The Upper School Conservatory raised money this spring in a novel way, a scotch tasting for Harker dads. The event allowed them to sample a number of different scotches and bond as a group, while helping raise funds.
The goal of the fundraiser was to help pay for the Upper School Conservatory’s summer performances of Pippin at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. The fundraiser, a non-harker sponsored event, was generously hosted by Ashok Krishnamurthi and Deepa Lyengar. At their lovely home, local scotch expert and spirits buyer for K&L wines in Redwood City, David Driscoll, led the 15 Harker Dads on a tour the five distillery regions of Scotland by sampling their products.
According to Arne Lang-Ree, the event organizer and husband to Laura Lang-Ree, the K-12 performing arts chair, the event was a huge success and he is “already being asked when the next tasting will be.” The event, which was attended by a group of 15 people, raised $1200 for the conservatory. Be sure to monitor news.harker.org for updates on the conservatory’s performance at the festival in August.
The Harker Eclectic Literary Magazine (HELM) has released its 12th edition, featuring the artistic work of students and teachers. The HELM is created every year by a student staff; this year’s chief editors were Olivia Zhu, grade 12, and Kaitlin Halloran, grade 11, under the tutelage of advisor Anne Douglas, upper school English teacher. HELM showcases the works of more than 30 students and teachers, highlighting their photography, drawing, poetry and prose skills.
For the first time in its history, HELM received enough faculty submissions to have a dedicated faculty section. This section will hopefully become a HELM staple in order to showcase, according to the editors-in-chief, the “teachers’ great dedication to their art and their students.”
This was also the first year that college essays were featured; the HELM staff sought to provide a window into the minds of the class of 2011 as they went through the college admissions process.
Because of the rigorous academic standards at Harker, it is easy to focus only on the logical, left-brained facets of the school. The HELM’s spring release stands as a strong reminder that the Harker community also nurtures the creative sides of its students and teachers alike.
In early March, nearly 50 upper school students participated in the nationwide Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) competition at Stanford University. ore than 14,000 high school students partook in the competition across the country; the students worked in small teams of four to eight students to solve real-world engineering issues. The competition has two parts. The first is an objective engineering-related multiple choice test and the second is a subjective open-ended description of problem solutions and their defense.
The Harker teams scored as follows:
Grade 9 and 10 competition
Team A (sophomores) tied for 5th place
Team B (freshmen) tied for 9th place
Grade 11 and 12 competition
Team B (juniors) tied for 8th place
Team D (mixed team) tied for 13th place
Team C (mixed team) tied for 33rd place
Team A (seniors) tied for 75th place
Let’s congratulate the teams for their hard work at the competition.
Five students in the Harker Latin program were singled out for recognition by the National Latin Exam Board on May 18 at the Junior Classical League (JCL) Awards Ceremony. Four of these students, Jenny Chen, Pranav Sharma, Shannon Su, and Ashvin Swaminathan, all grade 10, have received gold medals to acknowledge their excellence in Latin four years in a row; these students will receive copies of the Oxford Classical Dictionary in recognition of this achievement. Alexander Hsu, grade 11, will receive a special book for five straight gold medal years. Please congratulate the students for their continued commitment to excellence in Latin!
In mid-April, Betsy Lindars (David) and Maria Lu (Emily Wang), the grade 10 level coordinators, put on a luncheon at BJ’s Restaurant in Cupertino. This lunch, attended by more than 20 parents of grade 10 students, is the latest in a series of gatherings to help sophomore moms and dads meet and develop social networks in a non-Harker environment.
Lu testified to the success of these meetings, saying: “At these luncheons and monthly coffees I have met and gotten to know better quite a few fellow 10th grade parents. I enjoy these events very much!” The gatherings will continue to be put on next year and for information, contact your grade level coordinators.
