Last week, the Summer @ the Conservatory’s Conservatory Presents and Conservatory Intensive programs got off to a strong start. Students learned about a wide range of theater principles, including voice anatomy and character studies, in addition to casting the shows that each group will perform. Industry professionals also appear during the program each week to give workshops on various aspects of the arts. Last week, actor, producer and film critic Dennis Willis spoke on producing music and editing for television, and this week students will work with cartoon voice-over casting director Portia Scott and participate in an improv workshop with Justin Smith, an experienced improv performer who has worked with the Upright Citizens Brigade and Chicago’s legendary Second City and is also co-founder of the Chicago-based Canopy Theatre Collective.
The staff behind this year’s Summer @ the Conservatory program went to great lengths to make sure students would be able to explore their love of theater in a safe environment. Head nurse Debra Nott, artistic director Laura Lang-Ree, summer director Cindi Gonsalves and assistant head of school for student affairs Greg Lawson collaborated to prepare the courses for strict adherence to county guidelines. Students have been working in casts of no more than 12 and practice social distancing during rehearsals. “Although masks hide their smiles, these students were thrilled to be together again and are having a great time practicing their craft, even in these most unique circumstances,” said Lang-Ree.
In the final winner announcement of the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, 2020 graduate Zara Vakath was named a winner of college-sponsored scholarship from Claremont McKenna College. The final total of Harker scholarship winners stands at 23. Congratulations to all this year’s winners!
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June 3, 2020:
On Wednesday, recent graduates Quentin Clark, Eric Fang, Lila Gorman, Phillip Han, Nathan Sudeep and Anthony Xu were named winners of college-sponsored scholarships in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, bringing the total number of Harker scholarship winners to 22. Another round of winners is set to be announced in July.
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May 13, 2020:
Today, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the second round of winners in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, and 11 Harker seniors are among them. They are: Kathy Fang, David Feng, Jeffrey Fung, Alyssa Huang, Sahil Jain, Allison Jia, Eileen Li, Kyle Li, Jack Pearce, Thomas Rainow and Bryan Wang. These students are among 2,500 high school seniors chosen to receive National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. More winners are set to be announced in June and July.
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April 28, 2020:
Last week, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the first round of winners of 2020 National Merit scholarships, and seniors Rohan Cherukuri, Mahika Halepete, Madison Huynh, Jessica Jiang and Nellie Tonev were named winners of corporate-sponsored scholarships. Each of the students had reached the finalist portion of the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Competition. The next three rounds of winners will be announced in May, June and July.
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Sept. 24, 2019:
Earlier this month, 63 seniors were named semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, placing them among the 16,000 high school students who make up less than 1 percent of the more than 1.5 million students who entered the contest as juniors last year. Students enter each year by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). This year’s National Merit semifinalists are:
Prerana Acharyya, Jai Bahri, Nakul Bajaj, Martin Bourdy, Katelyn Chen, Evan Cheng, Andrew Cheplyansky, Rohan Cherukrui, Quentin Clark, Rishi Dange, Eric Fang, Kathy Fang, David Feng, Finn Frankis, Lauren Fu, Jeffrey Fung, Lila Gorman, Ellen Guo, Mahika Halepete, Phillip Han, Alyysa Huang, Madison Huynh, Rashmi Iyer, Sahil Jain, Allison Jia, Jessica Jiang, Matthew Jin, Annebelle Ju, Montek Kalsi, Naviya Kapadia, Jatin Kohli, Jeffrey Kwan, Shyl Lamba, Max Lee, Eileen Li, Kyle Li, Emily Liu, Carolyn Lu, Vani Mohindra, Kalyan Narayanan, Rakesh Nori, Sana Pandey, Jack Pearce, Thomas Rainow, Sanjay Rajasekharan, Amla Rashingkar, Chaitanya Ravuri, Sachin Shah, Nikhil Sharma, Rohan Sonecha, Nathan Sudeep, Christine Tang, Michael Tang, Anika Tiwari, Nellie Tonev, Jin Tuan, Nerine Uyanik, Zara Vakath, Bryan Wang, Nathan Wang, Anthony Xu, Jacqueline Yang and Jeffrey Yang.
