The CCS cross country finals were held this weekend, and Harker was represented by the girls cross country team and Rigo Gonzales, grade 9. Gonzales finished 61 out of 119 Division 4 boys runners, and the girls team ended the season with a sixth place finish in D4. But the story of the day was Anna Weirich, grade 11, who took first place in the D4 girls race, bringing home the first girls CCS cross country title in school history. Weirich finished 47 seconds ahead of the second place runner and will travel to Fresno on Nov. 30 for the state championships.
Girls Tennis
Last week, the girls tennis team finished its season with an amazing CCS run. The Eagles defeated Salinas 6-1, No. 3 seed Cupertino 4-3 and No. 6 seed Menlo Atherton 4-3 to make it further in CCS than any other Harker tennis team (boys or girls) in school history. The girls eventually fell to St. Francis 2-5 in the semis, but had an amazing year finishing with a 15-3 record.
Girls Volleyball
The historic girls volleyball season came to an end last week as the team was defeated in the first round of NorCals 0-3 by Central Catholic. Congrats on a great season Eagles!
Girls Golf
Natalie Vo, grade 11, and Claire Chen, grade 9, will travel to Poppy Hills on Tuesday to compete at the state championships. Good luck ladies!
On Friday night, the Harker Speaker Series hosted a special evening with legendary composer David Amram. During his nearly 70-year career, Amram has collaborated with many of the 20th century’s most influential cultural figures, including Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Hunter S. Thompson and Leonard Bernstein.
The event began with a scintillating performance by the upper school jazz band, which was joined by Amram on flute and percussion, demonstrating that his skills as a soloist remain sharp. He then sat down with Harker English teacher Charles Shuttleworth for a live interview, during which Amram shared his incredible life story, beginning with his interest in classical music, which he discovered at age 11. He later became enamored with jazz, gospel and folk music from around the world. Amram described much of his life as “serendipity,” having been repeatedly blessed to be put in contact with (and subsequently work with) top musicians. After serving in the military, he was introduced to jazz bassist Charles Mingus, with whom he began playing while studying at the Manhattan School of Music. He later met Thelonious Monk, who complimented Amram on his French horn playing. “I almost fainted,” Amram recalled.
After concluding the interview, Amram joined the Harker upper school orchestra to perform Franz Schubert’s haunting “Unfinished Symphony,” as well as an original work he wrote as a tribute to Afro-Cuban percussionist and composer Chano Pozo during a 1977 cultural exchange trip to Cuba. Titled “En Memoria de Chano Pozo,” the piece incorporates audience participation, and the audience happily clapped along toward the finale. Following the event, Amram participated in an audience Q&A session before signing copies of his books in the lobby for the appreciative attendees.
The lower and middle school fall sports seasons recently came to a close. Check out how each team finished, along with all the team awards.
Middle School WBAL Swim Finals:
The middle school boys took third overall and the girls finished fifth overall.
Grade 6 boys 100-yard medley relay team, second place
Ethan Leelanivas, grade 6, boys 25-yard butterfly, third place
Rajas Apte, grade 7, boys 50 yard freestyle, second place
Adam Pawliger, grade 7, boys 50-yard freestyle, third place
Mirabelle Feng, grade 7, girls 50-yard backstroke, second place
Andrew Au, grade 8, boys 50-yard backstroke, third place
Middle School Swimming: Team awards went to Rahul Sundaresan, grade 6 (MVP), Simon Kirjner, grade 6 (Eagle) and Claire Zhao, grade 7 (Coaches). The team was coached by Tania Chadwick, Justin Culpepper, Ysabel Chen and Betsy Tian.
Lower School Swimming: Team awards went to Ian Cheline, grade 5 (MVP), Amanda Lee-Shen, grade 4 (Eagle) and Manalee Chowdhury, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Tania Chadwick, Justin Culpepper, Ysabel Chen and Betsy Tian.
Middle School WBAL Cross Country Finals:
Grade 6 boys team, second place
Grade 7-8 boys team, third place
Grade 7-8 girls team, ninth place
Stanley Chen, grade 6, boys, first place
Brian Choi, grade 6, boys, eighth place
Alejandro Cheline, grade 6, boys, ninth place
Shreya Vemulapalli, grade 6, girls, 24th place
Andrew Smith, grade 8, boys, second place
Veyd Patil, grade 8, boys, seventh place
Layla McClure, grade 7, girls, 41st place
Middle School Cross Country: Team awards went to Stanley Chen, grade 6 (MVP), Brian Choi, grade 6, and Andrew Smith, grade 8 (Eagle), and Eric Zhang, grade 7, and Kaleb Goldin, grade 7 (Coaches). The team was coached by Samantha Salfen, Sara Pawloski and Ron Paranada.
