Students in the AP studio art program had their works showcased at this year’s AP Studio Art Exhibition on Feb. 23. A throng of visitors took in a wide variety of paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints in many different styles and media.
One of the featured artists, Kaylan Huang, grade 12, used ink and colored pencil to create small-scale drawings of cities such as Tokyo, San Francisco and Amsterdam. Fellow senior Ankur Karwal used clever graphic design to examine the symbolism of famous brand names such as Louis Vuitton, Apple and Nike.
All of the works from the exhibition are currently on display in the Nichols Hall atrium. This year’s showcased artists are Alice Wu, grade 12; Amar Jain, grade 12; Grace Park, grade 11; Jenny Bourke, grade 12; Joyce Li, grade 11; Kaylan Huang, grade 12; Madison Tomihiro, grade 12; Marti Sutton, grade 11; Doreene Kang, grade 12; Kevin Ke, grade 12; Kristen Ko, grade 12; Sarah Tien, grade 11; Shreya Sunkara, grade 12; Alexa Gross, grade 11; Ankur Karwal, grade 12; Caroline Skrobak, grade 12; Edward Sheu, grade 12; Johnathon Keller, grade 12; Kavya Ramakrishnan, grade 12; Kevina Xiao, grade 12; Natasha Mayor, grade 12; Surya Solanki, grade 12; Arben Gutierrrez-Bujari, grade 11; Chandler Nelson, grade 12; and Layla Walker, grade 12.
Los Altos Town Crier, Feb. 24 – Senior Anthony Luo is mentioned in a story about Presidential Scholar candidates from Los Altos.
Cross Country Express, Feb. 14 – Niki Iyer, grade 11, is mentioned in a post about notable performances from that weekend.
The Press Democrat, Feb. 11 – Seniors Johnathon Keller and Trenton Thomas, juniors Saketh Gurram and Will Park, sophomores Nate Kelly, Anthony Contreras, Jadan McDermott, James Pauli and Jalen Clark, and freshman Demonte Aleem were all named Redwood Empire All-League selections for the fall sports season.
Shenzhen Daily, Feb. 3 – Harker is mentioned in a story about a U.S. physics competition.
El Observador, Jan. 29 – Senior Jonathan Ma, an Intel Science Talent Search Finalist, is mentioned in a story about the Intel finalists from Santa Clara County.
Thirteen Harker seniors were named U.S. Presidential Scholar candidates for 2016. Each year, about 4,000 graduating seniors nationwide are selected, based on their SAT and ACT scores. As many as 161 graduating seniors are then named Presidential Scholars. Students must be invited to apply for the program.
This year’s candidates from Harker are Akshay Battu, Anthony Luo, Evan Lohn, Elina Sendonaris, Jonathan Ma, Karen Tu, Michael Zhao, Janet Lee, Vineet Kosaraju, Anika Mohindra, Natalie Simonian, Allison Wang and Richard Yi.
Scholars are chosen in April based on various criteria, including academic and artistic achievement, leadership and community involvement. They are invited to travel to Washington, D.C., in June for a National Recognition Program that will include a variety of activities. There, they also will be presented with a Presidential Scholars Medallion at a ceremony sponsored by the White House.
Several Harker students placed high in the mid-February MathCounts chapter level contest. In the team competition, eighth graders Cynthia Chen, Grace Huang, Jeffrey Kwan and Vani Mohindra took third place overall. Although they missed first place by only 1.75 points, the team qualified for the state-level competition to be held March 5 at Stanford University.
In individual competition, Chen scored 45 points to earn seventh place. The tough competition was evident, as the three top placers all scored 46 points, while the teams placing four through 10 all scored 45. Ranking was determined by which problems the students answered incorrectly.
The Santa Clara chapter of MathCounts has a reputation for being especially competitive, with more than 400 students from 44 schools taking part.
“The students are excited about the group’s success,” said middle school math chair Vandana Kadam “This is a huge achievement for the school and these students.”
Also in February, a group of Harker seventh graders — Sidra Xu, Betsy Tian, Arya Maheshwari, Jason Lin, Alexander Kumar, Nicky Kriplani, Paul Kratter and Jonathan Chao — competed in a middle school TEAMS competition and scored highest in the country in all divisions. A total of 98 teams entered the competition, which consists of four topics, two essays and a design challenge. The students will head to Nashville this summer for the national stage of the TEAMS competition.
