Editor’s note: US drama teacher Jeff Draper received this e-mail in early May from Diane Kitamura, a guest at a hotel where Anthony Chen, Gr. 12, was also staying.
“I am compelled to write this e-mail concerning one of your students, Anthony Chen, who I had the opportunity to meet this past weekend in Los Angeles. When I say opportunity, it truly was by chance that we met under a circumstance where we had to deal with a medical emergency together in the hotel in which we were both staying.
“At approximately 2 a.m., I was walking … back to my room on the ninth floor when a woman in her nightgown came running out of her room screaming for help and to call 911. She was speaking in English and Korean and saying there was something wrong with her husband. She was quite hysterical. I had (an) intern with me who is bilingual in both English and Korean whom I told to assist the woman while I went down stairs to get help, because the door had shut behind the woman so we could not get back into the room to help her husband.
“The woman had tried to call the front desk but there was no answer. I went downstairs to get help and found a security/hotel staff person to get to the room because there was a medical emergency and we could not get into the room to what was wrong with the man.
“Security finally arrived at the scene to open the door. The man was lying on the bed and appeared to be unresponsive and possibly not breathing. Security was on my intern’s cell phone talking to 911 which asked in anyone knew CPR.
“Anthony was staying in the room next door and heard all of the commotion and was watching the situation. When security asked if someone knew CPR, Anthony volunteered since he had just completed the CPR course a month prior. Anthony immediately got on the phone to 911 when he saw the man’s chest and realized he might have had heart surgery because of a large surgical scar down the middle of his chest.
“He reported this to the 911 operator and was told to move the man to the floor and check for breathing. Anthony determined the man was breathing although it was barely detectable.
“I took the woman and had her begin packing items and changing clothes as we waited for the ambulance to arrive. The gentleman woke up and was incoherent and very angry about a situation that occurred earlier in the evening. Anthony, along with my intern who translated for 911, continued to stay with the man until paramedics arrived.
“Paramedics arrived and transported the man to the hospital where he stayed overnight. I met with the man and woman yesterday and they reported that the man had had a mild heart attack and is unable to fly for another two weeks.
“The couple were very grateful for Anthony’s help in this emergency situation. He was calm, cool and collected during the situation and represented The Harker School well. As a former assistant superintendent, I would be very proud of Anthony and I know you must all be proud as well of the tremendous courage and leadership Anthony demonstrated during this situation.”
Turns out Chen took CPR at Harker earlier this year. “The incident has made me appreciate life so much more,” he said. “The pure feeling of having a man’s life literally in your hands is enough to make anyone appreciate everything that this life has given us. I really encourage everyone to take CPR certification classes because at any moment and anytime you may be the only person in the entire place that knows CPR and can save a person’s life.”
Harker plans a small ceremony to honor Chen in late May.
In addition to the five Harker students who committed to collegiate sports competition last month, three more seniors have also committed to play at the college level next year. They are Alex Abarca, basketball at UC Santa Cruz; Candace Silva-Martin, volleyball at George Washington University; and Sam Levine, cross country at Pomona Pitzer College.
Despite an early relay team disqualification in Wednesday’s trials, Harker’s girls swim team was able to overcome and win their first league championship. The title was in question until the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay. The girls not only won the event, but smashed the league record by 3 seconds with a time of 3:46.68.
Harker event winners were: 50 & 100 Free – Jessica Khojasteh, 100 Breast – Vivian Wong, 200 Free Relay – Katie Siegel, Tiffany Wong, Vivian Wong, Jessica Khojasteh, and 400 Free Relay – Jessica Khojasteh, Katie Siegel, Vivian Wong, Tina Ma. All were won in league record time except the 100 free. New CCS qualifications were achieved by Tiffany Wong in 200 IM and 100 Back, and Lucy Cheng in 200 IM. Next Friday and Saturday, May 15-16, the team of Sabrina Paseman, Vivian Wong, Tina Ma, Jeanette Chin, Jessica Khojasteh, Katie Siegel, Tiffany Wong, Lucy Cheng, and Rachelle Koch will be representing Harker at the CCS Championships.
