This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
1976
Cindy Cottrell-DeAngelo reports that Michael Menzel got married this past summer. He recently joined Facebook and looks forward to reconnecting with his former classmates.
1981
Class agent Kristin (Scarpace) Giammona, Harker’s elementary division head, recently met up with Ashley Skipwith ’98. “She was in my grade 5 homeroom in 1993-94. She is currently a housing coordinator at Harvard University and lives in Boston. While I was in the Boston area for the NAIS conference, we reconnected. We had not seen each other in 20 years, so it was great fun. We keep in touch via Facebook,” recalled Giammona.
1982
Dana Lurie has enjoyed keeping in touch with some fellow Eagles this past year through various informal get-togethers. She and her partner recently sold their business, Green Turtle Travel, but will continue to travel back and forth to Ecuador/Galapagos a few times a year to visit family. Dana and classmate Michelle Magboo hope to co-host a class get- together in April.
Tina (Johnson) Murray lives in Los Gatos with her husband, 13-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son. Tina continues fundraising for her daughter’s local public school, and most recently joined the board of directors of the Skylar Hadden Foundation to ensure program funding for her son’s school program for children with Asperger’s and ADHD.
1984
Matt McCowan (MS ’84) shared that he attended Bellarmine College Prep for high school before going onto Cal State Chico and the University of Hawaii, Manoa, for college. He was then off to the Los Angeles College of Chiropractic and has been in private practice since 1998, running his own business called Chico Back and Neck Pain Center. “I am married to my high school sweetheart and have two girls, Dylan, 14 and Josie, 10,” he added.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Harker Welcomes Alumni Home for the Holidays
Sixty alumni from Harker’s classes of 2011 through 2014 returned to campus for the annual Home for the Holidays event held in early January. The casual afternoon of refreshments and socializing took place on the upper school campus in the festively decorated Nichols Hall atrium.
Upper school faculty and staff were invited to join in the fun, welcoming back and reminiscing with the college-age alumni, who were in town during their winter breaks.
Eric Zhang ’13 noted that it felt strange to be walking around the campus as a visitor and not as a student. “It’s odd to be here with no obligations,” he said.
Standing next to him, pal J.T. Cho ’13 agreed, adding, “It’s a new chapter in our lives.”
Zhang and Cho had already spent time hanging out over the break, and said they would continue to stay in touch with one another, the school and their peers.
According to Karri Baker ’84, director of alumni relations, alumni needn’t wait for the Home for the Holidays gathering to pop by and say “hi.” “We love to see them any time of the year!” she enthused.
Recent Harker Graduates Publish Articles in Prestigious Academic Journals
Thanks to their exceptional research, writing and critical-analysis skills, several recent Harker graduates have published articles on topics related to STEM, the social sciences and history. Vikram Sundar ’14, Jenny Chen ’13, Kevin Duraiswamy ’14 and Sarah Howells ’12 all had papers printed in highly regarded academic journals.
In February, the Harvard Political Review (HPR) published Sundar’s article, titled “Harvard Should Fix Its Gender Gap,” which focuses on the lack of women in STEM fields on campus. Written and published entirely by Harvard undergraduates, the HPR was launched in 1969 and remains America’s preeminent student journal of politics, policy and culture.
Sundar said he first became interested in writing the piece after noticing that very few of Harvard’s female students were pursuing STEM at a high level. That discovery, he explained, led him to try to determine what causes the gender gap at a high-level institution like Harvard and how the university could help fix the problem.
“The reaction (to the article) has been uniformly positive both from female students with STEM interests at Harvard and from their professors,” he reported.
In his article he asserts that it is easy to attribute the gender gap in technical fields to factors outside of Harvard’s control, and allows that this is largely true. He goes on to say, however, that there are simple steps Harvard can take to help reduce these discouraging factors. “After all, the existence of the gender gap means that we are losing around one-half of all highly capable STEM students because of cultural entrenchment,” he writes at the paper’s conclusion.
While doing research for his paper, Sundar spoke to fellow Harvard student and Harker alumna Ramya Rangan ’12, who is also making strides to level the field for women in STEM. Rangan is the current president of Harvard’s Women in Computer Science Society.
“This article shows that two of our graduates [now] at Harvard are dedicated to the issue of equity in STEM classes. A proud moment for us,” said Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs.
Donna Gilbert, chair of the history and social sciences department at Harker’s upper school, noted that two alumnae also have been involved with the HPR: Olivia Zhu ’11 is the publication’s digital editor and Emily Wang ’13 has published a number of articles in the journal.
Meanwhile, Chen, a Stanford sophomore, submitted a paper she originally wrote as a Harker senior for Damon Halback’s course “International Issues in Public Policy” (now offered as “Modern International Affairs”) to the Stanford Undergraduate Research Journal (SURJ).
