The Harker Environmental and Animal Rights Team (HEART) held a special assembly on Oct. 22 featuring guest speaker Ambessa Cantave, an educator representing the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE). ACE specializes in engaging high school students to become active in stopping climate change.
Cantave gave an introductory presentation on climate change with an amusing series of animated shorts that illustrated how carbon dioxide works in the earth’s environment, and how human-caused emissions of it and other greenhouse gases have contributed to the various changes in climate in the last several decades. He then demonstrated how youth can network to bring about the change needed to end the climate crisis, showing video of young climate activists marching en masse and working on projects that help make their schools and communities more environmentally conscious and less wasteful.
Slips of paper were passed out to the assembly audience, on which students wrote their names to be included in a Declaration of Independence on Fossil Fuels, which will be presented to President Barack Obama.
Buddhist abbot Jian Hu Shi made his fifth annual visit to Harker Oct. 21, bringing his message on how to cope with life. The robed, tonsured, quiet, humorous monk, the first speaker in the Cum Laude Society Lecture Series, told a crowd of about 30 students and faculty members of the four noble truths and how suffering can be traced back to greed, ignorance and anger.
Jian Hu, who has a doctorate in computer science and worked in the aerospace industry before making the spread of Buddhism his life’s work, told a few stories of how Buddhist thinking, seeking the source of the conflict, had helped people resolve important issues. Jian Hu, abbot at the Chung Tai Zen Center of Sunnyvale, noted even an issue as large as global warming, caused by greed and ignorance – greed for personal possessions and ignorance of the long term pollution from them – can be addressed with Buddhist logic.
In response to questions from the audience, Jian Hu addressed perceptions about Buddhist doctrine, including respect for animals while understanding that killing an animal is not as bad as killing a human, and that it is hypothetically permissible to kill a human to save a village. He told of a couple methods of meditating and recommended meditation as a way to deal with anger, along with finding the source of the anger and examining its rationality. Jian Hu noted that nothing has real value except one’s mind.
[Update] The Harker Conservatory presents “Galileo,” first written by Bertolt Brecht just prior to World War II, then updated by Brecht in 1947. In the play, Brecht uses the later years of Galileo Galilei, the great natural philosopher, who was persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church for his scientific discoveries, to explore conflicts between dogmatism and science.
Director Jeffrey Draper said the play “offers a unique series of challenges to the actors and designers as the action takes place over 30 years in 13 scenes throughout Italy.” Working against classic theater traditions, the play presents a flawed protagonist and antagonists who are not wholly bad. The real protagonist of the play may be truth, with science and religion each fighting to claim it, said Draper.
To best prepare for their roles, Dr. Paula Findlen, Chair of the Department of History at Stanford University, came to speak to the cast at their retreat in October, and answer questions about Galileo Galilei and the Italian Renaissance. “Findlen often teaches a course on Galileo at Stanford and we were very lucky to have her address our students and give us an invaluable context for the events of the play,” Draper noted.
“This version of Galileo is unique to Harker, however, as two actors will be sharing the title role each night,” Draper said. “They are each on stage throughout, with Adi Parige (Gr. 11) playing the more family-oriented and comfortable half of the man and Kendra Moss (Gr. 12) playing the more ambitious and scientific side of him.”
“The show contains a large musical production number,” added Draper, “in our case, staged as an extravagant puppet show with music created by Nico Nagle (Gr. 9), Kovid Puria (Gr. 10), John Ammatuna (Gr. 11), and Allika Walvekar (Gr. 11). This play is very much unlike any production Harker has presented before and is a perfect choice for a school that excels in math and science. We hope the entire community comes out to see this unique and challenging production.”
Show dates are Oct. 29, 30 and 31, at 7:30 p.m., at the Blackford Theater. Tickets are $25 reserved, $10 adults, seniors and students. E-mail tickets@harker.org to reserve tickets.
