The Harker Conservatory reached a milestone this past weekend, as this year’s spring musical, “42nd Street,” was the first to be held at the Rothschild Performing Arts Center. Set in 1930s New York, “42nd Street” is a classic yarn about showbiz dreams and behind-the-scenes drama, with all the dazzling music and choreography natural to a musical about a musical.
It was also a great choice for the first musical to take place in the new, state-of-the-art Patil Theater, outfitted with a stage large enough to hold what director Laura Lang-Ree termed “the embodiment of the genre.” The complex set pieces and captivating performances drew big audiences, which filled the Patil Theater nearly to capacity for two of the four showings.
The boys tennis team improved to 14-2 on the year as it defeated Crystal Springs Uplands 5-2 and 6-1 and The King’s Academy 6-1 last week. This week, the boys have the CCS qualifiers on Monday and Tuesday before beginning CCS on Wednesday.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team keeps on rolling as it picked up two more wins last week, bringing its season record to 19-3. The Eagles defeated Saratoga 3-2 and Mountain View 3-0. This week, Harker travels to Homestead on Wednesday and hosts Monta Vista on Friday. Maxpreps.com currently has Harker ranked No. 5 in the CCS.
Lacrosse
Last week, the lacrosse team defeated Carlmont 17-10 before falling to Los Gatos 21-5 later in the week. The 9-2 Eagles are currently ranked No. 8 in CCS by Maxpreps.com. This week, the ladies host Notre Dame Belmont on Tuesday and travel to Mercy Burlingame on Friday.
Congratulations to Elise Mayer, grade 11, on making the National Lacrosse Team, representing Northern California for the second year in a row. Over Memorial Day weekend, Mayer and her team will compete against the top 64 high school level regional teams in the country. Great work Elise!
Softball
The softball team dropped two games last week as it fell to Notre Dame Belmont 0-11 and Mercy Burlingame 5-11. Kristin LeBlanc, grade 12, had three hits against ND Belmont, and Cameron Zell, grade 11, and Molly Mobley, grade 9, each drove in two runs in the loss to Mercy. This week, the Eagles look to bounce back as they host Gunderson on Monday, travel to Crystal Springs Uplands on Tuesday and host The King’s Academy on Thursday.
Baseball
The baseball team started last week on fire with a 20-8 win over Crystal Springs Uplands. Luke Wancewicz, grade 9, led the offense with three hits and five RBIs, and Matthew Kennedy, grade 12, added a home run and three RBIs. However, later in the week, the Eagles fell to Pinewood 8-11, with Levi Sutton, grade 9, chipping in two hits and two RBIs. Finally, over the weekend, Harker visited Harbor High and fell 6-1. This week, the Eagles host Del Mar on Monday, travel to Westmoor on Tuesday and host Jefferson on Thursday.
Boys Golf
The boys golf team defeated Valley Christian 201-207 last week. This week, the Eagles will play at the Aptos High Golf Tournament on Monday and enjoy Senior Day on Tuesday against Sacred Heart Prep.
Swim
This Wednesday, the swim team will host The King’s Academy for Senior Day at the Singh Aquatic Center.
Track and Field
This Tuesday, the Harker track and field team travels to The King’s Academy for the final WBAL meet of the year.
