Harker’s middle school competed at six tournaments in two states (California and Texas) during December and January. Here is the review of their success. Our middle school students primarily compete against high school students, so success is by no means guaranteed.
College Prep (Oakland)
In mid-December, 37 schools from six states representing 106 entries competed in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Three Harker middle school students competed. You can view the picture album here.
University of Houston
From Jan. 12-13, 58 schools from five states representing 312 entries competed in speech and debate events. Five Harker middle school students competed. You can view the picture album here.
Program Oral Interpretation
4th – Zubin Khera, grade 7
Intramural No. 3 (Harker Middle School)
On Jan. 17, about 50 Harker middle schools students competed in four distinct events and received the following awards. You can view the picture album here.
Speech (Impromptu)
1st – Madeleine Hansen, grade 8
Public Forum
1st – Carol Wininger and Deeya Viradia, both grade 7
Lincoln-Douglas
1st – Rahul Santhanam, grade 7
Policy Speaker Awards
1st – Ansh Sheth, grade 6
Intro (6th Graders Only)
1st – Adam Sayed
2nd – Meishin Yen
3rd – Andrew Tang
4th – Sathvik Chundru
5th – Brittany Tsui
6th – Arjun Gurjar
7th – Anika Mantripragada
Intro Speaker Awards (6th Graders Only)
1st – Sathvik Chundru
2nd – Adam Sayed
3rd – Brittany Tsui
4th – Gautam Bhooma
Harvard-Westlake School (Los Angeles)
From Jan. 13-15, 65 schools from 10 states representing 201 entries competed in Lincoln-Douglas Debate. Eight Harker middle school students competed. You can view the picture album here.
Palos Verdes Peninsula High School (Los Angeles area)
From January 19-21, 82 schools from five states representing 347 entries competed in debate and speech events. About a dozen Harker middle school students competed, and a few received awards. You can view the picture album here.
Policy Debate Varsity
5th – Deven Shah, grade 8, and Julia Biswas, grade 9 (quarterfinalists).
Policy Debate Varsity Speaker Awards
3rd – Deven Shah
Milpitas High School (Milpitas)
From Jan. 27-28, 45 schools in California representing 477 entries competed in debate and speech events. About 70 Harker middle school students competed, and a few received awards. You can view the picture album here.
International Extemporaneous
5th – Ramit Goyal, grade 6
Original Prose & Poetry
5th – Cecilia Yang, grade 6
Original Oratory
9th – Nila Dharmaraj (semifinalist), grade 6
Public Forum Varsity
9th – Aaditya Gulati and Dhruv Shoji (octofinalist), both grade 8
9th – Yejin Song and Alina Yuan (octofinalist), both grade 8
Public Forum Varsity Speaker Awards
2nd – Yeijin Song
Public Forum Novice
22nd – Desiree Luo and Angelina Zhu (3-2 record), both grade 6
29th – Elvis Han and Muthiah Panchanatham (3-2 record), both grade 8
41st – Cynthia Wang and Emma Gao (3-2 record), both grade 6
43rd – Sriram Bhimaraju and Gautam Bhooma (3-2 record), both grade 6
45th – Jeremy Ko and Vishnu Veeravalli (3-2 record), both grade 7
Swapnil Garg, grade 12, has been invited to participate in the Romanian Masters of Mathematics competition in Bucharest. The invitation to participate is based on a series of tests, called the team selection test (TST) or team selection exam (TSE); these tests are given to top finishers in the USA Mathematical Olympiad (ASAMO) and ultimately determine the national team for the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO).
To even qualify to take the TST, a student must first do exceptionally well on the American Mathematics Competition. He or she is then invited to participate in the American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME), followed by the USAMO and Junior Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO and USAJMO).
The top students from the USAJMO are invited to participate in the Mathematical Olympiad Program the summer after the exam. Those students are then eligible to be selected for the six-member team that will represent the United States at the IMO the following summer.
Garg will travel to Bucharest with three teammates and two adults; the group departs Feb. 20. Attending the Romanian Masters Mathematics competition is a huge honor! Good luck Swapnil! See all participants here.
