Nanoseed, a student-run organization that offers low-interest loans and grants to students and entrepreneurs in rural China, will hold its second benefit concert at the Rothschild Performing Arts Center on March 13 at 7 p.m. All proceeds will go toward loans and student scholarships.
The event will feature a wide variety of student performers, including piano performances by sophomore Yejin Song, sophomore Spencer Cha and junior Audrey Liu, as well as violinist Sophia Horng, grade 11, and guitarist Wilson Zhang, grade 11. Student a cappella group Signature also will be making an appearance, and dance acts will include a ballet performance by Arely Sun, grade 10, a duet by seniors Anna Miner and Emiko Armstrong, and a group comprising Miner and Armstrong as well as seniors Chloe Chen, Vance Hirota, Ethan Hu and Kai-Ming Ang. Performers from other Bay Area schools are also set to appear. The performances and speeches will reflect the theme of this year’s concert, “Give to Grow.”
Tickets are available for $15 for students and $25 for adults. A $5 discount is being offered with the promo code “EarlyBird” until March 1.
Downbeat, the upper school’s show choir, traveled to Portland, Ore., the weekend of Feb. 22-23, where it took third place at the West quarterfinal of the 2020 International Championship of High School A Cappella, hosted by Varsity Vocals. The group has qualified for the semi-final round of the competition. Their performance of Billie Eilish and Khalid’s “Lovely” was arranged by senior Max Lee, who received an award for outstanding arrangement, and choreographed by senior Kenya Aridomi.
Every year, Varsity Vocals holds a cappella competitions for high school and college students that attract thousands of singers worldwide. The collegiate-level competition was featured in the popular “Pitch Perfect” series of films.
This story was submitted by Harker speech and debate department chair Jenny Achten.
Harker placed first out of 191 schools for overall team performance at a tournament held by the University of California, Berkeley, Feb. 15-17. The tournament hosted 2,458 students from 22 states, as well as teams from Taiwan. It is an honor to do so well at such a large and prestigious event.
Contributing to the award were the elimination round performances by many students across the events. In varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate, awards were won by seniors Sachin Shah and Maddie Huynh, juniors Andy Lee and Akshay Manglik, sophomores Rohan Thakur and Deven Shah, and grade 8 students Krish Mysoor and Ansh Sheth. Senior Avi Gulati and freshman Michelle Jin were in elimination rounds in impromptu speaking. In congressional debate, seniors Annie Ma, David Feng, Nakul Bajaj and Tiffany Zhao, as well as juniors Jason Lin, Nathan Ohana, Helen Li and Andrew Sun, won trophies. In junior varsity Lincoln-Douglas, freshman Annmaria Antony and grade 7 debaters Stefan Maxim and Aarush Vailaya were award winners. In original oratory, Gulati and freshmen Austina Xu and Dyllan Han took home honors. In program oral interpretation, senior Nikki Solanki won a top award. In public forum debate, seniors Amanda Cheung and Ellen Guo placed in elimination rounds. Finally, Gulati and Jin placed in extemporaneous speaking. The coaches had a great time celebrating with the whole team!
The boys soccer team finished off its regular season with a 3-2 win over The King’s Academy before earning a No. 3 seed in the D3 CCS playoffs. In the first round, the Eagles defeated Evergreen Valley High 1-0 and will travel to Sequoia on Wednesday night for the semifinals. With a win, the boys would play in the finals on Saturday.
Boys Basketball
Last week, the boys basketball team ended the regular season with a 53-62 loss to The King’s Academy with Arjun Virmani, grade 11, leading the way with 18 points. The Eagles earned a No. 9 seed in the D4 CCS playoffs and in the first round defeated Design Tech 71-48 with Eric Zhu, grade 11, leading all scorers with 18 points. Unfortunately, the Eagles’ season came to an end with a tight 42-48 loss to Scotts Valley in the second round; Naveen Mirapuri, grade 12, led the way with 10 points. Congrats on a great season!
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team ended the regular season last week with a 35-48 loss to Castilleja, but still earned a No. 9 seed in the D4 CCS playoffs. However, the Eagles fell to Carmel High 42-49 to end their season with an 11-14 record. Great job ladies!
Girls Soccer
Last week, the girls soccer team ended its season with a 0-3 loss to Mercy Burlingame in a WBAL playoff. The Eagles narrowly missed out on making CCS, even with a league title and an impressive 13-2-3 record. Congrats on a great season!
Boys Golf
Boys golf opens its season this Thursday against Valley Christian.
Baseball
Baseball opens up at home against Overfelt on Tuesday before traveling to Rancho San Juan on Friday.
Boys Tennis
Boys tennis opens its season by hosting The King’s Academy on Tuesday and Nueva on Friday.
Lacrosse
Lacrosse hosts Willow Glen on Tuesday.
Boys Volleyball
Boys volleyball opens its season on Wednesday at Wilcox before the home opener on Friday against Homestead.
Swim
The swim team opens at the Spring Kickoff at Palo Alto High on Friday.
Track and Field
The track and field team travels to Bellarmine on Saturday for the Bellarmine Invitational.
Softball
Softball travels to Gunn High on March 3 to kick off the season.
Yesterday, the Harker Green Team hosted a talk by environmental educator Keshet Miller, who spoke to students about consumption and waste disposal, and how they affect the lives of people in vulnerable parts of the world.
Miller has led educational trips to places such as Indonesia, where communities that rely on fishing are increasingly dealing with waste from other countries disrupting their way of life. As waste makes fish populations sick or less edible, communities are forced to find alternative food sources.