Her paper, “Employing a Vaccine-Centered Maximalist Policy to Mitigate the Cholera Crisis in Haiti” was published in the journal’s spring 2014 issue. According to Sue Smith, Harker’s library director who co-taught the research portion of Halback’s class, Chen was one of only two freshmen included in that issue of SURJ.
“In her bio for the journal, Chen says she was first introduced to public health policy (now her major, along with human biology) in Mr. Halback’s class, and that it inspired her to pursue research in epidemiology,” said Smith.
“I wrote my paper on cholera in Haiti in Damon Halback and Susan Smith’s International Issues in Public Policy class,” recalled Chen. “We were given a lot of freedom when choosing our paper topics, but I knew from the get-go that I wanted to write about global health and infectious disease. At the time Haiti was still reeling from the 7.0 earthquake in 2010, so I did more research on the issue and ended up writing my policy proposal for the class on the cholera epidemic that had developed in the aftermath of the earthquake.”
For the SURJ version of her article, Chen added an abstract and some final revisions. “The journal has been circulated among various research symposiums on campus, and to my surprise, I have even been approached by classmates and faculty who have read the article,” she said.
Kevin Duraiswamy ’14, now at Princeton University, was recently published by the well-respected Concord Review. His paper, which he wrote for one of Harker’s two humanities endowments programs, is titled “Ancients Alive: The Influence of the Roman Republic on James Madison’s Conception of the Senate and the Resulting Impact on the American Constitution.”
The Concord Review: A Quarterly Review of Essays by Students of History is the only academic journal in the world to publish the research papers of high school students. More than 1,000 history research papers have been published in The Concord Review, featuring authors from around the globe.
Duraiswamy received his grant from The John Near Excellence in History Education Endowment Fund, founded in 2009, which annually sponsors research grants for students to write on their chosen topic in U.S. history. The Mitra Family Endowment, established in 2011, provides research grants for students writing on humanities subjects, including literature, art, music and the social sciences.
Like Duraiswamy, Howells attends Princeton University and found success with a paper that began as a project funded by a Mitra grant. Howells was the first Mitra scholar, and her paper, “Winston Churchill’s Efforts to Unify Britain from 1940-1941,” brought her first place in the 2012 inaugural Churchill Research Paper Competition sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s Churchill Center. “I was pretty surprised,” Howells said of winning the Churchill prize. “Since this was the first year of the competition, I was not sure what the expectations were.”
The Near and Mitra endowments have become symbols of the Harker community’s dedication to helping students pursue a broad array of interests. The endowments have funded 21 meticulously researched historical analyses to date.
Duraiswamy, when asked about his reaction to being published in The Con- cord Review, noted: “The experience of writing the Near paper was wonderful. I really enjoyed being able to pick a topic that interested me, explore it at a deep level and produce original work on
the subject. I learned so much not only about what I was researching but also about the process of writing a longer research paper, and that has left me well prepared for college. I am deeply grateful to Harker for giving me the opportunity to do such a project and to The Concord Review for recognizing the work I had done.”
Alumnus Makes Forbes’ Prestigious ‘30 Under 30’ List!
Andy Fang ’10, co- founder of the Palo Alto-based, on-demand food delivery startup DoorDash, was included on Forbes magazine’s prestigious “30 Under 30” list of young movers and shakers in the consumer tech category.
DoorDash (www.doordash.com) hires its own drivers to offer home delivery from restaurants unable to provide such service. In just two years, 22-year-old Fang, a Stanford graduate with a degree in computer science, and business partner Stanley Tang have raised an impressive $19.7 million in startup funding. DoorDash now serves five major metropolitan areas.
A leading source for reliable business news and financial information, Forbes is well known for its annual lists and rankings. The “30 Under 30” list (http://www.forbes.com/30under30/#/) prides itself on predicting the brightest and most ambitious young adults to watch in the coming year.
The 2015 categories include venture capital, enterprise technology, consumer technology, sports, social entrepreneurs, science, retail, music, media, marketing, manufacturing, law, entertainment, health care, games, food, finance, energy, education and art. More than 600 millennials were featured on the lists, with Silicon Valley at the forefront of startup culture.
Fang, a former Harker Quarterly cover boy (having been featured in a graduation photo in the summer 2010 edition), said he is honored to have been selected. “I’m grateful for my friends and family for helping me get to this point and glad to have the support of the Harker community!”
Last year three Harker alumni were included on the Forbes list. To read about them: https://staging.news.harker.org/ harker-alumni-make-forbes-coveted- 30-under-30-lists-of-rising-young- stars/.
If readers know of other Harker alumni who made the Forbes list, please bring them to our attention by writing news@harker.org.
Harker Holds Alumni & Family Reunion in Taipei, Taiwan
On March 7, 50 alumni families gathered for a Harker family reunion in Taipei, Taiwan! At the event, alumni, their spouses, parents, children and grandparents joined Harker administration members Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement (accompanied by his wife, Blanca), and Pam Dickinson, director of the Office of Communication and former weekend boarding program director (aka “housemama”) to reminisce about their time at Harker and hear about current school happenings.
