Earlier this month, senior Allison Wang was a national competitor in the “Who Wants to Be a Mathematician” game, hosted by the American Mathematical Society. After going through two rounds of testing in the fall, Wang qualified for the final stage of the game, where she competed against nine other high school students at the Joint Mathematics Meeting in Seattle. More than 2,300 students nationwide took the qualifying tests. Her performance earned Harker’s math department a $1,000 award.
Harker DECA chapter members garnered 19 top three wins at the annual Silicon Valley Career Development Conference in early January and 42 teams received mini awards. In addition to the excellent competitive results, three members were elected to the Silicon Valley District Action Team for the 2016-17 year: Alisa Su, grade 10, as vice president of public relations; Erin Liu, grade 9, as vice president of fashion; and Haley Tran, grade 11, as executive vice president.
Members placing in the top three are as follows:
First Place
Arnav Tandon and Raymond Xu, both grade 11, Finance Operations Research
Michael Sikand, Vanessa Tyagi, and Dolan Dworak, all grade 10, Advertising Campaign
Chris Hailey, grade 11, Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling
Enya Lu, grade 9, Principles of Finance
Alexis Gauba, grade 11, Business Services Marketing Series
Chris Hailey, grade 11, Marketing Management Series
Ria Gandhi, grade 11, Retail Merchandising Series
Enya Lu, grade 9, Financial Consulting
Vanessa Tyagi and Rahul Mehta, both grade 10, Sports and Entertainment Team Decision Making
Sophia Luo and Shannon Hong, both grade 12, Travel and Tourism Team Decision Making
Second Place
Alexander Mo, grade 11, The Business Growth Plan
Haley Tran, grade 11, Ria Gandhi, grade 11, and Ashna Chandra, grade 10, Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research
Raymond Xu, grade 11, Accounting Applications Series
Haley Tran, grade 11, Restaurant and Food Service Management
Third Place
Michael Wang and Erin Liu, both grade 9, The Business Growth Plan
Nicole Chen, Shreya Dasari both grade 9, International Business Plan
Derek Kuo, grade 10, Franchise Business Plan
Ankur Karwal and Logan Drazovich, both grade 12, Innovation Plan
Sanil Rajput and Ankur Karwal, both grade 12, Marketing Communications Team Decision Making
Harker DECA members stayed at the San Jose Marriott, the convention host hotel, on Friday night and competed all day on Saturday. Competitions are divided into two categories: written events and role plays. Written events are competitions in which students create business plans and then present them to the judge. In role plays, competitors are given an allotted amount of time to read and analyze a case study, then present it to the judge.
The convention came to a close at the awards ceremony on Sunday morning, starting with the mini awards, followed by breakfast, then the grand awards.
“The energy when a Harker DECA member won was unprecedented, and all the other students in the room were shocked by the amount of energy our chapter brought,” noted Vanessa Tyagi, grade 10, director of communications for Harker DECA.
“The support for each competitor was unbelievable,” added Alexander Mo, grade 11, Harker DECA’s director of written events. “I really think that Harker DECA impressed schools not only with our competitive results, but also our bond as a chapter. I am so excited to see what we can achieve at states!”
Club members prepared for the conference by holding study sessions every Friday and Saturday in the Innovation Center.
“The feeling when I heard my name being called up on to the stage was amazing. All the late nights and hard work were definitely worth it. Just thinking about being on stage and receiving the trophy gives me chills, it was such a surreal experience,” noted Ashna Chandra, grade 10, Harker DECA director of membership.
“I had a really good time at SVCDC this year,” said Shaan Gagneja, grade 10. “I was a finalist in both events that I competed in, and an overall finalist in my written event. I got to meet new people and expand my social network. This conference was an overall success for Harker DECA, and I can’t wait for the rest of the competitive season.”
“We’ve had the best competitive results this year since the inception of the business and entrepreneurship department,” said Sophia Luo, grade 12, Harker DECA CEO. “Thanks to our newly formed Officer Mentorship Program, many of our members worked one-on-one with experienced officers and achieved competitive excellence. I’m so proud of everyone, mentors and mentees alike.”