At last month’s Synopsys Science & Technology Championship, Harker juniors Cameron Jones, Krish Kapadia, Anjay Saklecha and Ruhi Sayana were grand prize winners, which earned them a trip to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, to be held in Philadelphia in May. Junior Katherine Zhang, a grand prize alternate winner, was awarded a trip to the California Science & Engineering Fair in Los Angeles. Many more Harker students also were successful at the event, and Harker was named an outstanding school at both the middle and upper school levels. The full list of middle and upper school winners is as follows:
Upper School
Allison Jia, grade 10, $100 first prize, Morgan Lewis; second award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Ankita Kundu, grade 9, $100 first place, certificate of achievement and letter, Inez M. Lechner Award
Johnny Wang, grade 11, high school finalist certificate and Amazon.com gift certificate, Synopsys Outreach Foundation n+1 prize; honorable mention, certificate of achievement, Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC); first award, Physical Science and Engineering Category
Lizhi Yang, grade 11, high school finalist certificate and Amazon.com gift certficate, Synopsys Outreach Foundation n+1 prize; honorable mention, certificate of achievement, Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC); first award, Physical Science and Engineering Category
Sahil Jain, grade 10, ASEI Silicon Valley Emerging Technology certificate of achievement award and membership to American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin, American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin Award
Krish Kapadia, grade 11, grand prize (best of championship), Biological Sciences, trip to Intel ISEF and certificate, Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association, board of directors awards, high school; first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Anjay Saklecha, grade 11, grand prize (best of championship), Biological Sciences, trip to Intel ISEF and certificate, Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association, board of directors awards, high school; first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Sidra Xu, grade 9, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Russell Yang, grade 9, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Ruhi Sayana, grade 11, grand prize (best of championship), Biological Sciences, trip to Intel ISEF and certificate, Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association, board of directors awards, high school; $100 first prize, Morgan Lewis; first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Ayush Alag, grade 11, first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Cynthia Chen, grade 10, first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Cameron Jones, grade 11, grand prize (best of championship), Physical Sciences, trip to Intel ISEF and certificate, Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association, board of directors awards, high school; honorable mention student award, $50 and certificate of achievement, Association for Computing Machinery, San Francisco Bay Area Professional Chapter; first award, RRI Physical Science and Engineering Category
Kaushik Shivakumar, grade 11, Intel ECS certificate of achievement and forms to submit for $200, Intel Excellence in Computer Science Award
Katherine Zhang, grade 11, grand prize alternate, Biological Sciences, trip to state science fair and certificate, Santa Clara Valley Science & Engineering Fair Association, board of directors awards, high school; first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Amy Dunphy, grade 12, second award, Physical Science and Engineering Category
Swapnil Garg, grade 12, first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Michael Kwan, grade 12, ASEI Silicon Valley Emerging Technology certificate of achievement award and membership to American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin, American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin Award
Rajiv Movva, grade 12, second award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Katherine Tian, grade 11, first award, RRI Biological Science and Engineering Category
Zachary Clark, honorable mention, Physical Science and Engineering Category; honorable mention award, Popular Science magazine subscription and certificate of achievement, ASM International, A Society for Materials, Santa Clara Valley Chapter
Syna Gogte, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Kate Olsen, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Brandon Park, honorable mention, Physical Science and Engineering Category; honorable mention award, Popular Science magazine subscription and certificate of achievement, ASM International, A Society for Materials, Santa Clara Valley Chapter
Alice Feng, nominated to compete envelope, Broadcom MASTERS – 8th grade; first award, Physical Science and Engineering Category
Angela Gao, honorable mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Angela Jia, honorable mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Aaron Lo, honorable mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Anishka Raina, middle school cash award ($50) and letter of recognition, Northern California Institute of Food Technologists
Riyaa Randhawa, certificate of achievement, American Psychological Association
Liza Shchegrov, certificate of achievement, American Psychological Association
Arely Sun, nominated to compete envelope, Broadcom MASTERS – 8th grade; first award, Physical Science and Engineering Category
Zeel Thakkar, honorable mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Nicole Tian, honorable mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Thresiamma Vazhaeparambil, middle school cash award ($50) and letter of recognition, Northern California Institute of Food Technologists
Melody Yazdi, honorable Mention, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Akhilesh Chegu, nominated to compete envelope, Broadcom MASTERS – 8th grade; first award, Biological Science and Engineering Category; first place award, $125 and certificate of achievement, American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, Northern California Branch
Harsh Deep, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Shounak Ghosh, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Pranav Gupta, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Prakrit Jain, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Rishi Jain, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Ishaan Mantripragada, second award, Biological Science and Engineering Category
Deven Shah,nominated to compete envelope, Broadcom MASTERS – 8th grade; first award, Biological Science and Engineering Category; first place award, $125 and certificate of achievement, American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, Northern California Branch
The track and field team took on the entire WBAL last week at The King’s Academy with great results, including 25 personal bests. The boys 400-meter relay team posted a season-best time, ranking it No. 2 in the WBAL; Ayush Vyas, grade 11, set her personal best in the discus by 10 feet; and Marcus Tymous, grade 11, set the school record for a junior in the long jump. Later in the week, the Eagles competed at the Bearcat Invitational at San Mateo High School, where 18 more personal bests were set. Tymous set the junior school record in the long jump again; Kismet Singh, grade 10, nearly set the school record in the 100 hurdles; and Anna Weirich, grade 9, placed third in the 1,600. This week, the Eagles travel to Los Gatos for the CCS Top 8 event.