Additionally, 72 seniors were named commended students for their outstanding performance on the PSAT/NMSQT:
Arjun Akkiraju, Kai Ming Ang, Kenya Aridomi, Ekdatha Arramreddy, Vibha Arramreddy, Anvi Banga, Ryan Brown, Darshan Chahal, Gabriel Chai, Eva Chang, Cynthia Chen, Emily Chen, Kevin Chen, Emily Cheng, Henry Cuningham, Kaitlyn Dai, Reiya Das, Jeremy Ding, Mihir Dixit, Sidharth Dudyala, Roni Gagneja, Nina Gee, Anna Gert, Aditi Ghalsasi, Avi Gulati, Aarzu Gupta, Grace Hajjar, Jack Hansen, Richard Hu, Grace Huang, Jedd Hui, Vishnu Jaisim, Arnav Joshi, Nikhita Karra, Mahi Kolla, Sejal Krishnan, Asmit Kumar, Allison Lee, Emma Li, Bennett Liu, Jeffrey Liu, Annie Ma, Grant Miner, Naveen Mirapuri, Shomrik Mondal, Natashad Moorajani, Arushi Nety, Karthik Nukala, Jason Pan, Gina Partridge, Sriya Prathfuri, William Rainow, Ahsna Reddy, Riva Saksena, Anu Selvaraj, Mihir Sharma, Anjali Sheth, Rani Sheth, Alexander Shing, Anthony Shing, Neal Sidhu, Arun Sundaresan, Larissa Tyagi, Smriti Vaidyanathan, Joshua Valluru, Ramanand Vegesna, Katelyn Vo, Jessie Wang, Henry Wiese, Alicia Xu, Catherine Zhao and Joshua Zhou.
Altogether, Harker’s National Merit semifinalists and commended students comprise 68% of the Class of 2020!
Today the Society for Science & the Public announced that final events for this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search will take place virtually later this month after being postponed from their original date in March. Senior Cynthia Chen’s project, titled “Decoding Neural Networks: Discovery of Anti-Tumor B Cell Receptor Motifs Using a Novel Sequence-Based Computational Framework,” will be one of the 40 finalist projects featured in the virtual Public Exhibition of Projects, held Sat., July 25. This year’s winners will be announced during the Winners Award Ceremony, which takes place July 29.
Jan. 22, 2020:
The Society for Science & the Public this morning named senior Cynthia Chen one of the top 40 finalists in the 2020 Regeneration Science Talent Search! As a finalist, Chen is now eligible to attend the final portion of the competition, held in Washington, D.C. from March 5-11. Each finalist receives a minimum of $25,000 with chance to win one of 10 cash prizes, ranging from $40,000 to $250,000. During their stay, finalist projects will undergo a thorough judging process, and finalists will also have the opportunity to meet notable scientists and members of Congress.
Jan. 8, 2020:
Today, seniors Cynthia Chen and Joshua Zhou were named two of the nation’s top 300 scholars in the 2020 Regeneron Science Talent Search. These 300 high school students were chosen from nearly 2,000 entries. Each scholar and his or her school will receive a prize of $2,000. The top 40 finalists will be announced on Jan. 22 and invited to participate in the last stage of the competition, scheduled for March 5-11 in Washington, D.C. Congratulations and good luck!
Yesterday, students and faculty contributed to the Palo Alto Black Lives Matter street mural, painting the first letter “A” in the mural, which now appears on Hamilton Avenue in front of Palo Alto City Hall. Elliot Kampmeier, Arya Tandon, Maria Teplova and Natasha Yen, all rising seniors, and rising sophomore Ally Lee, accompanied by art teacher Pilar Aguero-Esparza and history teacher Roxana Pianko, were one of several groups selected to help paint the mural. “Elliot had communicated with me early this summer that he wanted to create a mural in San Jose and I began to ask art friends I know in the community and one of them forwarded the call for artists from the Palo Alto Public Art program,” said Aguero-Esparza. “They pursued it after they got the clearance from Palo Alto staff that they could submit if they had an adult sponsor.”
Artists were required to submit an application containing both a statement detailing why they were interested in the project and samples of their work. In their statement, the students noted their intent “to stand up against systemic racism and show our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.” Upon being selected, the students were assigned a letter and asked to submit a sketch of their idea. “The call for art submissions and the process has been very fast paced,” said Aguero-Esparza. “I am super proud that they got excited and worked within the constraints of the call.”
The reception began with opening words by the co-directors of the programs, upper school history chair Donna Gilbert and upper school librarian Lauri Vaughn, who commended the students on their hard work and intellectual curiosity in creating this year’s papers. Joe Rosenthal, executive director of strategic initiatives, then recapped the history of the endowments and announced the Chen-Lin Family Inspiring Faculty Growth in the Humanities Endowment, a new professional development opportunity for Harker faculty.
