Harker celebrated Earth Day 2016 in a big way on April 22, with activities across many grade levels, highlighting Harker’s schoolwide dedication to sustainability.
At the upper school, Earth Day celebrations began as early as the previous week, as students, faculty and staff engaged in the Green Challenge. Using an app called SJEnvironment, participants made note of and “buzzed” each act of sustainability they performed over a weeklong period. Simple actions such as refilling water bottles, minimizing shower time, turning off lights and appliances, and taking public transit could all be recorded in the app for points that were later tallied. Participants were awarded with prizes from Starbucks, Sports Basement, Summer Winds Nursery, Aqui Restaurant and other businesses.
“Our hope is that through participating in the Green Challenge, everyone learned how many simple actions we can each take every day to help promote sustainability and reduce our carbon footprint,” said upper school Spanish teacher Diana Moss, who is also the upper school representative for the Harker Green Committee.
Upper school biology teacher and Green Committee member Kate Schafer added that it “challenged our students to think about their actions and modify those actions and learn about why it’s important to modify those actions.”
The upper school campus was also the location of the final Eagle Buddies event of the year, in which grades 3 and 10 teamed up to make special flags with imprints of leaves and other objects found in nature.
Lower school students celebrated at special Earth Day-themed stations set up by BEST staff. Students in grades 4 and 5 gathered at a table to make crafts from recycled materials, while second graders made potted plants from plastic bottles and string. Kindergartners dressed up as “Earth Jedis” and trekked about the lower school campus picking up trash and recyclables.
The preschool campus was the center of much activity, despite rainy weather consigning it to the indoors. Grade 8 students visited their preschool friends in the Eco Buddies program. In a number of cottages, the middle schoolers set up stations to demonstrate various ecological concepts. One station demonstrated the concept of solar power by having a solar-power operated toy car move around when light was shone on it. At another station, eighth graders used a sock puppet (a stand-in for a worm) to explain Harker’s “wet/dry” waste disposal program: anything that the worm ate would go into the “wet” bin, while anything the worm rejected was headed to the “dry” bin. Other students cobbled together bird houses, made water filters and cut out makeshift helicopters that twirled to the ground when dropped.
“I thought that this was a really cool buddy program, especially since we don’t do very many at middle school,” said Tasha Moorjani, grade 8. “I liked it a lot, for the most part, and my favorite bit was when I realized that the kids were genuinely interested, because it made me really excited to teach them.”
Harker celebrated Earth Day 2016 in a big way on April 22, with activities across many grade levels, highlighting Harker’s schoolwide dedication to sustainability.
At the upper school, Earth Day celebrations began as early as the previous week, as students, faculty and staff engaged in the Green Challenge. Using an app called SJEnvironment, participants made note of and “buzzed” each act of sustainability they performed over a weeklong period. Simple actions such as refilling water bottles, minimizing shower time, turning off lights and appliances, and taking public transit could all be recorded in the app for points that were later tallied. Participants were awarded with prizes from Starbucks, Sports Basement, Summer Winds Nursery, Aqui Restaurant and other businesses.
“Our hope is that through participating in the Green Challenge, everyone learned how many simple actions we can each take every day to help promote sustainability and reduce our carbon footprint,” said upper school Spanish teacher Diana Moss, who is also the upper school representative for the Harker Green Committee.
Upper school biology teacher and Green Committee member Kate Schafer added that it “challenged our students to think about their actions and modify those actions and learn about why it’s important to modify those actions.”
The upper school campus was also the location of the final Eagle Buddies event of the year, in which grades 3 and 10 teamed up to make special flags with imprints of leaves and other objects found in nature.
Lower school students celebrated at special Earth Day-themed stations set up by BEST staff. Students in grades 4 and 5 gathered at a table to make crafts from recycled materials, while second graders made potted plants from plastic bottles and string. Kindergartners dressed up as “Earth Jedis” and trekked about the lower school campus picking up trash and recyclables.
