Latin 1, all grade 7 unless noted. Every student enrolled in Latin 1b earned an award this year, which is a first! Magna cum laude: Haley Arena (grade 8), Elizabeth Szeto, Abbie Blenko, Roberto Salgado. Maxima cum laude/silver medal: John Lynch, Shalini Rohra, Blake Richmond, Saloni Shah, Sidra Xu, Betsy Tian, Angela Cai. Summa cum laude/gold medal: Sara Yen, Jason Lin, Linus Zheng, Sriya Prathuri (grade 8), Kimi Butte, Maria Vazhaeparambil, Akshay Manglik, Annamma Vazhaeparambil. Perfect paper/summa cum laude/gold medal: Arohee Bhoja.
Latin 2, all grade 8 unless noted. Magna cum laude: Darshan Chahal, Kashov Sharma, Rachel Abellera, Lauren Fu.
Maxima cum laude/silver medal: Henry Wiese, Angele Yang, Catherine Zhao, Vedanth Sundaram, Kyle Li, Mahika Halepete, Bryan Wang, Kalyan Narayanan, Jai Bahri, Jatin Kohli, Katelyn Chen. Summa cum laude/gold medal: Datha Arramreddy, Jasmine Wiese, Cynthia Chen, Allison Jia, Alyssa Huang, Andrew Cheplyansky, Ashley Duraiswamy, George Wehner (grade 7), Jack Hansen, Jin Tuan, Eileen Li, Montek Kalsi. Perfect paper/summa cum laude/gold medal: Avi Gulati, Jeffrey Fung.
National Mythology Exam
Bronze Medal (90-94%): Madelyn Jin, Arnav Jain, Alex Zhang, Aaron Tran, Anoushka Khatri, Aaron Lo, all grade 6; Shalini Rohra, Blake Richmond, Jason Lin, Arohee Bhoja, Saloni Shah, Elizabeth Szeto, all grade 7; Ashley Duraiswamy, Angele Yang, Allison Jia, Matthew Jin, Henry Wiese, Jedd Hui, Jack Hansen, Jai Bahri, Kalyan Narayanan, Alyssa Huang, Andrew Cheplyansky, Jin Tuan, Lauren Fu, Jasmine Wiese, Catherine Zhao, Vedanth Sundaram, all grade 8.
Silver Medal (95-99%): Nicole Tian, Angela Jia, Brandon Park, Jacqueline Hu, all grade 6; Sidra Xu, Akshay Manglik, Betsy Tian, Linus Zheng, all grade 7; Katelyn Chen, Kyle Li, both grade 8.
Gold Medal (100%): Angela Cai, Kimi Butte, Annamma Vazhaeparambil, all grade 7.
In addition, a number of Latin students signed up to take some optional contests:
Medusa Mythology Exam
This is a challenging themed exam, originally open only to high school students. The theme this year was “Hercules, the First Avenger.” Corona Olivae (Olive Wreath): Brandon Park (grade 6), Montek Kalsi (grade 8). Corona Laurea (Laurel Wreath): Saloni Shah, Annama Vazhaeparambil, Akshay Manglik, all grade 7; Jeffrey Fung, Kyle Li, Allison Jia, all grade 8. Bronze Medal: Arohee Bhoja, grade 7; Katelyn Chen, grade 8.
National Classical Etymology Exam
This exam tests knowledge of English words from Latin and Greek roots.
Bronze Medal: Sriya Prathuri, Bryan Wang, both grade 8; Silver Medal: Allison Jia, Montek Kalsi, Eileen Li, Kalyan Narayanan, all grade 8. Gold Medal: Arohee Bhoja, Annamma Vazhaeparambil, Linus Zheng, all grade 7; Jeffrey Fung, Avi Gulati, Jack Hansen, Kyle Li, Jin Tuan, Angele Yang, all grade 8.
