A Harker middle school DECA team earned first place in the United States in a global business competition and other Harker DECA teams distinguished themselves recently at the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference.
The middle school DECA team, which ranked No. 1 among elementary and middle school teams nationwide, will represent America in the global finals of DECA’s Idea Challenge. More than 1,700 teams submitted entrees.
In the Idea Challenge, teams have only eight days to complete a business project. This year the students had to find an innovative, feasible and sustainable use for old newspapers. The teams of three or four students then presented their idea in a one- to three-minute YouTube video.
Ajay Madala, Ethan Choi and Andrew Chavez, all grade 6, fashioned a pencil pouch out of newspapers and created a persuasive sales video. The budding Harker entrepreneurs will compete with a team from the United Arab Emirates for global idea domination.
DECA is a worldwide organization that prepares students for careers in marketing, finance and hospitality management. Harker has a robust DECA program and Harker students shine consistently in the many DECA competitions and activities.
Harker DECA students returned triumphantly from the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference, with 42 students making it into competition finals and 20 of those students finishing the competition in the money.
Three Harker students were also elected to regional leadership positions. Shannon Hong, grade 11, was elected executive vice president, Sophia Luo, grade 11, vice president of communication, and Haley Tran, grade 10, vice president of operations.
Out of 28 events in which Harker students participated, they garnered seven first-place finishes, three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes. Those wins were by 42 of the 90-plus Harker students who attended, so it was a real team effort! Harker had the fourth-most wins among the more than 1,100 students from nearly 20 Silicon Valley schools who participated.
Almost half of Harker’s wins were in the top three in their categories. Members placing in the top three were as follows:
First-Place Winners
International Business Plan: Shannon Hong, grade 11; Sophia Luo, grade 11; Leo Yu, grade 12
Travel & Tourism Team Decision Making (TDM): Hong, Luo
Entrepreneurship Written Alexis Gauba and Riya Chandra, both grade 10
Business Service Marketing: Gauba
Personal Financial Literacy: Ray Xu, grade 10
Marketing Communications TDM: Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari and Glenn Reddy, both grade 12
Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan: Peter Wu and Arnav Tandon, both grade 10
Second-Place Winners
Marketing Communications TDM: Manthra Panchapakesan and Simran Singh, both grade 12
Entrepreneurship Written: Lucas Wang and Ria Gandhi, both grade 10
International Business Plan: Aathira Menon and Natasha Santhanam, both grade 11
Third-Place Winners
Principles of Marketing: Mona Lee, grade 9
Apparels & Accessories Marketing Individual Series Event: Felix Wu, grade 12
Advertising Campaign: Rahul Mehta, grade 9
The team stayed at the Marriott Hotel. The conference kicked off Friday night with opening remarks, followed by a talent show called the SV Factor emceed by Harker’s Luo. The winners of the talent show were offered the opportunity to “pie” the officers of SV DECA, and Harker’s Shannon Hong and Haley Tran took the cream pies in the face.
The 1,100 students gathered Saturday morning for their competitive events, followed by elections for the next Silicon Valley District Action Team. Harker had three candidates in the running and all were elected – Hong, Luo and Tran. Saturday culminated in a dance where students relaxed after the full day of competing and learning.
Awards were handed out over breakfast on Sunday.
The experience was a great one for DECA members. “Silicon Valley DECA is a great event for new members, especially because it introduces our members to the DECA experiences and gets everyone pumped for States and ICDC,” said Gauba, Harker DECA Director of Technology.
“I loved networking and meeting new friends from all over the Silicon Valley,” said Jessica Skinner, grade 9. “SVCDC was an amazing event, and I felt like I was finally where I was meant to be.”
There was a note of nostalgia among seniors, for whom this was the last local event. “I can’t believe that this was my last SVCDC!” said Savi Joshi, grade 12, CEO of Harker DECA. “It felt like it went by so quickly, and I finally understand how much DECA means to me and how much it’s given me. I’m going to miss this next year.”
The state DECA Conference takes place Feb. 26-Mar. 1 in Santa Clara. Harker students will compete there with thousands of their peers from all over California.
