Upper school vocalists and the ensemble Camerata represented Harker extremely well at the California Music Educators Association (CMEA) Solo and Ensemble Festival on March 12 at San Jose State University.
Students are required to prepare a classical piece to present to a judge, who listens to them and offers critique and advice, much like a one-on-one master class. The judge fills out a comprehensive score sheet with comments which the students keep, and assigns soloists and groups a rank: superior, excellent, good, fair or needs improvement. At the judge’s discretion, a command performance ranking may be added on to a superior, indicating truly outstanding work.
Harker’s musicians were fortunate in their judge this year, a retired voice teacher from the Sacramento area, whose thoughtful insights and gentle humor gave them tremendous confidence and useful tips. For Harker’s Conservatory students, the CMEA festivals are really about these encounters with experts, rather than the scores they receive, and several singers noted how useful the judge’s comments were.
Command performance superiors were awarded to Michelle Holt and Vrinda Goel, grade 12; Katie Marcus Reker, grade 11; and Nina Sabharwal, grade 10. Ashima Agrawal, grade 11, received a superior. Others participating in the festival were seniors Mallika Dhaliwal and Shireen Moshkelani, and juniors Govi Dasu, Sebastian Herscher, Alex Najibi, Bridget Nixon and Lucy Xu. Members of Camerata are Timothy Chou, Mallika Dhaliwal, Ram Seeni, grade 12; Govi Dasu, Sebastian Herscher, grade 11; Cristina Jerney, Nina Sabharwal, Indu Seeni, Pooja Shah, Wendy Shwe, Alice Tsui and Lydia Werthen, grade 10.
Students Wendy Shwe, grade 10 and Diane Villadsen, grade 12, and faculty members Susan Nace and Catherine Snider provided piano accompaniment for the singers.
The creativity and hard work of Harker students translated into significant success in this year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Student artist Vladimir Sepetov, grade 12, won a Gold Key, two Silver Keys and two honorable mentions at the regional level and was awarded a Silver Medal at the national level in the mixed media category. Jessica Lin, grade 11, won a silver medal in the Novel Writing category. Junior Jessica Shen received two honorable mentions in the regional competition. As national winners, both Lin and Sepetov were invited to attend a special ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York City to receive their awards.
In the writing portion, Cindy Tay, grade 11, was recently named a regional Gold Key medalist in the personal essay category. Three other student writers – Emily Wang, Justin Gerard and Shelby Rorabaugh, all grade 10 – received Merit awards.
Held every year by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards contest recognizes high school students in the United States, Canada and in overseas American schools with interests in the visual and literary arts. This year’s contest had 185,000 entries.
The Harker School’s yearly middle school dance performance, Dance Jamz, won over an excited audience for two weekend nights in early March at the Blackford Theater. Under the direction of middle school dance teacher Gail Palmer, along with co-directors Amalia Vasconi and Karl Kuehn, a collection of approximately 150 dancers from grade 6-8 performed an eclectic mix of dance styles in front of a vocal and visibly thrilled crowd of family, faculty and friends.
For one fast-paced hour, dancers moved through seventeen musical numbers, leading off with a heart-pumping, vibrant rendition of ACDC’s “Thunderstruck,” eliciting cheers from the first minute of their performance as sharp, in sync moves sent ponytails flying in front of a wall of color and light.
As the performances continued, the speakers cycled through early rock and breezy boogies, past contemporary hip-hop and club mixes, into soulful serenades and pop ballads. In one memorable sequence, set to songwriter and vocalist Sara Bareilles’ “Gravity,” dancers took turns performing delicate, graceful solos, extending across a central chair, as their collaborators moved around and behind them.
A few numbers later, a routine of contemporary pop artist Mike Posner’s “Cooler Than Me” began with a silhouetted tableau, in which the dark figures of eight dancers were isolated against a bright orange backdrop of light.
Dance Jamz is the culmination of many months of work for the dancers, who have taken classes in either jazz, modern, lyrical, ballet, tap or hip-hop, and then built on their foundation with weeks of rehearsal. Nearly one quarter of the performers were boys, who had three numbers of their own, including a contemporary hip-hop performance to Maroon 5’s “If I Never See Your Face Again,” and a heavily-costumed, flashy performance of Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll.”
