On Feb. 4, Harker’s Student Diversity Coalition organized the Student Diversity Leadership Gathering, facilitated by Rodney Glasgow and Priyanka Rupani. Students from more than 30 Bay Area schools attended the gathering, which included group discussions, activities and keynote speeches on topics relating to diversity and inclusion at independent schools. Head to Harker Aquila to see Harker student journalists’ full coverage of the event.
The App Dev League, a nonprofit founded by Harker senior Krish Maniar in 2019, recently held a series of workshops on application development in partnership with the Oakland Housing Authority and the ICA Cristo Rey Academy in San Francisco. The organization aims to equip young people in underserved communities with the tools to help their communities through app development. App Dev League holds an annual Appathon in addition to providing website development services.
Maniar, junior Kabir Ramzan and sophomore Aarav Borthakur, working with Saratoga High seniors Shafin Haque and Ishir Lakhani, offered instruction on web development through games and presentations, in addition to offering attendees shirts, gift cards and even Google Chromebooks.
Since its founding, App Dev League has reached more than 7,500 students and grown its team internationally to include 75 high school students in 15 chapters.
This annual contest, run by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, tasks teams of high school students with developing a financial plan and investment portfolio. Semifinalists will submit a video presentation based on the information in their reports.
Varsity girls basketball is hoping to bounce back this week after consecutive losses to Priory and Crystal Springs last week in one of Northern California’s most competitive basketball leagues. They play Menlo tomorrow and Pinewood at home on Friday.
After last week’s loss to Sacred Heart Prep, girls soccer defeated Westmont 2-1 on Friday to improve to 9-3-1. They have two home games this week against Notre Dame San Jose tomorrow and Menlo on Thursday, which is also their Senior Day.
Boys soccer went 1-1 last week, losing to Sacred Heart on Monday and defeating Eastside College Prep on Wednesday. They will play at home twice this week, hosting Menlo on Wednesday and Crystal Springs on Friday.
Boys basketball is 3-2 in league play and 15-4 overall after last week, during which they took a loss to Sacred Heart and defeated Eastside College Prep. They will face Priory at home tomorrow and visit Crystal Springs on Friday.
This past weekend, speech and debate coach Greg Achten was inducted into the Emory University Barkley Forum’s Gold Key Society, which was founded in 1964 to honor successful high school debate coaches. Existing members of the society select coaches to be inducted, which takes place at a ceremony during the Barkley Forum for High Schools Tournament. To date, 204 coaches have been inducted, including Harker coach Jenny Achten, a 2007 inductee.
Yesterday, Harker seniors Annmaria Antony, Rupert Chen, Nina Franz, Jack Hsieh, Jeremy Ko, Nicholas Wei, Vincent Zhang, Sabrina Zhu and Sally Zhu were named candidates for the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. Each year, this program recognizes students for achievements in academics, the arts, and career and technical education. Candidates apply by submitting essays, school transcripts and self-assessments. Approximately 5,000 candidates were chosen from nearly 3.6 million students. Up to 161 will be chosen as Presidential Scholars.
Last week, longtime upper school art teacher Pilar Agüero-Esparza was named one of the 12 most recent Bay Area artists to join the Fleishhacker Foundation’s Eureka Fellowship Program, which has provided funding to local artists since 1986. A national panel of arts experts evaluated the work of each of the 123 artists nominated by local nonprofits. Agüero-Esparza’s award of $35,000 will be received in 2025 as part of the program’s three-year cycle.
A teacher at Harker since 2002, Agüero-Esparza’s work has appeared in many museums and galleries, including the San Jose Museum of Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, MACLA and the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, frequently exploring concepts of race and inequality while channeling her own experiences living as a part of a marginalized group. In summer 2022, Montalvo Arts Center commissioned her to create a tapestry mural for their Claiming Space exhibition.