A Harker middle school DECA team earned first place in the United States in a global business competition and other Harker DECA teams distinguished themselves recently at the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference.
The middle school DECA team, which ranked No. 1 among elementary and middle school teams nationwide, will represent America in the global finals of DECA’s Idea Challenge. More than 1,700 teams submitted entrees.
In the Idea Challenge, teams have only eight days to complete a business project. This year the students had to find an innovative, feasible and sustainable use for old newspapers. The teams of three or four students then presented their idea in a one- to three-minute YouTube video.
Ajay Madala, Ethan Choi and Andrew Chavez, all grade 6, fashioned a pencil pouch out of newspapers and created a persuasive sales video. The budding Harker entrepreneurs will compete with a team from the United Arab Emirates for global idea domination.
DECA is a worldwide organization that prepares students for careers in marketing, finance and hospitality management. Harker has a robust DECA program and Harker students shine consistently in the many DECA competitions and activities.
Harker DECA students returned triumphantly from the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference, with 42 students making it into competition finals and 20 of those students finishing the competition in the money.
Three Harker students were also elected to regional leadership positions. Shannon Hong, grade 11, was elected executive vice president, Sophia Luo, grade 11, vice president of communication, and Haley Tran, grade 10, vice president of operations.
Out of 28 events in which Harker students participated, they garnered seven first-place finishes, three second-place finishes and three third-place finishes. Those wins were by 42 of the 90-plus Harker students who attended, so it was a real team effort! Harker had the fourth-most wins among the more than 1,100 students from nearly 20 Silicon Valley schools who participated.
Almost half of Harker’s wins were in the top three in their categories. Members placing in the top three were as follows:
First-Place Winners
International Business Plan: Shannon Hong, grade 11; Sophia Luo, grade 11; Leo Yu, grade 12
Travel & Tourism Team Decision Making (TDM): Hong, Luo
Entrepreneurship Written Alexis Gauba and Riya Chandra, both grade 10
Business Service Marketing: Gauba
Personal Financial Literacy: Ray Xu, grade 10
Marketing Communications TDM: Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari and Glenn Reddy, both grade 12
Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan: Peter Wu and Arnav Tandon, both grade 10
Second-Place Winners
Marketing Communications TDM: Manthra Panchapakesan and Simran Singh, both grade 12
Entrepreneurship Written: Lucas Wang and Ria Gandhi, both grade 10
International Business Plan: Aathira Menon and Natasha Santhanam, both grade 11
Third-Place Winners
Principles of Marketing: Mona Lee, grade 9
Apparels & Accessories Marketing Individual Series Event: Felix Wu, grade 12
Advertising Campaign: Rahul Mehta, grade 9
The team stayed at the Marriott Hotel. The conference kicked off Friday night with opening remarks, followed by a talent show called the SV Factor emceed by Harker’s Luo. The winners of the talent show were offered the opportunity to “pie” the officers of SV DECA, and Harker’s Shannon Hong and Haley Tran took the cream pies in the face.
The 1,100 students gathered Saturday morning for their competitive events, followed by elections for the next Silicon Valley District Action Team. Harker had three candidates in the running and all were elected – Hong, Luo and Tran. Saturday culminated in a dance where students relaxed after the full day of competing and learning.
Awards were handed out over breakfast on Sunday.
The experience was a great one for DECA members. “Silicon Valley DECA is a great event for new members, especially because it introduces our members to the DECA experiences and gets everyone pumped for States and ICDC,” said Gauba, Harker DECA Director of Technology.
“I loved networking and meeting new friends from all over the Silicon Valley,” said Jessica Skinner, grade 9. “SVCDC was an amazing event, and I felt like I was finally where I was meant to be.”
There was a note of nostalgia among seniors, for whom this was the last local event. “I can’t believe that this was my last SVCDC!” said Savi Joshi, grade 12, CEO of Harker DECA. “It felt like it went by so quickly, and I finally understand how much DECA means to me and how much it’s given me. I’m going to miss this next year.”
