The Sound of Hope Network recently featured Harker’s English Learning Institute (ELI) in a segment on Bay Area school education. The 11-minute program offered insight to international students looking for chances to improve their English and ensure placement in the nation’s best schools. A mother named Jesse was interviewed about her daughter Dora’s significant growth through ELI.
After Stevenson School recommended that Dora attend ELI to improve her English, Jesse met with Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, and her daughter applied for the summer program. In a matter of weeks, Dora completed the highest class level and was accepted to the Webb Schools in Claremont.
Jesse said she did not expect to see such great results in such a short time, noting that Dora loved the program, the exposure to native English-speaking students and opportunities to go on after-school excursions. Other students from Shanghai also saw similar improvements, and Jesse said she wishes she had known about the program earlier. Boarding school acceptance rates are becoming more and more competitive, and Jesse highly recommended ELI because of the English immersion and supportive teachers.
Members of the Harker community often appear and make headlines in local, national and international news stories. This article will be updated throughout the month as new entries come in, so be sure to check back!
The Wall Street Journal, March 20: New York Times op-ed writer Thomas L Friedman mentioned Harker’s Intel Science Talent Search finalist Namrata Anand, Gr. 12, in his March 20 column after attending the Intel awards dinner. Read the full story.
San Jose Mercury News, March 17: Anand is mentioned in another story about Bay Area students who also performed well in the Intel Science Talent Search.
San Jose Mercury News, March 6: Upper school art teacher Pilar Aguero-Esparza’s monotype “Twins” is displayed in an article about the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art’s 2010 Monotype Marathon, which will be on display until March 27. More details are available at www.sjica.org.
New York Times op-ed writer Thomas L. Friedman mentioned Harker’s Intel Talent Search finalist Namrata Anand, Gr. 12, in his March 20 column after attending the Intel awards dinner. In his column, he listed all of the 40 Intel finalists and spoke specifically on his discussion with Anand:
“Before the dinner started, each contestant stood by a storyboard explaining their specific project. Namrata Anand, a 17-year-old from The Harker School in California, patiently explained to me her research, which used spectral analysis and other data to expose information about the chemical enrichment history of ‘Andromeda Galaxy.’ I did not understand a word she said, but I sure caught the gleam in her eye.” The column also ran in the San Jose Mercury News.
Seven Harker students are among the 300 semifinalists nationwide still in the running for the U.S. Physics Olympiad Team! Almost half the Harker students participating were chosen and three of the seven are sophomores.
Semifinalists are Adam Perelman, Kevin Zhang and Andrew Zhou, all Gr. 12; sophomores are Lucy Cheng, Michelle Deng, Ramya Rangan and Albert Wu. This is Zhou’s second time around as a semifinalist.
About 3,200 students nationwide took the initial test for the team, titled the Fnet=ma Exam, in January. The International Physics Olympiad (IPhO) is a nine-day competition among pre-university students from more than 80 nations. The 2010 Olympiad will be held in Zagreb, Croatia, from July 17-25.
Harker’s seven semifinalists will take a second exam to try to make the final round of 24 members. In May, those 24 prospective team members will travel to the University of Maryland-College Park to the U.S. Physics Team training camp to enjoy nine days of intense studying, including mystery labs, daily exams and problem solving. At the end of that camp, five students and an alternate will be selected as the “traveling team” to represent the U. S. at the IPhO.
Last year, three Harker students, Anand Natarajan ’09,Vikram Nathan ’09 and Zhou, then Gr. 11, were chosen to be among the 2009 final 24, and Natarajan made the team and earned a gold medal in Mexico at the 2009 IPhO in July, 2009. The five-person U.S. team earned four golds and a silver, tying for second with India and Korea, and coming in behind the Chinese team, which earned five gold medals.
The U.S. Physics Olympiad program is a joint initiative of the American Association of Physics Teachers in partnership with the American Institute for Physics and several other scientific associations.
On the heels of the recent announcement of Harker’s four Intel Science Talent Search (STS) semifinalists, word came Jan. 27 that Namrata Anand, Gr. 12, was named a finalist in the contest. Anand, whose project analyzed the chemical composition of stars in the Andromeda galaxy, received $7,500 and will travel to Washington, D.C. in March to compete for the $100,000 grand prize with 40 other finalists from across the country. She will also have a chance to meet and greet with Nobel laureates and President Barack Obama.
