Along with thousands of families throughout California, some of Harker’s faculty and staff also have been impacted by the devastating fires in the state. Many have been evacuated and are still working through the process of returning to their homes. Others have lost their homes. Please continue to look for community updates on fundraising efforts that support our Harker families. Two current efforts, organized by family and friends of impacted staff, are raising funds to help upper school English teacher Beverley Manning and lower school academic counselor Patty Marsette. Questions or other information on fundraising efforts can be sent to communications@harker.org.
Last week, the National Scholarship Corporation named 42 Harker seniors as semifinalists in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Program, representing 22 percent of the senior class. Of the more than 1.5 million high school juniors who entered the program last year by taking the PSAT/NMSQT, only 1 percent were named semifinalists. Finalists are determined through an application process in which the semifinalist and an official from the semifinalist’s school submit an application detailing criteria such as the semifinalist’s academic record, community participation and awards received.
This year’s semifinalists are:
Nilisha Baid, Karanvir Bhasin, Manasa Bhimaraju, Elvin Chen, Matthew Chung, Emma Dionne, Preston Ellis, William Fan, Maya Franz, Alissa Gao, Annesh Dastidar, Pascal Han, Fonda Hu, Vivian Jin, Allison John, Katie Li, Jason Lin, Andrew Lu, Claire Luo, Arya Maheshwari, Akshay Manglik, Krishay Mukhija, Vaishnavi Murari, James Pflaging, Utkarsh Priyam, Michelle Si, Aditya Singhvi, Srinath Somasundaram, Andrew Sun, Aditya Tadimeti, Betsy Tian, Annamma Vazhaeparambil, Daniel Wang, N Wang, Sidra Xu, Russell Yang, Sara Yen, Nichoals Yi, Avery Young, Alex Zhai, Weixuan Zhang and Helen Zhu.
The latest middle school campus construction update is now live! Join facility manager Mike Bassoni as he updates the community on the pumping and finishing of the concrete that will form the floor of the new classroom building.
Over the summer, upper school English teacher Chris Hurshman led a book club with several Harker alumni, meeting each week to discuss Fyodor Dostoevsky’s final novel, “The Brothers Karamazov.”
“I was dreading losing connection with people and longing for a bit of intellectual community over the summer,” said Hurshman. “So I posted an open call to Harker alums on Facebook and invited them to join me in reading and discussing a long novel of their choice.” With similar summer reading activities already established with current students, Hurshman decided to “carry on that habit with our alums.”
“Karamazov” was selected via an online poll, edging out George Eliot’s “Middlemarch.” “When Mr. Hurshman reached out, I thought it was a great opportunity to get to know some new people and take my first step into Russian literature,” said Sana Pandey ‘20. “‘The Brothers Karamazov’ has been called one of the best books of all time, and I wanted to read it and hear about other people’s perspectives on it.”
“I was interested in participating because the book club seemed like a good way both to spend some time with my former classmates and also explore subjects not included within my college studies,” said Derek Yen ‘18, who is currently attending MIT. “Between the interests of the student body and the structure of my coursework, I haven’t had as many opportunities to enjoy literature and participate in literary discussion in college.”
The club met each week via Zoom, and participants found both the reading and the discussions fruitful. “This might have been a byproduct of how ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ is written, but I really enjoyed the intellectual debates that some of the plot points or themes sparked,” said Pandey. “Oftentimes, even though book club was meant to last an hour, we would continue deliberating on the moral or social groundings of a character’s decisions and standpoints for at least an hour after we were supposed to end.”
Hurshman said he hopes that these organized discussions will continue, and possible topics for the next summer are already being discussed, “with some asking to read ‘Middlemarch’ and others to organize a discussion group centered on film or on poetry reading,” he said. “I’m hopeful that, regardless of its final form, this can become a growing tradition and that we’ll be able resume these conversations in person someday.”
On Thursday, Harker’s Recreate Reading program welcomed author Julie Berry to discuss her latest novel, “The Lovely War.” In the book, the lives of four young people during World War I are examined from the perspective of Greek gods. Berry went into detail about the process of creating the novel, including the tremendous amount of research involved.
“Berry was inspired to write a book about World War I because there are a lot of young adult books about World War II but not a lot about World War I,” said senior Anika Fuloria. “She was also super interested in the subject matter, likening writing a book to doing a master’s degree in terms of research and dedication.”