The dances also showcased some of the performers’ hidden talents: one number featured acrobatic cartwheels, and another saw the dancers take turns channeling pop stars as they lip synced. As the production came to a close, the student-performers were greeted with an echoing round of cheers, a fitting finale after sixty minutes of hooting and hollering.
Mar. 15, 2011
[Update] KQED radio featured a short interview on their California Report this moring with Nikhil Parthasarathy, grade 12, as he and classmate Rohan Mahajan await the judges’ final decision in the Intel Science Talent Search contest in Washington D.C.. Harker is the only school this year with two finalists in the contest.
The extensive article, lauding the strengths of Harker’s science program, is by veteran reporter Lisa M. Krieger, who made several visits to the campus in February and March to spend time with students and teachers. Longtime Mercury News photographer Patrick Tehan captured the photos for the piece. One impetus for the story was the January announcement from Intel that The Harker School was the only school in the country earning two finalist spots at their annual Intel Science Talent Search in Washington, D.C. Winners are announced March 15, 2011.
The story is inspiring comments from educators, alumni, current students, parents and others passionate about education.
The upper school dance production, a yearly celebration of dance with choreography by upper school dance teachers and students, was presented in late January. This year’s production, “Be-A-Muse(d),” was designed by artistic director Laura Rae as an investigation of inspiration and creative processes in the natural world.
“Be-A-Muse(d)”heavily showcased technology to tell its story, with twin projector screens flanking the Blackford stage, reflecting a series of breathtaking panoramas and metropolitan vignettes.
This year’s production drew its music from a panoply of popular, classical, cultural and expressive sources, making room for contemporary bands like Muse and Temper Trap alongside a Hans Zimmer soundtrack, Charles Lingus’ jazz and Niña Pastori’s flamenco.
Student dancers wore shimmering, futuristic outfits that reflected the stage lights, and one memorable moment featured a musical number composed entirely from the startup sounds of a Windows computer.
The production reached its apex in the rendition of the heartbreaking song “This Bitter Earth.” There, dancers in dusty, brown, wrinkled costumes – like decaying leaves in autumn – danced a dipping, worn-down ode, an illustration of the death required for seasonal rebirth.
“Be-A-(Muse)d”was choreographed by teachers Laura Rae, Karl Kuehn, Amalia Vasconi and Adrian Bermudez, along with students Carmen Das-Grande, Katie Forsberg, Nidhi Gandhi, Amiritha Minisandram, Daisy Mohrman, Naomi So, Kenny Wong, Erica Woolsey, all grade 12; Sarika Asthana, Sonya Chalaka, Sarah Howells, Margaret Krackeler, all grade 11; and Tiphaine Delepine, Michaela Kastelman, Molly Wolfe, all grade 10.
The Harker Quarterly and Harker News Online have been awarded second and third place, respectively, in the annual regional CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) contest. The competition recognizes excellence in communication, with eligibility open to any regional CASE institution, including universities and community colleges. It was the first time Harker had entered the competition.
Harker won silver in the Independent School Periodicals, Independent School magazines category for the Harker Quarterly, and bronze in the Independent School Periodicals, Independent School Web-Based or Electronic HTML Periodicals for Harker News Online.The Harker Quarterly and Harker News Online (HNO) were both launched in 2009 to replace the existing monthly internal newsletter, The Harker News, and to reach a broader audience.
Each entry was judged on quality, creativity, innovation and adherence to professional standards. There were 388 entries in this year’s competition.
“Both publications provide us with unique and expanded ways to share our exciting, diverse and newsworthy community with others,” said Pam Dickinson, Harker’s Office of Communication director. “The keepsake format of the Quarterly allows for lush features, while Harker News Online, coupled with our expanding use of social media, provide a more real time outlet for news.”
