Karina Momary, middle school debate coach, had a nice surprise in her snail mail box one morning in mid-September: a letter from the White House! She received a missive from President Barack Obama acknowledging the middle school debate team’s success this past year. In addition to the letter, the envelope also contained photos of the First Family. This acknowledgement came after the middle school debate team was named an Overall School of Excellence by the National Speech & Debate Association, an award given to just three schools nationwide. This is the fourth time in a row the MS team has received this award! Read more about both upper and middle school debate triumphs this summer at Harker News! https://staging.news.harker.org/?p=26731
Football The varsity football team earned its first victory of the season with a 28-18 win over Del Mar Friday night, avenging a loss to the Dons last year. Demonte Aleem, grade 9, scored two touchdowns with Will Park, grade 11, and Johnathon Keller, grade 12, scoring the others. Angel Cervantes, grade 10, led defensively with six tackles. School spirit was outstanding again! The boys travel to California School for the Deaf Friday night for their league opener.
Cross Country Harker cross country teams ran in Golden Gate Park Saturday and did very well in their season debut. Anika Rajamani and Lilia Gonzales, both grade 9, led the frosh/soph girls team to a sixth place finish out of 20 teams and 250 runners. Rajamani placed 13th, Gonzales placed 18th. Peter Connors, grade 10, led the frosh/soph boys with his 30th place finish and top Eagles boys time of the day. Niki Iyer, grade 11, placed fourth in a loaded varsity girls run, finishing as the top Central Coast Section performer in the meet. Connor O’Neill, grade 12, was the leading varsity boys finisher. The teams compete again on Sept. 26.
Volleyball Junior varsity girls volleyball placed eighth out of 32 teams Saturday at the Milpitas Spikefest with victories over Burlingame and Los Gatos. The girls teams opened at home Tuesday vs. St. Francis and gave No. 1 ranked St. Francis all they could handle at Blackford, pushing them to the limit in a five-game loss 19-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-27, 9-15. Our girls never stopped battling against the much taller Lancers, who were increasingly discouraged with the stellar Harker defense and loud supportive Eagles crowd. Harker’s players and coaches should be proud of their strong efforts against one of the top teams in the state. Come watch them again Friday at Blackford against Westmont High, JV at 4:30 p.m., varsity at 5:45 p.m.
Water Polo Boys water polo defeated visiting Fremont High 22-4 yesterday in their home and league opener. The girls team lost 14-6 while the JV boys won 10-5. Boys travel to Saratoga High tomorrow while the girls head to Monta Vista. Go Eagles!
On the evening of Sept. 12, senior Arun Shriram combined his love of music with his drive to help others by holding a fundraising concert on behalf of Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area.
Called “Around the World!” the concert, held at Good Samaritan United Methodist Church in Cupertino, showcased music from several different cultures. More than a dozen other Harker students were involved in the effort.
And, appearing on saxophone, was Harker staff member Alejandro Osorio, who works at Harker’s tech help desk. Of Shriram, Osorio said, “He’s a very good musician. He comes from a musical family and in his own right is really talented.”
“The concert was a phenomenal success!” noted Shriram, who learned to play the Indian drums from his father.
“I started this concert after being inspired by my role as an Indian percussionist in the San Francisco World Music Festival. There, there were professional musicians from countries all around the world, such as Tibet, India, China, Latin America, Korea, Azerbaijan and Uganda. I knew that a lot of my friends at school were very talented in music, and being an Indian percussionist as well as an orchestral percussionist, I was able to bring in friends from both worlds and present music from different parts of the globe. That’s why I called it ‘Around the World,’ and I chose the charity Make-A-Wish because I feel that their mission really aligned with me.”
The concert “was absolutely magical,” noted Smriti Koodanjeri, Harker chemistry teacher. “The artistry, love and giving from so many Harker students brought tears to my eyes. The fusion of Eastern and Western music was simply outstanding!”
Each year, tens of thousands of volunteers, donors and supporters like Shriram advance the Make-A-Wish effort to grant the wishes of children diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions. In the United States and its territories, on average, a wish is granted every 37 minutes.
The event has raised over $3,900 and donations are still being accepted until Sept.23. For more information on how to donate, email 16ArunS@students.harker.org.
Check out the performer’s promo video as well as a videotaken during the live concert!
