This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Good morning. I would like to welcome members of the board of trustees, administration, faculty, staff, parents, friends and family, alumni, and the true guests of honor, the graduating Class of 2014. I have the privilege of saying a few words of farewell to our graduates each year. Like most graduation speeches, my talk takes the form of advice, like “Dare to Singletask” or “Love Like a Labrador.” Since my talk is the only remaining formality standing between you and your diplomas, I will continue the tradition of confining my remarks to one page of single-space, size twelve font. I am so confident that I can achieve this goal that I have even spelled out the number twelve. But I will make no promises about the size of my margins.
Today I turn for inspiration to the award-winning song “Let It Go” from the Disney movie “Frozen.” I know, I know, by now we all are tired of the song. My boys howl from the back seat when I play the song in the car, let down my hair, and belt out its chorus. I can do it here if you would like. But Rolling Stone Magazine calls “Let It Go” a “bona fide anthem that’s Disney’s single-biggest and best song in a generation.” Also, this year’s Oscar win for best song brings one of the writers of “Let it Go,” Robert Lopez, what the magazine calls “a rare EGOT (wins for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony).” (By the way, EGOT is an unfortunate acronym; why not the more stylish TOGE or pithy GOET?)
The song is sung powerfully by Idina Menzel, or, as John Travolta mispronounced her name at the 2014 Oscars, “Adele Dazeem.” In case you didn’t know, there is now a widget that will “Travoltify” your name for free. For instance, my name Travoltified is Catherine Nicheems. “Travoltify,” unlike “selfie” and “derp,” hasn’t made it into the Oxford English Dictionary. If it does, however, it will have the unique classification of being a proper name that is also a transitive verb with only one possible direct object: another proper name. Spooky. Nonetheless, Menzel’s glorious voice makes the song so meaningful and memorable that even 2-year-olds know the words. I know you do, too.
The song and the movie have had their share of controversies. The biggest controversy is the transformation of Elsa into a slender, elegantly gowned ice diva at the moment of her liberation during this song. I will not address these controversies, but I will add one of my own: why is the male hero, an ice harvester named Kristoff, so good looking and oafishly charming? Why aren’t there any movies with stuffy administrators, like, say, heads of schools, as the heroes? Instead of Kristoff the hero could be named, well, Chris Nikoloff. I could swoop into a life or death situation, devise some policy, form a committee and save the day.
In any case, the song’s message is to, well, “let it go.” What exactly are you letting go? On one level, the song can be taken to suggest letting go of inhibitions, the past, caring what others think, or even fears. This is not unlike Buddha’s third noble truth. Buddha’s second noble truth is that we suffer because we desire, or “cling” to be exact. His third truth recommends letting go of desire, or clinging, a process called nirvana, which literally means to blow out, or “whew” as translated by Alan Watts. Buddha’s students would point out that this puts them into the paradoxical bind of desiring not to desire. Luckily there is a way out of that trap, but that is for another graduation. In any case, some of these interpretations have gotten the song into trouble, but I think there is a more precise message anyway.
For those of you who have taken psychology, you may be familiar with Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow, the unconscious part of yourself that you dare not recognize but that you eventually must integrate to become whole. Elsa’s secret power that turns everything into ice is her shadow, the part of herself that she hides to conform to society’s expectations. She sings “Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know.” Your 2014 baccalaureate student speaker, Efrey Noten, captured this sentiment with a quote from David Wallace: “Everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else.” It is Elsa’s shadow that she accepts, after years of concealing, and lets go. When she lets her shadow go, she builds a marvelous ice castle in the mountains; her shadow is finally liberated, as is her hair when she lets it down.
Acceptance and liberation aren’t enough, however; Elsa still has to integrate her shadow. Not until she allows herself to love her sister, and her complete self, does she fully integrate her shadow and use her powers for good, like creating ice skating rinks for her adoring subjects. Also, because shadow material contains all of your so-called imperfections, integrating your shadow means dropping perfectionism, too. Elsa sings, “That perfect girl is gone.” I know that good is the enemy of great, but perfect can be the enemy of good enough, and believe me, there will be plenty of times in your life when good enough will have to be, well, good enough.
