Grade 9 physics students learned about mechanics, specifically force and motion, at Great America in mid-May. Continuing a Harker tradition, the freshman class, along with a handful of sophomores, juniors and seniors, practiced their free-body diagram drawing and other physics skills at the theme park.
According to Mark Brada, upper school physics teacher, “At the park the students get the chance to apply some of what they learned about forces, motion and energy to a real-world situation.” This field trip helps students take the abstract physics theories that they have learned over the course of the year and transform them into concrete knowledge in a fun environment.
Softball has advanced to CCS finals for the first time — read all about it!
In the WBAL track & field championships, varsity girls took fourth place overall with Isabelle Connell, grade 10, placing second in the 200m (half lap), and third in the 400m (1 lap), scoring the most points for Harker. Isabelle has qualified for CCS trials in the 200m. Sonya Chalaka, grade 11, triple jumped her way into second place, and has also qualified for CCS trials. Claudia Tischler, grasde 9, placed third in both the 1600m (1 mile) and the 3200m (2 mile). Her time alone in the 1600m qualified her for CCS trials. On the boys side, Charles Levine, grade 11, placed third in the 400m, and Proteek Biswas, grade 11, placed third in the 3200m. Results.
Golfer Maverick McNealy, grade 10, qualified for the CCS championships next Tuesday with his score of 75 in the Regionals May 11. This marks the second year in a row McNealy made it this far. Top finishers next week then qualify for NorCals May 23 in Chico. Results.
Harker girls swimming placed second at the WBAL swimming championships. Among the top performances were senior Jessica Khojasteh’s victory in the 100 breaststroke and junior Katie Siegel’s victory in the 100 backstroke,and the Harker victory in the 400 free relay. Second place finishes were by Khojasteh in the 200 IM, Siegel in the 100 butterfly, the 200 medley relay of Siegel; Lucy Cheng, grade 11; Khojasteh; and Amie Chien, grade 10, and the 200 free relay of Chien; Rachelle Koch, grade 11; Tiffany Wong, grade 11; and Manon Audebert, grade 9. Third place finishes were Audebert in the 100 freestyle and 500 freestyle, and Koch in the 100 breaststroke. New CCS qualifying times were gained by Audebert in the 100 freestyle, Cheng in the 100 breaststroke, and Koch in the 100 breaststroke. New WBAL championship records were set by Siegel in the 100 backstroke (57.77), and the 400 free relay team of Siegel, Audebert, Koch, and Khojasteh (3:41.41). Those two swims, plus Siegel’s second place finish in the 100 butterfly (57.42) were Harker school records. Harker girls are in good position for next week’s CCS championships.
Harker boys swimming placed fourth at the WBAL swimming championships. Among the top performances were Daryl Neubieser, grade 11, winning both the 50 and 100 freestyle; and Kevin Khojasteh, grade 11, placing second in both the 200 IM and the 100 breaststroke. A new CCS qualifying time was gained by the 200 free relay of Khojasteh; Jason Yu, grade 11; Chris Ng, grade 12; and Neubieser. Harker will compete in the CCS championships at the end of May.
Last week, for the first time ever, varsity tennis advanced to the quarterfinals of the CCS team championships. At the quarters, the boys faced a familiar opponent, Bellarmine, who they have met in three of their last four CCS appearances. This time, the boys lost to a closely matched Bellarmine squad. Senior Karthik Dhore was the lone Eagle standout.By advancing to the quarters, Harker has now made it to the CCS team championships for its eighth straight appearance and solidified its stature as one of top tennis HS tennis programs in the area. Harker finished the season with a record of 14-5. WBAL MVP and Dhore, will represent Harker in the CCS individual rournament, May 24 and 26, at Imperial Courts in Aptos.
Baseball finished their season with three straight victories and a third place league finish at 5-5. They defeated Pinewood 12-6 and Crystal Springs 8-3. Against Crystal, Noah Levy, grade 11, went 2-for-3 with three RBI’s, and Ben Tien, grade 12, was 2-for-3 and two RBI’s. Kevin Cali, grade 10, pitched and earned the victory with 10 strikeouts. Congratulations boys on a solid season.
The boys volleyball season came to a close May 12 in the CCS quarterfinals at second-seeded St. Ignatius. The boys had a great season finishing 19-14 overall for a fourth place league finish in what some people consider the toughest league in CCS.
“Singing is Our Birthright” was the title Susan Nace, upper school music teacher, gave to one of the final vocal concerts of the year, featuring three upper school groups at the Nichols Hall auditorium on April 28: Camerata, Cantilena and Guys’ Gig.
