The middle school Summer Institute’s Poets and Playwrights class offered students in grades 6-8 fun and engaging ways to learn about the many aspects of creating poetry and plays. Poetry was the focus of the first week of class, as students studied the work of Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson and other famous poets. Students learned about different literary devices through fun exercises such as “puzzle poems,” where students read a poem and use what they’ve learned to determine what the poem is describing.
During week two, students learned the elements of playwriting by examining aspects of drama, reading and performing scenes and working together to write a scene. Samples from plays such as “Our Town” and “The Glass Menagerie” were used as examples of structure, and students then wrote scenes and acts for longer plays that they had the option of continuing to write once the class was over.
Earlier this week, the first issue of the upper school’s student-run economics magazine, “Equilibrium,” was published at Harker’s Issuu site. The 64-page magazine contains stories on problems facing pensioners in China, how COVID-19 has affected how people consume media and the economic principles demonstrated in the card game “Magic: The Gathering” and Nintendo’s “Animal Crossing” video game.
“At the end of the sophomore year, we were looking into ways to expand the reach of economics at Harker,” said rising senior Arushi Saxena, who co-edited and co-designed “Equilibrium” with fellow rising senior Michelle Si. “We were aware of the several classes offered and saw the interest that classes such as Game Theory and AP Economics drew, but realized that there was a lack of opportunities for students to delve further into the field.” The magazine provided an opportunity for students to investigate topics in economics they found personally interesting. “Our main purpose was to inspire economic curiosity and scholarship, and, as we say in our mission statement, we hope to illuminate the importance of economics in the modern world by inspiring young thinkers to explore beyond the borders of the classroom and advance their interest in this field,” Saxena said.
Contributions to the magazine were a combination of student work that had been done in class and original pieces. In the future, Saxena said, the magazine’s creators “hope to include more diverse content, including interviews with economists, features for some of our speakers and economics book recommendations from Harker teachers. We would love to include the general student body more in economics discussions, so we look forward to sending out polls and surveys as well!”
Last week, the Summer @ the Conservatory’s Conservatory Presents and Conservatory Intensive programs got off to a strong start. Students learned about a wide range of theater principles, including voice anatomy and character studies, in addition to casting the shows that each group will perform. Industry professionals also appear during the program each week to give workshops on various aspects of the arts. Last week, actor, producer and film critic Dennis Willis spoke on producing music and editing for television, and this week students will work with cartoon voice-over casting director Portia Scott and participate in an improv workshop with Justin Smith, an experienced improv performer who has worked with the Upright Citizens Brigade and Chicago’s legendary Second City and is also co-founder of the Chicago-based Canopy Theatre Collective.
The staff behind this year’s Summer @ the Conservatory program went to great lengths to make sure students would be able to explore their love of theater in a safe environment. Head nurse Debra Nott, artistic director Laura Lang-Ree, summer director Cindi Gonsalves and assistant head of school for student affairs Greg Lawson collaborated to prepare the courses for strict adherence to county guidelines. Students have been working in casts of no more than 12 and practice social distancing during rehearsals. “Although masks hide their smiles, these students were thrilled to be together again and are having a great time practicing their craft, even in these most unique circumstances,” said Lang-Ree.
In the final winner announcement of the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, 2020 graduate Zara Vakath was named a winner of college-sponsored scholarship from Claremont McKenna College. The final total of Harker scholarship winners stands at 23. Congratulations to all this year’s winners!
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June 3, 2020:
On Wednesday, recent graduates Quentin Clark, Eric Fang, Lila Gorman, Phillip Han, Nathan Sudeep and Anthony Xu were named winners of college-sponsored scholarships in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, bringing the total number of Harker scholarship winners to 22. Another round of winners is set to be announced in July.
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May 13, 2020:
Today, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the second round of winners in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, and 11 Harker seniors are among them. They are: Kathy Fang, David Feng, Jeffrey Fung, Alyssa Huang, Sahil Jain, Allison Jia, Eileen Li, Kyle Li, Jack Pearce, Thomas Rainow and Bryan Wang. These students are among 2,500 high school seniors chosen to receive National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. More winners are set to be announced in June and July.
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April 28, 2020:
Last week, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the first round of winners of 2020 National Merit scholarships, and seniors Rohan Cherukuri, Mahika Halepete, Madison Huynh, Jessica Jiang and Nellie Tonev were named winners of corporate-sponsored scholarships. Each of the students had reached the finalist portion of the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Competition. The next three rounds of winners will be announced in May, June and July.
