Jennifer Hayashi, Gr. 3, and her girlfriends enjoyed an afternoon out with lower school teacher Kelle Sloan. Hayashi was the winner of Sloan’s “Pedicure and Picnic” package, offered at the 2009 Harker Family & Alumni Picnic last October.
The girls enjoyed pedicures at Lavande Nail Spa in Santana Row and a wonderful lunch at The Counter. “I hope we win next year; that was the best day I had all year!” said Hayashi.
On May 1, Harker students joined the community as family and friends strutted down Santana Heights’ rooftop terrace during Santana Row’s second annual Poolside Soiree Fashion Show. Produced by Red Haute & Co.’s Beverly Zeiss, who also produces Harker’s fashion show, this year’s event featured Hannah Prutton, Gr. 10, Noel Witcosky, Gr. 10 and Carissa Nelson, Gr. 2, wearing some of the latest designs offered by retailers on the Row. Nelson wore a bridesmaid dress in the wedding gown segment, and Prutton and Witcosky opened up segments as sign girls.
[Update] In error, Harker News Online mis-identified the singer of the moving rendition of “Far From the Home I Love.” Shazdeh Hussain, playing Hodel, was the singer. We apologize for the error.
This year’s middle school musical was an excellent rendition of the 1964 hit “Fiddler On the Roof.” Directed by middle school teachers Monica Colletti and Roxann Hagemeyer, the show ran in the first week of May.
Students began rehearsals in late January, with some practicing five hours a week. As the show neared, however, rehearsals geared up, with students working as many as 15 hours a week to perfect their performance.
Four showings were staged, beginning May 5 and ending May 8. Two shows were for Harker students, faculty and staff, and two were open to the public.
“Fiddler” gave students a chance to display a wide range of talents, including acting, singing and playing musical instruments. It also illustrated the range of theatrical genres, with moments of comedy mixed with sometimes tense drama and even tragedy.
Shazdeh Hussain, Gr. 8, gave a wonderful performance as Hodel, stunning the audience with her singing abilities. Her rendition of “Far From the Home I Love” had many members of the audience in tears.
Sean Knudsen, Gr. 8, playing Tevye, remarked afterward, “It was just a blast working with the entire cast and finally watching it all come together into such a great show.”
Because of limited room backstage, students had the added challenge of maneuvering around props and other actors while trying not to miss their cues. It was not uncommon to see an actor bump into Tevye’s cart before hobbling toward the stage, clutching a shin. However, once they got on stage, all thought of injury was thrown aside as students got wholeheartedly into character.
After this year’s excellent musical we look forward to next year’s effort, and can only wonder at the achievements our theatrical eighth graders will attain in high school!
Tags: Performing ArtsWith the school year winding down, the last of the spring sports said goodbye to their seniors. Some of these athletes have played a pivotal role on their teams for four years and we wish them the best of luck in college.
The golf team bid farewell to four seniors at their end-of-the-year banquet. James Feng, Jeremy Whang, Vinay Kumar and Yash Khandwala will all be missed on and off the field.
In this round of goodbyes track & field sent off the most seniors with eight. They were Aadithya Prakash, Brandon Dai, Christine Trinh, Patrick Campbell, Tara Hansen, Thomas Enzminger, Tiffany Kyi and Scott Underwood.
Boys baseball gave their best wishes to Alex Ringold, Greg Plauck, Patrick Smith, Ryan Cali and Stefan Eckhardt. Plauck will be joining fellow alumnus Jason Martin as a collegiate baseball player. Martin plays at San Jose State while Plauck will be playing at Santa Clara University.
Softball lost six seniors this year, bidding adieu to Arthi Padmanabhan, Kacie Kaneyuki, Priya Sathaye, Shanthi Rajagopalan, Shizuka Tiernan and Zaynah Sadiq.
Go Eagles!