Three Harker students received the highest possible scores on their Advanced Placement exams, according to the College Board. Vedaad Shakib, grade 11, and Sahana Srinivasan, grade 10, were two of just 67 students nationwide to earn a top score on the computer science exam. Janet Lee, grade 12, was one of 54 students to do the same in microeconomics.
Last year, 2.5 million U.S. high school students took AP exams. Of those, only 322 earned the highest possible score.
Jonathan Ma was today named a finalist in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search. As one of 40 finalists selected from more than 1,750 initial entrants, Ma will travel to Washington, D.C. in March for the final stage of competition, where more than $1 million in prizes will be awarded.
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Four Harker seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search, the Society for Science announced Wednesday. The students and their projects are as follows:
Vineet Kosaraju: Rational RNA Riboswitch Design through a Massive Open Laboratory
Sophia Luo: Integrative Multi-Cohort Analysis of Preeclamptic Placenta Identifies Perturbation of the P53 Pathway, Similarity to Certain Cancer Subtypes and Clinically Relevant Drugs
Jonathan Ma: Genomics-Based Cancer Drug Response Prediction Through the Adaptive Elastic Net
Sadhika Malladi: Application of EMDomics to Identify Age-Associated Expression and Treatments in Cancer
More than 1,750 students from 512 high schools entered this year’s contest. Of those, 300 were selected as semifinalists and each received a $1,000 award. In addition, each student’s school also received $1,000. The 40 finalists, who will compete in Washington, D.C., will be announced on Jan. 20.
The San Jose Mercury News mentioned the four semifinalists and last year’s win by Harker grade Andrew Jin ’15 in their coverage of the contest.
The girls basketball team put up three huge wins last week as it defeated Mercy Burlingame, Crystal Springs Uplands and Pacific Collegiate School by an average margin of 40 points! Junior Jordan Thompson’s 28 points per game is still among the best in the CCS. The 13-3 girls team will travel to Immaculate Conception Academy on Wednesday.
Boys Basketball
After a tough league loss to Pinewood last week, the Harker boys team defeated Eastside Prep 64-53 on Thursday. Elijah Edgehill, grade 12, led the Eagles with 21 points. Cal-Hi Sports covered the game and you can see the highlights here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR_rKhcSWBk
The boys team plays tonight at Blackford at 7 p.m.
Boys Soccer
Last Monday, the boys varsity soccer team picked up its fourth win in a row as it defeated Crystal Springs Uplands 4-2. Omar Hamade, grade 12, had two goals, while Nick Acero and Sparsh Chauhan, both grade 10, each had one. Later in the week, the Eagles fell to Menlo 3-0. This Wednesday the team hosts Eastside Prep at 3 p.m. on Davis Field.
Girls Soccer
The girls Varsity soccer team dropped games to Sacred heart Prep and Castilleja last week. Lyndsey Mitchell, grade 11, scored the only goal for Harker. Come support the girls team as it takes on Notre Dame San Jose today on Davis Field at 3:30 p.m.
Wrestling
The Harker wrestling team traveled to Saratoga High last Thursday and, although they won five individual matches, the team lost 24-42. Kobe Howard, grade 9, and Davis Howard, grade 11, won by decision, and Diego Figueroa, grade 11, Anthony Contreras, grade 10, and Danny Reidenbach, grade 11, each won by fall. Later in the week at the Jim Root Tournament held at Prospect High, Davis Howard placed fifth in his weight class; he is currently ranked 19th in CCS in the 285-pound division.
MS Wrestling
Continuing his impressive run, Dezi Johnsen, grade 6, took home a first place trophy at the New Mexico National Wrestling Tournament in the 12-and-under, 130-pound division. Johnsen defeated wrestlers from New Mexico and Texas to earn the first place finish.
The Harker Conservatory opened 2016 with its Student Directed Showcase, which took place at the Blackford Theater Jan. 8-9. One of the most rigorous courses in the performing arts program, the Student Directed Showcase puts four seniors each in charge of putting on a one-act play. In addition to directing the play, the students are tasked with handling every stage of its production, from casting to promotion to visual effects.
