youth. We help them by providing food, homework help and a safe place to go after school. We also do a program called The Good Choices, which is a basic moral guide that teaches them the right choices to make to lead a better life,” she said.
Around the time of the dress drive, the center also had partnered with the Family Giving Tree to distribute gifts to clients and their families, Vokey explained. “We set up a room where children picked out clothing from the dress drive. This is the second year we have had the dresses there and it was a huge success. Fellow Harker parent Julie Carr (Aiden Harshman, grade 1) and her family volunteered to hand out all of the dresses to the youth in our community. It was an extremely heartwarming event,” recalled Vokey.
Another Harker parent, Stephanie Black (Chloe, grade 1), is the program director at the Starbird Youth Center. “Without her none of this would have been possible,” added Vokey.
Carr and her son agreed that it was wonderful to see the joy on the kids’ faces when they got a beautiful dress, jacket or new shirt. “Stephanie, Erin and the entire staff at the center made it so easy for us to come in and volunteer. We are very grateful for the work they do and proud that we got to represent Harker’s philanthropy,” said Carr.
Of his experience volunteering, Carr’s son, Aiden, reported that it was “really cool.” He said that there were lots of games to play with at the center and that he enjoyed seeing the kids get toys. “It made me feel good in my heart.”
Harker students initiate and participate in outreach activities all year round. Visit Harker News and search “outreach,” or go to https://staging.news.harker.org/tag/outreach, for all the Greater Good stories!
The Harker community came together on Saturday, April 9, for the 2016 Harker Research Symposium, which both celebrated the achievements of Harker’s research program and gave visitors a look into what scientific research has made and will make possible for future generations.
More than 700 people attended this year’s symposium, sitting in on breakout sessions by Harker student researchers and listening to talks by the illustrious keynote speakers. The first morning keynote speaker was Omer Artun, the founder and CEO of AgilOne Predictive Marketing Cloud, who discussed the ways predictive analytics are used in the formation and implementation of personalized marketing strategies. He also spoke about how to improve customer acquisition and growth through the use of machine-learning technologies.
Entrepreneur Brienne Ghafourifar, who at 17 was the youngest college graduate ever to raise $1 million in venture funding, was the second morning keynote speaker. She shared her thoughts on how people’s digital connection to one another is now an essential part of our lives rather than a luxury enjoyed only by a fortunate segment of the population. Data, she said, not only connects us with each other but with the world around us. She talked about what she called the “intelligence of things” and how it will result in huge market value creation. Prior to her talk, Ghafourifar engaged in a Q-and-A session with students from Harker’s Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (WiSTEM) club and several middle school girls.
Shortly after lunch, attendees gathered in the Nichols Hall auditorium to hear a talk by Alan Malek ’05, the 2016 alumnus keynote speaker. Malek, who received a B.S. in mathematics and an M.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University, is now working on his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of California, Berkeley. He discussed some of the challenges presented by the immensity of the data being produced by increased connectivity. He also offered some insight into his life as a Ph.D. student, as well as what students can look forward to in graduate school.
The afternoon keynote speaker was Jeffrey Rothschild, longtime serial entrepreneur and VP of infrastructure engineering at Facebook from 2005-2015, who now sits on the board of directors at Primary Data, Interana and Lytmus. Rothschild talked about the influence of “big data” and how it can be leveraged to assist in better, faster decision-making without the need to compare subjective opinions. He explained how this could have a significant impact on the cost of delivering quality health care, including improving hospital care and clinical decisions.
Throughout the day, attendees stopped by the Nichols Hall atrium to take a peek at the many exhibits brought to the symposium by this year’s corporate exhibitors, including Google, Lockheed Martin, Nvidia and more.
One of the more popular attractions was Google’s cardboard virtual reality platform. Using smartphones encased in cardboard as makeshift VR headsets, attendees gained first-person looks at various spots throughout the world, while a Google representative marked spots on the virtual environment to guide users where to look.
In the Nichols Hall rotunda, STEM buddies activities brought younger and older students together. Lower school students marveled at the heat signatures created by their handprints and bracelets that changed color when exposed to ultraviolet light.
Although threatened by inclement weather, the afternoon drone demonstration had visitors looking skyward as the machines soared over the upper school campus.
Over at the upper school gymnasium, middle and upper school students gave poster presentations of research they’d conducted. Many were heard excitedly going through the details of their work to the attendees who’d stopped to listen.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
More than 300 attendees came together for the recent Night on the Town gala, held Feb. 26 at the United Club at Levi’s Stadium, site of this year’s Super Bowl. The theme “One Team, One Dream” set the stage for a memorable night filled with delicious food, fun casino games, dancing and more.
Harker’s athletics programs were a major focus of the celebration, which raises money for the endowment fund. Throughout the evening, photos of Harker alumni who currently play sports at the collegiate level were shown on dozens of screens around the room. Sponsors were honored by having their names displayed on the room’s screens and on the stadium ribbon board.
“We had quite a Night on the Town, and our students were the winners! In this fitting setting, we showcased our student athletes and the importance of providing our athletes and performing artists with quality facilities so they can thrive,” said Chris Nikoloff, head of school.
