This article originally appeared in the winter 2015 Harker Quarterly.
In October, UCLA associate music professor Travis Cross visited the upper school campus to work with The Harker School Orchestra, directed by Chris Florio, who himself is a UCLA alumnus. Cross, who conducts UCLA’s Wind Ensemble and Symphonic Band and directs its graduate program in wind conducting, was visiting the Bay Area for a brief spell with the UCLA marching band. Harker was one of four high schools he visited during the trip.
While their fellow students may have been hitting the slopes or sleeping in over the break, Harker’s winter athletes were busy competing and playing very well!
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team stayed busy over the last two weeks as they went 5-2 over that span to improve their season record to 9-3. After victories over Watsonville (66-38), Kirby Prep (80-51) and Greenfield (60-30), the Eagles won their first two games in the Del Mar Dons Holiday Tournament (66-36 over Del Mar and 50-37 over San Mateo), before falling 50-42 in the championship game to Del Campo. Harker then lost a close game to Santa Clara 40-35 on New Year’s Eve. Jordan Thompson, grade 11, could not be stopped as she averaged 29 points a game during the last seven games, including a 41-point performance in the Eagles’ win over Kirby Prep. The girls team will visit the King’s Academy on Friday for its first league game.
Boys Basketball
After a tight 56-50 loss to Monta Vista on Dec. 19, the boys basketball team won three straight games over the winter break. In the loss to the Matadors, Roy Yuan, grade 9, put up 15 points, followed by a 23-point performance in a 79-50 win over More. Yuan stayed hot as he scored 26 points in a 78-41 win over Greenfield, and finished off the break with 15 points to lead Harker past Redwood Christian 65-32. Elijah Edgehill, grade 12, also had an impressive break, averaging 14 points and 12 rebounds in the Eagles’ four games. The boys team is now 8-2 on the season and will travel to the King’s Academy Tuesday to open league play.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team has been playing some great soccer over the last few weeks. On the last day of school before the winter break, the Eagles played to a 3-3 tie at Lynbrook High School. They followed that up with a 2-1 win over Cupertino this past Saturday, and on Monday the Eagles hosted Valley Christian and came away with a huge 3-0 win. The boys team travels to Sacred Heart on Wednesday to open up league play.
Girls Soccer
Just before break, the girls soccer team played to a 1-1 tie against Redwood Christian. The girls team will host Pinewood today at 3:30 p.m. and travel to Crystal Springs Uplands on Thursday.
Wrestling
Come support the Harker Wrestling team this Thursday at 5:30 p.m. on the Blackford campus as it opens league action against Los Altos High School.
Whenever Logan Bhamidipaty, grade 9, has some spare time, he puts it to good use by volunteering at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, the largest food bank in the country. He has racked up well over 270 hours of community service at the food bank and raised $2,500 for the organization during September’s Hunger Action Month, a nationwide campaign to promote hunger awareness.
According to representatives at the food bank, the Bay Area has one of the highest national statistics of residents facing hunger. To help raise funds for the food bank, Bhamidipaty undertook such activities as pet sitting, recycling, and asking friends and family members for donations.
“Even after coming to the food bank for over a year and a half, I am still amazed that one box of food or even one pound of rice can feed a family. Facts like these really motivated me to come back. By the end of the day, even if I only made a small difference, I still know that I made someone’s day a little better,” said Bhamidipaty.
In November, local television reporter Spencer Christian interviewed Bhamidipaty about his contribution as part of a “Give Where You Live: ABC-7 Thanksgiving Food Drive” campaign to support Bay Area food banks. ABC-7 reported that Bhamidipaty’s donation resulted in 7,500 meals for residents in San Francisco and Marin counties.
Paul Ash, executive director of the SF-Marin Food Bank, called Bhamidipaty an outstanding volunteer and a wonderful example of how a young person’s determination can make a big difference in the world.
“His donations of time and money have helped thousands of families receive the food they need. There are opportunities all around us to give back, and Logan’s actions are a great example of that. The food bank believes that together we can end hunger, and Logan embodies that spirit,” noted Ash.
Harker winter sports are in full form as basketball, soccer and wrestling all get off to a quick start before league action begins.
