Earlier this month, the middle school concluded its yearly food drive, which began Oct. 26 and ended Nov. 15. A total of 2,465 food items were collected for delivery to the Second Harvest Food Bank, which each month serves more than 257,000 people in need in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. This drive is one of several annual community service projects carried out by the middle school during the holiday season. Others include Suits2Empower, which donates business attire to young people whose families cannot afford it, and the Family Giving Tree, which provides holiday gifts to impoverished families in the Bay Area.
Fifth graders Farhan Ansari, Sahil Jain, Mihir Gupta, Daniel Wu and Jaden Chyan won the Robot Design Award at last month’s First Lego League Northern California Qualifier, held at Lowell High School. The win secured them a spot at the Northern California championship in January in Berkeley.
Prior to the qualifier, the team had been hard at work redesigning their robot, adding two motors, two color sensor and a gyro sensor. “They made clever use of gears to build attachments for performing different tasks on the field and made their programs modular for ease of use,” said Farhan’s mother, Monica Ansari, who coaches the team along with Sonali Jain, Sahil’s mother.
The team also put together a research project that delved into the link between astronauts’ emotional states and the foods they consume while in space, working with health science experts and scientists at NASA.
Monica credited Harker’s science programs with fostering the team’s enthusiasm for robotics. “They projects they have done at school in science and computers have really sparked their interest in robotics and science,” she said, “and it has helped them to tackle the challenges in FLL.”
More than a dozen Harker students attended the QuickBooks Connect Conference at the San Jose Convention Center last week as part of Harker’s CareerConnect program.
This year’s topic was “Anything is Possible.” Attendees listened to a welcome speech from Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit, who explained the power of connections and the importance of hard work to achieve goals.
Next, Intuit’s executive VP Sasan Goodarzi (who takes over as Intuit CEO in January) spoke about Intuit’s innovative technologies that can help small and large businesses grow. Afterward, attendees got to hear journalist Lisa Ling interview a panel of three entrepreneurs about their experiences starting their companies.
Dylan Lauren, founder of Dylan’s Candy Bar, spoke about how she combined art, fashion and pop culture to create the world’s largest candy store. Jamie Siminoff, founder of Ring, a company aimed at reducing crime in neighborhoods using a Wi-Fi video doorbell, spoke about how his company grew from a Shark Tank reject to a billion-dollar company. The third speaker was Simon Enever, founder of Quip, a company dedicated to making brushing teeth simple and better. Each speaker gave meaningful insights on the process of starting a business and shared interesting experiences from his or her own journey as an entrepreneur.
“It was super duper interesting and just a great experience. I learned a lot about managing your business and just how to make your business thrive and grow as a whole,” said Laszlo Bollyky, grade 9.
For the rest of the day, attendees explored company booths and attended breakout sessions. This year, there were 90-plus companies with booths, including Chase, Aero, PayPie and Gusto.
“We learned a lot about how to network with people and how to interact with people to make connections,” said Michelle Liu, grade 9. “Most of the companies we talked to were the payroll companies. The people would talk about the company, and ask if we had questions. It was a very good learning experience.”
Acorn Cottage students at Harker Preschool got to work last week painting beautiful designs on Christmas tree ornaments, and they came out great! The ornaments will be on their class tree at Christmas in the Park this holiday season. If you happen to visit, look for Acorn Cottage’s tree sign, “Harker Preschool Acorn Cottage 2018/2019”. The photos tell the story – too much fun!
Last month, Alice Feng, grade 9, and Sriram Bhimaraju, grade 7, were announced as winners in this year’s Broadcom MASTERS competition. Feng won a STEM Award in the engineering category for her project, “The Effect of Mushroom Species and Substrates on the Properties of a Novel Biodegradable Material: Mycelium,” which earned her an iPad and $3,500 to attend a STEM summer camp of her choice. Bhimaraju’s project, “Low-Cost Archery Assistant with an Interface for the Visually Impaired,” won the Rising Star Award, which netted him a trip to Phoenix to attend the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in May of next year as a Broadcom MASTERS International Official Observer. In recognition of their hard work and achievements, each student also received a certificate of recognition from U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris.
Last month, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) announced that two 2017-18 Harker journalism publications would receive Crown awards, the organization’s highest honor. The Winged Post was named a finalist in the High School Print News category, and the Talon yearbook was announced as a finalist later in the month. In March, the finalists will find out which level of Crown award they’ve received: gold or silver.
Upper school journalism teacher Ellen Austin noted that this will be “the first time that Harker journalism will receive multiple Crowns from CSPA in the same year, and it’s the first time that I, as an advisor, will have two publications that I advise getting Crowns at the same time.”
By Jenny Achten, speech and debate department chair, 6-12
The speech and debate team has had some great results thus far in the season. Students have won awards in both local and national events in all five major events (policy debate, speech, Lincoln-Douglas debate, public forum debate and Congress).
The team of Anusha Kuppahally, grade 12, and Maddie Huynh, grade 11, made it to elimination rounds at both the Valley Invitational in Iowa and the St. Mark’s tournament in Texas. Andy Lee, grade 10, and Deven Shah, grade 9, were also in elimination rounds in Iowa. In policy debate, the yearlong topic is about whether the United States should ease restrictions on immigration. Harker’s advocated for the United States to accept more refugees from Syria.
The speech students are also off to a great start with Alycia Cary, grade 12, winning an award at the Yale Invitational in original oratory. Nikki Solanki, grade 11, took second place in both programmed oral interpretation and dramatic interpretation at the Florida Blue Key tournament. Solanki also won first place in dramatic performance at the Florida Blue Key round robin. Jay Menon, grade 12, also reached elimination rounds in Florida with his oratory. The team is also proud of Brian Pinkston and Ellis Goldman, both grade 10; Andrea Thia, grade 9; and Brandon Lin, grade 11, for making the final rounds of a local league tournament.
