A group of ninth graders spent two days in early February helping out at InnVision’s Georgia Travis Center, a shelter for homeless women and children in San Jose. Donations to the center of clothing, linen, toys, games and food must be sorted and organized before use, and over two days about 90 students spent nearly 600 hours pitching in.
Students sorted hundreds of pieces of clothing by age and gender and arranged them in the shelter’s store. They organized boxes of toys and games before shelving them, served food to the homeless and helped out in the office as well. “The work was hard, but they did it all with a smile on their faces and a glint in their eyes,” noted Naren Nayak, father of participant Avinash.
A handful of Harker parents helped supervise and arranged for lunch and snacks, but even that turned into a donation as the unspent lunch money, $131, went to InnVision as well.
“On behalf of InnVision, I would like to share our deepest gratitude for the amazing work during the Harker Service Days at GTC!” said David Tran, InnVision’s volunteer and program coordinator. “It was a definite success in terms of the amount of work that was done. I enjoyed the energy and charisma that the Harker students brought, especially their keen interest in learning more about homelessness and our agency. Overall, it was a great success and definitely a great start to a wonderful partnership between InnVision and Harker.”
Jaynie Neveras, community relations manager for the Georgia Travis Center, was equally appreciative. “We are most grateful for these days of service, as the Harker students truly did make a difference,” she said. “Their volunteer efforts in all areas, whether making over a classroom supply area, sorting donations, organizing a toy warehouse or helping with paper work for case managers, made lives better. No child should ever know homelessness – a lesson brought to life for these compassionate Harker volunteers.”
More information about donating to or volunteering at InnVision can be found at www.innvision.org.
Wrestlers Santosh Swaminathan, Jason Mendel and Chris McCallaCreary, all grade 12, advanced to the second day of competition at the CCS tournament over the weekend, a Harker first. McCallaCreary placed fourth overall, making him the highest-placing CCS wrestler in Harker history.
Meanwhile, boys basketball, boys soccer and wrestling all received CCS Scholastic Championships. Congrats all around!
The Harker Programming Club is hosting a programming competition March 19 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the upper school campus.
“While searching for more competition opportunities for the club, we were disappointed by the scarcity of local tournaments and thus decided to hold one of our own,” said Christine Chien, grade 12, club spokesperson. “In the long run, hopefully, our contest will help programmers at other schools pursue their interests and encourage schools that do not have a computer science program to start one.”
The event will be held in Nichols Hall, Harker’s new science and technology building, and registration and lunch are both free. Details of the actual competition and how to register are online.
Chien noted the contest will prepare students for the AP Computer Science exam as well as the Stanford ProCo Contest since problems have been written by the ProCo team. Accepted languages are Java, C++, C and Python, and each team must bring a laptop with Wi-Fi capability. Teams of up to three students will compete in a two-and-a-half hour round to score as many points possible by submitting problems online. Prizes will be awarded to non-Harker teams!
All teams must be chaperoned, so each school must bring a teacher or parent. Chaperones will have access to a lounge area with outlets, Wi-Fi, and of course, coffee.
Schedule: Registration check-in 9-10 a.m.; Contest 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.; Lunch 12:30–1:30 p.m.; Keynote speaker 1:30-2:30 p.m.; Awards 2:30–3 p.m.. For more information, contact the Harker Programming Club at harkerprogramming@gmail.com.
The Varsity boys basketball team wrapped up their season in the quarterfinals if CCS play with a tough 70-40 loss. Full credit to this tough, hard-working team. Enjoy the slideshow!
Feb. 25, 2011
[Update] Following Thursday’s 61-49 victory over King’s Academy, the varsity boys basketball team will move on to the Central Coast Section quarterfinals against the #2 seed Santa Cruz. This marks the fourth consecutive year Harker has entered the quarterfinals. The game takes place Sat., Feb. 26, 4:30 p.m. at Menlo School (directions to Menlo School from the Saratoga campus). Please come support your Eagles at Saturday’s game!
The varsity girls basketball season came to a close after their 71-53 loss to Sacred Heart Prep on Thursday. Their season nonetheless ends on a high note with a very impressive 20-5 record, and being the first girls team since 2006 to qualify for the CCS playoffs.