Middle School Golf: The middle school golf team took second place in the WBAL fall tournament. The top Harker golfer was Ryan Zhang, grade 8 (35), followed by Yu Bai, grade 8 (37), Allison Yang, grade 7 (38) and Ashley Mo, grade 6 (39).
VA (grade 8) Flag Football: The Varsity A team, coached by Randy LeGris and Mike Delfino, finished in eighth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-5 and went 0-7 overall. Team awards went to Ryan Barth (MVP), Kevin Bettencourt (Eagle) and Om Tandon (Coaches).
VB (grade 7) Flag Football: The Varsity B team, coached by Tim Hopkins and Dini Wong, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a 3-2-1 record and went 3-3-1 overall. Team awards went to Vyom Vidyarthi (MVP), Bowen Xia (Eagle) and Drew Diffenderfer (Coaches).
JVA (grade 6) Flag Football: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Richard Amarillas, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a 3-3 league record. Team awards went to Brennan Williams and Rishaan Thoppay (MVP), Topaz Lee (Eagle) and Ritik Raman (Coaches).
JVB (grade 5) Flag Football: The Junior Varsity B team, coached by Karriem Stinson and Tobias Wade, finished in second place in the WBAL with a 3-1 league record and went 4-1 overall. Team awards went to Mason Brooks (MVP), David Kelly and Zackary Delfino (Eagle).
LS Intramural Flag Football (grade 4): Team awards went to Nicky Kerko and Reid Bardin (Eagle) and Ricardo Sanchez (Coaches). The team was coached by Walid Fahmy.
VA (grade 6-8) Softball: The Varsity A team, coached by Adam Albers and Raul Rios, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 4-1 and went 4-2 overall. Team awards went to Keren Eisenberg, grade 7 (MVP), Angelina Burrows, grade 7 (Eagle) and Kira Bardin, grade 6 (Coaches).
JVA (grade 4-5) Softball: The Junior Varsity A team, coached by Jon Cvitanich, Megan Regan and Colleen Campbell, finished in first place in the WBAL with a record of 3-1. Team awards went to Raeanne Li, grade 5 (MVP), Keira Kelly, grade 5 (Eagle) and Ameera Ramzan, grade 5 (Coaches).
VA (grade 6-8) Girls Lacrosse: The Varsity A team, coached by Morgan Smith and Hannah Grannis, competed in a number of friendly tournaments and a few solo matches with other schools this season. The team went from six participants last year to more than 20 this year! Team awards went to Kate Grannis, grade 8 (MVP), Abby Lim, grade 7 (Eagle) and Shaina Cohen, grade 6 (Coaches).
As part of the business and entrepreneurship department’s CareerConnect program, and thanks to the generous support of the Constellation Research organization, four upper school Harker students attended the annual Constellation Research Conference on Tuesday at the Ritz-Carlton in Half Moon Bay.
The event is a three-day innovation summit and executive retreat with one-on-one interviews with marketing visionaries, “executive exchanges, fireside chats and disruptive technology demos,” according to its website. Attendees included leaders from Arby’s Restaurant Group, CBRE Group, Estée Lauder, Spotify, Symmons Industries, The University of Texas System and the U.S. government.
Students had the opportunity to hear from amazing panelists and speakers including the “Father of the Internet,” Vint Cerf, among others, on the topic “Inside Exponential Business Models – From Post Digital Divide to Winner Takes All Networks.” Cerf spoke at Harker in 2013; read about it in Harker News.
There also was a great social luncheon where students were able to network with thought leaders around the world (see pictures attached), noted Juston Glass, teacher in the BE program, “and it was overall an amazing experience for the students to take part in this exclusive, leading-edge, professional experience/conference.”