The preschool campus was the center of much activity, despite rainy weather consigning it to the indoors. Grade 8 students visited their preschool friends in the Eco Buddies program. In a number of cottages, the middle schoolers set up stations to demonstrate various ecological concepts. One station demonstrated the concept of solar power by having a solar-power operated toy car move around when light was shone on it. At another station, eighth graders used a sock puppet (a stand-in for a worm) to explain Harker’s “wet/dry” waste disposal program: anything that the worm ate would go into the “wet” bin, while anything the worm rejected was headed to the “dry” bin. Other students cobbled together bird houses, made water filters and cut out makeshift helicopters that twirled to the ground when dropped.
“I thought that this was a really cool buddy program, especially since we don’t do very many at middle school,” said Tasha Moorjani, grade 8. “I liked it a lot, for the most part, and my favorite bit was when I realized that the kids were genuinely interested, because it made me really excited to teach them.”
Last Saturday, the Grades 7-8 Orchestra participated in the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) Music Festival at Independence High School and, for the first time ever, received a Unanimous Superior Rating. The orchestra performed about 20 minutes of prepared music for three judges and was evaluated on sight reading as well. About 40 students participated.
“This is the highest possible rating an ensemble can receive at CMEA,” said Dave Hart, orchestra director, “and it just shows all the hard work they put in individually and as a group! There were wonderful displays of team work throughout the entire festival. Please join me in congratulating the students!”
Congratulations to the entire Grades 7-8 Orchestra and director Dave Hart!
Donna Gilbert, history and social science chair, opened the event with remarks about each of the grant programs. She remembered beloved history teacher John Near, who passed away in 2009, saying, “He inspired in his students a love for the excitement of historical exploration, which lives on in this special program.” Gilbert also had kind words for the Mitra family, “whose vision and kindness extended the scholars program to allow students opportunities to study topics in the broader disciplines of the humanities and social sciences.”
This year’s John Near scholars are seniors Jasmine Liu (“A House Divided: Residential Segregation in Santa Clara County”), Sadhika Malladi (“Graphic Soldiers: Popular Sentiment as Reflected in Captain America and Spider-Man”), Zarek Drozda (“Learned Lessons: Financial Innovation and the Panic of 1873”) and Sahana Narayanan (“’Bee-Boppa-Doe’: The Sounds of Musical Revolution”).
The 2016 Mitra scholars are seniors Elisabeth Siegel (“Ideology Through Subliminal Propaganda: A Critique of Portrayals of Palestine and Palestinians in Israeli and Western Online News Media during Operation Protective Edge”), Kaitlyn Gee (“Pretty in Punk: An Examination of European Female Punk Rock of the 70s and 80s Through a Feminist Lens”), Natalie Simonian (“Whispers in Russia: The Influence of the Rumors Surrounding Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on the Russian Revolution and Their Role in the German Effort to Overthrow the Tsarist Regime”) and Kavya Ramakrishnan (“The Eggleston Effect: Color Photography as Fine Art”).
“These eight seniors conducted “hundreds of hours of research that led … to scholarly analysis of musical scores, journals, maps, images, song lyrics, interviews and on and on,” said library director Sue Smith.
All of the scholars took the stage to share their thoughts on their research and thank their mentors for their invaluable guidance. Malladi, who shared heartfelt thanks to mentors Katy Rees, upper school history teacher, and upper school librarian Lauri Vaughan, also thanked her parents “for almost believing me when I said I was reading comic books for research.
“Being a Near scholar has been an incredible experience,” she continued. Although she found the research initially “more passive” than the kind of work she had become accustomed to, “I realized it was my responsibility to think critically about what I read.”
Gee also had kind words for her mentors, upper school English teacher Ruth Meyer (who wore Doc Martens in keeping with the theme of Gee’s work) and Sue Smith: “Their encouraging, patient and accommodating nature is beyond compare.”
She also expressed her gratitude to Harker “for providing me with 13 years of outstanding education.” A video of the entire reception is now available for viewing.
The boys tennis team won its CCS opening round match against Santa Cruz 5-2 last week. They travel to Gunn High School today at 3 p.m. for their second round match. Good luck, Eagles!
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team defeated The King’s Academy in four games last week to win its fourth league championship in school history and its first since 2008, going 10-0 in league play this season. The Eagles earned an 11th seed and host Westmont on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the opening round of CCS. Good luck!
