The Harker School’s debaters wrapped up two tournaments in October on high notes, earning top spots in competitions on opposite ends of the country. In mid-October, 18 students competed at a public forum debate held at Desert Vista High School in Phoenix, Ariz. Six of nine teams qualified for the elimination rounds. Shivani Mitra and Nik Agarwal, both grade 11, were octofinalists. Andrew Luo and Sarina Vij, both grade 11, and grade 10 students Maneesha Panja and Sebi Nakos also finished as octofinalists and earned ghost bids to the Tournament of Champions (TOC).
David Grossman, grade 11, and Sreyas Misra, grade 10, made it to the quarterfinals and earned a bid to the TOC. Pranav Sharma and Kiran Arimilli, both grade 11, and Katherine Paseman and Stephanie Lu, both grade 10, finished as semifinalists, all earning a bid to the TOC.
Harker students took the top three spots in the individual speaker category, with Paseman finishing first, Grossman second and Sharma third. “Each of the trophies that Harker brought home were made by Desert Vista’s pottery club, and the money the school used to purchase the trophies was donated to Relay for Life,” said Carol Green, upper school debate teacher. “In addition, Desert Vista organized a book drive to donate books to a shelter for domestic abuse. Despite flying to the tournament, Harker was recognized as the school that brought the most books to donate.”
That same weekend, at the Bronx Round Robin in New York City, Aneesh Chona and Anuj Sharma, both grade 11, won 10 straight ballots in their pod to finish with a perfect record, while Reyhan Kader, grade 11, and Kevin Duraiswamy, grade 10, went 8-2 in their pod. The two teams closed out the round robin, with Sharma winning the top speaker award and Chona the second place speaker award.
After the round robin, the Harker teams participated in a three-day open invitational, featuring more than 100 teams. Sharma and Chona took home the championship, and Chona placed 18th among individual speakers in an event with more than 200 competitors. Although Kader, Duraiswamy, Neel Jani, grade 11, and Neil Khemani, grade 10, barely missed the elimination rounds, they were nonetheless an important asset in helping Chona and Sharma win the championship by providing constant support.
The Harker School recently came in second place nationwide in National Assessment & Testing’s 2011 Fall Startup Event mathematics contest. Coached by math teacher Misael Fisico, upper school students raced to complete 100 problems within a 30-minute time limit.
Several students had outstanding individual performances on the test, which helped boost Harker into second place. Cindy Liu and Rahul Jayaraman tied for 10th place in the grade 9 division. Other freshmen who performed well in this division were Sachin Peddada with 12th place, Ashwath Thirumalai with 18th place and Patrick Lin with 22nd place. Vikram Sundar took ninth place in the grade 10 division, and in the grade 11 division, Ashvin Swaminathan earned 18th place. Patrick Yang placed first in the grade 12 division, and classmate Lucy Cheng took 17th.
Other National Assessment & Testing contests that Harker will be participating in this year include the 2011 Team Scramble, taking place this week, and the 2011 Ciphering Time Trials on Dec. 8.
The Harker School’s grade 2 students had their annual pumpkin painting and delivery in late October, a community service project that the school has been taking part in for the last seven years. A discussion about community is a big part of the project. According to Paula Bither, a lower school P.E. instructor, it gives the students a chance to talk about “what a community is.” Bither says the conversation led them to discuss “how we live in a neighborhood that is part of the school’s community. We talked about how challenging it is to live near a school with all its various noises.” Toward that end, it is important to be a good neighbor, and to show appreciation toward the wonderful neighbors the school has. The students decorated pumpkins, and then walked around the neighborhood, delivering pumpkins on porches along with cards. “The pumpkin is a gift to show our appreciation,” says Bither. “We want to thank our neighbors for being so great.”
Harker’s annual open house events started with the upper school this past Sunday; Harker Live! a middle school open house, is Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 9:30, while Sun., Nov 13 the lower school will host Harker Live! open houses for Kindergarten at 10 a.m. and grades 1-5 at 1 p.m.
Prospective families will visit classrooms and attend mini-lessons conducted by Harker teachers, to sample the Harker student experience.
These open houses will feature teacher presentations on Harker’s academics, character-building and broad program offerings. Teachers will host special presentations on each of these core principles, complete with video footage of teachers in the classroom. Attendees will also be able to visit classrooms and talk to teachers from each department.
On Sun., Dec. 4, at 11 a.m., the middle school open house will provide visitors with the opportunity to visit classrooms and sit in on mini-lessons with Harker teachers. As with the upper school open house, teachers from the various academic departments and other programs will be available to answer questions and provide pamphlets and other literature to attendees.