Anand is Harker’s first Intel STS finalist since 2006, when Yi Sun went on to claim second place and won a $75,000 scholarship.
Kate Schafer, upper school biology teacher, credited the mentors involved who assisted the semifinalists, and also recognized the “many students that enter and put in amazing amounts of time” into their projects.
Anand and other students working on Andromeda-related projects received mentoring from Raja Guha Thakurta, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California at Santa Cruz, as well as UCSC P.h.D students Evan Kirby and Kristen Howley. Karoline Gilbert, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Washington Seattle, also assisted with Thakurta with mentoring the students. The mentors provided everything from custom software to personal guidance to the contestants as they worked on their projects.
Four Harker upper school students were named Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists at a special assembly on Jan. 13. Each student was awarded $1,000 and has a shot at becoming one of the 40 finalists who will compete in Washington, D.C., for the $100,000 grand prize. A total of 300 semifinalists were chosen nationwide from an initial pool of 1,700 contestants.
Of the four semifinalists, all of them seniors, three were selected for projects focusing on the Andromeda galaxy. Namrata Anand’s project analyzed the chemical makeup of stars to learn more about the galaxy’s history, while Andrew Zhou studied the different star types in the galaxy. Kevin Zhang looked at the similarities between Andromeda’s stars and those found in other galaxies. Vishesh Jain was awarded for his project that analyzed heart disease diagnosis techniques.
Last year, Harker produced six semifinalists, the most ever by a West Coast school and the seventh-most in the nation. Harker alumnus Yi Sun ’06 took second place in the 2006 finals, earning $75,000.
[Update]
The boys varsity basketball team is in first place! On Jan. 12, for the first time in Harker hoop history, the boys varsity team defeated Sacred Heart Prep in their own gym. “The boys remained poised and confident throughout the 55-50 victory which gives them sole possession of first place in the WBAL,” said Dan Molin, athletic director. The JV squad also won 38-36, making it a clean sweep of the Gators last night.
Jan. 11, 2010 Kelsey Hilbrich, Gr. 12, earned Honorable Mention status in the all-county cross country team named Dec. 15 by the San Jose Mercury News.
Jan. 7, 2010 The Mercury News announced their all-county water polo and girls tennis athletes over the break and Harker was represented again. Arthi Padmanabhan, Gr. 12, was selected all-county first team for girls tennis; Michael Clifford, Gr. 12, was chosen all-county honorable mention and co-league MVP for boys water polo, and Tina Ma and Melanie Herscher, both Gr. 12, were both selected all-league in girls water polo.
College Recruits
Colby Rapson, Gr. 12, has been accepted by Cal Berkeley to be the coxswain on the men’s crew team. Congratulations! (Editor’s note: female coxswains on male crews are relatively common.)
While most of our community was on winter break, upper school sports teams were hard at work.
Boys Basketball Boys basketball coach Jeremiah Brewer took a team of 12 to the St. Anthony Invitational Basketball Tournament in Maui, where they finished second. The team, a combination of JV and varsity players, started out strong, winning their first two games 55-18 against St. Anthony, 67-58 against Hilo (alma mater of Keith Hirota, middle school history and social science teacher), but losing to Mid-Pacific Institute 58-33 in the finals.
Ryan Cali, Gr. 12, was a consistently strong performer, scoring 15, 20 and 11 points, respectively, in the games; Lung Ying Yu, Gr. 12, also performed well, with 10 points in game one and 15 in game two. Greg Plauck, Gr. 12, scored 12 points in game two and three. Partha Mahajani, Gr. 11, also scored 12 points against Hilo.
The team received coverage in the local Maui newspaper, including photos of Plauck. Cali and Yu were named to the all-tournament team. The boys were able to explore the island between games, and Brewer thanks parents Ken Azebu, C.J. Cali, Ajay Chopra, Dan and Tracie Hughes, Deepa and Ashok Krishnamurthi, and Karla Callahan and Darrel Mank for helping to make the trip a great one.
Prior to the Hawaii trip, and on the last day of school before break, the varsity basketball boys also won the Lynbrook Classic. At that tournament, Cali, Yu and Plauck were selected to the all-tournament team. Including a 49-44 win this week against Menlo, where Yu contributed 15 points, Plauck scored 11 and Rohan Shah, Gr. 12, scored 10, the team is now 9-1 – a great start!
