Harker teams are reporting in and the news is all good!
Football
The Eagles dominated Yerba Buena High School Aug. 31, winning 49-0 on Davis Field. “They worked hard and looked sharp,” said Dan Molin, athletic director.
“They executed very well,” agreed Ron Forbes, head coach. “When we got a big lead the boys didn’t play down — they did well for a young team. I liked that we had seven touchdowns scored by six different players.” Forbes added a shout out to the defensive squad, noting, “Last year, we had 56 points scored against us in each of three games in a row so kudos to the defense and defensive coordinator, Mike Taribassi,” for the shutout. Tonight, they play Andrew Hill High School.
Boys Water Polo
The team went 2-1 at the Hollister Tournament Saturday with a 14-3 victory over Harbor, a 10-4 victory over San Lorenzo Valley High School, and a 11-5 loss to Monterey. Ryan Hume, grade 12, led all Harker scorers with 14 goals over the three games; Eric Holt, grade 10, and Karan Das-Grande, grade 12, added four each throughout the day. They participate in the Wilcox Tournament this weekend.
Girls Volleyball
Varsity is 2-1, after a five-set, exciting win over Priory, a victory over Fremont and a tough loss to seventh-seeded Homestead. The key players so far have been Mercedes Chien, grade 11, on defense and Shreya Dixit, grade 10, Divya Kalidindi, grade 11, and Shannon Richardson, grade 9, on offense,” said Theresa “Smitty” Smith, head coach.
JV is 3-0 with crushing defeats of Priory and Fremont and a close win over Homestead. “Key players so far have been Selin Ekici, grade 9, at setter, and Hannah Bollar, grade 10, Tasia Belton, grade 9, and Sheridan Tobin, grade 10, on offense,” Smitty added. Next up, Saratoga High School!
Cross Country
The first competition was against Gunn High School and though full results haven’t been reported, the San Jose Mercury News listed Corey Gonzales, grade 10, as having won the 2.5-mile course in 11:36 in their Highlight Reel column yesterday.
Girls Tennis
The 2012-13 girls tennis team opened their season this week with two victories. In their opener, the team traveled to Milpitas and defeated a strong Milpitas squad 5-2. The team was lead by junior Katia Mironova and sophomore Arden Hu at #1 doubles, who bageled their opponents, 6-0, 6-0. In their second match, the team defeated Fremont 7-0. In their victory, the girls failed to drop a set. Next week, the girls travel to Monterey to defend their championship at the Santa Catalina Invitational Tournament.
Alumni Sports
Tanya Schmidt ’08 is a top 30 finalist for the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Finalists were selected from 429 nominees from Division I, II and III. Those nominated must have “demonstrated academic and athletics excellence and engaged in community service and leadership opportunities,” according to the NCAA website.
Usua Amanam ’09 has found a new niche on the Stanford University football team, switching from running back to defensive back. Amanam attended middle school at Harker and high school at Bellermine. Read about it in the San Jose Mercury News!
Fencing
Jerrica Liao, grade 7, is now ranked second in the U.S. in women’s foil age 12 and under and is ranked 16th in the U.S. in age 14 and under, following stellar results at the U.S. Fencing National Championships in Anaheim in July.
On July 3, in the Y-14 event with 123 fencers, Liao started out going 3-2 in pools and seeding 56. She won her first elimination bout handily 15-6, then weathered a very tough bout against the 25th seed, winning on time 6-5 (Y14 and older fencers fence to 15 touches or for nine minutes), an exhausting way to win! Then Liao ran into some luck. She would normally have faced the number one seed, but that girl had been eliminated and her path hijacked by the 33rd seed, who lost to the 48th seed — and that’s who Liao (seeded originally 58th) faced in the quarter finals. Liao triumphed 8-3, then hit a hard spot, facing the number four seed, to who she succumbed, finishing in third place, for an outstanding result in a bracket above her age group. This finish upped Liao’s competitive rating from E12 to a B12, putting her among the top fencers in her age bracket.
The next day, July 4, Liao fenced in the Y-12 bracket finishing 18th of 135. She seeded third out of pools, winning all her bouts and being touched only three times while delivering 29 touches, to give her a +26 indicator. She won her first two matches easily, then ran into a toughie in the table of 32: Y-12 fencers fence for best of three five-touch bouts and Liao lost the first bout 2-1, won the second 5-1 and lost the third 2-1 to finish 18th and locking her into the number two spot in the country.
Squash
This summer Sunya Siddiqu, grade 6, played a lot of squash, coming in first and taking two seconds in three August competitions. She is ranked 14th in the U.S. in her bracket, girls under age 11.
