The Maryland-based Excelsa Quartet gave a special workshop to Harker students in early October. Currently a quartet in residence at Stanford University’s Emerging String Quartet Program, the all-female ensemble played selections from their repertoire, offered insights as to how they work together and advised students on how to be more cohesive. For example, the group suggested using words as signals when learning to play rhythmically complex passages and practicing with simpler pieces to warm up for more complex material.
Two Harker students were featured in the San Jose Mercury News in early October for extracurricular projects they completed with friends from other schools. Leo Yu, grade 12, worked with friends from Leland High School and Monta Vista High School to create a 3-D printed prosthetic hand that can be attached to a human arm and hopefully will be used to improve the life of a child in need. Vineet Kosaraju, grade 11, and a friend at Monta Vista established their own nonprofit called Math and Coding to help students as young as 8 foster their interests in math and programming. Since founding Math and Coding in the spring, the students have traveled around the country to show it to various libraries. In December 2015, another article appeared on Kosajaru’s good works in the Los Altos Town Crier!
In May, Manthra Panchapakesan, grade 12, was named the state and national first-place winner in the InvestWrite competition, put on by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA). The annual competition, launched in 2004, presents students in grades 4-12 with an investment scenario for which they must make portfolio recommendations for both short- and long-term financial goals. As a culmination of The Stock Market Game, which is played by nearly 600,000 students nationwide, the InvestWrite competition, with 20,000 participants each year, helps students develop the know-how to make real-world financial decisions.
Musician Nimesh “Nimo” Patel gave an inspiring talk to Harker students in early October about his journey from Wall Street to success as a rap artist in South Asia to his work with students in the slums of India. The visit was organized by math teacher Bradley Stoll, a longtime fan of Nimo’s music and work. Harker Aquila has the full story.
The parents of Harker’s littlest learners recently gathered on the Union campus for Harker Preschool’s much-anticipated Back-to-School Night. Held on Oct. 16, the event began with parents heading to their child’s regular classroom before visiting several specialty classrooms. Parents enjoyed coming together as a community, and chatting with one another as well as with the teachers. They left with a better understanding of how their children spend their days, learning and growing as students. For some parents the event was especially memorable as it marked their very first Back-to-School Night experience!
A number of students successfully auditioned for two American Choral Directors Association Coastal Region Honor Choirs. Ishanya Anthapur, grade 12, Madhu Karra, grade 11, and Krishna Bheda and Jessica Susai, both grade 9, earned spots in the women’s choir, while Maya Nandakumar, grade 12, Sahana Narayanan and Gurutam Thockchom, both grade 11, and Ashwin Rao, grade 10, made the cut for the mixed choir. According to upper school music teacher Susan Nace, 350 singers auditioned and 247 were selected. Last year, five Harker students earned honor choir spots.
“The regional honor choir is the first step in the graduated process of going to other more advanced levels,” said Nace. “The next levels are All State (California) and National Honor Choirs.” Each audition had students sing a solo piece and test their proficiency in sight reading and ear training.
The students will perform with the Coastal Region Honor Choir on Nov. 22 at 2pm at the First United Methodist Church, located at 625 Hamilton Ave. in Palo Alto. Tickets will be sold at the door for $10.
The first Eagle Buddies event of the year took place on Oct. 8, with the Class of 2015 and their grade 5 buddies meeting at Rosenthal Field at the upper school campus for pizza and conversation. Some seniors gave their lower school buddies a tour of the campus, while others made toys for animals at the Humane Society.
“I think it’s definitely really fun and it’s a great bonding experience with the elementary school kids,” said Agata Sorotokin, grade 12. “I was at the Harker elementary school too, so in a way I kind of go back in time, which is great.”
Sorotokin’s grade 5 buddy Esha Gohil enjoys seeing what upper school life is like. “I really enjoy listening to their stories about high school,” she said.
Meanwhile, students in grades 10 and 11 headed to the lower school to meet up with their buddies in grades 3 and 4, respectively.
Established during the 2010-11 school year, the purpose of the Eagle Buddies program is to help students at the lower and upper schools bond through letters and activities. The program starts when students in grades 3 and 10 are matched up. They maintain contact and meet periodically until the grade 10 students graduate and the third graders arrive at the middle school.
Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster Frank Almond gave audiences a rare chance to see and hear one of the world’s most famous musical instruments at the first concert of the 2014-15 Harker Concert Series season. The centuries-old Lipinski Stradivarius, which briefly went missing earlier this year after Almond was attacked following a performance, has a long and storied history, one that figured into the evening’s repertoire.
