Felix Wu, grade 10, is among the top 10 finalists in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library’s Profiles in Courage Essay Contest. The essay, which profiles Dennis Kucinich, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was one of 8,000 submitted for the contest. After four rounds of judging, during which it was reportedly reviewed by a number of U.S. senators, it was declared one of the 10 best. Wu will be awarded $500 and a signed copy of Caroline Kennedy’s book, “Profiles in Courage,” for reaching this stage of the contest. The judge who informed Wu of his achievement recommended that he send the essay to Kucinich, which he has plans to do.
In late February, 17 Harker students were named semifinalists in the contest to see who will represent the United States as part of the 2013 U.S. Physics Olympic Team.
The students are: Andrew Luo, grade 12, Stephanie Chen, Varun Mohan, Kevin Zhu, Rahul Sridhar, Vikram Sundar, Christopher Fu and Alexander Pei, all grade 11, Leo Yu, Patrick Lin, Matthew Huang and Nitya Mani, all grade 10 and Jessica Zhu, Michael J. Zhao, Jonathan Q. Ma, Lawrence Li and Rishabh Chandra, grade 9.
Each student will take the semifinal exam for a shot at being named one of the 20 students nationwide who will travel to the U.S. Physics Team Training Camp at the University of Maryland – College Park. After nine days of studying, taking exams and solving practice problems, the a team of five (plus one alternate) will be selected to represent the U.S. at the 2013 International Physics Olympiad in Copenhagen, which takes place July 7-15. The process for selecting the U.S. Physics Team is organized by the American Association of Physics Teachers.
In 2011 Harker had a total of 10 semifinalists, and in 2010 Andrew Zhou ’10 was selected as a member of the team. Anand Natarajan ’09 was chosen a member of the team in 2009.
Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and three students – Simar Mangat, Neeraj Baid and Neel Bhoopalam, all seniors – along with Jennifer Walrod, director of global education at Harker, are traveling in India from March 22-April 7 to explore entrepreneurial education and opportunities. Read all about their adventures right here!
On March 8, Harker’s Spanish Honors Society held its annual Spanish Cultural Night at the upper school gym, which was attended about 75 current and former Spanish students. Attendees dined on eight varieties of paella, made by students Mabel Luo, Anika Gupta and Krishan Kumar, all grade 11, and Maddie Dawson, grade 12, with the guidance of upper school Spanish teacher Diana Moss. Attendees enjoyed a series of wonderful performances, each showcasing a selection from (or their own works inspired by) Hispanic cultural, starting with a poetry recitation by Nathan Dalal, grade 10. Musical performances were given by guitarist Shreyas Parthasarathy, grade 11, pianist Carlos Johnson-Cruz, grade 12, and vocalists Avi Nayak, grade 11, Nina Sabharwal, Nayeon Kim, Isha Patnaik and Rohan Chandra, all grade 12.
The musical acts were followed by a series of dance performances. Vasudha Rengarajan, grade 12, showcased a Latin dance style, while upper school math teacher Jeanette Fernandez and her daughter, Sofia, grade 4, performed a dance in the Mexican folklórico tradition. The final performance of the evening was given by Chandra, Simar Mangat, Sumit Minocha and Maverick McNealy, all grade 12, as well Nayak and Kevin Moss, grade 11, who offered their interpretive take on Latin dance.
Following the performances, Spanish teacher Abel Olivas taught students some rudimentary Latin dance steps, and a salsa dance contest was held in which Johnson-Cruz and Roshan Daran, grade 12, came away the victors.
There are nearly 30 dresses in the Manzanita foyer waiting for their next prom. Sheridan Tobin, grade 10, and Shannon Hong, grade 9, took it upon themselves to solicit the donations from fellow students for the Princess Project, which promotes self-confidence and individual beauty by providing free prom dresses and accessories to high school girls who cannot otherwise afford them.
“Collecting the dresses is great, but it’s really about so much more than that. It’s about boosting these girls’ self-confidence and giving them a chance to forget whatever hardships they may be going through and giving them a night that can be all about them,” explained Tobin.
“I think that sometimes we take opportunities that we are given for granted,” added Hong. “We buy a dress that we like and find the perfect accessories. Then, the dress that maybe cost a hundred dollars, is flung in the back of our closets never to see daylight again. There are plenty of girls in San Jose who would be so glad for just one nice dress.”
The dresses were delivered in early March to a local branch of the Princess Project.
For many teenage girls a huge part of their high school prom experience is picking out the perfect dress for the occasion. But, for those who cannot afford to buy a prom dress, the event can leave them filled with dread. In fact, the Princess Project began in February 2002 when one girl needed a dress for her prom.
Founders Laney Whitcanack and Kristi Smith Knutson responded to this young woman’s request for help by involving friends and family in a dress drive. Within days, women from all over the San Francisco Bay Area offered their support through donations of their “time, talent and taffeta.”
Since that time, the Princess Project has served more than 20,000 teens through the dedication of more than 2,000 volunteers. Every year, the Princess Project collects new and used dresses as well as accessories of all colors and sizes. Volunteers sort dresses and organize accessories for girls living in San Francisco, Silicon Valley and San Diego.
In February, several members of the Harker chapter of the Triple Helix, an international organization that publishes scientific articles by university students, headed to England to attend this year’s Triple Helix conference at Cambridge University. Harker journalism has the full story. Harker became the first high school to charter a chapter of the Triple Helix in 2011.
