Sophomore Spencer Cha recently won the Southwest division of the Music Teachers National Association’s Composition Competition and will head to Chicago in March as a national finalist. Cha, who has studied piano for more than 12 years and has studied composition for three years, also will perform with the Golden State Youth Orchestra in May.
Cha also has won numerous piano competitions, including the California Association of Professional Music Teachers State Honors Competition, the San Francisco Chopin Competition for Young Pianists and the Marilyn Mindell Piano Competition, in addition to being a soloist with the Palo Alto Philharmonic and performing at Carnegie Hall. He currently performs with the upper school orchestra as an oboist.
Krish Mysoor, grade 8, had a record-setting weekend in debate, placing first at the Damus Hollywood Invitational, hosted by the Harvard-Westlake and Notre Dame schools in Los Angeles, Nov. 2-4.
Mysoor is the only eighth grader in memory to take first place at a varsity national qualifier to the Tournament of Champions (TOC). TOC-designated tournaments are considered to be the most challenging debate tournaments because they attract the most competitive schools from multiple states. The topic for the event was whether or not the United States ought to eliminate subsidies for fossil fuels.
Students who reach a certain level of elimination-round success at two of those events are invited to compete at the most elite varsity championship at the end of the year. It is extremely rare for a middle school student to even reach early elimination rounds at TOC tournaments, let alone to have a perfect preliminary record and then go on to win five elimination rounds in a row. The team is very proud of his outstanding accomplishment.
Lincoln Garrett, the head debate coach of the University of Kentucky, which hosts the Tournament of Champions, noted of Mysoor’s accomplishment, “That is incredible. To go from learning the activity a short while ago to winning a competitive tournament is remarkable.”
Mysoor is known for his hard work and being a great teammate. His remarkable success has attracted quite a bit of attention from the national debate community. Go Harker speech and debate!
Brian Chen is headed to Washington, D.C.! Today, the freshman was named as a finalist in the 2019 Broadcom MASTERS competition. He and the other finalists will spend Oct. 25-30 in the nation’s capital, competing in the final stage of the competition, as well as meeting government officials and displaying their projects to the public. Winners will be announced on Oct. 29. Best of luck!
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Seven students were named to the Top 300 in the 2019 Broadcom MASTERS competition! Arjun Barrett, Rohan Bhowmik, Gordon Chen, Brian Chen, Jacob Huang and Nicholas Wei, all grade 9, and Reshma Kosaraju, grade 8, were selected from more than 2,300 applicants for this year’s competition. The students were selected for projects they entered in science fairs last year, when they were in middle school.
On Sept. 18, 30 of the Top 300 will be announced as finalists and will travel to Washington, D.C., in October to compete for awards and prizes totaling more than $100,000. Each year, the Society for Science & the Public selects the top 10 percent of middle school science projects submitted to society-affiliated science fairs to enter the Broadcom MASTERS competition.
Team Harker crushed it at the National Speech & Debate Tournament, where Haris Hosseini ’19, and Avi Gulati, a rising senior, nailed first and second places in original oratory. This event, billed as the largest academic competition in the world, is the culminating event of the speech and debate season. And there’s more good news: Alycia Cary ’19 made it to the semifinals for oratory; Andrew Sun, a rising junior, was 15th in congressional debate; and Jason Huang ‘19 made it to the semifinals of congressional debate.
“When these results are added to earlier results at the National Debate Coaches Association National Championship (sophomore Akshay Manglik’s top-three-in-the-nation finish in Lincoln-Douglas debate and Anusha Kuppahally, grade 12 and Maddie Huynh, grade 11, finishing fifth in policy debate), we have had quite the season!” noted Jennifer Achten, speech and debate chair.
Check out the feature article on this year’s speech and debate team in the spring/summer 2019 issue of Harker Magazine or right here, reprinted in Harker News!
The speech and debate team wrapped up its season with some nice results! Haris Hosseini, rising senior, made it to the final round of original oratory at the National Speech & Debate Association championship and ended up taking a righteous third place. Jennifer Achten, Harker debate chair, noted Hosseini’s “nine-minute speech is a powerful critique of toxic masculinity.”
Rising junior Avi Gulati made the semifinals of original oratory with a speech about the pitfalls of mimicry and the value of being your own person, Achten noted. Gulati finished in seventh place, giving Harker two of the top 10 spots in the nation! These results put Harker in the top 10 overall in speech event sweepstakes. “Coach Scott Odekirk has done a wonderful job guiding their speeches and we are all very proud of the whole crew,” said Achten.