In late August, Siddiqu competed in the San Diego Gold tournament in the girls under 11 (GU11) singles category and won all three matches to come in first. With six participants, players compete in boxes: three participants in each box do a round robin, then the top two finishers play for the championship. Siddiqu won her box, then lost to the other top finisher to take second.
In early August, Siddiqu competed in the Decathlon Junior Open Junior Silver. Siddiqu won her boxes in both the GU11 and GU13 events, but lost in the final to take second in both events.
Basketball
Benjamin Soraire and Levi Sutton, both grade 4, played in the Silicon Valley National Junior Basketball summer season and the boys met when their respective teams played each other in the championship game. The Bulldogs (Soraire’s team) and the Ballers (Sutton’s team) set a new record with the championship game going into five overtime periods and, finally, to sudden death play. In a tough struggle for the win, the Ballers sank one for the win. Both boys plan to play for Harker this year. Congratulations to both boys for their efforts this summer!
Harker golf star Maverick McNealy, grade 12, wrapped up an eventful summer in mid-August by making it to the quarterfinals of the Northern California Golf Association’s Amateur Match Play Championship. McNealy started strong with a third-place finish in stroke play, shooting 72-71. After winning his first two matches, he later fell behind by two with four holes remaining. He nearly rallied with two birdies to force a playoff, but hit the bunker in the sudden-death playoff, allowing his opponent to advance.
Earlier in August, McNealy won the Silver Creek Valley Junior, shooting 65-72. He scored birdie no fewer than seven times in the first round. “It felt good to finally win one, though my results in bigger events have been exciting,” he said.
Harker athletics opened the new year with a win by both varsity and JV in girls volleyball against Priory. JV won in two sets, but varsity had to keep the hammer down for a five-game marathon, finally winning 15-13 in the fifth set. Read all about it in the Merc! Come watch their home opener at Blackford next Tuesday night v. Homestead! 4:30 JV, 5:45 varsity.
Cross Country
A few cross country runners competed in the Gunn High scrimmage meet yesterday. Sophomore Corey Gonzales won the varsity boys race defeating runners from St. Francis, Palo Alto and Gunn high schools. Senior Tyler Yeats placed sixth. On the girl’s side, Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, and Claudia Tischler, grade 11, placed ninthth and 11th, respectively. Their next race is Sept. 15 in Salinas.
Varsity football season opens tonight against Yerba Buena at 7! Come on over – the price is right (free)!
In July, a group of Harker water polo players made up of rising seniors Karan Das-Grande, Ryan Hume and Gilad Nilo along with rising junior Stephan Pellissier, competed at a tournament in Hungary, one of the world’s hotspots for the aquatic sport.
As part of a club team from Sacramento, the students performed well at the tournament, taking fourth place overall and defeating a Hungarian team and another American team in the process. “The way the Hungarian teams play is a lot more physical than most other U.S. teams. If you’re against another player in America, you usually don’t wrestle with another player unless you’ve got your hand up to catch the ball or if you have the ball,” Pellissier said. “There, though, it is a lot more physical. You spend a lot more time fighting underwater with the other player.”
The students had plenty of fun during the trip as well, partially because the tournament was hosted at a water park. “When we weren’t playing, we had a blast going down the water slides,” Pellissier said. The trip also gave the students a chance to enjoy the rich local culture, including an Olympic museum, centuries-old churches and a museum that is reputed to have once been a holding place for enemies of the state.
Harker volleyball team member Shannon Richardson, grade 9, wrapped up a stellar July by winning the USA Beach Junior Volleyball Championships, (National Division), age 14 and under category, with her partner, Alexandra Kim of Daly City. The event was held in Milwaukee, on July 28-29. In the two days of play, Richardson and Kim went undefeated.
Richardson and Kim competed against 16 other teams from around the country for the title. “It was a fantastic tournament,” said Ben Barr of USA Beach Junior Volleyball. “They should be very proud!”
In her warm up to nationals, Richardson had a great round in July, including four tournaments and a high performance camp and mini-tournament that was even tougher than the Nationals event.
Her first event was July 14. Richardson and her partner for the trip, Chanti Holroyd, a freshman at Mountain View High School, competed in a California Beach Volleyball Association (CBVA) Cal Cup Qualifier in Pacific Palisades, earning first place in the age 14 and under category, qualifying them for the Sept. 2 championships in Manhattan Beach (see photos – Richardson is on the left in both, Holroyd is wearing the black and white top; Kim is wearing a tee shirt).
