Last month, the middle school hosted some special guests during the Shanghai World Foreign Language Academy’s annual visit to Harker! The guests – 18 students and three chaperones – spent a week experiencing Harker and learning more about the daily lives of students by observing classes and conducting group activities, such as crafts and cooking, with their Harker buddies.
The SWFLA visitors also took the opportunity to see more of California during their trip, visiting the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University.
Late last month, the Japan Information and Cultural Center at the office of the Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco recognized three Harker students in its annual New Year’s greeting card contest. In the middle school division, seventh grader Shareen Chahal received special recognition and Jessica Wang, grade 6, was awarded an honorable mention. Momo Matsui-Disini, grade 2, received an honorable mention in the elementary school division.
This contest invites local students to participate in the Japanese tradition of sending New Year’s cards (“nengajo”) to their loved ones. These and other greeting cards that Northern California students submitted for the contest (more than 640 in all) will be on display until Feb. 21 at the Japan Information and Cultural Center, located at 275 Battery St., Ste. 2100, San Francisco.
The girls basketball team improved to 12-7 on the year as it picked up two big league wins last week. The girls started the week with a tight 44-40 win over Mercy Burlingame on Senior Night. Akhila Ramgiri, grade 12, led the way with 19 points, with Maria Vazhaeparambil, grade 10, adding 16 points. Later in the week, the Eagles took care of Crystal Springs Uplands 53-15. The Eagles travel to Castilleja on Tuesday and The King’s Academy on Friday.
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team went 2-1 last week to up its record to 10-11 on the year. The boys started the week with a 62-49 win over Crystal Springs Uplands led by 18 points from Giovanni Rofa, grade 11, and an impressive 13-point, 12-rebound game from Jack Connors, grade 11. Later in the week, the Eagles defeated Woodside Priory 46-39 in overtime with Connors leading the way with 14 points. Finally, over the weekend, the boys fell to Eastside College Prep 34-61 with Rofa leading the offense with 7 points. This week, the Eagles are on the road with a Tuesday matchup at Menlo followed by a Thursday game at The King’s Academy.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team opened last week with a 3-0 win over Eastside College Prep, but then dropped a 0-4 matchup with Notre Dame San Jose and a 0-1 match with Crystal Springs Uplands. The 8-6-3 Eagles currently sit in third place in the WBAL Skyline Division and look to make a push for the postseason as they take on Mercy SF Tuesday at Davis Field.
Boys Soccer
Last week, the boys soccer team defeated The King’s Academy 5-0 and Woodside Priory 5-2 to improve to 11-3 on the year. The Eagles currently sit in third place in the WBAL, and are within two games of the two teams in front of them in the standings. This week, the boys travel to Crystal Springs Uplands on Tuesday and host Eastside College Prep on Thursday.
Wrestling
The Harker wrestling team takes to the mat again as it competes at the SCVAL Championships beginning on Friday.
The big news at Harker in January was that seven students were named Regeneron Science Talent Search Top 300 winners and three were chosen as finalists. Numerous articles highlighted this international story.
Update: Nerine Uyanik, grade 11, finished 32 in the Challenge CEP Marathon Flueret in Paris out of 150 fencers from around the world in under-17 competition! http://marathon-fleuret.com/resultats_2019.html
Also: Kira Bardin, grade 5, has been training in epee for about the past year and plans to begin competing soon.
Jan. 31, 2019
Harker has a strong contingent of fencers who compete regularly, along with alumna Jerrica Liao ’18, now fencing for Northwestern. Harker fencers, who train at various clubs around the Bay Area, recently competed in multiple local, regional and national events. Virtually all are on track to qualify for the national championships in June. Here are some of the results!
Liao, in her first year at Northwestern, is competing in individual women’s foil events as the college team has some strong starters returning from last year. Liao competed in Division 1 in the December North American Circuit (NAC) event in Cincinnati and in Junior Women’s foil in the NAC in Charlotte in January where she finished 39th out of 175 fencers. In a series of six meets in late January, Northwestern beat Temple, Columbia, NYU, Yale and the U.S. Air Force. Liao crushed, going 4-0 in individual matches. She holds an A-2015 rating. Ratings run from A-D, A being the best, followed by the year earned.
