By Jenny Achten, Speech and Debate Department Chair
The Harker speech and debate team has continued its winning streak this winter with successes at a host of tournaments across the nation. Students traveled to tournaments across California as well as in Illinois, Georgia, Arizona and Florida. Harker is having an especially strong season and we are proud of the success of all of the students.
In early November, students attended a tournament at Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles. Sachin Shah, grade 11, was in the semi-finals of Lincoln-Douglas debate. Kelly Shen, grade 12, also made it to elimination rounds in Lincoln-Douglas. Anuhsa Kuppahally, grade 12, Maddie Huynh, grade 11, Andy Lee, grade 10 and Deven Shah, grade 9, all qualified for elimination rounds in policy debate.
At the Glenbrooks tournament in Chicago, our speech and congress students shined in late November. Haris Hosseini, grade 12, was first place in original oratory. Nikki Solanki, grade 11, was fifth place program oral interpretation and made it to semi-finals in dramatic interpretation. Jason Lin, grade 10; David Feng, grade 11; Andrew Sun, grade 10; and Nathan Ohana, grade 10, all made it to the semi-final round of congressional debate.
Students also won multiple awards at local league tournaments throughout the area. Meghna Phalke, grade 12, was a finalist in original oratory. In congressional debate tournaments Tiffany Zhao, grade 11, and Nakul Bajaj, grade 11, both placed second, Brandon Lin, grade 11, was third, while Andrew Lu, grade 10, and Aaditya Gulati, grade 9, both placed fifth.
Travel continued to the College Preparatory School in Oakland in late December where Akshay Manglik, grade 10, made it to the octo-finals in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Sachin Shah, Shen and Anshul Reddy, grade 9, also made it to elimination rounds of Lincoln-Douglas.
At the Arizona State University tournament in early January Sachin Shah, reached the octofinals in Lincoln-Douglas debate while Julia Biswas, grade 10, and partner Deven Shah reached the octofinals in policy debate. In congressional debate, Sun placed fifth and Jason Huang, grade 12, also reached finals. Ashwin Rammohan, grade 12, Annie Ma, grade 11, Bajaj, Ohana and Riyaa Randhawa, grade 9, reached semifinals of congress. Additionally, Hosseini placed first in original oratory.
Students also won awards at the Sunvitational Tournament in Fort Lauderdale this January. Jason Huang, grade 12, was in semis of congressional debate. Avi Gulati, grade 11, was third in extemporaneous speaking and made it to semi-finals of original oratory. Hosseini, was third in original oratory. Solanki, was in semis of program oral interpretation.
At the Harvard Westlake Lincoln-Douglas tournament in January, Manglik made it all of the way to the semi-final round. Shen and Sachin Shah also qualified for elimination rounds.
During the same weekend as Harvard-Westlake students also competed at the James Logan tournament in Union City. Ayan Nath, grade 9, and Ellen Guo, grade 11, reached the elimination rounds; Nath was named the fourth overall speaker and partner Guo placed 14. Prerana Archaryya, grade 11, placed fifth in dramatic interpretation of literature.
Finally, at the Barkley Forum Invitational at Emory University in Atlanta, Avi Gulati placed first in original oratory and Hosseini, placed third. Sun reached the finals of congressional debate while Ma, Ohana and Bajaj reached congressional semifinals. In policy debate, Kuppahally and Huynh reached double octo-finals.
The speech and debate season will continue until June with tournaments ranging all over California as well as Dallas, Chicago, and Lexington, Kentucky.
The boys soccer team improved to 13-3 as it picked up two more wins last week, taking care of Crystal Springs Uplands 4-1 and Eastside College Prep 4-2. This week, the Eagles face off with the top two teams in the WBAL, still with a chance to take a league title. On Monday the Eagles host undefeated Sacred Heart Prep and Wednesday they travel to Menlo.
Girls Soccer
Last week, the girls soccer team defeated Mercy SF 6-1 to improve to 9-6-3 on the year. The girls travel to Castilleja on Monday to wrap up their regular season.
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team had a rough week as it dropped two league matchups bringing its season record to 10-13. In a 40-51 loss to Menlo, Jack Connors, grade 11, led the offense with 8 points. Later in the week, the Eagles fell to The King’s Academy 49-66 with Trevor Thompson, grade 12, dropping in 10 points. This week, the boys finish off the regular season hosting Pinewood on Tuesday.