The enjoyable evening included a special tribute to Harriet Skapinsky, who established Harker’s world-renowned English as a Second Language program. In addition, a Distinguished International Alumnus Award was presented to Laurence Kao ’89, former boarding student, international patent lawyer and law professor in Taiwan. The event also included a visit from a magician, who kept the kids enthralled.
Alumni Celebrations
Please join us in congratulating the following alumni:
On Feb. 9, Barrett James Kai-shi Hollier was born in a car on the freeway (I-10 in New Orleans) on the way to the hospital, delivered breech by his daddy, Brian Hollier! Mom Katie (Chou) Hollier ’95, daughter of Harker’s upper school history teacher Carol Zink, and baby are doing fine. “My other daughter, also a Harker alum, had her baby on Dec. 23 the more conventional way. Baby Margaret was born at the hospital in Monterey. Mom is Kristine (Chou) Hime ’98, a naval officer and student at the Naval Postgrauate School in Monterey,” said the proud grandmother.
Christina Aquila ’95 and her husband, Marc, welcomed their second daughter, Poppy Erin Aquila, on Dec. 10. “She joins big sister Violet at our home here in Vermont. Coincidentally, Poppy shares the same birthdate as Kate Stober’s [’95] son Alex, who was born Dec. 10 the year before,” shared Christina.
Sophi Scarnewman ’09 (formerly Newman) got married last March and is still riding the newlywed high! “My husband, Bobby, and I are especially excited about how we combined our last names: Newman (me) and Scarduzio (him) into a shared last name,” she said. Here, a group shot from her wedding features the happy couple with Harker friends. From L to R: Sharon Su ’08, Alix Briggs ’08, Ju-Hyun (Matt) Park ’10, Kendra Moss ’10, Bobby and Sophi, Lexi Ross ’09 and Joe Hospodor ’09.
Julia Gitis ’03 got married on June 8, 2014 at the Presidio in San Francisco. She met her husband, Max Lipschultz, in Boston while in graduate school at Harvard. “Both my maids of honor, seven out of my nine bridesmaids, one groomsman and many of our guests were Harker alumni!” she said. “One of my bridesmaids, Gabrielle DeMers ’03 was part of the Harker Conservatory and is now an opera singer. She sang during my wedding ceremony,” recalled Julia.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Soccer Coach Named Head Coach of National Team In January, Harker varsity soccer coach Shaun Tsakiris was named head coach of the Under-16 U.S. Boys National Team, just days before the team headed to Turkey for the 2015 Aegean Cup. The team won its first game against Romania, but dropped the next two games against Norway and Turkey, the latter being decided by a single goal in the 26th minute.
Tsakiris is a longtime coach at the De Anza Force Soccer Club, a member of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. He has been instrumental in the success of the Under-14 and Under-16 teams and nearly all of his players have received college scholarships. He also runs the Harker soccer summer camp.
Upper School LID Director Receives Gold Disk Award from SVCUE
Diane Main, upper school director of learning, innovation and design, was recently selected to receive a Gold Disk Award from Computer Using Educators (CUE), the parent organization of SVCUE, which holds its conferences at Harker’s upper school campus. Main, a passionate technology advocate and educator, will be presented with the award at the CUE 2015 annual conference in Palm Springs, which takes place March 19-21.
Main, a Google certified teacher and education trainer, has given several courses on the use of technology in education at Silicon Valley CUE events and spent much of last summer at conferences in California, Philadelphia and Atlanta, giving talks on the use of Google Maps as an education tool, the learning benefits of Minecraft and more.
Harker Teachers Attend People of Color Conference
In December, three Harker teachers and members of Harker’s Diversity Committee flew to Indianapolis to attend the NAIS People of Color Conference, titled “Pit Stops & Victory Laps: Going the Distance, Driving the Change and Leading the Race toward Equity and Excellence.” At this four-day conference, teachers, administrators, parents and high school students from throughout the country explored issues relating to social justice. Karriem Stinson, lower and middle school assistant athletic director and Harker wrestling coach; Pilar Agüero-Esparza, upper school art teacher; and Patricia Lai Burrows, middle school English teacher were grateful for the opportunity to listen to inspiring keynote speakers. Dr. Michael Eric Dyson addressed the complicated history of race relations in the United States, causing deepened thinking and reflection about the continued relevancy of these issues in today’s society. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who outed himself as an un-documented immigrant in 2011 when The New York Times published his article about this experience, shared his thoughts about current immigration reform. Dr. Derald Wing Sue schooled audiences on the dangerous impacts of daily microaggressions, igniting much reflection on what schools and teachers can do to address and combat them. In addition to keynote speeches, the conference hosted affinity spaces to facilitate rich discussion and reflection, workshops on an array of topics led by independent school teachers and consultants, and regional breakout sessions to help schools network and collaborate with one another. It was an incredible professional development experience, and Stinson, Agüero-Esparza and Burrows are excited to share what they learned with the Harker community.
