Results from the first round of the North American Computational Linguistics Olympiad (NACLO) recently arrived, and the following 10 students qualified to advance to the invitational round: Lawrence Li, grade 12; Misha Ivkov, Andrew Rule, Kai-Siang Ang and David Zhu, all grade 11; Swapnil Garg, Rajiv Movva, Michael Kwan and Joanna Lin, all grade 10; and Rose Guan, grade 9.
The students will participate in the next stage of the competition on March 10.
Since its founding in 2006, NACLO has tested high school students on a variety of linguistics puzzles. The top-scoring students then represent the United States at the International Linguistics Olympiad, to be held this summer in Mysore, India.
Rajiv Movva, grade 10, was recently named one of 100 students nationwide to win the Emperor Science Award, presented by PBS LearningMedia, Stand Up To Cancer and the Entertainment Industry Foundation. Movva was one of 100 among nearly 1,200 grade 10 and 11 students who submitted essays for the contest. As a winner, he will receive a $1,500 stipend, a Google Chromebook and the opportunity to participate in an eight- to 12-week cancer research project with a mentoring scientist. Congratulations!
This was the first year of the Emperor Science Award program, which is aimed toward students with an interest in pursuing a career in scientific research. Its goal is to find qualified sophomores and juniors who will be chosen to work with university-level research mentors.
Two dozen Harker student writers were honored in this year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Presented by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the awards have existed since 1923. Prominent past winners include Andy Warhol, Langston Hughes, Judy Blume and Wangechi Mutu.
Twenty-three Harker upper school students and one middle school student were honored this year. Arushee Bhoja, grade 9, received a Gold Key award in the flash fiction category, and a Silver Key and honorable mention in poetry. Sophomore Emily Chen received two Gold Keys in poetry and a Silver Key in short story. In personal essay/memoir, junior Alexis Gauba earned an honorable mention. Senior Kaity Gee won two Gold Keys in flash fiction, as well as one in poetry and one in writing portfolio. She also received a Silver Key and eight honorable mentions in poetry.
Jordan Goheen, grade 11, received an honorable mention for poetry, while fellow junior Joyce Huang hauled in a Gold Key and a Silver Key in the critical essay category and an honorable mention in personal essay/memoir. Junior Angela Kim’s pair of entries in the personal essay/memoir category earned her a Silver Key and an honorable mention.
Junior Sarisha Kurup earned three Gold Keys – two in short story and one in poetry – and three Silver Keys in the same categories. Kurup was also awarded five honorable mentions for poetry. Junior Chen Yu Li’s “The Dance Room” won her an honorable mention in personal essay/memoir, and Erin Liu, grade 9, received a Gold Key in the same category for her work, titled “In Our Hands.”
Rajiv Movva, grade 10, received an honorable mention for his critical essay “On Cancer Research,” and junior Jordan Murtiff won a Gold Key in personal essay/memoir. In poetry, Evani Radiya-Dixit, grade 11, was awarded two honorable mentions for her pieces “Gunshot” and “The Mirror.” Andrew Rule, also a junior, submitted four short stories to the contest, which earned him two Gold Keys, a Silver Key and an honorable mention. “Gravity” a personal essay/memoir earned senior Samali Sahoo a Silver Key, while junior Vedaad Shakib’s “A Constructive Use of Time” was awarded a Silver Key in the same category.
Five of senior Elisabeth Siegel’s poems were winners in the contest, earning her a Gold Key, a Silver Key and three honorable mentions. Her short story, “Clean,” also won a Silver Key. Sophomore Sahana Srinivasan received an honorable mention for “The Stages of Reading a Book” in the personal essay/memoir category. Three of junior Meilan Steimle’s entries in personal essay/memoir received Gold Key awards, while her flash fiction piece, “Postcards,” won her a Silver Key. Steimle also earned honorable mentions in flash fiction, personal essay/memoir and short story.
Maya Valluru, grade 11, was awarded a Silver Key and an honorable mention in poetry, as well as an honorable mention in flash fiction, and Eleanor Xiao, grade 10, received two Silver Keys for her entries in personal essay/memoir. Freshman Alexander Young received an honorable mention in critical essay, and Tiffany Zhu, grade 11, earned two honorable mentions for dramatic script and flash fiction.
