Over the summer, fourth grader Omya Vidyarthi traveled to two international chess tournaments, taking first place in the U1700 Women’s category at the World Amateur Championship in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, and winning gold at the PanAmerican Youth Championship in the U10 Girls category in Guayaquil, Ecuador, her third consecutive PanAmerican Youth gold medal. At the World Amateur Championship, she was the youngest player in her section, squaring off against adult players for most of her run.
Also finding success this past summer was eighth grader Dominic Ortiz, a bowling enthusiast who in August took first place in the boys handicap division at the All Star Tournament held in Reno, Nev., by the Northern California Bowling Centers Youth Bowling Association.
Last month, four Harker students took first place for the second straight year at the 2019 Middle School State Championship Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Sacramento! Eighth graders Athreya Daniel, Brian Harder and Johnathan Mo and fifth grader Leah Harder were one of 12 teams competing in Division II, the category for developing teams. Other cities represented at the event were Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Berkeley and Davis. Rain began to pour during the team’s final match against San Francisco’s “Fire Hucks,” but it forged ahead for an 11-5 victory.
The students first came together to play Ultimate Frisbee – a fast-growing sport that now boasts more than 800 college teams – two years ago in an after-school club, where they developed their skills in a fun and friendly environment. The club’s faculty sponsor for this year as well as last year was middle school English teacher Rebecca Williams.
Sibling chess enthusiasts Vyom and Omya Vidyarthi – grade 6 and grade 3, respectively – have done it again! The pair traveled to Nashville over the weekend to compete at the US Chess National Elementary Championship. Both students were winners in their respective sections, with Vyom taking first in K-6 and Omya placing first in K-3. Approximately 2,000 players traveled to this event from around the US.
Previously, at the Susan Polgar National Open Championship in April, Vyom and Omya had top placements in their groups. Omya won the Under 16-Under 18 girls group, where she was the youngest competitor. Vyom, who competed in the Under 16-Under 18 boys category, tied for second place and placed third overall after a tiebreaker. Notably, he also met the 2200 rating requirement to earn the United States Chess Federation title of “National Master.”
Both students also performed well in Blitz chess events, where Vyom placed second in the Grade 5 and Up category and Omya took second place in the Grade 4 and Under section.
Sibling chess enthusiasts Vyom and Omya Vidyarthi – grade 6 and grade 3, respectively – have done it again! The pair traveled to Nashville over the weekend to compete at the US Chess National Elementary Championship. Both students were winners in their respective sections, with Vyom taking first in K-6 and Omya placing first in K-3. Approximately 2,000 players traveled to this event from around the US.
Previously, at the Susan Polgar National Open Championship in April, Vyom and Omya had top placements in their groups. Omya won the Under 16-Under 18 girls group, where she was the youngest competitor. Vyom, who competed in the Under 16-Under 18 boys category, tied for second place and placed third overall after a tiebreaker. Notably, he also met the 2200 rating requirement to earn the United States Chess Federation title of “National Master.”
Both students also performed well in Blitz chess events, where Vyom placed second in the Grade 5 and Up category and Omya took second place in the Grade 4 and Under section.
Sibling chess enthusiasts Vyom and Omya Vidyarthi – grade 6 and grade 3, respectively – have done it again! The pair traveled to Nashville over the weekend to compete at the US Chess National Elementary Championship. Both students were winners in their respective sections, with Vyom taking first in K-6 and Omya placing first in K-3. Approximately 2,000 players traveled to this event from around the US.
Previously, at the Susan Polgar National Open Championship in April, Vyom and Omya had top placements in their groups. Omya won the Under 16-Under 18 girls group, where she was the youngest competitor. Vyom, who competed in the Under 16-Under 18 boys category, tied for second place and placed third overall after a tiebreaker. Notably, he also met the 2200 rating requirement to earn the United States Chess Federation title of “National Master.”
Both students also performed well in Blitz chess events, where Vyom placed second in the Grade 5 and Up category and Omya took second place in the Grade 4 and Under section.
On March 3, team GetVexed, made up of Harker seventh graders Joe Li, Jordan Labio, Nathan T. Liu, Ramit Goyal and Sriram Bhimaraju placed second in the Robot Skills category in the California VEX Robotics Middle School State Championship in San Jose.
Their Robot Skills score is the 10th highest in US (15th in the world) since the VEX Turning Point season began in July of 2018, and qualifies them to attend the VEX World Championships, to be held April 24-27 in Louisville, Ky. Only three percent of all middle school teams qualify for the VEX World Championships. GetVexed credited team Paradigm – composed of eighth graders graders Nidhya Shivakumar and Amrita Pasupathy – and their coach for helping them in their first season.
In addition, GetVexed also won the Amaze Award, which is given to the team with a consistently top-performing robot. Earlier in the season, the team won a Judges Award at the Gael Force Battle of the Bay High School tournament, and placed second at a tournament at Sacred Heart Middle School.
In November, seventh grader Shayla He appeared on the Chinese talk show “From Opinion to Future,” filmed in Beijing. She was invited to the program after its producers discovered her singing talents, and was featured in a 14-minute segment in which she also gave a speech, titled “Communicate With the World Through Music,” about discovering a passion for music at a very young age. In it, she explained that her musical studies have “helped me explore the cultures of different countries.” Her speech was interspersed with short musical performances to demonstrate what she had learned. Following a brief interview with the show’s hosts, she gave a performance of an original song called “Who Will Come,” written to highlight the plight of the homeless.
On Dec. 17, the Great Composers Competition awarded Daniel Wu, grade 9, a second prize for Best Beethoven Performance in age group IV (ages 14-16). The competition – one of many organized around the works of legendary composers such as Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelssohn – invites individual instrumentalists and singers, as well as ensembles, to submit their renditions of the composers’ works. The competitions are structured so that the winners can be announced on each composer’s birthday. Congratulations to Daniel, and belated happy 248th birthday to Beethoven himself!
Seventh grader and pianist Nathan T. Liu visited Germany last month to perform at the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival. SRIMF is a major event for the area, attracting students from 30 countries to study and perform, according to the festival’s website. Liu, who was performing for the second time at the festival’s invitation, seized the opportunity to learn from top musicians from around the world and also visited the Sing und Musikschule, a music school situated in a castle that has become one of Sulzbach-Rosenberg’s most famous landmarks.
Congratulations to grade 1 chess enthusiast Rohan Rajaram, who last month won the K-1 championship at the National Elementary Championship in Nashville. It was the latest in a series of strong performances for Rajaram, who also won his section at the Susan Polgar Foundation National Open that same month, and in April placed in the top 15 among K-3 students at the CalChess State Scholastic Championship.