For the second time, the Harker Gr. 3 team, made up of the highest six scorers for the grade level, is a regional winner in the annual Continental Mathematics League contest. Our region includes students from schools in 15 states and 12 countries. A record three students earned scores of 17 out of a possible 18 in the contest this year to push the team to the top with a total score of 103 out of a possible 108. “Worldwide, our total score was in the top three percent of the 481 schools that participated in the contest,” said Stephanie Woolsey, Gr. 3 math teacher and contest advisor.
The test began after the winter break when all students in Gr. 3 math classes began completing a monthly math contest of six questions, earning one point per question. Griffin Ellis and Rishi Iyer, and Rose Guan, who is in Gr. 2 but is taking Gr. 3 math, all earned the almost-perfect scores this year. Each student earned a medal for his or her performance. In addition to the top three scoring students, two others, Adrian Chu and Rajiv Movva, earned total scores of 16, and earned a certificate of recognition. Amy Dunphy, Kaitlin Hsu, Anooshree Sengupta, Sahana Srinivasan and Justin Su were also strong competitors, and earned a total of 15 points each. “This is a difficult problem-solving contest in which students must read carefully and use their logical thinking and reasoning skills, with no rehearsal ahead of time,” reported Woolsey.
“We have participated in this contest for at least five years, and only twice have we had students earn scores of 18. Having three students earn 17 points is impressive!” Woolsey said. Harker also had a record number of students earning scores of six on at least one contest this year, with fifteen different students, or 15 percent of the entire third grade, earning a perfect score on at least one contest. Congratulations to all the students for attempting these problems!
Senior class president and graduating senior Senan Ebrahim was named as one of two California Presidential Scholars , joining the ranks of other scholars – one man and one woman from each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, along with at-large, out-of-the-country and Arts scholars- selected for the honor. Ebrahim earned a perfect SAT score, was Bausch & Lomb Top Science Scholar, a semifinalist in the Intel and Siemens competitions, and won top marks on nine AP exams. His interests range from swimming and cross-country to theater, speech and debate, and he serves as a tutor, camp counselor, hospital volunteer and disaster relief fundraiser. All Presidential Scholars are invited to attend a ceremony in their honor in Washington, D.C., in June. Ebrahim chose his Harker history teacher, Ramsay Westgate to accompany him as his most inspiring and challenging teacher.
The Harker School, students and faculty are featured in the recently released film, “Hard Problems” by Zala Films, documenting U. S. students preparing for the 2006 U.S. International Math Olympiad team. Director George Csicsery and crew were on site interviewing and filming the day of the qualifying test in April 2006. Interviews with Harker student Yi Sun ’06, parents, and math teachers Joanne Mason and Misael Fisico were included in the movie. Yi Sun won a silver medal for the U.S. at the International Math Olympiad in Slovenia that year and now attends Harvard University. The movie is screening at conferences and lectures worldwide and is available at amazon.com.
A team of eight Harker students was selected to represent the United States at the 2007 Junior 8 (J8) Summit in Wismar, Germany, a parallel youth event to the G8 Summit. “If these are tomorrow’s leaders, the future looks good indeed,” said Caryl Stern, acting-president of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, sponsors (along with Morgan Stanley) of the J8 program.
On June 6 a delegation of J8 students from different countries, including a Harker representative, were taken by helicopter to the Summit meeting site to present the J8 communiqué to world leaders. Harker’s representative was seated next to President Bush and interviewed by the BBC.
Harker’s Future Problem Solving (FPS) team earned first place worldwide at the 2007 International Conference finals, held in early June in Colorado. Competing against teams from all over the world, one Harker student placed 10th overall and a classmate placed third in a separate team competition. This past spring, Harker hosted the State Bowl of the Future Problem Solving Program where the seven eighth graders who earned the honor of representing the school at nationals dominated the individual competition at the state level and rose to the challenge at the national level.
In an additional honor Gr. 8 history teacher and Harker FPS coach, Cyrus Merrill, was voted in as president of the nonprofit board of the Future Problem Solving Program for the state of California.
Harker’s Future Problem Solving (FPS) team earned first place worldwide at the 2007 International Conference finals, held in early June in Colorado. Competing against teams from all over the world, one Harker student placed 10th overall and a classmate placed third in a separate team competition. This past spring, Harker hosted the State Bowl of the Future Problem Solving Program where the seven eighth graders who earned the honor of representing the school at nationals dominated the individual competition at the state level and rose to the challenge at the national level.
In an additional honor Gr. 8 history teacher and Harker FPS coach, Cyrus Merrill, was voted in as president of the nonprofit board of the Future Problem Solving Program for the state of California.