The boys team also had a great meet, finishing second behind a tough Menlo squad. Event winners were: 50 & 100 Free – Cole Davis, 100 Fly – Andrew Chin, 200 IM – Kevin Khojasteh, 200 Free Relay – Kevin Khojasteh, Andrew Chin, Daryl Neubieser, Cole Davis. The team of Andrew Chin, Cole Davis, Michael Clifford, Stefan Schwartz, Darren Syu, Hassaan Ebrahim, Kevin Khojasteh, and Daryl Neubieser will represent Harker at the CCS Championships.
Final girls scores were:
Harker School – 74
King’s Academy – 63.5
Castilleja – 61
Menlo School – 41
Notre Dame – San Jose 29
Pinewood – 20
Priory – 14.5
Mercy Burlingame – 3
Mercy SF – 2
Final team scores were:
Menlo School – 109
Harker School – 91
King’s Academy – 31
Pinewood – 23
Priory – 22
Boys Volleyball
Varsity had a 15-5 overall record as we went to press. In an early season tournament at Aptos, they won the silver division championship (fifth place out of 16 teams), with their only loss coming against eventual gold division champion Mountain View. In a repeat match when they opened league play against Mountain View, they won in an exciting victor y in four games. The team also hosted their fourth-annual 12-team tournament and took second place, losing to Leigh High School in the finals, 29-27, in the third game. Chad Gordon, Gr. 11 and Matt Gehm, Gr. 12, made the all-tournament team.
Softball
At press time, the softball team was 5-6 overall and 3-4 in league. The girls are led by the strong pitching of senior Shelby Drabman and sophomore Tracey Chan, as well as by strong hitting from Drabman, Chan and senior Sarah Christiano. Outstanding defensive players include shortstop Andrea Thomas and catcher Candace Silva-Martin, both seniors. The girls have defeated Yerba Buena High 13-8, Menlo 13-5, Pinewood 13-5, and Mercy- San Francisco 8-5. Even in losses to Santa Catalina, King’s Academy, Mercy Burlingame and Castilleja, the team played very hard and kept the score respectable. Coach Raul Rios reports that the team goal this year is to make CCS for the first time in school history. He proudly states, “Our motto is, ‘In order to achieve you must believe.’” He is proud of the girls for bringing a “refuse to lose” attitude and for having the most energy of all the teams they have played against, win or lose. “The team is very supportive of one another, almost like a family atmosphere,” Rios explained.
Boys Golf
The golf team is continuing to experience success, with its only two losses to Sacred Heart Prep and Menlo, two of the top teams in the CCS. The golf team also set a school record with its score of 200 against Sacred Heart. Juniors James Feng, Yash Khandwala and Jeremy Whang, along with seniors Kyle Hall, Aaron Lin and Sean Doherty and sophomore Ram Seeni are leading the team, with Feng ranked one of the top players in the league. They are coached by John Zetterquist.
Lacrosse
The Harker lacrosse team recently won their first game since becoming a varsity program, defeating Woodside High School 15-9. Their league record stands at 1-3 and overall at 1-4. The team’s leading scorer is senior Clara Lyashevsky with 11 goals, including six goals against Los Gatos. Players scoring in the Woodside game included seniors Lyashevsky, Priya Thumma, Michelle Lin and Alyssa Boyle; juniors Julia Shim and Manasa Reddy, and sophomores Monisha Appalaraju and Shreya Nathan.
Tennis
Boys varsity tennis began with a 3-1 preseason, notching wins against CCS powerhouses Mitty and Aragon. They lost their first WBAL match to a stubborn Sacred Hear t Prep squad, and stood at 9-2 at the end of March. According to coach Craig Pasqua, “It will take some work, but look for them as they continue their quest for a record sixth-consecutive CCS appearance.” The team is led by Karthik Dhore, Gr. 10, Adarsh Ranganathan, Gr. 10, Harrison Schwartz, Gr. 12 and captain Aadithya Prakash, Gr. 11.
Baseball
At the end of March, varsity baseball was 7-6 overall, with a 1- 1 league record. The team has been led by the strong pitching of Greg Plauck, Gr. 11 and Barrett Glasauer, Gr. 12. Of fensively, the team has been led by Glasauer, Stefan Eckhardt, Gr. 11 and Jeff Mandell, Gr. 12. All three lead the team in batting average, hits, stolen bases and on-base percentage. Senior Taylor Martin has done an outstanding job on defense, pitching and being a team leader. The J.V. was 1-5, losing a tough game to Monta Vista 14-13 and Milpitas 2-4. The team has been led by sophomores Greg Cox and Amir Mortazavi, and freshman Noah Levy. Mortazavi leads the team in hits and batting average; Cox has the team’s only win, and Levy has done a good job at the plate, as well as behind it as the catcher. Ben Tien, Gr. 10, has also done a good job on the mound, at the plate and in the field for the team, reports coach C.J. Cali.