Also over break, the JV boys won the Wilcox Tournament championship, defeating Los Altos in the finals. Stephen Hughes, Gr. 10, was named tournament MVP and Gautam Krishnamurthi, Gr. 11, was named all-tournament.
Girls Soccer
Girls soccer traveled to the Garces Holiday Soccer Festival in Bakersfield and went 2-1-1 over the two days. Among the highlights was a 4-2, come-from-behind victory over Taft in their final game of the tournament. Throughout the tournament, goalie Shanthi Rajagopalan, Gr. 12, had 34 saves and goal scorers were Anjali Menon, Gr, 12; Esther Belogolovsky, Gr. 12; Indica Sur, Gr. 9; and Siobhan Cox, Gr. 9.
Girls Basketball
Girls basketball defeated Yerba Buena 54-34 and lost to Live Oak 48-39 over the break. Tanya Rai, Gr. 11, had 13 points and 12 rebounds. Neda Ghaffarian, Gr. 10, had 10 points in the win against YB. After this week’s 31-45 loss to Hillsdale, the girls have a 4-5 record and are putting forth a consistent effort.
Wrestling
Our wrestlers hit the mat over vacation, opening their season at the Lynn Dyche Tournament in mid-December. By far the most impressive was the performance of Chris McCallaCreary, Gr. 11, who won all four of his matches, making Harker history by winning the championship for his weight class. Mark Roh, Gr. 12 and David Wu, Gr. 11, placed sixth, while Jason Mendel, Gr. 11, took seventh in his weight class.
McCallaCreary made school history again when he was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament, since no Harker wrestler has received this award at a varsity tournament. Coach Karriem Stinson is proud of McCallaCreary’s accomplishment and acknowledged the work of the wrestlers before him, explaining that it wasn’t long ago that the team wasn’t even invited to varsity tournaments. It took years of strong wrestlers to get the program recognized. He also stressed that this achievement is due in part to the hard work of his teammates, who push McCallaCreary to train hard in practice. Congratulations!
San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 30: Laurie Daniel’s column featured the new Jarvis Winery offering, “Will’s Science Project,” which was a product of alumnus Will Jarvis’ MS ’97 Harker days and his Gr. 8 project. Link
San Jose Business Journal, Oct. 2: SJBJ’s list on LEED-certified spaces included Harker’s Nichols Hall as a gold-certified building.
San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 30: The Harker football team’s 3-0 starting record, a first in its 10-year history, is recognized with mentions of Rishi Bhatia, Gautam Krishnamurthi, both Gr. 11, and Cole Davis, Gr. 12, and the team’s decision to dedicate the season to John Near. Link
San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 30: Girls Highlight Reel mentions water polo captain senior Christina Ma’s strong start with 31 goals. Link
New York Magazine, Oct. 5: Japanese retailers named designer and alumnus Alexander Wang MS ’88 the hottest international designer brand. Wang received twice as many votes as Givenchy, named as the second-hottest international designer brand. Link
PR Newswire: Eight Harker students were awarded top honors in the Junior Engineering Technology Society’s (JETS) annual TEAMS engineering competition. Competing against more than 1,200 teams from around the nation, class of 2009 graduates Hanh Dang, Daniel Kim, Tsung-Ju (Jeff) Lu, Kartik Venkatraman, Kevin Wang, Kevin Wu, Nikita Sinha and Jeff Mandell were given eight real-life theme park engineering scenarios involving design, construction and performance. In addition to individual certificates of excellence, the team was awarded a three-night stay at Walt Disney World and Harker received $5,000. Link
New York Times, Oct. 16: Designer and Harker alumnus Alexander Wang MS ’88 had a photo and mention in the Style slideshow. Link
ABC News, Aug. 19:Ramya Rangan, Gr. 10, was one of seven girls from the United States who participated in the eighth annual China Girls Math Olympiad; she brought home a bronze medal. Link
Halfway through their seasons, all US sports teams are working hard, with some teams earning unprecedented success.
