Mishi Vachev ’15 is featured in a nice article from Eckerd College, as she was one of 25 students worldwide chosen as a 2018 American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB) Conviron Scholar. Benefits include a one-year membership to the ASPB, a hands-on virtual learning program, virtual mentoring with a plant science professional, and the opportunity to present a poster at the next ASPB meeting and to submit an article to the ASPB blog for publication.
“She’s been doing excellent work here at Eckerd in our greenhouse,” said Jacob Browne, director of admission. Vachev credits Harker with helping her find her way.
The article notes, “A biotechnology class in high school combined her passions in a real way. When choosing a college, she already knew what she was looking for.” And she’s not done yet.
Vachev will receive a bachelor’s degree this spring and said, “I hope to pursue a Ph.D. in plant breeding and to specifically work on breeding crops for third world countries or populations in need of improved agriculture.”
Earlier this month, the lower school hosted the Kids Heart Challenge to raise money for the American Heart Association as well as increase awareness of the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Formerly known as Jump Rope for Heart, the event raised $13,067 as students jumped rope and hula-hooped to show their enthusiasm for the fun and healthy benefits of exercise. Schools across the country hold their own Kids Heart Challenge events every year, and Harker’s involvement stretches back to 2000, when it was brought to the lower school by P.E. teacher Jim McGovern. To date, Harker has raised more than $200,000 for the American Heart Association.
Earlier this month, the students in Clover Cottage at Harker Preschool participated in a scavenger hunt by reading and following clues. The students found various people we are “lucky” to have at our school, such as Mr. Roberto (who fixes things for us), Ms. Warren (who greets us every morning), Mr. Joe (who keeps us safe and gives high-fives), Mr. Bob (who orders us supplies) and Ms. Lisa (who cooks for us).
On March 13, senior Raymond Banke and junior Kathy Fang were named national gold medalists in the 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Banke won for his piece in the Future New category, titled “American Dreamers,” and Fang for her critical essay “A New Woman: A Rediscovery of Women’s Roles in Shakespeare’s The Tempest.” They are the first Harker students to receive the honor since Xinyi “Cherry” Xie ‘12 in 2012.
As national medalists, both students are now eligible to attend the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national events in New York City in June. The national events include a ceremony at Carnegie Hall and an exhibition featuring the works of top honorees. Earlier this year, Banke received a total of 16 regional awards, including Gold Keys in printmaking, design and art portfolio, as well as Silver Keys in architectural and industrial design, sculpture, printmaking and photography. His nine honorable mentions were awarded for two works each in drawing and illustration and mixed media, as well as submissions in the art portfolio, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and architecture and industrial design categories. In addition to her Mold Medal, Fang also received a regional Gold Key for her essay and two honorable mentions for photography.
Three other students also received national recognition in the form of silver medals. Junior Eric Fang won in photography for his piece, titled “Into the Unknown”; Anna Gert, also a junior, won for her critical essay “Illnesses in Frankenstein: An Explication of Victor’s Recurring Sickness”; and senior Alexander Young’s “A Iaccian Sestina” won in the poetry category.
A total of 64 upper school students were recognized in the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards this year, receiving regional Gold Keys, Silver Keys and honorable mentions.
Upper school students recognized in visual arts are:
Katelyn Chen, grade 11: Three honorable mentions (one for mixed media, two for drawing and illustration)
Elizaveta Egorova, grade 12: Three Gold Keys (one for digital media, two for design), three Silver Keys (digital art) and two honorable mentions (comic art and digital art)
Eric Fang, grade 11: Gold Key (photography)
Kathy Fang, grade 11: Two honorable mentions (photography)
Anna Gert, grade 11: Gold Key (painting)
Lilia Gonzales, grade 12: Gold Key (digital art)
Rose Guan, grade 12: Two honorable mentions (photography)
Ellen Guo, grade 11: Two honorable mentions (painting, and drawing and illustration)
Susan He, grade 12: Two Gold Keys (digital art), honorable mention (drawing and illustration)
Alexander Young, grade 12: Two Gold Keys (poetry, flash fiction), six honorable mentions (two for poetry, two for personal essay/memoir, humor, writing portfolio)
Katherine Zhang, grade 12: Three honorable mentions (journalism, two for poetry)
A previous version of this story mistakenly omitted Kathy Fang’s Gold Medal win as well as this year’s Silver Medal winners. Harker News apologizes for the error.
