Last weekend, at the 14th annual Math Prize for Girls competition, held at MIT, junior Olivia Xu (pictured, center) placed 11th out of 240 competitors, earning a $300 prize, and junior Catherine Li received an honorable mention. As top 36 placers, Xu and Li are eligible to compete in the Math Prize Olympiad.
Invitations to the competition were extended to the top 300 girls who participated in last year’s American Math Competition (AMC). Competitors were tasked with answer 20 short-answer questions in two-and-a-half hours.
The event, which was emceed by Nitya Mani ’15, who is now a Ph.D. student at MIT, also included a game night and a campus tour and admissions talk for prospective students.
This past summer, Alec Zhang, grade 11, and Jingjing Liang, grade 9, held a special online learning event called FUTUREx IDEA, which was attended by more than 100 students from 78 high schools across the country. The two students are officers of the nonprofit Future Bridge, of which Liang is the founder.
The event featured four learning tracks for attendees to choose from. One track taught students about socially responsible investing, in which students utilized group discussions to learn more about investing and participating in the Wharton Investment Competition. Another offered students insights on drafting essays, which Zhang said would help students “gain self-awareness and social awareness.” The third track, called Enlightening and Service, gave students the opportunity to learn how to operate in a workplace setting with a variety of projects. Finally, the AI and Innovation workshop delved into current and future applications of artificial intelligence and had students creating their own AI-driven mobile apps.
Future Bridge included many volunteers from various high schools with a diverse range of interests, which informed the guiding principle of planning the event. “When we planned for summer activities, Jingjing proposed that we can combine these passions to run a multi-track student-driven summer program,” Zhang said. “We came up with these activities based on allowing students to learn more and utilize their knowledge.”
This fall, Future Bridge plans to launch in-person boot camps to offer their instruction on building AI-based apps to people with less access to learning resources. Their team in Chicago is also planning to run boot camps in that area. “We truly hope more people can join forces with us to impact more communities around the Bay Area,” Zhang said.
On Sept. 25, the Harker Programming Club held its fifth annual Girls Programming League Challenge, with 130 girls and non-binary people from 65 schools participating. Contestants worked in teams to solve a series of Olympiad-style computer science problems written by officers from the Programming Club. In keeping with the event’s theme of computer science in medicine, the event also featured a keynote speech by Google Health software engineer Maria Nattestad; a panel discussion with Dr. Natalie Pageler, clinical professor of pediatric critical care and chief medical information officer at Stanford University; Johanna Kim, executive director of Stanford’s Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine and Imaging; Aleks Goeva, a researcher at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; and upper school science department chair Anita Chetty.
The first concert of the 2022-23 season of the Harker Concert Series featured the San Jose Chamber Orchestra, a local institution for more than 30 years. Founder and conductor Barbara Day Turner made special mention of her previous collaboration with Jaco Wong, the upper school instrumental music director, who composed for SJCO while studying at San Jose State University.
SJCO’s repertoire for the evening included faithful performances of well-known favorites including Mozart’s “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” and the middle movement of Elgar’s “Serenade for Strings.” Showcasing its mastery over a diverse repertoire, the orchestra also performed composer Leroy Anderson’s light-hearted “Plink, Plank, Plunk!” and, as a special surprise, Jaco Wong’s own “Whampoa Overture,” a colorful composition inspired by Wong’s childhood memories of Hong Kong.
Following the intermission, SJCO delivered Ahmed Alabaca’s mournful yet hopeful “Across the Calm Waters of Heaven,” a response to the 2015 mass shooting in Alabaca’s hometown of San Bernardino. The orchestra concluded with a rousing rendition of Argentine composer Astor Piazzolla’s “Libertango,” eliciting an extended ovation from the appreciative audience.
This story was submitted by Harker speech and debate chair Jenny Achten.
Senior Rahul Mulpuri won first place at the prestigious Greenhill Round Robin in September. Only the top 12 Lincoln-Douglas debaters in the nation are invited to the round robin, and winning it is very difficult. Mulpuri was invited due to his semifinal finish at nationals last year. The topic of the debate was whether or not the United States ought to adopt a single-payer health care system. Speech and debate coaches expressed excitement over Mulpuri’s start to the season!
Yesterday, senior Sarah Mohammed visited the White House to read her poetry at a ceremony honoring the 2022 National Student Poets! Mohammed was invited as one of last year’s National Student Poets. The reading was attended by first lady Jill Biden, who Mohammed took the opportunity to meet.
Cross country’s season opener took place Saturday at the De La Salle Invitational in Concord, where junior Veyd Patil and senior Kara Kister were Harker’s top runners, finishing with times of 16:36 and 20:37, respectively, on a three-mile course. The runners’ next event will be the Artichoke Invitational in Half Moon Bay on Oct. 1.
