Last week, the seniors participating in this year’s John Near & Mitra Family Scholar Grant Program conducted salons via Zoom, during which they discussed the results of the months they spent researching topics of their choice. Salons were held over three days, with three students featured on each day, presenting for the community with their mentors present.
Sabrina Zhu, the first of the presenters, examined the columns of Atlanta Constitution editor Ralph McGill and how they served as examples of the new journalism movement that became prominent in the 1960s and 70s. An editor for the Winged Post, Zhu said she has been fascinated with the history of journalism and how it can be a catalyst for social change.
During his time as an AP Spanish student, Alex Lan studied Peru and wrote a review of a Peruvian restaurant as part of an assignment to research a Spanish-speaking country. He then became interested in Peru’s “gastronomic revolution” and how it contributed to greater cultural exchange and the country’s economic recovery after its 20-year civil war.
While ensconced at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, Michelle Jin began watching the Korean TV drama “Crash Landing on You” and noticed that its two lead characters – one from South Korea and the other from North Korea – were speaking very different Korean dialects. This led her to explore how North Korea’s language reform campaign created differences in the language spoken in the two countries.
Sarah Fathima Mohammed’s original poetry about her experience as a Muslim spurred her to investigate the work of other Muslim poets and how their work was informed by their own identities. She then examined how Kenya-born poet Warsan Shire’s work spoke to the experience of Muslims in Nairobi, whose surveillance led to an internalized gaze that Mohammed compared to Foucault’s panopticon.
Another former AP Spanish student, Isha Moorjani, researched Argentina and Chile for her class assignment and became fascinated with how Indigenous languages impacted each country’s version of Spanish. In her talk, she explained how languages spoken by the Mapuche and Rapa Nui peoples influenced the Spanish spoken in modern Chile, as well as how their influence can be understood by examining the impact of Nahuatl on Mexican Spanish.
Stephen Xia started his story in the present day and worked backward to tell the story of housing activism in San Francisco’s Chinatown and Manilatown, starting with Chinese and Filipino immigration in the early 20th century. The focal point of his talk was the International Hotel, which was the subject of a large-scale protest in the 1960s when real estate corporations made plans to tear down the hotel, which would have displaced the building’s many elderly residents.
Mitra Scholar Emmett Chung explored the rise and fall of the die Republikaner party in Germany following the fall of the Berlin Wall, which he became interested in following a family trip to Germany. Chung explained how the party made anti-immigration sentiment a central part of its platform and made an effort to bring far-right politics into the mainstream, following up with their lasting impact on German politics and immigration policy.
Having lived in Japan from ages 2-4, Rahul Mulpuri became fascinated with Japanese culture at an early age and began studying Japanese in middle school. He also became involved in debate, where he learned about critical theory and critiqued the myth of the model minority, which has become a well-traveled stereotype of Asian-Americans. This led him to combine his interests into a research project that how Japanese-Americans interned during World War II helped rejuvenate the traditional Japanese music tradition as well as reignite general interest in Japanese music worldwide.
The final presenter, Austina Xu, contrasted the works of Allen Ginsberg and T.S. Eliot, using Ginsberg’s “Howl” as an example of a poem that expressed many of the same post-WWII anxieties as Eliot while eschewing Eliot’s elitism. She discovered an interest in slam poetry in her sophomore year and also became fascinated with the counterculture movements of the mid-20th century. She then delved into how the poetry of the Beat Generation may have led to the founding of slam poetry or “poetry for the people.”
Last week, Harker journalism students visited New York City for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Spring Convention at Columbia University, where they were presented with two CSPA Gold Crown awards for the student news website Harker Aquila and the Winged Post newspaper. The convention included workshops given by student journalists and awards ceremony for this year’s CSPA Crown winners.
Seniors Arjun Barrett, Tiffany Chang, Lavanya Subramanian, Jessica Tang, Sally Zhu and Sabrina Zhu, and juniors Edward Huang, Michelle Wei and Kevin Zhang were all presenters at the conference, where Harker students hosted a total of three sessions on topics including covering sensitive or controversial topics, apps that facilitate better coordination among newspaper staff and journalism’s ongoing “Humans of Harker” project.
Downbeat, the upper school’s show choir group directed by teachers Jennifer Sandusky and Laura Lang-Ree, competed this past weekend in the quarterfinals of the International Competition of High School A Capella, placing fourth in ICHSA’s West region. Samvita Gautham, grade 12, was awarded for Best Student Choreography for Downbeat’s performance of No Doubt’s “Just a Girl.” Downbeat competed against 200 other schools to reach this stage of the annual competition. Held by Varsity Vocals, the ICHSA and its collegiate-level counterpart attract thousands of singers every year. The competitions were made famous by the “Pitch Perfect” series of films, in which the collegiate-level competition is prominently featured.
