In June, grade 11 students Riya Chandra, Alex Mo, Eddie Shiang and Haley Tran attended the Hugh O’Brian Youth (HOBY) Leadership Seminar. Each year, rising high school juniors are nominated by their schools to represent their classes. These representatives then meet at HOBY events to build leadership skills through various activities and lectures. “The environment is inspiring, the people are brilliant and the experience is life changing,” said Mo. Also at the event was Mary Najibi, grade 12, who was volunteering at the event as a junior crew member after attending last year.
Conference activities included bonding cheers, games, talks by motivational speakers and idea sharing among attendees. “One that stuck out to me was when we were challenged as a group to build a society based on the materials they gave us,” Chandra said. “The point of the game was to demonstrate the hardships of some societies with racism and other forms of obstacles.”
The experience made a lasting impression on the students, who in addition to bolstering their leadership abilities, forged new friendships. “I made tons of friends and we even still keep in touch through social media. It’s amazing that just in three days, I formed such amazing friendships!” Chandra exclaimed.
“In the few days that I got to meet these students, I can honestly say that they have changed my life,” Mo said.
Students were all over the place, checking lights, testing sound, practicing bows and curtsies, making last-second adjustments to their pitch and phrasing. It was an April afternoon and the cast and crew of the upper school 2015 spring musical “Into the Woods” were moving restlessly about Blackford Theater. In just over an hour, they would finally play to an audience after months of preparation. Yet this was not so much the end of their effort as the beginning of another, as in a couple months they would be in the thick of the world’s largest arts festival. (continued)
The Harker girls golf team placed sixth in a stacked field at the Helen Lengfeld Tournament, finishing ahead of Central Coast Section powerhouses Gunn, Palo Alto, Mitty, Presentation and Menlo. The Eagles were paced by sophomore Katherine Zhu’s 1-under-par 70; she tied for first place with one eagle and four birdies. Ashley Zhong, grade 12, contributed with a solid round of 80 and classmate Daphne Liang with an 89. The lady linksters open league with a highly anticipated match against defending co-champion Menlo today at Menlo Country Club, followed by Notre Dame tomorrow.
Varsity football earned its second victory of the season with a 40-6 league win over California School of the Deaf. Demonte Aleem, grade 9, had two touchdowns rushing and one on reception while racking up 117 yards running on seven attempts. Johnathon Keller, grade 12, had two touchdowns and Anthony Contreras, grade 10, added another. Quarterback Nate Kelly, grade 10, threw for 118 yards while Miles DeWitt, grade 12, led defensively with five tackles. Support the team under the lights of Davis Field this Friday night vs. Gunn High School at 7 p.m.!
Varsity and JV girls volleyball defeated Westmont High School last week in straight games. Support the team this week as it continues to take on the top teams in CCS. Presentation visits Blackford tomorrow, while another ranked team, Valley Christian, visits Thursday as the girls try to improve on their 5-4 record. JV plays at 4 p.m. and varsity plays at 5:30 p.m. Freshman girls had two victories last week to improve to 2-1 overall.
Boys water polo lost a close game Thursday at Saratoga High 11-10 and the girls squad lost at Monta Vista. Support the teams tomorrow against Homestead at the Singh Aquatic Center starting at 4:30 p.m.
Girls tennis opens the season tomorrow against Notre Dame-Belmont at the Santa Clara Tennis Center at 4 p.m. Wish them well!
Cross Country competes Saturday at the Westmoor Ram Invitational while Niki Iyer, grade 11, races at the Stanford Invitational. GO EAGLES!!
Football The varsity football team earned its first victory of the season with a 28-18 win over Del Mar Friday night, avenging a loss to the Dons last year. Demonte Aleem, grade 9, scored two touchdowns with Will Park, grade 11, and Johnathon Keller, grade 12, scoring the others. Angel Cervantes, grade 10, led defensively with six tackles. School spirit was outstanding again! The boys travel to California School for the Deaf Friday night for their league opener.