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team went 1-1 last week to bring its season record to 13-8. Early in the week, the Eagles lost to Castilleja 44-53, but Akhila Ramgiri, grade 12, had a great game, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Later in the week, the girls bounced back to defeat The King’s Academy 40-39 with Ramgiri delivering another double double, this time with 10 points and 10 rebounds. The Eagles wrap up their regular season on Tuesday as they travel to Mercy SF.
Four upper school students were recently selected to be members of California All-State Honor Ensembles, and will perform at next week’s California All-State Music Education Conference, Feb. 14-17 in Fresno. Clarinetist Allison Yen, grade 11, and string bassist Anika Fuloria, grade 10, will both perform with Symphonic Band. Junior Kai-Ming Ang will play French horn for the Concert Band and cellist Rachel Broweleit, also a junior, will perform with the Symphony Orchestra. All four students are members of the upper school’s Harker School Orchestra, directed by Dave Hart.
The girls basketball team improved to 12-7 on the year as it picked up two big league wins last week. The girls started the week with a tight 44-40 win over Mercy Burlingame on Senior Night. Akhila Ramgiri, grade 12, led the way with 19 points, with Maria Vazhaeparambil, grade 10, adding 16 points. Later in the week, the Eagles took care of Crystal Springs Uplands 53-15. The Eagles travel to Castilleja on Tuesday and The King’s Academy on Friday.
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team went 2-1 last week to up its record to 10-11 on the year. The boys started the week with a 62-49 win over Crystal Springs Uplands led by 18 points from Giovanni Rofa, grade 11, and an impressive 13-point, 12-rebound game from Jack Connors, grade 11. Later in the week, the Eagles defeated Woodside Priory 46-39 in overtime with Connors leading the way with 14 points. Finally, over the weekend, the boys fell to Eastside College Prep 34-61 with Rofa leading the offense with 7 points. This week, the Eagles are on the road with a Tuesday matchup at Menlo followed by a Thursday game at The King’s Academy.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team opened last week with a 3-0 win over Eastside College Prep, but then dropped a 0-4 matchup with Notre Dame San Jose and a 0-1 match with Crystal Springs Uplands. The 8-6-3 Eagles currently sit in third place in the WBAL Skyline Division and look to make a push for the postseason as they take on Mercy SF Tuesday at Davis Field.
Boys Soccer
Last week, the boys soccer team defeated The King’s Academy 5-0 and Woodside Priory 5-2 to improve to 11-3 on the year. The Eagles currently sit in third place in the WBAL, and are within two games of the two teams in front of them in the standings. This week, the boys travel to Crystal Springs Uplands on Tuesday and host Eastside College Prep on Thursday.
Wrestling
The Harker wrestling team takes to the mat again as it competes at the SCVAL Championships beginning on Friday.
Update: Nerine Uyanik, grade 11, finished 32 in the Challenge CEP Marathon Flueret in Paris out of 150 fencers from around the world in under-17 competition! http://marathon-fleuret.com/resultats_2019.html
Also: Kira Bardin, grade 5, has been training in epee for about the past year and plans to begin competing soon.
Jan. 31, 2019
Harker has a strong contingent of fencers who compete regularly, along with alumna Jerrica Liao ’18, now fencing for Northwestern. Harker fencers, who train at various clubs around the Bay Area, recently competed in multiple local, regional and national events. Virtually all are on track to qualify for the national championships in June. Here are some of the results!
Liao, in her first year at Northwestern, is competing in individual women’s foil events as the college team has some strong starters returning from last year. Liao competed in Division 1 in the December North American Circuit (NAC) event in Cincinnati and in Junior Women’s foil in the NAC in Charlotte in January where she finished 39th out of 175 fencers. In a series of six meets in late January, Northwestern beat Temple, Columbia, NYU, Yale and the U.S. Air Force. Liao crushed, going 4-0 in individual matches. She holds an A-2015 rating. Ratings run from A-D, A being the best, followed by the year earned.