The discussion also helped students find more ways to appreciate the book. “The reasoning behind her use of the Greek gods as the narrators helped me view the narrators differently,” said sophomore Keesha Gondipalli. “They were used to personify both love and war and create a way to tell the story both broadly and with details.”
Fuloria enjoyed Berry’s explanation of the book’s ending: “She walked us through a few drafts of her book where each one had a different ending and explained why she did choose the ending in this way,” she said. “I found it super fulfilling as a reader of the book who imagined a few possible endings as I was reading.”
From Aug. 15-16, 70 students attended Harker DECA’s seventh annual Launch event, which is designed to introduce prospective members to DECA and the Harker School’s business, economics and entrepreneurship department. Through detailed lectures, interactive activities, mock competitions, guest speakers and alumni panels, students were given an idea of what this year will look like. Due to the current circumstances, Launch was held over Zoom this year. Because this was the first virtual Launch, the officer team tried to simulate the in-person experience online.
“The Innovation Challenge allows our DECA Launch attendees to design a mini business plan for a product or service that they see a need for in the market. Along with creating an executive summary, groups present their ideas before a panel of alumni judges at the end of DECA Launch,” said Harker DECA co-chief executive officer Lisa Barooah, grade 12. “Since this year DECA Launch was held virtually, we redesigned the activities to be more engaging and more considerate of screen time. We added three icebreaker activities for group bonding and inserted 10-minute breaks into the schedule. Finally, after noticing room for improvement in the groups’ presentations at last year’s launch, our director of technology held a graphic design workshop on day two. Students presented impressive pitches in the Closing Ceremony due to these changes, which I thoroughly enjoyed.”
Early Saturday morning, students joined the Zoom call and viewed a slideshow of images from past conferences while the operations team took attendance. Then, sophomore Rohan Gorti as well as CEO of the 2019-20 school year, Phil Han ‘20, spoke about their past experiences with Harker DECA.
The officers held an icebreaker game for the attendees to get to know their innovation challenge teammates and the officers. Junior Melody Luo, director of writtens, introduced the students to the weekend’s main activity, the Innovation Challenge, before students went into breakout rooms with their teams and assigned officers. With the guidance of an upperclassman mentor, attendees brainstormed product ideas on virtual whiteboards and started working on their executive summaries.
“Despite the unprecedented online format, this year’s Launch was just as memorable, if not more so, as past events, with students embracing each part of the experience with brimming enthusiasm,” Luo said. “As they learned the ins and outs of roleplays with their mentors and collaborated together on their very first executive summary, there was an emerging sense of community that DECA is so known for. Launch is always special to the DECA officer team because it’s our first opportunity to bond with the new members and share with them the thrilling aspects of the competitive season.”
Next, the attendees bonded with their Innovation Challenge teams through an at-home Scavenger Hunt, in which they were asked to complete a DECA Bingo and pitch a random item for 30 seconds, along with other various activities. Through this exercise, students formed a stronger bond with their mentors and teammates. Attendees were then introduced to the several sectors of DECA events through the Cluster Presentations.
The last day of Launch, Juston Glass, business and entrepreneurship teacher and DECA chapter advisor, presented on all of Harker’s business and entrepreneurship programs. Next, sophomore Anika Muddu, director of roleplays, hosted a presentation introducing the attendees to roleplays before senior Bryan Zhang, VP of competitions, hosted a Kahoot! game covering the Business Administration Core exam topics. Afterward, Catherine He, grade 11, director of technology, hosted a graphic design workshop, which further prepared attendees for their Innovation Challenge presentations. Attendees then went back to their breakout session to work on the Innovation Challenge.
The Roleplay Tournament was a key part of Launch and took place on Sunday afternoon. Mentors were assigned to small groups and explained the process and guidelines of a roleplay. Subsequently, students were paired up with judges to present their roleplays.
“Launch was a fun and exciting way to learn more about DECA. I enjoyed with my team on the innovation challenge and competing in the roleplay and I look forward to participating in these events during the school year,” said Olivia Xu, grade 9.
Attendees were given extra time after the Roleplay Tournament for practicing their Innovation Challenge presentations before the parents joined the session for the Alumni Panel and the Closing Ceremony. The students and parents were given the opportunity to ask five alumni – Vignesh Panchanatham ’18, Enya Lu ’19, Lucas Wang ’17, Shania Wang ’19 and Savi Joshi ’15 – questions about how DECA has impacted their high school and college paths, as well as career choices. Afterward, teams pitched their Innovation Challenge ideas to the judges, who graded them on, presentation, innovation and teamwork. Attendees and parents watched a Launch recap video while the judges worked on scoring the teams. Closing speeches from Glass and the CEOs and the award ceremony concluded the weekend.