In the aptly named “The Internet is Distract – OH LOOK A KITTEN!” directed by Mary Najibi, a student struggled to divert her attention away from the Internet’s many distractions while finishing a paper. Rachel Renteria directed Bradley Hayward’s “Selfie,” a story about high school students dealing with mounting pressures as they near the end of their senior year. “Cheating Death,” directed by Janet Lee, took audiences to a mental hospital, where patients tried to outwit the angel of death in an effort to save their friend. M.C. Smitherman directed “Final Dress Rehearsal,” which followed the cast and crew of an amateur theater group as they attempted to save their flagging production of “Cinderella.”
“The most important lesson I learned while directing was learning how to be kind while also being assertive. Into the process, I really found got into the groove of being a director by clearly vocalizing when I wanted the actors to give more or try the scene a new way,” said Najibi, also noting that being a director was “such an amazing experience and I am so honored to have had such an opportunity.”
This article originally appeared in the winter 2015 Harker Quarterly. Access the full issue, with live links, at Harker’s issuu.com page: http://issuu.com/theharkerschool/docs/harker_quarterly_winter_2015.
In fall 2009, upper school English teacher Pauline Paskali rented a van with the intention of driving to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland with four of her students. Paskali reached out to fellow English faculty member Jason Berry to see if he would go along. “’Of course!’ he said,” recalled Paskali.
Berry ended up driving all the way to Ashland and back. The students came back raving about their time at OSF, Paskali said. The following year, more than 20 students signed up. The most recent trip included 27, which is right around where Paskali would like to keep it.
“At the time, I was teaching Shakespeare,” she said, explaining the impetus for the trip. “And of course every time you teach Shakespeare, having the kids read and act out the lines makes it come alive for them, and helps them to understand what’s going on.”
Paskali thought it would be good for the students to see what Shakespeare’s words would be like when interpreted by professional actors in a professional setting: “I don’t know how much exposure some of our kids have to plays, so I think it gives them an opportunity to connect.”
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival was founded in 1935, but its beginnings go back to the Chautauqua adult education movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The first Chautauqua building in Ashland went up in 1893, and was later renovated to seat 1,500. It thrived for the next several years, attracting performers and speakers such as composer John Philip Sousa and politician William Jennings Bryan, according to the OSF website.
The Chautauqua building was replaced by a domed structure in 1917. It was torn down in 1933, about a decade after the Chautauqua movement fell into decline. Noting the similarities between the Chautauqua’s remaining walls and those of Elizabethan theaters, local teacher Angus L. Bowmer proposed holding a three-day festival at the site of the old Chautauqua building to coincide with Ashland’s Fourth of July festivities. The Oregon Shakespearean Festival gave its first show, a production of “Twelfth Night,” on July 2, 1935.
OSF now puts on 11 plays in its three theaters during its season, which runs from February to November. Although the works of Shakespeare are its namesake, the company has expanded to include works of other classic and contemporary playwrights. This most recent season featured the play “Sweat,” written by Lynn Nottage, whom OSF commissioned as part of its American Revolutions series of plays about decisive moments in American history.
“I can easily say that ‘Sweat’ is the best play I have ever seen,” senior Alex Henshall gushed. “Its profoundness and intelligent handling of its subject matter and the questions it raises affected me deeply.”
Kayvon Solaimanpour, grade 11, had a similar reaction. He described “Sweat” as “an amazing play about the struggles in an industrial town, jumping back and forth between 2000 and 2008. It left me thinking for a couple hours after having seen the play.”
In addition to contemporary plays, the students also enjoyed seeing Shakespeare come to life on stage.
“Before this journey, I knew little about Shakespeare and wasn’t super interested in his works,” Henshall said. “I had very seldom seen or read any of his works, mostly because I noticed a very real language barrier that hampered my enjoyment of his plays.”
Henshall, who has gone on the weekend trip for four years, saw rsthand how much can change when Shakespeare’s words move from the page to the stage.
