Harker students performed well at the Santa Clara County chapter MathCounts contest on Feb. 9. Competing in what is considered to be one of the toughest chapters in the country, Harker’s team of grade 7 students Rajiv Movva and Shaya Zarkesh and grade 8 students Peter Wu and David Zhu placed second among 47 schools, just missing first place by less than a single point. David Zhu scored 44 out of a possible 46 points, placing fifth overall in the competition. Peter Wu scored 42 points, taking 12th. Jimmy Lin, grade 7, scored 41 points and took 18th place. More than 350 students participated in the competition.

“These students have worked very hard to reach this far. They even attended weekend training sessions apart from after-school sessions since September,” said middle school math teacher Vandana Kadam. “They truly deserve this success.”

Harker will head to the state competition on March 23 at Stanford University.