Track and Field
The track and field team will be well represented in the league finals next Friday at Palo Alto, as the Eagles had 29 season bests at the league trials last week. Qualifying for the league finals are: Sara Min, grade 9, in the JV 100m; Alycia Cary, grade 9, in the JV 200m and JV 800m; Gloria Guo, grade 10, and Niki Iyer, grade 11, in the varsity 800m; Demonte Aleem, grade 9, in the varsity 100m and shot put; Anthony Contreras, grade 10, in the 200m and 400m; Aashish Jain, grade 11, in the JV long jump; Jain, Mitch Granados, grade 9, and Jonathan Yiu, grade 12, in the JV 100m; Arthur Ye, grade 12, in the JV shot put; Davis Dunaway, grade 11, and Kevin Kim, grade 12, in the varsity 300m hurdles; and Dunaway in the varsity pole vault, where he also qualified for the CCS championships. Good luck, Harker track and field!
Softball
The varsity softball team dropped an 8-4 game to Mercy Burlingame last week, but Tong Wu, grade 12, had two hits and three RBIs. The 6-8 Eagles finish their regular season this week as they travel to Notre Dame San Jose on Tuesday, and host The King’s Academy on Wednesday.
Boys Golf
The boys golf team was upset in the league championship tournament as it took home a second place finish last week. This Wednesday the Eagles will begin their CCS journey at Rancho Cañada Golf Club in Carmel. Good luck, Eagles!
Girls Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team dropped two games last week – a 13-3 loss to Aragon and a 15-5 loss to Woodside. The Eagles finish off their season on Tuesday as they travel to Notre Dame San Jose.
Baseball
The boys baseball team swept a two game-series with Pinewood last week. In a 16-9 victory over the Panthers early in the week, Miles DeWitt, grade 12, had two hits and six RBIs, including a grand slam, to make it a very memorable Senior Day. In the 6-2 win over Pinewood later in the week, Matthew Kennedy, grade 10, had two hits and two RBIs to lead the way for the Eagles. Harker traveled to Menlo to end the week, but lost 11-3. Trenton Thomas and Arthur Wolff Goldstein, both grade 12, each drove in a run in the defeat. The 8-12 Eagles finish off the regular season this week with a game today at Blackford versus San Jose High and then travel to Jefferson on Tuesday.
Swim
Last week, the Harker swim team competed in the league championships. Highlights included a second place finish for the girls 200 medley relay team of Vivian Wang, grade 10, Taylor Kohlmann, grade 10, Grace Guan, grade 12, and Angela Huang, grade 12; Guan placing third in the girls 100 fly; Wang taking first and Guan taking third in the girls 100 back; Jack Farnham, grade 11, winning the boys 100 back; the girls 400 free relay team of Wang, Kohlmann, Guan and Huang placing second; the boys 400 free relay team of Farnham, Michael Auld, grade 11, Justin Culpepper, grade 11, and Alex Yu, grade 9, placing third; and Wang winning the girls 200 free, while breaking the Harker and league record!
Swimmers competing in CCS events starting this Friday are Wang, Kohlmann, Guan, Huang, Yu, Culpepper, Farnham, Auld, Angela Li, grade 9, Justan Su, grade 10, Karen Tu, grade 12, Ihita Mandal, grade 9, Kevin Tzeng, grade 10, and Clarissa Wang, grade 9.
The middle school Quiz Bowl team took fifth place at nationals in Atlanta this past weekend. “They performed incredibly well and earned a fifth place finish overall out of 160 teams that qualified for and attended nationals,” said advisor Jonathan Brusco. “Keep in mind that there were hundreds of other teams around the nation that didn’t qualify to even attend, so this makes their finish even more impressive.
“They were one very close game away from making the semifinals. In addition to this finish, Kyle Li, grade 8, also ranked as the 25th highest individual score out of the 600-plus students in the competition.” Team members are Li; Jin Tuan, grade 8; Jeffrey Fung, grade 8; Aksay Manglik, grade 7; and Arun Sundaresan, grade 8. Sankar Sundaresan, Arun’s father, was instrumental in coaching the team at nationals.