Feb. 23, 2011
[Update] Double Down! For the first time in Harker history both varsity basketball teams, girls and boys, are in CCS playoffs and won their first games. Tuesday evening, Feb. 22, the girls defeated Gonzales High in first round playoffs 59-40 and will travel to Sacred Heart Prep Thursday for round two. Priscilla Auyeung, grade 10, had 18 points, Daniza Rodriguez, grade 10, contributed 13, and freshman Nithya Vemireddy had 13 rebounds.
Following the girls’ game the boys were victorious, defeating Pacific Grove 49-34. Nikhil Panu, grade 10, scored 18 points and Stephen Hughes, grade 11, 13 in the win. The boys travel to league rival King’s Academy Thursday for the second round tip-off at 7 p.m.
Please support our teams tomorrow night! They both have a great chance, but they can use your support: Boys Game; Girls Game.
Feb. 22, 2011
Harker will host a CCS basketball doubleheader for both boys and girls varsity teams for the first time in Harker history tonight.
For the first time since 2006 the girls basketball team qualified for CCS and are seeded 11th versus 14th seeded Gonzales High. They play tonight, Feb. 22, at 5:30 at Blackford. The boys qualified again this year and are seeded 10th against 15th-seeded Pacific Grove and play at Blackford at 7 p.m.
In mid-January the lower school gym was packed with students, faculty and staff – all in pajamas – ready and excited to donate to a good cause. The reason can be traced back to one young Harker student.
Four years ago, Harker third grader Rishi Narain sat down to watch the “Oprah” show. The show’s guest that day was Genevieve Piturro, founder of the Pajama Program, a nonprofit dedicated to delivering warm sleepwear and nurturing books to children in need. Seeing thousands of pajamas and books donated to children who never had them inspired Narain to bring the program to Harker, where he organized the lower school’s inaugural pajama drive.
Four years later, the event is bigger than ever.
The assembly itself was a raucous affair. In addition to all the lower school students, there were also “big people in the audience,” as Joe Connolly, lower school dean, put it in his introduction to the event. The “big people” were sophomores, who had come as part of the Eagle Buddies program.
Eagle Buddies, still in its first year, was an initiative suggested by Butch Keller, upper school head, in an effort to bridge the campus divide. Third and tenth graders are matched together, and according to Carol Zink, upper school history teacher; the third graders get fun, older role models, “while the sophomores get a chance to lighten up and be kids for a little bit.”
The buddies stay together for three years, until the sophomores graduate and the third graders matriculate into middle school. “It’s been going more smoothly than I could ever imagine,” said Keller. “I couldn’t be more pleased with what we’re accomplishing.”
After Connolly’s introduction, Pallie Zambrano, co-president of the Pajama Program’s Northern and Central California chapter, expressed thanks to the Harker students, reminding them that each donated pair of pajamas would change the life of a child in need.
Next, Keller replaced his suit jacket with a bathrobe and reclined on a rocking chair to read “We Are Going on a Bear Hunt” to the children. All the students got involved during the audience participation part of the reading, with special zeal coming from the sophomores, who may or may not have been coached beforehand.
Finally, the students spent some time reading to themselves and with their buddies. Big Buddy Michaela Kastelman said she enjoyed spending time with her buddy because it brought her back to the experience of being in third grade. Kindergartner Andrew Fox wasn’t too sure of what was going on, but he was very excited to be in his pajamas. “They’re not as tight as my uniform!” he exclaimed.
All in all, the event was a huge success, with Harker students donating 727 pairs of pajamas and 204 books, a school record for the program.
Written for Harker News [Online] by Ramya Rangan, grade 11, WiSTEM Publicity Officer
This January many Harker upper school students found a new way to help the global community by raising funds to improve female education in sub-Saharan Africa.
Harker’s WiSTEM (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) led a weeklong effort the first week of the new year to raise awareness about the disparity between female and male education rates in the developing world.
Throughout the week, WiSTEM members emphasized that giving a girl an education leads to better health and lifestyles for her entire family. Since female education rates are the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa, the club raised funds for CAMFED, an organization that transfers donations to Africa to send children to school.
To accomplish their goal WiSTEM members sold goods at almost every opportunity, including after school and at lunch. Unlike previous years, the goods were personalized by the club to match the week’s theme. Wristbands featured the slogan “A Chance to Advance,” and freshly-baked cupcakes were decorated with statistics about girls’ education around the world.
