The year in spirit came to a rousing finish during the final week in April, which featured a number of exciting activities and themed dress days. On Monday, students, faculty and staff crawled out of bed and headed straight to Saratoga for Pajama Day, which two years ago was dedicated to Dr. Cheryl Cavanaugh, who loved this event before she passed away from cancer last year. Students took part in a mattress racing event, in which one student rested on an air mattress, which was then carried by other students across Rosenthal Field.
The theme for Tuesday was, “Would you be my friend if I wore this every day?” and as such, outlandishly colored garb was en vogue all over the Saratoga campus. In keeping with the unusual-looking atmosphere, the day’s special event was a three-legged race.
Wednesday was “Sports Day,” which students and staff celebrated by wearing attire related to their favorite sports teams. Everyone gathered on the bleachers at Davis Field to watch the all-female Powder Puff flag football game, which the team of seniors and freshmen narrowly won by a single touchdown, 14-7.
The US saw double on Thursday’s Twin Day, which featured pairs of people in identical clothing. Students raced boats made of duct tape and cardboard at the Singh Aquatic Center, earning points not only for finishing the race but also for having the most stylish vessel.
Students wore their class colors during the final day of Spirit Week, which concluded in grandiose fashion with the final spirit rally of the year on Friday. Performances by the Harker cheerleading squad, Varsity Dance Troupe and the Harker Jazz Band kept the crowds entertained. The funniest treats, however, were the dance performances put on by each class, which featured not only students but also teachers strutting their stuff on the Davis Field turf. Classes competed in a cheer-off as well as a series of entertaining (and sometimes chaotic) relay races.
Once the activities were over with, the scores for the year were tallied, and the juniors came away the spirit winners with 47,280 points. The seniors were a close second, with 46,580 points.
Coach Jim McGovern reports, “The Gr. 4 baseball team has been steadily adding to their experience and knowledge. Fielding, hitting and running the bases have all improved due to the dedication and determination of this group of players.” Game situations, stealing bases and pitching were the focus over the final few weeks of the season. Standout performances have included the power hitting of Alex Youn, Edward Tischler, Alex Mo and Brandon Stoll as well as the stellar fielding and catching of Alexander Lam, Brandon Chow, Aashish Jain and Varun Baldwa. McGovern added, “They have relished the chance to put their skills to the test and play games with and against the fifth graders.” The enthusiasm and overall excitement of the fourth graders this year can be summed up by the cheer written by Nikhil Manglik and Alexander Lam: “Our pitcher, he is great with a ball, when he throws, he never hits the wall. Our batters are the very best, they put the defense to the test! Our base runners go with lightning speed, you’ll never know when they’ll take a lead! Harker, Harker, yes we rule! The other teams – they simply drool.”
The Gr. 5 baseball team has showed great determination in staying focused throughout the season. The Eagles only had one game this year, but have been preparing with intrasquad exhibition games as well as challenging our fourth graders to some games. The team is led by Trevor Lee, who has shown a tremendous amount of talent at any position. Coach Walid Fahmy was looking forward to the big bat of Kevin Wang and the speed of Jonathan Yiu and Suraj Jagadeesh helping the boys to be competitive. Fahmy was extremely happy with the outlook of the team and was looking forward to finishing up with a strong season.
JV A baseball started the season with a close game (2-3) against Priory, and faced a tough schedule this season. They had an 0-3 record at press time, and were continuing to develop their skills.
The varsity A baseball team, coached by Joe Mentillo and Manny Martinez, is out to gain the respect of the league and is playing some fundamentally sound and competitive baseball. The squad is led by eighth graders Kevin Cali (shortstop/pitcher), Drew Goldstein (catcher/shortstop), J.P. Doherty (center field) and Oliver Chen (pitcher). Matt Harris (catcher) is off to a sizzling start leading the team in hits and playing solidly at catcher.
Volleyball
The Gr. 4 volleyball girls have been learning the fundamentals, including the bump, set and spike. They have also practiced footwork and timing of hitting the ball. Coach Tomas Thompson reports, “They have shown enthusiasm, positive sportsmanship and are eager to learn more about the game. The team has demonstrated consistent improvement and team play this season.” Outstanding effort and attitudes have been shown by Chetana Kalidindi, LeAnn Nguyen, Lindsey Trinh and Ankita Uppugunduri.
The Gr. 5 JV B5 volleyball team was 4-0, despite playing against only Gr. 6 teams. Coach Michelle Hopkins commented, “The girls are all doing an excellent job. Lauren Speckman has an awesome serve and is a positive influence on the rest of the team. All the other girls are playing great. I think volleyball is the sport at Harker!”
