On Oct. 12, the student-founded nonprofit KidzRule held the second-annual Santa Clara Children’s Business Fair. The event, held in Santa Clara’s Live Oak Park, was co-founded last year by Harker sixth grader Mikhil Kiran. The organizers worked closely with the city of Santa Clara to put on the fair, and Kiran had several key responsibilities, including raising funds, getting plans approved by the city council and marketing the event.
Several businesses started by Harker students were present at the fair, including third grader Ayza Tahirzad and fifth grader Bazigh Tahirzad’s Pet Rocks; seventh grader Avayna Glass’ Kissify Soaps; fifth graders Risa Chokhawala and Trisha Shivakumar’s Books and Bottlecaps; and C3 Custom Card Cases, founded by sixth graders Ruhan Arora and Alejandro Cheline, and fifth grader Ian Cheline. In total, 99 young entrepreneurs were showcased at the fair.
Attendees spent their time visiting booths and listening to the businesses pitch their products. Some of the businesses sold all of their available inventory. A custom greeting card business received a large corporate order and another was given an opportunity to market therapeutic pillows through a local physical therapy business.
Several prizes were awarded to the business at the fair, and C3 Custom Card Cases took first place in Best Salesmanship in the ages 10-12 category. Businesses were judged by a panel that included Harker DECA members Alivia Li, grade 10; Lisa Barooah, Bryan Zhang, Elaine Zhai, all grade 11; and seniors Mahi Kolla and Christine Tang, led by business and entrepreneurship teacher Juston Glass.
Santa Clara city councilmember Kathy Watanabe was a guest speaker at the event, and expressed her appreciation for the organizers’ hard work and the important learning opportunities the fair offered. “I was so impressed by the product creativity, marketing but most importantly how some entrepreneurs used this as a way to give back to communities in need,” she said.
The Harker community showed up in the hundreds for Saturday night’s Homecoming to enjoy company with friends and family, sample a variety of foods and cheer on the Eagles, who took on the Saint Vincent de Paul Mustangs.
Guests began showing up roughly an hour before game time for the tailgate festivities, perusing tables of pizza, soft drinks, hot dogs and other goodies set up by Harker staff, students and families, as well as food trucks which set up shop on the upper school parking lot. Students raised funds for class activities by selling pizza and candy to attendees, often walking the area with boxes in hand.
From their station on the bleachers, the Harker Pep Band kept things lively throughout the evening as they entertained onlookers and energized the players. The pre-game entertainment also included two beloved Harker Homecoming traditions, a performance by the Junior Cheerleaders and the Eaglets flyby, which were warmly received as always by the audience gathered in the stands.
Prior to kickoff, the third place tug-of-war match between the sophomores and the freshmen ended with the Class of 2022 emerging the victors. The finals of the tug-of-war took place at halftime, with the juniors taking first place and celebrating ecstatically on Davis Field.
An especially eventful halftime also saw performances by the Harker upper school cheer squad and the Harker Dance Company, as well as a special appearance by Harker Athletic Hall of Fame inductees Kristina Bither Gurney ’09, Adhir Ravipati ’05 and former athletic department staffer Chris Collins, who had been inducted before the start of the game. Closing out halftime was the showing of this year’s Homecoming Court and the crowning of seniors Grant Miner and Kathy Fang as this year’s Homecoming Royalty to much fanfare.
The final score for the evening was 34-6 in favor of St. Vincent de Paul, who were thanked by Head of School Brian Yager for being gracious opponents and guests.
Harker’s year-old Athletic Hall of Fame doubled in size tonight, when four new inductees were presented with their awards and formally entered as hall of famers.
Adhir Ravipati ’05 was inducted for his multisport prowess at Harker and his stellar coaching record as the Menlo High School football coach. Kristina Bither Gurney ’09 was a member of the state finalist volleyball team in 2007 and played a wicked game of soccer, as well. Maverick McNealy ’13 has been a household name – at least in golfing households – for years as he contributed heavily to the many fine finishes of Harker golf teams, and now he has gone pro. Former athletic department staffer Chris Collins was a critical part of the department team as Harker ramped up its athletic offerings, and a friend to all students needing help.
Following deeply heartfelt speeches by athletic directors Dan Molin (upper school), and Theresa “Smitty” Smith (lower and middle school), each inductee was presented with a beautiful crystal award (Butch Keller, upper school head, accepted for McNealy as he is currently on the PGA tour). The ceremony was very well attended by friends and family of the other inductees, including a large contingent celebrating with Collins.
There was a reception prior to the induction in the athletic center’s multipurpose room for the inductees and family, where past acquaintances were renewed with fellow alumni, coaches, teachers and administrators.
Read a bit about them on our webpage, which has links to summaries of their athletic careers. Huge congrats to these four! https://www.harker.org/halloffame
Today’s Family & Alumni Picnic brought hundreds of members of the Harker community to the lower school campus to enjoy games, food, student performances and more. Ever-popular carnival games attracted visitors to the campus blacktop to try their hands at winning various prizes. Despite the unseasonable warmth, attendees also ventured out of the shade to drive around in bumper cars, climb the rock wall and attempt to drop Harker teachers into a dunk tank. One of the more popular attractions was a mechanical unicorn that students attempted to ride without being thrown off.
At the Nichols Hall amphitheater, various student performing arts groups entertained the lunchtime audience with a show based on the popular board game Candy Land, featuring none other than Head of School Brian Yager as the Candy King. The food court was another favorite destination of this year’s picnicgoers, who dined on pizza, Indian food and more while also partaking of the confections offered at the bake sale and senior class’ candy sale. Meanwhile, the pony rides were a hit with the youngest attendees, and assortment of adorable animals at the petting zoo drew a steady crowd.