Today, senior Sally Zhu was named one of the top 40 finalists in this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search. Zhu’s project, titled “On the Smoothness and Regularity of the Chess Billiard Flow and the Poincaré Problem,” was chosen by a jury of professional scientists. Zhu is now eligible to attend the final stage of the competition, to be held in Washington, D.C., in March. There, the finalists’ work will be judged and the top 10 prize winners will be selected to win cash prizes ranging from $40,000 to $250,000. Each finalist will be awarded $25,000.
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Jan. 10, 2023:
Today, seniors Rohan Bhowmik, Alexander Lan, Krish Maniar, Ashley Ruan, Deeya Viradia and Sally Zhu were named Top 300 Scholars in the 2023 Regeneron Science Talent Search. This year’s scholars were chosen from 1,949 applicants from 48 states. Each of the scholars will receive a $2,000 cash prize and schools will receive $2,000 for every scholar enrolled. The top 40 finalists for this year’s competition will be named on Jan. 24, with the final stage of the competition set to take place in Washington, D.C., in March.
In November, 15 Harker students earned high marks at the Berkeley Math Tournament, held at the University of California, Berkeley. The largest university-sponsored high school math competition on the West Coast, it attracted more than 600 students, the most in its history. A total of 18 Harker students (three teams with six students each) participated in the tournament. Individual competitors had the choice of taking a general test or competing in two of the tournament’s four focus subjects: algebra, calculus, discrete math and geometry.
Students who received awards in the tournament are as follows:
Aman Chandra, grade 9 – Honorable mention (top 50 percent) in geometry
Emma Gao, grade 11 – HM in calculus, Distinguished HM (top 20 percent) in discrete math
Jessica Hu, grade 9 – HM in calculus
Alex Huang, grade 10 – HM on general test
Neil Krishnan, grade 10 – HM in algebra, DHM in geometry
Catherine Li, grade 11 – HM in calculus, HM in geometry
Ian Ogden, grade 11 – Seventh and DHM in algebra, HM in discrete math
Caden Ruan, grade 9 – DHM in algebra
Aniketh Tammula, grade 11 – HM in algebra, HM in geometry
Michelle Wei, grade 11 – HM on general test
Stephen Xia, grade 12 – HM in calculus, DHM in discrete math
Olivia Xu, grade 11 – DHM in geometry
Jonny Xue, grade 10 – HM in algebra
Eddie Zhang, grade 9 – HM in algebra
William Zhang, grade 11 – HM in algebra, seventh and DHM in geometry (after a third-to-eighth tiebreaker)
This story was submitted by Ariana Gauba, grade 10.
More than 120 Harker DECA members attended the regional Silicon Valley Career Development Conference (SVCDC), held Jan. 6-8 at the Santa Clara Marriott. SVCDC officially kicked off this year’s competitive season and consisted of testing, roleplay and written presentations, as well as speeches from the state officer team and the election of this year’s California DECA vice president of Silicon Valley.
“This SVCDC was a really memorable experience,” said CEO Anika Muddu, grade 12. “It was our first completely back-to-normal regional conference after COVID, so the energy was amazing, and I could really tell that everyone gave it their all. It was an amazing experience for our first-year members, and I’m incredibly proud of the chapter’s competitive success!”
During the opening ceremony, California DECA’s VP of Silicon Valley, Vineeta Muvvala, and VP of leadership, Nitin Jaladanki, introduced the conference, went through the schedule for the weekend, and introduced this year’s theme, “Get the Edge.” They also honored the late Pam McKenney, who was a crucial part of California DECA. Attendees also listened to speeches from the candidates for this year’s VP of Silicon Valley, one of which is Harker DECA’s director of written events, sophomore Emily Mitnick.
“The Silicon Valley conference was a great experience for me as a candidate because I got to meet and talk to hundreds of students in the span of three days. I had never given a speech to over 100 people before, so presenting my speech to over 800 students and teachers was an important milestone,” Mitnick said. “The two other candidates were both so friendly, and I couldn’t have been happier to spend my time getting to know them and becoming friends with them.”
