On Dec. 2, the Harker Red Cross Club held its annual blood drive at the upper school gym, inviting students, faculty and staff to donate blood to the American Red Cross. Harker Aquila has the full story.
Tags: Featured StoryHarker’s Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (WiSTEM) club held its fundraising week in mid-November, earning more than $2,000 for WISER (Womens Institute of Secondary Education & Research), “an organization that provides health care and education to young girls who would otherwise be traded for cattle to support impoverished families,” said May Gao, grade 11, a WiSTEM officer. “Based on the amount we raised, we can provide textbooks, clean water and a safe place to live for multiple girls in Kenya.”
To raise funds, students sold pearl milk tea, cake pops and brownies made by Sadhika Malladi, grade 12. The week also included fun activities, such as Name the Scientist, in which people were challenged to identify female scientists based on portraits and biographical information.
Tags: Featured Story PhotoFinal notes on the fall season, in which we had some great finishes!
Cross Country
Congratulations to junior Niki Iyer on her fifth place finish at the state cross country meet, held over the Thanksgiving break. Iyer competed with 191 other runners in the Division 4 championships held in Fresno, and shaved 30 seconds off last year’s fifth place finish. She will race next at the Footlocker High School West Regional on Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut.
Girls Tennis
Lizzie Schick, grade 10, and Pam Duke, grade 9, were the last Harker team alive in the fall playoffs as they took the court on Tuesday at the Bay Club Courtside to face the duo from Menlo-Atherton High School. They won a highly contested three games, 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, to become the first Harker doubles tennis team in school history to make the CCS finals. Lizzie and Pam fought hard, but lost to a very strong Los Altos duo. Congratulations on an amazing season!
Tags: Featured Story Photo, Sports, topathleticsIn late October, Harker’s chapter of the Junior Classical League headed to Stanford University for the Ludi Octobres event.
Numerous upper school competitors placed high. Bobby Bloomquist, grade 9, took first place in Grammar III, in which Mathew Mammen, grade 9, won an honorable mention. In Mythology III, Praveen Batra, grade 10, took first place, with Allison Wang, grade 12, and Sara Min, grade 9, taking second and third, respectively. Kaushik Shivakumar, grade 9, finished third in Grammar III, and Alexander Young, grade 9, tied for first in History and received an honorable mention in Mythology III. Batra also won second place in Advanced Reading Comprehension, in which Arnav Tandon, grade 11, Andrew Semenza, grade 10, and Allison Wang, grade 12, tied for third. Alexander Lam finished second in Advanced Vocabulary, while Edgar Lin, grade 10, tied for first place in Derivatives and took third place in History. Semenza had another tie for second place in Derivatives and received an Honorable Mention in Advanced Grammar. Wang took second place in Mythology and tied for second place in Vocabulary.
Middle school competitors were no less impressive. In the MS-1 division, Lucy Ge, grade 6, took third place in Grammar I, while classmate Aaron Lo earned third place in History. Brandon Park, grade 6, was awarded second place in Mythology and an honorable mention in Derivatives. Grade 7 had a strong appearance in the MS-2 division, as Arohee Bhoja had first place wins in Vocabulary and Greeting Cards, and took second place in Grammar II and third in Reading Comprehension II. Angela Cai took first in Mythology and tied for second in Daily Life with classmate Jason Lin. Akshay Manglik took second place in three categories: Derivatives, History and Mythology. Annamma Vazhaeparambil won first place in History and second place in Greeting Cards, while Mariamma Vazhaeparambil had honorable mentions in Derivatives and Mythology. The MS-3 division, in which Harker’s grade 8 students participated, saw Ashley Duraiswamy take first place in Reading Comp II and tie for third in Grammar II, while Jeffrey Fung took first in History, second in Grammar II and third in Derivatives. Allison Jia had a first place win in Vocabulary and received an honorable mention in Derivatives, in which Kyle Li took first place in addition to taking first place in Mythology and second History. In Reading Comprehension II, Kalyan Narayanan took second place in addition to tying for third in Grammar II. Jin Tuan had second place finishes in Derivatives and Vocabulary, and George Wehner, grade 7, took first in Grammar II. Finally, Jasmine Wiese, grade 8, was awarded an honorable mention in Derivatives.
