David Zhu, grade 8, took fifth place in one of the toughest math competitions in the U.S.
Last Friday, student representatives from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Virgin Islands, Department of Defense and State Department schools worldwide participated in the 2013 Raytheon Mathcounts national competition.
Each state is only allowed four competitors, making it much more difficult to qualify from California than other states; more than 250,000 students and 5,050 coaches participated in the opening round. For the national event May 9-12, 56 teams of four members each were invited to Washington, D.C.
Zhu was top scorer on the California team, with a perfect score of 46. The other California three team members were selected from a group of five students, all with 44 points, by tiebreaker. He was one of only four students nationwide who scored a perfect 46 in the State MathCounts competition. One of the others was the eventual national MathCounts champion.
In the National competition, the written round has two parts totaling 46 points. On Friday, 224 top “mathletes” competed over a two-hour period. Zhu, the only California team member to reach the top 12, scored 44 points, placing him seventh in the written round with the top 12 advancing to the countdown round. In the first part of the countdown round, “he beat his opponent,” said Vandana Kadam, middle school mathematics department chair, but was outpaced by his opponent in the next round, finishing a stellar fifth place at this year’s national MathCounts.
“This is a phenomenal achievement!,” said Kadam. “David has been extremely consistent in all math competitions during his middle school years and this is a perfect end to his MS math journey. Ranking fifth out of 224 top math students is no small feat.” Congratulations to Zhu on this major accomplishment!
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Pavitra Rengarajan ‘12 has earned at State AP Scholar Award for her extraordinary performance on the 2012 Advanced Placement exams. She is one of 108 students nationwide to receive this honor.
As their literature explains, “The College Board, a mission-driven, not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity, has conferred this distinction on one male and one female student in each U.S. state and the District of Columbia. Qualifying students must have the highest average score (at least 3.5) on all AP exams taken.”
Now a freshman at Stanford University, Rengarajan took a total of 18 exams during her years at Harker, earning a mean score of 4.83. Some of the areas she was tested in included economics, psychology, statistics, English literature and composition, computer science, biology, history, French language, physics, chemistry, human geography, calculus and music theory.
The College Board’s Advanced Placement Program provides academically prepared students the opportunity to take rigorous college-level courses while still in high school. Last year, 3.7 million exams were taken by 2.1 million students at more than 18,000 high schools.
“I didn’t go into the exams with the goal of receiving any special distinction, so I’m not sure that I had any expectations to begin with. In fact, I only realized I had earned this distinction when Ms. [Jennifer] Gargano [assistant head of school for academic affairs] sent me a congratulatory email!” reported Rengarajan, adding that the majority of the exams she took corresponded to her AP classes at Harker.
A handful of exam materials she studied on her own out of interest. She took the music theory exam, for example, in grade 7. “I had been very involved in music for several years, playing the flute and the piano and learning about music, so when one of my music teachers suggested that I might as well take the AP Music Theory exam, it seemed like a reasonable idea. The AP exams are just a nice way to get credit for the work that you have put in,” she added.
Rengarajan said that her college major will likely be computer science. She noted that Harker has “certainly prepared me well for the academic rigor of Stanford. Courses here seem like a natural progression from Harker. I am starting to realize how fortunate I was to have taken advanced topics classes.”
Outside of her academic life, Rengarajan enjoys being principal flutist of the Stanford Symphony Orchestra. “I was fortunate enough to play the famous beautiful flute solo in Ravel’s ‘Daphnis et Chloe’ three times so far this year, twice in our newly opened, state-of-the-art building, Bing Concert Hall. Playing at the opening of the gorgeous new hall is undoubtedly a memory I will cherish for several years, and I am both proud and honored to have had the honor. Music has always been a significant part of my life, and I could not be any happier to be continuing this momentum in college.”
To current Harker students, she advices to work hard, but, “Don’t forget to smile, laugh and enjoy the process.”
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Sarah Howells ’12, now a freshman at Princeton University, recently won a prestigious new award. “The history department is delighted to congratulate Sarah on winning first prize in the Churchill Research Paper competition,” said Donna Gilbert, Harker’s history department chair. The competition is sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s Churchill Center.
Howells is the contest’s first winner, and it’s not the only first that she has earned for the paper, titled “Winston Churchill’s Efforts to Unify Britain from 1940-1941.” It was also Howells’ submission to earn a grant from the Mitra Family Endowment, which was established last year by Harker parents Samir and Sundari Mitra (Shivani, grade 12). Howells went on to become the first Mitra Scholar for her entry.
