A fun, festive St. Patrick’s Day party served as the final Eagle Buddies gathering of the school year for upper school juniors and their grade 4 pals.
Capping off a successful program for this Eagle Buddies pairing, the party was held on the lower school’s Rincon Field on a sunny afternoon in mid-March, with plenty of food, fun and games on hand.
The juniors traveled to the Bucknall campus by bus and were greeted by their younger buddies shortly after their noon arrival. Both the older and younger students were clad in their special Eagle Buddies polo shirts.
The bittersweet event consisted of lunch, free play, making friendship bracelets, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and promising to stay in touch. It also served as a reminder that Harker’s Eagle Buddies program continues to be a success, fostering lasting friendships between upper and lower school students.
“Juniors enjoy the chance to have unstructured fun time during which they can be ‘kids’ again when they get together with their younger friends,” observed Carol Zink, who coordinates the Eagle Buddies program.
“The students at Bucknall have really benefited from the Eagle Buddies program and had a great time getting acquainted with each other this school year,” added Ken Allen, lower school dean of students.
Two Harker students were recently named national award winners in this year’s Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Kevin Ke, grade 9, was awarded a silver medal for his digital drawing, “iCreature,” and Isha Patnaik, grade 12, received a silver medal in the photography category for “Sista, Sista.”
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Regional winners of this year’s Scholastic Art and Writing Awards were announced in early February, and a total of 27 Harker students have won regional Gold Key and Silver Key awards for their literary and artistic creations. At the middle school, Carissa Chen, grade 8, won in the drawing category for her work, titled “Forgotten,” and grade 8 student Meilan Steimle’s “Maternal Litigation” won in the personal essay/memoir category.
Upper school winners were Stephanie Chen, grade 11, for her short story “Sundial”; the digital art piece “iCreature” by freshman Kevin Ke (who also won a Gold Key for a painting titled “Mechanical Giant”); Cindy Liu, grade 10, who earned two photography honors for “Lines and Colors” and “Flower Impression”; Simon Orr, grade 12, whose “Udu No. 2” and “Copper Pot Flute” won in the ceramics and glass category; a photography piece titled “Sista, Sista” by senior Isha Patnaik; Svetlana Petrova, grade 12, who won in the painting category for “Still Life With Pumpkins” and in mixed media for “Star Spangled”; senior Eric Swenson for the photography pieces “Hamlet” and “Claudius; Lynda Tang, also a senior, in the drawing category for “Self Portrait”; Emily Wang, grade 12, in the personal essay/memoir category for “Missed Connections and the Secret of Mattering”; and Iris Xia, grade 12, for the printmaking piece “Early Spring.”
Upper school Silver Key Award winners were Cindy Liu for the photographs “After the Snow” and “Lines,” Simon Orr for the ceramic work “Cow Pig Whistle,” Ilsa Zhang, grade 12, for the drawing “Red Lobster” and the painting “Skull and Grapes,” Iris Xia for the printmaking pieces “Cityscape” and “Newspapers,” Catherine Manea, grade 12, for the drawing “Jail Time,” Neelima Gadagottu, grade 12, for the drawing “Recharging,” Lynda Tang for the drawing “Breathing Room,” Rebecca Liu, grade 12, for the drawing “Redirection of Resources,” Shannon Su, grade 12, for the sculpture “Burst,” Albert Chu, grade 11, for the short story “Sisyphus at His Piano,” sophomore Kacey Fang in the dramatic script category for her work “Of Age,” Emily Wang for her flash fiction piece “Mrs. Pardo” and Leo Yu, grade 10, also in flash fiction, for “The Adhesive.”
Middle school Silver Key winners were Carissa Chen for the painting “Framing Myself – An Exploration Into Culture” and the drawing “Captivated.”
