In mid-January, The Harker School had its 2012 Winter Concert at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose. The show featured the middle school orchestras and jazz band for the first part of the evening, with the upper school orchestra and jazz band following right after. They were conducted by David Hart, middle school instrumental teacher, and Christopher Florio, upper school instrumental teacher.
The evening began with the Harker Winds, who played “Green Sleeves” and “Auld Lang Syne.” They were followed by the strings, who played “Canon,” and holiday favorite, “Joy to the World.” From there the grade 6 orchestra took the stage, for a performance that included a lively rendition of “The Can-Can,” and they were followed by the chamber ensemble performances. Then it was grades 7 and 8 turn to shine, which they certainly did through various jazz band pieces as well as through the orchestra’s three selections, which included an English folk song suite.
The upper school started off their portion of the evening with their jazz band, which played popular songs such as “Straighten Up and Fly Right.” After a short intermission, the upper school orchestra took the stage. They played four pieces, starting off with “Overture to ‘Candide’” and concluded the evening of performances with “Overture to ‘William Tell.’”
Michael Amick, grade 11, a left back soccer player, was invited to the U.S. Men’s National Under-18 (or U18) team camp for a week in early January. The camp was held in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and was coached by American coach and soccer player Richie Williams. Amick plays on the De Anza Force Soccer Club, located in Cupertino. Throughout the year, Williams will lead the 24 players chosen for the camp through tournaments and training camps to get the style of play, training sessions and fitness testing for the U18 into the same structure as the Men’s National Team. Kudos!
In early January, The Harker School alumni returned to the upper school campus to see old friends, teachers and advisors. MaryEllis Deacon, the director of alumni relations, said the alumni were also eager to “have some of the Harker food they miss.” More than 150 alumni – all college-aged – came back to the school to wander the campus again, and trade stories both about Harker days and current events in their lives. Deacon said, “Screams and hugs were exchanged from friends they haven’t seen in months or even years.” She particularly enjoyed watching the alumni talk about their favorite Harker memories, and seeing how excited they got to see their advisors and friends. “My favorite part was really getting to know the alumni, and hearing the stories they have to share,” she said.
January 15, 2012:
Several news outlets have published or broacast stories on the 29 Bay Area Intel Science Talent Search semi-finalists:
The UC Santa Cruz Astronomy and Astrophysics web page has a story noting four semi-finalists, including three Harker students worked on their projects while part of the UC Santa Cruz Science Internship Program.
January 11, 2012:
For the second year in a row, Harker broke the record for Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists in California, when 11 students, all of them in grade 12, were named at a morning assembly on Jan. 11. Prag Batra, Lucy Cheng, Nicole Dalal, Govinda Dasu, Michelle Deng, Vishesh Gupta, Revanth Kosaraju, Ramya Rangan, Pavitra Rengarajan, Kathryn Siegel and Albert Wu all received a $1,000 prize for the projects they submitted to the contest. This year’s competition had 1,839 entrants from nearly 500 high schools in 44 states, the District of Columbia and overseas. Of those, 300 students were selected as semifinalists. Only one school had more semifinalists than Harker in the entire country.
Last year, Harker broke the record for California with seven semifinalists, two of whom, Nikhil Parthasarathy ’11 and Rohan Mahajan ’11, were named finalists, making Harker the only school in the nation to produce two Intel finalists.
On Jan. 25, 40 finalists will be chosen to go to Washington, D.C. in March to compete for more than $1.25 million in awards from the Intel Foundation.
