Two teams of Harker students had stellar performances at this year’s Japan Bowl, held in Washington, D.C. The Japan Bowl is a competition in which students are tested on their understanding of Japanese language and culture, including topics such as history, performing arts, geography, fashion and current events.
Harker’s level III team, made up of Crystal Chen, grade 11, Shilpa Nataraj, also grade 11 and Kimberly Ma, grade 9, took second place.
Meanwhile, the level IV team of Tiffany Jang, grade 11, Victoria Liang, grade 12 and Lorraine Wong, grade 10, became the national champions at their level of competition. The team was awarded a trip to Japan, the schedule of which is yet to be determined due to circumstances stemming from the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northern part of Japan’s Honshu island last month.
This is the second time a Harker team has won a Japan Bowl championship, following a previous win in 2009.
Two teams of Harker students had stellar performances at this year’s Japan Bowl, held in Washington, D.C. The Japan Bowl is a competition in which students are tested on their understanding of Japanese language and culture, including topics such as history, performing arts, geography, fashion and current events.
Harker’s level III team, made up of Crystal Chen, grade 11, Shilpa Nataraj, also grade 11 and Kimberly Ma, grade 9, took second place.
Meanwhile, the level IV team of Tiffany Jang, grade 11, Victoria Liang, grade 12 and Lorraine Wong, grade 10, became the national champions at their level of competition. The team was awarded a trip to Japan, the schedule of which is yet to be determined due to circumstances stemming from the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northern part of Japan’s Honshu island last month.
This is the second time a Harker team has won a Japan Bowl championship, following a previous win in 2009.
Two teams of Harker students had stellar performances at this year’s Japan Bowl, held in Washington, D.C. The Japan Bowl is a competition in which students are tested on their understanding of Japanese language and culture, including topics such as history, performing arts, geography, fashion and current events.
Harker’s level III team, made up of Crystal Chen, grade 11, Shilpa Nataraj, also grade 11 and Kimberly Ma, grade 9, took second place.
Meanwhile, the level IV team of Tiffany Jang, grade 11, Victoria Liang, grade 12 and Lorraine Wong, grade 10, became the national champions at their level of competition. The team was awarded a trip to Japan, the schedule of which is yet to be determined due to circumstances stemming from the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northern part of Japan’s Honshu island last month.
This is the second time a Harker team has won a Japan Bowl championship, following a previous win in 2009.
April 20, 2011 – Alison Rugar, grade 10, softball pitcher, was noted in the San Jose Mercury News “Highlight Reel” section in sports in print and online for her 13-strikeout shutout of Mercy Burlingame. She was 7-1 following that game.
April 14, 2011 – Shannon Self MS ’91 was pictured and mentioned in the San Jose Mercury News entertainment section for her role in “Chicago,” a production by Children’s Musical Theater San Jose running through April 23.
April 10, 2011 – Anita Chetty, science department chair, was quoted in a San Jose Mercury News reprint/repost of a New York Times article about the new Google Science Fair.
April 6, 2011 – Jason Martin ’07 was noted in the San Jose Mercury News “Movin’ On Up” section in sports for having broken the first of many records he is approaching as a member of the San Jose State University baseball team. His 247 hits put him in the record books and he added two more hits that day to seal the deal.
March 25, 2011 – The Harker Concert Series’ Taylor Eigsti Trio was noted in the Take Your Pick! Section of the San Jose Mercury News.
March 16, 2011 – Ashley Del Alto, grade 10, was mentioned in print and online in the San Jose Mercury News “Highlight Reel” section in sports for her softball prowess in a 13-3 win over Andrew Hill. Del Alto had three hits, two RBIs and scored four runs in the game.
Jan. 26, 2011 – Daniza Rodriguez, grade 10, was named athlete of the week by the San Jose Mercury News and featured in their sports section in print and online. It mentioned several instances where she changed the course of the game though her efforts.