“Harker is like our village and the school looks after not only our children, but also us parents. Our children have access not only to the best academia and superior facilities for study but also are able to pursue their interests in sports, arts, etc.,” said Aarti Awasthi (Mohan, grade 8; Shivani, grade 11).
One of the highlights of the event was an entertaining “chalk talk” video in which Nikoloff played the straight man to chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine’s upbeat, motivational sports coach. Nikoloff stood at a podium delivering a diplomatic, salesman-like speech extolling the virtues of the new buildings, which Irvine translated into an invigorating pep talk.
This year’s silent auction had attendees bidding for prizes such as concert tickets, jewelry, a cruise, Disneyland passes and VIP packages to Harker events including the Harvest Festival and upper school graduation ceremony. Attendees also saw an exhilarating performance by the Harker cheerleaders and captured their memories of the night at the photo opportunity area.
“I think education is the silver bullet. Harker offers a top-notch, inspiring education. It benefit the school and our community to be able to offer this education to children and young adults regardless of economic means. Sponsorship money goes directly into the endowment for this purpose and others,” said Lesley Matheson (Lauren Rossi, grade 1; Lachlan Rossi, grade 4; Leland Rossi, grade 7).
“Thanks to all our sponsors, volunteers and families who contributed to making this Night on the Town a great success. I am grateful for all the bene ts that result from our strong culture and tradition of philanthropy. One Team, One Dream!” said Nikoloff.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
I am a reformed academic. And it is springtime. Shortly, I hope to show how these two statements are related.
First, regarding the academic statement: I believe in students learning academic content from a teacher who is a subject matter expert and who loves children. I want students to graduate knowing the difference between compose and comprise, what moves a demand curve, why we might need to find the derivative of an equation, the structure of DNA, the principle causes of the Great Depression and how to conjugate verbs in another language.
Nothing warms my heart more than when a student in class asks an extremely nuanced, insightful question like, “Is synesthesia a physical or psychological phenomenon?”
Yes, I believe in problem-solving and critical thinking, but I believe these skills rest on a solid foundation of academic knowledge. I believe it is folly to say that students only need to know how “to think” because they can Google everything else. Without context and background knowledge about the Civil War or photosynthesis, how does a student know what to Google in the first place?
And it is springtime. How is spring related to being an academic? I can explain with the help of a Zen poem: “In the landscape of spring, there is neither better nor worse. The flowering branches grow naturally, some long, some short.” Does that clear things up?
Now that it is spring, flowers, trees, everything is starting to bloom. Each blooms at its own pace, some early, some late. Do we judge the early bloomers, the flowers in full bloom, as superior? The flowers and branches that have yet to fully bloom – are they inferior?
Back to academics. I came relatively late to academics. In my junior year in high school, I began to work hard because someone told me I had to go to college and I’d better prepare.
I started to fall in love with poetry and calculus. Who knew? Interestingly enough, the love followed the hard work – not the other way around. And the work followed the fear of not being prepared for college. So I owe my being an academic to fear. But that fear quickly turned into love and no one, not even I, could have predicted it would happen.
When will the students among us bloom? Does everyone have to bloom by the age of 14? 18? How many blooms does a lifetime get? Students, like flowers, need good soil, nurturing, sunlight and sometimes a stick in the ground for structure, but their blooming is unpredictable, even by the student.
We cannot be judgmental if a student hasn’t bloomed yet. Neither can we force a blooming when it is not yet time. Nor should we have preconceived notions about when or how a blooming will happen. Flowering branches grow naturally, some long and some short.
I am a reformed academic. And it is springtime. Who knew exactly how or when either would happen? We have ideas about when these things will happen. But reality has its own ideas, and they spring forth wonderfully and unpredictably all the time. Some long, some short.
In March, a group of 11 Harker teachers traveled to Palm Springs for the annual conference of Computer Using Educators, a nonprofit organization that explores ways in which technology can be used to enhance learning experiences.
The teachers who attended the conference had different topics they wanted to explore. For instance, some of the lower school teachers enjoyed hearing about HyperDocs, a concept in which a Google doc is connected to other teaching materials using hyperlinks. HyperDocs also can be used to showcase multimedia presentations. “These teachers expressed a desire to begin using this method immediately upon their return to school,” said Diane Main, upper school director of learning, innovation and design.
Teachers also were interested in “student-driven creation of learning experiences,” Main said. To this end, lower school math teacher Eileen Schick investigated how 3-D printing could enhance student math projects and already has begun integrating 3-D printing into her lessons.
One emerging technology caught the attention of upper school Spanish teacher Richard Bailey, who looked into how virtual reality could be used in language classes. “He has already begun pursuing more opportunities to learn about these and has been integrating exciting [virtual reality/augmented reality] experiences in his Spanish classes,” Main reported.
Main said the reaction to the conference was “largely positive.” The teachers enjoyed the opportunity to share their experiences with each other. “It’s easy to tell how enthusiastic teachers are about sharing their learning,” Main said, “as evidenced by their applications for LID Grants this coming summer.”