The business & entrepreneurship department launched two incubator courses this school year, and the young entrepreneurs have been going full tilt all year. Here is a quick look at the first year of these classes. Watch for a full length feature article on the classes in the winter issue of Harker Magazine in December 2019.
In summer 2017, Harker’s business and entrepreneurship department held an incubator class for high school entrepreneurs, one of the first in the nation. The class was an intensive, student-led and community-supported program in which student entrepreneurs received a seed grant, mentorship, academic curriculum and internal support from a student leadership team to help them develop and grow their startup companies. The class was so successful and well received it was converted into a full academic class for the 2018-19 school year. Read about the 2017 class here.
The two new academic incubator classes began in fall 2018: Honors Entrepreneurship: Startup Incubator 1 and Honors Entrepreneurship: Startup Incubator 2.
In Incubator 1, students created and commercialized their own product or service. “Teams are led through the Lean Startup processes of developing hypotheses about a business concept, testing those hypotheses, adapting and continually iterating,” said Michael Acheatel, business & entrepreneurship teacher. “Once students have validated their business concept hypothesis, they receive a seed grant to propel their business plan into reality, thereby learning business foundations in entrepreneurship, marketing, economics, finance and business operations firsthand. “
Incubator 2 is geared toward students who have already launched a company and are focused on growing their business. “Students are led through three-week long ‘sprints’ where students identify their individual goals and tasks at the beginning of the sprint and present a demo of their accomplishments at the end of the sprint,” said Acheatel.
Students in each of the courses receive coaching and mentorship from entrepreneurs, investors and business experts who visit the classes. Students also get out to visit with Bay Area startups and venture capitalists to experience entrepreneurship at the next level. “We had eight student companies complete the course this year and enrollment for next year is growing rapidly,” said Acheatel.
A key element in the classes was provided by Next47, a venture capital firm. The company supported the program as an essential part of education and donated $10,000 in venture funds. “We believe that entrepreneurial skills are life skills,” said Lak Ananth, CEO and managing partner of Next47. “Being passionate about an idea, taking the time to think through it, market it, and have the wherewithal to see it through – these are skills that are necessary to succeed in life. Exposing kids to this process is incredibly valuable. Even if these businesses don’t succeed, the process will inculcate in them the fire to keep getting better.”
Mentors are a critical element of the entire process and Phu Hoang has contributed his time to helping two of the ongoing ventures climb the ladder to success. He has been working with Mahi Kolla, grade 11, founder of The Minty Boutique, and Nishka Ayyar ’19 and Riya Gupta ’19, founders of of PromElle, to refine and channel their efforts as they expand their businesses.
“Mahi is an extraordinarily gifted young woman,” said Hoang. “She is hard-working, a very fast learner, and has tremendous passion for her company. It’s just so rare to see that at such a young age. What has been such a pleasure mentoring Mahi is that she can understand and soak in complex advice and suggestions and builds a plan to execute on them. I feel like my mentoring of Mahi is at the same level of strategic thinking and complexity as my mentoring of much older and more experienced founders of venture-backed companies.”
PromElle, Ayyar and Gupta’s venture, also has been around a couple of years. “PromElle is a more mature business than the Minty Boutique,” said Hoang, noting both women have now graduated. “They had done a lot of things right before I got involved. First of all, the idea of PromElle is brilliant and very needed. But they actually market-tested the concept by hosting a prom dress exchange at Harker when they were freshmen to test their idea. Most adult entrepreneurs don’t test their ideas that effectively. Once they got clear confirmation of the value that they can bring, they were able to get app development help at a very reasonable cost.”
Hoang, who holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, and was an early engineer at Yahoo, noted he has been working in technology all his life. “I enjoy working with entrepreneurs to help them realize their vision, build their products and grow their businesses. My son joined Harker as a freshman in 2017, and I got to see how advanced and entrepreneurial the kids are, so I reached out to Michael at some point to offer to contribute.”
