We had an exciting lower and middle school fall sports season! Please see the accomplishments of our fall sports teams and individuals below:
VA Flag Football (grade 8): The Varsity A team, coached by Richard Amarillas and Tim Hopkins, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-7 and went 1-8 overall. Team awards went to Richard Amarillas and Sam Boucher (Eagle), and Marcus Page and Ethan Huang (Coaches).
VB Flag Football (grade 7): The Varsity B team, coached by Mike Delfino and Edward LeGrand-Sawyer, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a 2-4 record and went 3-4 overall. Team awards went to Armaan Thakker (MVP), Zain Vakath and Dylan Parikh (Eagle) and Rohan Gorti (Coaches).
JVA Flag Football (grade 6): The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Dan Pringle and Matt Arensberg, finished in sixth place in the WBAL with a 0-4 record and went 1-5 overall. Team awards went to Om Tandon (MVP), Thomas Egbert (Eagle) and Jack Ledford (Coaches).
JVB Flag Football (grade 5): The Junior Varsity B team, coached by Walid Fahmy and Tobias Wade, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a 0-4 record and went 0-5 overall. Team awards went to Drew Diffenderfer (MVP), Vyom Vidyarthi (Eagle) and Liam Jeffers (Coaches).
LS Intramural Flag Football (grade 4): Team awards went to Brennan Williams (MVP), Topaz Lee (Eagle) and Rishaan Thoppay (Coaches). The team was coached by Karriem Stinson and Kristian Tiopo.
VA Softball: The Varsity A team, coached by Raul Rios and Vanessa Rios, finished in fifth place in the WBAL with a record of 1-4 and went 1-5 overall. Team awards went to Brooklyn Cicero, grade 8 (MVP), Nicole Arena, grade 8 (Eagle) and Claire Chen, grade 7 (Coaches).
JVA Softball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Jon Cvitanich and Brittney Moseley, was the WBAL league champ with a record of 4-0 and went 5-0 overall. Team awards went to Maya Kelly, grade 6 (MVP), Saira Ramakrishnan, grade 5 (Eagle) and Isha Kotalwar, grade 6 (Coaches).
LS Intramural Softball (grade 4): Team awards went to Mackenzie Chadwick (MVP), Tanvi Sivakumar (Eagle) and Minal Jalil (Coaches). The team was coached by Julie Meline.
MS Swimming: Team awards went to Michael Tran, grade 8 (MVP), Linette Hoffman, grade 7, and Logan Braun, grade 6 (Eagle), and Carlo Banzon, grade 7, and Eira Saraff, grade 6. Unfortunately, the WBAL finals were cancelled due to poor air-quality issues. However, we did have a few first place finishers in the Castilleja meet. Michael Tran (50 fly, 100 freestyle relay and 100 medley relay), Heidi Lu, grade 6 (25 backstroke), Elvis Han, grade 8 (50 backstroke and 100 free relay), Nika Lebedev, grade 7 (100 individual relay), Sascha Pakravan, grade 8 (100 free relay), Willian Zhao, grade 8 (100 free relay and 100 medley relay), Carlo Banzon, grade 7 (100 medley relay) and Kai Burich, grade 8 (100 medley relay).
LS Swimming: Team awards went to Shwetha Sundar, grade 4, and Nikhil Pesati, grade 5 (Eagle), and Kaan Kurtoglu, grade 4, and Disha Gupta, grade 4 (Coaches).
MS Cross Country: Team awards went to Dawson Chen, grade 8, and Ashley Barth, grade 8 (MVP), Shahzeb Lakhani, grade 8, and Emma Gao, grade 6 (Eagle), and Alex Liou, grade 8, and Trisha Iyer, grade 6 (Coaches). Unfortunately, the WBAL finals were cancelled due to the poor air quality issues. However, we did have a few first place finishers in the league meets. Our grade 8 boys team took first place at the Crystal Springs Relays and our grade 7/8 boys team took first place at the Harker Meet.
MS Golf: The middle school golf team was league champs of the WBAL Fall tournament, winning by 10 strokes. The top golfer of the tournament was Claire Chen, grade 7 (35), followed by Freddy Hoch, grade 7 (37), Marcus Page, grade 8 (38) and Athreya Daniel, grade 7 (40).
Harker’s upper school math club sent a team to the Princeton University Mathematics Competition, a tier one competition. Overall, our team finished in fifth place out of 60-plus teams – an excellent performance! In the individual subcategory, Swapnil Garg, grade 12, finished in a very impressive second place out of 300-plus students. Go math Eagles!
Harker’s middle school speech and debate team has already competed at nine tournaments across three states (California, Illinois and Texas), with some great results. More than 125 Harker students competed in at least one tournament, and our middle schoolers compete primarily against high school students, so successes are especially sweet!
