A group of Harker’s upper school students recently attended the Bioengineering High School Competition (BioEHSC) at UC Berkeley. The annual research and design competition is intended for high school students interested in the fast-growing fields of biotechnology and bioengineering.
The Harker team (Natalie Simonian, grade 11, Natasha Santhanam, grade 11, Madhu Karra, grade 11, Taylor Iantosca, grade 10, and Uma Rao, grade 10) received second place in the category of Biomedical Devices for their project, titled “Automatic Negative Feedback Loop for Amyloidosis.”
The competition, which takes place each spring, is hosted by the UC Berkeley Bioengineering Honor Society. It included poster sessions from schools across the Bay Area, presentations from Berkeley undergraduate researchers and a keynote address from Dr. Jacob Corn, scientific director at the Innovative Genomics Initiative (IGI).
The IGI Lab is composed of branch laboratories at UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco, which address the IGI’s primary research focus into drug discovery, regulatory variation and treatments for pediatric disease, as well as applications in gene editing.
To help high school students explore bioengineering, BioEHSC asks them to identify a problem in medicine and then design a bioengineering solution in just six weeks. Contestants collaborate in groups (of four or five) and receive mentorship. After the six weeks, the students create a research poster about their problem, proposed solution and analysis of potential concerns. They present their findings for evaluation to a panel of professors and graduate students during the final research symposium.
Upper school biology teacher Mike Pistacchi mentored Harker’s team. “The students did an amazing job of finding creative technical solutions to a medical problem. This involved doing a lot of background research and learning about a wide array of advanced bioengineering concepts and techniques. I really enjoyed meeting with the team because they were so full of great ideas and had a genuine willingness to work hard, learn and innovate. A great learning experience for all!” he said.
Nirban Singh Bhatia, grade 9, took eighth place in the fall 2014 InvestWrite contest, sponsored by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). The “innovative national writing competition,” produced by The Stock Market Game program, requires critical thinking that reinforces classroom concepts. Thousands of essays are submitted each year from students nationwide. Go Nirban!
During the course of this year, Harker’s upper school journalism students have won a number of prestigious awards. Here is a look back at honors the students have received from the National Scholastic Press Association (NSPA), the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) and the Journalism Education Association (JEA).
Of special note were first-place wins from the CSPA by seniors Apoorva Rangan, Jessica (“Fred”) Chang and Priscilla Pan. Working together, Chang and Pan took first place in the video feature package for a piece about making mint chocolate soufflé, titled “In a Nutshell: Mint Chocolate Souffle.”
Ellen Austin, who directs Harker’s upper school journalism program, noted that the video was very innovative, and on the cusp of big trends both culturally and journalistically. “The fact that this won over other more ‘traditional’ videos is a mark of the innovative approach they are taking,” she said.
The CSPA is an international student press association whose goal is to unite student journalists and faculty advisors at schools and colleges through educational conferences, idea exchanges, textbooks, critiques and award programs. CSPA is affiliated with Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
The NSPA is a nonprofit organization for high school and secondary school publications in the United States. The association is membership-based and annually hosts high school journalism conventions across the country. The NSPA is considered to be one of the most prestigious award bodies in high school journalism, comparable to the Pulitzer Prize.
The National High School Journalism Convention is a semiannual gathering of high school journalists and advisors sponsored by the JEA and the NSPA. The associations partner to prepare hundreds of practical and professional learning sessions.
Below are the 2014-15 awards received by Harker’s journalism students:
Publication Awards
CSPA Silver Crown, April 2015: Presented for the year’s work for Winged Post 2013-14: Nikil Dilip, then grade 12, and Meena Chetty, then grade 12 (editor-in-chiefs)
Winged Post, Third Place, Broadsheet 17+ pages, Best of Show, Denver, Spring JEA/NSPA National Journalism Conference
Aquila, Fourth Place, Publication Website Small School, Best of Show, Denver, Spring JEA/NSPA, National Journalism Conference
Winged Post, Seventh Place, Broadsheet 17+ pages, Best of Show, Washington D.C., Fall National Journalism Conference, November 2014
Individual Awards
NSPA Story of The Year (presented November 2014): Mariam Sulakian, grade 12, Honorable Mention
In April, Mike Tirabassi accepted a new position as Harker’s head football coach. Tirabassi joined Harker as a defensive coordinator in 2012 and in 2013 served as offensive coordinator. Previously he was JV offensive coordinator at Santa Margarita High School and head coach at Pinewood High School.
