An article published on Forbes.com last week featured Surbhi Sarna ’03, who was recently named startup accelerator Y Combinator’s first ever health and biotech partner. Sarna is the founder and former CEO of nVision Medical, which sought to create medical devices that could expedite the detection and therefore the treatment of ovarian cancer. The Mountain View-based Y Combinator, a highly successful tech startup accelerator, has helped launch companies including Airbnb, DoorDash, Dropbox and Twitch.
According to the article, the move to make Sarna a partner was in part motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Sarna’s mission is straightforward: to help deepen and standardize YC’s playbook when it comes to bio and life sciences participants, all while supporting other entrepreneurs who may not fit the traditional biotech VC funding pipeline mold,” author Alex Konrad writes. Her strategy will be to take a more science-based approach different from that of Y Combinator’s historical evaluation of software companies, speaking with physicians and investigating the science that goes into their documentation.
This year’s upper school fall play, “Much Ado About Nothing,” which premiered last week, brought audiences to the Patil Theater to enjoy a unique interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies. Directed by theater teacher Jeffrey Draper, this production shifted the time period of this story of one-sided love and mistaken identity to just after World War II, with set and costume design to match. Music and dance numbers were also integrated to match the culture of the era and create a light-hearted atmosphere.
Girls tennis continues to dominate league play with victories over Menlo last Thursday (5-2) and Crystal Springs on Tuesday (6-1). They play their CCS qualifier on Monday.
Girls golf just won its fourth consecutive league tournament! “As all season long, it required a complete team effort,” said coach Ie-Chen Cheng. Senior Tina Xu led the Eagles with a fifth place finish and a score of 80. She was followed Emi Fujimura, grade 10, with 81, Allison Yang, grade 9, in with 82, senior Esther Wu in 11th with 87, junior Jessica Zhou with 91 and Khanhlinh Tran, grade 9, with 98. They’ve secured an automatic CCS berth for next Tuesday. Wish them luck!
Harker’s water polo squads turned up big on Thursday, winning all of their games against Los Altos. The girls finished the league regular season in fourth place and on Tuesday won their first match of the SCVAL tournament 9-5 against Los Gatos. JV boys have secured a co-league title, while varsity boys finished the regular season in second place and won the Silicon Valley Invitational, which was hosted by Harker, with a 4-0 record. Success for the varsity boys team continued on Tuesday with a 23-4 win in the SCVAL tournament against Los Gatos.
Football won 68-40 over California School for the Deaf on Thursday to end the season with a record of 3-4. Athletic director Dan Molin commended the team “for their hard work and dedication.”
Cross country’s second league meet went well, with the junior varsity boys placing third, led by grade 9 student Kaleb Goldin’s time of 20:14, for which he was named Eagle of the Meet. Varsity boys also finished third, as junior Rigo Gonzales ran for 17:54. Kara Kister led Harker’s girls by running a time of 20:36, which earned her ninth place. Cross country’s final league meet is Nov. 5 and will determine if they qualify for CCS.
Both varsity and JV girls volleyball lost to Notre Dame in their season finishers on Tuesday.
The Santa Clara Children’s Business Fair, organized by eighth grader Mikhil Kiran, took place Oct. 23 at Live Oak Park in Santa Clara, during which 100 young entrepreneurs pitched their product ideas to visitors from the local community. “We had a really good event, with a wonderful turnout,” said Kiran, who estimated that several hundred people attended.
The event has been run by Kiran, who is also the founder of the nonprofit Kidzrule, since he was a fifth grader. Last year’s fair was canceled due to restrictions caused the COVID-19 pandemic.
Harker students participating at the fair included fourth grader Ryan Santosh, who promoted Rylego Designs, sixth grader Aditya Banwasi of ThePhysicsHub, and eighth grader Aditya Shivakumar and seventh grader Trisha Shivakumar of Magic Escape. About a month before fair, participants attended a special orientation that contained advice on how to prepare for the event. Senior Arnav Gupta spoke at the orientation and provided information about this venture, called GetWellSoon.