In closing, all of the weaker, less desirable parts of yourself, those parts that you hide to conform, can be sources of power, of your unique expression in the world. They are the metaphorical frogs that transform into princes, or the dragons that fight for you instead of breathing fire at you. In the movie “Shrek,” remember how helpful Dragon becomes once she discovers love with Donkey? So my advice to you today is to let it go, with the “it” being that part of yourself that no one, not even you, acknowledges. Lao Tzu, the great author of the Tao Te Ching, said the following: “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” You have spent 18 years becoming what you are and if you dare to let it go, you will discover just how wonderful who you are really is. Thank you.
UPDATE: Ten Harker teams were named top five CCS Scholastic Championship Teams for spring 2014. The awards recognize the five varsity teams with the highest collective grade-point average of all teams competing in that spring sport. Harker is in the top five for every sport in which we field a spring team – quite an achievement! Harker took top honors among golf teams (details below). The full press release and list of award recipients is appended to this post. Go Academic Eagles!
Track and Field: The track and field team competed in the league finals on May 17, where freshman phenom Niki Iyer became the new league champion in both the 1600m and 3200m runs! She easily won the 3200m with a time of 11:15.15, and nearly set the league record in the 1600m, missing it by just 0.05. Meanwhile, senior Wei Wei Buchsteiner became the league champion in the high jump, setting a new Harker record of 5’9″ – a foot better than the previous record. At the event, freshman Winnie Li placed fourth in the 100m hurdles, also setting a new Harker record. Senior Arjun Kumar placed third in shot put and fifth in discus, while junior Sriv Irrinki finished in sixth in the 100m and sophomore Alex Dellar came in third in the 800m. At the junior varsity championships, freshman Davis Dunaway won four events while freshman Misha Ivkov placed in the top six in four events en route to the JV boys winning the team championship!
These performances catapulted Harker’s athletes into the CCS preliminaries on May 24. Iyer led the first six laps of her meet en route to finishing second and setting a new Harker record. In her second semifinal, Iyer started off in the lead, then “stretched out the field with a 5:23 first mile,” said Dan Molin, athletic director, whereupon “only three other runners stuck with the young Eagle in the 22 runner field.” After that, Iyer “survived several moves past her in the last 800m before running a personal best 76-second last lap to hold on to her second place run and the third-best time of the night.” Iyer will race in the CCS championships Friday night at San Jose City College, starting shortly after 8 p.m., so come on out and cheer her on!
Swimming: Junior Aaron Huang made the CCS finals after placing 14th in the 200 IM and 12th in the 100 breaststroke. Senior Kimberly Ma placed 14th in the 500 freestyle. Among 1 meter divers, junior Stacey Chao placed 35th out of 51.
Golf: Last Friday, Shrish Dwivedi, grade 11 – who led the Harker team in its first-ever league championship, was co-league MVP and led the team to a best-ever sixth place finish in all of CCS – competed in the Future Collegian World Tour’s (FCWT) National Championship at the PGA National Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. There, he received the prestigious FCWT All-Academic Team and First Team All-FCWT award, becoming the only male to receive both the academic and athletic honors. After three days of competition, Dwivedi brought home a top-three finish trophy in an international field of about 140 players. Congratulations, Shrish and GO EAGLES!
PRESS RELEASE
CENTRAL COAST SECTION ANNOUNCES
2014 SPRING SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS
The Central Coast Section of the California Interscholastic Federation is proud to announce the recipients of the 2014 Spring Season Scholastic Championship Team Awards listed below. These awards, instituted by the CCS Board of Managers in 1985, recognize the top five Varsity teams, from each Central Coast Section sport, with the highest collective grade-point-average of all teams competing in that sport during that season of competition.
The student-athletes involved have achieved distinction in the classroom, and at the same time, have committed themselves to participation in interscholastic athletics. Their academic performance is yet another indication that such athletic participation enhances classroom activities.
A team certificate and individual certificates of commendation will be presented to each school of each individual sport.
THE TOP FIVE 2014 SPRING SCHOLASTIC CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS ARE:
Our boys, one of the top eight CCS teams, competed on Tuesday at the CCS Championships in Monterey, where they finished sixth, ahead of league archrival Sacred Heart Prep. This year marks the team’s first-ever appearance in the finals. The entire squad returns next year, so the future of Harker golf is exceptionally bright!
Volleyball
The No. 5-seeded boys headed to Sobrato High on Tuesday for a first-round matchup, where a victory would mean a trip to the quarterfinals at Soquel High on Thursday. Indeed, the boys won their game handily, 25-21, 25-17, 25-18. The win sets up a quarterfinal match today at Soquel High in Santa Cruz at 7 p.m. The boys are now 20-13. Fans are encouraged to trek to Santa Cruz for some coastal air and great volleyball! Tickets to CCS games are $8 for adults and $4 for students.