Camerata, the mixed choral ensemble, started off with a diverse set of madrigals and jazz tunes. Following the mournful harmonies of John Wilbye’s “Adieu, Sweet Amaryllis,” the mood quickly lightened as the students gathered ‘round the piano (played by Nace) to sing Billy Strayhorn’s “Something to Live For,” followed by a vocal arrangement of Scott Joplin’s famous “Maple Leaf Rag,” during which the students leaped off stage and brought the music directly to the audience by strolling through the aisles as they sang.
Several soloists were featured throughout the show between group performances singing a wide variety of songs from many cultures, including show tunes such as “Somewhere” from “West Side Story,” sung by Cristina Jerney, grade 10, Romantic era pieces such as Sebastian Herscher, grade 11, performing Franz Schubert’s “Der Neugierige” and even one song sung entirely in Chinese by sophomore Rebecca Liu.
Guys’ Gig, as always, were a crowd favorite thanks to their upbeat mood and energetic sense of humor. One of their songs, which integrated a storyline about a socially insecure Harker freshman, combined themes from several famous John Williams scores (including “Star Wars,” “Jurassic Park” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”) into a hilarious tribute to “Star Wars” fandom.
Cantilena performed a series of varied and experimental songs, starting off with “O Mama Bakudala,” a traditional tune sung by the women of the South African Xhosa tribe, whose words translate to, “The mothers from way back used to pray.” The continued with classics such as Thomas Morley’s “Sing We and Chant It” and Johannes Brahms’ version of “Ave Maria.” After breaking to make room for solo performances, Cantilena returned to the stage to sing Gwyneth Walker’s “To Sing is to Fly” and the Robert Lowry-penned hymn “How Can I Keep From Singing?” during which they were joined by Daniel Cho, grade 12, who sang “Amazing Grace” with a section of the group.
With the show officially finished, Nace had some special gifts for the departing seniors of Cantilena, who each received a medallion to commemorate her dedication to the group. She also presented Alex Najibi, grade 11, with a new pitch pipe to assist him as he enters the next school year as the new leader of Guys’ Gig.
The students themselves also had a surprise tribute of their own for Nace, gifting her with flowers and assembling on the stage to sing Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”
Despite not doing “anything special to prepare,” said upper school physics teacher Eric Nelson, Harker nonetheless managed to perform impressively in the 2011 Physics Bowl, organized by the American Association of Physics Teachers.
Ashvin Swaminathan, grade 10, was one of the top 10 scorers in his region for the division 2 (advanced) category with a score of 31, nearly 15 points higher than the average score of 16.4. Harker was also one of the highest-scoring schools in its region in the division 2 category, with 130 points.
More than 4,000 students from more than 200 schools in the United States and Canada participated in this year’s competition, which also had participants from China, Japan and Korea.
The grade 6-8 tennis team, although still competing in playoffs, went a combined 10-4 this season in two separate leagues. The team went 5-2 in the WBAL and took third place in the final tournament. The team went 5-2 in the MTP and are currently in the quarterfinals of the final tournament. The team is led by Sophia Luo and Vikram Vasan, grade 7, and Srivinay Irrinki, grade 8.
The grade 6-8 water polo team finished off the season in fine fashion this past weekend with convincing victories over Terman 22-4 and Castilleja 20-0. They finished the season with a combined record of 6-3. The team was led by Billy Bloomquist, Delaney Martin, Ryan Palmer and Darby Millard, all grade 8; Shivali Minocha, grade 7; and Harry Xu and Pooja Kini, grade 6.
The grade 5 girls JVB1 girls volleyball team won the WBAL title with a record of 6-0! Key players were Satchi Thockchom, Aria Coalson and Sameep Mangat. Key players for the JVB2 team were Julia Amick and Jennifer Hayashi, grade 4 and Sanjana Avula, grade 5.
The grade 6 girls JVA girls volleyball team were tri-champions of the WBAL with a record of 6-1! Key players were Lindsey Trinh, Rachel Cheng and Joelle Anderson. Key players for the JVB6 team, who finished in a three-way tie for second in the WBAL, were Priyanka Chilukuri, Priyanka Taneja and Sarah Tien.