National Roman Civilization Exam
This exam covers Roman history and culture. Bronze Medal: Arohee Bhoja, grade 7. Silver Medal: Annamma Vazhaeparambil, grade 7; Avi Gulati, Jack Hansen, Eileen Li, Kalyan Narayanan, all grade 8. Gold Medal: Cynthia Chen, Jeffrey Fung, Allison Jia, Kyle Li , all grade 8.
National Latin Vocabulary Exam
Students must master a posted list of vocabulary words for their level. Latin 1/2. Bronze Medal: Angela Jia, Thresiamma Vazhaeparambil, both grade 6
Latin 1: Bronze Medal: Sriya Prathuri, grade 8. Silver Medal: Jason Lin, grade 7. Gold Medal: Arohee Bhoja, Akshay Manglik, Annamma Vazhaeparambil, Sidra Xu, Linus Zheng, all grade 7.
Latin 2:
Bronze Medal: Allison Jia, grade 8. Silver Medal: Cynthia Chen, Avi Gulati, Kyle Li, Kalyan Narayanan, all grade 8. Gold Medal: Jeffrey Fung, Jack Hansen, Montek Kalsi, Eileen Li, Jin Tuan, all grade 8.
Rithvik Panchapakesan, grade 9, was named an H&R Block Budget Challenge scholarship winner! Panchapakesan won the award for proving himself a personal finance master in the game of “life.” Students who participated in the challenge were given a virtual job, complete with a 401(k), credit card bills and student loans. They then had to successfully manage their paychecks for 10 weeks. Panchapakesan was in competition with thousands of students nationwide and was one of only 22 to receive the $20,000 scholarship.
“The most challenging part of the budget challenge was managing my credit card utilization rate,” said Panchapakesan. “The game deducted points from your score if you used more than 50 percent of your available credit. In the simulation, I had to overdraft multiple times, increasing my credit card balance. Therefore, I brainstormed different ways to decrease my balance and near the end of the simulation, purposely paid a deductible late in order to lose fewer points because I would lose more points if I over drafted from my credit card.”
“I think this challenge will help me manage my money in life because it brought the different issues of money management to my attention and allowed me to formulate and try out solutions to these problems, therefore increasing my knowledge about finance,” Panchapakesan finished. Great strategy, great appreciation of the value and a great win!
Nearly 50 middle school speech and debate students pitched in to help earn Harker the first place sweepstakes award at the Glendale Community College Tournament. The award is given to the top performing school at the tournament. In addition to the team award, Harker students had great success in each event as detailed below, making history as they won seven first place titles and numerous top five awards, said Karina Momary, director of middle school speech and debate.
“I wish you could have seen the parents when we landed. They had balloons, signs and flowers and were all waiting at baggage claim cheering,” she said. “The cooperation and teamwork displayed by our students was the true key to success. I have never seen them work as a team as well as they did this weekend. Special shout out to [performing arts teacher] Monica Colletti for giving up her weekend to attend as a chaperone/coach!”
Debate
In Lincoln-Douglas, the students discussed democracy promotion in the Middle East. The tournament advanced the top eight teams to the quarterfinals. Harker provided six of those eight teams. The students who advanced were Akhilesh Chegu, grade 6, Cat Zhao, grade 8, Akshay Manglik, grade 7, Annie Ma, grade 8, Montek Kalsi, grade 8, and Sachin Shah, grade 8. Kalsi and Shah each faced non-Harker students in the quarterfinals. They both won their rounds, making them co-champions of the tournament.
In public forum, the students discussed the prioritization of public infrastructure over means tested welfare. The tournament advanced the top 16 teams to the octofinals. Harker was third out of 16. Anshul Reddy, grade 6, and Krishay Mukhija, grade 7, were octofinalists. Amanda Cheung with Jason Pan, and Kenneth Liou with Jeremy Ding, all grade 8, were quarterfinalists. In addition, Liou was named fifth speaker and Pan was named seventh speaker.
In congressional debate, the students discussed Uber regulations, violent video games and mandatory paid family leave. Three Harker students were among the top 10 finishers. Nakul Bajaj, grade 8, earned second place; Reiya Das, grade 8, received third; and Andrew Sun, grade 7, received sixth place.