Tags: SportsThe sunny morning of June 1 provided the ideal atmosphere for the annual kindergarten tree planting. A tradition that began on the Saratoga campus, the tree planting gave the children the opportunity to leave kindergarten with something that “serves as a living memory of their first year at Harker,” said Sarah Leonard, K-Gr. 3 division head. The students gathered at the front of the Bucknall campus and were treated to a story telling by lower school librarian Kathy Clark, before each student shoveled a small amount of dirt into the hole where the small cherry tree was placed.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) has announced the third of its four rounds of scholarship winners. The first two rounds were corporate-sponsored; this round is the first of the college-sponsored awards. A fourth round will be announced in the summer.
Congratulations to the following recent graduates, who were sponsored by the schools named here: Alexander Creasman (USC), Michael Gendotti (USC) and Connie Lu (University of Chicago).
Tags: topacademicsAs spring sports came to a close, we had several upper school teams and many athletes turn in impressive end-of-season showings.
Golf
Maverick McNealy, Gr. 9, shot a 73 for a top 10 finish at the CCS Golf Tournament! He was one shot short of qualifying for the NorCal Tournament but is first alternate in case one of the four qualifiers can’t participate. He did a great job and his is the best-ever finish for a Harker player.
For more details, see www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/09-10/bgolfccs10.html
Swimming
At the league championships held on campus at the Singh Aquatic Center, several records were set, including a school and WBAL record time of 1:50.15 in the girls 200 medley relay. The winning team was made up of Katie Siegel, Gr. 10, Tina Ma, Gr. 12, Vivian Wong, Gr. 12, and Jessica Khojasteh, Gr. 11. WBAL records were also broken in the girls 200 IM by J. Khojasteh, in 2:06.04; the girls 100 back by Siegel in 58.34; the girls 100 breast by V. Wong, in 1:06.41; the boys 200 medley relay by Kevin Khojasteh, Gr. 10, Michael Clifford, Gr. 12, Daryl Neubieser, Gr. 10, and Cole Davis, Gr. 12, with a time of 1:40.13; and the boys breast by K. Khojasteh in :59.99. Additional school records were set by Neubieser in the boys 200 (1:46.90) and 500 free (4:50.35), and in the boys 200 IM by K. Khojasteh (1:56.70).
Event winners at the championships included J. Khojasteh (200 IM, 100 free); Siegel (100 back); V. Wong (100 breast); girls 200 medley relay (Siegel, Ma, V. Wong, J. Khojasteh); K. Khojasteh (100 breast); Davis (50 free); and the boys 200 medley relay (K. Khojasteh, Clifford, Neubieser, Davis).
Individual CCS qualifiers were V. Wong, Ma, J. Khojasteh, Siegel, Lucy Cheng, Gr. 10, Tiffany Wong, Gr. 10, Davis, Clifford, K. Khojasteh and Neubieser. In the relays, all of the above students qualified, as well as Jeanette Chin, Gr. 12, Rachelle Koch, Gr. 10, Amie Chien, Gr. 9, Stefan Schwartz, Gr. 12, Darren Syu, Gr. 12, Chris Ng, Gr. 11, and Hassaan Ebrahim, Gr. 11.
At the CCS finals, the boys swim team not only was named CCS Scholastic Team Champions, they also placed fourth overall (behind Bellarmine, Valley Christian and Sacred Heart Prep). The girls swim team placed eighth. Both results were the best placing ever for Harker. Before four years ago Harker had never scored a single point at CCS!
The highlight among highlights in the meet for Harker was J. Khojasteh (also Harker’s female athlete of the year) winning the first ever CCS title in any sport of any kind for Harker. In the most exciting race of the day, the 200 individual medley, Khojasteh touch tied for second after the butterfly leg, .44 behind the leader. After the backstroke, her “weakest” stroke, the race was still very close with Khojasteh in third, just .79 behind. She had a phenomenal breaststroke leg moving back up to second, but was still .21 behind. With a three-way battle in the freestyle, Khojasteh managed to get to the finish first, winning in 2:03.11. The top three girls were within one second of each other the entire race.
