A spooktacular time was had by all at this year’s lower school Halloween parade, which featured superheroes, ghosts, goblins, witches, fairy princesses and more! To the delight of onlookers, each grade level circled the parade’s pathway a couple of times.
Several hundred parents attended the 18th annual event, which was held on the afternoon of Oct. 30 and sponsored by Harker’s BEST staff. There were chairs set up, as well as plenty of standing room, along the route. Students could opt to wear their costumes to school or bring them along to put on before the parade, but most wore their costumes all day.
This is always an exciting day for the students, staff and parents– last year the parade had to be moved indoors due to rain, but this year the sun shone brightly as students in grades K-5 showed off their Halloween finest.
Harker has garnered three top awards from the well-known MarCom Awards in its 2015 international competition, which recognizes outstanding creative achievement by marketing and communication professionals. The winning work was produced by Harker’s Office of Communication.
Harker’s just-launched website earned a Platinum Award in the Educational Institution category; Harker Quarterly, mailed to all community members four times per year, also earned a Platinum Award in the Educational Institution category; and Harker’s Guide to Philanthropy, produced in conjunction with the school’s advancement department, earned a Gold Award in the Fund Raising category.
There were over 6,500 entries from corporate marketing and communication departments, advertising agencies, PR firms, design shops, production companies and freelancers throughout the United States, Canada and 15 other countries.
Winners range in size from individual communicators to media conglomerates and Fortune 500 companies, including national public relations organizations. MarCom Awards is administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals. Judges are “industry professionals who look for companies and individuals whose talent exceeds a high standard of excellence and whose work serves as a benchmark for the industry,” according to accompanying literature.
Winners were selected from over 200 categories in seven forms of media and communication efforts: marketing, publications, marketing/promotion, public service/pro bono, creativity and electronic/interactive. A complete list of Platinum and Gold Winners can be found on the MarCom Awards website at www.marcomawards.com.
Harker publications, websites, videos and campaigns have earned more than a score of awards from Marcom Awards, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and AVA Awards (digital communication) over the years.
Football is now 7-1 overall, 3-0 in league play after a 55-8 victory over St. Vincent de Paul Friday on Davis Field. This sets up a Harker first – a football game to determine the league champion. This Friday the boys host a strong Stellar Prep team, which is currently 6-1 overall, 2-0 in league. If Harker wins, we’ll be league champions! School spirit has been outstanding this year, and we hope the support continues Friday night. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. A film crew from Cal-Hi Sports will be covering the game. Friday is also Senior Night for football and cheerleading. Seniors will be honored before the game around 6:45 p.m.
Tennis
Girls tennis had three solid victories last week: Presentation 7-0, Crystal Springs 7-0 and an important league victory over Sacred Heart Prep 5-2. The girls are now 12-2 overall as they host Castilleja and state powerhouse Menlo Thursday at the Santa Clara Tennis Center. Thursday is also Senior Day for Izzy Gross, who will be recognized just before the 4 p.m. start time.
Cross Country
The cross country team competed in its final tune-up before the league championships on Nov 6. The runners concentrated on running fast last miles on the 3-mile Crystal Springs course. Top marks were turned in by freshman Anika Rajamani, and seniors Alex Dellar, Connor O’Neill and Jack Rothschild.
Golf
Girls golf defeated Mercy-Burlingame Monday on Senior Day, at which seniors Ashley Zhong and Daphne Liang each sank long 20-foot putts on their final hole. The girls ended the regular season at 6-4 as they wait to see if they’ve qualified for CCS. They compete in the league championships today at Poplar Creek Golf Course.
Water Polo
The girls water polo team lost a close game to powerhouse Santa Clara Thursday night in triple overtime. The team fought hard through four quarters and ended up tied 10-10. After two overtime periods, the score was tied 11-11. The girls went into a golden goal period, during which they played tough defense and had some opportunities to score. Santa Clara scored after almost 2 minutes, winning the game in sudden death. Your Eagles were led by seniors Yasemin Narin with three goals and Helena Dworak with 18 saves in the cage!