Honorable mentions went to Carissa Chen for the drawing “Strangled Voices,” Rebecca Liu for the printmaking piece “Vases,” Monika Lee, grade 11, for the drawing “Gold Hard Cash,” Emily Wang for the drawings “Self-Portrait” and “The Kiss,” Ilsa Zhang for the printmaking piece “Lionhead Goldfish,” Amy Gendotti, grade 12, for the drawing “Soccer Cleats,” Justin Gerard, grade 12, for the drawings “Shirt Study” and “Lasso,” Sylvie Dobrota, grade 12, for the paintings “Self Portrait” and “Innocence,” Avni Barman, grade 10, for the drawings “Manhattan” and “Introspection” and the painting “What Makes Me…,” Jasmine Gill, grade 12, for the photograph “Los Altos,” Simon Orr for the photographs “Untitled (bell),” “Untitled (bell 2),” “Mariner,” and “Field,” senior Lori Berenberg for her poems “To Collaboration,” “Your Son Has Been Killed” and “Crumbling,” Vineet Kosaraju, grade 9, in the journalism category for the piece “Learning Life’s Hard Lessons,” Cindy Liu, grade 10, for the personal essay “My Great Grandmother Alice” and Leo Yu in flash fiction for “One Second.”
Strawberries dipped in chocolate mirrored the sweetness of newly formed friendships at a recent farewell dessert reception honoring nine visiting exchange students from the Collège de Gambach in Switzerland.
During the event, held in the upper school’s Bistro, both Harker students and their new Swiss buddies breathed a collective sigh of relief that it was not a goodbye party. Rather, the gathering was marked with the anticipation of being reunited at the end of the school year.
“I’m so excited that I get to see my buddy again,” explained Zoe Woehrmann, a Harker sophomore who, as part of the reciprocal student exchange program with the school in Switzerland, will have the opportunity to travel there this June.
During the farewell party, Woehrmann and her visiting Swiss pal, 17-year-old Fabienne Ghirardin, said they had really hit it off. The excited duo noted they have been having a great time hanging out both at home and Harker, as well as shopping and visiting tourist attractions.
“I think we were matched really well,” added Ghirardin. “We are very compatible!”
Ghirardin was one of nine girls and two chaperones from the collège whom Harker hosted from Feb. 2-12. The visitors stayed in homestays with Harker families and attended school with their American buddies daily.
Come June, a group of Harker students and chaperones will head to Switzerland in continuation of the exchange program. 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.
The Collège de Gambach is a secondary school under the authority of the department of public education and cultural affairs in Fribourg, Switzerland. The school places a strong emphasis on the formation of character and stresses strong resolve, clear thinking, a sense of responsibility and an appreciation for thorough work habits.
In addition to the exchange program with the Swiss students, February saw visits from other international guests to Harker’s upper school as well.
From Feb. 6-March 2, two high school-age girls from Tamagawa Gakuen, Harker’s sister school in Japan, attended classes at the Saratoga campus and visited the elementary and middle schools. And, in January, a group of 15 cadets from the Canberra Grammar School in Australia paid a one-day visit to Harker to observe various computer science classes.
Congratulations to the boys basketball, girls basketball and boys soccer teams for being named as 2013 CCS winter scholastic championship teams for having one of the top grade point averages of all teams competing that season. Boys basketball was in the top five of their league while girls basketball and boys soccer led their leagues.
Softball defeated Menlo-Atherton 4-0 on Wednesday behind a solid performance from senior Alison Rugar. Rugar threw for 16 strikeouts on the mound and went 2-4 at the plate, knocking in three runs. Ashley Del Alto, grade 12, and Alana Shamlou, grade 11, also had hits in the victory.
Girls lacrosse beat Santa Catalina 16-9 under rainy skies last week. Wendy Shwe, Michelle Douglas, Tiphaine Delepine, all grade 12, and Hannah Bollar, grade 10, all had goals while Christine Lee, grade 11, had multiple saves.
Boys varsity tennis defeated Priory last week 5-2, then defeated King’s Academy yesterday 6-1 to improve to 4-1 overall. Jason Chu, grade 10, Kilian Burke, grade 11, and John Dobrota, grade 10, won their singles matches. The teams face Fremont and Crystal Springs this week.