“I was pretty surprised, since this being the first year of the competition I was not sure what the expectations were,” Howells said. “I would like to thank the Mitra family for supporting humanities research at Harker, Ms. [Donna] Gilbert, Dr. [Ruth] Meyer and Ms. [Susan] Smith for helping me with research and making the Harker history department a strong supporter of independent work, and Ms. [Julie] Wheeler for convincing me to apply for the grant in the first place.”
The Mitra Family Endowment for the Humanities matches gifts to the annual giving campaign up to a total of $100,000.
“The subject matters taught under humanities such as history, languages, communications and philosophy are critical skills and knowledge that develop well-rounded Harker students,” said Samir Mitra, speaking at last year’s reception. “Humanities is the bedrock of a superior education and will enable our students to stand out as recognized contributors in their future professions.”
“I knew I wanted to apply for the Mitra grant because I had enjoyed world history so much in my sophomore year,” said Howells. “I thought about Britain; my family was affected on two sides by World War II, both in Poland and in Britain.”
Too broad at first, her topic choices “quickly narrowed to Churchill’s remarkable unification of the government and retaining the trust of the people during the war,” said Howells, noting that the most interesting part of writing the paper was transitioning from the researching to the writing.
After participating in the middle school’s second annual “Geo Bee,” Soham Khan, grade 8, has been selected to represent Harker at the state finals of the National Geographic Bee, slated to occur in Sacramento in early April. Khan also won the Harker Geo Bee last year and qualified to go to the State Bee.
Khan was one of 14 participants who took part in the Bee, held on the middle school campus. He emerged as the winner of the contest, which was intended to serve as a qualifying round for further competition against other schools at the state and national levels.
Each year thousands of schools across the country participate in the National Geographic Bee. Using materials prepared by the National Geographic Society, the highly competitive contest encourages teachers to include geography in their classrooms and spark students’ curiosity about the topic.
During the Harker Bee, fellow eighth grader Nikhil Manglik came in at a close second to Khan. According to Andrea Milius, grade 7 world studies teacher, both students answered all the championship-stage questions and had to go into extra rounds. “It was so sweet, when Soham won, Nikhil promptly wished him congratulations! All of the participants did a great job,” she said.
Following his win at the middle school, Khan successfully took a test in order to be able to go on to represent Harker at the next stage of the competition: the state level. For the final, national level, the Geography Bee only takes the top 100 qualifiers from each state.
The entire middle school wished Khan well during a recent school meeting. Marked by the Bee’s 25th anniversary and Alex Trebek’s final year as host, the much anticipated grand finale will take place in May at the historic National Theater in downtown Washington, D.C.
Harker senior Sumit Minocha is the fastest male runner in all of CCS and was named an Athlete of the Week by the San Jose Mercury! Minocha’s 10.84 in the 100m is the number one time in the league and the number five-ranked time in all of California. His time in the 200m – 22.38 – is also the best in CCS. Minocha put up both of those league-leading marks at the Gilroy Invitational this past Saturday.
At the Gilroy Invitational, senior Isabelle Connell ran her best ever time in the 100m and missed first place in the race by just .01 seconds. Her personal-best 12.59 ultimately earned her second place in the race. Connell came back, though, to win a very competitive 200m, running a Harker-record 25.21. That mark gave her the second-best time in CCS this year and the 15th best time in the state. Connell was named to the San Jose Mercury’s Highlight Reel this week for her efforts!
Sophomore Corey Gonzales bested his own school record in the 800m, landing in fifth place with a 2:04.17 run. Minocha, Connell and Gonzales have all been invited to the prestigious Stanford Invitational this weekend. Congratulations to all three!
Lacrosse
Girls lacrosse crushed Woodside on Tuesday in their first league match of the year, 21-6. Wendy Shwe, grade 12, and Hannah Bollar, grade 10, each racked up seven goals. Michelle Douglas scored four times, while Brinda Perumal, grade 11, Tara Rezvani, grade 12, and Tiphaine Delepine, grade 12, each added a goal apiece. Thursday, they defeated Stevenson 19-3 to improve to an impressive 7-1 overall. Goal scorers were Douglas with nine, Shwe with two, Delepine with three, Bollar with four and Alison Kiang, grade 10, with one.
