A contingent of Harker’s upper school biology and journalism students joined a sell-out crowd at this year’s local YWCA luncheon, where Dr. Jane Goodall gave the keynote address to an audience of more than 1,200.
Goodall is founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and serves as a UN Messenger of Peace. Considered to be the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees, she is best known for her trailblazing studies on chimps, which resulted from the years she spent living among them in the Tanzanian jungle in the early 1960s.
The YWCA of Silicon Valley’s annual luncheon features guest speakers who serve as role models for women and girls. Held in October at the Santa Clara Convention Center, event proceeds help support the group’s much-lauded services.
Harker regularly hosts a table for upper school students who have a special passion for that year’s topic. The Harker group who attended this year’s event were senior biology students Lea Daran, Anna Levine, Sarai Rojas and Elizabeth Teng, along with journalism students Meena Chetty, grade 12, and Apoorva Rangan, grade 11. Accompanying them were Head of School Chris Nikoloff and upper school biology teacher Kate Schafer.
Each year, more than 40 companies and hundreds of individuals sponsor the YWCA’s luncheon. Past speakers have included Isabelle Allende, Gloria Steinem, Sally Ride, Janet Reno and Mary Lou Retton.
The mission of the YWCA is to empower women, children and families, and to eliminate racism, hatred and prejudice. The organization provides programs in the areas of sexual assault intervention and prevention, counseling services, domestic violence, child care, youth programs, family services, and social and racial justice.
The YWCA of Silicon Valley serves nearly 18,000 Santa Clara County residents each year, and has provided countywide services for more than 100 years. More information can be found at www.ywca-sv.org.
In a show of neighborly good will, grade 2 students recently painted and hand-delivered pumpkins to residents living near the lower school campus.
The pumpkin painting and delivery to local neighbors took place in late October, just in time for Halloween. An annual outreach and community service project for the lower school students, the painting effort this year was held for this first time in the art room.
After decorating the pumpkins and allowing them to dry, the students then walked around the neighborhood, delivering pumpkins on porches along with cards.
“This was their annual service project to say ‘thank you’ to the local residents for being such good neighbors,” reported Gerry-louise Robinson, who facilitated the painting part of the outreach activity. Students painted in her art room during their health education classes (one class at a time) with members of the BEST staff on hand to assist in the effort.
For student Kabir Ramzan, the biggest challenge was to “make the pumpkins really colorful.” Working in small groups he and his fellow classmates succeeded by painting in various hues of blue, green, yellow and red. They also gave each pumpkin its own special smile.
“It was action-packed and non-stop …. Utilizing the art room helped to make the event more meaningful and fun!” said Robinson, adding that the students really embraced drawing faces on the pumpkins, putting expressions and details that made each one a unique gift.
“It was marvelous how the children carefully chose colors and applied them. Seeing the pumpkins all lined up ready to be delivered looked very charming indeed,” she added.
“This is a really good project. I think it’s something the neighbors will like!” enthused student Aeliya Grover.
In early November, four teachers came together to form the Harker Eggheads, our entry in the sixth annual Silicon Valley Trivia Challenge, hosted by the Junior League. For the sixth year in a row, Harker blazed through the first two rounds and made it to the finals, one of 10 teams out of the original 40 to make it that far. Though we didn’t win (quick: name every type of Girl Scout cookie!) a great time was had by all and, as always, we were proud to support the San Jose/Silicon Valley Junior League and its fine works. This year’s Eggheads, teachers Lisa Masoni, Henry Cuningham, Andy Wicklund and Ellen Austin, represented Harker beautifully!
