Yesterday, senior Tara Ozdemir signed a letter of intent to compete in Division I beach volleyball at Stetson University. A four-year varsity player, Ozdemir was a member of the 2018 team that reached the CCS finals and the 2019 team that won the CCS championship. She was also named to the WBAL’s 2021 first team all-league and had a team-leading 243 digs this season. Congratulations!
Varsity boys and girls water polo have had historic seasons, with both teams recording their first-ever CCS wins. The boys are still in contention after Wednesday’s 13-10 win over Leland in the CCS semifinals. They will face Archbishop Mitty on Saturday in the CCS finals, which will be held at San Benito High School. The girls, meanwhile, are out of the playoffs following Tuesday’s loss to Santa Cruz. Congratulations to them on a great season!
Girls tennis’ success in CCS continued on Tuesday with a 7-0 win over Lynbrook in the second round. They are in action against Monta Vista today in the quarterfinal round. Should they win, they will play in Saturday’s semifinals.
Cross country runners Rupert Chen, Rigo Gonzales and Kara Kister, all juniors, and sophomore Veyd Patil will be competing in CCS this Saturday at Crystal Springs-Hallmark Park. Best of luck!
Sophomore Arushi Sharma recently received her second consecutive President’s Volunteer Service Award, which is awarded to people who have a positive impact on their communities and inspire others to serve. Sharma works with Compassion for Seniors, an organization that stages musical performances for seniors living with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions. Sharma was instrumental in putting together a massive mask donation effort last year, at time when masks were in short supply at senior centers. By her own estimation, she sewed nearly 200 masks by hand.
The President’s Volunteer Service Award was created in 2003 by AmeriCorps, an independent U.S. government agency that coordinates service efforts across the country. Awards are given to eligible volunteers by certifying organizations, which can include nonprofits, schools and community-based organizations.
In August, the App Dev League, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Harker junior Krish Maniar, held its first Appathon for high school students. Participants created business pitch videos, proposals and prototypes of apps they wanted to develop. The event had more than 300 participants and offered $20,000 in prizes thanks to its 20 partners and sponsors. Speakers at the event included Brian Dean, founder of the USA Computing Olympiad, and entrepreneur Damian Musk.
The App Dev League’s leadership is made up of Maniar, Harker sophomore Kabir Ramzan and Saratoga High School juniors Shafin Haque and Ishir Lakhani. Since the organization’s founding in December 2019, it has hosted more than 15 computer science education events with the aim of increasing diversity in the tech industry. Attendees at these events have learned to develop web applications, games, mobile apps and more in a project-based program that is designed to be friendly to those new to development. An estimated 5,000 students have been helped via these events. In the future, the organization hopes to offer technology assistance to schools and create more international branches in addition to monthly events.
This year’s upper school fall play, “Much Ado About Nothing,” which premiered last week, brought audiences to the Patil Theater to enjoy a unique interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies. Directed by theater teacher Jeffrey Draper, this production shifted the time period of this story of one-sided love and mistaken identity to just after World War II, with set and costume design to match. Music and dance numbers were also integrated to match the culture of the era and create a light-hearted atmosphere.
Girls tennis continues to dominate league play with victories over Menlo last Thursday (5-2) and Crystal Springs on Tuesday (6-1). They play their CCS qualifier on Monday.
Girls golf just won its fourth consecutive league tournament! “As all season long, it required a complete team effort,” said coach Ie-Chen Cheng. Senior Tina Xu led the Eagles with a fifth place finish and a score of 80. She was followed Emi Fujimura, grade 10, with 81, Allison Yang, grade 9, in with 82, senior Esther Wu in 11th with 87, junior Jessica Zhou with 91 and Khanhlinh Tran, grade 9, with 98. They’ve secured an automatic CCS berth for next Tuesday. Wish them luck!
Harker’s water polo squads turned up big on Thursday, winning all of their games against Los Altos. The girls finished the league regular season in fourth place and on Tuesday won their first match of the SCVAL tournament 9-5 against Los Gatos. JV boys have secured a co-league title, while varsity boys finished the regular season in second place and won the Silicon Valley Invitational, which was hosted by Harker, with a 4-0 record. Success for the varsity boys team continued on Tuesday with a 23-4 win in the SCVAL tournament against Los Gatos.
Football won 68-40 over California School for the Deaf on Thursday to end the season with a record of 3-4. Athletic director Dan Molin commended the team “for their hard work and dedication.”
Cross country’s second league meet went well, with the junior varsity boys placing third, led by grade 9 student Kaleb Goldin’s time of 20:14, for which he was named Eagle of the Meet. Varsity boys also finished third, as junior Rigo Gonzales ran for 17:54. Kara Kister led Harker’s girls by running a time of 20:36, which earned her ninth place. Cross country’s final league meet is Nov. 5 and will determine if they qualify for CCS.
Both varsity and JV girls volleyball lost to Notre Dame in their season finishers on Tuesday.
Last week, Harker athletic coaches Ie-Chen Cheng and Theresa Smith were each named Coach of the Year for the Central Coast Section in girls golf and girls volleyball, respectively, by the National Federation of State High School Association’s Coaches Association. The two longtime coaches were recognized for the positive effects they have had on Harker athletes during the 2020-21 school year. They are now eligible to be recognized as top coaches at both the state and national levels. Congratulations to both of these amazing coaches!
After Monday’s win over Sacred Heart, the girls golf team remains undefeated in league play and is currently in first place in the WBAL. The team’s next match is against a strong Castilleja team on Wednesday.
