Cross Country
Harker hosted the annual middle school cross country meet at Blackford in late October. Rather than six races, one each for boys and girls of each grade level, this race is similar to the league finals race in that there are just two races, boys and girls. Harker performed very well this year, with nine runners placing in the top ten. In the girls race, eighth graders Alyssa Amick, Gabi Gupta and Diba Massihpour took places two through four, respectively, while seventh graders Alex Dellar and Mary Najibi took seventh and ninth. In the boys race, our eighth graders had an impressive showing. Thomas Doyle took first with Corey Gonzales close behind at third. Rounding out the placers were Nikhil Kishor, sixth, and Vedant Thyagaraj, eighth.
The team then traveled to Shoreline to compete in the league race. For this race the team score is calculated by adding up the places of the top five finishers on each team. At press time final places and times were not available, but check back soon for the results.
Football
Varsity A football finished off their season on a solid note winning their last three games. They soundly defeated nonleague opponent Valley Christian 28-8 in their second match-up of the season (the Eagles had won their first match with V.C., but in a much more closely contested game). The Eagles then played their final home game against Pinewood in which they triumphed 25-20. The final Varsity A game of the season was a defensive showdown at Crystal Springs. While their first game against Crystal Spring was an offensive shootout, with Harker coming out on top 40-27, this game was decided by only three points, with Harker emerging victorious 12-9. This gave them a league record of 5-4-1.
Varsity B entered the last week of their season with an impressive league record of 5-0, coming off big league wins over Keys and St. Matthews, 18-6 and 40-19, respectively. Their opponent was the also undefeated King’s Academy squad and the winner would in all likelihood be crowned league champion. Unfortunately, the King’s team prevailed 19-0 in the defensive battle that ensued. In their final game of the season the Eagles were forfeited to by Priory, giving them a league record of 6-1 for the season and putting them in uncontested second place.
Junior Varsity A football was handed their first loss of the season against Sacred Heart Middle School. The Eagles were not able to put points on the board and were shut out 20-0. The boys came back strong with big victories over Pinewood, 32-6, and Valley Christian, 20-6, to finish with an overall record of 7-1.
Softball
Softball was also handed their first defeat in a close game against Crystal Springs. The Eagles were missing Regan Heslop, grade 7, who has been a key part of the team offensively and defensively. Even short-handed the girls almost managed to pull off a victory, eventually losing the close match 5-7. However, the team showed its tenacity by coming back two days later and soundly defeating Valley Christian 7-0. In their final game of the season the Eagles played league opponent King’s Academy. The game turned out to be a nail-biter, with Harker coming out on top 6-5. The girls finished the season with an impressive overall record of 7-1, which earned them second place in their league.
Swimming
Swim had their league meet as well last week, but at press time results were not available. Check back soon for updates.
Football
The Eagles picked up another victory last weekend, moving them to an impressive 7-1 on this season and making them the winningest team in school history. The Eagles defeated league opponent St. Elizabeth 40-29 Friday night. Once again senior quarterback Rishi Bhatia led the offense, throwing for three touchdowns and running for one. Other Eagles touchdowns were scored by seniors Greg Cox, Chris McCallaCreary and Gautam Krishnamurthi and Daanish Jamal, grade 11. Not content to limit his contributions to one side of the ball Cox was outstanding on defense as well posting 15 tackles. This victory gives them a 2-1 league record, moving them into third place in league behind Salesian and Berean Christian. The boys will have a chance to improve their position even more when they play Berean this week.
Golf
The girls finished their season with matches against Mercy Burlingame and Sacred Heart last week. They split the matches with a decisive victory over Mercy and a close loss to Sacred Heart. Their performance over the season earned them third place in league with a record of 6-4. Kristine Lin, grade 9 and Patricia Huang, grade 10, both qualified for CCS and will compete this week.
Tennis
The girls finished out the last four games of their season 2-2. They lost to highly ranked Saratoga two weeks ago but rebounded with 6-1 victories over both Notre Dame and Castilleja. Unfortunately, they lost their final match to a tough Menlo squad. However, their overall performance was exceptional, with their 7-3 league record earning them second place. In the CCS contest Jenny Chen, grade 10, advanced in singles and the doubles team of Daria Karakoulka, grade 10 and Swetha Bharadwaj, grade 9, advanced to the next round.
Water Polo
The teams honored their seniors at their home game last week against Santa Clara. Both teams came out on top, with the boys winning 10-7 and the girls 10-9. The girls said goodbye to seniors Niva Bigler, Miranda Gorman, Dawn Queen, Priya Sahdev and Cynthia Shwe. The boys team wished farewell to their seniors Rex Chen, Justin Murtiff, Chris Ng, Baran Ozdemir, Derek Quach, Jerry Sun, Michael Tsai and Gabriel Yanovsky.