This week, the boys and girls varsity water polo teams and the varsity girls tennis team are preparing for their league tournaments, while the varsity girls volleyball team prepares for the final senior night of the fall season. Meanwhile, Kristine Lin, grade 12, has become the most-accomplished girls golfer in Harker history. The end of the fall season is upon us and the playoffs are coming up! Here are the results from the last week of Harker athletics:
Water Polo:
ALL THREE TEAMS BEAT CUPERTINO AHEAD OF THIS WEEK’S LEAGUE TOURNAMENTS
All three water polo teams beat Cupertino last Thursday to celebrate Harker’s senior day in style. For the girls, Anna Levine, grade 12, and Delaney Martin, grade 11, each scored two goals, and Lea Daran, grade 12, added another to lead the team to a 5-4 victory. Goalie Helena Dworak, grade 10, had eight blocks. The varsity boys crushed the Pioneers 15-3, then competed in the Homestead Tournament over the weekend. The highlight of the tournament for Harker was the boys’ 13-7 victory over Liberty High. In that game, Eric Holt, grade 11, led the team with four goals. Jeremy Binkley, grade 11, scored three times. Raymond Xu, grade 9, had two goals, and Karan Kurbur, grade 12, and Billy Bloomquist, grade 11, each had one.
Both the boys and the girls play in league tournaments this next week. The girls play Wilcox at Cupertino at 6:45 p.m. on Tuesday, while the boys will play Thursday through Saturday at Saratoga High.
Golf:
KRISTINE LIN BECOMES MOST DECORATED GOLFER IN HARKER HISTORY
Kristine Lin, grade 12, is now the most-decorated girls golfer in Harker history after breaking yet another Harker record, shooting a 79 in CCS competition to place 24th out of 100 golfers. Lin was this year’s league champion, making this the second year in a row in which she has captured that title.
Volleyball:
GIRLS GO 1-1 AFTER NAIL-BITER AGAINST ST. FRANCIS
Girls volleyball defeated Priory in straight sets last week, then lost a five-set nail-biter to perennial powerhouse St. Francis on Friday night in front of a raucous Harker crowd. Divya Kalidindi, grade 12, led the Eagles with 20 kills. On Tuesday, the girls host first place Menlo, then will play their senior night against Mercy San Francisco on Thursday. Their senior night is the final senior night of the fall season.
Tennis:
GIRLS HEAD INTO LEAGUE TOURNAMENT
Girls tennis finished its regular season at 9-6 after a loss to Castilleja and win against Notre Dame last week. Today, the girls compete in the league tournament at Menlo.
Football
UNDEFEATED DREAM ENDS FOR JV
The junior varsity team suffered its first loss of the year on Friday against Cupertino. The team scored on a touchdown pass from Keanu Forbes, grade 11, to Nikhil Ramgiri, grade 10, and an extra point kick by Alyssa Amick, grade 11. The team hosts North Salinas on Saturday at 11 a.m. at Davis Field.
Cross Country:
GONZALES AND IYER BOTH RANKED IN STATE LISTINGS
In the California Interscholastic Federation’s Individual Divisional Rankings, Harker’s Corey Gonzales, grade 11, is ranked 10th among Division 4 boys, while freshman Niki Iyer is ranked sixth among Division 4 girls. Cross country competes in the WBAL Championship this Friday.
Coming Up:
Today, the varsity girls tennis team plays in the league tournament at Menlo. Both girls volleyball teams play Menlo at home, with junior varsity playing at 4:30 p.m. and varsity playing at 5:45 p.m. Then, at 6:45 p.m., the varsity girls water polo team plays Wilcox High School in an away game.
All teams are off on Wednesday. On Thursday, both varsity water polo teams have games, with the girls playing in the SCVAL tournament and the boys playing Fremont High School on the road at 4:20 p.m. Both girls volleyball teams have games at home against Mercy High San Francisco. Junior varsity plays at 4:30 p.m., then varsity plays their senior night game at 5:45 p.m.
On Friday, the varsity girls and boys water polo teams compete in the SCVAL Tournament. Varsity cross country competes in the WBAL Championships at 2 p.m.
On Saturday, the boys varsity water polo team continues play in the SCVAL Tournament, while junior varsity football plays North Salinas at 11 a.m.
Watch for the full review and more photos from “Anon(ymous)” in a few days!
