The sports season is in full swing, with girls golf rocketing past previous team records thanks to an onslaught of career-best performances. Meanwhile, two cross country runners sped past their competition at the Stanford Invitational, the football squad racked up 400 yards of offense on the gridiron, the girls tennis team blanked Fremont and the girls water polo team grabbed their first win of the year. Let’s get to it!
Golf
The girls golf team kicked off league play brilliantly, shooting a Harker team best of 197 to beat Notre Dame San Jose last week in a game that saw numerous career bests. Junior Ashley Zhong (38), freshman Vanessa Tyagi (41), senior Madelyn Wang (45) and sophomore Alexis Gauba (50) all broke their best-ever marks, while junior Daphne Liang (39) tied hers. The best score of the day went to freshman Katherine Zhu, who earned medalist honors with a par performance of 34. The team record bested the previous record set just last week of 205 strokes and catapulted the team into a tie with rival Sacred Heart Prep the very next day, 228-228.
Cross Country
Senior Corey Gonzales and sophomore Niki Iyer ran blisteringly fast races in the Stanford Invitational Cross Country Race on Saturday. Gonzales’ fiery run was a personal best and placed him 11th out of 260 runners from throughout the state. Iyer, meanwhile, beat out 252 other runners to place fifth in her Division 4 race. Both Gonzales and Iyer will look to defend their times from last year’s league championship in the first WBAL meet of the year this week.
A number of runners also had big days on Saturday at the Westmoor High School course. Both senior Rahul Balakrishnan and sophomore Andrew Rule ran personal bests by nearly one minute over their races last year. Junior Alex Dellar ran a strong 16:30, while freshman Aria Coalson pushed hard for a great finish and a 20:12 time.
Football
The Eagles dropped their game against the Mt. Pleasant Cardinals on Friday night despite racking up 400 yards of offense thanks to great performances by seniors Keanu Forbes and Christian Williams, junior JK Keller, sophomore Will Park, and freshmen Nate Kelly, Anthony Escobar and Dominic Cea. Two freshmen defensive players, James Pauli and Anthony Contreras, also had standout games.
Volleyball
The girls volleyball squad’s record now stands at 3-6 after the team went 1-3 at the Presentation Tournament, where it fell to highly ranked teams from Rocklin, Los Gatos and Valley Christian.
Tennis
The girls suffered their first defeat of the season against Milpitas before bouncing back convincingly with a dominant 7-0 victory over Fremont.
Water Polo
The boys team lost its first game of the season when Wilcox stunned the Eagles with a come-from-behind victory, erasing the memory of a dominant 16-3 trouncing of Santa Clara earlier in the week. Both the varsity and junior varsity teams are now 3-1 in league play. Meanwhile, the girls defeated Wilcox for their very first league win of the season, 16-9, behind goals from seniors Delaney Martin, Anushka Das and Sheridan Tobin, junior Yasemin Narin, sophomores Meghana Karinthi and Sarah de Vegvar, and freshman Emma Brezoczky.
The Harker community’s efforts to meet a $10 million matching gift challenge to build a new events center are coming to a head, with the Oct. 12 deadline for donations fast approaching.
Last May, Jeff and Marieke Rothschild (Isaac ’14; Jackiel, grade 11) made a matching gift challenge that will, dollar-for-dollar, match all pledges to the capital campaign up to $10 million until the Oct. 12 deadline, though actual payment can be made through 2016.
To maintain Harker’s critical annual giving campaign during the Rothschilds’ challenge, the Board of Trustees and Board of Fellows will match up to $5 million in annual giving donations, but the boards’ matching funds from that effort will be directed toward the events center. This ensures academic programming doesn’t suffer while still adding to the events center challenge.
All Harker families will benefit from the new facility. Current students will be able to play or perform in the events center, while alumni and their families will return to campus to enjoy shows and games in the state-of-the-art spaces. The hope is that each family will contribute to the challenge, which will double their contribution and ensure the facility is built as soon as possible. Expected benefits from the new gathering spaces include increased attendance at games and performances, since it will be located in the center of the upper school campus, and thus augment school spirit and pride.