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Sept. 24, 2019:
Earlier this month, 63 seniors were named semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, placing them among the 16,000 high school students who make up less than 1 percent of the more than 1.5 million students who entered the contest as juniors last year. Students enter each year by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). This year’s National Merit semifinalists are:
Prerana Acharyya, Jai Bahri, Nakul Bajaj, Martin Bourdy, Katelyn Chen, Evan Cheng, Andrew Cheplyansky, Rohan Cherukrui, Quentin Clark, Rishi Dange, Eric Fang, Kathy Fang, David Feng, Finn Frankis, Lauren Fu, Jeffrey Fung, Lila Gorman, Ellen Guo, Mahika Halepete, Phillip Han, Alyysa Huang, Madison Huynh, Rashmi Iyer, Sahil Jain, Allison Jia, Jessica Jiang, Matthew Jin, Annebelle Ju, Montek Kalsi, Naviya Kapadia, Jatin Kohli, Jeffrey Kwan, Shyl Lamba, Max Lee, Eileen Li, Kyle Li, Emily Liu, Carolyn Lu, Vani Mohindra, Kalyan Narayanan, Rakesh Nori, Sana Pandey, Jack Pearce, Thomas Rainow, Sanjay Rajasekharan, Amla Rashingkar, Chaitanya Ravuri, Sachin Shah, Nikhil Sharma, Rohan Sonecha, Nathan Sudeep, Christine Tang, Michael Tang, Anika Tiwari, Nellie Tonev, Jin Tuan, Nerine Uyanik, Zara Vakath, Bryan Wang, Nathan Wang, Anthony Xu, Jacqueline Yang and Jeffrey Yang.
Additionally, 72 seniors were named commended students for their outstanding performance on the PSAT/NMSQT:
Arjun Akkiraju, Kai Ming Ang, Kenya Aridomi, Ekdatha Arramreddy, Vibha Arramreddy, Anvi Banga, Ryan Brown, Darshan Chahal, Gabriel Chai, Eva Chang, Cynthia Chen, Emily Chen, Kevin Chen, Emily Cheng, Henry Cuningham, Kaitlyn Dai, Reiya Das, Jeremy Ding, Mihir Dixit, Sidharth Dudyala, Roni Gagneja, Nina Gee, Anna Gert, Aditi Ghalsasi, Avi Gulati, Aarzu Gupta, Grace Hajjar, Jack Hansen, Richard Hu, Grace Huang, Jedd Hui, Vishnu Jaisim, Arnav Joshi, Nikhita Karra, Mahi Kolla, Sejal Krishnan, Asmit Kumar, Allison Lee, Emma Li, Bennett Liu, Jeffrey Liu, Annie Ma, Grant Miner, Naveen Mirapuri, Shomrik Mondal, Natashad Moorajani, Arushi Nety, Karthik Nukala, Jason Pan, Gina Partridge, Sriya Prathfuri, William Rainow, Ahsna Reddy, Riva Saksena, Anu Selvaraj, Mihir Sharma, Anjali Sheth, Rani Sheth, Alexander Shing, Anthony Shing, Neal Sidhu, Arun Sundaresan, Larissa Tyagi, Smriti Vaidyanathan, Joshua Valluru, Ramanand Vegesna, Katelyn Vo, Jessie Wang, Henry Wiese, Alicia Xu, Catherine Zhao and Joshua Zhou.
Altogether, Harker’s National Merit semifinalists and commended students comprise 68% of the Class of 2020!
Three Harker students were named finalists in the 2020 ProjectCSGIRLS Competition. Rising freshman Reshma Kosaraju and rising eighth graders Saanvi Bhargava and Anika Pallapothu were invited to a virtual version of the ProjectCSGIRLS National Gala, to be held in early August.
In this annual contest, open to girls in grades 6-8, students use computer science and technology to build projects that address social problems in the categories of global health, safety, intelligent technology and inequality. The organization’s goal is to close the gender gap in computing and technology by fostering interest among middle school girls.
Today the Society for Science & the Public announced that final events for this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search will take place virtually later this month after being postponed from their original date in March. Senior Cynthia Chen’s project, titled “Decoding Neural Networks: Discovery of Anti-Tumor B Cell Receptor Motifs Using a Novel Sequence-Based Computational Framework,” will be one of the 40 finalist projects featured in the virtual Public Exhibition of Projects, held Sat., July 25. This year’s winners will be announced during the Winners Award Ceremony, which takes place July 29.
Jan. 22, 2020:
The Society for Science & the Public this morning named senior Cynthia Chen one of the top 40 finalists in the 2020 Regeneration Science Talent Search! As a finalist, Chen is now eligible to attend the final portion of the competition, held in Washington, D.C. from March 5-11. Each finalist receives a minimum of $25,000 with chance to win one of 10 cash prizes, ranging from $40,000 to $250,000. During their stay, finalist projects will undergo a thorough judging process, and finalists will also have the opportunity to meet notable scientists and members of Congress.
Jan. 8, 2020:
Today, seniors Cynthia Chen and Joshua Zhou were named two of the nation’s top 300 scholars in the 2020 Regeneron Science Talent Search. These 300 high school students were chosen from nearly 2,000 entries. Each scholar and his or her school will receive a prize of $2,000. The top 40 finalists will be announced on Jan. 22 and invited to participate in the last stage of the competition, scheduled for March 5-11 in Washington, D.C. Congratulations and good luck!