The next day was dedicated to competition. All competitors participated in their roleplay and written presentations. Harker DECA competed in a wide variety of events, including individual series and team decision-making roleplays, as well as Entrepreneurship, Professional Selling, Integrated Marketing, Operations Research plans and more.
“SVCDC definitely aided in building my confidence when competing. From the time I spent practicing, presenting, and competing there, I built upon my speaking skills and expanded my overall knowledge of business management. Having a competition locally made me more comfortable in the environment,” said attendee Minal Jalil, grade 9.
The final day of SVCDC consisted of awards ceremonies. Students made their way to the grand ballroom on Sunday morning for the Mini Awards Ceremony, where many Harker DECA chapter members were recognized for their test and presentation scores. Harker was extremely successful, with many students becoming finalists and 35 teams placing in the top three for their events.
“The conference itself was a great experience and I really enjoyed learning, presenting my ideas, and spending time with friends. Placing first in my event was one of the best feelings because it felt like all the work I had put into my project had finally paid off,” said sophomore Sahil Varma, a first-place winner in Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling.
“I am so proud of each and every student that competed in this conference,” said Juston Glass, Harker business and entrepreneurship teacher and chapter advisor. “It was obvious that all competitors worked extremely hard on their presentations, and there is no doubt that we got the edge at this conference! From winning glass to Emily being elected VP of Silicon Valley, this conference is definitely a memorable one. I can’t wait to see the great things Harker will do at SCDC!”
Top three award winners are as follows:
First Place:
– Joy Hu, grade 9: Integrated Marketing Campaign – Event
– Sahil Varma, grade 10: Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling
– Claire Luo, grade 11: Professional Selling; Sports and Entertainment Marketing Series
– Sathvik Chundru, grade 11: Innovation Plan
– Annmaria Antony and Grace Hoang, both grade 12; Independent Business Plan
– Ashley Hong and Metrica Shi, both grade 11: Franchise Business Plan
– Tanisha Singh, grade 11: Business Service Operations Research
– Valerie Li, grade 10: Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
– Alicia Ran, grade 10, Tiana Salvi, grade 10: Finance Operations Research
– Meishin Yen and Medha Yarlagadda, both grade 11: Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research
– Saahira Dayal, grade 10: Automotive Services Marketing Series
– Sanaa Bhorkar, grade 10: Business Services Marketing Series
– Meishin Yen, grade 11: Hotel and Lodging Management Series
– Andrew Au and Edward Huang, both grade 11: Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making
– Ariana Gauba and Shaila Tandon, both grade 10: Travel and Tourism Team Decision Making
Second Place:
– Shiven Balaji, grade 10: Integrated Marketing Campaign – Product
– Caleb Tang, Jonathan Wang and Bowen Xia, all grade 10: Franchise Business Plan
– Krish Arora, grade 9: Principles of Finance
– Maya Affaki, grade 10: Hotel and Lodging Management Series
– Chloe Lee, grade 11: Marketing Communications Series
– Caleb Tang, grade 10: Quick Serve Restaurant Management Series
– Roshan Amurthur and Angelina Antony, grade 9: Marketing Management Team Decision Making
Third Place:
– Saahira Dayal, grade 10: Financial Consulting
– Allison Huang, and Ruhi Banerjee, both grade 9: Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
– Gary Jin, grade and Jason Yi, both grade 10: Sports and Entertainment Marketing Operations Research
– Joy Hu, grade 9: Principles of Business Management and Administration
– Aashvi Ravi, grade 9: Principles of Hospitality and Tourism
– Sophia Ou, grade 9: Principles of Marketing
– Alicia Ran, grade 10: Apparel and Accessories Marketing Series
– Vedant Balachandran, grade 10: Food Marketing Series
– Keren Eisenberg, grade 10: Marketing Communications Series
– Medha Yarlagadda, grade 10: Restaurant and Food Service Management Series
– Grace Hoang and Annmaria Antony, both grade 12: Entrepreneurship Team Decision Making
– Gary Jin, grade and Jason Yi, both grade 10: Sports and Entertainment Marketing Team Decision Making