Lacrosse
The lacrosse team defeated Newark Memorial 13-6 last week, before being handed its first loss of the year as it fell to Mountain View 6-16. The 8-1 Eagles host Carlmont on Tuesday and Los Gatos on Wednesday before traveling to Sequoia on Friday.
Baseball
Last week, the baseball team split a home and away series with Mills. The week started with a 3-1, eight-inning win for the Eagles, in which Dominic Cea, grade 12, Matthew Kennedy, grade 12, and Nicholas Coulter, grade 9, each drove in a run. Later in the week, Mills upended Harker with a 12-3 win. This week, the Eagles host Crystal Springs Uplands on Tuesday and Pinewood on Thursday before traveling to Harbor on Saturday.
Swim
The Harker swim team hosted the WBAL Jamboree No. 3 last week. The boys team defeated Pinewood, Menlo and The King’s Academy, while the girls team defeated Menlo, Mercy Burlingame, Pinewood and The King’s Academy. Among the highlights, Vivian Wang, grade 12, placed first in the 200 free; Alyssa Huang, grade 10, took third in the girls 200 IM; Matthew Chung, grade 9, and Alex Yu, grade 11, went 1-2 in the boys 200 IM; Wang and Rhys Edwards, grade 9, won the boys and girls 50 free; the varsity boys swept the butterfly event, with Ethan Hu, grade 10, taking first; Andrew Chang, grade 9, won the 500 free; Hu and Yannick Bohbot-Dridi, grade 12, went 1-3 in the 100 breast; brother/sister combo Russell Yang, grade 9, and Jackie Yang, grade 10, went 1-2 in their 50 breast races.
Later in the week, the Eagles competed in the Palo Alto Sectional Challenge with some of the top swimmers in the area. Our group held its own with top placements from Wang, Hu and Chung and best-season times from Taylor Kohlmann, grade 12, and Angela Li, grade 11. The boys medley relay team of Edwards, Hu, Chung and Jason Kwok, grade 9, won its event and broke an 8-year-old school record and the girls relay team of Kohlmann, Angela Li, grade 11, Huang and Wang got its final relay cut time in the 200 free relay.
The swimmers are back in the pool at Singh Aquatic Center on April 25 for Senior Day against The King’s Academy.
Boys Tennis
The boys tennis team continued its dominating season as it defeated both Priory and Pinewood 7-0. This week, the 11-2 Eagles take on Crystal Springs Uplands on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and The King’s Academy on Thursday to finish up the regular season.
Boys Golf
Last week, the boys golf team continued to roll as it picked up two more wins. First, the Eagles defeated Sacred Heart Prep 181-209 with Jaimin Bhagat, grade 10, medaling with a 2-under-34. Later in the week, the boys defeated Mitty behind a 37 from Daulet Tuleubayev, grade 12. The Eagles take on Valley Christian on Thursday.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team improved to 17-3 with a 3-1 win over Cupertino and a 3-0 win over Lynbrook last week. This week, the boys host Saratoga on Wednesday and travel to Mountain View on Friday.
Softball
Last week, the softball team defeated El Camino 3-2 as Kristin LeBlanc, grade 12, and Cameron Zell, grade 11, each drove in a run and Anika Rajamani, grade 11, had three hits. However, the Eagles fell to Notre Dame San Jose 4-0 later in the week. This week, the Eagles host Notre Dame Belmont on Wednesday and travel to Mercy Burlingame on Thursday.
It is officially the Week of the Young Child, and Harker Preschool celebrated Tasty Tuesday by teaching about eating healthy and promoting physical fitness. On Tuesday afternoon, the students enjoyed activities and games, including Tug of War, bubble play, big blue blocks, parachute play and many races. Wednesday, students had the best of times with the simplest of toys: cardboard tubes and boxes! It’s great to be a young child at Harker Preschool!
