Two teams of Harker students performed admirably at this past weekend’s Middle School Science Bowl regional competition. The first team, consisting of eighth graders David Dai, Harsh Deep, Shounak Ghosh, Rishab Parthasarathy and William Zhao, went undefeated throughout the competition and emerged as the winner, earning a trip to Washington, D.C., for the national finals. Team two, made up of seventh graders Rohan Bhowmik and Brian Chen, and eighth graders Mark Hu, Kailash Ranganathan and Aditya Tagore, advanced to the double elimination round after going 5-0 in the round robin portion of the event.
Both teams were coached by upper school students Leon Lu, Kaushik Shivakumar and Alexander Young, all grade 11; and sophomores Emily Liu and Kyle Li, all of whom participated in the Science Bowl as middle school students. With this victory and the upper school team’s previous regional win, Harker will send two teams to the Science Bowl national finals for the first time in Harker history!
The lower school celebrated the 2018 Chinese New Year on a brisk Friday morning, Feb. 23, as students enjoyed Chinese food served by Harker parents and learned how to make Chinese knots of various shapes. Classroom doors and other spots around the blacktop were decorated for the occasion. The event was a great way to welcome the Year of the Dog!
This past Saturday, 35 Harker upper school students, along with biology teacher Anita Chetty and Mandarin teacher Shaun Jahshan, visited the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge on an environmental service trip. Located in Alviso on the southern edge of the San Francisco Bay, the refuge is surrounded by uplands, marshes, salt ponds and a freshwater tidal slough. Students took a short walk along the trails and boardwalk and learned that Santa Clara Valley would flood without the refuge’s dikes and wetlands. They also learned about the animals and plants that make their homes in the bay wetlands, and saw a beautiful American kestrel up close, along with three huge white pelicans, other waterbirds and some very assertive Canada geese. Then the group worked in the upland garden area, removing invasive plants, building wire plant cages and planting and watering native plants.
“We are very fortunate in the Bay Area to have many groups and individuals who are passionate about preserving our beautiful natural open spaces,” said Spanish teacher Diana Moss, a member of Harker’s Green Committee. “The springtime is the perfect time to get out and explore them by hiking, biking or volunteering to help in their maintenance.”
Browser security is something nearly everyone is interested in, but Frank Wang ’08 and a team at MIT are doing something to improve it. The team has developed a tool called Veil that will help keep data safe by encrypting websites prior to viewing on the screen. The full story is available at news.mit.edu. Wang was kind enough to share a bit about Veil and his path since leaving Harker.
“Once I graduated from Harker,” Wang said, “I went to Stanford where I was heavily involved in residential life. Then, I went directly to MIT to do my Ph.D. in computer science focused on computer security. On the side, I am heavily involved in the entrepreneurship scene in Boston. I am part of a Rough Draft Ventures, a student-run venture initiative out of General Catalyst that funds student startups. I also started my own summer program, Cybersecurity Factory, for early-stage cybersecurity companies, with Highland Capital (read the Wired story). I am currently in the last year of my Ph.D. and figuring out what’s next.
“My passion is about building practical and secure web platforms. Veil fell into that classification, and I got really excited about it. The project started initially when James Mickens, now one of my co-advisors, visited while he still worked at Microsoft Research. We were both excited about web security and he had some ideas for improving private browsing, which led to this project. Then, he moved to Harvard, and we continued to work on this project, trying to make the web more secure.”
Wang was instrumental in the project’s development. “I was part of the whole process!” he said. “I did a lot of the work building the platform and brainstorming ideas. I also helped write the paper. I was the main spearhead behind the project as the first author.
“The most interesting part was actually building a system that ended up working. A lot of times in research, you work on a project, but the broader community is not as interested. All this press makes me more excited because it seems like people are really interested in my work.”
New York City-based brass combo Lucky Chops, currently in the middle of a national tour, stopped by the upper school for a special assembly performance of its brand of high-energy funk. The band played a series of original songs and a medley consisting of familiar pop tunes by artists including Blondie, the Spice Girls and Daft Punk reimagined and adapted to its boisterous style. Toward the end of the assembly, senior saxophonists Edgar Lin and Bobby Schick, junior saxophonists Donna Boucher, Rahul Goyal and Jacob Kim, and drummers Satchi Thockchom, grade 12, and Neil Ramaswamy, grade 11, were invited to join Lucky Chops for an impromptu jam session!
