San Jose city councilman Chappie Jones was on hand yesterday morning to thank Harker’s freshman class effort of trail preservation at the Coyote Open Space Preserve. Jones reminded the team of 200 students and their advisors of the recent natural disasters, referencing the North Bay fires as well as the hurricanes that ravaged the Caribbean, Texas and Florida last month. “We see how important our environment is. We have to protect it,” urged the councilman. “You are part of that protecting our environment.”
Also on hand was Marc Landgraf, external affairs manager of the Open Space Authority of Santa Clara Valley. “You guys are contributing to 50,000 people a year enjoying this preserve and that’s a big deal to us,” he said. “We really appreciate your being here.”
Soon after hearing Jones’ words of encouragement, Harker freshman broke into three teams led by park employees to widen and clear the four-mile Arrowhead Loop Trail and remove invasive, non-native plants from an adjacent meadow. The work was overseen by Dana Litwin, volunteer programs administrator of the Open Space Authority. Litwin garnered the help of a dozen employees and volunteers to train and shepherd the students’ labor. Litwin pointed out that “in one day, the students did what would take our staff hundreds of hours!”
The annual freshman service trip was coordinated by Harker’s upper school Green Committee, led by Spanish teacher Diana Moss. One of the primary goals of the committee, according to Moss, is “to see our students develop a greater appreciation for and deeper connection with the natural habitats that surround us here in the Bay Area. Our hope is that many of them choose to become stewards for the environment who can make a positive difference on the planet at a time when climate change threatens our future.”
The freshman service trip happens annually on PSAT Wednesday, when sophomores and juniors are taking the exam and seniors use the day to work on college applications. Traditionally, freshman advisors join their students in a daylong effort to help the newest members of the upper school enjoy the fulfillment of volunteer work and jumpstart their community service requirement. Students who participated will receive credit for five of the annual required 10 hours of community service.
Seeing an opportunity to mix environmental protection with volunteer work, the Green Committee took on the coordination of this year’s event. Both the Green Committee and the Open Space Authority planned this event to become an annual pilgrimage by Harker freshman.
Freshman Sarah Raymond embraced that mission. “I think that’s really cool for our school to make an impact, to be known as the ones to clean the trail here,” she said.
Classmate Aniket Kriplani agreed, noting that being part of a large team lessens the load. “It makes you feel like you are getting a lot more done. When you look around and you see a lot of people. Work gets done fast,” he said. “If you’re doing this alone, it wouldn’t be as fun.”
The Green Committee also worked with Harker kitchen staff to plan a reduced waste lunch. Trays of lunchmeat and veggies displaced individually wrapped sandwiches to minimize the need for plastic wrap. Students and advisors brought reusable water bottles from home thereby eliminating the consumption of single-use plastic bottles. Even the location, about 20 minutes from Harker’s upper school campus, reduced the emissions of a longer bus trip and kept students efforts close to home where they might return to appreciate their work in the future.
Jones echoed this sentiment. “Nature is part of our DNA as human beings,” said Jones. “Nature is that outlet where you can go and just breathe, relax and just enjoy the outdoors.”
Earlier this week, 79 students competed in six events in the middle school’s first intramural speech and debate tournament of the year. About 50 volunteer judges, including parents, upper school students and middle school teachers, were critical to the event’s success. “Everyone had a great time and learned a bunch in preparation for future tournaments with Harker,” said Christopher Thiele, middle school speech and debate teacher. “I want to congratulate the winners accordingly.”
Policy Debate
First place (tie): Mir Bahri, grade 7, and Saanvi Arora, grade 8
Congress
First place: Dhruv Saoji, grade 8
Speech (Impromptu)
First place: Zubin Khera, grade 7
Lincoln-Douglas
First place: Harsh Deep, grade 8
Lincoln-Douglas Top Speakers
First place: Brian Chen, grade 7
Public Forum
First place: Rohan Thakur and Rohan Rashingkar, both grade 8
Last week, the girls volleyball team dropped a four-game match to Menlo. This week, the Eagles host Sacred Heart Prep on Tuesday, before traveling to Notre Dame San Jose on Friday.
Football
The Eagle football team keeps on rolling as it took care of visiting Tamalpais 38-0 on Friday night to set a school record for most wins to start the season. Nate Kelly, grade 12, threw five TD passes, two each to Floyd Gordon, grade 12, and Anthony Contreras, grade 12, and one to Jared Anderson, grade 11. James Pauli, grade 12, led the defense with eight tackles, and Anderson added an interception. This week, the 7-0 Eagles host Stellar Prep at 7 p.m.