The girls won all three of their tournament games over the weekend at Lincoln High, defeating Lincoln 14-7, Evergreen Valley 16-8 and Mt. Pleasant 17-6. The boys went 1-2 at their tournament defeating Palma and losing to Palo Alto and Homestead.
Both teams are competing in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League tournament in early November.
Cross Country
The cross country teams have their league final races this week at Crystal Springs.
Volleyball
The girls continue to compete with some of the toughest teams in Northern California. Their final two home games are this week against Mercy Burlingame and Notre Dame. The game against Notre Dame is senior night so please come out and show your support.
Harker’s Quiz Kids team – Olivia Zhu, Richard Chiou and Peter Gao, all grade 12 – was in fine form on Oct. 17, as they defeated San Mateo High School with a score of 620-110. That same weekend, a quiz team of Max Isenberg, grade 11, and grade 9 students Nikhil Dilip, Andrew Zhu and Varun Mohan participated in the Cal Classic quiz bowl competition, where they finished in fifth place out of nine teams. The team started out strong, winning four games in a row before meeting four tough teams. They finished 4-4, coming up short in two very close contests.
Harker’s 2010 Homecoming, the second at Davis Field, is Fri., Nov. 12, against Valley Christian of Dublin, and preparations have begun. Balloting for the Homecoming king and queen took place at the end of October but a score of tough backstairs jobs are underway. A few days before game day, additional bleachers will be erected to accommodate the crowd, public address equipment will be checked and re-checked, placement for others on and near the field – alumni, cheerleaders, Eaglets (the littlest Eagles), the jazz band – will have been allocated and the groups notified.
Parking, always tricky at big events, is being carefully regulated. Parking information is posted on the Harker website. Please note the main parking lot will be closed to all but those with appropriate placards and everyone should park at Blackford and take the shuttle to Saratoga. Student pick-up on game day will be only at the rear loading zone.
Up front, things are equally organized. In front of Main, the Davis family’s motor home will again host guests of honor while a few yards away, on Rosenthal Field, tailgaters will deploy and bounce houses will go up. Alumni will have a special area to congregate, dodge the crowd and see friends.The real action starts at 4 p.m., when the JV team takes the field. Barbeque will be available for purchase starting at 5 and the ever-popular Carley’s Café food trailer opens at 6 p.m.
Before the game starts, though, will come the semifinal round of the traditional tug-of-war contest, along with a dash of entertainment by the Varsity Dance Troupe and the Harker Jazz band.
Prior to the Big Game, Junior Cheerleaders take over the field, followed by the unforgettable Eaglets Fly-Through, and the national and Harker anthems will be sung by all the Harker choirs combined. At halftime the Homecoming court will be presented, with the king and queen announced at the Homecoming dance on Saturday evening. Get your tickets now, because this is sure to be a real extravaganza!
In late September, the roster of Associated Student Body officers was updated to include the grade 9 ASB representatives. They are: Arjun Goyal, president; Sahithya Prakash, vice president; Vincent Lin, secretary; and Mary Liu, treasurer.
Representatives for the class of 2013 are: Simar Mangat, president; Raghav Sehtia, vice president; David Lindars, secretary; and Kevin Lin, treasurer.
Class of 2010 representatives are: Revanth Kosaraju, president; David Fang, vice president; Max Isenberg, secretary; and Sankalp Raju treasurer.
Finally, the representatives for the class of 2011 are: Hassaan Ebrahim, president; David Wu, vice president; Rani Mukherjee, secretary; and Vlad Sepetov, treasurer.
This year’s ASB officers are: Santosh Swaminathan, grade 12, president; Gautam Krishnamurthi, grade 12, vice president; Alex Najibi, grade 11, secretary; and Nilesh Murali, grade 12, treasurer.
Honor Council representatives for the class of 2013 are Nayeon Kim and Emily Wang. Representing the class of 2012 are Frederic Enea, Priyanka Mody and Nicole Dalal. Class of 2011 representatives are Josephine Chen, Christine Chien and Olivia Zhu. Freshman representatives will be announced in January 2011.
Honor Council faculty members for this year are: Anthony Silk, chair, Pauline Paskali and Mark Brada.