Much of the blame for the creation of waste, Miller said, rested on large companies that generate profits through consumption. To fuel consumption, companies frequently create products that are meant to fail and be replaced, a principal commonly known as planned obsolescence. People are further motivated to consume by a society that places a high value on one’s ability to purchase many products.
She also touched on the limits of personal habits and lifestyles in making a more sustainable society, noting that major policy changes, community monitoring, economic change and education are all crucial to ensure the continued habitability of the planet.
The boys basketball team dropped to 7-16 on the season as it fell to Woodside Priory 28-63 and Menlo 52-65. In the loss to Priory, Jack Connors, grade 12, led the Eagles with 10 points. Later in the week against Menlo, Connors once again led all Harker scorers, this time with 14 points. The boys finish up their season on Tuesday as they travel to The King’s Academy.
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team fell to Notre Dame San Jose 39-54 in its sole game last week, bringing the season record to 11-12. The Eagles finish up the regular season on Tuesday with a trip to Castilleja.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team had the week off, but will play the biggest game of the season at Davis Field on Wednesday as it hosts Mercy Burlingame. The winner will earn a spot in the CCS playoffs, which start on Saturday.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team fell to first place Sacred Heart Prep 0-3 before tying Menlo 1-1 last week. The 12-3-3 Eagles currently sit in third place in the WBAL and finish up the regular season on Wednesday at The King’s Academy.
SPRING
The spring season has arrived! Here are the starting dates and locations for your Harker Eagles:
Boys Golf
Boys golf takes on Pinewood on Tuesday and Crystal Springs Uplands and Sacred Heart Prep in a tri-match on Friday.
Baseball
Baseball opens up at home against Overfelt on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Boys Tennis
Boys tennis hosts The King’s Academy on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Lacrosse
Lacrosse hosts Willow Glen on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Boys Volleyball
Boys volleyball opens on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at Wilcox.
Swim
The swim team opens at the Spring Kickoff at Palo Alto High on Friday, Feb. 28.
Track and Field
The track and field team travels to Bellarmine on Saturday, Feb. 29, for the Bellarmine Invitational.
Softball
Softball travels to Gunn High on Tuesday, March 3 to kick off the season.
On Thursday, upper school students, faculty and staff took part in the Challenge Day program, an energetic all-day program in which participants are led through a series of learning experiences, including games and small group discussions. The activities are designed to empower school community members to improve self-esteem, discourage peer pressure while encouraging peer support, and end the acceptance of identity-based bullying, racism and harassment. While topics of discussion were often serious, there was plenty of time set aside for joy and laughter, such as when participants were instructed to cheer with excitement at the mention of playing a game. Moments like these were designed to help students and adults meet as equals outside of the usual hierarchy of school communities.
Challenge Day was founded in 1987 to provide social-emotional learning workshops to school communities. In the years since, Challenge Day programs have been held in more than 2,200 schools in the United States, Canada and Europe. The program has received coverage from Oprah Winfrey and Tom Brokaw and was featured in the MTV series “If You Really Knew Me.”
The 2020 upper school dance production, “Remixed & Reimagined,” took place Friday and Saturday, featuring 185 dancers performing routines based on alternate versions of songs by popular artists including Usher, Nicki Minaj, John Mayer and Demi Lovato. Several of the routines in the show were created by this year’s choreography class graduates, seniors Kai-Ming Ang and Anna Miner, and juniors Zoe Kister and Kristin Tong.
The president of Harker’s Philosophy Club, Sophia Gottfried, grade 11, had an essay, titled “An Essay on Nothing,” published in the online magazine Philosophy Now.
The Glasgow Group tweeted about the Student Diversity Leadership gathering held at Harker on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The theme of the event was “We Are All Integrators.”
The Society for Science & the Public announced that senior Cynthia Chen is among the 40 finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search. The Chinese-language website World Journal also reported on the semifinalists. A previous post noted that Chen and fellow senior Joshua Zhou were among the top 300 scholars selected from nearly 2,000 entries. Harker Aquila also ran an article on the awards.
An article in The Los Altos Town Crier quotes Harker senior Mahi Kolla, a member of the Los Altos Youth Commission, which is campaigning to make young people aware of the dangers of vaping.
Senior Mahika Halepete is among five students featured in a Washington Post article about young inventors, philanthropists and activists, and the parents who raised them.
The girls soccer team remained undefeated at 12-0-3 for the year as it defeated Eastside College Prep 7-0 and Notre Dame San Jose 1-0 last week. The girls sit in first place in the WBAL Skyline division heading into the last week of the regular season. On Tuesday the Eagles host Crystal Springs Uplands followed by a trip to Mercy SF on Friday.
Boys Basketball
Last week, the boys basketball team defeated Pinewood 64-58 in OT to pick up its first league win of the year, but then dropped a 41-78 game with Sacred Heart Prep. In the win over Pinewood, Jack Connors, grade 12, lit up the scoreboard with 25 points, 12 rebounds, four assists and five steals. In the loss to SHP, Eric Zhu, grade 11, led the offense with 14 points. This week, the Eagles host Crystal Springs Uplands on Tuesday and travel to Eastside College Prep on Friday.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team improved to 10-2-2 on the year as it defeated The King’s Academy 5-0 and Woodside Priory 5-0 last week. This week, the Eagles host Crystal Springs Uplands on Wednesday and Eastside College Prep on Friday.
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team went 1-2 last week to bring its season record to 11-9. The Eagles started the week with a 47-53 loss to Mercy Burlingame, followed by a 42-68 loss to Lynbrook, but finished the week with a 63-26 win over Crystal Springs Uplands. This week, the girls host The King’s Academy on Tuesday and Mercy SF on Friday.