Last week, the boys basketball team began its postseason with a 60-54 win over Terra Nova, with Brando Pakel, grade 12, and Jack Connors, grade 10, each scoring 12 points. The Eagles then upset the No. 5 seed Pacific Grove 58-45 behind 16 points from Connors and another 14 points from Marcus Tymous, grade 11. However, the season came to an end as the boys fell to Carmel 54-69 in the quarterfinals. The Eagles end the season with a 13-14 record.
Boys Soccer
After an historic season for the boys soccer team, the Eagles were ranked No. 2 heading into the Division 2 playoffs. However, Santa Cruz High upset the boys with a stunning 2-1 last-minute win. The boys soccer team ends the year with an impressive 14-2-3 record.
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team fell to Pacific Grove 35-54 in the first round of the CCS playoffs, ending its season with a 9-12 record.
SPRING
Baseball
The baseball team opened the year with a 17-1 win over visiting San Jose High, followed by a 7-2 win over Trinity Christian. In the matchup with San Jose, Dominic Cea, grade 12, had three hits and two RBIs, with Matthew Kennedy, grade 12, driving in three runs, and freshmen Levi Sutton, Ellis Goldman and Luke Wancewicz each driving in two runs in their first high school game. Kennedy had three RBIs and Cea had three hits to lead the way again in the win over Trinity Christian. This week, the Eagles travel to Menlo on Tuesday, host Pinewood on Thursday and travel to Lincoln SF on Saturday.
Swim
The swim team opened its season last week against Monterey. The 200 medley relay team of Ethan Hu, grade 10, Matthew Chung, grade 9, Jason Kwok, grade 9, and Alex Yu, grade 11, won the event and made the first CCS cut of the season. Also, Chung swam the 200 freestyle in nearly record-breaking time. The swimmers will compete again on March 10 at the Small School Invitational at Sacred Heart Prep. On Saturday, the team competed at the Spring Kickoff at Palo Alto High, which saw many swimmers achieve CCS cut times. Vivian Wang, grade 12, 50 free (first place) and 100 free (first place); Hu, 100 fly (first place) and 100 back (second place); Chung, 200 IM (second place) and 100 breast (third place); Kwok, 100 breast (first place); and the varsity girls 400 free relay team of Taylor Kohlmann, grade 12, Betsy Tian, grade 9, Alyssa Huang, grade 10, and Wang.
Softball
The softball team gets things rolling on Wednesday as it travels to Palo Alto, followed by a trip to Crystal Springs Uplands on Friday.
Boys Golf
The boys golf team kicks off its season at the Cowboy Classic in Livermore this Wednesday.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team officially opens its season this Wednesday as players travel to Cupertino High. On Friday, the boys travel to Saratoga, followed by the Wilcox Tournament over the weekend.
Boys Tennis
The boys tennis team opens up its season with a busy week. The Eagles host Sacred Heart Prep on Tuesday, before traveling to Aragon on Wednesday and Nueva on Thursday.
Track and Field
The track and field team will get the season off and running at the Willow Glen Invitational this Saturday.
Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team opens up the 2018 season on March 6 by hosting Salinas High at 4 p.m.
Three Harker alumni were named to this year’s Forbes 30 Under 30 lists, which feature 600 young stars in 20 different industries. Siddarth Satish ’06, founder of Gauss Surgical in Cupertino, was selected in the health care category. Forbes noted, “Using the iPad’s built-in camera and computer vision algorithms, Siddarth Satish has developed an FDA-cleared app to monitor blood loss in the OR. It’s been used for thousands of patients to make childbirth safer. The company has raised $24.6 million.”
Chadwick Manning ’07, co-founder of ElectrIQ Power Inc. in Palo Alto, made the list in the energy category. ElectrIQ (pronounced “electric”) is an energy storage, monitoring and management company. It innovates integrated hardware and intelligent software solutions to help homeowners and small businesses access more affordable and sustainable electricity, Manning explained.
Following his appointment to the Forbes list, Manning noted “success is a road always under construction. You fail many more times than you succeed. The ones who make it typically aren’t the most intelligent, but they are the ones that have true grit, they admit when they’re wrong and change course, and they surround themselves with passionate, trusting people with complementary skill sets.” When he’s away from the office, Manning gets outdoors and travels as much as possible. “Hiking, skateboarding, biking, tennis and golfing are my favorites,” he said.