“Despite it being online, I really enjoyed the DECA launch this year and I can’t wait to attend conferences!” said attendee Sonya Apsey, grade 9.
Harker DECA is excited to welcome all new and returning members and is looking forward to starting the next school year with an exceptional group of future leaders.
“While the event was unprecedented in its delivery format, both the participants and our DECA officer team were very open, receptive and excited to dive right into the program. Students were able to meet new friends, prepare for the upcoming DECA year and finished the weekend with amazing business ideas and pitches. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds for our Harker DECA chapter. Go Eagles!” said Glass.
Students that won awards are as follows (all winners are in grade 9):
On Saturday, Harker students were invited to explore a virtual replica of the upper school campus, created in Minecraft by a team of about 40 students. The detailed recreation features nearly every room on campus, including teachers’ classrooms and staff offices.
“We’ve filled in many rooms and will make it as accurate as possible,” said senior Jason Lin, a lead on the project. “In some places, the detail is truly impressive. For instance, the inside library room, from which students are often ejected for being too loud, permanently has a red card next to its door, which signifies that it’s getting too loud.”
Those who did not have a Minecraft account were invited to view a special livestream for a tour of the campus. Minecraft players and viewers on the livestream combined for a total of nearly 200 visitors.
The project – led by Lin and seniors Richard Chang, Arusha Patil and Ethan Steeg, as well as junior Kailash Ranganathan and sophomores Rupert Chen, Kris Estrada, Michelle Jin and Anthony Tong – was staged on a Minecraft server set up toward the end of the 2019-20 school year with the help of upper school learning, innovation and design (LID) director Diane Main. “We worked with Mrs. Main to make sure that this server would be a positive, contained environment,” Lin said. “It went pretty well – dozens of people met with classmates, built houses together and just had fun on these servers amidst shelter-in-place.”
The upper school campus project was started over the summer, with map data, aerial footage and an online graphing calculator being used to recreate the campus. Lin hopes the Minecraft campus can continue to be a place for students to convene. “[Upper school dean of students Kevin Williamson] and the class deans have been very open and helpful in this process,” said Lin. “We will work with them to make sure that the server can be a positive, contained space for students to have fun together throughout the year.”
Lin said visiting the virtual campus with his friends has helped foster a sense of community in a time when students are spending so much time apart. “Nothing beats the feeling of racing down the hallways of [the campus’ main building] again with six friends,” he said. “Even though it’s Minecraft, the sense of togetherness is real.”
This morning, upper school students attended a virtual version of the 2020 matriculation ceremony, which featured welcoming speeches by Head of School Brian Yager and upper school Division Head Butch Keller. Yager encouraged the Class of 2021 to lead “in a manner that honors and builds upon the efforts of the 127 years of graduates preceding you.” To the incoming freshmen, he advised, “enjoy and embrace the process, and look to the students in the grades above you for the guidance and inspiration, as well as for examples of what will be expected of you in the years to come.”
Keller remarked at the lack of students in front of him, as well as the unusual silence that greeted his mention of each class. “Typically this is the first attempt for the seniors to demonstrate their superiority,” he joked. He nevertheless offered advice on showing gratitude and exhibiting determination. He also reiterated one of his favorite maxims: “It’s not the situation that’s important. It’s your reaction to the situation.”
Students were treated to a performance of Andy Grammer’s “Keep Your Head Up” by senior Alexander Kumar, and heard from ASB president Jason Lin, grade 12, and ASB vice president Arusha Patil, who led the recitation of the upper school’s matriculation oath. Lin related a story of playing soccer in his backyard during the summer and shattering one of the outdoor lamps, which was followed by dread over having to inform his parents. This event reminded him of the importance of communication, which became the theme of his speech. “Communication is key, now more than ever,” he said, following with examples of how the community can stay connected during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremony ended with a hilarious and informative video package that included a musical tour of the upper school campus and introductions to various elements of school life, such as the dress code, waste disposal, spirit and the honor code. A video of the entire event is available on Vimeo.
With the COVID-19 pandemic complicating schedules and making travel infeasible for many around the world, many families were unable to attend Harker’s Summer English Language Institute. “Long story short, most of our Chinese families could not commit to our program due to conflict of schedule,” said ELI director Joe Chung.
