Harker Quarterly, the school’s magazine, earned the 2016 bronze award for independent school magazine from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education in its District VII Awards of Excellence. The magazine, which showcases news, programs and inspiring people in the Harker community, is produced by the Office of Communication. The publication, which was introduced in December 2009, earned CASE’s silver award in 2011, and won platinum awards in 2013 and 2015 from the prestigious Marcom Awards.
Last week, the Harker golf team traveled to Antioch to compete in the Gambetta Tournament, the longest running high school golf tournament in Northern California. The Eagles finished fourth – Harker’s best-ever finish at this tournament – behind Bay Area powerhouses Campolindo, San Ramon and De La Salle. Leading the way for the Eagles was Avi Khemani, grade 11, who finished in fourth place with a 2-under-par 70, the best-ever individual performance for a Harker golfer at this tournament. The highlight of Khemani’s day was a consecutive birdie, eagle, birdie on the back nine, to card a tournament low 31. Scout McNealy, grade 9, continuing the family linksmen tradition, shot a 1-over-par 73, finishing in a tie for ninth place. The Eagles travel to Corral de Tierra Country Club today to face Palma High School.
Boys Tennis
The boys tennis team started its season with a 6-1 league win over King’s Academy last Tuesday. The Eagles then headed south over the weekend to compete in the California Tennis Classic in Fresno. After two consecutive years of strong finishes, the Eagles were selected as the only tournament team to move up two divisions, which matched them up with some of the best teams in the state. The Eagles went 1-2 on the weekend, with their sole win coming in dramatic fashion. Harker upset defending Central Coast Champion Clovis West High School in the closest tennis match in both tournament and Harker history; it required three tie-breaking criteria and, ultimately, the winner of the No. 1 singles match to decide to winner. In the clinching match, Ronak Baldua, grade 12, overcame three match points before coming from behind to win 12-10 in a third set tiebreaker. Other strong performers included David Wen, grade 10, as well as the doubles team of Randy Zhao, grade 10, and Anjay Saklecha, grade 9. The Eagles travel to Pinewood on Tuesday to continue league action.
Softball
Last week, the girls softball team traveled to Palo Alto High School and defeated the Vikings 10-5. Tong Wu, grade 12, led the Eagles with two hits and three RBIs. The Eagles will make up their contest with Menlo Atherton as their Friday match up was cancelled due to rain. Harker will host St. Francis Watsonville this Friday at Blackford.
Baseball
The boys baseball team picked up an 11-2 win over North Valley Baptist last week as Miles DeWitt, grade 12, had three hits and three RBIs to lead the way for the Eagles. However, Harker was defeated 6-2 by Crystal Springs Uplands in their league opener. Akhil Arun, grade 10, drove in two runs in the loss. The Eagles host San Mateo on Tuesday and travel to Jefferson High on Thursday.
Track and Field
The track and field team was rained out this past weekend, midway through the Willow Glen Invitational. Before the event was shut down, Alycia Cary, grade 9, ran the seventh-fastest 800m, Elijah Edgehill, grade 12, ran the seventh-fastest 100m dash of the day and Anthony Contreras, grade 10, ran the 10th-fastest time. This Saturday, the Eagles will compete at the Kings Track Classic.
Boys Volleyball
The boys varsity volleyball team went 1-1 last week, losing to Oak Grove in five games. Andrew Gu, grade 11, led the Eagles with 14 kills. Later in the week, the Eagles traveled to Monterey High and came up with a three game win. Chris Gong, grade 9, led the way with 12 kills. The Eagles host Lynbrook on Tuesday at 6:15 p.m. at Blackford and host Amador Valley on Friday at 6:45 p.m. at Bucknall.
Girls Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team dropped three matchups last week, falling to Sacred Heart Cathedral and Gunn, before losing a tough 11-9 overtime loss to York. The Eagles will host Castilleja on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. and Newark on Friday at 5 p.m.
Swim
Even the rain and wind couldn’t stop the Harker swim team from competing this past weekend at the Monta Vista High School meet. Cedric Nowatzyk, grade 9, Ihita Mandal, grade 9, Karen Tu, grade 12, Anika Jain, grade 11, Philip Krause, grade 12, Alex Yu, grade 9, and Kevin Tzeng, grade 10, all swam personal bests at the event. Congratulations to Vivian Wang, grade 10, and Michael Auld, grade 11, who each had CCS qualifying times in their events. The Eagles are back in the pool on March 19 for the Small School Invitational at Sacred heart Prep.
Students in the AP studio art program had their works showcased at this year’s AP Studio Art Exhibition on Feb. 23. A throng of visitors took in a wide variety of paintings, sculptures, drawings and prints in many different styles and media.