Update: After trailing most of the first round game of the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League Championship tournament Tuesday night against Fremont, our girls water polo team came on strong in the fourth quarter to secure a 13-10 victory. Anna Levine, grade 10, scored five goals and Keri Clifford, grade 11, three. The girls now face No. 1 seed Santa Clara in the semifinals Thurs., Nov. 3, 7:30 at our own Singh Aquatic Center. Come cheer on our Eagles!
Nov. 1, 2011
The Harker School’s girls water polo team hosts the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League Championships for the first time next week, with high hopes of a win themselves.
In mid-October, they won three of their five games at the prestigious Western States Varsity Girls Water Polo Tournament in Modesto, defeating Beyer, Ukiah and Newman. Following that, they suffered a loss at Lynbrook, but came back at Cupertino High with a 15-4 victory, followed by a tough 8-5 loss to Saratoga High.
So though the pendulum has swung this season, the girls have the strength and potential to pull off some tough wins in the championships. The girls are now 13-11 overall, 6-6 in league play and are seeded fourth. They will play the fifth-seeded Fremont at 7:30 on Nov. 1, so come out and cheer them on! Games are from 4:30-8 p.m. at the upper school’s Singh Aquatic Center on Nov. 1, 3 and 4. Ticket prices are $6 for adults and non-ASB card holders, and $3 for children 6-12, seniors and students with ASB cards.
“It should be a good tournament,” said coach Allie Lamb. “I think the top six teams are all very close and anyone could win any given day. We have had some ups and downs throughout the season, but I believe we could win the tournament if we are able to pull everything together and apply what we have been working on this throughout this season. It’s going to be a fun week of water polo and I really hope we get a lot of Harker supporters out on the deck to pump up our team!”
Congratulations to The Harker School robotics team, who won two awards at the Western Region Robotics Forum’s (WRRF) CalGames competition, held at Archbishop Mitty High School in late October.
The team was awarded the BAE Systems Design Award for their “Ebox” modular electronic control hardware. “The Ebox is a single unit that contains all of the electronics needed to run the robot and a standardized set of connectors to interface with external motors and sensors,” said team member Jay Reddy, grade 12. “That way, we always have multiple functioning robots in the lab. We simply plug the Ebox into whichever robot we want to run.”
Additionally, team mentor Eric Nelson, upper school physics teacher, received the WRRF Mentor of the Year award for his longtime dedication to the team. The winner of this award is determined by student essays and interviews conducted on his or her behalf. “The team is very excited since Dr. Nelson is a great mentor and we are glad to see him get the credit he deserves,” Reddy said.
Update Nov 12, 2011 This update courtesy of Ray Fowler. The above photos are from 2010–an updated slideshow will be posted on Monday–watch for the tweet! –ed.
The Harker Eagles (3-7) defeated the visiting Cupertino Pioneers (2-8) last night by a score of 35-28 in a contest between two teams each battling for its first SCVAL El Camino league victory.
The first half ended in a 14-14 tie, but Harker outlasted Cupertino in an exciting second half which saw momentum shift to both sides before the final buzzer sounded. Harker highlights included a near perfect performance by junior QB Spenser Quash. Quash connected on 12 of 15 pass attempts for 175 yards and two touchdowns.
Junior WR Robert Deng caught both touchdown passes. Quash also rushed for three touchdowns. However, the top rusher of the night was junior RB Ryan Mui with 115 tough yards on 15 carries. Defensive standouts were junior DE Josh Bollar and junior LB Michael Chen.
Both Bollar nd Chen recovered Cupertino fumbles while harassing Pioneer running backs throughout the game. In the secondary, senior DB Avinash Patel broke up several deep passes intended for Cupertino receivers.
Nov 1, 2011
The Harker School’s Homecoming game is fast approaching, but the fun will begin on Mon., Nov. 7, when spirit week kicks off at the upper school campus. Each grade will have their own dress-up day, and on Fri., Nov. 11, the entire upper school student body will be wearing their class colors and heading to Davis Field on the Saratoga campus for the annual homecoming rally to get amped for the afternoon and evening football games against Cupertino High School.
The action will start at 4 p.m. on Friday with the JV game, with the varsity game scheduled for 7 p.m. Carley’s Cafe will serve hot dogs, veggie chili and clam chowder, while other tables will have tri-tip, pulled pork and barbeque veggie cutlet for hungry Eagles fans. Attendees can also look forward to games, a bounce house and other attractions, making Homecoming an event for all ages. Get the latest news from our Homecoming page!