The students’ projects are as follows:
“Donor and Epitope Specific Variations in Immune Gene Expression in CMV Dextramer Positive CD8 T Cells,” by Nicole Dalal
“De Novo Splice From Discovery from RNA-Seq Data,” by Ramya Rangan
“Detailed Chemical Abundance Patterns of Andromeda Dwarf Satellites from Cadded Spectra,” by Lucy Cheng
“An Ontological Bayesian Framework for Context-Specific Navigation and Discovery of Biomedical Knowledge,” by Michelle Deng
“Determining the Genetic Target of Drugs Using a Synthetic Lethality Map,” by Kathryn Siegel
“Neuroanatomical and Cell Population Abnormalities Found in Mouse Model for Human Chromosome,” by Pavitra Rengaragan
“Role of Epidermal Hif-1 ALPHA in the Inflammatory and Angiogenic Response to Ischemia in Diabetic Wound Healing,” by Revanth Kosaraju
“Storage of Active Biological Compounds in Silk Films,” by Prag Batra
“Discovery of 16 Nearby Brown Dwarf Candidates in WISE Preliminary Release Data,” by Govinda Dasu
“Multi-net Bayesian Networks for Integrative Genomic Discovery: Application to the Epistatic Interactions for HIV,” by Albert Wu
“Use of Discretization Approach in Autonomous Control of an Active Extrados/Intrados Camber Morphing Wing,” by Vishesh Gupta
The Harker Orchestra, the upper school’s largest musical ensemble, returned from London earlier this month, after having performed during that city’s New Year celebration. They performed at the famous Cadogan Hall, and received a very enthusiastic response. “We had amazing energy that night as that was our first performance of the year, and to do so in Cadogan Hall was amazing,” said Chris Florio, director of the orchestra. “The audience’s spontaneous reaction was one of the highlights of my musical life because it was so genuine. They hadto stand up right away. I’ve never experienced that as a conductor.”
The students also had the opportunity to march in the London New Year’s Day parade, carrying the flags of the countries participating in this year’s summer Olympic games, which will take place in London. “Since we are not a marching band, this was an option for us, so I graciously accepted,” Florio said.
Students weren’t the only ones who considered the performances a highlight. Many Harker parents were also in attendance, and were ecstatic at how well the concerts went. “Almost immediately after the performances, parents started emailing each other, expressing how moved, proud and stunned they were at how well we performed,” said Florio. “Many audience members were brought to tears when our program was finished.”
The orchestra’s performances can now be viewed online through Cadogan Hall’s website. Their Dec. 29 performance begins at approximately one hour and three minutes into the video. The Dec. 31 performance begins at the 57-minute mark.
The Harker School had two medical students – who also happen to be Harker graduates – stop by upper school science teacher Anita Chetty’s classroom in late November. Alfred See and Geetanjali Vajapey, both from the Class of 2004, spoke to three different classes about what being in med school is really like, giving soon-to-be-college students an insider’s look into both the major and the career it leads to.
They emphasized that the skills one needs to become a doctor are not found entirely in books or classrooms. In fact, what you learn in school means nothing if you can’t calmly and professionally apply the knowledge to a human being in need. One needs the ability to remain calm in emergency situations (something doctors may deal with almost daily) and to have excellent customer service skills (as doctors speak with many patients every week).
The pair of students was home for Thanksgiving break when they decided to drop in and surprise Chetty, their former teacher. See, Chetty says, was also interviewing for a residency. Chetty was pleased to see both of them, especially considering they were only home for a few days. It’s a nice reminder that Harker is truly a family – even after graduation – whose students are always willing to share their time and expertise.
On Wed., Feb. 1, 2012, student-organized Kicks Against Cancer will again take place at Davis Field. At 3:30 p.m., The Harker School’s girls varsity soccer team will be facing off against Immaculate Conception Academy, followed by the varsity boys soccer game against Eastside College Prep. The event will once again help raise money for Camp Okizu, the camp program for young cancer patients and survivors. Last year’s event raised nearly $8,000, an amount that organizers hope to surpass this year.
Starting mid-January, T-shirts and wristbands will be sold during lunchtime to raise money for the event. Donations are also being accepted, and can be arranged by contacting girls soccer coach Jason Berry at jasonb@harker.org.
Returning this year is the popular halftime activity “Butts Up,” in which attendees can donate money for a chance to hit a teacher in the posterior with a soccer ball. Prizes will also be raffled during both games.