At the middle school level, eighth grader Cynthia Chen received an honorable mention for her poem, “Reflections.”
Harker DECA chapter members garnered 19 top three wins at the annual Silicon Valley Career Development Conference in early January and 42 teams received mini awards. In addition to the excellent competitive results, three members were elected to the Silicon Valley District Action Team for the 2016-17 year: Alisa Su, grade 10, as vice president of public relations; Erin Liu, grade 9, as vice president of fashion; and Haley Tran, grade 11, as executive vice president.
Members placing in the top three are as follows:
First Place
Arnav Tandon and Raymond Xu, both grade 11, Finance Operations Research
Michael Sikand, Vanessa Tyagi, and Dolan Dworak, all grade 10, Advertising Campaign
Chris Hailey, grade 11, Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling
Enya Lu, grade 9, Principles of Finance
Alexis Gauba, grade 11, Business Services Marketing Series
Chris Hailey, grade 11, Marketing Management Series
Ria Gandhi, grade 11, Retail Merchandising Series
Enya Lu, grade 9, Financial Consulting
Vanessa Tyagi and Rahul Mehta, both grade 10, Sports and Entertainment Team Decision Making
Sophia Luo and Shannon Hong, both grade 12, Travel and Tourism Team Decision Making
Second Place
Alexander Mo, grade 11, The Business Growth Plan
Haley Tran, grade 11, Ria Gandhi, grade 11, and Ashna Chandra, grade 10, Hospitality and Tourism Operations Research
Raymond Xu, grade 11, Accounting Applications Series
Haley Tran, grade 11, Restaurant and Food Service Management
Third Place
Michael Wang and Erin Liu, both grade 9, The Business Growth Plan
Nicole Chen, Shreya Dasari both grade 9, International Business Plan
Derek Kuo, grade 10, Franchise Business Plan
Ankur Karwal and Logan Drazovich, both grade 12, Innovation Plan
Sanil Rajput and Ankur Karwal, both grade 12, Marketing Communications Team Decision Making
Harker DECA members stayed at the San Jose Marriott, the convention host hotel, on Friday night and competed all day on Saturday. Competitions are divided into two categories: written events and role plays. Written events are competitions in which students create business plans and then present them to the judge. In role plays, competitors are given an allotted amount of time to read and analyze a case study, then present it to the judge.
The convention came to a close at the awards ceremony on Sunday morning, starting with the mini awards, followed by breakfast, then the grand awards.
“The energy when a Harker DECA member won was unprecedented, and all the other students in the room were shocked by the amount of energy our chapter brought,” noted Vanessa Tyagi, grade 10, director of communications for Harker DECA.
“The support for each competitor was unbelievable,” added Alexander Mo, grade 11, Harker DECA’s director of written events. “I really think that Harker DECA impressed schools not only with our competitive results, but also our bond as a chapter. I am so excited to see what we can achieve at states!”
Club members prepared for the conference by holding study sessions every Friday and Saturday in the Innovation Center.
“The feeling when I heard my name being called up on to the stage was amazing. All the late nights and hard work were definitely worth it. Just thinking about being on stage and receiving the trophy gives me chills, it was such a surreal experience,” noted Ashna Chandra, grade 10, Harker DECA director of membership.
“I had a really good time at SVCDC this year,” said Shaan Gagneja, grade 10. “I was a finalist in both events that I competed in, and an overall finalist in my written event. I got to meet new people and expand my social network. This conference was an overall success for Harker DECA, and I can’t wait for the rest of the competitive season.”
“We’ve had the best competitive results this year since the inception of the business and entrepreneurship department,” said Sophia Luo, grade 12, Harker DECA CEO. “Thanks to our newly formed Officer Mentorship Program, many of our members worked one-on-one with experienced officers and achieved competitive excellence. I’m so proud of everyone, mentors and mentees alike.”