Other Harker top eight finishes of the meet included the girls 200 medley relay of Siegel, Ma, V. Wong and J. Khojasteh, which finished sixth; the boys 200 medley relay of K. Khojasteh, Clifford, Neubieser and Davis finishing second; along with several individual winners. K. Khojasteh took second in the 100 breaststroke and fourth in the 200 IM; Davis placed second in both the 50 and 100 freestyle; Neubieser came in eighth in the 50 freestyle; the boys 400 free relay of Neubiser, Davis, Khojasteh and Schwartz finished eighth; and V. Wong placed sixth in the 100 breaststroke.
All-American times were achieved this year by the girls 200 medley relay team of Siegel, Ma, V. Wong and J. Khojasteh; J. Khojasteh in the 200 IM and 100 freestyle; Siegel in the 100 backstroke; Davis in the 50 and 100 freestyle; and K. Khojasteh in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke.
For detailed results, see:
Boys team: http://www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/09-10/Swimming%20%20Diving%20Championships%20Boy’s%20Team%20Scores.2010.pdf
Boys individual: http://www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/09-10/Swimming%20%20Diving%20%20Boy’s%20Finals2010.pdf
Girls team: http://www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/09-10/Swimming%20%20Diving%20Championships%20Girl’s%20Team%20Scores%202010..pdf
Girls individual: http://www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/09-10/Swimming%20%20Diving%20Championships%20Girl’s%20Finals%202010..pdf
Track and Field
Congratulations to Isabelle Connell, Gr. 9, Michael Chen, Gr. 9, Thomas Enzminger, Gr. 12, and Scott Underwood, Gr. 12, for representing Harker at the CCS Track & Field Prelims at Gilroy High. Connell placed 13th overall in the 800m run, and Chen was the only freshman in CCS to participate in the shot put.
Results: http://www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/09-10/track%20semifinal%20track%20results.pdf
Athletics Awards
At the end of year sports banquet, awards were presented for the 2009-2010 sports year. The female athlete of the year was Jessica Khojasteh and the male athlete of the year was Cole Davis. The award for female scholar athlete of the year went to Christina Ma and the male scholar athlete of the year to Stefan Eckhardt. Senior coaches awards were presented to Kelly Chen, Shanthi Rajagopalan, Kelsey Hilbrich, Tiffany Kyi, Manasa Reddy, Vivian Wong, Michael Clifford, Lung Ying-Yu, Mark Roh, Eugene Huang, Aadithya Prakash, Greg Plauck, Ryan Cali and Patrick Smith. This talented group of athletes will be missed next year!
A Harker junior who had traveled to Copenhagen for a world conference on climate change was honored by UNICEF for her dedication to service.
UNICEF named Olivia Zhu, Gr. 11, one of their 128 volunteers to receive the 2010 President’s Volunteer Service Award. Zhu was awarded a gold level standing for dedicating more than 250 hours to working for climate change based on the agenda formed at the Children’s Climate Forum (CCF) in Copenhagen in December 2009.
In Copenhagen, Zhu was one of four students selected by UNICEF USA to attend CCF. She joined others from 40 nations in a weeklong forum to find solutions to global concerns and advance understanding of global issues. During her time there, Zhu visited a Danish school, attended workshops and forged friendships with fellow teenagers who were working toward a common goal.
UNICEF’s President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation established the President’s Volunteer Service Award in 2003. The program honors individuals, families and groups of all ages who have met or exceeded requirements for volunteer service.
Tags: Featured Story, In the News, Volunteer StoriesAlex Han, Gr. 12 and Revanth Kosaraju, Gr. 10, received special recognition at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), held May 9-14 in downtown San Jose. Han won a $4,000 scholarship from the U.S. Navy and a trip to the London International Youth Science Forum, taking place July 28-Aug. 11. Kosaraju received a $500 award from the American Psychological Association.
