The 2017 Winterfest water polo tournament took place in Orange County in mid-February, and many Harker athletes brought home hardware for their club teams.
Riyaa Randhawa, grade 7, and Cassandra Ruedy, grade 9, competed with the bronze-winning 14U Girls West Valley Water Polo Club. In addition, the 10U San Jose Express team coached by Victor Adler and Ted Ujifusa, also took third place. That team included Harker students Summer Adler, Marcus Blennemann, Angelina Burrows, Julia Ernsting, Robert Fields, Theodore Kratter, Stefan Maxim, Adam Pawlinger, Melody Yin, all grade 4, Alejandro Cheline, Jasmine Hansra, both grade 3, and Ian Cheline, grade 2.
In mid-February, celebrity vocal coach Lisa Popeil held a special workshop for Harker Conservatory students in music teacher Susan Nace’s classroom. Widely recognized as one of America’s top singing experts, Los Angeles-based Popeil has performed with artists including Frank Zappa and “Weird Al” Yankovic and has long been an in-demand vocal instructor among professional singers, actors, managers and record producers.
Nace noticed Popeil’s work two years ago while attending a San Francisco workshop and organized the Harker workshop as part of the Harker Conservatory’s certificate program. Popeil demonstrated breathing and singing techniques in a wide variety of vocal styles, including pop, rock, rhythm and blues, musical theater and opera. “Lisa is very good at teaching concepts clearly and efficiently as she has worked with all the major international voice researchers in their labs,” said Nace.
Harker earned the top spot in a survey of SAT scores at regional high schools, according to a report published this week by the San Francisco Business Times, based on data from Niche, a school rating site. The report notes that out of 72 private high schools in the Bay Area, the top 10 all have SAT scores averaging above 1350 out of a possible 1600. The report notes, “The highest average SAT score for the schools surveyed was 1480, a jump of 50 points from the highest scoring public high school in the Bay Area.” At 1480, Harker had the highest average among private schools, according to the report. Here is the full article.
Lower and middle school update provided by Theresa “Smitty” Smith
The lower and middle school winter sports season is split into two seasons, early and late winter. This past winter was one of the most successful lower and middle school winter sports seasons we’ve had in a very long time! We started off with boys basketball and girls soccer and finished with girls basketball and boys soccer, as well as wrestling.
Please take a moment to read through the accomplishments of our student-athletes and their coaches from this past winter!
Early Winter
VA (Grade 8) Boys Basketball: The varsity A team, coached by Josh Miller and Richard Amarillas, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 4-1 and went 8-3 overall. Team awards went to Jonathan Chao and Ray Wang (co-MVPs), Arjun Virmani (Eagle) and Marcus Anderson (Coaches).
VB (Grade 7) Boys Basketball: The varsity B team, coached by Edward LeGrand-Sawyer, finished in third place in the WBAL with a 5-2 record and went 7-2 overall. Despite not winning the league, the VB team did come back to win the WBAL tournament! Team awards went to Luke Wancewicz (MVP), Alexander Zhang (Eagle) and Gowtham Irrinki (Coaches).
VB2 (Grade 7) Boys Basketball: The varsity B2 team, coached by Jon Cvitanich, finished in 10th place in the WBAL with a 0-7 record. Team awards went to Jack Hayashi (MVP), Kaden Kapadia (Eagle) and Marcus Page (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity A team, coached by Mike Delfino, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-1 record and won the WBAL tournament, finishing with a 9-1 record overall. Team awards went to Matthew Chen (MVP), Zeke Weng (Eagle) and Brandon Wang (Coaches).
JVB6 (Grade 6) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B6 team, coached by Matt Arensberg, finished in third place in the WBAL with a 5-2 record. Team awards went to Rahul Santhanam (MVP), Michael Pflaging (Eagle) and Nicholas Delfino (Coaches).
MS Intramural Boys Basketball: Team awards went to Zachary Clark, grade 7 (MVP), Dyllan Han, grade 6 (Eagle) and Rohan Rashingkar, grade 7 (Coaches). The team was coached by Jeff Martarano and Raul Rios.
JVB1 (Grade 5) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B1 team, coached by Dan Pringle, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record and took second place in the WBAL tournament, finishing with an 8-1 record overall. Team awards went to Om Tandon and Dean Pakel (co-MVPs), Kai Stinson (Eagle) and Justin Chao (Coaches).
