CareerConnect held its annual mentorship banquet in mid-March. The goal of the mentorship program is to connect students to industry professionals who can help them gain valuable insight into industries of interest to them. The program lasts from March to the beginning of fall. During that time students establish a consistent dialogue with their mentors and meet with them about three times, as well as have a workplace visit if possible. The mentorship banquet gave students the chance to meet with their mentors, discuss their interests, and complete their “cup activity,” in which students write what they want to achieve or learn from their mentor on a coffee cup and give it to the mentor to keep.
“The mentorship banquet was such a great experience. I learned so much from my mentor, and I’m excited to talk to her again to learn more about her work,” said Andrea Thia, grade 9.
Sophomore Rohan Varma noted, “This experience was really nice for me, as I was able to gain insight from an industry professional who has dabbled in several industries and expressed to me the factors that helped guide her to where she is today.”
Overall, the banquet was a great success! Students had an exciting time at the event and are looking forward to learning more and meeting their mentors again!
On March 13, senior Raymond Banke and junior Kathy Fang were named national gold medalists in the 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Banke won for his piece in the Future New category, titled “American Dreamers,” and Fang for her critical essay “A New Woman: A Rediscovery of Women’s Roles in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.” They are the first Harker students to receive the honor since Xinyi “Cherry” Xie ‘12 in 2012.
As national medalists, both students are now eligible to attend the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national events in New York City in June. The national events include a ceremony at Carnegie Hall and an exhibition featuring the works of top honorees. Earlier this year, Banke received a total of 16 regional awards, including Gold Keys in printmaking, design and art portfolio, as well as Silver Keys in architectural and industrial design, sculpture, printmaking and photography. His nine honorable mentions were awarded for two works each in drawing and illustration and mixed media, as well as submissions in the art portfolio, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and architecture and industrial design categories. In addition to her Mold Medal, Fang also received a regional Gold Key for her essay and two honorable mentions for photography.
Three other students also received national recognition in the form of silver medals. Junior Eric Fang won in photography for his piece, titled “Into the Unknown”; Anna Gert, also a junior, won for her critical essay “Illnesses in Frankenstein: An Explication of Victor’s Recurring Sickness”; and senior Alexander Young’s “A Iaccian Sestina” won in the poetry category.
A total of 64 upper school students were recognized in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards this year, receiving regional Gold Keys, Silver Keys and honorable mentions.
Upper school students recognized in visual arts are:
Katelyn Chen, grade 11: Three honorable mentions (one for mixed media, two for drawing and illustration)
Elizaveta Egorova, grade 12: Three Gold Keys (one for digital media, two for design), three Silver Keys (digital art) and two honorable mentions (comic art and digital art)
Eric Fang, grade 11: Gold Key (photography)
Kathy Fang, grade 11: Two honorable mentions (photography)
Anna Gert, grade 11: Gold Key (painting)
Lilia Gonzales, grade 12: Gold Key (digital art)
Rose Guan, grade 12: Two honorable mentions (photography)
Ellen Guo, grade 11: Two honorable mentions (painting, and drawing and illustration)
Susan He, grade 12: Two Gold Keys (digital art), honorable mention (drawing and illustration)
Alexander Young, grade 12: Two Gold Keys (poetry, flash fiction), six honorable mentions (two for poetry, two for personal essay/memoir, humor, writing portfolio)
Katherine Zhang, grade 12: Three honorable mentions (journalism, two for poetry)
A previous version of this story mistakenly omitted Kathy Fang’s Gold Medal win as well as this year’s Silver Medal winners. Harker News apologizes for the error.
The upper school received a visit today from the Langston Hughes Project, a fusion of music, literature and history led by Ron McCurdy, a professor of music at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music.
McCurdy first gave a morning lecture on Langston Hughes and the many artists of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Later, the accomplished trumpeter was joined by drummer Mike Mitchell, bassist Giulio Cetto and pianist (and 2001 Harker middle school graduate) Yuma Sung at a special assembly at the Athletic Center, where McCurdy gave a powerful performance of Hughes’ poetic suite “Ask Your Mama,” reciting and singing Hughes’ lines as images and film reels of figures and events of African-American history were displayed behind the group.
Members of the upper school’s Jazz Band later attended a special master class given by McCurdy, where they performed Cannonball Adderley’s “Work Song” and received his feedback. McCurdy advised students to use their sheet music as a roadmap and avoid scanning it too much as they played. He also told them to learn the history behind the pieces they learn: “If you understand the history of why you’re doing what you’re doing, it’ll make a whole lot more sense to you.”
