Harker took second in the annual Department of Energy Regional High School Science Bowl. “While Harker won the last two years, we graduated four of five members last May, so I was not expecting a three-peat,” said chemistry teacher Robbie Korin, who advises the group. “However, we almost got one! Our Harker Team 1 lost in the finals to an older Lynbrook team. Both Team 1 and Team 2 were 6-0 in their morning round-robin bracket.”
Both Harker teams were in the top eight, so they made it to the afternoon elimination rounds. Team 2 lost out quickly in the afternoon, but Team 1 pushed through to the finals before succumbing.
Members:
Team 1: Emily Liu, grade 11, Rishab Parthasarathy, grade 9, Alexander Young, grade 12, Russell Yang, grade 10, and William Zhao, grade 9.
Team 2: Kyle Li, grade 11, David Dai, grade 9, Harsh Deep, grade 9, Alexander Hu, grade 9, and Kaushik Shivakumar, grade 12.
“Thanks to all of you as these kids know a great deal of science and math!” Korin added. Go Eagles!
By Jenny Achten, Speech and Debate Department Chair
The Harker speech and debate team has continued its winning streak this winter with successes at a host of tournaments across the nation. Students traveled to tournaments across California as well as in Illinois, Georgia, Arizona and Florida. Harker is having an especially strong season and we are proud of the success of all of the students.
In early November, students attended a tournament at Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles. Sachin Shah, grade 11, was in the semi-finals of Lincoln-Douglas debate. Kelly Shen, grade 12, also made it to elimination rounds in Lincoln-Douglas. Anuhsa Kuppahally, grade 12, Maddie Huynh, grade 11, Andy Lee, grade 10 and Deven Shah, grade 9, all qualified for elimination rounds in policy debate.
At the Glenbrooks tournament in Chicago, our speech and congress students shined in late November. Haris Hosseini, grade 12, was first place in original oratory. Nikki Solanki, grade 11, was fifth place program oral interpretation and made it to semi-finals in dramatic interpretation. Jason Lin, grade 10; David Feng, grade 11; Andrew Sun, grade 10; and Nathan Ohana, grade 10, all made it to the semi-final round of congressional debate.
Students also won multiple awards at local league tournaments throughout the area. Meghna Phalke, grade 12, was a finalist in original oratory. In congressional debate tournaments Tiffany Zhao, grade 11, and Nakul Bajaj, grade 11, both placed second, Brandon Lin, grade 11, was third, while Andrew Lu, grade 10, and Aaditya Gulati, grade 9, both placed fifth.
Travel continued to the College Preparatory School in Oakland in late December where Akshay Manglik, grade 10, made it to the octo-finals in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Sachin Shah, Shen and Anshul Reddy, grade 9, also made it to elimination rounds of Lincoln-Douglas.
At the Arizona State University tournament in early January Sachin Shah, reached the octofinals in Lincoln-Douglas debate while Julia Biswas, grade 10, and partner Deven Shah reached the octofinals in policy debate. In congressional debate, Sun placed fifth and Jason Huang, grade 12, also reached finals. Ashwin Rammohan, grade 12, Annie Ma, grade 11, Bajaj, Ohana and Riyaa Randhawa, grade 9, reached semifinals of congress. Additionally, Hosseini placed first in original oratory.
Students also won awards at the Sunvitational Tournament in Fort Lauderdale this January. Jason Huang, grade 12, was in semis of congressional debate. Avi Gulati, grade 11, was third in extemporaneous speaking and made it to semi-finals of original oratory. Hosseini, was third in original oratory. Solanki, was in semis of program oral interpretation.
At the Harvard Westlake Lincoln-Douglas tournament in January, Manglik made it all of the way to the semi-final round. Shen and Sachin Shah also qualified for elimination rounds.
During the same weekend as Harvard-Westlake students also competed at the James Logan tournament in Union City. Ayan Nath, grade 9, and Ellen Guo, grade 11, reached the elimination rounds; Nath was named the fourth overall speaker and partner Guo placed 14. Prerana Archaryya, grade 11, placed fifth in dramatic interpretation of literature.
