Just before Thanksgiving break, grade 3 students Rahul Mulpuri, Dominick Piscione and Grant Sims won first place in the project category at a First Lego League (FLL) robotics tournament. The team, the youngest in the tournament, was chosen from 24 competing teams for their idea/presentation on early warning systems for earthquakes.
In advance of the tournament, the trio benefited from an informal practice session/demonstration in front of their teachers and classmates on the lower school blacktop.
“They did a wonderful job describing their initiative and showing us their Lego demonstration,” said Kim Cali, director of the lower school’s BEST program.
Cali said she was impressed that the third graders had the initiative to request to present their project in front of their teachers and classmates as practice for the event.
“They were very excited to be given the opportunity and committed to putting their presentation together for us and for FLL,” she recalled.
The First Lego League is a well-known robotics program for children ages 9-14, designed to get young people excited about science and technology, while teaching them valuable employment and life skills.
While FLL is often used in the classroom, it is not designed solely for this purpose. Teams comprise up to 10 children (with at least one adult coach) and are often associated with pre-existing clubs or organizations. Currently, there are over 20,000 FLL teams competing in more than 70 countries.
A huge congratulations to Harker’s boys cross country and boys water polo teams, who each earned the CCS Scholastic Championship Team award for the highest GPA! The award, which began in 1985, honors five varsity teams in each sport for their academic achievements. The boys cross country team’s 3.882 GPA and the boys water polo team’s 3.664 GPA topped the charts in their sport. Three more Harker teams also earned honors. The girls golf team came in third with a 3.744 GPA. The girls tennis team came in second with a 3.720 GPA. And the girls water polo team came in third with 3.615 GPA. Congratulations to all of Harker’s scholar-athletes!
Basketball
The varsity boys basketball team pulled out an impressive 52-40 win against Homestead in the Lynbrook Tournament, extending their winning streak to start the season to three games. Senior Will Deng had 8 points and 10 rebounds.
The varsity girls dropped their first round game of the Santa Clara High Tournament, 48-32. Freshman Jordan Thompson and senior Nithya Vemireddy led the team in scoring with nine and eight points, respectively. The loss dropped the team to 3-1 overall.
Soccer
Girls soccer crushed Pacific Collegiate 7-1, boosting their record to 3-1 overall. Juniors Nikita Parulkar and Safia Khouja both netted two goals, while junior Alyssa Amick, freshman Joelle Anderson, and senior Julia Fink each scored as well. Senior goalie Alicia Clark had eight saves.
The boys varsity soccer team is still undefeated after three games, thanks to wins against Saratoga High and Terra Nova High last week. Junior Felix Wu, sophomore Omar Hamade and senior Sravan Rajathilak all scored in the 3-1 victory against Terra Nova.
Coming Up:
After a few days without games, action resumes with big days Friday and Saturday. On Friday, varsity and junior varsity soccer each face off against Lynbrook High School at 3:30 p.m.; the varsity team plays at home, while JV plays on the road. Then, at 5 p.m., the freshman boys basketball team heads down the coastline to compete against Santa Cruz High School.
Saturday is a huge day for Harker basketball, with four games, all at home. The varsity girls team kicks off the action in the morning with a 10:30 a.m. game against Wallenberg High School. At noon, the JV boys play Westmont High School. At 1:30 p.m., the freshman boys take on Livermore Valley Prep. Then, at 3 p.m., the varsity boys have their shot at Livermore Valley Prep. Catch the quadruple-header!
In early November, 126 students from grade 5 (accompanied by nine Harker teacher chaperones) journeyed to the scenic Marin Headlands for a two-and-a-half day educational field trip.
“All of the students were able to visit the Marine Mammal Center to explore the facility and observe sea lions that were being treated there,” reported Kristin Giammona, elementary division head.
She noted that students participated in a night hike to Rodeo Beach to look at “glow-in-the-dark creatures,” as well as enjoyed hikes to various vistas in the headlands. While some groups visited the Point Bonita Lighthouse, others hiked to a special spot called “Scotty’s Bluff.”
Students also worked with microscopes and completed a lab in the touch pool classroom at the Headlands Institute. Both students and chaperones stayed in former army barracks located in Fort Cronkite and enjoyed locally sourced meals.
The Marin Headlands has been called one of the most unique areas in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Along with its historical attractions, the area also boasts varied hiking trails, a dog-friendly beach, and astonishing views of the coast and San Francisco.
The Harker journalism department received a special visit in early December from Nick Ferentinos, former journalism advisor at Homestead High School, whose student newspaper, “The Epitaph,” was among the first school newspapers to be censored under the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier Supreme Court ruling of 1988. The ruling limited the speech of student newspapers that were not designated as forums for student expression.