Rather than start with the music straight away, Almond opted to address the crowd on the history of the Lipinski and its connection to two of the pieces he would be playing. Giuseppe Tartini’s Violin Sonata in G minor, commonly known as “The Devil’s Trill,” was a fitting choice as the first piece of the evening, he explained, as Tartini was the Lipinski’s first known owner.
That the sonata has a reputation for being technically challenging might not have been obvious from its somber, almost weepy first movement, as Almond brought out the warmth of the Lipinski before launching into the stately and quick second movement. Jeffrey Sykes’ precise (but not robotic) piano accompaniment may have been easy to miss amidst the note flurries and wide intervals, but it nevertheless provided the ideal backing for Tartini’s most widely known work.
When it came time for the sonata’s third movement, Almond proved more than up to the task of traversing it. Among the more impressive and moving displays of the evening was an unaccompanied section consisting almost entirely of treacherously difficult double stop trills, handled so well that any thoughts of the virtuosity involved all but vanished.
Impressive though it was, it seemed almost like a warmup for Almond’s rendition of Bach’s legendary Chaconne from Partita in D minor. A marvel of sheer creativity, the chaconne begins with a simple four-measure theme that is taken through dozens of variations, resulting in a piece that for centuries has been hailed for its emotional and structural depth. Bach’s vision was served well by Almond’s masterful hands, which beautifully manipulated the Lipinski to illustrate the uniqueness of each variation and how they combine into a brilliant whole.
The Röntgen family, Almond told the audience in his introductory talk, purchased the Lipinski Stradivarius after Karol Lipinski’s death. One of the sons, Julius, went on to become composer and pianist of some renown, with a close association to Johannes Brahms. The bittersweet first movement of his Sonata No. 2 for Violin and Piano feature Almond’s delicate playing floating atop Sykes’ dancing piano melodies, evoking a pastoral serenity. The frolicking second movement, with its playful call-and-response staccato lines, continued in this vein before making way for the contemplative third movement, which wavered between the solemn and triumphant, building momentum for a thundering emotional climax of crashing chords and piercing high notes, which the Lipinski sang beautifully.
Harker parent Prashant Fuloria (Anika, grade 6; Varun, grade 3) enjoyed the performance of the Bach piece in particular and said that the concert’s atmosphere was a good environment for many age groups. “It’s not too formal. Kids can go around and be kids and listen to some great music,” he said.
“It is breathtaking,” attendee Lynn Mitchell said of Almond’s performance. “I particularly enjoy the Röntgen piece.” She also enjoyed the “inviting” atmosphere of the venue, and said the food was “delicious.”
The ostensible final piece for the evening was Cesar Franck’s Sonata in A Major, which was chosen, Almond said, because “it’s fun to play.” Sykes set the tone with a soft bedding of chords before being joined by the violin, whose vulnerable melodies were gorgeously rendered as they swayed rhythmically with the backing piano, the two trading melancholic lines. An urgent, almost sinister assemblage of piano notes opened the next movement before bursting into a dazzling run. Almond expertly utilized the Lipinski’s warm lower registers to introduce the frantic, flowing melody, which both contrasted and played off of the panicked piano underneath. The slow and repentant third movement was beautifully anchored by Sykes’ emotive subtleties, punctuated by anguished outbursts. As if to make up for the anxiety and despair of the previous two movements, the sonata shifted into an uplifting and determined mood, bringing back the theme from the first movement for a rollicking finish.
Shortly after showing their immense appreciation for Almond’s performance, the audience was treated to an encore performance of one of Clara Schumann’s Romances, a double rarity in that Schumann’s pieces are not widely performed, much less on a legendary 300-year-old instrument. Almond and Sykes’ rendering of the piece by the legendary pianist and gifted (but unfortunately unprolific) composer was as lovely as one could have expected, its reflective melodies providing a fitting sendoff for the evening.
The 2014 Siemens Competition Math : Science : Technology semifinalists were just announced and 408 national semifinalists and 97 regional finalists were named. This year 13 students from The Harker School were among the 60 California semifinalists, representing 22 percent of the statewide total. In addition, four of those students were among the 15 named regional finalists, representing 27 percent of the regional total. More Harker students were named in both categories than any other school in California. Congratulations to the students and faculty for this outstanding achievement.