However, because there was still great interest among families in Japan, Natsuko Mitsugi of the Tokyo-based after-school program GKCors stepped in so that Japanese students could attend ELI remotely. “We thought if there is any way we can provide the opportunity to local children to experience Harker ELI, we wanted to try,” she said. Mitsugi had heard about Harker in 2017 through a friend in the Bay Area, and had also met Joe Rosenthal, director of strategic initiatives, while he was visiting Japan.
Students met at GKCors and did their lessons together while receiving instruction from ELI teachers, working online from California. “We provided our facility and Harker teachers gave online live lessons for three hours every day,” Mitsugi said. “There are mainly two levels and each class has assistant teachers from GKCors.”
Despite the changes to the program, students enjoyed the lessons and activities planned for them. Karen Glovka’s students “were having fun every day, said Mitsugi. They learned about living things, rainforests and so on. They really enjoyed the games they played.” Although some of the more advanced lessons were challenging, “at the end of the week, we could see their satisfied faces,” Mitsugi said.
Giving the students a place to learn together was very important for the program, as it enabled the students to socialize and learn from one another. “Children had lunch together, played together and learned from each other,” said Mitsugi. “Of course, it would have been better to spend time at a Harker campus, but in a situation like this, we think we did the best we could. We really appreciate what the Harker ELI team did for us.”
Had 2020 gone as planned, a contingent of upper and middle school Latin students would have headed to the University of Richmond in Virginia for the annual National Junior Classical League Convention. The convention was held virtually July 24-29 instead, with 12 Harker students joining the California delegation for games, academic competitions and assemblies.
Rupert Chen, grade 10, kicked off his term as second vice president of the California Junior Classical League by leading the California delegation in nightly organizational meetings and submissions to spirit and service competitions. California placed first in service (letters to representatives) and second overall for large states in spirit and service. Chen and his brother Felix, grade 8, appear at the 35-second mark in a video of one of the spirit themes, “Golden Slumbers/Purple Rain,” named for the JCL colors of purple and gold.
Rupert Chen also served as webmaster for CaJCL for the 2019-20 school year, and the CaJCL website placed first in the website competition. Kabir Ramzan, grade 9, is taking over as webmaster this year.
Students earned the following academic awards, competing at the level of Latin completed in 2019-20.
Level 1/2:
Rahul Sundaresan, grade 7: First in Academic Heptathlon, Ancient Geography, Hellenic History, Roman Life, Mythology, Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, and Latin Derivatives; Second in Classical Art; Third in Roman History
Sundaresan also competed on the novice open certamen (quiz bowl) team that placed second. Open certamen teams are made up of students from different states.
Level 1:
Felix Chen, grade 8: Fifth in Latin Derivatives, Reading Comprehension and Roman Life
Level 2:
Trisha Iyer, grade 9: Fifth in Reading Comprehension
Kabir Ramzan, grade 9: Third in Latin Vocabulary
Michelle Wei, grade 9: Fifth in Reading Comprehension
Iyer and Ramzan also played on the California intermediate competitive certamen team, which placed eighth.
Level 3:
Tiffany Chang, grade 10: First in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, fifth in Latin Vocabulary
Rupert Chen, grade 10: Fourth in Reading Comprehension Prose
Michelle Jin, grade 10: Third in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations
Lauren Liu, grade 10: First in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, first in Latin Literature, second in Reading Comprehension Poetry, second in Classical Art, third in Latin Vocabulary, fifth in Latin Derivatives, fifth in Reading Comprehension Prose
Nicholas Wei, grade 10: First in Reading Comprehension Poetry, second in Latin Grammar, second in Latin Vocabulary, second in Reading Comprehension Prose
Level 4:
Ann Ryan, grade 11: Summa cum laude in Impromptu Art
Level 5+:
Jeffrey Fung ’20: Second in Greek Life and Literature, third in Reading Comprehension Poetry, third in Latin Vocabulary, fourth in Hellenic History, fourth in Roman Life, fifth in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, fifth in Latin Literature
At the final assembly, Lisa Masoni, middle school Latin teacher, was presented with a Summa Cum Laude Sponsor award. This award recognizes contributions to JCL on the local, state and national level. Her nominators highlighted her service to CaJCL as treasurer for the past 14 years, as well as her work on the national level on the certamen moderator squad.