Middle and upper school debate had a stellar past few weeks, performing well at tournaments in and out of state. In Las Vegas, senior Pranav Reddy was named the national Lincoln-Douglas debate champion for the second straight year by offering a convincing argument for increasing the minimum wage.
At the California Middle School Speech and Debate Tournament in southern California, Maddie Huynh, grade 7, and Anusha Kuppahally, grade 8, were named the policy debate state champions. The team of Julia Biswas, grade 6, and Jai Bahri, grade 7, and the team of Jason Lin and Andy Lee, both grade 6, finished in the semifinals. Kuppahally was named first speaker.
Seventh grader Nakul Bajaj was named the top speaker in public forum, where the team of Clarissa Wang and Cindy Wang, both grade 8, reached the semifinals. Akshay Manglik, grade 6, was a semifinalist in Lincoln-Douglas, and Jason Huang, grade 8, finished third in congressional debate.
In speech events, Nikhil Dharmaraj, grade 8, was named state champion in original oratory and impromptu speaking, where Avi Gulati, grade 7, took second and third, respectively. Riya Gupta, grade 8, took fourth in original oratory. Yet another state champion, seventh grader Nikki Solanki, won in in dramatic interpretation, in which Matthew Hajjar, grade 8, took third, Gulati finished fourth and Gupta took fifth. Natalia Feinberg, grade 8, won third place in humorous interpretation. In storytelling, Ashli Jain, grade 8, and Feinberg took fifth and sixth place, respectively.
In late March, 45 debaters from the middle school attended the Cesar Chavez Memorial Tournament in Union City, where Harker performed very well in speech events, finishing first in three events and appearing in the top three multiple times. Avi Gulati took first in original oratory, with Ashli Jain finishing as a finalist. Kelly Shen and Matthew Hajjar, both grade 8, took first and second, respectively, in dramatic interpretation, while sixth grader Arusha Patil took second place in declamation and Natalia Feinberg finished second in humorous interpretation. Jain was also a finalist in the storytelling event.
In debate events, Harker was recognized several times for going undefeated. Kenneth Liou, grade 7, and Krishay Mukhija, grade 6, were undefeated in Public Forum, while Catherine Zhao, grade 7, Akshay Manglik, grade 6, Alexander Young, grade 8, and Sachin Shah, grade 7, went without a single loss in Lincoln-Douglas. Finishing with only one loss in public forum were the teams of Emma Boyce and Sidra Xu, both grade 6, and Nikki Solanki and Naveen Mirapuri, both grade 7. Annie Ma, grade 7, and Suraj Pakala, grade 8, were recognized for losing only once in Lincoln Douglas.
For the second year in a row, Harker Preschool will offer a summer camp program, filling its beautiful eight-acre Union Avenue campus with children after the regular school year ends. Campers will enjoy the school’s large sunny cottages, spacious play yards and specialty classrooms.
Preschool summer camp is held in two sessions, each designed to engage and excite young children through familiar summer themes. The program is staffed by year-round Harker teachers, assistant teachers and aides. Students are grouped by age, with families choosing one or both sessions to match their schedules.
When it launched its summer program, the preschool joined the Harker community’s long-running tradition of making summer offerings open the public. Session one will run for four weeks from June 22-July 17; session two begins on July 20 and ends three weeks later on August 7. Full and half-day options are available, with extended care offered in the early morning and late afternoon.
This year, campers will focus on three specialty areas: art, music and movement, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Each classroom will spend a week with a specialty teacher in a workshop format designed for maximum exploration and exceptional fun.
“We are excited to highlight our specialty programs during the summer session,” reported Kelly Espinosa, director of summer and preschool programs. “The partnership between specialist and the children’s regular classroom teachers will ensure a rich balance of activities throughout the summer. It’s going to be great fun!”
To be eligible for Harker Preschool’s summer program, children must turn three by Dec. 1, 2015 and be under the age of six by August 2015. For more information, visit preschool.harker.org.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
The Harker Concert Series brought back one of its heavy hitters on Jan. 28, and for good reason. Playing to a sold-out audience, the Taylor Eigsti Trio proved again why it deserves to be a big draw in the modern jazz landscape.