“Where I come from, there was a war that lasted so long, people forgot what they were fighting for,” says Anon, the titular character of Naomi Iizuka’s “Anon(ymous),” the Harker Conservatory’s 2013 fall play. Lost in the United States, Anon is an undocumented refugee without a name, searching for his mother. She’s trapped at a run-down sweatshop, wooed by its slimy owner, whom she has promised to marry once she completes a shroud for her presumed-dead child.
Anon wanders across America, from the beach house of a wealthy congressman to the kitchen of a drunken cannibal with an operatic songbird. Along the way, he frolics in the ocean with a goddess, races through sewage tunnels past afflicted drug addicts, and crashes a vehicle of trafficked people. His adventures are told in a theatrical style that borrows from traditions from around the world; a Bollywood dance number welcomes Anon to a friendly Indian restaurant and Balinese shadow puppetry conveys a flashback of Anon and his mother. With an ultra-theatrical approach, the ensemble brings to life a powerful rendition of this present-day retelling of Homer’s “Odyssey.”
Renowned travel and nature author David Quammen appeared via Skype to a large crowd of students at Nichols Hall auditorium on Oct. 30 to discuss his experiences in writing his latest non-fiction book, “Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic.”
From his home in Bozeman, Mont., Quammen started by talking about his authorial origins as a fiction writer in the 1970s. He later joined the outdoors magazine “Outside” as a columnist, originally planning to contribute for just one year, which ended up being 15.
He began writing non-fiction in the 1980s, and last year released “Spillover,” his 10th non-fiction book, which covers in depth how viruses travel from humans to animals. The book tells the history and development of this study, covering such key points as the AIDs epidemic, the early-2000s SARS outbreak, the spread of diseases such as Ebola and various influenzas and more.
The book, which was in the works for several years, took Quammen to many very interesting places. He recalled one night in Bangladesh, where he was observing veterinarian and epidemiologist Jonathan Epstein as he captured fruit bats in an effort to discover how the Nipah virus was infecting the local population. The job required a hazmat suit and goggles, which were constantly fogging up and obscuring his vision, increasing his anxiety that an infected bat may bite or scratch him.
On another trip, to China, Quammen and the researcher he was with squeezed through narrow caves, also looking for bats, but this time without the hazmat suits. When Quamman asked the researcher why they were not wearing protective gear, the researcher replied that oftentimes researchers take a “calculated risk.”
“The developed world is very vulnerable,” he said, citing the SARS outbreak, which began when a woman traveling from Hong Kong brought the virus with her to Toronto. Another modern example was the occurrence of the West Nile virus in New York City in 1999.
Although developed countries have more resources to deal with these outbreaks, even in undeveloped areas these viruses can pose a significant worldwide risk, he said, because viruses become more effective at infecting humans with each new case. He then stated there was a need for more international institutions dedicated to researching how viruses in animals begin to infect humans and how to prevent outbreaks.
This need has created a growing field for young scientists. A veterinarian, he said, may return to school and earn a Ph.D. in ecology. “More and more you see this kind of expert,” he said. “And most of them are young.”
As for prevention of the spread of these disease, Quammen said the biggest reason for the spread is ecosystem disruption, such as foresting and the hunting and eating of wild animals. He said that though many peoples frequently subsist on bushmeats, and that others must be sympathetic to their needs, it is necessary to help them find alternatives to prevent the spread of animal borne viruses.
It was happy haunting at Harker’s preschool and lower school on Oct. 31, where children at both locations donned clever costumes and celebrated in separate ways.
At the preschool Harker’s youngest students enjoyed a fun and festive Halloween party in the late afternoon where they participated in themed activities in the classroom, ate special Halloween snacks, and “trick or treated” around the school’s front yard area. Parents were encouraged to attend and participate.
At the lower school, the day once again took the form of the much anticipated Halloween parade. There were plenty of superheroes, ghosts, goblins, witches, fairy princesses and more at the 15th annual event. To the delight of onlookers, each grade level walked around the parade’s pathway a couple times.
