The Gail Palmer-directed lower school dance show, held May 27-28, was an uplifting tribute to Broadway’s “Magical Musicals.” Dances were set to famous songs from musicals and films including “The Lion King,” “School of Rock,” “Matilda” and “The Wiz,” all chosen for their positive messages and casts that feature children. The dancers from grades 1-5 – with choreography by Palmer, Kimberly Teodoro, Jessalyn Espiritu, Brittany Watts, Brianna Alday, Alexandra Venter, Rachelle Haun and Amira Townzen – dazzled the crowds with their finesse and hard work. Here are a few photos and many more are available via the Harker Parent Portal!
The final unit of study for upper school Spanish 1 students is learning language related to food and restaurants. Upper school Spanish teacher Diana Moss tries to expose her students to cuisine from Spanish-speaking countries other than Mexico, which is already very popular in California. In previous years, her students have enjoyed lunch at local Peruvian, Salvadoran and Cuban restaurants to learn about Hispanic cuisine in an authentic setting.
This year during parent conferences, Moss learned that Harker parent Ivette Meissner (Anthony, grade 9) was born in Cuba and was raised learning to cook traditional Cuban cuisine by her grandmother. After years of experience, she now has her own cooking business (www.cookingbyivette.com) and offered to prepare a luncheon for the Spanish 1 students featuring a variety of Cuban dishes.
On May 11, Meissner hosted all 28 students at her home in Willow Glen, where she prepared ropa vieja (shredded beef in a savory tomato sauce), roast pork, arroz con gris (black beans cooked in white rice), croquetas de jamón (ham croquettes), tostones (fried plantains) and pasteles (pastries of guava and coconut) along with non-alcoholic mojitos. She also shared with students the story of how her father ended up working in sugar cane fields in Cuba when the government had him fired because he wanted to come to the U.S. He eventually was able to immigrate to the U.S. when Ivette was 11 months old.
The students greatly enjoyed their off-campus outing, but even more the opportunity to experience a new cuisine and learn about Cuban culture.
Middle school performers celebrated the work of Dr. Seuss during the production of “Seussical,” this year’s middle school spring musical, directed by Monica Colletti. The production stitched together characters and themes from Seuss’ most famous stories, including “Horton Hears a Who!” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Lorax.” The plot from “Horton,” in which an elephant tries to save the tiny people of Who-ville, made up most of the story, while themes from Seuss’ other works found their way into the songs.
In addition to the sturdy work of the performers, set designer Paul Vallerga, costume designer Caela Fujii, lighting designer Spencer Doughtie and a host of others worked together to bring the world of Dr. Seuss to life, with crowd-pleasing results!
Swapnil Garg, grade 10, won a gold medal in this year’s U.S. Physics Olympiad, sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT). Although he did not make the team that will participate in this year’s International Physics Olympiad, Garg was one of only 35 students (out of about 400 who qualified to take the USA Physics Olympiad Exam) to earn a gold medal.
Peter Wu and David Zhu, both grade 11, received silver medals in the contest, while sophomore Jimmy Lin, and seniors Jonathan Ma and Michael Zhao received honorable mentions.
After an impressive athletic year, Harker has a chance to bring home two state titles this week.
The boys golf team finished third in NorCals last week, earning a spot to play for a state championship this Wednesday at the San Gabriel Country Club in Southern California. Niki Iyer, grade 11, won a CCS championship in the women’s 3200m last Friday and will race for a state title this weekend at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
In April, senior Natalie Simonian (second from left in the photo) attended the Watermark Conference for Women on a scholarship she received from the Armenian International Women’s Association – San Francisco (AIWA-SF). She was one of three students to receive the award.
At the conference, Simonian had the opportunity to attend breakout sessions by speakers including Emily Greener, co-founder of the organization I Am That Girl, who “taught me that acknowledging and ultimately embracing our inner vulnerabilities is key for allowing us to successfully pursue our own happiness,” she wrote in a blog post on AIWA-SF’s website.
She also attended a panel discussion featuring successful women in traditionally male-dominated fields and was inspired by their tales of perseverance. “Their remarkable life stories that culminated in unlikely success despite incredible adversity – both personal and patriarchal – inspired me to pursue my dreams and goals with more conviction and determination,” Simonian wrote.