Nerine Uyanik, grade 11 has competed in several National and local events this season, taking three medals: two in November, earning fifth place in both cadet and junior events at the Regional Open Circuit (ROC) in San Jose, then taking seventh for another visit to the podium in a very tough Division 1-A event out of 36 rated fencers. Medals are awarded to the top eight finishers in regional and national events. Uyanik holds a B-2017 rating in foil and a C-2019 rating in epee earned in late January with a third place finish out of 31 fencers in a Division 1A (all ages) event.
Sana Pandey, grade 11, has competed in several local and national womens epee events, including Division 1 competitions, taking first place in junior womens epee in December to add to her second and third place medals from regional events in November for a clean bag of 3 top four finishes. Pandey holds a C-2017 rating.
Ethan Choi, grade 10, continues to build on his Division III National Championship from last summer, fencing foil in both the October and November NACs, finishing 18 of 154 in Division II in October and 85 of 249 in Cadet in November, both very respectable finishes in tough events. He medaled, finishing eighth of 57, in the ROC in late November. He holds a C-2018 rating.
Kishan Sood, grade 10, fenced in national events in October and November in Cadet, Junior and Division II events. He had a really great finish, taking a bronze medal out of 34 in Division II mens foil, open to all ages, in an ROC in late November. He also finished 18 of 53 in Cadet mens foil at that tournament. He holds a D-2018 rating.
Alysa Su, grade 9 has also fenced in at least 11 National and regional events at the Cadet, Division II and Division I levels, recently. She took third out of 37 in September in the San Jose RYC in Y-14 womens foil and earned a medal finishing seventh out of 43 in the January Regional Youth Circuit (RYC) event in San Francisco. She holds a C-2018 rating.
John Cracraft, grade 8, finished 38 out of 68 in the September RYC in Sunnyvale, then 43 out of 61 in the Y-14 mens foil event at the Treasure Chest RYC. No rating.
Ethan Liu, grade 7, has not competed yet this year but fenced in several events last year, finishing 43 of 73 in March 2018 Silicon Valley RYC. No Rating.
Ishani Sood, grade 7, has had a great year so far, with a bag of six medals, all except one a top-four finish. She has fenced in Junior, Cadet, Y-14 and Y-12 girls foil events, taking two first place medals at the Super Youth Circuit (SYC) event in Southern California in both Y-12 (48 fencers) and Y-14 (57 fencers). She also finished first in Y-12 and third in Y1-4 in the Super Youth Circuit (SYC) in Denver later in the fall. Finally, she competed in late January in the South Coast RYC and Regional Junior Circuit (RJC), placing second in Y-14 and fifth in Juniors, a remarkable finish in that age bracket! She has a C-2018 rating.
Alena Su, grade 7, has also had a great year earning RYC medals in two September competitions, coming in seventh of 44 in Y-12 womens foil; third of 28 in the same event earlier in the month. She took fifth out of 50 fencers in December in Y-12 womens foil, an excellent result. No rating.
Aaron Bao, grade 6, has fenced in many events this season with very respectable results. In September at the North Texas SYC, Aaron stood on the podium to receive his third place medal out of 63 fencers. In late November, he finished 12 out of 70 at an RYC, and in the mid-January RYC, took 15 out of 60, both in Y-12 mens foil. No rating.
Ethan Wang, grade 6, has competed in many events, local, regional and national as well, finishing 13 out of 60 in the Y-12 mens foil event at the Treasure Chest RYC in San Francisco. He took ninth of 25, locally, in October and traveled to a variety of events out of the Bay Area. He took 39 out of 49 in the Arizona SYC in Y-14 mens foil, 28 out of 38 in Y12 MF. No rating.
Chuyi (Luke) Zeng, grade 6 has fenced a number of local and regional events, taking a respectable 24 out of 60 in the Y-12 mens foil and 46 out of 61 in the Y-14 event at the Treasure Chest RYC in San Francisco in late January. No rating.
Zoie Wang, grade 5, competes very regularly and took second in a late November RYC in San Jose, out of 20, and took first of 14 in a local Y-10 Womens foil event. In the Late September RYC in Sunnyvale, Wang took second of 18 in Y-10 womens foil and 17 of 44 in Y-12 womens foil and in early September, she took second in Y-10 womens foil at the SYC in North Texas. No rating.