Girls golf has played quite well in its last three outings, winning yesterday against Mercy High, defeating both Castilleja and Crystal Springs at Bay View and finishing second behind CCS champions Valley Christian at last week’s Helen Lengfeld Tournament. The team will face Notre Dame Belmont at Moffett Field on Monday.
Varsity football continued its strong start with a convincing 58-0 victory over Burton last Friday. At 3-1, the team will play at home against Crystal Springs this Friday. The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Boys water polo won two straight games last week, defeating Lynbrook and Gunn. The team went into last weekend’s St. Francis tournament undefeated in league play and posted a 3-1 record with wins against Novato, Palo Alto and Gunn, and a loss to Valley Christian in the opening game. The team will host Los Gatos at the Singh Aquatic Center on Thursday.
Girls water polo is looking to bounce back at home on Thursday against Los Gatos after tough one-point losses this week to Castilleja (14-13) and Gunn (8-7) following that same week’s win over Lynbrook. Thursday’s contest starts at 4:30 p.m.
Varsity girls volleyball responded to its fifth-set loss to Westmont last week with a victory over Priory on Tuesday. Junior varsity volleyball currently has a 7-5 record after its win at Priory, and the frosh/soph team earned its first win of the season last week against Westmont.
Football’s 27-16 win over San Jose High at its home opener brought the team to a 2-1 record. Senior Rohan Gorti threw for touchdowns to Zeke Weng and Liam Jeffers, while senior Dylan Parikh scored a running touchdown for the Eagles and junior Kevin Bettencourt notched a defensive touchdown. The Eagles will take on San Francisco’s Burton High this Friday at 7 p.m.
At Saturday’s tournament in Aptos, girls water polo posted a 3-0 record to win the tournament, defeating Aptos 10-7 in the final game. The team faces Lynbrook tomorrow night.
Ninth grade golfer Kimaya Mehta recorded Harker’s first-ever hole-in-one earlier this month at the Bayview Golf Club. In league play, sophomore Allison Yang is currently the league’s leading scorer and has been instrumental in Harker’s strong 3-0 start.
Boys water polo won all three of its league openers against Homestead on Tuesday. The team has two games at home this week, facing Lynbrook on Tuesday and Gunn on Thursday.
JV and varsity girls volleyball were both victorious on Wednesday against Willow Glen. The frosh/soph team came up short against Milpitas after a hard-fought game. On Friday, JV and varsity were defeated by the very tough Santa Cruz High teams. The following day, JV performed respectably at the JV Spikefest, placing 12th out of 32 teams. Each team will play at home on Tuesday against Evergreen Valley and Thursday against Westmont.
Harker’s cross country teams will compete in their first race this Saturday at the De La Salle Invitational, and girls’ tennis’ first match is scheduled for Sept. 27.
Late last month, senior Amiya Chokhawala received a Youth Leadership Award from St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew. She was recognized for founding the nonprofit organization STEMHer, which inspires young women from less privileged backgrounds to pursue STEM careers through workshops, tutoring and Q&A sessions. Through a partnership with St. Kitts and Nevis’ CARE Foundation, STEMHer brought free coding and artificial intelligence workshops to girls aged 12-16, held both virtually and in-person. STEMHer also created a short documentary on its partnership with the CARE Foundation. Earlier this year, Chokhawala was featured on the Future of the Business World podcast, hosted by the Wharton School of Business.
This story was submitted by Ariana Gauba, grade 10.
On Aug. 13-14, more than 50 incoming ninth graders participated in Harker DECA’s ninth annual DECA Launch. The event focused on introducing students to Harker’s business and entrepreneurship program and the competitive events that DECA offers. By listening to officer-led presentations, engaging in hands-on activities, and taking part in mock competitions, students were able to gain a better understanding of what DECA is and create connections and memories — all in just two days.
“DECA Launch provides the perfect experience for our grade 9 class to get their first taste of the upper school and explore a new interest all at once. Through our mini campus tour and workshop by our upperclassmen mentors, we got to introduce ninth graders to the environment they’ll be immersed in for the next four years. Along with the opening activities, Launch hosted two mock DECA events: an Innovation Challenge and a Roleplay Tournament. Through these competitions, students were able to become a DECA competitor for the weekend and experience the atmosphere of an actual conference. Another great thing about Launch are the friendships. It’s always great to see bonds being forged and connections being made between the students by the end of the weekend. The other officers and I have made some of our most meaningful friendships here at DECA and we’re so excited to continue expanding the community to welcome our new members this year,” said senior Anika Muddu, CEO of Harker DECA.
As students arrived on Saturday morning, officers gave them name tags and swag bags. After enjoying breakfast, attendees made their way into the Nichols Hall auditorium for the opening ceremony.
Muddu and executive vice president Rohan Gorti, grade 12, kicked off the event by giving a formal introduction and presentation to the ninth graders about DECA on the international and schoolwide levels. After that, attendees had the chance to hear from former vice president of competitions Bryan Zhang ʼ21, who provided his insight and experiences with DECA. Then, ICDC competitor and former director of roleplays Cynthia Wang, grade 11, gave her advice to the new students.