Dickinson said special kudos go to Bill Cracraft, news and information editor, for his leadership with the Quarterly and HNO content, and Nick Gassmann for the HNO design and continued improvements to that online vehicle. Other key talent contributing to the projects are Catherine Snider, publication editor; Ashley Batz, photo editor; Zach Jones, lead writer; Jenny Sandrof of Blue Heron Design; and Jaja Hsuan of Triple J Design.
Visit our homepage at www.harker.org for the digital online version of the Harker Quarterly, and http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/ to view the latest news in Harker News Online.
The Harker middle and upper school forensics team, 70 strong, traveled to a Stanford University tournament in mid-February and brought home awards in nearly every event entered. In dramatic interpretation, James Seifert, grade 12, collected third place honors.
In varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate, Roshni Bhatnagar, grade 12, advanced to double-octafinals (top 32), and Chat Malladi, grade 11, earned the fourth place speaker award. Vikrum Sundar, grade 9, also posted a semifinal finish in junior varsity Lincoln-Douglas. In the world of public forum debate, the team of Kiran Arimilli and Neel Bhoopalam, both grade 10, and the team of Daryl Neubeiser and Ishan Taneja, both grade 11, reached double-octafinals (top 32) before being eliminated.
The following weekend, February 19-21, Harker had a stellar performance at the University of California, Berkeley tournament, finishing ninth out of some 210 schools from around the nation. A record 132 middle and upper school students traveled to Berkeley for the largest annual high school invitational tournament in the U.S.
Seifert again took a starring role in Harker’s performance, winning the championship in dramatic interpretation. Seifert was also the only student in the entire tournament who competed in three individual events and successfully advanced to elimination rounds in all three events, reaching octafinals (top 56) in humorous interpretation and semifinals (top 14) in original oratory.
“James’ biggest edge is all of his acting experience here at Harker,” said Jonathan Peele, director of individual events and congressional debate. “He also likes to take risks in the literature he chooses to perform – this year he’s doing ‘I am My Own Wife’ by Doug Wright – which really makes his performance stand out in competition.”
In public forum debate, two of Harker’s teams were invited to participate in a select round robin event hosted at the College Prep School in Oakland prior to the U.C. Berkeley Tournament. There, the team of Rohan Bopardikar and Akshay Jagadeesh, both grade 11, reached semifinals (top 4) while the team of Aneesh Chona and Anuj Sharma, both grade 10, were named co-champions of the tournament. In general competition at Berkeley, the team of Aakash Jagadeesh, grade 11 and Justine Liu, grade 12, reached octafinals (top 16), earning a Tournament of Champions bid. Bopardikar and Akshay Jagadeesh advanced yet again, this time falling in triple-octafinals (top 64).
In varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate, Bhatnagar reached quarterfinals (top 8) out of 380 students in the competition. For doing so, Bhatnagar received her second bid to, and is now fully qualified for, the Tournament of Champions this May. Malladi also advanced to elimination rounds in varsity Lincoln-Douglas, reaching triple-octafinals (top 64). In the junior varsity division, Raymond Xu, grade 9, concluded preliminary rounds as the undefeated top seed, proceeding on to octafinals (top 16) before being eliminated. Sachin Vadodaria, grade 9, joined Xu in JV Lincoln-Douglas elimination rounds, reaching double-octafinals (top 32) and earning the fourth-place speaker award.
In congressional debate, Murali Joshi, grade 11, Michael Tsai, grade 12 and Warren Zhang, grade 10, advanced to the semifinals (top 70), and all earned bids to the Tournament of Champions. Kathir Sundarraj, grade 10, climbed still further, reaching congressional debate finals (top 20). Jacob Hoffman, grade 10, received the gavel for best presiding officer in his preliminary chamber.
This weekend Harker takes a break from competition to play host to our friends from around the region at the Howard and Diana Nichols Invitational. Go Eagle Forensics!
A group of ninth graders spent two days in early February helping out at InnVision’s Georgia Travis Center, a shelter for homeless women and children in San Jose. Donations to the center of clothing, linen, toys, games and food must be sorted and organized before use, and over two days about 90 students spent nearly 600 hours pitching in.
