Upper school chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine competed as a member of the United States canoe polo team at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Ala., in July and the 2022 International Canoe Federation’s Canoe Polo World Championships in Saint-Omer, France, in August.
Irvine was originally scheduled to compete in 2020, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic put all competition on hold. “When were told the World Games were happening [in 2022] … we had some meetings and got together on Zoom and we talked about what the expectations were,” Irvine said. Despite some setbacks, such as team members leaving and the departure of their coach, the team regrouped and began training with visitors from New York and Texas. Irvine was selected as a member of the team in March.
The team held training camps and participated in a tournament called the Cup of the West with other U.S. canoe polo squads and a team from Canada. Members of the team local to the Bay Area trained every week at Shoreline Lake in Mountain View and the Berkeley Marina.
Going into the World Games, the team was up against some extremely tough competition. “They have programs that start as young as 7 years old, in schools and in universities,” Irvine said. Despite not winning any of their games, the team was able to overcome expectations. “We were more competitive than I think some people expected.”
Canoe polo ended up being the most popular event at the World Games, and Irvine said fans in attendance were highly appreciative and excited to meet members of the team. “We had people asking for our pictures, and someone asked for my autograph,” he exclaimed. “I was like, ‘You’re sure, right?’”
The following month, the team headed to France for the ICF World Championships, which featured a much greater number of teams and categories than the World Games. Team USA was grouped with teams from Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Spain and Taipei, Taiwan. They had three wins total, defeating Hong Kong twice as well as Japan, and recorded a tie against Taipei. “We were actually winning [against Taipei] up until the last minute, and if we had beat them, we would have been in the top 12,” Irvine said.
After the improved performance at the World Championships, “We reflected on how the World Games was like a training session, preparing us for the World Championships,” Irvine said, adding that he felt happy with his performance after seeing the level of competition he and the team were up against and remembering aspects of his performance. “I had some huge, impactful moments on the team,” he said. “I was happy to have found a way to contribute.”
Students gathered at Davis Field on Friday morning for the 2022 matriculation ceremony, which formally kicked off the 2022-23 school year and welcomed the Class of 2026 to the upper school.
After the ninth graders finished their procession (greeted by the applause of their classmates), Head of School Brian Yager gave his opening remarks, starting by thanking the faculty and staff who spent the previous two weeks preparing for the new school year. Speaking to the seniors, he mentioned the importance of their role as leaders and the legacy they will leave behind, referencing a Greek proverb: “Civilizations and schools grow great when old people plant trees, the shade of which they will never enjoy.” Turning his attention to the incoming ninth graders, he advised them to “enjoy and embrace the process. Look to the students in the grades above you for guidance and inspiration, as well as for examples of what will be expected of you in the years to come.”
Yager then introduced the upper school vocal group Cantilena, which gave a spirited performance of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing” before recently hired Upper School Head Paul Barsky took the podium.
Barsky made special note of two concepts he felt would be crucial for students to understand in the coming year. The first, from the Danish, was samfundssind, which implores people “to think of yourself as part of a bigger cause,” Barsky said. The second, umwelt, is a term coined by German biologist Jakob Johann von Uexküll, which posits that, “We think our senses make up our reality, because well, that’s what we sense,” Barsky explained. “The wonderful gift of a Harker education is that it widens, deepens and enriches our senses. At Harker, our umwelt is expanded to include senses and realms that we did not know existed.” Barsky stated his hope that students would carry the lessons of these ideas into the coming year.
Senior Kris Estrada, the ASB president, gave a warm welcome to his fellow students, who responded in kind. Speaking to his classmates, Estrada noted the difficulty of navigating the COVID-19 pandemic and the obstacles it presented. “Although we have unfortunately missed a number of class trips and opportunities to bond with one another, we’ve somehow accomplished just that together,” he said. “We have persevered through the toughest situations and we have come out united and closer than ever.” Addressing the Class of 2026, Estrada emphasized the importance of their first day as high schoolers. “Whether you have been at Harker in years prior, or perhaps today marks the beginning of your life’s chapter as a Harker Eagle, I advise you to simply cherish today and the rest of your Harker days because high school is such a formative experience.”
The members of the Student Diversity Coalition spoke to the students about their mission to “foster an inclusive space for all members of our community,” said senior KJ Williams.
