After finishing as the league champions with a perfect 6-0 season, the grade 5 boys JVB1 basketball team lost a tough game to a strong St. Matthews team in the West Bay Athletic League (WBAL) championship game on Dec. 13, coming up just one point short in the 32-31 contest. The following student athletes and coach Steve Carroll are to be congratulated on their great season and inspired play: Vince Vu, Eric Andrus, Kunal Bhatia, Zack Fitzgerald, Arindam Ghosh, Michael Kwan, Michael Sikand, Shikhar Solanki, Aadith Srinivasan, Siddhart Chari and Brando Pakel.
Another lower school basketball team, the grade 4 boys JVC team, also went 6-0 and are the season’s WBAL champions, marking the first time since joining the WBAL that a Harker grade 4 team has won a championship. Congratulations to the team, coached by Jim McGovern: Viren Abhyankar, Jarett Anderson, Zack Baz, Chris Gong, Zach Hoffman, Hasan Jamal, Krish Kapadia, Charles Molin, Jason Peetz, Andrew Skrobak, Trevor Thompson and Jackson Williams.
With the holiday season in full swing, holiday activities distracted upper school students from studying for finals in the days prior to the break. Following a Harker tradition, students, faculty and administrators got to work cobbling together gingerbread houses in early December. Houses were built by each upper school class, and one by the faculty and administrative staff. In addition, each class decorated a section of windows in Manzanita Hall, with the seniors’ effort themed” Nightmare Before Christmas”; the juniors’ was Winnie the Pooh; sophomores drew Invader Zim; and freshmen illustrated the class Grinch. Spirit point winners of the gingerbread house contest were juniors followed by seniors, freshmen and sophomores; while in window painting, seniors came in first followed by juniors, freshmen and sophomores.
In other pre-holiday activity, the Cooking Club went natural, making pumpkin pies from scratch in mid-December. About half a dozen students joined Danae McLaughlin, Saratoga kitchen supervisor, and club advisor Tony Silk in the main kitchen to scoop fresh pumpkin from the rind to create delicious pies. A few days later, teachers got Santa’d up and spread out across the campus to deliver candy to advisories. Finally, one evening, not a creature was stirring, except the Candy Cane Santa: in an as-of-yet unsolved mystery, persons unknown taped candy canes to every classroom and office door on campus overnight, bringing one more drop of sweetness to the holiday spirit on campus.
Vishesh Gupta, grade 11, attended the California Nobel Laureate Dinner at the Getty Center in Los Angeles on Nov. 10. Hosted by the Consulate General of Sweden and the University of California, the dinner brought California winners of the Nobel Prize together with exceptional California high school math and science students. Students also showcased their science projects to attending guests, among whom were ten Nobel Laureates and University of California President Mark Yudof.
Fashion show attendees flipping through the program will see something new this year — group shots of the models taken by Harker student photographers. In the past, a professional company handled the staged shots that identify all of the models in the show. This year, however, Sue Prutton, fashion show liaison, asked journalism teacher Chris Daren if his students would be interested in the job.
The team of photographers was led by Brianna Tran, grade 12. She and Daren coordinated the groups and scheduled the shoots, which were done in front of the library, Nichols Hall and in the quad. “There was always one main camera that was connected to the flash, but we also had side photographers shooting from different angles, or getting closer-up photos of smaller groups of models,” Tran explained.
Following the show’s theme, “When I Grow Up,” was important to Tran and Daren. They decided to group the models by age instead of separating the photos of lower, middle and upper school models as is usually done. As for the general tone of the shots, Prutton gave the students free rein. “We decided that we wanted a more relaxed, classical American look,” said Tran. “We used the photographs on (designer) Tommy Hilfiger as a base for all of our ideas.”
Tran is pleased with the results, and learned a lot from the process: “I’m very excited that I had this opportunity and I’m proud to say that the photos turned out great!”
Including Daren, the photographers who contributed to this project were: Tran, Monisha Appalaraju, Nirjhar Mundkur, Tiffany Chien, Katie Liang, Shreya Nathan, all grade 12; Isha Kawatra, Michelle Lo, Alisha Mayor, Devin Nguyen, Jennie Xu, Laura Yau, grade 11; and Megan Prakash, grade 9.