Over Labor Day weekend, grade 9 chess enthusiast Shaunak Maruvada took second place in the expert section (U2200) at the CalChess State Championship. Facing formidable competition, Maruvada was undefeated in his section and finished in second place, missing two games to celebrate his birthday on Sept. 7.
In mid-August, Nathan Liu, grade 4, and Tiffany Zhao, grade 9, traveled to Germany to play piano at the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival.
During a public concert held in the town hall, Liu and Zhao had the opportunity to play a duet (a Brahms waltz), in addition to doing solo performances. Liu had the distinction of being the youngest music player invited to the festival.
While in Germany, both Liu and Zhao learned from many of the world’s top musicians, and spent time at a historic music school located in a medieval castle.
“I learned how to cooperate with other musicians, as well as train my ear to listen to other people and play accordingly. My piano teacher asked me play a duet with Nathan there. It was also a great experience to mentor a younger musician,” Zhao said.
“It was a great experience,” said Liu. “One of the cool things is I made some good friends. I was really glad that Tiffany was there, so she could accompany me. I was amazed that everybody in the town was very into music and the posters of the festival were everywhere. I learned a lot from the more experienced musicians. Overall, it was an unforgettable two weeks!” he added.
Table Tennis Shreyas Chandrashekaran, grade 10, and Kaushik Shivakumar, grade 9, took first place in Division I of the 2015 Bay Area Interschools Table Tennis League, organized by the Fremont Table Tennis Academy! Calling themselves Team Harker, the pair ended the regular season of round-robin competition by remaining undefeated and placing first in their division. In the playoffs, Team Harker defeated Warm Springs A with a match score of 5-0 and prevailed in the finals over Stratford Sunnyvale with a match score of 3-2. Team Harker was happy to earn the top spot for a second year in a row. Chandrashekaran won all his singles matches and was named the League MVP. Go Team Harker!
Fencing Harker had two swordspeople competing in the U.S. Fencing Summer National Championships, held in July in San Jose. Both fencers are sophomores, both fence foil and both fence for Silicon Valley Fencing Center. Darren Gu, grade 10, finished 166 out of 247 in Y-14 men’s foil and 23 of 32 teams in men’s team foil. Gu fenced in 11 local and regional events last season, with a first place win out of 48 fencers in a Y-14 event in February. He holds a C-2015 rating.
Jerrica Liao competed in a demanding five women’s events over 10 days, earning top 32 points and finishing 17 out of 115 in Cadet (up to age 17) and finishing 29 out of 179 in Y-14. In senior women’s foil team, she finished 12 out of 22 teams; in the tough Division 1-A event, she finished 52 out of 69; and in juniors (up to age 19), she finished 107 out of 145. All events were A3 or A4 rated. Liao fenced in more than a dozen local, regional and national events last season, including a first place finish out of 71 fencers in Dallas. She holds a B-2014 rating and is ranked 23 nationwide in Cadet, having aged out of the Y-14 bracket.
Editor’s note: Although Harker Athletics does not have table tennis or fencing teams, we are proud to note the successes of our students at these highly competitive endeavors!
It’s been a fabulous past few months for Harker’s speech and debate teams! Although the bulk of the speech and debate tournament season runs from September through March, many students qualify for end-of-year national championship tournaments in May and June. Both the middle and upper school teams were very successful at these tournaments.
Top School Honors
In May, the upper school team was recognized by the Tournament of Champions (TOC) as a School of Excellence. This award, sponsored by the National Speech & Debate Association, is given to the team with the most success in all TOC events. The TOC is one of the most challenging tournaments upper school students compete in, so this was one of the biggest accomplishments of the entire season. Harker reached this remarkable achievement by advancing to elimination rounds in all four debate events: Lincoln-Doulas, policy, public forum and congressional. Most schools are thrilled to have students advance in a single event; Harker was the only school to have students advance in more than two. Coaches Greg Achten, Carol Green and Jenny Alme shared in celebrating this special award.
Similarly, in June, the middle school team set a record by winning the Overall School of Excellence Award for the fourth time! The award, given by the National Speech & Debate Association, is presented to the top three teams in the country. It is the highest honor a middle school program can achieve. Karina Momary, middle school coach, said she is incredibly proud of all of her competitors.
These awards reflect the hard work and success of individual Harker students and also the overall strength of the program.