The state DECA Conference takes place Feb. 26-Mar. 1 in Santa Clara. Harker students will compete there with thousands of their peers from all over California.
Harker’s grade 8 students, who traveled to Washington, D.C., on their class trip in October, are still speaking fondly of their whirlwind adventure exploring the nation’s capital.
Accompanied on the trip by Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, the journey began with a visit to Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America, and Colonial Williamsburg, an interpretation of a colonial American city. The students were also able to participate in an interactive African-American dance and music program held in a slave quarter in Colonial Williamsburg.
“Specialized guides showed us what it was like to live in Jamestown in the early 1600s. One guide asked why certain posts had Roman numerals on them, and after one of our students responded, she (the guide) indicated this was the first time in her six years of doing these tours that someone answered that question correctly,” recalled Gargano.
The following day the contingent headed to Pamplin Historical Park, one of America’s best-preserved battlefields. The students first went to the Civil War Museum on the park grounds where they learned about the lives of soldiers who fought in the Civil War. Students also participated in military drills and visited the park’s recreated military encampment, experiencing elements of a common soldier’s life.
From there they visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Another highlight was a visit to the Newseum, where Gargano recalled that the students particularly enjoyed the FBI exhibit and a video about 9/11.
The students then met for dinner at the Capitol Hill Club, one of the most popular locations in Washington for lawmakers, government officials and other political figures to socialize and gather. Each year, during this evening, a former Harker student working in D.C. joins up with the group as a guest speaker.
“Eighth grader Alycia Cary introduced our speaker for this year, Stephanie Benedict ’08. Stephanie is currently an associate for Albright Stonebridge Group, a premier strategic advisory and commercial diplomacy firm. One of the many individuals she works with is Madeleine Albright, the first woman to have become the United States Secretary of State,” said Gargano.
The following day turned more solemn as the class visited the Iwo Jima U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery, Ford’s Theatre and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Toward the end of the trip, students visited the Capitol building, learning about the branches of the government and touring the House of Representatives, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court. In keeping with annual tradition, the group took a photo in front of the Capitol.
New this year, the grade 8 students also had the exciting opportunity to visit the Washington Monument, the world’s tallest stone structure (at 555 feet), built to commemorate George Washington. “We took an elevator to get to the observation deck where we had an amazing view of the nation’s capital. This was the first trip where we obtained tickets to go to the top of the monument,” said Gargano.
By the end of the trip the students had fully bonded as a group, returning home eager to share highlights of their trip with friends and family. The grade 8 visit to Washington, D.C., was one of several weeklong middle school class trips held during the fall. Grade 6 went to the Santa Cruz Mountains and grade 7 toured national parks around the Southwest.
A group of Harker’s upper school performing arts and journalism students attended a local YWCA luncheon, where academy award-winning actress Geena Davis gave the keynote address to an audience of over a thousand.
Davis is one of Hollywood’s most-respected actors. She earned the 2006 Golden Globe Award for best performance by an actress in a television series – breaking ground in her portrayal of the first female president of the United States in ABC’s hit show “Commander in Chief.”
The YWCA of Silicon Valley’s annual luncheon features guest speakers who serve as role models for women and girls. Held every October at the Santa Clara Convention Center, event proceeds help support the group’s much-lauded services.
Harker regularly hosts a table for upper school students who have a special passion for that year’s topic. The Harker group who attended this year’s event, all seniors, were performing arts students Ishanya Anthapur, Caroline Howells, Juhi Muthal, Madi Lang-Ree and Zoe Woehrmann, along with journalism students Jessica Chang and Riya Godbole. Accompanying them was upper school performing arts teacher Laura Lang-Ree.
Each year, more than 40 companies and hundreds of individuals sponsor the YWCA’s luncheon. The mission of the YWCA is to empower women, children and families, and to eliminate racism, hatred and prejudice. The organization provides programs in the areas of sexual assault intervention and prevention, counseling services, domestic violence, child care, youth programs, family services, and social and racial justice.
The YWCA of Silicon Valley serves nearly 18,000 Santa Clara County residents each year, and has provided countywide services for more than 100 years. More information can be found at www.ywca-sv.org.
