It was an exciting Homecoming night on Saturday as the Eagle football team improved to 5-0 after a 33-13 win over visiting Rio Vista. Nate Kelly, grade 12, threw for 291 yards and three touchdowns, two to Jared Anderson, grade 11, and another to Angel Cervantes, grade 12. Anderson ended the game with seven receptions for 132 yards. Marcus Tymous, grade 11, also added a rushing TD. On the defensive side, Jadan McDermott, grade 12, led the team with six tackles and three sacks. This Friday, the Eagles face off with Marina High at Monterey Peninsula College.
Cross Country
The cross country team traveled to Stockton over the weekend to compete at the Pacific Invitational. Ryan Adolf, grade 11, and Gloria Guo, grade 12, led the varsity teams, and Aditya Singhvi, grade 9, placed in the top 25 in the frosh/soph boys competition, but the story of the day was freshman Anna Weirich. Anna beat out 125 runners to win the 2-mile frosh/soph race in the small-school division, but her time of 11:54 would also have beaten the 250 runners in the frosh/soph large school race! The team next competes at the first WBAL meet on Oct. 5.
Girls Golf
The girls golf team narrowly defeated Castilleja 196-194 last week, marking the first time in at least eight years a Harker girls golf team has defeated the Gators on our home course. Leading the Eagles were Katherine Zhu, grade 12, and Natalie Vo, grade 9, each shooting 36. Today, the girls face off with Notre Dame San Jose, followed by a match with Menlo on Tuesday.
Girls Tennis
Last week, the girls tennis team opened its league season with a 7-0 win over Crystal Springs Uplands. This week, the Eagles travel to Pinewood on Tuesday before hosting Sacred Heart Prep on Thursday.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team opened up last week with a 9-5 loss to Fremont, getting two goals from Cas Ruedy, grade 10, and one goal from Claudia Opris, grade 11, Samantha Yanovsky, grade 11, and Alicia Xu, grade 10. Over the weekend, the girls finished third out of 12 teams at the Watsonville Tournament. The Eagles opened the tourney with an exciting 8-7 sudden death win over Pioneer. Abigail Wisdom, grade 11, led the way with four goals. In its second game, Harker defeated Mercy Burlingame 10-4 behind another four-goal effort from Wisdom. In the semifinals, the Eagles lost to Turlock 10-4, with Wisdom scoring three more goals. Finally, the Eagles defeated Santa Cruz in the third-place game, with three more goals from Wisdom. This week, the Eagles travel to Wilcox on Tuesday and host Milpitas on Thursday.
Boys Water Polo
The boys water polo team went 1-1 in league play last week. The Eagles fell to Palo Alto 9-5 before defeating Monta Vista 14-6. This week, the boys travel to Los Altos on Tuesday and host Gunn on Thursday.
Volleyball
The girls volleyball team defeated Notre Dame San Jose in three games last week, led by 10 kills from Lauren Napier, grade 12, and 14 assists from Emily Cheng, grade 10. Later in the week, the Eagles fell to Mercy Burlingame in three games. The 6-7 Eagles host Notre Dame Belmont on Tuesday and travel to Mercy San Francisco on Thursday.
Alumni
Congratulations to Joelle Anderson ’17 who notched her first collegiate assist and goal in Pepperdine’s 4-1 win over UC Davis last week. It didn’t take much time for Anderson to strike again as she scored the lone goal in a 1-0 win over UC Santa Barbara a few days later. Check out the stories and highlights here:
Surbhi Sarna ’03 was named the recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award by Harker’s Office of Alumni Relations and was honored at Homecoming halftime Sept. 23 on Davis Field.
The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes a prominent alumna/alumnus who exemplifies the very best of Harker, whose contributions have led to extraordinary advances that benefit the greater good, who gives back to his or her community and to Harker, and who inspires others by his or her professional leadership and commitment.
Sarna has dedicated her career to using STEM research to improve health care for women. Her personal medical challenges in her early teen years left her determined to create better conditions in the field of female health.