McCurdy also worked with the Downbeat show choir, which had been learning Nina Simone’s version of the 1960s show tune “Feeling Good.” After hearing their rendition, McCurdy coached the singers supporting the soloists to do more than simply sing the notes in their part. “Sing like you mean it,” he said, referring to the optimism in Simone’s performance. “I’ve got to hear that joy, that optimism.”
On March 12, students in Diana Moss’ and Carmela Tejada’s Spanish classes visited San Francisco’s Mission District to take a walking tour of the murals in the neighborhood’s Latino Cultural District. Students previously had studied about Hispanic art, and in particular about the importance of murals in Latino communities.
Prior to the trip, upper school art teacher Pilar Agüero-Esparza presented a lesson to both classes in Spanish about her own work as a muralist. She painted a series of murals entitled, “La vida en dichos” (“Life in refrains”), which features symbols and references to the history of the Latino community in the Santa Clara Valley. Her murals are displayed at the Biblioteca Latinoamericana branch of the San Jose Public Library in downtown San Jose.
At the Mission District’s Precitas Eyes Mural Gallery, students learned about the history of mural painting and important Mexican muralists. Moss was especially proud when her student, Arjun Virmani, grade 10, called out some facts he’d learned doing a report about Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco. Students then learned about the history of the historically Latino Mission District and about the changes the area has undergone and is currently undergoing as housing costs rise. The students walked through Balmy Alley, a segment of the Calle 24 Latino Cultural District filled with colorful murals, while a docent and artist from the gallery explained each to them in detail. Following the tour, the students enjoyed some authentic Latin food, in particular tacos, in the various restaurants nearby.
The Eagle track and field team competed at the first league meet of the year last week at Sacred Heart Prep with some fine results. Natasha Matta, grade 9, won her two first-ever hurdle races; Alexa Lowe, grade 9, won her race in the 800-meter and was within a foot of the school record in the triple jump; Ayush Vyas, grade 12, won both the discus and shot put, where he set a new personal best; the boys 400m relay team made up of Andrew Chen, grade 9; Anton Novikov, grade 10; Mitchell Granados, grade 12; and Gio Rofa, grade 11, won their race; and Brittany Shou, grade 9, set a personal best in the discus.
Then, over the weekend, the Eagles traveled to Mountain View to compete at the St. Francis Invitational. Novikov placed second in the 100m frosh-soph sprint against some of the best runners in the south Bay, setting the third fastest sophomore mark at Harker; Aditya Singhvi, grade 10; Alex Rule, grade 12; Ryan Adolf, grade 12; and Arya Maheshwari, grade 10, placed in the top 20 in the distance medley relay with the second best mark in Harker history.
The Eagles compete again on March 26 at The King’s Academy for WBAL meet No. 2.
Swim
The Harker swimmers hosted the first WBAL jamboree of the year as Crystal Springs Uplands, Notre Dame SJ and Notre Dame Belmont visited Singh Aquatic Center. Highlights included:
Ysabel Chen, grade 9, won the 100 free and was second in the 100 breast.
Nikela Hulton, grade 9, won the 100 butterfly and was second in the 50 free.
Ihita Mandal, grade 12, was second in the 200 free.
The 200 Free Relay team of Nageena Singh, grade 9, Cassandra Ruedy, grade 11, Chen and Mandal took second.
Matthew Chung, grade 10, won the 200 and 500 free.
Ethan Hu, grade 11, won the 200 individual medley and 100 breast.
Rhys Edwards, grade 10, won the 100 free and 100 back.
Andrew Chang, grade 10, was second in the 50 free.
Alex Yu, grade 12, was second in the 200 individual medley and 100 free.
The 200 medley relay team of Yu, Chang, Hu and Edwards took second.
The 400 free relay team of Yu, Hu, Chung and Edwards took first.
The Eagles are back in the pool this Thursday as they host another WBAL Jamboree at Singh Aquatic Center.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team continues to roll as it defeated Saratoga 3-0 to go to 13-1 on the season. This week, the Eagles travel to Los Gatos on Wednesday before hosting Monta Vista on Friday.
Lacrosse
Last week, the lacrosse team defeated Lincoln High 13-7 to improve to 3-2 on the season. This week, the girls travel to Sequoia on Friday.
Boys Tennis
The boys tennis team picked up three wins last week as it defeated The King’s Academy 6-1, Pinewood 6-1 and Crystal Springs Uplands 5-2. This week, the boys host Crystal Springs Uplands on Monday and travels to The King’s Academy on Thursday.
