Jan. 26, 2011
Intel representatives returned to Harker today to announce that Nikhil Parthasarathy and Rohan Mahajan, both grade 12, were named finalists in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search. They will travel to Washington, D.C., from March 10-15 to compete as two of the 40 finalists selected from around the country.
The announcement, made at a special lunchtime assembly, was accompanied by the news that Harker is the only school in the country with more than one finalist. Notably, California this year finally surpassed New York as the state with the highest number of finalists, with a total of 11 students. Harker had a record seven semifinalists in the contest, this year.
Parthasarathy’s project used recently gathered data to study the structures of distant galaxies and find out how similar or different they were to galaxies in the local universe. He was mentored by Dr. Sandy Faber, professor of astronomy at U.C. Santa Cruz, and Dr. Kamson Lai, a postdoctoral scholar at the U.C. Santa Cruz department of astrophysics.
Mahajan, whose project involved developing a hydrogen-producing solar cell as a source of renewable clean energy, worked with Dr. Yat Li, assistant professor of chemistry at U.C. Santa Cruz, and was mentored at Harker by Mala Raghavan, upper school chemistry teacher and, incidentally, Parthasarathy’s proud mother.
Today’s announcement followed on the heels of one two weeks ago, when a record seven Harker students were named semifinalists in the competition.
Both students will receive a cash prize of $5,000 upon their arrival in Washington, D.C., and will compete for the top prize of $100,000, as well as meet Nobel laureates and members of congress.
Harker sent a contingent of upper school skiers to Squaw Valley Ski area in mid-January on a day trip, led by Kerry Enzensperger, student activities coordinator. The 29 students spent the day in the snow, enjoying themselves so much they lobbied Enzensperger to make it an overnight trip next year.
The Harker Research Program, which enables upper school students to pursue the wonder of science through serious, original research, is now calling for proposals from those who would like to present findings from a summer internship or school project.
The 2011 Harker Research Symposium, titled “A Call to Innovation,” to be held April 23 in Nichols Hall on the Harker upper school campus, is a salute to the computer science and technology industries. Scott McNealy, founder of Sun Microsystems and a Harker parent, will be the afternoon keynote speaker, with a morning keynote speaker to be announced. Read more about this year’s symposium. Proposal deadline is Jan. 28. Visit our web page or download the Call for Proposal flier and poster.
On Jan. 12, Harker’s upper school boys and girls soccer teams held their annual Kicks Against Cancer event at Davis Field, raising nearly $8,000. The goal for this year’s fundraiser was to send four child cancer survivors to Camp Okizu, a camp program that specializes in activities and care for young cancer patients and survivors and their families.
Funds were raised by selling tickets (which came with a commemorative T-shirt) and bracelets during lunch on the days leading up to the event. A special fund for faculty and staff was also set up so they could have the option of donating an amount of their choosing. Michael Anthony’s Salon in Saratoga also helped fund the effort, graciously donating proceeds from all transactions made on Jan. 9, in addition to offering a 50 percent discount on haircuts and treatments and a 30 percent discount on all hair care products.
During the halftimes of both games, several teachers and coaches volunteered to be targets in the classic soccer-based game of “Butts Up,” during which they bent over in front of the goal while audience members took turns making penalty kicks at them.
The varsity girls soccer team lost to Pinewood 0-3, and the boys team defeated Eastside College Prep 3-0.
Harker just received results from the National Classical Etymology online exam that students in grades 9-10 took in November. Harker students earned 20 medals: 13 gold, five silver and two bronze! The exam consisted of Latin and Greek derived words that students had to define in English based on their root meanings.
Gold Medalists: Erik Anderson, Cobi Ashkenazi, Jonathan Cho, Nik Datuashvili , Simon Orr, Christopher Sund, Ashvin Swaminathan, Apurva Tandon, all grade 10; Sarika Bajaj, Kevin Duraiswamy, Connie Li, Sreyas Misra, Brian Tuan, all grade 9. Silver medals were won by Daphne Millard, grade 10 and freshmen Tiffany Chu, Helena Huang, Saachi Jain and Urvi Gupta. Bronze medals were won by Andy Wang and Nikhil Dilip, both grade 9.
[Update] The girls varsity basketball team edged ICA on the road Friday 50-48 in a dramatic come-from-behind victory to set a program record with 14 wins in a single season! Priscilla Auyeung, grade 10, had 17 points and eight rebounds while classmate Daniza Rodriguez added 15 points. The girls (14-2 overall) host Mercy-Burlingame Tues., Jan. 25 at 7:30 p.m.. Congratulations ladies!
