The Modern and Classical Languages department held its eighth annual Honor Societies Induction Ceremony on April 19. The ceremony began with an inspiring talk by alumna Katherin Hudkins, ’06, who spoke about studying Spanish at both Harker and Smith College, as well as her life-changing experience living in Ecuador during her junior year at Smith. Hudkins highly recommended that the students take advantage of study abroad programs at some point during their education.
After Hudkins spoke, each National Honor Society (French, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin and Spanish) made a short cultural presentation, which included beautiful songs in French, Japanese, Mandarin and Spanish. The Latin group performed a humorous skit. New members were then inducted into each society, which has its own specific criteria set by the national office of the organization. “In general, all induct a very select group of students with high averages in their language courses,” said Abel Olivas, upper school Spanish teacher. Congratulations to all of the students for this achievement.
New inductees to each National Honor Society are as follows:
Japanese: Erik Andersen, Tiffany Jang, Victoria Liang, Catherine Manea, Jessica Shen, Indica Sur, Lorraine Wong, Gene Wong, Iris Xia and Wilbur Yang.
Latin: Jenny Chen, Michael Cheng, Jonathan Cho, Nik Datuashvili, Richard Fan, Jason Kuan, Andrew Luo, Ramakrishnan Menon, Suchita Nety, Laura Pedrotti, Anuj Sharma, Pranav Sharma, Shannon Su, Ashvin Swaminathan, Ravi Tadinada and Molly Wolfe.
Mandarin: Sally Chen, Lucy Cheng, James Du, Eric Kong, Michelle Lo, Moneesha Mukherjee, Derek Tzeng and Patrick Yang.
Spanish: Sarika Asthana, Appu Bhaskar, Rohan Bopardikar, Nicole Dalal, Sharanya Haran, Sarah Howells, Max Isenberg, Isha Kawatra, Revanth Kosaraju, Jeffrey Kwong, Andrew Liang, Rahul Madduluri, Priyanka Mody, Alexander Najibi, Nikhil Narayen, Sankalp Raju, Sona Sulakian, Cindy Tay, Anne West and Albert Wu.
Upper school Latin students scored big on national Latin and Greek exams, which were taken in March. In all, students won 24 gold medals, 13 silver medals, 12 magna cum laude certificates and six cum laude certificates.
In Latin I, Cobi Ashkenazi, Gr.9, won a gold medal, with silver medals going to fellow freshmen Apurva Tandon, Andrew Luo and Christopher Sund. Rising senior Karen Wong won a cum laude certificate.
Gold medals in Latin II were won by Eric Henshall, Gr. 10, and Simon Orr, Gr. 9, while Ram Menon, Gr. 9, and Samantha Walker, Gr. 10, earned silver. Matthew Carpenter and Nathan Hoffman, both Gr. 10, won magna cum laude, and Gr. 9 students Piyush Prasad and Robert Deng won cum laude.
Freshmen Sean Fernandes and Rahul Desirazu won gold medals in Latin III, where Eric Zhang, Molly Wolfe and Katherine Woodruff, all Gr. 9, earned silver medals. Magna cum laude winners in this category were Nisha Bhikha and Ravi Tadinada, both Gr. 9, Gerard Glasauer, Gr. 10, and recent graduate Lauren Guerra.
Harker took more gold medals in Latin III Honors Prose than in any other category, with Gr. 9 students Ashvin Swaminathan, Jonathan Cho, Nik Datuashvili, Pranav Sharma, Michael Cheng, Richard Fan, Shannon Su and Saloni Gupta, Gr. 11, all earning top honors. Suchita Nety and Anuj Sharma, Gr. 9, took home the silver, and Vivian Li, Gr. 10, earned a cum laude certificate.
In Latin IV Prose, Robert Maxton, Gr. 10, won gold, and fellow sophomores Ila Dwivedi and Christophe Pellissier both won magna cum laude awards.