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This past weekend, two teams of Harker students earned first place finishes at the TEAMS (Test of Engineering Aptitude in Math and Science) competition. The event, held at San Jose State University, consisted of a two-part exam that lasted about three hours. Upper school math teacher Anthony Silk said Harker faced “tougher competition” this year, but still managed to earn first place in both the grade 9-10 and grade 11-12 divisions.
The first place team in the grade 9-10 division consisted of sophomores Jerry Chen, Amy Jin, Michael Kwan, Jimmy Lin, Sahana Srinivasan, Justin Xie, Shaya Zarkesh and Randy Zhao. The first place grade 11-12 team was made up of juniors Steven Cao, Neymika Jain, Evani Radiya-Dixit, Venkat Sankar, Manan Shah, Arjun Subramaniam, Peter Wu and David Zhu.
New to the competition this year was a design challenge that had students building the highest tower possible using just 20 sheets of 8.5” x 11” paper. Zhu, who captained the first place grade 11-12 team, called the challenge “a great way for us to develop on-the-spot problem solving and designing skills that typically cannot be trained with written problems.
Lower school BEST celebrated Courage Week last week. Students explored what courage means and looks like in day-to-day life.
“Our students have challenged themselves to make new friends by sitting at different tables during lunch,” said Brielle Rizzotti, assistant director of BEST for grades 3-5. “They’ve read and told their own stories about courage. They have stretched their palettes by trying new foods at the salad bar. They’ve carried out courageous acts all week and were recognized by our staff. Some notable moments included when our first, second and third grade students courageously took the ‘stage’ to participate in a comedy open mic, while our fourth and fifth graders shared their talents and danced to the ‘Whip/Nae Nae.’ The students have learned so much and we’re really proud of their participation, enthusiasm and, of course, their courage!”
The Harker baseball team opened its season with an impressive 16-3 win over Livermore Valley Charter Prep. Dominic Cea, grade 10, started his season off hot with a two hit, four RBI day to lead the way for the Eagles. On Tuesday, North Valley Baptist will visit the diamond at Blackford for a 3:30 p.m. game.
Softball
Elevens were wild last week for the Harker softball team as it defeated both Overfelt High and Mercy San Francisco 11-0. In the win over Overfelt, Marti Sutton, grade 11, went 2-2 with four RBIs, while Marita Del Alto, grade 12, gave up only two hits and zero runs in five innings pitched. Later in the week, Kristin LeBlanc, grade 10, had the Mercy batters begging for mercy as she tossed five innings of no-hit ball, striking out seven. Grace Park, grade 11, provided the thunder as she hit the first Harker home run of the year. The Eagles travel to Palo Alto High on Tuesday to face off with the Vikings.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team kicks off its season on Tuesday as its travels to Oak Grove High for a 6:15 p.m. non-league matchup.
Boys Golf
Monday marks the start of the boys golf season as the team travels to the Lone Tree Golf Course in Antioch to compete in the Joe Gambetta Invitational Tournament. Next Monday, Harker will travel to Brentwood to compete in the Falcon Invitational at the Deer Ridge Golf Club.
Girls Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team opened its season with a 14-3 loss to West Catholic powerhouse Archbishop Mitty. This week, the Eagles will host three games on Davis Field: Tuesday vs. Sacred Heart Cathedral at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday vs. Gunn High at 4:30 p.m. and Friday vs. York School at 5 p.m.
Boys Tennis
The boys tennis team jumps right into league action as it hosts King’s Academy in its season opener on Tuesday. On Thursday, the Eagles will travel to Crystal Springs Uplands for another league match. And this weekend, the team travels to Fresno for the California Tennis Classic.
Track and Field
The Harker track and field team opens its season this Saturday at the Willow Glen Invitational.
Swim
The varsity swim team faced off in a three-team meet against Crystal Springs Uplands and King’s Academy last week. Michael Auld, grade 11, Vivian Wang, grade 10, Angela Huang, grade 12, and Grace Guan, grade 12, all qualified for CCS in their events. Angela Li and Ihita Mandal, both grade 9, won their respective varsity races in the 100 back and 200 free. The Eagles travel to Monta Vista on Friday.
Winter Wrap Up
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball season came to end last Tuesday as Terra Nova defeated the Eagles 52-44 in the first round of the CCS Division 4 playoffs. Jordon Thompson, grade 11, scored 29 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Harker lineup was shorthanded because of injuries and illnesses. The Eagles finished the season with an impressive 16-9 record and look to stay strong next year as the team graduates only two seniors, Aishu Murari and Aathira Menon. Great job this year, ladies!