Jonathan Ma was today named a finalist in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search. As one of 40 finalists selected from more than 1,750 initial entrants, Ma will travel to Washington, D.C. in March for the final stage of competition, where more than $1 million in prizes will be awarded.
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Four Harker seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2016 Intel Science Talent Search, the Society for Science announced Wednesday. The students and their projects are as follows:
Vineet Kosaraju: Rational RNA Riboswitch Design through a Massive Open Laboratory
Sophia Luo: Integrative Multi-Cohort Analysis of Preeclamptic Placenta Identifies Perturbation of the P53 Pathway, Similarity to Certain Cancer Subtypes and Clinically Relevant Drugs
Jonathan Ma: Genomics-Based Cancer Drug Response Prediction Through the Adaptive Elastic Net
Sadhika Malladi: Application of EMDomics to Identify Age-Associated Expression and Treatments in Cancer
More than 1,750 students from 512 high schools entered this year’s contest. Of those, 300 were selected as semifinalists and each received a $1,000 award. In addition, each student’s school also received $1,000. The 40 finalists, who will compete in Washington, D.C., will be announced on Jan. 20.
The San Jose Mercury News mentioned the four semifinalists and last year’s win by Harker grade Andrew Jin ’15 in their coverage of the contest.
December has been a great month for Harker math students, who’ve been performing very well in annual math competitions.
Last week, Harker took first place nationwide in Interstellar’s Math Madness finals at the high school level. Middle school mathematicians also performed very well, with their team placing in the top 10 nationally. The competition, which comprised more 25,000 middle and high school contestants, was conducted through the Interstellar Web application, which allows teachers to create teams of students representing their schools and compete against other schools either by inviting them to compete or by entering events organized by Interstellar. Students had been competing since the September opening rounds, which separated schools into various divisions. Harker ended up in the Division I bracket at both the middle and upper school levels, with the upper school defeating University High School of Irvine to take first place. The middle school narrowly lost to Raymond J. Grey Junior High in Acton, Mass., who went on to win first place.
During the first week of December, National Assessment and Testing announced that Harker placed second in two national math contests. Upper school math teacher Anuradha Aiyer acted as coach for the two contests, each of which contained 100 problems that had to be solved in a half-hour. The Fall Startup contest had students solving problems on their own, while the Team Scramble allowed students to work as a group to solve tougher problems. The division in which each student competed corresponded to their grade level.
Harker’s placing was highlighted by several standout individual efforts. Grade 9 students Katherine Tian and Rose Guan placed 11th and 17th, respectively, in the ninth grade division. Sophomore Swapnil Garg took first place in the 10th grade division, where Rajiv Movva placed sixth and Joanna Lin placed eighth. David Zhu took 25th place in the 11th grade division. Finally, Richard Yi earned first place in the 12th grade division, in which Allison Wang took fourth place and Lawrence Li finished 23rd.
UPDATE: Two students, Evani Radiya-Dixit and David Zhu, both grade 11, have advanced as regional finalists in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology! Of the 17 California finalists, 10 are from the Bay Area, while seven are from Southern California. Only two other schools in the state had two finalists. New York State also had 17 finalists, followed by Texas with 11.
The full list of regional finalists can be found here. The Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology is considered the nation’s premier research competition for high school students. A total of 97 regional finalists from throughout the U.S. now advance to one of six regional competitions held over three consecutive weekends in November at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Nov. 6-7); Georgia Institute of Technology (Nov. 6-7); University of Notre Dame (Nov. 13-14); University of Texas at Austin (Nov. 13-14); California Institute of Technology (Nov. 20-21); and Carnegie Mellon University (Nov. 20-21).
Winners of the regional events advance to the National Finals at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Dec. 6-8, where $500,000 in scholarships will be awarded, including two top prizes of $100,000.
The competition awards a $1,000 scholarship to each regional finalist, in addition to one $3,000 prize to an individual winner and a $6,000 prize to a team winner at each regional competition.
A complete list of finalists and their projects is available at www.siemens-foundation.org preceding each regional event.
Oct. 16, 2015 The Siemens Foundation announced today that 13 Harker upper school students had been named semifinalists in this year’s Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology. Harker had the most semifinalists of any California school.