Nerine Uyanik, grade 11 has competed in several National and local events this season, taking three medals: two in November, earning fifth place in both cadet and junior events at the Regional Open Circuit (ROC) in San Jose, then taking seventh for another visit to the podium in a very tough Division 1-A event out of 36 rated fencers. Medals are awarded to the top eight finishers in regional and national events. Uyanik holds a B-2017 rating in foil and a C-2019 rating in epee earned in late January with a third place finish out of 31 fencers in a Division 1A (all ages) event.
Sana Pandey, grade 11, has competed in several local and national womens epee events, including Division 1 competitions, taking first place in junior womens epee in December to add to her second and third place medals from regional events in November for a clean bag of 3 top four finishes. Pandey holds a C-2017 rating.
Ethan Choi, grade 10, continues to build on his Division III National Championship from last summer, fencing foil in both the October and November NACs, finishing 18 of 154 in Division II in October and 85 of 249 in Cadet in November, both very respectable finishes in tough events. He medaled, finishing eighth of 57, in the ROC in late November. He holds a C-2018 rating.
Kishan Sood, grade 10, fenced in national events in October and November in Cadet, Junior and Division II events. He had a really great finish, taking a bronze medal out of 34 in Division II mens foil, open to all ages, in an ROC in late November. He also finished 18 of 53 in Cadet mens foil at that tournament. He holds a D-2018 rating.
Alysa Su, grade 9 has also fenced in at least 11 National and regional events at the Cadet, Division II and Division I levels, recently. She took third out of 37 in September in the San Jose RYC in Y-14 womens foil and earned a medal finishing seventh out of 43 in the January Regional Youth Circuit (RYC) event in San Francisco. She holds a C-2018 rating.
John Cracraft, grade 8, finished 38 out of 68 in the September RYC in Sunnyvale, then 43 out of 61 in the Y-14 mens foil event at the Treasure Chest RYC. No rating.
Ethan Liu, grade 7, has not competed yet this year but fenced in several events last year, finishing 43 of 73 in March 2018 Silicon Valley RYC. No Rating.
Ishani Sood, grade 7, has had a great year so far, with a bag of six medals, all except one a top-four finish. She has fenced in Junior, Cadet, Y-14 and Y-12 girls foil events, taking two first place medals at the Super Youth Circuit (SYC) event in Southern California in both Y-12 (48 fencers) and Y-14 (57 fencers). She also finished first in Y-12 and third in Y1-4 in the Super Youth Circuit (SYC) in Denver later in the fall. Finally, she competed in late January in the South Coast RYC and Regional Junior Circuit (RJC), placing second in Y-14 and fifth in Juniors, a remarkable finish in that age bracket! She has a C-2018 rating.
Alena Su, grade 7, has also had a great year earning RYC medals in two September competitions, coming in seventh of 44 in Y-12 womens foil; third of 28 in the same event earlier in the month. She took fifth out of 50 fencers in December in Y-12 womens foil, an excellent result. No rating.
Aaron Bao, grade 6, has fenced in many events this season with very respectable results. In September at the North Texas SYC, Aaron stood on the podium to receive his third place medal out of 63 fencers. In late November, he finished 12 out of 70 at an RYC, and in the mid-January RYC, took 15 out of 60, both in Y-12 mens foil. No rating.
Ethan Wang, grade 6, has competed in many events, local, regional and national as well, finishing 13 out of 60 in the Y-12 mens foil event at the Treasure Chest RYC in San Francisco. He took ninth of 25, locally, in October and traveled to a variety of events out of the Bay Area. He took 39 out of 49 in the Arizona SYC in Y-14 mens foil, 28 out of 38 in Y12 MF. No rating.
Chuyi (Luke) Zeng, grade 6 has fenced a number of local and regional events, taking a respectable 24 out of 60 in the Y-12 mens foil and 46 out of 61 in the Y-14 event at the Treasure Chest RYC in San Francisco in late January. No rating.