Four talented students have their designs featured on the 2010 “Snowman-Grams,” sponsored by the lower school Service/Spirit Club. The ‘Grams went on sale Dec. 1 and the winning designers each received a free message. The festive holiday messages are sent from students and teachers to each other, each with a treat to accompany the sweet message inside.
On Oct. 20, a special ceremony was held at Nichols Hall auditorium to induct the newest members of Harker’s National Honor Society. The society is one of the oldest and largest high school academic recognition organizations in the United States, with chapters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The Harker School chapter’s inductees for this year are:
Grade 10: Paulomi Bhattacharya, Neel Bhoopalam, Rohan Chandra, Jenny Chen, Jonathan Tayro, Emily Chu, Keri Clifford, Sondra Costa, Tiphaine Delepine, Ria Desai, Richard Fan, Amy Gendotti, Neel Jani, Michaela Kastelman, Nayeon Kim, Kevin Lin, Ramakrishnan Menon, Tara Rezvani, Maya Sathaye, Indulaxmi Seeni, Wendy Shwe, Christopher Sund, Shreya Vemuri, Sarina Vij, Emily Wang, Jacqueline Wang, Joseph Wang, Molly Wolfe and Lorraine Wong.
Grade 11: William Chang, Alexander Hsu, Max Isenberg, Sachin Jain, Aranshi Kumar, Vivian Li, Alexander Najibi, Nikhil Narayen, Gerilyn Olsen, Akhil Prakash, Sankalp Raju, Priyanka Sharma, Gene Wong, Albert Wu, Evan Yao and Laura Yau.
In celebration of Diwali, parents of third graders transformed lower school social studies classes into a cultural learning experience on Nov. 12. Jolly Kalsi and Carla Hindie, parents of third graders Montek Kalsi and Liam Bakar, respectively, planned the day’s agenda to share the significance of the festival — a festival of lights celebrating the victory of good over evil. They told the story of Ram and Sita and offered a taste of Indian cuisine. Tere Aceves, director of K-8 volunteer programs, also invited friends to teach the third graders basic Bollywood dance steps.
Varun Sivaram ’07, a senior at Stanford majoring in engineering physics and international relations, has been named a Rhodes Scholar for 2010. Sivaram, 21, who attended Harker through grade 8, is a Truman Scholar and has won Stanford prizes for excellence in humanities, political science and engineering. The Monte Sereno resident is also chair of the undergraduate senate, the undergraduate representative to the board of trustees, has researched in Germany and at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory, and has two patents pending relating to solar energy design. He plans to earn a doctorate in solar energy materials at Oxford. The award is one of only 32 presented to U.S. students and will provide for all expenses for up to three years of study.
The fabulous cast of the upper school musical “Pippin” extended its Fringe-driven fundraising efforts to Thanksgiving week, holding a car wash at Rosenthal Field on Nov. 22. “The Fringe (an annual event held in Edinburgh, Scotland) is a wonderful opportunity that only the top performing schools in the nation can attend through The American High School Theatre Festival’s (AHSTF) annual competition,” said cast member James Seifert. Faculty, parents and students, many on campus for parent-teacher conferences, all got a shiny car and a warm conscience for only $5. By noon, a line of cars were already finished with a half dozen waiting their turn.
Harker only enters the AHSTF competition every four years, so with their chance to participate in the Fringe this year, those connected to “Pippin” are especially motivated to raise funds. Cast and crew ran a booth at homecoming selling funnel cakes and cozy hats and scarves. They will also run concessions and sell flowers at major productions. In addition, there are other fundraisers in the planning stages, including a dinner and dessert outing, a special pre-Fringe production of “Pippin” and a Super Bowl party. The group is also hoping to hold a winter ball for adults, to take place at the same time as the students’ Winter Ball, but on the Blackford campus!
Third-graders went to work before the Thanksgiving break on their annual Thanksgiving math project of planning a meal for 15. Students “shopped” for menu items via food advertisements and calculated the price of the meal. “It’s a great hands-on math activity with lots of comparison shopping and discussion, and the kids love choosing food and drinks for their “guests”! said teacher Stephanie Woolsey.