In the end, Harker students proved to be more than willing to support this cause. The club raised about $3,000, enough for CAMFED to “help 10 girls stay in high school in the Samfya district of Zambia. That’s 40 years of education,” said senior Josephine Chen, president of WiSTEM.
WiSTEM’s focus during their week was not just to raise money, however; the club primarily sought to increase awareness on the issue of girls’ education. As Chen explained, “While fundraising enables us to provide an immediate, direct impact on many girls’ lives, becoming educated about the cause can allow each and every one of us to continue to support the cause beyond this one week.”
To spread key statistics about girls’ education, WiSTEM gave an interactive and informative presentation during an assembly. The club also posted fliers and posters around the school.
According to Anita Chetty, science department chair and WiSTEM’s advisor, “WiSTEM used a unique way to deliver its message this year,” setting up a trivia game as a spirit competition to promote science literacy and reinforce information on [WiSTEM’s] posters.
The game was modeled after the High School Science Bowl (often called the Quiz Bowl) competition. Each class assembled a team of 10 or more student who were prepared to answer general science trivia questions and questions specific to girls’ education. With the incentive of spirit points and the need to defend class pride, approximately 50 people joined in the event in some way, either by competing or by supporting their friends.
Chetty said she “was very impressed with the number of students who came out to support WiSTEM and their classes.” Chen agreed, noting she “loved that people actually studied the various facts we posted around school” to prepare for the event. The competition served its purpose to educate the student body about the lack of girls’ education around the world.
WiSTEM members intend to continue to support increased education through the year and the club hopes to include the rest of the school in their efforts. Although the club’s week in January focused on education in the developing world, WiSTEM recognizes that education-related issues plague us locally as well.
Therefore, according to Chen, “WiSTEM is hoping to plan various activities at Scott Lane,” a school that educates underprivileged students in the Bay Area. These activities could include “tutoring, creating educational games or staging a mini-science fair.” As January fades into history, Harker students will continue to increase their impact on education levels around the world, thanks to WiSTEM’s ongoing efforts.
Alumnus Boris Federov ’05 visited Harker on Feb. 3 to demo txtWeb, a start-up project funded by Intuit that allows users to find information from a wide range of sources by sending text messages to a special phone number. For instance, those who want to look up a Wikipedia entry can text “@wikipedia,” followed by the search term.
The project is also unique in that it allows anyone to create new services for txtWeb by registering a name (such as “@weather” or “@sports”) and creating search terms for it. Students at the event demoed the service with their own phones, and watched Federov demonstrate the ease of making applications for the service. Following the demo, Federov and the students discussed the deployment and usage of txtWeb, particularly in areas of the world where smart phones are less common. The platform, it was said, could potentially be a universal method of retrieving information whose simplicity appeals to developers.
“Before the presentation, I wasn’t sure how useful the txtWeb platform would be in the U.S. or at Harker because many people already have smart phones with a data plan,” said Prag Batra, grade 11, who is president of the Tech Club, which helped organize Federov’s appearance. “After the presentation, I realized that the platform is actually quite useful because text messages are more universal and robust than data.”
Student-Directed Showcase (SDS) is the culmination of four years of hard work tempered by both fun and the passion performers bring to their craft. Each year eager seniors apply to take this course, taught by Laura Lang-Ree, and the lucky few get an unusual glimpse into the world of play direction and production.
Each director must choose the piece to be presented, plan the set, choose the cast, and arrange for all the necessary technical help to make the production a success. This year four seniors, Aditya (Adi) Parige, Mallika Dhaliwal, Allika Walvekar and John Ammatuna, took up their tasks with a will and produced some great theater.
The shows were sold out based on the high standard of production SDS has shown in the past, and the four directors did not disappoint. The shows this year were “Hard Candy” (Walvekar), “The Marvelous Wonderettes” (Ammatuna), “The Dancers” (Dhaliwal), and “All In The Timing” (Parige).
The scope of the work alone was a challenge. “I found it to be rather daunting at first because I realized my duty and the level of intensity needed in my new, demanding role,” said Ammatuna.