Several hundred parents attended the parade, which was sponsored by Harker’s BEST staff. There were bleachers for sitters and plenty of standing room along the route, which was held in the afternoon before dismissal. Students chose to either wear their costumes to school or bring it with them to put on before the parade, but most wore their costumes all day.
It was happy haunting at Harker’s preschool and lower school on Oct. 31, where children at both locations donned clever costumes and celebrated in separate ways.
At the preschool Harker’s youngest students enjoyed a fun and festive Halloween party in the late afternoon where they participated in themed activities in the classroom, ate special Halloween snacks, and “trick or treated” around the school’s front yard area. Parents were encouraged to attend and participate.
At the lower school, the day once again took the form of the much anticipated Halloween parade. There were plenty of superheroes, ghosts, goblins, witches, fairy princesses and more at the 15th annual event. To the delight of onlookers, each grade level walked around the parade’s pathway a couple times.
Several hundred parents attended the parade, which was sponsored by Harker’s BEST staff. There were bleachers for sitters and plenty of standing room along the route, which was held in the afternoon before dismissal. Students chose to either wear their costumes to school or bring it with them to put on before the parade, but most wore their costumes all day.
It was happy haunting at Harker’s preschool and lower school on Oct. 31, where children at both locations donned clever costumes and celebrated in separate ways.
At the preschool Harker’s youngest students enjoyed a fun and festive Halloween party in the late afternoon where they participated in themed activities in the classroom, ate special Halloween snacks, and “trick or treated” around the school’s front yard area. Parents were encouraged to attend and participate.
At the lower school, the day once again took the form of the much anticipated Halloween parade. There were plenty of superheroes, ghosts, goblins, witches, fairy princesses and more at the 15th annual event. To the delight of onlookers, each grade level walked around the parade’s pathway a couple times.
Several hundred parents attended the parade, which was sponsored by Harker’s BEST staff. There were bleachers for sitters and plenty of standing room along the route, which was held in the afternoon before dismissal. Students chose to either wear their costumes to school or bring it with them to put on before the parade, but most wore their costumes all day.
In a thrilling week for Harker athletics, a golfer won a WBAL league championship for the second straight year, one runner set a new school record, another runner continued her amazing pace with a wire-to-wire win, and junior varsity football continued their pursuit of an undefeated season. Let’s get to it!
Golf:
KRISTINE LIN WINS WBAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW
Kristine Lin, grade 12, won the WBAL league championship for the second straight year, defending her title by shooting a 76 at Poplar Creek! Senior Connie Li also had a great day, shooting a career-best 93. Sophomore Daphne Liang shot a 90 to tie for 10th place. The team as a whole came in third place, beating Menlo and finishing only 13 strokes behind Sacred Heart Prep. Li competes at CCS today in Carmel.
Cross Country:
STERLING DAY ONCE AGAIN FOR RUNNERS GONZALES AND IYER
Well, surprise, surprise. Harker runners Corey Gonzales, grade 11, and Niki Iyer, grade 9, had incredible weeks once again. Gonzales set a new school record with a time of 15:47. He took off easy, landing in 30th place after the first half mile, then caught up to 10th over the next half mile, and finally stormed through the leaders to finish in second place. Iyer continued her amazing start to the season, leading end-to-end over the course of setting a school record and nailing the fifth best time ever for a freshman on the Crystal Springs Course with a 17:53. The next race for cross country team is the league championships on Nov. 8 at Crystal Springs.
Football:
JV STILL UNDEFEATED AFTER 18-POINT COMEBACK
The junior varsity team remains undefeated after a huge 18-14 comeback win against North Monterey County High School. Down 14-0 at halftime, the team roared back to score 18 unanswered points, courtesy of two touchdown passes by quarterback Keanu Forbes, grade 11, a pair of two-point conversions, and a safety. Nikhil Ramgiri, grade 10, led the team in receiving with three catches for 43 yards and a touchdown. Alex Youn, grade 9, snagged the other touchdown pass. Will Park, grade 9, led the team in rushing with 58 yards on 13 carries. Park also came up big on defense, intercepting a pass on North Monterey County’s final drive to seal the victory for the Eagles. The win puts Harker’s record on the year at an undefeated 4-0. The time will try to extend their streak to five when they play Cupertino on Friday night at 6 p.m.