Boys volleyball dropped their season opener to Leigh. Despite junior Andrew Zhu’s 14 kills, the boys lost 19-25, 23-25, 23-25; they lost again to Willow Glen in four sets, then, two games down against Westmont High School, stormed back with a dramatic 23-25, 22-25, 25-14, 25-20, 24-22 fifth-set victory to improve to 1-2 on the season. Zhu led the team in kills and senior setter Josh Tien led in assists. Support the varsity Wednesday night, 5:30 at Blackford, as they host King’s Academy.
Baseball lost to Fremont Christian Friday and Gunderson Monday to drop to 2-3 on the season. Senior Jacob Hoffman had a triple and scored a run against Gunderson. Neil Sadhu, grade 10, had two hits against Fremont Christian. The boys host University High Friday at Blackford.
In late January, the San Francisco-based wind quintet Frequency 49 held several master classes for Harker students. Made up entirely of working professional musicians, the group visited a number of classes at the middle and upper school campuses, starting with the grade 7-8 orchestra, led by Dave Hart. The musicians showed the students the sounds and various attributes of each instrument and played a special selection of pieces in a variety of styles.
“Since many of the students in orchestra have had experience performing in chamber ensembles throughout the year, they were able to ask questions about the process of rehearsing and performing music in a chamber setting,” Hart said.
Later, the group stopped by Hart’s grade 6 wind ensemble’s rehearsal. For this session, Hart rented duplicate instruments played by Frequency 49 so that students could try them out following a brief lesson on how they were played. “They spent the rest of the class with each member trying out those particular instruments. It was a blast and the kids were completely engaged!” Hart exclaimed.
Their final stop at the middle school was Hart’s grade 6 strings class. Students had been spending this semester separating into groups and learning a chamber music piece of their choosing. The students had the chance to play the pieces for Frequency 49, who later performed for them. “Hearing Frequency 49 provided the students an opportunity to see and hear a professional chamber music group perform the pieces the students have been working on the last two weeks,” Hart noted.
Lastly, the group visited the upper school for a workshop with Chris Florio’s class, demonstrating what could be done on their respective instruments. “For example, the flutist demonstrated how the flute can produce bird-like sounds,” said Victoria Ding, grade 9. Ding said communication was one of the important principles that the group taught the students. “Frequency 49 instructed us to sit in a certain arrangement such that each instrument’s sound carries well to the other players and the audience,” she said. “They also reminded us to maintain eye contact with each of the four other players and adjust to what we hear in order to maintain balance in the ensemble.”
“I found it to be really beneficial because I had just begun playing in a woodwind quintet this year and I wasn’t quite sure how to play so that each member could play together well as one ensemble,” said Aaron Lee, grade 11.
Thanks to Karina Momary, director of middle school forensics, for providing us with this story. Colin Rule (Alex, grade 6) visited Karina Momary’s seventh period public speaking class in late February to speak about the beneficial effects forensics had on his life; he also gave advice on how to give an effective impromptu speech.
Momary’s students were preparing for their own impromptu speech project, where they receive a topic, have two minutes to prepare and are expected to speak for three minutes. Rule focused on what he called the three3 Cs – clarity, confidence and connection. He also shared a few stories highlighting his best debate rounds and how he found some great evidence and was able to beat a team on the quality of the evidence.
Rule is a former debater from The Greenhill School in Texas (1989). He was one of their team captains as well as one of the best debaters in their history and their top debate award, given in September at the school’s annual debate tournament, is named after Rule. He is currently the CEO at Modria. http://www.modria.com/team/
Track and Field Saturday was a record-breaking day for Harker track and field, as Harker athletes posted three all-time school records at the Willow Glen Track & Field Invitational. First, Corey Gonzales, grade 10, led off with a 9:51:20 time on a 3,200-meter run, netting him fourth place and topping his personal best by 40 seconds. Then, Isabelle Connell, grade 12, won the 200m, breaking her own record with a 25:72. Finally, Michael Chen, grade 12, continued his strong season with a 42’ 5.5”, placing fifth and breaking his own school record in the shot put. Amanda Kalb, grade 12, Nadia Palte, grade 9, Cheryl Lium grade 10, and Calvin Kocienda, grade 9, each ran a personal best in their sprint hurdle races.
