Over the fall semester, Harker Honors and AP Japanese students participated in a video exchange with their friends at Tamagawa Academy in Tokyo. Each student had two buddies at Tamagawa – one they interacted with in Japanese and another they spoke with in English. In the videos, the students discussed topics such as life at their respective schools, hobbies, college plans and their families.
Emma Yu, grade 11, said she enjoyed the project because it enabled her to get to know her buddies on a more personal level. “It was actually seeing them in a video instead of just writing down letters,” she said, “because you can see their personality and habits, and you can feel a stronger connection to them.”
“I really think that the questions and answers really said a lot about their personalities, interests, etc.,” said sophomore Sumantra Banerjee. “I enjoyed being asked and answering questions the most as that’s how the conversation moves forward.”
Other students said it also provided an opportunity to further build on their Japanese language skills. “I would like to do it again, as conversing with the Tamagawa students proved to be beneficial for my oral Japanese skills,” said Leon Lu, grade 10. “I enjoyed creating Japanese videos and emulating the speech styles of the Tamagawa students, and the most challenging thing for me was to be able to use the correct vocabulary and grammar to get my point across.”
While senior Kaitlin Hsu discovered that she and one of her buddies shared an interest in journalism, she felt that “the most interesting things I learned about my friend were actually kind of the most trivial ones, like when we talked about horoscopes and blood type. Just getting to know these kinds of quirks that you don’t usually share with anyone else, but it’s always kind of in the back of your mind.”
Congratulations to Michael Amick ’13, who was selected in the second round (32nd overall) of the MLS draft by the Portland Timbers. Amick played college soccer at UCLA, where he was a three-time team captain, first team All-Pac 12 selection in his sophomore year, honorable mention All-Pac 12 selection in his junior and senior years, Pac 12 All-Academic first team selection in his junior and senior year, and Pac 12 men’s soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year in his senior year. “When I finally heard my name, it was a huge relief and a very exciting moment to walk on stage, taking the next step to pursue my soccer career,” said Amick. See the moment when Amick was selected: http://www.timbers.com/post/2017/01/13/2017-mls-superdraft-defender-michael-amick-s-draft-day-podium-speech
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team dropped a close 37-35 game against Castilleja last week. Jordan Thompson, grade 12, led the Eagles with 18 points in the loss. Later in the week, the Eagles bounced back with a 60-33 win over Mercy Burlingame. Thompson again scored 18 points, with Selin Sayiner, grade 11, adding 11 points. The Eagles have most of the week off until they host The Kings Academy on Friday.
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team picked up a 66-50 win over Crystal Springs Uplands last week, with Eric Jeong, grade 11, leading the way with 17 points. The victory also marked the 600th win in the impressive career of coach Butch Keller. However, later in the week, the Eagles fell to Eastside College Prep 51-44. Gene Wang, grade 10, led Harker with 11 points. Next up for the boys are home games versus The Kings’ Academy on Tuesday and Menlo on Friday.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team dropped two matches last week, a 2-1 loss to Crystal Springs Uplands and a 4-0 loss to Sacred Heart Prep. This week, the Eagles host Menlo on Friday and Eastside College Prep on Friday.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team was defeated 8-0 by Woodside Priory last week, but looks to rebound with three matches this week. The Eagles travel to Castilleja on Tuesday and Mercy Burlingame on Thursday, before hosting Eastside College Prep on Friday.
US Wrestling
The Eagles wrestling team opened its league season with a 45-36 loss to Los Altos last week. Alan Hughes, grade 11, Eric Fang, grade 9, and Davis Howard, grade 12, all picked up wins by pin. This past weekend, the Eagles competed at the Los Gatos Wildcat Invitational with Fang finishing third in the 195-pound division, Devin Keller, grade 9, finishing fourth in the 136-pound division and Kobe Howard, grade 10, finishing seventh in the 132-pound division. The Eagles host their first match of the year this Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Blackford against Saratoga High.
MS Wrestling
Congrats to Dezi Johnsen, grade 7, who took first in the grade 6-8 boys 142-pound division at the prestigious New Year’s Bash middle school wrestling tournament in Clovis this past weekend.
Congratulations to cross country and track coach Scott Chisam on being named a starter at this year’s state track meet. Chisam is a member of the CCS Starters Association and was nominated to join starters from other CIF sections at the finals in June.
Izzy Connell ’13 continues her stellar collegiate career at Pepperdine University as she set two school records in the first meet of the women’s indoor track season. At Northern Arizona’s Friday Night Duals last Friday, Connell broke her own school record in the 60-meter sprint, placing sixth in the event. She also placed sixth and broke the school record in the 400. Connell also holds the school records in the 100, 200, 400, 4×400 and the indoor 200.
Junior Anooshree Sengupta recently led her first WonderBots! program, which she spearheaded to foster interest in technology among local girls in grades 5-8. Designed by Sengupta and Harker computer science chair Eric Nelson, WonderBots! was supported by a grant from AspireIT, an outreach program organized by the National Center for Women and Information Technology. Sengupta won an Aspirations in Computing Award from NCWIT in March 2016.