This band is comfortable. Bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Eric Harland were still twisting knobs and turning pages as Eigsti began setting the mood for the show opener, “Speaking Song,” with deep chords and flitting notes.
Eigsti then shifted gears to give his bandmates room to shine, as Raghavan drifted into an airy bass solo, with effective note choice, catching fire as Harland picked up steam for an effortlessly musical drum solo. Eigsti’s taste for texture served him well in the opening of Brubeck’s “Strange Meadlowlark,” sprinkling scale runs atop a layer of chords before casually strolling into a more subdued version of Brubeck’s often-overlooked 4/4 swing.’
Following “Meadowlark” and the afternoon-walk-after-heavy- rainfall quality of the trio’s version of Leonard Bernstein’s “Some Other Time,” the Eigsti original “Play with Me” felt like a splash of ice cold water.
During the intermission, attendees commented on the concert and the accompanying spread in the Nichols Hall atrium.
“We’ve had a great time because we arrived in time for some wine and hors d’oeuvres and then we went into the auditorium, which is lovely,” said Anna Ranieri. “We’re really enjoying the program, the wonderful ensemble.”
“I think it’s an excellent venue,” said Judy Busch, who had seen Eigsti’s previous Harker Concert Series performances. “It’s just small enough to be intimate and yet the sound and everything is exceptional.”
In the second set, Eigsti kicked things off with a pair of standards, one of which transitioned from a marvelous Raghavan bass solo to an irresistible groove, heralded by Harland’s rattling snare.
For the final two pieces, Eigsti invited his longtime friend Dave Hart, Harker middle school music teacher, to sit in on trumpet. Performing as a duet on “Body and Soul,” Eigsti and Hart beautifully captured the hope and heartache of the jazz classic, with Hart showing that his neither his improvisational chops nor his interplay with Eigsti have waned since the two began pursuing different careers.
The band got back together for the closing number, a rendition of “Caravan” that riffed on Duke Ellington’s standard with time changes, wild syncopation and rhythms slightly reminiscent of Latin jazz. After a dazzling intro from Eigsti, they careened into the mix as Hart capably took the lead, showing no sign of being overwhelmed by the act he had to follow. Meanwhile, Eigsti continue to show his gift for finding beauty in nearly any sound, flirting with atonality and what others might even call noise.
As the end approached, Harland was due. Taking the cue from Eigsti, the Grammy-nominated drummer launched into the final solo of the evening, which included an extended drumroll that showcased Harland’s astonishing endurance and control. This review has been edited for space. To read the full review, go to news.harker.org and search “Eigsti.”
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
At the end of February, hundreds of donors and members of the Parent Development Council (PDC) gathered on the upper school campus for the annual Head of School’s Circle Celebration.
The evening event, held in the Nichols Hall atrium, took on a new, interactive format and was held earlier in the year than usual. (Previously, the celebration was held toward the end of the school year.)
The event served to thank annual giving donors, capital campaign donors, and planned giving and endowment donors for their continued commitment to Harker and its mission. It also recognized the generosity of the Rothschild family and donors who contributed to the school’s historic $10 million Rothschild Matching Gift Challenge, as well as the Paramitas Foundation for their generous support of the school and particularly the business and entrepreneurship department.
“This year we decided to mix things up. Instead of having students come to parents for a presentation as in years past, we had the parents visit them!” explained Allison Vaughan, Harker’s director of stewardship.
After mingling and enjoying appetizers – followed by welcoming remarks from Chris Nikoloff, head of school – parents had the opportunity to visit student activity showcases. Vaughan said she was excited that many students and teachers were on hand to discuss what they are working on and passionate about, giving donors a sense of the direct impact their gifts make at the school.
There were seven different showcases, with interests grouped from all divisions where applicable. Each showcase began with a short presentation and was repeated several times, giving parents (who had been given a program and map) the opportunity to visit the showcases that most interested them.
The showcases were set up on the first and second floors of Nichols Hall. On the first floor, there was “The Art of Communication” (English, history, journalism), “It’s Showtime!” (voice, dance, instrumentals), “Understanding by Design” (making, mathematics, computer science, robotics), “Learn by Doing” (speech & debate, business & entrepreneurship) and “We are Team Harker!” (athletics). On the second floor, there was “Creativity Comes Alive” (visual arts) and “Science and Research: Hands-On Discovery” (science, research); in addition, the school’s new anatomy table was on display.