“I never realized how many views thereare when looking at a show,” he added. “I had to look at it as a director,musical director, costumer, props manager, choreographer, technician and audience member, but learning to look at the show in so many ways was a great experience because I gained an understanding of how each job in theater functions, how they interact with one another and the amount of work each takes.”
Each candidate learned that managing people is critical. Parige noted that working with close friends and peers “was probably the most difficult aspect of directing. However, my entire cast was very cooperative with keeping the director-actor relationship completely professional, so conflicts were minimal.”
Dhaliwal agreed working with peers was a challenge, but the upside is the bonding that occurs. “I think casting was really hard, mainly because it’s so difficult to say no to anyone,” she said. “Getting costumes and props together was difficult, but extremely fun. We were very lucky to have a great group this year … gaining a closeness within the cast is very important,” she said.
For Ammatuna, the bond embraced those from all four productions. “Even though the shows were four separate shows, we were all like one big family,” he said.
Naturally, each learned something from the effort. “Patience,” said Parige. “It’s important to stay calm and relaxed and work with someone.”
Dhaliwal noted, “Organization, flexibility, calm and reinvention were all necessary during the production to make it run efficiently.”
Walvekar agreed. “I definitely realized that you have to stay true to your directorial vision, but you also have to be flexible,” she said. “Not everything can happen the way you first envisioned it, so you have to be willing to adapt.”
And there were challenges. “I think dealing with conflicts when trying to schedule rehearsals was definitely the toughest part of the job,” Walvekar said. “Organization was an important part in pulling the production together – I had a cast of 11, and it was tough to find times when we all could meet.”
Like any first pass at a job, the learning process was part of the work. “I would probably start gathering costumes and props a little earlier so they could be integrated into the process early,” said Dhaliwal of her effort.
Walvekar agreed and added, “I would have had a few more group rehearsals, and it would have been nice to have some more group activities.”
Parige looked at the broader picture. “In my next directing venture, I will probably focus a lot more on perfection. While I feel like my show was an amazing final product, you can never stop perfecting anything. But I do not regret any part of it. I would keep the experience exactly the same. It was an amazing learning experience for a future director.
Ammatuna was also happy with how his production went. “I made sure going into the process that I had dreamed up every idea possible to make this show as creative as possible. I was very detailed with every character and dance move. The more detailed a show is, the more professional. I believe I did my best to put on as professional and creative a show as possible.”
His perspective was tempered by his experience. “Student Directed Showcase is a very rare opportunity full of responsibility and fun,” said Ammatuna. “You have to make sure that you are not only into this with your heart but with your head. You have to be the brains, heart and dreams of the show and an extremely strong leader. This is not for the faint-hearted. But, if you are one to want to make the visions in your head come alive, then by all means go for directing. Just make sure you are 110 percent committed before you join.
“Another grueling part of bringing your vision to life was being in charge of making so many decisions,” Ammatuna added. “There are so many decisions to make as a director that you need to be able to say yes and no without regret. You need to learn to follow your heart and vision but not lose sight of what is best for your actors.”
All four students will stay in performing arts when they go off to college next fall. “I have appliedto many schools for either a B.F.A. in musical theater or B.A. in theater,” said Ammatuna. “I want to hone my skills as a singer, dancer, actor, choreographer and director. I have gotten into The American Musical and Dramatic Academy with a scholarship for a B.F.A. in musical theater and Notre Dame de Namur University with a scholarship for a B.A. in theater.”
Dhaliwal plans to stay involved regardless of her major. “I plan to write plays, direct, costume and act, even if I am not a theater or music major,” she said.
Walvekar is on the band wagon, as well. “I plan on minoring in music and continuing to participate in theater productions in college. I also hope to continue to sing in a choir in college,” she added.
Parige, like Ammatuna, is going hard core. “I plan on being a film major and get into filmmaking 24/7. Directing has been my passion since I was nine years old, and it is very unlikely that it will change at all.”
He noted it will be challenging. “As a director,” said Parige, “it is important to remember that it isn’t all about you. There are so many different branches that come together to put on a great show: actors, directors, producers, technicians, musicians, etc. Collaboration is the key.”
All four students will take away a lifetime experience from the shows they produced. “SDS was the most amazing opportunity and I will treasure it forever because it allowed me to grow both as an artist and as a person,” said Dhaliwal.
