Felix Wu, grade 10, is among the top 10 finalists in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library’s Profiles in Courage Essay Contest. The essay, which profiles Dennis Kucinich, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was one of 8,000 submitted for the contest. After four rounds of judging, during which it was reportedly reviewed by a number of U.S. senators, it was declared one of the 10 best. Wu will be awarded $500 and a signed copy of Caroline Kennedy’s book, “Profiles in Courage,” for reaching this stage of the contest. The judge who informed Wu of his achievement recommended that he send the essay to Kucinich, which he has plans to do.
Dance Jamz, the annual middle school dance show, entertained audiences at the Blackford Theater on March 8 and 9. Directed by Gail Palmer with choreography by Rachelle Ellis, Grant Chenok, Stephanie Bayer, Kimberley Teodoro and Palmer herself, middle school students (and several faculty members) hit the stage to perform a variety of uptempo dance numbers set to music by Skrillex, David Guetta, No Doubt, Michael Jackson and more. One of the highlights of the show was a routine featuring a cast made up entirely of faculty members, including history teacher Cyrus Merrill, English teacher Patricia Lai Burrows and art teacher Elizabeth Saltos. The finale saw the entire cast of dancers gather on the stage for a rousing number that received a fittingly enthusiastic ovation.
As usual, the stalwart crew of set designer Paul Vallerga, sound engineer Brian Larsen and lighting designer Natti Pierce-Thomson worked tirelessly to keep all the moving parts of this technically demanding show in order.
Harker teams took the top two spots at the Middle School Regional Science Bowl competition on March 3, held at the National Hispanic University. The first-place team was captained by Venkat Sankar, grade 8, who led eighth graders Arjun Subramaniam and David Zhu as well as Edgar Lin and Rajiv Movva, grade 7. The second place team consisted of team captain Peter Wu, Brandon Chow and Nikhil Manglik, all grade 8, and Adrian Chu and Shaya Zarkesh, both grade 7.
“It was fun to watch the two teams play against each other in the final match. It was almost like their Friday practice but a bit more intense,” said middle school science teacher Vandana Kadam. Wu’s team actually claimed a victory over Sankar’s team earlier in the tournament, but the two teams met again in the finals, with Sankar’s team winding up victorious. “Both teams played exceptionally well,” Kadam noted. The winning team will head to the National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C., in late April.
Grade 3 students recently enjoyed seeing a play about clever Brer Rabbit, one of the craftiest characters in children’s literature, during a mid-March field trip to the Sunnyvale Community Theater.
Derived from African American folktales passed down in the American South, the play “The Adventures of Brer Rabbit”was written by Gayle Cornelison and first performed in 1977 at the community theater, part of a larger complex of buildings serving as Sunnyvale’s artistic community hub.
The play is based on the book originally titled “Tales of Uncle Remus: The Adventures of Brer Rabbit,” which was written by Julius Lester. In both the book and play, Brer (short for Brother) Rabbit is locked in an eternal game of “catch-me-if-you-can” with the sly fox, using the most outrageous tricks to constantly outsmart him.
“The play was fantastic! The kids had a blast,” enthused Elise Robichaud, who teaches grade 3 language arts. After seeing the story on stage, the children returned to their classroom and excitedly wrote paragraphs about their experience watching the performance.
Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and three students – Simar Mangat, Neeraj Baid and Neel Bhoopalam, all seniors – along with Jennifer Walrod, director of global education at Harker, are traveling in India from March 22-April 7 to explore entrepreneurial education and opportunities. Read all about their adventures right here!
This story was submitted by Harker parent Maria Gong (Christopher, grade 6).
On March 3, the EagleBots team, comprising grade 6 students Andrew Chang, Christopher Gong, Kaushik Shivakumar and Rithvik Panchapakesan, secured the top spot in the robot performance category of the NorCal First Lego League (FLL) Silicon Valley Championship, held at Newark High School. The EagleBots earned first place in the robot performance category by securing 455 points in a field of 48 teams from six district qualifier tournaments. The EagleBots’ focus on robot performance has been recognized by their achievements over the past two years at the St. Lawrence qualifier where they secured the top spot in the robot performance category this season and second place last year, as a rookie team.
Team StormTech, a second group of grade 6 students made up of Ryan Adolf, Ayush Pancholy, Akshay Ravoor, Ashwin Reddy and Anjay Saklecha, also had an amazing season competing for their first time in FLL. At the NorCal Championships, they were awarded the second place trophy for strategy and innovation and their robot finished fourth overall in the robot game with an impressive 418 points. Their research project, “Invizalift: The Motorized Knee Brace” received praise from the judges. Throughout the season they worked hard and had fun.
There are nearly 30 dresses in the Manzanita foyer waiting for their next prom. Sheridan Tobin, grade 10, and Shannon Hong, grade 9, took it upon themselves to solicit the donations from fellow students for the Princess Project, which promotes self-confidence and individual beauty by providing free prom dresses and accessories to high school girls who cannot otherwise afford them.
