Last week, first graders sent more than 500 items and more than $300 to the Humane Society Silicon Valley to cap off their annual donation drive. The effort ran from Feb. 28-March 10, collecting food, linens, toys and other goods for the many animals in HSSV’s care. “Our team was thrilled to receive the donations,” said Kristi Mack, HSSV’s human resources director. “Our team loved meeting all of your amazing first graders and their teachers. What a fun way to start a day learning about helping animals!”
Founded in 1929, HSSV is notable for being the world’s first model shelter, a distinction earned by meeting all of the more than 500 guidelines for animal care identified by the Association of Shelter Veterinarians. It operates 365 days a year, providing services such as adoption, affordable spaying and neutering, vaccinations and microchipping.
The App Dev League, a nonprofit founded by Harker senior Krish Maniar in 2019, recently held a series of workshops on application development in partnership with the Oakland Housing Authority and the ICA Cristo Rey Academy in San Francisco. The organization aims to equip young people in underserved communities with the tools to help their communities through app development. App Dev League holds an annual Appathon in addition to providing website development services.
Maniar, junior Kabir Ramzan and sophomore Aarav Borthakur, working with Saratoga High seniors Shafin Haque and Ishir Lakhani, offered instruction on web development through games and presentations, in addition to offering attendees shirts, gift cards and even Google Chromebooks.
Since its founding, App Dev League has reached more than 7,500 students and grown its team internationally to include 75 high school students in 15 chapters.
The fourth-annual Santa Clara Children’s Business Fair, organized by ninth grader Mikhil Kiran, took place Oct. 22 at Live Oak Park in Santa Clara, during which 100 young entrepreneurs pitched their product ideas to visitors from the local community. “We had a really good event, with a wonderful turnout,” said Kiran, who estimated that several hundred people attended.
Kiran, who is also the founder of the nonprofit Kidzrule, has run the event since he was a fifth grader. He started the nonprofit to create and inspire the next generation of young entrepreneurs.
Harker students participating at the fair included fifth grader Ryan Santosh, who created Nature Designs, and Aditya Shivakumar, grade 9, and Trisha Shivakumar, grade 8, of Magic Escape.
Santa Clara Mayor Lisa Gillmor and Santa Clara City Councilmember Kathy Watanabe, who gave special speeches to the entrepreneurs, were present at the fair, encouraging and congratulating the young entrepreneurs on their first adventures into business.
Last month, junior Nathan Liu organized the third Tribute to Fallen Heroes Charity Golf Tournament and Gala. The golf tournament took place at San Jose’s Los Lagos Golf Course, while the gala was held at the Triton Museum of Art. The events raised more than $25,000 for the California Fire Foundation, which will put the funds toward scholarships for the children of California firefighters who died in the line of duty. The gala was attended by Rick Martinez, executive director of the California Fire Foundation, who drove in from Sacramento. Liu worked with Harker students Timothy Deng and Jonathan Szeto, both grade 9, and juniors Cecilia Yang and Jonathan Zhang to organize the events. Harker golfers from the middle and upper schools participated in the tournament, and Deng, Liu, Szeto and Harker alum Spencer Cha ’22 all performed on piano at the Gala, which also featured artwork from both Harker students and 10 other Bay Area High Schools.
Arushi Sharma, grade 11, recently received a Congressional Silver Medal Award, one of the highest honors for civilian youths. The award honors young people for their service and achievements. Sharma was recognized for her work with a number of community organizations during the last few years, including Compassion for Seniors, which puts on musical performances for patients in Bay Area memory care facilities. She also organized efforts to send care packages to support caregivers and patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and mentored students for the organization Inclusive World, which provides skill development and employment opportunities for the differently abled.
The San Jose Mayor Youth Forum, organized by students from Harker and Yerba Buena High School, was held Oct. 25 at the Cambrian Branch Library in San Jose, during which San Jose mayoral candidate Matt Mahan and a representative for Cindy Chavez, mayoral candidate and Santa Clara County supervisor for district 2, discussed each candidate’s platforms and positions on various issues. Topics included support for the unhoused, public transportation and education. Students had the opportunity to meet and chat with the speakers after they presented their platforms.