The JV B6 volleyball girls improved tremendously over the course of the season and their game scores are getting closer and closer. Coach Loreen Talagtag states, “Leeza Kuo and Helen Wu are key players on the team as they have fantastic serves! Simran Singh has improved tremendously over the course of the season.”
The varsity B2 girls have won two games, which pleased Coach Talagtag because they have had some really tough teams in their division. All the games have been really close but the girls lost by a couple of points. Talagtag reports, “Christina Wong and Manini Desai are key players to look out for. Also Callie Ding has improved so much in the small period of time that we’ve had. These girls are so talented and I’m very proud of how far they’ve come.”
The junior varsity A girls team had a 2-1 record at press time; varsity B girls were 4-2.
The varsity A girls volleyball team is having another phenomenal season. Under the direction of coach Michael Leonard ’04 and assistant coach Christine Emery, Gr. 12, the girls had lost only one game this season at press time, with a 3-1 record. The team is undefeated in league play and is in pursuit of the league championship. The coaches have been getting outstanding contributions from everyone, most notably Amie Chien, Gr. 8, Mercedes Chien, Gr. 7 and Paulomi Bhattacharya, Gr. 8. Leonard states, “The team bonding activities we take part in throughout the season have really helped this team come together. The team is united in pursuit of our goal, which is the league title. I could not be more proud of what these girls have accomplished as a team!”
The varsity B boys team was undefeated at 4-0 for the season. Great job, boys! The varsity A boys volleyball team, coached by Pete Anderson, finished the season with a 9-5 record. The team was led by eighth graders Michael Chen, David Lindars, Bobby Kahlon and Josh Tien.
Tennis
The MS tennis team, comprising 18 players in Gr. 6-8 with USTA ranking, finished the season 17-2 overall. The team was led by eighth graders Jenny Chen and Niki Bedekar and sixth graders Vikram Chari and Deepa Dhore, who are all top-ranked in their respective age groups. Coach Ganesh Vaidya’s hope for continued success was achieved as the girls defeated Bret Harte 7-2 to win the MTP championship!
San Jose Mercury News –June 26, 2009 Recent graduate Shelby Drabman ’09 made the list of All-Mercury News honorable mentions and was named to the first team for the Mercury’s Softball All-League team in the Santa Clara Valley’s West Bay region. Another graduate, Barrett Glasauer ’09 received an All-Mercury News honorable mention for baseball.
San Jose Mercury News – June 17, 2009 Junior Chad Gordon made the the All-Mercury News second team for boys volleyball. Senior Matthew Gehm and junior Eugene Huang received honorable mentions. Boys volleyball coach, Dan Molin, named one of two coaches of the year in the DeAnza Division.
Vogue.com – June 2009 The Alexander Wang Gap collaboration collection was written up in this Resort Report column by Mark Holgate.
NAIS.org– May 2009 The Ogre Awards were written about by founder Enid Davis, head librarian and the article was published with an update.
San Jose Mercury News– May 1, 2009 Harker Japanese students were mentioned as the winners of the National Japan Bowl. Harker swept all three top positions and one team will travel to Japan as part of their award (see full article in Harker News, May, 2009, page 1)
Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal– May 15, 2009 Valley Life noted the Harker Junior Engineering Technical Society (JETS) won top honors at the national competition, bringing home $5,000 and a trophy (see full article in Harker News, June, 2008, page 32)
Image Magazine – May 2009 The annual Fashion Show was featured in a full page article showing many photos of students and parents.
Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal – March 27, 2009 The Valley Life page featured photos and a short article about the Harker annual Fashion Show.
Congratulations to Public Forum debaters Kelsey Hilbrich, Gr. 11 and Kaavya Gowda, Gr. 12, for their win at the National Tournament of Champions (TOC) held in May at the University of Kentucky. The TOC is considered to be one of the most prestigious tournaments in the nation. Students compete on the national circuit all year against some of the best teams in the country to earn qualifying legs to the TOC. For most students, just qualifying to the TOC is a high school dream. Once at the TOC, debaters are pitted against the best, since every team in the tournament had to make it to late eliminations at other elite national tournaments. This means that every preliminary round (there are seven) is essentially a semifinal or final round at a regular season tournament.