Jiening (Jason) Zhang grade 5, had an excellent result in late January at the Treasure Chest RYC on Treasure Island in San Francisco, taking second out of 38 in Y-10 mens foil and seventh out of 60 in the Y-12 event. Two nice podiums! He took seventh out of 17 in Y-10 MF North Texas Roundup, 44 out of 63 in Y-12 MF. He medaled in late November at the San Jose RYC, taking second out of 31 in Y-10 mens foil and 21 out of 70 in Y-12 MF. In early December, in the San Diego SYC, Zhang took fifth out of 36 in Y-10 mens foil action and 29 in the Y-12 event out of 97. No rating.
Please report all fencing and other activities results to news@harker.org. We love to report how our students are doing!
Senior Kelsey Wu was recently selected to be a part of Jazz in the Neighborhood’s Emerging Artists Program, which connects young Bay Area jazz talents with mentorship and performance opportunities with professional musicians. Wu, who performs with The Harker School Jazz Band and the show choir Downbeat, earned a spot in the program after a rigorous selection process that required applicants to submit videos of their performances or schedule live auditions. Those selected for the program are expected to have a five-song repertoire they can perform from memory, along with the ability to improvise on those songs as well as several jazz standards. Wu’s first performance as part of the Emerging Artists Program will be with the Dahveed Behroozi Trio at the California Jazz Conservatory on Feb. 6. at 7:30 p.m.
Founded in 2013, Jazz in the Neighborhood is a Bay Area-based organization that presents performances by local professional jazz artists and supports working musicians by arranging fair compensation for their work.
A group of students had a unique opportunity to see the game creation industry from the inside in mid-January. The students, four seniors and four freshmen, visited Manticore Games, a stealth-mode startup working on a new multiplayer gaming platform that is seeking to disrupt the gaming industry. The gaming industry is a $100 billion-plus industry, larger than TV, movies and music combined, said Michael Acheatel, business and entrepreneurship teacher. “They gave us a tour of their office, created a customized Harker demo of their product, and served a catered lunch with their CEO, CTO, art director and others from the company,” Acheatel added.
“We learned about the state of the gaming industry and got an insider view of the early stages of a game developer startup,” he continued. “They recently raised $15 million from former execs at EA, Xfire and Zynga. We were asked to not share specific information about the product, but the CEO was quoted on their website saying, ‘The Manticore team is working in stealth mode on a new form of hardcore multiplayer gameplay, leveraging user generated content.’”
It was an eye-opening experience for students. Ishaan Mantripragada, grade 9, noted the company had “the most innovative idea that I’ve seen in a while.”
“It was super fun. We got to meet some great people while learning about the gaming industry and what it takes to make a game,” said classmate Shika Tseitlin.
Senior Cameron Jones noted, “Our trip to Manticore was an unexpected look into the inner workings of a startup company that both revealed how fluid the early stages can be and how a product can motivate so many to invest in it. It’s definitely an experience that I’ll look back on not only for their interesting technologies but also for their entrepreneurial spirit.”
The Harker Podcast Network has produced a new series to help Harker students make informed decisions about the courses they take, and the site has had around 400 visitors.
“We produced this series with the hope of helping students make more informed decisions about the courses they take,” said Arushi Saxena, grade 10. “Apart from a brief description in the Course Catalog and what they hear from upperclassmen, students oftentimes don’t have much to go off of when choosing courses, so these interviews with the teachers of these courses should provide students with a better understanding of each course.
“We currently have over 20 episodes completed, covering individual courses from Food Science to Behavioral Economics, as well as comparative episodes that help students make decisions like Honors versus AP Biology, AP Physics 2 versus AP Physics C, and AP English Literature versus senior English electives. All of the podcasts are 5-8 minutes long, and the majority of them cover electives offered alongside core subjects.”
The Harker Podcast Network team of Enya Lu, grade 12, Evan Cheng, grade 11, Larissa Tyagi, grade 11, and Arushi Saxena, grade 10, began brainstorming this series about two months ago, and since then have been writing questions, recording, editing and posting.
The series is an ongoing project, “and we hope to add many more episodes on academic courses over the next several years in addition to the 20 we’ve already recorded,” said Evan Cheng, grade 11. “This next month, we also plan to record episodes on all the extra period options, such as Speech & Debate and Principles of Business, as well as the Study of Arts courses like Study of Theater.