The boys’ march through the playoffs has come to an end after a 53-46 loss against league-rival Menlo last Saturday at Menlo. The teams had rocketed into their quarterfinal showdown after splitting their two matchups during the regular season. The loss marks a tough end to a very strong run by the the team. The boys had advanced to the playoffs after earning a #6 seed with a 17-7 overall record and an 11-3 record in league play. Their sterling play earned the team a first-round bye as they waited to play the winner of a first-round matchup between Stevenson and Pacific Grove. Pacific Grove defeated Stevenson, setting into motion a second-round game between Pacific Grove and Harker last Thursday at Blackford. There, Harker muscled through to a 64-56 victory. Senior Nikhil Panu led the way with a team-high 21 points and sophomore Nic Nguyen played well on all sides of the ball, delivering 13 points, five assists, and seven steals. That win set up the final game of the season against Menlo. Thanks to all of the fans for their support, and congratulations to the boys on their season!
The girls dropped their second-round game against Monte Vista Christian, 53-35, to cap off a season that saw them go 17-6 overall and 7-3 in league play, good for a third-place finish in the WBAL. The girls won their postseason game against 11th-seeded Ocean High School 51-40, setting up the challenge against #6-seeded Monte Vista Christian. Please congratulate the girls for their strong play, especially graduating seniors Daniza Rodriguez, Priscilla Auyueng, Emily Chu, Shreya Vemuri and Rebecca Liu.
Lacrosse
Girls lacrosse had three victories in their jamboree on Saturday in Menlo and then won their home opener on Monday against Tamalpais High School at Davis Field, 18-6. Michelle Douglas, grade 12, led the team with six goals, while Hannah Bollar, grade 10, added five and Wendy Shwe, grade 12, scored four. Tiphaine Delepine and Sam Hoffman, both grade 12, also added scores, while Delepine, Allison Kiang, grade 10, and Adrienne Mendel, grade 12, tacked on assists. Christine Lee, grade 11, had 10 saves in net as the girls’ season got off to a strong start.
Track and Field
Track and field competed at the Bellarmine Meet this Saturday with solid performances from sophomores Julia Wang and Corey Gonzales and seniors Sumit Minocha and Michael Chen, among others. They compete at Mitty and Willow Glen this week.
Lower and Middle School Update
Girls basketball
Grade 8 Varsity A team: 5-2, currently in second place in the WBAL. Key performers are Joelle Anderson, Jordan Thompson and Lindsey Trinh.
Grade 7 Varsity B team: 5-0, currently in first place in the WBAL. Key performers are Satchi Thockchom and Tiffany Shou.
Grade 6 JV A team: 0-5, currently tied for eighth place in the WBAL.Key performers are Jennifer Hayashi and Deana Kajmakovic.
Grade 5 JV B team: 2-2, currently in third place in the WBAL. Key performers are Haley Arena and Grace Hajjar.
Grade 4 JV C team: 4-0, currently in first place in the WBAL. Key performers are Courtney Thompson and Sarah Raymond.
Boys soccer
Grade 8 Varsity A team: 0-3, currently tied for sixth place in the WBAL. Key performers are Joseph Krackeler, Zayne Khouja and Quentin Delepine.
Grade 7 Varsity B team: 2-0, currently tied for first place in the WBAL. Key performers are Rohit Shah, Vedant Shah and Neelesh Ramachandran.
Grade 6 JV A team: 2-1-1, currently in third place in the WBAL. Key performers are Jarrett Anderson, Edwin Su, Stephan Sokolov and Brandon Bien.
Grade 5 JV B team: 4-0, currently in first place in the WBAL. Key performers are Darshan Chahal, Andrew Cheplyansky and Asmit Kumar.
On Feb. 6, students Michael Amick, Siobhan Cox, Karan Das-Grande and Andy Perez, all grade 12, each signed a national letter of intent to play their respective sports at the college level. Amick will join the UCLA men’s soccer squad, Cox will play women’s soccer at Stanford, Das-Grande pledged to play water polo at Connecticut College and Perez signed to play men’s soccer at University of California, Santa Barbara. Classmate Maverick McNealy signed with Stanford for golf in November. Watch for the full story of Harker letter of intent signers in the spring 2013 edition of Harker Quarterly.
Upper school dance talent took the stage at the Blackford Theater in early February to celebrate the classical elements of air, water, fire and earth at this year’s upper school dance production, fittingly titled “Elements of Dance.”
Directed by dance teachers Amalia De La Rosa and Karl Kuehn, the main portion of the show consisted of four parts, each highlighting one of the four elements through music, visuals and, of course, choreography. During the part of the production titled “Air,” the stage was bathed in atmospheric blue and green light, with light-footed dancers performing their routines to songs such as “Tornado” by Little Big Town and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” made famous by Judy Garland. Later, during “Fire,” the stage took on a red hue as the performers danced to Tina Turner’s “Disco Inferno” and Camryn’s “Set the Night on Fire,” among others.
In addition to starring in the show, several students also took on choreography duties, such as Tiphaine Delepine, grade 12, who did the choreography for Kerli’s “Walking On Air,” and Angela Ma, grade 11, who collaborated with Kuehn on the choreography for “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
The fantastic scenery and lighting were the work of technical director Paul Vallerga and lighting designer Natti Pierce-Thomson, who both used their creativity and expertise to provide the show its atmosphere. Brian Larsen once again performed admirably as sound engineer, while also pulling double duty as production manager. The stylish costumes worn by the performers were designed by De La Rosa and Kuehn, as well as the student choreographers, with alterations made by Harker parent Kim Pellissier (Stephan, grade 11, and Christophe ’12).