Making a special appearance at the event was Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor, who gave a speech about how the fair benefits the community and commended and congratulated the young entrepreneurs on their first forays into business.
Last week, two manuscripts co-authored by Simar Bajaj ‘20 were published in medical journals Nature Medicine and The Lancet. The Nature Medicine piece covered the widespread attempts to suppress voting rights and why medical professionals “champion patients’ right to vote to protect health and deracinate inequitable medical practices, building on the efforts of organizations such as Vot-ER and VoteHealth 2020.” The piece, by Bajaj and co-authors and medical doctors Alister Francois Martin and Fatima Cody Stanford, details why protecting voting rights is a health issue and therefore needs the support of health care professionals.
For The Lancet, Bajaj, Dr. Stanford and Lucy Tu published a piece on the historical and continued racism and misogyny faced by Black women medical professionals, including the outsized scrutiny and expectations placed upon them. “Black women physicians are simultaneously considered superhuman, but never enough. We suggest this double bind leads to a sense of disquietude as Black women’s identity conflicts with their success,” the authors argue. They go on to express support for measures such as implementing diversity, equity and inclusion work as a requirement for promotion.
Last week, Harker athletic coaches Ie-Chen Cheng and Theresa Smith were each named Coach of the Year for the Central Coast Section in girls golf and girls volleyball, respectively, by the National Federation of State High School Association’s Coaches Association. The two longtime coaches were recognized for the positive effects they have had on Harker athletes during the 2020-21 school year. They are now eligible to be recognized as top coaches at both the state and national levels. Congratulations to both of these amazing coaches!
After Monday’s win over Sacred Heart, the girls golf team remains undefeated in league play and is currently in first place in the WBAL. The team’s next match is against a strong Castilleja team on Wednesday.
Following victories against Los Gatos last week, JV and varsity boys water polo are both in action tonight against Homestead. They will host Los Altos at the Singh Aquatic Center on Thursday. On Friday and Saturday, boys varsity will host the Silicon Valley Invitational.
Girls varsity water polo was defeated by Los Gatos last Tuesday, but rebounded on Thursday to take an 11-1 win over Palo Alto. The team faces Homestead today.
Girls tennis continued its hot streak with last week’s wins over Sacred Heart Prep and Notre Dame-Belmont. The team hopes to remain undefeated today as it faces Castilleja, and on Thursday will play Menlo in another highly anticipated match.
At a trial 5K race in Fresno, cross country athlete Veyd Patil, grade 10, placed in the top 50, running a time of 18:19. Alex Liou, grade 10, and Eric Zhang, grade 9, also had respectable performances, with respective times of 18:52 and 21:44. Junior Kara Kister’s time of 21:46 landed her in the top 40 of her race. In her first 5K, grade 9 runner Sophia Liu finished with a time of 23:56. Cross country’s second WBAL meet will take place Thursday.
JV and varsity girls volleyball, which lost to Sacred Heart Prep and Notre-Dame Belmont last week, play their final home games of the season this week, tonight against Menlo and Friday against Mercy High School.
On Friday, lower and middle school students viewed special presentations about the importance of acknowledging Indigenous land and the history of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, the direct ancestors of the Thámien Ohlone-speaking people, the original stewards of the land on which Harker’s campuses now rest. Also shown were videos of the ceremonies unveiling the land acknowledgment monuments that have been placed on each campus. Each video featured representatives from the lower and middle school Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committees speaking to their respective communities. Students at each campus then viewed the newly unveiled monuments for themselves. These activities were the continuation of the land acknowledgment ceremony that took place at the upper school in May, footage from which was also shown Friday.
An estimated 2,500 people visited the upper school campus on Oct. 9 for the inaugural Harker Day, which combined two Harker traditions – the Family & Alumni Picnic and Homecoming – into a full day of games, food, sports and more.