Ferentinos recounted that mere hours after the ruling was handed down, the principal at Homestead demanded the withholding of an “Epitaph” story about a student at the school who had been diagnosed HIV-positive. Because the paper was school-sponsored, the staff at first felt compelled to comply with the principal’s request. However, California Education Code 48907 acted as a counter to the Hazelwood ruling, protecting student speech and allowing the story to run.
“What was really heartwarming about Ferentinos’ narrative was that he really emphasized how the publication staff stuck together to get through the ordeal, and the entire case was an issue of the publication’s integrity and not just that of the student’s,” said “Winged Post” staffer Juhi Gupta, grade 11.
“They stood by the accuracy and importance of their story and the integrity of the author. I think our whole class really appreciated the reminder that we have rights, as Mr. Ferentinos said, but also a responsibility to ‘be stubborn,’ said junior Apoorva Rangan, who also works on the “Winged Post.”
For Gupta, Ferentino’s story provided a valuable lesson about complacency and vigilance among young journalists: “I learned from his experience that student journalists should never get too comfortable and assume that backlash from administration will never happen, because as shown by the Homestead case, it could be provoked by anything.”
“I think bringing in these individuals who have had these life experiences that we may not have had reminds us that journalism isn’t really taught by books as much as it’s taught by people,” Rangan added.
Big news on all campuses in the world of sports today!
First off, lower school:
Our grade 5 JVB1 boys basketball team took the championship last night in what turned out to be a tight game. The boys led most of the game, but Pinewood closed the gap to three points near the finish. Harker pulled it out, though, winning 31-28. The team finished 8-0. Congrats to coach Walid Fahmy and players McCoy Buchsteiner, Brandon Coulter, Nicholas Coulter, Gowtham Irrinki, Michael Mitchell, Jr., James Pflaging, Srinath Somasundaram, Levi Sutton, Dario Tzeng and Eric Zhu.
Middle school:
The grade 6 JVB6 boys basketball team lost in the championship game last night to Sacred Heart after enjoying a fantastic season. The team finished as tri-league champs based on their regular season record of 7-1. The team finished with an overall record of 8-2.
Grade 6 JVA boys basketball team defeated Pinewood, 37-16, to finish the season as third place tournament champs. The team finished with an overall record of 5-5.
In the upper school, two cross country runners were honored by the San Jose Mercury News yesterday: freshman Niki Iyer made first team All-Mercury News for cross country and junior Corey Gonzales made All-Mercury News honorable mention for boys. This is one of the highest honors for high school athletes in CCS. Congratulations to both runners!
Harker kicked off the basketball season with an eight-win day! On Thursday, all eight Harker basketball teams that played won their games. That includes the upper school varsity girls, varsity boys, junior varsity boys and freshman boys, as well as the middle school varsity A boys, varsity B boys, varsity B2 boys and junior varsity A boys.
The upper school varsity girls opened the season with three wins and a tournament championship as they beat KIPP San Jose, Point Arena and Alma Heights at Pescadero High School. Senior Nithya Vemireddy made the all-tournament team and freshman Jordan Thompson scored 16 points in the championship game. The girls head into another tournament Thursday night, facing Santa Clara in the opening round.
The varsity and JV boys each opened the season with two wins over Gunn High and Monta Vista High School. For the varsity team, senior Will Deng was 7-9 in shooting and a perfect 2-2 from the free throw line against Gunn, while junior Eric Holt had a double-double against Monta Vista, scoring 16 points with 19 rebounds. The freshman boys went 1-2, including a dramatic 27-25 victory over Woodside. Varsity plays Homestead in the Lynbrook Tournament on Thursday.
Soccer:
Girls soccer won twice last week, outscoring their opponents 14-0 after a 5-0 victory against Andrew Hill and a 9-0 blowout against Redwood Christian. Against Redwood Christian, Kailee Gifford, grade 9, led the offense with four goals. Julia Fink, grade 12, and Joelle Anderson, grade 9, put up two apiece, while Safia Khouja, grade 11, scored one. Goalies Alicia Clark, grade 12, and Sadhika Malladi, grade 10, combined for the shutout, with Clark saving four shots in the first half and Malladi saving three in the second half. The team’s schedule gets tougher this week as it faces off against Wilcox High today and Pacific Collegiate on Thursday.
The boys varsity team kicked off its season on a high note, defeating KIPP Collegiate 6-2 in the season opener Wednesday. Nikhil Kishore, grade 11, and Omar Hamade, grade 10, each netted two goals, while Jeff Hanke, grade 12, and Alan Guo, grade 11, also scored. The boys play Terra Nova today. The JV team lost to KIPP 3-1 on Wednesday, with Joseph Krackeler scoring Harker’s lone goal.