JVB2 (Grade 5) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity B2 team, coached by Kristian Tiopo, finished in 10th place in the WBAL with a 1-6 record. Team awards went to Nathan Liu (MVP), Kyle Leung (Eagle) and Zachary Blue (Coaches).
JVC (Grade 4) Boys Basketball: The junior varsity C team, coached by Jeff Paull, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record! Team awards went to Camp Lacorazza (MVP), Drew Diffenderfer (Eagle) and Liam Jeffers (Coaches).
LS Intramural Boys Basketball: Team awards went to Caleb Tang, grade 4 (MVP), Max Zhai, grade 4 (Eagle) and Nathan Wilcox, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Ken Allen and Karriem Stinson.
VA (Grades 7-8) Girls Soccer: The varsity A team, coached by Brighid Wood, finished in seventh place in the WBAL with a record of 1-5. Team awards went to Aria Wong, grade 8, and Dylan Williams, grade 8 (co-MVPs), Hannah Grannis, grade 8 (Eagle) and Ashley Barth, grade 7 (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Girls Soccer: The junior varsity A team, coached by Dan Williams and Dini Wong, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 5-2. Team awards went to Lexi Wong (MVP), Divya Sivakumar (Eagle), and Maya Hernandez and Haley Hernandez (Coaches).
JVB (Grade 5) Girls Soccer: The junior varsity B team, coached by Justin Sullivan, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 4-2. Team awards went to Kate Grannis (MVP), Katie Reed (Eagle) and Anya Chauhan (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Soccer: Team awards went to Kylie Anderson, grade 4 (MVP), Claire Anderson, grade 4 (Eagle) and Sophia Roufas, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Brittney Moseley.
Late Winter
VA (Grade 8) Girls Basketball: The varsity A team, coached by Josh Miller and Dan Pringle, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 6-1 record and won the WBAL tournament, finishing 8-1 overall. Team awards went to Courtni Thompson and Hunter Hernandez (co-MVPs), Mariamma Vazhaeparambil (Eagle) and Arya Tandon (Coaches).
VB (Grade 7) Girls Basketball: The varsity B team, coached by Edward LeGrand-Sawyer, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record and won the WBAL tournament, finishing 9-0 overall. Team awards went to Brooklyn Cicero (MVP), Anya Warrier and Gianna Chan (Co-Eagle), and Ashley Barth (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Girls Basketball: The junior varsity A team, coached by Jon Cvitanich, finished in third place in the WBAL with a 4-2 record and went 5-3 overall. Team awards went to Maya Hernandez and Haley Hernandez (co-MVPs), Sonya He (Eagle) and Avery Olson (Coaches).
JVB (Grade 5) Girls Basketball: The junior varsity B1 team, coached by Brittney Moseley, finished in seventh place in the WBAL with a 1-6 record. Team awards went to Kate Grannis and Aeliya Grover (co-MVPs), Masha Velikhovskaya (Eagle) and Katherine Fields (Coaches).
JVC (Grade 4) Girls Basketball: The junior varsity C team, coached by Sydney Voss and Belle Carley, finished in first place in the WBAL with a 7-0 record. Team awards went to Gemma Chan (MVP), Angelina Burrows (Eagle) and Isabella Lo (Coaches).
LS Intramural Girls Basketball: Team awards went to Callie Yuan, grade 5 (MVP), Brittany Tsui, grade 5 (Eagle) and Yasmin Sudarsanam, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Ken Allen and Tobias Wade.
VA (Grade 8) Boys Soccer: The varsity A team, coached by Brighid Wood and Adyant Kanakamedala, grade 11, finished in third place in the WBAL with a record of 4-4. Team awards went to Arya Maheshwari (MVP), Rosh Roy and Marcos Acero (co-Eagle) and Nathan Ohana (Coaches).
VB (Grade 7) Boys Soccer: The varsity B team, coached by Chris Salcido and Dan Williams, finished in first place in the WBAL with a league record of 5-0 and an overall record of 6-0. Team awards went to Ishaan Mantripragada (MVP), Sasvath Ramachandran (Eagle) and Kaden Kapadia (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Boys Soccer: The junior varsity A team, coached by Matt Arensberg and Dini Wong, finished in seventh place in the WBAL with a record of 1-6-1. Team awards went to Atri Banerjee and Michael Pflaging (co-Eagle) and Max Pflaging (Coaches).
