The WBAL finals were held last week and Niki Iyer, grade 12, won the third title of her high school career. She heads into CCS as one of the favorites for a championship. Lilia Gonzales, grade 10, also earned a spot at CCS with her qualifying time. The CCS championships will be held this Saturday at Crystal Springs Cross Country Course.
Football
The football team fought hard on Homecoming night, but fell to Stellar Prep 42-7. Even with the loss, the Eagles qualified for the NCS playoffs for just the third time in school history. Harker will take on Moreau Catholic on Friday in Hayward. Good luck, Eagles!
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team earned its way into the CCS playoffs and will travel to Carlmont High on Monday. The doubles team of Lizzie Schick, grade 11, and Gina Partridge, grade 9, also qualified for CCS and will play the doubles team from Mitty on Nov. 15 at the Bay Club Courtside.
Throngs of Harker community members headed to the upper school campus on the clear autumn night of Nov. 5 for the 2016 Homecoming celebration, during which the Harker Eagles faced off against the Stellar Prep Thunder. Although Stellar won 42-7, the crowd had a great time as Harker pushed for every yard and, for just the third time in the program’s history, the football team qualified for and will compete in the NCS playoffs. The team travels Friday to Moreau Catholic in Hayward for a first round matchup at 7 p.m.
Prior to the game, attendees enjoyed food from Ms. Carly’s Café, prepared by the Harker kitchen staff, as well as pizza and sodas sold by grade 9 students to raise funds for class events. Students and parents circulated between the tailgating and recreation area near Manzanita Hall, and the food court and Davis Field on the other side of the new theater and gym construction site. A gelato truck also was on hand, serving tasty treats for the duration of the event.
As in years past, a small cluster of bounce houses were set up on the upper school campus, this year in the quad, keeping the younger folks in attendance entertained. “The food and the bouncy houses!” exclaimed Meona Khetrapal, grade 8, when asked what she enjoyed about Homecoming. “You’re never too old!”
Visiting alumni reunited with old friends and teachers at the special alumni area, a yearly tradition. “It’s an opportunity to visit with students and their families in other kinds of circumstances,” said Dan Hudkins, director of information technology service and support. “I love running into the alumni and hearing how their lives are going. I wouldn’t miss it.”
Prior to the game, lower and middle school cheerleaders treated the crowd to an upbeat dance routine, just before grade 2 Harker Eaglets took the field for one Homecoming’s most cherished traditions, the Eaglets Fly-By. The Chris Florio-led Harker Pep Band, positioned in the bleachers at Davis Field, provided music throughout the evening. Onlookers also enjoyed a tug-of-war between the freshmen and sophomores, to determine the third-place winner in this year’s spirit competition. The 10th graders ended up victorious.
Just before kickoff, the Harker Choir, consisting of lower, middle and upper school vocal groups, offered spirited renditions of “The Harker School Song” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The anticipation built to a fever pitch as the Harker Eagles marched along the Gauntlet of Spirit toward Davis Field. As they appeared, the crowd roared its encouragement. The game started off with a bang when Harker scored the first touchdown, but Stellar bent to its task, taking the lead, 14-7, at the half.
Halftime brought more excitement with energetic performances by the Harker cheer squad and varsity dance troupe. The juniors and seniors also faced off in another tug-of-war for the spirit championship, with the juniors winning after a tense contest.
This year’s Homecoming court then took the field, joined by Head of School Chris Nikoloff, who thanked the community for the net that recently went up behind Davis Field’s eastern goal post, preventing “all those Eagles field goals” from going into the construction area. Seniors Ryan Vaughan and Kailee Gifford, who was also place-kicking for the Eagles, were then named as Homecoming king and queen.
The second half was tough, with Stellar scoring on some fine plays and Harker fighting valiantly to stop them. The core crowd remained to the end, cheering every effort by Harker. The weather was great, with just a nip in the air by the end of the game, and it was clear the crowd enjoyed the atmosphere and community at yet another great Harker Homecoming! Go Eagles!
Congratulations to Anooshree Sengupta, grade 11, who will present her research at the American Medical Informatics Association’s 40th annual symposium, to be held Nov. 12-16 in Chicago. Each year, AMIA selects just five individually researched high school student projects to present at the symposium. Sengupta, who conducted her research this past summer at the University of California, San Francisco, will attend the event with upper school computer science chair Eric Nelson.