Water Polo:
MIXED WEEK AHEAD OF SENIOR DAY
The varsity boys water polo team went 1-1 last week, losing to Wilcox but bouncing back to beat Santa Clara. Eric Holt, grade 11, scored eight goals across the two games, while Billy Bloomquist, grade 11, had a hat trick against Wilcox.
The junior varsity boys team competed in the Wilcox Tournament on Saturday, going 2-2 with victories over Heritage and St. Ignatius.
On the girls’ side, the varsity team lost both of their games last week, losing to Santa Clara and Wilcox despite seven goals from Delaney Martin, grade 11. Anushka Das, grade 11, and Anna Levine, grade 12, each had two goals that week, while juniors Jackie Shen and Sheridan Tobin scored as well. Helena Dworak, grade 10, had a total of 17 saves in goal.
The varsity teams have their senior day on Thursday, with ceremonies occurring at approximately 5:30 p.m. in between games against Cupertino.
Volleyball:
VARSITY’S RECORD NOW AT 10-9 AFTER TOUGH WEEK
The varsity girls volleyball team’s record now stands at 10-9 after a tough week which saw them lose to both Sacred Heart Prep and Castilleja. Against Sacred Heart Prep, Divya Kalindindi, grade 12, had 19 kills and Doreeen Kang, grade 10, had 10. The girls host Priory tonight, with varsity playing at 5:45 p.m., and then hit the road to play St. Francis on Friday.
Tennis:
GIRLS GO 1-1 AFTER LOSS TO MENLO AND WIN AGAINST CRYSTAL SPRINGS
The girls began the week by losing to Menlo, but bounced back to defeat Crystal Springs on their senior day. In the win, Dora Tzeng, grade 12, Izzy Gross, grade 10, and Arden Hu, grade 11, all came away with victories in their singles matches, while Ariana Shulman, grade 12, and Nadia Palte, grade 10, won in doubles. The other three matches that day all went to a third set, highlighted by a clutch come-from-behind win by Megy Appalaraju, grade 11, and Era Iyer, grade 9. The girls face off against Castilleja in a league match today.
Coming Up:
Tuesday is a packed day of Harker sports! The girls golf team begins by playing in the CCS championships at Rancho Canada Golf Club. All three water polo teams are in action. The boys play at Homestead High School, with the varsity team leading off at 3:30 p.m., followed by the junior varsity team at 4:45 p.m. The girls varsity water polo team plays at Monta Vista High School at 5:45 p.m. Both girls volleyball teams play home games against Priory. Junior varsity’s game comes first at 4:30 p.m., followed by varsity’s game at 5:45 p.m. The varsity girls tennis team also has a match, an away game against Castilleja at 3:30 p.m.
All teams are off on Wednesday. On Thursday, varsity girls tennis plays Notre Dame High School San Jose in an away game at 3:30 p.m. Then, a trilogy of water polo games take place at Harker against Cupertino High School. In episode one, the varsity girls play at 4:30 p.m. Then, for the sequel, the junior varsity boys play at 5:45 p.m. Finally, the saga wraps up with an exciting conclusion when the varsity boys play a night game at 6:45 p.m. The water polo teams celebrate their senior day in a ceremony at 5:30 p.m.
On Friday, the varsity boys water polo team plays in the Ron Freeman Memorial Varsity Boys Water Polo Tournament at Homestead. The varsity girls volleyball team has an away game against St. Francis High School Mountain View at 4:30 p.m. Finally, at 6 p.m., the undefeated junior varsity football team is back with a night game against Cupertino High School!