Football’s season opener at Harbor High on Friday ended with a 44-27 loss. Touchdowns were scored by senior Zeke Weng, senior Rohan Gorti, sophomore Rayan Arya and junior Ryan Barth, who ran back a blocked field goal attempt for his first career touchdown. They face Swett High School Friday.
Girls varsity volleyball lost a tough season opener 3-0 to Branham High on Thursday, while JV was victorious in its match against Branham. The varsity team be at Harbor High tomorrow and compete this Saturday in the Spikefest tournament.
Upcoming games:
The Singh Aquatic Center will be the place to see boys water polo’s season opener on Friday against Skyline High from Utah. JV will play at 6 p.m. and varsity is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Girls golf’s season opener is today, facing Notre Dame at Moffett Field. The team will face Sacred Heart Prep and Mercy in tri-match this Thursday.
With preparations to defend its titles league and section titles ongoing, the girls tennis team will not compete until Sept. 27.
Girls water polo opened its season on Sept. 6, while girls cross country is set to start competition on Sept. 17.
Upper school chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine competed as a member of the United States canoe polo team at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Ala., in July and the 2022 International Canoe Federation’s Canoe Polo World Championships in Saint-Omer, France, in August.
Irvine was originally scheduled to compete in 2020, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic put all competition on hold. “When were told the World Games were happening [in 2022] … we had some meetings and got together on Zoom and we talked about what the expectations were,” Irvine said. Despite some setbacks, such as team members leaving and the departure of their coach, the team regrouped and began training with visitors from New York and Texas. Irvine was selected as a member of the team in March.
The team held training camps and participated in a tournament called the Cup of the West with other U.S. canoe polo squads and a team from Canada. Members of the team local to the Bay Area trained every week at Shoreline Lake in Mountain View and the Berkeley Marina.
Going into the World Games, the team was up against some extremely tough competition. “They have programs that start as young as 7 years old, in schools and in universities,” Irvine said. Despite not winning any of their games, the team was able to overcome expectations. “We were more competitive than I think some people expected.”
Canoe polo ended up being the most popular event at the World Games, and Irvine said fans in attendance were highly appreciative and excited to meet members of the team. “We had people asking for our pictures, and someone asked for my autograph,” he exclaimed. “I was like, ‘You’re sure, right?’”
The following month, the team headed to France for the ICF World Championships, which featured a much greater number of teams and categories than the World Games. Team USA was grouped with teams from Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Spain and Taipei, Taiwan. They had three wins total, defeating Hong Kong twice as well as Japan, and recorded a tie against Taipei. “We were actually winning [against Taipei] up until the last minute, and if we had beat them, we would have been in the top 12,” Irvine said.
After the improved performance at the World Championships, “We reflected on how the World Games was like a training session, preparing us for the World Championships,” Irvine said, adding that he felt happy with his performance after seeing the level of competition he and the team were up against and remembering aspects of his performance. “I had some huge, impactful moments on the team,” he said. “I was happy to have found a way to contribute.”
At the USA Fencing 2022 Summer Nationals in July, junior Ishani Sood became the Division IA women’s gold medalist and qualified to represent the United States as part of the World Cadet Women’s Fencing team, which will be competing internationally in the coming months. A competitive fencer for eight years, Sood has medaled 10 times in her career and also co-founded the nonprofit Fun With Fencing, which brings fencing instructional programs to local Boys and Girls clubs.
Students gathered at Davis Field on Friday morning for the 2022 matriculation ceremony, which formally kicked off the 2022-23 school year and welcomed the Class of 2026 to the upper school.
After the ninth graders finished their procession (greeted by the applause of their classmates), Head of School Brian Yager gave his opening remarks, starting by thanking the faculty and staff who spent the previous two weeks preparing for the new school year. Speaking to the seniors, he mentioned the importance of their role as leaders and the legacy they will leave behind, referencing a Greek proverb: “Civilizations and schools grow great when old people plant trees, the shade of which they will never enjoy.” Turning his attention to the incoming ninth graders, he advised them to “enjoy and embrace the process. Look to the students in the grades above you for guidance and inspiration, as well as for examples of what will be expected of you in the years to come.”
Yager then introduced the upper school vocal group Cantilena, which gave a spirited performance of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” before recently hired Upper School Head Paul Barsky took the podium.
Barsky made special note of two concepts he felt would be crucial for students to understand in the coming year. The first, from the Danish, was samfundssind, which implores people “to think of yourself as part of a bigger cause,” Barsky said. The second, umwelt, is a term coined by German biologist Jakob Johann von Uexküll, which posits that, “We think our senses make up our reality, because well, that’s what we sense,” Barsky explained. “The wonderful gift of a Harker education is that it widens, deepens and enriches our senses. At Harker, our umwelt is expanded to include senses and realms that we did not know existed.” Barsky stated his hope that students would carry the lessons of these ideas into the coming year.
Senior Kris Estrada, the ASB president, gave a warm welcome to his fellow students, who responded in kind. Speaking to his classmates, Estrada noted the difficulty of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and the obstacles it presented. “Although we have unfortunately missed a number of class trips and opportunities to bond with one another, we’ve somehow accomplished just that together,” he said. “We have persevered through the toughest situations and we have come out united and closer than ever.” Addressing the Class of 2026, Estrada emphasized the importance of their first day as high schoolers. “Whether you have been at Harker in years prior, or perhaps today marks the beginning of your life’s chapter as a Harker Eagle, I advise you to simply cherish today and the rest of your Harker days because high school is such a formative experience.”