Wrestling:
Harker’s wrestlers compete against Fremont High on Saturday.
Harker students are running a number of fund raisers, gift and food drives this season, as they always do, and they are all detailed in the Greater Good section of the upcoming issue of Harker Quarterly, which should be in your mailboxes during the holiday break. We just got the news on some exceptionally generous gifts, however, and thought we’d share, in this season of sharing. –Ed.
The week after Thanksgiving break, the lower school’s student council sponsored a hot chocolate sale to help raise money to aid relief efforts in the Philippines in the wake of Typhoon Haiyan and along with the the hot chocolate sales, there were some exceptional gifts made to the fund.
“The fundraiser was a huge success. We were able to raise $726 from the hot chocolate sales. In addition, we had some special donations, which brought our grand total to $6,996,” reported Kristin Giammona, elementary division head.
The special donations included $5,000 from an anonymous grade 5 family, $1,000 from the Mulpuri family (Rahul, grade 3) and $270 from Faux Hair Salon. Faculty and staff also pitched in by donating money to offset the cost of the hot chocolate, which was then sold for $1 a cup.
Further aiding the endeavor were grades 4-5 student council members, who served the hot chocolate. Various lower school teachers, the dean of students and members of the BEST staff helped ensure the sale ran smoothly.
Proceeds from the sale were then combined with funds previously collected by the middle school for donation to Habitat for Humanity to help typhoon victims rebuild their homes and provide clean-up kits. The boost from the middle school drive brought the grand total up to $8,096.12 raised on behalf of the people of the Philippines.
“I am very touched by the generosity and care of our Harker community. We will combine our funds raised with the middle school’s funds and send one check to Habitat for Humanity to assist with the rebuilding of homes in the Philippines,” said Giammona.
The Siemens Foundation announced earlier today that grade 11 students Andrew Jin and Steven Wang have won a $40,000 team scholarship in this year’s Siemens Competition, making them the first Harker students to win a scholarship at the national finals since Harker students began entering the competition during the 2005-06 school year. The prize will be split evenly between the two students.
Another student from California, Eric Chen of San Diego, was this year’s individual grand prize winner of a $100,000 scholarship.
Congratulations to all!
—
Andrew Jin and Steven Wang, both grade 11, won the team portion of the regional finals of this year’s Siemens Competition, held at the California Institute of Technology last weekend, netting them a shared scholarship of $6,000. They are now headed to the national finals, held Dec. 6-10 in Washington, D.C., where they will compete for as much as $100,000 in scholarships.
This marks Harker’s first appearance in the national finals since Harker students began entering the competition in 2005. Jin and Wang were thankful to their teachers – Anita Chetty, Gary Blickenstaff, Michael Pistacchi, Mala Raghavan and Chris Spenner – for their guidance and feedback on their project, which explored the use of computer modeling and biological experiments to more quickly find anti-cancer drug treatments.
“During the days before the competition, we made a ton of changes based on your feedback, and we were able to improve the presentation significantly,” Jin said in an email. “We couldn’t have made it this far without all your help!”
When the “Secrets of Silicon Valley: What Everyone Else Can Learn from the Innovation Capital of the World” hit the bookshelves earlier this year, The Harker School was honored to be included in a chapter about the competitive advantage of being raised in the area.
Written by locally based entrepreneur and author Deborah Perry Piscione, the now national bestseller (published on April 2 by Palgrave-Macmillan) offers an inside look at Silicon Valley’s history and uniquely innovative culture, exploring how the region may hold the key to revitalizing global prosperity.
Harker is profiled in the book, along with the some of the area’s leading companies, tech entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. The school’s section appears in chapter 12, which is titled “The Bench,” and includes quotes from interviews with both Jennifer Gargano, Harker’s assistant head of school for academic affairs, and Anita Chetty, an upper school biology teacher and science department chair.
In her book, Perry Piscione noted that Harker was labeled as “The It School for the Next Einsteins” by the San Jose Mercury News,partly based on the number of science winners the school can claim. Indeed, Harker consistently produces semifinalists and finalists in the Siemens Competition and the Intel Science Talent Search, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious science competition.
Gargano and Chetty attributed the “special sauce” behind Harker’s success to its student body, who they called uniquely motivated to learn and help improve the world. Harker News Online recently caught up with Perry Piscione at Litquake, a local literary event featuring more than 40 popular and upcoming authors. Piscione had just returned from a European book tour and was one of several Litquake speakers asked to appear at special “In Conversation” salons for in-depth discussions during the event, held at the Oshman Family Jewish Community Center in Palo Alto. The other two noted authors included Daniel Handler, a.k.a. Lemony Snicket, and Jane Smiley.