“My coaching philosophy is very simple,” Tirabassi said. “Use football as a medium for developing life skills.” He believes many of the skills taught in football can be applied to other areas of a successful life, and that paying close attention to the reasons behind learning these skills can result in people who better both themselves and their communities. “As long as we stay true to that vision, competitive success will take care of itself,” he added.
Tirabassi also will continue developing an environment where players feel both safe and comfortable with their skills. “I believe in removing any chance of players being put into a situation in which they aren’t ready,” he said. One system he’s implementing will separate new players from experienced ones to ensure new players can learn the fundamentals of football at a suitable pace.
New players are given a white jersey, while players returning to the team wear green jerseys, Tirabassi explained. “During practice, no player wearing a white jersey will have any padded contact with a player in green,” he said. Players in white jerseys must have a form signed by the player, a parent or guardian, and an athletic trainer to certify that they are ready to wear a green jersey. Only players practicing in green jerseys will be allowed to play in varsity football games. This new program, Tirabassi said, “will allow players to learn these skills slowly and without pressure.”
Spring practice will begin May 15. Anyone interested in playing football is welcome to give the sport a try, Tirabassi said. “This is a great time for players who haven’t played before to come and see if football is for them,” he said. “It’s also a great time for me to see the progress that our returning players have made in the off-season.” Tirabassi hopes to field a team of dedicated players who are committed to the vision of football as a means of personal and social betterment. “If we have a group of players that are committed to the vision, every member of our team has the potential to have a life-changing experience and we have the potential to be a source of pride for the entire Harker community,” he said. “This is what matters to me.”
Tirabassi also is excited to be more involved with the Harker community. “I have already had multiple interactions with members of the faculty and administration and can honestly say that there is no place that I have ever seen that is like Harker,” he beamed. “The unadulterated care that the faculty and staff have for the students is amazing.”
The upper school’s junior varsity boys, varsity girls and varsity boys soccer teams emerged victorious at this year’s Kicks Against Cancer Games. The sixth-annual fundraiser benefits Camp Okizu, a program for families affected by childhood cancer.
The amount raised by the late-January event is still being tallied, as donations continued to roll in after the games. Last year, Kicks Against Cancer raised nearly $12,000.
The event comprised three back-to-back games. First up, the junior varsity boys played Woodside Priory, winning 7-0. Next, the varsity girls beat Notre Dame San Jose 2-0. In the final match of the evening, the varsity boys triumphed over Woodside Priory 2-0.
Onlookers had the opportunity to buy T-shirts and wristbands, as well as make monetary donations, to support the effort. During halftime of the last game, spectators were given a chance to play “Butts Up” with some faculty members lined up on the goal line. Cheerleaders, meanwhile, performed a special routine.
Camp Okizu is a week-long summer camp that gives cancer patients and their siblings a sense of normalcy and stability. The camp is free of charge to attendees, but it costs $700 to $1,000 to provide a week-long camp experience for one child. Therefore, the camp relies on donations, making fundraising efforts incredibly important. For more information, visit the camp website at http://okizu.org/faq/.
A who’s-who of iconic fairy tale characters got much more than they wished for at this year’s spring musical, a raucous production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Into the Woods,” which played at the Blackford Theater April 16-17.
Noted for its thematic and musical depth, “Into the Woods” intertwines the stories of Cinderella (Caroline Howells, grade 12), Jack (Rishabh Chandra, grade 11), Little Red Riding Hood (Zoe Woehrmann, grade 12) and other popular fairy tale characters who all have a wish they want fulfilled. At the center of the story are a Baker (Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari, grade 12) and his wife (Madi Lang-Ree, grade 12), who wish to have a child, but are stymied by a curse put upon the Baker’s house by a Witch (Ishanya Anthapur, grade 12) after the Baker’s father was caught stealing six beans from the Witch’s garden. Each of them sets off toward the titular woods to seek out the objects of their desires, unaware of what may lie beyond their supposedly happy endings.
The through-sung musical, directed by Laura Lang-Ree, featured inspired performances from its cast, who brought out the surprising complexity of characters known mostly for their simple and moralistic stories. The woods themselves, designed by Paul Vallerga and lit and shaded by lighting designer Natti Pierce-Thomson, were consistently mysterious and foreshadowing and Caela Fujii’s costume design found the right mixture of homage and originality. Conducted by Catherine Snider, who also played piano, the orchestra provided the ideal soundtrack to the onstage action, interpreting Sondheim’s complex work with the appropriate whimsy and emotional depth.
Alex Youn, grade 10, was selected by the Asian American Journalists Association to attend JCamp, a six-day multicultural journalism-training program. He is one of only 42 high school students selected nationwide.