“We in SDC work to provide a space that actively hears and supports students in all forms of their diversity,” said Fern Biswas, grade 10. “Whether through speaker events, collaborative events or implementing new systems, we also hope to keep this school a place where open conversations about these issues take place.” The group announced some of their plans for the next year, including a continuation of last year’s Culture Week and the hosting of town hall events and conferences.
SDC then introduced Brian Davis, Harker’s new DEI director, who thanked the SDC for all the remarkable work it had done prior to his arrival. Davis referred back to Yager’s mention of the Greek tree proverb, which he felt was very “future-oriented and really thinking about our accountability in our imagination.” He emphasized his mission to be resource for Harker’s student body, “but more importantly, making Harker a place where you all feel loved, where you feel safe, where you feel heard and where you feel valued,” he said. Davis also mentioned plans to expand Harker’s pre-existing affinity groups and help develop affinity groups that are newly established. “Lastly, I encourage you all to be an upstander, to speak up when you seeing things happening in our community, but also ensure the safety in our inclusive community,” he said. “It’s really important for you all to know that Harker is a place for everyone.”
Per tradition, matriculation also included the introduction of the year’s student officers, followed by a recitation of the matriculation oath, led by ASB vice president Gordon Chen, grade 12. As each of the ninth graders signed the matriculation book, the audience was treated to the Harker String Quartet’s renditions of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses and “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay. The ceremony closed, as always, with a series of entertaining skits performed by officers of the student council and honor council, titled “Upper School 101.” Each skit featured students portraying characters from the popular TV shows “Phineas and Ferb,” “SpongeBob Squarepants,” “The Office” and “Squid Game,” with messages about school etiquette and resources available to upper school students, including the library, the advisory system, office hours and extracurricular programs. As a special surprise, Richie Amarillas ’22 made a guest appearance to promote the performing arts program.
In late July, eight Harker students joined the California delegation to the 2022 National Junior Classical League Convention, the first in-person JCL event since 2019. Several more attended remotely as long-distance delegates. The California delegates endured quite an odyssey — overcoming plane delays and cancellations, daily thunderstorms and an alligator swamp in the middle of the University of Louisiana, Lafayette campus — to enjoy a week of competitions, workshops and opportunities to bond with Latin students from the state and all over the country.
“A highlight for many was joining forces with [New Hampshire] and [New Jersey] for a spirit battle against the Texas behemoth,” said Lisa Masoni. “In the opinion of the national second VP, the consortium of small-state delegations was definitely more spirited! “
One of the most important events at the convention is the election of national officers to lead the organization for the 2022-23 school year. Senior Rupert Chen was elected first vice president. Harker’s last national officer, Maya Nandakumar ’15, held the same office in her senior year. Chen, fresh off a stint digging at the archaeological site of Vindolanda on Hadrian’s Wall, will be responsible for promoting membership and publicity during his term of office.
Below are the top 10 awards earned by Harker delegates:
The team of Alex Hu ’22 and rising seniors Rohan Bhowmik, Anthony Tong and team captain Sabrina Zhu performed admirably at the finals of the 2022 Tests of Engineering, Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS) competition, which took place in late June in Dallas. In this annual competition, students form teams to solve real-world engineering problems. Their roller coaster project won them third place in Presentation, fourth place in Design/Build and fifth place on the exam portion. Just 25 of the 625 teams who participated this year were invited to compete in the national event.
In October, three outstanding alumni — Alex Abarca ’09, Amanda (Polzin) Sullivan ’06 and Daniza Rodriguez ’13 — will be inducted into the Harker Athletic Hall of Fame, along with the entire roster of the 2007-08 girls varsity volleyball team, one of Harker Athletics’ greatest success stories. All of these athletes will be honored for their stellar athletic performance as well as their dedication to becoming well-rounded student athletes. The induction ceremony will be part of the annual Harker Day celebration, which will also include the Homecoming football game and the Family & Alumni Picnic.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation issued its final list of 2022 National Merit winners today, identifying 2022 graduates Kate Olsen, Vienna Parnell and Bodhisatta Saha as winners of college-sponsored scholarships. Congratulations to all 13 of Harker’s 2022 National Merit scholarship winners!