Last week, the girls basketball team picked up a 63-29 win over Crystal Springs Uplands before falling to Notre Dame San Jose 28-38. In the win over the Gryphons, Akhila Ramgiri, grade 11, led the scoring with 15 points. This week, the Eagles travel to Mercy SF on Tuesday and host Castilleja on Thursday.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team stayed undefeated at 11-0-2 after a 4-1 win over Eastside College Prep and a 6-0 win over Woodside Priory last week. On Wednesday, the Eagles host Crystal Springs Uplands, followed by a trip to Sacred Heart Prep on Friday.
Girls Soccer
Last week, the girls soccer team fell to Mercy Burlingame 0-3 before defeating Eastside College Prep 1-0 later in the week. This week, the Eagles host Mercy SF on Tuesday before traveling to Pinewood on Thursday.
Boys Basketball
Last week, the boys basketball team went 1-1 in league play. Early in the week, the Eagles fell to Sacred Heart Prep 39-52, with Richard Wang, grade 11, leading the offense with 10 points. Later in the week, the boys defeated Crystal Springs Uplands 83-36. Jarrett Anderson, grade 11, led the scoring with 21 points, with Jack Connors, grade 10, adding 15 points. This week, the 9-9 Eagles travel to Woodside Priory on Tuesday and Eastside College Prep on Friday.
On Wednesday, grade 3 students celebrated Dress for History Day by wearing costumes inspired by modes of dress from different cultures and historical periods. The costumes, each made by a student on a small budget, were worn throughout the school day and included miners, hippies and Civil War veterans.
“The idea behind Dress for History Day is to give students the opportunity to explore the past in a different way and to use their creative problem-solving skills to come up with a costume,” said history teacher Heidi Gough, who started the annual project in 2009.
Students were given their choice of any historical period and used their creativity and knowledge of that period’s dress to create a costume without spending more than $10. They also were asked to be ready to explain the history behind the outfits they made.
“I believe strongly in giving students choice in how they learn and what they do, both to develop creativity and keep curiosity at the forefront of learning whenever possible,” Gough said. “This seemed like a fun way to do that.”
To see how Harker makes history come alive throughout the school, check out the Harker Magazine article published last summer!
This season has been incredible for the Harker speech and debate team, particularly in original oratory competitions. Throughout the season, at tournaments from Southern California to South Florida, three Harker students stood out among the nation’s very best.
For these competitions, students write, memorize and perform a 10-minute speech on a topic of their choice. The performance is highly choreographed and revised multiple times during the season.
For much of the season, Avi Gulati, grade 10, has been the top ranked orator in the nation. He has been consistently featured in the finals of a number of tournaments, including Glenbrooks and Blue Key. Gulati’s speech is about mimicry and the risks of conformity.
Haris Hosseini, grade 11 also has held the No. 1 ranking. In his first year of competition, he was crowned champion at the prestigious Blue Key tournament and has been a finalist elsewhere. Hosseini’s speech is about the problems with toxic masculinity.
Over the course of his illustrious six years of competition, Nikhil Dharmaraj, grade 11, has amassed numerous awards. Recently, he gave finalist performances at tournaments including ASU and Sunvitational. Dharmaraj’s speech is on the enchantment and magic of everyday life.
These three are not the only students who have achieved success in original oratory. Meghna Phalke, grade 11, made it to elimination rounds twice, and in January, while Alycia Cary, grade 11, took first place at the Milpitas League tournament.
“It is pretty exciting for all of these students to be legitimately competing for the national championship in June,” said Scott Odekirk, speech and debate teacher. “I think it is even more exhilarating for them that some of their primary competition is sitting next to them in their speech class.”
Harker earned a gold award in the branding category for its entry, titled “Harker Athletic Branding Program,” in this year’s District VII CASE Awards of Excellence! The silver winners in the category were both universities: the University of California, Davis, for its campus recreation “Come as You Are” branding campaign, and University of California, San Diego, for its “Continue the Nontradition” branding campaign. The fact that Harker beat out two universities for the top award speaks directly to the caliber of work at Harker.