Boys Basketball
Looking to score two tournament championships in a row, the boys basketball team opened the Lynbrook Tournament with a 60-46 victory over Summit Shasta with Roy Yuan, grade 9, leading Harker with 22 points. Jadan McDermott, grade 10, pitched in 12 points and 11 rebounds. However, the Eagles fell 52-45 to host Lynbrook in the second round. Elijah Edgehill, grade 12, had 15 points and nine rebounds in the loss. But Harker would bounce back for a 62-54 win over Homestead in the consolation bracket. Yuan led the way with 19 points and Edgehill added 15 points. The boys team is now 5-1 on the season and travels to Monta Vista this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. to face off with the Matadors.
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team picked up another big victory on Friday night as it defeated Prospect High 61-37 to bring its record to 4-1 on the season. Joelle Anderson and Jordan Thompson, both grade 11, led the team with 18 points each. The Eagles host Watsonville this Friday at 5 p.m. at the Blackford campus.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team looks to pick up its first win of the season as it hosts Redwood Christian this Friday at 3 p.m. on Davis Field.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team dropped a close match to Saratoga 3-2 last Thursday at Davis Field. The team is back on the pitch this Friday as it travels to Lynbrook High School at 3:30 p.m.
Wrestling
Two members of the Harker wrestling team competed at the sixth annual Webber Lawson Memorial Wrestling Tournament this past weekend. Davis Howard, grade 11, wrestled in the 285-pound division and Diego Figueroa, grade 11, in the 160-pound division. Howard and Figueroa went a combined 1-4 in a very competitive tournament that featured six of the top 10 teams in CCS. Come out to support the Harker wrestlers as they open league action on Jan. 7 at 5:30 p.m. in the Blackford gym.
Coming off one of the best athletic seasons in Harker history, our student-athletes were showered with end-of-the-year accolades by their leagues, the CCS and the Mercury News for their efforts in competition and in the classroom.
Breaking News
The grade 5 JVB1 boys basketball team had an impressive December! Coaches Dan Pringle and Karriem Stinson led the team to a league title and the WBAL tournament championship, finishing the season with a 9-0 overall record as Harker defeated St. Matt’s 23-16 last night in the finals of the WBAL Tournament! Congratulations on a great season!
Girls Volleyball
With another great season on the books, the girls volleyball team ended as co-league champs and CCS semifinalists. Doreene Kang, grade 12, and Rachel Cheng, grade 11, received first team recognition. Jackie Chen, grade 12, Lindsey Trinh, grade 11, and Melissa Kwan, grade 10, took home second team honors, and Shannon Richardson, grade 12, received an honorable mention.
Football
The football team had its best record in school history (8-2) and made the playoffs for only the second time in school history, but the team racked up many personal awards as well! Nate Kelly, grade 10, was named league offensive Co-MVP, and Anthony Contreras, grade 10, was named league defensive co-MVP. First team honor went to Demonte Aleem, grade 9, Johnathon Keller, grade 12, James Pauli, grade 10, and Jadan McDermott, grade 10. Receiving second team recognition was Jalen Clark, grade 10, Saketh Gurram, grade 11, Will Park, grade 11, and Trenton Thomas, grade 12.
Girls Golf
The girls golf team had one of its best seasons in school history, finishing eighth in CCS and being named CCS academic champions in their sport. Leading the way was Katherine Zhu, grade 10, who was league champ, league MVP, tied for third in CCS and tied for 12th in NorCals. Ashley Zhong, grade 12, took home a first team award, Daphne Liang, grade 12, was among the second team standouts and Vienna Wang, grade 11, received an honorable mention.
Girls Tennis
The girls varsity tennis team was a CCS quarterfinalist this year, and the doubles team of Pamela Duke, grade 9, and Elizabeth Schick, grade 10, took second in CCS doubles. League first team honors went to Duke, Schick and Liza Egorova, grade 9. Izzy Gross, grade 12, Gloria Guo, grade 10, and Riya Singh, grade 9, were on the second team, with Aliesa Bahri and Kathleen Cheng, both grade 10, receiving honorable mentions. Duke was also named to the All-Mercury News girls tennis second team.
Boys Water Polo
The boys water polo team was named CCS academic champion for team members’ stellar work in the classroom. In the pool, Edward Sheu, grade 12, was named to the league first team, as well as the CCS coaches D2 second team. Arnav Tandon and Arben Gutierrez-Bujari, both grade 11, also received first team honors, with Zeyad El-Arabaty, grade 12, named to the second team.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team was also well represented in the league awards as Yasemin Narin, grade 12, and Meghana Karinthi, grade 10, took home first team recognition, and Helena Dworak, grade 12, was on the second team.
Boys Cross Country
Jack Rothschild, Lev Sepetov and Connor O’Neill, all grade 12, received league honorable mentions, and the team was named CCS academic champions for their sport.
