Last weekend, Harker’s upper school National Science Bowl team A qualified for the national finals after going undefeated in the regional competition at Stanford’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The team comprises seniors Swapnil Garg, Rajiv Movva, Derek Yen and Shaya Zarkesh, and sophomore Emily Liu, all coached by Gary Blickenstaff. This marks the second straight year Harker has qualified for the national finals.
Utilizing a game show format with a buzzer system, the National Science Bowl tests student knowledge on a variety of topics, including biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics. The competition was established in 1991 by the United States Department of Energy with the goal of “making math and science fun for students to encourage them to pursue studies and careers in math and science,” according to the NSB website.
This year’s national finals are set to take place April 26-30 in Washington, D.C.
Update, Feb. 14: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s Michael Ross recently posted a recap of the Feb. 3 competition that includes more details about the event, such as the app created by a Stanford Online High School student that was of great use to competitors that weekend.
Congratulations to seniors Rajiv Movva and Justin Xie, who today officially became finalists in the 2018 Regeneron Science Talent Search! They will both be headed to Washington, D.C., in March for final judging to compete for a grand prize of $250,000. During the trip, the students will also have their work shown to the public and meet with distinguished scientists. As finalists, Movva and Xie will each be awarded a minimum of $25,000.
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Jan. 9, 2018
The Society for Science & the Public announced today that six Harker seniors were among the top 300 in the 2018 Regeneron Science Talent Search, tying with Lynbrook High School for the most students qualifying from a single school in California. Amy Dunphy, Amy Jin, Jimmy Lin, Rajiv Movva, Eleanor Xiao and Justin Xie are now eligible to be among the 40 finalists who will head to Washington, D.C., in March for the final stage of the competition.
Each of the top 300 scholars will receive a $2,000 prize, with an additional $2,000 donated to each of their respective schools. The finalists will be announced on Jan. 23.
Last week, fifth graders headed up to the Marin Headlands for the annual class trip, during which they took in the breathtaking views offered by the hilly destination, located just across the Golden Gate Bridge.
The students, separated into hiking groups, headed off to various locations around the area. At the Marine Mammal Center, students visited local animals that were being treated for illness. Other students hiked down to the beach for an up-close look at the ocean, while another group enjoyed the indoor touch pools set up by the environmental education organization NatureBridge.
During their afternoon free time, students socialized at their dormitories and played sports such as basketball, soccer and volleyball. Students also braved the wind and rain for an evening hike, in which they traveled to the beach to view the noctiluca, a bioluminescent species of dinoflagellates. Other stops during the trip were Hawk Hill and a local lighthouse. Students also went on a series of hikes around the area, which presented ample opportunities to experience the Marin Headlands’ natural wonders.
Last month, Kathy Peng’s grade 7 science students made fidget spinners as a lesson in Newton’s laws of motion. Peng prepared the exercise as a challenge in which teams of students designed and created their own version of the toy, which became popular this past spring. Users spin the toy using one of the prongs that protrude from its center.
Each team was tasked with creating a fidget spinner that spun for as long as possible. Teams were given two weeks to complete the project, during which they had access to the 3D printers at the middle school campus Innovation Lab. Students also created analysis documents tracking their design, testing and iteration processes, which enabled them to “explain the physics behind their project, and reflect on their group’s teamwork, design and testing process and future ideas,” Peng said.
Peng designed and executed the fidget spinner project as part of the LID (Learning, Innovation and Design) Grant program, which provides opportunities for teachers to bolster their teaching methods. “Doing a LID grant is doubly awesome because you get to learn a new skill or technology that’s transferable to future instruction, and prepare a lesson or project that you can implement in the coming school year,” said Peng. “So you gain not only theoretical knowledge, which is cool, but you also develop something that is immediately applicable.”
The fidget spinner exercise, Peng hopes, will help students “see how physics is everywhere and that an understanding of science, engineering and design can be not only useful but also fun.”
Over the winter break, senior Swapnil Garg and junior Katherine Tian were covered by the San Jose Mercury News for their performance in the 2017 Siemens Competition, which earned them a trip to the national finals in December.
Nov. 6, 2017:
Swapnil Garg, grade 12, and Katherine Tian, grade 11, are off to the Siemens Competition national finals! Their project – titled “Automated Clear Cell Renal Carcinoma Grade Classification with Prognostic Significance” – was selected as one of six team projects that will be considered for top honors at the final stage of the competition, held Dec. 4-5 in Washington, D.C. There, the two students will be eligible to win up to $100,000 in scholarship prizes, split evenly between them. As finalists, the pair are guaranteed a minimum $25,000 prize.