This year’s semifinalists are:
Vivek Bharadwaj, Rishabh Chandra, Anthony Luo and Jonathan Ma, grade 12; Rishab Gargeya, Shasvat Jawahar, Alex Mo, Evani Radiya-Dixit, Venkat Sankar, Manan Shah, Arjun Subramaniam and David Zhu, grade 11; and Brandon Mo, grade 10.
A total of 466 semifinalists were chosen from the 1,700 submissions received by Siemens. These students are now eligible to become regional finalists and travel to Washington, D.C., for the finals in December.
At a ceremony held at the Nichols Hall atrium on Tuesday, 30 Harker students were inducted into the Harker chapter of the National Honor Society (NHS), which recognizes high school students nationwide for their academic excellence, service and leadership.
This year’s NHS inductees are:
Aashe Sreekumar, grade 10; Aditya Dhar, grade 11; Akshaya Vemuri, grade 10; Alexander Lam, grade 11; Alex Wang, grade 10; Amy Jin, grade 10; Andrew Rule, grade 11; Anika Jain, grade 11; Arindam Ghosh, grade 10; Arjun Subramaniam, grade 11; Derek Kuo, grade 10; Divija Bhimaraju, grade 10; Emily Chen, grade 10; Jacqueline He, grade 10; Eric Jeong, grade 10; Joanna Lin, grade 10; Julia Huang, grade 10; Justin Su, grade 10; Kaitlin Hsu, grade 10; Kendall Ka, grade 11; Kevin Xu, grade 10; Mary Najibi, grade 12; Melinda Wisdom, grade 11; Mona Lee, grade 10; Morgan Douglas, grade 10; Karena Kong, grade 10; Nikhil Manglik, grade 11; Sahana Srinivasan, grade 10; Sandip Nirmel, grade 11; and Ziwen Ye, grade 11.
Update – Mar. 27, 2015
Today, Andrew was the subject of a news story in ChinaDaily, and earlier this week was featured in a TV news segment on the Chinese language network Sinovision.
Mar. 10, 2015
Harker senior Andrew Jin won a first-place medal of distinction in the Global Good category in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search. He is the first Harker student since 2006 to be named a winner in the competition and is one of three first-place winners in this year’s Intel STS, each of them claiming a prize of $150,000.
Jin, along with seniors Steven Wang and Rohith Kuditipudi, were named finalists in this year’s Intel STS in January, making Harker the only school nationwide with more than two finalists. Harker had 15 Intel semifinalists, the most of any school in the country.
Last week, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced that 51 Harker seniors qualified as semifinalists in the 2016 National Merit Scholarship Program. These students scored in the top 1 percent nationwide on the Preliminary SAT, which was taken last year by about 1.5 million grade 11 students. Overall, 62 percent of Harker’s Class of 2016 scored in the top 3 percent nationally.
The semifinalists are as follows, in alphabetical order by last name:
Vivek Bharadwaj, Jonathan Dai, Rohan Daran, Rohan Desikan, Victoria Ding, Ayushi Gautam, Grace Guan, Prithvi Gudapati, Cynthia Hao, Shannon Hong, Angela Huang, Kaylan Huang, Stephanie Huang, Joshua Hung, Raghav Jain, Maya Jeyendran, Abhinav Ketineni, Kristen Ko, Vineet Kosaraju, Janet Lee, Jason Lee, Adele Li, Lisa Liu, Evan Lohn, Anthony Luo, Sophia Luo, Jonathan Ma, Sadhika Malladi, Natasha Mayor, Shivali Minocha, Anika Mohindra, Aishwarya Murari, Emily Pan, Kristen Park, Sohil Patel, Divya Periyakoil, Karen Qi, Sanil Rajput, Nikita Ramoji, Elisabeth Siegel, Natalie Simonian, Gurutam Thockchom, Karen Tu, Anish Velagapudi, Allison Wang, Esther Wang, Alice Wu, Daphne Yang, Richard Yi, Michael Zhao and Jessica Zhu.