Spring sports start this week, with baseball, boys golf and girls lacrosse kicking off the season! Winter sports are not quite over, though, as Harker has two teams moving on to the next stage of competition.
Basketball
Both the boys and girls teams are headed to the CCS Tournament!
The boys beat both Priory and Crystal Springs last week to earn the No. 5 seed and a first-round bye. The 15-9 Eagles will kick off the tournament by hosting Del Mar High at 7 p.m. on Thursday at Blackford in a second-round game. Meanwhile, after finishing the year with a 12-11 record, the girls travel to Carmel High School today for a first-round match-up. Come cheer on the teams as they make a run for the finals!
The boys wrapped up the year with a 10-4-2 record after defeating Priory 4-2 and then playing league champion Sacred Heart to an impressive 0-0 tie. Congrats to the Eagles on an outstanding season!
Wrestlers qualified for CCS, the soccer season is wrapping up and the girls basketball team had a Senior Night to remember. Let’s get to the scores!
Wrestling
For the second year in a row, sophomore Davis Howard qualified for CCS with a fifth place finish at the league wrestling championships. Freshman Anthony Contreras, meanwhile, will be second alternate for CCS after an eighth place finish, becoming only the fourth freshman in Harker’s history to place at the varsity level in league finals. Catch Howard and Contreras at CCS the weekend of Feb. 27!
Soccer
The girls just missed qualifying for the playoffs after losing to Notre Dame and Kings Academy to finish 7-8-1 overall.
Last week, the boys defeated Eastside College Prep 5-3 thanks to two goals from junior Omar Hamade and one apiece from seniors Eric Roxlo, Jeremiah Anderson and Alan Guo. Earlier this week, the team defeated Woodside Priory 4-2; it will take on Sacred Heart Prep today.
Basketball
The boys squad lost a heartbreaker against Pinewood last week on a last second shot 52-49 but rebounded with a dramatic 65-52 victory over Eastside College Prep to improve to 13-9 overall.
After Crystal Spring forfeited last week, the girls enjoyed a memorable Senior Night with an intersquad scrimmage. Team Green defeated Team White! Unfortunately, the girls lost to King’s Academy this week to fall to 12-10.
During the final two days of January, Harker’s Model UN team took top honors at the Santa Clara Valley Model United Nations Conference, where it represented Israel. Shannon Hong and Sophia Luo, both grade 11, received the gavel and were named the UN Environmental Program’s most outstanding delegation. Meanwhile, sophomores Melinda Wisdom and Sandip Nirmel received recognition as an outstanding delegation in the Security Council, and Haley Tran, grade 10, was verbally commended for her work in the UN Social and Humanitarian Committee.
The wrestlers head to the league championship, while both the boys and girls soccer teams get ready to celebrate Senior Day! Let’s get to the scores!
Wrestling:
Senior Ryan Palmer went 2-0 last week, winning by pin against Homestead on his Senior Night and then winning by pin against Lynbrook on their Senior Night! Senior Anni Ankola went 1-1 last week, winning by pin versus Lynbrook as well. The wrestlers will compete in the league championship Feb. 13-14 at Milpitas High.
Soccer:
The girls are 6-5-1 overall despite losses last week to King’s Academy and Menlo. Sophomores Joelle Anderson and Kailee Gifford each scored for Harker. The Eagles celebrate Senior Day on Thursday with a game against Priory! The boys have their Senior Day on Wednesday on Davis Field, where they’ll look to defeat Menlo.
Last week, Anderson was also recognized by the San Jose Mercury News in its sports highlight reel of top performances for her five goals and two assists in an 8-3 win over Priory the week before.
Basketball:
The boys lost a heartbreaker to Menlo, falling short by a single point, but rebounded by beating Crystal Springs to bump their record up to 11-7 overall and 4-4 in league play. Senior Eric Holt racked up 28 points against Crystal, while Senior Sriv Irrinki netted 16 against Menlo. The boys will hit the road to play King’s Academy and Sacred Heart this week.
