Today, Harker celebrated the birthday of Howard Nichols (1940-2008), the former Harker president who with his wife, Diana, was instrumental in developing Harker into the school it is today. Every year, the community celebrates Howard’s birthday, which falls on Oct. 10, by enjoying chocolate chip cookies, a reference to his practice of keeping a jar of cookies in his office to let passersby know that he was always available for a chat. During the day, students also learned about Howard’s life and accomplishments. At the morning middle school meeting, the student leadership council gave a special presentation on Howard, and lower school teachers used their homeroom periods to teach students about his vision and leadership.
As one Harker team celebrates a big win, several others look ahead to Harker Day, during which no fewer than six Harker teams will be competing.
In a highly anticipated contest, Harker girls tennis defeated Menlo 5-2 on Tuesday to improve to 5-0 in league play. The team will host Sacred Heart Prep on Tuesday.
Cross country headed to Half Moon Bay High School last Saturday for a successful meet that saw the boys varsity team finish sixth on the strength of runs by junior Rigo Gonzales (13:42) and sophomore Veyd Patil (13:22). The JV team, led by junior Dawson Chen’s 15:50 run, finished fifth. On the varsity girls squad, junior Kara Kister ran for a time of 16:00 to help her team place sixth. The grade 9 team finished in ninth place, with Harris Miller being the team’s top runner with a time of 15:02. Of particular note was sophomore Ethan Liu, who participated in his first-ever cross country race and finished in the top 50.
In an important league match, girls volleyball triumphed over Notre Dame-San Jose last Thursday, improving their record to 6-13.
Football lost a hard-fought game against Priory last Friday that ended in a 44-38 score and saw frequent lead changes. Currently 2-3, the Eagles look to even their record against Marina High at Saturday’s Homecoming game, which will be streamed live on Harker’s YouTube channel.
On Monday, girls golf lost to Los Altos 214-224 in a non-league match, in which senior Tina Xu shot an impressive 39. The team, still undefeated in league play at 7-0, will face another undefeated team, the 8-0 Castilleja, on Monday.
Varsity boys and girls water polo each lost close games to Gunn High on Monday. At press time, both teams still have winning records, with the boys sitting at second place in league play with a record of 6-2 and the girls currently ranking fourth with a record of 5-4. The girls host Castilleja on Thursday evening and Menlo-Atherton on Saturday. The boys, meanwhile, will play Palo Alto High at home on Saturday. Both Saturday games will be streamed live.
In addition to the already mentioned games, JV boys water polo’s matchup against Palo Alto High, JV and varsity volleyball’s games against Castilleja will also be streamed on YouTube. Be sure to catch the action if you’re unable to attend Harker Day!
Last month, the Harker Key Club was named Organization of the Year in the city of Cupertino’s 2021 CREST (“Cupertino Recognizes Extra Steps Taken”) Awards. This annual award is given to Cupertino residents who’ve made positive impacts on their communities. In a statement, Cupertino Mayor Darcy Paul noted the effort shown by this year’s awardees, saying, “Giving back to your community is an honorable thing to do at any time, but continuing to do so during a pandemic shows incredible dedication and commitment.” On Monday, Harker Key Club officers (from left to right) Anishka Raina and Lucy Ge, grade 12, and Reshma Kosaraju and Olivia Xu, both grade 10, were filmed on campus by the city of Cupertino’s media team for a short film that will be shown at the Cupertino CREST Awards ceremony on Oct. 14.
On Friday, Daniela Lapidous ’12 visited the upper school to speak to Harker’s Green Team about her personal experiences in environmental activism, with a focus on her efforts to get her alma mater, Columbia University, to divest from funding in the fossil fuel industry.
Lapidous, who is now a deputy field director at Green New Deal Network and worked for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, discussed how she became involved with the organization Barnard Columbia Divest (later renamed Columbia Divest for Climate Justice) after her first year at Columbia and began participating in protests, including one in Washington, D.C., attended by 10,000 people.
One of the most significant protest actions she participated in was the eight-day occupation of Columbia’s Low Library in 2016. She and other CDCJ members staged a sit-in at the library in an effort to persuade university president Lee Bollinger to make a pledge of divestment from the top 200 publicly traded fossil fuel companies. Lapidous said the occupation was supported by many students, who provided food to the occupiers and attended teach-ins on climate justice.
Earlier this year, Columbia ended direct investment in publicly traded oil and gas companies. Lapidous noted that while there are some caveats (exceptions may be made for companies with a “credible plan” to bring business to net zero emissions by 2050), the progress was heartening. She also highlighted the massive mobilization that took place over nearly a decade for the progress to happen.
Members of the Green Team sought advice from Lapidous on how to achieve their own goals. “In my own organizing, I have found that having conversations with decision makers is great,” she said. “When you come to a difference of values or priorities then it is helpful to have support from students and faculty.”
She also said that setting an example can be inspiring to others: “Even if you start small, seeing other people doing the work can inspire more people to come in.”
A team of three Harker students – sophomores Joe Li, Dustin Miao and Aniketh Tummala – took second place at the Lockheed Martin Code Quest, held this past spring. Code Quest is an annual programming competition in which teams of high school students solve problems using various programming languages. More than 1,400 students (568 teams in all) from all over the world entered the event, which was held virtually. Harker won silver in the advanced division of the competition and were just one question shy of taking the gold.