Girls Cross Country
The girls cross country team ended its season with an eighth place CCS finish as well as some huge individual accomplishments. Niki Iyer, grade 11, was league champ, league MVP, second place in CCS, fifth in state and named to theAll-Mercury News first team (http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_29223827/allmercury-news-girls-cross-country:-gunn-s-gillian-meeks-is-the-runner-of-the-year). Alex Dellar, grade 12, was named to the second team, with Anika Rajamani and Lilia Gonzales, both grade 9, receiving honorable mentions.
Congratulations to all fall athletes for an amazing season. GO EAGLES!
December has been a great month for Harker math students, who’ve been performing very well in annual math competitions.
Last week, Harker took first place nationwide in Interstellar’s Math Madness finals at the high school level. Middle school mathematicians also performed very well, with their team placing in the top 10 nationally. The competition, which comprised more 25,000 middle and high school contestants, was conducted through the Interstellar Web application, which allows teachers to create teams of students representing their schools and compete against other schools either by inviting them to compete or by entering events organized by Interstellar. Students had been competing since the September opening rounds, which separated schools into various divisions. Harker ended up in the Division I bracket at both the middle and upper school levels, with the upper school defeating University High School of Irvine to take first place. The middle school narrowly lost to Raymond J. Grey Junior High in Acton, Mass., who went on to win first place.
During the first week of December, National Assessment and Testing announced that Harker placed second in two national math contests. Upper school math teacher Anuradha Aiyer acted as coach for the two contests, each of which contained 100 problems that had to be solved in a half-hour. The Fall Startup contest had students solving problems on their own, while the Team Scramble allowed students to work as a group to solve tougher problems. The division in which each student competed corresponded to their grade level.
Harker’s placing was highlighted by several standout individual efforts. Grade 9 students Katherine Tian and Rose Guan placed 11th and 17th, respectively, in the ninth grade division. Sophomore Swapnil Garg took first place in the 10th grade division, where Rajiv Movva placed sixth and Joanna Lin placed eighth. David Zhu took 25th place in the 11th grade division. Finally, Richard Yi earned first place in the 12th grade division, in which Allison Wang took fourth place and Lawrence Li finished 23rd.
Last week, Ameek Singh, grade 12, and Aliesa Bahri, grade 10, headed to Tampa, Fla., to attend the People of Color Conference and the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, both organized by the National Association of Independent Schools. Also in attendance were upper school art teacher Pilar Aguero-Esparza, upper school history teacher Mark Janda and kindergarten teacher Katherine Lo.
“I wanted to attend the conference to jump-start the diversity efforts at Harker and spread education about my identity,” Singh said. “I also wanted to discover my identity.”
The students participated in a number of enlightening activities that allowed them to discuss their experiences living as people of color in various parts of the country. “We participated in affinity groups, in which students of South Asian descent got together and talked about their culture, and their experiences as South Asians in different parts of the country,” Singh said. “In addition, we were in family groups where we tackled various issues about family, gender, racism and most importantly, privilege.”
Speakers at the event included Mae Carol Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, and Mahzarin Banaji, a noted Indian-American social psychologist who was key to the development of the implicit-association test, which measures how strongly a person automatically associates between two representations of objects. “Banaji presented from her extensive research on unconscious bias and discussed ways we can examine ourselves to become more discerning of our own attitudes and beliefs,” Aguero-Esparza said.
Aguero-Esparza also enjoy workshops by Rosetta Lee from the Seattle Girls’ School and Liza Talusan of The Park School in Massachusetts. “Rosetta Lee presented a session that discussed the concept of cultural competency as a new model for old school diversity in independent schools,” she said. “Liza Talusan held a session on deconstructing myths about Asian-Americans that I found very informative (and eye-opening) and applicable to my teaching.”
Toward the end of the conferences, the Harker students and teachers met to discuss how the lessons they learned could be applied at Harker. “It was exciting to hear their ideas and see their enthusiasm for what they want to bring back to school and how they want to help lead our community to engage in diversity work,” Aguero-Esparza recalled. During these discussions, Singh and Bahri mentioned that they would like to present to Harker students on their experience at the conferences and also create a club dedicated to the topic of diversity.