Zoie Wang, grade 5, competes very regularly and took second in a late November RYC in San Jose, out of 20, and took first of 14 in a local Y-10 Womens foil event. In the Late September RYC in Sunnyvale, Wang took second of 18 in Y-10 womens foil and 17 of 44 in Y-12 womens foil and in early September, she took second in Y-10 womens foil at the SYC in North Texas. No rating.
Jiening (Jason) Zhang grade 5, had an excellent result in late January at the Treasure Chest RYC on Treasure Island in San Francisco, taking second out of 38 in Y-10 mens foil and seventh out of 60 in the Y-12 event. Two nice podiums! He took seventh out of 17 in Y-10 MF North Texas Roundup, 44 out of 63 in Y-12 MF. He medaled in late November at the San Jose RYC, taking second out of 31 in Y-10 mens foil and 21 out of 70 in Y-12 MF. In early December, in the San Diego SYC, Zhang took fifth out of 36 in Y-10 mens foil action and 29 in the Y-12 event out of 97. No rating.
Please report all fencing and other activities results to news@harker.org. We love to report how our students are doing!
On Jan. 19, Harker’s own “Eagle Bots” FIRST Lego League Team – made up of fifth graders Sahil Jain, Farhan Ansari, Mihir Gupta, Daniel Wu and Jaden Chyan – was awarded Most Innovative Solution at the Northern California FLL championship (held at the University of California, Berkeley) for a science project it devised to help astronauts eat better.
The students’ project explored how the quality of food can affect the mood of astronauts in space, who must cope with a lack of fresh produce in addition to constant isolation, leading to issues with physical and emotional health. Upon researching these topics, they found that smell and taste are closely linked, and developed an idea for an “AroMask” that astronauts can wear to immerse themselves in the scents of their favorite foods to stimulate hunger. The team consulted with psychiatrists and NASA scientists as part of its research.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2018 issue of Harker Magazine.
In a departure from its regular programming, this year Harker held its two big fall events on the same weekend and compounded the fun by adding a Grand Reunion gathering for alumni. Homecoming at Saratoga felt all new with the reconfigured campus, which suited the event well.
Festivities started early with the opening of Harker’s Athletic Hall of Fame in the new athletic center’s Krishnamurthi Sports Gallery. Guests were treated to hors d’oeuvres and soft drinks prior to the event, then watched as the drape was pulled, officially opening the Hall of Fame. Harker inducted three student athletes and one super fan (see page 48 for the full story).
Even as the Hall of Fame inductees were accepting their awards, fans were streaming past the windows on their way to Davis Field for the traditional pregame activities of the Eaglets fly-by, lower school cheer squad performance and the tug of war to settle third and fourth places in the spirit competition. A brief moment of silence was held for the passing of Diana Nic ols, former head of school, before the coin toss.
Harker dominated the game against the Lobos of Elsie Allen High School, winning 56-0. Halftime activities included performances by the varsity cheer squad and Varsity Dance Troupe, as well as the tug-off in which the seniors clipped the juniors to take first place in the contest.
Also at halftime, Teja Patil ’02 was given Harker’s 2018 Distinguished Alumni Award for her work as a doctor with the Palo Alto Veterans Administration and her work overseas. The following day, Saturday, was a mixture of delight in seeing old friends and sadness in saying goodbye to Diana Nichols at her memorial. The memorial, attended by about 200, was held in the Rothschild Performing Arts Center, Nichols’ last big project before her death. (See page 33 for more.)
Following the memorial, about 50 alumni from many graduation classes gathered at the upper school to reminisce, nosh, enjoy an adult beverage and reconnect. Brian Yager, head of school, conducted tours of the new buildings and alumni were wowed and a little jealous, according to reports! The event ended early enough for alumni to enjoy an evening on the town.
Sunday was the big day for the whole community, as families poured onto the Blackford campus for one of the last few picnics on that site before the middle school moves to the Union campus in 2022. The 68th Harker Family & Alumni Picnic picked up where the 2016 picnic ended; the 2017 picnic was canceled due to the fires in Napa.