The two-year effort was spearheaded by the Harker Office of Communication’s in-house designer, Becky McCartney. “Becky was especially resolute in finalizing the brand and helping to execute it across all uses, including uniforms, locker rooms and gear,” noted Pam Dickinson, director of the Office of Communication.
Ken Toyama, a graphic designer who has worked extensively with Harker in the past, contributed substantially to the effort, working on illustration and production under McCartney’s direction.
“It was an organized, thorough process in which our Office of Communication listened to our athletic department’s goals and philosophy,” said Dan Molin, upper school athletic director. “From there emerged a wonderful visual brand that our high school athletes and prospective students will recognize as a brand of excellence, as is the case with all Harker programs.”
“Along with the new Athletics Center, the new athletic branding is top notch and demonstrates the level of excellence we are striving to attain,” added Theresa “Smitty” Smith, varsity volleyball coach, and lower and middle school athletic director. “We are proud of the efforts that have gone into the gym and the branding, and the excitement amongst our student-athletes is palpable. They are now even more proud to wear the gear and represent the Harker sports program.”
In their congratulatory letter, CASE judges noted Harker’s “excellent work stood out among the best. One of our objectives is to share best practices among our colleagues, and your efforts will be recognized as an example for others to emulate. Thank you for producing the kind of work that brings respect to our profession.”
As a gold award winner, the entry will now be considered for a grand gold award, “given to the truly ground-breaking work in the category.” Those awards will be announced in March at the Awards of Excellence luncheon in San Francisco.
By Radhika Jain, director of communications for Harker DECA
The weekend of Jan. 5-7, 81 students from The Harker School DECA chapter competed at the 2018 Silicon Valley Career Development Conference (SVCDC) at the Santa Clara Marriott. In total, Harker performed admirably, with 48 teams as overall finalists and 14 top three winners.
“This year’s SVCDC was my last regional conference as a member of the chapter, so I’m very happy with how successful it was,” said Shreyas Chandrashekaran, grade 12, Harker DECA’s co-CEO, who earned first place in marketing management team decision making. “I am definitely going to miss the people and the Silicon Valley organization, and it was definitely great to see many Harker teams have the opportunity to get recognized on stage.”
Members placing in the top 10 are as follows:
First Place
• Erin Liu, grade 11, Business Growth Plan
• Shreyas Chandrashekaran and Vignesh Panchanatham, both grade 12, Marketing Management
Team Decision Making
• Bryan Wang, grade 10, Retail Merchandising Individual Series
• Enya Lu, grade 11, and Alyssa Huang, grade 10, Finance Team Decision Making
• Aditya Singhvi, grade 9, Principles of Finance
• Mahi Kolla, grade 10, Entrepreneurship Individual Series
Second Place
• Bryan Wang and David Feng, both grade 10, Finance Operations Research
• Evan Cheng, grade 10, Business Services Marketing Individual Series
• Nishka Ayyar and Riya Gupta, both grade 11, Business Law and Ethics Team Decision Making
Third Place
• Claire Luo, grade 9, Financial Consulting Event
• Claire Luo, grade 9, Principles of Finance
• Aditi Ghalsasi, grade 10, Principles of Hospitality and Tourism
• Michelle Si, grade 9, Principles of Business Management and Administration
• Helen Yang, grade 11, Business Services Marketing Individual Series
Fourth Place
• Aditi Ghalsasi, grade 10, Advertising Campaign
• Nikhil Sharma and Arnav Joshi, both grade 10, Business Law and Ethics Team Decision Making
• Rishi Dange, Evan Cheng and Martin Bourdev, all grade 10, Buying and Merchandising
Operations Research
• Shania Wang and Kelsey Wu, both grade 11, Independent Business Plan
• Mahi Kolla, grade 10, Start-Up Business Plan
• Rakesh Nori and Jeffrey Liu, both grade 10, Hospitality Services Team Decision Making
• Ashna Chandra, grade 12, Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling
• Nicholas Yi, grade 9, Principles of Finance
• Natasha Yen, grade 9, Principles of Hospitality and Tourism
Fifth Place
• Karan Bhasin and Benjamin Gicqueau, both grade 9, Advertising Campaign
• Nikhil Sharma and Arnav Joshi, both grade 10, Business Services Operations Research
• Richard Hu, grade 10, Business Services Marketing Individual Series
• Andrew Lu, grade 9, Financial Consulting Event
• Ashna Chandra, grade 12, Quick Serve Restaurant Management Individual Series
• Chandan Aggarwal and Naveen Mirapuri, both grade 10, Sports and Entertainment Marketing
Team Decision Making
Sixth Place
• Rishi Dange, grade 10, Accounting Applications Individual Series
• Alyssa Huang, Anu Selvaraj and Radhika Jain, all grade 10, Buying and Merchandising
Operations Research
• Suraj Pakala and Sayon Biswas, both grade 11, Start-Up Business Plan
• Larissa Tyagi, grade 10, International Business Plan
• Lisa Barooah, grade 10, Principles of Finance
• Ronit Gagneja and Zara Vakath, both grade 10, Sports and Entertainment Marketing Team
Decision Making
• Shania Wang and Kelsey Wu, both grade 11, Travel and Tourism Team Decision Making
Seventh Place
• Shreyas Chandrashekaran, grade 12, Business Services Operations Research
• Anu Selvaraj, grade 10, Entrepreneurship Individual Series
• Michelle Si, grade 9, Financial Consulting Event
• Anay Karwal, grade 10, Fashion Merchandising Promotion Plan
• Max Lee, grade 10, Sports and Entertainment Marketing Individual Series
Eighth Place
• Stephanie Shen and Jacqueline Au, both grade 9, Buying and Merchandising Operations Research
• Helen Zhu, grade 9, Innovation Plan
• David Feng, grade 10, Marketing Communications Individual Series
• Elaine Zhai, grade 9, Principles of Business Management and Administration
• Zoe Kister, grade 9, Principles of Hospitality and Tourism
• Allison Jia, grade 10, Retail Merchandising Individual Series
• Sidhnarth Dudyala, grade 10, Sports and Entertainment Marketing Individual Series
Ninth Place
• Claire Luo, grade 9, Financial Consulting Event
• Jessie Wang, grade 10, Personal Financial Literacy
• Chandan Aggarwal and Naveen Mirapuri, grade 10, Sports and Entertainment Promotion Plan
10th Place
• Nishka Ayyar and Riya Gupta, grade 11, Independent Business Plan
• Jessie Wang, grade 10, Financial Consulting Event
• Andrew Lu, grade 9, Principles of Hospitality and Tourism
• Gowtham Irrinki, grade 9, Principles of Marketing
• Vignesh Panchanatham, grade 12, Professional Selling Event
• Ramanand Vegesna, grade 10, Sports and Entertainment Marketing Individual Series
On Friday during lunch, Harker DECA members and chaperones commuted via shuttle to the Santa Clara Marriott, where they would stay and compete for the remainder of the conference. While students were waiting for their conference packets and hotel rooms, the Harker DECA officer team catered Jamba Juice for all students to enjoy. After attendees settled into their rooms, testing session immediately began and carried on for the remainder of the day. Afterward, members and chaperones attended the opening ceremony, and some members of the chapter also performed on stage in SV Factor, the annual talent show. Saturday was filled with nervous energy, as all teams competed in their written and role-play events. Students were busy throughout the day, practicing their events and receiving last-minute feedback from officers and mentors.
“This was my first time competing in a DECA conference, and it was definitely stressful, but surreal,” said Aditi Ghalsasi, grade 10, who earned third place in Principles of Hospitality and Tourism. “I’m really excited for the next conference, where I have the opportunity to perform better.” Aside from competitions, Enya Lu, grade 11, vice president of competitions and strategy and first place winner in Finance Team Decision Making, spent the day campaigning as a candidate for the vice president for Silicon Valley. Many attendees also took time out of their day to assist Lu in campaigning. After a tough day of competitions, students had time to relax and grab dinner with their friends. In the evening, attendees also had the chance to attend the DECA Dance, where they were able to network with other members from different schools and unwind after a busy day.