She studied molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and worked as a clinical scientist at the Stanford University School of Medicine. After graduating from Berkeley in 2007, she worked as an engineer for medical-device companies Abbott Vascular and BioCardia. In 2009, only six years out of Harker, she founded venture-backed nVision Medical, a company dedicated to developing technology to help gynecologists more quickly detect ovarian cancer. Following a successful clinical trial, the company received FDA approval for its device in November 2015.
Sarna has been a keynote speaker at Harker’s annual Research Symposium and has been featured in numerous publications including Forbes magazine’s prestigious “30 Under 30” list of young movers and shakers in the fields of science and health care. Congratulations, Surbhi Sarna, and thank you!
Saturday night’s Homecoming celebration brought hundreds of members of the Harker community together to watch the soaring Harker Eagles, who had a 4-0 record going into the game, face off against the Rams of Rio Vista High School. Prior to the game, families socialized and enjoyed a variety of food options at the tailgate area, while performances by the lower school’s junior cheerleaders and the always-popular Eaglets got the crowd amped for the main event.
Rio Vista scored early to go up 7-0, but for the remainder of the half, it was all Eagles, who scored 23 unanswered points.
At halftime, the crowd enjoyed energizing performances by the Harker cheerleaders and the varsity dance troupe, and celebrated the crowning of this year’s Homecoming king and queen, seniors Peter Connors and Eleanor Xiao.
In the second half, Harker extended its lead by 10 points, which remained until Rio Vista responded in the fourth quarter with a last-second touchdown. Harker won with a final score of 33-13.
This morning’s Homecoming Rally capped off Spirit Week with fun, games and plenty of cheering! Classes gathered on Davis Field to compete for spirit points in a series of friendly and exciting games, as well as enjoy performances by the Harker cheer squad and varsity dance troupe! Seniors were awarded a whopping 100 spirit points when advisor Diane Main won “Name That Tune,” and also prevailed over the sophomores in the annual Tug of War. In addition to winning their Tug of War match against the freshmen and taking first in this year’s relay race, the juniors also were voted the winners of the skit competition for their hilarious and creative take on time travel. The juniors and seniors will face off in the finals of the Tug of War competition during halftime at tomorrow’s Homecoming game.
Upper school science teacher Kate Schafer recently began a two-week survey in the Gulf of Mexico, where she and other scientists are “studying shark and red snapper populations in locations around the gulf,” she said. Schafer is aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) ship Oregon II as part of NOAA’s Teacher at Sea program. Throughout the survey, she will be posting updates and photos at a blog set up for her by the program.
Founded in 1970, NOAA incorporates the work of 6,773 scientists to monitor and understand the planet’s changing climate conditions and share their findings. This year, NOAA received nearly 250 applications for the Teacher at Sea program, and 30 were selected to participate.
Over a period of three weeks in September, middle school students attended a series of talks by Erika Leonard, the California program director for the international nonprofit organization KidPower. For the past 27 years, Leonard said, KidPower has been “teaching social safety skills to people of all ages, abilities and identities.”
Topics of the talks included setting boundaries, online bullying, mindfulness about online activity (for example, sharing photos of friends without his or her permission), and techniques for identifying and dealing with hurtful words and phrases.
Though the subject matter varied with each grade, Leonard said the lessons learned could be applied to all. “Each of those groups focuses on some core skills that are actually the same at each grade level,” she said. “So for example, if you were to watch the sixth grade sessions, seventh grade sessions and the eighth grade sessions, you would notice that every student practiced setting boundaries, every student practiced some form of getting help.”
Since her first visit to Harker in 2012, Leonard has taken notice of Harker’s proactive expansion of the KidPower workshops to more grade levels. Lower school workshops began last school year, and this year grade 8 students attended the sessions for the first time. Leonard plans to return to Harker in January to give talks to each of the lower school grade levels.
“Harker is really taking the impressive lead of making safety a priority by setting up sessions at different grade levels,” Leonard said. KidPower has subsequently taken measures to reinforce what students learn while keeping the sessions fresh and up-to-date.