The members of the Student Diversity Coalition spoke to the students about their mission to “foster an inclusive space for all members of our community,” said senior KJ Williams.
“We in SDC work to provide a space that actively hears and supports students in all forms of their diversity,” said Fern Biswas, grade 10. “Whether through speaker events, collaborative events or implementing new systems, we also hope to keep this school a place where open conversations about these issues take place.” The group announced some of their plans for the next year, including a continuation of last year’s Culture Week and the hosting of town hall events and conferences.
SDC then introduced Brian Davis, Harker’s new DEI director, who thanked the SDC for all the remarkable work it had done prior to his arrival. Davis referred back to Yager’s mention of the Greek tree proverb, which he felt was very “future-oriented and really thinking about our accountability in our imagination.” He emphasized his mission to be resource for Harker’s student body, “but more importantly, making Harker a place where you all feel loved, where you feel safe, where you feel heard and where you feel valued,” he said. Davis also mentioned plans to expand Harker’s pre-existing affinity groups and help develop affinity groups that are newly established. “Lastly, I encourage you all to be an upstander, to speak up when you seeing things happening in our community, but also ensure the safety in our inclusive community,” he said. “It’s really important for you all to know that Harker is a place for everyone.”
Per tradition, matriculation also included the introduction of the year’s student officers, followed by a recitation of the matriculation oath, led by ASB vice president Gordon Chen, grade 12. As each of the ninth graders signed the matriculation book, the audience was treated to the Harker String Quartet’s renditions of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses and “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay. The ceremony closed, as always, with a series of entertaining skits performed by officers of the student council and honor council, titled “Upper School 101.” Each skit featured students portraying characters from the popular TV shows “Phineas and Ferb,” “SpongeBob Squarepants,” “The Office” and “Squid Game,” with messages about school etiquette and resources available to upper school students, including the library, the advisory system, office hours and extracurricular programs. As a special surprise, Richie Amarillas ’22 made a guest appearance to promote the performing arts program.
Rising ninth grader and chess enthusiast Mihir Kotbagi tied for first place and placed second after tie breaks at the 122nd U.S. Open’s Scholastic Championship section for high school students, held in Palm Springs from July 30-Aug. 7. Kotbagi and the other top scorer both had 3.5 out of 4 points after their respective games before ELO rules for tie breaks were applied. Congratulations!
In late July, eight Harker students joined the California delegation to the 2022 National Junior Classical League Convention, the first in-person JCL event since 2019. Several more attended remotely as long-distance delegates. The California delegates endured quite an odyssey — overcoming plane delays and cancellations, daily thunderstorms and an alligator swamp in the middle of the University of Louisiana, Lafayette campus — to enjoy a week of competitions, workshops and opportunities to bond with Latin students from the state and all over the country.
“A highlight for many was joining forces with [New Hampshire] and [New Jersey] for a spirit battle against the Texas behemoth,” said Lisa Masoni. “In the opinion of the national second VP, the consortium of small-state delegations was definitely more spirited! “
One of the most important events at the convention is the election of national officers to lead the organization for the 2022-23 school year. Senior Rupert Chen was elected first vice president. Harker’s last national officer, Maya Nandakumar ’15, held the same office in her senior year. Chen, fresh off a stint digging at the archaeological site of Vindolanda on Hadrian’s Wall, will be responsible for promoting membership and publicity during his term of office.
Below are the top 10 awards earned by Harker delegates:
Last month, Harker junior and pianist Nathan Liu performed at a special benefit concert for fallen firefighters. Held July 30 at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center in Sacramento, the California Firefighters Memorial Ceremony paid tribute to 82 firefighters who died over the past three years in the line of duty or due to job-related illnesses. This was the first time the memorial had been held in person in three years and was attended by about 2,000 people, including firefighters, family members and appreciative citizens. Also in attendance were Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Kevin Snider, senior fire chaplain of the Sacramento Area Fire Chaplaincy and Brian Rice, president of California Professional Firefighters.
After winning the 2022 National Economics Challenge in June, Class of 2022 members Zach Clark, Harsh Deep, Shahzeb Lakhani and Rohan Thakur collected another major win at the International Economics Olympiad, held remotely last week. Their win in June earned them the opportunity to represent the United States at IEO. Deep and Thakur each won gold medals, ranking them top 20 in the world, while Clark and Lakhani each earned a silver, landing them both in the top 50. Another gold medal was won by Sam Lieman, a member of their team from Mt. Hebron High School. The team edged out three-time IEO champions Brazil by less than half a point.
The team of Alex Hu ’22 and rising seniors Rohan Bhowmik, Anthony Tong and team captain Sabrina Zhu performed admirably at the finals of the 2022 Tests of Engineering, Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) competition, which took place in late June in Dallas. In this annual competition, students form teams to solve real-world engineering problems. Their roller coaster project won them third place in Presentation, fourth place in Design/Build and fifth place on the exam portion. Just 25 of the 625 teams who participated this year were invited to compete in the national event.
Chess enthusiasts Vyom Vidyarthi, rising sophomore, and Omya Vidyarthi, rising seventh grader, each won gold medals at the Pan American Youth Chess Championship, held June 25-July 8 in Montevideo, Uruguay. Vyom, currently a FIDE International Master, played in the U18 open category and Omya competed in the U12 girls category. Their performances helped the USA take first overall, with a total of five gold medals. This win marked Omya’s fourth straight gold medal win in this event, having won in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the event in 2020 and 2021.