Pieces by senior Claire Kampmeier (left) and junior Maya Cheshire (right) were selected to be featured in the 2023 ArtNow exhibit hosted by New Museum Los Gatos. This annual exhibit features pieces by Bay Area high school students, giving them the opportunity to gain real-world experience by featuring their work in a juried exhibition. The theme of this year’s exhibition is “Unarmed Truth,” showcasing original pieces that “reveal a personal or universal truth.” The exhibit will be on display at New Museum Los Gatos from March 13 to June 25.
Recently, CareerConnect hosted a mock interview event designed to help individuals improve their interviewing skills by providing a simulated interview experience. During the event, participants were paired up with business professionals who were the interviewers. The interviewer asked a series of common interview questions, and the interviewee responded as they would in a real interview. After each interview, the mentor provided feedback to the student on what they did well and what they could improve upon. The event also included tips for successful interviews, such as how to prepare for an interview, how to answer common interview questions and how to make a positive impression.
“I think this event helped me get a sense of how to improve my answers to typical interview questions, as well as grasp what the typical process looks like,” said Lucas Chen, grade 9. “This way, I have a better understanding when I’m actually being interviewed and will perform better.”
Interviewers and interviewees were both engaged in the process, making it a beneficial experience for all students. “I really enjoyed this experience, passing down tips and my knowledge down to students,” said interviewer Grace Wu. “It also gave me a sense of what kids are up to these days, and I had lots of fun listening and learning about each students unique aspirations and goals”.
Overall, the goal of the mock interview club event is to provide participants with a safe and supportive environment in which they can practice and improve their interviewing skills, ultimately increasing their chances of success in future job interviews.
Competitive fencer Ishani Sood, grade 11, won the bronze medal last month at the USA Fencing Junior Olympics in Denver. She was one of 199 competitors in the Women’s Cadet Foil Fencing category. Sood had a busy and successful season leading up to last month’s event, qualifying for the U.S. Cadet team and representing the United States in four events in Europe. She placed fifth at the Cadet World Cup in Budapest, Hungary, and won bronze at the Cadet World Cup in Germany, which featured 240 participants from more than 20 countries.
Last week, Harker students attended a guest lecture by cardiologist Shalini Bhambani ’02, who provided insight into her profession with a series of case studies of patients she had helped.
In one case study, a patient required an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator, a device that monitors the heart for irregular heartbeats and delivers an electric shock to restore a normal rhythm. Another case study involved a patient suffering from endocarditis due to a staph infection, and needed a heart valve replaced. She described two types of synthetic valves and their respective pros and cons. Bioprosthetic valves use bovine, porcine or equine biological material that do not form clots but need to be replaced every 10 to 15 years, while mechanical valves made from titanium and carbon can last for the rest of the patient’s life but are prone to forming clots.
Yesterday, the Journalism Education Association awarded Harker’s journalism programs its First Amendment Press Freedom Award. Harker was one of just 16 high schools nationwide to receive the award, which is given annually to high schools that uphold First Amendment rights for students and teachers through student-run media. Awardees are chosen by representatives from the JEA, National Scholastic Press Association and Scroll International Honorary Society. Harker received the award for the first time last year.
“The three-month-long application process incorporated two rounds and required statements from publication advisers, student editors and administration,” said journalism director Whitney Huang. “We believe that this award validates Harker Journalism’s commitment to civic engagement hand-in-hand with the embodiment of Harker’s mission statement.”
All of the schools that received the award will be recognized at the Spring JEA/NSPA High School Journalism Convention, which will take place April 20 in San Francisco.
On Feb. 11, Harker students Jeremy Ko, Ethan Liu, Jason Shim, Rohan Bhowmik and Arnav Swaroop took second place at the U.S. Department of Energy Regional Science Bowl, held at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University. The team was coached by upper school chemistry teacher Mala Raghavan.
Although the team didn’t win, it was victorious over defending national champions Lynbrook High School, which Harker chemistry teacher Robbie Korin called a “major accomplishment.”
On Wednesday, junior Trisha Iyer was named a finalist in The New York Times Student Review Contest, receiving an honorable mention for her review of an exhibit at the Legion of Honor museum in San Francisco. In this annual competition, teenagers review creative works in any discipline covered by The Times.
Iyer’s piece analyzed the exhibit featuring the works of Chinese Fashion designer Guo Pei. “When I was deciding how to fill my days last summer, visiting the exhibit honoring Guo Pei at the Legion of Honor museum was a no-brainer,” she said. “Of course, I’ve watched runway shows on YouTube and admired the couture whipped up every season from afar, but this exhibit was my first time up close and personal with anything high fashion.”
The sight of Guo’s work juxtaposed with the other works featured at the museum was a major source of inspiration, and she felt compelled to write about her experience. “Seeing Guo Pei’s designs in real life, placed next to the museum’s oldest paintings, prompted a shift in my thinking: outfits like these weren’t just clothes, but fully-realized, embroidered, wearable works of art,” she recalled. “I was so in awe that I had to write down my impressions about the exhibit once I got home.”
Iyer later heard about The Times contest and “chose to dust off this piece and submit it because I felt proud and confident about my ability to share my enthusiasm for this exhibit with readers. It’s a lovely surprise to know that others enjoy reading this review as much as I enjoyed writing it.”