Golf enthusiast Julie Hu, grade 6, had a very active and successful summer, taking second place in the Girls 10 category in her first international event, the U.S. Kids Golf European Championship, held May 31-June 2 in Scotland. She also tied for eighth at the Future Champions Golf Callaway World Championship in Palm Springs in July and placed 21st out of nearly 100 competitors at the U.S. Kids Golf World Championship in North Carolina in August. Hu has been golfing competitively for just over two years and regularly competes at local tournaments on weekends.
At the USA Fencing 2022 Summer Nationals in July, junior Ishani Sood became the Division IA women’s gold medalist and qualified to represent the United States as part of the World Cadet Women’s Fencing team, which will be competing internationally in the coming months. A competitive fencer for eight years, Sood has medaled 10 times in her career and also co-founded the nonprofit Fun With Fencing, which brings fencing instructional programs to local Boys and Girls clubs.
Rising ninth grader and chess enthusiast Mihir Kotbagi tied for first place and placed second after tie breaks at the 122nd U.S. Open’s Scholastic Championship section for high school students, held in Palm Springs from July 30-Aug. 7. Kotbagi and the other top scorer both had 3.5 out of 4 points after their respective games before ELO rules for tie breaks were applied. Congratulations!
Last month, Harker junior and pianist Nathan Liu performed at a special benefit concert for fallen firefighters. Held July 30 at the SAFE Credit Union Convention Center in Sacramento, the California Firefighters Memorial Ceremony paid tribute to 82 firefighters who died over the past three years in the line of duty or due to job-related illnesses. This was the first time the memorial had been held in person in three years and was attended by about 2,000 people, including firefighters, family members and appreciative citizens. Also in attendance were Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, Kevin Snider, senior fire chaplain of the Sacramento Area Fire Chaplaincy and Brian Rice, president of California Professional Firefighters.
Chess enthusiasts Vyom Vidyarthi, rising sophomore, and Omya Vidyarthi, rising seventh grader, each won gold medals at the Pan American Youth Chess Championship, held June 25-July 8 in Montevideo, Uruguay. Vyom, currently a FIDE International Master, played in the U18 open category and Omya competed in the U12 girls category. Their performances helped the USA take first overall, with a total of five gold medals. This win marked Omya’s fourth straight gold medal win in this event, having won in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the event in 2020 and 2021.
Last week, rising sophomore Ethan Wang took fifth place out 184 competitors in the men’s division III foil competition at the USA Fencing National Championships and July Challenge in Minneapolis. A fencer since age 10, Wang also took bronze in Y14 men’s foil at the Silicon Valley Regional Junior Circuit/Regional Junior Circuit in April. This most recent performance was a significant one for Wang, who bounced back after struggling with a knee injury.
Last month, squash enthusiast Ivanya Sadana, grade 7, won silver at the Pro Junior Gold Squash Tournament in Seattle, which included 216 entries. Sadana currently ranks third overall among players under 13 in California. Great job!
Eighth grader Brenna Ren was recently named one of the winners in the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’ Give ‘Em Hope Awards. This annual contest honors the work of activist Harvey Milk, who identified offering hope as one of his major life themes. Ren’s self-portrait depicted how she found hope in caring for plants during the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Personally, I found that taking care of various plants around the house gave me a purpose, especially when school work became tedious,” Ren said in a statement accompanying her piece. “After spending time around these plants, I noticed their continued determination to grow, which inspired my piece.”
Felix Chen, grade 9, was named a semifinalist in the 2022 Profile in Courage Essay Contest for his profile of William Byron Rumford, the first Black American to be elected to public office in Northern California. Each year, the contest invites high school students to write a profile on an elected official who demonstrated courage in the face of opposition from society, interest groups and political parties, echoing John F. Kennedy’s work in his book, “Profiles in Courage.” Nearly 2,500 essays were submitted for this year’s contest, with 25 recognized as winners, finalists, semifinalists or honorable mentions.
Harker upper and middle school VEX Robotics teams earned many awards competing in VEX Robotics Competition (also known as VEX VRC) events, beginning in October. VEX VRC is the largest and fastest growing robotics program in the world where teams compete in three areas: tournament-style, robot skills competition and judged awards.
The nine-month long season culminated with three important events: the Signature NorCal in February, the California State Championships in March and the VEX Robotics World Championship in May.
Juniors Amrita Pasupathy and Nidhya Shivakumar, sophomore Claire Su, and Kaitlyn Su, grade 9, were Division Champions at the VEX Robotics World Championships and finished 14th among 818 teams in the Robot Skills Competition. Over the course of the season, they were three-time tournament champions, two-time tournament finalists, won two Excellence Awards (the highest award given to the top all-around team) and won two other awards (Design, Judges) at local events.
Sophomores Sriram Bhimaraju, Zachary Blue and Jordan Labio won the Excellence Award at the California State Championships. They also won the Think Award at the World Championships and finished 21st in the Robot Skills Competition (among 818 teams). They also placed second in Robot Skills and won the Think Award at the NorCal Signature event. At other local events, they were named the Robot Skills Champion four times, tournament finalists twice and won a Design Award (awarded to the team with the best engineering design process).
Robert Costin and Ramit Goyal, both grade 10, qualified for the World Championships with their strong showing in the Robot Skills Competition at the California State Championships. They were the Tournament Champions at the RoboLabs December event in Dublin.
Risa Chokhawala, Orion Ghai, Rohan Goyal, Ayden Grover and Krishna Muddu, all grade 7 were division finalists at the middle school VEX Robotics World Championships. They won the Think Award at the middle school California State Championships in Sacramento and were also finalists at the NorCal Signature event. Their season concluded with a tournament championship, and an Innovate Award at local events.
Another team of seventh graders — Brandon Labio, Aaron Luo, Trisha Shivakumar and Nathan Yee — won the Design Award at the World Championships and finished 10th among 508 teams in Robot Skills. They were also Robot Skills champions and won the Think Award at the middle school California State Championships. Over the course of the season, they also won one tournament championship, one Robot Skills championship and an Excellence Award at local events.