One of the featured artists, Kaylan Huang, grade 12, used ink and colored pencil to create small-scale drawings of cities such as Tokyo, San Francisco and Amsterdam. Fellow senior Ankur Karwal used clever graphic design to examine the symbolism of famous brand names such as Louis Vuitton, Apple and Nike.
All of the works from the exhibition are currently on display in the Nichols Hall atrium. This year’s showcased artists are Alice Wu, grade 12; Amar Jain, grade 12; Grace Park, grade 11; Jenny Bourke, grade 12; Joyce Li, grade 11; Kaylan Huang, grade 12; Madison Tomihiro, grade 12; Marti Sutton, grade 11; Doreene Kang, grade 12; Kevin Ke, grade 12; Kristen Ko, grade 12; Sarah Tien, grade 11; Shreya Sunkara, grade 12; Alexa Gross, grade 11; Ankur Karwal, grade 12; Caroline Skrobak, grade 12; Edward Sheu, grade 12; Johnathon Keller, grade 12; Kavya Ramakrishnan, grade 12; Kevina Xiao, grade 12; Natasha Mayor, grade 12; Surya Solanki, grade 12; Arben Gutierrrez-Bujari, grade 11; Chandler Nelson, grade 12; and Layla Walker, grade 12.
Lower school BEST celebrated Courage Week last week. Students explored what courage means and looks like in day-to-day life.
“Our students have challenged themselves to make new friends by sitting at different tables during lunch,” said Brielle Rizzotti, assistant director of BEST for grades 3-5. “They’ve read and told their own stories about courage. They have stretched their palettes by trying new foods at the salad bar. They’ve carried out courageous acts all week and were recognized by our staff. Some notable moments included when our first, second and third grade students courageously took the ‘stage’ to participate in a comedy open mic, while our fourth and fifth graders shared their talents and danced to the ‘Whip/Nae Nae.’ The students have learned so much and we’re really proud of their participation, enthusiasm and, of course, their courage!”
The Harker baseball team opened its season with an impressive 16-3 win over Livermore Valley Charter Prep. Dominic Cea, grade 10, started his season off hot with a two hit, four RBI day to lead the way for the Eagles. On Tuesday, North Valley Baptist will visit the diamond at Blackford for a 3:30 p.m. game.
Softball
Elevens were wild last week for the Harker softball team as it defeated both Overfelt High and Mercy San Francisco 11-0. In the win over Overfelt, Marti Sutton, grade 11, went 2-2 with four RBIs, while Marita Del Alto, grade 12, gave up only two hits and zero runs in five innings pitched. Later in the week, Kristin LeBlanc, grade 10, had the Mercy batters begging for mercy as she tossed five innings of no-hit ball, striking out seven. Grace Park, grade 11, provided the thunder as she hit the first Harker home run of the year. The Eagles travel to Palo Alto High on Tuesday to face off with the Vikings.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team kicks off its season on Tuesday as its travels to Oak Grove High for a 6:15 p.m. non-league matchup.
Boys Golf
Monday marks the start of the boys golf season as the team travels to the Lone Tree Golf Course in Antioch to compete in the Joe Gambetta Invitational Tournament. Next Monday, Harker will travel to Brentwood to compete in the Falcon Invitational at the Deer Ridge Golf Club.
Girls Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team opened its season with a 14-3 loss to West Catholic powerhouse Archbishop Mitty. This week, the Eagles will host three games on Davis Field: Tuesday vs. Sacred Heart Cathedral at 4:30 p.m., Wednesday vs. Gunn High at 4:30 p.m. and Friday vs. York School at 5 p.m.
Boys Tennis
The boys tennis team jumps right into league action as it hosts King’s Academy in its season opener on Tuesday. On Thursday, the Eagles will travel to Crystal Springs Uplands for another league match. And this weekend, the team travels to Fresno for the California Tennis Classic.
Track and Field
The Harker track and field team opens its season this Saturday at the Willow Glen Invitational.
Swim
The varsity swim team faced off in a three-team meet against Crystal Springs Uplands and King’s Academy last week. Michael Auld, grade 11, Vivian Wang, grade 10, Angela Huang, grade 12, and Grace Guan, grade 12, all qualified for CCS in their events. Angela Li and Ihita Mandal, both grade 9, won their respective varsity races in the 100 back and 200 free. The Eagles travel to Monta Vista on Friday.
Winter Wrap Up
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball season came to end last Tuesday as Terra Nova defeated the Eagles 52-44 in the first round of the CCS Division 4 playoffs. Jordon Thompson, grade 11, scored 29 points, but it wasn’t enough as the Harker lineup was shorthanded because of injuries and illnesses. The Eagles finished the season with an impressive 16-9 record and look to stay strong next year as the team graduates only two seniors, Aishu Murari and Aathira Menon. Great job this year, ladies!