Harker’s regional finalists and their projects are:
Jason Chu, grade 12: “Studying the Nature of Dwarf Elliptical Nuclei and Globular Clusters”
Vineet Kosaraju, grade 11: “Designing Tertiary Structures with RNA Motifs in Order to Optimize 3-Dimensional RNA Folds in a Massive Open Laboratory”
Jonathan Ma and Sadhika Malladi, both grade 11: “Systematic Rational Identification of Sex-Linked Molecular Alterations and Therapies in Cancer”
These four students have each earned a $1,000 scholarship and will move on to the regional competition, held next month at the California Institute of Technology, for a chance to appear at the national finals in Washington, D.C., in December, where students will compete for up to $100,000 in scholarship prizes.
This year’s other semifinalists are:
Andrew Jin, grade 12 (“A Machine Learning Framework to Identify Selected Variants in Regions of Recent Adaptation”)
Nitya Mani, grade 12 (“Characterizing the n-Division Points of Genus-0 Curves through Straightedge and Compass Constructions”)
Neil Movva, grade 12 (“How Do Teeth Grow? Characterizing the Morphogenesis of the Periodontal Ligament through Complementary Biomechanical and Histological Analysis”)
Roshni Pankhaniya, grade 12 (“Analyzing first-Trimester MicroRNA as a Marker for Assessing Adverse Pregnancy Risk”)
Ankita Pannu, grade 12 (“Mining Online Cancer Support Groups: Improving Healthcare through Social Data”)
Nikash Shankar, grade 12 (“A Potential Therapy for Alzheimer’s Disease: Encapsulation of Curcumin within Polymeric PLGA-PEG Nanoparticles Protects Neuro2A Cells from Beta-Amyloid Induced Cytotoxicity and Improves Bioavailability”)
Alice Wu, grade 11 (“Kinematic Anomalies in the Rotation Curves of Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies”)
Rishabh Chandra, grade 11, and Venkat Sankar, grade 10 (“Managing the Impact of Infrastructure Projects on Endangered Species: A Stochastic Simulation Approach Based on Population Viability Analysis”)
Sophomore Niki Iyer was featured in the San Jose Mercury News last week as the Santa Clara County girls Athlete of the Week in recognition of her 10th place finish and personal-best 18:18 run at the Clovis Invitational, a multi-state championship race.
This week, Iyer and senior Corey Gonzales each placed second in their races at the team’s second WBAL league meet of the year. A number of Eagles posted great marks in the race en route to a sixth-place finish for the girls and a fifth-place finish for the boys. Sophomore Dylan Hwang ran well in his first race of the year, while junior Jack Rothschild ran his best race of the year, his first as a cross country runner for Harker. Junior Alex Dellar, meanwhile, finished 16th and qualified for the CCS championship next month.
Football
After being down 21-0 in the first quarter, the Eagles roared back to capture a 32-28 victory on their final drive of the game when senior Keanu Forbes bolted into the endzone to cap off a magical game. The Eagles also scored on sophomoreWill Park’s interception return for a touchdown, two scrambles into the endzone by freshman quarterback Nate Kelly and a 30-yard field goal by senior Alyssa Amick. The team plays Friday at 7pm at home against Emery in their penultimate game of the year.
Golf
Freshman Katherine Zhu was named to the American Junior Golf Association’s Gary Gilchrist All-Star Team, which includes the top 10 girls golfers between 12 and 15 years old. Back at home, the Eagles lost to rival Sacred Heart Prep last week.
Water Polo
Last week was a spectacular one for Eagles water polo as the boys varsity, girls varsity and boys JV teams scored a perfect 6-0 combined against Fremont and Santa Clara. The most exciting contest belonged to the girls varsity club, which, after trailing 7-1 at halftime against Fremont, came roaring back for a stunning 10-9 victory. Senior Anushka Das had the greatest individual game, scoring six goals against Santa Clara. Water polo’s senior night on Oct. 28 will celebrate Das and fellow seniors Delaney Martin, Jackelyn Shen, Sheridan Tobin, Dipam Acharyya, Annirudh Ankola, Aadyot Bhatnagar, Jeremy Binkley, William Bloomquist, Eric Holt, Siddhant Jain, Mohannad Khadr, Hemant Kunda, Ryan Palmer, Alexander Thomas and Harry Xu.
Volleyball
The girls volleyball team crushed both Mercy-SF and rival Sacred Heart Prep last week in straight games. The Eagles hit the road to face Menlo and Notre Dame this week.
Tennis
Girls tennis lost to Menlo last week, then rebounded with a clutch 4-3 victory over Castilleja. This week, the girls take on King’s Academy and Crystal Springs.