The grade 7-8 girls were combined into three teams. The varsity A team went 9-0 to take first place in the WBAL! The team was led by Shannon Richardson, Jacqueline Chen and Doreene Kang, all grade 7. The varsity B team went 8-1 to take second place in the WBAL. The team was led by Leeza Kuo, Hannah Bollar and Allison Kiang, all grade 8. The varsity B2 team went 7-2 for a two-way tie for second place in the WBAL. The team was led by Kelly Wang, Neha Sunil and Archana Podury, all grade 8.
The grade 6-8 boys volleyball teams went a combined 15-0 this season! The varsity A team was led by Matt Ho, Justin Lee and Richard Gu, all grade 8. The varsity B team was led by Austin Tuan, Alex Youn and Andrew Gu, all grade 6. The junior varsity A team was led by Justin Xie, Albert Xu and Shekar Ramaswamy, all grade 6.
The grade 5-8 baseball program continues to develop and there were some exciting games with Crystal Springs and Sacred Heart, and of course, the close game between the Harker grade 5 and 6 teams where the fifth graders took home the victory this year. The lower school team was led by Michael Sikand, grade 7 and Tanay Kamat and Will Holaday, both grade 5. The middle school team was led by Logan Drazovich, grade 7 and Karan Walia and Alex Lam, both grade 6.
Nearly 30 middle school students attended the State Latin Convention at Miramonte High School in Orinda in early April. The group enjoyed a variety of activities ranging from workshops (the Roman soldier re-enactors were a particular favorite) to a banquet, and, naturally, participated in the competition, with many winning prizes. Harker placed second overall in the middle school category.
Awards at the MS1 level (all grade 6): Sean Costello, second in Latin sight reading; Aditya Dhar, first in derivatives, first in mythology, first in Latin oratory; Alexander Lam, second in derivatives; Eric Pei, honorable mention in grammar; Venkat Sankar, first in dramatic interpretation (boy); Amrita Singh, first in dramatic interpretation (girl), third in grammar, third in Latin sight reading; Jackson Su, honorable mention in mythology; Arjun Subramaniam, first in tennis, second in dramatic interpretation (boy); Karthik Sundaram, first in strings; Austin Tuan, second in grammar. In addition, Dhar won the individual academic sweepstakes in MS1.
Awards at the MS2 level (all grade 7, unless otherwise indicated): Billy Bloomquist , grade 8, second in Latin sight reading, third in reading comprehension; Rishabh Chandra, first in grammar, third in reading comprehension; Richard Gu, grade 8, second in reading comprehension, third in mythology; Sadhika Malladi, first in reading comprehension; Kaushik Sankar, third in reading comprehension; Elisabeth Siegel, first in pentathlon, first in essay; Vivek Sriram, grade 8, first in derivatives, first in reading comprehension, first in Latin sight reading; Allison Wang, second in mythology, second in pentathlon, third in Latin sight reading. The certamen (quiz bowl) team of Chandra, Sankar, Siegel and Wang placed first in the state.
Awards at the MS3 level (all grade 8): Anni Ankola, third in costume (he dressed as Charon), honorable mention in vocabulary; Zabin Bashar, first in impromptu art, honorable mention in mythology, honorable mention in reading comprehension; Aadyot Bhatnagar, first in reading comprehension, first in vocabulary, second in strings; Maya Nandakumar, first in mythology, first in dramatic interpretation (girl), second in vocal music; Bhatnagar and Nandakumar tied for first in the individual academic sweepstakes at the MS3 level. Also, the certamen team of Bashar, Bhatnagar, Nandakumar and Rasika Raghavan, grade 8, (in preliminary rounds) placed first.
Other participants were Chris Finsterbusch, Brendan Tobin, Albert Xu, all grade 6, and Ryan Fernandes and John Nicolas Jerney, both grade 7. In conjunction with the upper school, the delegation was awarded first place for spirit. The T-shirt designed by Kevin Ke, grade 7, placed first, as did the banner created by Shannon Hong and Natalie Simonian, both grade 7, and Sophia Shatas and Allison Kiang, both grade 8. The chariot team came in second in their race. The scrapbook created by Nandakumar placed third.
Special to Harker News Online from Susan Nace, Cantilena’s director. Listen to recordings of the performance by clicking on the links at the bottom of the article.
Cantilena earned their third unanimous superior (highest honors) at the California Music Educators Association regional choral festival held at Saratoga High School. Judges complimented the ensemble on their warm and inviting tone, excellent vocal resonance, exceptional blend, consistent intonation and rich quality (see the linked recordings of the songs at the end of this article). Adjudicator Catherine Smith, delighted to hear a women’s ensemble at the festival, commented on the strength of Cantilena’s sound with “strong women who sing.” In the sight singing portion, Travis Rogers, another adjudicator, praised Cantilena for their discipline and careful listening to each other. “You should be bursting with pride! What a wonderful representation you made for your school today, beautiful in every way: discipline, posture, alertness, attentiveness, taking responsibility for yourself for your own parts.”