Presentation High School (San Jose)
From Oct. 6-8, 50 schools across three states representing 198 entries competed in public forum and Lincoln-Douglas debate. Thirty-one Harker middle school students competed and the following awards were earned.
JV Public Forum Speaker Awards
3rd – Connor Wilcox, grade 8
4th – Vienna Parnell, grade 8
JV Lincoln-Douglas Speaker Awards
1st – Karoun Kaushik, grade 8
3rd – Alex Lan, grade 7
4th – Ayan Nath, grade 8
Intramural No. 1 (Harker Middle School)
On Oct. 10, about 79 Harker middle school students competed in six distinct events and received the following awards.
Policy Debate (Workshop)
1st – Mir Bahri, grade 7, and Saanvi Arora, grade 8
Lincoln-Douglas
1st – Harsh Deep, grade 8
Lincoln-Douglas Speaker Awards
1st – Brian Chen, grade 7
Public Forum
1st – Rohan Thakur and Rohan Rashingkar, both grade 8
Public Forum Speaker Awards
1st – Ysabel Chen, grade 8
2nd – Muzzi Khan, grade 7
3rd – Rohan Thakur, grade 8
4th – Stephen Xia, grade 7
Congress (Workshop)
1st – Dhruv Saoji, grade 8
Speech (Impromptu)
1st- Zubin Khera, grade 7
Intro (6th Graders Only)
1st – Reza Jalil, grade 6
2nd – Arjun Moogimane, grade 6
Intro Speaker Awards (6th Graders Only)
1st – Panav Gogte, grade 6
2nd – Angelina Zhu, grade 6
California State University Fullerton (Los Angeles)
On Oct.13-15, 58 schools from across four states representing 560 entries competed in all speech and debate events. Forty-five Harker middle school students competed and many earned awards.
Novice Policy
3rd – Keya Mann and Saanvi Arora, both grade 8 (semifinalists)
5th – Sarah Mohammed and Tiffany Chang, both grade 7 (quarterfinalists, walked over)
Novice Policy Speaker Awards
7th – Saanvi Arora, grade 8
8th – Keya Mann, grade 8
9th – Sarah Mohammed, grade 7
MS Lincoln-Douglas Speaker Awards
9th – Rahul Santhanam, grade 7
10th – Jason Monaghan, grade 6
Novice Public Forum
3rd – Rohan Rashingkar and Rohan Thakur, with grade 8 (semifinalists)
Unranked – Laurie Jin and Trisha Variyar, both grade 7 (top middle schoolers)
St. Marks (Dallas)
On Oct. 14-6, 122 schools across 22 states representing 288 of the best debate entries in the country competed. Five Harker middle school students competed in Lincoln-Douglas debate.
Notre Dame/Harvard-Westlake (Los Angeles)
On Nov. 4-6, 56 schools across 10 states representing 212 entries competed in Lincoln-Douglas and policy debate. Nine Harker middle school students competed and received the following awards.
On Nov. 11-12, 29 schools across four states representing 94 entries competed in debate events. Fifteen Harker middle school students competed.
Intramural No. 2 (Harker Middle School)
On Nov. 15, about 49 Harker middle schools students competed in three distinct events and received the following awards.
Public Forum
1st – Deeya Viradia and Carol Wininger, both grade 7
Top 6th graders – Arjun Gurjar and Krishna Mysoor, both grade 6
Public Forum Speaker Awards
1st – Nika Lebedev, grade 7
2nd – Arjun Gurjar, grade 6
3rd – Rupert Chen, grade 7
Speech (Impromptu)
1st – Angela Gao, grade 8
Intro (6th Graders Only)
1st – Emma Gao, grade 6
2nd – Divya Venkat, grade 6
Intro Speaker Awards (6th Graders Only)
1st – Kabir Buch, grade 6
2nd – Emma Gao, grade 6
Santa Clara University No. 1 (Santa Clara)
From Nov. 17-9, 104 schools across three states representing 1,692 entries competed in all speech and debate events. Approximately 110 Harker students competed (about 90 were middle school students), and a few received the following awards.
Varsity Public Forum
17th – Sascha Pakravan and Ayan Nath, both grade 8
Varsity Public Forum Speaker Awards
6th – Sascha Pakravan, grade 8
Novice Public Forum
9th – Deeya Viradia and Carol Wininger, both grade 7 (octofinalist)
From Nov. 18-20, 307 schools across 37 states representing 1,628 entries competed in all speech and debate events. Four Harker middle school students competed. Congrats to all the participants and many thanks to Christopher Thiele, middle school speech and debate teacher!
