Harker sees big wins at California Junior Classical League Convention

At the California Junior Classical League Convention, held on April 13 and 14 at Menlo School, Harker upper school Latin students were successful in a large number of events, with Harker taking first place overall in its division.

Two students won awards for the best academic performance at their respective levels. Freshman Akshay Manglik won in level 3, competing against 223 other students, and sophomore Jeffrey Fung was the winner at the advanced level, in which 236 other students competed.

Fung was also the top scorer in the academic pentathlon and grammar II tests. Other top test scorers were senior Edgar Lin in derivatives and Andrew Semenza in reading comprehension III.

Several more Harker students earned top spots in other competitions, including Elliot Kampmeier, grade 9, who placed second in level 1 sight reading.

In the level 3 events, Manglik took first place in pentathlon and dramatic interpretation, second place in grammar II and third in derivatives. Anna Vazhaeparambil, grade 9, placed third in pentathlon, dramatic interpretation and cartoons. Sara Yen, grade 9, took second place in dramatic interpretation and grammar II, and junior Ben Yuan finished in second place for both reading comprehension III and sight reading, with a third place finish in Latin oratory.

At the advanced level, Jai Bahri, grade 10, placed second in sight reading (poetry), and Arohee Bhoja, grade 9, took second in dramatic interpretation. Junior Timothy Chang placed first in essay, third in classical art and third in daily life. In addition to his other wins, Fung also took first place in sight reading (poetry), third place in ancient geography and third place in sight reading (prose). Sophomore Avi Gulati placed first in grammar II, pentathlon and sight reading (poetry), as well as third in ancient geography and sight reading (poetry). Semenza took top spots in three events, placing first in reading comprehension III, second in derivatives and third in vocabulary. Sophomore Kyle Li had third place finishes in both mythology and pentathlon, and Lin took second place in pentathlon in addition to his win in derivatives. Finally, Sara Min, grade 11, placed third in mythology, Ayush Pancholy, also grade 11, finished third in reading comprehension III and sophomore Jack Hansen took third in reading comprehension III.