Following an introduction by Harker advancement director Kim Lobe, each of this year’s scholars and their respective mentors spoke on the experience of creating their research projects.
2019-20 Near Scholars:
Simar Bajaj, mentored by Katy Rees, Mike Pistacchi and Meredith Cranston: “Wealthy White Men Only: Examining the American Medical Association’s Use of ‘The Flexner Report’ as Propaganda to Reform Medical Education”
Ellen Guo, mentored by Donna Gilbert and Meredith Cranston: “Bi Means of Queer: A Bisexual View of Sedgwick’s ‘Closet'”
Madison Huynh, mentored by Julie Wheeler and Amy Pelman: “Door Half-Open: Postwar American Legislation’s Failure to Support Vietnamese Assimilation”
Kalyan Narayanan, mentored by Pauline Paskali and Lauri Vaughn: “’We’ve Got to Fight the Powers That Be’: Discourse and Disobedience in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing”
2019-20 Mitra Scholars:
Prerana Acharyya, mentored by Roxana Pianko and Lauri Vaughn: “Dancing into Propaganda: Nazi Appropriation of Ausdruckstanz”
Kathy Fang, mentored by Beth Wahl and Lauri Vaughn: “’But a Woman’: Reassessing Portrayals of Women and Sex in the Restoration ‘Tempest'”
Jeffrey Fung, mentored by Byron Stevens and Meredith Cranston: “Take Up the Cross: Pagan Elements in Lactantius’ De Mortibus Persecutorum” Anya Gert, mentored by Amy Pelman, Damon Halback and Trish Ludovici: “Squatters and Their Street Art: How the Counterculture Undermined Sanctioned Artwork in Occupied West Berlin”
This story was submitted by speech and debate department chair Jenny Achten.
At the 2020 National Speech & Debate Tournament, held online June 14-20, rising senior Andrew Sun was awarded the Congressional Debate Leadership Bowl by his fellow final round competitors. Each student (all from different schools) was asked to vote for the one competitor that best embodied ideal debate skills and outstanding character. Reaching the final round is also a huge honor as the tournament had over 450 competitors, each of whom had to qualify by placing in the top 5 percent of their local districts. The coaches were thrilled that Sun’s hard work was nationally recognized. Also reaching elimination rounds were rising senior Jason Lin in congressional debate and Avi Gulati ’20 in original oratory.
Rising freshman Kabir Ramzan and rising sixth grader Ameera Ramzan have been working to raise funds in support of Black Girls Code and Second Harvest Food Bank. To encourage donations through their GoFundMe page, the siblings created a virtual music concert featuring themselves playing various pieces on piano, flute and violin. Two of the three instruments featured in the concert were taught to the Ramzans as part of the Harker music program. In addition, their company, ArtShackCrafts, will send a gift of an artisan bracelet for all donations over $50.
The two created ArtShackCrafts to sell artisan crafts to support philanthropic efforts about which they are passionate. These causes have included assisting detained immigrant children through the ACLU and aiding California wildfire victims through the American Red Cross.
The contest tasked students with writing a persuasive essay using both The New York Times and other sources. Winning essays were published in the Times’ Learning Network. The contest received more than 7,000 submissions from middle and high school students.
Harker’s team of rising juniors Camilla Lindh, Simren Kochhar and Ishaan Parate reached the semifinals in the 2020 INCubatoredu National Student Pitch contest. This annual contest invites teams from INCubatoredu member schools to submit videos detailing their proposed businesses, how they work and the value they bring. Teams are nominated by their schools and are required to have completed the INCubatoredu program, a yearlong course in which high school students develop a startup, secure funds and deliver a pitch. The Harker team’s proposed business, titled “H2OOT” (pronounced “hoot”) offered a way for users to monitor water usage at their homes to both save money and address water shortages.
The full video of the students’ pitch can be viewed below or on YouTube.
Sometime soon, an array of teenagers in Africa, with lovingly packed boxes of K-5 math textbooks hoisted on their shoulders, will complete the final steps of a journey that started with a Harker student’s efforts to blend sustainability with service to the world’s poor.
Driven to find ways to propel positive change, rising senior Sachi Bajaj started a nonprofit entity called Me2U Foundation last year focused on reclaiming various items for use abroad, setting in motion of a chain of events that, among other things, diverted nearly 1,000 used textbooks from the waste stream for the use of mostly rural libraries serving an estimated 45,000 African children.