“Collecting the dresses is great, but it’s really about so much more than that. It’s about boosting these girls’ self-confidence and giving them a chance to forget whatever hardships they may be going through and giving them a night that can be all about them,” explained Tobin.
“I think that sometimes we take opportunities that we are given for granted,” added Hong. “We buy a dress that we like and find the perfect accessories. Then, the dress that maybe cost a hundred dollars, is flung in the back of our closets never to see daylight again. There are plenty of girls in San Jose who would be so glad for just one nice dress.”
The dresses were delivered in early March to a local branch of the Princess Project.
For many teenage girls a huge part of their high school prom experience is picking out the perfect dress for the occasion. But, for those who cannot afford to buy a prom dress, the event can leave them filled with dread. In fact, the Princess Project began in February 2002 when one girl needed a dress for her prom.
Founders Laney Whitcanack and Kristi Smith Knutson responded to this young woman’s request for help by involving friends and family in a dress drive. Within days, women from all over the San Francisco Bay Area offered their support through donations of their “time, talent and taffeta.”
Since that time, the Princess Project has served more than 20,000 teens through the dedication of more than 2,000 volunteers. Every year, the Princess Project collects new and used dresses as well as accessories of all colors and sizes. Volunteers sort dresses and organize accessories for girls living in San Francisco, Silicon Valley and San Diego.
Harker families who came out on a sunny Saturday afternoon in early March for a special “Sneak Peek” event were treated to an early glimpse of the school’s recently acquired third campus and the director for the proposed preschool opening there, Andrea Hart.
“We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day and the campus looked even better with the addition of young children playing and laughing. It was wonderful to meet so many families and talk about our plans for the preschool and beyond,” said Kelly Espinosa, director of summer and preschool programs, “and having Andrea here was the icing on the cake.”
Upper school students served as tour guides, providing attendees with information about the campus. Many of the student guides had been at Harker since they were very young and shared how much their experiences at the school meant to them. Following the tour light refreshments were served as the engaging discussions continued.
Adding to the excitement of the day was a visit from Hart, who was hired just before the event and thrilled to be able to meet Harker parents.
“As you can imagine, hiring the director of our new program has been a very important first step in our process,” said Espinosa. “We had very specific requirements for this new position and we are so excited to have found Andrea Hart.”
Andrea Hart Joins Harker
Hart is a Bay Area native most recently at the Klingenstein Center for Independent School Leadership at Columbia University. Previously she spent 11 years at the Bing Nursery School, the play-based laboratory preschool at Stanford University, and she started her career years before that in local Montessori preschools.
At Stanford, Hart taught two- to five-year-olds, mentored undergraduate student teachers and led parent education efforts at the Bing Institute. She also stayed connected to a wider community of educators through volunteering on a local board, the Peninsula Association for the Education of Young Children, and has run educational conferences for local early childhood professionals.
Hart’s first preschooler students are now seniors in college! Since that time, she has developed the philosophy that a child learns best through play, varied hands-on experiences, and interacting with educated and thoughtful teachers. It is from this foundation, she believes, that young children are best prepared to thrive in later school experiences. Hart is excited to return to the Bay Area and help Harker with the creation of an exceptional preschool that nurtures young children and leads to personal and academic success in later years.
One of Hart’s first tasks will be to begin the search for our educated and thoughtful preschool teachers. She is well connected in the preschool world and has already found some wonderful candidates. Harker as a whole is thrilled to have her leading this project and looks forward to the benefits the preschool will gain from her experience, knowledge and dedication to the development of young children and families for many years to come!
Look for future updates about the new Union campus and Harker preschool in future Harker News Online stories.
Three more school records were broken on Saturday at the St. Francis Invitational! Corey Gonzales, grade 10, set a record in the mile run with a time of 4:31.58. Senior Isabelle Connell set a record in the 400m with a 58.17, and, Sumit Minocha, grade 12, topped the previous Harker mark in the 100m with an 11.05.
These outstanding achievements come on the heels of Harker kicking off their season right with two school records set in the very first league meet of the season! That time, Connoll ran a 12.82 league-leading 100m, and sophomore Julia Wang threw the shot 25’10.5″.
In the rest of that season-opening meet last week, Wang also set a personal record in the discus at 65’1″ to become number two on Harker’s all-time girl’s throw list. Michael Chen, grade 12, moved up his personal best in discus to 121’0″, and Rohan Kapatkar, grade 11, set a personal best with a 96′ 9.5″. Claudia Tischler, grade 11, and Gonzales each ran personal bests in the 400m, with a 65.49 and a 57.40, respectively. The boys relay team of Spenser Quash, Varun Gudapati, Robert Deng and Sumit Michocha, all seniors, ran a league-best 45.45 in the 400m relay. Senior Tyler Yeats had himself a day, winning the mile and the two mile, running the 300m hurdles for a personal best, and anchoring the Harker 4x400m relay. Whew.