Earlier this month, Wajahat Ali MS ’94 appeared on the “On Being” podcast, hosted by journalist and author Krista Tippett. Ali, now a journalist and columnist for The Daily Beast, shared his views on hope as framed by his daughter’s experience beating cancer after being diagnosed at age 3. He spoke with theologian Kate Bowler, who herself was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer at the age of 35. The podcast in its entirety and a transcript are available at the “On Being” website.
On July 3, beloved former upper school English teacher Marc Hufnagl passed away at his home in Switzerland following a brave battle with prostate cancer. He had been living in Switzerland with his husband, Juerg, after his retirement in 2016. He was accompanied by Juerg, his sister, Jan, and his dog, Nico, at the time of his death. “We are heartbroken from the loss of our beloved Marc, but we know he will live on in the hearts and minds of all those who knew and loved him,” Jan said.
Hufnagl joined Harker in 2001 and taught English at the upper school for 15 years. An avid musician and songwriter, he released multiple albums of original music, and in 2014 performed a selection of his own songs for students. He was a big fan of Joni Mitchell, as evidenced by the poster of the cover art from her album, “Hejira,” that he had hanging in his classroom. After his diagnosis, he contacted upper school English teacher Charles Shuttleworth to request that it be shipped back to him, which Shuttleworth graciously did.
“He was a great, great person,” said Shuttleworth.
During his time at Harker, Hufnagl commuted to his job from Oakland each day, just one example of his remarkable dedication to teaching. “In one of my last conversations with him, he said that he felt great pride in being part of this institution and in seeing the students excel the way they do while at Harker and after Harker,” said Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs. “Knowing that he even had a small part in the students’ success filled him with great pride.”
A Caring Bridge page has been set up for people to leave dedications, and several Harker alumni have posted remembrances of their former teacher. “As a former student, he filled my heart with love for a subject I never thought I could love,” said Edward Sheul ’16.
Sahana Narayanan ’16, who is studying at the New England Conservatory for her master’s in jazz voice, said, “In my formative years, you modeled a contemplative life of endless artistic and spiritual self-inquiry. Thank you for your kindness and time.”
Those wishing to make a donation in Hufnagl’s honor have been asked to support Cancer Support San Francisco Bay Area and the Swiss Cancer League. A celebration of Hufnagl’s life is planned for Friday, Oct. 15, at 5 p.m. at the Lake Chalet Seafood Bar and Grill, located at 1520 Lakeside Dr. in Oakland. As space is limited, attendees are encouraged to RSVP by emailing juero@att.net.
It’s been a busy several days for Harker alumni athletes. Golfer Maverick McNealy ’13, pursuing his first PGA win, took second place at the Fortinet Championship over the weekend with a score of -18, just behind winner Max Homa. Current Harker golfer Allison Yang, grade 9, met McNealy before competition on Sunday. “She wished him good luck and [told him] to play Harker smart,” said Harker golf coach Ie-Chen Cheng. “Allison was stoked that Maverick took the time out to talk to her.”
Meanwhile, Emily Cheng ’20 helped MIT women’s volleyball win the MIT Invitational on Sept. 11. Also playing in that event was Ashley Jezbec ’20, who played for Bowdoin College. Cheng was named the MVP event with 47 assists and 14 digs.
Middle school mathematics department chair Vandana Kadam recently won the Edyth May Sliffe Award, which is awarded to middle and high school math teachers who have shown dedication to teaching by motivating students to participate in the American Mathematics Competitions. Kadam last won the award in 2018. Candidates for this award are nominated by colleagues, students, parents and administrators, and winners are chosen based on criteria such as demonstrated improvement in AMC scores over multiple years, increased participation in the competitions and increased participation in invitational events such as the American Invitational Mathematics Exam (AIME) and the USA Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO).
Today, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced that 52 Harker seniors, more than 25 percent of the Class of 2022, were named semifinalists in the National Merit Scholarship Program. Semifinalists represent less than 1 percent of high school students who took the 2020 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Qualifying Test as juniors. They become finalists by submitting a scholarship application that includes their academic record, a summary of participation in school activities and awards they’ve received.
This year’s semifinalists are:
Malar Bala, Laszlo Bollyky, Erica Cai, Teresa Cai, Cady Chen, Charles Ding, Alice Feng, Adheet Ganesh, Yvan Grinspan, Arnav Gupta, Elvis Han, Victoria Han, Catherine He, Mark Hu, Angelina Yuzifovich, Sinaya Joshi, Vishnu Kannan, Saahas Kohli , Anirudh Kotamraju, Aidan Lincke, Alex Liou, Michelle Liu, Aaron Lo, Kavita Murthy, Kate Olsen, Sujith Pakala, Muthu Panchanatham, Vienna Parnell, Rishab Parthasarathy, Anishka Raina, Sasvath Ramachandran, Bodhi Saha, Dhruv Saoji, Yejin Song, Cindy Su, Aditya Tagore, Emily Tan, Keshiv Tandon, Zeel Thakkar, Rohan Thakur, Nicole Tian, Michael Tran, Pranav Varmaraja, Austin Wang, Daniel Wu, Esther Wu, Alina Yuan, Irene Yuan, April Zhang, William Zhao, Emily Zhou and Gloria Zhu.