Library Director Gives Keynote at ProQuest Global Meeting
Susan Smith, library director, was a keynote speaker at ProQuest’s Global Sales Meeting in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 10. Speaking on “Developing Partnerships in Education: Inquiry-Based Learning,” Smith shared the importance of teaching 21st century learners to search, evaluate and synthesize information with the audience of more than 400. ProQuest is a provider of high-quality digital resources for industry, universities and public and private schools. Harker students use ProQuest databases including CultureGrams, SIRS Discoverer, Ebrary and Historical Newspapers on a daily basis. In her talk, Smith suggested that information providers implement a more scaffolded approach to database interface. “It was a great experience,” said Smith. “ProQuest’s managers and sales reps alike said they appreciated hearing the needs of a school library program. Others commented they were ‘inspired’ by the Harker information literacy program.”
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s director of global education, can hardly believe a decade has gone by since the upper school launched its exchange program with students from the Collège de Gambach in Fribourg, Switzerland.
“The first one occurred in the school year 2004-05!” enthused Walrod.
Mid-February heralded the beginning of this year’s program, with the arrival of 11 Swiss exchange students and their two chaperones.
“New friendships formed quickly between the grades 10 and 11 Harker students and the Swiss buddies they hosted,” recalled Walrod.
The Collège de Gambach is a secondary school under the authority of Switzerland’s department of public education and cultural affairs. The school is located near an important economic and cultural border between German and French Switzerland.
While visiting here, the Swiss students lived in homestays with their Harker hosts and their families, allowing them to become fully immersed in American life. They enjoyed observing various classes, as well as exploring sights locally and beyond the Bay Area.
After going on a tour of the upper school with their Harker pals, the exchange students observed and participated in such classes as dance, debate, art, chemistry, drama, poetry and American history. They also made Native American dream catchers with Keith Hirota, middle school social studies teacher and K-8 department chair. Another highlight for the Swiss students was taking an American cuisine cooking class at Cucina Bambini, a local hands-on cooking school.
Grade 11 Harker student and program participant Daphne Yang shared that it was the little things that she remembers most fondly about time spent with her Swiss buddy. Things like hanging out at the mall and talking over coffee at Starbucks.
“The Swiss visit was really a learning experience. I got to interact with people from a different background and culture than I am used to, and I had fun picking up bits and pieces of their lifestyles as they were immersed in mine. It made me realize how much I enjoy learning not only other languages but the culture that comes with it, and with all the fun we’ve had, I can’t wait to visit Switzerland in the summer to learn more!” said Yang.
One thing that really interested Yang was that the Swiss buddies had never seen a school bus before. She found it “very cute” that they were awed by the yellowness of the vehicle and took pictures and selfies in front of it.
At the end of their special time together, Harker students and their new Swiss buddies said their goodbyes over a farewell party in the campus bistro. Come June, they will be reunited, this time in Switzerland, with the same buddies paired up once again. The upcoming adventure will afford the Harker contingent the opportunity to immerse themselves in Swiss culture, brush up on their language skills and explore the country’s vast natural beauty.
Ken Barber, an upper school substitute teacher who assisted Walrod during the Swiss visit, said the best thing about watching the interactions between the Harker and Swiss students was the development of close relationships. “Their interactions seemed to be warm and genuine,” he recalled.
Diana Moss, upper school Spanish teacher and Class of 2015 dean, “loved hosting the Swiss chaperones, Cyril and Ole. They were enthusiastic about experiencing every aspect of American culture, including vinyl records, old cars, motorcycles and country music. They were particularly excited to see my husband’s ‘man space’ garage packed full of tools and choice gadgets, saying it was exactly the image they had of a typical American home. We engaged in long and lively discussions about culture, language and schools, and our home felt very quiet after they’d left. I know we’ve established a friendship that will endure – exactly the goal of a cultural exchange!” said Moss.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
The Harker Concert Series brought back one of its heavy hitters on Jan. 28, and for good reason. Playing to a sold-out audience, the Taylor Eigsti Trio proved again why it deserves to be a big draw in the modern jazz landscape.
This band is comfortable. Bassist Harish Raghavan and drummer Eric Harland were still twisting knobs and turning pages as Eigsti began setting the mood for the show opener, “Speaking Song,” with deep chords and flitting notes.
Eigsti then shifted gears to give his bandmates room to shine, as Raghavan drifted into an airy bass solo, with effective note choice, catching fire as Harland picked up steam for an effortlessly musical drum solo. Eigsti’s taste for texture served him well in the opening of Brubeck’s “Strange Meadlowlark,” sprinkling scale runs atop a layer of chords before casually strolling into a more subdued version of Brubeck’s often-overlooked 4/4 swing.’