Lacrosse
The girls’ season came to a close with a victory last Friday as the team avenged an earlier loss to Sacred Heart Prep by blowing them out, 13-7. The girls finished in second place in the league with a 5-3 record.
Baseball
The boys won their final year with a triumphant 12-2 blowout of Trinity Christian. Freshman Nic Bean went 3-4 with an RBI, while senior Varun Kamat had two hits and pitched a complete game with eight strikeouts in the final game of his outstanding Harker career. Junior Keanu Forbes, freshman Alex Lam, and sophomore Arthur Wolff Goldstein also had hits to finish out the season.
Softball
The girls wrapped up their season this week as well, losing to Castilleja despite two hits from junior Vivian Isenberg and freshman Marti Sutton.
Swimming
The swim team competed at the league championships last Wednesday and Thursday, where it qualified for all the relays at the CCS Championships after excellent swims from both the boys and the girls.
Junior Aaron Huang is now league champion in both the 200mm IM and the 100m breaststroke. Senior Kimberly Ma is second in the 500m freestyle, behind only a member of the USA national team. She is also third in the 100m breaststroke. Despite an injured foot, sophomore Grace Guan finished sixth in the 100m backstroke and 100m fly. Freshman Jack Farnham competed in his first league championships and dropped his time to finish third in the 100m backstroke and fourth in the 500m freestyle. Senior Manon Audebert finished third in the 100m and 200m freestyle. Sophomore Sandhana Kanna was third in the 100m fly. Freshman Michael Auld finished third in the 100m freestyle and seventh in the 100m fly. Sophomore Angela Huang placed third in the 50m freestyle and, though she does not usually swim it, competed in the 200 IM and finished seventh.
A solid half of Harker’s swimmers and divers will be competing in the CCS Championships, including league finalists Audebert, Auld, Farnham, Guan, Angela Huang, Aaron Huang, Kanna and Ma, as well as freshman Justin Culpepper; sophomores Joshua Hung, Philip Krause and Karen Tu; juniors Stacey Chao, Leon Chin, Delaney Martin, Craig Neubieser, Ryan Palmer and Jackelyn Shen; and senior Kenny Zhang.
The CCS Championships are this Friday and Saturday at the Santa Clara International Swim Center. Come support the team!
Track and Field
The track and field finals are this Saturday at Gunn High School.
This story prepared from information provided by Shannon Hong, grade 10, director of public relations for FPS, and contributed to by Cyrus Merrill, MS FPS Coach.
In late April, more than 40 middle and high school students from Harker’s Future Problem Solving chapter traveled to compete in Laguna Niguel at St. Anne’s School, where they collected seven out of 18 possible top three awards.
The California State FPS Championship is a two-day conference and competition where students dissect potential future problems – in this case, land-transportation issues set in a likely even more densely crowded future urban world – and find creative solutions for these problems. Fourteen Harker teams and two individuals qualified for the event. Of those, six teams collected the aforementioned awards and two teams qualified for the international finals in mid-June, held in Ames, Iowa.
Earning first place in Written Packet Competition and qualifying for internationals in the senior division (grades 10-12) were of Nikhil Dilip, grade 12, and Shannon Hong, Emily Pan and Karen Tu, all grade 10. They all qualified to travel to Iowa for the international event.
Earning first place in the presentation of action plan competition, senior division, and each qualifying to the international event as alternates or part of another team, were Tiara Bhatacharya, Juhi Muthal, Madhu Nori and Sindhu Ravuri, all grade 11. First place in the junior divisions (grades 1-6) was won by Nakul Bajaj, Rakesh Nori, Arun Sundaresan, Jin Tuan and Sriya Prathuri, all grade 6.
Second place honors in the Written Competition were earned by the middle division (grades 7-9) team of Sneha Bhetanabhotla, Neymika Jain, Angela Kim and Evani Radiya-Dixit, all grade 9; and by the junior division team of Christina Bettink, Alyssa Huang, Aditi Khanna and Amla Rashingkar, all grade 6. This team also qualified for the international finals where they will compete with teams from almost every state and from 8 or 9 different countries. Tuan, named above, will also attend and compete at the international event as an individual.