Swimming
The girls swim team is showing much strength this season, with a 6-0 league record at press time and two more league meets to go. CCS qualifiers so far are Vivian Wong, Gr. 11, Jessica Khojasteh, Gr. 10, Katie Siegel, Gr. 9, Tina Ma, Gr. 11 and Tiffany Wong, Gr. 9. Coach Barton Wells looks for the girls be in the top five at CCS this year. The boys swim team is 3-1 in league so far this season, and Wells is looking to win the league championship and place in the top five at CCS. At the first meet of the season, Kevin Khojasteh, Gr. 9, smashed the school record in the 100 backstroke with a time of 56.88. CCS qualifiers so far are Khojasteh, Andrew Chin, Gr. 12, Cole Davis, Gr. 11, Daryl Neubieser, Gr. 9 and Michael Clifford, Gr. 11.
In only the second year that Harker has sent teams for all three levels, the Japanese program swept all three first-place team prizes at the National Japan Bowl in Washington, D.C., over spring break. The top-level team and their teacher were awarded a 10-day trip to Japan this summer where their itinerary includes the honor of meeting Her Imperial Highness Princess Takamado.
The Japan Bowl is an annual team competition for high school students across the U.S. studying Japanese as their foreign language. There are three levels of competition – II, III and IV, with level IV being the most challenging – and three students per team. The competition tests not only the students’ language skills but also their knowledge of history, geography, politics, current events, U.S.- Japan relations and variety of cultural aspects such as arts, festivals, religions, pop culture, etiquette and gestures.
“Although it is a very challenging competition, we have shown ver y steady improvement ever y year,” said Masako Onakado, Japanese teacher. “Last year, we earned second place in both level II and level III and four th place in level IV, which was our best record until then. Earning the first place in all levels in this 17-year-old competition this year was truly remarkable.”
Chris Nikoloff, head of school, also noted, “This is an amazing accomplishment. Congratulations to the students and thanks to Masako for all of her ef for ts on their behalf.”
Student winners were: Level IV Sarah Wang, Gr. 11, team captain; Roslyn Li, Gr.11 and Kevin Wang, Gr. 12. Level III Kelly Chen, Gr. 11, team captain; Jerry Sun, Gr. 10 and Katie Liang, Gr. 10. Level II Nirupama Gadagottu, Gr. 12, team captain; Tiffany Jang, Gr. 9 and Victoria Liang, Gr. 10.
Harker’s Varsity C team was named “Best Overall” in the country by the Junior Engineering Technical Society’s (JETS) annual Test of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) competition. The team, made up of seniors Daniel Kim, Hanh Dang, Jeffrey Mandell, Tsung-Ju Lu, Nikita Sinha, Kartik Venkatraman, Kevin Wang and Kevin Xu, will receive a $5,000 cash prize and a trip to Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
JETS is a non-profit educational organization dedicated to developing young people’s interest in engineering and technology. Each year, the organization holds its two-part TEAMS competition, in which students answer a series of questions dealing with different engineering scenarios. Every year, the competition has a different theme. This year’s theme explored the engineering principles used in theme parks.
Other Harker teams also performed well in the competition. At the national overall level, Harker’s Varsity D team (juniors Andy Fang, Jackie Ho, Vishesh Jain, Curran Kaushik, Arjun Mody, Haran Sivukumar, Kevin Zhang and Andrew Zhou) was ranked fourth, and the Varsity B team of seniors (Namrata Anand, Brandon Araki, Jeanette Chin, James Feng, Alex Han, Andrea Lincoln, Rachel Luo and Adam Perelman) placed eighth.
In the Division 2 category (which includes private schools containing more than 150 seniors), Varsity D took first place, with Varsity C earning second. Division 2 category rankings are based only on the second part of the competition. “D did better in part II, but C did better in part I, giving them the best ‘overall’ score,” said US math teacher and JETS advisor Anthony Silk. Also in Division 2, the Varsity A team took third. Tying for the 10th place spot was the Varsity B team of juniors Namrata Anand, Brandon Araki, Jeanette Chin, James Feng, Alex Han, Andrea Lincoln, Rachel Luo and Adam Perelman.