Boys Basketball
The boys varsity basketball team traveled to San Lorenzo Valley High School last Thursday to open up the CCS Division 4 playoffs. The Eagles got 22 points from Roy Yuan, grade 9, but SLV was too much for Harker as it moved on to the next round with the 67-47 victory. It was the final high school game for seniors Elijah Edgehill, Dhanush Madabusi, Rohan Desikan, Amar Jain, Prithvi Gudapati, Jonathan Yiu, Evan Lohn and Raghav Jain. Congrats on a great year, Eagles!
Harker News periodically steps into classrooms and then shares what students are learning with the school community. This classroom exercise, courtesy of Stacie Wallace’s grade 8 students, shows the compassion and self-awareness our students are embracing and holds lessons for us all.
“As part of our work in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,'” said Wallace, “we eighth grade teachers have been working with our students on ‘laws of life’ that are exemplified by characters in the novel, such as Atticus, the father everyone wishes they had. We extended that outward and asked students to come up with and share some of the rules for living that they embrace. In my classes today, I’ve had them work in groups, talking with each other about these ‘rules’ and who taught them to the student, and then we’ve compiled lists of them.
“I think when you read them, you’ll know that there is hope for the future. I heard some very heartfelt and sincere words offered about an older brother, a grandpa, a mother who has passed away, and about many, many more people, all adults, who have helped describe the world to their kids and show them ways to live in it successfully. It’s more than encouraging!” she finished.
Some of the Values We Embrace in Life by Eighth Graders
You miss every shot you don’t take.
Try not to give in to negativity; optimism is better.
Give without expectation of something in return.
Respect is earned by showing it to others.
Live by the rules as long as it doesn’t conflict with your values.
Don’t lie; it’s always better to be honest.
Try your best at what you do. Don’t aim for perfection.
Do the right thing even when no one is looking.
Treat everyone as equals.
Stand up for what you believe in.
If you have self-control, everything is easier.
In adversity, don’t crumble.
Others’ judgments don’t have to be taken to heart.
See a need, fill a need. (Community mindedness!)
Be brave enough to think for yourself.
Nobody has enough time; make time for what you enjoy.
Focus on your own life, not others’.
Value independence. (But …) It’s not necessary always to be independent.
Be thankful for what you’ve been given.
Character is doing things with no reward in mind.
Don’t overthink it.
Be nice to everyone, no matter what.
Trust others, but don’t depend entirely on them.
When a leader is needed, step up and take responsibility.
Talk is cheap; actions speak louder than words.
Skills outside of school matter.
Solve problems rather than look to blame others.
Be selfless; look at the big picture (Community mindedness!).
Only work to impress yourself.
Embrace humility: See yourself realistically, not as entitled.
Rajiv Movva, grade 10, was recently named one of 100 students nationwide to win the Emperor Science Award, presented by PBS LearningMedia, Stand Up To Cancer and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. Movva was one of 100 among nearly 1,200 grade 10 and 11 students who submitted essays for the contest. As a winner, he will receive a $1,500 stipend, a Google Chromebook and the opportunity to participate in an eight- to 12-week cancer research project with a mentoring scientist. Congratulations!
This was the first year of the Emperor Science Award program, which is aimed toward students with an interest in pursuing a career in scientific research. Its goal is to find qualified sophomores and juniors who will be chosen to work with university-level research mentors.
This year’s “One Team, One Dream” Night on the Town Gala got off and running earlier this evening in the United Club at Levi’s Stadium, home of this year’s Super Bowl. More than 300 attendees enjoyed a fun-filled evening of great food, a casino, dancing and more. Fittingly, Harker’s athletics programs were a major focus of the celebration, which was held largely to benefit Harker’s general endowment.
Throughout the evening, photos of Harker alumni who currently play sports at the collegiate level were shown on dozens of screens around the room. Sponsors were honored by having their names displayed on the stadium’s screens, ribbon board and scoreboard.
One of the highlights of the event was an entertaining “Chalk Talk” video in which Chris Nikoloff, head of school, played the straight man to chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine’s upbeat, motivational sports coach. Nikoloff stood at the podium delivering a diplomatic, salesman-like speech extolling the virtues of the new buildings, which Irvine translated into an invigorating pep talk, with uproarious results.
This year’s silent auction had attendees bidding for prizes such as concert tickets, jewelry, a cruise, Disneyland passes and VIP packages to Harker events including the Harvest Festival and upper school graduation ceremony. Attendees also saw an exhilarating performance by the Harker cheerleaders and captured their memories of the night at the photo opportunity area.