Tags: Featured StoryLast week, the Arrive Alive Tour hit the upper school campus to teach students about the dangers of distracted driving, namely driving while sending text messages. Using a VR simulator, students sat behind the wheel of an SUV and attempted to send text messages while driving down a busy road. Students would almost immediately find themselves swerving to maintain their course, rarely remaining able to drive for more than a few seconds without crashing in the simulator.
Although there was also a simulator that mimicked the effects of alcohol on drivers’ motor skills, texting and driving was a more pressing concern for Harker students. “I think most young people today have a pretty good grasp of the fact that drinking and driving is illegal and dangerous, but not a lot of people in general I think take cell phone use behind the wheel of a car seriously,” said Patrick Sheehy, one of the Arrive Alive representatives visiting the campus. “If you look around on the road, people are texting and driving everywhere you look.”
Arrive Alive is a project of Unite Corp., a health and wellness organization based in Grand Rapids, Mich., which holds events at college and high school campuses across the country.
“It seems easy, but then you end up doing it and it’s actually not,” said participant Tiffany Shou, grade 10. “I didn’t even get to pull up Snapchat.” Shou hoped that this experience would help her to convince a friend to stop texting while driving.
“Statistically, for every alcohol-related accident on the road you’re now looking at about four texting and driving accidents,” said Sheehy, who had a piece of simple advice for young drivers: “Keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel.”
Tags: Featured Story Photo“I Dream a World,” this year’s upper school fall vocal concert, brought the campus’s five choral groups together for a night that largely celebrated the music of North America and its multicultural traditions.
Bel Canto, directed by Jennifer Sandusky and accompanied by Vedaad Shakib, grade 11, started things off with the American folk tune “Down in the Valley,” followed by sprightly Canadian folk song “Rattle on the Stovepipe.” Bel Canto was then joined by the singers of Camerata and Acoustics to perform the concert’s namesake, Andre Thomas’ “I Dream a World.”
Susan Nace then directed Camerata in a stirring rendition of the American folk song “Shenandoah,” and Acoustics, co-directed by Ashwin Rao, grade 11, performed the Billie Holiday classic “God Bless the Child.”
The always-entertaining boys choir Guys’ Gig took the stage for a cappella performances of the Kelly Clarkson smash “Since U Been Gone” followed by “Up on the Roof,” made famous by doo-wop legends The Drifters.
Closing the evening were Cantilena, the women’s vocal group directed by Susan Nace, who delivered a rousing five-song set that included the traditional “Run Children Run,” the Iroquois soundscape “Watane” and Sue Johnson’s “Sister My Sister,” which included solos and duets highlighting the talents of every member of the group.
Tags: Featured Story Photo, Performing ArtsIn what has been one of the most competitive and exciting postseasons in Harker history, two sports will continue this week in hopes of CCS and state glory.
Girls Tennis
On Monday afternoon, the dynamic doubles team of Lizzie Schick, grade 10, and Pam Duke, grade 9, continued their impressive run at a CCS title as they advanced to the semifinals of the doubles bracket. Playing through the chilly weather at the Bay Club Courtside in Los Gatos, the girls opened their day with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over a tough Mountain View team. Later in the day, Schick and Duke defeated the Mitty duo 6-3, 6-3 on center court in the quarterfinals. Bad weather pushed the semifinal and championship round to Dec. 1, at noon, when the No. 2 seeded Harker doubles team will face off against the No. 3 seeded Menlo-Atherton team. Good luck, Lizzie and Pam!
Girls Volleyball
The girls volleyball season came to an end last Wednesday as the Eagles fell to league rival Menlo in four games in the semifinals of the CCS D4 Championship. Harker opened with a spirited 25-23 win in game one after trailing by as many as seven points. Menlo would then take the next three games, but not without a fight from the Eagles. Lauren Napier, grade 10, and Jackie Chen, grade 12, led the team with 12 kills each. Congrats on a great season!