Cross Country Harker cross country teams ran in Golden Gate Park Saturday and did very well in their season debut. Anika Rajamani and Lilia Gonzales, both grade 9, led the frosh/soph girls team to a sixth place finish out of 20 teams and 250 runners. Rajamani placed 13th, Gonzales placed 18th. Peter Connors, grade 10, led the frosh/soph boys with his 30th place finish and top Eagles boys time of the day. Niki Iyer, grade 11, placed fourth in a loaded varsity girls run, finishing as the top Central Coast Section performer in the meet. Connor O’Neill, grade 12, was the leading varsity boys finisher. The teams compete again on Sept. 26.
Volleyball Junior varsity girls volleyball placed eighth out of 32 teams Saturday at the Milpitas Spikefest with victories over Burlingame and Los Gatos. The girls teams opened at home Tuesday vs. St. Francis and gave No. 1 ranked St. Francis all they could handle at Blackford, pushing them to the limit in a five-game loss 19-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-27, 9-15. Our girls never stopped battling against the much taller Lancers, who were increasingly discouraged with the stellar Harker defense and loud supportive Eagles crowd. Harker’s players and coaches should be proud of their strong efforts against one of the top teams in the state. Come watch them again Friday at Blackford against Westmont High, JV at 4:30 p.m., varsity at 5:45 p.m.
Water Polo Boys water polo defeated visiting Fremont High 22-4 yesterday in their home and league opener. The girls team lost 14-6 while the JV boys won 10-5. Boys travel to Saratoga High tomorrow while the girls head to Monta Vista. Go Eagles!
On the evening of Sept. 12, senior Arun Shriram combined his love of music with his drive to help others by holding a fundraising concert on behalf of Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area.
Called “Around the World!” the concert, held at Good Samaritan United Methodist Church in Cupertino, showcased music from several different cultures. More than a dozen other Harker students were involved in the effort.
And, appearing on saxophone, was Harker staff member Alejandro Osorio, who works at Harker’s tech help desk. Of Shriram, Osorio said, “He’s a very good musician. He comes from a musical family and in his own right is really talented.”
“The concert was a phenomenal success!” noted Shriram, who learned to play the Indian drums from his father.
“I started this concert after being inspired by my role as an Indian percussionist in the San Francisco World Music Festival. There, there were professional musicians from countries all around the world, such as Tibet, India, China, Latin America, Korea, Azerbaijan and Uganda. I knew that a lot of my friends at school were very talented in music, and being an Indian percussionist as well as an orchestral percussionist, I was able to bring in friends from both worlds and present music from different parts of the globe. That’s why I called it ‘Around the World,’ and I chose the charity Make-A-Wish because I feel that their mission really aligned with me.”
The concert “was absolutely magical,” noted Smriti Koodanjeri, Harker chemistry teacher. “The artistry, love and giving from so many Harker students brought tears to my eyes. The fusion of Eastern and Western music was simply outstanding!”
Each year, tens of thousands of volunteers, donors and supporters like Shriram advance the Make-A-Wish effort to grant the wishes of children diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions. In the United States and its territories, on average, a wish is granted every 37 minutes.
The event has raised over $3,900 and donations are still being accepted until Sept.23. For more information on how to donate, email 16ArunS@students.harker.org.
Check out the performer’s promo video as well as a videotaken during the live concert!
Upper school students had a blast at the 2015 spirit kickoff on Aug. 28. Students enjoyed a variety of games, including dodgeball, a relay race and a life-size version of Hungry Hungry Hippos, took turns on a Slip’N Slide and feasted on a Mexican food buffet.
Several upper school students traveled to Switzerland over the summer to meet with their friends from College de Gambach in Fribourg and tour several spots around the country. The students spent the first day getting situated with their host families. The students and their buddies from College de Gambach were very excited to greet one another after a long time apart.
On their first day at College de Gambach, the Harker students attended classes while conversing with the Swiss friends in French and English. “I was amazed how much talking there was,” said upper school math teacher Gabriele Stahl in one of several emails she sent during the trip. “These kids did not need any guidance from the teachers; instead they chatted about different subjects of their own interest.”
Later, they journeyed through Fribourg, climbing up the tower in the city’s cathedral and riding on a funicular, a historic tram that runs on waste water.