During the middle school’s trip week, sixth graders headed to Redwood Glen for four days of fun and bonding. The first day was busy, as students played human foosball, traversed balance beams and participated in various activities meant to build trust with one another. Cooperative activities comprised a significant part of the trip, as students navigated a ropes course and went kayaking at Elkhorn Slough. These and other activities also gave them a chance to appreciate many natural marvels and wildlife, spotting owls, sea lions and otters as well as watching the Orionid meteor shower thanks to the clear evening skies.
During the middle school’s trip week, sixth graders headed to Redwood Glen for four days of fun and bonding. The first day was busy, as students played human foosball, traversed balance beams and participated in various activities meant to build trust with one another. Cooperative activities comprised a significant part of the trip, as students navigated a ropes course and went kayaking at Elkhorn Slough. These and other activities also gave them a chance to appreciate many natural marvels and wildlife, spotting owls, sea lions and otters as well as watching the Orionid meteor shower thanks to the clear evening skies.
During the middle school’s trip week, sixth graders headed to Redwood Glen for four days of fun and bonding. The first day was busy, as students played human foosball, traversed balance beams and participated in various activities meant to build trust with one another. Cooperative activities comprised a significant part of the trip, as students navigated a ropes course and went kayaking at Elkhorn Slough. These and other activities also gave them a chance to appreciate many natural marvels and wildlife, spotting owls, sea lions and otters as well as watching the Orionid meteor shower thanks to the clear evening skies.
Grade 7 embarked on its annual national parks trip last week, experiencing the natural beauty and history of some of the country’s most picturesque spots. The trip started in Arizona, where each bus group hiked through Sedona. The following day, the group trekked to one of the world’s most breathtaking natural wonders, the Grand Canyon. On day three, students headed to Mystery Valley to learn about the history of the Navajo people, particularly their relationship to the U.S. military and their ongoing fight to preserve their culture. Navajo historian Wally Brown shared some important aspects of the culture with students, such as the importance of the number 4, which is represented by the four seasons, the four cardinal directions and the first four Navajo clans, among other things.
On the journey to Utah’s Bryce Canyon, the students stopped at the Glen Canyon Dam to learn about the benefits afforded by the dam as well as the problems it posed. During a stop at the Pink Coral Sand Dunes, the students had a great time running up and down the face of the dunes. At Bryce Canyon the next day, the students enjoyed a full-day hike, taking in the spectacular views. The students’ final stop was Zion National Park, famous for its red cliffs.
Students filled Nichols Hall earlier today for this year’s Service Fair, where student-run organizations, as well as representatives of local and national organizations, answered questions about the many community service opportunities available. Mainstays including Harker’s Key Club and National Honor Society were present, as were organizations such as MusiCodes, which utilizes the arts as a means to teach and foster interest in computer science among local youth.
“We wanted a way to combine the two, because we think it’s much easier to code and form associations with it if you introduce a musical aspect,” said junior Michelle Si, a MusiCodes co-founder. Participants in MusiCodes workshops build small pianos, which Si said is “more engaging because it’s hands-on, but also the kids really enjoy it because it’s something that they’re very familiar with.” In the past year, MusiCodes has expanded its reach to include at-risk and foster youth.
Another participating organization, New Visions of Tomorrow, founded in 2013 and run by students from several area schools, works with visually impaired youth in the area. “We do fundraising as well as enrichment activities and we work very closely with Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired,” said senior Jin Tuan, a co-president of the organization. Members of the organization have hosted art workshops and museum visits and have volunteered at local sporting events to raise funds for the Vista Center.
The upper school’s Green Team was today awarded a Distinguished Honorable Mention in the Bow Seat Marine Debris Creative Advocacy Competition. The annual competition, which ended this year after starting in 2016, judged advocacy campaigns created by students aged 11-18 that brought awareness and encouraged action on marine debris in their schools and communities.
Seniors Anvi Banga, Alex Shing, Anthony Shing, and juniors Sachi Bajaj and Natasha Yen created the Buy Better Boba campaign to reduce the proliferation of single-use plastics on campus, particularly those used by bubble tea drinks that have become popular in student fundraisers. The campaign provided reusable glass jars as well as materials that could be used to promote this effort at other schools. The team also engaged with local bubble tea businesses and encouraged them to incentivize the use of reusable containers by their customers.
According to the Bow Seat website, the judges were impressed that, “The Green Team identified a problem that was unique to their school, created a simple and inexpensive solution, and developed strategies to make it scalable in their broader community.”