Boys Basketball
The boys varsity basketball team traveled to San Lorenzo Valley High School last Thursday to open up the CCS Division 4 playoffs. The Eagles got 22 points from Roy Yuan, grade 9, but SLV was too much for Harker as it moved on to the next round with the 67-47 victory. It was the final high school game for seniors Elijah Edgehill, Dhanush Madabusi, Rohan Desikan, Amar Jain, Prithvi Gudapati, Jonathan Yiu, Evan Lohn and Raghav Jain. Congrats on a great year, Eagles!
Harker News periodically steps into classrooms and then shares what students are learning with the school community. This classroom exercise, courtesy of Stacie Wallace’s grade 8 students, shows the compassion and self-awareness our students are embracing and holds lessons for us all.
“As part of our work in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,'” said Wallace, “we eighth grade teachers have been working with our students on ‘laws of life’ that are exemplified by characters in the novel, such as Atticus, the father everyone wishes they had. We extended that outward and asked students to come up with and share some of the rules for living that they embrace. In my classes today, I’ve had them work in groups, talking with each other about these ‘rules’ and who taught them to the student, and then we’ve compiled lists of them.
“I think when you read them, you’ll know that there is hope for the future. I heard some very heartfelt and sincere words offered about an older brother, a grandpa, a mother who has passed away, and about many, many more people, all adults, who have helped describe the world to their kids and show them ways to live in it successfully. It’s more than encouraging!” she finished.
Some of the Values We Embrace in Life by Eighth Graders
You miss every shot you don’t take.
Try not to give in to negativity; optimism is better.
Give without expectation of something in return.
Respect is earned by showing it to others.
Live by the rules as long as it doesn’t conflict with your values.
Don’t lie; it’s always better to be honest.
Try your best at what you do. Don’t aim for perfection.
Do the right thing even when no one is looking.
Treat everyone as equals.
Stand up for what you believe in.
If you have self-control, everything is easier.
In adversity, don’t crumble.
Others’ judgments don’t have to be taken to heart.
See a need, fill a need. (Community mindedness!)
Be brave enough to think for yourself.
Nobody has enough time; make time for what you enjoy.
Focus on your own life, not others’.
Value independence. (But …) It’s not necessary always to be independent.
Be thankful for what you’ve been given.
Character is doing things with no reward in mind.
Don’t overthink it.
Be nice to everyone, no matter what.
Trust others, but don’t depend entirely on them.
When a leader is needed, step up and take responsibility.
Talk is cheap; actions speak louder than words.
Skills outside of school matter.
Solve problems rather than look to blame others.
Be selfless; look at the big picture (Community mindedness!).
Only work to impress yourself.
Embrace humility: See yourself realistically, not as entitled.
This year’s “One Team, One Dream” Night on the Town Gala got off and running earlier this evening in the United Club at Levi’s Stadium, home of this year’s Super Bowl. More than 300 attendees enjoyed a fun-filled evening of great food, a casino, dancing and more. Fittingly, Harker’s athletics programs were a major focus of the celebration, which was held largely to benefit Harker’s general endowment.
Throughout the evening, photos of Harker alumni who currently play sports at the collegiate level were shown on dozens of screens around the room. Sponsors were honored by having their names displayed on the stadium’s screens, ribbon board and scoreboard.
One of the highlights of the event was an entertaining “Chalk Talk” video in which Chris Nikoloff, head of school, played the straight man to chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine’s upbeat, motivational sports coach. Nikoloff stood at the podium delivering a diplomatic, salesman-like speech extolling the virtues of the new buildings, which Irvine translated into an invigorating pep talk, with uproarious results.
This year’s silent auction had attendees bidding for prizes such as concert tickets, jewelry, a cruise, Disneyland passes and VIP packages to Harker events including the Harvest Festival and upper school graduation ceremony. Attendees also saw an exhilarating performance by the Harker cheerleaders and captured their memories of the night at the photo opportunity area.
Violinist Jessica Lee and pianist Reiko Uchida teamed up for a crowd-pleasing night Feb. 19 at this season’s second Harker Concert Series performance, which featured the works of composers from a variety of eras.
As the first piece of the evening began, Lee stood still with her instrument at her side while Uchida marched through the solemn opening chords. A slow uplift gave way to a weepy melody, accentuated by Lee’s superb vibrato and interpretive clarity. Their interplay soon drifted into a jaunt of arpeggios, tempo changes and volume swells. Lee’s and Uchida’s mastery of tone and technique served them well through these challenging sections, maintaining astonishing accuracy without losing the emotional impact. This was most apparent just past the midway point of the piece, with Lee’s melodies sweeping across the tapestry created by Uchida’s colorful piano work.