“There is nothing essentially in the sixth grade class that wouldn’t be valuable for the eighth graders. There’s nothing in the seventh grade class that the sixth graders couldn’t also do,” said Leonard. “It’s just that by planning it this way, they get a broader experience reinforcing the same concepts using new examples over time.”
KidPower also has offered to provide professional development opportunities for Harker faculty and staff, who hope to incorporate these concepts into their everyday work.
“Somebody doing something as simple as saying, ‘thank you for speaking up,’ or ‘let’s act aware, we’re out in public,’ somebody doing something that simple is actually reinforcing safety,” Leonard said. “You could have lots of teachers doing those little things. They’re like drops of water that make a big difference.”
Last week, Harker’s upper school student newspaper, the Winged Post, became one of 49 student newspapers identified as finalists in the National Scholastic Press Association’s 2017 Pacemaker competition. A total of 275 student publications were in the running for this year’s Pacemaker award, which NSPA executive director called the organization’s “pre-eminent award.” Of these 49 finalists, 26 will be awarded Pacemakers. According to upper school journalism teacher Ellen Austin, this is the first time the Winged Post has been a finalist in the Pacemaker competition since the 2007-08 school year. Winners will be announced at the National High School Journalism Convention, held mid-November in Dallas.
The girls golf team picked up two big wins last week. The Eagles started the week with a 60-stroke win over Mercy Burlingame. Later in the week, the girls defeated The King’s Academy by 103 strokes with Katelyn Vo, grade 10, leading the way with a 36, followed closely by Natalie Vo, grade 9, with a 37. This week, the Eagles take on Castilleja on Monday.
Football
The Eagle football team continues to roll as it traveled to Healdsburg and handed the Greyhounds a 48-0 thrashing. Nate Kelly, grade 12, threw for 220 yards and four touchdowns; Aaron Smith, grade 11, rushed for 91 yards and a score, with Angel Cervantes, grade 12, also rushing for a score; Floyd Gordon, grade 12, and Jared Anderson, grade 11, each caught a touchdown pass, with Anthony Contreras, grade 12, catching two TDs and adding another on a pick six; and once again the Eagle D came up huge, this time, with Jalen Clark, grade 12, leading the Eagles with nine tackles, and Nemo Yang, grade 11, and Mitch Kole, grade 12, adding sacks. This Saturday, the boys take on Rio Vista for Homecoming. Not able to make it? Check out the live stream here: https://thecube.com/event/745387
Cross Country
Over the weekend, the cross country team traveled to Salinas to compete in the Early Bird Invitational at Toro Regional Park. Peter Connors, grade 12, Gloria Guo, grade 12, Lilia Gonzales, grade 11, Mihir Sharma, grade 10, Delaney Logue, grade 10, Aditya Singhvi, grade 9, and Anna Weirich, grade 9, led their respective classes. This Saturday, the Eagles travel to Stockton for the Pacific Invitational.
Volleyball
Last week, the girls volleyball team dropped a match to Sacred Heart Prep in three games. Lauren Napier, grade 12, led the Eagles with six kills and Emily Cheng, grade 10, added five kills. This week, the girls take on Notre Dame San Jose on Tuesday and Mercy Burlingame on Thursday, both at home.
Girls Water Polo
Last week, the girls water polo team defeated Lynbrook 5-4 behind three goals from Abby Wisdom, grade 11. Later in the week, Harker defeated Cupertino 12-3 with Wisdom once again leading the way, this time with four goals. Alicia Xu, grade 10, added two goals and three assists. This week, the Eagles travel to Fremont on Tuesday and host Monta Vista on Thursday.
Boys Water Polo
The boys water polo team picked up a 9-8 win over Lynbrook early last week before falling to Homestead 13-8 later in the week. Up next for the Eagles is a trip to Palo Alto on Tuesday and a home match with Monta Vista on Thursday.
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team opens up league play on Tuesday as it faces off with Crystal Springs Uplands. Then on Thursday, the Eagles take on Castilleja.