Cross Country
Don’t forget, Niki Iyer, grade 11, will race this Saturday, Nov. 28, at Woodward Park in Fresno for her chance at a D4 state title. Last year as a sophomore, Niki finished in fifth place at the state meet. Good luck, Niki!
Tags: Featured Story Photo, SportsEleven Harker singers took part in the American Choral Directors Association’s Coastal Region Honor Choir concert this past weekend, alongside some of the best high school singers in the Bay Area.
Eight students were part of the Mixed Choir: Krishna Bheda, grade 10; Karina Butani, grade 10; Mia Giammona, grade 11; Madhu Karra, grade 12; Ashwin Rao, grade 11; Gurutam Thockchom, grade 12; Sumi Wadhwa, grade 10; and Tiffany Zhu, grade 11. Three sang in the Women’s Choir: Anika Banga, grade 10; Morgan Douglas, grade 10; and Rithi Jayam, grade 9.
The students rehearsed all day and evening on Thursday and Friday, as well as Saturday morning, prior to the concert, which was held at First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto. They were prepped by Susan Nace and Jennifer Sandusky, Harker music teachers and choir directors.
“Susan really did a lot of prep work with the kids on the music prior to the Honor Choir rehearsals,” noted Sandusky.
Singers will advance to California All-State Honor Choirs, to be held Feb. 11-13 in San Jose, based on scores from their regional audition. In those auditions, “students were scored on vocal tone quality, intonation, sight-reading abilities and musicianship skills. Each sings an Italian Art Song, sings major, minor and chromatic scales a cappella, and completes a sight-singing exercise,” said Sandusky.
Tags: Featured Story Photo, toppaHarker’s journalism department recently received 10 Gold Circle Awards from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, which also named the Winged Post a finalist for the Crown Award, the winners of which will be announced in March.
Gold Circle winners were: Elisabeth Siegel, grade 12, third place in Newspaper News Features; Shay Lari-Hosain, grade 12, third place in Newspaper Art/Illustration: Portfolio of Work, first place in Newspaper Typography: Overall Look, second place in Newspaper Typography: Look of One Page and second place in Digital Media Personal Opinion; Kacey Fang ’15, second place in Newspaper Informational Graphics and Newspaper Photo Layout: Full Page; Kathryn Duan, grade 11, and Alex Jang ’15, third place in Digital Media Humor; Jessica Chang ’15 and Priscilla Pan ’15, first and third place in Digital Media Video Feature Package.
Certificates of Merit went to juniors Ria Gandhi and Alex Youn in Newspaper Sports Features; Shay Lari-Hosain, Kshithija Mulam, grade 11, and Meilan Steimle, grade 11, in Newspaper Photo Story; Shay Lari-Hosain in Newspaper Photo Illustration; and Kacey Fang in Newspaper Informational Graphics. Go Journalism Eagles!
Tags: Featured Story, Ticker, tophumanitiesBoth of Harker’s Quiz Bowl teams had strong showings this past weekend at California Cup #2, a quiz bowl tournament held at UC Berkeley. The upper school team – made up of Nikhil Manglik, grade 11, Swapnil Garg, grade 10, Edgar Lin, grade 10, Derek Yen, grade 10, Andy Semenza grade 10, and Sukrit Ganesh, grade 9 – were 7-2 on the day and finished third out of 20 teams. Just as impressive, the middle school team – Kyle Li, Arun Sundaresan, Jin Tuan, Simar Bajaj, Jeffrey Fung and Catherine Zhao, all grade 8 – entered the tournament in the junior varsity category and ended up placing a solid fifth out of 31 teams. Team coach Jonathan Brusco said the tournament was initially meant to be a learning experience, making their performance, which included victories over Saratoga, Monta Vista, Valley Christian and Menlo, all the more impressive.
Tags: Featured Story