Boys Water Polo Boys varsity water polo won in dramatic fashion on Oct. 1 at the Singh Aquatic Center by defeating Saratoga High School 9-8. Stefan Schwartz, Gr. 12, scored the go-ahead goal with five seconds remaining in the game! Although the team is 2-1 in tournament play, the league record is currently 1-3, with the Oct. 6 game results not available at press time.
Girls Water Polo Thirty girls are playing water polo this year, necessitating the addition of a J.V. team. J.V. is 1-2 in league play. Cynthia Shwe, Gr.11, leads the J.V. team with 10 goals, all scored with her left hand. She is right-handed but is recovering from a wrist injury, so watch out when she is fully healed! Other leading scorers are freshmen Sonia Sidhu with five, Joy Li with four, and Rachel Yanovsky and Catherine Manea each with 1. Goalies Sierra Lincoln, Gr. 9 and Daniela Lapidous, Gr. 10, are working hard in the cage and have made many saves. Varsity coach Kandace Lopez reports, “These two are fierce!” She added, “Good things are sure to come from this group of girls as they show much improvement after each game they play.”
The varsity team is 2-2 in league play with the two losses being hard-fought and very close. Leading scorers are seniors Tina Ma and Sarah Jane Estrada with 31 and 10, respectively; Keri Clifford, Gr. 9, with seven; Kelsey Chung, Gr. 12 and Miranda Gorman, Gr. 11, with four each; Andrea Lincoln, Gr. 12, with two, and Amy Johnson, Gr. 9, Niva Bigler, Gr. 11 and Simy Bhagat, Gr. 10 with one apiece. Ma received recognition in the Mercury News for her high score total. Melanie Herscher, Gr. 12, the starting goalie, has also scored on the other team’s goal in the last seconds of the quarter. The competition is intense and the girls are relentless, so come on down to the home games and cheer on these girls.
Tennis The girls varsity tennis team is working hard toward their goal of winning the league championship. Currently, they have a 7-0 overall record and are 2-0 in WBAL play. The team is lead by captain Arthi Padmanabhan, co-captains Kelly Chen and Brittany Chu, all Gr. 12. Vivian Huang, Gr. 12, also provides excellent leadership for the young team. Sophomores Jaya Chandra, Aranshi Kumar and Tanya Piskun join freshmen Jenny Chen, Daria Karakoulka and Chau Nguyen to provide a solid lineup. Coach Craig Pasqua expects the girls to be tested in October with matches against last year’s NorCal champion, Mitty, as well as against CCS powerhouses Sacred Heart, Menlo and Homestead. Pasqua comments, “The team works very hard together and is working to improve their competitive spirit.”
Rachel Gast, the J.V. girls tennis coach, reports that the team has a league record of 3-0-1, putting the team second in league behind Sacred Heart Prep. Gast states that captains Kaavya Cherukuri, Gr. 11, Supraja Swamy, Gr. 11 and Priyanka Sharma, Gr. 10, are very talented and that the team is enjoying the winning season as they become great tennis players and competitors. Gast praised juniors Lydia Demissachew, Swetha Repakula, Frankie Nagle, Swamy and Cherukuri. Both our number one singles player, Ishika Peravali, Gr. 10, and number two singles player, Nagle, are undefeated in league. Some freshmen to watch for this year are Emily Wang, Maya Sathaye, Anika Radiya-Dixit, Akarsha Gulukota,Marissa Moser and Isha Patnaik.
Cheer This year’s varsity cheer squad has had a great season so far. Through summer and early fall practices, the team has added impressive tumbling moves and tosses to their routines. Coach Chris King credits the team’s dedication and the new folding cheer flooring with allowing these athletes to safely practice and learn the new skills that have already wowed audiences at football games.
The squad is made up of captains Amanda King, Gr. 11 and Saira Ahuja, Gr. 10; choreographer John Ammatuna, Gr. 11, and cheerleaders Sammi Werthen, Gr. 12, Alice Loofbourrow, Gr.11, Jessica Lin, Gr. 10 and Amy Wardenburg,Gr. 9.
Cross Country Although illness gave the cross country team a rough start this season, the varsity girls finished fifth at the first meet, with Kelsey Hilbrich, Gr. 12, placing fifth overall with a time of 20:15. J.V. boys finished ninth and varsity boys finished tenth at that meet. At the Saratoga Invitational on Sept. 22, the girls were only able to field four runners due to illness, but they all had outstanding runs. The boys, while still facing sicknesses and recovering, were able to pull eighth place.