That all set the stage for those record-smashing races this past Saturday at St. Francis. When Harker was kind enough to give the record-keepers a breather for a moment, the boys 400m relay team embarked on a great, exciting run: Michocha received the baton in sixth place and sprinted to finish second. Then, Tischler and Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, each ran personal bests in the varsity girls 800m, finishing with a 2:27.30 and 2:30.56, respectively. Freshmen Calvin Kocienda and Nadia Palte both set personal records in their frosh/soph hurdle race. It’s an outstanding start to the season for the track and field team, and one which begs the question: are we to expect a new batch of records with every match?
Baseball
Harker’s sluggers defeated University High Friday, 7-2, to even up their record at three wins and three losses. Jacob Hoffman, grade 12, took away honors for the best offensive game on the team with a 3-4 day in which he circled the bases with home runs, twice. Those two dingers helped him to six RBIs for the day out of Harker’s seven runs, and outscoring all of University High’s lineup. Of course, he had some help from Kevin Cali, grade 12, keeping University High bats quiet by pitching the complete game with 10 strikeouts. Want to catch these guys in action? The boys take on Summit Prep this week at Blackford.
Lacrosse
Girl lacrosse bested Christian Brothers – Sacramento on Friday to the tune of 19-13, bumping up their record to a strong 4-1 overall. So, which Eagles put the ball in the net? That would be Michelle Douglas, grade 12, with five goals; Wendy Shwe, grade 12, with six; Hannah Bollar, grade 10, with five; and Tiphaine Delepine, grade 12 with three.
The girls’ 19-point effort comes two days after they put up 18 in an 18-7 trouncing over Santa Catalina last Wednesday. That day, Douglas added four goals, Shwe muscled in eight, Bollar had five, and Delepine had one. Your next chance to see the girls’ surging offense is when they travel to play Stevenson today in an away game.
Golf
Boys golf has won two in a row, finishing off a busy stretch with victories over Crystal Springs and King’s Academy. When we’d last left our heroes, they were in the midst of dropping a tight game to Menlo 200-205 last Wednesday. But, they followed that up with their 189-229 statement game against Crystal Springs and, now that they’ve topped their week off with the win over King’s Academy for good measure, the boys’ record now stands at 3-2 overall. Maverick McNealy , grade 12, demands attention for two of his outstanding games; he was the low scorer in the Crystal Springs game with a 34 and then shot a 31 against King’s Academy. As this is written, the boys are heading into a big tournament in Marin County.
Volleyball
In their league opener, the boys officially started this season’s race to the playoffs with a win against King’s Academy in four games last Wednesday, which at the time evened up their overall record at 2-2. Since then, the boys lost to Mountain View on Friday, but recovered with a very strong showing at the Aptos Tournament on Saturday. At the tournament, the boys won their pool and qualified for the gold bracket where they would place third overall in a 12-team tournament. Harker slid into the top three by defeating Oak Grove in a dramatic game. Now the boys head home to host Los Gatos at Blackford this Wednesday. Come support ’em!
Tennis
Boys tennis defeated Fremont last Wednesday, but then lost to Crystal Springs. After last week, their record stands at 5-2 overall and 4-2 in league as they prepare to face off against Menlo and Sacred Heart Prep this week.
The JV squad, meanwhile, has improved to a scorching 6-1 after defeating Crystal Springs.
Softball
Softball fell to Silver Creek by a score of 4-0 Wednesday. Briana Liang, grade 10, and Nithya Vemireddy, grade 11, did manage hits in the midst of the shutout, but the Eagles’ record dropped to 2-3 overall. They remain, however, undefeated in league play, with a 1-0 record. The team travels to Menlo and then hosts Mercy this Friday at Blackford.
Swimming
Harker’s swimmers travel to Sacred Heart Prep, today. Happy swimming!
A fun, festive St. Patrick’s Day party served as the final Eagle Buddies gathering of the school year for upper school juniors and their grade 4 pals.
Capping off a successful program for this Eagle Buddies pairing, the party was held on the lower school’s Rincon Field on a sunny afternoon in mid-March, with plenty of food, fun and games on hand.
The juniors traveled to the Bucknall campus by bus and were greeted by their younger buddies shortly after their noon arrival. Both the older and younger students were clad in their special Eagle Buddies polo shirts.
The bittersweet event consisted of lunch, free play, making friendship bracelets, celebrating St. Patrick’s Day and promising to stay in touch. It also served as a reminder that Harker’s Eagle Buddies program continues to be a success, fostering lasting friendships between upper and lower school students.
“Juniors enjoy the chance to have unstructured fun time during which they can be ‘kids’ again when they get together with their younger friends,” observed Carol Zink, who coordinates the Eagle Buddies program.
“The students at Bucknall have really benefited from the Eagle Buddies program and had a great time getting acquainted with each other this school year,” added Ken Allen, lower school dean of students.