Six grade 8 students recently won recognition in the 2019 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Nearly 1,700 works were submitted for this year’s contest, each of them evaluated by a team of novelists, editors, journalists, teachers and other professionals in various literary fields.
Students who earned recognition in this year’s contest are:
Brian Chen: Honorable mention (humor)
Connie Jiang: Silver Key (short story), two honorable mentions (short story, personal essay/memoir)
Saavi Kumar: Silver Key (critical essay)
Johnathan Mo: Honorable mention (short story)
Nicholas Wei: Silver Key (personal essay/memoir), honorable mention (short story)
The Harker speech and debate team had excellent results in all four divisions it entered at the Western JV and Novice National Championship this past weekend. The tournament, hosted by San Francisco State University on March 9-10, attracted 32 schools from three states.
In JV Lincoln-Douglas debate, Harker students set a record! Harker was the first school in the history of the tournament to have the top six finishers in any event.
Deven Shah, Akhilesh Chegu, Karoun Kaushik and Arnav Dani, all grade 9, along with Krish Mysoor and Ansh Sheth, both grade 7, closed out two quarterfinals and all of the semifinals, making them co-champions. Shah was also the top speaker in the division.
Angela Gao, grade 9, was the champion of the novice Lincoln-Douglas debate. Freshmen Ayan Nath and Dhruv Saoji were in the finals of JV public forum debate, where they lost on a close 2-3 decision. Aimee Wang and Alina Yuan, also both grade 9, were in the quarterfinals of JV public forum. As the higher seeded Harker team, they were walked over Arjun Gurjar and Kabir Buch, both grade 7. In novice public forum, Caden Lin and Vedant Kenkare, both grade 9, made it to semifinals. The tournament was also special because so many upperclassmen attended as mentors and judges. The middle school and upper school coaches were very proud of the extraordinary work of all of the students!
By Elaine Zhai, Harker DECA director of communications
Over 100 students from The Harker School DECA chapter traveled to the Anaheim Marriott to compete in the 2019 State Career Development Conference (SCDC). Harker performed respectably, with 44 teams as overall finalists and 21 top four winners.
“SCDC was a very formative experience for our chapter this year,” said Shania Wang, grade 12, Harker DECA CEO. “It was really rewarding to see so many of our freshmen place and qualify for ICDC and seeing their overall excitement. All of the attendees were able to really learn from it and, although they may not have been able to place, they scored well and really showed that everything they worked for this entire year really paid off. I think as a whole, it was a very great experience for our chapter and it was a pretty good way to end the year for most people competitively.”
Members placing in top 10 are as follows:
First Place
Michelle Si and Helen Zhu, grade 10, Marketing Management Team Decision Making Event
Second Place
Ronit Gagneja, grade 11, Automotive Services Marketing Series
Naveen Mirapuri, grade 11, Business Services Marketing Series
Radhika Jain and Allison Jia, both grade 11, Community Service Project
Sasvath Ramachandran, grade 9, Personal Financial Literacy
Rishab Parthasarathy, grade 9, Principles of Finance
Rohan Varma, grade 10, Principles of Marketing
Third Place
Thomas Rainow, grade 11, Automotive Services Marketing Series
Aditya Singhvi, grade 10, Business Finance Series
Andrea Thia, grade 9, Entrepreneurship Business Growth Plan
Mahi Kolla, grade 11, Entrepreneurship Individual Series
Fourth Place
Claire Luo, grade 10, Business Finance Series
Jacqueline Au and Stephanie Shen, both grade 10, Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making Event
Nishka Ayyar and Riya Gupta both grade 12, Business Growth Plan
Enya Lu and Shania Wang, both grade 12, Entrepreneurship Team Decision Making
Rishi Dange, grade 11, Financial Consulting Event
Arvin Nidadavolu and Sujith Pakala, grade 9, Finance Operations Research Event
Pranav Varmaraja, grade 9, Principles of Business Management and Administration
Tina Zhong, grade 9, Principles of Finance
Radhika Jain, grade 11, Quick Serve Restaurant Management Series
Aditi Ghalsasi and Allison Jia, both grade 11, Travel and Tourism Marketing Team Decision Making Event
Fifth Place
Nishka Ayyar and Riya Gupta, both grade 12, Business Law and Ethics Team Decision Making Event
Michelle Si, grade 10, Entrepreneurship Franchise Business Plan