A number of the Lincoln-Douglas students also have represented Harker extremely well. Kelly Shen, grade 12; Akshay Manglik, grade 10; and Quentin Clark, grade 11, all qualified for elimination rounds at the Valley tournament in Iowa. Manglik also made it to elimination rounds at the Presentation tournament in San Jose, along with Aditya Tadimeti, grade 10; Sachin Shah, grade 11; and Anshul Reddy, grade 9. Manglik, Tadimeti and Reddy also cleared at the St. Mark’s tournament in Texas. They have debated topics ranging from the rights of reporters to protect confidential sources to privacy concerns for candidates for public office.
In public forum, the duo of Annie Ma and Amanda Cheung, both grade 11, as well as Cindy Wang and Clarissa Wang, both grade 12, and the pairing of Datha Arramreddy, grade 11, and Raymond Banke, grade 12, were in elimination rounds of the Milpitas Invitational. Naveen Mirapuri and Chandan Aggarwal, both grade 11, also won awards at the St. Francis tournament. Their current topic is about whether or not the federal government should impose price controls on the pharmaceutical industry.
Finally, in Congressional debate, Jason Lin, grade 10; Jason Huang, grade 12; and Andrew Sun, grade 10, earned bids to nationals at the Yale Invitational. Sun and Nakul Bajaj, grade 11, both placed second at a league event. Lin, Sun, Riyaa Randhawa, grade 9, and David Feng, grade 11, earned bids to nationals at the Florida Blue Key Invitational.
The coaches are very proud of the success students have enjoyed across the team. This semester, the team will also travel to Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, and Oakland in addition to attending some local events in San Jose and Santa Clara.
Coach Greg Achten noted, “I am really proud of our students’ success but even more proud of the way they have come together this year and worked as a team. The level of support the students show one another and work to help their teammates both in class and at tournaments tells me a lot about how inclusive and caring our students are.”
Harker Preschool held its annual Halloween Parade and the cuteness would not stop! There were many, many smiles from superheroes, fuzzy animals, fancy ladies and others in the parade. There is a full gallery in the Harker Parent Portal.
The yearly grade 8 trip to the Washington, D.C., area took place last week, as students traveled across the country to learn more about the history of the area and its role in the formation of the United States. After arriving in Williamsburg, Va., the students visited Jamestown, North America’s first permanent English settlement. Guides showed the students various facets of everyday life, including food preparation, living arrangements and the making of clothes. Afterward, the students visited Colonial Williamsburg, a living recreation of a colonial city, visiting its capitol, court and governor’s palace, in addition to a wig maker, apothecary and other shops. While visiting the College of William & Mary, the students toured the campus and saw several of its landmarks, and visited an interactive African-American music exhibition.
The next day, in Washington, D.C., the students visited Pamplin Park, and learned much about the Civil War, including the daily lives of soldiers. They toured the Tudor Hall Plantation, home to the Boisseau family and a confederate general’s headquarters during the war. A highlight of the first day was a visit to the Capitol Hill Club to see Maheen Kaleem ’03, now working in Washington as a program officer for NoVo Foundation’s initiative to end violence against girls and women. Kaleem introduced the students to her work and informed them that they could make a difference by “standing up for others, asking questions and in general trying to advocate for what is right,” reported assistant head of school Jennifer Gargano. Following Kaleem’s presentation, the students visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial and Franklin D. Roosevelt Memorial.
Day two in Washington began with visits to the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial (Iwo Jima Memorial) and Arlington National Cemetery, where they witnessed the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The students later enjoyed lunch at Old Town Alexandria, home to many shops and restaurants, before visiting Mount Vernon, the storied home of George and Martha Washington. Students explored the Washingtons’ mansion and visited the tomb of the first U.S. president, while also speaking to guides on the property who were in-character as people who lived during Washington’s presidency.
On Wednesday, Oct. 24, the students headed to the Newseum to view its amazing series of exhibits on the importance and influence of journalism on American society. Students marveled at the Pulitzer Prize photograph gallery and the front page gallery. Later, at FBI headquarters, the students were treated to a tour that featured various interactive exhibits, as well as a scavenger hunt that had them searching for information at the exhibits. Their final stop for the day was the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, where they delved into the history of one of the greatest tragedies of modern times. “They took a lot of time reading the displays and watching the various available videos to more deeply understand this atrocity,” Gargano said.
Day six of the trip was very packed, as students started with a tour of the Capitol Building, where they viewed the floor of the House of Representatives and the Senate. “The students were excited to see where the State of the Union address takes place, among many other important affairs,” said Gargano. They also had the opportunity to meet with three members of Sen. Diane Feinstein’s staff and ask them questions about the work of a U.S. senator. Other stops included the Library of Congress, the National Archives and the Supreme Court.
San Jose Taiko returned to the lower school campus on Wednesday, treating students to a pair of entertaining and educational assemblies about this Japanese rhythmic art form that dates back to the sixth century. As its popularity grew in the 20th century, taiko artists began to incorporate styles such as jazz into their performances. San Jose Taiko was founded in 1973 and has since established itself as one of the world’s top taiko ensembles.
The visiting musicians performed selections from their repertoire and gave students a primer on taiko performance techniques and concepts, such as the use of shouts known as “ki-ai,” an expression of spiritual energy, or “ki.” These shouts often function as cues to other ensemble members of which beats to play. Students (as well as a few teachers) were later given the chance to perform on the drums, delighting their peers and faculty in attendance.