Many parents said they appreciated the chance to participate in the Head of School’s Circle Celebration in such a meaningful way, by observing what their children are learning.
Current Harker parent and PDC member Satish Dharmaraj (Nila, grade 3; Nikhil, grade 8), whose son was a presenter at the speech and debate showcase, said, “The new format was really refreshing and educational. It’s as good as it gets in seeing your money in action. Many parents loved to see the breadth of activities that students are passionate about that the school fosters. A great evening overall.”
Before the evening came to a close, Nikoloff made an exciting announcement about a new program for teachers called the Raju & Balu Vegesna Foundation Teacher Excellence Program. Through the generosity of the Raju & Bala Vegesna Foundation, Harker has the unique opportunity to support transformational professional development opportunities for a few faculty members each year. Faculty members who wanted to be considered for the program submitted applications on March 6. (Look for an update on this program in the Harker Quarterly summer issue!)
The Harker Research Symposium celebrated its 10th year on April 11, as people from across the Harker community visited the upper school campus to see the work of the school’s dedicated research community.
Harker’s hardworking WiSTEM (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) club began organizing the symposium at the start of the school year. Anita Chetty, US Science Dept. Chair and WiSTEM advisor inaugurated and has overseen the event since its inception a decade ago.
“It’s a good event,” said member Anushka Das, grade 12. “We have really great keynote speakers and a lot of people in the audience (for talks). The students, families and parents come to see everyone’s kids. It’s a tight community.”
Middle and upper school students occupied venues throughout campus for most of the day, giving poster presentations in the gym and holding breakout sessions in various rooms at Nichols Hall, often with members of the scientific community as their audience. Presenters included senior Andrew Jin, a national winner in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search; Intel finalists Steven Wang and Rohith Kuditipudi, both grade 12; and Siemens Competition regional finalists Sadhika Malladi, Jonathan Ma and Vineet Kosaraju, all grade 11.
The Nichols Hall Atrium was the busiest spot for much of the day, with corporate exhibitors attracting throngs of attendees, who wandered from station to station trying out high-powered microscopes and virtual reality gadgets, and even jumping behind the wheel of Tesla vehicles. “The kids have great microscopy questions,” said Technical Instruments representative April Myles.
Outside Nichols Hall, the all-girl Infinities robotics team drove their robot, which boasts a holonomic drive system, multiple lift systems and passive intakes, plus rubber bands and string. The team is advancing to a world tournament this year.
Chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine wowed a lunchtime crowd of at least 250 people with flames and the shattering of liquid-nitrogen frozen bananas and apples. “He’s playing with his food,” one girl in the audience joked to her friend.
This year featured yet another impressive lineup of keynote speakers. The first, climate scientist Dr. James McClintock’s “From Penguins to Plankton” talk, filled Nichols Auditorium almost to capacity. McClintock is an Endowed University Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. With more than 235 scientific publications and 14 expeditions to Antarctica in his career, he is considered a leading authority on Antarctic marine chemical ecology. “I’m very impressed with Harker,” said McClintock. “The students are very capable and excited and, to be honest, like college students. I’ve had several discussions with students at a level you’d expect in college.”
Another featured speaker was Dr. Suhas Patil, founder of top semiconductor company Cirrus Logic and creator of the fabless model of semiconductor manufacturing. Also among his many achievements, he co-founded the Indus Entrepreneurs, which has become the largest nonprofit in the world for budding entrepreneurs.
Harker alumna Shabnam Aggarwal ’03, now the CEO of KleverKid, shared the story of her journey from the wealth of Wall Street to the poverty of Cambodia, where she taught English to girls who had fled the world of sex trafficking. Later, in India, she explored various ways to combat illiteracy, which eventually led her to found her latest venture, KleverKid. Prior to her talk, Aggarwal spoke to a group of grade 5 students from Rocketship Si Se Puede Academy, answering their questions about the importance of technology, education and women’s issues in India.