On Sept. 26 the varsity teams competed at the Stanford Invitational, where the girls took 14th out of 27 teams and the boys pulled off a 24th place out of 32. Both the lead girl and boy had incredible times on this course; Hilbrich ran a 19:49 placing 14th and Aadithya Prakash, Gr. 12, pushed out a 17:02.
The team performed extremely well at their first league meet. Hilbrich dominated the girls race as she crossed the finish line first, completing the 2.8 mile course with a time of 18:16. She was followed closely by three up-and-coming freshmen runners, Ragini Bhattacharya, Isabelle Connell and Adrienne Mendel, with April Luo and Anne West, both Gr. 11, followed in by Sara Teplitsky, Gr. 12. The girls team placed third overall. The boys varsity placed second as a team with Prakash leading the race until the end, when he placed third, and Stefan Eckhardt, Gr. 12, taking fourth, followed by Adam Perelman, Gr. 12, Proteek Biswas, Gr. 10, Charles Levine, Gr. 10, Tyler (Robert) Yeats, Gr. 9 and Arjun Mody, Gr. 12. The J.V. girls placed second and J.V. boys fourth.
The team is looking strong and is proving to show much talent and potential. While it is the middle of the season, this is just the beginning of the league meets, and Harker is proving to be a force within the league. October will provide the team an opportunity to display their talents, with much potential for a strong finish at the end of the season. The next two league meets are at Shoreline, on Thurs., Oct. 15 and Fri., Nov. 6. Come out and support our cross country Eagles!
Football The Harker Eagles football program has made history already this season with a 4-0 record with wins against San Jose High (21-7), Yerba Buena (17-0), James Lick (14-7) and California School for the Deaf (19-6). Their 3-0 start was even mentioned in the Mercury News!
The boys faced their toughest competition so far when the J.V. and varsity squads traveled to James Lick HS on Sept. 25. The J.V. team lost a hard-fought contest 20-6, and things didn’t go well early in the game for the varsity team. The Comets drove the ball deep into Harker territory in the first quarter, then scored to take a 7-0 lead. This was the first time the Eagles had trailed another team this season.
The momentum shifted to Harker when defensive back Gautam Krishnamurthi, Gr. 11, stripped the ball from a James Lick receiver and sprinted 30 yards to the end zone. The kick by Jose Costa, Gr. 12, was then blocked by the Comets, and the quarter ended with Harker trailing James Lick 7-6. In the second quarter, Harker took control on offense and capped a scoring drive with a 21-yard pass from Rishi Bhatia,Gr. 11, to Kevin Fu, Gr. 12, for a touchdown. Bhatia passed to Fu again to make the score Harker 14, James Lick 7.
Lick threatened late in the fourth quarter, downing two successive punts on the Eagles’ one-yard line. The Eagles offensive line, seniors Mark Roh, Stephen Wang, Patrick Campbell, and juniors Justin Shamlou and Jerry Shteynberg successfully blocked the Comets’ attempts to push Harker into its own end zone. In the closing minutes, the offensive line took control by opening holes for quarterback Cole Davis, Gr. 12, who rushed for two key first downs to preserve the 14-7 win. This is the first time in school history that the Harker varsity football team has started a season with four consecutive wins. Head coach Karriem Stinson dedicated the game to Harker history teacher John Near, who recently passed away after a battle with cancer.
The remainder of the Eagles’ league schedule is loaded with very tough competition. Fortunately, many of those games will be at home on Davis Field, so come on out and join us!
Golf Girls golf shot their best scores of the season against Sacred Heart Prep on Sept. 30, but couldn’t overcome a very talented Prep squad as they lost 185-159. They are now 2-2 overall, 2-2 WBAL.
Earlier victories include a 201-220 victory over Notre Dame San Jose where Sonya Huang, Gr. 12, picked up her first medal of the season with a 46. In that match-up, scores between each seeded player were closely contested, until Patricia Huang, Gr. 9, defeated her opponent by 15 strokes with a career best 47. Rounding out the team scores were Karen Wang, Gr. 10, with 49, Katie Marcus Reker, Gr. 10, scoring 59, Katie Liang, Gr. 11, with 60 and Jessica Son, Gr, 9, with 61. Coach Ie-Chen Cheng is stressing the importance of putting to the girls, and the efforts are helping, as the girls are showing steady improvement.