Congratulations to the boys water polo, girls volleyball and boys cross country teams for receiving 2016-17 fall season Scholastic Team Awards. Each season, the CCS recognizes the five varsity teams from each sport with the highest collective GPAs. Boys water polo (3.877 GPA) and girls volleyball (3.833) earned the top honors in their sports, while boys cross country (3.878) had the second-highest GPA in their sport. Check out the full list of honored schools here:
In early October, sophomore pianist Nicole Chen performed at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall as one of the winners of the 2015-16 American Fine Arts Festival Competition. Chen, who began playing in kindergarten, has had success in numerous competitions over the years. She also is involved with the Music Buddies organization, which organizes youth concerts for senior centers. Way to go!
This report provided by Shania Wang, grade 10, DECA marketing associate.
TEDxHarkerSchool held its sixth annual event on Oct. 15. With over 200 attendees, the conference featured amazing speakers, interactive booths and inspiring mentors.
“TEDx was a very innovative and inspiring event, and I was really excited to hear some of the of the speakers,” said attendee Enya Lu, grade 10. “I really learned a lot about all of the speakers’ topics and enjoyed getting to see many innovative products from the booths.”
A total of seven speakers presented their talks at the conference throughout the day, sharing their ideas with the community.
One speaker was Stanford economics professor Raj Chetty, whose talk was titled “Improving Equality of Opportunity in America: New Lessons from Big Data.”
“It was an interesting opportunity to have an influence on talented young kids,” Chetty said. “I hope my talk showed them how you can use modern technology to tackle social problems and not just the private sector of problems that people usually focus on.”
Other speakers included piano prodigy Umi Garrett, UCSC professor Katherine Isbister, civil rights lawyer Shahid Buttar and artificial intelligence researcher and author Prateek Joshi. Aside from professional speakers, TEDxHarkerSchool also featured two student speakers, seniors Alexander Lam and Sarisha Kurup.
“I applied to be a student speaker because I was really passionate about sharing my experiences and my journey throughout high school, which is what I’m talking about,” said Lam, who presented about the pursuit of happiness and how ancient philosophy can influence modern thought. “My favorite part about speaking at TEDx was the ability to directly address the Harker community and share ideas that I felt are very important and valuable to me.”
In the morning, the Nichols Hall atrium also buzzed with students learning more about the corporate booths present: Alchema, VEX Robotics, XROUND, MOTA, PocketChef, Made In Space, HS Mixers and Puzzlebox. The startup Magnetic also supplied magnetic paper, allowing students to finish the prompt “TEDx Makes Me …”
“TEDx was a really good way to outreach since our product is really beneficial for students, and it provided us with great opportunity to maximize our interactions with the target market,” said Kedar Gupta, grade 12, co-founder of PocketChef.
The event then moved to the gym for lunch, where conversation filled the air as students interacted with mentors from a variety of fields who shared their personal insights and industry experience to engage and enlighten attendees.
“There’s a youthful energy here, so it was nice to see people that are in high school that had a curiosity and desire to grow and learn different things,” said mentor James Goheen, senior risk specialist for the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco and father to senior Jordan Goheen. “I talked to them about my career and shared with them briefly about the federal reserve system in general and more specifically about what I do there. I also got asked for some life advice, so I gave some insight on how important it is to be able to get along with others and write well.”
“I think the event went very well, and I was really excited to see so many students check out all that TEDx had to offer this year!” said curator Aditya Dhar, grade 12. “I think TEDx creates a fantastic environment directed towards spreading innovation in all areas, from art and entertainment to science and business, and that really parallels Harker’s spirit of ingenuity that drives so many of the wonderful programs around campus. “
About TEDxHarkerSchool
TEDxHarkerSchool is an innovative youth-only conference that aims to spread cutting-edge ideas throughout our community and reach out to embrace the culture of Silicon Valley. We provide guidance for some of the brightest minds of the new generation – the future of what TED stands for: technology, entertainment and design. Through the help of corporate booths, speakers, and mentors, TEDxHarkerSchool supplies the unique toolkit that enables our audience to imagine, innovate and inspire. Our overall goal is to bring students to greater intellectual heights and lead students to wisdom, revolution, innovation and passion. TEDxHarkerSchool fully believes that young people will make positive change in the world.
Construction on the upper school’s new gym and theater facilities continues to forge ahead. Have a look at the latest update from Harker facilities director Mike Bassoni, who shares information about the developing basement walls, plumbing, electricity and more. The video also features some up-close highlights of the construction, which Bassoni says is “moving along at a very good pace.”
Niki Iyer, grade 12, was recently named an Athlete of the Week by The Mercury News for her amazing performance at the second WBAL meet held last week. Iyer set the fastest girls time of the season among CCS runners at Baylands Park in Sunnyvale, finishing the 3.1 mile course in 18 minutes, 9 seconds. Her time was also the fifth-fastest ever on the course. Next up for Iyer and the cross country team is the WBAL Championships on Nov. 4 at Crystal Springs Cross Country Park.