“The program just concluded, and was very successful, with 80 girls applying for 20 spots,” Sengupta said. Eight two-hour classes were held from October through early December at the West Valley branch of the San Jose Public Library. Attendees engaged with technology by learning how to build and program robots following the CMU (Carnegie Mellon University) Lego Robotics curriculum.
Sengupta hopes to encourage more interest in technology among girls, who account for more than half of all AP test-takers and nearly half of all students taking AP Calculus exams. By contrast, girls make up only 22 percent of AP computer science test-takers, a number that Sengupta aspires to increase with the WonderBots! program.
The success of the initial program has motivated Sengupta to consider expanding the next series of classes to more branches in the San Jose Public Library system this year.
Harker junior Jerrica Liao had a pair of very respectable finishes at the January North American Circuit event in Columbus, Ohio, this past weekend. Liao, an A-rated foilist with scores of tournaments behind her, finished 63rd of 166 fencers the senior event, which includes international and Olympic fencers and is largely composed of collegiate and older fencers. She had a great finish at No. 24 in the junior event.
In the senior event, Liao split her pool – three wins and three losses – seeding 98th, then flipped her 33rd-seeded opponent out of the 64 bracket by a score of 10-4, putting herself into the 64th slot. She then lost to one of the top foilists in the country to end her day.
Two days later, in the junior event, Liao won five of her six pool bouts and, in a reversal of her senior event, seeded 33rd, and cleaned up her first elimination bout against the 96th seed, 15-7. Liao went on to again flip up a bracket, beating the 32 seed to move into the top 32. Then, in a twist of fate, she fell to the No. 1 seed, the same fencer who defeated her in the senior event earlier in the week, putting Liao at No. 24, a very solid finish.
The points earned at senior events count toward National Team membership. Liao is just breaking into the senior events as she ages out of the cadet category (up to age 17). She has been fencing for many years and trains at Silicon Valley Fencing Club. Liao is nationally ranked in three categories: 56th in cadet, 74th in junior and 98th in senior – and it is early in the season. Go, Jerrica!
On Tuesday night, Butch Keller reached an impressive milestone: his 600th career win as a boys basketball coach.
In a 66-50 win over Crystal Springs Uplands, the Eagles brought home the benchmark in Keller’s 31st season as a coach. In 2007, after 25-plus years coaching in Virginia, where he racked up eight state finals appearances, won three state championships and was named Coach of the Year a wondrous 18 times, Keller and wife, Jane, a upper school math teacher, came to Harker. Keller began coaching Harker’s boys basketball in 2011.
Amazingly, Keller’s 600 wins do not even include his AAU, summer league or girls basketball wins. “Six hundred is just a number, a big number, but just a number nonetheless,” said Keller, also Harker’s upper division head, with characteristic humility. “It means I have been coaching a long time.”
Over the years, what has continued to impress Keller is the athletes he has coached. “I have been blessed with the opportunity to coach a lot of incredible young men for 31 seasons. The work ethic, attitude and talent that they bring to the sport has made coaching an incredible privilege,” stated Keller. “The wins, championships and accolades are all a by-product of the process and relationships.”
Student athletes spoke to Keller’s leadership skills. Tri-captain Eric Jeong, grade 11, scored a team-high 17 points in the win over CSU and was quick to point out the bond between Keller and his players. “Coach Keller always has great relationships with every player on the team,” said Jeong. “He knows how to get the best out of every player and always encourages us to be ourselves on the court.”
Jordan Goheen, grade 12, added, “What impresses me the most about Mr. Keller is that he genuinely cares about each player on the team.”
Being a coach requires a lot of extra time on nights and weekends, and Keller said he couldn’t do it without his family. “The support that I have received from everyone in the schools I have worked has been phenomenal, but the biggest thing has been the support I have always had from my family,” said Keller. “My family has sacrificed a lot to allow me to coach and I am very grateful.”
And there are a thousand young men who played under Keller who are grateful, too. Heartfelt congratulations, Coach Keller, and unending thanks for your time and dedication; Harker is fortunate to have you. Here’s to many more wins with the Eagles!
The girls soccer team continued its hot start to the season as it picked up two wins last week. In an 8-0 victory over Mercy San Francisco, Joelle Anderson, grade 12, had four goals, with senior Lyndsey Mitchell and sophomores Sahana Narayan, Sara Min and Julia Amick scoring the remaining goals. Later in the week, the Eagles defeated Pinewood 4-2 behind three goals from Anderson and another from Amick. Anderson now has 22 goals in seven games this season, which is highest in the CCS according to maxpreps.com. The 5-1-1 girls team hosts Pacific Collegiate on Tuesday and travels to Priory on Thursday.