Coach Berry said, “Harker’s starters set the tone in the first 15 minutes to allow the reserve players plenty of time on the field. The first 13 minutes saw the Eagles soar fast and often, netting 10 quick points. The rest of the way, however, Harker’s younger players received the bulk of playing time against a Stevenson team that has, in previous years, beaten Harker 15-3, 20-5 and 14-4. After spring break, the girls face Mercy Burlingame and the game will certainly have league championship implications. Please come out and cheer on the girls in a contest that will prove to be exciting.
Softball
Harker softball is undefeated through their first four league games of the season after hanging on for a tight 6-5 victory over rival Castilleja. Ashley Del Alto, grade 12, had hits in all four of her at-bats and knocked in a run. Brianna Liang, grade 10, went 3-4 with an RBI as well. Nithya Vemireddy, grade 11, hit a triple. Alison Rugar, grade 12, smoked a double. Alisa Wakita, grade 9, Sarah Bean, grade 10, and Laura Thacker, grade 11, all had hits as well. They lost, however, Thursday, to Yerba Buena, 2-1, in a tight game. Marita Del Alto, grade 9, pitched and performed well, striking out seven. Ashley Del Alto went 3 for 3 with a home run and Thacker had a hit. The girls face Pinewood and Notre Dame after the break.
The victory over Castilleja was the girls’ second one-run win in a row. The previous game, they pulled off a thrilling walk-off victory in the bottom of the 7th inning to defeat Mercy-Burlingame 5-4. In that game, Rugar excelled on both sides of the ball, striking out 13 while smacking a triple and knocking in a run.
The girls head off on the road to play Yerba Buena on Thursday, then return to Harker for a home game against Harbor on Friday.
Baseball
The boys blew out Lincoln-SF yesterday to the tune of 12-4. The win puts the boys over .500 on the year, as their record now stands at 5-4-1 overall. Jacob Hoffman, grade 12, led the way on offense, going 2-3 with a triple and two RBIs. On the mound, Varun Kamat, grade 11, took home the win after striking out eight.
Golf
The boys lost to Sacred Heart Prep yesterday, 193-210. Maverick McNealy, grade 12, earned co-medalist honors after shooting a 36 at Palo Alto Hills.
Tennis
Boys tennis lost to Bellarmine, to go to 6-4, then upped their record to 7-4 by beating Pinewood on Thursday, 6-1. Doubles results: Kevin Xue, grade 11/Justin Yang, grade 12 (Harker) def Dan Saflgrove/Rahul Narula (Pinewood) 6-0, 6-1; Jon Dai, grade 9/Pranav Bheda, grade 12 (Harker) def Brennan Kwo/Matt Quo (Pinewood) 6-1, 6-0; Vivek Sriram, grade 10/Thomas Lee, grade 9 (Harker) def Matt Kong/George Hung (Pinewood) 6-0, 6-0. The boys face Priory and Aragon after the break.
Swimming
The varsity girls came in first in the four-team meet and the JV girls placed second on Wednesday, and had many exciting races and CCS qualifiers. In the 100 free: Angela Huang, grade 9 (55.27) and Manon Audebert, grade 11, (56.28) placing 1-2 in the race; 200 free: Audebert, 2:01.85; 500 free, Kimberly Ma, grade 11, 5:29.27; freshman Grace Guan had a great day qualifying for CCS in both the 200 IM (2:16.69) and the 100 breast (1:12.01).
JV girls had a great meet, coming in first in the first event of the evening! Sanjana Kaundinya, grade 10, came in first in the 100 IM while Karen Tu won the 50 breast. Elisabeth Siegel, grade 9, won the 50 fly for the second meet in a row.
Felix Wu, grade 10, is among the top 10 finalists in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library’s Profiles in Courage Essay Contest. The essay, which profiles Dennis Kucinich, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was one of 8,000 submitted for the contest. After four rounds of judging, during which it was reportedly reviewed by a number of U.S. senators, it was declared one of the 10 best. Wu will be awarded $500 and a signed copy of Caroline Kennedy’s book, “Profiles in Courage,” for reaching this stage of the contest. The judge who informed Wu of his achievement recommended that he send the essay to Kucinich, which he has plans to do.
In late February, 17 Harker students were named semifinalists in the contest to see who will represent the United States as part of the 2013 U.S. Physics Olympic Team.