Harker seniors Sara Bhowmick, Kris Estrada and K.J. Williams and sophomores Valerie Li and Sahngwie Yim organized the event with a group of students from Yerba Buena High School, meeting via Zoom to plan its content and discuss promotion.
This past summer, Alec Zhang, grade 11, and Jingjing Liang, grade 9, held a special online learning event called FUTUREx IDEA, which was attended by more than 100 students from 78 high schools across the country. The two students are officers of the nonprofit Future Bridge, of which Liang is the founder.
The event featured four learning tracks for attendees to choose from. One track taught students about socially responsible investing, in which students utilized group discussions to learn more about investing and participating in the Wharton Investment Competition. Another offered students insights on drafting essays, which Zhang said would help students “gain self-awareness and social awareness.” The third track, called Enlightening and Service, gave students the opportunity to learn how to operate in a workplace setting with a variety of projects. Finally, the AI and Innovation workshop delved into current and future applications of artificial intelligence and had students creating their own AI-driven mobile apps.
Future Bridge included many volunteers from various high schools with a diverse range of interests, which informed the guiding principle of planning the event. “When we planned for summer activities, Jingjing proposed that we can combine these passions to run a multi-track student-driven summer program,” Zhang said. “We came up with these activities based on allowing students to learn more and utilize their knowledge.”
This fall, Future Bridge plans to launch in-person boot camps to offer their instruction on building AI-based apps to people with less access to learning resources. Their team in Chicago is also planning to run boot camps in that area. “We truly hope more people can join forces with us to impact more communities around the Bay Area,” Zhang said.
Late last month, senior Amiya Chokhawala received a Youth Leadership Award from St. Kitts and Nevis Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Terrance Drew. She was recognized for founding the nonprofit organization STEMHer, which inspires young women from less privileged backgrounds to pursue STEM careers through workshops, tutoring and Q&A sessions. Through a partnership with St. Kitts and Nevis’ CARE Foundation, STEMHer brought free coding and artificial intelligence workshops to girls aged 12-16, held both virtually and in-person. STEMHer also created a short documentary on its partnership with the CARE Foundation. Earlier this year, Chokhawala was featured on the Future of the Business World podcast, hosted by the Wharton School of Business.
Last week, junior Aneesha Asthana was on a panel of speakers as part of a parallel event to the United Nations’ 66th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The virtual event was hosted by Rose Academies, an organization that provides health care education to people in rural Uganda. Asthana, who is the global youth ambassador for Rose Academies, spoke on the experience of being a trans non-binary person and how it shaped her view of the importance of access to health care.
“My experience … was not only about the more well-known processes of coming out but it also sparked a years-long search for vital information about my health and my identity,” Asthana said. Her findings indicated that misconceptions of the LGBTQ+ community were still widespread, even in the supposedly forward-thinking Silicon Valley. She added that living in a wealthier part of the world granted her enormous privilege, noting that she has much greater access to important information about her own health than rural Ugandans. Asthana also delved into the importance of health education for Ugandan women, which makes up a large part of Rose Academies’ work.
The 2021-22 Harker DECA officer team was awarded first place in DECA’s Lead4Change Challenge. Lead4Change is an organization that promotes student leadership and teaches important skills such as communication, problem-solving, collaboration and critical thinking through lessons and challenges. Specifically, the Lead4Change Challenge asked participants to enter a submission where each team solved a problem or promoted a cause. These included a detailed action plan, an elevator pitch, reflections, graphical representations of the project process and much more. The $2,000 grant received from this award will be donated to a chosen charity. The team is made up of co-CEOs Gigi Chan and Clarice Wang, both grade 12; VP of operations Arin Jain, grade 11; VP of finance Trisha Variyar, grade 11; VP of public relations Catherine He, grade 12; VP of competitions Anika Muddu, grade 11; director of membership Chloe Lee, grade 10; director of community engagement Indigo Lee, grade 11; director of technology: Shreeya Merchia, grade 10; director of communications: Claire Luo, grade 10; director of roleplays Cynthia Wang, grade 10; and director of written events Kaitlyn Wang, grade 10
Chapter advisor Juston Glass said, “I’m super proud of this year’s officer team for their continual efforts to lead and inspire others for both change and making the world a better place. We are especially excited for the Lead4Change program and all that it does to teach and guide our students in improving their communities one day at a time.”