In policy debate, the students discussed domestic surveillance. The tournament advanced the top four teams. All three of our teams advanced. Deven Shah, grade 6, with Quentin Clark, grade 8, and Deven Parikh, grade 7, with Jai Bahri, grade 8, were named semifinalists. Jason Lin, grade 7, with Andy Lee, grade 7, were tournament champions. In addition Lee was third speaker, Bahri was fourth speaker and Clark was fifth speaker.
Speech
In impromptu, Shyl Lamba, grade 8, Anna Vazhaeparambil, grade 7, and Avi Gulati, grade 8, were among the six students who advanced to the final round. They were given three quotes and had to prepare a five-minute speech in two minutes. Gulati took first, Vazhaeparambil took fourth and Lamba took fifth.
In oratory, the students created their own 10-minute speech calling the audience to action. Harker took first and second places, with Arusha Patil, grade 7, in first and Gulati in second.
In declamation, Nikki Solanki, grade 8, advanced to the finals with her interpretation of a commencement speech and took second.
In dramatic interpretation, the tournament advanced six teams, including three from Harker. Harker also swept the top slots with Solanki in first, Bryan Wang, grade 8, in second and Katelyn Chen, grade 8, in third.
In storytelling, Gulati took first with his interpretation of a Berenstain Bears book.
In humorous interpretation, Aaditya Gulati, grade 6, advanced to the final round and received sixth place with his interpretation of toys escaping from the toy chest.
In prose, Solanki advanced to the finals and took first.
Last weekend, the National Scholastic Press Association awarded Harker Aquila, Harker’s online student news site, with its first Online Pacemaker Award for schools with an enrollment of fewer than 1,500 students. The Pacemaker is a national honor that also is awarded to student newspapers, yearbooks, magazines and broadcast reports. Winners for these categories are still to be determined.
Journalism’s success didn’t stop there. The Winged Post, the upper school student newspaper, took third place in Best of Show for newspaper broadsheets of 17 or more pages in length.
Junior Venkat Sankar was recently named one of 20 national finalists in this year’s USA Biology Olympiad. He will attend a special training program to decide which finalist will represent the United States at International Biology Olympiad this summer in Hanoi, Vietnam.
“It feels great to be selected as a finalist,” Sankar said. “I’m excited about spending 12 days at the camp with other finalists who are very passionate about biology.”
The USABO begins with two rounds of exams. The first is a 50-minute series of multiple-choice questions, and the second contains multiple-choice questions with more than one possible correct answer and an essay portion. Sankar put considerable time into preparing for the exams. “The baseline preparation was to master Campbell Biology, the AP Biology textbook,” he said. “Beyond that, I also used a college level book on plant biology.” His 2015 summer internship also gave him additional advanced knowledge on biochemistry and molecular biology, “which turned out to be very useful as well.”
Sankar said he will be studying cell biology and reviewing wet lab techniques to prepare himself for the final stage of examinations, which take place in June. Good luck!
Harker Latinists and classicists wrapped up some tough exams and came out shining!
National Latin Exam
More than 154,000 students across America and in 19 foreign countries took this year’s National Latin Exam. As usual, Harker students did a terrific job. Of the 41 upper school students who took the exam, 35 won awards. Special congratulations to Andrew Semenza and Edgar Lin, both grade 10, who earned perfect scores!
Nine gold medals (with summa cum laude certificates): Lin; Semenza; Bobby Bloomquist, grade 9; Peter Connors, grade 10; Alexander Lam, grade 11; Mathew Mammen, grade 9; Nicole Selvaggio, grade 9; Allison Wang, grade 12; and Alexander Young, grade 9.