Boys Golf
Last week, the boys golf team defeated The King’s Academy 209-303 before suffering a rare loss, falling to Menlo 206-196. This week, the Eagles take on Sacred Heart Prep on Tuesday before traveling to Indio for the Champions Invitational.
Softball
Last week, the softball team lost to Notre Dame Belmont 2-14 to go to 1-5 on the season. The Eagles host El Camino on Tuesday and Mercy Burlingame on Thursday.
Baseball
Last week, the baseball team dropped a 1-6 matchup to Jefferson before defeating Crystal Springs Uplands 7-6, with Nick Coulter, grade 10, and Max Lee, grade 11, each driving in two runs. This week, the Eagles host Jefferson on Tuesday before traveling to Crystal Springs Uplands on Thursday.
Harker incubator students ran pitches by Lak Ananth, CEO and managing partner of Next47, and principal Ching-Yu Hu today in preparation for the real thing this weekend. Next47 is a global venture firm, backed by Siemens, that is committed to turning today’s impossible ideas into tomorrow’s indispensable industries. The firm has supplied $10,000 in prize money for Harker’s incubator entrepreneurs, which will be awarded after they pitch at the sHarkerTank at BEcon this weekend. Ananth will be one of the investor judges at the exciting event!
More than 75 alumni and their guests joined school representatives at the kickoff of this year’s alumni regional tour in New York City. Ethan (Atin) Agarwal ’03, Aaptiv founder and CEO, graciously hosted the event at Aaptiv’s headquarters located on the 49th floor of the magnificent One World Trade Center building. Alumni of the classes of 1979 to 2014 attended. With breathtaking views of the city, great company, music and food, the group had a stellar time. The celebration was one for the books!
Tiffany Duong ’02 paid a visit to the upper school on March 8 to give a talk about her career path, current work and future goals. Knowing early in life that she wanted to do conservation work, Duong became a renewable energy lawyer after college, working on projects such as the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm and Ivanpah Solar Power Tower. She then made a major career change that took her to the Amazon, Costa Rica and eventually the Florida Keys, where worked with the Coral Restoration Foundation to grow and replant corals along the Florida Reef Tract. With her CRF colleague Sara Nilsson, she co-founded the media production company Ocean Rebels, which seeks to inspire environmental action by creating “media that makes you think and act differently,” Duong said.
Nilsson also recounted her winding path from studying neuroscience (despite her childhood dream of being a National Geographic photographer) to learning documentary filmmaking at the University of the West of England. As a documentarian, she created a widely circulated film about how deaths of Scottish citizens abroad are rarely investigated and their families left without support.
Duong offered her own life as an example of the many divergences one’s career can take, and encouraged the students in attendance to “redefine success to be what makes you happy.”
Six grade 8 students recently won recognition in the 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Nearly 1,700 works were submitted for this year’s contest, each of them evaluated by a team of novelists, editors, journalists, teachers and other professionals in various literary fields.
Students who earned recognition in this year’s contest are:
Brian Chen: Honorable mention (humor)
Connie Jiang: Silver Key (short story), two honorable mentions (short story, personal essay/memoir)
Saavi Kumar: Silver Key (critical essay)
Johnathan Mo: Honorable mention (short story)
Nicholas Wei: Silver Key (personal essay/memoir), honorable mention (short story)
The Harker speech and debate team had excellent results in all four divisions it entered at the Western JV and Novice National Championship this past weekend. The tournament, hosted by San Francisco State University on March 9-10, attracted 32 schools from three states.
In JV Lincoln-Douglas debate, Harker students set a record! Harker was the first school in the history of the tournament to have the top six finishers in any event.
Deven Shah, Akhilesh Chegu, Karoun Kaushik and Arnav Dani, all grade 9, along with Krish Mysoor and Ansh Sheth, both grade 7, closed out two quarterfinals and all of the semifinals, making them co-champions. Shah was also the top speaker in the division.
Angela Gao, grade 9, was the champion of the novice Lincoln-Douglas debate. Freshmen Ayan Nath and Dhruv Saoji were in the finals of JV public forum debate, where they lost on a close 2-3 decision. Aimee Wang and Alina Yuan, also both grade 9, were in the quarterfinals of JV public forum. As the higher seeded Harker team, they were walked over Arjun Gurjar and Kabir Buch, both grade 7. In novice public forum, Caden Lin and Vedant Kenkare, both grade 9, made it to semifinals. The tournament was also special because so many upperclassmen attended as mentors and judges. The middle school and upper school coaches were very proud of the extraordinary work of all of the students!