Next stop was the USA Junior Beach Volleyball High Performance Camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista. At the conclusion of the four-day camp on July 18, Richardson participated in a mini-tournament in which girls had to play with a different partner for every match. Richardson was the only camper who did not lose a single match with any of her partners.
Immediately afterwards, Richardson moved on to the USA Junior Beach High Performance Championships at Hermosa Beach, July 19-21. The tourney started with two days of pool play, followed by a day with cross pool and finals. Richardson and Holroyd lost only one match on the first day of pool play, so advanced to finals where they took the gold medal, beating the one team they had lost to in pool play.
Next, July 22, the pair went after the 16-and under category in a CBVA tournament in Doheny, Calif., where they had some tough practice and earned second place.
Richardson’s last outing in this trip was a CBVA Qualifier in Santa Barbara July 24 where Richardson and Holroyd took first place, beating the team they lost to in Doheny two days earlier.
Richardson, who has competed for Harker since grade 4, then traveled to Milwaukee for the USA Junior Beach Championships, where she and partner Kim triumphed!
Brian Park, rising sixth grader (on right in photo) earned a bronze medal at the North American Cup in Anaheim in early July. He fenced in the Youth-10 Men’s Foil event on July 4, finishing third out of 122 entries. He is now ranked 25th in the U.S. in his age bracket.
In the tournament, Park, who fences at Silicon Valley Fencing Center in Los Altos and trains with the owners, Aleksei and Yuliya Murugin, won his pool with five victories and one defeat, seeding 22 going in to the elimination rounds. Park beat his first two elimination opponents easily, then came up against some of the toughest fencers in his age group in the country, starting with Kenji Bravo, who was seeded eighth out of pools and is ranked 14th in the U.S. Elimination bouts for those age 10 and under are of two out of three five-touch encounters.
In each of Park’s first two elimination bouts he won the first two encounters to advance; in the bout with Bravo it took all three encounters. Park won the first encounter 5-3, lost the second 2-5 then came back strong to win the tie breaker 5-0. Park advanced again after beating James Chen, ranked 11th in the U.S., then fenced a very tough bout with Leo Holmes, ranked fourth in the U.S., losing the first encounter 5-4, but overcoming that deficit with back-to-back wins 5-3, 5-3, to lock in a top-three medal.
Park was finally eliminated by Marcello Olivares, who took second, and is ranked number two in the U.S. Park, who has fenced for about three years, has only competed in two national events and four are totaled for national rankings. If Park continues to fencing well nationally his national ranking will rise rapidly. Congrats and best of luck in the upcoming season!
Members of Harker’s Key Club had a busy and productive spring, collecting clothing, toys, food and animal carrier crates for the Sacred Heart Community Center and raising some $1,100 for the Silicon Valley Humane Society.
The funds were raised by selling baked goods, bagels, and root beer floats. Additionally, one student opted to anonymously donate $500 towards the cause.
Kerry Enzensperger, director of the upper school community service and activity program, reported that Key Club participants were thrilled with the results.
The Key Club is part of an international high school organization sponsored by Kiwanis International. Key Club members assist Kiwanis in carrying out its mission to serve the children of the world.
High school student members of the club perform acts of service in their communities, such as cleaning up parks, collecting clothing and organizing food drives. They also learn leadership skills by running meetings, planning projects and holding elected leadership positions at the club, district and international levels.
Daniela Lapidous ’12 recently won the Saratoga Library Teen Poetry contest in the high school category for her submitted poem, titled “Regression.” Lapidous attended a special reception on June 13 in honor of the winners of the contests. Her English teacher, Jennifer Siraganian, encouraged students to enter the contest during the spring semester.
This story was originally published in the spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly.
Compiled by William Cracraft, Igor Hiller and Zach Jones
Medical Students Drop By with Advice The Harker School had two medical students – who also happen to be Harker graduates – stop by upper school science chair Anita Chetty’s classroom in late November. They spoke to three different classes about what being in med school is really like, giving soon-to-be college students an insider’s look into both the course of study and the career it leads to. Alfred See and Geetanjali Vajapey, both Class of 2004, were home for Thanksgiving break when they decided to drop in and surprise Chetty, their former teacher. See, Chetty says, was also in the area interviewing for a residency. Chetty was pleased to see them both, especially considering they were only home for a few days. “It’s a nice reminder that Harker is truly a family, even after graduation, whose students are always willing to share their time and expertise,” she said.