Fifteen silver medals (with maxima cum laude certificates): Divija Bhimaraju, grade 10; Josh Broweleit, grade 9; Timothy Chang, grade 9; Cameron Jones, grade 9; Sara Min, grade 9; Arthur Oung, grade 9; Ayush Pancholy, grade 9; Akshay Ravoor, grade 9; Ashwin Reddy, grade 9; Kaushik Shivakumar, grade 9; Elisabeth Siegel, grade 12; Alyson Wang, grade 9; Tiffany Wong, grade 9; Peter Wu, grade 11; and Heidi Zhang, grade 9.
Eight magna cum laude certificates: Justin Au, grade 10; Isabelle Gross, grade 12; James He, grade 11; Era Iyer, grade 11; Sarisha Kurup, grade 11; Michael Kwan, grade 10; Winnie Li, grade 11; and Arnav Tandon, grade 11.
Three cum laude certificates: Allison Cartee, grade 9; Clarissa Wang, grade 9; and Tiffany Zhao, grade 9.
National Roman Civilization Exam
Harker students also did well on this year’s National Roman Civilization Exam. More than 1,800 students nationwide took the exam. This year, five students from Harker took the exam and they all won awards!
A total of 675 students nationwide participated at the advanced level, 95 of whom earned gold medals, including two from Harker: Alexander Lam and Venkat Sankar, both grade 11.
A total of 900 students nationwide participated at the intermediate level, 123 of whom earned gold medals. Harker had two gold medalists, Lin and Semenza, as well as a silver medalist, Ravoor.
National Latin Vocabulary Exam
This year over 2,500 students nationwide took the National Latin Vocabulary Exam. Seven Harker students took this year’s exam and all won awards.
Latin 3: 570 students nationwide took the exam; 82 earned gold medals. Ravoor earned a gold medal, while Kaushik Shivakumar, grade 9, earned a silver medal.
Latin 4: 300 students nationwide took the exam. Semenza earned a silver medal.
Latin 5: 115 students nationwide took the exam; 19 earned gold medals. Four Harker students earned awards: Lam earned a silver medal, Sankar earned a gold medal, Allison Wang, earned a gold medal and Wu earned a bronze medal
National Classical Etymology Exam
Over 5,500 students nationwide participated in the National Classical Etymology Exam. Eleven Harker students participated and eight earned awards.
Advanced Level: 1,848 students nationwide participated; 262 gold medals awarded. Li and Nikhil Manglik, grade 11, earned silver medals.
Intermediate Level: 2,317 students nationwide participated; 388 gold medals awarded. Lin, Pancholy, Semenza and Shivakumar all earned gold medals; Nikhil Dharmaraj, grade 9 and Ravoor earned silver medals.
Medusa Mythology Exam
Finally, results are in for the Medusa Mythology Exam. Allison Wang and Young each earned a corona laurea (laurel crown/wreath; equivalent to a fourth place award). Rahul Bhethanabotla, grade 10, Manglik, Min and Ravoor each earned a corona olivae (olive crown/wreath; equivalent to a fifth place award).
Last month, a dozen upper school students attended the 2016 California Junior Classical League State Convention. Students had a lot of fun and won an impressive array of awards! Harker’s upper school was named the top overall high school for our division, and won first place for our digital scrapbook, third place for our club T-shirt and first place in competitive certamen.
