This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
Current juniors Andrew Wang and Namrata Vakkalagadda attended the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Northern California Seminar in mid-June, held at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga. Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY for short) is a national organization that seeks to build principles of service and leadership in high school students. Students are selected by their schools to participate in HOBY events, where they participate in leadership-building activities, hear from important figures in a variety of fields and more.
“There were many activities that essentially made us ask ourselves how we would behave in certain circumstances that questioned our decision-making skills or our opinions,” said Wang.
Students also learned about different types of leadership, such as personal leadership, group leadership and society leadership.
“One of my favorite activities was where we answered a set of questions and found out which ‘color’ we are. each color represented certain qualities that person possesses,” Vakkalagadda said. People of the same color were then put into groups and told to build a tower with the materials provided. “Each group had a very different experience, but all the towers failed. The activity showed us how all four types of leadership are needed to keep any type of organization or group running.”
Middle School
Girls Softball
Harker 7 – Menlo 0! Our dynamic duo of Meghan Robertson and Anika Rajamani, both grade 6, played a great game Sept. 18 against Menlo. Robertson pitched and brings great control and speed to the team; Rajamani is the catcher and is like a wall behind the plate, said Raul Rios, coach. “We had great defensive plays by Marti Sutton, grade 8, Taylor Lam, grade 6, and Grace Park, grade 8. We have a very young but strong team this year; if they stay together and keep playing they are going to be a force to be reckoned with in the upcoming years.” The team is now 2-0.
Upper School
Varsity Football
Varsity football now stands at 2-1, having won Sept. 7 and lost Sept. 14. First, the gridiron guys took down Andrew Hill High School 23-16. One highlight was senior Deniz Celik’s 32-yard field goal which, coupled with quarterback senior Spenser Quash’s pair of second-half touchdown passes kept Harker in the lead to help survive a late Andrew Hill drive. Trailing 16-11 in the third quarter, Quash connected with Adarsh Battu, grade 11, on a 10-yard score to put the Eagles ahead 17-16. Another TD pass, on a screen to Ryan Mui, grade 12, provided insurance and Harker needed every bit of it. The game ended with Hill inside the Harker five-yard line, so a bit closer than desired!
The following week, Sept 14. against San Jose High School, with the score 8-8 late in the fourth quarter, SJHS’ Bulldogs drove the ball 60 yards and kicked a field goal with only seconds remaining to seal the 11-8 victory. Robert Deng, grade 12, scored a one-yard touchdown pass from Quash and Keanu Forbes, grade 10, scored the two-point conversion for the Eagles. The 2-1 Eagles are away at Mills High School Saturday afternoon this week.
Girls Tennis
Girls tennis didn’t lose a set in the Sept. 6 7-0 rout of Fremont, played on Fremont’s home courts. Sophomore Arden Hu, playing #4 singles, had the closest match, and was pushed to a first set tiebreaker before prevailing 7-6, 6-0, making the team 2-0. Then, over the weekend, varsity girls had an excellent performance at the Santa Catalina tournament, winning second place out of 16 teams. The standings were very close, with the team just one win away from tying for first place.
Daria Karakoulka, grade 12, was the #3 singles champion and did not drop a single set throughout the tournament. Number 2 doubles team Chau Nguyen, grade 12, and Izzy Gross, grade 9, won first place and remain undefeated this season with six wins. Katia Mironova, grade 11, was a finalist at #4 singles, and Indica Sur, grade 12, and Ariana Shulman, grade 11, were finalists at #3 doubles. Jenny Chen, grade 12, reached the semifinals at #1 singles, and #1 doubles team Sylvie Dobrota, grade 12, and Hu made it to the quarterfinals. Adding to the team’s total, Sahithya Prakash, grade 11, also reached consolation finals at #2 singles. The girls open league play next week.
Girls Volleyball
Girls volleyball lost to a strong Homestead High team Sept. 12, but rebounded against Fremont two days later in a three-game sweep. Shreya Dixit, grade 10, led the team with 12 kills to make the team 2-1. Sept. 13, the team defeated Saratoga High three games to one to improve to 3-1 on the season. Divya Kalidindi, grade 11, and Dixit had 11 kills each. Sept. 17 the girls hosted Immaculate Conception Academy. They face Pinewood High School tonight so come on out and cheer!