The girls, meanwhile, lost to two strong teams last week, dropping their games against Mercy and King’s Academy. In the game against King’s, sophomore Jordan Thompson scored 20 points and freshman Satchi Thockchom grabbed six rebounds. The team will look to rebound against Priory this Friday at Blackford.
This past weekend six Harker students participated in the ninth United States Invitational Young Physicists Tournament held at the Woodberry Forest School in Woodberry Forest, Va., and finished first, ahead of eight other teams from three continents.
The competition is the culmination of yearlong research into four problems spanning many aspects of classical physics including mechanics, fluid dynamics, experimental measurement, optics, wave behavior, magnetism, electrical circuits, etc.
The problems for the 2015 tournament were: 1) measure the Avogadro constant as precisely and accurately as possible; 2) build, analyze and optimize a Gauss rifle; 3) investigate and analyze the problem of the parametric resonance of a mass oscillating on the end of a spring; and 4) investigate and analyze the problem of the “teapot effect,” in which water clings to the underside of a surface as the water flows across the surface.
The tournament this year was the largest in its short history, with nine schools from three continents competing, including two schools from China, one school from Tunisia, and six schools from the United States.
The team from The Harker School came out on top, earning their third victory at the competition in the past five years. The members of the team were Vivek Bharadwaj, grade 11; Nitya Mani, grade 12; Elina Sendonaris, grade 11; Manan Shah, grade 10; Tong Wu, grade 11; and Jessica Zhu, grade 11. These students were supported by Alice Wu and Naman Jindal, both grade 11, in their research efforts leading up to the tournament. Dr. Mark Brada helped prepare the team and accompanied them on the trip.
The College Board recently announced that Albert Zhao ‘14 was one of only 15 students world wide who got perfect scores on their AP Microeconomics exams, taken in spring 2014. AP Exams are graded on a scale of one to five, with five being the top score, but Zhao went a step further, earning every point possible on the examination, answering every multiple choice question correctly and earning full points on the free-response section of the exam.
The notification letter from the College Board, which administers the tests, noted that only 285 students worldwide received perfect scores across all AP exams and applauded Harker’s ability to engage students and enable them to thrive while studying at a college level.
Last year Harker had an unprecedented 11 perfect scores by 10 students (one had perfect scores on two exams!). We’re proud to see Zhao on this year’s list of perfect scores. Go Academic Eagles!
DECA has been busy! A Harker team was named the middle school global winner in the DECA Idea Challenge 2014! A featured event of Global Entrepreneurship Week, the DECA Idea Challenge 2014 dared elementary through college students to find an innovative, feasible and sustainable new use for newspaper in just eight days.
Teams of three to four students pitched their invention in YouTube videos demonstrating creativity, innovation and critical-thinking skills in repurposing newspaper. They also were judged on their ability to work effectively as a team and to effectively communicate results. Ethan Choi, Ajay Madala and Andrew Chavez, all grade 6, designed a pencil pouch, which they enthusiastically demonstrated in their video
Competition was tight, with more than 1,700 entries this year from Canada, South Korea, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. A global win is a huge feather in the cap of Harker’s middle school team!
Finish Line Challenge Finalists
There is even more good news. Harker also has a team in the finals of the DECA 2014-2015 Finish Line Challenge. Glenn Reddy, grade 12, and Logan Drazovich, grade 11, are one of only three teams in the finals of this real-world challenge.
Participants assisted Finish Line, a retail shoe chain, by analyzing the company’s strategies for marketing across mobile technology, the Internet, social media, offline media and in-store experiences.
Participants developed recommendations and created a video to present their findings. Finish Line executives reviewed participants’ videos and named the three finalists. Here is the Harker finalist entry.
Reddy and Drazovich will travel to Finish Line’s corporate headquarters in Indianapolis in late February or early March, where they will present their research and recommendations for improving current strategies to Finish Line executives.
The winning team will be awarded an all expense-paid trip to DECA’s International Career Development Conference in Orlando, Fla., in April.
“We are excited for Glenn and Logan to be traveling in the coming weeks to present their research to the Finish Line executive management team,” said Juston Glass, director of Harker’s business and entrepreneurship program.