“JCamp is a fantastic opportunity for some of the brightest young journalists from across the country to work together and learn from the best teachers in a facility that rivals the biggest newsrooms in the nation,” said Al Tims, director of the University of Minnesota School of Journalism & Mass Communication, which will host the camp.
Nearly 600 students have graduated from JCamp since 2001. “2015 will mark the 15th anniversary of JCamp and I am extremely proud of AAJA for building a sustainable pipeline of young talent into journalism,” said Paul Cheung, AAJA national president and director of interactive and digital news production for the Associated Press. “Over the past 15 years, we have seen our students grow and now work at major media outlets like The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, ABC, CNN, The Washington Post and more.” Read more: https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/aaja-selects-talented-students-jcamp-192109890.html
Congrats to three Harker seniors for receiving recognition in the National YoungArts Foundation competition! Apoorva Rangan was awarded an honorable mention for her flute playing and Sindhu Ravuri received an honorable mention for writing/creative nonfiction. Cindy Liu, who has received many past accolades for her photos, received a merit award in the photography category.
This year, YoungArts named 787 winners out of more than 11,000 applications from students in 47 states. Submissions were judged through a multi-tiered, blind adjudication process and evaluated by celebrated masters in their artistic fields.
The National YoungArts Foundation was established in 1981 to identify and support the next generation of visual, literary, design and performing artists; assist them at critical junctures in their educational and professional development; and raise appreciation for the arts in America. Each year, YoungArts receives about 11,000 applications from 15-18 year old artists (grades 10-12). From these, about 800 winners are selected. At the request of the Commission on Presidential Scholars, which is appointed by the president, YoungArts is the exclusive path to the U.S. Presidential Scholars in the Arts Awards.
Nikash Shankar, grade 12, who qualified as a regional semifinalist in the Biotechnology Institute’s BioGENEius Challenge, presented his research in San Francisco last week.
“Out of a field of nearly 50 students, Nikash was selected to compete as a finalist at the challenge,” said Gabriella Arroyo, executive assistant at BayBio, Northern California’s life sciences association. “While he did not place, the competition was very strong this year and he should be proud to have participated in the challenge.”
Shankar’s project is titled “Insulin and Metformin: A Therapeutic Approach for the Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease after Type II Diabetes Mellitus Using a Novel In-Vitro Cell Model.”
Here is Shankar’s description of his project:
“In recent years, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has been considered to be in part a neuroendocrine disorder, even referred to by some as type III diabetes. AD is characterized by a paucity of insulin and insulin resistance, which results in accumulation of β-amyloid peptides to form plaques in the brain leading to neuronal degeneration. Epidemiological evidence suggests a link between type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and AD.
“The present study investigates the effect of insulin and metformin, an insulin sensitizer, on the production of β-amyloid by using a novel in-vitro neuronal cell model. The findings demonstrated that when neuronal cells, transfected to produce endogenous β-amyloid, were exposed to high glucose conditions [50 mM], they exhibited high cellular toxicity and increased β-amyloid generation. Metformin, at a dose of 10 mM, and insulin, at a dose of 1μM, were effective in lowering the production of β-amyloid. However, tyrophostin, a known inhibitor of the insulin-signaling pathway, did not modulate the effect of metformin on β-amyloid. Hence, the effect of metformin on β-amyloid is probably mediated through mechanisms other than insulin signaling pathway. These findings suggest a possible role of insulin sensitizers in reducing the risk of AD in T2DM.”
Shankar originally submitted a poster, which, after being viewed by a number of judges, was selected, allowing him to compete in the 2015 Amgen Bay Bio Area BioGENEius Challenge, the local qualifier to the next level.
Harker students participated in the 2015 National French Contest, which tests listening and reading comprehension, vocabulary and grammar, with résultats joyeuses! “
Honorable Mentions: Shreya Neogi, grade 10; Alexandra Dellar, Zarek Drozda, Shannon Hong, Emma Sayiner and Esther Wang, all grade 11.
Bronze Medals: Michael Tseitlin, grade 10; Richard Yi, grade 11.
Silver Medals: Hazal Gurcan, Anika Jain, Pooja Kini, all grade 10; Victoria Ding, Selin Ozcelik and Samali Sahoo, all grade 11.
Gold Medals: Lavinia Ding, Divya Rajasekharan, Andrew Rule, Andrew Tierno, Tiffany Zhu, all grade 10; Daphne Yang grade 11.
“Students were placed in different categories according to their level and exposure to the language,” explained Galina Tchourilova, upper school French teacher. Allez les aigles Français!