Harker middle school speech and debate team members competed at three tournaments in three states – California, Georgia and Texas – in April and early May.
In April, at the National Debate Coaches Association National Championship in Atlanta, 166 entries from 102 schools across 26 states competed. Harker had two middle school entrants and a few upper school entrants.
Also in April, 10 middle and upper school Harker students competed at the St. Marks Novice Round Up in Dallas. A dozen schools were represented. Results are below.
Novice Policy
1st – Deven Shah and Andy Lee, grades 8 and 9, respectively, went undefeated with a perfect 19-0 ballot count.
Novice Policy Speaker Awards
1st – Andy Lee
2nd – Deven Shah
6th – Ansh Sheth, grade 6
On May 7, approximately 40 Harker middle schools students competed against each other in two distinct intramural debate events in preparation for the Middle School Tournament of Champions Nationals, and earned the following awards:
Lincoln-Douglas
1st – Rahul Santhanam, grade 7
2nd – Brian Chen, grade 7
Public Forum
1st – Sriram Bhimaraju and Arjun Gurjar, both grade 6 (3-0)
2nd – Adam Sayed and Sathvik Chundru, both grade 6 (3-0)
Public Forum Speaker Awards
1st – Sascha Pakravan, grade 8
2nd – Carol Wininger, grade 7
3rd – Ansh Sheth, grade 6
4th – Ayan Nath, grade 8
5th – Deeya Viradia, grade 7
In early May, Harker speech and debate team members attended the middle school TOC at the University of Kentucky, in Lexington.
At the event, 232 of the best middle school speech and debate students from 35 schools competed. Overall, Harker had great success across all events. Harker won the First Place Sweepstakes Team Award for best middle school speech and debate team in the country.
Harker students won the following awards, competing against some of the best middle school teams in the country:
Policy
1st – Deven Shah and Mir Bahri, grade 7, undefeated, 20-0 ballot count
5th – Saanvi Arora, grade 8, and Sarah Mohammed, grade 7
Policy Speaker Awards
2nd – Deven Shah
18th – Mir Bahri
Lincoln-Douglas
2nd – Anshul Reddy, grade 8
3rd – Alexander Lan, grade 7
5th – Akhilesh Chegu, grade 8
5th – Arnav Dani, grade 8
9th – Brian Chen, grade 7
Lincoln-Douglas Speaker Awards
1st – Akhilesh Chegu, grade 8
3rd – Krish Maniar, grade 7
4th – Anshul Reddy, grade 8
Public Forum
1st – Sascha Pakravan and Ayan Nath
2nd – Krishna Mysoor, grade 7, and Ansh Sheth
5th – Arnav Jain and Rohan Rashingkar, both grade 8
17th – Michelle Jin and Lexi Nishimura, both grade 7
Huge congratulations to Suchita Nety ’13 and Angela Ma ’14 for being awarded 2018 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans!
This unique program honors 30 outstanding immigrants and children of immigrants who are pursuing graduate degrees in the United States. Each of the recipients, selected from more than 1,700 applicants, was chosen for his or her potential to make significant contributions to U.S. society, culture or his or her academic field. Recipients receive up to $90,000 in funding toward their education over two years.
Nety’s and Ma’s complete bios are on the website, but here is a quick summary of what these women have been doing since leaving Harker.
Ma’s award will support her in her pursuit of a Ph.D. in business economics at Harvard University. She has a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard, has been editor-in-chief of the Harvard Economics Review and is a John Harvard Scholar. Ma was an avid ballet dancer while at Harker, and she danced, choreographed and was treasurer for the Harvard Ballet Company. She plans to become an economics professor and is interested in financial crisis management.
Nety will use the award to continue her work on a Ph.D. in biological engineering at MIT and an M.D. at Harvard. She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from CalTech and spent four years working with protein-based reporters for ultrasound imaging, and earned a number of accolades including the 2016 George W. Housner Prize for Academic Excellence and Original Research, the Arie J. Haagen-Smit Memorial Award and the Hallett Smith Prize for Essay Devoted to Shakespeare. Along with her academic efforts, Nety has volunteered at a literacy nonprofit, attained professional status in Bharatanatyam, a style of Indian classical dance, and choreographs hip-hop. Her goal is to work with patients as an oncologist and develop molecular tools to assist in cell-based therapies.
On Feb. 7, the new athletic center earned the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification! Harker’s Nichols Hall science and technology center already received LEED Gold Certification and the brand new Rothschild Performing Arts Center (RPAC), which just opened last Friday, is on track for certification. The athletic facility opened in August.