Ramya Rangan, Gr. 10, was a big winner in Latin IV Poetry, earning a gold medal and a Perfect Paper award. Other gold medal winners in this category were sophomores Alex Hsu, Ananth Subramaniam and Jessica Lin, and rising seniors Justine Liu and April Luo. Earning silver medals were Max Lan, Gr. 11, and Prag Batra, Gr. 10. Jason Kuan, Christine Hsu, both Gr. 10, and Supraja Swamy, Gr. 11, won magna cum laude certificates and Philip Oung, Gr. 10, won cum laude.
Graduate Anjali Menon won a gold medal in Latin V, while Alex Han, also Class of 2010, took silver and Colby Rapson, another recent graduate, won cum laude.
Recent graduate Brandon Araki was one point shy of having a perfect paper but still won the gold in Latin VI, as did fellow grads Sohini Khan and Maggie Woods.
In the national Greek exam, Menon earned a blue ribbon in the Greek Prose category, the highest honor, and missed earning a perfect paper by a single point. Menon also earned a red ribbon award in Greek Tragedy, missing another perfect paper by three points.
Ramya Rangan, Gr. 10, recently learned that she received a perfect score on her Level 4 Poetry National Latin Exam. Of the close to 7,000 students who took the exam, only 81 received perfect scores, slightly more than 1 percent. Harker students have a history of strong performance on Latin exams and we are proud to congratulate Rangan for upholding this tradition of excellence.
This spring at the upper school the National French Honor Society hosted a French week. Students sold crepes on Wednesday and Friday after school in addition to several other activities held throughout the week. On Wednesday the society screened a film for student enjoyment. The students also produced a bulletin on French culture and the French community.
Coincidentally tickets for the upper school musical, “Les Misérables,” were on sale the same week, which fit nicely with the theme of the week.
The next week the society presented a serious of guest lectures. The goal of the speaker series was to give the “students … some more contact with the francophone community in the Bay Area,” said society advisor Nicholas Manjoine.
The state convention of the California Junior Classical League was held in Irvine in April, and Harker’s middle school students excelled in a broad range of categories. Harker ranked second overall among the middle schools at the event. Harker’s middle school also took first in the boys track and field 4 x 100 relay; second place in the banner competition; third place in scrapbook; second place in the T-shirt contest; first place in the female driver, four male “horses” (actually students) chariot race; and second place in the male driver, four female “horses” chariot race.
Oishi Banerjee, Gr. 8, earned first place at the Middle School 3 (MS3) level for overall individual performance in three categories: Arts, Athletics and Combined performance in Academic, Arts and Athletics. Banerjee also tied for first place in MS3 Mottoes, Abbreviations and Quotes with Kevin Duraiswamy; took first in MS3 girls Dramatic Interpretation; first in MS3 Latin Oratory; first in Modern Myth; third in middle school original poetry; first in Essay; second in Latin Slogan; first in MS vocal performance; second in Multi Media; and first in Certamen Team along with fellow students Duraiswamy, Nikhil Dilip and Anika Ayyar, all Gr. 8.
In addition to her first place Certamen Team win, Ayyar also finished first in MS3 Roman Daily Life; second in MS3 History; second in MS3 girls dramatic interpretation; tied for second place with Urvi Gupta, Gr. 8, in Latin Oratory; first in MS3 Sight Latin reading; second in MS vocal performance; second in MS Essay; second in the MS Dance competition; and second in the MS-Girls 100-meter track event. Gupta also took first place in MS Mosaics, third place in MS3 Reading Comp II and third place in MS3 Latin Derivatives.
Meanwhile, Zina Jawadi, Gr. 8, won first place in the MS3 Individual Athletics category; third in MS3 Grammar II; third in MS3 Vocabulary; second in MS3 Sight Latin Reading; second in piano performance; and first place in both the 400- and 1600-meter MS girls track events.
Adding to his Certamen Team win and first place tie with Banerjee in Mottoes, Abbreviations and Quotes, Duraiswamy also took first place in MS3 Reading Comprehension II and for the model he built for the Small Models event. He also tied for third place with Allison Chang, Gr. 8, in MS3 Sight Latin Reading. Chang also tied for second place in MS3 Mythology, finished third place in MS Essay and received an honorable mention in MS3 Latin Derivatives.