Outstanding Individual Achievements and Service
Many students also experienced great success in individual events. At the National Speech & Debate Association National Tournament in Dallas in June, Madhu Nori ’15 reached the quarterfinals in original oratory, finishing among the top 28 orators in the nation. At the same tournament, Nikhil Kishore ’15 and David Lin ’15 finished in the top 30 teams in the nation in public forum debate.
At the middle school Speech & Debate Association National Tournament, also in Dallas, many Harker students earned top honors and awards. In declamation, Nikki Solanki, now grade 8, and Arusha Patil, now grade 7, were both quarterfinalists. In dramatic interpretation, Riya Gupta, now grade 9, was a quarterfinalist, and Solanki placed sixth in the nation. In impromptu speaking, Nikhil Dharmaraj, now grade 9, finished fourth in the nation. In original oratory, Gupta, Dharmaraj and Avi Gulati, now grade 8, were all semifinalists. In storytelling, Dharmaraj finished third.
The strong showing by the speech team members was matched by the excellent results from the debaters. In policy debate, Jai Bahri, now grade 8, and Julia Biswas, now grade 7, were double octafinalists, as were Andy Lee and Jason Lin, both grade 7. Maddie Huynh, now grade 8, and Anusha Kuppahally, now grade 9, were semifinalists. In Lincoln-Douglas debate Annie Ma, now grade 8, was a double octafinalist. In public forum, Cindy Wang, now grade 9, and Clarissa Wang, now grade 9, were quarterfinalists. In Congressional Debate, Jason Huang, now grade 9, was a finalist.
These strong efforts were significantly aided by the coaching assistance of recent Harker alumni and current upper school students. Ayush Midha ’15, Pranav Sharma ’15 and Zarek Drozda, now grade 12 gave up two weeks of their summer to help the middle school team prepare for the tournament. They assisted students during a weeklong work session then traveled to Dallas with the team to help coach the students during the event. Nitya Mani ’15 also helped out during the work week.
Momary and speech coach Marjorie Hazeltine worked tirelessly to prepare the students for competition, supervise the students and assistant coaches, and coordinate this highly successful trip.
Ongoing study
After the conclusion of the season, rather than taking a break from speech and debate, many of our middle and upper school students spent the summer preparing for the coming season at speech and debate camps across the nation. Students attended camps, ranging from one to seven weeks, at Georgetown University, UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan, to name just a few. Also many Harker students attended the summer speech and debate camp hosted by Harker.
During summer debate camps, students study the theory and practice of debate, learning from instructors from prestigious college and high school debate programs around the nation. In addition to valuable speech and debate experience, students also get to experience college first hand, often living in dormitories, studying in college classrooms and getting a taste of what college life is like.
“Debate camp is one of the most intellectually enriching experiences a student can undertake,” said Alme, Harker debate chair. “I have seen thousands of students grow as debaters, researchers, independent thinkers and responsible global citizens. Because the nature of debate camp allows for students to immerse themselves in the study and practice of competition, there really is no substitute for attending camp.”
Though the camp schedule is rigorous, often involving long days and weekend work, the students are also able to learn more about the college campuses they visit and occasionally have great cultural experiences. For instance, several Harker students at the Georgetown Debate Institute were taken by camp faculty to the U.S. Supreme Court for the announcement of the historic gay marriage decision Obergefell vs. Hodges. The students were at the court for the reading of the decision and got to go inside the chambers. Debate camp allowed these students to be there for a truly historical event and it is an experience those students will likely never forget.
New Faces
At the end of the 2014-15 school year, Carol Green stepped down as communication studies department chair to take a position teaching history at Harker. Alme was named department chair and Sandra Berkowitz was brought in to coach the public forum and congressional debate team. Berkowitz has extensive experience coaching debate at the high school level and also has taught at the collegiate level at the University of Maine and most recently at Minnesota State Community and Technical College. With her wealth of teaching and coaching experience, along with the return of Alme, Momary and Achten, the team is in great hands and looks forward to another successful season.
Update: Harker has a third student in the Broadcom MASTERS science competition! Cameron Jones, who started 9th grade at Harker this year, is a semi-finalist along with classmates Anjay Saklecha and Krish Kapadia.
Jones graduated from Corte Madera School last June and his project involves infusing fine carbon powder into rubber bands so they can be used to measure biometrics. Check out his story in The Almanac. Best of luck to all three boys in the finalist judging, tomorrow! Go Harker Researchers!