The Global Empowerment and Outreach student club kicked off its fall GEO week on Oct. 16 with a visit to the upper school by charity: water’s Lane Wood, who spoke to a special Friday assembly about the crisis being faced by more than one billion people worldwide who do not have access to clean drinking water. The charity: water organization, whose founder, Scott Harrison, visited Harker’s middle and upper school campuses last year, raises money to build wells where fresh water is sorely needed. So far the organization has completed more than 1,200 water projects that have helped approximately 650,000 people worldwide.
Clean drinking water is the theme of the fall GEO week, and includes various events and fundraisers, including a relay race and a program in which students sponsor teachers and staff who have pledged to give up their favorite drinks for the week.
[Updated] Women in Science, Technology, Electronics and Mathematics (WiSTEM) is taking on breast cancer awareness this fall, starting with a Breast Cancer Awareness Week Sept. 27-Oct. 2. The group opened its campaign with a slideshow presentation and appeal to students in the Monday upper school meeting, followed by a day of wearing pink. Other fundraising activities during the week included bracelet and cupcake sales.
The group is now recruiting and soliciting pledges for the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk on October 31 at Arena Green, Guadalupe River Trail in San Jose. The event is a 5k walk (3 miles), open to everyone, to raise funds and awareness for the fight against breast cancer. In addition WiSTEM has a Men Against Breast Cancer component in their campaign to encourage men to take an active role in the fight against this terrible disease.
Beginning as a program for freshmen, the Harker Health and Wellness program has been greatly expanded for the 2009-10 school year to cover all four US classes. Sept. 2 was the first of five assembly days to be held throughout the year. On these assembly days, each class attends an assembly on a different topic related to physical, mental and academic well-being, such as study skills, college counseling, nutrition and fitness. Senior assemblies will feature guest alumni speakers to discuss life after high school, particularly college life and time management.
Following the assemblies, students are encouraged to speak with their advisors about the topics discussed. Health and Wellness assemblies will be held Nov. 8, Jan. 6, Feb. 24 and April 14. Dates are subject to change.
Halfway through their seasons, all US sports teams are working hard, with some teams earning unprecedented success.
Boys Water Polo Boys varsity water polo won in dramatic fashion on Oct. 1 at the Singh Aquatic Center by defeating Saratoga High School 9-8. Stefan Schwartz, Gr. 12, scored the go-ahead goal with five seconds remaining in the game! Although the team is 2-1 in tournament play, the league record is currently 1-3, with the Oct. 6 game results not available at press time.
Girls Water Polo Thirty girls are playing water polo this year, necessitating the addition of a J.V. team. J.V. is 1-2 in league play. Cynthia Shwe, Gr.11, leads the J.V. team with 10 goals, all scored with her left hand. She is right-handed but is recovering from a wrist injury, so watch out when she is fully healed! Other leading scorers are freshmen Sonia Sidhu with five, Joy Li with four, and Rachel Yanovsky and Catherine Manea each with 1. Goalies Sierra Lincoln, Gr. 9 and Daniela Lapidous, Gr. 10, are working hard in the cage and have made many saves. Varsity coach Kandace Lopez reports, “These two are fierce!” She added, “Good things are sure to come from this group of girls as they show much improvement after each game they play.”
The varsity team is 2-2 in league play with the two losses being hard-fought and very close. Leading scorers are seniors Tina Ma and Sarah Jane Estrada with 31 and 10, respectively; Keri Clifford, Gr. 9, with seven; Kelsey Chung, Gr. 12 and Miranda Gorman, Gr. 11, with four each; Andrea Lincoln, Gr. 12, with two, and Amy Johnson, Gr. 9, Niva Bigler, Gr. 11 and Simy Bhagat, Gr. 10 with one apiece. Ma received recognition in the Mercury News for her high score total. Melanie Herscher, Gr. 12, the starting goalie, has also scored on the other team’s goal in the last seconds of the quarter. The competition is intense and the girls are relentless, so come on down to the home games and cheer on these girls.
