Following the first-ever Harker triumph at the Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics Challenge (HPEC) over the weekend, Harker Eaglenomics students scored another win on Monday.
Last weekend, for the first time in Harker history, our team of Raymond Xu, grade 11; Rahul Shukla, grade 11; Ameek Singh, grade 12; and Jonathan Ma, grade 12, won the HPEC championship.
Then hot on the heels of that victory, Harker competed and took top honors in the state finals of the National Economics Challenge on Monday.
That contest took place at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and Harker had three of the top five qualifying teams from the Northern California region (San Luis Obispo to the Oregon Border). The Harker teams were “In High Demand,” comprising juniors Emaad Raghib, Taylor Iantosca, Joyce Huang and Priyanka Taneja; “The Visible Hands” comprising seniors Michael Zhao, Samali Sahoo, Daphne Yang and Alice Wu; and “Team Harker 13” (aka “the team formerly known as Anikaswagmoney”), comprising seniors Abhinav Ketineni, Jasmine Liu, Grace Guan and Adele Li.
Two teams were eliminated, but one went on to take top honors. Coach Sam Lepler filled in the details: “In a great event, the team formerly known as Anikaswagmoney emerged victorious in a tight, hard-fought battle.
“After three rounds of testing in microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics and current events, the aforementioned team held a slim 10-point (1,200 to 1,190) lead on a strong team from Dougherty Valley and just a 60-point lead on a another solid squad from BASIS Independent Silicon Valley. However, a strong quiz bowl effort, which included several questions well beyond the AP curriculum, helped them pull away and cruise to a solid victory.
“The team is now into the national semifinals with all of the other state winners, and will take a proctored exam on April 26. The top four scores among all the state winners on that test will get an all-expense paid trip to NYC to compete for the national championship. The competition is harder and tighter every year with more and more participating schools, so it’s awesome to have Harker emerge again!” Lepler finished.
Each year grade 10 students sojourn to the Bucknall campus to meet up with their grade 3 Eagle Buddies at the lower school’s annual Pajama Day Assembly.
The event, held in the gym, celebrates a grade 3 service project in which students collect items for the Pajama Program, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing new sleepwear and books to kids waiting to be adopted.
Over the past nine years, to make life a bit better for children living in local shelters, the lower school has donated thousands of items to the program, according to representatives of the Pajama Program’s local chapter.
Although the drive is primarily a grade 3 effort, all lower school families are invited to participate by dropping off items in the gym’s lobby. Prior to the assembly, Ken Allen, lower school dean of students, urges parents to encourage their children to help the less fortunate by donating a new pair pajamas or book to the program.
This year’s assembly occurred on a special-dress pajama day a couple of months ago, when all students and faculty were encouraged to wear their favorite jammies to school. Butch Keller, upper school head, kicked off the assembly by reading the book “Courage,” a story about bravery by author and illustrator Bernard Waber.
Students enjoyed hearing the story, and seemed equally enthralled with seeing Keller in his robe and slippers, seated in a rocking chair on the stage. Shortly after, the third grade students had the opportunity to read a book with their upper school Eagle Buddies, who also had been encouraged to bring items to donate to the Pajama Program.
Wearing a colorful assortment of robes, pajamas, slippers and knit hats, the grade 3 students and their big buddies then headed outdoors for lunch, socializing and field games.
“Being an Eagle Buddy is a lot of fun!” said Ellen Minkin, grade 10. “Today we’ve had a really nice time reading together, having lunch and just chilling out on the field.”
Her grade 3 pal, Bahar Sodeifi, said that she really likes the Eagle Buddies program and always looks forward to having the “big kids” come over for a visit.
Keller created the Eagle Buddies program to help bridge the upper and lower school campus divide. The buddies stay together for three years, until the sophomores graduate and the third graders matriculate into middle school.
The pajama and book drive originally began at the suggestion of Rishi Narain, grade 12, who got the idea for the project when he was in grade 3, after watching the “Oprah” show. The show’s guest that day was Genevieve Piturro, founder of the Pajama Program. Narain was motivated to bring the cause to Harker, where he helped organize the inaugural donation drive.
Harker chess players won big at the US Chess Federation’s National High School Championship in Atlanta this past weekend. Sophomore Vignesh Panchanatham took first place in the K-12 Championship individual competition, while the team of Panchanatham, freshmen Michael Wang and Shaunak Maruvada, and senior Richard Yi won the team event.
Evan Lohn, grade 12, and Richard Wang, grade 9, took first and second, respectively, in the unrated portion of the K-12 Championship. Other standout individual performances were by Michael Wang, who placed 10th in the K-12 Championship and Yi, who placed 20th in the same category, out of nearly 300 competitors. In all, more than 1,400 players participated in the event.
