Several middle school debate students headed to the Menlo School in late March for the State Latin Convention, where many of the students placed well in competition.

Several grade 6 students placed high in middle school level 1 contests, including Justin Au, who earned first place in grammar, dramatic interpretation and brass/winds, while placing second in reading comprehension and vocabulary. Praveen Batra took second in mythology and Latin Oratory. Classmate Michael Kwan took second in ancient geography, where Marcus Chen received an honorable mention. Adrian Chu took second place in Roman history, while Meena Gudapati won first in posters and second in greeting cards. In mottoes, quotes and abbreviations, Rishi Iyer received an honorable mention. Sunny Jayam took third in daily life, while Edgar Lin won first in mythology, third in derivatives and third in brass/winds. Jeffrey Ma finished third in both grammar and the 50-meter breaststroke. Andrew Semester earned first place in piano. Three grade 7 students also participated in the MS level 1 events. Grace Park earned first in black pencil and third in both dramatic interpretation and chalk/pastel. Arnav Tandon won first place in reading comprehension and second place in grammar. Finally, Raymond Xu was first in pentathlon, second in Roman history and third in vocabulary.

Grade 7 students competed in the MS level 2 events, in which Aditya Dhar took first in mythology and second in pentathlon and dramatic interpretation. Alexander Lam finished first in mottoes, quotes and abbreviations and received an honorable mention for his performance in pentathlon. Venkat Sankar earned first in both ancient geography and Latin oratory, as well as second in daily life and reading comprehension. Manan Shah was awarded an honorable mention for his performance in pentathlon. Arjun Subramaniam placed first in vocal music, second in mythology and the “That’s Entertainment” talent show (in which classmate Karthik Sundaram placed third) and third in derivatives. Austin Tuan placed second in ancient geography and grammar and also took third in pentathlon.

In the middle school advanced events, grade 8 students had many top placements. Rishabh Chandra won first place in reading comprehension, second in grammar and third in pentathlon. Sadhika Malladi took second in reading comprehension, while Kaushik Sankar took third in both mythology and dramatic interpretation and was given an honorable mention in reading comprehension. Elisabeth Siegel took first in grammar and second in mythology. Allison Wang earned high placements in a total of five categories, placing first in both mottoes, quotes and abbreviations and pentathlon, and second in mythology, dramatic interpretation and essay.

Harker took the Academic Sweepstakes prize for the middle school level, with Justin Au, Venkar Sankar and Allison Wang taking the top awards in the state.

Grade 8 students Shannon Hong and Natalie Simonian led a team that designed a banner to represent Harker at the event and won first prize. Grade 8 student Kevin Ke’s t-shirt design also took the top spot.

In Certamen (quiz bowl), the team of Justin Au, Adrian Chu, Praveen Batra, Edgar Lin, Andrew Semenza and Raymond Xu took first place statewide in the middle school level 1 category. Harker’s middle school level 2 Certamen team, made up of Aditya Dhar, Alexander Lam, Venkar Sankar, Manan Shah and Arjun Subramaniam, was named second in the state. The middle school advanced team of Rshabh Chandra, Kaushik Sankar, Elisabeth Siegel and Allison Wang took first in the state.

Thanks to the students’ splendid performances, Harker was the top middle school in the state at the convention.