JVB (Grade 5) Boys Soccer: The junior varsity B team, coached by Justin Sullivan, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 3-2-1. Team awards went to Ryan Barth (MVP), Akshat Mehrotra (Eagle) and Brandon Zau (Coaches).
LS Intramural Boys Soccer: Team awards went to Advay Monga, grade 4 (MVP), Rahul Yalla, grade 4 (Eagle) and Robert Fields, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Kristian Tiopo and Yvonne Linton.
MS Wrestling: The wrestling team, coached by Karriem Stinson, Charlie Ward and Jeff Paull, did not participate in any wrestling tournaments this season. Team awards went to Dezi Johnsen, grade 7 (MVP) Anish Kilaru, grade 8 (Eagle) and Dylan Parikh, grade 6 (Coaches).
Softball
The softball team picked up two big wins last week, improving to 4-0 on the season. In a 16-1 win over Yerba Buena, Taylor Lam, grade 10, had four hits, with Anika Rajamani, grade 10, and Lily Wancewicz, grade 10, each driving in two runs. Later in the week, the Eagles defeated El Camino 10-0 with Rajamani, Kristin LeBlanc, grade 11, Marti Sutton, grade 12, and Cameron Zell, grade 10, each with two RBIs. LeBlanc and Wancewicz combined for a three-hit shutout on the mound. The Eagles averaged more than 13 runs per game during the first four games of the season. They open league play on Tuesday as they host Castilleja, followed by another home game against St. Francis Watsonville on Thursday.
Track and Field
It was a very nice weekend for Harker track and field, as the Eagles were represented at two meets. Many personal and seasonal bests were shattered at the King’s Track Classic held at The King’s Academy. Angel Cervantes, grade 11, set a personal best in the 100M and 200M; Grace Koonmen, grade 11, placed in the top seven in the 100M, 200M and long jump, setting seasonal bests in all three events; Sameer Prakash, grade 9, won his 100M and 200M heat, before placing fourth overall in the long jump with a 16’4″ leap; Henry Wong, grade 10, set a personal best in the mile with a time of 5:09; Gloria Guo, grade 11, ran a 2:39 800M setting a seasonal best; Rishi Chopra, grade 11, set a personal best time of 2:23 in the 800M; and Ananya Krishnan, grade 11, also set personal bests in the shot put and discus.
Across town at the K-Bell Invitational, Niki Iyer, grade 12, set the current fastest 3200M time of the year for California. She defeated the rest of the field by 20 seconds, winning for the third time in her career at this meet.
This Wednesday, the Eagles compete at their first league meet at The King’s Academy, followed by the St. Francis Invitational on Saturday.
Baseball
The Eagles upped their record to 4-1 as they defeated Westmoor 5-1 and Pinewood 15-7 last week. In the win over Westmoor, Dominic Cea, grade 11, drove in two runs as Varun Haltore, grade 12, pitched 6.2 innings of one hit, one run ball, striking out five. Later in the week against Pinewood, Cea once again led the offense with three RBIs, with Karan Gupta, grade 10, adding three hits and an RBI, and Max Lee, grade 9, and Mitchell Kole, grade 11, each delivering two hits and two RBIs. This week, the Eagles travel to Mills on Tuesday and host Crystal Springs Uplands on Thursday.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team went 1-1 last week, dropping a 3-0 match to Monta Vista before defeating Los Altos 3-0 later in the week. It’s a busy week for the Eagles as they host Serra on Monday, travel to Mountain View on Wednesday and host Los Gatos on Friday.
Lacrosse
The lacrosse team dropped two games last week bringing its season record to 2-3. In a 13-5 loss to Castilleja, Elise Mayer, grade 10, led the scoring with four goals. Next up for the Eagles is a home game against Sacred Heart Cathedral on Tuesday and another home game on Thursday against Carlmont to start league play.
Boys Golf
The boys golf team stayed undefeated on the season as it took care of Valley Christian and Crystal Springs Uplands last week. In the 204-213 win over VC, Sandip Nirmel, grade 12, led the Eagles with an even par 37. Later in the week, the Eagles defeated CSU 186-240 for their first league win of the season. Over the weekend, the boys traveled to Las Vegas to compete at the Pahrump Invitational. The Eagles took third as a team, with Ryan Vaughan, grade 12, and Jin Kim, grade 11, tying for 11th individually. This week, the boys take on The King’s Academy on Monday and Pinewood on Tuesday.