Finally, at the Barkley Forum Invitational at Emory University in Atlanta, Avi Gulati placed first in original oratory and Hosseini, placed third. Sun reached the finals of congressional debate while Ma, Ohana and Bajaj reached congressional semifinals. In policy debate, Kuppahally and Huynh reached double octo-finals.
The speech and debate season will continue until June with tournaments ranging all over California as well as Dallas, Chicago, and Lexington, Kentucky.
By Jenny Achten, Speech and Debate Department Chair
The Harker speech and debate team has continued its winning streak this winter with successes at a host of tournaments across the nation. Students traveled to tournaments across California as well as in Illinois, Georgia, Arizona and Florida. Harker is having an especially strong season and we are proud of the success of all of the students.
In early November, students attended a tournament at Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles. Sachin Shah, grade 11, was in the semi-finals of Lincoln-Douglas debate. Kelly Shen, grade 12, also made it to elimination rounds in Lincoln-Douglas. Anuhsa Kuppahally, grade 12, Maddie Huynh, grade 11, Andy Lee, grade 10 and Deven Shah, grade 9, all qualified for elimination rounds in policy debate.
At the Glenbrooks tournament in Chicago, our speech and congress students shined in late November. Haris Hosseini, grade 12, was first place in original oratory. Nikki Solanki, grade 11, was fifth place program oral interpretation and made it to semi-finals in dramatic interpretation. Jason Lin, grade 10; David Feng, grade 11; Andrew Sun, grade 10; and Nathan Ohana, grade 10, all made it to the semi-final round of congressional debate.
Students also won multiple awards at local league tournaments throughout the area. Meghna Phalke, grade 12, was a finalist in original oratory. In congressional debate tournaments Tiffany Zhao, grade 11, and Nakul Bajaj, grade 11, both placed second, Brandon Lin, grade 11, was third, while Andrew Lu, grade 10, and Aaditya Gulati, grade 9, both placed fifth.
Travel continued to the College Preparatory School in Oakland in late December where Akshay Manglik, grade 10, made it to the octo-finals in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Sachin Shah, Shen and Anshul Reddy, grade 9, also made it to elimination rounds of Lincoln-Douglas.
At the Arizona State University tournament in early January Sachin Shah, reached the octofinals in Lincoln-Douglas debate while Julia Biswas, grade 10, and partner Deven Shah reached the octofinals in policy debate. In congressional debate, Sun placed fifth and Jason Huang, grade 12, also reached finals. Ashwin Rammohan, grade 12, Annie Ma, grade 11, Bajaj, Ohana and Riyaa Randhawa, grade 9, reached semifinals of congress. Additionally, Hosseini placed first in original oratory.
Students also won awards at the Sunvitational Tournament in Fort Lauderdale this January. Jason Huang, grade 12, was in semis of congressional debate. Avi Gulati, grade 11, was third in extemporaneous speaking and made it to semi-finals of original oratory. Hosseini, was third in original oratory. Solanki, was in semis of program oral interpretation.
At the Harvard Westlake Lincoln-Douglas tournament in January, Manglik made it all of the way to the semi-final round. Shen and Sachin Shah also qualified for elimination rounds.
During the same weekend as Harvard-Westlake students also competed at the James Logan tournament in Union City. Ayan Nath, grade 9, and Ellen Guo, grade 11, reached the elimination rounds; Nath was named the fourth overall speaker and partner Guo placed 14. Prerana Archaryya, grade 11, placed fifth in dramatic interpretation of literature.
Finally, at the Barkley Forum Invitational at Emory University in Atlanta, Avi Gulati placed first in original oratory and Hosseini, placed third. Sun reached the finals of congressional debate while Ma, Ohana and Bajaj reached congressional semifinals. In policy debate, Kuppahally and Huynh reached double octo-finals.
The speech and debate season will continue until June with tournaments ranging all over California as well as Dallas, Chicago, and Lexington, Kentucky.
By Jenny Achten, Speech and Debate Department Chair
The Harker speech and debate team has continued its winning streak this winter with successes at a host of tournaments across the nation. Students traveled to tournaments across California as well as in Illinois, Georgia, Arizona and Florida. Harker is having an especially strong season and we are proud of the success of all of the students.