Latin 1, all grade 7 unless noted. Every student enrolled in Latin 1b earned an award this year, which is a first! Magna cum laude: Haley Arena (grade 8), Elizabeth Szeto, Abbie Blenko, Roberto Salgado. Maxima cum laude/silver medal: John Lynch, Shalini Rohra, Blake Richmond, Saloni Shah, Sidra Xu, Betsy Tian, Angela Cai. Summa cum laude/gold medal: Sara Yen, Jason Lin, Linus Zheng, Sriya Prathuri (grade 8), Kimi Butte, Maria Vazhaeparambil, Akshay Manglik, Annamma Vazhaeparambil. Perfect paper/summa cum laude/gold medal: Arohee Bhoja.
Latin 2, all grade 8 unless noted. Magna cum laude: Darshan Chahal, Kashov Sharma, Rachel Abellera, Lauren Fu.
Maxima cum laude/silver medal: Henry Wiese, Angele Yang, Catherine Zhao, Vedanth Sundaram, Kyle Li, Mahika Halepete, Bryan Wang, Kalyan Narayanan, Jai Bahri, Jatin Kohli, Katelyn Chen. Summa cum laude/gold medal: Datha Arramreddy, Jasmine Wiese, Cynthia Chen, Allison Jia, Alyssa Huang, Andrew Cheplyansky, Ashley Duraiswamy, George Wehner (grade 7), Jack Hansen, Jin Tuan, Eileen Li, Montek Kalsi. Perfect paper/summa cum laude/gold medal: Avi Gulati, Jeffrey Fung.
National Mythology Exam
Bronze Medal (90-94%): Madelyn Jin, Arnav Jain, Alex Zhang, Aaron Tran, Anoushka Khatri, Aaron Lo, all grade 6; Shalini Rohra, Blake Richmond, Jason Lin, Arohee Bhoja, Saloni Shah, Elizabeth Szeto, all grade 7; Ashley Duraiswamy, Angele Yang, Allison Jia, Matthew Jin, Henry Wiese, Jedd Hui, Jack Hansen, Jai Bahri, Kalyan Narayanan, Alyssa Huang, Andrew Cheplyansky, Jin Tuan, Lauren Fu, Jasmine Wiese, Catherine Zhao, Vedanth Sundaram, all grade 8.
Silver Medal (95-99%): Nicole Tian, Angela Jia, Brandon Park, Jacqueline Hu, all grade 6; Sidra Xu, Akshay Manglik, Betsy Tian, Linus Zheng, all grade 7; Katelyn Chen, Kyle Li, both grade 8.
Gold Medal (100%): Angela Cai, Kimi Butte, Annamma Vazhaeparambil, all grade 7.
In addition, a number of Latin students signed up to take some optional contests:
Medusa Mythology Exam
This is a challenging themed exam, originally open only to high school students. The theme this year was “Hercules, the First Avenger.” Corona Olivae (Olive Wreath): Brandon Park (grade 6), Montek Kalsi (grade 8). Corona Laurea (Laurel Wreath): Saloni Shah, Annama Vazhaeparambil, Akshay Manglik, all grade 7; Jeffrey Fung, Kyle Li, Allison Jia, all grade 8. Bronze Medal: Arohee Bhoja, grade 7; Katelyn Chen, grade 8.
National Classical Etymology Exam
This exam tests knowledge of English words from Latin and Greek roots.
Bronze Medal: Sriya Prathuri, Bryan Wang, both grade 8; Silver Medal: Allison Jia, Montek Kalsi, Eileen Li, Kalyan Narayanan, all grade 8. Gold Medal: Arohee Bhoja, Annamma Vazhaeparambil, Linus Zheng, all grade 7; Jeffrey Fung, Avi Gulati, Jack Hansen, Kyle Li, Jin Tuan, Angele Yang, all grade 8.
National Roman Civilization Exam
This exam covers Roman history and culture. Bronze Medal: Arohee Bhoja, grade 7. Silver Medal: Annamma Vazhaeparambil, grade 7; Avi Gulati, Jack Hansen, Eileen Li, Kalyan Narayanan, all grade 8. Gold Medal: Cynthia Chen, Jeffrey Fung, Allison Jia, Kyle Li , all grade 8.
National Latin Vocabulary Exam
Students must master a posted list of vocabulary words for their level. Latin 1/2. Bronze Medal: Angela Jia, Thresiamma Vazhaeparambil, both grade 6
Latin 1: Bronze Medal: Sriya Prathuri, grade 8. Silver Medal: Jason Lin, grade 7. Gold Medal: Arohee Bhoja, Akshay Manglik, Annamma Vazhaeparambil, Sidra Xu, Linus Zheng, all grade 7.