Go Harker DECA Eagles!
Harker DECA is an International Competitive Business Organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in four fields of business: marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. Our DECA chapter integrates classroom instruction, applies learning, connects to business, and promotes competition in order to prepare the next generation to be academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible and experienced leaders.
The much-anticipated Jan. 16 arrival of grade 10 students to the lower school campus signaled the start of two beloved annual Harker happenings: the schoolwide Pajama Day Assembly and grade 3 Eagle Buddies get-together.
The sophomore students participated in the assembly as part of the Eagle Buddies program. Held in the gym, the event celebrated a grade 3 service project in which students collected items to donate to the Pajama Program (www.pajamaprogram.org), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing new sleepwear and books to kids waiting to be adopted.
For the past eight years, to make life a bit better for children living in local shelters, the lower school has donated countless pairs of pajamas and boxes of books to the program. While the final numbers for this year’s drive are still being tallied, last year’s drive collected 2,000 pairs of pajamas and 2,400 books, according to representatives of the Pajama Program’s local chapter.
Although the drive was primarily a grade 3 effort, all elementary school families were invited to participate by dropping off items in the gym’s lobby. Prior to the assembly, Ken Allen, lower school dean of students, urged parents to encourage their children to bring a pair of never worn pajamas or a new book to donate to the program, noting that each “small donation will go a long way for someone that is less fortunate.”
The assembly occurred on a special dress pajama day, when all the students and faculty were encouraged to wear their favorite jammies to school. The program got underway with Butch Keller, upper school head, reading from the book “The Most Magnificent Thing” by award-winning author and illustrator Ashley Spires. Students enjoyed hearing to story, and seemed equally enthralled with seeing Keller donned in a comfy robe and slippers, seated in a rocking chair on the stage.
“Raise your hand if you brought a book for your Eagle Buddy to read,” said Keller, after he finished the story. A bunch of eager hands went up. Shortly after, the third grade students had the opportunity to read with their upper school Eagle Buddies, who had also been encouraged to bring items to donate to the Pajama Program.
Wearing a colorful assortment of robes, pajamas, slippers and snuggly knit hats, the grade 3 students and their big buddies then headed outdoors for a pizza lunch, socializing and field games.
“I have a little sister at home, so I am used to being around younger kids. However, it is always the same group of younger kids – her friends – so I really liked getting to know a totally new group of lower school students through this program,” said grade 10 Eagle Buddy Kshithija Mulam.
Her grade 3 pal, Alisha Jain, said “I like hanging out with my buddies. I really liked doing the relay races together. That was a lot of fun.”
Jain’s other buddy, sophomore Vienna Wang, observed that “being an Eagle Buddy is a great stress reliever. You get to act like a kid again!”
Keller created the Eagle Buddies program to help bridge the upper and lower school campus divide. The buddies stay together for three years, until the sophomores graduate and the third graders matriculate into middle school.
Another Eagle Buddies activity is slated for Jan. 29, when the juniors will host their fourth grade friends for “clown day” at the upper school. After eating lunch in the gym together, the students will watch a performance by professional clowns and even get to try a few clown tricks themselves.
Today Society for Science & the Public announced that Harker seniors Andrew Jin, Rohith Kuditipudi and Steven Wang were named finalists in the 2015 Intel Science Talent Search (STS), making Harker the only school in the country with three finalists. This also breaks Harker’s previous record of two finalists, set in 2011. Harker has now produced a total of nine finalists since it began participating in the Intel STS during the 2005-06 school year, when Yi Sun ’06 took second place nationally.
Jin, Kuditipudi and Wang were among 15 semifinalists from Harker – the most of any school in the nation – who were named earlier this month. They now join 40 other high school students from across the United States who will travel to Washington, D.C., in March for the final stage of the competition, where more than $1 million in cash prizes will be awarded.
While in Washington, the finalists will have the opportunity to demonstrate their research to key figures in the scientific community and national leadership. Winners will be announced at a special invitation-only gala at the National Building Museum on March 10.