Following victories against Los Gatos last week, JV and varsity boys water polo are both in action tonight against Homestead. They will host Los Altos at the Singh Aquatic Center on Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, boys varsity will host the Silicon Valley Invitational.
Girls varsity water polo was defeated by Los Gatos last Tuesday, but rebounded on Thursday to take an 11-1 win over Palo Alto. The team faces Homestead today.
Girls tennis continued its hot streak with last week’s wins over Sacred Heart Prep and Notre Dame-Belmont. The team hopes to remain undefeated today as it faces Castilleja, and on Thursday will play Menlo in another highly anticipated match.
At a trial 5K race in Fresno, cross country athlete Veyd Patil, grade 10, placed in the top 50, running a time of 18:19. Alex Liou, grade 10, and Eric Zhang, grade 9, also had respectable performances, with respective times of 18:52 and 21:44. Junior Kara Kister’s time of 21:46 landed her in the top 40 of her race. In her first 5K, grade 9 runner Sophia Liu finished with a time of 23:56. Cross country’s second WBAL meet will take place Thursday.
JV and varsity girls volleyball, which lost to Sacred Heart Prep and Notre-Dame Belmont last week, play their final home games of the season this week, tonight against Menlo and Friday against Mercy High School.
As one Harker team celebrates a big win, several others look ahead to Harker Day, during which no fewer than six Harker teams will be competing.
In a highly anticipated contest, Harker girls tennis defeated Menlo 5-2 on Tuesday to improve to 5-0 in league play. The team will host Sacred Heart Prep on Tuesday.
Cross country headed to Half Moon Bay High School last Saturday for a successful meet that saw the boys varsity team finish sixth on the strength of runs by junior Rigo Gonzales (13:42) and sophomore Veyd Patil (13:22). The JV team, led by junior Dawson Chen’s 15:50 run, finished fifth. On the varsity girls squad, junior Kara Kister ran for a time of 16:00 to help her team place sixth. The grade 9 team finished in ninth place, with Harris Miller being the team’s top runner with a time of 15:02. Of particular note was sophomore Ethan Liu, who participated in his first-ever cross country race and finished in the top 50.
In an important league match, girls volleyball triumphed over Notre Dame-San Jose last Thursday, improving their record to 6-13.
Football lost a hard-fought game against Priory last Friday that ended in a 44-38 score and saw frequent lead changes. Currently 2-3, the Eagles look to even their record against Marina High at Saturday’s Homecoming game, which will be streamed live on Harker’s YouTube channel.
On Monday, girls golf lost to Los Altos 214-224 in a non-league match, in which senior Tina Xu shot an impressive 39. The team, still undefeated in league play at 7-0, will face another undefeated team, the 8-0 Castilleja, on Monday.
Varsity boys and girls water polo each lost close games to Gunn High on Monday. At press time, both teams still have winning records, with the boys sitting at second place in league play with a record of 6-2 and the girls currently ranking fourth with a record of 5-4. The girls host Castilleja on Thursday evening and Menlo-Atherton on Saturday. The boys, meanwhile, will play Palo Alto High at home on Saturday. Both Saturday games will be streamed live.
In addition to the already mentioned games, JV boys water polo’s matchup against Palo Alto High, JV and varsity volleyball’s games against Castilleja will also be streamed on YouTube. Be sure to catch the action if you’re unable to attend Harker Day!
Last month, the Harker Key Club was named Organization of the Year in the city of Cupertino’s 2021 CREST (“Cupertino Recognizes Extra Steps Taken”) Awards. This annual award is given to Cupertino residents who’ve made positive impacts on their communities. In a statement, Cupertino Mayor Darcy Paul noted the effort shown by this year’s awardees, saying, “Giving back to your community is an honorable thing to do at any time, but continuing to do so during a pandemic shows incredible dedication and commitment.” On Monday, Harker Key Club officers (from left to right) Anishka Raina and Lucy Ge, grade 12, and Reshma Kosaraju and Olivia Xu, both grade 10, were filmed on campus by the city of Cupertino’s media team for a short film that will be shown at the Cupertino CREST Awards ceremony on Oct. 14.
On Friday, Daniela Lapidous ’12 visited the upper school to speak to Harker’s Green Team about her personal experiences in environmental activism, with a focus on her efforts to get her alma mater, Columbia University, to divest from funding in the fossil fuel industry.
Lapidous, who is now a deputy field director at Green New Deal Network and worked for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, discussed how she became involved with the organization Barnard Columbia Divest (later renamed Columbia Divest for Climate Justice) after her first year at Columbia and began participating in protests, including one in Washington, D.C., attended by 10,000 people.
One of the most significant protest actions she participated in was the eight-day occupation of Columbia’s Low Library in 2016. She and other CDCJ members staged a sit-in at the library in an effort to persuade university president Lee Bollinger to make a pledge of divestment from the top 200 publicly traded fossil fuel companies. Lapidous said the occupation was supported by many students, who provided food to the occupiers and attended teach-ins on climate justice.
Earlier this year, Columbia ended direct investment in publicly traded oil and gas companies. Lapidous noted that while there are some caveats (exceptions may be made for companies with a “credible plan” to bring business to net zero emissions by 2050), the progress was heartening. She also highlighted the massive mobilization that took place over nearly a decade for the progress to happen.
Members of the Green Team sought advice from Lapidous on how to achieve their own goals. “In my own organizing, I have found that having conversations with decision makers is great,” she said. “When you come to a difference of values or priorities then it is helpful to have support from students and faculty.”
She also said that setting an example can be inspiring to others: “Even if you start small, seeing other people doing the work can inspire more people to come in.”