“As an athlete, having new facilities kind of motivates you a little bit more,” noted alumna Daniza Rodriguez ’13. “There is another place that you want to be and that just gets people excited.”
“It is always wonderful to have a dream,” said Gabrielle De Mers ’03, now an opera singer. “The idea of being able to go on to that next level – ‘I finally get to perform on stage in a real theater’ — that’s a really big deal.”
“Nothing would make a stronger statement to our community about our commitment to the whole child than the completion of the gym and theater complex,” noted Chris Nikoloff, head of school.
In the best-case fundraising scenario, the facility will be open to students as soon as fall 2016, a full year earlier than the best case before the match was proposed. Students will find the state-of-the-art theater and sports facility a huge step up from current facilities, several of which are located at Harker’s other campuses, requiring transportation just to reach them.
Pledges must meet the following criteria: first, pledges must be made between April 21 and Oct. 12, 2014; and second, pledge payments must be made in the years 2014, 2015 or 2016.
“Marieke and I looked at the Harker community [and] what the school has meant to our children,” said Mr. Rothschild when he and his wife made the gift.
The Rothschilds previously had made a $1 million gift to the school to help with the purchase of the Union Avenue campus. They decided to contribute again because they recognize the impact the events center will have on the entire Harker community, and the value in funding and starting work as soon as possible.
Not only will the events center have a direct impact on athletes and performers, but also numerous other classes, activities and events will take place in the center, freeing up space in other buildings.
Donors who rise to the challenge and make a capital gift during the match period will be recognized as a member of the Partners’ Circle, with their name added to an inaugural plaque in the atrium of the events center. With only three weeks left to secure the $10 million in matching gift pledges, Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, quoted the Rothschilds’ statement when the gift was made: “Together we can all make this happen. The sooner, the better.”
“Harker provides an exceptional setting where kids can unfold their potential and reach for the stars,” said Alex Franz and Keiko Horiguchi (Kai, grade 7; Maya, grade 5; Nina, grade 3). “We can see the strategic importance of the theater and gymnasium project for all of Harker, so we wanted to join the campaign to support this construction. The amazingly generous matching grant, which lets us double our contribution, led us to donate before the beginning of the next school year, and we wanted to support the best-case construction schedule, so we just decided to make the donation right away.”
Those interested in learning more about the proposed events center can visit www.harker.org/eventscenter to review the “Case for Supporting the Events Center” booklet. A video featuring a virtual tour and several members of the Harker community – students, parents and teachers – sharing the impact they envision the new building will have on the Harker community is also available on the website, alongside Harker’s Vision Statement, which illustrates how the construction of the events center is aligned with Harker’s overall strategic plan through 2020.
Those wishing to pledge now can visit the Giving Online page or contact Joe Rosenthal directly at joe.rosenthal@harker.org or 408-345-9266. The deadline is coming fast, so make the best use of your money now and double it by pledging prior to Oct. 12!
Andrew Jin, grade 12, recently donated a beautifully crafted enclosed bulletin board he built himself for his final Eagle Scout project. The bulletin board, about 4 ft x 4 ft., features a solid wood frame, cork posting surface, wood-framed plexiglass doors and a lock, and was completed with funding assistance from Home Depot. It will be hung on the upper school campus, to the right of the main entrance, just outside the office of Kevin Williamson, upper school dean of students. Many thanks to Jin for the effort that went into crafting this beauty, and for his kind contribution, which will no doubt be of service to thousands of students who will follow him at Harker.
Computer science teacher Liu (Rachel) Yiran was the first foreign exchange teacher to visit Harker this school year from the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS) in Shanghai, China.
During her Sept. 15-26 visit, Liu spent time observing and teaching classes (including computer science, Mandarin, Chinese, history, English, acting and debate) at Harker’s lower, middle and upper schools. Reflecting on her observations, she called it a great honor to visit Harker.
“Harker not only provides excellent facilities but also rewarding curriculum, which benefits every student’s overall development. Teachers are professional and creative; they spare no effort in practicing Harker’s philosophy of pursuing excellence. I am deeply impressed by everything in Harker,” she said.