“We have such great kids involved in science, and this is a nice opportunity for them to share with our community what they’re interested in,” said Diane Main, Harker director of Learning, Innovation and Design. “Last night the orchestra performed, today the sciences perform.”
Harker students had another successful year at the 2015 Synopsys Silicon Valley & Technology Championship, held in March at the San Jose Convention Center.
Three upper school contestants won grand prizes, earning them trips to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Juniors Jonathan Ma and Sadhika Malladi each won a grand prize in the Biological Sciences category, while Nitya Mani, grade 12, was a grand prize winner in Physical Sciences. Vedaad Shakib, grade 10, was named a grand prize alternate in Physical Sciences. Malladi and Mani also received $250 each from the Whitney Foundation, and Mani received a certificate of achievement from Mu Alpha Theta.
Upper school students were most successful in the RRI Biological Sciences category. In addition to the awards won by Ma and Malladi, Rahul Jayaraman, grade 12, won a first award. Vineet Kosaraju, grade 11, Madhuri Nori, grade 12, and Amrita Singh, grade 10, won second awards, while sophomore Venkat Sankar earned an honorable mention. Nori also received a second place award and $175 cash prize from the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science.
In RRI Physical Sciences, senior Vamsi Gadiraju earned a first award, a $100 first prize from Morgan Lewis and an honorable mention from the Society of Vacuum Coaters. Fellow senior Leo Yu also received several honors, including an honorable mention student award from the Association for Computing Machinery, a certificate from Arizona State University’s Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, a certificate of achievement from Mu Alpha Theta and a certificate of achievement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Amy Dunphy, grade 9, received an honorable mention and a high school finalist certificate from the Synopsys Outreach Foundation. Another honorable mention went to Evani Radiya-Dixit, grade 10.
Sophomore Rishab Gargeya won a second award in Bioinformatics. He was one of six award winners in the category, with grade 9 students Jerry Chen, Anastasiya Grebin, Amy Jin and Anooshree Sengupta all earning honorable mentions and Justin Xie, also grade 9, receiving a certificate of achievement from Mu Alpha Theta.
Trisha Dwivedi and Kshithija Mulam, both grade 10, each won honorable mentions in Botany. In Engineering, freshman Rajiv Movva and sophomore Arjun Subramaniam both earned first awards, with Subramaniam also winning a trip to the headquarters of cloud services provider Firebase to work on his application programming interface (API).
Manan Shah, grade 10, received a first award in Computers/Mathematics, in which Vedaad Shakib won a second award and a certificate of achievement and medallion from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Sneha Bhetanabhotla, grade 10, received an honorable mention in the physics category.
In the Behavioral/Social category, junior Mary Najibi was awarded a certificate of achievement from the American Psychological Association. Sophomore Neymika Jain earned a second award in Medicine/Health/Gerontology and a certificate from ASU’s Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives.
Several Harker grade 8 students also had success at Synopsys. In Zoology, Nishka Ayyar and Srija Gadiraju both won honorable mentions, as did Ashli Jain and Sonal Muthal in the Chemistry category. Krish Kapadia and Anjay Saklecha both won first awards in Medicine/Health/Gerontology, and also received nominations to compete in this year’s Broadcom MASTERS competition.
In Behavioral/Social, Shafieen Ibrahim and Keval Shah won first awards and Broadcom MASTERS nominations. Meanwhile, Kaushik Shivakumar received a certification of achievement and medallion from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps for his project in Physics, and Cindy Wang received an honorable mention in Engineering.
Finally, Alexander Young won a first award in Biochemistry/Microbiology and received a nomination to compete in Broadcom MASTERS.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
A parent was recently talking to me about the big idea behind organizations. It was his contention that when an organization is founded on a big idea, like ending poverty or stopping global warming, people follow that organization more readily. The big idea can be quite simple, but it has to be big.
The parent then asked me what Harker’s big idea was. I immediately thought that Harker students are taking their academic knowledge and applying it to real-world problems to make a difference in the world.
Yes, most independent schools say something like this. And yes, this sounds a little like a parody of a sentiment from the HBO comedy “Silicon Valley,” when the founder of the fictional company Goolybib says, “But most importantly we’re making the world a better place. Through constructing elegant hierarchies for maximum code reuse and extensibility.”