Also last week, Jadan McDermott, grade 12, was named Super Lineman of the Week, and Aaron Smith, grade 11, was named Game Changer by Get Sports Focus. Check out the tweets:
The girls water polo team picked up two big wins last week. In a 5-2 victory over Lynbrook, the goals were evenly distributed between Meghana Karinthi, grade 12, Alicia Xu, grade 10, Claudia Opris, grade 11, Cas Ruedy, grade 10, and Samantha Yanovsky, grade 11. Later in the week, the Eagles took care of Cupertino 11-2, with five goals from Abigail Wisdom, grade 11, two goals each from Arushi Madan, grade 10, and Xu, and one goal each from Anika Tiwari, grade 10, and Ruedy. This week, the girls host Monta Vista on Monday at 5:45 p.m. and Fremont on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m., then travel to Monta Vista on Thursday.
Cross Country
The cross country team traveled to the Crystal Springs Cross Country Course last week to compete in its first league race of the season. Gloria Guo, grade 12, and Lilia Gonzales, grade 11, both finished in the top 40, while Anna Weirich, grade 9, placed sixth in her first varsity league cross country meet. Over the weekend, the Eagles competed at the Artichoke Invitational at Half Moon Bay High. Ryan Adolf, grade 11, and Henry Wong, grade 11, led the boy’s varsity squad, while Weirich placed seventh in her first varsity invitational and had the 10th best girls time among the 552 runners. Also, new Harker coach Annie Tomlinson took first place in the coache’s race. Next up for the Eagle runners is another WBAL meet, this time at Baylands Park on Oct. 19.
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team split two matches last week. The Eagles defeated Evergreen Valley High 4-3 before falling to Menlo 1-6. This week, the girls take on Scotts Valley on Monday, Crystal Springs Uplands on Tuesday and Castilleja on Thursday.
Boys Water Polo
The boys water polo team dropped two matches last week. Early in the week, the Eagles fell to Lynbrook 5-9, then were defeated 15-11 by Homestead. This week, The Eagles host Palo Alto at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, then travel to Monta Vista on Thursday.
Girls Golf
This week, the girls golf team has matchups with Castilleja on Wednesday and Sacred Heart Prep on Thursday. Currently, the Eagles are tied for first place in the WBAL with a 7-1 record.
Last weekend, 29 upper school students made the trip to Ashland, Ore., to visit the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The long-running repertory theater, founded in 1935, is an annual destination for upper school English teacher Pauline Paskali’s students, who gain a deeper understanding of Shakespeare’s works by seeing them interpreted in a live setting by professional actors. Paskali first made the trip with four of her students in 2009.
This year, the group enjoyed performances of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “Henry IV,” as well as a production of the 2014 play “Shakespeare in Love,” one of several contemporary works that OSF produces each year. Students also attended a workshop in which they learned about some of the narrative elements of Shakespeare’s plays.
Aditya Dhar ’17 was awarded a final accolade for his high school speech and debate efforts by the Stennis Center for Public Service Leadership. He was named to the 2017 National Student Congress as a member of the senate, based on his performance at the National Speech & Debate Association’s National Tournament in Birmingham, Ala., in June. Dhar was also the Senate Leadership Bowl Winner. Read more about Harker’s results in Birmingham.
In the summer of 2014, Bay Area high school students Luyi Zhang, Emily Li and Lucas Xin saw an opportunity to alleviate poverty while visiting the rural village of Dagouyan in China’s Ningxia region. The area’s cows, it turned out, were in demand in Chinese coastal cities because of Ningxia’s cleaner atmosphere. “However, most farmers in the village were unable to scrape up the tens of thousands in capital that are required to grow them,” said Jason Huang, a Harker junior. “As a result, the students raised several hundred thousand yuan and formed a cow collective.”
The students later formed Nanoseed, which Huang now leads as president, a nonprofit organization whose current main objective is to provide greater economic mobility for Dagouyan’s poor. “While it boasts several thousand in population, there only exists one factory that employs roughly two dozen workers depending upon the number of orders at the time, 27 workers max, while the remaining population survive by seeking temporary employment at larger cities or depending upon farming,” Huang said.
To date, most of Nanoseed’s work has gone into developing and supporting a “cow cooperative” that was started with the cooperation of several families in Dagouyan. Nanoseed raised funds for the operation and negotiated arrangements with a local butcher and a transportation agency.
