Preschool students had a special treat in store for them on March 18 as they, along with teachers and staff, headed to the campus lawn to participate in Dance Anywhere day, a simultaneous international celebration of dancing. Participants came together around lunchtime to dance 10 minutes away.
Dance Anywhere was started in 2005 by Bay Area dancer Beth Fein. True to its name, the annual celebration encourages anyone and everyone – be they amateur or professional – to dance in virtually any place, public or private.
On March 11-12, the middle school’s performing arts department held its annual Dance Jamz show at the Blackford Theater and we have some great photos. Directed by Gail Palmer, the show featured dozens of dancers from grades 6-8 performing complex, energetic routines to popular songs by Jennifer Lopez, Meghan Trainor, Tori Kelly and more. Choreography for the show was done by Palmer, Kimberly Teodoro, Brittany Watts, Kento Vo, Jessalynn Espiritu, Brianna Alday, Shakira Ortiz and Alexandra Venter. Enjoy!
Students from grades 5 and 12 met up on March 11 for their final Eagle Buddies event, as the seniors prepare to graduate this spring. The buddies met at the upper school gym before being sent off to eat St. Patrick’s Day themed cupcakes and play with noisemakers and beach balls.
“The first time I met [my grade 5 buddy, Max Blennemann], he was really shy and quiet, but at the end of that first meeting, we just connected,” said senior Raghav Jain, “and since then we send emails to each other to keep in touch.”
“It’s fun to see what older kids do … in high school and stuff,” said Blennemann.
“It’s really fun. I really enjoy connecting with the lower school. It’s like having a little sibling,” added Sophia Luo, grade 12.
Christopher Nikoloff, head of school, dropped by toward the end of the meeting to share his appreciation for the Eagle Buddies program, saying, “It’s very, very important to the community. It’s very, very important to the growth of our young students and I hope the growth of our older students as they look back and remember when they were kids.”
The Eagle Buddies program began during the 2010-11 school year and pairs students in grade 3 with a buddy in grade 10. The two students correspond and engage in activities together each year until the sophomores graduate and the grade 3 students enter the middle school.
Although the upper school soccer teams lost this year’s Kicks Against Cancer games to Menlo High School, the real winner was Camp Okizu. The nonprofit organization allows children with cancer to “just be a kid for a week” through camp experiences they otherwise would not be able to have.
The seventh-annual soccer match took place on Feb. 5, with the junior varsity boys, varsity girls, and varsity boys playing against their respective Menlo High School teams. The junior varsity boys lost 0-2, the varsity girls lost 0-3 and the varsity boys lost 1-4.
Sparsh Chauhan, grade 10, scored the only goal for Harker during the last game of the night. After the junior varsity boys finished their game, the varsity girls team presented a check for $1,500 to four visiting Camp Okizu families.
Grade 11 student Maile Chung, who helped organize the event, said, “Every year we host these games in order to raise money and awareness for cancer. All the proceeds that we gain are donated to families in order for them to send their child to Camp Okizu.”
Camp Okizu offers a free weeklong summer camp that gives cancer patients and their families a sense of normalcy and stability. To help raise money for the camp, Kicks Against Cancer onlookers had the opportunity to buy T-shirts and wristbands, make monetary donations and purchase yummy treats at a bake sale.
During halftime of the last game, spectators were given a chance to play “Butts Up” with some faculty members lined up on the goal line. Cheerleaders, meanwhile, performed a special routine.
Amit Mukherjee ’06, a senior associate at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), was included in Forbes magazine’s prestigious “30 Under 30” list of young movers and shakers in the venture capital category for 2016.
Mukherjee has worked at NEA since 2012, overseeing more than $500 million of invested capital. A leading source for reliable business news and financial information, Forbes is well known for its annual lists and rankings. The “30 Under 30” list prides itself on predicting the brightest and most ambitious young adults to watch in the coming year.
“I had been a finalist for ’30 under 30′ the year before, and was then not selected,” he said. “Winning the award after not being selected the year before was a great lesson that sometimes things go my way and other times they don’t, and my long-term outlook would vary little regardless.”
The girls varsity softball team picked up a 12-2 win over visiting St. Francis of Watsonville last week. Grace Park, grade 11, had three hits and three RBIs to lead the Eagles. Harker travels to The King’s Academy on Tuesday.
Baseball
The boys varsity baseball team fell 12-3 to visiting San Mateo High last week. Dominic Cea, grade 10, had two hits and two RBIs in the loss. The Eagles were rained out in their other two contests of the week. This week, the team hosts Westmoor on Tuesday at 4 p.m. at Blackford; it travels to Pinewood on Thursday; and on Saturday, it hosts O’Connell High of San Francisco at Blackford at 11 a.m..
Track and Field
The Harker track team competed in the King’s Track Classic over the weekend, and Coach Scott Chisam said it was “probably our best team meet in many years.” Elijah Edgehill, grade 12, ran the fourth fastest time in the 100m and 200m. Anthony Contreras, grade 10, finished first in the 100m and 200m frosh/soph finals. Gloria Guo, grade 10, placed first in the frosh/soph 100m finals. Also this weekend, Niki Iyer, grade 11, competed at the K-Bell Classic and finished first in the 3200m with a time of 10:40.23. The Eagles will face the rest of the WBAL on Tuesday at Sacred Heart Prep.
Swim
The Harker swim team will compete at the Small School Invitational this Saturday at Sacred Heart Prep.