So we too are guilty of dreaming big. We have students doing award-winning research in tumor detection and climate modeling. We have a second grader who wrote the White House about her concerns about smoking.
We have journalists who wrote about the gender gap in technology in the student-run magazine Wingspan. We have students from preschool through senior year making beauty in the world through visual and performing arts.
Most schools fortunate enough to have students and teachers like ours can highlight similar efforts. The point is that students today want to learn deeply in academic and extracurricular domains and apply their learning to the world around them. Learning and doing to make a difference. (Hey, that sounds like a motto.)
It is inspiring to watch. It is even more inspiring to inspire, as our teachers have the opportunity to do.
The difference students make in the world as children and young adults does not have to be large in scale. Ralph Waldo Emerson defines success like this: “To leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” Now that is a big idea.
So what’s the big idea? When I was in high school, my biggest preoccupations were getting a date to the prom and joining a rock band. Teens still have some of those concerns these days – and thank goodness they do. But I am optimistic about today’s youth precisely because of their propensity to learn and do to make a difference. Will they make the world a better place? That is a tall order for any generation, but I think this generation already has.
Ancient and modern China formed an intriguing focus of study for 21 middle school students during their recent visit to the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS), Harker’s sister school in Shanghai.
At the end of March, 16 seventh graders and five eighth graders united for an action-packed week with their WFLMS buddies, who had earlier in the school year spent time at Harker as part of an annual reciprocal student exchange program.
Journeying to China is a much-anticipated adventure and highlight of the middle school experience for many grade 7 and 8 students. While there, the Harker contingent visited numerous landmarks and historic sites.
Originally based around the grade 8 computer science class’ global issues forum, the annual China trip expanded two years ago to incorporate the grade 7 historical component of learning about ancient China.
Keith Hirota, grade 6 ancient civilizations teacher, headed this year’s trip. Carol Green, Harker’s middle and upper school communication studies department chair, who was already in China serving as an exchange teacher at WFLMS, joined the group as a chaperone.
After a smooth flight, the students were warmly welcomed at Pudong International Airport by their pals from WFLMS, Hirota recalled. From there, they hopped on a WFLMS bus for the short drive into the city to meet their host families.
The next morning, when the group arrived on the school’s campus, a large electronic sign read, “We warmly welcome the teachers and students from The Harker School.”
“The students were greeted by WFLMS computer teacher Jack Sheng (who speaks fluent English with an Aussie accent), who sent them around campus on a fun orientation/scavenger hunt,” shared Hirota.
After that, the Harker students participated in a dance class, followed by a class on the history, culture and food of China. The students also attended a class on Chinese geography that highlighted the Shanghai area. At the conclusion of the lesson, they headed to the auditorium, where they shared information about their American culture with the WFLMS student body.
“They each did a great job talking about Harker clubs, after-school activities, spirit events and houses, speech and debate, special classes and electives, middle school sports, lunch and snacks, American holidays, famous American points of interest, video gaming and social media,” Hirota observed.
The Harker students then hopped on a bus and headed for Zhujiajiao. The word Zhujiajiao means “Zhu Family Settlement.” It is one of six ancient water villages on the outskirts of Shanghai. With a population of 60,000, it features 36 stone bridges and thousands of ancient buildings along the riverbanks. After a boat ride through the canal, the students were given time to explore and bargain hunt throughout the hundreds of food and novelty shops in the area.
“We had a 12-course family style lunch with a scenic view overlooking the canal and shops. After lunch, students were given more time to explore and shop. We drove back to Shanghai and had an early dinner at Da Niang Dumplings. Before heading off to ‘Era’ (the Shanghai Circus), the students had some time to buy desert and snacks at a few local shops. After a brief drive through the city, we arrived at the circus venue and our students were met by their WFLMS buddies. The circus was simply amazing and the highlight of the day!” reported Hirota.
The students’ subsequent time at WFLMS included learning a form of ancient Kung Fu called Wushu and how to play Chinese instruments called the erhu and pipa. They also had fun making Chinese opera masks to take home.
