On Saturday, the girls tennis team defeated Menlo for the fourth time this season to become the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Northern California champion for the first time in the program’s history, capping off a massively successful run that also saw the team earn its region’s second consecutive CCS championship.
Displaying dominance for the entire season, the team went undefeated in league play and allowed just 7 points in 10 games. The girls also met division rival Menlo four times, winning every contest, and took second place at the Point Loma Invitational in San Diego, where they defeated CIF Southern California champions Westlake.
As an additional feather in the program’s cap, the duo of Rachel Hernandez, grade 10, and Olivia Guo, grade 9, reached the semifinals of the CCS doubles tournament and Audrey Feng, grade 9, won the individual league title.
Boys varsity water polo made history this past weekend with the program’s first-ever CCS championship, defeating Archbishop Mitty 9-5. Girls tennis also had a landmark moment, defeating Menlo to become CCS champions for the second consecutive year. With these wins, Harker has a total of 10 CCS championships across all participating sports. Both teams also advanced to their respective CIF Northern California championships. Boys water polo will face Dixon High at the Singh Aquatic Center at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, while girls tennis heads to Sacramento this Friday and Saturday as the top seed for their matches.
Tennis players also will be in CCS competition this week as Audrey Feng, grade 9, participates in singles, and the duo of Rachel Hernandez, grade 10, and Olivia Guo, grade 9, compete in doubles.
Cross country runners Veyd Patil, grade 10, and juniors Rupert Chen, Rigo Gonzales and Kara Kister finished their seasons at Saturday’s CCS championships, with all running well. Patil, Chen and Gonzales placed 31st, 35th and 48th, respectively, out of 93 runners.
Last week, CareerConnect, Harker’s student-run networking and career preparation program, led a leadership workshop featuring Helen Zhu ’21, who discussed journalism leadership and clubs at Harker, and Avi Gulati ‘20, who talked about the student council and volunteering in high school. Both alumni shared their experiences in finding their passions in high school, experiencing new classes and clubs, and being involved in student leadership.
Claire Cheng, a freshman who attended the session said, “I think that the event was very interesting, because I learned how two successful Harker students were able to navigate their way through high school and obtain leadership positions even in college.”
The workshop was intended to help guide grade 9 students to explore new opportunities, electives and extracurriculars before they settle. Organizers strove to make the experience memorable for the freshmen and sophomores who attended, but also the alumni speakers. “Even though I was halfway across the country from the upper school campus, it was really heartwarming to be able to see the freshman and sophomores in the classrooms through the Zoom screen,” Zhu said. “I was so glad to be able to give back to the Harker community and I really hope the attendees learned something new!”
On Oct. 27, CareerConnect brought nine students on a day trip to Constellation Research’s three-day Connected Enterprise business conference, held at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Half Moon Bay, to help them better understand what is currently happening in the business world as well as what is predicted to happen in the future. The participants heard from many highly qualified speakers, many of whom are executives in Fortune 500 companies including Amazon and Salesforce. The students learned about the applications of technology and business models in various industries.
One of the notable speakers was Colin Bryer, a former executive at Amazon as well as the author of “Working Backwards,” which provides an inside perspective on the methodology and culture of Amazon. He discussed his experiences working closely with Jeff Bezos and how businesses like Amazon plan for the long term. Another was Geeta Nayyar, the executive medical director at Salesforce, who described the technological changes in the medical industry as a result of COVID-19.
Overall, the trip was a success and provided inspiration for students interested in business. When asked what he wanted the students to gain from Connected Enterprise, R “Ray” Wang, Constellation’s founder and CEO, explained that he wished for all the students to “see what trends are happening and meet people.” He further elaborated that everyone at the conference was approachable and happy to give advice to the students. Sophomore Claire Miao, reflecting on the benefits of the event, commented, “I thought it was a great experience to meet industry professionals that are at the top of their industry. All of the talks were great, and everyone had a topic to listen to that they were interested in. I also had so much fun at the hotel to see the views.”
The trip proved to be a valuable experience for the attendees, with the nine Harker students networking with new people and gaining a more comprehensive understanding of how the business world works.
Sophomore Arushi Sharma recently received her second consecutive President’s Volunteer Service Award, which is awarded to people who have a positive impact on their communities and inspire others to serve. Sharma works with Compassion for Seniors, an organization that stages musical performances for seniors living with Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions. Sharma was instrumental in putting together a massive mask donation effort last year, at time when masks were in short supply at senior centers. By her own estimation, she sewed nearly 200 masks by hand.
The President’s Volunteer Service Award was created in 2003 by AmeriCorps, an independent U.S. government agency that coordinates service efforts across the country. Awards are given to eligible volunteers by certifying organizations, which can include nonprofits, schools and community-based organizations.