Over the next few days, the students spent more time with their buddies and attended classes in a variety of subjects, including math, German and music. “We went to a music class where the teacher showed us different types of Swiss music, from pop to traditional to yodeling,” said Daphne Yang, grade 12. “And then we sang American songs such as ‘I’m Yours’ and ‘Hallelujah’ to end the class.” Their visit to the Cailler chocolate factory was a highlight, as the group sampled many of the factory’s delicious treats and learned about the history and spread of chocolate after its discovery in the New World.
They later made their way to the castle at La Gruyere, where they spent much of the afternoon exploring the centuries-old structure and visiting the surrounding restaurants and shops.
Over Labor Day weekend, grade 9 chess enthusiast Shaunak Maruvada took second place in the expert section (U2200) at the CalChess State Championship. Facing formidable competition, Maruvada was undefeated in his section and finished in second place, missing two games to celebrate his birthday on Sept. 7.
In mid-August, Nathan Liu, grade 4, and Tiffany Zhao, grade 9, traveled to Germany to play piano at the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival.
During a public concert held in the town hall, Liu and Zhao had the opportunity to play a duet (a Brahms waltz), in addition to doing solo performances. Liu had the distinction of being the youngest music player invited to the festival.
While in Germany, both Liu and Zhao learned from many of the world’s top musicians, and spent time at a historic music school located in a medieval castle.
“I learned how to cooperate with other musicians, as well as train my ear to listen to other people and play accordingly. My piano teacher asked me play a duet with Nathan there. It was also a great experience to mentor a younger musician,” Zhao said.
“It was a great experience,” said Liu. “One of the cool things is I made some good friends. I was really glad that Tiffany was there, so she could accompany me. I was amazed that everybody in the town was very into music and the posters of the festival were everywhere. I learned a lot from the more experienced musicians. Overall, it was an unforgettable two weeks!” he added.
This past summer, Columbia College Chicago named Meilan Steimle, grade 11, the first-place winner in the nonfiction category in its Young Authors national writing competition. The competition has been held since 1995, initially as a regional contest, with CCC faculty as judges. It later went national and has since received tens of thousands of entries. Steimle was awarded $300 for her winning submission, titled “Differentiating Equations,” which will be published on the Young Authors Writing Competition website.
Table Tennis Shreyas Chandrashekaran, grade 10, and Kaushik Shivakumar, grade 9, took first place in Division I of the 2015 Bay Area Interschools Table Tennis League, organized by the Fremont Table Tennis Academy! Calling themselves Team Harker, the pair ended the regular season of round-robin competition by remaining undefeated and placing first in their division. In the playoffs, Team Harker defeated Warm Springs A with a match score of 5-0 and prevailed in the finals over Stratford Sunnyvale with a match score of 3-2. Team Harker was happy to earn the top spot for a second year in a row. Chandrashekaran won all his singles matches and was named the League MVP. Go Team Harker!
Fencing Harker had two swordspeople competing in the U.S. Fencing Summer National Championships, held in July in San Jose. Both fencers are sophomores, both fence foil and both fence for Silicon Valley Fencing Center. Darren Gu, grade 10, finished 166 out of 247 in Y-14 men’s foil and 23 of 32 teams in men’s team foil. Gu fenced in 11 local and regional events last season, with a first place win out of 48 fencers in a Y-14 event in February. He holds a C-2015 rating.
Jerrica Liao competed in a demanding five women’s events over 10 days, earning top 32 points and finishing 17 out of 115 in Cadet (up to age 17) and finishing 29 out of 179 in Y-14. In senior women’s foil team, she finished 12 out of 22 teams; in the tough Division 1-A event, she finished 52 out of 69; and in juniors (up to age 19), she finished 107 out of 145. All events were A3 or A4 rated. Liao fenced in more than a dozen local, regional and national events last season, including a first place finish out of 71 fencers in Dallas. She holds a B-2014 rating and is ranked 23 nationwide in Cadet, having aged out of the Y-14 bracket.
Editor’s note: Although Harker Athletics does not have table tennis or fencing teams, we are proud to note the successes of our students at these highly competitive endeavors!