During her talk, she explained that in Silicon Valley there is not “one way” of doing things. “Overseas and on the East Coast there is a hunger for knowledge about this place,” said Perry Piscione, who, even before writing her book, was known for her work as a media commentator and public speaker. Perry Piscione is also the co-founder and CEO of Desha Productions, Inc., a multimedia company that owns and operates Alley to the Valley (a networking site for influential career women) and BettyConfidential (an online women’s magazine). Additionally, she is co-founder of Chump Genius, an educational gaming company for kids, whose two main characters are modeled after her twin sons. Moreover, she is the co-author of the book “Unfinished Business: The 10 Most Important Issues Women Face Today.” Before moving to Silicon Valley, Perry Piscione called Washington, D.C. – where she served as a staffer in the U.S. Congress and the White House – home.
While there, she also worked as a media commentator for CNN, MSNBC and FOX News, and as a guest lecturer at American University. The East Coast transplant said she relocated to the Los Altos Hills for a job opportunity her husband, Dino, had as a retail executive.
She conceded that at first she felt somewhat lost upon her arrival here, yet soon settled in and discovered that “there’s something in the air” that brings people in Silicon Valley together. “It matters only if you are smart; it’s not about where you came from. It’s like Oz out here; there is an openness and collaborative feeling,” she explained. Still, she conceded, Silicon Valley is not a perfect place: women are still not found in as strong positions as men, and there is also a dearth of African-American and Hispanic individuals. Meanwhile, elderly people living in the high tech area often feel alienated, and that they have nothing to contribute.
“We have a long way to go,” she said, “but there are organizations working to help change the conversation.” Jane Ganahl, Litquake co-founder, said of choosing Perry Piscione to talk at the literary event: “I was looking for someone with a newish book who could speak to both the present and past of Silicon Valley, and Deborah seemed perfect for that. Her book was a big bestseller, and she is highly thought of in the nonfiction world.” Among the audience applauding Perry Piscione following her discussion were her husband and three children, twin boys Drake and Dominick, and daughter Dayne Alexandria.
The children are now all students at Harker, as after researching the school for her book Perry Piscione decided to enroll them at the lower school. The twins attend grade 3 and their sister is in kindergarten. “We’ve heard her talk a lot of times!” enthused Drake, adding that he is really enjoying being a student at Harker. According to Perry Piscione, transitioning her children to Harker was seamless and made easier by “a like-minded parent community, who are engaged in their children’s lives on many levels.” She added that it was spending time at Singularity University, a learning institution located inside the NASA Research Park in Silicon Valley, that helped fully persuade her to become a part of the Harker community.
“Singularity University brings together the world’s leading scientists, technologists and entrepreneurs, and explores the future of science and technology. As I learned more about where the future lies, particularly as we will see a great shift in a 21st century workforce, I thought about my children and how we were going to best prepare them,” she said.
Perry Piscione said her next book will focus on risk management, the key to innovation. According to her, while America as a country has become more risk adverse, Silicon Valley has not followed suit. “Out here no idea is crazy … Anything is possible … You can dream big and find someone to back you … Nobody does risk better than Silicon Valley!” she said.
Spring break will be extra special for the students of the Harker upper school orchestra, who will be traveling to Chicago to perform at the Chicago International Music Festival. The festival will take place April 8 at the Chicago Symphony Center. “We auditioned for this festival last spring and were thrilled to be accepted,” said Chris Florio, upper school music teacher.
In addition to being invited to perform, the orchestra also was honored with the opportunity to premiere a composition commissioned for the festival. The orchestra is working with composer Jeremy Van Buskirk of the Boston Composers’ Coalition on the piece, which will be heard by an international audience for the first time at the festival, as performed by Harker students. Florio spoke to Van Buskirk to exchange information about the piece. “My interaction with Jeremy was a lot of fun. He was very curious about Harker and wanted to learn a lot about the school in general, in addition to our orchestra,” Florio said. “He opened our meeting by telling me how impressed he was with our orchestra and excited to work with them. He had done quite a bit of investigating on YouTube to view our past performances. On describing his upcoming work for us, he said ‘it would not be (Pierre) Boulez, but it would not be (Aaron) Copland either; it will most likely be somewhere in between.’ What a wonderful experience for our orchestra to be involved in the creative process of a large new work from beginning to premiere!”
Expect more news on this tremendous opportunity in the coming months!