This article was originally published in the Harker Quarterly Spring 2011 Edition
Harker managed to reach two milestones in January when Intel announced that seven Harker seniors — Roshni Bhatnagar, Josephine Chen, Benjamin Chen, Rohan Mahajan, Nikhil Parthasarathy, Susan Tu and Jason Young — were named Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists, a California record. Two weeks later Harker became the only school in the nation to have two finalists, Mahajan and Parthasarathy. At press time both were preparing to travel to Washington, D.C., to compete against 38 other high school students in the final round.
October brought the announcement that Jacqueline Wang, grade 10, had been named a regional finalist in the 2010 Siemens competition. Regional semifinalists from Harker were Bhatnagar, Mahajan, Parthasarathy and Supraja Swamy, grade 12.
Students teamed up with mentors to complete the projects they had submitted for the contests. The mentors used their experience and expertise to provide guidance to the students as they conducted their research, while also fostering their intellectual curiosity. “I worked very closely with my mentors to complete the project,” said Parthasarathy, who worked with University of California, Santa Cruz mentors Sandra Faber, professor of astronomy, and Kamson Lai, a postdoctoral scholar in the astronomy and astrophysics department. His project dealt with the structure of distant galaxies. “When I first arrived at Santa Cruz, they gave me a lot of help to understand the necessary background information and also introduced me to many of the tools astronomers use to analyze galaxies.”
“Although only a high school student, I was given the freedom and the resources to pursue any topic that interested me and to contribute my thoughts and ideas during lab meetings and discussions,” said Chen, who studied the effects the compound celastrol has on reducing asthmatic symptoms. “Supported by the guidance of the entire lab, I dared to venture further, performing experiments no one else in the lab was familiar with.”
Working on the projects with mentors in labs also provides insight to the students on the kinds of research and experiments they will be doing at the college level. “The work that Nikhil did is comparable to what we would give a beginning graduate student,” said Faber. “He picked things up remarkably fast, and it was a pleasure working with him.”
Students also get to experience the thrill of making discoveries that could have a significant real-world impact. “Realizing the impact our findings could have on emotion regulation research was a seminal moment for me,” said Bhatnagar, whose project on how the insula, a small part of the brain, changes its size according to how people manage negative emotions earned her a semifinalist ranking in both the Intel and Siemens competitions. “This study was really exploratory. There were very few similar studies to compare with.”
These recent successes bolster Harker’s already impressive track record in these and other science competitions. Mahajan and Parthasarathy became the third and fourth Intel finalists from Harker since the school began participating five years ago, and Wang is the second consecutive regional finalist from Harker in the Siemens competition.
“One of the things that we emphasize at Harker is pushing yourself to reach your potential. It’s just another bar [students] set for themselves,” said Anita Chetty, science department chair. “I just want to offer as many opportunities as I can, and it’s up to the students themselves to decide if they what to participate.”
“The education I got at Harker was invaluable in preparing me for my research,” Parthasarathy said. “Because of the interdisciplinary nature of astrophysics, this project really combined the knowledge I got at Harker in areas such as math, physics and computer science.”
Chetty pointed out that several other departments in addition to science also contribute greatly to Harker’s success in science competitions. At the first January assembly to announce Harker’s Intel semifinalists, teachers from the science department who read the students’ projects and offered guidance in the submission process, noted how much the writing of the projects had improved.
“[The paper is] the only way of communicating what they’ve done and what they think about it,” Chetty said. “It has to be detailed enough, yet it has to be clear and you can’t ramble on.” She credited Harker’s English and history departments as well as its librarians for training the students to write high-caliber papers.
“It gets back to the standard that we set in each of our departments,” she said. “I really believe it’s important to recognize we are actually teaching the same skills, even though we may be using different disciplines.”
This article was originally published in the Harker Quarterly Spring 2011 Edition
Wrestling It was a record-breaking season for the Harker wrestling team this year, as senior wrestlers Santosh Swaminathan, Jason Mendel and Chris McCallaCreary advanced to the second day of competition at the CCS tournament over the February 26 weekend, a Harker first. McCallaCreary took fourth place overall, making him the highest-placing CCS wrestler in Harker history. This triumphant end to the season came on the heels of other record-breaking wrestling performances by the Eagles. On Feb. 12 Swaminathan became Harker’s first-ever league champion, with McCallaCreary and Mendel both placing second in their weights, marking the first time Harker has ever had three league finalists. On Jan. 29 McCallaCreary won the 160 lb. weight class at the 46th annual WC Overfelt Wrestling Tournament, defeating both the first- and second-ranked wrestlers in CCS on his way to winning the tournament championship. When interviewed by The Winged Post, coach Karriem Stinson was by understandably elated: “We’ve competed in the top tournaments this year, and we’ve come out on top. [I am] really proud of this team.”