The LEED system, created and maintained by the U.S. Green Building Council, is administered by Green Certification Inc., The athletic center was awarded all 72 points applied for, including five out of five points for development density and community connectivity, six of of six points for alternative transportation—public transportation access, 19 out of 19 points for optimized energy performance and seven out of seven points for on-site renewable energy. The solar array on the roof of the athletic center will supply up to 25 percent of the energy needed for the two new buildings.
Many other features contributed to the rating including many materials, such as paints and coatings that emit minimal vapor when installed; building materials with recycled content; water use reduction; and water efficient landscaping.
Harker’s Nichols Hall, opened in 2007, was the first school building in Santa Clara County to receive a Gold rating from LEED. Read more, here.
Here are some of the other features that helped the athletic center achieve LEED Gold Certification.
White reflective paint on roof
Bioswales to filter runoff water
Photovoltaic cells (supplying 25 percent of the electricity needed for the athletic center and RPAC)
Plumbing fixtures are designed for 40 percent reduced water use from baseline
Dedicated parking for high-efficiency vehicles
Exterior lights with photometric layout to reduce light pollution
95 percent of construction debris diverted from landfill
No volatile organic compounds emissions from carpet or paint
No volatile organic compounds emissions from wood
Occupancy sensors on interior lighting
Glazing on windows that minimizes solar heat transfer
Harker business and entrepreneurship student Roma Gandhi, though only in grade 9, is set to manage a household budget, having won a $20,000 scholarship from H&R Block in its annual Budget Challenge. Gandhi was one of only 10 winners out of 180,000 students nationwide who participated in the challenge. Gandhi collected her oversized check from H&R Block district general manager Marilyn Raisor in front of her cheering classmates in mid-May.
“This is very, very impressive,” said Raisor. “This challenge teaches you how to set aside money for the monthly things, and also for the fun things.”
Gandhi allotted 15 minutes per evening and more time on weekends to keep up with the challenge. “I did put in a lot of effort,” she said.
“The first thing I learned is the value of money, how to budget and how to manage your money,” said Gandhi. “I feel like that is really useful. Before, I didn’t really have a grasp on that. Every time I’d go shopping, my parents would tell me to have a budget and I’d be like, ‘yeah.’ Now I’m more aware of costs, and self-conscious about having a budget every time I go out.”
Two students have recognized as national medalists in the 2017 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Soham Khan, grade 12, won a gold medal for his critical essay, “Understanding the Bolshevik and Stalinist Revolutions through the Music of Shostakovich: A Music-Historical Analysis,” and sophomore Katrina Liou’s painting “Sardines” won her a silver medal.
As a gold medalist, Khan is now eligible to attend the National Ceremony, held in New York City this June. Congratulations!
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Earlier this month, 60 Harker students were named regional winners in this year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. The awards, founded in 1923, recognize the creative work of young people in a wide variety of visual and literary disciplines.
Students were successful in many visual arts categories. Senior Irene Bashar received an honorable mention in architecture and industrial design. Debarati Chatterjee, grade 11, won a Gold Key in printmaking and two honorable mentions in digital art. Cynthia Chen, grade 9, was awarded an honorable mention in photography, and Gwyneth Chen, grade 11, received a Silver Key in sculpture and an honorable mention in jewelry.
Sophomore Rithika Devarakonda won a Gold Key in drawing and illustration, while Elizaveta Egorova, grade 10, won a Gold Key in digital art. Senior Alexa Gross hauled in an impressive eight awards, including Gold Keys in digital art and jewelry. She also won two Silver Keys in photography and a Silver Key in art portfolio, as well as honorable mentions in printmaking, art portfolio and digital art.
Senior Jeremy Harari won a Gold Key for his entry in photography, and Susan He, grade 10, received two Silver Keys and an honorable mention for her works in drawing and illustration. Kaitlin Hsu, grade 11, won four Silver Keys – two each in the painting, and drawing and illustration categories – and an honorable mention in painting.
Sophomore Jason Huang’s two entries in the painting category won him a pair of Silver Keys, and Ashley Jiang, grade 11, had great success in the photography category, winning three Silver Keys and an honorable mention. Raveena Kapatkar, grade 12, received a Silver Key in painting and an honorable mention in photography. Another senior, Angela Kim, won three Gold Keys, a Silver Key and an honorable mention in the design category.
Senior Sarisha Kurup earned a Gold Key and a Silver Key in painting, as well as an honorable mention for mixed media. Meanwhile, senior Isabel Lai collected an honorable mention and a Silver Key in drawing and illustration. Chen Yu Li, grade 12, was a big winner in drawing and illustration, winning a Gold Key and four Silver Keys. In addition, Li also received honorable mentions in art portfolio and painting.