Harker rocked the Southwest Championship tournament at Arizona State this weekend!
Lisa Liu, grade 11, took second overall in humorous interpretation and third overall in impromptu speaking. Misha Tseitlin, grade 10, breezed through semifinals to end his Congressional Debate run in finals. Arjun Narayan, grade 11, welcomed in 2015 by earning a spot in the semifinals of extemporaneous speaking.
In public forum debate, all 10 teams were 3-2 or better going into round six and eight teams advanced to elimination rounds. Sorjo Banerjee, grade 11, and Emaad Raghib, grade 10, were in the final round where they ended up in second place out of 124 public forum teams. Nikhil Kishore and Vamsi Gadiraju, both grade 12, advanced to the Elite Eight where they met Banerjee and Raghib, ending their run as quarterfinalists. David Jin, grade 11, and Alexander Lam, grade 10, were also quarterfinalists. Both Kishore/Gadiraju and Jin/Lam complete their qualifications to the Tournament of Champions.
Ending their run in the Sweet Sixteen were Jasmine Liu and Abhinav Ketineni, both grade 11, who met Jin and Lam in the octofinal round, also know as “the bid round.” Also earning bids to the Tournament of Champions were Samali Sahoo and Anthony Luo, both grade 11, as well as Aumesh Misra, grade 11, and Ashwath Thirumalai, grade 12, who advanced to double-octofinals but met Harker teams in the round of 32 and were thus awarded ghost bids. Avik Wadhwa and Aadyot Bhatnagar, both grade 12, as well as seniors Andrew Jin and David Lin also advanced through triples to end their run in double-octofinals.
Special recognition goes out to alumni coaches Kiran Arimilli ’13, Anuj Sharma ’13 and Andy Wang ’14 for their coaching in Arizona.
Congratulations to all 23 Harker speech and debate Eagles for rocking The Grand Canyon State!
Ten Harker students earned high marks in the 2014 National Assessment & Testing Ciphering Time Trials, making Harker the top-ranking high school in the country to participate in the contest.
Swapnil Garg took first place in the grade 9 division, with classmates Shaya Zarkesh and Joanna Lin placing 12th and 15th, respectively. In the grade 10 division, David Zhu and Kai-Siang Ang tied for second place, while Misha Ivkov placed ninth. Placing first in the grade 11 division was Richard Yi, with Allison Wang taking fourth. Patrick Lin and Ashwath Thirumalai placed second and fourth, respectively, in the grade 12 division.
Each participant completed 10 rounds of testing, each of which contained three problems of varying difficulty that had to be solved in within three minutes. National Assessment & Testing administers math contests by email every year, which are then conducted by the teachers at the participating schools.
Update: Hat trick for Harker athletes, today! First off, Srivinay Irrinki, grade 12, has been named the Merc’s Santa Clara County boys Athlete of the Week. Plus, Joelle Anderson and Jordan Thomson, both grade 10, were both named to the Merc’s Highlight Reel, today.
Joelle, Harker soccer, made the list for her three goals in a 6-0 win over Mercy-Burlingame and three more in the team’s 4-2 win over Crystal Springs. She has now scored 15 goals in just six games—go Joelle!
Jordan, Harker basketball, was honored for scoring 38 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in the team’s win vs. Woodside Priory and 26 points in the victory over Crystal Springs –Go Jordan!
It’s 2015, and Harker sports are in full swing. Both the girls varsity basketball and soccer squads went undefeated last week! Let’s get to the scores and news:
Basketball
The girls went undefeated last week, beating both Priory and Crystal Springs to open league play and improving to 8-3 overall. Against Priory, sophomore Jordan Thompson led the way with 38 points. The girls hit the road twice this week.
Senior Sriv Irrinki shot eight 3-pointers and went 9-9 on free throws en route to a career high 35 points while leading Harker to a 87-71 victory over King’s Academy. With that victory, Harker bounced back from a loss to Menlo earlier in the week. The boys play rival Sacred Heart Prep on Tuesday at Blackford. The junior varsity team will play at 5:30 p.m., followed by the varsity team at 7 p.m.