Listen! Sing We and Chant it composed by Thomas Morley and arranged by Katherine Davis, sung by Cantilena
Listen! Ave Maria composed by Johannes Brahms, sung by Cantilena
The lower school’s Bucknall Choir and instrumentalists have had a busy month. The entire group held its annual concert on May 10 and the Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble attended the Heritage Festival at Foothill College just a few days later, with the artists garnering kudos both places.
At the annual Bucknall Instrumental and Choir Concert , performances were by the Lower School Choir and all the instrumental students from Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, String Ensemble, Prep String Ensemble, Wind Ensemble and seven first-year group classes, and there were a few nice surprises.
Joe Connolly, dean of students K-5, was master of ceremonies while Tomas Thompson of the P.E. staff was the guest conductor for the Harker school song, which was performed by the complete ensemble at the opening of the program. Tiffany Wong, grade 4, on harp, accompanied the orchestra on “O Mio Babbino Caro,” and Kathleen Ferretti took a break from her day job as the lower school’s math department chair grades 2-3 to play Taiko drums on the grand finale of “I Want Candy.”
Two special pieces were performed that were composed by grade 2 students. “Both students studied with me in learning composition, orchestration and arranging,” said Louis Hoffman, director of instrumental studies K-Grade5. “Paul Kratter wrote for orchestra. His piece is ‘Rondo in A Minor.’ Aditya Andrade wrote a piece for the Jazz Ensemble called ‘Fun with Blues,’” said Hoffman. Kratter s conducted the orchestra for his piece and Andrade the Jazz Ensemble for his.
The boys’ compositions grew from a new program Hoffman started called Young Composers Series. “Any student can submit a composition for performance to be played by any of our ensembles (orchestra, jazz ensemble, string ensemble, choir, etc.,” said Hoffman. “The student is taken through all the steps from composing, orchestration and arranging to preparing a score and parts to performance and conducting.”
At the Heritage Festival, the Orchestra took a gold award and the Jazz Ensemble placed a close second with a silver award. “Only two schools received the gold,” said Hoffman. “Not too shabby. Both groups wowed the adjudicators, who gave high praise to the students for their outstanding performance level and composure.”
Both the young composers whose pieces were performed at the school concert were specially honored: Kratter and Andrade each got a standing ovation and were awarded Maestro trophies at the festival. “This is a high honor and the first time ever in the over 30-year history of the festival that two young composers were honored,” said Hoffman. “Please join me in congratulating our young budding musicians in their wonderful and well-deserved accomplishment.”
James Seifert, grade 12, has been awarded a four-year Legacy Award by the Elks National Foundation Trustees, for the 2011-15 academic years. The award, worth $4,000, is awarded to an outstanding scholar who has proven that he or she exhibits “the core values of the Elks National Foundation: knowledge, charity, community and integrity.” Seifert may be recognized at the Elks National Convention in Phoenix in July.
Seifert will sing in the National Association for Music Eduction All-National Honor Choir in June. They will be singing at the Lincoln Center in Washington, D.C., walking distance from the White House.
In April, the entire kindergarten class performed at this year’s kindergarten shows, which took on an undersea theme. Louis Hoffman directed each kindergarten class at every one of the four shows. Students, costumed as various forms of undersea life, sang several popular songs paying tribute to the life aquatic, including “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” by Charles Trenet and Jack Lawrence (and made famous by Bobby Darin and others), The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” and “Wipe Out” by The Surfaris.
Faculty and staff members also appeared in the show, including Lisa Diffenderfer, who narrated the show while dressed as a mermaid, Larissa Weaver as a water buffalo and piano accompanist Paul Woodruff as the submarine helmsman. Each kindergarten homeroom teacher made a guest appearance in the show as the titular character from the Disney Pixar film “Finding Nemo.” Not to be outdone, Hoffman directed the entire show dressed as a deep-sea diver. The show was Hoffman’s last as director, as he will be going on to teach in the after-school music program full-time.
Danny Dunn, technical theater teacher, served as technical director as well as set and lighting designer. She was assisted by her grade 5 technical theater class, who acted as the technical crew. The middle school’s technical theater club came up with the show’s costume concepts. Gail Palmer, lower school dance teacher, choreographed the show’s dance sequences.