In June and July, Bay Area high school students in grades 9 and 10 bolstered their writing skills at Harker’s Creative Writing Workshop. Working remotely with upper school English teacher Chris Hurshman, students explored various literary concepts and styles and how to apply them to their own writing.
Students studied various forms of writing, including short stories, poems and screenplays, and used them as models for their own compositions. “Students read and discussed representative models and were encouraged to write in imitation of them using a variety of prompts,” said Hurshman. After completing their drafts, students reviewed one another’s work and received feedback from their classmates as well as Hurshman.
When writing and offering feedback, students were given guidelines on what to use in their works and in discussions. “For example, they might be asked to return to a draft of a short story and to expand on the methods of characterization they’ve used,” said Hurshman. “They might be challenged to draw a character entirely through dialogue, for example, or to flesh out the telling details of that character’s appearance and environment.”
During one exercise, students workshopped a poem in class by examining its structure, themes and other features and sharing what they noticed. They then continued to critique each other’s work in small groups.
Hurshman said the students enjoyed having a place to have conversations about writing and develop their skills. “Most students don’t have much experience thinking about literature and creativity from an authorly perspective,” he said. “I think they enjoy seeing the many elements that go into producing a beautiful bit of writing and pushing themselves to achieve that goal.”
This summer, Harker’s upper school journalism department created the Humans of Harker Magazine, which arrived in the Harker community’s mailboxes in July, as a tribute to the Class of 2020. It features photos and small profiles of students from each of the 2020 senior advisories, as well as special messages from upper school head Butch Keller, dance teacher and Class of 2020 dean Karl Kuehn and alumni director Kristina Alaniz.
The magazine is named after the series of videos produced profiling members of the senior class and was conceived at the start of editor-in-chief Saloni Shah’s junior year. “As Humans of Harker editor-in-chief, I discussed my vision for Humans of Harker with Ms. Austin,” said Shah, now a rising senior. “In addition to its multi-platform content, I brought up the possibility of creating Humans of Harker’s own publication, a magazine.”
With the onset of shelter-in-place orders in the spring, production of the magazine went ahead to honor the Class of 2020, which faced extraordinary circumstances as COVID-19 caused nationwide school closures. “Our journalism staff wanted to pay tribute to the Class of 2020 and bring the community together during these unprecedented times,” said Shah.
Lead designer Anoushka Buch, a rising senior, arranged the student photos and profiles and the pages were designed and laid out by Buch and Talon yearbook staffers Nilisha Baid, Shreya Srinivasan and Helen Zhu, all rising seniors.
According to Shah, the magazine has been very well-received. “I’ve received so much love from our entire community whether it be students, alumni or even parents,” she said. “Alumni have told me how much the magazine means to them, especially since they were unable to experience the end of their high school career with their best friends; students have expressed their gratitude at being able to learn more about their peers and parents have emphasized their joy of seeing their children featured and recognized.”
In the final winner announcement of the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, 2020 graduate Zara Vakath was named a winner of college-sponsored scholarship from Claremont McKenna College. The final total of Harker scholarship winners stands at 23. Congratulations to all this year’s winners!
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June 3, 2020:
On Wednesday, recent graduates Quentin Clark, Eric Fang, Lila Gorman, Phillip Han, Nathan Sudeep and Anthony Xu were named winners of college-sponsored scholarships in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, bringing the total number of Harker scholarship winners to 22. Another round of winners is set to be announced in July.
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May 13, 2020:
Today, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the second round of winners in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, and 11 Harker seniors are among them. They are: Kathy Fang, David Feng, Jeffrey Fung, Alyssa Huang, Sahil Jain, Allison Jia, Eileen Li, Kyle Li, Jack Pearce, Thomas Rainow and Bryan Wang. These students are among 2,500 high school seniors chosen to receive National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. More winners are set to be announced in June and July.