The students are: Andrew Luo, grade 12, Stephanie Chen, Varun Mohan, Kevin Zhu, Rahul Sridhar, Vikram Sundar, Christopher Fu and Alexander Pei, all grade 11, Leo Yu, Patrick Lin, Matthew Huang and Nitya Mani, all grade 10 and Jessica Zhu, Michael J. Zhao, Jonathan Q. Ma, Lawrence Li and Rishabh Chandra, grade 9.
Each student will take the semifinal exam for a shot at being named one of the 20 students nationwide who will travel to the U.S. Physics Team Training Camp at the University of Maryland – College Park. After nine days of studying, taking exams and solving practice problems, the a team of five (plus one alternate) will be selected to represent the U.S. at the 2013 International Physics Olympiad in Copenhagen, which takes place July 7-15. The process for selecting the U.S. Physics Team is organized by the American Association of Physics Teachers.
In 2011 Harker had a total of 10 semifinalists, and in 2010 Andrew Zhou ’10 was selected as a member of the team. Anand Natarajan ’09 was chosen a member of the team in 2009.
All middle school students participated in the California Math League contest on Feb. 19. The league states that a score of 14 points (out of 35) or higher is commendable and a score of 28 points or higher is exceptional. A school’s team score for each grade comprises of the top 5 scores in that grade, the highest being 175 points.
Grade 6’s team score was 160, with the top scorers being Rose Guan with a score of 34 and Katherine Tian with a score of 33. Andrew Chang, Constance Horng, Nishant Ravi and Cindy Wang all had 31 points. Other high scorers were Nicole Chen, Carl Gross and Sara Min, all with 30 points. Official results and rankings are still to come.
Competitors in grade 7 also had a team score of 160. Their top scorers were Shaya Zarkesh with 34 points and Rajiv Movva with 34 points. Adrian Chu, Edgar Lin and Jimmy Lin all had 31 points. Amy Jin, Michael Kwan, Neelesh Ramachandran and Randy Zhao also did very well, scoring 29 points.
Grade 8 had two perfect scores, with Kai-Siang Ang and Peter Wu both scoring 35 points. The team score was 166. David Zhu missed the perfect score by one point. Steven Cao, Ryan Chen, Arnav Tandon and Derrick Wang all had 31 points. Cuebeom Choi, Aditya Dhar, Soham Khan, Kedar Gupta, Ashwin Rao, Alayna Richmond, Vedaad Shakib, Misha Tseitlin and Austin Tuan all scored 29 points.
Harker also had several students take the AMC 10 and 12 exams on two different dates – Feb. 5 (10A or 12A) and Feb. 20 (10B). Students scoring above a certain cut-off determined by the Mathematical Association of America are invited to participate in the American Mathematics Invitational Exam (AIME), which will take place March 14. Six middle school students qualified for the AIME, which is geared toward high school students.
Harker’s top scorers in AMC 10A exam were David Zhu, Jimmy Lin, Edgar Lin and Quentin Delepine, grade 8. Kai-Siang Ang was the top scorer from Harker in the AMC 12A exam and one of the top scorers in the AMC 10B, along with Peter Wu.
Two Harker students were recently named national award winners in this year’s Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. Kevin Ke, grade 9, was awarded a silver medal for his digital drawing, “iCreature,” and Isha Patnaik, grade 12, received a silver medal in the photography category for “Sista, Sista.”
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Regional winners of this year’s Scholastic Art and Writing Awards were announced in early February, and a total of 27 Harker students have won regional Gold Key and Silver Key awards for their literary and artistic creations. At the middle school, Carissa Chen, grade 8, won in the drawing category for her work, titled “Forgotten,” and grade 8 student Meilan Steimle’s “Maternal Litigation” won in the personal essay/memoir category.
Upper school winners were Stephanie Chen, grade 11, for her short story “Sundial”; the digital art piece “iCreature” by freshman Kevin Ke (who also won a Gold Key for a painting titled “Mechanical Giant”); Cindy Liu, grade 10, who earned two photography honors for “Lines and Colors” and “Flower Impression”; Simon Orr, grade 12, whose “Udu No. 2” and “Copper Pot Flute” won in the ceramics and glass category; a photography piece titled “Sista, Sista” by senior Isha Patnaik; Svetlana Petrova, grade 12, who won in the painting category for “Still Life With Pumpkins” and in mixed media for “Star Spangled”; senior Eric Swenson for the photography pieces “Hamlet” and “Claudius; Lynda Tang, also a senior, in the drawing category for “Self Portrait”; Emily Wang, grade 12, in the personal essay/memoir category for “Missed Connections and the Secret of Mattering”; and Iris Xia, grade 12, for the printmaking piece “Early Spring.”