The story was covered in fpawn, a chess news site:
On March 20, the Harker Programming Club hosted the annual Harker Programming Invitational. Schools from all over the Bay Area competed in a programming contest that “put their algorithmic programming skills to the test in a competitive yet encouraging environment,” said Sadhika Malladi, grade 12, a club officer.
Offered at novice and advanced levels, “We host a two-hour competition followed by a 30-minute challenge round that allowed teams to improve on their scores,” Malladi said. Between rounds, students attended talks from sponsors and university representatives, who discussed ways students could pursue their interest in computer science after graduating from high school.
Sponsors included Pebble, Carnegie Mellon University, Star League, Make School, A-Star and ACEprep.
Taking first place in the advanced-level competition was Aragon High School, followed by Nueva High School in second and Monta Vista High School in third. Saint Francis took first place in the novice competition, where Diablo Vista took second and Dougherty took third. Harker students are not allowed to place in the competition.
During spring break, more changes were made to the upper school campus to prepare for the athletic and performing arts center construction project. First, the large oak tree in the campus quad, deemed unsalvageable, was cut down piece by piece before its massive trunk was removed.
The hundreds of ants and other bugs living in the tree were sent scurrying by the commotion. Finally, what remained of the stump was whittled down. On the following day, the three large boxed trees on Rosenthal Field were loaded onto a large flatbed truck by way of a 100-ton crane and relocated to a space just outside Nichols Hall.
Arborists had previously dug out and crated these Coast Love Oak trees and over break they were moved to a holding spot prior to final re-planting on the Saratoga campus . Stay tuned for more updates on upcoming construction projects!
The boys golf team defeated Crystal Springs Uplands 175-216 last week. Ryan Vaughan, grade 11, shot a team-best 32. The Eagles face The King’s Academy Monday.
Girls Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team came up short 12-10 against Mercy Burlingame and 9-3 against Sacred Heart Cathedral last week. On Tuesday, the Eagles face off with Notre Dame San Jose at PAL Stadium.
Baseball
The baseball team dropped two games to Crystal Springs Uplands last week, 11-0 and 10-3. It faces off with Trinity Christian this Thursday at Cal State Monterey Bay.
Softball
The softball team lost to the Fremont High 11-0 last week. Cameron Zell, grade 9, had two hits in the loss. The Eagles meet up with Notre Dame San Jose on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Blackford.
Boys Tennis
The boys tennis team lost to a tough Menlo team 7-0 last week, but rebounded with a 5-2 win over Crystal Springs Uplands. The Eagles are back at it Tuesday as they face The King’s Academy.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team dropped a four-game match to Fremont last week, with Chris Gong, grade 9, leading the way with 10 kills. Next Wednesday at 5:45 p.m., the Eagles host Wilcox High at Blackford.
Track and Field
The track and field team competed at the Firebird Relays at Fremont High last weekend. Highlights included Demonte Aleem, grade 9, placing first in the frosh/soph 100m and shotput; Anthony Contreras, grade 10, placing third in the frosh/soph 100m; and Lilian Gonzales, grade 9, placing fifth in the frosh/soph 3200m. The Eagles take on their WBAL rivals at their next meet held at Bellarmine High on April 13.
Swim
The Eagle swim team traveled to Sacred Heart Prep last week for the SHP Invitational. Highlights included a win in the girl’s 200 Medley Relay consisting of Taylor Kohlmann, grade 10, Grace Guan, grade 12, Vivian Wang, grade 10, and Angela Li, grade 9, who improved the CCS qualifying time; Vivian and Grace also went first and third respectively in the 100 Backstroke, both swimming CCS qualifying times; Michael Auld, grade 11, won the 500 Freestyle with a commanding eighteen second lead over his closest opponent; and Li, Guan, Wang and Ihita Mandal, grade 9, qualified for CCS in the 400 Free Relay. The Swim team has a WBAL meet on April 7 at Menlo High.
Sophomore Divija Bhimaraju recently received a certificate of excellence in this year’s Prudential Spirit of Community Awards for her efforts to help blind people. She also received the President’s Volunteer Service Award for the amount of time she has dedicated to her volunteer work.
Bhimaraju felt prompted to help the blind when she attended a conference by the Sankara Eye Foundation in 2011. “These glimpses that changed my life came in the form of a few short, minute-long videos of pre-surgery and post-surgery blind children,” she said. “I think it was the gratitude and wonder on those small faces that inspired me to initiate change on that day, and it’s what motivates me now.”