At the middle school level, the grades 7-8 Varsity B boys basketball team enter the WBAL playoff tournament this week. On Tuesday, they will host Sacred Heart’s second team at Blackford at 4 p.m. If the Eagles win, they will play the winner of Sacred Heart’s first team vs. Menlo’s third at Sacred Heart on Wednesday at 6 p.m. If they lose to Sacred Heart’s second team, they will play the loser of Sacred Heart vs. Menlo on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at Menlo. Wins on both Tuesday and Wednesday would catapult the Eagles to the championship game at Sacred Heart on Thursday at 5 p.m. Let’s go Harker!
Soccer
The girls varsity squad improved to 4-1-1 overall after a 2-0 week in which the team defeated Mercy-Burlingame and Crystal Springs. The game against Crystal Springs was highlighted by a hat trick from sophomore Joelle Anderson. The Eagles have now won three straight games, having also defeated Pinewood 5-1 over the winter break thanks to goals from Anderson, senior Alyssa Amick and sophomore Kailee Gifford. Harker will host Menlo on Tuesday at Davis Field.
The boys, meanwhile, lost to Menlo 3-2 on Friday in their first league game of the year, despite goals from junior Omar Hamade and senior Alan Guo. This was the team’s first loss of the season; it had previously been 3-0-1 after a 4-1 win over the winter break thanks to goals from senior Ramzi Jahshan, senior Jeremiah Anderson, junior Kevin Hu and freshman Nick Acero. The Eagles will host Crystal Springs on Wednesday and Eastside College Prep on Thursday.
Wrestling
Freshman Anthony Contreras finished in third place at the Los Gatos Tournament on Saturday. During the winter break, seniors Anni Ankola and Ryan Palmer finished third and fourth, respectively, at the Cupertino Tournament. The wrestlers travel to Santa Clara this Thursday.
Volleyball
Congratulations to senior Shreya Dixit, who was named by the San Jose Mercury News to the All-Mercury News second team for girls volleyball, recognizing her as among the best players in the section.
You can read more here: http://www.mercurynews.com/high-school-sports/ci_27202476/all-mercury-news-girls-volleyball-first-team-second
In November, students in Elise Robichaud’s grade 3 morning and afternoon language arts classes collected candy and created cards for Operation Gratitude, a nonprofit, volunteer-based organization that annually sends more than 150,000 care packages to U.S. service members, new recruits, veterans, first responders, wounded warriors and care givers.
The students also sent cards to local veterans, including Harker alumni who have served in the military. Then, in December, the students were treated to a surprise visit by one of the vets they had written to, who came to their classroom to personally thank them for their efforts.
“My little ones made 163 cards that were mailed out on Nov. 10, and they collected 72 pounds of candy! I’m very proud of them!” enthused Robichaud. The surprise visit from Captain Michael Gerold (a friend of fellow grade 3 language arts teacher Heather Russell), who was injured during his service, really brought the Veteran’s Day project full circle, she added.
“It is a rare opportunity when the students can see a recipient of their service projects, and it was a great experience for them,” Russell recalled.
The students collected 6.5 bags of non-chocolate candies, 17 bags of chocolate candies, and a bag containing toothbrushes, dental floss and toothpaste for Operation Gratitude.
Going the extra mile, Robichaud designed a PowerPoint presentation for her students, featuring veterans who are Harker teachers and friends of faculty members, saluting them for their service. Among them was upper school math teacher Anthony Silk, who several years back spoke to lower school students about his experiences in the U.S. Navy flying the electronic warfare plane the EA-6B Prowler. (https://staging.news.harker.org/math-teacher-and-veteran-speaks-to-grades-4-and-5-on-veterans-day/)
“I wanted my third graders to see some of the faces of the people who have served or who are currently serving our country, so I made this PowerPoint to share with them,” explained Robichaud, who had previously put out a request to staff to provide names of any military members they knew personally, so that the students could write to them.
“It means so much to the third graders to actually know some of the people who are getting the cards,” she noted.