This year, Incubator 1 startups included Sero, started by Cameron Jones ’19, an intelligent bike assistant with anti-theft and fitness tracking capabilities; PeerCoco, by Sayon Biswas ’19 and Nemo Yang ‘19, which is a peer-to-peer college consulting network for international high school students; GetTime, started by Claire Luo, grade 10, a student-focused time-management app that allows users to input tasks, set timers and track progress in a gamified manner; and PolyForm, the brainchild of Nakul Bajaj, grade 11, who is developing a platform for voters to answer polls and discuss policy at the local, state, and national level in civilized manner.
At the beginning of the year, these students identified problems they and other students face in daily life or that they see in the world. “They begin to assess the problem from a business perspective by looking at how these problems are currently being solved (competitive analysis) and identifying who has these problems (market analysis),” said Acheatel. Students then conduct customer interviews to validate their assumptions, then begin the solution ideation process to conceptualize their proposed solution, noted Acheatel.
In February, students pulled their projects together and pitched to a panel of investors for funding to develop a prototype of their product, known as the minimum viable product (MVP). “All four [Incubator 1] companies successfully raised seed funding and have since developed their prototypes,” Acheatel noted. “Now that the entrepreneurs have had three months to develop their products, they will pitching to investors in late May for funding to fully launch their companies,” he said.
There were also four Incubator 2 companies. The Minty Boutique, a luxe stationery company that utilizes unique designs and functional products to cater to the #BOSS lifestyle; PromElle, the first peer-to-peer marketplace for teen fashion where teen girls can lend/rent or buy/sell formal, party and everyday wear; Nanoseed, developed by Jason Huang ’19 and Suraj Pakala ’19, a nonprofit organization in the field of microfinance that empowers rural Chinese farmers to form cooperatives and build sustainable businesses; and PillBot, being developed by Johnny Wang ’19 as an automated solution to medicine dispensary with a tamper-proof design and overdose protection.
Each Incubator 2 company pitched at sHarker Tank – BECon for $15K in prize money provided by venture firm Next47. Read all about that effort here.
PromElle took first place at sHarker Tank BEcon and presented at the Association for Corporate Growth Silicon Valley’s 2019 GROW awards. Officers are currently in communication with SharkTank about appearing on their show.
The Minty Boutique took second place at sHarker Tank BEcon and was written up in a blog post by Stukent. Kolla is excited about the year’s progress. “In August through September, we launched our first iteration of our academic planners which sold out within a week,” she said. “From there, we reached out Harker to become the new manufacturer of the Harker academic planners. We are currently working with the freshmen class dean and the Office of Communication to finalize this partnership.”
PillBot took third place at sHarker Tank BEcon and received funding and support from various nationwide competitions. Wang found the class valuable for his development needs. “The class provided a good framework for the students to build and grow their businesses,” he said. “The curriculum gives us enough flexibility so we can focus on individual business goals. The majority of instruction is not done by lecturing but one-on-one mentoring with both teachers within the B&E department and external mentors. By leveraging on the Harker alumni/parent network, we are able to learn much more than just listening to lectures.”
Nanoseed earned fourth place at sHarker Tank BEcon and has grown to more than 20 branches. It held a benefit concert that raised $9,000 to fund loans. “To me though, what was most memorable about the class was the variety of people we get to interact with,” said Huang, “from lawyers and mentors coming in to talk to us, helping us with legal or financial issues, to us being able to pitch directly to real investors who provided valuable feedback on how we could improve our organization.” Read this 2017 article on the company’s inception.
The students also pitched to Ananth and principals at Next47’s headquarters in Palo Alto and visited Tesla and Manticore Games.
The class continues in the fall with new and returning entrepreneurs. Watch for the comprehensive article in the winter issue of Harker Magazine, coming out in December!