In early November, students attended a tournament at Notre Dame High School in Los Angeles. Sachin Shah, grade 11, was in the semi-finals of Lincoln-Douglas debate. Kelly Shen, grade 12, also made it to elimination rounds in Lincoln-Douglas. Anuhsa Kuppahally, grade 12, Maddie Huynh, grade 11, Andy Lee, grade 10 and Deven Shah, grade 9, all qualified for elimination rounds in policy debate.
At the Glenbrooks tournament in Chicago, our speech and congress students shined in late November. Haris Hosseini, grade 12, was first place in original oratory. Nikki Solanki, grade 11, was fifth place program oral interpretation and made it to semi-finals in dramatic interpretation. Jason Lin, grade 10; David Feng, grade 11; Andrew Sun, grade 10; and Nathan Ohana, grade 10, all made it to the semi-final round of congressional debate.
Students also won multiple awards at local league tournaments throughout the area. Meghna Phalke, grade 12, was a finalist in original oratory. In congressional debate tournaments Tiffany Zhao, grade 11, and Nakul Bajaj, grade 11, both placed second, Brandon Lin, grade 11, was third, while Andrew Lu, grade 10, and Aaditya Gulati, grade 9, both placed fifth.
Travel continued to the College Preparatory School in Oakland in late December where Akshay Manglik, grade 10, made it to the octo-finals in Lincoln-Douglas debate. Sachin Shah, Shen and Anshul Reddy, grade 9, also made it to elimination rounds of Lincoln-Douglas.
At the Arizona State University tournament in early January Sachin Shah, reached the octofinals in Lincoln-Douglas debate while Julia Biswas, grade 10, and partner Deven Shah reached the octofinals in policy debate. In congressional debate, Sun placed fifth and Jason Huang, grade 12, also reached finals. Ashwin Rammohan, grade 12, Annie Ma, grade 11, Bajaj, Ohana and Riyaa Randhawa, grade 9, reached semifinals of congress. Additionally, Hosseini placed first in original oratory.
Students also won awards at the Sunvitational Tournament in Fort Lauderdale this January. Jason Huang, grade 12, was in semis of congressional debate. Avi Gulati, grade 11, was third in extemporaneous speaking and made it to semi-finals of original oratory. Hosseini, was third in original oratory. Solanki, was in semis of program oral interpretation.
At the Harvard Westlake Lincoln-Douglas tournament in January, Manglik made it all of the way to the semi-final round. Shen and Sachin Shah also qualified for elimination rounds.
During the same weekend as Harvard-Westlake students also competed at the James Logan tournament in Union City. Ayan Nath, grade 9, and Ellen Guo, grade 11, reached the elimination rounds; Nath was named the fourth overall speaker and partner Guo placed 14. Prerana Archaryya, grade 11, placed fifth in dramatic interpretation of literature.
Finally, at the Barkley Forum Invitational at Emory University in Atlanta, Avi Gulati placed first in original oratory and Hosseini, placed third. Sun reached the finals of congressional debate while Ma, Ohana and Bajaj reached congressional semifinals. In policy debate, Kuppahally and Huynh reached double octo-finals.
The speech and debate season will continue until June with tournaments ranging all over California as well as Dallas, Chicago, and Lexington, Kentucky.
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.
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.”
The Harker Podcast Network has produced a new series to help Harker students make informed decisions about the courses they take, and the site has had around 400 visitors.
“We produced this series with the hope of helping students make more informed decisions about the courses they take,” said Arushi Saxena, grade 10. “Apart from a brief description in the Course Catalog and what they hear from upperclassmen, students oftentimes don’t have much to go off of when choosing courses, so these interviews with the teachers of these courses should provide students with a better understanding of each course.
“We currently have over 20 episodes completed, covering individual courses from Food Science to Behavioral Economics, as well as comparative episodes that help students make decisions like Honors versus AP Biology, AP Physics 2 versus AP Physics C, and AP English Literature versus senior English electives. All of the podcasts are 5-8 minutes long, and the majority of them cover electives offered alongside core subjects.”
The Harker Podcast Network team of Enya Lu, grade 12, Evan Cheng, grade 11, Larissa Tyagi, grade 11, and Arushi Saxena, grade 10, began brainstorming this series about two months ago, and since then have been writing questions, recording, editing and posting.
