Currently ranked No. 1 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking and tied with Tiger Woods on the Stanford all-time wins list, Maverick McNealy ’13 has a lot to be proud of. In his final year at Stanford, McNealy recently added to his prestigious career when he received the 2017 Byron Nelson Award. Only graduating seniors are eligible for the award, and a golfer’s entire collegiate and academic career, plus his integrity and character, are considered when selecting the winner.
“It is an absolute honor to be the recipient of this award, one that carries on Mr. Nelson’s legacy,” said McNealy in a statement. “I am humbled to be thought of as an exemplar of what he stood for, and his example will continue to serve as a great model in golf and life. I look forward to the challenge of representing and upholding the values of this award to the best of my abilities.”
Harker alumnus Ayush Midha ’15 is still winning debate awards – now as a Harvard student! He and his Harvard debate partner won the Rex Copeland Award, which is presented to the top college debate team in the nation.
Midha and partner won several invitational tournaments, giving them the best overall record of the year. The award was announced at the National Debate Tournament, held March 24-27 at the University of Kansas. Other teams in the top five included Georgetown University, Wake Forest University and two teams from U.C. Berkeley.
Harker debate coaches Greg and Jenny Achten attended the tournament and were very proud to see Midha receive the Copeland and to make it to the quarterfinals of the tournament. “It is a ton of fun to watch our alums debate so successfully at the collegiate level,” said Jenny Achten. Greg Achten added that Midha’s debate achievements are especially laudable alongside his rigorous premed course of study.
The Harker Alumni Association held a special Harker Family & Alumni Dinner on the Bund in Shanghai in March to celebrate the 35 years Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, has been working at Harker. The crowd, about 75 strong, enjoyed an evening cruise, during which the Alumni Association awarded Rosenthal the Phyllis Carley Award, presented each spring to an individual who has devoted time and energy, and made significant contributions, toward advancing The Harker School’s programs. Former boarding students and alumni gathered to celebrate the award and the contributions Rosenthal has made over his many years at Harker.
Judge John Owens MS ’85, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and is a member of Harker’s board of trustees, visited the lower school yesterday to speak to third graders at the request of teacher Heidi Gough. Owens discussed his career, told entertaining anecdotes about cases he worked on and took questions from the students. Interestingly, Sarah Leonard, primary division head, was Owens’ teacher while he attended Harker.
Formerly a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olsen LLP, Owens’ practice focused on representing individuals and corporations in government investigations, and conducting internal investigations into allegations of corporate misconduct, according to the firm’s website. Prior to joining Munger Tolles in 2012, he was a federal prosecutor for 11 years. Owens graduated first in his class from Stanford Law School in 1996. He served as a law clerk to Judge John Clifford Wallace, former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Andrew Shvarts ’03 has published his first book! “Royal Bastards,” for teens and young adults, is the story of a castle lord’s disenfranchised “natural” children who are drawn into castle intrigue. Only they can warn the king in time to prevent civil war.
Shvarts has been writing for young adult (YA) audiences for about a decade in his role as a writer/designer at Pixelberry Studios. “I’ve been exploring branching out into fiction for a while,” he said. “Royal Bastards is actually the third YA novel I’ve written and shopped around.
“The genesis for it was actually a combination of two ideas I’d had for a while: a young adult ‘Game of Thrones,’ and a story about teens on the run from their criminal parents. I realized that these two ideas actually combined really well, and the book wrote itself from there!”
Royal Bastards is the first of a planned trilogy, Shvarts said, noting he is three-quarters done with the second book.
Congratulations to Michael Amick ’13, who was selected in the second round (32nd overall) of the MLS draft by the Portland Timbers. Amick played college soccer at UCLA, where he was a three-time team captain, first team All-Pac 12 selection in his sophomore year, honorable mention All-Pac 12 selection in his junior and senior years, Pac 12 All-Academic first team selection in his junior and senior year, and Pac 12 men’s soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year in his senior year. “When I finally heard my name, it was a huge relief and a very exciting moment to walk on stage, taking the next step to pursue my soccer career,” said Amick. See the moment when Amick was selected: http://www.timbers.com/post/2017/01/13/2017-mls-superdraft-defender-michael-amick-s-draft-day-podium-speech
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team dropped a close 37-35 game against Castilleja last week. Jordan Thompson, grade 12, led the Eagles with 18 points in the loss. Later in the week, the Eagles bounced back with a 60-33 win over Mercy Burlingame. Thompson again scored 18 points, with Selin Sayiner, grade 11, adding 11 points. The Eagles have most of the week off until they host The Kings Academy on Friday.
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team picked up a 66-50 win over Crystal Springs Uplands last week, with Eric Jeong, grade 11, leading the way with 17 points. The victory also marked the 600th win in the impressive career of coach Butch Keller. However, later in the week, the Eagles fell to Eastside College Prep 51-44. Gene Wang, grade 10, led Harker with 11 points. Next up for the boys are home games versus The Kings’ Academy on Tuesday and Menlo on Friday.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team dropped two matches last week, a 2-1 loss to Crystal Springs Uplands and a 4-0 loss to Sacred Heart Prep. This week, the Eagles host Menlo on Friday and Eastside College Prep on Friday.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team was defeated 8-0 by Woodside Priory last week, but looks to rebound with three matches this week. The Eagles travel to Castilleja on Tuesday and Mercy Burlingame on Thursday, before hosting Eastside College Prep on Friday.
US Wrestling
The Eagles wrestling team opened its league season with a 45-36 loss to Los Altos last week. Alan Hughes, grade 11, Eric Fang, grade 9, and Davis Howard, grade 12, all picked up wins by pin. This past weekend, the Eagles competed at the Los Gatos Wildcat Invitational with Fang finishing third in the 195-pound division, Devin Keller, grade 9, finishing fourth in the 136-pound division and Kobe Howard, grade 10, finishing seventh in the 132-pound division. The Eagles host their first match of the year this Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Blackford against Saratoga High.
MS Wrestling
Congrats to Dezi Johnsen, grade 7, who took first in the grade 6-8 boys 142-pound division at the prestigious New Year’s Bash middle school wrestling tournament in Clovis this past weekend.
Congratulations to cross country and track coach Scott Chisam on being named a starter at this year’s state track meet. Chisam is a member of the CCS Starters Association and was nominated to join starters from other CIF sections at the finals in June.
Izzy Connell ’13 continues her stellar collegiate career at Pepperdine University as she set two school records in the first meet of the women’s indoor track season. At Northern Arizona’s Friday Night Duals last Friday, Connell broke her own school record in the 60-meter sprint, placing sixth in the event. She also placed sixth and broke the school record in the 400. Connell also holds the school records in the 100, 200, 400, 4×400 and the indoor 200.
Nikhil Panu ’13 and his app, Squadz, were among just 10 teams selected to participate in the Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures Social Innovation Lab (SIL). “In addition to being promising solutions to pressing social issues in the areas of health, education and community development, these ventures and their leaders represent the strength and diversity of Baltimore’s social innovation and entrepreneurship community,” said Darius Graham, SIL director, in the university’s news story.
The report noted, “Squadz is a social activity and venue booking platform that connects the community to play pickup sports, while generating revenue for community centers and recreation facilities. [It is] operated by Nikhil Panu, a Johns Hopkins University graduate student in the Whiting School of Engineering.”
“As a member of the cohort,” said Panu, “I see Squadz making the transition from a neat mobile app for pickup sports to a true sports community platform. We’ll be able to grow our user base through forming strategic partnerships and expand our venue network by meeting the right community leaders in the Baltimore area.”
Congrats to Nikhil! We’ll be watching to see where he takes Squadz!