Following the opening ceremony, attendees met with their Launch groups and mentors to play an icebreaker game called the marshmallow challenge. As they tried to create the tallest towers with spaghetti noodles, marshmallows and tape, they learned about the importance of working with a team.
Then, attendees took a tour of the upper school campus. After arriving at the innovation center, they listened to an introductory presentation, and officers gave presentations about the five competitive event clusters of DECA: Business Management and Administration, Hospitality and Tourism, Finance, Marketing and Entrepreneurship.
“Cluster presentations are one of the most important presentations of DECA Launch as they explain each cluster in depth and the events that go with it, which help ninth graders narrow down their options,” said director of roleplays Sanaa Bhorkar, grade 10.
Next was lunch, followed by the introduction of the Innovation Challenge — a shortened version of the Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan event that DECA offers. Director of written events Emily Mitnick, grade 10, introduced how to write an executive summary and create a cohesive slideshow presentation. She also introduced this year’s theme — niches — and explained the importance of niches within target markets of a company.
“The DECA Launch inspired me to think outside of the box with a new company pitch and to think on the spot during Roleplays. I learned so much about business and entrepreneurship during just these two days!” said Sophia Bagley, grade 9.
“The Innovation Challenge represented everything DECA has to offer: the creative freedom to communicate our ideas, the extremely supportive community to lean on and learn from, and the endless choices we are privileged enough to receive in our various pursuits,” said Pavitra Kasthuri, grade 9.
For the remainder of the day, students began to brainstorm what product or service they would like to create for the project. Day one concluded with a quick closing about what to expect for day two and commendations.
“DECA wasn’t something I thought I’d be interested in, but after attending the Launch, I think I found something that I would really enjoy doing. I’m so excited to join this program, and I can’t wait to attend future conferences!” said Helen Gu, grade 9.
Day two started bright and early with a cereal bar for breakfast. Next, students had the opportunity to hear from chapter advisor Juston Glass about this year’s new membership theme, “Get the Edge.” He also highlighted Harker’s business and entrepreneurship programs. Additionally, seniors Rohan Gorti and Zubin Khera, founders of TuffToy — a dog toy company started in Harker’s incubator program — gave a presentation about their company and experience with Harker’s entrepreneurship class.
After a short stretch break, the competitions subteam introduced a Kahoot! with questions that might appear on their future examinations. Subsequently, Bhorkar gave a roleplay tips and tricks workshop and performed a live roleplay. After that, attendees listened to a written events workshop as well as a graphic design workshop presented by the public relations subteam.
Then, students continued to work on their innovation plan in their groups. After lunch, students continued to work on their projects until the mock roleplay competitions. Mentors came to teach students about how to present a roleplay, and in pairs each attendee had the opportunity to perform in a mock competition.
“I see real potential in the Class of 2026, not just regarding roleplays, but in general. I can’t wait to see what they achieve in the next four years!” said mentor Sam Parupudi, grade 10.
Shortly after, arrived and enjoyed dinner before attending the alumni panel in the auditorium. Once hearing a summary of Launch from Gorti and VP of operations Chloe Lee, grade 11, they had the opportunity to talk to four alumni Shania Wang ʼ19, Rohan Varma ʼ21, Gianna Chan ʼ22 and Lucas Wang ʼ17 about their experiences with DECA throughout their high school years and beyond.
As the alumni panel concluded, students joined their parents in the auditorium and presented their innovation plans. As the judges calculated their scores, students and parents watched the Launch recap video, highlighting the success of the attendees over the course of the weekend. DECA Launch 2022 concluded with closing remarks from Mr. Glass and an awards ceremony highlighting the attendees’ successes.
“DECA Launch this year was a huge success,” said Glass. “Both the officer team and the attendees worked extremely hard and took on challenges with open arms. I was impressed with the class of 2026’s DECAcation and the amazing ideas they came up with in just two days. I know we are going to achieve great things in the upcoming year, and let’s get the edge!”
Winners are as follows (all students are grade 9):
Roleplay Tournament:
First Place: Arushi Sahasi and Kimi Yashar
Second Place: Brenna Ren and Tiffany Zhu
Third Place: Amishi Gupta and Yena Yu
Others in Top 10: Mindy Truong and Tanvi Sivakumar, Farhan Ansari and Krish Arora, Ishan Mysore and Ethan Lei, Carissa Wu and Helen Gu, Sahil Jain and Krish Goenka, Pavitra Kasthuri and Aya Sugaya, Celina Xu and Jingjing Liang.
Innovation Challenge:
Most Innovative: Mihir Gupta, Carissa Wu, Helen Gu, Sophia Bagley, Justin Yang, Pavitra Kasthuri
Best Presentation: Samuel Tong, Yena Yu, Janam Chahal, Minal Jalil, David Li, Victoria Ma, MacEnzie Blue