The team also managed to place 12th in a non-academic portion of the event in which the students had to build a vehicle that could carry a container of salt a distance of 20 meters in the shortest possible time, powered by a lithium ion battery. The Harker team’s vehicle went the distance in 7.6 seconds, just over one second longer than the first-place finisher’s vehicle.

Not ones to let a trip out of state go to waste, the students also saw the many sights offered by the nation’s capital, including the Natural History Museum, the Lincoln Memorial and the Capitol Building.

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!

Adding to the excitement of this year’s visit to Harker’s sister school in China, which ran from March 27 to April 7, was the addition of the seventh grade student participants, who joined the trip for the first time.

Originally based around the grade 8 computer science class’ global issues forum, the China trip will now also incorporate the grade 7 historical component of learning about ancient China. According to Harker’s global education department, including seventh graders on the trip proved to be such a success that it will be the norm going forward.

To be able to go on the China exchange trip was a dream come true for grade 7 student Raveena Panja, who said that in Shanghai, spending time with her buddy Jasmine (who attends WFLMS) taught her a lot about Chinese family values.

“My favorite memory with Jasmine was when she took me to an outdoor night market – it was so pretty with all the night lights and everyone I met was so sweet and welcoming. Beijing was also very beautiful, for it holds the historical and traditional side of China. The Great Wall was breathtaking! Traveling to China exposed me to a new culture, allowed me to make lifelong friends halfway across the world and made me realize I am a part of a bigger global community which is filled with wonderful people, regardless of where they are from,” recalled Panja.

Greg Lawson, assistant head of school for student affairs, who headed this year’s trip, said that the Harker group of student participants was accompanied by four faculty member chaperones. One of the chaperones, middle school computer science teacher Abigail Joseph, had preceded the group to spend some rewarding time working as an exchange teacher at WFLMS.

“I most enjoyed watching the students engage in round-table discussions with their buddies on various topics affecting youth from homework loads and family rituals to United States-China relations. They were very interested in learning about and sharing with one another. As a teacher it was really wonderful to see two different communities collide and sit down at the table to have real dialogues about personal matters. This made me know the future of dialogue and deliberation is in good hands,” observed Joseph.

Upon their arrival in China, the students were warmly welcomed at the Pudong International Airport by their pals from WFLMS. From there, they hopped on a bus for the short drive into the city to meet their host families.

“The variety of experiences they were extended by their host families gave them all a marvelous glimpse into life in Shanghai, and these were augmented by our further travels. The students also had a chance to make regional arts comparisons, attending both the Shanghai acrobats show and the Beijing ‘Legend of Kung Fu’ spectacle. As usual, a highlight for them was the trip to the Great Wall of China,” Lawson reported.

During their time at WFLMS, the Harker students enjoyed attending classes with their Chinese friends and taking part in special activities such as making dumplings and creating culturally-based art projects. In fact, Harker and WFLMS students grew so close that as their time together came to a close, there were numerous touching goodbyes, speeches, performances and heartfelt promises to stay in touch.

After spending time at WFLMS, the Harker contingent prepared to depart for the next phase of the trip: Beijing. Their first adventure in Beijing consisted of a rickshaw tour of the Hutong, or ancient alleyways that once covered the city.

Next on the itinerary was a visit to the Great Wall of China. Taking a ski lift to the top of the mountain, they entered onto the wall. Many photos were taken of the renowned structure, and the students were thrilled to take a toboggan ride back down the side of the mountain.

The group returned to Beijing the next day and visited Tiananmen Square, site of the 1989 protests and ensuing military action. They then headed to the Forbidden City, where they were guided through several of its 980 palatial buildings.

After enjoying lunch, they went to Silk Street Market, a famous shopping center, where they had fun haggling with its many vendors. From there, they enjoyed a final outing to the Summer Palace, China’s largest imperial garden, where they rode a dragon boat to the palace’s pavilion.

The grade 7 and 8 students arrived back home in early April, feeling bonded and eager to share their trip experiences with friends, family and fellow middle-schoolers. And this year, the good news for grade 7 students is that they will have a chance to repeat the wonderful experience of the China trip all over again in grade 8!

April 11, 2013 9:08
Students, faculty and family members recently put on their walking shoes for the seventh annual Harker Cancer Walk. The successful schoolwide effort netted over $4,000  for Camp Okizu, with donations still flowing in after the event.

For more than 30 years Camp Okizu, located in the Berry Creek area in the Sierra Foothills, has provided peer support, respite, mentoring and recreational programs for families affected by childhood cancer.

Mirroring a residential camp experience, Okizu provides a safe place for young cancer patients to enjoy such regular childhood pastimes as swimming, boating, archery and a ropes course, in addition to social events. The name Okizu (oak-eye-zoo) comes from the Sioux language and means unity.