Sahithya Prakash, Gr. 8, won first place in MS2 Latin Oratory; finished second in MS2 Latin Oratory; third in MS2 Reading Comprehension I; third in the MS girls 100-meter track event; and earned an honorable mention in MS2 Mottoes, Abbreviations and Quotes.
Taking first in MS Sculpture was Anni Ankola, Gr. 7, who also won first in the MS Boys Costume competition and second place in MS2 mythology.
Sarika Bajaj, Gr. 8, also did well in several events, with second place finishes in MS3 Latin Derivatives and MS3 Reading Comprehension II, as well as a third place finish in MS Scrapbook.
Other middle school placers at the convention were Dilip, who took third in MS3 History in addition to being on the first place Certamen team; Brian Tuan, Gr. 8, who took second in MS3 Pentathlon and third in MS3 Latin Oratory; Vivek Sriram, Gr. 7, earning first in MS1 Reading Comprehension I and third in MS1 Latin Derivatives; Aadyot Bhatnagar, Gr. 7, who finished in first place in both MS2 Vocabulary and MS2 Reading Comprehension I; Samir Baz, Gr. 8, who placed second in MS2 Roman Daily Life; and Christina Wong, third place finisher in MS2 Latin Derivatives.
Congratulations to all the middle school student winners at this year’s California JCL convention!
Latin Week events were popping up all over the upper school campus the week of April 19-23. Sponsored by the Junior Classical League (JCL), the events ranged from the sale of gummy kabobs to mosaic puzzle-making competitions and advisory trivia. Mid-week, students were invited to dress up in togas to celebrate and gain spirit points for their class. The week culminated with Dr. Caroline Winterer of Stanford University speaking on ancient Rome’s influence on the United States.
The Harker upper school Junior Classical League (JCL) earned a first-place trophy in its division at the California Junior Classical League Convention. In the last 11 years, Harker upper school JCL students have won first place eight times and second place three times. The convention was held at Woodbridge High School in Irvine. Under the guidance of Harker JCL president Sohini Khan and vice president Alex Han, both Gr. 12, Harker students kept up a loud and enthusiastic set of cheers and routines. Students wore togas and T-shirts designed by April Luo, Gr. 11.
On the dais were upper and middle school sponsors John Hawley, upper school Latin teacher, and Lisa Masoni, middle school Latin teacher, who are members of the adult board of the CJCL, national certamen chair and treasurer respectively. They were joined on the podium by Brandon Araki, Gr. 12, who serves as the webmaster for the CJCL.
Many upper school students placed high in JCL competition this year. Top placers in ancient geography were Araki, who achieved first place at the high school advanced level and Richard Fan, Gr. 9, who took first at high school level three. Performing well in Latin vocabulary were Araki with another first place spot at high school advanced, Pranav Sharma, Gr. 9, earning first place at high school level 3 and Ashvin Swaminathan, Gr. 9, who took second at high school level three.
Harker had several top finishes in the certamen team category, including Araki, Khan, Jessica Lin and Phillip Oung, both Gr. 10, taking first place athigh school advanced, Sharma winning first place at high school level three and Fan, Swaminathan and Jonathan Cho, Gr. 9, earning second place at high school level three.
In Latin derivatives, Shannon Su, Gr. 9, took first place at high school level three, Han made his way to second place at the high school advanced level, Luo took third, also in advanced, and Monisha Dilip, Gr. 12, took fourth at high school advanced.
Christophe Pellissier, Gr. 10, took first place in mottoes at the high school advanced level, with Han taking second. Other top finishers in mottoes were Anjali Menon, Gr. 12, who placed third at high school advanced, and Laura Pedrotti, Gr. 9, taking third at high school level three.
Pellissier, Han and Menon also took the top three spots, respectively, in abbreviations and quotations. Pedrotti took third place in this category at high school level three.