While visiting from Harker’s Chinese sister school, Liu also made time for sightseeing with several Harker faculty and staff members, who showed her such attractions as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Gilroy Outlets, Napa Valley and Carmel/Big Sur. A bittersweet farewell dinner the evening before Liu’s departure concluded her memorable time at Harker.
“Going to our world famous Monterey Bay Aquarium is always a big hit with our visiting teachers. Rachel took so many pictures of the exhibits and the information placards to share with her students back in Shanghai,” recalled lower school teacher Kathy Ferretti, who accompanied Liu to the popular attraction.
Established in 1996, WFLMS is located in the southwest part of the Xuhui District in Shanghai, an area regarded as an important educational location. For many years, Harker has had both a student and teacher exchange program with WFLMS as part of its ongoing effort to build progressive academic and cultural relationships that prepare students to become global citizens.
“I thoroughly enjoyed hosting Rachel. … She observed a large variety of classes and was particularly interested in seeing how our teachers used technology in their curricula. The students responded very well to her and many mentioned they enjoyed having her visit their classrooms. What a wonderful experience for everyone!” reported Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s director of global education.
Harker Debaters were busy this past weekend, earning great results at two events!
Greenhill Round Robin and Invitational The debate team had a great weekend at the Greenhill Round Robin and Invitational in Dallas. Senior Pranav Reddy was the first place speaker in Lincoln-Douglas debate in both the round robin and the invitational. The round robin is for the top 16 Lincoln-Douglas debaters in the country, so a first place finish is quite an accomplishment. Reddy also made it to the quarterfinals of the invitational. Senior Ayush Midha was the second place policy speaker at the invitational (out of 232 competitors). Midha and junior Panny Shan made it to the octofinals of the invitational. All three students earned one of the two required qualifying bids for the Tournament of Champions.
Yale Debate Invitational Nine Harker debaters traveled to New Haven, Conn., to compete at the Yale Debate Invitational. Alumni coaches Arjun Kumar ’14 and Aneesh Chona ’13 coached public forum debate and served as judges.
Sophomore Michael Tseitlin earned a bid to the prestigious Tournament of Champions by making it to the semifinal chamber in congressional debate. Tseitlin also was nominated by the judges to be considered for the final round and missed advancing by a single vote! This is a very strong showing by a sophomore at such a tough competition; he competed against last year’s national champion in preliminaries!
Junior Sorjo Banerjee and sophomore Emaad Raghib won five of their six preliminary rounds in public forum debate. Their sixth preliminary was against last year’s elite national champions and, while they lost the final vote, they tied for overall speaker points in the debate! Banerjee and Raghib advanced to the first round of eliminations where they were defeated on a 2-1 decision.
A total of 59 students from Harker’s Class of 2015 were named semifinalists in the 2015 National Merit Scholarship Program, matching the all-time Harker record set in 2012. These students, comprising 32 percent of the senior class, scored in the top 1 percent nationally on the Preliminary SAT, which was taken last year by approximately 1.4 million grade 11 students. In total, 65 percent of Harker seniors scored in the top 3 percent of test takers nationwide.
This year’s semifinalists, listed in alphabetical order by last name, are:
Zabin Bashar, Aadyot Bhatnagar, William Bloomquist, Thyne Boonmark, Stacey Chao, Jason Chu, Anushka Das, Kacey Fang, Vamsi Gadiraju, Eugene Gil, Richard Gu, Arden Hu, Aaron Huang, Allen Huang, Matthew Huang, Vivian Isenberg, Rishabh Jain, Alex Jang, Rahul Jayaraman, Jaewon Jeong, Andrew Jin, Allison Kiang, Rohith Kuditipudi, Hemant Kunda, David Lin, Patrick Lin, Cindy Liu, Shiyu Liu, Suzy Lou, Ethan Ma, Shreya Maheshwari, Nitya Mani, Ayush Midha, Neil Movva, Juhi Muthal, Maya Nandakumar, Nori Madhuri, Sachin Peddada, Archana Podury, Apoorva Rangan, Sahana Rangarajan, Pranav Reddy, Vasudha Rengarajan, Sriram Somasundaram, Agata Sorotokin, Vivek Sriram, Shannon Su, Neha Sunil, Kelly Wang, Madelyn Wang, Serena Wang, Steven Wang, Felix Wu, Helen Wu, Menghua Wu, Stanley Xie, Samyukta Yagati, Andrew Zhang and Kevin Zhang.