Boys water polo beat Lynbrook 10-4 last week with senior Edward Sheu scoring five goals and junior Raymond Xu two. The team then hosted Santa Clara for Senior Night, beating them 15-4 with Sheu scoring six goals, and junior Arnav Tandon and freshman Bobby Bloomquist each chipping in two. Sheu currently has 108 goals, a Harker record for the total number of goals in one season.
Both teams travel to Fremont tomorrow in preparation for the league tournament next week.
Volleyball
Your 14th ranked girls volleyball team lost a tough battle against No. 10 ranked Menlo last week, suffering its first league loss at the hands of the Knights. With a record of 15-8 overall, 6-1 in league play, the team dropped into a first place league tie with Menlo.
The girls freshman volleyball team improved to 7-4 with wins over Priory and Saratoga last week. They’ll complete their fine season at Mercy-SF today.
The fall sports season was a huge success, with more than 300 participants in grades 4-8.
We are very appreciative of all the parental support we received this season. So many parents stepped up to provide snacks and support for the coaches. We also appreciate the hard work and dedication of our athletes.
Here are the final West Bay Athletic League standings and award winners for the lower and middle school fall sports teams.
Varsity A (grade 8) flag football: Finished in fifth place in the WBAL at 2-4, 5-6 overall. Team awards went to Naveen Mirapuri (MVP), Jeffrey Liu (Eagle) and Vedanth Sundaram (Coaches).
Varsity B (grade 7) flag football: Finished in third place in the WBAL at 4-1-1, 7-3-1 overall. Team awards went to Srinath Somasundaram (MVP), Marcus Anderson (Eagle) and Nikhil Gargeya (Coaches).
Junior varsity A (grade 6) flag football: Finished in second place in the WBAL at 5-2, 6-2 overall. Team awards went to Eric Bollar (MVP), Anquan Boldin Jr. (Eagle) and Richard Amarillas (Coaches).
Junior varsity B (grade 5) flag football: Finished in second place in the WBAL at 4-2. Team awards went to Rohan Gorti (MVP), Frederick Hoch (Eagle) and Drake Piscione (Coaches).
Intramural (grade 4) flag football: Team awards went to Om Tandon and Jack Ledford (Eagle) and Jerry Li and Enzo Lucketti (Coaches).
Varsity A (grades 7 and 8) softball: Finished in third place in the WBAL at 3-1-1, 4-2-1 overall. Team awards went to Alaina Valdez, grade 7 (MVP); Hunter Hernandez, grade 7 (Eagle); and Alex Baeckler, grade 7 (Coaches).
Junior varsity A (grades 4-6) softball: Finished in first place in the WBAL at 4-1-1. Team awards went to Brooklyn Cicero, grade 6 (MVP); Annalyn Bean, grade 5 (Eagle); and Maya Kelly, grade 4 (Coaches).
Intramural (grade 4) softball: Team awards went to Cecilia Yang, Maria Chrysafis and Claire Bauschlicher (Coaches).
MS cross country: Team awards went to Courtni Thompson, grade 7 (top runner); Mihir Sharma, grade 8, Anna Weirich, grade 7, and Kevin Chen, grade 8 (MVP); Arya Maheshwari, grade 7, Grant Miner, grade 8, and Anna Gert, grade 8 (Eagle); and Raj Patel, grade 6, Minali Kapadia, grade 6, and Annabelle Ju, grade 8 (Coaches).
First place finishers were:
Courtni Thompson (Harker meet, Rolling Hills meet, JD Morgan Park meet)
Arya Maheshwari (Harker meet)
Grade 6 boys team (WBAL final meet)
Grade 7 boys team (Harker meet)
Grade 8 boys team (Harker meet)
Grade 8 girls team (Harker meet)
MS swimming: Team awards went to Allison Jia, grade 8 (MVP); Nina Gee, grade 7 (Eagle); and Elizabeth Fields, grade 7, and Rishab Parthasarathy, grade 6 (Coaches).