Winning its first two games by an average margin of 43 points, the girls basketball team made it to the finals of the Pescadero Hoop Dreams Tournament before falling to Stevenson High. Jordan Thompson, grade 11, scored 32 points, including eight 3-pointers, in a 60-14 win over host Pescadero High in the opening round game. Thompson followed that up with another 32-point performance in the Eagles second round victory over Alma Heights and the team took Harbor 64-22, last night and are now 3-1. Catch them at their home opener Friday at Blackford 5:00 vs. Prospect–Go Eagles!
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team started the season off with a bang as it defeated Lynbrook, Andrew Hill and Silver Creek to win the James Lick Invitational Tournament, their first tournament championship under coach Butch Keller. Roy Yuan, grade 9, averaged 16 points per game in the tournament with 22 points coming in the championship game. Elijah Edgehill, grade 12, also had a huge tournament averaging 14 points and 14 rebounds per game and was named MVP for the tournament. Fellow senior Rohan Desikan was named All-Tournament. The boys team will begin the Lynbrook tournament tomorrow with an opening round game vs. Summit Prep at 4:45 p.m.
Boys Soccer
The boys varsity soccer team traveled to San Mateo High school last Friday for its first game of the season, but the Bearcats pulled out a 5-3 victory over Harker. The Eagles will host Saratoga High Thursday.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team dropped its first two games of the season to San Mateo and Saratoga, but looks to rebound next Friday as it hosts Redwood Christian.
Wrestling
The Harker wrestling team travels to Fremont High in Sunnyvale this Saturday to compete in the 2015 Webber Lawson Varsity Wrestling Tournament. The Eagles will be one of 46 high schools competing in the tournament, which will feature nine top 20 CCS teams.
This morning, the Siemens Foundation announced the winners of this year’s Siemens Competition via live stream, and teammates David Zhu and Evani Radiya-Dixit were named $20,000 scholarship winners! Congratulations!
—-
This past weekend at the California Institute of Technology, juniors Evani Radiya-Dixit and David Zhu were named the winning team at the regional finals of this year’s Siemens Competition. Their project, titled “Automated Classification of Benign and Malignant Proliferative Breast Cancer Lesions,” earned them a shared $6,000 scholarship and a trip to the National Finals in Washington, D.C., which will take place Dec. 4-8.
Radiya-Dixit and Zhu received high praise from judges at the competition, including Alexandre Cunhe, director of CalTech’s Center for Advanced Methods in Biological Image Analysis, who said, “In this ‘big data’ era, with a larger data set, David and Evani’s approach has the potential of being very applicable to help distinguish a breast cancer tumor as benign or malignant. This could lead radiologists to be able to better diagnose biopsy images.”
The two students were later mentioned in a San Jose Mercury News story about the competition, in which five South Bay high school students are finalists.
Congratulations to these hard-working students, and good luck in the nation’s capital!
Several Harker students have been spending their free time teaching children at various locations in the San Jose area. Seniors Arun Shriram and Natalie Simonian, co-presidents of the Harker Science for Youth club, give monthly presentations at the West Valley Branch Library, the Rose Garden Branch Library and Grant Elementary School. “We teach various topics in science with several fun, hands-on activities that kids can participate in,” Shriram said. “Our activities include physics, chemistry, astronomy, rainforests, oceans, human anatomy, nutrition, psychology and others.”
Shriram said his experience teaching kids at California Academy of Sciences and The Tech Museum helped him realize how much he enjoys teaching science to younger students. “I realized that I loved teaching my favorite subjects to children and simplifying it for them,” he said. “Afterward, I became excited to teach kids.”
Another class, titled Kidz Kode, is taught by juniors Kedar Gupta, Varun Baldwa and Parth Pendurkar and specializes in Java programming. “The three of us manage two classes right now — one at the West Valley Library, with 20 kids, and another at the Bascom Library, with 14,” said Gupta. “We’ve already completed a Kidz Kode session, so that’s about 50 children total.”
The three Harker students first became interested in teaching while taking computer science classes at school and finding out that they all wished they’d started coding sooner. “We wanted to create a way for kids to get their feet wet in the field, and that’s how we came up with the idea for Kidz Kode,” Gupta said.
The students who teach the classes said they have found the experience of teaching to be highly rewarding. “The most enjoyable part of educating kids is the glows of joy that I notice when children understand something or relate new material to previous experiences,” said Shriram. “That means that I’ve inspired someone else to possibly choose a life of science or at least be interested in a subject they previously never knew about.”
Gupta said he enjoys seeing the progress students make after attending the Kidz Kode sessions. “Watching a child grow from not knowing how to open files all the way to writing complete Java programs is an awesome feeling, since we know that we as teachers led them on that path,” he said.