“The performances and the ways in which the directors envision their productions of Shakespeare’s timeless plays always entertain me,” Henshall said. “I love asking myself, ‘I wonder what setting the director of ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ will use? What will the costumes be like? Will there be a modern interpretation or a classical flair?’”
“The ways in which the plays are presented affects the way in which you engage with them,” Paskali said.
In Paskali’s experience, the sojourn has a lasting effect on attending students. She recalled a moment when, days after the 2009 trip, Melinda Wang ’10 peeked into Paskali’s classroom and exclaimed, “I’m thinking in Shakespeare!”
After their first visit to OSF, students and alumni often return on their own. “People love story, they love performance,” said Paskali, “and they love that it comes alive to them and it speaks to them in a way that maybe a play on the page doesn’t.”
“Because I have an interest in literature, this trip [has allowed] me to experience it with a new perspective and has definitely made me more interested in reading, writing and enjoying literature,” said sophomore Stephanie Swanson, who this year went on her second Harker OSF trip.
An avid reader of Shakespeare, Swanson said she also enjoyed the opportunity to see OSF’s other offerings. “Seeing all of the plays, from ‘Antony and Cleopatra’ to ‘Guys and Dolls,’ getting to meet and understand some of the actors through discussions and workshops, and bonding with all of your fellow Shakespeare aficionados are just a few of the incredible opportunities offered on this trip, despite its short length,” she said.
Oregon Shakespeare Festival also offers an impressive array of educational programs, many of them run by OSF actors, who teach students critical elements of drama through hands-on activities. In an exercise meant to illustrate a concept from the archetypal narrative of “the hero’s journey,” students covered their eyes and allowed their fellow students to be their eyes and ears while walking around the room.
On a previous visit, students acted out a line from the “The Tempest” using movements and sounds, “trying to understand the play through those lenses,” Paskali recalled.
Incidentally, the journey to OSF can also make for a fun road trip. “The bus rides are as fun as you make it. I sat with a bunch of my friends and we played games, told stories and even tried to do a little homework,” said Solaimanpour. “To me, this goes to show that even if you are doing something you love, it is always better to do that same thing with your friends.”
Senior Dakota McNealy’s stellar golf career at Harker will come to an end this spring, but his future looks bright! McNealy recently signed on to play collegiate golf at Stanford, joining his brother Maverick McNealy ’13.
“I could not pass up the chance to get to be around so many outstanding people and play with my brother for a year on a great golf team,” said McNealy when asked why he chose Stanford. “Obviously playing with Maverick is going to be an awesome experience, but I’m also excited to focus solely on golf and academics.”
In an interview with Palo Alto Online, Stanford head coach Conrad Ray said, “We are excited to welcome Dakota McNealy to the Stanford family. He is amazing in the classroom, first and foremost, but also a tremendous athlete.” And it takes a tremendous athlete to play for the Stanford golf team, as it is currently ranked fifth in the nation.
Even though Dakota is excited about his future at Stanford, he is focused on finishing strong at Harker. “Playing for Harker has been a blast and I’m excited to see how far we can go this year,” he said.
Linked below are two of the many press notices on Dakota’s signing. Good luck this year and beyond, Dakota!
A project by seniors Jonathan Ma and Sadhika Malladi, titled “Systematic Analysis of Sex-Linked Molecular Alterations and Therapies in Cancer,” was recently published by Nature Scientific Reports. Nature, one of the world’s top science publications, uses its Scientific Reports website to publish original research to a wide audience. Every manuscript submitted to Scientific Reports is peer reviewed before being published and hosted on Nature.com, which is viewed by more than 8 million unique visitors per month.
In December the lower school hosted a festive and fun holiday cookie decorating event for parents. Coffee and a light breakfast was served. Parents had been asked to bring in gently used children’s clothing for donation to the lower school’s dress drive, to help make the holidays more special for kids in need in the community. The middle and upper schools held their cookie decorating events together at the upper school campus, with both parents and students invited to attend. An unexpected side benefit of the activity was that it proved to be a great stress reliever for the high school students, who were able to relax in between taking their finals. In fact, it was so effective that talks are already in the works to bring it back next year during finals!