Harker’s A Quiz Bowl team – juniors Rohan Cherukuri, Jeffrey Fung, Kyle Li and Arun Sundaresan – spent Memorial Day weekend in Atlanta, where they finished in the top 5 percent at the High School National Championship Tournament for National Academic Quiz Tournaments. Coached by Sundaresan’s father, Sankar Sundaresan, the team tied for 19th place overall out of 336 teams. After qualifying for the playoffs, the team notched three straight wins before losing a close contest to Detroit Catholic Central, historically a very strong performer at the national level.
In another notable achievement, sophomore Daniel Wang received the Sophomore Rising Star award for his performance at the event.
The Class of 2019’s final hours as Harker students were memorable ones, as Thursday’s graduation ceremony brought together families, friends and faculty to celebrate a major milestone in the seniors’ lives.
Cheers went up from the crowd at the Mountain Winery as the seniors arrived to take their seats during the processional to the familiar swell of Elgar’s “Pomp and Circumstance,” performed by the Harker Chamber Orchestra.
Following a performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by the 2019 Graduation Chorus and a welcome message from Upper Division Head Butch Keller, Kaushik Shivakumar ’19 took the podium to deliver the valedictorian speech to his fellow graduates. Shivakumar implored his classmates to use the intellectual curiosity they gained at Harker. “If there’s one thing we should take away from our high school years, it wouldn’t be what we’ve learned,” he said. “Instead, it would be the desire to learn more, which manifests itself as curiosity. In order to thrive within the world we find ourselves, we have to ask questions. Lots of them. And in particular, we must never ever hesitate to ask the question, ‘Why?'”
Shivakumar’s speech received enthusiastic applause and was followed by another performance from the 2019 Graduation Chorus, this time of “I Shall Pass This Way But Once,” written by conductor Susan Nace with lyrics by Etienne De Grellet.
The Hon. John B. Owens ’85 was this year’s keynote speaker. Owens’ said his memories of Harker have had a profound impact on him, as evidenced by the many teachers he remembered and thanked, including longtime math teacher Pat Walsh and the late beloved history teacher John Near. Owens noted that while many schools offer a good education, Harker set itself apart by also teaching him to be a good member of society. “What Harker taught me at the end of the day are things you don’t really learn in books,” he said. “[Harker] taught me how to be a good citizen.”
The 2019 Graduation Chorus then gave its final performance of the evening, singing “The Harker School Song,” before Head of School Brian Yager gave his farewell address.
Yager gave the audience a brief retelling of the journeys of Richard Henry Dana Jr., who in the 1800s explored the sparsely populated area that would later become known as California. Dana’s portrait of California was very different from the populous state known today, and with growth has come many problems waiting to be solved by the next generation. Like California, he said, Harker has also experienced massive changes in the 125 years since it was founded. “Its journey, like the journey of the state in which we live, has been a remarkable one,” he said. “It has also been one built on hope … the hope that our efforts to educate you will enable you to appreciate the world of yesterday, love the world of tomorrow, and that your fantasy will be to stand in a world 50, 60, 70 – maybe even 125 – years from now that is one you can say with pride and joy that you helped make happen.”
The graduates then received their diplomas one at a time as their loved ones cheered from the stands. Once all members of the class were seated, they symbolically moved their caps’ tassels from the right to the left and cheered loudly as they flung their caps into the air. The ceremony officially ended with the traditional releasing of doves, eliciting shouts of awe as the beautiful birds flew overhead.
On the eve of this year’s graduation exercises, juniors, seniors and senior parents gathered at the upper school quad for the annual baccalaureate ceremony, during which members of the Class of 2020 graciously accepted their responsibility as leaders in the coming 2019-20 school year. The audience was treated to performances by Cantilena and the The Harker String Orchestra before upper school math chair Anthony Silk, chosen by the Class of 2019 as this year’s faculty speaker, took the podium.