As we reach the end of the holiday season, we look back at the highlights of it, and of our favorite holiday traditions here at The Harker School; not least of those is Downbeat’s annual holiday tour. Downbeat is a group of theatrically gifted sophomores, juniors, and seniors who incorporate dance and vocal interpretations into jazz and pop songs. In early December, Downbeat departed Harker at 8:45am for their tour day – a day when they perform festive, fun, and beautiful music all over the Bay Area. “We’ve gone to same places for several years now,” said Cathy Snider, one of Downbeats directors. It starts at the Lucile Packard Children’s hospital, where students sing throughout oncology wards, as well as bedside for childhood cancer patients. From there, they travel to Filoli Gardens, where they sing at a historical home that opens to the public during the holidays. Then the students hop back on the bus, and travel up to Pier 39 in San Francisco, where they perform right under the big Christmas tree, a stop on the tour that was added “just a few years ago so we could get them up to the City,” Snider said. After a quick stop for sundaes in Ghiradelli Square, the students are off once more, this time to The Forum, Assisted Living, where students perform both bedside and in the hallways for Alzheimer’s patients. It’s a quick jump from there to The Forum, a retirement community where residents live on their own and love to join in the singing. Finally, the group goes to The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose. “This is the most important part of the tradition for the families, because all the parents, and some teachers/admin take over the lounge and cheer us on!” Snider said.
Snider’s favorite part of the tour is not any one stop, though. “My favorite part of the day is watching the group really fuse as an ensemble,” she said. “Touring can be stressful, with the need for constant good cheer and adaptability, and on this tour they really become a unit, all while giving so freely of their compassion and energy.”
The grade 5 boys basketball team just finished a spectacular season, winning the WBAL tournament with a 33-16 victory over Sacred Heart. The team went 7-0 in league as league champs, and had an overall record of 9-0.
The Harker School’s boys varsity basketball team started the season strong, defeating Del Mar 62-46, and then defeating Santa Clara in what Dan Molin, upper school athletics director, called “a nail-biter,” with a final score of 59-57. Nikhil Panu, grade 11, led the charge against Santa Clara, scoring 14 points, with Nick Nguyen, grade 9, adding another 12. The team then went 1-2 at the Lynbrook Tournament, narrowly losing to the host school 60-57 on the first night. Among the highlights, Molin said, “was a victory over Sobrato 66-27, and Panu earning All-Tournament recognition.” The team now stands at 3-2. The JV squad also played in the tournament, and took home third with a 2-1 record. Huck Vaughan, grade 10, “had an outstanding tournament,” said Molin.
The girls basketball team also started the season off with wins, going 2-1 at the Pescadero Tournament last week, where they defeated Geyserville and Kirby, and suffered a loss to Pacific Collegiate. In all three games, Daniza Rodriguez, grade 11, scored scored an impressive 62 points total! Following the tournament, the team went 2-0 in their next games, with victories over San Jose 62-46 and Cupertino 45-23 to improve to 4-1 overall. Rodriguez scored 19 points, and sophomore Nithya Vemireddy scored another 10, along with 11 rebounds, in the game against Cupertino.
Soccer:
The boys varsity soccer team also opened their season with a victory, defeating Mills High 3-1. Proteek Biswas, grade 12, had two of those goals, along with assists from Jeffrey Hanke, grade 10, and Avinas Patel, grade 12. Patel scored the third, which was assisted by Biswas. The team then suffered a defeat to Wilcox 4-0 to drop to 1-1.
Girls soccer started their season at Redwood Christian with a 2-2 tie. Gabriela Gupta, grade 9, scored both Harker goals, which were assisted by Alyssa Amick, grade 9, and Julia Fink, grade 10. The team then hosted three games here at Harker, going 2-1 with victories over DCP 10-1 and ECP 4-0. Safia Khouja, grade 9, scored twice against ECP, with assists by Diba Massihpour, grade 9, and Gupta. Gupta scored twice herself, assisted by Samar Malik, grade 10, and Massihpour. The final match, Crystal Springs, saw our opponents score two goals late in the game to defeat the Harker team 2-0. The girls are now 2-1-1 as they go into the Bakersfield Tournament.
Wrestling:
The Harker School wrestlers competed in the Webber Lawson Tournament at Fremont High. Corey Gonzales, grade 9, finished fifth in what Molin said was his first-ever varsity competition, losing to the eventual winner of the 106 lb. class. Sophomore Darian Edvalson earned his first varsity victory in the 182 lb. class.
Football:
As seen on our website, quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 11, was recognized by the San Francisco 49ers as their player of the week for his homecoming game performance. Quash earned this honor by completing 12 of 15 passes for 190 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for three more touchdowns, Molin said, to account for all 35 of Harker’s points in the game.