“I want to show people that anyone can do this, even if you are just in high school like I am,” said Bajaj. “We truly can make a difference, and the results are right in front of us. It is unbelievable to think that 700 books, which possibly could have reached the landfills, went to children who do not have sufficient resources to even learn, something that myself and others may take for granted.”
The difficulty of transporting learning resources to remote communities disadvantaged by lack of access to textbooks was overcome in large part by The Harker School’s contribution of funds to finance the shipping of the books, first to New Orleans and then most likely to Malawi, but possibly instead to Ghana, depending upon available space on a July trans-Atlantic container ship. More than 200 additional textbooks were sent free of charge to Thrift Books, a socially conscious, for-profit organization that re-sells books on the secondary market.
Harker library director Lauri Vaughan, who has overseen other efforts to connect books with readers, proclaimed the arrangement “a win for the environment and for all those readers who will use these books to learn valuable skills.”
Claire Hubel, container manager for The African Library Project, designated Bajaj, Me2U and The Harker School global literacy champions, noting that the Bajaj was “absolutely instrumental in making all this happen.”
Bajaj’s foundation got its start in 2019 as a project aiming to reduce waste and share resources such as clothing, shoes and toys, then grew this year to focus on books, 320 million of which are estimated to be wasted annually.
“Over the course of five months, I worked very closely with Ms. Vaughan to make sure that these books would be redirected from landfills to the underprivileged in a sustainable manner,” Bajaj said. ” I would send lists and lists of updates to Ms. Vaughan about possible organizations, but many of them simply would not work out. At this time, my organization did not have sufficient funding to ship over this many textbooks.”
Finding the African Library Project in May revived Bajaj’s hope that the books would find a proper home after all. The African Library Project distributes books to libraries across Malawi and six other countries in Africa. It does so from the Port of New Orleans, however, so the not so small matter of transporting the jumbo load of elementary education materials remained a hurdle. Harker stepped in with $960 to finance the books’ voyage.
Harker sustainability czar Greg Lawson called the project “a remarkable undertaking by Sachi and Lauri,” adding, “It is noteworthy that this undertaking began as Sachi’s brainchild, but that Lauri saw the vision and helped her do the work within the administration of the school to bring this to fruition. Hopefully these texts will land in the lap of a student whose curiosity will be piqued and will endeavor to learn and grow because of this exposure. These books may become ‘a gift that keeps on givin’’ and if they do, all the effort will be worthwhile – and that’s not even taking into account the sustainability element here!”
Bajaj distinguished herself through her perseverance amid the numerous obstacles attending such enterprises, Vaughan said. “Where others have good ideas, but struggle to implement them, Sachi stayed with this and I am so happy with how it is turning out.”
Hubel, who brought her daughter to campus to help Vaughan pack the volumes, worked with partners in Malawi to plan distribution of the gently used tomes to 45 libraries in the landlocked southeast African nation, where literacy has been on the decline, currently falling below 70 percent for males and at just 55 percent for females.
“There is a very small chance that this collection of math books may be held until our Ghana container (which will be shipping in the fall) on the off-chance that the Malawi container is full,” Hubel said. “The container is going to be very full, and these books may be loaded last, since they represent a supplement for many schools, and we don’t want to send these at the expense of a single school getting their full library.”
Regardless of which destination the books reach, they form a foundation of hope that acquisition of STEM skills can help lift poor children from poverty, enabling them to contribute to the development of their homeland.
“Our procedure is to fill a shipping container for each country we are working with, and the container to Malawi will already be carrying 60 libraries of 1,000 books each,” Hubel said. “Luckily we have just started adding STEM supplements to many of the libraries that we send to, so we decided that this donation would comprise a one box STEM supplement to each of the 45 primary grade schools in this container. In order to qualify for a library from the African Library Project, a school has to fill out an application demonstrating its need. Most of the schools we work with are in rural communities, and many do not have any books at all. Each box of textbooks that we packed at Harker was sorted to contain a full, leveled math curriculum from K-5th (or 6th) grade. As such, each box will be a valuable resource for the school receiving it, and will likely be used by teachers in support of their math instruction.
“The books that Harker donated so generously were almost new and very well-made. They have many years of use in them, in the careful hands that will receive them. These books will be used by teachers in 45 schools, reaching 45,377 students in all … and will then be used by each incoming grade as well. Using books this way will touch an immense number of lives!”