The West family and their participation in genome mapping and analysis is cited, again, in this new Wall Street Journal story (please note this link may have a limited life). The West family, including Anne West ’11 and brother Paul, grade 12, were mentioned. Harker News Online wrote about the family’s activity in the research last October.
Tags: In the News, topscienceEarlier today, students Shreya Indukuri and Daniela Lapidous, both grade 12, spoke at a special keynote lunch at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) meeting in New York City. They appeared with Mike Haas, founder of the Alliance for Climate Education, which organizes assemblies at high schools to promote climate science and bring awareness to the current climate crisis.
The students talked about how seeing an ACE assembly in their freshman year inspired them to take action and start thinking of ways to save energy at Harker. “We thought about how we could save energy at our school and noticed areas of error, such as air conditioning running in the gym every weekend,” Indukuri said. The students then talked about how they applied for an ACE grant to install smart meters, among other measures, on the Saratoga campus that would track energy uses and help identify areas where it could improve. Their solutions combined to save the school approximately $20,000 annually. Furthermore, the students said, they started a program to help get smart meters installed at other schools, even traveling to the White House to meet with Steven Chu, United States energy secretary, to discuss expanding the program nationwide.
Those who missed the live webcast of Indukuri and Lapidous’ speech can view the archived video at the CGI 2011 website. Their appearance with Mike Haas starts at 11 minutes and 56 seconds into the video. Twitter updates were also posted throughout the weekend on Smart Powered’s Twitter page.
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Shreya Indukuri and Daniela Lapidous, both grade 12, will appear at the Clinton Global Initiative meeting in New York City on Tuesday, and will be speaking at a keynote lunch with Mike Haas, founder of the Alliance for Climate Education. A live webcast of the event will start at noon Eastern time (9 a.m. Pacific) on Tuesday.
The students will also be interviewed by “Time” magazine’s Bryan Walsh, and have been attending other related events in the city for climate science week. They are posting updates through Smart Powered’s Twitter page with the hashtag #CGI2011.
Tags: Featured Story, topacademicsMercuryNews.com recently published a story about Harker’s 41-6 victory over Emery on Sept 9, highlighting quarterback Spenser Quash’s four touchdown tosses, three of them to wide receiver Daanish Jamal, grade 12, and one to senior Avinash Patel. The story also notes that Quash, grade 11, was five for seven passing with 48 total yards. Zach Ellenberg, grade 12, subbed for Quash in the second half and threw a three-yard touchdown to Patel to put the game away. The win puts the Eagles at 2-0 on the season. In their first game of the season against San Jose High, Quash had two touchdown passes in the Eagles’ 34-13 victory.
Tags: Featured Story, In the News, SportsIn April, student vocalist Katie Marcus-Reker, grade 12, was chosen as one of the winners of a vocal competition organized by 42nd Street Moon, a San Francisco-based theater company. Each contestant uploaded a video to Facebook of him or herself singing a musical theater song. Marcus-Reker was chosen as one of 50 competitors to take part in a special master class on May 1 with actor and singer Darren Criss, who stars in the popular Fox TV show “Glee.”
“I am a huge fan of Darren Criss and all of his work on ‘Glee’ and with Team Starkid,” Marcus-Reker said, “so this workshop was very exciting for me.” The class dealt a lot with performance techniques and how to interpret and express the meanings of songs.
“The class really emphasized portraying a character through your song, knowing that character and making decisions within the song as that character,” she said.
Her favorite part of being in the class was witnessing Criss’ advice transform into positive results. “It was fascinating to see how much it helped some of the people who worked with him on stage,” she said. “He would give them some advice and instantly the overall performance improved astronomically.”
Tags: Performing ArtsOver the summer, Katie Gu, grade 10, traveled to Milan, Italy, to compete in the Mediterranean Cup, the world’s largest synchronized swimming championship for swimmers aged 13 to 15. Gu, who is a member of the Santa Clara Aquamaids club, qualified for the U.S. national team in May, and spent six weeks preparing for the championship with top coaches at a training camp in Walnut Creek.
At the Mediterranean Cup, which took place Aug. 4-7, the U.S. national team placed sixth in the team competition, fifth in free routine combination and fifth overall in the combined rankings.
The full results of the Mediterranean Cup can be viewed at the 13-15 National Team’s United States Synchronized Swimming website.