When the dust clears after seven preliminary rounds, the top 16 teams at the tournament are left to battle in the elimination rounds. Much like a sports tournament, the winning team in each debate advances except there is no best of three or five, it is a single elimination. Hilbrich and Gowda defeated a number of top-tier teams, round after round for three days straight. In their semifinal round, they defeated the National Debate Coaches Association champions, and in finals they went head to head with a team who had been in a number of national final rounds including the largest national high school invitation in the fall (the Glenbrooks).
The entire year for debate culminates in the three national championship title competitions, so this win was a perfect end to the school year. Carol Green, debate teacher and coach, was thrilled with the girls’ per formance and stressed the difficulty of this achievement. Green explained, “It is rare that a national championship in debate is brought to a high school considering the thousands of schools that compete for the oppor tunity each year. As a coach I can honestly say this may be one of the highlights of my career!”
Hilbrich and Gowda were presented with their trophies in late May, and they presented the school with a framed award to be displayed perpetually on campus. The girls were also featured on the front page of the National Forensics League Web site. Congratulations to both the coach and our national champions!
In other forensics news, the Harker policy team comprising juniors Arjun Mody and Adam Perelman had a good showing at the National Catholic Forensic League Grand National Tournament in Albany, N.Y. The boys went 3-2 in prelims and made it to double-octofinals (top 32) in Policy Debate. This is the first time a Harker policy team has made it to elimination rounds at Grand Nationals. Nice work!
Meanwhile, David Kastelman, Gr. 12, made it to the four th level of competition in the Lions Club Speakers Contest, an annual speech competition for high school students. The topic for this year’s contest was “Water: Will California Be Left High and Dry?” Kastelman was defeated at the four th level after defeating Jyoti Narayanswami, Gr. 11, at the third level, and Kevin Kim, Gr. 12, at the second level. Kim had previously defeated Akshay Aggarwal, Gr. 10, at the first level. “This is the first time multiple Harker students have competed against each other at the various levels and we look forward to continuing this success in future years,” said Green.
Anand Natarajan, Gr. 12, has been chosen as a member of the team that will represent the United States at the International Physics Olympiad in Mexico this summer. In April, Natarajan and classmate Vikram Nathan, Gr. 12, as well as Andrew Zhou, Gr. 11, were chosen as semifinalists to become a part of the team. Harker’s total of three semifinalists was higher than any other school in the nation.
Scheduling conflicts prevented Natarajan and Nathan from being able to attend both their Harker graduation and the Physics Olympiad training camp. Nathan, the 2009 valedictorian, stayed behind in California to speak to his fellow graduates. Natarajan made the difficult decision to attend the required training camp in Maryland in lieu of his graduation ceremony, and his hard work deservedly paid off. “The AAPT (American Association of Physics Teachers) would not let him miss a single day of the physics camp in Maryland, so he made a choice between two once-in-a-lifetime experiences,” said US physics teacher Eric Nelson.
At a special ceremony in late May, Butch Keller, US division head, presented Natarajan with his high school diploma, with family present.
Senior Daniel J. Kim has been named a 2009 Presidential Scholar, making him the third Harker Presidential Scholar since 2006. This marks the first year Harker has had two semifinalists in the Presidential Scholar selection process; Vikram Nathan, Gr. 12 was also a semifinalist.
Kim has been invited to Washington, D.C., where he and other scholars from around the country and abroad will be presented with a Presidential Scholar medallion during National Recognition Week in June.
Harker’s previous two Presidential Scholars were Senan Ebrahim ’08 and Samantha Fang ’06, who was named a Scholar of the Arts.
Each year the U.S. Department of Education names one male and one female Scholar, from each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In addition, two students are selected from families living abroad, 15 students are chosen at large and 20 are chosen who specialize in visual and performing arts.
About 3,000 academic candidates are eligible based on evaluation of their College Board SAT or ACT Assessment scores. Students interested in joining the arts portion of the Presidential Scholar program must register for youngARTS, a program by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, which then nominates students as Presidential Scholars.
Baccalaureate, a ceremony with roots in 15th century Oxford, formally began the graduation festivities on the Thursday before the big day. In a warm and sunny quad on the US campus, music was played and speeches were spoken.
Cantilena, directed by Susan Nace, and a string ensemble, directed by Chris Florio, provided beautiful and thoughtful musical selections to set the tone. In her opening remarks, Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, told the junior class it was time to say goodbye to the seniors and prepare to accept their new leadership role. She reminded the audience of juniors, seniors, senior parents and faculty that this was a time when we are “celebrating each and every one of you… as individuals and as a class.”
