Kudos: Students Compete, Win Awards in Varied Activities

On Dec. 22, Katherine Zhu, grade 5, placed third in the girls’ 10-year-old division at the U.S. Kids Golf Tournament in Maui, Hawaii. She shot 80-85-78, for a total of 243 shots.

Nikash Shankar, grade 8, proved his skating prowess in Fresno at the 2010 Southwest Pacific Regional Skating Competition held from June 22-29. Shankar won first place in freestyle skating, first and third place in two of the figure skating events, and third place in the dance event. Based on his exemplary performance, he will advance to compete with other skaters from Western states in the regional competition in 2011. Meanwhile, Shankar is training to participate in state events to qualify for the National Figure Skating Championship.

Budding comedian and Harker senior Julian Wise debuted at the Rooster T. Feathers Comedy Club in Sunnyvale this summer. He provided the opening act to physicist Norm Goldblatt’s “Science Laughs” and The Tonight Show’s Don McMillan. During the summer, Wise competed in San Jose ComedySportz’s “Left Coast Tournament,” and traveled to the ComedySportz in Los Angeles, where he won the “Comeback Kid” award.

Jerrica Liao, grade 5, is quickly becoming fantastic with a foil. In an Oct. 23 San Francisco Regional Youth Circuit competition, Liao won first place in the girls foil Y12 division, and placed third in Y10 girls foil. Two weeks later, Liao travelled to Phoenix, Ariz., to compete in the Bernie Stein Memorial: Super Youth Circuit (SYC) competition, where she placed second in girls foil in the Y10 division and eighth in Y12. Since SYC is a National Point event, Liao is now ranked fifth in the U.S. in Y10 girls foil and 32nd in the U.S. in Y12 girls foil. Liao has been a member of the California Fencing Academy for three years, and is currently a member of its national team. To watch the quick-handed Harker student in action, click here.

Vikram Vasan, grade 7, made a strong showing at the second annual Golden State Open Chess Tournament in Concord, Calif., over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend Jan. 14-17. Vasan (rating 1525) finished second out of players from California, Washington and Utah in the under 1,600 section, which included competition against adults. For his victory, Vasan claimed a monetary award of $750.

Longtime fencer Isaac Madan, grade 12, has qualified to fence in the World Cup in Madrid, Spain, in February and the Senior Grand Prix in Venice, Italy, in March. “These tournaments play a role in Olympic qualification,” said Madan, who fences for India’s senior and junior national teams. “I’ll be attending the Senior Grand Prix for sure; I’m still deciding on the World Cup. The qualification path is based on Indian national standing, which is basically tabulated by performance in various international competitions,” he said. Madan and another long-time Harker fencer, senior Ambrish Amaranathan, plan to represent Harker at the All-State Foil Championship in April, held annually in San Francisco.