The ISEF featured 1,600 finalists from nearly 60 countries. Han and Kosaraju won the privilege to appear at the ISEF at the Synopsys Science and Technology Championship in March; it was the first time since 2007 that Harker had two finalists representing the school. “It is a really big deal to win an award at ISEF since these represent the best projects from around the world,” said upper school science teacher Kate Schafer.
Tags: Science, topscienceThe state convention of the California Junior Classical League was held in Irvine in April, and Harker’s middle school students excelled in a broad range of categories. Harker ranked second overall among the middle schools at the event. Harker’s middle school also took first in the boys track and field 4 x 100 relay; second place in the banner competition; third place in scrapbook; second place in the T-shirt contest; first place in the female driver, four male “horses” (actually students) chariot race; and second place in the male driver, four female “horses” chariot race.
Oishi Banerjee, Gr. 8, earned first place at the Middle School 3 (MS3) level for overall individual performance in three categories: Arts, Athletics and Combined performance in Academic, Arts and Athletics. Banerjee also tied for first place in MS3 Mottoes, Abbreviations and Quotes with Kevin Duraiswamy; took first in MS3 girls Dramatic Interpretation; first in MS3 Latin Oratory; first in Modern Myth; third in middle school original poetry; first in Essay; second in Latin Slogan; first in MS vocal performance; second in Multi Media; and first in Certamen Team along with fellow students Duraiswamy, Nikhil Dilip and Anika Ayyar, all Gr. 8.
In addition to her first place Certamen Team win, Ayyar also finished first in MS3 Roman Daily Life; second in MS3 History; second in MS3 girls dramatic interpretation; tied for second place with Urvi Gupta, Gr. 8, in Latin Oratory; first in MS3 Sight Latin reading; second in MS vocal performance; second in MS Essay; second in the MS Dance competition; and second in the MS-Girls 100-meter track event. Gupta also took first place in MS Mosaics, third place in MS3 Reading Comp II and third place in MS3 Latin Derivatives.
Meanwhile, Zina Jawadi, Gr. 8, won first place in the MS3 Individual Athletics category; third in MS3 Grammar II; third in MS3 Vocabulary; second in MS3 Sight Latin Reading; second in piano performance; and first place in both the 400- and 1600-meter MS girls track events.
Adding to his Certamen Team win and first place tie with Banerjee in Mottoes, Abbreviations and Quotes, Duraiswamy also took first place in MS3 Reading Comprehension II and for the model he built for the Small Models event. He also tied for third place with Allison Chang, Gr. 8, in MS3 Sight Latin Reading. Chang also tied for second place in MS3 Mythology, finished third place in MS Essay and received an honorable mention in MS3 Latin Derivatives.
Sahithya Prakash, Gr. 8, won first place in MS2 Latin Oratory; finished second in MS2 Latin Oratory; third in MS2 Reading Comprehension I; third in the MS girls 100-meter track event; and earned an honorable mention in MS2 Mottoes, Abbreviations and Quotes.
Taking first in MS Sculpture was Anni Ankola, Gr. 7, who also won first in the MS Boys Costume competition and second place in MS2 mythology.
Sarika Bajaj, Gr. 8, also did well in several events, with second place finishes in MS3 Latin Derivatives and MS3 Reading Comprehension II, as well as a third place finish in MS Scrapbook.
Other middle school placers at the convention were Dilip, who took third in MS3 History in addition to being on the first place Certamen team; Brian Tuan, Gr. 8, who took second in MS3 Pentathlon and third in MS3 Latin Oratory; Vivek Sriram, Gr. 7, earning first in MS1 Reading Comprehension I and third in MS1 Latin Derivatives; Aadyot Bhatnagar, Gr. 7, who finished in first place in both MS2 Vocabulary and MS2 Reading Comprehension I; Samir Baz, Gr. 8, who placed second in MS2 Roman Daily Life; and Christina Wong, third place finisher in MS2 Latin Derivatives.
Congratulations to all the middle school student winners at this year’s California JCL convention!
Tags: Languages