Girls Soccer Upper school varsity girls soccer had a tough season this year, with a final league record of 0-9-1. Both matches against Eastside Prep proved particularly close, as our Eagles were defeated by only one point. Seniors Monisha Appalaraju, Lydia Demissachew, Michelle Holt, Arthi Kumar and Priya Sahdev were thanked for their contributions in mid-February on Davis Field.
The upper school junior varsity girls went 2-3-2 in league play with two massive lopsided wins, including one against University Prep Academy, in which our Eagles scored a whopping eight goals!
The grade 8 varsity A girls soccer team ended league play with a 2-5 record, but that was not indicative of the true strength of the team. All but one of the losses was by a single goal, which was usually scored just before time expired. The team was led by co-MVPs Alyssa Amick and Savi Joshi, Eagle Award winners Diba Massihpour and Safia Khouja and Coaches Award winner Gabi Gupta.
With a couple of very close losses, the grade 7 varsity B soccer team went 2-4 in the league. Strong players were MVP Alisa Wakita, Eagle Award winner Jessica Liou and Coaches Award winner Naomi Molin.
Our grade 6 junior varsity A soccer team went 2-3-1 in league play with huge wins over Castilleja and Crystal Springs. Team leaders were MVP Anuva Mittal, Eagle Award winner Lyndsey Mitchell and Coaches Award winner Divya Rajasekharan.
The junior varsity B girls soccer team, grades 4-5, went 1-3-2 in league play with a monster victory over Girls’ Middle School, 6-1, and a couple of 2-2 ties. MVP Alexandra Lu, grade 4; Eagle Award winner Lilia Gonzales, grade 4; and Coaches Award winner Krishna Bheda, grade 5, were lead players.
Intramural soccer players in grades 4-5 enjoyed their introduction to the game and look forward to competing in games in the near future. The girls team was led by MVP Priya Bhanot, Eagle Award winner Rebecca Mak and Coaches Award winner Claudia Opris, all grade 4.
Boys Soccer Varsity boys soccer ended the season 5-4-5 in league play, which included two very strong shutouts against Crystal Springs and Pinewood. Prior to their game against KIPP San Jose Collegiate, seniors Ambrish Amaranathan and Isaac Madan were lauded for their years of participation on Davis Field. The team also received a CCS scholastic championship.
Junior varsity boys soccer faced stiff competition this season with a 1-1-6 league record, but put up a great fight, especially in the grueling ties against Priory and University Prep in the regular season.
As of press time, the grade 8 boys soccer team was 1-3 in league play, which included a big win in February over King’s Academy, 3-1. Key players are Jeremiah Anderson, Edwin Chen, Thomas Doyle and Nikhil Kishore.
Dominating their league as of press time, the grade 7 boys soccer team was 4-1 with big victories over Keys, 3-0, and Priory, 9-0.
Strong players are Johnathon Keller, Andrew Kirjner, Calvin Kocienda, Michael Quezada and Nathaniel Stearns.
As of press time, the grade 6 boys soccer team had recorded an excellent 4-0-1 in league play, including a 6-0 win over Pinewood and a 4-1 win over Crystal Springs. Kedar Gupta, Sandip Nirmel, Ryan Vaughan and Nikolas Weisbloom are strong players for the team this year.
The grade 5 boys soccer team ended their season with a 3-0 win over Pinewood, and an overall 3-1-2 record. Coach Jared Ramsey said the season was a very successful one, and players continued to improve from practice to practice and game to game. “What made me most proud this season was the determination the boys displayed,” said Ramsey. “They were also very supportive of each other and really grasped the idea of ‘team’ as the year went on.” Ramsey’s standouts were Jin Kim, Matthew McCallaCreary, Rohit Shah and Vedant Shah.