Upper school Silver Key Award winners were Cindy Liu for the photographs “After the Snow” and “Lines,” Simon Orr for the ceramic work “Cow Pig Whistle,” Ilsa Zhang, grade 12, for the drawing “Red Lobster” and the painting “Skull and Grapes,” Iris Xia for the printmaking pieces “Cityscape” and “Newspapers,” Catherine Manea, grade 12, for the drawing “Jail Time,” Neelima Gadagottu, grade 12, for the drawing “Recharging,” Lynda Tang for the drawing “Breathing Room,” Rebecca Liu, grade 12, for the drawing “Redirection of Resources,” Shannon Su, grade 12, for the sculpture “Burst,” Albert Chu, grade 11, for the short story “Sisyphus at His Piano,” sophomore Kacey Fang in the dramatic script category for her work “Of Age,” Emily Wang for her flash fiction piece “Mrs. Pardo” and Leo Yu, grade 10, also in flash fiction, for “The Adhesive.”
Middle school Silver Key winners were Carissa Chen for the painting “Framing Myself – An Exploration Into Culture” and the drawing “Captivated.”
Honorable mentions went to Carissa Chen for the drawing “Strangled Voices,” Rebecca Liu for the printmaking piece “Vases,” Monika Lee, grade 11, for the drawing “Gold Hard Cash,” Emily Wang for the drawings “Self-Portrait” and “The Kiss,” Ilsa Zhang for the printmaking piece “Lionhead Goldfish,” Amy Gendotti, grade 12, for the drawing “Soccer Cleats,” Justin Gerard, grade 12, for the drawings “Shirt Study” and “Lasso,” Sylvie Dobrota, grade 12, for the paintings “Self Portrait” and “Innocence,” Avni Barman, grade 10, for the drawings “Manhattan” and “Introspection” and the painting “What Makes Me…,” Jasmine Gill, grade 12, for the photograph “Los Altos,” Simon Orr for the photographs “Untitled (bell),” “Untitled (bell 2),” “Mariner,” and “Field,” senior Lori Berenberg for her poems “To Collaboration,” “Your Son Has Been Killed” and “Crumbling,” Vineet Kosaraju, grade 9, in the journalism category for the piece “Learning Life’s Hard Lessons,” Cindy Liu, grade 10, for the personal essay “My Great Grandmother Alice” and Leo Yu in flash fiction for “One Second.”
Ashvin Swaminathan, grade 12, was recently named one of two national winners in the 2012 Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement. Each year, this award is given to one male and one female student in the U.S. for exhibiting excellence in AP math and science. On the eight exams used to determine winners of the awards, Swaminathan had the highest number of scores of 5 in the entire country for a male student. For his effort, Swaminathan has been awarded a $5,000 scholarship from the Siemens Foundation.
The senior said he was “happy but humbled” to received the award, and credits his steadfast work ethic and well-maintained sleep schedule to his success. “I don’t postpone work, and in fact, I have managed to stay ahead of the lectures in every course that I have taken at Harker,” he said. “I am firm about getting eight hours of sleep no matter how demanding a course is.”
Swaminathan, the son of middle school science teacher Raji Swaminathan, was also very thankful to his teachers, parents and grandparents for their mentoring and support over the years. “I thank my wonderful teachers at Harker for their help and encouragement all the way through,” he said. “None of my accomplishments would have been possible without the unconditional support of my parents and grandparents.”
In December, Pavitra Rengarajan ’12 earned one of two State AP Scholar Awards for her extraordinary performance on the 2012 Advanced Placement exams. She is one of 108 students nationwide to receive this honor. “I didn’t go into the exams with the goal of receiving any special distinction, so I’m not sure that I had any expectations to begin with. In fact, I only realized I had earned this distinction when Ms. [Jennifer] Gargano [assistant head of school for academic affairs] sent me a congratulatory email!” reported Rengarajan, adding that the majority of the exams she took corresponded to her AP classes at Harker.
Rengarajan, now a freshman at Stanford University, said that her college major will likely be computer science. She noted that Harker has “certainly prepared me well for the academic rigor of Stanford. Courses here seem like a natural progression from Harker. I am starting to realize how fortunate I was to have taken advanced topics classes.”
Last year, Ramya Rangan and Albert Wu, both now graduates, became the first pair of national winners from the same school.