LS Girls Basketball
Coach Tomas Thompson reported that the Gr. 4 girls of the junior varsity C team had a stellar season. They were undefeated for the majority of the season, beating most teams by 20 points. The girls finished 6-2 overall, losing only to Pinewood twice. Their last loss to Pinewood was by one basket in their final game of the season. Standout players included Joelle Anderson, Jordan Thompson and Lauren Trihy.
LS Soccer
The Gr. 5 junior varsity B boys, under the coaching of Walid Fahmy, went 2-1-3 in league. They finished with a tied score in their first three league matches against Keys, Pinewood and St. Joseph’s Sacred Hear t and then went on to beat Keys 3-2 and St. Joseph’s 5-4 by the end of the season. Standout players included Nathaniel Stearns, Ryan Fernandes and Nicholas LaBruna.
Two Harker teams have won 2009 winter scholastic championship team awards. These awards recognize the varsity team from each CCS sport with the highest collective GPA of all teams competing that season. Both boys soccer (average GPA 3.6520) and the Harker wrestling team (3.6080) came in first in their sports. Hearty congratulations to the brainy athletes!
Every year on picture day, students spiff up, slick down or puff up their hair and try to stay neat until the photographer is done. These photos were too cute to pass up!
A special performance by Japan’s Okayama Gakugeikan High School Symphonic Band had the morning crowd cheering at a special US assembly on March 16.
Having recently placed in the top 10 of a national high school band competition in Japan, the 60-member orchestra came to Harker as part of an American tour that included San Francisco, Santa Clara University and New York City. Their performance at the assembly included works from a variety of genres, from classical mainstays such as Pachelbel to more contemporary fare, such as their rendition of “I Need to Be in Love” by the Carpenters.
The band really got amped, however, during their cover of “The Sun Will Rise Again” by the Japanese pop group Aladdin. Musicians wrapped boa scarves around their necks and performed a choreographed dance routine during the number, complete with miniature Japanese and American flags. The crowd interaction hardly stopped there. On one song, the entire band (save for the rhythm section) ventured out into the audience, where they performed the duration of the piece.
In all, a welcome treat and an inspiring display of musicianship from this talented young troupe!
MercuryNews.Com – March 24, 2009: Congratulations to Kristina Bither, Gr. 12, for making the All-Mercury News Honorable Mention list for girls soccer. Read the full article.
CBS 60 Minutes – March 22, 2009: Leslie Stahl of 60 Minutes filmed a segment on Mensa at last summer’s convention in Denver. Julian Wise, Gr. 10, appears about 4.5 minutes in to the segment.
sjsuspartans.com – March 18, 2009: Jason Martin ’07, son of Steve Martin, Harker’s executive chef, is mentioned in the game review post as starting off the two-game series with a three-run homer. Read the full article.
Gentry Magazine – Feb., 2009: Great feature with photos on the opening of Nichols Hall and promotion of the fashion show.
US faculty took to the court on March 25 for a basketball game. Playing for the red team were chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine, history teacher Mai Nguyen, coach Raul Rios, math teacher Evan Barth and biology teacher Matthew Harley. The green team comprised math teacher Victor Adler, history teacher Ramsay Westgate, athletic director Dan Molin, Mandarin and ethics teacher Shaun Jahshan and biology teacher Nicole VanderSal. US division head Butch Keller acted as referee during the game, which came down to the wire, with the red team winning by just one point.
Cheerleading duties were handled by Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, English teachers Erin Redfern and Jennifer Siraganian and history teacher Carol Zink.
The game was one of several fundraisers held by the National Honor Society that week. Bins for each faculty member were set up just outside the Edge for donations. The 10 faculty members with the most money in their bins were chosen to play, while the runners-up went on to act as cheerleaders.
In addition to the faculty basketball game, the NHS also raised money that week by holding a bake sale and selling teacher appreciation ‘grams, special student-written notes that were delivered to teachers along with a small bundle of chocolate. Funds were donated to a local underprivileged charter school.
“The Music Man” conned his way into the Blackford Theater in April in a spectacular production from the Harker Conservatory. Director Laura Lang-Ree and musical director Catherine Snider guided a record-breaking 52-member cast through this charming Broadway favorite by Meredith Willson.
In another first, the cast included four Gr. 6 students, who more than held their own with their upper school counterparts. Katie O’Bryon created the energetic choreography, Paul Vallerga designed the huge and beautiful set, Brian Larsen oversaw the technical aspects, Caela Fujii supplied the lovely period costumes, Joan Sommerfield supplied the band with its instruments and all the other props, and Natti Pierce-Thomson lit the show beautifully. Excellent stage management was provided by Michael Prutton, Gr. 10, and the live band managed to sound like there were truly 76 trombones in the house.
US volleyball coach Theresa “Smitty” Smith – and The Harker School – can now let the world know she’s a Positive Coach Alliance Double-Goal Coach Award Winner with the winner’s logo she recently received. Smith received the award in 2008 for her commitment to using positive coaching to teach life lessons. Read more about the award here–look near the bottom for Smitty’s comments!
Sierra Lincoln, Gr. 8, hauled in three awards at the VEX Robotics Championship of the Americas, held April 2-4 in Omaha, Neb. Lincoln won the Tournament Finalist Award, Second Place, in addition to being named the Programming Skills Champion and Robot Skills Champion.
– In April, flutist Pavitra Rengarajan, Gr. 9, had the opportunity to perform a solo with the San Jose Wind Symphony at San Jose State University. Rengarajan was the first prize winner of the symphony’s annual Young Artist Solo Competition, and received a $500 prize in addition to being granted the honor of per forming with the seasoned musicians of the SJWS.
No stranger to winning music competitions, Rengarajan has also taken first place in the International Areon Chamber Music Competition, Junior Division; the Flock of Flutes Competition, Junior Division; and the El Camino Youth Symphony Concerto competition. She is also the principal flutist for the El Camino Youth Symphony, the youngest member of the South Valley Symphony and the San Jose Youth Symphony Philharmonic Orchestra’s youngest flutist.
– Harker News has been keeping tabs on Anteneh Daniel, Gr. 12, who was named a semifinalist and then a finalist in the National Achievement Scholarship Program’s (NASP) competition for outstanding Black American students. We have now been notified that Daniel has indeed won a prize. He will be awarded a $2,500 scholarship, an award supported by the not-for-profit National Merit Scholarship Corporation, which conducts the NASP.
– Christina Ma, Gr. 11, recently won the “Essay” portion of the Asian Pacific Fund’s 2009 Growing Up Asian in America Art & Essay Contest. For the contest, entrants chose one thing they would change to make the world a better place as the basis for their work. For her efforts, Ma will receive a $2,000 savings bond.