Last week, Nidhya Shivakumar, grade 7, was named one of the top 300 students nationwide from the 2,499 middle school students nominated for this year’s Broadcom MASTERS science competition. Her project, titled “Halophytes: A Potential Solution for the Remediation of Soil in Saline Wastelands,” was selected by a panel of science and engineering professionals, who evaluated projects based on originality, creativity, analysis of data and other criteria.
If named one the 30 national finalists, Shivakumar will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the final stage of the competition in October, where more than $100,000 in awards will be distributed. Best of luck!
Last week, the boys water polo team lost to Los Gatos 9-3 and Gunn 6-17 before going 1-2 at the Lynbrook Tournament over the weekend. The Eagles’ sole victory at the tournament was an 18-9 win over Half Moon Bay. Next up for the boys are league home games versus Lynbrook on Tuesday and Homestead and Thursday.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team is 2-0 after opening the season with wins over Santa Clara and Milpitas. In a 10-4 win over Santa Clara, Cas Ruedy, grade 10, led the offense with four goals, while Sammi Yanovsky, grade 11, stopped 17 shots. Then, in the 11-4 win over Milpitas, Abby Wisdom, grade 11, led the Eagles with five goals. This week, the girls host Lynbrook on Tuesday, Cupertino on Thursday and begin the Lynbrook Tournament on Friday.
Congratulations to Meghana Karinthi, grade 12, who was awarded the Outstanding Academic All-American honor from USA Water Polo for the second year in a row. Karinthi earned the award for having a 4.0 or better GPA while playing in national tournaments with the Stanford and Silicon Valley Outlaws club teams. Great job Meghana!
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team returned from the Central Valley with a second place finish in the Division 3 bracket at the highly competitive California Tennis Classic this past weekend. The Eagles went 4-1 with wins over McClatchy, Clovis, Clovis West and Mitty, with their only loss to eventual champ Simi Valley. The girls open up league play on Tuesday versus Crystal Springs Uplands.
Girls Golf
Last week, the girls golf team took fourth place out of 17 teams at the Helen Lengfeld Memorial Golf Tournament. It was the best finish ever for a Harker girls team at the annual tournament. Katherine Zhu, grade 12, continues to play at a high level as she tied for first place with a 2-over-par 74. Other notable finishers were Natalie Vo, grade 9, who tied for eighth, and Katelyn Vo, grade 10, who tied for 14th. Later in the week, the Eagles suffered a close three-stroke loss to defending league champ Menlo. It’s a busy week for the Eagles as they play Sacred Heart Prep on Monday, Mercy Burlingame on Wednesday and The King’s Academy on Thursday.
Cross Country
The cross country team officially opened its season over the weekend in San Francisco at the Lowell Invitational. Highlights included Anna Weirich, grade 9, placing third in a freshman/sophomore race with 289 runners; Arya Maheshwari, grade 9, finishing eighth out of 294 freshman runners; and Rishi Dange, grade 10, placing 25th out of 260 sophomore runners. Seniors Gloria Guo and Peter Connors led the way for the varsity teams. The Eagles race again this Saturday at the Early Bird Invitational in Salinas.
Volleyball
Last week, the girls volleyball team defeated Saratoga in three games, led by Allison Cartee, grade 11, who had seven kills. Later in the week, the Eagles fell to powerhouse Valley Christian in three close games. Seniors Megan Cardosi and Isabella Spradlin led the Eagles with eight kills each. This week, the girls travel to Sacred Heart Prep on Thursday.
Football
The football team dominated again on Friday night as it defeated Santa Clara High 24-0. The Eagle D picked off three passes and recovered a fumble to pitch another shutout. Anthony Contreras, grade 12, led the Eagles with 12 tackles, followed by James Pauli, grade 12, with 11 tackles and a sack. Nate Kelly, grade 12, threw for 282 yards and three scores, while Aaron Smith, grade 11, racked up 170 yards on the ground. The Eagles have started the season 3-0 and have outscored their opponents by an amazing tally of 136-6. This week, the Eagles take the two and a half hour drive north to face Healdsburg High on Friday.