Attendees traversed the campus, playing a variety of games, including Dance Dance Revolution, air hockey and Skee-Ball. Ms. Carly’s Café, Yoshi and ABVE the Basics served many different kinds of food throughout the day and people packed the Patil Theater to watch performances from lower, middle and upper school performing arts groups. Mini Cat Town, a San Jose-based cat rescue organization, had one of the more popular attractions at the event, as guests flocked there to play with adorable kittens.
Students in attendance were glad to see the community reunite in person after so many months away. “I think the community bonding here is a really nice thing,” said Harshini Chaturdevala, grade 10. “Everyone from all the campuses getting together, it’s a really fun experience.”
Loren Due MS ’85, who lounged at the special alumni meetup area, enjoyed returning to Harker to see “all the teachers and students and staff. It’s great seeing all the activities here.” Due noted that he had seen how the original Family & Alumni Picnic evolved and looked forward to seeing what was in store for Harker Day. “It’s a good carryover from Howard Nichols’ original idea of bringing a community together,” he said.
In the afternoon, the Harker Athletic Hall of Fame induction ceremony took place, honoring Cole Davis ’10, Drew Goldstein ’13 and Jessica Khojasteh ’11 for their athletic achievements as well as the example they set in becoming global citizens.
In addition to the Homecoming football game, the JV and varsity boys water polo, JV and varsity girls volleyball and varsity girls water polo teams were also in competition, with fans showing their support. Varsity boys and girls water polo, JV boys water polo and JV girls volleyball all picked up wins, while varsity girls volleyball fell to Castilleja.
Toward the evening, guests moved to Davis Field for the start of the 2021 Homecoming festivities, including the tug-of-war contest between the freshman and the sophomores, which was won by the Class of 2024. After two intense quarters of football between the Eagles and visitors Marina High School, audiences enjoyed performances by the Harker cheer squad and the Harker Dance Company and watched the tug-of-war finals between the classes of 2022 and 2025, in which the seniors emerged victorious. The Homecoming game ended with the Eagles falling to Marina with a final score of 26-42.
As the Harker community reveled during the festivities of Harker Day this past weekend, alumni Cole Davis ’10, Drew Goldstein ’13 and Jessica Khojasteh ’11 became the latest inductees into the 2021 Harker Athletic Hall of Fame during a special ceremony held at the Harker Athletic Center.
Dan Molin, Harker’s athletic director, introduced each of this year’s inductees to the assembled audience of parents, friends, teachers and coaches. The first to be introduced was Davis, a three-sport athlete who competed in football and wrestling for his entire upper school career and in wrestling for two of those years. A Harker lifer, Davis was described by Molin as “tough, physical and a team player.” As a football player, he helped Harker reach its first ever playoff appearance and had a career-high 20 tackles against San Jose High. He was a formidable wrestler as well, and in his freshman year pinned a senior who reportedly went on to be a state-level competitor. In swimming, he was an All-American in his sophomore, junior and senior years and placed second in CCS in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle.
Goldstein, the next inductee, was described by Molin as “the definition of ironman. Not only did this gentleman play three sports for all four years at Harker, he played just about every position in the sports of football, basketball and baseball.” He captained the baseball team in his junior and senior years, and was captain of the football team in his senior year. Goldstein’s incredible work ethic led to the creation of the Drew Goldstein Commitment Award, which is awarded to Harker athletes who compete in three sports per year for all four of their years at the upper school.
The final inductee, Jessica Khojasteh, “was always on top of our list” of eventual inductees, Molin said. She was one of Harker’s most successful swimmers, earning four varsity letters and becoming the school’s first CCS champion in any individual or team sport after winning 2010 CCS championship in the 200-meter individual medley. She was also named to the 2011 Scholastic Championship team, was a four-time All-American, a three-time league MVP and in 2010 was named Harker’s Female Athlete of the Year. She also set no fewer than six Harker records: in the 50-, 100-, 200- and 500-meter freestyle events; the 100-meter breaststroke and 200-meter IM.
After receiving their awards, the inductees together removed the curtain to reveal the newly updated Hall of Fame display, which sits in the Harker Athletic Center.