The grades 4-5 intramural soccer team enjoyed their introduction to soccer this season and look forward to competing in the near future. The team was led by Nirban Bhatia, grade 5, and Jarrett Anderson, Chris Gong and Krish Kapadia, all grade 4.
Upper School Basketball Following a 61-49 victory over King’s Academy, the varsity boys basketball team made it to the CCS quarterfinals for the fourth year in a row, where they were ultimately vanquished by Santa Cruz. Girls varsity basketball defeated Gonzales High 59-40 to advance to the second round of the CCS playoffs, making this season the first time in Harker history that both varsity basketball teams advanced to the second round of the CCS playoffs. The girls team was ultimately taken down by Sacred Heart Prep, but the season ended with a very impressive 20-5 record, and this was the first girls team to qualify for the CCS playoffs since 2006. Priscilla Auyeung, grade 10, was named one of Harker’s two January Athletes of the Month, and Daniza Rodriguez, grade 10, was recognized by the San Jose Mercury News as a female Athlete of the Week. The boys basketball team received a CCS Scholastic Championship.
As of press time, the junior varsity boys team was 4-7 in league play. They had some fantastic wins during the season including a 61-34 slammer against Crystal Springs, a 67- 37 domination vs. Andrew Hill High School, and a 67-33 lesson in domination against Priory on Jan. 11. As of press time, the girls junior varsity basketball team was not having an easy league season with a 0-5 record. There were some tough battles, however, including a very close game against Priory.
The freshman boys basketball team ended its season 2-8 overall, 0-2 in league play; the boys fought hard throughout the season.
Middle and Lower School Boys Basketball For the first time in Harker history, the grade 8 varsity A team were both league champions and WBAL end-of-season tournament champions! They had a stellar 6-0 league and 10-1 overall record. Leading the team were co-MVPs Eric Holt and Srivinay Irrinki, Eagle Award winners Vamsi Gadiraju and Avik Wadhwa, and Coaches Award winner Arjun Ashok.
Grade 7-8 varsity B boys basketball had a 6-1 league and 8-2 overall record, placing second in the WBAL and fifth in the WBAL tournament. Team leaders were MVP Sidhart Krishnamurthi, grade 8; Eagle Award winner Suraj Jagadeesh, grade 7; and Coaches Award winner Prithvi Gudapati, grade 7.
The grade 6 junior varsity A team had a league 3-3 record and placed fourth in league with an overall record of 3-5. The team was led by MVP Andrew Gu, Eagle Award winner Alex Mo and Coaches Award winner Alex Youn.
With an overall record of 7-1, the grade 5 junior varsity B basketball team had a stellar 6-0 league record. They took home the league championship and\ placed second in the WBAL tournament, coming up just one point short in the 32-31 championship game vs. St. Matthews. Co-MVPs Brando Pakel and Siddharth Chari and Eagle Award winner Eric Andrus led the way.
Also taking home a league championship was our grade 4 junior varsity C basketball team, with a superlative 6-0 record in league! The team was led by co-MVPs Jackson Williams and Jarrett Anderson and Eagle Award winner Jason Peetz. This marks the first time since joining the WBAL that a grade 4 Harker team has won a championship.
Middle and Lower School Girls Basketball As of press time, the grade 8 girls basketball team was 3-6 in league play and getting ready to compete against some very tough eighth grade teams in the WBAL tournament. The team has won its last two games, beating Crystal Springs 32-22 and St. Mathews 22-15. Key players are Lekha Chirala, Eugene Gil and Savi Joshi.
The grade 7 girls basketball team was gearing up for the WBAL tournament as this magazine went to press, after a 3-4 league, 4-4 overall season. Exciting wins this season happened back to back when the Eagles took Priory to town Feb. 28, beating the opposition by 22 points, then defeated Castilleja three days later by just one basket. Leaders on the team are Sadhika Malladi, Shannon Richardson and Namitha Vellian.
Joelle Anderson, Jordan Thompson and Lindsey Trinh had led the grade 6 girls basketball team to three games in a row at press time, bringing their record to 4-3 in league play after starting the season with a win over Girls’ Middle School, 35-15. The WBAL tournament began March 7.