“This year was my first FPS State Bowl. I had so much fun. It was both educational and entertaining. My team and I won second place, which made me a very happy person. I can’t wait to go again next year!” said Rashingkar.
Third Place in the presentation of action plan competition was earned by the senior division team of Dilip, Hong, Pan and Tu. Harker’s middle division team of Trisha Dwivedi, May Gao and Alexis Gauba, all grade 9, also garnered third place.
Kudos also go out to 10th grader Sahana Narayanan who was third place in scenario writing and to 8th grade middle school competitors Jessica Wang, Stephanie Swanson, and Meghana Karinthi who finished in the top 5 in the middle division and who narrowly missed out on qualifying for internationals themselves. Finally, 6th graders Jin Tuan, Arun Sundaresan, Rakesh Nori, Nakul Bajaj and Sriya Prathuri placed first in the presentation of their action plan at the state bowl.
“I loved the whole experience, from eating pizza with the team to performing outside for the parents; it was a rewarding weekend,” enthused Tu.
“California FPS is really a great community and I love meeting all of the new people, from the cute fifth graders to the seniors. Everybody had amazing ideas for the future; we’re living in an age of innovation, and I’m so excited to see what everyone will do!” said Hong.
In the FPS process, students are given a future scene scenario (or as team members like to call it, “the fuzzy”) and must identify 16 problems, select what they think is the major issue, find multiple solutions, then write an action plan – a detailed explanation of how the solution solves the identified problem. Students are then scored on articulation, relevance to the topic and creativity.
Another component of the competition is the skit, or action plan presentation, in which students come up with an engaging way to depict their plans for the general audience, using regular household items, paper towels, aluminum foil, magazines, construction paper and the like to create costumes and props. Students are then scored based on their ability to describe their plan and how it will work and go into effect, their creativity, their use of props and their presentation as a whole.
At the start of the competition, the teams were separated into rooms for the written portion of the competition, followed by lunch. Next, students participated in a teambuilding activity of creating cars made of dry pasta noodles. The future problem solvers were separated into groups of five with members in two divisions and schools.
In the afternoon, the action plan presentation preparation started. Magazines and paper towels flew around the courtyard as students hastily created monocles, magazine skirts and even the odd Marilyn Monroe outfit. The first round of skit presentation began. Later in the day, the affiliate director announced all skits that made it to finals. Six Harker teams, two in each division, were able to compete in finals. At the end of the day, Harker students were able to let loose and relax by neon bowling.
The next day at the closing ceremony, each team that made it to finals performed white being judged by a panel of FPS board members. The affiliate director then announced all the winners for all categories, making a fun and eventful weekend for the Harker Future Problem Solvers.
About The Harker School FPS
Harker FPS is a student-run chapter of California’s Future Problem Solving program, with more than 20 teams and 15 individual competitors from grades 6 to 12. Harker sends more than 40 students to the annual state bowl competition each April, the most in California. In addition, Harker usually sends one to two teams to the annual international conference, allowing the students to broaden their perspectives through competition with winning teams from all over the world. Students may compete individually or in teams of four or by participating in scenario writing.
The teams are coached by history teacher Cyrus Merrill and upper school librarian Meredith Cranston. “We are especially proud of our program that places a great deal of emphasis on the high school students mentoring and training the middle school students themselves,” noted Merrill. “This has been a big part of our program and it is great to see the high school students as excited as the younger teams when the younger ones they trained and coached do well or succeed. Go Harker FPS!”
Harker’s efforts to fund its planned events center received a huge boost in early May when Chris Nikoloff, head of school, announced the school has received a historic $10 million matching gift challenge by Harker parents Jeff and Marieke Rothschild. The events center will house a theater, gymnasium and all necessary supporting facilities.
Parents, alumni and other friends of Harker can have their gifts matched by making a pledge or donation to the capital campaign prior to the start of the 2014-15 school year. Pledges can be paid in as late as 2016, so families should pledge their donation, now, to qualify for matching funds, but can make the actual payment as late as 2016.
Construction of the new center could begin a full year earlier than expected if the full amount of the pledge is matched, opening the building to students in fall 2016. The additional space will free up athletic and performing arts areas for other uses, including the expansion of the Visual Arts Department and the creation of the Harker Innovation Center, which will house the school’s new Business & Entrepreneurship Department.