Following “Meadowlark” and the afternoon-walk-after-heavy- rainfall quality of the trio’s version of Leonard Bernstein’s “Some Other Time,” the Eigsti original “Play with Me” felt like a splash of ice cold water.
During the intermission, attendees commented on the concert and the accompanying spread in the Nichols Hall atrium.
“We’ve had a great time because we arrived in time for some wine and hors d’oeuvres and then we went into the auditorium, which is lovely,” said Anna Ranieri. “We’re really enjoying the program, the wonderful ensemble.”
“I think it’s an excellent venue,” said Judy Busch, who had seen Eigsti’s previous Harker Concert Series performances. “It’s just small enough to be intimate and yet the sound and everything is exceptional.”
In the second set, Eigsti kicked things off with a pair of standards, one of which transitioned from a marvelous Raghavan bass solo to an irresistible groove, heralded by Harland’s rattling snare.
For the final two pieces, Eigsti invited his longtime friend Dave Hart, Harker middle school music teacher, to sit in on trumpet. Performing as a duet on “Body and Soul,” Eigsti and Hart beautifully captured the hope and heartache of the jazz classic, with Hart showing that his neither his improvisational chops nor his interplay with Eigsti have waned since the two began pursuing different careers.
The band got back together for the closing number, a rendition of “Caravan” that riffed on Duke Ellington’s standard with time changes, wild syncopation and rhythms slightly reminiscent of Latin jazz. After a dazzling intro from Eigsti, they careened into the mix as Hart capably took the lead, showing no sign of being overwhelmed by the act he had to follow. Meanwhile, Eigsti continue to show his gift for finding beauty in nearly any sound, flirting with atonality and what others might even call noise.
As the end approached, Harland was due. Taking the cue from Eigsti, the Grammy-nominated drummer launched into the final solo of the evening, which included an extended drumroll that showcased Harland’s astonishing endurance and control. This review has been edited for space. To read the full review, go to news.harker.org and search “Eigsti.”
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
At the end of February, hundreds of donors and members of the Parent Development Council (PDC) gathered on the upper school campus for the annual Head of School’s Circle Celebration.
The evening event, held in the Nichols Hall atrium, took on a new, interactive format and was held earlier in the year than usual. (Previously, the celebration was held toward the end of the school year.)
The event served to thank annual giving donors, capital campaign donors, and planned giving and endowment donors for their continued commitment to Harker and its mission. It also recognized the generosity of the Rothschild family and donors who contributed to the school’s historic $10 million Rothschild Matching Gift Challenge, as well as the Paramitas Foundation for their generous support of the school and particularly the business and entrepreneurship department.
“This year we decided to mix things up. Instead of having students come to parents for a presentation as in years past, we had the parents visit them!” explained Allison Vaughan, Harker’s director of stewardship.
After mingling and enjoying appetizers – followed by welcoming remarks from Chris Nikoloff, head of school – parents had the opportunity to visit student activity showcases. Vaughan said she was excited that many students and teachers were on hand to discuss what they are working on and passionate about, giving donors a sense of the direct impact their gifts make at the school.
There were seven different showcases, with interests grouped from all divisions where applicable. Each showcase began with a short presentation and was repeated several times, giving parents (who had been given a program and map) the opportunity to visit the showcases that most interested them.
The showcases were set up on the first and second floors of Nichols Hall. On the first floor, there was “The Art of Communication” (English, history, journalism), “It’s Showtime!” (voice, dance, instrumentals), “Understanding by Design” (making, mathematics, computer science, robotics), “Learn by Doing” (speech & debate, business & entrepreneurship) and “We are Team Harker!” (athletics). On the second floor, there was “Creativity Comes Alive” (visual arts) and “Science and Research: Hands-On Discovery” (science, research); in addition, the school’s new anatomy table was on display.
Many parents said they appreciated the chance to participate in the Head of School’s Circle Celebration in such a meaningful way, by observing what their children are learning.
Current Harker parent and PDC member Satish Dharmaraj (Nila, grade 3; Nikhil, grade 8), whose son was a presenter at the speech and debate showcase, said, “The new format was really refreshing and educational. It’s as good as it gets in seeing your money in action. Many parents loved to see the breadth of activities that students are passionate about that the school fosters. A great evening overall.”
Before the evening came to a close, Nikoloff made an exciting announcement about a new program for teachers called the Raju & Balu Vegesna Foundation Teacher Excellence Program. Through the generosity of the Raju & Bala Vegesna Foundation, Harker has the unique opportunity to support transformational professional development opportunities for a few faculty members each year. Faculty members who wanted to be considered for the program submitted applications on March 6. (Look for an update on this program in the Harker Quarterly summer issue!)