Boys Water Polo
Varsity lost the first game of the Wilcox Tournament Sept. 8-9 against Pioneer, but had solid victories over Willow Glen and Santa Clara 18-10 and 15-10, respectively. Karan Das-Grande, grade 12, scored 11 goals over the three games; Ryan Hume, grade 12, got 10; Eric Holt, grade 10, and Gilad Nilo, grade 12, had six each; Stephan Pellissier, grade 11, had four; and Albert Chu, grade 11, put one in.
The boys went on to a solid 8-6 victory over Fremont Sept. 13 to improve to 5-3 on the season. Hume had three goals, Holt added two. Sean Pan, grade 11, was stellar in goal. On Sept. 18, the boys beat Santa Clara High School 18-11 and they host Wilcox High Thurs., Sept. 20.
Girls Water Polo
Girls water polo opened the season last week with a pair of victories over league opponents. On Sept 11, they defeated Saratoga 9-7; and two days later they worked over Fremont 8-5. Senior Keri Clifford, grade 12, led the way with eight goals over the two games. Sierra Lincoln, grade 12, had 13 saves in goal against Saratoga. The girls then went 2-2 in the Wilcox Lady Chargers seventh annual Girls Varsity Water Polo Tournament over the weekend. In that tournament, Clifford had eight goals in three games, and freshman Helena Dworak had seven saves in a very close loss to Lynbrook.
Scores
Harker-7, SCHS-10, with goals by Anushka Das, grade 10; Clifford, Daphne Millard, grade 12; Anna Levine, grade 12 ( three); and Sonia Sidhu. Eight blocks by Lincoln.
Harker-5, Fremont-2 with goals by Clifford (two), Yanovsky and Levine (two); Lincoln, five blocks.
Harker-8, Lynbrook-10, with goals by Clifford (five), Levine (two) and Sidhu; seven blocks by Helena Dworak, grade 9.
Harker-5, Saratoga-0: Saratoga forfeit.
On Sept. 18, the girls beat Santa Clara High School 8-7 and they face Mountain View High School Thurs., Sept. 20.
Girls Golf
Girls golf lost to Notre Dame-Belmont Sept. 7 at Los Lagos in a non-league matchup 240-231. Kristine Lin, grade 11, led all golfers with a 38. They beat Menlo School Sept. 17 221-232 and Lin earned medalist honors, shooting four over par 38. Senior Jessica Son’s timely career best 42 helped the team notch this very important win. Also contributing her personal best was junior Connie Li with a 50. Freshman Daphne Liang debuted with a steady 47 while senior Patricia Huang shot a 44. Late breaking news: Triumph over Sacred Heart Prep Sept. 18, in a close one, 223-227.
Cross Country
Cross country competed at Toro Park in Salinas Sept. 15, and sophomore Corey Gonzales placed 17th in the varsity boys race. His time of 17:07 is a personal best by 30 seconds on the Toro course; the time is second on the all-time Harker list, and also sets a sophomore school record, breaking the old one by two minutes. Freshman Mary Najibi placed ninth in the frosh-soph race, leading her team to a fourth place finish. Najibi’s time of 22:49 is the third all-time freshman time. Another freshman, Connor O’Neill, ran a 19:55, which is the second fastest freshman time in Harker history.
On Sept. 6, Yu Sasaki, a Japanese representative from Save the Children, visited Harker to talk to the students about her relief work in the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March of 2011. “She was thrilled that the Harker kids helped fundraise for the relief efforts,” said Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s global education director.
Sasaki visited several classes throughout the day, including Keiko Irino’s honors Japanese classes and Masako Onakado’s AP Japanese and contemporary Japan classes. “She stayed with us all day long, giving presentations to five classes,” Onakado said, adding that presentations were given in both English and Japanese. “Students asked some good questions, and they said that the presentation was very informative!”
Harker athletes had the unique opportunity to meet two Olympic gold medalist swimmers on Friday, when three-time gold medalist Ambrose “Rowdy” Gaines and silver and gold medalist Cullen Jones spoke to students at the Singh Aquatic Center at the upper school campus just before a USA Swimming Foundation event held at Nichols Hall.