Girls Basketball
Last week, the girls basketball team dropped two league games as it was defeated 51-47 by Notre Dame San Jose and 65-56 by Mercy San Francisco. In the loss to Mercy, Jordan Thompson, grade 12, led the way with 28 points, while Selin Sayiner, grade 11, added 11 points. In the loss to NDSJ, Thompson led the Eagles with 28 points to become Harker’s all-time career scoring leader, passing Alex Abarca ’09 who held the previous record with 1,723 career points. Last year, Thompson passed Daniza Rodriguez ’13 to become the all-time female scorer in Harker history. Thompson is currently the leading female scorer in the CCS, averaging 27.1 points per game, according to maxpreps.com. The Eagles take on Castilleja on Tuesday and Mercy Burlingame on Friday, both at the Blackford campus.
Wrestling
Last week, the Harker wrestling team competed in the Ruppel 2nd Man Tournament and the Bianchini Varsity Tournament, both held at Cupertino High School. Highlights included Devin Keller, grade 9, taking fifth in the 132-pound division and Justin Su, grade 11, taking the consolation championship in the 113-pound division, both at the Ruppel 2nd Man Tournament. At the Bianchini Tournament, Davis Howard, grade 12, placed sixth in the 285-pound division. The Eagles open their league season this Thursday as they travel to Los Altos High.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team was defeated 5-2 by Hillsdale in its only match last week. This week, the Eagles host Crystal Springs Uplands on Wednesday and travel to Sacred Heart Prep on Friday.
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team dropped two league games last week, a 53-36 loss to Sacred heart Prep and a 61-39 loss to Priory. Jordan Goheen, grade 12, led the Eagles with nine points and 10 rebounds against SHP, and Justin Jia, grade 12, had eight points, eight rebounds and five steals against Priory. This week, the Eagles travel to Crystal Springs Uplands on Tuesday and Eastside College Prep on Thursday.
Several Harker math students had strong scores in National Assessment & Testing’s 2016 Fall Startup Event. Coached by upper school math teacher Anuradha Aiyer, the students worked to make Harker the fifth-highest placing school in the country. Freshmen Jeffrey Kwan and Rohan Cherukuri placed 13th and 20th, respectively, in the grade 9 division. In the grade 10 division, Katherine Tian placed 17th. Swapnil Garg took third placed in the grade 11 division, where Jimmy Lin placed 17th. Finally, in the grade 12 division, Misha Ivkov placed 14th.
Students participating in the Fall Startup Event are given 100 problems and tasked with solving as many as possible within 30 minutes. It is the first of four contests administered by National Assessment & Testing throughout the school year.
Harker teacher and Green Team member Diana Moss and her son Kevin Moss ’14, along with sisters Anika Banga, grade 11, and Anvi Banga, grade 9, and their dad, Gaurav, helped pick up some seriously nasty stuff by the roadway over the break. As part of a large group effort that included students from other schools, the Harker team cleaned up the Southwest Expressway-Meridian Avenue interchange, filling 12 bags in just over two hours, according to the Adopt-A-Highway organizer. Go Harker Green Team!
The boys basketball team went 1-2 over the break with their sole win coming in a 50-36 victory over Redwood Christian. Nice performances came from Brando Pakel, grade 11, with 11 points against Redwood Christian; Gene Wang, grade 10, with 11 points against Monta Vista; and Jordan Goheen, grade 12, with a 19-point, nine-rebound game also against Monta Vista. The Eagles host Sacred Heart Prep tonight and Priory on Friday.
Girls Basketball
Over the break, the girls basketball team went 2-4 with wins over Pacific Collegiate and Watsonville. Jordan Thompson, grade 12, once again led the Eagles in scoring, including a 31-point performance against Watsonville. Satchi Thockchom, grade 11, also had a good break with back-to-back 18-point games against Watsonville and Santa Cruz. The girls return to action tonight at Notre Dame San Jose and Friday at Mercy San Francisco.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team lost 3-0 to Saratoga High just before the break. The Eagles travel to Mercy San Francisco today and host Pinewood on Thursday.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team picked up a 3-1 win over Wilcox the Friday before the break. The Eagles are now 3-2 on the season. This Friday, the boys travel to Hillsdale High School.
Wrestling
The Harker wrestling team will compete this Friday at the Ruppel 2nd Man Tournament at Cupertino High School.
Every year in October, fresh cookies are served at all four Harker campuses to celebrate and preserve the legacy of longtime Harker president Howard Nichols. Cookie Day, which occurs on or near Nichols’ birthday, is a nod to his practice of keeping a jar of cookies in his office, signaling to all who passed by that his door was open to anyone who felt like dropping in for a chat.
Nichols, who became head of school in 1973, served the Harker community with his wife, Diana (who now chairs Harker’s Board of Trustees) for more than 30 years. As president, Nichols helped shape Harker into a school that prized character as much as academics. His vision for the school lives on in many key areas, including the Honor Code, the expansive performing arts department and the broad array of programs.
In 1992, when Harker Academy was renamed The Harker School, Howard Nichols was named president while Diana Nichols assumed duties as head of school. Together, they spearheaded the addition of an upper school, which opened in 1998.
Howard and Diana Nichols retired in 2005, and just three short years later, Howard passed away from cancer. Harker is proud to keep the tradition of Cookie Day to teach students about their beloved onetime leader.