Harker middle school students gave impressive performances at the First Lego League robotics qualifiers on Nov. 19, held at the NASA Ames Research Center. Grade 6 students Kabir Ramzan, Jordan Labio and Dustin Miao – collectively known as “Alpha Wolves” – placed first overall and received the Champion’s Award for robot performance and design, as well as the project they submitted for the FLL Global Innovation Contest, which uses rainwater and irrigation systems to reduce wasteful water usage. The team earned entry into the Global Innovation contest that will take place in March.
Also in the competition were Ramit Goyal and Joe Li, both grade 6, who were members of team “Savage Ninjas.” Their team took second place in the robot performance category, earning an 175 points in the final round, more than any other team at the event. Their project was to develop a method of controlling the use irrigation water by employing moisture sensors, which would save the use of California irrigation water by up to 40%.
This story was submitted by middle school Latin teacher Lisa Masoni.
A group of 24 middle school delegates joined the upper school students to attend Ludi Novembres, the fall Junior Classical League conference, at St. Francis High School in Sacramento on Nov. 18. They learned about Caesar and zombies, Latin demons and Heinrich Schliemann’s connection to Sacramento and the Gold Rush. They tossed grapes, played volleyball and collected seven boxes of books to donate to the Prisoners’ Literacy Project. They also earned many awards in their academic competitions.
At the MS1 level, four sixth graders earned top placings. Trisha Iyer and Arjun Moogimane took first and second place in mythology, respectively. Chloe Lee placed first in reading comprehension and third in grammar, and Akshat Mehrotra earned first place in daily life.
Several grade 7 students were winners at the MS2 level. Katelyn Abellera took second in reading comprehension; Rupert Chen placed first in reading comprehension and second in vocabulary; Michelle Jin won first in both grammar and reading comprehension; Jeremy Ko earned first in vocabulary, second in reading comprehension and third in mythology; Andrew Pluzhnikov earned second in daily life; Edward Sun took second in grammar; Hita Thota placed first in mythology; and Nicholas Wei took second in mythology and first in derivatives.
Eighth graders participated in the MS3 level of competition, where Akhilesh Chegu took first in vocabulary and grammar; Arjun Dixit placed third in derivatives; Maddie Jin took second in derivatives and first in mythology; Aaron Lo took third in mythology and second in daily life; Brandon Park placed second in mythology, third in vocabulary and first in derivatives; and Thresia Vazhaeparambil placed second in vocabulary, third in reading comprehension and third in daily life.
Students also participated in open certamen, a quiz bowl game where students play on mixed teams. Aaron Lo, Maddie Jin and Arjun Dixit played on the second place team and Akhilesh Mehrotra’s team placed first. This bodes well for the state convention in the spring, where students will put together a school team to play against other schools.
The Eagle football team suffered its first loss of the season on Saturday night as it fell to Hercules High 14-30 in the NCS Division 4 semifinals. Nate Kelly, grade 12, threw two touchdown passes to Floyd Gordon, grade 12, in the defeat. The 11-1 record was the best all time for a Harker football team. The Eagles also hosted and won their first playoff game in school history. Congratulations on an historic season!
Cross Country
Over the weekend, Anna Weirich, grade 9, competed at the state cross country championships and placed 63rd out of 195 Division 4 runners. Congratulations on a great year, Anna!
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team officially begins its season this Thursday as it travels to Pescadero High for the annual Pescadero Tournament. The regular season home opener for the ladies is on Dec. 29 at 2:30 p.m. versus Yerba Buena High.
Boys Basketball
This Wednesday, the boys basketball team travels to James Lick High School to compete in the James Lick Tournament to kick off the season. The boys will have their regular season home opener on Dec. 22 at 4:30 p.m. as they take on Redwood Christian.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team officially opens its season on Tuesday as it hosts Independence High at 3:30 p.m. on Davis Field. Then on Thursday, the Eagles host Half Moon Bay at 3:30 p.m.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team gets its season going on Wednesday as it hosts Mills at 3 at Davis Field.
In mid-November, Harker DECA chapter members attended the Western Region Leadership Conference (WRLC) in Phoenix. WRLC provided a perfect opportunity for students to gain tips for competitive success, learn through industry workshops and bond with one another.
Keynote speakers at the grand opening and closing sessions recounted the biggest lessons they have learned to inspire attendees. From the workshops, students gained competitive advice for their role play and written events, in addition to knowledge about business and entrepreneurship. Harker DECA also participated in the mock competition, where each student performed a role play in front of a judge and received feedback. This event was a great opportunity for students to practice as the competitive season approaches. Finally, the chapter experienced local cuisine and culture at the Phoenix Pizza Festival in downtown Phoenix, where they sampled fresh pizza, listened to live music and enjoyed the warm Phoenix sun.