The boys golf team took second place in the CCS finals last week, with Dakota McNealy, grade 12, leading the way for the Eagles as he finished tied for fifth overall. The top three CCS teams moved on to the NorCal Championships at Corral De Tierra Country Club this past Monday, where the Eagles continued their impressive run as they placed third to qualify for the state tournament to be held Wednesday at San Gabriel Country Club in Southern California. Ryan Vaughan, grade 11, led the Eagles, shooting a 1-over-par.
Girls Golf
Katherine Zhu, grade 10, played at the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Tournament in Florida this past week. After two days of stroke play, Katherine and her partner shot an 8-under-par, earning the No. 3 ranking out of 64 teams from around the world. We will bring you results of her play on Monday as soon as they come in.
Track and Field
The CCS track semifinals were held this past week with four Harker athletes competing. Anthony Contreras, grade 10, finished fifth in his 200-meter heat and sixth in his 400m heat, but did not qualify for the finals. Demonte Aleem, grade 9, the only freshman competing in the semis, finished 28 out of 32 throwers, setting a school record in the process. Davis Dunaway, grade 11, finished seventh in his 300m hurdle heat. Finally, Niki Iyer, grade 11, took first in the 3200m semifinals, beating the second fastest runner by 13 seconds! She will compete in the CCS finals this Friday at Gilroy High School.
Swimming
Vivian Wang, grade 10, competed at the State Swimming & Diving Championships in Fresno over the weekend and did Harker proud! The sophomore finished fourth in the state in the 200 IM and seventh in the state in the 100 freestyle. Congratulations, Vivian!
Grade 9 students Natasha Maniar and Kelsey Wu won first place at the DECA State Career Development Conference in March for a product they designed called CardioBand. “CardioBand is an innovative three-in-one personal medical and fitness device which will revolutionize the way people monitor their heart health,” said Maniar. The proposed device will function as an electrocardiogram, emergency alert and a fitness monitor. Utilizing a Velcro harness and an app, CardioBand would be able to detect irregular heartbeats and prevent deaths related to sudden cardiac failures.
The students drafted a five-page plan that includes a marketing and sales strategy. They also conducted a survey of potential customers to learn more about what features they would like, preferred colors, a possible price point and when they would be most likely to wear the device.
Maniar and Wu recently had their plan reviewed by venture capitalists and financial analysts, and are happy with the feedback they received. “CardioBand is a huge step up,” said Alex Antebi of Connective Capital Management. “It leap-frogs the competition with its continuous monitoring and proactive notification system. I believe CardioBand is a best-in-class biometrics service.”
“We looked into FDA regulations and what similar companies in the wearables space, like Kardia and Qardio, had gone through to decide the time it would take us to introduce CardioBand in the market,” Maniar said, adding that research also has been done on target markets, creating “a more detailed and accurate analysis of each potential demographic of customers comparing it to other health wearable device companies such as Fitbit to defend our plan.”
Grade 8 students Kathy Fang and Amla Rashingkar received certificates of recognition from the Promising Young Writers Program, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Fang and Rashingkar were among just 122 eighth graders in the United States and Canada who received this recognition for superior writing. Papers were judged for content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development and style.
“This contest was an opportunity for me to see if my voice in writing is eloquent enough to be heard. The results of the contest have proven the saying ‘be yourself’ to be true; by expressing my thoughts and testing my creativity, I have emerged as a winner,” said Fang.
Rashingkar added that the competition really helped push her limits as a writer. “Moreover, I now can say I am one of the top writers in the nation, and the win inspired me to keep writing,” she said.
The Promising Young Writers program represents NCTE’s commitment to early and continuing work in the development of writing. The school-based writing program was established in 1985 to stimulate and recognize students’ writing talents and to emphasize the importance of writing skills among eighth-grade students.
Students, who must be nominated for the honor by their teachers, are required to submit a best writing sample in response to a themed topic.
Earlier this month, Harker junior Angela Kim received the Best in Class award in the grades 9-12 video category in this year’s Growing Up Asian in America Awards. Kim earned the award for her short film, “Mother’s Love,” and was honored at a special ceremony held at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum. She and other winners were later featured on an NBC Bay Area segment about the contest. Each year, the Asian Pacific Fund holds the Growing Up Asian in America Awards to feature the creative work of young Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent. Nearly 1,000 students from around the Bay Area participate every year, submitting artwork, poetry, prose and video projects.
As if that wasn’t enough to get excited about, Kim also will participate in the eight-week Stanford Institutes of Medicine Summer Research Program, starting in June.