Harker debate students competed at the Robert Garcia Memorial Invitational Tournament, held Sept. 13-14 at Saint Francis High School.
Six policy debaters and eight public forum debaters represented the Eagles in Harker’s first regional tournament of the school year.
In policy debate, Arya Kaul, grade 12, took fourth overall in individual speaking. Kaul and his partner, Anika Jain, grade 10, won four of their six preliminary rounds, narrowly missing the elimination rounds.
In public forum debate, individual speaking awards were won by sophomore Emaad Raghib (fifth overall), junior Abhinav Ketineni (sixth overall) and sophomore Alex Lam (seventh overall).
Raghib and partner, David Jin, grade 11, as well as Ketineni and his partner, junior Jasmine Liu, made it to elimination rounds where they finished in the top eight overall.
Next weekend the public forum and congressional debaters will head to Yale University to compete, while policy and Lincoln-Douglas debaters will head to Dallas to compete at The Greenhill School.
Shortly after the school year began, parents, students, faculty and staff filled Harker’s lower school campus for two separate events intended to welcome families back to school.
At the first happening, the campus’ newest students – the kindergarteners – took to the playground for their own mouth-watering and fun-filled barbeque. That event was followed by a larger, combined barbeque for grades 1-5, held on Bucknall’s Rincon Field.
Attendees of both events enjoyed the warm summer air, casual atmosphere and opportunity to connect and reconnect with both new and returning students and families.
An enthusiastic audience experienced “An Evening of Jazz” in late March, as lower, middle and upper school student musicians took to the stage at the Blackford Theater. Louis Hoffman directed the Lower School Jazz Ensemble, which kicked things off with selections from Red Garland, Eddie Harris, Cedar Walton and Nat Adderley. The Middle School Jazz Band then joined in for “Killer Joe” by Benny Golson, which segued nicely into the group’s own set, which consisted of “Won’t You Come Home, Bill Bailey” by Hughie Cannon and “Caravan” by Juan Tizol, both arranged by the band, which was directed by Dave Hart.
The Harker School Jazz Band, directed by Chris Florio, performed renditions of Freddie Green’s “Corner Pocket,” “Feelin’ Good” by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley, and “I Be Serious ‘Bout Dem Blues” by John Clayton. Other highlights included an appearance by Harker’s Lab Band, the upper school’s introductory jazz ensemble directed by Hart, and the night’s encore, which featured all of the middle and upper school musicians performing the traditional “Second Line.”
Whether looking to learn how to enjoy one of summer’s quintessential activities or exploring its more competitive aspects, Harker’s Summer Swim School had something to offer to swimmers of every skill level. The summer-long program, which started in mid-June and ended the first week of August, offered swim lessons for individuals and groups, as well as a junior swim team camp for students in grades 2-8 that introduced enthusiastic swimmers to competitive swimming.
The program took place at the upper school campus’ Singh Aquatic Center, whose 75-by-112.5-foot pool and 13 swimming lanes offered an ideal spot for learning swimmers. “There are not many places in the Bay Area that you can get private lessons in such a beautiful facility,” said swim school director Melissa Dondero. Swim lessons were offered at 10 different skill levels to accommodate the widest possible range of swimmers, and were designed to be safe and supportive in addition to helping swimmers build skills in a sensible order.
The Junior Swim Team program grew significantly this year, with roughly 15 students per week participating, Dondero said. This program is for students who are interested in learning key principles of competitive swimming, but haven’t yet decided if they’d like to compete and are “a little bit nervous about what that means,” she explained. Under the guidance of experienced instructors, swimmers participated in dry-land warm-ups before heading into the water to work on stroke technique, endurance and other important aspects of competition.
The benefits of the Junior Swim Team program extend beyond the pool. “I play competitive soccer and it’ll really help my endurance,” said Chance Hewitt, grade 6. He added that he was able to reduce the time it takes him to run a mile by three minutes. Henry Cuningham, grade 7, enjoyed the freestyle swimming. “It’s just fun to have it be a competitive sort of environment with your friends,” he said.