Harker students played key roles at the Northern California Junior State of America’s fall convention in November in Santa Clara. Erica Woolsey, grade 12 and co-president of Harker’s JSA chapter, served as convention coordinator, handling the logistics to accommodate more than 700 students visiting through Northern California. Harker JSA co-president Saagar Sarin, grade 11, who serves as this year’s speaker of the assembly for the Northern California JSA, led the first meeting of the new assembly, on which senior Vlad Sepetov is seated. Attendee Daanish Jamal, grade 12, was given a best speaker award for his speech during a debate on the issue of building a mosque near where the World Trade Center once stood.
Dan Hudkins, director of instructional technology and Harker’s JSA advisor, was in attendance to take his seat on the national board of trustees of the JSA Foundation, which directs the JSA program and provides support for its activities.
The event was highlighted by an appearance by George Shultz, who served as secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan.
Jan 31, 2011
[Update] Nine Harker upper school students qualified the last weekend in January for the NCFL Grand National Tournament in Washington D.C. in May.
Closing out the final round of Public Forum debate, sophomores Aneesh Chona and Anuj Sharma along with juniors Frederic Enea and Aakash Jagadeesh were named co-champions of the qualifying event. Freshmen Maneesha Panja and Neil Khemani were named second alternates and juniors Shival Dasu and Jay Reddy earned the third alternate spot after finishing the tournament as quarterfinalists. Harker also swept the speaker awards in Public Forum with Jagadeesh placing first, Chona placed second, Khemani placed third, Enea was fourth and Sharma was fifth.
In Lincoln-Douglas debate, junior Sankalp Raju went undefeated in preliminary rounds and earned a qualifying spot as a semifinalist at the tournament.
Harker also saw success in Congressional debate where junior Muralikrishna Joshi placed second and earned a qualifying spot. Freshman Adarsh Battu placed sixth and earned the second alternate spot while freshman Srikar Pyda earned the third alternate spot.
Individual Event competitors earned spots in two events. Senior James Seifert will compete in Dramatic Performance while freshmen Andy Wang and Zina Jawadi earned spots in Original Oratory.
In early February students will compete at both the state qualifier in Public Forum debate as well as the Golden Desert TOC Qualifier in Las Vegas, Nev. Courtesy of Carol Green
Jan. 26, 2011
Last season Harker’s Public Forum program had a multiweek win streak in 2010 and is starting 2011 the same way. On Jan. 14-16, Harker sent 30 students to compete at the James Logan High School tournament in Union City, Calif., and six students to compete at the Lexington High School tournament outside of Boston, Mass.
At Logan, Saachi Jain, grade 9 and Kathir Sundarraj, grade 10, advanced to finals of Congressional Debate. In Public Forum debate, the team of Kristi Lui, grade 12 and Justine Lu, grade 10, reached octafinals (top 16), while the team of Reyhan Kader, grade 10 and Ziad Jawadi, grade 12, advanced to quarterfinals (top eight).
At Lexington, the team of Maneesha Panja and Neil Khemani, both grade 9, reached double-octafinals (top 32), while the team of Stephanie Lu and Katherine Paseman, both grade 9, rocketed all the way to the final round, thus becoming the fifth Harker Public Forum team to be fully qualified for the Tournament of Champions this May.
At the Victory Briefs tournament at UCLA on Jan. 21-24, the combined efforts of all 13 students competing under the Harker banner earned 65 sweepstakes points for the team, which earned Harker a first-place tie for school sweeps with Harvard-Westlake. Every win was counted towards this accomplishment and it couldn’t have happened without the whole team!
In Public Forum, the teams of Rohan Bopardikar/Akshay Jagadeesh and Fred Enea/Aakash Jagadeesh, all grade 11, closed out the division and were named co-champions, having defeated local rivals Saint Francis and Lynbrook on 3-0 decisions in semifinals. Anuj Sharma and Aneesh Chona, both grade 10, dropped a close 2-1 decision in quarterfinals (top eight). For the third year Harker claimed the Public Forum championship at Victory Briefs, and this is the second time the squad closed out finals. Bopardikar and Akshay Jagadeesh also took first and second speaker respectively.