In August, the App Dev League, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded by Harker junior Krish Maniar, held its first Appathon for high school students. Participants created business pitch videos, proposals and prototypes of apps they wanted to develop. The event had more than 300 participants and offered $20,000 in prizes thanks to its 20 partners and sponsors. Speakers at the event included Brian Dean, founder of the USA Computing Olympiad, and entrepreneur Damian Musk.
The App Dev League’s leadership is made up of Maniar, Harker sophomore Kabir Ramzan and Saratoga High School juniors Shafin Haque and Ishir Lakhani. Since the organization’s founding in December 2019, it has hosted more than 15 computer science education events with the aim of increasing diversity in the tech industry. Attendees at these events have learned to develop web applications, games, mobile apps and more in a project-based program that is designed to be friendly to those new to development. An estimated 5,000 students have been helped via these events. In the future, the organization hopes to offer technology assistance to schools and create more international branches in addition to monthly events.
One of the most enthusiastic crowds in Harker Concert Series history greeted drummer Jared Schonig and his quintet Friday night, kicking off the first in-person live HCS event in almost two years. The last time the Patil Theater hosted a live Harker Concert Series performance was in February of last year, when The Kronos Quartet played to a packed house.
Remarkably, Schonig and his assembled band of incredible players – saxophonist Patrick Bartley, bassist Matt Clohesy, trumpeter Michael Olmos and pianist Gary Versace – were performing as a group for the first time, though Schonig had worked with each of them individually for years. The group performed eight of Schonig’s original songs, none of which failed to impress. Naturally, Schonig began the show with a drum solo highlighting both his technique and musicality. For the remainder of the set, he was more than content to take the reins at the rhythm section while his bandmates skillfully interpreted his excellent compositions and traded solos.
The highlights were many, ranging from the alternating funk and swing of show opener “Sabotage” to the contemplative “Tig Mack” – a showcase for Versace’s crystalline piano lines – to the steady drive of “Climb,” which displayed Bartley and Olmos’ effortless virtuosity. The band closed with “White Out,” a rhythmically dizzying show of musicianship that could have easily gone off the rails were it not for the expertise and confidence of the people at the controls.
An ever-thankful Schonig, grateful for the opportunity to perform live (“It’s a wonderful thing to get to do it for people again,” he said), stuck around after the standing ovation to chat with concertgoers and sign copies of his double album, “Two Takes.”
This year’s upper school fall play, “Much Ado About Nothing,” which premiered last week, brought audiences to the Patil Theater to enjoy a unique interpretation of one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies. Directed by theater teacher Jeffrey Draper, this production shifted the time period of this story of one-sided love and mistaken identity to just after World War II, with set and costume design to match. Music and dance numbers were also integrated to match the culture of the era and create a light-hearted atmosphere.
Last week, two manuscripts co-authored by Simar Bajaj ‘20 were published in medical journals Nature Medicine and The Lancet. The Nature Medicine piece covered the widespread attempts to suppress voting rights and why medical professionals “champion patients’ right to vote to protect health and deracinate inequitable medical practices, building on the efforts of organizations such as Vot-ER and VoteHealth 2020.” The piece, by Bajaj and co-authors and medical doctors Alister Francois Martin and Fatima Cody Stanford, details why protecting voting rights is a health issue and therefore needs the support of health care professionals.
For The Lancet, Bajaj, Dr. Stanford and Lucy Tu published a piece on the historical and continued racism and misogyny faced by Black women medical professionals, including the outsized scrutiny and expectations placed upon them. “Black women physicians are simultaneously considered superhuman, but never enough. We suggest this double bind leads to a sense of disquietude as Black women’s identity conflicts with their success,” the authors argue. They go on to express support for measures such as implementing diversity, equity and inclusion work as a requirement for promotion.
Last week, Harker athletic coaches Ie-Chen Cheng and Theresa Smith were each named Coach of the Year for the Central Coast Section in girls golf and girls volleyball, respectively, by the National Federation of State High School Association’s Coaches Association. The two longtime coaches were recognized for the positive effects they have had on Harker athletes during the 2020-21 school year. They are now eligible to be recognized as top coaches at both the state and national levels. Congratulations to both of these amazing coaches!
On Friday, lower and middle school students viewed special presentations about the importance of acknowledging Indigenous land and the history of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, the direct ancestors of the Thámien Ohlone-speaking people, the original stewards of the land on which Harker’s campuses now rest. Also shown were videos of the ceremonies unveiling the land acknowledgment monuments that have been placed on each campus. Each video featured representatives from the lower and middle school Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committees speaking to their respective communities. Students at each campus then viewed the newly unveiled monuments for themselves. These activities were the continuation of the land acknowledgment ceremony that took place at the upper school in May, footage from which was also shown Friday.