A Harker middle school DECA team earned first place in the United States in a global business competition and other Harker DECA teams distinguished themselves recently at the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference.
The middle school DECA team, which ranked No. 1 among elementary and middle school teams nationwide, will represent America in the global finals of DECA’s Idea Challenge. More than 1,700 teams submitted entrees.
In the Idea Challenge, teams have only eight days to complete a business project. This year the students had to find an innovative, feasible and sustainable use for old newspapers. The teams of three or four students then presented their idea in a one- to three-minute YouTube video.
Ajay Madala, Ethan Choi and Andrew Chavez, all grade 6, fashioned a pencil pouch out of newspapers and created a persuasive sales video. The budding Harker entrepreneurs will compete with a team from the United Arab Emirates for global idea domination.
DECA is a worldwide organization that prepares students for careers in marketing, finance and hospitality management. Harker has a robust DECA program and Harker students shine consistently in the many DECA competitions and activities.
Harker DECA students returned triumphantly from the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference, with 42 students making it into competition finals and 20 of those students finishing the competition in the money.
Three Harker students were also elected to regional leadership positions. Shannon Hong, grade 11, was elected executive vice president, Sophia Luo, grade 11, vice president of communication, and Haley Tran, grade 10, vice president of operations.
Out of 28 events in which Harker students participated, they garnered seven first-place finishes, three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes. Those wins were by 42 of the 90-plus Harker students who attended, so it was a real team effort! Harker had the fourth-most wins among the more than 1,100 students from nearly 20 Silicon Valley schools who participated.
Almost half of Harker’s wins were in the top three in their categories. Members placing in the top three were as follows:
First-Place Winners
International Business Plan: Shannon Hong, grade 11; Sophia Luo, grade 11; Leo Yu, grade 12
Travel & Tourism Team Decision Making (TDM): Hong, Luo
Entrepreneurship Written Alexis Gauba and Riya Chandra, both grade 10
Business Service Marketing: Gauba
Personal Financial Literacy: Ray Xu, grade 10
Marketing Communications TDM: Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari and Glenn Reddy, both grade 12
Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan: Peter Wu and Arnav Tandon, both grade 10
Second-Place Winners
Marketing Communications TDM: Manthra Panchapakesan and Simran Singh, both grade 12
Entrepreneurship Written: Lucas Wang and Ria Gandhi, both grade 10
International Business Plan: Aathira Menon and Natasha Santhanam, both grade 11
Third-Place Winners
Principles of Marketing: Mona Lee, grade 9
Apparels & Accessories Marketing Individual Series Event: Felix Wu, grade 12
Advertising Campaign: Rahul Mehta, grade 9
The team stayed at the Marriott Hotel. The conference kicked off Friday night with opening remarks, followed by a talent show called the SV Factor emceed by Harker’s Luo. The winners of the talent show were offered the opportunity to “pie” the officers of SV DECA, and Harker’s Shannon Hong and Haley Tran took the cream pies in the face.
The 1,100 students gathered Saturday morning for their competitive events, followed by elections for the next Silicon Valley District Action Team. Harker had three candidates in the running and all were elected – Hong, Luo and Tran. Saturday culminated in a dance where students relaxed after the full day of competing and learning.
Awards were handed out over breakfast on Sunday.
The experience was a great one for DECA members. “Silicon Valley DECA is a great event for new members, especially because it introduces our members to the DECA experiences and gets everyone pumped for States and ICDC,” said Gauba, Harker DECA Director of Technology.
“I loved networking and meeting new friends from all over the Silicon Valley,” said Jessica Skinner, grade 9. “SVCDC was an amazing event, and I felt like I was finally where I was meant to be.”
There was a note of nostalgia among seniors, for whom this was the last local event. “I can’t believe that this was my last SVCDC!” said Savi Joshi, grade 12, CEO of Harker DECA. “It felt like it went by so quickly, and I finally understand how much DECA means to me and how much it’s given me. I’m going to miss this next year.”
The state DECA Conference takes place Feb. 26-Mar. 1 in Santa Clara. Harker students will compete there with thousands of their peers from all over California.