Nanoseed employs the services of branches at other Bay Area schools for fundraising efforts, while the leadership resides at Harker. Funds raised by these branches are being funneled into a program that offers student loans to children in financially unstable situations. Funding also comes from donations and interest charged on loans they have made. “Loans are charged at a 6.6 percent interest rate. The rate is quite low when compared to the end fee of bank loans, which are usually not offered to the people we serve but often run over 20 to 30 percent in interest for others after accounting for corruption payments and other expenses,” Huang said.
Over the summer, Nanoseed helped found two online businesses in Dagouyan, a handmade shoe seller and a store for organic produce. Both businesses were started using the Chinese social media app WeChat, which includes platforms for instant messaging, networking and commerce.
“The shoe store specifically hires women from needy families to make their handcrafted products, while the organic produce store depends upon the only factory in the town,” Huang explained. “Specifically, this factory buys their ingredients at above market rates from farmers in the town, hires almost half of its production line workforce from needy families, and also donates supplies to the town school and organic fertilizer to farmers for their produce.”
Nanoseed leaders visit Ningxia periodically to work in person with the people involved in the businesses they help set up. Their future plans include improving the efficiency of the work done during these trips. “Current trips consist of a lot of impromptu actions and decisions by student leaders, with simple plans created in just a few days,” Huang said. “We want to create a comprehensive list of necessary actions for groups going to China to ensure steady progress, and also finalize business ideas and research before implementation in Ningxia.” During the school year, they plan to help expand the online businesses through marketing campaigns.
Huang hopes that Nanoseed’s example can spur others into action to help their communities: “Just like how small seeds grow into large trees, we hope our actions can encourage others to serve their community.”
The girls water polo team dropped a 7-14 match against Wilcox last week. Abigail Wisdom, grade 11, scored two goals, with Meghana Karinthi, grade 12, Claudia Opris, grade 11, Samantha Yanovsky, grade 11, Cas Ruedy, grade 10, and Anika Tiwari, grade 10, each adding a goal. Later in the week, the Eagles defeated Milpitas 12-3 with Wisdom scoring four goals, Anna Arnaudova, grade 9, adding two goals and Karinthi, Ruedy, Yanovsky, Alicia Xu, grade 10, Sumi Wadhwa, grade 12, and Elizabeth Fields, grade 9, each scoring one goal. This week, the girls travel to Lynbrook on Tuesday and Cupertino on Thursday.
Girls Golf
The girls golf team kept on rolling last week as it picked up a 278-204 win over Notre Dame San Jose, a 192-186 win over defending league camp Menlo and a 237-205 win over Notre Dame Belmont. Natalie Vo, grade 9, won medalist honors with a 37 against Notre Dame and Katherine Zhu, grade 12, earned her second medalist honors of the season with an even par 34 against Menlo, followed by her third medalist honors of the year with an even par 35 against Belmont. Harker and Menlo are now tied atop the WBAL standing with 6-1 records. This week, the Eagles host Mercy Burlingame on Tuesday.
Football
The football team improved to 6-0 after defeating Marina High last Friday 30-0. Aaron Smith, grade 11, rushed for 173 yards and four TDs to lead the offense. On the defensive side, Jadan McDermott, grade 12, had 11 tackles and four sacks, with Jalen Clark, grade 12, adding three sacks. The Eagles have outscored their opponents 247-19 this season! The boys host Tamalpais this Friday at Davis Field at 7 p.m.
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team picked up a 6-1 win over Pinewood last week before falling to Sacred Heart Prep 1-6 later in the week. This week, the Eagles host Evergreen Valley on Tuesday and Menlo on Thursday.
Boys Water Polo
Last week, the boys water polo team was defeated by Los Altos 15-5 and 13-7 by Gunn High. This week, the boys travel to Lynbrook on Tuesday and Homestead on Thursday.
Volleyball
The girls volleyball team fell to Notre Dame Belmont in four games early last week and then lost a heartbreaking five-game match to Mercy San Francisco later in the week. In the loss to ND Belmont, Lauren Napier, grade 12, led the Eagles with 12 kills. Emily Cheng, grade 10, led the offense with 12 kills and Megan Cardosi, grade 12, added 11 kills in the loss to Mercy. This week, the Eagles host Menlo on Thursday.
Cross Country
This Thursday the Harker cross country team travels to Crystal Springs Cross Country Park to compete in WBAL Meet No. 1.