Silk shared some of the wisdom he learned from his father, whom he remembered as a voracious reader with a steel trap-like memory. From his father, Silk learned to become an enthusiastic learner, as well as the importance of not choosing a career based on income. He also told the seniors that not knowing what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives was no reason for panic, particularly in a rapidly changing world. “The path that brings you the most happiness may not have even been invented yet,” he said. “You may have to be the one to invent it.”
Upper Division Head Butch Keller introduced senior Haris Hosseini, this year’s student farewell speaker, whose humor-laced speech elicited many laughs from his peers. Hosseini recalled being named this year’s speaker three weeks prior. “So as I began writing it on the bus ride back from Laguna yesterday,” he quipped, “I was having a little bit of trouble. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to say.” He then related a story about how faced an immense fear looming over him as his senior year approached: how to secure 1.5 required PE credits in one year. The experience was valuable to him, as it gave him “a lot of time to reflect on my senior year here at Harker and what it meant to me,” which afforded a newfound appreciation for his time at the school.
Yesterday, parents of the Class of 2019 attended a pair of events to reflect on their years as Harker parents, share their most memorable moments and celebrate Harker’s impact on their children’s lives. At the annual Senior Moms Luncheon, mothers of this year’s graduates gathered at the upper school campus quad where they socialized and enjoyed delicious food. In the evening, the fathers of soon-to-be graduates enjoyed dinner at the Dads of Grads event at the auxiliary gym.
This tradition extends back to 2004, when it began as a potluck for senior mothers. Senior fathers were included starting in 2012, and in 2016 it was split into separate events. Parents of students in grades 9-11 plan and serve the meals, and the senior collages – made by the members of the graduating class to commemorate their time at Harker – are displayed so parents can reminisce.
Coming off its CCS D3 championship, the boys volleyball team soared through the first two rounds of the NorCal playoffs, defeating both Northgate and Bellarmine 3-0. That set up a finals matchup with league rival and No. 3 team in the nation Monta Vista. It was a grueling five-game match that ultimately went to the Matadors. The Eagles ended the season with a 34-6 record and a No. 4 ranking in the country.
Track and Field
Alexa Lowe, grade 9, was the lone Harker representative at the CCS Track and Field Championships last week. Lowe finished eighth in the triple jump with a leap of 34 feet 7 3/4 inches. Great job Alexa!
Boys Golf
The boys golf team finished in sixth place at the CCS finals last week. Bradley Lu, grade 12, led the way for the Eagles, shooting a 72 to end in a tie for seventh. Great job boys!
Boys Tennis
The doubles team of Mihir Sharma and Ramanand Vegesna, both grade 11, lost in their opening round CCS matchup with Carmel last Tuesday. Congrats on a great season!
In mid-May, junior Allison Jia was named one of two winners of the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair! Jia’s project, which studied proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases, won her a $50,000 prize! It also was named Best in Category for cell and molecular biology and won a First Award, earning Jia an additional $5,000 and $1,000, respectively.
Senior Ruhi Sayana also did well at the fair, winning a $10,000 scholarship from the Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association for her project in the biomedical and health sciences category, in which she also won a $1,000 Third Award from Intel ISEF and a $500 Second Award from the Ashtavadhani Vidwan Ambati Subbaraya Chetty Foundation. In the computational biology and informatics category, junior Cynthia Chen received a Third Award of $1,000. All three students won trips to the Intel ISEF at the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science & Technology Championship in March.
Jia’s efforts were writtten up in several publications:
Juniors Cynthia Chen and Allison Jia and senior Ruhi Sayana were all grand prize winners at the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science & Technology Championship in March, each earning a trip to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, held in May in Phoenix. Junior Aditi Ghalsasi was a grand prize alternate winner, which earned her a trip to the California State Science Fair. Nearly 40 Harker students were winners this year; the Synopsys championship website contains a list of all middle and upper school winners.