Math teacher Anthony Silk, selected by the graduates to represent the faculty, delivered a talk he based on a popular NPR radio program, “This American Life.” His theme: The Road Not Taken. His time in the Navy encouraged him to learn how to find small things that can give one a quick lift or encouragement in hard times. His venture into the rat race of software engineering taught him that, “Our lives don’t have one correct route to the cheese…don’t make your life a race.” And he urged the seniors to think about the people who helped them. “None of us get anywhere without someone else,” he remarked, adding that history teacher John Near, a frequent and accomplished Baccalaureate speaker, has been an inspiration to him.
Graduating senior Daniel Kim had the honor of addressing his class as salutatorian, a word he says he looked up in the dictionary and found to mean the speaker who “salutes” the incoming senior class. He thus directed his remarks to the juniors, telling them that appearances don’t matter, it’s the attitude that counts; to follow one’s passion, saying “what you love is what you are”; and be thankful to those who have paved your way.
As seniors departed for more class activities and juniors left with the understanding of their new role, parents and faculty mingled and talked about the students they were sending off to the next phase of their lives.
Harker teams have won two state academic team championships, the California Interscholastic Federation announced June 8. Harker’s boys tennis and baseball cumulative team GPAs, 3.7960 and 3.64 respectively, won state and section honors. Harker won five North Coast Section academic championships in 2008-09. Along with baseball and boys tennis, Harker earned top honors in boys volleyball, 3.6340; boys soccer, 3.6520; and wrestling, 3.6080. The school will receive a banner for display recognizing the accomplishment. The academic championships were initiated in 1996 to reward teams with the highest collective grade-point averages, based on an unweighted 4.0 scale. The program now encompasses 17 sports and 27 teams.
The Bucknall gym teemed with activity on June 3 as students and parents filed in for Fifth Grade Awards and Promotion Ceremony. Student Kristen Park led everyone in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before head of school Chris Nikoloff greeted the afternoon audience. The Gr. 5 dance group Dance Fusion then performed for the crowd.
Next, the annual awards were doled out. Allison Wang won for Academic Excellence, and the award for General Excellence went to Jonathan Ma and Ankita Sharma. Michael Moncton and Doreene Kang were recognized for Outstanding Academic Improvement. The Athletics and Sportsmanship awards were given to Nathaniel Stearns and Shannon Richardson. Kaushik Sankar and Gillian Chu received awards for Courtesy, while Madison Tomihiro and Jonathan Yiu were awarded for Personal Presentation. The Leadership awards went to Sadhika Malladi and Janet Lee, and the Spirit of Cooperation Award was given to Natalie Simonian and Vineet Kosaraju. Kurt Schwartz, Kristen Ko, Kristen Park, Alexander Guest, Nikhil Bopardikar, Shivali Minocha and Helena Dworak all received awards for Effort.
Awards for individual subjects were given to Allison Wang and Janet Lee for both English and Science, Janet Lee for Mathematics, Shalini Arimilli for Social Studies and Lauren Speckman and Johnathon Keller for Physical Education.
After the awards were handed out, the 120 students were called up one by one to receive their promotion certificates. After much applause, LS music teacher Jennifer Cowgill directed the Gr. 5 class’ vocal performance of “Children are the Future of the World” by Russell Robinson and, fittingly, “The Harker School Anthem.”
Elementary division head Kristin Giammona delivered the closing speech to officially bring another successful year to a close. Congratulations to all the Harker fifth graders taking the next step!
The Blackford gym was abuzz with activity as 157 Gr. 8 students prepared to take the next step in their educational lives at the Eighth Grade Promotion Ceremony on June 3.
After the students took their seats, head of school Chris Nikoloff welcomed the afternoon crowd of students, parents and faculty, and introduced MS division head Cindy Ellis, who greeted the Class of 2013, saying they were a very spirited group with a caring perspective. The crowd then rose to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. After a singing performance that included “The Harker School Anthem” and the handing out of the annual awards, the students rose one at a time to receive their certificates. As they left the stage, the students were also given leis made of candy as a congratulatory treat.
MS English teacher Patricia Lai Burrows then gave a heart-warming closing speech, congratulating the eighth graders on their hard-earned success and wishing them well in their high school careers. She bid them farewell with the Hawaiian saying “Aloha Ohana,” which fittingly translates to “Goodbye Family.”
“I have had the pleasure of knowing the Class of 2013 since their beginning days at Harker in kindergarten, first or second grade,” said MS dean of students Lana Morrison. “It has been a privilege to be part of their lives for such a long time. Watching them grow into young men and women has been an amazing experience.”