The boys volleyball and girls lacrosse teams will welcome new head coaches this spring as Alex Jones and Alyssa Dunlap take over the reins in their respective sports.
Jones will take over boys varsity volleyball; last year he was an assistant coach. He will continue as the varsity girls assistant coach. Jones played Division 1 volleyball at Cal State Northridge and the University of Hawaii, as well as for the USA Volleyball Junior National Beach Team.
On the coaching side, Jones led the bronze medal winning team at the Junior National Championships, as well as the boys and girls championship teams at the Beach High Performance Championships.
“My expectation for the boys team this season is to compete with every team in our league,” stated Jones. “This year our league schedule is much tougher and it will be great for the boys to play against high-level teams.”
Upper school athletic director Dan Molin is delighted to have Jones stepping up. “I’ve been involved with volleyball most of my life and I can say with confidence that Alex is among the finest young coaches I’ve seen,” he said.
Dunlap also brings an impressive resume to her new role as head coach for girls lacrosse. She led her high school lacrosse team to three straight Pennsylvania State Championships and was a two-time first team High School All-American. She was then a four-year starter at Vanderbilt University where she was an All-West Region selection and named to the All-American Lacrosse Conference first team.
More recently, Dunlap coached at Stanford University and Treelax Lacrosse Club. “I want to give these girls a really good fundamental foundation,” stated Dunlap, “and every game we should see some progress.”
“Alyssa has a wealth of experience already at such a young age,” stated Molin. “She has a contagious energy and enthusiasm that will generate more of a buzz around girls lacrosse.“
Boys volleyball opens its season at home against Monterey on Feb. 28, and girls lacrosse opens at home against Mitty on March 10. The spring season is still a ways off, but the excitement is already high for the two newest Harker head coaches. Go Eagles!
Last Friday was Teacher Appreciation Night as the Eagles took on the St. Francis Watsonville Sharks. The teachers, who were honored before the game, were treated to an impressive 49-27 Harker victory that included lots of big numbers from the Eagles. Nate Kelly, grade 11, threw for 284 yards and three touchdowns, and rushed for two more touchdowns; Will Park, grade 12, rushed for 165 yards and a touchdown; Angel Cervantes, grade 11, caught five passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns, also adding a rushing touchdown; Anthony Contreras, grade 11, caught two passes for 128 yards and a touchdown; James Pauli, grade 11, was once again the leader on defense as he led the team with 14 tackles; and Kailee Gifford, grade 12, was a perfect seven for seven on PATs. Check out some of the highlights from the game: http://www.hudl.com/video/2/51617/580bf6e2f6170839b000ff5d
The Eagles are now 4-4 on the year and will close out the regular season on Nov. 5 with their Homecoming Night and Senior Night matchup with Stellar Prep.
Girls Golf
Last week, the girls golf team defeated Sacred Heart Prep behind Katherine Zhu, grade 11, who earned medalist honors shooting a 37. Later in the week, the Eagles fell to league rival Castilleja by just two strokes. Zhu once again led the Eagles as she shot a 2-under 32. This Wednesday, Harker will compete in the WBAL Championships at Poplar Creek Golf Course.
Cross Country
The Eagles had a great showing at the second WBAL meet of the year at Baylands Park. All seven varsity boys runners completed the 3.1 mile course in under 20 minutes. Niki Iyer, grade 12, continued her dominance as she posted the fifth-fastest course time ever as she won the girls varsity division, beating the second place runner by 20 seconds. The WBAL Championships will be held on Nov. 4 at Crystal Springs Cross Country Park.
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team lost to Castilleja last week 4-3. The Eagles finish up the regular season this week with matches against Pinewood on Tuesday and Sacred Heart Prep on Thursday.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team dropped two league matches last week to bring its regular season record to 6-16 on the year. The Eagles lost to Homestead 4-0 and Lynbrook 6-1. The SCVAL tournament begins this week with the Eagles taking on Saratoga in the first round on Tuesday at 5:45 p.m. at Homestead High.
Boys Water Polo
The red hot boys water polo team cooled off a bit at the end of the regular season, falling 11-9 to Lynbrook, followed by a 1-2 showing at the Ron Freeman Memorial Tournament over the weekend. The Eagles are now 16-7 heading in to their SCVAL tournament matchup with Milpitas on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. at Cupertino High.
Girls Volleyball
The girls varsity volleyball team defeated Mercy San Francisco in three games last week, followed by a 1-4 record at the Notre Dame Belmont Tournament over the weekend. The Eagles finish up their season this week with a trip to Notre Dame Belmont on Tuesday and Senior Night on Thursday versus Notre Dame San Jose at 5:45 p.m.