In preparation for SVCDC, Harker DECA held weekly study sessions in the Innovation Center on Fridays and occasional Saturdays. At these sessions, students were able to practice their role plays in front of an officer, get feedback on their written presentations and plans, and take exams. The conference came to a close on Sunday morning at the awards ceremonies. At the Mini Awards, Harker performed extremely well, with a total of 53 teams placing. “Having the chance to get on stage and see the attendees for the entire conference was nerve-wracking, but definitely amazing,” said Anu Selvaraj, grade 10, a finalist in Entrepreneurship Individual Series Event and Buying and Merchandising Operations Research. “I did not expect to finalize in my events, so I was definitely proud of me and my partners.” After the Mini Awards, conference attendees and chaperones were served breakfast in the California Ballroom. They also congratulated new friends on their success and prepared for the exciting Grand Awards Session, where Harker DECA continuously placed students in the top eight.
After the Grand Awards, the election results for the new 2018-19 DECA vice president of Silicon Valley was announced. The whole Harker DECA chapter was ecstatic when they realized Lu had won the position. Her term will commence in March, where she will be recognized at the California State Career Development Conference (SCDC) in Anaheim. “I was definitely not expecting this win, and I am very thankful for the entire Harker DECA chapter for their support,” said Lu. “I would have never imagined being elected as the new VP of Silicon Valley, and I am thrilled to be starting my term in March.”
Overall, this year’s SVCDC was a huge success for the entire Harker DECA Chapter. The officer team is immensely proud of all competitors for the hard work they put in to their events. Not only were they able to experience a competitive environment, they were also able to meet new people and learn valuable new lessons.
“As a chapter advisor, it’s really fulfilling and achieving to see your students get recognized on stage,” said Michael Acheatel, Harker DECA chapter advisor. “No matter the outcome of the conference, the students gave it their all, and they really proved their professionalism.” In preparation for the California SCDC in March, Harker DECA encourages all members to attend the weekly study sessions. Go Eagles!
Harker DECA is an international competitive business organization that prepares emerging leaders and
entrepreneurs in four fields of business: marketing, finance, hospitality and management. Our DECA chapter integrates classroom instruction, applies learning, connects to business and promotes competition in order to prepare the next generation to be academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible and experienced leaders.
To learn more about this story, please contact: Radhika Jain, director of communications, 20RadhikaJ@students.harker.org. www.harkerdeca.org.
Last week, seven of this year’s Near-Mitra scholars – seniors Andrew Semenza, Amy Jin, Derek Yen, Emily Chen, Nirban Bhatia and Jackie He – visited the Stanford Humanities Center, which sponsors research into human history, arts, philosophy and culture. The students received a tour of the facility and met with the Hume Humanities Honors fellows. Each year, eight Stanford seniors are selected for the year-long fellowship.
Donna Gilbert, upper school history department chair, said the trip was made “to foster and facilitate a conversation and collaboration between our two programs.” Gilbert also identified a desire to discover how the fellows and Harker’s scholars have had similar experiences during their research and use those experiences to develop “best practices” in humanities research.
The idea to have the students meet with the Hume fellows was spurred by upper school English teacher Beth Wahl, who worked at the Stanford Humanities Center for several years. “It made sense to try to connect Harker’s Near-Mitra scholars to undergraduates doing humanities research and set up a conversation about research methods, the range of projects that fall under the humanities and the value of a humanities major,” Wahl told Harker Aquila.
Congratulations to seniors Rajiv Movva and Justin Xie, who today officially became finalists in the 2018 Regeneron Science Talent Search! They will both be headed to Washington, D.C., in March for final judging to compete for a grand prize of $250,000. During the trip, the students will also have their work shown to the public and meet with distinguished scientists. As finalists, Movva and Xie will each be awarded a minimum of $25,000.