Jan. 18, 2011
Varsity girls basketball had their second loss on Jan. 11 to Notre Dame –San Jose 68-47, but defeated league foe Crystal Springs Jan. 14 59-39 to improve to 12-2 overall. Senior Roshni Bhatnagar scored 12 points and had six rebounds in the Crystal Springs game, while Daniza Rodriguez, grade 10, scored 15. The girls travel to Kings Tues., Jan. 18 and Immaculate Conception Academy on Fri., Jan. 21.
Junior varsity girls bBasketball posted their first win on Jan. 10 against Liberty Baptist; results of the Tuesday, Jan. 11 are not posted. The JV girls play tonight, Tuesday and Fri., Jan. 21 at King’s Academy and Priory, respectively.
Varsity boys basketball won on Jan. 10, but suffered their first league loss of the season the following Friday at Crystal Springs in a low scoring affair 36-33. The boys, now at 11-3 overall, hope to bounce back this week at Kings on Tuesday Jan. 18, and at Pinewood Fri., Jan. 21.
Junior varsity boys basketball is 8-5 in overall play this season, posting a win on Jan. 11 against Priory and playing Crystal Springs, though results from that game are not available. Their next outings are the same as varsity: Kings and Pinewood on Tuesday and Friday, respectively.
Our wrestlers competed in the Jim Root Tournament at Prospect High on Jan. 15. Jason Mendel, grade 12, placed fourth, Santosh Swaminathan, grade 12, second, and senior Chris McCallaCreary once again took the championship and is now ranked 27th in the state of California, another Harker first! Jan. 20, the team wrestles at home in one of only three home matches, so come support these outstanding athletes as they compete against Fremont High School, 5:30 at Blackford.
Varsity boys soccer has won their last three outings, so are now 3-2 in league with their victories at Eastside College Prep last Tuesday and at Crystal Springs Uplands Friday 5-1. The boys take their winning streak on the road Friday at Menlo.
Junior varsity boys soccer tied University Prep Academy on Jan. 10, and play KIPP San Jose Collegiate Tues., Jan. 18, at Harker and Menlo School Fri., Jan. 21 at Menlo.
Varsity Girls soccer is having a tough season but is showing incremental improvements. The team played to a 0-0 tie Friday against St. Francis-Watsonville where goalie Indica Sur, grade 10, earned her first career shutout. Come support the girls on Davis Field Tues., Jan. 18 vs. Mercy and Thurs., Jan. 20. vs. ECP. Both games are at 3:30 p.m.
Junior varsity girls soccer is splitting the season, 2-2-1 so far, with their most recent win against University last Thursday. They have their final games Tuesday and Wednesday Jan. 25-26 against the Leadership Public School and Immaculate Conception, both at Harker.
Harker’s upper school Latin students attended the Ludi Octobres competition this year and brought home a number of top prizes!
Latin 1: Sreyas Misra, grade 9, first place in Latin Derivatives and first place in Latin Reading Comprehension; Mary Liu, grade 9, second place in Latin Vocabulary.
Latin 2: Erik Andersen, grade 10, second place in Latin Vocabulary and third place Latin Grammar; Sahithya Prakash, grade 9, second place in Latin Derivatives and second place in Latin Reading Comprehension.
Latin 3: Urvi Gupta , grade 9, first place in Latin Derivatives; Kevin Duraiswamy, grade 9, first place in Latin Grammar and second place in Latin Reading Comprehension; Helena Huang, grade 9, first place in Greek Mythology and second place in Latin Derivatives; Sarika Bajaj, grade 9, first place in Latin Derivatives; Saachi Jain, grade 9, second place in Greek Mythology; Brian Tuan, grade 9, second place in Certamen; Sean Youn and Nikhil Dilip, both grade 9, tied for third place in Latin Reading Comprehension; Eric Henshall, grade 11, third place in Latin Grammar and third place in Latin Derivatives.
Latin Advanced: Suchita Nety, grade 10, first place in Latin Reading Comprehension and second place in Certamen; Jenny Chen, grade 10, first place in Latin Vocabulary and second place in Latin Grammar; Richard Fan, grade 10, first place in Greek Mythology; Sean Fernandes, grade 10, tie for second place in Daily Life & History and third place in Greek Mythology; Jessica Lin, grade 11, second place in Roman Daily Life & History (tie) ; Shannon Su, grade 10, second place in Latin Vocabulary and third place in Latin Derivatives (tie); Jonathan Cho, grade 10, second place in Latin Reading Comprehension; Molly Wolfe, grade 10, third place in Latin Derivatives (tie); Eric Zhang, grade 10, third place in Roman Daily Life & History.
Jan. 12, 2011
Harker set a new California record for Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists on Jan. 12, with seven students being named at a special morning assembly.