June 2, 2022:
Catherine He ’22 was named a winner of a National Merit Scholarship yesterday in the third round of winners in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program, becoming the 10th winner from the Class of 2022. The scholarships awarded in this round were financed by US colleges and universities and awarded by officials from the sponsor colleges to finalists who plan to attend the institution providing the scholarship. He’s scholarship was provided by the University of Southern California. The next and final round of National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced July 11.
May 11, 2022:
Today, seniors Alice Feng, Arnav Gupta, Victoria Han, Rishab Parthasarathy, Sasvath Ramachandran and William Zhao were named winners of $2,500 scholarships in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program. These awards were granted to finalists who, according to NMSC, possessed “the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies.”
The next winners announcement is scheduled for June.
Apr. 27, 2022
Seniors Cady Chen, Irene Yuan and Emily Zhou were among the first round of 2022 National Merit Scholars announced today. All 1,000 winners in this round, selected from those who reached the finalist level in this year’s competition, received corporate-sponsored scholarships. All three of the Harker winners were awarded scholarships sponsored by Nvidia Corporation.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation will announce more winners over the next few months until the final list of winners is revealed in July. This story will be updated as additional Harker winners are announced.
The upper school and middle school speech and debate teams have had great second-semester results at major end-of-year championships.
At the elite Upper School Tournament of Champions, Harker experienced success in a number of events. Students have to place highly at regular season tournaments to even qualify to compete. Recent graduate Anshul Reddy was a finalist in Lincoln-Douglas debate, making him second overall in the nation! Carol Wininger, grade 11, and Max Xing, grade 10, were in the finals of the public forum debate silver division. Michelle Jin, grade 11, was second in extemporaneous speaking. Rahul Mulpuri, grade 11, finished in the semis of Lincoln-Douglas, as did Class of 2022 member William Chien in extemporaneous and Dyllan Han, grade 11, in original oratory. Arissa Huda, grade 11, and Ariav Misra, grade 10, advanced in congressional debate.
The middle school team also shined at their division of the Tournament of Champions. Joy Hu, grade 8, was the national champion in extemporaneous speaking and Sofia Shah, grade 8, was the Lincoln-Douglas debate champion! Pavitra Kasthuri, grade 8, was in the finals of both extemporaneous speaking and impromptu. Hu was also in the finals of impromptu. Shloka Chawla, grade 8, and seventh graders Ameera Ramzan, Phoebe Lee and Tarush Gupta were also in impromptu elimination rounds. Evan Yuan, grade 7, was in congressional debate elimination rounds. Danielle Steinbach, grade 8, and Sanjith Senthil, grade 7, advanced in Lincoln-Douglas, as did the eighth grade public forum duo of Kairui Sun and Roshan Amurthur.
The upper school also had good results at the California State Speech tournament. As with all speech and debate tournaments, State is not divided by school classification, so it is one large pool for all those who participate. Sara Wan, grade 11, was second in impromptu speaking, Zubin Khera, grade 11, was fifth in original oratory and William Chien ’22 was in finals of extemporaneous speaking. Austina Xu, grade 11, was in the semifinals of oratorical interpretation and Dyllan Han was also in semifinals of original oratory.
There is one last event for the upper school speech and congressional debaters, as well as the middle school team, this June at the National Speech & Debate Association Championships. The only result that has been released ahead of time is that William Chien was named the California Coast District Student of the Year for his excellent performances and positive impact on the larger speech and debate community. The coaches are very proud of the hard work put in by all of the students.
The Class of 2022 gathered at Davis Field yesterday for this year’s baccalaureate ceremony, during which it offered a heartfelt farewell to Harker and welcomed the junior class into its new role as next year’s campus leader.
The ceremony kicked off with a performance by a special trio made up of seniors Yejin Song and Lucas Chen on piano and cello, respectively, and junior Cassie May on violin, who performed the first movement of Paul Schoenfeld’s “Café Music.”
Following some welcoming words from Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, Cantilena marched onto the stage to perform its rendition of Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend.” Junior Gwen Yang then took the stage with fellow upper school Honor Council member Alexa Lowe, grade 12, to accept the responsibility for continuing the school’s honor code on behalf of the junior class.