Uniting the entire Harker community together while raising cancer awareness, the symbolic stroll was held on the morning of March 29 on the Blackford campus field. Ribbons were worn by participants and music played for the duration of the walk. Supplementing direct donations were a large amount of T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wrist bands which were sold by volunteers.

Cindy Ellis, middle school head, reported that advisories had been busy decorating the “biggest cancer walk poster ever” for this year’s event. The result of the collaborative efforts of the entire middle school, it hung on the amphitheater wall from March 25-29 and stood eight feet high. Advisories also made small, honorary flags for those who have survived or passed away from cancer, which were then placed on the ground along the walking path.

“It is sometimes hard to explain why the Cancer Walk is so meaningful. I personally feel it is because it blossomed from the heart. How rare and wonderful it is to have the opportunity to stop, walk, share with friends and help out others. The gift, ultimately, is for Okizu and all of us!” said Ellis who helped launch the event with Michael Schmidt.

Schmidt, who teaches middle school computer science, had the idea for the walk back in 2007 following the passing of his mother due to cancer the previous year. “The weather was beautiful and I saw so many smiling faces!” he said. “I am so happy to help the children who will now be able to attend Camp Okizu as a result of all of our collective efforts. This event really shows the wonderful heart and spirit of our entire community, including faculty, staff, parents and students. You are all amazing.” Schmidt said he could never have originally predicted how much the efforts of the Cancer Walk would resonate across all three of Harker’s campuses.

“There were all too many people with a connection, and they too wanted to join in the celebration, the commemoration for someone close to them. The Cancer Walk is truly an effort of the community that I have grown to cherish at Harker,” he added. ”Thank you again for our SEVENTH amazing Cancer Walk.”

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.

In the grade 6 individual category, Rose Guan took fourth. Jerry Chen and Jimmy Lin took second and fifth, respectively, in the grade 7 individual contest. In the grade 7 team competition, Harker’s team of Chen, Jimmy Lin, Michael Kwan, Edgar Lin, Jeffrey Ma, Alexander Wang and Randy Zhao took first place.

The event included generous help from more than 30 upper school volunteers who helped administer the tests and write problems, and performed other tasks to make sure the event was well run. Grade 10 students Cindy Liu, David Lin and Ashwath Thirimalai, all of whom were participants at the invitational in their previous years at Harker, wrote problems for the exams. Liu also created the design that went on the T-shirts for this year’s event. “It is with pride I can say that the students who went through these contests as middle school students come back to write problems as upper school students,” Kadam said.

A volunteer-driven nonprofit organization giving blankets to children who are seriously ill or living in shelters, Project Linus works to provide a sense of security, warmth and comfort through the donation of handmade, washable blankets lovingly created by volunteer makers or “blanketeers.”

The blanket creation for Project Linus was the middle school students’ community service project for this year. Working in pairs, students produced 12 blankets for donation to the local branch of Project Linus.

To date, Project Linus has delivered more than 4,000,000 security blankets to children around the world and has nearly 400 chapters in the United States. Although the organization originally donated blankets to pediatric cancer patients, recipients now include any child who is seriously ill or traumatized in some way.

“What a great opportunity to be able to use our advisory time to make a collaborative impact on our community to help children in need of comfort,” said Pinzás.

As usual, the stalwart crew of set designer Paul Vallerga, sound engineer Brian Larsen and lighting designer Natti Pierce-Thomson worked tirelessly to keep all the moving parts of this technically demanding show in order.

“It was fun to watch the two teams play against each other in the final match. It was almost like their Friday practice but a bit more intense,” said middle school science teacher Vandana Kadam. Wu’s team actually claimed a victory over Sankar’s team earlier in the tournament, but the two teams met again in the finals, with Sankar’s team winding up victorious. “Both teams played exceptionally well,” Kadam noted. The winning team will head to the National Science Bowl in Washington, D.C., in late April.

On March 3, the EagleBots team, comprising grade 6 students Andrew Chang, Christopher Gong, Kaushik Shivakumar and Rithvik Panchapakesan, secured the top spot in the robot performance category of the NorCal First Lego League (FLL) Silicon Valley Championship, held at Newark High School. The EagleBots earned first place in the robot performance category by securing 455 points in a field of 48 teams from six district qualifier tournaments. The EagleBots’ focus on robot performance has been recognized by their achievements over the past two years at the St. Lawrence qualifier where they secured the top spot in the robot performance category this season and second place last year, as a rookie team.

Team StormTech, a second group of grade 6 students made up of Ryan Adolf, Ayush Pancholy, Akshay Ravoor, Ashwin Reddy and Anjay Saklecha, also had an amazing season competing for their first time in FLL. At the NorCal Championships, they were awarded the second place trophy for strategy and innovation and their robot finished fourth overall in the robot game with an impressive 418 points. Their research project, “Invizalift: The Motorized Knee Brace” received praise from the judges. Throughout the season they worked hard and had fun.