This summer, middle schoolers with a passion for scientific research enrolled in the Summer Science Research Society (SSRS), a class in which the students do individual research on topics of their interest and report on their findings. On the final day of the class, students present the results of their research to their classmates and parents. “This is an interest-based, student-driven project and I’m there to facilitate and guide them through the whole process,” said middle school science teacher Kathy Peng, who runs the SSRS.
Students begin by picking a topic and doing background research. They then design experiments to test their hypotheses. Rising eighth grader Abigail Samuel’s project involved using principles of chemistry to bake cookies, including testing how letting dough rest for different periods of time altered texture and flavor. Caden Ruan, a rising seventh grader, designed and built a small-scale version of a machine that picks up plastic waste in the ocean. Rising sixth grader Evan Yuan investigated a new way of making a plant-based hamburger.
Another important element of the class is learning how to present data. Students document the process with graphs and images, and present their research at a virtual symposium, explaining their research methods and conclusions.
Yesterday, students and faculty contributed to the Palo Alto Black Lives Matter street mural, painting the first letter “A” in the mural, which now appears on Hamilton Avenue in front of Palo Alto City Hall. Elliot Kampmeier, Arya Tandon, Maria Teplova and Natasha Yen, all rising seniors, and rising sophomore Ally Lee, accompanied by art teacher Pilar Aguero-Esparza and history teacher Roxana Pianko, were one of several groups selected to help paint the mural. “Elliot had communicated with me early this summer that he wanted to create a mural in San Jose and I began to ask art friends I know in the community and one of them forwarded the call for artists from the Palo Alto Public Art program,” said Aguero-Esparza. “They pursued it after they got the clearance from Palo Alto staff that they could submit if they had an adult sponsor.”
Artists were required to submit an application containing both a statement detailing why they were interested in the project and samples of their work. In their statement, the students noted their intent “to stand up against systemic racism and show our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.” Upon being selected, the students were assigned a letter and asked to submit a sketch of their idea. “The call for art submissions and the process has been very fast paced,” said Aguero-Esparza. “I am super proud that they got excited and worked within the constraints of the call.”
The reception began with opening words by the co-directors of the programs, upper school history chair Donna Gilbert and upper school librarian Lauri Vaughn, who commended the students on their hard work and intellectual curiosity in creating this year’s papers. Joe Rosenthal, executive director of strategic initiatives, then recapped the history of the endowments and announced the Chen-Lin Family Inspiring Faculty Growth in the Humanities Endowment, a new professional development opportunity for Harker faculty.
Following an introduction by Harker advancement director Kim Lobe, each of this year’s scholars and their respective mentors spoke on the experience of creating their research projects.
2019-20 Near Scholars:
Simar Bajaj, mentored by Katy Rees, Mike Pistacchi and Meredith Cranston: “Wealthy White Men Only: Examining the American Medical Association’s Use of ‘The Flexner Report’ as Propaganda to Reform Medical Education”
Ellen Guo, mentored by Donna Gilbert and Meredith Cranston: “Bi Means of Queer: A Bisexual View of Sedgwick’s ‘Closet'”
Madison Huynh, mentored by Julie Wheeler and Amy Pelman: “Door Half-Open: Postwar American Legislation’s Failure to Support Vietnamese Assimilation”
Kalyan Narayanan, mentored by Pauline Paskali and Lauri Vaughn: “’We’ve Got to Fight the Powers That Be’: Discourse and Disobedience in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing”
2019-20 Mitra Scholars:
Prerana Acharyya, mentored by Roxana Pianko and Lauri Vaughn: “Dancing into Propaganda: Nazi Appropriation of Ausdruckstanz”
Kathy Fang, mentored by Beth Wahl and Lauri Vaughn: “’But a Woman’: Reassessing Portrayals of Women and Sex in the Restoration ‘Tempest'”
Jeffrey Fung, mentored by Byron Stevens and Meredith Cranston: “Take Up the Cross: Pagan Elements in Lactantius’ De Mortibus Persecutorum” Anya Gert, mentored by Amy Pelman, Damon Halback and Trish Ludovici: “Squatters and Their Street Art: How the Counterculture Undermined Sanctioned Artwork in Occupied West Berlin”
This story was submitted by speech and debate department chair Jenny Achten.
At the 2020 National Speech & Debate Tournament, held online June 14-20, rising senior Andrew Sun was awarded the Congressional Debate Leadership Bowl by his fellow final round competitors. Each student (all from different schools) was asked to vote for the one competitor that best embodied ideal debate skills and outstanding character. Reaching the final round is also a huge honor as the tournament had over 450 competitors, each of whom had to qualify by placing in the top 5 percent of their local districts. The coaches were thrilled that Sun’s hard work was nationally recognized. Also reaching elimination rounds were rising senior Jason Lin in congressional debate and Avi Gulati ’20 in original oratory.