Tennis The girls varsity tennis team is working hard toward their goal of winning the league championship. Currently, they have a 7-0 overall record and are 2-0 in WBAL play. The team is lead by captain Arthi Padmanabhan, co-captains Kelly Chen and Brittany Chu, all Gr. 12. Vivian Huang, Gr. 12, also provides excellent leadership for the young team. Sophomores Jaya Chandra, Aranshi Kumar and Tanya Piskun join freshmen Jenny Chen, Daria Karakoulka and Chau Nguyen to provide a solid lineup. Coach Craig Pasqua expects the girls to be tested in October with matches against last year’s NorCal champion, Mitty, as well as against CCS powerhouses Sacred Heart, Menlo and Homestead. Pasqua comments, “The team works very hard together and is working to improve their competitive spirit.”
Rachel Gast, the J.V. girls tennis coach, reports that the team has a league record of 3-0-1, putting the team second in league behind Sacred Heart Prep. Gast states that captains Kaavya Cherukuri, Gr. 11, Supraja Swamy, Gr. 11 and Priyanka Sharma, Gr. 10, are very talented and that the team is enjoying the winning season as they become great tennis players and competitors. Gast praised juniors Lydia Demissachew, Swetha Repakula, Frankie Nagle, Swamy and Cherukuri. Both our number one singles player, Ishika Peravali, Gr. 10, and number two singles player, Nagle, are undefeated in league. Some freshmen to watch for this year are Emily Wang, Maya Sathaye, Anika Radiya-Dixit, Akarsha Gulukota,Marissa Moser and Isha Patnaik.
Cheer This year’s varsity cheer squad has had a great season so far. Through summer and early fall practices, the team has added impressive tumbling moves and tosses to their routines. Coach Chris King credits the team’s dedication and the new folding cheer flooring with allowing these athletes to safely practice and learn the new skills that have already wowed audiences at football games.
The squad is made up of captains Amanda King, Gr. 11 and Saira Ahuja, Gr. 10; choreographer John Ammatuna, Gr. 11, and cheerleaders Sammi Werthen, Gr. 12, Alice Loofbourrow, Gr.11, Jessica Lin, Gr. 10 and Amy Wardenburg,Gr. 9.
Cross Country Although illness gave the cross country team a rough start this season, the varsity girls finished fifth at the first meet, with Kelsey Hilbrich, Gr. 12, placing fifth overall with a time of 20:15. J.V. boys finished ninth and varsity boys finished tenth at that meet. At the Saratoga Invitational on Sept. 22, the girls were only able to field four runners due to illness, but they all had outstanding runs. The boys, while still facing sicknesses and recovering, were able to pull eighth place.
On Sept. 26 the varsity teams competed at the Stanford Invitational, where the girls took 14th out of 27 teams and the boys pulled off a 24th place out of 32. Both the lead girl and boy had incredible times on this course; Hilbrich ran a 19:49 placing 14th and Aadithya Prakash, Gr. 12, pushed out a 17:02.
The team performed extremely well at their first league meet. Hilbrich dominated the girls race as she crossed the finish line first, completing the 2.8 mile course with a time of 18:16. She was followed closely by three up-and-coming freshmen runners, Ragini Bhattacharya, Isabelle Connell and Adrienne Mendel, with April Luo and Anne West, both Gr. 11, followed in by Sara Teplitsky, Gr. 12. The girls team placed third overall. The boys varsity placed second as a team with Prakash leading the race until the end, when he placed third, and Stefan Eckhardt, Gr. 12, taking fourth, followed by Adam Perelman, Gr. 12, Proteek Biswas, Gr. 10, Charles Levine, Gr. 10, Tyler (Robert) Yeats, Gr. 9 and Arjun Mody, Gr. 12. The J.V. girls placed second and J.V. boys fourth.