Meghana Dhar ’06 is director of retail partnerships for B8ta, located in San Francisco, and is a Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree in the retail and e-commerce category. Her Forbes profile notes, “The eBay alum is responsible for opening 700 stores for B8ta by 2018. The company launches brick and mortar stores for trendy tech products and provides them with customer engagement and interaction data.”
Aditi Ghalsasi, grade 10, contributed to this report
A group of young women from Harker attended the Watermark Conference for Women at the San Jose Convention Center on Feb. 23. More than 6,500 people attended the sold-out conference for women professionals.
The conference provided several networking and learning opportunities for female high school students. As part of the Young Women’s Program, the girls were able to attend a variety of workshops ranging from body positivity to life after high school graduation. The students also had the opportunity to observe two phenomenal keynote sessions with speakers Amal Clooney, Reese Witherspoon, and Jodi Kantor, who spoke about their personal experiences and about the role of women in the workplace.
Aliesa Bahri, grade 12, commented, “there were lots of great mentors and inspiring speakers that made it a genuinely amazing conference for me; especially Amal Clooney because she’s one of my personal heroes, and I am interested in law.”
Senior Melissa Kwan said, “I’ve never been in a room with that many people that care so much about equality and are willing to express their opinions on it. It was awesome to hear all the applause after all the points the speakers were making. Someone would say it’s time for equality in the workplace and everyone would stand up clapping.”
“The event featured speakers, workshops and exhibitors to empower, connect and inspire women from all over the Silicon Valley,” noted Juston Glass, business and entrepreneurship teacher. “This is a great CareerConnect event and opportunity for our young women to expand their network and skills in areas including personal branding, setting and achieving goals, communications, negotiations, leadership and organizational excellence,” he added.
Four Harker fencers traveled to Memphis, Tenn., over the Presidents Week break to compete in the 2018 Junior Olympics Fencing Championships.
Nerine Uyanik and Sana Pandey, both grade 10, and Ethan Choi and Kishan Sood, both grade 9, made the trip.
Uyanik competed in cadet women’s foil on Saturday against 213 other women from across the United States, going 4-2 in pools, seeding 76th into the direct elimination table.
She got a bye in the round of 264, then faced the 52nd seed who she flipped 15-13 to advance into the 64. Uyanik then toed the line versus the 12th seed and fought her to time, but lost 11-9 (bouts go to 15 touches over three 3-minute periods), ending up 59th, a very respectable finish.
The previous day Uyanik joined two club mates from the San Francisco Fencing Club to take fourth place out of 12 teams. In that event, SFFC No. 2 women dominated the Mt. Airy/Wallingford Swarthmore Panthers 45-6 to advance to the next round where they faced SFFC No. 1 women, the “A” team from their own club. SFFC No. 2, including Uyanik, threw a twist into the universe when they beat their club mates 45-41 in a brutal match that saw Uyanik’s team take an immediate slim lead and hold it through most of the match to bring in a 45-41 victory. They then faced Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy, the eventual gold medalists, where they kept the fight tight, but lost 36-30 when time expired.
Finally, on Monday, Uyanik competed in the junior women’s foil event, including fencers up to age 19, where she split her pool 3-3, seeding 101st into the elimination table. She ran up against a tough opponent in her first direct elimination round and lost 15-8, finishing 136th out of 233 starters. Uyanik has qualified for JOs for three consecutive years and is a “B-rated” fencer (ratings run A-E, plus U for unrated, based on tournament results).
Pandey, grade 10, fenced in cadet and junior women’s epee events, Friday and Sunday, respectively. Pandey reached a milestone in December when she earned her “C” rating at the local JO qualifiers. This was Pandey’s first JOs and only her third national event, so she encountered a steep learning curve, as well as faced the eventual gold and bronze medal winners in her juniors pool, thus did not advance out of pools in either event. Pandey fences for International Fencing Academy.
Choi, grade 9, also attended the JOs, fencing in cadet and junior men’s foil events. In the cadet event, Choi seeded 50th out of 287 fencers and split his pool 3-3, losing each bout by two touches, so only six touches away from a perfect pool, thus dropping to 137 seed going into the elimination table. In his first elimination round, Choi flipped the 120th seed 15-9 to make the table of 132, then lost to a local powerhouse from Santa Rosa 15-8 to finish 116th.