Sergei Prokofiev’s “Five Melodies” – “beautiful little jewels,” as Lee called them – began with a plaintive melody and chords that were written in sunny California but sounded more akin to a rainy day. Lee’s animated, dramatic interpretation lent a kind of imagery to Prokofiev’s melodies. The busy second movement brought to mind a busy city street, perhaps the kind the composer encountered while in 1920s Los Angeles. Speaking of busy, the frantic and anguished third movement called back to a Prokofiev quote Lee cited just before the piece began: “I am as ecstatic about California as it is about me.”
Lee prefaced her performance of Leoš Janáček’s “Sonata for Violin and Piano” with a personal anecdote about her visit to the composer’s home in the Czech countryside. The piece, she said, contained “explosive fragments,” a result of Janáček’s interest in speech patterns, the various inflections of which found their way into this particular piece. Certainly, the piece often played out like a heated conversation between various parties, shifting moods, coming in fits and starts. It was unconventional material, rhythmically challenging and thematically complex, but Lee and Uchida were up to the task. The transition from the anxiety-fraught first movement to the more organized, daydream-like “Balada: con moto” was no trouble at all.
The pleasant, strident melodies of Beethoven’s “Sonata for Violin and Piano in Major” welcomed the audience back from the intermission, Lee and Uchida going back and forth with delightful flurries and strolling melodies before drifting into the thoughtful and reflective adagio. Though Lee’s violin was center stage, Uchida shined in the space provided with her steady rhythms and playful interpretation.
Ever the entertainer, Lee elected to close the evening with Pablo de Sarasate’s “Introduction and Tarantella,” displaying the not only the technical ability of both musicians, but also their flair for theatrics, sending a very appreciative crowd smiling into the drizzly evening. But not before stopping in the atrium for an autographed CD.
Jordan Thompson, grade 11, led the Eagles with 22 points in the regular season finale against first place Mercy San Francisco, but it wasn’t enough as Harker was defeated 52-43. However, the Eagles finished with an impressive 16-8 record and were given the No. 10 seed in the CCS Division 4 playoffs. That gives Harker’s team home court advantage as it hosts Terra Nova on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Come out to support our Eagles as they make a run at a CCS title!
Boys Basketball
Last week the boys varsity basketball team picked up a huge 71-29 win over Crystal Springs Uplands behind a 21-point, five-rebound, five-assist night from Rohan Desikan, grade 12. Later in the week, the Eagles faced off with Menlo to close out the regular season, but the Knights spoiled Senior Night by defeating Harker 55-42. Elijah Edgehill, grade 12, led the way with 13 points. The Eagles finished the season with a 12-12 record and were rewarded with the No. 11 seed in the CCS Division 4 brackets. The team travels to San Lorenzo Valley this Thursday at 7 p.m. to begin its postseason journey.
Boys Soccer
The varsity boys soccer team wrapped up its season last week as it split its two games. The Eagles fell to King’s Academy 3-1 on Senior Day, but finished the season on a winning note, taking down Priory 2-1 with goals from Kedar Gupta, grade 11, and Jared Anderson, grade 9. Harker ended with a respectable 7-9-1 record. Great job this year!
Wrestling
Although the Harker wrestling team was represented by only two wrestlers in the CCS tournament, it had a very strong showing. Anthony Contreras, grade 10, went 1-2 in the tournament, but with two more years of high school wrestling ahead, the sky is the limit for Contreras. Davis Howard, grade 11, represented Harker very well in the 285-pound division. Howard went 3-2, with all of his wins coming by fall, and his final loss coming at the hands of the eventual third place finisher. Congratulations on a great year to Anthony, Davis and the entire Harker wrestling team!
MS Wrestling
Dezi Johnson, grade 6, once again showed that he is one of the best young wrestlers in the nation as he finished fifth at the 2016 Liberty Nationals. The tournament was held this past weekend in St. Joseph, Mo., and showcased some of the best wrestling talent in the country. Again, congrats Dezi!
Harker won first place at the 2016 Cal High School Speech and Debate Tournament, held this past weekend at UC Berkeley. The team won the Sweepstakes trophy, which measures the overall success of a team across all events, including speech, policy debate, Lincoln-Douglas debate, congressional debate and public forum debate. Harker teams prevailed over 243 schools from 26 states and four countries. Harker upper and middle school students participated.
“This award demonstrates the incredible breadth of our speech and debate program,” said Jenny Alme, speech and debate chair. “It took success on all fronts to win this prestigious award. From sixth through 12th grade, we had students excelling in all of the events.”
Over 100 Harker students participated in the 43rd annual invitational tournament.
“This is one of the largest tournaments in the nation,” said Karina Momary, director of middle school speech and debate. “It is also one of the most challenging tournaments our middle school students will attend all year. We had numerous students accomplish top finishes individually, however, the most impressive award is the first place in overall in speech and debate. This award is given to the top school at the entire tournament. This is a huge accomplishment for all of our students as is this is the first time Harker has won this award.”
Massive congratulations to all the participants and to their coaches! Go debate Eagles!