Harker enjoyed another successful year at the Synopsys Science & Technology Championship, garnering numerous grand prizes and other top honors.
Upper school students were particularly successful in the physical science and engineering category. Cameron Jones, grade 9, received a first award in the category, as well as recognition for outstanding sustainability project, a third place award from A Society for Materials International, a second place certificate from the Society of Vacuum Coaters (SVC) and recognition from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Other first award winners in this category were Aditya Dhar, grade 11; Cindy Wang, grade 9; and Katherine Zhang, also grade 9.
Sophomores Maya Kumar and Anooshree Sengupta each won a second award in the same category, in addition to receiving a certificate of achievement from the Wireless Communications Alliance and recognition from the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. Derek Yen, grade 10, received a second award, and fellow sophomores Sumer Kohli and Neelesh Ramachandran received honorable mentions. Meanwhile, Karena Kong and Linus Li, both grade 10, received certificates of achievement from the American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin.
In the RRI (Registered Research Institution, denoting projects from students who worked under professional mentors) physical science and engineering category, sophomore Amy Dunphy won a grand prize and a first award, as well as a first place award from the American Chemical Society. Juniors Rishab Gargeya and Manan Shah each won a grand prize and a first award, as well as a $1,000 Muddu Family Entrepreneurial and Startup Award and a certificate of achievement from the American Society of Engineers of Indian Origin. Sneha Bhetanabhotla, grade 11, received an honorable mention.
Upper school students also did extremely well in the biological science and engineering category. First award winners were Emily Chen and Shreyas Chandrashekaran, both grade 10. Sophomore Rajiv Movva also did well, receiving a second award in the category, along with recognition from Morgan Lewis and IBM. Juniors Shasvat Jawahar and Raymond Xu also received second awards, while Trisha Dwivedi, Kshithija Mulam, Winnie Li and Joyce Zhao, all grade 11, and Shaya Zarkesh, grade 10, received honorable mentions.
In the RRI biological science and engineering category, seniors Jonathan Ma and Sadhika Malladi won grand prizes and first awards. Additional first awards went to junior Scott Song, sophomores Jerry Chen and Amy Jin, and freshmen Krish Kapadia and Anjay Saklecha. Junior Arjun Subramaniam received an honorable mention and a certificate of achievement from Varian Medical Systems.
Middle school students performed very well in the biological science and engineering category. Cynthia Chen, grade 8, was named a middle school finalist and received the Synopsys Outreach Foundation n+1 prize, as well as a first award and a nomination to compete in the Broadcom MASTERS competition. Fellow eighth graders Aarzu Gupta, Maya Shukla, Vibha Arramreddy, Sejal Krishnan, Allison Jia and Jasmine Wiese also received first awards and nominations to compete in the Broadcom MASTERS competition. Eileen Li, Catherine Zhao, Naveen Mirapuri and Rohan Sonecha, all grade 8, received second awards, while fellow eighth graders Grace Huang, Anika Tiwari, Henry Wiese, Rachel Broweleit and Jackie Yang earned honorable mentions.
In the physical science and engineering category, a second award was won by Jeffrey Kwan, grade 8, and honorable mentions went to Rakesh Nori and Montek Kalsi, both grade 8. Amla Rashingkar and Gloria Zhang, both grade 8, each received an honorable mentions and a certificate of achievement from the Society of Vacuum Coaters.
Only boys golf and baseball were in action during the break. The rest of Harker’s spring athletes are rested and ready to continue their seasons with a full slate of games this week.
Boys Golf
Boys golf placed sixth out of 45 teams at the Champions Invitational in Indio over the break. This is considered to be perhaps the strongest high school tournament in the state. Avi Khemani, grade 11, was the highest Harker finisher. The boys have a busy week ahead, with matches Monday versus King’s Academy, Wednesday against rival Menlo and Thursday against Pinewood.
Baseball
The Eagles baseball team traveled to CSU Monterey Bay over the break, but lost 9-2 to Trinity Christian. This week, the team hosts Del Mar on Thursday at 4 p.m. and Lincoln of San Francisco on Saturday at 11 a.m.
Boys Volleyball
This Wednesday at 5:45 p.m. at Blackford, the boys volleyball team takes on Wilcox in an important league match. The team follows that up with another league match on Thursday at Santa Clara High.
Swim
Harker’s swimmers travel to Menlo on Thursday for a WBAL meet.