Preschool students continue to revel in Week of the Young Child! On Thursday, the young ones had and art extravaganza that included sidewalk chalk drawing, finger painting, painting with brushes and spray bottles, and more.
The next day, Friday, grade 8 students from Harker’s Middle School Ecology Club came by for an Eco Buddies day. Among other activities, the students sang together, designed wind-powered helicopters, planted and germinated seeds, butyl bird feeders and learned about composting. The weather was beautiful and everyone had a great time!
Week of the Young Child is an annual celebration hosted by the National Association for the Education of Young Children to celebrate early learning, young children, teachers and families.
Last week, grade 4 students made their annual trek to Coloma, gaining insight into the lives of Gold Rush-era miners as they “made cornbread, did some old-fashioned laundry, made shelters and bartered at the general store,” reported Kristin Giammona, elementary division head. Naturally, the students also learned how to pan for gold, and some even managed to turn up gold flakes. Students finished the bulk of their first day activities in time to find cover from the rain and enjoy a brief hoedown and campfire chat. Coloma’s abundance of wonderful scenery was a real treat for the students, who hiked the Monroe Ridge and learned about the history of the area and how mining affected its environment and native population.
Huge congratulations to Suchita Nety ’13 and Angela Ma ’14 for being awarded 2018 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans!
This unique program honors 30 outstanding immigrants and children of immigrants who are pursuing graduate degrees in the United States. Each of the recipients, selected from more than 1,700 applicants, was chosen for his or her potential to make significant contributions to U.S. society, culture or his or her academic field. Recipients receive up to $90,000 in funding toward their education over two years.
Nety’s and Ma’s complete bios are on the website, but here is a quick summary of what these women have been doing since leaving Harker.
Ma’s award will support her in her pursuit of a Ph.D. in business economics at Harvard University. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard, has been editor-in-chief of the Harvard Economics Review and is a John Harvard Scholar. Ma was an avid ballet dancer while at Harker, and she danced, choreographed and was treasurer for the Harvard Ballet Company. She plans to become an economics professor and is interested in financial crisis management.
Nety will use the award to continue her work on a Ph.D. in biological engineering at MIT and an M.D. at Harvard. She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from CalTech and spent four years working with protein-based reporters for ultrasound imaging, and earned a number of accolades including the 2016 George W. Housner Prize for Academic Excellence and Original Research, the Arie J. Haagen-Smit Memorial Award and the Hallett Smith Prize for Essay Devoted to Shakespeare. Along with her academic efforts, Nety has volunteered at a literacy nonprofit, attained professional status in Bharatanatyam, a style of Indian classical dance, and choreographs hip-hop. Her goal is to work with patients as an oncologist and develop molecular tools to assist in cell-based therapies.
Four Harker upper school students and one middle school student have advanced to the third round of the USA Math Olympiad and Junior Math Olympiad, respectively. Sophomores Cynthia Chen, Rohan Cherukuri and Jeffrey Kwan, senior Swapnil Garg and eighth grader Rishab Parthasarathy were among the top 500 students from the roughly 75,000 who took the American Math Contest in February to qualify for the third round. The nine-hour test is taken over the course of two days. Top scorers will have the chance to represent the United States at the International Mathematical Olympiad, set to take place this summer in Romania.
The upper school robotics team is in Houston this week for the FIRST Championship, which includes teams from more than 60 countries. The team qualified after last month’s second place finish at the Sacramento Regional, held at the University of California, Davis, where it sailed through the seeding rounds into the quarterfinals. After winning a tie breaker to advance to the semifinals, the team had to make spot repairs to their robot’s elevator system to win another tie breaker. While the robot was too damaged to prevail in the finals, second place was enough to secure the team’s trip to Houston. Best of luck!
The policy debate duo of Anusha Kuppahally, grade 11, and Megan Huynh, grade 12, finished the season tied for fifth place in the nation! The tournament, hosted by the National Debate Coaches Association, was held in Atlanta last week. The team of Alan Hughes and Jacob Ohana, both grade 12, also had a nice finish in the double octofinals of the tournament.