It was an exciting Homecoming night on Saturday as the Eagle football team improved to 5-0 after a 33-13 win over visiting Rio Vista. Nate Kelly, grade 12, threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, two to Jared Anderson, grade 11, and another to Angel Cervantes, grade 12. Anderson ended the game with seven receptions for 132 yards. Marcus Tymous, grade 11, also added a rushing TD. On the defensive side, Jadan McDermott, grade 12, led the team with six tackles and three sacks. This Friday, the Eagles face off with Marina High at Monterey Peninsula College.
Cross Country
The cross country team traveled to Stockton over the weekend to compete at the Pacific Invitational. Ryan Adolf, grade 11, and Gloria Guo, grade 12, led the varsity teams, and Aditya Singhvi, grade 9, placed in the top 25 in the frosh/soph boys competition, but the story of the day was freshman Anna Weirich. Anna beat out 125 runners to win the 2-mile frosh/soph race in the small-school division, but her time of 11:54 would also have beaten the 250 runners in the frosh/soph large school race! The team next competes at the first WBAL meet on Oct. 5.
Girls Golf
The girls golf team narrowly defeated Castilleja 196-194 last week, marking the first time in at least eight years a Harker girls golf team has defeated the Gators on our home course. Leading the Eagles were Katherine Zhu, grade 12, and Natalie Vo, grade 9, each shooting 36. Today, the girls face off with Notre Dame San Jose, followed by a match with Menlo on Tuesday.
Girls Tennis
Last week, the girls tennis team opened its league season with a 7-0 win over Crystal Springs Uplands. This week, the Eagles travel to Pinewood on Tuesday before hosting Sacred Heart Prep on Thursday.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team opened up last week with a 9-5 loss to Fremont, getting two goals from Cas Ruedy, grade 10, and one goal from Claudia Opris, grade 11, Samantha Yanovsky, grade 11, and Alicia Xu, grade 10. Over the weekend, the girls finished third out of 12 teams at the Watsonville Tournament. The Eagles opened the tourney with an exciting 8-7 sudden death win over Pioneer. Abigail Wisdom, grade 11, led the way with four goals. In its second game, Harker defeated Mercy Burlingame 10-4 behind another four-goal effort from Wisdom. In the semifinals, the Eagles lost to Turlock 10-4, with Wisdom scoring three more goals. Finally, the Eagles defeated Santa Cruz in the third-place game, with three more goals from Wisdom. This week, the Eagles travel to Wilcox on Tuesday and host Milpitas on Thursday.
Boys Water Polo
The boys water polo team went 1-1 in league play last week. The Eagles fell to Palo Alto 9-5 before defeating Monta Vista 14-6. This week, the boys travel to Los Altos on Tuesday and host Gunn on Thursday.
Volleyball
The girls volleyball team defeated Notre Dame San Jose in three games last week, led by 10 kills from Lauren Napier, grade 12, and 14 assists from Emily Cheng, grade 10. Later in the week, the Eagles fell to Mercy Burlingame in three games. The 6-7 Eagles host Notre Dame Belmont on Tuesday and travel to Mercy San Francisco on Thursday.
Alumni
Congratulations to Joelle Anderson ’17 who notched her first collegiate assist and goal in Pepperdine’s 4-1 win over UC Davis last week. It didn’t take much time for Anderson to strike again as she scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over UC Santa Barbara a few days later. Check out the stories and highlights here:
This morning’s Homecoming Rally capped off Spirit Week with fun, games and plenty of cheering! Classes gathered on Davis Field to compete for spirit points in a series of friendly and exciting games, as well as enjoy performances by the Harker cheer squad and varsity dance troupe! Seniors were awarded a whopping 100 spirit points when advisor Diane Main won “Name That Tune,” and also prevailed over the sophomores in the annual Tug of War. In addition to winning their Tug of War match against the freshmen and taking first in this year’s relay race, the juniors also were voted the winners of the skit competition for their hilarious and creative take on time travel. The juniors and seniors will face off in the finals of the Tug of War competition during halftime at tomorrow’s Homecoming game.
Upper school science teacher Kate Schafer recently began a two-week survey in the Gulf of Mexico, where she and other scientists are “studying shark and red snapper populations in locations around the gulf,” she said. Schafer is aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) ship Oregon II as part of NOAA’s Teacher at Sea program. Throughout the survey, she will be posting updates and photos at a blog set up for her by the program.
Founded in 1970, NOAA incorporates the work of 6,773 scientists to monitor and understand the planet’s changing climate conditions and share their findings. This year, NOAA received nearly 250 applications for the Teacher at Sea program, and 30 were selected to participate.