In mid-April, Betsy Lindars (David) and Maria Lu (Emily Wang), the grade 10 level coordinators, put on a luncheon at BJ’s Restaurant in Cupertino. This lunch, attended by more than 20 parents of grade 10 students, is the latest in a series of gatherings to help sophomore moms and dads meet and develop social networks in a non-Harker environment.
Lu testified to the success of these meetings, saying: “At these luncheons and monthly coffees I have met and gotten to know better quite a few fellow 10th grade parents. I enjoy these events very much!” The gatherings will continue to be put on next year and for information, contact your grade level coordinators.
Girls swimming and boys tennis teams were named 2011 Spring Scholastic Champions by the Central Coast Section. The girls swimming team came in with an average GPA of 3.8330 and boys tennis members averaged out 3.8450 to take the titles. Harker had five teams in second place: golf, lacrosse, boys swimming, boys volleyball and boys track and field, all behind the leaders by less than 1/10 of a point. There were three more teams, baseball,softball and girls track and field, in the top five lists of additional contenders, giving Harker placement in 10 of the 13 sports. GO EAGLES!
Grade 9 physics students learned about mechanics, specifically force and motion, at Great America in mid-May. Continuing a Harker tradition, the freshman class, along with a handful of sophomores, juniors and seniors, practiced their free-body diagram drawing and other physics skills at the theme park.
According to Mark Brada, upper school physics teacher, “At the park the students get the chance to apply some of what they learned about forces, motion and energy to a real-world situation.” This field trip helps students take the abstract physics theories that they have learned over the course of the year and transform them into concrete knowledge in a fun environment.
Softball has advanced to CCS finals for the first time — read all about it!
In the WBAL track & field championships, varsity girls took fourth place overall with Isabelle Connell, grade 10, placing second in the 200m (half lap), and third in the 400m (1 lap), scoring the most points for Harker. Isabelle has qualified for CCS trials in the 200m. Sonya Chalaka, grade 11, triple jumped her way into second place, and has also qualified for CCS trials. Claudia Tischler, grasde 9, placed third in both the 1600m (1 mile) and the 3200m (2 mile). Her time alone in the 1600m qualified her for CCS trials. On the boys side, Charles Levine, grade 11, placed third in the 400m, and Proteek Biswas, grade 11, placed third in the 3200m. Results.
Golfer Maverick McNealy, grade 10, qualified for the CCS championships next Tuesday with his score of 75 in the Regionals May 11. This marks the second year in a row McNealy made it this far. Top finishers next week then qualify for NorCals May 23 in Chico. Results.
Harker girls swimming placed second at the WBAL swimming championships. Among the top performances were senior Jessica Khojasteh’s victory in the 100 breaststroke and junior Katie Siegel’s victory in the 100 backstroke,and the Harker victory in the 400 free relay. Second place finishes were by Khojasteh in the 200 IM, Siegel in the 100 butterfly, the 200 medley relay of Siegel; Lucy Cheng, grade 11; Khojasteh; and Amie Chien, grade 10, and the 200 free relay of Chien; Rachelle Koch, grade 11; Tiffany Wong, grade 11; and Manon Audebert, grade 9. Third place finishes were Audebert in the 100 freestyle and 500 freestyle, and Koch in the 100 breaststroke. New CCS qualifying times were gained by Audebert in the 100 freestyle, Cheng in the 100 breaststroke, and Koch in the 100 breaststroke. New WBAL championship records were set by Siegel in the 100 backstroke (57.77), and the 400 free relay team of Siegel, Audebert, Koch, and Khojasteh (3:41.41). Those two swims, plus Siegel’s second place finish in the 100 butterfly (57.42) were Harker school records. Harker girls are in good position for next week’s CCS championships.
Harker boys swimming placed fourth at the WBAL swimming championships. Among the top performances were Daryl Neubieser, grade 11, winning both the 50 and 100 freestyle; and Kevin Khojasteh, grade 11, placing second in both the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke. A new CCS qualifying time was gained by the 200 free relay of Khojasteh; Jason Yu, grade 11; Chris Ng, grade 12; and Neubieser. Harker will compete in the CCS championships at the end of May.