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
For nearly a decade, Harker’s speech and debate program has given students the invaluable skills they need to present and persuade. In the past five years, Harker students have won multiple national championships in nearly every speech and debate event they have entered. The department’s profile has continued to grow as more people realize the critical importance of clear, persuasive communication.
Before department chair Carol Green joined Harker in 2006, the speech and debate program consisted of only a few dozen students at the upper school. “Now I myself teach about 70,” Green said. She attributes the heavy growth over the past several years in part to the program’s expansion into more types of events.
“When I first got here, the only two events we did were policy debate – which is a very technical two-person debate – and Lincoln-Douglas debate, which is a very technical one-person debate,” Green recalled.
These events have students debating a single topic year-round, requiring intensive research. They are judged by experts in the chosen topic who are keenly aware of how nuances of speech can affect how a message is received.
The judges’ expertise in the chosen topics means students must demonstrate considerable knowledge of the subject area when arguing their sides.
In her second year at Harker, Green added public forum debate to the program. In contrast to the more research-heavy debate events, public forum changes topics every month, and is evaluated by citizen judges.
“Citizen judges are anyone off the street – lawyers, doctors, moms, dads. People you’re going to have to persuade in everyday life,” Green explained. “So you’re looking at a different type of persuasion, because they don’t know necessarily the most technical jargon, but you’re still looking at the human elements of persuasion.”
In addition to public forum, the department added individual speech events and congressional debate, which fit better with the schedules of most Harker students. “So if a child takes a month off to go do robotics, they don’t lose out on a competitive edge because they just skip,” Green said. “And so when we introduced these other activities that still taught oral communication skills, taught research skills, but maybe weren’t as intense, we had a greater retention level.”
Once more students began entering these events, “the students became successful and success breeds success,” Green explained. The program’s growing profile and the reputation it developed for building strong communication and presentation skills attracted more students to the program.
Senior Nikhil Kishore, who in the fall semester earned a trip to the National Speech & Debate Association’s Tournament of Champions, found that he enjoyed debate because it gave him more control over how far he progressed in comparison to other competitive events, such as sports.
“It’s a lot more student driven,” he said. “If you actually do more work yourself, that’s a lot. It really dictates how well you do, how much research you’ve done, how much prep you’ve done.”
He has also found the environment highly collaborative, which has been key to his success. “It’s really good because you can bounce ideas off of [peers] and you’re working with some of the smartest people, which helps you create all these good ideas and things that you can work with in a debate.”
“If you get eliminated [from a tournament], you immediately turn around and become a member of the coaching staff and continue to help until Harker is eliminated as a whole,” Green said. “Because even though you’re an individual competitor, you’re still part of a team.”
In summer 2010, Harker’s middle school debate squad traveled to the National Junior Forensic League’s national championship, where it took both first and second place in public forum. The addition of Karina Momary to the faculty later that year bolstered the middle school debate program. Momary quickly sought to expand the middle school program by adding more events.
Having come from a larger debate program in her previous job, Momary wanted to enhance the middle school program by offering more than public forum, which focuses on current events. “Not everyone likes talking about current events. Some people want to talk about moral values and some people want to talk about policy issues,” she said.
Since then, the middle school program has won at the national level in every debate event it has entered. “A lot of parents ask me which style of debate are we better at, and we are just as good at all of them,” Momary said. “Part of the reason is we encourage students to find their passion and to research something that interests them, and with that comes the passion to excel.”
When she joined Harker, there was a scarcity of local middle school debate competitions, which made preparation for national tournaments a challenge. Momary took the bold step to start entering her students into high school-level tournaments, which drew criticism from some in the debate community. “And then our kids started beating the high school kids,” Momary said. “And now all the middle school programs out here do the same thing.”
Green attributes much of Harker debate’s success to the resources available to students. “Honestly, I think the Harker community’s a large part,” she said. In a recent example, upper school debate teacher Greg Achten’s students were to debate on environmental issues, which prompted Achten to invite science teacher Kate Schafer to speak with his students on the topic. “Being able to draw from the rest of the Harker resources and the Harker community really allows our students to take it outside of the text,” Green said.
Green added that students also learn how to argue from both sides of the debate, “forcing students to question their own beliefs, to understand and build stronger foundations in their beliefs, because they know what the opposition’s going to say and they know how build a response to that.”
Middle school students also get help from upper school debaters, who offer support and guidance at after-school practice sessions and workshops. Momary noted that middle school team captains are in near-constant contact with upper school captains to coordinate and prepare arguments. When middle and upper school students travel to tournaments together, they are set up as buddies. “Everyone supports each other and really works as a team,” she said.
“Harker debate is really like a huge family,” said Cindy Wang, grade 8. “The shared love of debate connects all of us and we help each other in difficult or stressful situations. Being on the team is an amazing experience; the support I have received from the parents, coaches and peers has really helped me work hard toward improving.”