Boys Golf
The boys golf team had a very impressive showing over the past week. First, it placed second at Corral de Tierra Country Club as it matched up with Palma, Salinas and Carmel. Jin Kim, grade 10, led the Eagles with a one-over-par 37. Later in the week, Ryan Vaughan, grade 11, shot the low score of 33 as the Eagles defeated The King’s Academy 176-216. Harker ended the week with a 169-185 win over Evergreen Valley High. Next for the Eagles is a Monday afternoon showdown with Menlo at Cinnabar.
Boys Tennis
The boys tennis team picked up two more wins last week as it defeated Pinewood 7-0 and Aragon 5-2. David Wen, grade 10, the team of Anjay Saklecha, grade 9, and Randy Zhao, grade 10, and the team of Swapnil Garg, grade 10, and Kai Franz, grade 9, all had come-from-behind victories. The Eagles face off with Sacred Heart Prep this Thursday at the Santa Clara Tennis Center.
Girls Lacrosse
Last week, the girls varsity lacrosse team fell to Castilleja 13-1, but later in the week picked up its first win of the year with a 13-4 victory over Newark. The Eagles will host Saratoga this Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. on Davis Field.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team suffered two tough losses last week as it lost in five games against both Lynbrook and Amador Valley. In the loss to Lynbrook, Andrew Gu, grade 11, had 11 kills, and in the loss to Amador, Ray Song, grade 11, had 12 kills. The Eagles face off with Mountain View this Tuesday at Blackford at 6:45 p.m.
In early March, 89 Harker students traveled to sunny San Diego to compete with over 2,000 other California DECA members at the State Career Development Conference.
The results are as follows:
First Place
Alexander Mo, grade 11, Business Growth Plan
Natasha Maniar and Kelsey Wu, both grade 9, Innovation Plan
Enya Lu, grade 9, Financial Consulting Event
Neelesh Ramachandran, grade 10, Personal Financial Literacy
Enya Lu, grade 9, Principles of Finance
Shannon Hong and Sophia Luo, both grade 12, Travel and Tourism Marketing Team Decision Making Event
Second Place
Mona Lee, grade 10, Apparel and Accessories Marketing Series
Alexis Gauba, grade 11, Business Services Marketing Series
Third Place
Brandon Mo, grade 10, Independent Business Plan
Sanil Rajput, grade 12, Financial Literacy Promotion Plan
Shreyas Chandrashekaran, Shaan Gagneja and Neelesh Ramachandran, all grade 10, Finance Operations Research Event
Vignesh Panchanatham, grade 10, Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling
Fourth Place
Erin Liu, grade 9, Business Growth Plan
Shannon Hong and Sophia Luo, both grade 12, and Lucas Wang, grade 11, International Business Plan
Alexander Wang, grade 10, Sports and Entertainment Marketing Series
Fifth Place
Lucas Wang, grade 11, Business Finance Series
Shreyas Chandrashekaran, grade 10, Marketing Management Series
Rahul Mehta and Vanessa Tyagi both grade 10, Sports and Entertainment Team Decision Making Event
Seventh Place
Shivani Awasthi and Ankita Uppugunduri, grade 11, Buying and Merchandising Team Decision Making Event
Emaad Raghib, grade 11, Principles of Finance
Eighth Place
Shea Tuli, grade 10, Personal Financial Literacy
10th Place
Helen Yang, grade 9, Advertising Campaign Event
Amitej Mehta and Vignesh Panchanatham, both grade 10, Business Law and Ethics Team Decision Making Event
Ananya Krishnan, grade 10, Buying and Merchandising Operations Research Event
Ezra Bekele, grade 11, Personal Financial Literacy
Michael Sikand and Dolan Dworak, both grade 10, Travel and Tourism Team Decision Making Event
Additionally, 15 Harker teams qualified for the International Career Development Conference, which will be held in Nashville, Tenn., in late April.
The Florio String Quartet was formed by a group of upper school students (seniors Jason Lee, Luke Wu and Kevin Kim, and junior Cuebeom Choi) in hopes of reaching out with music and serving the less-privileged “with the joys of pop and classical music.”
In August the quartet hosted a fundraising concert benefiting Lucile Packard, featuring classical pieces by Haydn as well as contemporary favorites by artists such as Coldplay and The Rolling Stones.
“The members of the Florio Quartet care as much about sharing their music with the community as they do about the music itself. As a teacher this makes me very proud,” said upper school music teacher and the group’s namesake, Chris Florio, in the Lucile Packard blog post.
In lieu of an entry fee, The Florio String Quartet collected donations, raising more than $2,000 for patients and their families.
Harker Aquila, the journalism department’s student news site, recently published a story about Harker’s new peer-reviewed student science journal, Horizon, currently a work in progress. Read the full story at Harker Aquila!
All-League teams were recently announced and, once again, Harker was well represented in the West Bay Athletic League.
Boys Soccer: Oisin Coveney, grade 12, first team; Omar Hamade, grade 12, second team; Rohit Shah, grade 10, and Jared Anderson, grade 9, honorable mentions
Girls Soccer: Lyndsey Mitchell, grade 11, first team; Anuva Mittal, grade 11, second team; Layla Walker, grade 12, and Maile Chung, grade 11, honorable mentions
Boys Basketball: Elijah Edgehill, grade 12, first team; Rohan Desikan, grade 12, honorable mention
Girls Basketball Skyline Division: Jordan Thompson, grade 11, first team; Joelle Anderson, grade 11, second team; Selin Sayiner and Satchi Thockchom, both grade 10, honorable mentions
El Camino League Wrestling: Davis Howard, grade 11, Anthony Contreras, grade 10, and Danny Reidenbach, grade 11, All-League