She later founded Donum Visi to help grant disadvantaged people the gift of sight by spreading awareness and sponsoring surgeries. She also devoted time to local community service.
“With careful planning, advertising and management, I hosted free seminars for young children in which I created PowerPoints and pamphlets about the eye and different ailments,” she said. She also designed hands-on projects for the students, including color-coding, telescope building and optical illusions. In addition, Bhimaraju mentored a robotics team and taught basic science and English to children, for which she received donations.
“This fusion of my passions, teaching and service, served a double purpose: not only did I interactively teach and foster interest in academic subjects for young children, but I earned nearly twice the money I intended through voluntary donations by inspired students,” Bhimaraju said.
She has been able to sponsor 179 cataract surgeries. “I have changed 179 real, tangible lives, and I’ve seen videos of children who’ve undergone treatment through my efforts.”
Recently, Bhimaraju has been gathering eyeglasses and distributing them to those in need. Already she has donated more than 50 pairs to grant children in India the chance to see better. She also is seeking volunteer opportunities at schools for the blind and has contacted vision centers geared toward the homeless to distribute more glasses locally.
In December, Bhimaraju traveled to southern India and lived with the president of Sodhana, a leading community service organization. “I played with and taught children in Sodhana’s straw-roofed schools, and interacted with poor women who were surpassing traditional village hierarchies by taking part in self-help groups,” she recalled.
Overall, Bhimaraju sees her charitable efforts as a journey of self-discovery. “The one central question that has driven philosophers mad, that has sparked revolutions, that tears at the insides of every teenagers, is ‘Who am I?’ And I think that’s the biggest gift that I have received from volunteer work. Donum Visi has given me purpose: I have a vision for the world, a plan to make it happen, and a place for myself in it.”
Middle and upper school jazz musicians came together in mid-March for the 2016 Evening of Jazz at the Blackford Theater. The show featured the talents of the Grade 6 Jazz Band, Grades 7-8 Jazz Band and the upper school’s Lab Band, all directed by Dave Hart, as well as The Harker School Jazz Band, directed by Chris Florio.
The folks in attendance were treated to works by the likes Thad Jones, Horace Silver, Duke Ellington and Miles Davis. For the final number, all of the evening’s musicians appeared on stage to perform a rendition of Pee Wee Ellis’ “The Chicken.”
Arjun Subramaniam, grade 11, was selected to study at the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics at SUNY Stony Brook as part of the Simons Summer Research Program. From June 27 through Aug. 9, Subramaniam will work full time with assistant professor Thomas MacCarthy, performing research in the department of applied mathematics and statistics.
Each year, Harker nominates three students for the program. They are selected based on their academic standing, the strength of their application and teacher recommendations. Each year many of the country’s best science students apply for this unique research program, but only about 12 percent are selected to participate. Congratulations to Arjun for this stellar opportunity!
Harker middle and upper school debate students had outstanding success at the Western JV and Novice National Championship, held March 12-13 at San Francisco State University.
Cindy Wang and Clarissa Wang, both grade 9 were the tournament champions in second year public forum. Kelly Shen, grade 9, was the tournament champion in novice Lincoln-Douglas debate.
In addition, Esha Deokar, grade 9, and Deven Shah, grade 6, were in the semifinals of novice policy and Meghna Phalke and Alycia Cary, both grade 9, reached the octofinals of novice policy. Anusha Kuppahally, grade 9, and Jacob Ohana, grade 10, were in octos of second year policy.
Raymond Banke, grade 9, Floyd Gordon, grade 10, and Aimee Wang and Alina Yuan, both grade 6, were double octofinalists in novice public forum. Sascha Pakravan and Anshul Reddy, both grade 6, were in the quarters of novice public forum. In second year public forum, Betsy Tian, grade 7, and Shomrik Mondal, grade 8, were in octos. In second year Lincoln-Douglas, Akshay Manglik, grade 7, Cat Zhao, grade 8, Avi Gulati, grade 8 and Satvik Narashimhan, grade 9 were octofinalists.
Also in second year Lincoln-Douglas, Neha Tallapragada, grade 9, and Annie Ma, grade 8, were in quarters. In novice Lincoln-Douglas, Karoun Kaushik, grade 6, and Aditya Tadimeti, grade 7, were double octofinalists. Rishi Jain, grade 6, was in quarters of novice Lincoln-Douglas. Juniors Molly Wancewicz, Emmie Malyugina and Rahul Shukla and seniors Zarek Drozda and Karen Qi spent the weekend judging and coaching. Their help proved invaluable.