For more details, including Harker’s strategic plan and the 2020 Harker Vision Statement, go to http://www.harker.org/page.cfm?p=274. See, there, also , links to features and benefits of the planned events center. Details about the Matching Gift Challenge can be found in the “Rising To the Challenge” booklet. And to see a virtual tour of the new events center and to hear how the facility will enhance student life at Harker, check out “The Events Center Video,” which features comments about the project from parents, alumni, students and faculty.
For more information or to discuss pledge options, please contact Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, at 408-345-9266 or joer@harker.org.
On Saturday, the track and field team competed in the WBAL league trial at Gunn High School. Freshman Niki Iyer won her heats in the 1600m and the 800m to advance to the league finals next Saturday, where she will decline to run the 800m in order to concentrate on preparing to win the 3200m. Sophomore Alex Dellar also made the finals by placing third in the 800m. Freshman Winnie Li finished second in the 100m hurdles with a new school record of 18.36, and qualified for the high jump final with a 4’4” leap. Senior Nithya Vemireddy and junior Julia Wang qualified in the shot put and discus, respectively, while senior Arjun Kumar qualified in the shot put. In the discus, Kumar, and seniors Rohan Kapatkar and Sean Murali all threw lifetime bests to advance. Junior Sriv Irrinki finished third in the 100m to make the finals.
At the junior varsity level, freshman Davis Dunaway put on a show, winning three field events: the high jump, long jump and triple jump. All three were finals for the junior varsity athletes. Freshman Misha Ivkov finished third in the high jump and sixth in the long jump, and advanced to the finals in the 100m. Freshman Lucas Wang finished second in the long jump, just behind Dunaway. Sophomore Jonathon Hochberg finished second in the shot put, while sophomores Lev Sepetov and Zeyad El-Arabaty qualified for the 800m final.
Golf
Last week, the upper school varsity golf team continued its history run in the CCS regional tournament with a third place team finish, making them the first team in Harker’s history to qualify for the CCS finals.
The future of Harker golf looks exceptionally bright as well, as the middle school golf team won its fifth consecutive WBAL tournament, shooting a team 143 to beat out Menlo’s 155. Katherine Zhu, grade 8, shot a 36. Scout McNealy, grade 7, shot a 35. Daniel Little, grade 8, shot a 40. Alex King, grade 6, shot a 42. Jin Kim, grade 8, shot a 37. Sahil Kapur, grade 8, shot a 37. Shaan Gagneja, grade 8, shot a 35. Josh Broweleit, grade 8, shot a 37.
Soccer
The Preppy Awards, which honor the finest high school athletes in the Bay Area, has nominated Harker soccer star Joelle Anderson as Female Breakthrough Athlete of the Year. The Preppy Awards, held by Prep2Prep, will take place on May 18 at Club Auto Sport in San Jose.
Harker recently instituted a new schoolwide waste program that separates waste into “wet” and “dry” categories. The initiative coincides with a system rolled out by the city of San Jose and Republic Services, which manages waste for commercial users in the area.
Labeled cans have popped up on every campus, along with signs indicating what kinds of waste go in each can. “Wet” waste includes food waste and used paper goods, such as napkins, tissues and paper food trays. “Dry” waste includes drink containers, clean paper and cardboard, and non-compostable food containers.
In addition to compliance with the city of San Jose and Republic Services, this initiative will help “divert as much of our trash toward recycling as possible,” said Diana Moss, upper school Spanish teacher and a member of Harker’s Green Committee. Making this a schoolwide effort will help ensure that students graduating from one campus to the next will be familiar with Harker’s trash procedures, she added.
“This contributes in a significant way to our green efforts,” said Kate Schafer, upper school science teacher and Green Committee member. “First, we’re making it possible for Republic Services to do their job of diverting material from the landfill, but it also gives us the possibility of assessing our production of waste and reducing it in the future through various efforts such as on-site composting, reduction in use of non-recyclable containers, etc.”
The labeled cans were set up during spring break in classrooms and strategic spots on each campus. Green Committee members have been working to get the word out. Lower school students were informed about the rollout during educational assemblies, and on April 22 – celebrated around the world as Earth Day – faculty and staff wore green and blue to show their support of the wet/dry program. Meanwhile, middle school students have taken quizzes about the wet and dry classifications during their advisories. Upper school students were informed of the new procedures at the April 14 morning school meeting with a special video and presentation. A bulletin board display in the lunch area, featuring amusing photos of costumed students, also reminds students of the proper way to dispose of their trash.