Another highlight for the Harker students was taking a rickshaw tour of Beijing, which included a moving visit to Tiananmen Square, site of the 1989 protests and ensuing military action. From there the group headed to the Forbidden City, where they were guided through several of its 980 palatial buildings. Then came a memorable visit to the Great Wall of China. After taking a ski lift to the top of the mountain, the group entered the wall. Students took many photos of the renowned structure and enjoyed a toboggan ride back down the mountain.
The students’ time at WFLMS ended with a farewell ceremony and dinner. “The ceremony was bittersweet as we watched several students from both schools give touching speeches and performances,” recalled Hirota, noting that Harker students and their WFLMS buddies had been faithfully corresponding since the fall.
Reflecting on the trip, grade 7 student Jatin Kohli said he really enjoyed the homestay with his buddy and the time they spent walking along the Huangpu River and the Bund, a famous waterfront area. “I wish our buddies could have joined us on our trip north to Beijing. The trip felt too short and I wish I had more time,” he said.
Grade 8 student Julia Amick added, “My favorite part of the homestay was getting to tour around Shanghai with my buddy and her parents and trying new and exotic foods like stinky tofu!”
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
United Voices
“United Voices,” Harker’s annual celebration of vocal music, returned to the Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater in early February. The concert featured a wide range of vocal groups from the lower, middle and upper schools, performing classical pieces, renditions of modern pop songs, selections from musicals, traditional songs from various cultures and much more. The Bucknall Choir greeted the evening audience with its rendition of the enduring hymn “Ubi Caritas” before making way for the middle school choirs to perform the Zambian traditional “Bonse Aba.” The middle school groups then performed individually. Other highlights included the upper school women’s group Cantilena singing Franz Biebl’s “Ave Maria,” show choir Downbeat’s rollicking version of the Brian Setzer hit “Rock This Town” and the evening’s finale, in which all performers gathered on stage to sing “Circle of Life,” from the classic Disney film “The Lion King.”
Lower School Singers Greet the Holiday Season
A huge cast of performers from grades 2 and 3 took the stage at the Bucknall Theater on Dec. 18 for the annual Holiday Show. Dozens of students, directed by music teacher Carena Montany, sang a variety of songs to celebrate the holiday season, from classics “Jolly Old St. Nicholas,” “O Chanukah, O Chanukah” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” to newer fare including “Let It Go,” from the hit film “Frozen.”
The show ran smoothly thanks to the hard work of technical director Danny Dunn and her grade 5 technical theater class, as well as deck manager Ken Boswell and stage manager Stephanie Woolsey. Choreography was done by Kimberly Teodoro, and Melissa Lin and Toni Woodruff provided accompaniment on piano and violin, respectively.
Annual Grade 1 Show Celebrates the Spirit of the Holidays
Days before the start of winter break, the homeroom students of Imelda Kusuma, Cindy Proctor, Larissa Weaver and Rita Stone gathered for the holiday show, titled “My Favorite Time of Year.” Directed by Carena Montany, the concert featured students singing holiday favorites such as “Frosty the Snow Man,” “Jingle Bells” and “Spin a Little Dreidl,” with students doing narration between songs. The performance of “Little Saint nick” featured several dancers, with choreography by Jessalyn Espiritu.
Instrumental accompaniment was provided by pianist Melissa Lin and violinist Toni Woodruff. Danny Dunn and her grade 5 technical theater class served as the technical director and crew, respectively.
‘Wild’ Upper School Show Features 130 Dancers
“Welcome to the Jungle,” the title of this year’s upper school dance production, took audiences into the wild for a jungle-themed romp that featured a cast of more than 130 dancers performing in sync to songs by artists including Guns n’ Roses, Phil Collins, Bjork and Lil Jon. The production was a showcase for student choreographers as well as dancers, with seniors Jacqui Villarreal, Sindhu Ravuri, Ryan Pachauri, Darby Millard, Erika Olsen, Andrew Zhang, noel Banerjee and Ashir Bansal, and juniors Emily Pan, Ankita Sharma, Helena Dworak and Allison Wang choreographing routines.