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April 28, 2020:
Last week, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the first round of winners of 2020 National Merit scholarships, and seniors Rohan Cherukuri, Mahika Halepete, Madison Huynh, Jessica Jiang and Nellie Tonev were named winners of corporate-sponsored scholarships. Each of the students had reached the finalist portion of the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Competition. The next three rounds of winners will be announced in May, June and July.
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Sept. 24, 2019:
Earlier this month, 63 seniors were named semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, placing them among the 16,000 high school students who make up less than 1 percent of the more than 1.5 million students who entered the contest as juniors last year. Students enter each year by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). This year’s National Merit semifinalists are:
Prerana Acharyya, Jai Bahri, Nakul Bajaj, Martin Bourdy, Katelyn Chen, Evan Cheng, Andrew Cheplyansky, Rohan Cherukrui, Quentin Clark, Rishi Dange, Eric Fang, Kathy Fang, David Feng, Finn Frankis, Lauren Fu, Jeffrey Fung, Lila Gorman, Ellen Guo, Mahika Halepete, Phillip Han, Alyysa Huang, Madison Huynh, Rashmi Iyer, Sahil Jain, Allison Jia, Jessica Jiang, Matthew Jin, Annebelle Ju, Montek Kalsi, Naviya Kapadia, Jatin Kohli, Jeffrey Kwan, Shyl Lamba, Max Lee, Eileen Li, Kyle Li, Emily Liu, Carolyn Lu, Vani Mohindra, Kalyan Narayanan, Rakesh Nori, Sana Pandey, Jack Pearce, Thomas Rainow, Sanjay Rajasekharan, Amla Rashingkar, Chaitanya Ravuri, Sachin Shah, Nikhil Sharma, Rohan Sonecha, Nathan Sudeep, Christine Tang, Michael Tang, Anika Tiwari, Nellie Tonev, Jin Tuan, Nerine Uyanik, Zara Vakath, Bryan Wang, Nathan Wang, Anthony Xu, Jacqueline Yang and Jeffrey Yang.
Additionally, 72 seniors were named commended students for their outstanding performance on the PSAT/NMSQT:
Arjun Akkiraju, Kai Ming Ang, Kenya Aridomi, Ekdatha Arramreddy, Vibha Arramreddy, Anvi Banga, Ryan Brown, Darshan Chahal, Gabriel Chai, Eva Chang, Cynthia Chen, Emily Chen, Kevin Chen, Emily Cheng, Henry Cuningham, Kaitlyn Dai, Reiya Das, Jeremy Ding, Mihir Dixit, Sidharth Dudyala, Roni Gagneja, Nina Gee, Anna Gert, Aditi Ghalsasi, Avi Gulati, Aarzu Gupta, Grace Hajjar, Jack Hansen, Richard Hu, Grace Huang, Jedd Hui, Vishnu Jaisim, Arnav Joshi, Nikhita Karra, Mahi Kolla, Sejal Krishnan, Asmit Kumar, Allison Lee, Emma Li, Bennett Liu, Jeffrey Liu, Annie Ma, Grant Miner, Naveen Mirapuri, Shomrik Mondal, Natashad Moorajani, Arushi Nety, Karthik Nukala, Jason Pan, Gina Partridge, Sriya Prathfuri, William Rainow, Ahsna Reddy, Riva Saksena, Anu Selvaraj, Mihir Sharma, Anjali Sheth, Rani Sheth, Alexander Shing, Anthony Shing, Neal Sidhu, Arun Sundaresan, Larissa Tyagi, Smriti Vaidyanathan, Joshua Valluru, Ramanand Vegesna, Katelyn Vo, Jessie Wang, Henry Wiese, Alicia Xu, Catherine Zhao and Joshua Zhou.
Altogether, Harker’s National Merit semifinalists and commended students comprise 68% of the Class of 2020!
Three Harker students were named finalists in the 2020 ProjectCSGIRLS Competition. Rising freshman Reshma Kosaraju and rising eighth graders Saanvi Bhargava and Anika Pallapothu were invited to a virtual version of the ProjectCSGIRLS National Gala, to be held in early August.