Latin 2:
Bronze Medal: Allison Jia, grade 8. Silver Medal: Cynthia Chen, Avi Gulati, Kyle Li, Kalyan Narayanan, all grade 8. Gold Medal: Jeffrey Fung, Jack Hansen, Montek Kalsi, Eileen Li, Jin Tuan, all grade 8.
In late April, 20 students from Harker’s DECA chapter attended the 2016 International Career Development Conference (ICDC) at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tenn., with great results!
“The four-day business conference featured competitions with tough opponents, skill-building leadership academies and unforgettable experiences,” said Shania Wang, grade 9, director of communications for DECA.
Two Harker teams finished in the top 20 during preliminary competitions, earning them the chance to compete in the final round and, for the first time in Harker DECA history, a student from the chapter received first place in a role-play event at ICDC. Enya Lu, grade 9, took top honors in the principles of finance category, while teammates Dolan Dworak, Brandon Mo and Michael Sikand, all grade 10, were finalists in the independent business plan category.
The group began its trip with a DECA-sponsored 5K run in nearby Shelby Park to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). Afterward, competitors attended a competition preparation session with rest of California DECA and received their registration packets, including California bucket hats and state trading pins.
The day ended with the grand opening session, where Harker joined nearly 18,000 high school DECA members from all over the world. The official start to ICDC, this session featured a fashion show by the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM), keynotes from Marriott executives and a performance by country singer Lauren Alaina.
The next day, Sunday, students took written examinations and attended event briefings. Aside from the 15 students competing, five members began their Emerging Leader Series, with four in the Thrive division and one in Ignite. Afterward, the chapter enjoyed a fun night on the beautiful Cumberland River aboard the General Jackson Showboat.
Monday consisted of all preliminary competitive events, as well as the finale of the Emerging Leader Series. Harker DECA members attended the Nashville Sounds vs. New Orleans Zephyrs minor league baseball game.
On Sunday and Monday, students could go to the Exhibit Hall throughout the day. The career exhibits featured colleges, companies and organizations, and gave students the chance to network and meet new people. These booths allowed members to learn about business opportunities beyond high school. Campaign booths were also available to learn more about those running for next year’s DECA executive positions.
“It was a great opportunity to learn about how business works in a culture like that of Nashville and get feedback from local business owners about how to appeal to a non-Bay Area market,” said Shreyas Chandrashekaran, grade 10, Harker DECA vice president of competitions and strategy and a competitor in the finance operations research category.
Spirits ran high on Tuesday, the last official day of ICDC. That morning, students attended the achievement awards session, when they learned whether they would be one of the 20 teams to advance to the final round of competition in their events.
Harker advanced two teams into the final round of competitions: Lu and the team of Dworak, Mo and Sikand. While those students competed, the rest of the chapter explored the downtown area and got a taste of Nashville at Rippy’s Bar & Grill. Later that evening, all California DECA members came together for a group photo before heading over to the grand awards session.
After applauding for the new national executive team, many scholarship recipients and numerous finalists, Harker DECA exploded in cheers as Lu was named a top 10 finalist. Within minutes, it was announced that Lu won first place in her event, principles of finance – the first time in chapter history that a Harker member received first in role-play at ICDC.
“It felt amazing,” said Lu. “I was very surprised and I was kind of scared when I went up. I was really excited and I thought that I did well already, but I really wasn’t expecting it. When they announced third and second, I thought that I wouldn’t get it, but then I did, and it was amazing.”
Everybody was beaming with smiles as they finished their last night at ICDC with the state dinner with rest of California DECA, noted Wang.
“This year’s ICDC was an amazing experience for students who were able to connect professionally, serve their community, and develop further as future business professionals and emerging leaders,” added Juston Glass, Harker DECA advisor.
On Wednesday, Harker DECA took a chapter photo before heading to the airport. “ICDC was the last conference of the year and definitely an unforgettable experience for all those that attended,” said Wang. “Harker DECA is proud of another successful competitive season and looks forward to next year.”