Harker recently instituted a new schoolwide waste program that separates waste into “wet” and “dry” categories. The initiative coincides with a system rolled out by the city of San Jose and Republic Services, which manages waste for commercial users in the area.
Labeled cans have popped up on every campus, along with signs indicating what kinds of waste go in each can. “Wet” waste includes food waste and used paper goods, such as napkins, tissues and paper food trays. “Dry” waste includes drink containers, clean paper and cardboard, and non-compostable food containers.
In addition to compliance with the city of San Jose and Republic Services, this initiative will help “divert as much of our trash toward recycling as possible,” said Diana Moss, upper school Spanish teacher and a member of Harker’s Green Committee. Making this a schoolwide effort will help ensure that students graduating from one campus to the next will be familiar with Harker’s trash procedures, she added.
“This contributes in a significant way to our green efforts,” said Kate Schafer, upper school science teacher and Green Committee member. “First, we’re making it possible for Republic Services to do their job of diverting material from the landfill, but it also gives us the possibility of assessing our production of waste and reducing it in the future through various efforts such as on-site composting, reduction in use of non-recyclable containers, etc.”
The labeled cans were set up during spring break in classrooms and strategic spots on each campus. Green Committee members have been working to get the word out. Lower school students were informed about the rollout during educational assemblies, and on April 22 – celebrated around the world as Earth Day – faculty and staff wore green and blue to show their support of the wet/dry program. Meanwhile, middle school students have taken quizzes about the wet and dry classifications during their advisories. Upper school students were informed of the new procedures at the April 14 morning school meeting with a special video and presentation. A bulletin board display in the lunch area, featuring amusing photos of costumed students, also reminds students of the proper way to dispose of their trash.
Harker recently instituted a new schoolwide waste program that separates waste into “wet” and “dry” categories. The initiative coincides with a system rolled out by the city of San Jose and Republic Services, which manages waste for commercial users in the area.
Labeled cans have popped up on every campus, along with signs indicating what kinds of waste go in each can. “Wet” waste includes food waste and used paper goods, such as napkins, tissues and paper food trays. “Dry” waste includes drink containers, clean paper and cardboard, and non-compostable food containers.
In addition to compliance with the city of San Jose and Republic Services, this initiative will help “divert as much of our trash toward recycling as possible,” said Diana Moss, upper school Spanish teacher and a member of Harker’s Green Committee. Making this a schoolwide effort will help ensure that students graduating from one campus to the next will be familiar with Harker’s trash procedures, she added.
“This contributes in a significant way to our green efforts,” said Kate Schafer, upper school science teacher and Green Committee member. “First, we’re making it possible for Republic Services to do their job of diverting material from the landfill, but it also gives us the possibility of assessing our production of waste and reducing it in the future through various efforts such as on-site composting, reduction in use of non-recyclable containers, etc.”
The labeled cans were set up during spring break in classrooms and strategic spots on each campus. Green Committee members have been working to get the word out. Lower school students were informed about the rollout during educational assemblies, and on April 22 – celebrated around the world as Earth Day – faculty and staff wore green and blue to show their support of the wet/dry program. Meanwhile, middle school students have taken quizzes about the wet and dry classifications during their advisories. Upper school students were informed of the new procedures at the April 14 morning school meeting with a special video and presentation. A bulletin board display in the lunch area, featuring amusing photos of costumed students, also reminds students of the proper way to dispose of their trash.
Harker enjoyed another successful year at the Synopsys Championship in March, as dozens of middle and upper school students garnered awards.
Five upper school students were named Grand Prize winners, granting them spots at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Two additional students were named Grand Prize alternates.
Sriram Somasundaram, grade 11, won Grand Prize – Best of Championship in Biological Sciences. He was awarded $1,000 and a finalist letter from the Synopsys Outreach Foundation. He also received a First Award in the Biochemistry/Microbiology category.
Junior Andrew Jin also won Grand Prize – Best of Championship in Biological Sciences. He received $1,000 and a finalist letter from the Synopsys Outreach Foundation. He also was awarded a $100 First Prize from Morgan Lewis, a $100 second place prize from the UCSF Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, and $75 from Varian Medical Systems. In addition, he received a First Award in the Bioinformatics category.