The team is looking strong and is proving to show much talent and potential. While it is the middle of the season, this is just the beginning of the league meets, and Harker is proving to be a force within the league. October will provide the team an opportunity to display their talents, with much potential for a strong finish at the end of the season. The next two league meets are at Shoreline, on Thurs., Oct. 15 and Fri., Nov. 6. Come out and support our cross country Eagles!
Football The Harker Eagles football program has made history already this season with a 4-0 record with wins against San Jose High (21-7), Yerba Buena (17-0), James Lick (14-7) and California School for the Deaf (19-6). Their 3-0 start was even mentioned in the Mercury News!
The boys faced their toughest competition so far when the J.V. and varsity squads traveled to James Lick HS on Sept. 25. The J.V. team lost a hard-fought contest 20-6, and things didn’t go well early in the game for the varsity team. The Comets drove the ball deep into Harker territory in the first quarter, then scored to take a 7-0 lead. This was the first time the Eagles had trailed another team this season.
The momentum shifted to Harker when defensive back Gautam Krishnamurthi, Gr. 11, stripped the ball from a James Lick receiver and sprinted 30 yards to the end zone. The kick by Jose Costa, Gr. 12, was then blocked by the Comets, and the quarter ended with Harker trailing James Lick 7-6. In the second quarter, Harker took control on offense and capped a scoring drive with a 21-yard pass from Rishi Bhatia,Gr. 11, to Kevin Fu, Gr. 12, for a touchdown. Bhatia passed to Fu again to make the score Harker 14, James Lick 7.
Lick threatened late in the fourth quarter, downing two successive punts on the Eagles’ one-yard line. The Eagles offensive line, seniors Mark Roh, Stephen Wang, Patrick Campbell, and juniors Justin Shamlou and Jerry Shteynberg successfully blocked the Comets’ attempts to push Harker into its own end zone. In the closing minutes, the offensive line took control by opening holes for quarterback Cole Davis, Gr. 12, who rushed for two key first downs to preserve the 14-7 win. This is the first time in school history that the Harker varsity football team has started a season with four consecutive wins. Head coach Karriem Stinson dedicated the game to Harker history teacher John Near, who recently passed away after a battle with cancer.
The remainder of the Eagles’ league schedule is loaded with very tough competition. Fortunately, many of those games will be at home on Davis Field, so come on out and join us!
Golf Girls golf shot their best scores of the season against Sacred Heart Prep on Sept. 30, but couldn’t overcome a very talented Prep squad as they lost 185-159. They are now 2-2 overall, 2-2 WBAL.
Earlier victories include a 201-220 victory over Notre Dame San Jose where Sonya Huang, Gr. 12, picked up her first medal of the season with a 46. In that match-up, scores between each seeded player were closely contested, until Patricia Huang, Gr. 9, defeated her opponent by 15 strokes with a career best 47. Rounding out the team scores were Karen Wang, Gr. 10, with 49, Katie Marcus Reker, Gr. 10, scoring 59, Katie Liang, Gr. 11, with 60 and Jessica Son, Gr, 9, with 61. Coach Ie-Chen Cheng is stressing the importance of putting to the girls, and the efforts are helping, as the girls are showing steady improvement.
In an earlier loss against Menlo 169-200, Sonya Huang paced the Eagles with a 41. Coach Cheng was proud of the girls’ efforts, stating that the Menlo score was “probably one of their best scores in history.” She added, “Menlo’s 169 would be hard to beat for any top high school teams. With that said, I am very proud of the way all the girls fought. We were off today, but we didn’t give up, and that’s what’s important. Even when Menlo were bombing their drives, the girls did not let that intimidate us.”
The team opened the season with a 210-240 victory over Mercy Burlingame. Despite the high heat, narrow fairways and playing short-handed, the win called for a complete team effort. Sonya Huang paced the Eagles with a 47, followed by Wang with 51, Marcus Reker with 55 and Patricia Huang with 57.