In the junior event, Choi seeded 223 out of 282 starters. He started off with a very solid 4-2 record in pools, seeding 113th into the elimination table, but dropped his first elimination bout, so ended up 149th in juniors. Choi is a D-rated fencer and fences for Massialas Fencing Team.
Sood, grade 9, also fenced in cadet men’s foil, splitting his pool 3-3 to advance to direct eliminations in the 152nd slot. Matched up with the 105th seed, Sood fought a very tough fight, taking the score to 14-14 before his opponent made the final touch. In the final standings, Sood stood 162 out of 287 starters, a solid finish in that age bracket. Sood has an E rating and fences for California Fencing Academy, as does his sister, Ishani, grade 6.
Pandey and Uyanik are co-presidents of the Harker Fencing Club, which meets Tuesdays and Thursdays in either the atrium or auxiliary gym.
Four Harker fencers traveled to Memphis, Tenn., over the Presidents Week break to compete in the 2018 Junior Olympics Fencing Championships.
Nerine Uyanik and Sana Pandey, both grade 10, and Ethan Choi and Kishan Sood, both grade 9, made the trip.
Uyanik competed in cadet women’s foil on Saturday against 213 other women from across the United States, going 4-2 in pools, seeding 76th into the direct elimination table.
She got a bye in the round of 264, then faced the 52nd seed who she flipped 15-13 to advance into the 64. Uyanik then toed the line versus the 12th seed and fought her to time, but lost 11-9 (bouts go to 15 touches over three 3-minute periods), ending up 59th, a very respectable finish.
The previous day Uyanik joined two club mates from the San Francisco Fencing Club to take fourth place out of 12 teams. In that event, SFFC No. 2 women dominated the Mt. Airy/Wallingford Swarthmore Panthers 45-6 to advance to the next round where they faced SFFC No. 1 women, the “A” team from their own club. SFFC No. 2, including Uyanik, threw a twist into the universe when they beat their club mates 45-41 in a brutal match that saw Uyanik’s team take an immediate slim lead and hold it through most of the match to bring in a 45-41 victory. They then faced Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy, the eventual gold medalists, where they kept the fight tight, but lost 36-30 when time expired.
Finally, on Monday, Uyanik competed in the junior women’s foil event, including fencers up to age 19, where she split her pool 3-3, seeding 101st into the elimination table. She ran up against a tough opponent in her first direct elimination round and lost 15-8, finishing 136th out of 233 starters. Uyanik has qualified for JOs for three consecutive years and is a “B-rated” fencer (ratings run A-E, plus U for unrated, based on tournament results).
Pandey, grade 10, fenced in cadet and junior women’s epee events, Friday and Sunday, respectively. Pandey reached a milestone in December when she earned her “C” rating at the local JO qualifiers. This was Pandey’s first JOs and only her third national event, so she encountered a steep learning curve, as well as faced the eventual gold and bronze medal winners in her juniors pool, thus did not advance out of pools in either event. Pandey fences for International Fencing Academy.
Choi, grade 9, also attended the JOs, fencing in cadet and junior men’s foil events. In the cadet event, Choi seeded 50th out of 287 fencers and split his pool 3-3, losing each bout by two touches, so only six touches away from a perfect pool, thus dropping to 137 seed going into the elimination table. In his first elimination round, Choi flipped the 120th seed 15-9 to make the table of 132, then lost to a local powerhouse from Santa Rosa 15-8 to finish 116th.
In the junior event, Choi seeded 223 out of 282 starters. He started off with a very solid 4-2 record in pools, seeding 113th into the elimination table, but dropped his first elimination bout, so ended up 149th in juniors. Choi is a D-rated fencer and fences for Massialas Fencing Team.
Sood, grade 9, also fenced in cadet men’s foil, splitting his pool 3-3 to advance to direct eliminations in the 152nd slot. Matched up with the 105th seed, Sood fought a very tough fight, taking the score to 14-14 before his opponent made the final touch. In the final standings, Sood stood 162 out of 287 starters, a solid finish in that age bracket. Sood has an E rating and fences for California Fencing Academy, as does his sister, Ishani, grade 6.
Pandey and Uyanik are co-presidents of the Harker Fencing Club, which meets Tuesdays and Thursdays in either the atrium or auxiliary gym.