Softball
Harker’s softball team hosts Notre Dame San Jose today at 4 p.m. and then travels to Lincoln of San Jose on Thursday.
Boys Tennis
The boys tennis team travels to King’s Academy today.
Girls Lacrosse
Girls lacrosse takes on Notre Dame San Jose today and Newark on Thursday.
Track and Field
Track and field will compete next on April 13 in a WBAL meet at Bellarmine High.
MS Swim
Over the past few weeks, Rhys Edwards, grade 7, has joined the ranks of top young swimmers on the West Coast. A few weeks ago, Edwards competed in a Junior Olympics meet in San Ramon, swimming for his club, Santa Clara Swim Club, where he made the finals in all six of his races, finishing with a silver and bronze in two of the events.
Edwards then spent most of his spring break at the Far Western Championships in Pleasanton, where the best swimmers from California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Oregon, among others, competed. Out of seven events, Edwards made the finals in four! His 11-12 boys relay team also won two golds and two silvers, even breaking a Santa Clara Swim Club team record in the process. Great job Rhys!
Once again, the middle school Wildlife SOS Club created watercolor cards and origami spinning toys, which they then sold to parents during the recent parent-teacher conferences, to raise money for animals in need.
The group, made up of students in grades 6 and 7, raised a record-breaking $135 for Wildlife SOS, an organization that rescues and cares for abused elephants and other animals.
“By selling our toys and cards, we contribute in a way that makes us feel proud for helping elephants while convening weekly with friends,” said club member Vienna Parnell, grade 6.
Science teacher Raji Swaminathan and Japanese teacher Kumi Matsui (who came up with the idea to make the origami toys) are the club’s mentors. They said working with the club members is incredibly rewarding.
“Every card and toy is very special, since it takes several club periods for a child to finish one,” said Swaminathan. “Club members have done this [fundraiser] in the past. Each time, they made about $70 to $80, which provides for the food of an elephant for a month. It is a small financial contribution from the students, but a lot of work and love go behind it.”
Meanwhile, club members said the benefits of being in Wildlife SOS Club include working together as a team, learning craft making skills, and relaxing together while raising money for wildlife in distress.
“These cards are better than Hallmark’s!” said grade 6 student Alysa Su, proudly.
Following the first-ever Harker triumph at the Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics Challenge (HPEC) over the weekend, Harker Eaglenomics students scored another win on Monday.
Last weekend, for the first time in Harker history, our team of Raymond Xu, grade 11; Rahul Shukla, grade 11; Ameek Singh, grade 12; and Jonathan Ma, grade 12, won the HPEC championship.
Then hot on the heels of that victory, Harker competed and took top honors in the state finals of the National Economics Challenge on Monday.
That contest took place at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and Harker had three of the top five qualifying teams from the Northern California region (San Luis Obispo to the Oregon Border). The Harker teams were “In High Demand,” comprising juniors Emaad Raghib, Taylor Iantosca, Joyce Huang and Priyanka Taneja; “The Visible Hands” comprising seniors Michael Zhao, Samali Sahoo, Daphne Yang and Alice Wu; and “Team Harker 13” (aka “the team formerly known as Anikaswagmoney”), comprising seniors Abhinav Ketineni, Jasmine Liu, Grace Guan and Adele Li.
Two teams were eliminated, but one went on to take top honors. Coach Sam Lepler filled in the details: “In a great event, the team formerly known as Anikaswagmoney emerged victorious in a tight, hard-fought battle.
“After three rounds of testing in microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics and current events, the aforementioned team held a slim 10-point (1,200 to 1,190) lead on a strong team from Dougherty Valley and just a 60-point lead on a another solid squad from BASIS Independent Silicon Valley. However, a strong quiz bowl effort, which included several questions well beyond the AP curriculum, helped them pull away and cruise to a solid victory.
“The team is now into the national semifinals with all of the other state winners, and will take a proctored exam on April 26. The top four scores among all the state winners on that test will get an all-expense paid trip to NYC to compete for the national championship. The competition is harder and tighter every year with more and more participating schools, so it’s awesome to have Harker emerge again!” Lepler finished.
Each year grade 10 students sojourn to the Bucknall campus to meet up with their grade 3 Eagle Buddies at the lower school’s annual Pajama Day Assembly.