Volleyball The varsity team is off to a 5-6 start heading into league play. After graduating five seniors last year, the team is very young and eager to get back to CCS. This year there are just two seniors, Danielle Buis and Tiffany Kyi. According to assistant coach Michael Leonard, the girls continue to improve and create team chemistry each day. They look to build on their current success so far as they enter WBAL league play.
The J.V. girls volleyball players have improved tremendously so far this season, returning four sophomores while adding seven freshmen. Four girls are playing positions they’ve never played before and the team continues to build chemistry. According to coach Pete Yee, the team has a solid sideout game, plays defense well and serves tough. The team was 2-4 in preseason play, and finished 17th out of 31 teams at the Milpitas/Independence J.V. tournament, taking the red championship. The girls took 10th out of 16 teams at the Los Gatos J.V. tournament, placing second in the silver bracket.
Harker’s speech and debate team got off to an exciting start this year, earning a Tournament of Champions (TOC) bid at the first tournament of the year. Michael Tsai, Gr. 11, brought home the first TOC qualifying bid for Harker by making it to the final round of Congressional Debate at the Wake Forest Earlybird Invitational. Ziad Jawadi, Gr. 11 and Aakash Jagadeesh, Gr. 10, made it to the round of 16 in Public Forum debate and James Seifert, Gr. 11, made it to semifinals in Dramatic Interpretation.
The following weekend four public forum debaters earned high marks at the Grapevine Invitational in Grapevine, Texas. The teams of Appu Bhaskar and Benjamin Chen, both Gr. 11, as well as junior Justine Liu and sophomore Akshay Jagadeesh made it to the quarterfinal round of the tournament.
The team wrapped up September at the St. Francis Invitational in Mountain View. Seifert placed third in Dramatic Interpretation while Connie Lu, Gr. 12, was named fourth speaker in policy debate. Jawadi and sophomore Aakash Jagadeesh made it to semifinals in public forum while Liu and Akshay Jagadeesh were eliminated again in quarterfinals. Liu was named fourth speaker in public forum debate while Jagadeesh earned the fifth place ranking.
The first weekend in October meant the Coast Forensics League season opener. Sophomores Rohan Bopardikar and Daryl Neubieser earned a wild card spot at the state qualifier in February by going undefeated in the varsity public forum division. Freshmen Shivani Mitra and Isabelle Connell achieved top marks by going undefeated in the junior varsity division of public forum debate.
A book review by Nikita Agrawal, Gr. 12, was published in the October issue of the nationally distributed Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA). A professional journal read by librarians serving teens in school and public libraries, VOYA boasts a readership of over 20,000. Agrawal worked closely with Lauri Vaughan, US librarian, who underwent an application process before she became a regular critic of professional, non-fiction and fiction titles for the journal two years ago. VOYAassigned Vaughan and Agrawal “The Deep” by Helen Dunmore and sent advanced copies of the title last June. Agrawal and Vaughan submitted their reviews, which they prepared independently, to editors shortly afterward. The reviews provide a short introduction and critical analysis as well as ratings for popularity and quality. Agrawal and Vaughan each gave favorable assessments to the book, the third in the popular “Ingo” series by the British author. An avid reader and member of the US Reading Club, Agrawal follows in the footsteps of alum Denzil Sikka ’09, who was also published in VOYA. The book and the review are currently on display in the upper school library.
The final matches of the upper school’s dodgeball competition took place Sept. 30 at the Saratoga gym. Classes faced one another in best-of-three rounds, with the freshmen defeating the sophomores and the seniors defeating the juniors. The main event saw the seniors take on the faculty in a game that was handily won by the class of 2010.
The competition began the second week of September, when the juniors defeated the sophomores. The following week, the seniors won over the freshmen. The seniors’ victory over the juniors on Sept. 30 sent them to the final game against the faculty and staff.