A total of 52 grade 12 students have received commendations from this year’s National Merit program, putting them among about 34,000 students out of 1.5 million nationwide. They are: Ambrish Amaranthan, Trisha Basu, Appu Bhaskar, Rishi Bhatia, Tracey Chan, Jacob Chappell, Meghna Chatterjee, Christine Chien, Daniel Cho, Timothy Chou, Jennifer Dai, Mallika Dhaliwal, Anthony Fandrianto, Katharine Forsberg, Peter Gao, Pierre Gerard, Vrinda Goel, Miranda Gorman, Ashley Hejtmanek, Anshul Jain, Lorraine Kim, Warren Kwong, Christina Li, Andrew Liang, Katie Liang, Kristi Lui, Rohan Mahajan, Partha Mahajani, Henna Mishra, Daisy Mohrman, Shireen Moshkelani, Arko Mukherjee, Moneesha Mukherjee, Nirjhar Mundkur, Chris Ng, Margaux Nielsen, Shannon O’Reilly, Ruchika Podury, Michael Prutton, Tanya Rai, James Seifert, Ganesh Sivakumar, Naomi So, Catherine Stiles, Supraja Swamy, Diane Villadsen, Michelle Vu, Allika Walvekar, Aileen Wen, Timothy Weng, Anne West and Kenneth Wong.
Students entered this year’s contest by taking the 2009 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Commendations are given to students who post “outstanding” scores and place among the top 50,000 students taking the exam. The top 16,000 in this category go on to be semifinalists.
San Jose Mercury News, October 6, 2010 — Gautam Krishnamurthi, grade 12, is recognized in the “Highlight Reel” for his four interceptions against the California School for the Deaf.
San Jose Mercury News, October 13, 2010 — Quarterback Rishi Bhatia, grade 12, is was named one of two “Athletes of the Week” for his four touchdowns against Capuchino and for being a key player in Harker varsity football’s 6-0 start.
Storyteller Jim Cogan made his latest yearly appearance at the lower school in early October. His stories were based on the campus theme of compassion, and, as always, were highly entertaining and heartwarming. The audience of students and faculty greatly enjoyed the style of storytelling that has made him a hit with the school for several years running. His use of vivid sound effects and facial expressions once again filled the stories with imagery and character.
Clark Cen, a teacher from the Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School, visited Harker from late September through early October to observe and teach classes at every campus. It was Cen’s second trip to Harker, having visited previously in 2005.
During his visit, Cen had the chance to teach some lessons in Chinese history, culture and language, at the lower and middle school campuses, which he said “was a lot of fun.” Cen told the students about how Chinese citizens now have more chances to experience foreign cultures, especially the United States, due to media exposure. “We know quite a lot,” he said. Mainstream Chinese culture, on the other hand, is not as accessible, “so some of the understanding is actually out of date.” The classes Cen taught gave him an opportunity to update the students on present-day China.
While teaching at the upper school campus, Cen and the students discussed more abstract topics such as Chinese politics and Confucianism, delving into subjects such as China’s “one child” policy and Chinese currency. Although the upper school students had fewer questions than the lower and middle school students, Cen said, the discussions gave him the opportunity to shed light on these topics from a native’s perspective.
In his free time, Cen visited San Francisco and Alcatraz, which became well-known to Chinese citizens due to its role in the popular movie “The Rock.” He also did a lot of shopping for his friends back home, and spent a Saturday seeing San Jose and visiting the farmers’ market. Cen set aside his last day off to check out the Harker Family and Alumni Picnic before heading back to China.
Serenaded by a string octet playing Led Zeppelin’s “Over the Hills and Far Away,” the former Lord Mayor of Westminster, Lady Catherine Longworth, along with her husband, John, today officially invited the Harker Orchestra to play at the 2012 New Year’s Day parade celebration in London.
Wearing her official crimson, fur-trimmed robe, Lady Catherine presented the invitation to Butch Keller, upper school head. She further presented the school with the Westminster City crest and made a gift of cuff links to two leaders of the octet. In return, the school presented her with a basket of classic California goods, including a bottle from the Jarvis winery, California fruits, Ghirardelli chocolate and a variety of Harker souvenirs.
The ceremony opened with Bob Bone, executive director of London’s New Year’s Day parade, explaining, with inimitable dry British humor, how the parade, though only 25 years old, rivals the greatest parades in the U.S., including Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, with 750,000 parade goers and a TV audience of over 100 million. Bone noted that the Harker Orchestra will play in some of the finest venues in London on their visit, including Cadogan Hall, home of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Following the ceremony and entertainment, Sue Prutton, director of upper school volunteer programs and an Englishwoman, accompanied the visitors as they took a brief tour of the campus led by members of the octet.
“Well done, everyone!” said Prutton, following the visit. “Several members of the delegation including Lady Catherine and her husband told me just how impressed they were. Mr. Longworth, in particular, was especially complimentary (of the octet’s performance) and talked about (their) obvious talent for quite some while afterwards. You certainly represented Harker and, indeed, America, very well today.”
The parade will be the first official event celebrating Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee and London’s Olympic year. In addition, the parade’s Festival Concerts, in which Harker’s orchestra will play, are also the first events of London’s 2012 Cultural Olympiad.
Harker is among a number of schools selected from around the U.S. to be invited to perform in the parade and associated venues around London.