“Working with Ms. Horan, the upper school academic dean, we’ll get these episodes to the incoming freshman (the Class of 2023) so they can make more informed decisions about their freshman year courses. As a whole, the HPN team is also releasing a Blockchain Decrypted podcast within the next month to help demystify the world of cryptocurrency and localize its application on our very own campus.
The group has expansion hopes. “Since the reception to the Courses at Harker series has been extremely positive, we see a bigger opportunity to help inform students about not just the courses at Harker but other aspects of the upper school as well,” said Cheng. “For example, we may produce an episode on how students can fulfill their P.E. requirement or an episode on the Harker Conservatory’s Certificate Program. For now, though, our priority is to expand the amount of courses covered in the Courses at Harker series.”
Podcasts can be accessed either through the web at www.harkerpodcasts.net or through the Apple Podcasts app by searching “Courses at Harker.” The team is working with Horan to add podcasts to the student portal for easier access.
The Harker Podcast Network was started in 2014 by the Business and Entrepreneurship Department.
The Society for Science & the Public announced the 40 finalists for this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search, and three Harker seniors are among those named! They (and their projects) are:
Ayush Alag, “Computational DNA Methylation Analysis of Food Allergy Yields Novel 13-gene Signature to Diagnose Clinical Reactivity”
Natasha Maniar, “MapAF: Deep Learning to Improve Therapy of Complex Human Heart Rhythm Abnormalities”
Ruhi Sayana, “Precision Care for Leukemia: Discovery of Novel Therapeutics for High-Risk ALL via Epigenetic and Computational Transcriptome Profiling”
Each of these students will head to Washington, D.C., in early March for the national finals.
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Jan. 9, 2019:
Seven Harker seniors – the most of any school in California – were named Top 300 Scholars in this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search, the Society for Science & the Public announced today. Ayush Alag, Cameron Jones, Natasha Maniar, Ruhi Sayana, Katherine Tian, Cindy Wang and Richard Wang were among 300 students chosen from the 2,000 entries in this year’s competition. Each will receive a $2,000 prize, and Harker will be awarded an additional $2,000, as will every school that produced a Top 300 Scholar.
This year’s 40 finalists will be announced on Jan. 23, and in March they will embark on an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the final portion of the competition, during which more than $1.8 million in prizes will be awarded. Congratulations and best of luck to these stellar students!
The girls basketball team picked up a win and a loss last week to bring its season record to 10-5. First, the Eagles fell to The King’s Academy 47-55 with Cindy Su, grade 9, leading the offense with 12 points. Later in the week, the girls defeated Lincoln High 54-32 led by Akhila Ramgiri, grade 12, who scored 12 points. This week, the Eagles host Mercy SF on Tuesday and Castilleja on Thursday.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team continues to roll as it picked up two decisive league wins last week. The Eagles defeated Crystal Springs Uplands 8-0 and Eastside College Prep 3-0. Since dropping the first match of the season, the boys have rallied for nine straight wins. This week, the Eagles travel to Sacred Heart Prep on Wednesday and host Menlo on Friday for the Kicks Against Cancer game.
Girls Soccer
Last week, the girls soccer team fell to Crystal Springs Uplands in a tough 0-1 match before defeating Mercy SF 6-0. The 5-4-3 Eagles host Castilleja on Wednesday and Pinewood on Friday for the Kicks Against Cancer game.
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team dropped two league games last week, falling to 7-9 on the season. The boys started the week with a 40-61 loss to Menlo, with Giovanni Rofa, grade 11, leading the way with 10 points and five rebounds. Later in the week, the Eagles fell to The King’s Academy 42-60, with Jack Connors, grade 11, and Gene Wang, grade 12, each scoring 12 points. This week, the Eagles travel to Pinewood on Tuesday and host Sacred Heart Prep on Friday.
Wrestling
The Harker wrestling team competed at the JV Oceana Tournament over the weekend with some nice results. In their respective weight classes, Arjun Kilaru, grade 12, placed fifth, Bobby Wang, grade 9, took fifth, Kobe Howard, grade 12, placed fourth, and Eric Fang, grade 11, took first place. The wrestlers take to the mat again this Saturday at the Del Mar Tournament.