In this annual contest, open to girls in grades 6-8, students use computer science and technology to build projects that address social problems in the categories of global health, safety, intelligent technology and inequality. The organization’s goal is to close the gender gap in computing and technology by fostering interest among middle school girls.
Yesterday, students and faculty contributed to the Palo Alto Black Lives Matter street mural, painting the first letter “A” in the mural, which now appears on Hamilton Avenue in front of Palo Alto City Hall. Elliot Kampmeier, Arya Tandon, Maria Teplova and Natasha Yen, all rising seniors, and rising sophomore Ally Lee, accompanied by art teacher Pilar Aguero-Esparza and history teacher Roxana Pianko, were one of several groups selected to help paint the mural. “Elliot had communicated with me early this summer that he wanted to create a mural in San Jose and I began to ask art friends I know in the community and one of them forwarded the call for artists from the Palo Alto Public Art program,” said Aguero-Esparza. “They pursued it after they got the clearance from Palo Alto staff that they could submit if they had an adult sponsor.”
Artists were required to submit an application containing both a statement detailing why they were interested in the project and samples of their work. In their statement, the students noted their intent “to stand up against systemic racism and show our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.” Upon being selected, the students were assigned a letter and asked to submit a sketch of their idea. “The call for art submissions and the process has been very fast paced,” said Aguero-Esparza. “I am super proud that they got excited and worked within the constraints of the call.”
At the end of each school year, Harker recognizes longtime employees with the presentation of gold pins for five-year full-time employees and a diamond inset for every five years thereafter. This year’s 67 recipients, honored at a ceremony on Thursday, are:
Five years Adam Albers – Pastry Chef, Food Service
Johnny Castro – Custodian ll, Facilities
Anuradha Datar – Computer Science Teacher, Upper School
Miran Eldeeb – Mathematics Teacher, Middle School
Christopher Hurshman – English Teacher, Upper School
Abigail Joseph – LID Director, Middle School
Mark Kocina – Photographer, Office of Communications
Christine Larita – Kitchen Aide, Food Service
Patty Marsette – Academic Counselor, Lower School
Sheva Momenian – Mathematics Teacher, Upper School
RaeAnn Prado – Assistant to College Counseling, Upper School
Erik Ruiz – Custodian, Facilities
Ronald Spitalere – Kitchen Aide ll, Food Service
Byron Stevens – History Teacher, Upper School
Mira Vojvodic – Mathematics Teacher, Lower School
10 years Tere Aceves – Director of Endowment Funding, Advancement
Greg Achten – Speech and Debate Teacher, Middle and Upper School
Meredith Cranston – Campus Librarian, Upper School
Nicole Hall – Administrative Services Manager
David Hart – Instrumental Music Teacher, Upper School
Samantha Hipol – Cook ll, Food Service
Kelly Horan – Academic Dean, Upper School
Mark Janda – History Teacher, Upper School
Sam Lepler, Business and Entrepreneurship Teacher, Upper School
Corey Newton – Internet Technology Services and Support Coordinator, Tech Department
Heather Russell – Grade 3 English Teacher, Lower School
Amira Townzen– Asst. Director Enrichment and Supervision, Lower School
15 years Miguel Aguilar – Custodian ll, Facilities Dept.
Mark Brada – Physics Teacher, Upper School
Enni Chen – Science Teacher, Lower School
Carlos Rojas Esquivel – Lead Groundskeeper, Facilities Department
Walid Fahmy – Physical Education Teacher, Lower School
Irene Gary – Payroll Specialist, Business Office
Melinda Gonzales – Director of the Annual Fund, Advancemenet
Maria Guadalupe Gonzales – Food Service
Carol Green – History Teacher, Upper School
Danielle Holquin – Director of Admission
Shaun Kelly Jahshan – Mandarin Teacher, Upper School
Lori Kohan – Academic Counselor, Upper School
Kevin Lum Lung – College Counselor, Upper School
Carlos Madrigal – Cook, Food Service
Dan Molin – Athletics Director, Upper School
Rodolfo Molina – Custodian, Facilities Dept.