As noted today in the San Jose Mercury News, Harker football is in a new league this year. The team will compete in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League (SCVAL), joining Harker’s boys volleyball, water polo and wrestling teams. Football teams from schools in the new league include Cupertino, Fremont, Lynbrook, Monta Vista, Santa Clara and Gunn high schools. Since many of these schools are geographically closer to Harker than past opponents, new bleachers on the visitor side of the field were added this summer to Davis Field. The San Jose Mercury article has an extensive appreciation of the team’s returning players and prospects for the season. Be sure to come watch the team in action at home and away, and don’t miss Homecoming, Nov. 11!
Tags: In the News, SportsOver the summer, sabreur Regina Chen, grade 10, finished third out of 89 competitors in her age group and weapon at the Summer National Fencing Championships in Reno. Ranked 29th going in, she seeded 30th after pools and upset the 19th-ranked fencer to advance to the final eight. There, she defeated the sixth-ranked fencer to reach the semifinals where she was defeated by the ultimate national champion, leaving her tied for third place. Chen is now ranked 26th in the U.S. in points. With that finish, Chen earned an A-2011 rating, the first A rating held by any fencer from Harker! In addition, Chen has been named to the 2010-11 First Team of the USA Fencing All-Academic Team for having a GPA of 3.85 or greater. Chen also competes throughout the year at local tournaments and won the gold medal in her event at the Super Youth Circuit tournament held in San Jose in March. She trains at and competes for Cardinal Fencing Club on the Stanford campus.
Tags: Featured Story, Sports, topathleticsThe class of 2015 received a warm welcome on Aug. 19, as they visited the Saratoga campus for freshmen orientation. After an enthusiastic greeting from the Link Crew – a special group of grade 11 and 12 students who help the freshmen with their transition to the upper school – the students made their way to the gym, where each one of them was designated a certain type of farm animal, such as a chicken or cow. A fun and hilarious game then ensued, with the students making the trademark noise of their animals to find their advisors and advisory groups. They were also introduced to key administrators such as: Butch Keller, upper school head; Greg Lawson, assistant head of school for student affairs; and Evan Barth, dean of studies .
Everyone then headed to Davis Field to practice for their first emergency drill. Following the drill, the freshmen and Link Crew students enjoyed some fun team-building games out on the field, courtesy of APEX Adventures. In one game, students had to help each other manipulate a wooden structure across the field by pulling on ropes to keep the structure from falling. In another, groups of students raced to fill a tube with water, while other students plugged holes in the tube to keep it from leaking. The day’s warm weather was ideal for swimming, so students also swam and played more games at the Singh Aquatic Center.
Tags: Featured StoryRaghav Sehtia, grade 11, was recently recognized for his efforts to fight hunger by being named a 2011 Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Regional Honoree. A short story on his achievement was published in the San Jose Mercury News on Aug. 22. He requested that the money be donated to charity. In March, Sehtia received the Platinum Award from the Second Harvest Food Bank for his work in organizing food drives for the past four years.
During the 2010 holiday season, Sehtia held a baked goods sale that raised approximately $1,800, which he then donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank. Sehtia calls volunteering a “passion” of his, and has volunteered at such places as the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple and the Good Samaritan Hospital. Kudos!
Tags: In the News, Outreach, topoutreachThis story was originally posted online in November 2007.
Four Harker seniors have been named semifinalists in the Siemens Competition. Semifinalists receive a special recognition package; their names will be announced in a full-page advertisement in USA Today and be posted on the Siemens Foundation website. The Harker semifinalists and the titles of their research papers are:
Hassan Shenasa
Soliton Resonance: A Novel High Frequency Power Combining Method
Senan Ebrahim
Properties of Silk III Fibroin at the air water interface
Thomas Roxlo
Small Molecule Induction of Heat Shock Response: Cytoprotective effect and Potential Clinical Applications of Celastrol
Sushant Sundaresh
Toward Nitrogen Fixing Symbioses with Mutual Consent
Each year the Siemens Foundation, in partnership with the College Board, runs the Siemens Competition to promote excellence by encouraging students to undertake individual or team research projects. Harker seniors who conduct research during a summer internship are encouraged to write a 20-page technical paper and enter the competition at the end of September.
In the initial judging phase, entries are received and processed by the College Board. The projects are “blind read” by a national panel of scientists who have expertise related to the project being reviewed and the papers are judged solely on the merits of the written research report. From this initial judging, up to 300 outstanding projects are selected as semifinalists.
Tags: Harker History