At the state level, the Harker’s four varsity teams took all of the top four Division 2 spots, with Varsity C placing first, Varsity B coming in second, Varsity D at third and Varsity A at fourth. In Junior Varsity Division 2 competition, Harker’s Junior Varsity B team of freshmen Lucy Cheng, Alexander Hsu, Revanth Kosaraju, Jeffrey Kwong, Ramya Rangan, Pavitra Rengarajan, Katie Siegel and Albert Wu earned the top spot to become the only JV team in Division 2 to qualify for the national competition, where they placed 27th overall. Harker’s Junior Varsity A team – sophomores Tracey Chan, Josephine Chen, Isaac Madan, Jerry Sun, Ben Tien, Susan Tu, Karen Wong and Kevin Tran – earned fourth.
Although they were not directly sponsored by the school, ninth graders Michelle Deng, Patrick Yang, Eric Kong, Vishesh Gupta, Frederic Enea and Daryl Neubieser nonetheless participated, taking second place in Junior Varsity Division 2.
Two Harker teams have won 2009 winter scholastic championship team awards. These awards recognize the varsity team from each CCS sport with the highest collective GPA of all teams competing that season. Both boys soccer (average GPA 3.6520) and the Harker wrestling team (3.6080) came in first in their sports. Hearty congratulations to the brainy athletes!
A special performance by Japan’s Okayama Gakugeikan High School Symphonic Band had the morning crowd cheering at a special US assembly on March 16.
Having recently placed in the top 10 of a national high school band competition in Japan, the 60-member orchestra came to Harker as part of an American tour that included San Francisco, Santa Clara University and New York City. Their performance at the assembly included works from a variety of genres, from classical mainstays such as Pachelbel to more contemporary fare, such as their rendition of “I Need to Be in Love” by the Carpenters.
The band really got amped, however, during their cover of “The Sun Will Rise Again” by the Japanese pop group Aladdin. Musicians wrapped boa scarves around their necks and performed a choreographed dance routine during the number, complete with miniature Japanese and American flags. The crowd interaction hardly stopped there. On one song, the entire band (save for the rhythm section) ventured out into the audience, where they performed the duration of the piece.
In all, a welcome treat and an inspiring display of musicianship from this talented young troupe!
US faculty took to the court on March 25 for a basketball game. Playing for the red team were chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine, history teacher Mai Nguyen, coach Raul Rios, math teacher Evan Barth and biology teacher Matthew Harley. The green team comprised math teacher Victor Adler, history teacher Ramsay Westgate, athletic director Dan Molin, Mandarin and ethics teacher Shaun Jahshan and biology teacher Nicole VanderSal. US division head Butch Keller acted as referee during the game, which came down to the wire, with the red team winning by just one point.
Cheerleading duties were handled by Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, English teachers Erin Redfern and Jennifer Siraganian and history teacher Carol Zink.
The game was one of several fundraisers held by the National Honor Society that week. Bins for each faculty member were set up just outside the Edge for donations. The 10 faculty members with the most money in their bins were chosen to play, while the runners-up went on to act as cheerleaders.
In addition to the faculty basketball game, the NHS also raised money that week by holding a bake sale and selling teacher appreciation ‘grams, special student-written notes that were delivered to teachers along with a small bundle of chocolate. Funds were donated to a local underprivileged charter school.
“The Music Man” conned his way into the Blackford Theater in April in a spectacular production from the Harker Conservatory. Director Laura Lang-Ree and musical director Catherine Snider guided a record-breaking 52-member cast through this charming Broadway favorite by Meredith Willson.
In another first, the cast included four Gr. 6 students, who more than held their own with their upper school counterparts. Katie O’Bryon created the energetic choreography, Paul Vallerga designed the huge and beautiful set, Brian Larsen oversaw the technical aspects, Caela Fujii supplied the lovely period costumes, Joan Sommerfield supplied the band with its instruments and all the other props, and Natti Pierce-Thomson lit the show beautifully. Excellent stage management was provided by Michael Prutton, Gr. 10, and the live band managed to sound like there were truly 76 trombones in the house.