Junior Millie Lin picked up a Silver Key in photography, and Katrina Liou, grade 10, won Gold Keys in both painting, and drawing and illustration, as well as honorable mentions in comic art and painting. Sophomore Erin Liu’s entry in photography won a Silver Key, while juniors Matthew McCallaCreary and Alexandra Michael picked up honorable mentions in digital art.
Senior Alex Mo won a Silver Key in photography, and junior Brandon Mo received a Silver Key and three honorable mentions in the painting category. Junior Kaitlyn Nguyen won a Silver Key in drawing and illustration, while fellow junior Raveena Panja earned a Silver Key in drawing and illustration and an honorable mention in comic art.
Senior Grace Park had a great showing this year, winning a Gold Key in painting and a Silver Key in photography, as well as honorable mentions in painting, art portfolio, and drawing and illustration. In photography, senior William Park and junior Abha Patkar received Silver Keys. Junior Alisa Su won an honorable mention in drawing and illustration. Senior Marti Sutton was very successful in painting, winning two Gold Keys and an honorable mention. He also received two honorable mentions in art portfolio.
Sophomore Catherine Wang won four awards in drawing and illustration – a Gold Key, two Silver Keys and an honorable mention. Elizabeth Yang, grade 10, also had success in drawing and illustration, winning a Silver Key and an honorable mention.
More than two dozen students also were recognized for their writing talents. Cynthia Chen, grade 9, earned a Gold Key in poetry and an honorable mention in flash fiction. Emily Chen, grade 11, was awarded an honorable mention in personal essay/memoir. Gwyneth Chen, grade 11, received a Silver Key in poetry and Ishani Cheshire, grade 10, earned an honorable mention in science fiction/fantasy. Junior Amy Dunphy received a Gold Key for her entry in flash fiction, while freshman Avi Gulati earned an honorable mention in critical essay and Mahika Halepete, grade 9, won a Silver Key in flash fiction.
Jacqueline He, grade 11, won a total of eight awards, earning four Gold Keys in poetry, two Silver Keys in short story and additional Silver Keys in flash fiction and poetry. Junior Amy Jin earned a Gold Key in critical essay, Silver Keys in critical essay and personal essay/memoir and an honorable mention in journalism. Soham Khan, grade 12, received a Gold Key in critical essay, and junior Jimmy Lin won Silver Keys in critical essay and journalism. Millie Lin, also grade 11, won a Gold Key in personal essay/memoir and an honorable mention in critical essay.
Sophomore Erin Liu was awarded a Silver Key in personal essay/memoir, Annie Ma, grade 9, won a Gold Key in poetry and Kalyan Narayanan, also grade 9, received an honorable mention in flash fiction. Amla Rashingkar, grade 9, won an honorable mention in short story and a Silver Key in poetry, and senior Andrew Rule received two honorable mentions in the short story category. Kismet Singh, grade 9, earned an honorable mention in flash fiction and junior Sahana Srinivasan won a Silver Key in poetry.
Earning four awards, senior Meilan Steimle received two Gold Keys in short story and personal essay/memoir, a Silver Key in short story and an honorable mention in short story. In personal essay/memoir, Satchi Thockchom, grade 11, won a Silver Key. Grade 9 student Nellie Tonev received an honorable mention for her work in the poetry category, and Shania Wang, grade 10, won honorable mention in personal essay/memoir. Derek Yen, grade 11, was awarded a Silver Key in critical essay and an honorable mention in poetry, and sophomore Alexander Young received a Silver Key in poetry and an honorable mention in personal essay/memoir.
Katherine Zhang, grade 10, hauled in five awards, winning Silver Keys for short story and personal essay/memoir and honorable mentions for poetry and two journalism entries. Senior Tiffany Zhu received a Gold Key for poetry and a Silver Key for short story.
As Gold Key winners, Cynthia Chen, Debarati Chatterjee, Rithika Devarakonda, Elizaveta Egorova, Jeremy Harari, Jacqueline He, Amy Jin, Soham Khan, Angela Kim, Sarisha Kurup, Chen Yu Li, Millie Lin, Katrina Liou, Annie Ma, Grace Park, Meilan Steimle, Marti Sutton, Catherine Wang and Tiffany Zhu are now eligible to receive national recognition. National medal awardees will be invited to the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards national events in New York City.
Congratulations to all the talented students featured here!