The students – Roshni Bhatnagar, Josephine Chen, Benjamin Chen, Rohan Mahajan, Nikhil Parthasarathy, Susan Tu and Jason Young, all grade 12 – were each awarded a $1,000 prize and have a chance to travel to Washington, D.C., in March for the final competition. The first place winner will receive a $100,000 grand prize.
Projects ranged from researching optical coatings for telescope lenses to comparisons of distant galaxies to those more proximate. Each student partnered with university-level mentors to perform the research for his or her project. Most students also had a Harker mentor to help the students write and finalize the project. Bhatnagar worked with Nicole Giuliani, a doctoral candidate at Stanford University. Her Harker mentor was Savitha Sastry, upper school biology teacher. Dr. Sophie Kusy, postdoctoral research fellow, and Joel Dudley, bioinformatics specialist, both from Stanford, worked together with Josephine Chen, whose Harker mentor was Anita Chetty, science department chair.
Benjamin Chen was mentored by Dr. Raja Guhathakurta, professor at UC Santa Cruz’s department of astronomy and astrophysics, and Dr. Evan Kirby, a postdoctoral scholar at CalTech. Chris Spenner, upper school physics teacher, acted as his Harker mentor. Mahajan completed his project with Dr. Yat Li, assistant professor of chemistry at UC Santa Cruz and was mentored at Harker by Mala Raghavan, upper school chemistry teacher.
Parthasarathy was mentored by Dr. Sandy Faber, professor of astronomy at UC Santa Cruz and mother of Harker alumna Holly Faber MS ’89, and Dr. Kamson Lai, postdoctoral scholar at UCSC’s department of astrophysics. Lick Observatory’s David Hilyard, optician, Brian Dupraw, optician, and Dr. Andrew Philips, astronomy researcher, acted as Tu’s mentors. Her Harker mentor was Dr. Mark Brada, upper school physics teacher. Jason Young completed his project with mentorship from Dr. Wei Wang, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry and UC San Diego and was mentored at Harker by Dr. Matthew Harley, upper school biology teacher. Finalists will be announced in two weeks.
Wrestling Wrestlers competed in two tournaments in December and posted great results in both. At the Webber Lawson Tournament hosted by Fremont High School, the boys made school history with three champions in a varsity tournament. Seniors Santosh Swaminathan, Jason Mendel and Chris McCallaCreary won their divisions in the 103-, 109- and 171-pound weight classes, respectively. McCallaCreary was awarded one of the two outstanding wrestler awards at the tournament. As a whole, the team placed fourth out of 20 teams, another school record for a varsity tournament.
The next week the team traveled to the Coast Classic hosted by Scotts Valley High School. Once again the varsity team did well with three athletes placing in the top eight. Swaminathan and McCallaCreary placed second while Mendel took sixth. The boys continue their season in January [see related story] with tournaments every weekend including the prestigious Mid Cal tournament hosted by Gilroy High School, which will feature many of the state’s best wrestlers.
Girls Basketball The girls basketball team entered the Del Mar Tournament over the winter break at 6-0. The girls made the finals by defeating Del Mar and Santa Clara, but lost to a tough Leigh High School team in the championship match. Daniza Rodriguez and Priscilla Auyeung, both grade 10, were named to the all-tournament team. The girls finished up December with an impressive 8-1 record and look to play against tough competition in January.
Boys Basketball Varsity boys basketball has been successful in preseason play, including some big tournament finishes. This included the Phoenix Cactus Jam Tournament over the holidays, which featured teams from all over the West Coast. At the Jam, the boys went 2-1 with big victories over Bolsa Grande of Southern California and St. Albert’s, a team from Canada. Unfortunately the team fell to a tough Colony High team from Alaska. At the end of the winter break the boys were 8-2 and opened league play in early January.
Girls Soccer The Eagles traveled to the Garces Tournament, a tough tournament in Bakersfield, over the break and went 0-2-1. Apurva Gorti, grade 9, scored for the Eagles in their tie with West High School. She was assisted by Priya Sahdev, grade 12, on the goal. Indica Sur, grade 10, had 26 saves in goal over the three games at the tournament. The girls have several more games in early January.
Boys Soccer The boys had one game over the winter break, against Pioneer High School. Though playing a man down most of the game, they made the match a close one, losing 2-1. Michael Amick, grade 10, scored the Eagles’ only goal on a penalty kick.
On the afternoon of Dec. 21, Harker’s upper school varsity girls soccer team had a friendly match with a team of Harker alumnae at Davis Field. The game, won by the alumnae team with a score of 2-0, was organized by Harker math teacher and soccer coach Troy Thiele and was a good opportunity for current students and alumnae to enjoy mingle and enjoy some friendly competition. Following the game, a special pizza dinner was held where alumnae and current students socialized and shared Harker memories just before the Saratoga campus closed for winter break.