The tailgate section will be teaming with activity beginning at 5:45 p.m. as each campus has its own section. Harker alumni can grab some barbeque at a special alumni booth, and the returning Eagle Buddies tailgate spot will be twice as large (and fun!) as last year’s.
This event is free to attend, and is a wonderful opportunity to connect with the entire Harker community, so come on out and support your Eagles! Parking for this event is limited and only available on a first-come, first-served basis. Parking is available at, and shuttle service will run from, the Blackford campus at 3800 Blackford Ave. in San Jose. Shuttles start at 4 p.m. and will run continuously between Blackford and Saratoga, ending 45 minutes after the end of the varsity game.
One of the best testaments to the lasting influence Harker teachers have on their students is the Outstanding Educator Awards. This year, four Harker teachers were nominated by students of the class of 2011.
In mid-September, the University of Chicago sent Alexandra Rosenboom, an English teacher at the upper school, a letter informing her she’d been named an Outstanding Educator after being nominated by her former student Kristie Sanchez. The University of Chicago sends an email to all freshmen asking them to help the school recognize high school educators who have made a difference.
Sanchez had a difficult time picking just one Harker teacher to nominate. “I had so many inspirational teachers during my time at Harker that I almost refrained from submitting a nomination all together,” she says. “I ultimately chose Mrs. Rosenboom because her 20th Century American Poetry and Poetics class completely transformed my view of poetry as a whole and helped me to discover a poet within myself.”
Stanford University has a similar program in place. Each year, it reaches out to its incoming freshman class asking if there have been any exceptional educators who influenced them. Three Harker class of 2011 graduates now attending Stanford responded enthusiastically.
Anthony Silk, an upper school mathematics teacher, was nominated by two of his former students – Isaac Madan and Gautam Krishnamurthi – for his influence on their high school education.
So, too, was Anita Chetty, an upper school biology teacher nominated by her student Josephine Chen.
Adam Perelman nominated his former mathematics teacher Victor Adler. “I nominated Dr. Adler because he truly cares about all his students, not only as math students but also as people. He always goes the extra mile, from helping us out on tough problems, to getting up early for practice for a synchronized swimming competition, to hosting difficult but important conversations in his classroom, and is at once teacher and friend,” Perelman said.
Sanchez noted, “A hallmark of a great educator is being able to inspire passion. Mrs. Rosenboom was able to do so in me.” Many other Harker teachers have also inspired this kind of passion, and graduating students are able to bring that feeling from high school to their colleges and universities.
The Harker School has been recognized as one of the top 100 schools in the nation for speech and debate activities, according to the National Forensics League. Of the more than 3,000 qualified schools, Harker ranks 19th. That number is based on “student participation and achievement in speech and debate activities,” said the NFL. Carol Green, the communications studies department chair for grades 6-12, said, “This is a huge honor and shows the strength of Harker whose overall 9-12 population is much smaller than many of the top schools.”
Butch Keller, upper school head, presented an award to the department that was accepted by Jonathan Peele, the director of congressional debate and individual events, and Greg Achten, the upper school debate teacher.
On Oct. 17, a special ceremony was held at Nichols Hall to induct 58 upper school students into the National Honor Society (NHS). Established in 1921, the NHS recognizes students across the country who excel in what the organization calls the four pillars: scholarship, leadership, service and character.
The students inducted at the ceremony were: Rohith Bhethanabotla, Shivani Chandrashekaran, Rebecca Chen, Stephanie Chen, Mercedes Chien, Zareen Choudhury, Jennifer Dai, Nikhil Dilip, Darian Edvalson, Shenel Ekici, Shivani Gillon, Arjun Goyal, Anika Gupta, Areej Hasan, Saachi Jain, Trisha Jani, Zina Jawadi, Krishan Kumar, Aaron Lee, Christine Lee, Kristine Lin, Mary Liu, Mabel Luo, Varun Mohan, Dennis Moon, Maneesha Panja, Katherine Paseman, Sahithya Prakash, Srikar Pyda, Namita Ravi, Sapna Suresh, Monica Thukral, Namrata Vakkalagadda, Sameer Vij, Andrew Wang and Sean Youn, all grade 10; Molly Ellenberg, Varun Gudapati, Samantha Hoffman, Cecilia Lang-Ree, Preeya Mehta, Nikhil Panu, Laura Pedrotti, Shelby Rorabaugh, Kyle Roter, Nina Sabharwal, Pooja Shah, Pranav Sharma, Sonia Sidhu, Alan Soetikno, Hansa Srinivasan, Kathir Sundarraj, Apurva Tandon, Rachel Yanovsky and Robert Yeats, all grade 11; and Jaya Chandra, Angela Singh and Sona Sulakian, all grade 12.