Tennis Varsity boys tennis lost to Sacred Heart last week, but roared back with a convincing 7-0 victory over King’s Academy and 6-1 win over Pinewood. In the loss, Harker’s number 1 singles player Jason Chu, grade 10, defeated Sacred Heart Prep’s number 1 in the third set. This week, varsity faces off against Pinewood and Priory. JV has also begun its season, winning three of their first four games. Capping the strong start was a resounding victory against Kehillah in which the boys routed their way to a 7-0 win. At third doubles, freshmen Nikita Kosolobov and Evan Lohn made their debut, efficiently beating their opponents. Vivek Sriram, grade 10, continued his early season excellence at third singles and is now 4-0 on the year. Kevin Ke, grade 9, and Nathan Dalal, grade 10, also won their second match of the season. The team is now 2-1 overall.
Lacrosse Girls lacrosse owns a 1-1 record after losing their opening game against Pioneer 9-7 and then rebounding to defeat Tamalpais 18-6. Thus far, Michelle Douglas, grade 12, Hannah Bollar, grade 10, and Wendy Shwe, grade 12, have led the team in scoring. The girls travel to Santa Catalina on Thursday.
Softball Softball opened its season with a 7-4 loss against Cupertino on Friday. Brianna Liang, grade 10, went 2-3 with a triple and an RBI. Laura Thacker, grade 11, drove in the rest of the runs, going 1-3 with a home run and three RBIs. On the mound, pitcher Allison Rugar, grade 12, struck out 10. After an away game on Wednesday, the girls return to Harker to host Notre Dame-Belmont on Friday.
Baseball After dropping their opener to Terra Nova on Friday, the boys defeated Pescadero in a 12-0 blowout to earn their first win of the year, then followed it up with a 10-6 victory over St. Lawrence. Against Pescadero, senior Kevin Cali got on base in each of his four trips to the plate, walking three times and homering while knocking in a game-high four RBIs and adding three steals in three attempts. Cali then topped that effort on the mound and at the plate in the St. Lawrence game, pitching seven innings, striking out 11 and going 4-4 with a triple and a grand slam. Freshman Arthur Goldstein also impressed in his first start for the Eagles, going 2-3. The boys are in the midst of a stretch of home games this week.
Golf The boys golf team kicked off the season with a 195-201 victory over Gunn at San Jose Country Club. In the first match of his Harker career, freshman Dakota McNealy took medalist honors with a one over par 34. Not far behind were senior Maverick McNealy with a 35 and sophomore Shrish Dwivedi with a 38. The Eagles play Pinewood next Monday in their league opener.
Volleyball The boys host Leigh on Wednesday and travel to Willow Glen on Friday.
In February, several members of the Harker chapter of the Triple Helix, an international organization that publishes scientific articles by university students, headed to England to attend this year’s Triple Helix conference at Cambridge University. Harker journalism has the full story. Harker became the first high school to charter a chapter of the Triple Helix in 2011.
Harker students performed well at the Santa Clara County chapter MathCounts contest on Feb. 9. Competing in what is considered to be one of the toughest chapters in the country, Harker’s team of grade 7 students Rajiv Movva and Shaya Zarkesh and grade 8 students Peter Wu and David Zhu placed second among 47 schools, just missing first place by less than a single point. David Zhu scored 44 out of a possible 46 points, placing fifth overall in the competition. Peter Wu scored 42 points, taking 12th. Jimmy Lin, grade 7, scored 41 points and took 18th place. More than 350 students participated in the competition.
“These students have worked very hard to reach this far. They even attended weekend training sessions apart from after-school sessions since September,” said middle school math teacher Vandana Kadam. “They truly deserve this success.”
Harker will head to the state competition on March 23 at Stanford University.