Anjay Saklecha and Krish Kapadia, both grade 9, were selected as semifinalists in the 2015 Broadcom MASTERS, a program of Society for Science & the Public. The pair were nominated after winning first place last spring in the medicine/health/gerontology category of the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science & Technology Championship for their project, “Determining the Efficacy of Different Methods to Assess the Level of Dehydration Using Human Saliva.”
“As a Broadcom MASTERS semifinalist, you have already proven your ability to succeed in these subjects, which will lead you to an exciting career in any field,” noted Allie Stifel, Broadcom MASTERS program manager.
The next step in the Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering Rising Stars) takes place on Sept. 2, when 30 finalists will be announced from among the 300 semifinalists. Finalists will attend the Broadcom MASTERS Finals Week competition from Oct. 1-7, 2015 here in Silicon Valley, where they will present their research and compete in hands-on challenges for top prizes, including funds to attend a STEM summer camp, iPads and the Samueli Prize of $25,000.
This year, summer campers at Harker Preschool enjoyed three specialty programs: art, music and movement, and STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Each student had the opportunity to visit the specialty classrooms and join in on fun activities there.
“We were thrilled to highlight our specialty programs during the summer sessions!” reported Kelly Espinosa, director of summer and preschool programs.
In addition to the specialty classes, preschool summer program happenings included a “wheels day,” where the youngsters brought in their own bikes and scooters to ride, and a fun “red, white and blue” party to celebrate the Fourth of July.
Harker Preschool began offering a summer camp program in summer 2014, filling its beautiful 8-acre Union Avenue campus with children after the regular school year ended. Campers enjoy the school’s large sunny cottages, spacious play yards and specialty classrooms.
The preschool’s summer camp is held in two sessions, each designed to engage and excite young children through familiar summer themes. This year the program was staffed by year-round Harker teachers, assistant teachers and aides. Students were grouped by age, with families choosing one or both sessions to match their schedules.
Session one ran for four weeks from June 22-July 17; session two began on July 20 and ended three weeks later on Aug. 7. Full and half-day options were available, with extended care offered in the early morning and late afternoon.
Last year, when it launched its summer program, the preschool joined the larger Harker community’s long-running tradition of making summer offerings open to the public. Harker Preschool’s inaugural summer program featured interactive beach and wilderness motifs.
Once again Harker’s English Language Institute (ELI) attracted an increasing number of students from all over the world seeking top-level English instruction. Held during the summer on both the lower and upper school campuses, the program was open to international students in the elementary division (ages 6-11) and secondary division (ages 12-16).
Many of the ELI participants signed up for the program in preparation for admission to American boarding schools and English-speaking schools worldwide. Small classes, a nurturing environment and experienced teachers helped foreign students develop speaking, reading and writing skills to ensure their readiness. This year ELI included a brand new offering for students who are very intent on staying in the United States and attending school by further supporting them with additional services such as standardized testing, multi-level diagnostic assessments and academic consultations.
A unique aspect of ELI is that students had opportunities to interact with Harker’s regular summer program participants. This allowed them to make new friends and practice their English with native speakers.
Eight-year-old Ivy Zhao, from China, said she previously had attended Harker’s Camp+, but this was her first time participating in the ELI program. “I liked making new friends as well as seeing old ones that I had made before at Camp+,” she recalled.
Lucas Jia, a 9-year-old first-time ELI participant, also from China, said he enjoyed Harker so much that he wished he could attend the school year-round. “Here is very fun!” he said, noting that hanging out with his friends at the lower school pool was one of his favorite activities. He also enjoyed recess time on the playground, making friendship bracelets and playing games in the gym.
“We had a very motivated and excited group of young learners,” enthused longtime ELI lower school instructor Karen Glovka, who this summer taught students in grades 3-5. (During the regular school year, Glovka teaches Spanish to Harker students in grades 4-5.)
“They worked hard to use English as much as possible, and they loved the many activities offered to them. Our teachers were also motivated and excited, working with academic levels from kindergarten through fourth grade. The T.A.s were equally incredible, providing classroom academic support and working alongside camp staff during enrichment activities. I think we could call ELI ‘extreme, limitless, instruction’ (in English, of course!),” she reported.
New to the program last year was a weeklong “Very Interesting Places” (VIP) tour. This option, available to all ELI students, proved so successful that it was offered again this year at the conclusion of ELI’s regular five-week academic session. According to ELI director Anthony Wood, the VIP tour was born from widespread interest from ELI participants in having more excursions to enhance their American social and cultural experiences.