Lower and Middle School Fall Wrap-Up
Football
Varsity A flag football (grade 8) went 4-2 in league (third place) and 10-2 overall. The VA team also took first place at the Harker Flag Football tournament! Team awards went to Demonte Aleem (MVP), Jackson Williams (Eagle), and Charlie Molin and Zachary Hoffman (Coaches).
Varsity B flag football (grade 7) went 3-3 in league (fifth place) and 7-5 overall. The VB team also took first place at the Harker Flag Football tournament! Team awards went to James Rugnao and Aaron Featherstone (Co-MVP), Jeffrey Liu (Eagle) and Naveen Mirapuri (Coaches).
Junior varsity A flag football (grade 6) went 5-1 in league (second place) and 6-1 overall. Team awards went to Michael Mitchell (MVP), Srinath Somasundaram (Eagle), and Arjun Virmani and Marcus Anderson (Coaches).
Junior varsity B flag football (grade 5) went 5-1 in league (tied for first place). Team awards went to Eric Bollar (MVP), Rishi Jain and Anquan Boldin Jr. (Eagle), and Raj Patel (Coaches).
Intramural flag football (grade 4) enjoyed their inaugural season of play. Although they do not compete in games, the boys learned a lot and had fun with their friends. Team awards went to Rohan Gorti (Eagle), and Freddy Hoch and Dylan Parikh (Coaches).
Softball
Varsity A softball (grade 6-8) went 6-1 in league (second place) and 6-2 overall. Team awards went to Lilly Wancewicz and Taylor Lam (Co-MVP), Alaina Valdez (Eagle) and Cameron Zell (Coaches).
Junior varsity A softball (grades 4-6) went 1-5-1 in league (sixth place). Team awards went to Alexandra Baeckler (MVP), Brooklyn Cicero (Eagle) and Emma Crook (Coaches).
Intramural softball (grade 4) enjoyed their inaugural season of play. They did not play in any games, but the girls learned a lot and had fun. Team awards went to Brooke Baker (MVP), Keesha Gondipalli (Eagle) and Allison Lee (Coaches).
Cross Country
Cross Country (grades 6-8) enjoyed a phenomenal season! The final three meets of the season, the team really turned it on.
The following were first-place finishers at the Harker meet: Julia Amick, Lilia Gonzales, Anika Rajamani, Alycia Cary and Aneesha Kumar (8th grade girls team); and Gina Partridge, grade 7.
The following were first-place finishers at the Menlo meet: Julia Amick, Lilia Gonzales, Anika Rajamani, Alycia Cary and Aneesha Kumar (8th grade girls team); and Julia Amick, grade 8.
The following were first-place finishers at the WBAL final meet: Julia Amick, Gina Partridge, Anika Rajamani, Lilia Gonzales and Alycia Cary (grade 7/8 team); and Julia Amick, grade 8.
Team awards went to Mihir Sharma and Julia Amick (top runners), Gina Partridge, Arya Maheshwari and Alex Rule (co-MVP), Anna Weirich, Noah Lincke and Lilia Gonzales (Eagle), and Jasmine Wiese, Aneesha Kumar and Grant Miner (Coaches).
Swimming
The lower and middle school swim team participated in the Harker and Castilleja meets. First-place finishers at the Harker meet were Lorenzo Martinelli, grade 4 , in the 100 IM and 100 freestyle; Ysabel Chen, grade 5, in the 100 IM and 100 freestyle; Ethan Hu, grade 7, in the 100 IM and 50 freestyle; Angela Li, grade 8, in the 100 IM and 50 backstroke; Bobby Bloomquist, grade 8, in the 50 freestyle; Rhys Edwards, grade 6, in the 50 breaststroke; and Matthew Hajjar, grade 8, in the 50 breaststroke. First-place finishers in the Castilleja meet were Brandon Wang, grade 4, in the 100 IM and 100 freestyle; Ethan Hu, grade 7, in the 100 IM and 50 freestyle; Anh My Tran, grade 7, in the 50 freestyle; Bobby Bloomquist, grade 8, in the 50 freestyle and 50 backstroke; Angela Li, grade 8, in the 50 butterfly and 200 breaststroke; Leland Rossi, grade 6, in the 50 backstroke; Andrew Fox, grade 4, in the 25 breaststroke; and Leon Lu, grade 8, in the 50 breaststroke.
Awards for middle school swimming went to Angela Li, grade 8, MVP; Leah Anderson, grade 6, Eagle Award; and Evan Bourke, grade 6, Coaches Award. Awards for lower school swimming went to Lorenzo Martinelli, grade 4, MVP; Arianna Martinelli, grade 4, Eagle Award; and Daniel Fields, grade 5, Coaches Award.