Singers Perform with State and National Honor Choirs
Five Upper School singers successfully auditioned for the California American Choral Directors Association’s All-State Honor Choir. Ishanya Anthapur, grade 12, was named to the mixed choir; Madhu Karra and Sahana narayanan, both grade 11, earned spots in the women’s choir; and Ashwin Rao, grade 10, and Gurutam Thockchom, grade 11, will join the men’s choir. Earlier this year, Anthapur and Narayanan were named to ACDA’s Regional Honor Choir. Rehearsals began in March for a special performance at the First United Methodist Church of Pasadena on March 28.
At the American Choral Directors Association’s national conference in late February, Karli Sharp, grade 8, performed with the Middle School national Girls Honor Choir, conducted by Elena Sharkova, chorus master of Symphony Silicon Valley and an expert on the choral music of Russia.
Winter Concert Showcases Middle and Upper School Musicians
Middle and upper school music groups gave their first concert of the new year on Jan. 16 at the 2015 Winter Concert at the Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater. Performers included the two middle school jazz bands, the Grade 6 Orchestra, the Grades 7-8 Orchestra, The Harker School Jazz Band and The Harker School Orchestra. Among the many highlights was a special appearance by the middle school chamber groups, which performed both modern and classical pieces, including works by Bach and Green Day. The Harker Lab Band also made an appearance, playing a series of jazz selections by Duke Ellington, Fred Sturm and more. The Harker School Orchestra closed the evening, playing the entirety of Dvořák’s “Symphony no. 9” (popularly known as the “new World Symphony”) and Giuseppe Verdi’s “Overture to La Forza del Destino.”
Fifth Graders Bring Pinocchio to Life
This year’s grade 5 show, held Jan. 29-30 at the Bucknall Theater, brought together a huge cast of 130 students for “no Strings Attached,” an updated musical adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s classic novel “The Adventures of Pinocchio.” Directed by Kellie Binney-Smart, the production followed the familiar tale of a wooden puppet’s quest to become a real boy and the challenges he encounters along the way, teaching him the value of friendship and honesty. The massive task of directing so many students could not have been undertaken without the help of a skilled and dedicated crew, which included Danny Dunn and her lower school technical theater class, costumer Carol Clever, stage manager Ken Boswell, deck managers Jordan Wong and Daniel Clark ’10, scenic artist Whitney Pintello, microphone managers Randy LeGris and Oanhna Ly and choreographer Jessalyn Espiritu.
Orchestra Takes First in Portland Festival
The Harker Orchestra took top honors at the northwest Orchestra Festival held near Portland, Ore., March 6 and 7! The musicians performed so well that “judges decided that a final round was not necessary to determine the winner, despite us competing as the smallest school in our division!” said Chris Florio, orchestra director. The annual middle and high school event is held at Mt. Hood Community College in Gresham, adjacent to Portland.
Harker competed in Division IVF (full orchestra). “We were actually supposed to be in Division IIIF (schools with 1,300 students or fewer), but I was advised to compete in Division IV (1,301 students or more) since it’s more competitive.”
Florio thinks it likely Harker received the highest score of any group at the festival. “There were around 40 or more groups there,” he noted. “One judge gave us a perfect score. The orchestra director from the University of Portland was one of our judges, and he half jokingly offered our entire orchestra admission to his school.”
All in all, it was tremendous experience. “As a last minute honor, the festival director asked us to perform a command performance for the entire group of attendees,” said Florio. “He felt we were so exceptional that it would be a great experience for the other groups and judges to hear us.”
Dancers Perform at London New Year’s Day Parade
Seniors Darby Millard and Noel Banerjee headed to London in late December to perform in the London new Year’s Day parade. “The two dancers earned an invitation this past summer while at the United Spirit Association Dance Camp, for their exceptional technique and performance skills,” said Karl Kuehn, upper school dance teacher. Aside from their performance in the parade, the students also went sightseeing around The Big Smoke and caught a performance of the musical “Wicked.”