Sayon Biswas and Suraj Pakala, both grade 12, Entrepreneurship Team Decision Making
Ronit Gagneja, grade 10, and Enya Lu and Shania Wang, both grade 12, Learn Earn Project
Sinaya Joshi, grade 9, Principles of Marketing
Sixth Place
Rishi Dange, grade 11, Accounting Applications Series
Anay Karwal, grade 11, Automotive Services Marketing Series
Ishaan Chandra and Mahi Kolla, both grade 11, Entrepreneurship Promotion Plan
Clarice Wang, grade 9, Principles of Hospitality and Tourism
Eighth Place
Andrew Sun, grade 10, Business Finance Series
Luisa Pan, grade 10, Financial Consulting Event
Andrea Thia, grade 9, Principles of Business Management and Administration
Sidharth Dudyala and Anay Karwal, both grade 11, Public Relations Project
Thomas Rainow, grade 11, Professional Selling Event
Lisa Barooah and Anvitha Tummala, both grade 10, Travel and Tourism Marketing Team Decision Making Event
Ninth Place
Bryan Zhang, grade 10, Finance Operations Research Event
Phil Han, grade 11, Hotel and Lodging Management Series
Fonda Hu and Anvitha Tummala, both grade 10, Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research Event
Dhruv Saoji, grade 9, Principles of Business Management and Administration
Elaine Zhai, grade 10, Professional Selling Event
Competitive events began early on Friday morning, and teams made use of the leisure time before their competitive events to practice and receive some last-minute feedback from their officers and mentors.
After finishing their role-play event, members were given the rest of the day to explore Anaheim, visit Disneyland or Knott’s Berry Farm, or stay in the hotel to prepare for their written event the next day.
Early Saturday morning, all participants then competed in their respective written events until 4 p.m., and students then had some free time before the chapter reassembled. Members could visit Downtown Disney or grab some dinner and relax. The chapter reconvened at 6 p.m. for the Mini Awards. In total, with a number of teams staging for their role-plays and the test scores in their events, the event was a huge success for Harker DECA.
Furthermore, throughout the weekend, all participants were required to attend two workshops and participate in the Protégé examination, where many of our competitors placed and were recognized on stage. These students were Rishi Dange, grade 11; Michelle Si, grade 10; Karan Bhasin, grade 10; Ishaan Parate, grade 9; Suraj Pakala, grade 12; Gigi Chan, grade 9; Dhruv Saoji, grade 9; Arun Sundaresan, grade 11; Stephanie Shen, grade 10; Richard Hu, grade 11; Vishnu Jaisim, grade 11; Shomrik Mondal, grade 11; Clarice Wang, grade 9; Arushi Saxena, grade 10; Allison Jia, grade 11; Nishka Ayyar, grade 12; Radhika Jain, grade 11; William Chien, grade 9; and Jason Hoang, grade 10. Workshops covered topics from productivity to communication skills, and members were able to gain more experience and practice in business and entrepreneurship from seasoned professionals on top of their competitive events.
“I attended a workshop about confidence and found the speaker incredibly engaging and interactive,” said Vienna Parnell, grade 9. “He provided realistic and helpful tips on improving speaking skills, and I’m excited to apply this new knowledge to DECA and my academic life.”
Afterward, California DECA offered entertainment in the DECA activity room, including a dance, arcade games and several stations. Participants could network with students from schools throughout California to build and strengthen their networks.
On Sunday morning, the Grand Awards began, and Harker DECA performed respectably, sending 44 teams to the stage.
“States this year was really fun, and I had a great time competing and spending time with my friends,” said Mirapuri. “I’m really glad that my work paid off and I got top 10 in both my events. I’m super excited for ICDC [International Career Development Conference]!”
In preparation for States, Harker DECA held weekly study sessions in the Innovation Center, where students were able to practice their role-plays in front of an officer, receive live feedback for their written events, and take mock exams to hone their skills and perform to the best of their capabilities.
“I had a lot of fun at states this year! I’m really proud of [me and ] my partner for all that we achieved, and the work that we put in throughout the school year really showed in this conference,” said Zhu. “I’m looking forward to attending future conferences and continuing DECA for the next few years.”