In mid-April, CareerConnect hosted an Excel Workshop with Dean Lizardo, one of Harker’s statistics and economics teachers, who is well-versed in data analytical functions. During the lunch workshop, he discussed useful features of Excel and gave valuable tips to the students. Using sample problems and powerful formulas on spreadsheets, Lizardo showed attendees how to quickly and easily analyze information as well as create effective visuals.
During the workshop, students got to follow along on their own computers and practice what they learned on a provided spreadsheet. Throughout his presentation, Lizardo challenged students to use specific worksheet formulas to solve problems involving data analysis. As a result, students were able to apply the knowledge from the workshop and engage in interactive activities in order to develop their Excel skills further.
In addition, Lizardo explained to the students the advantages of using Excel and the real world applications, especially when presenting information to others. For example, he showed different types of graphs and gave tips and tricks to make efficient and attractive visuals for various purposes.
Students found the workshop to be very practical and helpful. “[The information] is really useful in analyzing data,” said Kevin Wang, grade 9. “It has good real-life applications, so I learned a lot from the workshop.”
It was another huge day for our Harker swimmers, this time at the state championships on Saturday. Ethan Hu, grade 11, and Matthew Chung, Rhys Edwards and Jason Kwok, all grade 10, laid down the best performance in Harker swimming history with a fourth place overall finish at the CIF State Championship.
Hu won the 200 individual medley, dropping almost three seconds and breaking the state record. Hu would go on to win the 100 fly in record time of 45.72, just missing the national high school record by 0.20. Chung was seventh in the 200 individual medley and ninth in the 500 free and dropped 2.69 from his prelim time. Kwok was third in the 100 breaststroke, dropping 1:46 from his prelim swim. Edwards was in both the 200 medley relay and 200 free relay as the anchor. The relays swam 20.92 and 20.95, respectively, placing third and fourth.
Congrats on a great season! And check out this article putting Hu’s record-setting performance into perspective:
The boys volleyball team blew through the CCS D3 brackets, defeating Sacred Heart Prep, Pacific Collegiate and Carmel, all 3-0, to become the first CCS team champions in Harker history. The Eagles head into the NorCal D1 playoffs as the No. 2 seed and host Northgate of Walnut Creek on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Track and Field
Congrats to Ayush Vyas, grade 12, who finished at No. 31 in CCS in the shot put and Gio Rofa, grade 11, who finished at No. 29 in CCS in the triple jump. But the story of the day was Alexa Lowe, grade 9, who qualified for the triple jump finals on Friday at Gilroy High with her top 10 performance. Congrats to Ayush and Gio, and good luck to Alexa.
Baseball
The baseball team ended the regular season on a high note with a 17-1 win over Westmoor and a 14-9 win over Thomas More to finish the year with a 15-8 record. In the win over Westmoor, Zach Hoffman, grade 12, Max Lee, grade 11, and Luke Wancewicz, grade 10, each drove in two runs, while four pitchers combined for a one-hitter. The Eagles just missed out on the CCS playoffs, but congrats on a great season.
Softball
The softball team started its week with an 11-5 loss to Mercy Burlingame, but ended the week and season on a high note with a dramatic 23-22 win over Notre Dame San Jose. After falling 2-19 in the fifth inning, the Eagles exploded for nine runs in the bottom of the fifth, eight runs in the sixth and four runs in the bottom of the seventh to win. Huge games from Cameron Zell, grade 12, and Molly Mobley, grade 10, who each had four hits and four RBIs, and Natasha Yen, grade 10, who added four RBIs on two hits.
Lacrosse
The lacrosse team headed into the WBAL tournament as league champs, but after defeating Aragon 7-6, fell to Woodside 6-9 to end the season. The Eagles were 14-4 on the year.
Boys Tennis
The doubles team of Ramanand Vegesna and Mihir Sharma, both grade 11, will begin their CCS tennis journey as they face the duo from Carmel on Tuesday.
Boys Golf
Boys golf heads to Laguna Seca on Tuesday for CCS finals.