A large part of debate’s popularity with Harker students can be attributed to the skills its students develop, which can be applied to many disciplines, including academics or future careers. “They’re learning how to construct an argument, which is really helpful when they’re doing things like writing persuasive essays or writing research papers and things like that, for social sciences and for STEM,” said Green.
“There’s nothing that would prepare them for the boardroom better than being able to stand up and deliver their ideas,” said Momary. “A few of the parents have come back and told me they watched their students talk to VCs in a boardroom and couldn’t believe that they had the ability to do that.”
Debate also gives students the opportunity to perform extensive research on a wide variety of topics. While researching a debate topic, students may immerse themselves in global economics, environmental sciences, current events or even the nature of debate tournaments themselves.
“We focus a lot on current events. So it encourages you to keep up with the world and see what’s going on, which is pretty interesting because often you learn a lot of things that you wouldn’t have otherwise known,” Kishore said.
As students frequently travel to tournaments, time management also becomes an important tool of the trade, which Wang found especially important. “I’ve learned to do my homework faster and more efficiently so I can leave time for debate, and I can apply this skill everywhere to do as much as possible in a given timeframe.”
The Harker Research Symposium celebrated its 10th year on April 11, as people from across the Harker community visited the upper school campus to see the work of the school’s dedicated research community.
Harker’s hardworking WiSTEM (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) club began organizing the symposium at the start of the school year. Anita Chetty, US Science Dept. Chair and WiSTEM advisor inaugurated and has overseen the event since its inception a decade ago.
“It’s a good event,” said member Anushka Das, grade 12. “We have really great keynote speakers and a lot of people in the audience (for talks). The students, families and parents come to see everyone’s kids. It’s a tight community.”
Middle and upper school students occupied venues throughout campus for most of the day, giving poster presentations in the gym and holding breakout sessions in various rooms at Nichols Hall, often with members of the scientific community as their audience. Presenters included senior Andrew Jin, a national winner in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search; Intel finalists Steven Wang and Rohith Kuditipudi, both grade 12; and Siemens Competition regional finalists Sadhika Malladi, Jonathan Ma and Vineet Kosaraju, all grade 11.
The Nichols Hall Atrium was the busiest spot for much of the day, with corporate exhibitors attracting throngs of attendees, who wandered from station to station trying out high-powered microscopes and virtual reality gadgets, and even jumping behind the wheel of Tesla vehicles. “The kids have great microscopy questions,” said Technical Instruments representative April Myles.
Outside Nichols Hall, the all-girl Infinities robotics team drove their robot, which boasts a holonomic drive system, multiple lift systems and passive intakes, plus rubber bands and string. The team is advancing to a world tournament this year.
Chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine wowed a lunchtime crowd of at least 250 people with flames and the shattering of liquid-nitrogen frozen bananas and apples. “He’s playing with his food,” one girl in the audience joked to her friend.
This year featured yet another impressive lineup of keynote speakers. The first, climate scientist Dr. James McClintock’s “From Penguins to Plankton” talk, filled Nichols Auditorium almost to capacity. McClintock is an Endowed University Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. With more than 235 scientific publications and 14 expeditions to Antarctica in his career, he is considered a leading authority on Antarctic marine chemical ecology. “I’m very impressed with Harker,” said McClintock. “The students are very capable and excited and, to be honest, like college students. I’ve had several discussions with students at a level you’d expect in college.”
Another featured speaker was Dr. Suhas Patil, founder of top semiconductor company Cirrus Logic and creator of the fabless model of semiconductor manufacturing. Also among his many achievements, he co-founded the Indus Entrepreneurs, which has become the largest nonprofit in the world for budding entrepreneurs.
Harker alumna Shabnam Aggarwal ’03, now the CEO of KleverKid, shared the story of her journey from the wealth of Wall Street to the poverty of Cambodia, where she taught English to girls who had fled the world of sex trafficking. Later, in India, she explored various ways to combat illiteracy, which eventually led her to found her latest venture, KleverKid. Prior to her talk, Aggarwal spoke to a group of grade 5 students from Rocketship Si Se Puede Academy, answering their questions about the importance of technology, education and women’s issues in India.
“We have such great kids involved in science, and this is a nice opportunity for them to share with our community what they’re interested in,” said Diane Main, Harker director of Learning, Innovation and Design. “Last night the orchestra performed, today the sciences perform.”
Harker’s golf and track and field teams performed spectacularly over spring break, while the baseball squad upped its record to .500. Let’s get to the results!
Golf
The boys golf team competed at the Champions Tournament in Palm Springs over spring break, finishing 11th out of 47 teams from throughout the United States! Senior Shrish Dwivedi led the way, placing sixth out of 256 individuals. The boys are currently in first place in league, and will aim to keep it that way when they faced Pinewood on Thursday.