During the VIP trip, students followed a specialized course of study to continue developing reading, writing and speaking competency while visiting university campuses, Silicon Valley businesses, places of interest and treasured landmarks. The tour was capped off with an overnight trip to the scenic California coast.
ELI initially began as a year-round boarding school program and evolved into the current summer program, which launched in 2004. For the past few summers, ELI has steadily grown in attendance, especially in the primary division.
International students come to Harker accompanied by a parent or local guardian and stay in nearby apartments or with area family and friends. Each ELI session is kicked off by a welcome orientation, and at the end of each session students participate in a touching closing ceremony.
“We keep growing and enjoying each summer!” said Glovka.
This year’s Summer Institute (SI) was marked by numerous exciting, first-time happenings. Highlights of the increasingly popular program included an inaugural summer science research class, a visit from a coding expert during a new computer course and a bake sale that raised money for the Humane Society.
Held on the upper school campus from June 15-Aug.7, SI was open to both Harker students and those from area schools in grades 6-12. SI allowed participants to get a jump start on the coming school year, as well as enrich their learning on topics of interest.
SI has two tracks: one designed for middle schoolers and another for high schoolers. Many students combined a morning academic program with afternoon activities. Falling under the academic umbrella was a new course called “Summer Science Research Society.” Taught by middle school science teacher Kathy Peng, the offering gave participants in grades 6-8 the opportunity to explore and research real world topics of individual interest.
Meanwhile, a chocolate chip cookie baking project and sale, sponsored by a new SI math class, raised $283.53 for the Humane Society of Silicon Valley (https://staging.news.harker.org/summer-institute-math-class-raises-money-for-humane-society). “Lots of math was used to calculate how many cookies we could bake within our limited class time and oven constraints. In addition, the students had to determine the shopping list and recalculate a recipe based on that,” reported Eileen Schick, who taught the three-week summer school course called “The Eagle Project: Math!”
Another new offering for grades 6-8 was “Beginning Python,” taught by Mike Schmidt, Harker’s middle school computer science department chair. Python is a widely used general-purpose, high-level programming language. Harker alumnus Abhinav Mathur, who graduated from the middle school in 2004, designed the instructional software Schmidt used in the class. Mathur, a former student of Schmidt’s, came to campus in June to speak to the 17 students enrolled in the course.
Mathur created a website called Pythonroom.com, an online learning environment for the Python programming language. He and another young entrepreneur, Keshav Saharia, founded a company called HulaLoop, which provides educational platforms on the web for various programming systems of which Pythonroom is currently their main focus.
“I had been using their product for my newly created Python programming course to teach middle schoolers the world of text-based programming. The kids were crazy about it and absorbed all the lessons like sponges!” recalled Schmidt. Pythonroom provides a solid foundation to the world of Python programming by allowing students to move forward at their own pace, he added.
“I think Pythonroom is great for beginners and it is really fun,” agreed Angela Cai, a rising grade 7 Harker student who attended the class.
“Abhi was a great (guest) teacher, and he gave great advice on finding easier ways to do certain problems,” added Stephen Yang, a rising grade 8 student at Miller Middle School.
Noting how excited he was to be back at Harker, Mathur said he was glad to give back to the school that provided him with so much. “We (at HulaLoop) are passionate about spreading coding knowledge to all students, and progressive schools like Harker make this goal achievable,” he said.
After the morning academic sessions, many SI students stayed on for the afternoon activity program, which included an array of specialty classes and recreational activities. Some students in grade 9 also signed up for the afternoon activities.
“We had a wide variety of weekly fun classes that the students signed up for, which this year included a field trip to the Oakland Zoo, an Ice Age Carnival, a Red, White and Blue Bash, and a visit to Golfland,” recalled K-8 history department chair Keith Hirota, who was in charge of SI academics and activity programming for the middle school students.
Although they were not eligible for the afternoon activity program, students in grades 10-12 were welcome to stay on campus to swim, study, shoot hoops and socialize. While the majority of the older students were primarily concerned with earing credits, many took time out for some summertime fun.
“The Summer Institute continues to grow and this year we had more than 1,300 students signed up for classes on the Saratoga campus!” reported Kelly Espinosa, director of summer and preschool programs.