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Jan. 9, 2018
The Society for Science & the Public announced today that six Harker seniors were among the top 300 in the 2018 Regeneron Science Talent Search, tying with Lynbrook High School for the most students qualifying from a single school in California. Amy Dunphy, Amy Jin, Jimmy Lin, Rajiv Movva, Eleanor Xiao and Justin Xie are now eligible to be among the 40 finalists who will head to Washington, D.C., in March for the final stage of the competition.
Each of the top 300 scholars will receive a $2,000 prize, with an additional $2,000 donated to each of their respective schools. The finalists will be announced on Jan. 23.
DECA Direct, the national newsletter for DECA, announced today that the Harker team has won the 2018 Herff Jones Marketing Results Challenge in Houston. The challenge was to create marketing campaigns to increase yearbook awareness and sales on campus. Team members are DECA member Vignesh Panchanatham, grade 12, and Sharon Yan, grade 12, TALON managing editor and Devanshi Mehta, grade 11, TALON seniors editor, who joined DECA to participate in the challenge.
The Harker team prepared a video highlighting methods and results that won over the Herff Jones executives who judged finalists at the 2018 Herff Jones International Sales Conference. The team will receive $5,000 for travel to the DECA International Career Development Conference in Atlanta where it will be recognized on stage.
Team members all gained insights to the world of print production and distribution.
“I’ve been on the yearbook staff for four years since the first day of my freshman year,” said Yan, “and I’ve seen how much the journalism program has grown and changed and all the innovation and improvement that’s happened inside the journalism program with our whole process and staff.
The hardest part of this project was consolidating all of the data and analyzing it in order to present concrete numbers about our program’s growth in sales over the last five years,” Yan added. “We included significant multimedia in our presentation, such as examples of completed articles and videos from our Humans of Harker project as well as other short yearbook videos we displayed at weekly school meetings to be more transparent with the student body. In the formal presentation, we also featured examples of dynamic pages from this year’s book to demonstrate how inclusive and thorough our coverage of school-wide events is and how the yearbook staff is experiencing an upwards trend in writing quality and photographic expertise.”
Mehta was interested in the business process. “I hadn’t fully realized just how much “business” a yearbook comprises,” he said. “Even though the process of creating a book requires writing and photos and design, the path to getting that book into the hands of the community is all about marketing strategy and public relations. I’ve really learned more about how yearbook is both a student publication and a business through this project.”
Panchanatham concurred. “I’ve gained a “behind-the-scenes” view of how the yearbook really comes together, which has made me more aware of the work and care that the staff puts into the yearbook each year,” he noted.
Be sure to congratulate the team members! Check out the DECA press release! and here’s a link to the winners’ video.
Dec. 15, 2017
DECA members Devanshi Mehta, grade 11 and Sharon Yan, grade 12, TALON yearbook staff members, and Vignesh Panchanatham, grade 12, DECA member, are finalists in the 2017 Herff Jones Marketing Results Challenge. Herff Jones produces class rings, yearbooks and other academic memorabilia. DECA and Harker’s upper school Talon team are collaborating in the contest, focusing on business aspects of the yearbook.
Herff Jones will fly the finalists to Houston to present their analysis, methodology and results to Herff Jones executives. After the presentations, Herff Jones will choose a single winning team and will award a $5,000 travel prize to help cover that team’s expenses to the International Career Development Conference in Atlanta for general-session recognition.
“They are implementing this project to help increase sales and yearbook participation across campus,” said Juston Glass, business and entrepreneurship teacher and DECA advisor. “It’s been a great study/analysis on what journalism can do, with the partnership of DECA consulting/advising to meet their revenue and sales targets.”
This is a national competition and the first round was judged via video submissions. The second round, in Houston, will be in January. Both Glass and Ellen Austin, director of journalism and advisor to TALON, will accompany the team. The International Career Development Conference will be in late April.
“I’m so pleased that Harker is one of the two national finalists,” said Austin. “This is exciting, and it’s the first direct collaboration opportunity between these two Harker programs – great to see the result. Congrats to DECA and journalism on this joint inter-curricular venture!”