Gaines, who won three gold medals at the 1984 summer games in Los Angeles and now works in television as a swimming commentator, shared his story of perseverance and determination. He began swimming competitively at age 17 after being denied spots on his high school football, baseball, basketball, golf and tennis teams.
“I am living proof it’s never too late to achieve your dreams,” he said, reminding students that setbacks are a part of the journey, such as when he broke a world record in 1980, only to find out the next day that the United States would be boycotting that year’s Olympic games.
Undaunted, he pressed on, practicing rigorously six days a week, winning SEC and NCAA titles and qualifying for the 1984 games, where at age 25 he became the third-oldest Olympic swimmer to date to win a gold medal.
After Gaines spoke, Jones took his turn to speak to the students about his experience at the 2012 games in London, touching on his experience staying at the Olympic Village and his daily regimen, which consisted of a near-constant cycle of training and nutritional intake.
Aside from winning the silver and gold, highlights of the London games for Cullen also included meeting athletes such as NBA stars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James as well as tennis legend Serena Williams.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation recently announced this year’s semifinalists in the 2013 National Merit Scholarship Competition, and 46 Harker students are among those listed, all of whom took the exam last year when they were juniors. They are:
Erik Andersen, Paulomi Bhattacharya, Joshua Bollar, Albert Chen, Jenny Chen, Amie Chien, Emily Chu, Ria Desai, Desirazu Rahul, Rebecca Fang, Drew Goldstein, David Grossman, Varun Gudapati, Jacob Hoffman, Samantha Hoffman, Andre Jia, Nayeon Kim, Cecilia Lang-Ree, Joy Li, Victoria Lin, Rebecca Liu, Meera Madhavan, Simar Mangat, Preeya Mehta, Ramakrishnan Menon, Payal Modi, Suchita Nety, Laura Pedrotti, Kyle Roter, Pooja Shah, Pranav Sharma, Wendy Shwe, Sonia Sidhu, Christopher Sund, Indica Sur, Ashvin Swaminathan, Ravi Tadinada, Apurva Tandon, Lunda Tang, Emily Wang, Jacqueline Wang, Lorraine Wong, Wilbur Yang, Robert Yeats, Michelle Zhang and Warren Zhang.
This contest is entered by more the than one million high school juniors nationwide who take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Exam. Students must maintain exceptional academic performance, receive a recommendation from a school administrator, compose an essay and receive SAT scores consistent with their performance on the PSAT to become finalists.
Colin Dickey MS ’91 visited the upper school on Aug. 30 to share insights into his book, “Cranioklepty.” Dickey sat down with students in biology teacher Dan Ajerman’s classroom to discuss the book, which examines the obsession of many individuals to possess the remains of famous persons, such as Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Joseph Haydn, which grew in the 19th century with the emergence of phrenology (later abandoned as pseudoscience).
He also shared stories about how various peoples regarded and treated their dead, such as the disposal of bodies after the French Revolution and the decision by the city of San Francisco to bury its deceased immediately southward in Colma, which is made up mostly of cemeteries and bears the humorous motto, “It’s Great to Be Alive in Colma!”
For his next project, Dickey has spent time delving into the life of Sarah Winchester, who owned the famous Winchester Mystery House. Winchester’s husband was a son of the man who invented the Winchester rifle, and popular belief holds that the house’s bizarre modifications were made to confuse the ghosts of those killed by the rifle who had come back to haunt her. The legend, Dickey said, is a fabrication invented by a “carnival huckster” who wished to use the house’s allure to turn a profit.
The class of 2016 got a head start on their high school careers on Aug. 24 during freshman orientation day. Students new to Harker arrived early to attend library and technology training sessions. All grade 9 students then convened in the gym to meet with their advisors and advisory groups. After making their introductions, the students in each group sat in a circle and played games to help them get to know one another. All the while, the students were helped along by the Harker Link Crew, grade 11 and 12 students who assist incoming freshmen with their transition to the upper school.
Later, they headed to Davis Field to participate in some fun team-building activities set up by Apex Adventures. The warm late-summer weather was the perfect environment for outdoor fun, as students were divided into teams and competed in games that required teamwork and cooperation to complete. One required teams to fill tubes with holes punched in them with water by plugging the holes with their hands, while another placed a student in a large wooden triangle who attempted to walk across the field while teammates used ropes to balance the triangle on its two “feet.” All the while, students laughed and cheered one another on as they worked together to complete each challenge.