LS swimming: Team awards went to Alexis Nishimura, grade 5 (MVP); Rani Patel, grade 4 (Eagle) and Linette Hoffman, grade 5 (Coaches).
First place finishers at the Castilleja meet were:
William Zhao, grade 6, 100 IM
Rhys Edwards, grade 7, 100 IM and 50 fly
Leland Rossi, grade 7, 50 free and 200 free
Alyssa Huang, grade 8, 50 fly and 50 breast
Kurtis Tong, grade 5, 25 back
Arjun Akkiraju, grade 8, 50 back
Brittany Shou, grade 6, 100 free
Anish Pai, grade 6, 200 free
Avery Young, grade 7, 50 breast
Grade 6 boys, 100 free relay
Grade 7 boys, 100 free relay
Grade 6 boys, medley relay
Grade 7 boys, medley relay
Grade 8 boys, medley relay
Grade 8 girls, medley relay
First place finishers at the WBAL finals meet were:
Once again Harker held a schoolwide Howard Nichols Cookie Day in honor of the late former head of school’s birthday on Oct. 10.
That day, the preschool, lower and middle schools all held special assemblies and handed out chocolate chip cookies in his memory. The upper school followed suit the following Monday.
The annual tradition celebrates Nichols’ inspirational values that continue to drive the spirit and growth of The Harker School. All four campuses celebrated by having trays of cookies located in various places around school. Nichols, who was known for his sweet tooth, regularly kept a full jar of cookies and other confections in his office that were a hit with visitors.
Nichols was the president of Harker from 1973 until his retirement in 2005. He attended the Palo Alto Military Academy, which was run by his father, Major Donald Nichols. Eventually the Palo Alto Military Academy merged with Miss Harker’s School for Girls and became The Harker School. A memorial to him can be found in the quad on the upper school campus.
It was Howard Nichols and his wife, Diana, whose vision saw the founding of the upper school and the acquisition of the Blackford and Bucknall campuses.
“We honor his warm heart and loving spirit by enjoying chocolate chip cookies each year on that day,” recalled Alana Butler, middle school dean.
For many years, educator-storyteller Jim Cogan has made special appearances as a guest speaker at the lower school, enthralling audiences with his engaging tales of courage and compassion. In early October, he returned to campus to share his stories during two assemblies.
Students in grades K-3 heard Cogan speak during his first morning appearance, which was immediately followed by a talk for grades 4-5. Both groups were delighted by his folktales.
Cogan is nationally recognized for his ability to combine storytelling with history and literacy education. He has worked with the National Storytelling Congress, the American Library Association, the National Council of Social Studies, the National Park Service and a variety of educational organizations.
Last week, grade 11 student Riya Chandra appeared on a Girls Who Code panel at the Intel Education Visionaries Conference. Chandra participated in the Intel-sponsored seven-week Girls Who Code immersion program and was subsequently invited to be on the panel.
“As part of their conference, they wanted to put together a student panel to help give insight to educators. Intel asked Girls Who Code to choose two people to invite to speak, and I received an email with an invitation,” said Chandra.
During the panel, Chandra shared her background in computer science and discussed some of her projects. “It was great being able to receive so many amazing questions from these educators, because it showed how much they cared for their students,” she said. Harker computer science teacher Susan King was also in attendance, which Chandra appreciated. “It was truly special as she really made an impact in my life,” she said.
Chandra believes the panel benefited educators by giving them real insight into student experiences. “We gave them honest answers about how we like to learn and gave them advice,” she said. “I think this panel will benefit students in the future as these educators will take back what they learned from the panel and apply it to their teaching.”
Football is 6-1 overall after the team’s 63-0 win at Turlock Christian on Friday night. Check out the game stats at http://www.maxpreps.com/games/football-fall-15/harker-vs-turlock-christian/10-16-2015-bVpdBRqUtkCdD_BtMPNJDA.htm. The squad will host a tough St. Vincent de Paul team at home this Friday on Teacher/Faculty Appreciation Night. The game starts at 7 p.m. (come early for the recognition ceremony at 6:45 p.m.). This is also an important league game, so come out and support the team!