After the Grand Awards, Lu, VP of Silicon Valley DECA, announced the termination of her service and reflected on her experience. “States was a really nice ending to my state officer team. I’ve learned to look at it is as something I’ve completed, not something that I’ve lost. I’m really proud of Harker DECA, and I love that they cheer on every Harker competitor.”
Overall, SCDC for 2018-19 was an enormous success and a rewarding experience for all Harker DECA competitors and officers. From this competitive conference, all participants gained useful preparation skills for the upcoming States competition and left feeling accomplished and inspired to continue with their DECA journey.
To prepare for the International Career Development Conference in April, Harker DECA will hold individual practice sessions with advisor Juston Glass. With the conference being held in Orlando, Fla., attendees will have the opportunity to face strong competitors from all across the world! Stay tuned for more updates about ICDC.
“This year’s SCDC was a perfect way to finish the 2018-2019 competitive season,” said Juston Glass, Harker DECA chapter advisor. “I am extremely proud of all of our members and the effort that they have put into their events and DECA these past few months. With ICDC only weeks away, I am so excited to see students prepare and grow as competitors. Go Harker DECA!”
About The Harker School DECA Harker DECA is an International Competitive Business Organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in four fields of business: marketing, finance, hospitality and management. Our DECA chapter integrates classroom instruction, applies learning, connects to business and promotes competition in order to prepare the next generation to be academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible and experienced leaders.
On March 5, nearly 330 middle school students from 15 schools attended the 18th annual Diana Nichols Math Invitational. In addition to the 14 South Bay schools participating in the event (including Harker), Las Vegas’ Coral Academy of Science made the trip from out of state for the third consecutive year.
The high level of competition was evident throughout the event. A four-way tie in the grade 6 team event led to a tiebreaker that resulted in Harker’s team (Audrey Cheng, Juliana Li, Angela Liu, Katerina Matta, Kashish Priyam, Aarush Vailaya and Jonathan Xue) taking first place. Harker’s grade 8 team (Arjun Barrett, Brian Chen, Amruta Dharmapurikar, Alex Lan, Krish Maniar, Stephen Xia and Annli Zhu) also took first place, while the grade 7 team (Emma Gao, Angelina Hu, Ansh Sheth, Julie Shi, Michelle Wei, Aniketh Tummala and William Zhang) placed second.
Harker students also were successful in the individual event, with Stephen Xia, Arjun Barrett and Alex Lan taking first, third and fourth, respectively, at the grade 8 level. At the grade 7 level, Heidi Lu placed third, Aniketh Tummala took fourth and William Zhang finished fifth. Angela Liu placed second in the grade category.
The object of this year’s estimation contest was a “HMI 2019” sign made of plastic googly eyes. Contestants guessed at the number of googly eyes in the sign, with Megan Brezlin of Sunnyvale’s Peterson Middle School winning the contest with her estimate of 2,596, remarkably close to the actual number of 2,603.
Middle school math students had a great showing at a the Santa Clara chapter Mathcounts contest, held Feb. 16 at the upper school campus. A team of four grade 8 students – Riya Gupta, Ashley Hu, Connie Jiang and Sally Zhu – took first place in the team portion of the event, repeating last year’s success. They will appear at the state-level competition, to be held March 23 at Stanford University.
In individual competition, eighth grader Rohan Bhowmik took second place overall, winning a tiebreaker over Ashley Hu, who placed third. Both had a score of 44 out of 46 points. Other notable placers were Sally Zhu in fifth place with 43 points, seventh grader Ethan Liu in seventh place with 42 points, Angelina Hu in 10th place with 41 points, Riya Gupta in 12th place with 40 points, Connie Jiang in 13th with 40 points (after a tie-breaking decision based on which problems each student solved) and seventh grader Emma Gao in 16th with 38 points. Bhowmik and Liu also qualified for the state competition.
A total of 112 students from 14 schools were present at the contest, which is believed to be one of the toughest chapter-level competitions in the country. “This is a highly competitive chapter as can be seen … with every point differential,” said middle school math department chair Vandana Kadam. “It is commendable that eight Harker students placed in the top 16.”
The children and families of Acorn Cottage celebrated the Lunar New Year with a party last week! The children made “tang yuan,” which are dumplings in ginger syrup, and the parents put on a puppet show describing the order of the animals in the Chinese zodiac calendar. The children later enjoyed a delicious snack of traditional Chinese treats and a Chinese New Year story. It was a delightful day of cultural learning!