Students won awards in 33 individual categories. Special congratulations to delegate Venkat Sankar, grade 11, for winning the top delegate award in all three categories (academics, art and combined), the top score of all delegates in all levels on two academic tests (classical art and ancient geography), individual awards in eight individual competitions and first place as part of a competitive certamen team. Here is the complete list of awards for upper school students:
Venkat Sankar, grade 11:
Top Delegate – Academic
Top Delegate – Arts
Top Delegate – Combined
Latin Sight Reading – Prose, first place
Latin Sight Reading – Poetry, first place
Ancient Geography, first place (scored highest score of all delegates in all levels of competition)
Classical Art, first place (scored highest score of all delegates in all levels of competition)
Maps: first place
Dramatic Interpretation – Poetry, second place
Daily Life, second place
Modern Myth, second place
Competitive Certamen (team), first place
Andrew Semenza, grade 10:
Dramatic Interpretation – Poetry, first place
Competitive Certamen (team), first place
Grammar, second place
Essay, second place
Latin Sight Reading – Prose, third place
Latin Sight Reading – Poetry, third place
Derivatives, third place
Elisabeth Siegel, grade 12:
Academic Pentathlon, first place (scored highest score of all delegates in all levels of competition)
Mythology, first place
Competitive Certamen (team), first place
Allison Wang, grade 12:
Mottoes, Abbreviations & Quotes, first place (tie; tied highest score of all delegates in all levels of competition)
Competitive Certamen (team), first place
Mythology, second place
Latin Sight Reading – Prose, third place
Dramatic Interpretation – Poetry, third place (tie)
Students in grades K-2 had a great time at the second annual Spring Fling Math Extravaganza, held outside on the morning of March 23 on the main Bucknall playground and adjoining field. Students enjoyed math related hands-on activities, including crafts and games, which covered a range of skills. Each K-2 math teacher was in charge of one math activity, which consisted of measurement, geometry, and number sense geared toward various math abilities. Go Math Eagles!
Harker’s team performed well in the state finals of the Wells Fargo Personal Financial Literacy Challenge, making it to the finals. The team, composed of Rahul Shukla, grade 11; Ameek Singh, grade 12; Alexander Lam, grade 11; and Aditya Dhar, grade 11, was among the top 10 teams out of 142 to qualify for the final rounds at the Federal Reserve Bank in Los Angeles. The team was one of the top five left after three rounds of competition and, ultimately, placed fourth.
This event was facilitated by the California Council on Economic Education, hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco (Los Angeles Branch), and sponsored by Honda Financial Services at the state level as well as Wells Fargo Advisors on a national level. Harker qualified two teams, but only one attended.
“Students were excited to go through security and be in the Federal Reserve and ask questions of the Fed Bank employees,” said Juston Glass, director of Harker’s business and entrepreneurship program, who coached the group. “They networked with students all over the state and came back charged and empowered in the area of personal finance.”
Following the first-ever Harker triumph at the Harvard Pre-Collegiate Economics Challenge (HPEC) over the weekend, Harker Eaglenomics students scored another win on Monday.
Last weekend, for the first time in Harker history, our team of Raymond Xu, grade 11; Rahul Shukla, grade 11; Ameek Singh, grade 12; and Jonathan Ma, grade 12, won the HPEC championship.
Then hot on the heels of that victory, Harker competed and took top honors in the state finals of the National Economics Challenge on Monday.
That contest took place at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and Harker had three of the top five qualifying teams from the Northern California region (San Luis Obispo to the Oregon Border). The Harker teams were “In High Demand,” comprising juniors Emaad Raghib, Taylor Iantosca, Joyce Huang and Priyanka Taneja; “The Visible Hands” comprising seniors Michael Zhao, Samali Sahoo, Daphne Yang and Alice Wu; and “Team Harker 13” (aka “the team formerly known as Anikaswagmoney”), comprising seniors Abhinav Ketineni, Jasmine Liu, Grace Guan and Adele Li.
Two teams were eliminated, but one went on to take top honors. Coach Sam Lepler filled in the details: “In a great event, the team formerly known as Anikaswagmoney emerged victorious in a tight, hard-fought battle.
“After three rounds of testing in microeconomics, macroeconomics, international economics and current events, the aforementioned team held a slim 10-point (1,200 to 1,190) lead on a strong team from Dougherty Valley and just a 60-point lead on a another solid squad from BASIS Independent Silicon Valley. However, a strong quiz bowl effort, which included several questions well beyond the AP curriculum, helped them pull away and cruise to a solid victory.
“The team is now into the national semifinals with all of the other state winners, and will take a proctored exam on April 26. The top four scores among all the state winners on that test will get an all-expense paid trip to NYC to compete for the national championship. The competition is harder and tighter every year with more and more participating schools, so it’s awesome to have Harker emerge again!” Lepler finished.