Upper school head Butch Keller, who will retire at the end of the school year, introduced this year’s baccalaureate faculty speaker, English teacher Christopher Hurshman, whom he called “the world’s most interesting man,” owing to his wide range of interests and international upbringing. Hurshman spoke on the sense of loss that accompanies major life changes such as the ones the Class of 2022 is experiencing. “Over every new beginning there hovers a shadow of melancholy and loss and grief,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s right to be excited about the future that’s opening up ahead of you, but you’re also about to experience a great loss, and perhaps you’ve been anticipating it.”
Using examples from his own life experience, Hurshman pointed out how both they and the world they have become familiar with will change drastically as they move into the wider world beyond high school. He also advised students to recognize and treasure the “ordinary moments” that will shape who they are, despite the feelings of immense pressure young people often feel to have an impact on the world. “It’s possible to come to the realization that the nitty-gritty particulars of your life, the specific circumstances and relationships and responsibilities in it, are precisely where you will build meaning, and you’ll build that meaning by making conscious choices about what’s important to you.”
Keller then reappeared to welcome this year’s student speaker, senior Ayan Nath, who he introduced by playing a sound clip of Nath’s cover of Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” at the 2019 Hoscars. “We all knew from that moment on he was someone that was going to make an impact on our lives,” Keller said, saying later in his introduction that as much as he could entertain his classmates, “you picked him as your student speaker tonight because you respect him for being such a wonderful person.”
Nath commended the seniors on reaching this key moment in their lives. “We made it through four years … of getting cut off every morning at the Saratoga [Ave.] intersection by yet another red Tesla. Four years of using Schoology grade display — developed by our own [fellow graduating senior] Arjun Dixit — a couple hundred times a day. Four years of the highs and lows that are high school,” he said, summarizing the difficulties faced by the students during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included challenges posed by remote learning and the cancellation of many yearly events.
While graduating high school is often seen as the first step into students’ adult lives, followed by the addition of new responsibilities, “I believe that becoming an adult does not necessarily mean we have to give up on youthful or fun hobbies or activities,” he said. “Even if you love painting, playing Foursquare or have a strong affinity for creating nonprofit organizations, I encourage you to keep doing these things, even though they might not necessarily fall under your realm of responsibilities. Stay true to who you are and remember not to grow up too fast.”
To the juniors, Nath stated that he was proud to call many of them friends. “It is with this mindset that I urge you to be nice to the Class of 2024 and to love them as much as we have loved you,” he said. “Also, congratulations on beating us in Spirit Week.” He also advised them to treat their upcoming senior year “as an opportunity to mend broken relationships or get to know someone new. Go to prom. Go to homecoming. Watch or perform at Quadchella or Hoscars.” Academically, he urged the juniors to treasure the unique opportunity to be a Harker student for one final year. “Your teachers love you, and interacting with teachers and classmates in small environments is something that’s not guaranteed at the university that you end up attending,” he said. Concluding, Nath restated his hope that his classmates won’t lose all of their youthfulness with the onset of adulthood: “I hope that we will continue to bring our youth with us wherever we go and never lose touch with who we are.”
At Friday night’s Senior Showcase, 17 seniors became graduates of the Harker Conservatory’s certificate program, each having spent four years studying one of the conservatory’s six disciplines: vocal music, instrumental music, dance, theater, musical theater and technical theater. The evening also included performances from the graduates and the presentation of the Life in the Arts award to Steve Boyle ’06.
The slide show included in this story features each of this year’s Conservatory graduates, in the order they are listed below:
Daedalus Quartet displayed adventurous spirit and instrumental mastery at Friday night’s Harker Concert Series season closer. The group opened with “Lyric Quartet” by Harlem Renaissance composer William Grant Still, composed as a tribute to his friend, violinist Joachim Chassman. The pastoral warmth of the first movement, “The Sentimental One,” gave way to the contemplative melodies of “The Quiet One” before ramping up the tempo and playfulness for the final movement, “The Jovial One.”
Daedalus cellist Thomas Kraines then invited composer Laurie San Martin up to the stage to talk briefly about the next piece, “Six Cuts,” which she workshopped with the quartet personally. Consisting largely of unconventional and harsh sounds, “Six Cuts” at times resembled the noises of everyday life, rendered by the quartet’s instruments in sharp detail.
Following the intermission, Daedalus returned with slightly more conventional fare, including Amy Beach’s “Quartet for Strings,” and ended with Mendelssohn’s “Quartet in F minor,” whose galloping final movement was a fitting show for the quartet’s mastery.