Boys Tennis
Last week, the boys tennis team defeated Crystal Springs Uplands 7-0 before falling to Menlo 7-0, but it ended the week defeating The King’s Academy 5-2. This week, the Eagles stay busy as they take on Evergreen Valley on Monday, Pinewood on Tuesday, Nueva on Wednesday and Priory on Thursday.
Swim
This Saturday, the Eagle swim team travels to Sacred Heart Prep to compete at the Small School Invitational.
Winter All-League
The 2016-17 winter season recently came to a close, and many Harker athletes and teams were honored with All-League and Scholastic Championship Team accolades.
Girls Basketball: Jordan Thompson, grade 12, was given first team honors, while Selin Sayiner, grade 11, made the second team and Satchi Thockchom, grade 11, received an honorable mention
Boys Basketball: Jordan Goheen, grade 12, and Justin Jia, grade 12, both received honorable mentions for their senior seasons. In addition, the boys were named a top five Scholastic Champion with their 3.7 team GPA.
Boys Soccer: Sparsh Chauhan, grade 11, and Rohit Shah, grade 11, were both named to the first team, with Jared Anderson, grade 10, and Joseph Krackeler, grade 12, each making the second team, and Nick Acero, grade 11, and Kedar Gupta, grade 12, receiving honorable mentions. The boys soccer team was also a top five CCS Scholastic Champion with a 3.6460 team GPA.
Girls Soccer: Joelle Anderson, grade 12, was named the WBAL Skyline Division Forward of the Year, as Maile Chung, grade 12, and Lyndsey Mitchell, grade 12, both received first team recognition. Julia Amick, grade 10, and Anuva Mittal, grade 12, received second team honors, and Stephanie Scaglia, grade 11, and Cameron Zell, grade 10, received honorable mentions. The girls also excelled in the classroom as a top five Scholastic Champion with a 3.7410 team GPA.
Wrestling: Taking the top spot in all of CCS wrestling, the Eagles were named Scholastic Champions with a 3.6286 team GPA. Diego Figueroa, grade 12, Justin Su, grade 11, Anthony Contreras, grade 11, Eric Fang, grade 9, Danny Reidenbach, grade 12, and Davis Howard, grade 12, all earned All-League honors.
Preschoolers were treated to the third of four Arts LIVE concerts, this one featuring both the upper school Junior Varsity Dance team and the boy’s hip-hop group, Kinetic Krew. The show included a variety of dance styles that included, jazz, ballet and hip-hop.
The dancers taught the children some simple warm-up stretches and a short dance routine. Each child received a Family Coloring & Activity Booklet, created by Mara Beckerman, the preschool’s music and movement specialist, to encourage conversation about the concert. The booklet contains photos from the performance, including the audience, as well as activities and coloring pages for parents to do with their children. It was a great show and the upper school students really enjoyed sharing their talents with the younger students! See the short video on Instagram at harkerschool.
Fresh off of winning eight awards in the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, junior Jacqueline He was named the first place winner in the high school poetry division of the 2017 Writing Contest, sponsored by the Writing Conference Inc. As a winner, He is now eligible to be published in the Writing Conference’s online publication, the Writers’ Slate. She also has been invited to the 2017 Literature Festival, to be held in October at Washburn University in Topeka, Kan.
The Writing Conference Inc. has offered services to young writers since 1980 with the goal of improving the skills of aspiring writers.
This report prepared by Neha Tallapragada, grade 10.
In late February, CareerConnect hosted a Resume Building Workshop led by Marissa Enfantino, a recruiter for Adobe and former recruiter for Facebook University. She spoke to around 40 students about how to craft the perfect resume for colleges, internships and jobs.
At the luncheon, students learned the importance of both content and appearance in a resume. Speaking from her experiences as a job recruiter, Enfantino discussed topics ranging from the importance of engaging with the community to the significance of having a resume that looks professional and organized. Anusha Kuppahally, grade 10, said of the event, “I really liked the resume workshop; it was very informative on how we should format our resumes to have a higher chance of getting selected for the programs we apply to.”
Overall, it was a valuable opportunity for students to receive advice that applies to their experiences outside of the classroom.