The series is an ongoing project, “and we hope to add many more episodes on academic courses over the next several years in addition to the 20 we’ve already recorded,” said Evan Cheng, grade 11. “This next month, we also plan to record episodes on all the extra period options, such as Speech & Debate and Principles of Business, as well as the Study of Arts courses like Study of Theater.
“Working with Ms. Horan, the upper school academic dean, we’ll get these episodes to the incoming freshman (the Class of 2023) so they can make more informed decisions about their freshman year courses. As a whole, the HPN team is also releasing a Blockchain Decrypted podcast within the next month to help demystify the world of cryptocurrency and localize its application on our very own campus.
The group has expansion hopes. “Since the reception to the Courses at Harker series has been extremely positive, we see a bigger opportunity to help inform students about not just the courses at Harker but other aspects of the upper school as well,” said Cheng. “For example, we may produce an episode on how students can fulfill their P.E. requirement or an episode on the Harker Conservatory’s Certificate Program. For now, though, our priority is to expand the amount of courses covered in the Courses at Harker series.”
Podcasts can be accessed either through the web at www.harkerpodcasts.net or through the Apple Podcasts app by searching “Courses at Harker.” The team is working with Horan to add podcasts to the student portal for easier access.
The Harker Podcast Network was started in 2014 by the Business and Entrepreneurship Department.
The Society for Science & the Public announced the 40 finalists for this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search, and three Harker seniors are among those named! They (and their projects) are:
Ayush Alag, “Computational DNA Methylation Analysis of Food Allergy Yields Novel 13-gene Signature to Diagnose Clinical Reactivity”
Natasha Maniar, “MapAF: Deep Learning to Improve Therapy of Complex Human Heart Rhythm Abnormalities”
Ruhi Sayana, “Precision Care for Leukemia: Discovery of Novel Therapeutics for High-Risk ALL via Epigenetic and Computational Transcriptome Profiling”
Each of these students will head to Washington, D.C., in early March for the national finals.
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Jan. 9, 2019:
Seven Harker seniors – the most of any school in California – were named Top 300 Scholars in this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search, the Society for Science & the Public announced today. Ayush Alag, Cameron Jones, Natasha Maniar, Ruhi Sayana, Katherine Tian, Cindy Wang and Richard Wang were among 300 students chosen from the 2,000 entries in this year’s competition. Each will receive a $2,000 prize, and Harker will be awarded an additional $2,000, as will every school that produced a Top 300 Scholar.
This year’s 40 finalists will be announced on Jan. 23, and in March they will embark on an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the final portion of the competition, during which more than $1.8 million in prizes will be awarded. Congratulations and best of luck to these stellar students!
Next month, senior Nikhil Dharmaraj (pictured, second from the right) will visit Cambridge, Mass., to speak on a panel about the intersection of artificial intelligence and the humanities with Harvard University faculty members Jessica Fjeld and David Weinberger of Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society. Dharmaraj’s work with Harvard began last summer during an internship at the college’s metaLAB, “a joint product of [Harvard’s] graduate school of design and the law school,” he explained, “which seeks to explore various issues at the intersection of technology and the humanities. Right up my alley, as I’m equally interested in both subjects!”
Dharmaraj worked on two projects during his time with metaLAB. The first, titled “Moral Labyrinth,” was showcased at the prestigious Ars Electronica festival in Linz, Austria, in September and consisted of mazes with borders made up of ethical quandaries about technology and nature. “My role in the project involved web development and early design of the digital labyrinth that ended up being exhibited at the festival,” said Dharmaraj. “I also contributed to the ideation of the physical labyrinth as well as general research for the project.”
His next project was “The Laughing Room,” an installation designed to emulate the set of a sitcom, in which participants’ conversations were scanned by an algorithm for speech patterns that would elicit laughter. A laugh track would play when the algorithm detected a phrase perceived as funny. “As a summer intern, I completed a full literature review on philosophical theories of laughter and computational humor, and I contributed to the project’s data collection and code,” Dharmaraj said. “It was done using a neural network, trained on various stand-up comedians.”
Upon matriculating at Harvard in the fall, Dharmaraj plans to continue working with metaLAB while working on his dual concentration in computer science and classics.