Aarthi Ragupathy – Corporate Budget Manager ERP Administrator, Finance
Kimberly Sandoval – Kindergarten Teacher, Lower School
Jennifer Sandusky – Vocal Music Teacher, Upper School
Eileen Schick – Mathematics Lab Teacher, Lower School
Preeti Sharan – Information Systems Lead, Tech Department
Grace Wallace – Teacher and Grades 1-2 Department Chair, Lower School
20 years Evan Barth – Division Head, Middle School
Bob Benge – Copy Center Manager
Jeremiah Brewer – Physical Education Teacher, Middle School
Jeffrey Draper – Theater Teacher, Upper School
Danny Dunn – K-5 Technical Director
Kerry Enzensperger – Director of Community Service, Upper School
Jesse Lara – Director, Information Technology, PK-12
Marissa Lucketti – Human Resources Manager
Maria Parry – Security Officer
Bradley Stoll – Mathematics Teacher, Upper School
Jeff Sutton- Biology Teacher, Upper School
Kevin Williamson – Dean of Students, Upper School
25 years Darrin Cassidy – Assistant Director, Food Service
Diann Chung – Admission Director Lower School
Kathy Clark – Campus Librarian Lower School
Laura Lang-Ree – Director, Performing Arts, K-12
30 years Pete Anderson – Physical Education Department Chair, Grades 6-8
Gail Palmer – Dance Director, K-8 Lead Performing Arts Teacher
Theresa “Smitty” Smith – Athletic Director, Grades 4-8
Students in Susan Nace’s Study of Music class composed original pieces during the shelter-in-place as part of their studies. These pieces were later recorded using a variety of methods and posted online for analysis. Students also commented on their pieces, detailing their inspirations, processes and the tools they used to create their music.
“I enjoyed working on my composition once I got an idea to go off of,” said Kyra Hawk, grade 9, whose piece was written for her father and brother, both French horn players. “I was impressed by what I could compose, because I never thought of myself a composer of any sort.”
Freshman Anthony Zhao found that working from home afforded him a more flexible schedule, and he used Apple’s GarageBand software to compose his piece. “Some challenges I have faced are learning to compose in a new software and creating effective beat drops,” he said. “When I began, I barely had an idea of how to use GarageBand, but now I am able to compose music in GarageBand.”
For her piece, written for violin and cello, Katelyn Abellera, grade 9, enlisted the help of violinist Sawyer Lai and cellist Abby Tcheng, both grade 9. “First, I came up with the main melody. Then I came the bass part, where I took into consideration harmonies, parallel, similar, contrary and oblique motion that we learned about in theory,” she said.
For those who wish to see and hear these pieces, the students’ works have been uploaded to a public folder accessible by all.
In April, lower school science teacher Shital Ashar made the most of the distance learning format by teaching from various spaces at her home via Zoom. For a lesson on seed anatomy, she had students dissect a bean seed to learn about its various parts. She then demonstrated how seeds could be used to make a delicious salad while students made their own. “Kids were super excited and prepared with ingredients that I had listed on the group space,” Ashar said.
Some days later, Ashar took advantage of the favorable weather to teach another unit on plants, this time dipping a stick of celery in colored water to show students how water moves through plant tissue. “We then learned about types of roots, with examples,” she said. “Students also illustrated roots and examples in their science lab notebook.”
Earlier this month, brothers Hassaan and Senan Ebrahim – graduates of the classes of 2011 and 2008, respectively – were featured in The Harvard Gazette for their work in helping Syrian refugees via software their organization developed specifically for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hassaan and Senan founded the 501(c)(3) Hikma Health in 2018 to create software organizations can use to provide better health care to refugees. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care workers needed a way to evaluate symptoms and risk factors. Hikma developed a tool workers could use to screen patients without the need for internet access, which is often lacking or nonexistent in the areas in which they work.
According to the article, the Ebrahim brothers are exploring ways to help spread the tool to more refugee camps. For the time being, they have released it for free to all organizations via GitHub.