The event, held in the gym, celebrates a grade 3 service project in which students collect items for the Pajama Program, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing new sleepwear and books to kids waiting to be adopted.
Over the past nine years, to make life a bit better for children living in local shelters, the lower school has donated thousands of items to the program, according to representatives of the Pajama Program’s local chapter.
Although the drive is primarily a grade 3 effort, all lower school families are invited to participate by dropping off items in the gym’s lobby. Prior to the assembly, Ken Allen, lower school dean of students, urges parents to encourage their children to help the less fortunate by donating a new pair pajamas or book to the program.
This year’s assembly occurred on a special-dress pajama day a couple of months ago, when all students and faculty were encouraged to wear their favorite jammies to school. Butch Keller, upper school head, kicked off the assembly by reading the book “Courage,” a story about bravery by author and illustrator Bernard Waber.
Students enjoyed hearing the story, and seemed equally enthralled with seeing Keller in his robe and slippers, seated in a rocking chair on the stage. Shortly after, the third grade students had the opportunity to read a book with their upper school Eagle Buddies, who also had been encouraged to bring items to donate to the Pajama Program.
Wearing a colorful assortment of robes, pajamas, slippers and knit hats, the grade 3 students and their big buddies then headed outdoors for lunch, socializing and field games.
“Being an Eagle Buddy is a lot of fun!” said Ellen Minkin, grade 10. “Today we’ve had a really nice time reading together, having lunch and just chilling out on the field.”
Her grade 3 pal, Bahar Sodeifi, said that she really likes the Eagle Buddies program and always looks forward to having the “big kids” come over for a visit.
Keller created the Eagle Buddies program to help bridge the upper and lower school campus divide. The buddies stay together for three years, until the sophomores graduate and the third graders matriculate into middle school.
The pajama and book drive originally began at the suggestion of Rishi Narain, grade 12, who got the idea for the project when he was in grade 3, after watching the “Oprah” show. The show’s guest that day was Genevieve Piturro, founder of the Pajama Program. Narain was motivated to bring the cause to Harker, where he helped organize the inaugural donation drive.
On March 5, Harker hosted the annual Teach Through Technology event, organized by Silicon Valley Computer Using Educators. Teachers from throughout Silicon Valley headed to the upper school campus event to learn new ways to employ technology in their classrooms.
Workshops topics included creating maker spaces, game-based learning, and student privacy and online security.
On March 5, Harker hosted the annual Teach Through Technology event, organized by Silicon Valley Computer Using Educators. Teachers from throughout Silicon Valley headed to the upper school campus event to learn new ways to employ technology in their classrooms.
Workshops topics included creating maker spaces, game-based learning, and student privacy and online security.
On March 5, Harker hosted the annual Teach Through Technology event, organized by Silicon Valley Computer Using Educators. Teachers from throughout Silicon Valley headed to the upper school campus event to learn new ways to employ technology in their classrooms.
Workshops topics included creating maker spaces, game-based learning, and student privacy and online security.
Harker chess players won big at the US Chess Federation’s National High School Championship in Atlanta this past weekend. Sophomore Vignesh Panchanatham took first place in the K-12 Championship individual competition, while the team of Panchanatham, freshmen Michael Wang and Shaunak Maruvada, and senior Richard Yi won the team event.
Evan Lohn, grade 12, and Richard Wang, grade 9, took first and second, respectively, in the unrated portion of the K-12 Championship. Other standout individual performances were by Michael Wang, who placed 10th in the K-12 Championship and Yi, who placed 20th in the same category, out of nearly 300 competitors. In all, more than 1,400 players participated in the event.
The story was covered in fpawn, a chess news site:
March has been very good for a pair of athletic Harker alumnae! Ashley Del Alto ’13 is currently the starting left fielder for the Briar Cliff University Chargers and last week was named the GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports softball player-of-the-week. The Chargers went 4-0 on the week, thanks in large part to Del Alto, who went 8-15 with seven RBIs in the four victories. Del Alto is currently leading Briar Cliff with a .338 batting average.
A little closer to home, Izzy Connell ’13 has been tearing up the track and the record books at Pepperdine University. This past weekend, Connell broke her own school records in the women’s 100m (12.13 seconds) and 200m (24.96 seconds), placing fifth and sixth, respectively, at the Bruins Legends Invitational held at UCLA. She also holds the school record in the 400m. Go, Harker alumni!