Today, Harker took a historic step toward building the new athletic center and performing arts center as students, faculty, staff, donors and the board of trustees broke ground at a special afternoon ceremony on Rosenthal Field, site of the new facilities.
Head of School Chris Nikoloff made some opening remarks to the crowd before introducing Diana Nichols, chair of the Harker board of trustees and former head of school. She began by thanking the donors who were present at the ceremony for their vision and generosity. “I can’t say enough about the board of directors, who have worked quietly and in the background on every detail of this project, and without whose effort it could not have come to fruition,” she said.
Addressing the students, she said, “you are the very heart of this project. Everything we have done and are doing is for you, and I thank you for being the kind of student body that inspires the adults in your life to want to do good things for you.”
She also brought to the podium construction manager Dave Albert, architects Kevin Hart and Bill Bondi, and Devcon Construction’s Gary Filizetti and Andy Schatzman, who were all recognized as key figures in bringing the new facilities from conception to reality.
“We were fortunate enough to have true leaders in the personas of Jeffrey and Marieke Rothschild,” Nichols announced. The Rothschilds’ $10 million matching gift was crucial to making the project possible and “inspired others to rise to the challenge,” Nichols said. Shortly after, the Harker Eaglets presented flowers to the Rothschilds.
Several groups of people were then given the honor of breaking ground with gold-painted shovels. Members of the board of trustees, donors, Harker faculty and staff, the construction team, performing arts chair Laura Lang-Ree, athletic director Dan Molin and student council representatives of every grade level all took turns digging.
To celebrate the historic and symbolic gesture, all attendees gathered at the center of the field for a drone fly-by and a celebratory blast of (biodegradable) confetti.
Beginning in June 2016 Harker launched two new state-of-the art building projects on the upper school campus, the result of a $45M capital campaign. The 33,000 square-foot athletic center, opening August 2017, features a 12,000 sq.-ft. gym, athletic training room with advanced hydrotherapy unit, and spacious team rooms. The Rothschild Performing Arts Center, opening spring of 2018, features a 450-seat theater with fly loft and hydraulic orchestra pit, a state of the art scene shop, vocal, instrumental, theater/musical theater classrooms and dressing rooms. For more information visit the news and video links below or contact communications@harker.org
Harker juniors Manan Shah and Tiffany Zhu, accompanied by computer science chair Eric Nelson, attended the Critical Issues Forum in mid-April, where they presented and viewed presentations by other high school students on issues related to nuclear nonproliferation.
The topic of the conference – which was held at Santa Catalina School in Monterey and sponsored by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) – was the likelihood of a nuclear detonation. Shah and Zhu crafted and delivered a presentation on several narrowly averted nuclear disasters, “which were caused by a combination of technical errors and human negligence,” said Shah. “We hope to learn from past encounters and recognize that significant changes must occur in the implementation of nuclear policy as well as the modernization of nuclear technology.”
The presentation was based on a 20-page paper composed by a team of 11 Harker students – Enya Lu, grade 9, and juniors Aashish Jain, Nikhil Manglik, Parth Pendurkar, Rahul Shukla, Arjun Subramaniam, Misha Tseitlin, Raymond Xu and Alex Youn, in addition to Shah and Zhu – “describing the urgency of reducing the number of nuclear weapons in the world, identifying reasons that the world remained vulnerable to nuclear detonations and proposing measures for countries to achieve that goal,” Zhu said.
It was viewed by a number of key figures at the conference, among them former United States Secretary of Defense William Perry, who described the presentation as “excellent.” Other students in attendance also gave positive feedback on Shah and Zhu’s presentation, which inspired many questions about their proposal for disarmament as well as their insights on the today’s most dangerous nuclear threats.
Both Shah and Zhu described visiting and presenting at the Critical Issues Forum as a highly rewarding experience. For Shah, the highlight of the event was meeting and conversing with Perry, whom Shah described as “an amazing speaker who, having worked most of his career with nuclear weapons, is now working tirelessly to eliminate the weapons, which he considers a grave and dangerous threat to civilization.”
“I’m extremely grateful to have been able to partake in CIF,” Zhu said. “I gained my first taste of the arduous, but critical and ultimately rewarding task of proposing solutions to a wide-reaching problem, and without initially intending to, at the conference, I caught a glimpse of how diplomats and policymakers interact in real life.”