This year’s theme was “Back to the Future,” in keeping with the school’s celebration of its 125th anniversary. As always, the blacktop was jammed with booths offering games of skill, chance and fun. Attendees tried laser tag, a self-propelled ride called The Wizzer, and a trial of skill called The Hoverboard in the multipurpose room, along with various sports-related games. Highlights, as always, included the stage performances by various student groups, along with appearances by various administrators getting into the spirit of the day. Food trucks supplied delicious snacks on the perimeter while food booths in the center of the grounds filled bellies with classic picnic fare. It was a glorious weekend with lots to do for everyone!
Visit news.harker.org for more. To see the skit on our cover, visit https://harker. wistia.com/medias/b9l34c6tam .
Senior Kelsey Wu was recently selected to be a part of Jazz in the Neighborhood’s Emerging Artists Program, which connects young Bay Area jazz talents with mentorship and performance opportunities with professional musicians. Wu, who performs with The Harker School Jazz Band and the show choir Downbeat, earned a spot in the program after a rigorous selection process that required applicants to submit videos of their performances or schedule live auditions. Those selected for the program are expected to have a five-song repertoire they can perform from memory, along with the ability to improvise on those songs as well as several jazz standards. Wu’s first performance as part of the Emerging Artists Program will be with the Dahveed Behroozi Trio at the California Jazz Conservatory on Feb. 6. at 7:30 p.m.
Founded in 2013, Jazz in the Neighborhood is a Bay Area-based organization that presents performances by local professional jazz artists and supports working musicians by arranging fair compensation for their work.
Last week, students in Rebecca Williams’ grade 7 English classes participated in an activity modeled after the popular TV show “Shark Tank.” Students created pitches to convince a panel of “Sharks” – middle school division head Evan Barth, assistant middle school division head Patricia Lai-Burrows, global education director Jennifer Walrod, English teacher Marjorie Hazeltine and middle school librarian Bernie Morrissey – to award money to charitable organizations chosen by the students.
Pitches were created by several students from each grade 7 English class, and each class voted to see who would face the panel in the final round. Williams came up with the idea for the activity both as a persuasive writing exercise and as a means of helping students “realize the privilege that we have.”
Harker parents raised the $700 in prize money, which was distributed among the finalists based on the judges’ evaluation of their pitches. Ritu Belani’s pitch took first place, earning $480 for the Women’s Global Empowerment Fund. Lera Vaisburd’s second-place pitch netted $90 for the American Cancer Society. In third place were Meishin Yen and Mira Goodwin, who donated $70 to the Best Friends Animal Society. Jason Monaghan won $40 for Doctors Without Borders, and Alice Tao and Reshma Kosaraju secured $20 for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
“We really wanted the kids to have to consider their audience,” Williams noted. “I was just truly blown away by their preparedness, poise, confidence and passion.”
A group of students had a unique opportunity to see the game creation industry from the inside in mid-January. The students, four seniors and four freshmen, visited Manticore Games, a stealth-mode startup working on a new multiplayer gaming platform that is seeking to disrupt the gaming industry. The gaming industry is a $100 billion-plus industry, larger than TV, movies and music combined, said Michael Acheatel, business and entrepreneurship teacher. “They gave us a tour of their office, created a customized Harker demo of their product, and served a catered lunch with their CEO, CTO, art director and others from the company,” Acheatel added.
“We learned about the state of the gaming industry and got an insider view of the early stages of a game developer startup,” he continued. “They recently raised $15 million from former execs at EA, Xfire and Zynga. We were asked to not share specific information about the product, but the CEO was quoted on their website saying, ‘The Manticore team is working in stealth mode on a new form of hardcore multiplayer gameplay, leveraging user generated content.’”
It was an eye-opening experience for students. Ishaan Mantripragada, grade 9, noted the company had “the most innovative idea that I’ve seen in a while.”
“It was super fun. We got to meet some great people while learning about the gaming industry and what it takes to make a game,” said classmate Shika Tseitlin.
Senior Cameron Jones noted, “Our trip to Manticore was an unexpected look into the inner workings of a startup company that both revealed how fluid the early stages can be and how a product can motivate so many to invest in it. It’s definitely an experience that I’ll look back on not only for their interesting technologies but also for their entrepreneurial spirit.”