Track and Field
The Eagles posted 25 personal bests in the Firebird Relays at Fremont High School over spring break! The girls distance medley relay team not only won its event, but also set a new meet and school record. Junior Alex Dellar, sophomores Winnie Li and Nikki Iyer, and freshman Grace Koonmen won in style as Iyer made up a 140-meter gap on her final leg, posting a personal record of 5:01 for her mile run. Iyer later set a school record in the 800m with 2:20.64.
Koonmen also ran the No. 3 all-time mark for a Harker freshman in the 100m and 200m races. Freshman Anthony Contreras, meanwhile, improved on his No. 2 all-time Harker 200m race with a 24.01. Sophomore Davis Howard posted the No. 5 all-time mark for a Harker sophomore in the shot put and discus, while sophomore Davis Dunaway became the No. 2 all-time Harker sophomore in the 65m hurdles.
Junior Arthur Ye also had a strong day with a personal record of 33’ 6” in the shot put, ranking him among Harker’s top 10 all-time shot put efforts at No. 7. Freshman Ananya Krishnan’s personal record of 17’ 9” – the best-ever shot put effort by a female Harker freshman – moved her into eighth position on the top 10 list.
Baseball
The Eagles held on for a tight 14-13 victory over Trinity Christian last week to bump their record up to .500 at 6-6 overall. Freshmen Nate Kelly and Dominic Cea led the way with three hits apiece, including Kelly’s four RBIs.
Harker students had another successful year at the 2015 Synopsys Silicon Valley & Technology Championship, held in March at the San Jose Convention Center.
Three upper school contestants won grand prizes, earning them trips to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. Juniors Jonathan Ma and Sadhika Malladi each won a grand prize in the Biological Sciences category, while Nitya Mani, grade 12, was a grand prize winner in Physical Sciences. Vedaad Shakib, grade 10, was named a grand prize alternate in Physical Sciences. Malladi and Mani also received $250 each from the Whitney Foundation, and Mani received a certificate of achievement from Mu Alpha Theta.
Upper school students were most successful in the RRI Biological Sciences category. In addition to the awards won by Ma and Malladi, Rahul Jayaraman, grade 12, won a first award. Vineet Kosaraju, grade 11, Madhuri Nori, grade 12, and Amrita Singh, grade 10, won second awards, while sophomore Venkat Sankar earned an honorable mention. Nori also received a second place award and $175 cash prize from the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science.
In RRI Physical Sciences, senior Vamsi Gadiraju earned a first award, a $100 first prize from Morgan Lewis and an honorable mention from the Society of Vacuum Coaters. Fellow senior Leo Yu also received several honors, including an honorable mention student award from the Association for Computing Machinery, a certificate from Arizona State University’s Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives, a certificate of achievement from Mu Alpha Theta and a certificate of achievement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Amy Dunphy, grade 9, received an honorable mention and a high school finalist certificate from the Synopsys Outreach Foundation. Another honorable mention went to Evani Radiya-Dixit, grade 10.
Sophomore Rishab Gargeya won a second award in Bioinformatics. He was one of six award winners in the category, with grade 9 students Jerry Chen, Anastasiya Grebin, Amy Jin and Anooshree Sengupta all earning honorable mentions and Justin Xie, also grade 9, receiving a certificate of achievement from Mu Alpha Theta.
Trisha Dwivedi and Kshithija Mulam, both grade 10, each won honorable mentions in Botany. In Engineering, freshman Rajiv Movva and sophomore Arjun Subramaniam both earned first awards, with Subramaniam also winning a trip to the headquarters of cloud services provider Firebase to work on his application programming interface (API).
Manan Shah, grade 10, received a first award in Computers/Mathematics, in which Vedaad Shakib won a second award and a certificate of achievement and medallion from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Sneha Bhetanabhotla, grade 10, received an honorable mention in the physics category.
In the Behavioral/Social category, junior Mary Najibi was awarded a certificate of achievement from the American Psychological Association. Sophomore Neymika Jain earned a second award in Medicine/Health/Gerontology and a certificate from ASU’s Walton Sustainability Solutions Initiatives.
Several Harker grade 8 students also had success at Synopsys. In Zoology, Nishka Ayyar and Srija Gadiraju both won honorable mentions, as did Ashli Jain and Sonal Muthal in the Chemistry category. Krish Kapadia and Anjay Saklecha both won first awards in Medicine/Health/Gerontology, and also received nominations to compete in this year’s Broadcom MASTERS competition.
In Behavioral/Social, Shafieen Ibrahim and Keval Shah won first awards and Broadcom MASTERS nominations. Meanwhile, Kaushik Shivakumar received a certification of achievement and medallion from the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps for his project in Physics, and Cindy Wang received an honorable mention in Engineering.
Finally, Alexander Young won a first award in Biochemistry/Microbiology and received a nomination to compete in Broadcom MASTERS.