The grade 5 girls basketball team was 2-4 in league play at press time, with huge wins over St. Matt’s, 22-2, and Sacred Heart, 16- 10. Important players are Anika Banga, Megan Huynh, Satchi Thockchom and Akshaya Vemuri. At 2-3 in league play at press time, with two solid victories over Sacred Heart, 18-6 and 24-14, the grade 4 girls basketball team is led by Kayla Dominguez, Keili FitzGerald, Jennifer Hayashi and Alexandra Janssen.
The Harker Innovation Team has submitted a video to the LEAF ECOmmercial contest and they need your help to win! The competition has a variety of prizes including Most Viewed and Most Liked, so please help the team promote their video to the Harker community by viewing the video and liking it on Facebook by April 12.
“The goal of our video is to promote lower electricity consumption by encouraging people to take action – particularly to turn off lights whenever possible,” said Isaac Madan, grade 12. “We chose to focus on this because electricity is often assumed to be an unlimited resource that can be consumed without qualms. Yet, energy conservation is necessary to protect our environment and limit fossil fuel use.
“We figured that reminding people to turn off the lights is a great way for people to begin limiting their electricity use and begin thinking more about their electricity demand. Moreover, we emphasized that often the talk about the environment by scientists, politicians, etc., can be overwhelming, but taking action to protect the environment individually can be quite simple,” Madan noted.
The Harker Innovation Team works on a variety of competitive engineering and environmental projects throughout the school year and hopes their message will resonate with viewers of all ages who are aware of issues around global warming and environmentalism.
The team consists of Madan as captain and founder; Ambrish Amaranathan, grade 12; Sachin Jain, Prag Batra, Arihant Jain, all grade 11; Ram Menon and Shantanu Joshi, both grade 10.
The goal of the competition is to develop a public service commercial that encourages environmental awareness and/or conservation. There are various prizes in the competition, including Most Viewed and Most Liked (via Facebook). “We hope to do well in the award categories, but primarily our goal is to promote the idea of limiting electricity consumption to protect the environment,” added Madan.
Jason Martin ’07 became San Jose State University (SJSU) baseball’s all-time career leader in hits over the April 2-3 weekend. Martin is a senior and is poised to break several other records in this, his final season! Check out these articles from the SJSU athletics department, spartandaily.com, San Jose Mercury News and in Harker News [Online]. Congratulations!
Harker sent 28 instrumentalists to the California Association for Music Education (CMEA) Solo and Ensemble Festival in mid-March and earned more Command Performance and Superior ratings at Saturday’s festival than any other school participating!
Harker was well represented with standout performances by Cole Manaster, Dylan Qian and Cindy Tay, all grade 11; Patricia Huang and Katherine Woodruff, both grade 10; Dennis Moon and Daniel Pak, both grade 9, all of whom earned Superior ratings.
Superior/Command Performance ratings, the highest given at the festival, were earned by Arthur Oung, grade 4, Jeffrey Kwong and Andrew Lee, both grade 11; Albert Chen and Nayeon Kim, both grade 10; and Krishan Kumar, grade 9.
Other participants included seniors Jasmine Nee, Catherine Stiles and Jason Young; juniors Vivian Li, Nandita Krishna, Dwight Payne, Gene Wong and Evan Yao; sophomores Rohan Chandra and Lydia Werthen; and freshmen Meena Chetty, Nathan Dhablania, Sahithya Prakash, Renu Singh and Andrew Wang.
English Language Institute Receptions in Japan Canceled
Due to current events in Japan, the 2011 receptions in Tokyo and Kobe have been canceled. Our thoughts are with our Japanese friends and colleagues. The Harker School has many friends and associates in Japan from its long academic association and exchange program with the Tamagawa Gakuen school in Tokyo. Many current and former buddies of Harker students have been in contact with their U.S. friends and with Harker administrators since the earthquake and tsunami a week ago. Harker students have begun various efforts to add to the worldwide relief efforts, and the entire community sends its most fervent best wishes to all the Japanese affected by the disaster.