Members of the Harmonics middle school performance group and Dance Fusion, comprising lower and middle school students, were thrilled to perform at CreaTV San Jose’s 2014 “CreaTiVe Awards Gala,” presented by TiVo, on Jan.10.
The fifth-annual formal evening event took place at the California Theatre in downtown San Jose and is slated to air on channel 30 in San Jose/Campbell on Jan. 17 at 7 p.m.
Dance Fusion instructor Gail Palmer called it “an honor” for the students to be featured in such a high-profile show. Harmonics and Dance Fusion each performed one song during the gala, which pays tribute to Bay Area video makers. A VIP reception preceded the awards show, where winners in 10 categories were announced.
“I thought it was really cool that we got to meet local people in the business,” recalled Harmonics performer Kelsey Wu, grade 8.
Other students said it was fun to be on TV and a great performance opportunity. Grade 8 student Aryana Far called the night “a very different experience from our normal shows.” She added that the audience was very supportive.
Founded in 2007, CreaTV San Jose is a member-based, nonprofit community media center that helps the residents, businesses, schools and organizations in San Jose to effectively communicate their message to a broader audience using our public and education television and Internet channels.
Three stock-picking teams from Harker qualified to participate in The Stock Market Game at the international DECA conference in May and Harker students grabbed three of 25 top spots in the Western region, beating out more than 1,200 other Western teams.
Teams with the highest portfolio returns compared to the S&P 500 stock index made it into this elite group.
Harker’s David Lin, grade 12, earned first place in the Western region and third in the nation. His portfolio totaled a whopping $179,388, or nearly 80 percent over the S&P 500 stock index.
Steven Wang, Aaron Huang and Leo Yu, all grade 12, placed 14th. Their portfolio totaled $116,549 for a return of 16.8 percent above the S&P 500. The team of Alex Tuharsky and Ashwath Thirumalai, both grade 12, placed 18th with a 15.3 percent return and a closing portfolio of $115,078.
These three teams are eligible to defend their investment decisions in The Stock Market Game at DECA’s international conference in Georgia in May. DECA prepares students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.
“We are very proud of these students,” said Juston Glass, director of Harker’s business and entrepreneurship program. “We are sending the No. 1 ranked finalist to represent the Western region and defending our international title from last year.
“There’s a lot of competition,” Glass added. “We posted the Top 10 Harker investors every week for the whole school to see and have fun with. It was cool to see who moved up and down in the rankings each week.”
The Stock Market Game requires students to select stocks and manage a virtual investment portfolio. The teams start with $100,000 of make-believe money on Sept. 8 and manage their portfolios until “the sound of the bell” on Dec. 12.
Students can invest in instruments other than common stock. “You can invest in mutual funds, exchange traded funds and bonds, as well as stocks. Thus, many of my holdings in the game were not stocks,” Tuharsky says.
“I’m a value investor, meaning that I pick stocks that I think are undervalued (their true value is larger than the value dictated by their market price) and buy these stocks,” Thirumalai explained. “I determine value primarily based on growth trends and corporate financials.”
The Tuharsky-Thirumalai team hit a mother lode with JDST. It is a stock fund “equivalent to a leveraged short position on gold miners,” Tuharsky says. It was the team’s best performer.
The Stock Market Game “teaches participants to stay up-to-date on their business news, and generally creates more interest in the stock market,” Tuharsky said. Although students learned various methods of analysis and scoured the financials, Thirumalai says he also learned that luck plays a role in picking stocks.
Seven Harker faculty members also participated in the game, but didn’t quite match the students’ returns. Art teacher Josh Martinez ended 9 percent above the S&P, earning him second place in the Western Region teacher group.
The Stock Market Game is just one of dozens of competitive events DECA sponsors for high school and college students. About 200,000 high school students participate in 3,500 high school DECA chapters nationwide. More than 5,000 teams participate in The Stock Market Game nationwide.
Tuharsky said he was already interested in a career in finance or economics and the thrill of “The Stock Market Game has pushed me further in that direction.” Win or lose, Thirumalai said the experience was “a ton of fun.”