Senior Earns Place in National Orchestra – Again
Helen Wu, grade 12, has landed a spot on the national Youth Orchestra for the second consecutive year. “This group has quickly become the country’s premier honor for high school orchestral musicians,” said Chris Florio, upper school music teacher and orchestra director. The orchestra will embark on a tour of China over the summer, performing with famed Swiss conductor Charles Dutoit and pianist Yundi Li and premiering a new work by composer Tan Dun, the Grammy- and Academy Award-winning composer of the score for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”
Harker Instrumentalists Named to All-State Honor Bands
In January, several Harker students were named to the California Band Directors Association All-State honor ensembles. Trumpeter Jack Farnham, grade 10, and clarinetists Kristen Park and Cynthia Hao, both grade 11, successfully auditioned for spots in the high school band, while clarinetists Nishka Ayyar, grade 8, and Jenny Shaw, grade 7, were named to the junior high school concert band. The students performed with their respective ensembles at the California Music Educators Association Conference in Fresno, held Feb. 19-22, rehearsing with students and performing for mu- sic educators from across California.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Basketball Teams Leave Their Mark; Wrestlers Qualify; Boys Tennis Kicks off Season with a Big Win
Basketball
The gents went 16-10 this year, finishing in fourth place in the league, winning a CCS academic championship and reaching the CCS quarterfinals. Their biggest win of the year, a 71-38 crushing of Del Mar High School at home in front of a raucous crowd in the second round of the CCS championships was punctuated by senior Sriv Irrinki’s 20 points and senior Eric Holt’s breakaway dunk!
Holt racked up 315 points and 162 rebounds, averaging a team-high 17.5 points per game. Irrinki, meanwhile, led the team with 330 points, averaging 13.2 points and a team-high nine rebounds per game. He also was named the San Jose Mercury News’ Santa Clara County Boys Athlete of the Week earlier in the year for his 35-point performance against King’s Academy, which included eight 3-pointers and a perfect record from the free-throw line. Senior Dylan Patel led the team with 80 assists, while junior Elijah Edgehill averaged 10.1 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
The girls also reached the CCS playoffs after finishing with a 12-12 record, losing in the first round. They also had a Senior Night for the ages; when Crystal Springs forfeited, the girls played an intrasquad scrimmage in which Team Green defeated Team White!
Jordan Thompson, grade 10, led the team with 451 points, 20.5 points per game, seven rebounds per game and a free-throw percentage of 66. She also was honored by the San Jose Mercury News after she scored 38 points with 11 rebounds against Woodside Priory and then followed that performance up with 28 points against Crystal Springs. Senior Lekha Chirala led team with 53 assists.
Wrestling
For the second year in a row, Davis Howard, grade 10, qualified for CCS after finishing in fifth place at the league wrestling championships. He represented Harker with two tough loss against talented opponents. Anthony Contreras, grade 9, finished in eight place at the league wrestling championships and was named a second alternate for CCS. Contreras is only the fourth freshman in Harker history to place at the varsity level in league finals. Senior Ryan Palmer had one of the most memorable weeks of the year, going 2-0 by winning by pin against Homestead on his Senior Night and then winning again by pin against Lynbrook on their Senior Night.
Soccer
The girls just missed qualifying for the playoffs after finishing 7-8-1 overall. Sophomore Joelle Anderson had an amazing season, racking up 31 goals with 12 assists. She was recognized in the San Jose Mercury News twice: once for scoring five goals with two assists in an 8-3 win over Priory, and once for scoring three goals against Mercy-Burlingame and then three again versus Crystal Springs. Kailee Gifford, grade 10, scored 14 goals and led the team with 13 assists this year.
For just the second time in school history, the boys soccer team defeated Menlo this season, beating them 3-1 on Harker’s Senior Day. They finished with a 10-4-2 record. Overall, junior Omar Hamade led the team with 15 goals. Senior Jeremiah Anderson had seven goals and seven assists, while senior Alan Guo tied for the team lead with seven assists.
Volleyball
This winter, senior Shreya Dixit was named to the All-Mercury News second volleyball team for her performance in the fall. This recognition honors her as one of the best players in the section.
Tennis
Harker’s varsity boys tennis team went an amazing 5-0 (6-0, 5-1, 5-1, 5-1, 5-1) to earn the Division 4 championship at the California Tennis Classic. It is “the most prestigious preseason tennis tournament in the state,” according to Dan Molin, upper school athletic director.