In the sight reading Latin competitions, Menon placed first in the prose subcategory at the high school advanced level. Meanwhile, Lin, made it to third in poetry at the high school advanced level. Swaminathan and Su reached first and third in sight reading prose, respectively, at high school level three.
Swaminathan also took second in advanced grammar, while Khan placed fourth. Michael Cheng, Gr. 9, placed fourth in grammar at high school level three.
In other categories, Eric Zhang, Gr. 9, took fourth place in Roman history, Lin placed first in Roman daily life, Menon earned first place in dramatic interpretation and Fan won first place in mythology.
Additionally, Swaminathan garnered first place in individual academic and individual combined events in third year Latin. Lin was elected 2010-11 recording secretary for the CJCL, and Ramakrishnan Menon was appointed CJCL webmaster for next year. Khan was awarded a CJCL Scholarship of $1,500 toward Latin education in college.
Next year’s CJCL convention will be at Miramonte High School in Orinda, near Berkeley.
Harker middle school students recently participated in the National Latin and National Myth Exams. More than 150,000 students in 14 countries took the National Latin Exam. Of these, more than 50 were from Harker. They did particularly well, with 51 receiving awards, including 16 gold medals and five perfect papers. In high school, the students will have the opportunity to win scholarships if they continue to do well on the exams.
On the National Myth Exam 24 Harker students received medals. This included two perfect scores received by Allison Wang, Gr. 6 and Oishi Banerjee, Gr. 8. Eight students earned silver while 14 received bronze.
Nine Harker students traveled to Washington, D.C., in early April for the 2010 National Japan Bowl competition. All three Harker teams made the final round, ultimately placing first in Level II, second in Level III and second in Level IV.
Japan Bowl is an academic competition that tests the achievements of high school students studying Japanese in the United States. The competition tests not only the students’ language skills but also their knowledge of proverbs and onomatopoeic (words that represent sounds, like “buzz” and “hiss”) expressions as well as various cultural elements.
Each year, the competition tests different non-language questions, and this year’s non-language questions included extensive topics such as the history of the showa and heisei periods, haiku, folk tales, demography, transportation, communications infrastructure and mass media, economy, business, Japanese artifacts, anime and manga and more.
Teams were:
Level II: Shilpa Nataraj, team captain, Gr. 10; Crystal Chen, Gr. 10; and Meera Madhavan, Gr. 9.
Level III; Tiffany Jang, team captain, Gr. 10; Victoria Liang Gr.11; and Lorraine Wong, Gr. 9.
Level IV: Kelly Chen, team captain, Gr. 12; Katie Liang, Gr. 11, and Jerry Sun, Gr. 11.
Norbert Lain, classics professor at Stanford University, was the latest guest of the Harker Cum Laude Society’s Lecture Series on April 7. Lain gave a talk on the practice of textual criticism, a crucial part of the process of reconstructing ancient documents, which involves finding and correcting errors in texts by examining their surrounding context and patterns.
“Texts get garbled all the time, and no matter how often we try to fix them, they still get garbled,” he said.
One of Lain’s particular interests is the work of the ancient Roman poet Gaius Valerius Catullus. “Textual critics are the people who have largely brought us the text of Catullus that we now have and for the most part we know to be right,” Lain said.
Lain illustrated what textual critics do by having students examine excerpts from various texts and correcting the errors found within them, ranging from typos to missing letters to incorrectly used words. Several passages required significant examination before their real meaning was discovered.
He also showed an example of a Catullus excerpt that he corrected, as well as corrections by others that have not yet been integrated into modern texts. “The first thing I do when a poem has a textual problem in it,” Lain said, “is I recite the poem hundreds of times with the mistake in it, then I go and memorize lots of other poems from Catullus and sometimes from other people. And then I just sit there. And then suddenly, ‘Oh! This one is like that one! Ah-hah!’ End of problem.”
After taking a sip from a glass Coke bottle, he added, “After 25 years or so.”