Many thanks to all who gathered with their fellow community members at this year’s picnic. See you next year!
In early September, the Harker Programming Club hosted the second Girls Programming League Challenge, in which 100 girls from around the Bay Area took part in a coding contest and attended talks by a wide variety of guest speakers. The event was founded as a way to encourage the pursuit of computer science among middle and high school girls. Competitions were held for both novice and advanced programmers, and a total of 16 awards were distributed among the contestants. Teams of three students each were tasked with solving a series of programming problems within a two-hour time limit.
Talks were given by Chelsea Finn, an assistant professor of computer science at Stanford and research scientist at Google Brain, and Sharon Zhou, a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford University studying artificial intelligence applications for health care and climate change. A panel discussion also was held with Paige Bailey, TensorFlow product manager at Google; Qualcomm senior product marketing manager Sreeja Nair; Sue Xu, managing partner at Amino Capital; and Harker’s own upper school biology teacher Kate Schafer.
Last week, Abigail Joseph, the middle school’s learning, innovation and design (LID) director, was named one of the first-ever recipients of the Computer Science Teachers Association’s Equity Fellowship. “I am part of a cohort of 10 educators from around the U.S. that are participants of the Computer Science Teachers Association organization’s inaugural Equity Fellowship,” Joseph said yesterday. “This is a true honor to be chosen out of 112 applicants, and I am happy to share my journey with all of you.”
The program provides various opportunities for career development to support efforts to increase equity in computer science education. “CSTA’s Equity Fellowship is a selective, year-long program that elevates educators who have demonstrated success in disrupting the disparities impacting females, underrepresented students of color, English language learners, and students with special needs in order to bring their inclusive teaching practices and leadership to educators across the country and around the world at the 2020 CSTA Annual Conference,” according to the organization’s website.
Brian Chen is headed to Washington, D.C.! Today, the freshman was named as a finalist in the 2019 Broadcom MASTERS competition. He and the other finalists will spend Oct. 25-30 in the nation’s capital, competing in the final stage of the competition, as well as meeting government officials and displaying their projects to the public. Winners will be announced on Oct. 29. Best of luck!
—–
Seven students were named to the Top 300 in the 2019 Broadcom MASTERS competition! Arjun Barrett, Rohan Bhowmik, Gordon Chen, Brian Chen, Jacob Huang and Nicholas Wei, all grade 9, and Reshma Kosaraju, grade 8, were selected from more than 2,300 applicants for this year’s competition. The students were selected for projects they entered in science fairs last year, when they were in middle school.
On Sept. 18, 30 of the Top 300 will be announced as finalists and will travel to Washington, D.C., in October to compete for awards and prizes totaling more than $100,000. Each year, the Society for Science & the Public selects the top 10 percent of middle school science projects submitted to society-affiliated science fairs to enter the Broadcom MASTERS competition.
Deven Parikh, grade 11, joined his mother, Dev Parikh, ACS vice president of Go to Market for Oracle, at a communication debate workshop at Oracle in late July to help sixth grade girls learn the basics of speech and debate. Parikh has been in the Harker speech and debate program for five years, and expressed a desire to teach others the skills he has gained in the program.
At the workshop, Deven Parikh presented a 20-minute lecture on public speaking. “Prior to the actual workshop, I spent ample time communicating with a representative from Apple to obtain donated Apple iPads,” he said. “Many of the children we would be working with did not have electronics at home, so by providing them with iPads, they were able to research a topic to debate. At the end of the workshop, they were able to keep the iPads.”
Parikh helped both sides prepare their arguments for a debate on the U.S. policy on immigration. “During the actual debate, I was the moderator and provided tips at the end to help them improve their public speaking and research skills,” he added.
“It was great helping out the other children who are not as lucky as we are. Going to Harker, everyone has an iPhone, AirPods and an updated MacBook, yet others are not as lucky as we are. It felt great to help the community,” he finished.
On Monday morning, the upper school hosted a special assembly featuring cultural commentator Jay Smooth, who runs the popular video blog Ill Doctrine and also founded Underground Railroad, the longest-running hip-hop radio program in New York City.
Smooth referenced the history of hip-hop as an example of how communities can make each other better. Just as rappers, DJs, dancers and other members of New York’s hip-hop communities challenged one another to become better artists and people, so too should other communities make sure that its members are conscious of their own privileges of race, gender, class or ability, and show a willingness to receive criticism. “We need to change how we receive these critiques,” he said, “by fundamentally changing how we think about what being racist is, or sexist or ableist.”
Many people, Smooth said, have treated racism like having their tonsils removed, when it is “more like the plaque that builds up on your teeth every day,” something that must be addressed diligently throughout one’s life. “We are all naturally susceptible to implicit bias,” he said, “and we are all a part of systems we can contribute to, without being conscious of it.”
When being criticized by someone, Smooth advised to “listen with humility, and consider that they’re speaking from an experience we’ve never had.”
The Harker Preschool STEM lab got a makeover, and the young ones are having a ball in the updated facility with teacher Amanda Crook! “The transitional kindergartners were excited to explore all the new stations,” said Caren Drezner, preschool director. “They have STEM journals now to document their discoveries, record observations and draw pictures of their creations.
“Amanda’s vision for the new STEM program is to provide thought-provoking settings for the children to explore,” continued Drezner. “She wants the space to spark curiosity and inquiry as the children grapple with concepts from all areas of the sciences and math strands, as well as incorporate elements of technology and engineering. The new Makerspace and Loose Parts allow the children to design and test out ideas, while Amanda is at the ready to scaffold their learning and challenge their thinking.” Just check out the photos – too much fun!