The upper school’s 2012-13 year began in earnest on Aug. 27 when the entire student body and faculty gathered at the upper school campus quad for this year’s matriculation ceremony. Grades 10-12 greeted the faculty with applause as they carried the flag of the class of 2013. Shortly after, the students cheered for the incoming class of 2016 as they took their seats.
Chris Nikoloff, head of school, greeted the students with an opening speech about jam sessions of the musical and non-musical varieties. He reminisced about his days in junior high and high school, playing both improvised and popular music with his friends. “We played music just to play music,” he said. He also enjoyed talking with his friends through the night, “just to talk, and this too was a form of improvisation.”
Both of these, he said, were activities done for their own sake. “Whatever you call them, I wish for you today that you get lost in some activity for its own sake, and not regard the grades, popularity, college admissions or outcomes of any kind,” he said. “If you have a jam session, you just might find something bigger than yourself to love, or you might find that you yourself are more, way more, than you ever imagined.”
Following Nikoloff’s opening remarks, Cantilena, the upper school all-female vocal group directed by Susan Nace, sang a spirited rendition of Stephen Hatfield’s “Run, Children, Run,” complete with improvised passages and raucous audience participation.
Butch Keller, upper school head, then took the stage to deliver his matriculation address, which focused on two lessons he felt were particularly important. The first was the importance of having goals. “There is no achievement without goals,” he said. He then related a story he’d heard about a Harvard graduate with a business degree who met a fisherman one day and offered to help him to start a business that would make him rich, only to realize that the fisherman would do the same things he does every day even after becoming successful.
The second lesson Keller wanted to get across was the importance of being able to react to tense situations in a calm and rational manner. He related a personal anecdote about a time he went golfing with his two sons. At one point, a particularly irate golfer started a confrontation that could have potentially ended in violence. “That wouldn’t have been right. Think of the litigation,” Keller joked. Instead, he and his sons defused the situation by walking away and notifying those in charge of the golf course about the troublemaker, who was escorted off the premises.
“It’s not the situation that’s important,” he said. “It’s your reaction to the situation.”
The final speaker of the ceremony was ASB president Raghav Sehtia, grade 12, who warmly welcomed the class of 2016 and said that the best way to enjoy their years as high school students was to be themselves. Sharing a story about a bike-related accident he’d suffered, he said, “I had decided that I wasn’t going to pretend not to cry because it would make me seem manly or strong. Don’t waste your time trying to be someone you aren’t.”
He also advised the students not to be afraid to get involved and to participate in the many activities available to them, something he learned during his freshman year. “I realized that if I did not go out and participate in those skits and spirit events and try new sports, my high school experience would not be a cherishable one,” he said.
Sehtia concluded by introducing the students to this year’s class officers before inviting ASB vice president Maverick McNealy, grade 12, to the stage for the recitation of the matriculation oath. The class of 2016 then signed the matriculation book while the Harker string quartet performed, directed by Chris Florio.
After the students had returned to their seats, the upperclassmen performed the time-honored “Freshman 101” skit, wherein the students, dressed as various superheroes, offered advice to their new friends through a series of humorous sketches, covering topics such as the dress code, honor code and student clubs.
Harker golf star Maverick McNealy, grade 12, wrapped up an eventful summer in mid-August by making it to the quarterfinals of the Northern California Golf Association’s Amateur Match Play Championship. McNealy started strong with a third-place finish in stroke play, shooting 72-71. After winning his first two matches, he later fell behind by two with four holes remaining. He nearly rallied with two birdies to force a playoff, but hit the bunker in the sudden-death playoff, allowing his opponent to advance.
Earlier in August, McNealy won the Silver Creek Valley Junior, shooting 65-72. He scored birdie no fewer than seven times in the first round. “It felt good to finally win one, though my results in bigger events have been exciting,” he said.
In July, student dancer Christopher Hildum, grade 10, was declared the winner of the Mr. Dance America title at the Kids Artistic Review National Dance Competition held in Las Vegas. He also took second place in the “Intermediate Solo 15-19” category. Hildum, who has been participating in the competition for 10 years, was first runner up for the Junior Mr. Dance America title at the finals of the 2006-07 season of the competition.