Another Grand Prize – Best of Championship winner in Biological Sciences was Steven Wang, grade 11. He received $1,000 and a finalist letter from the Synopsys Outreach Foundation, as well as a $100 First Prize from Morgan Lewis, a $100 second place prize from the UCSF Center for Systems and Synthetic Biology, and $75 from Varian Medical Systems. He also received a First Award in Bioinformatics.
Junior Vivek Sriram was named Grand Prize Alternate in Biological Sciences. He also received a First Award in Bioinformatics.
In Physical Sciences, Nitya Mani, grade 11, won a Grand Prize – Best of Championship, as well as a First Award in the Computers/Mathematics category. She also received a Certificate of Achievement from Mu Alpha Theta.
Senior Varun Mohan also won Grand Prize – Best of Championship in Physical Sciences, as well as a First Award in Computers/Mathematics and a Certificate of Achievement and medallion from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
Senior Vikas Bhetanabhotla was named a Grand Prize Alternate in Physical Sciences. He also won a First Award in Physics.
In all, 30 upper school students were winners in various categories.
In Botany, Joyce Huang and Neymika Jain, both grade 9, won First Awards.
In Environmental Sciences, grade 9 students Anika Jain, Anuva Mittal and Steven Cao won First Awards. Cao also received a Schonert Award, which came with $100 and a Certificate of Achievement. Tiara Bhatacharya, grade 11, also had success in Environmental Sciences, winning a Second Award.
In Biochemistry/Microbiology, First Awards went to Kshithija Mulam and Alayna Richmond, both grade 9. Anika Gupta, grade 12, received an Honorable Mention.
In Chemistry, Rohith Kuditipudi, grade 11, won a First Award and finalist letter, as well as $50 from San Jose State Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society. Efrey Noten, grade 12, won a Second Award.
Harker had a total of five winners in Computers/Mathematics. In addition to Mani and Mohan, junior Ankita Pannu received a Fourth Place Student Award from the San Francisco Bay Area professional chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery, which included a certificate and $120. Rishabh Jain, grade 11, and Vineet Kosaraju, grade 10, each received an Honorable Mention from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
In Medicine/Health/Gerontology, junior Neil Movva received a First Award and $100 from the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering, while freshman Venkat Sankar received a Second Award.
In Earth/Space Sciences, Manan Shah, grade 9, won a First Award and $100 from Trimble Navigation, as well as a certificate of achievement from the American Meteorological Society. In the same category, Zareen Choudhury won a Second Award.
Harker had two winners in the Engineering category. Junior Vamsi Gadiraju received a $100 First Prize from Morgan Lewis, a finalist letter from the Synopsys Outreach Foundation, a $100 First Place Award and certificate from the American Vacuum Society, a $75 Second Place Award from A Society for Materials, a certificate of achievement and medallion from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, and a $100 First Place Award from the Society of Vacuum Coaters. Meanwhile, Kailas Vodrahalli, grade 11, won Outstanding Sustainability Project in the Synopsys Championship’s I-SWEEEP contest, as well as an Honorable Mention in the Engineering Category and a certificate and medallion from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps.
In Bioinformatics, junior David Lin earned an Honorable Mention, as well as an iPad Mini and Certificate of Achievement from MedImmune. Vedant Thyagaraj, grade 11, won a Second Award.
Finally, in Physics, junior Leo Yu earned a Second Award.
Harker middle school students also had considerable success. First Awards in Zoology went to Praveen Batra and Michael Kwan, both grade 8, with Sumati Wadhwa, also grade 8, receiving an Honorable Mention. Sohenee Banerjee and Meghana Karinthi, both grade 8, received First Awards in Medicine/Health/Gerontology, with Jerry Chen and Jimmy Lin, both grade 8, receiving Second Awards.
Rajiv Movva, grade 8, was one of two winners in Biochemistry/Microbiology, winning a First Award. The other, eighth grader Anooshree Sengupta, won a Second Award and an Honorable Mention from the Society of Vacuum Coaters.
Harker picked up a pair of wins in Botany, with First Awards going to Anastasiya Grebin and Stephanie Swanson, both grade 8. In Environmental Sciences, eighth graders Aadi Ghildiyal and Sohini Kar received Honorable Mentions.
In Physics, Sushant Thyagaraj, grade 8, took home a Second Award. Fellow eighth grader Shaya Zarkesh won a First Award in Engineering, along with $50 and an Award for Electro-Technology from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.