Cross Country
Junior Niki Iyer again cruised to a league cross country victory last Thursday at Baylands Park as the young girls team placed a very respectable third overall. Senior Alex Dellar ran her season’s best, while seniors Lev Sepetov, Jack Rothschild and Connor O’Neill led the varsity boys team, with Sepetov earning top Harker boys honors. The team races tomorrow in its final competition before the league championships.
Golf
The girls golf team defeated Notre Dame last week and lost a close one to Sacred Heart. The team faced Mercy yesterday and will play Castilleja tomorrow afternoon at Palo Alto Hills Country Club.
Tennis
Menlo had to really work to beat our girls tennis team last week. Though we lost 6-1, with freshman Pamela Duke defeating Menlo’s No. 1 player, all matches were very competitive. The girls then defeated Pinewood 7-0 Thursday to improve to 8-2 overall.
Volleyball
Girls volleyball improved to 14-7 (5-0 in league) after its victory at Mercy-Burlingame. Join us for a big game against Menlo this Thursday night at 5:45 p.m. at Blackford!
Water Polo
Water polo’s Senior Day is Thursday! The boys will play at about 4:15 p.m. and the girls will play at about 6:30 p.m.
Each year grade 9 students participate in the annual Freshman Community Service Day as an introduction to community service. This year marked the first time that the entire class performed its initial service day at one location: the Guadalupe River Park Conservancy in San Jose.
Some 196 freshman participated in the service learning project, which included a trail cleanup and nature walk, as well as an educational component. The outing kicked off what promises to be a meaningful year of local outreach work for the ninth graders. Throughout the school year, the students will have the opportunity to fulfill a variety community service jobs at a number of organizations.
The Guadalupe River Park Conservancy provides community leadership for the development and active use of the Guadalupe River Park & Gardens through education, advocacy and stewardship programs.
According to conservancy representatives, who welcomed the visit from the upper school, the learning portion of the student’s day included activities at three stations: “macroinvertebrates, dichotomous key for tree identification and a bio blitz.” The service experience, which immediately followed, focused on litter pick up.
UPDATE: Two students, Evani Radiya-Dixit and David Zhu, both grade 11, have advanced as regional finalists in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology! Of the 17 California finalists, 10 are from the Bay Area, while seven are from Southern California. Only two other schools in the state had two finalists. New York State also had 17 finalists, followed by Texas with 11.
The full list of regional finalists can be found here. The Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology is considered the nation’s premier research competition for high school students. A total of 97 regional finalists from throughout the U.S. now advance to one of six regional competitions held over three consecutive weekends in November at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Nov. 6-7); Georgia Institute of Technology (Nov. 6-7); University of Notre Dame (Nov. 13-14); University of Texas at Austin (Nov. 13-14); California Institute of Technology (Nov. 20-21); and Carnegie Mellon University (Nov. 20-21).
Winners of the regional events advance to the National Finals at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Dec. 6-8, where $500,000 in scholarships will be awarded, including two top prizes of $100,000.
The competition awards a $1,000 scholarship to each regional finalist, in addition to one $3,000 prize to an individual winner and a $6,000 prize to a team winner at each regional competition.
A complete list of finalists and their projects is available at www.siemens-foundation.org preceding each regional event.
Oct. 16, 2015 The Siemens Foundation announced today that 13 Harker upper school students had been named semifinalists in this year’s Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. Harker had the most semifinalists of any California school.
This year’s semifinalists are:
Vivek Bharadwaj, Rishabh Chandra, Anthony Luo and Jonathan Ma, grade 12; Rishab Gargeya, Shasvat Jawahar, Alex Mo, Evani Radiya-Dixit, Venkat Sankar, Manan Shah, Arjun Subramaniam and David Zhu, grade 11; and Brandon Mo, grade 10.
A total of 466 semifinalists were chosen from the 1,700 submissions received by Siemens. These students are now eligible to become regional finalists and travel to Washington, D.C., for the finals in December.