Water Polo:
Senior Akshay Ramachandran was named to the boys water polo division II All-CCS team. Akshay joins past year’s honorees Michael Clifford ’10 and Chris Ng ’11 in this elite category.
The Winged Post recently received the opportunity to conduct an exclusive interview with Stephen McCue, College Board educational manager for K-12 services, regarding the college exam company. McCue has been with the College Board for about four years. The work he does primarily serves schools and districts across California, Colorado and Wyoming, that are using College Board programs or who are thinking about using those programs.
Q: What exactly are you doing here at Harker?
A: Well, Derek [Kameda, upper school registrar,] contacted the office. I know he’s been involved with College Board for some time [as a member of the College Board’s Consultant Advisory Panel], and he just wanted to highlight some of the good things going on here [and] I brought a little bit [of internal data] to share with Derek […] to see if there’s anything we can do to really support what’s been happening here.
Q: As seniors, we’ve seen that a lot of colleges don’t consider the writing score. What does this indicate, in terms of importance to the colleges? Will it be phased out in the future?
A: I’m not speaking on behalf of our senior leadership, but for myself, I don’t anticipate that writing will be phased out at all. I think we, in 2005, made a real decisive action here to make sure that writing is featured prominently in the test, so that we would encourage the schools to focus more on writing as more of the curriculum. And that’s exactly what seems to have been happening to schools all across the country …. Actually when we introduced the section, we were a little concerned that it may not possibly be as much of a predictor of freshman year success as some of the other tried and true sections. Quite honestly, the opposite was true however – that the writing section was the most predictive of the three sections in terms of freshman year GPA in college. So, actually it’s a very useful part of the test for college admissions officers; some have just not yet changed their policies and embraced writing.
Q: How do you justify that the College Board tests have an accurate measurement of education or mental aptitude?
A: Well, we don’t really call them aptitude tests, but we do, through our standardized tests, have a clear objective, and that is to try to identify the specific college readiness skills that students need to know and do when they’re incoming freshmen. So what we’re trying to do throughout those assessments and [the College Readiness Pathway] is we try to introduce those skills that students should be responsible for, and when they’re struggling on a particular skill we try to identify opportunities for them to grow, to master those skills through practice material …. Our research shows that students who do prepare through the PSAT [and other early assessments] have a better average overall than those who don’t. [That’s] why when Derek mentioned that the policy was that all sophomores and juniors take the PSAT, I noticed that there were some who only took the PSAT as juniors. [For those] who took the PSAT as juniors only compared to those who took it as sophomores and juniors, there was about a 90 point difference on the SAT scores … that could certainly put you over a threshold at certain schools.
Q: For some of the tests you charge from $45 to $50; where does all the money go?
A: It goes … to the development of the program …. There’s quite a lot of research that goes into it, there’s quite a lot of overhead that’s involved, so there’s quite a lot of expense in just administering the SAT on a national basis, like it’s done several times a year. It’s my understanding that the SAT is not a real revenue generator for the company. It’s something that’s quite expensive to operate, and that’s why the cost is as it is. It’s a necessity. I think if we could lower that cost, we’ll be much inclined to do so. We’re a not-for-profit organization and … we try to take into account the struggling families that are out there that want to have access to these resources but have trouble dealing with them, and we try to be cognizant of the fact that we’re setting price for a year that we try to keep it as reasonable as we can.
Q: What would happen if there wasn’t a College Board and its standardized tests?
A: Well, we had that once actually, prior to the establishment of the College Board back in the late 1800s. The College Board was started in 1900, believe it or not; we’ve been around for a very long time. But back in the late 1800s, we had different entrance exams in for different colleges and it was that process which led to the establishment of the College Board, which was founded by leaders at various universities who decided that having students sit down and take [several entrance exams] was really not the best process or the best use of peoples’ time. They tried to come up with a streamlined or standardized test for those students to take to be utilized by more than one school, and that’s what led to the establishment of the College Board. So I think if we didn’t have this sort of standardized opportunity, it would be very difficult for students to have a true representation of themselves when applying to multiple schools, because each individual school would have its own standard that would have to be met. That’s a very expensive proposition, and also a very [time-consuming] proposition as well …. I think we recognized at the time that there was a need for such a service and I think we’ve tried to fill that need in every sense.