Last week, for the first time ever, varsity tennis advanced to the quarterfinals of the CCS team championships. At the quarters, the boys faced a familiar opponent, Bellarmine, who they have met in three of their last four CCS appearances. This time, the boys lost to a closely matched Bellarmine squad. Senior Karthik Dhore was the lone Eagle standout.By advancing to the quarters, Harker has now made it to the CCS team championships for its eighth straight appearance and solidified its stature as one of top tennis HS tennis programs in the area. Harker finished the season with a record of 14-5. WBAL MVP and Dhore, will represent Harker in the CCS individual rournament, May 24 and 26, at Imperial Courts in Aptos.
Baseball finished their season with three straight victories and a third place league finish at 5-5. They defeated Pinewood 12-6 and Crystal Springs 8-3. Against Crystal, Noah Levy, grade 11, went 2-for-3 with three RBI’s, and Ben Tien, grade 12, was 2-for-3 and two RBI’s. Kevin Cali, grade 10, pitched and earned the victory with 10 strikeouts. Congratulations boys on a solid season.
The boys volleyball season came to a close May 12 in the CCS quarterfinals at second-seeded St. Ignatius. The boys had a great season finishing 19-14 overall for a fourth place league finish in what some people consider the toughest league in CCS.
“Singing is Our Birthright” was the title Susan Nace, upper school music teacher, gave to one of the final vocal concerts of the year, featuring three upper school groups at the Nichols Hall auditorium on April 28: Camerata, Cantilena and Guys’ Gig.
Camerata, the mixed choral ensemble, started off with a diverse set of madrigals and jazz tunes. Following the mournful harmonies of John Wilbye’s “Adieu, Sweet Amaryllis,” the mood quickly lightened as the students gathered ‘round the piano (played by Nace) to sing Billy Strayhorn’s “Something to Live For,” followed by a vocal arrangement of Scott Joplin’s famous “Maple Leaf Rag,” during which the students leaped off stage and brought the music directly to the audience by strolling through the aisles as they sang.
Several soloists were featured throughout the show between group performances singing a wide variety of songs from many cultures, including show tunes such as “Somewhere” from “West Side Story,” sung by Cristina Jerney, grade 10, Romantic era pieces such as Sebastian Herscher, grade 11, performing Franz Schubert’s “Der Neugierige” and even one song sung entirely in Chinese by sophomore Rebecca Liu.
Guys’ Gig, as always, were a crowd favorite thanks to their upbeat mood and energetic sense of humor. One of their songs, which integrated a storyline about a socially insecure Harker freshman, combined themes from several famous John Williams scores (including “Star Wars,” “Jurassic Park” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”) into a hilarious tribute to “Star Wars” fandom.
Cantilena performed a series of varied and experimental songs, starting off with “O Mama Bakudala,” a traditional tune sung by the women of the South African Xhosa tribe, whose words translate to, “The mothers from way back used to pray.” The continued with classics such as Thomas Morley’s “Sing We and Chant It” and Johannes Brahms’ version of “Ave Maria.” After breaking to make room for solo performances, Cantilena returned to the stage to sing Gwyneth Walker’s “To Sing is to Fly” and the Robert Lowry-penned hymn “How Can I Keep From Singing?” during which they were joined by Daniel Cho, grade 12, who sang “Amazing Grace” with a section of the group.
With the show officially finished, Nace had some special gifts for the departing seniors of Cantilena, who each received a medallion to commemorate her dedication to the group. She also presented Alex Najibi, grade 11, with a new pitch pipe to assist him as he enters the next school year as the new leader of Guys’ Gig.
The students themselves also had a surprise tribute of their own for Nace, gifting her with flowers and assembling on the stage to sing Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”