Harker Hospital was open for business in Larissa Weaver’s first grade math class to help students learn about graphs. Weaver invited pediatrician and Harker parent Dr. Shefali Shete (Allie and Sasha, both grade 1) to come in and show students how she uses graphs to measure a baby’s progress. The students had a great time measuring the babies!
Starting this fall Harker will expand its student bus service to include picking up and dropping off middle and upper school students at the Santa Clara Caltrain station. A van will meet the northbound train at 7:24 a.m. and the southbound train at 7:36 a.m., then transport students to the upper school campus and then to the middle school campus. The afternoon schedule will be determined as ridership needs are assessed. There will be a nominal per-ride charge. Contact Greg Lawson, assistant head of school for student affairs, for more information: greg.lawson@harker.org, 408-345-9600.
Hollis Thompson, who attended Harker from 1996 to 2001 for kindergarten through fourth grade, recently signed back-to-back 10-day contracts with the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans. After his time at Harker, Thompson moved to Southern California before attending Georgetown University and going undrafted in the NBA draft. Thompson then played in the NBA Development League before signing with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2013. He was released by Philadelphia earlier this year, and was soon acquired by another NBA Development League team before being picked up by the Pelicans for a 10-day contract. Thompson averaged 5.4 points and 2.7 rebounds in five games during his first contract with New Orleans before signing another 10-day contract on Sunday.
Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team had a good week as it went 2-1 over its last three games. In a 10-3 win over Newark, Mahlet Demissachew, grade 12, led the Eagles with four goals and an assist, while Lauren Russell, grade 11, and Elise Mayer, grade 10, added two goals each. Later in the week, in a close 9-8 loss to Los Altos, Demissachew once again led the scoring with four goals with Russell adding two goals. Finally, in a 14-9 win over York, Demissachew scored six goals to lead the way for the Eagles, with Mayer chipping in three goals. This week, the Eagles host Castilleja on Tuesday and Mitty on Friday.
Softball
The softball team defeated Terra Nova 14-4 last week, going to 2-0 on the season. This week the Eagles host Yerba Buena on Wednesday and El Camino on Friday.
Track and Field
The track and field team had a very strong showing at the Willow Glen Invitational over the weekend. Highlights included Grace Koonmen, grade 11, tying for fourth place in the 100-meter; Anthony Contreras, grade 11, finishing eighth in the 200; Niki Iyer, grade 12, taking third in the 800; Sameer Prakash, grade 9, placing fourth in his first-ever hurdle race; Tiffany Shou, grade 11, and Davis Howard, grade 12, setting personal records in the shot put; and Rishi Chopra, grade 11, and Aman Ahluwalia, grade 11, setting personal record in the 800. This Saturday, the Eagles will compete at both the King’s Track Classic at The King’s Academy and the K-Bell Invitational at Bellarmine.
Boys Tennis
Last week, the boys tennis team defeated Sacred Heart Prep 7-0 before traveling to Clovis over the weekend to compete at the California Tennis Classic. The Eagles went 4-1 taking third place in the Division 3 bracket, with wins over Clovis West, Los Altos and Buchanan. It’s a busy week for the boys as they take on Crystal Springs Uplands on Tuesday, Menlo on Wednesday and The King’s Academy on Thursday.
Baseball
The Harker baseball team fell to Del Mar 11-1 last week, before defeating O’Connell 7-6 on Saturday. In the loss to the Dons, Nate Kelly, grade 11, drove in the only Eagle run. Varun Haltore, grade 12, led the offense in the win over O’Connell driving in two runs. Next up for the Eagles is a trip to Westmoor in Daly City on Thursday, followed by a home game versus Pinewood on Friday.
Boys Golf
The boys golf team finished fifth out of 24 teams at the Cowboy Classic in Livermore last week. Daulet Tuleubayev, grade 11, had a great showing as he ended in a tie for first place. This week, the Eagles take on Valley Christian at Coyote Creek, followed by a match with Crystal Springs Uplands at The Peninsula Golf and Country Club. They then travel to Nevada to compete in the Pahrump Valley Invitational on Thursday.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team improved to 4-0 on the season as it defeated Monterey 3-0, Oak Grove 3-0 and Cupertino 3-1 last week. This week, they travel to Monta Vista on Wednesday and Los Altos on Friday.
Swim
The swim team competes next at the Small School Invitational at Sacred Heart Prep on March 18.