Oct. 18, 2017:
Congratulations to senior Swapnil Garg and junior Katherine Tian, who were just named two of the 101 regional finalists in this year’s Siemens Competition! They each will receive a $1,000 scholarship prize and are eligible to compete at the regional finals for the opportunity to advance to the National Finals in Washington, D.C. Best of luck!
Oct. 17, 2017:
Today, the Siemens Foundation named 10 Harker students regional semifinalists in the 2017 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, the most from any California school. Each year, individual and team research projects from six regions are selected to be semifinalists.
Harker’s semifinalists in the 2017 competition are Cynthia Chen and Jin Tuan, grade 10; Erin Liu, Ashwin Rammohan, Katherine Tian, Laura Wu and Katherine Zhang, grade 11; and Amy Dunphy, Swapnil Garg and Amy Jin, grade 12.
These 10 students are among the 491 semifinalists nationwide chosen from more than 1,860 projects submitted. Each of the semifinalists’ projects will be evaluated to determine which students will be named regional finalists, who in November will enter into six regional competitions. Winners from the regional finals events are eligible to attend in the National Finals, held at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where finalists will compete for $500,000 in scholarships.
The finalists announcement is set to take place tomorrow. Stay tuned!
Seventh grader Grant Sims’ video submission to the 2017 Breakthrough Junior Challenge was ranked among the top 5 percent in the competition. Sims’ video, a quick and informative look at stem cells, can be viewed on YouTube. More than 3,000 original videos were submitted for the annual competition, in which students aged 13-18 were tasked with creatively illustrating scientific and mathematical concepts.
Upper school science teacher Kate Schafer recently began a two-week survey in the Gulf of Mexico, where she and other scientists are “studying shark and red snapper populations in locations around the gulf,” she said. Schafer is aboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) ship Oregon II as part of NOAA’s Teacher at Sea program. Throughout the survey, she will be posting updates and photos at a blog set up for her by the program.
Founded in 1970, NOAA incorporates the work of 6,773 scientists to monitor and understand the planet’s changing climate conditions and share their findings. This year, NOAA received nearly 250 applications for the Teacher at Sea program, and 30 were selected to participate.
Last week, Nidhya Shivakumar, grade 7, was named one of the top 300 students nationwide from the 2,499 middle school students nominated for this year’s Broadcom MASTERS science competition. Her project, titled “Halophytes: A Potential Solution for the Remediation of Soil in Saline Wastelands,” was selected by a panel of science and engineering professionals, who evaluated projects based on originality, creativity, analysis of data and other criteria.
If named one the 30 national finalists, Shivakumar will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the final stage of the competition in October, where more than $100,000 in awards will be distributed. Best of luck!
Harker had a solid showing in the 2017 Physics Bowl, organized by the American Association of Physics Teachers. Rising seniors Swapnil Garg, Jimmy Lin and Neelesh Ramachandran, and rising junior Cindy Wang were among the top 100 scorers in Division 2 (comprising second-year physics students). Out of a possible 40 points, Garg scored 28, Lin and Neelesh each scored 25, and Wang scored 23. The average score for Division 2 participants was 13.1.
With a team total of 122 points, Harker took third place in Division 2, tying with Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, which placed second due to having the highest-scoring student.
The Physics Bowl, which this year included more than 7,100 students from around the world, is a 45-minute, multiple-choice exam consisting of 40 questions on topics commonly covered in high school physics courses.
Harker had a solid showing in the 2017 Physics Bowl, organized by the American Association of Physics Teachers. Rising seniors Swapnil Garg, Jimmy Lin and Neelesh Ramachandran, and rising junior Cindy Wang were among the top 100 scorers in Division 2 (comprising second-year physics students). Out of a possible 40 points, Garg scored 28, Lin and Neelesh each scored 25, and Wang scored 23. The average score for Division 2 participants was 13.1.
With a team total of 122 points, Harker took third place in Division 2, tying with Virginia’s Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, which placed second due to having the highest-scoring student.
The Physics Bowl, which this year included more than 7,100 students from around the world, is a 45-minute, multiple-choice exam consisting of 40 questions on topics commonly covered in high school physics courses.