Overall, WRLC was an entertaining and informative conference for students. Harker DECA looks forward to kicking off the competitive season with Silicon Valley Career Development Conference (SVCDC) in January. Go Eagles!
This story was submitted by upper school Latin teacher Scott Paterson.
On Nov. 18, 23 Harker upper school students headed to St. Francis School in Sacramento to attend Ludi Novembres, a California Junior Classical League event. Nearly 400 students from 18 schools attended this event. Harker students earned 16 individual awards. Additionally, seven students won team awards for Certamen (Latin quiz bowl).
Individual awards in Level 3 were won by grade 9 students Katie Li (tying for second place in grammar), Jason Lin (second place in mythology), Akshay Manglik (second place ties in derivatives and grammar), Maria Vazhaeparambil (first place in vocabulary) and Sara Yen (second place in vocabulary, tied for second place in grammar and derivatives).
Receiving individual awards at the advanced level were Timmy Chang, grade 11 (first place in daily life); Jeffrey Fung, grade 10 (first place in grammar, third place in reading comprehension); Kyle Li, grade 10 (first place in mythology, second place in vocabulary); Edgar Lin, grade 12 (first place in reading comprehension); and Kalyan Narayana, grade 10 (first place in vocabulary, third place in grammar).
In the Advanced Certamen Team Awards, Jeffrey Fung, Saloni Shah, grade 9, and Alex Young, grade 11, took first place, while grade 9 students Akshay Manglik, Sidra Xu and Sara Yen, along with senior Andrew Semenza, received second place awards.
Approximately 175 students attended TEDxHarkerSchool 2017, an event that featured innovative speakers, interactive booths and industry mentors in the Nichols Hall auditorium.
This year’s event, themed “Creating Conversations,” featured four speakers: Constellation Research CEO Ray Wang; Inboard CEO Ryan Evans; CEO of Stop, Breath & Think, Julie Campistron; and founder and president of Mutineer Magazine, Alan Kropf. Aside from the four professional speakers, Andy Semenza, grade 12, spoke on the complexity of specialization.
TEDx talks ran throughout the day and showcased a wide variety of topics. Evans, who spoke at the event and hosted a booth, illustrated the shift in personal transportation vehicles.
“My younger sister was in a wheelchair and getting around the city – it’s terrible, it’s a horrible experience,” Evans said in an interview with Harker Aquila. “We started to realize with battery technology, reducing costs, motors improving with controllers and electronics, there’s opportunities to take things like electric wheelchairs that cost $25,000 and now you can [sell] it for $2,000. Our big thing was answering the question of how to give mobility to everyone, and I think that was the big inspiration why.”
Students also had the opportunity to visit seven booths that featured Bay Area technology companies, including Giacomo ONO 3D printer, Serafim Keybo, Inboard, Sesame, Nomiku, Conduit Sports and Netgear.
Additionally, the event included a mentor luncheon in the auxiliary gym, where students interacted with industry professionals in various industries around the Silicon Valley. Mentors talked about their own experiences in their respective industries and answered questions that students had.
“We would like to remind you that in life, your best resource is yourself, and your second best resource is the people around you,” co-curator Anooshree Sengupta, grade 12, said in an interview with Harker Aquila. “Engage the world, innovate, challenge social norms and make a difference.”
For more information about future events, visit TEDxHarkerSchool’s official website here.
About TEDxHarkerSchool
TEDxHarkerSchool aims to spread cutting-edge ideas throughout its community and reach out to embrace the culture of Silicon Valley, a place where breakthrough concepts are supported and realized. We provide guidance for some of the brightest minds of the new generation – the future of what TED stands for: technology, entertainment and design. With the help of our corporate booths, speakers and mentors, TEDxHarkerSchool supplies the unique toolkit that enables our audience to imagine, innovate and inspire.
We are a completely student led initiative, having students curate the event, find speakers, run activities and bring awesome innovations to our students. Our goal is to bring students to greater intellectual heights. We hope to lead students to wisdom, revolution, innovation and passion. TEDxHarkerSchool fully believes that young people will make positive change in the world.
Last week, the yearly grade 5 food drive culminated in a donation of 1,900 food items (worth more than $700) to St. Justin’s Community Ministry Pantry. Students collected items over a period of two weeks, requesting canned vegetables, pasta, rice, beans and other goods. The drop-off was a special occasion for the students and parents, who were joined by former lower school teacher Pat Walsh, who started the food drive more than 20 years ago. Walsh retired at the end of the 2016-17 school year after an incredible 41 years at Harker, and his appearance to help with the drop-off was a fitting way to end a successful effort!