In an earlier loss against Menlo 169-200, Sonya Huang paced the Eagles with a 41. Coach Cheng was proud of the girls’ efforts, stating that the Menlo score was “probably one of their best scores in history.” She added, “Menlo’s 169 would be hard to beat for any top high school teams. With that said, I am very proud of the way all the girls fought. We were off today, but we didn’t give up, and that’s what’s important. Even when Menlo were bombing their drives, the girls did not let that intimidate us.”
The team opened the season with a 210-240 victory over Mercy Burlingame. Despite the high heat, narrow fairways and playing short-handed, the win called for a complete team effort. Sonya Huang paced the Eagles with a 47, followed by Wang with 51, Marcus Reker with 55 and Patricia Huang with 57.
Volleyball The varsity team is off to a 5-6 start heading into league play. After graduating five seniors last year, the team is very young and eager to get back to CCS. This year there are just two seniors, Danielle Buis and Tiffany Kyi. According to assistant coach Michael Leonard, the girls continue to improve and create team chemistry each day. They look to build on their current success so far as they enter WBAL league play.
The J.V. girls volleyball players have improved tremendously so far this season, returning four sophomores while adding seven freshmen. Four girls are playing positions they’ve never played before and the team continues to build chemistry. According to coach Pete Yee, the team has a solid sideout game, plays defense well and serves tough. The team was 2-4 in preseason play, and finished 17th out of 31 teams at the Milpitas/Independence J.V. tournament, taking the red championship. The girls took 10th out of 16 teams at the Los Gatos J.V. tournament, placing second in the silver bracket.
MSN.com Sept. 23: An Alexander Wang ’88 creation was listed in “The Wearable” section of the slide show, “New Styles for Spring: New York Fashion Week Previews 2010.” The garment featured was an off-the-shoulder dress with a draped neckline.
Mercury News, Sept. 17: Namrata Anand, Gr. 12 and her mother, middle school teacher Nina Anand, were mentioned in this article as taking classes in traditional southern Indian melodies.
Mercury News, Sept 16: Boys Highlight Reel mentioned Cole Davis, Gr.12, as making 19 tackles and returning a fumble for a touchdown in the Eagles’ win over San Jose Academy. Read the full articles in Harker News [Online] and in the Mercury News.
Mercury News, Sept 16: Alumna and member of Harker’s 2007 championship volleyball team Candace Silva-Martin ’09 was noted for being named Atlantic 10 Conference’s Co-Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week. Read the full articles in Harker News [Online] and in the Mercury News.
New York Times, Sept. 14: Designer and Harker alumnus Alexander Wang ’88 had a photo and mention in the Fashion Review.
New York Times, Sept. 9: Middle school alumnus Wajahat Ali ’94 has written a play being produced in New York that was reviewed by the Times.
San Jose Business Journal, Sept 4: Harker is listed as the number one school in Silicon Valley as ranked by enrollment.
Mercury News, Aug. 19: Under Honors and Accolades, Ramya Rangan, Gr. 10, was noted as having won a bronze medal at the China Girls Mathematical Olympiad.
Over the summer, David Zhu, Gr. 5, and a friend helped raise $1,000 for needy children in China’s Sichuan province. They gave the money directly to the children so that they could purchase school supplies.
Justin Culpepper, Gr. 5, made a hole-in-one at the Santa Teresa Short Course on Aug. 30. The young golf enthusiast began group lessons in early August and had visited the Deep Cliff, Blackberry and Pruneridge courses before trying his hand at Santa Teresa. Culpepper was recognized by the San Jose Mercury News for his achievement on the links.
Three Harker student musicians had the pleasure of performing at the Music@Menlo Summer Chamber Music Festival in Atherton this summer. Cellist Jeffrey Kwong, Gr. 10, violinist Ashvin Swaminathan, Gr. 9 and pianist Agata Sorotokin, Gr. 7, performed at the festival under the direction of Wu Han and David Finckel, artistic directors at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Each year, 28 students from ages eight to 18 are chosen internationally to perform at the festival. The students received instruction and coaching from several notable musicians, including Anthony McGill, who performed on clarinet at the inauguration of President Barack Obama.