Harker Academy Grad Publishes Timely Book on Muslim Americans Ayesha Mattu ’86 was featured on the Sunday front page of the San Jose Mercury News Living section on Feb. 26. She co-edited a book titled “Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women.” In the book, 25 Muslim women share their search for love and speak openly for the first time about love, relationships, sexuality, gender, identity, homophobia and racism.
Mattu, who attended Harker Academy for grades 3-7, received Harker’s 2008 Alumni Community Service award. After graduating from Clark University, Mattu’s first job was as a public relations manager for Sahil, a Pakistani non-governmental organization addressing child abuse. Working on such a controversial and taboo subject in a conservative Islamic society proved challenging and rewarding.
After Sahil, Mattu worked for Hagler-Bailly, where she researched community initiatives connected to the Himalayan Brown Bear Conservation Project. She then moved to Boston, where she was the coordinator for institutional giving at Grassroots International, a human rights organization that works with social movements and progressive organizations to build a global movement for social justice. Mattu met her husband at Grassroots International, and the pair moved to San Francisco, where she worked as a development officer for the Global Fund for Women.
In addition to her book editing work, Mattu is currently self-employed as a philanthropy consultant, helping organizations and individuals formulate strategies and practices to foster a social-change grant-making model. Congratulations to Mattu on the publication of her book!
Tufts Grad Manages Campaign to Raise $500,000 for Nonprofit Shawn Huda ’06 said he first discovered Let’s Get Ready (LGR) during his sophomore year at Tufts University. “As a product of a minority, single parent household, I was immediately drawn to the nonprofit’s mission: to help break the cycle of poverty by empowering students to attend college,” said Huda.
While at Tufts, Huda worked a semester as a verbal coach at LGR and three semesters as the director of the Tufts LGR program. After graduating from Tufts in 2010, Huda went on to work as a program associate in LGR’s Boston office, overseeing multiple programs.
“I discovered major benefits of the model that mirrored tenets of the Harker experience,” said Huda. “Classes were kept small (five students, on average) to ensure individualized attention and guidance; students both at the high school and college levels were empowered to take greater responsibility and ownership inside the classroom and out; and rather than focusing solely on one aspect, the SAT, the program took a holistic approach to preparing students for the college application process,” Huda said.
He was given the unique role of managing LGR’s campaign for the 2011 American Giving Awards Competition and, in December, under Huda’s management, LGR took second place, a ranking determined via the campaign’s Facebook voting drive, and won the group $500,000. Read the story on LGR’s website: http://bit. ly/ok6bc5.
Alumna Wong ‘05 Founds Theater Company Kimberley Wong ’05 has co-founded a groundbreaking theater company in New York. Her group, called The Accidental Shakespeare Company, mixes theater with improvisation, with casting decisions made by the audience moments before curtain and random props thrown into the mix.
The theater company is dedicated to the idea of play. Wong says she realized the little moments of terror during a performance – when an actor forgets his line, or a set piece malfunctions, or a prop is missing – often spur the most exciting, interesting and real moments on stage. “Lately, I have become really tired of the kind of theater where they say: Stand here. Do this. Move your arm like that,” said Wong. “You start to feel like a set piece.”
Wong believes accidents are part of the joy of live theater, which is why her company purposefully incorporates elements of change into their productions.
Harker’s performing arts program played a significant role in Wong’s education. As a kindergartner, she was cast as a fairy princess in “Cinderella.” Every year thereafter, Wong performed in Harker’s dance production. In grade 8, she performed in Harker Harmonics and played the lead role in “42nd Street” as a senior. She was also a musical theater certificate graduate in the Harker Conservatory. Said Wong, “I see how the work ethic, the professionalism and the passion that I learned at Harker set me apart from so many other actors. It is the reason … why I can develop and run my company!”
After graduation, Wong attended New York University, where she earned a BFA in drama. Her most recent theater credits include playing Juliet at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, and Wong is currently in an apprenticeship at the Pearl Theater in New York, understudying Julia in George Bernard Shaw’s “The Philanderer.”
Alumna Accepted to Oxford Visiting Student Program Maggie Woods ’10 was recently accepted to a visiting student program at Oxford University. Currently a history major at Santa Clara University, Woods plans to study medieval and early modern British history as well as Latin and Greek during her stay at Oxford. “Oxford has been the dream since sophomore year of high school, pretty much as soon as I decided that I wanted to continue studying history,” Woods said. She visited Oxford while on a trip to London the summer after her junior year at Harker. “The atmosphere is magical, and not just because it reminds me of Harry Potter,” she joked. “I felt an urge to study while I was there.”