Students sorted hundreds of pieces of clothing by age and gender and arranged them in the shelter’s store. They organized boxes of toys and games before shelving them, served food to the homeless and helped out in the office as well. “The work was hard, but they did it all with a smile on their faces and a glint in their eyes,” noted Naren Nayak, father of participant Avinash.
A handful of Harker parents helped supervise and arranged for lunch and snacks, but even that turned into a donation as the unspent lunch money, $131, went to InnVision as well.
“On behalf of InnVision, I would like to share our deepest gratitude for the amazing work during the Harker Service Days at GTC!” said David Tran, InnVision’s volunteer and program coordinator. “It was a definite success in terms of the amount of work that was done. I enjoyed the energy and charisma that the Harker students brought, especially their keen interest in learning more about homelessness and our agency. Overall, it was a great success and definitely a great start to a wonderful partnership between InnVision and Harker.”
Jaynie Neveras, community relations manager for the Georgia Travis Center, was equally appreciative. “We are most grateful for these days of service, as the Harker students truly did make a difference,” she said. “Their volunteer efforts in all areas, whether making over a classroom supply area, sorting donations, organizing a toy warehouse or helping with paper work for case managers, made lives better. No child should ever know homelessness – a lesson brought to life for these compassionate Harker volunteers.”
More information about donating to or volunteering at InnVision can be found at www.innvision.org.
Harker’s Young Physicists team brought home the championship trophy in early February, a school first, and is prominently featured on the tournament’s home page.
The team, seniors Karthik Dhore and Nikhil Parthasarathy, and juniors Vishesh Gupta and Akhil Prakash, accompanied by Drs. Miriam Allersma and Mark Brada, flew to Oak Ridge, Tenn., site of the 2011 U.S. Invitational Young Physicists Tournament sponsored by the United States Association for Young Physicists Tournaments (USAYPT).
At the competition, students from across the country present research on four open-ended physics problems, announced a full year prior, requiring work well above most common high school curricula, said Brada.
“Since the problems are particularly difficult, each student who travelled to the competition worked in a team with one or two other Harker students to complete all of the work that was required,” Brada added.
Dhore worked with Juniors Shival Dasu and Sankalp Raju on the Salt Water Oscillator problem, Parthasarathy worked with Junior Govinda Dasu on the Magic Motor problem, Gupta worked with freshman Sarika Bajaj and junior Max Isenberg on the Domino Wave problem and Prakash worked with Sophomore Payal Modi on the Boiling Water problem.
“Each member of the team contributed a great deal of work to the solutions that were ultimately presented at the competition,” said Brada.
The competition itself is carried out through a series of “Physics Fights,” which are essentially debate-style presentations in which one team presents research findings while another team looks for flaws in how their research was conducted. The team from Harker ultimately prevailed at the taking home the travelling tournament trophy for the first time in school history.
The Harker Programming Club is hosting a programming competition March 19 from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at the upper school campus.
“While searching for more competition opportunities for the club, we were disappointed by the scarcity of local tournaments and thus decided to hold one of our own,” said Christine Chien, grade 12, club spokesperson. “In the long run, hopefully, our contest will help programmers at other schools pursue their interests and encourage schools that do not have a computer science program to start one.”
The event will be held in Nichols Hall, Harker’s new science and technology building, and registration and lunch are both free. Details of the actual competition and how to register are online.
Chien noted the contest will prepare students for the AP Computer Science exam as well as the Stanford ProCo Contest since problems have been written by the ProCo team. Accepted languages are Java, C++, C and Python, and each team must bring a laptop with Wi-Fi capability. Teams of up to three students will compete in a two-and-a-half hour round to score as many points possible by submitting problems online. Prizes will be awarded to non-Harker teams!
All teams must be chaperoned, so each school must bring a teacher or parent. Chaperones will have access to a lounge area with outlets, Wi-Fi, and of course, coffee.
Schedule: Registration check-in 9-10 a.m.; Contest 10 a.m.–12:30 p.m.; Lunch 12:30–1:30 p.m.; Keynote speaker 1:30-2:30 p.m.; Awards 2:30–3 p.m.. For more information, contact the Harker Programming Club at harkerprogramming@gmail.com.