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VOLUME 15 • ISSUE 4 FEATURES • JANUARY 27, 2014
Down to Business lavinia ding & riya chandra reporters
The newly-formed Harker Podcast Series club, composed of three members and an advisor, has already posted two of its podcasts, featuring interviews with entrepreneurs and executives.
Watch at podcasts.harker.org
Interstellar sweep
per and the occasional clack of the keyboard, or enthused whispers. Students glanced at the clock from time to time, hoping they had not lost their chance to win for their school. Such was the atmosphere of the Math club throughout the month-long Interstellar math competition. After defeating 64 other schools, the Math club made school history by winning first place in the national contest.
Math club takes first place in national online team contest sindhu ravuri global editor
50 students sprawled across the floor of Misael Fisico’s cramped classroom, each intently staring at their laptop screens. The only sounds were the heavy scratching of pencil on pa-
Interstellar, a web application created by the Mathematical Association of America, is an online math competition comprising of four weekly rounds of “matches,” each lasting 30 minutes and consisting of 10 questions in a round-robin format. The Math Club decided to participate in Interstellar’s first event due to the unique format of the contest and its prior qualifications with American Mathematics Competition. “When we were discussing our plans, we had to decide what competitions we wanted to do. We thought In-
Sessions typically start with the members of the club sending out around 15 emails and hearing back from about three people, who schedule a date for recording. Glenn shows them to the multimedia room in Nichols Hall, where they are recorded and are asked to talk about “some of their biggest challenges, maybe their favorite quote that they think can help us aspiring entrepreneurs,” according to Glenn. After the recording session ends, the club typically gives the interviewees some small treats such as candy, cards, and even a special set of Harker Podcast Series-engraved glasses. They also contact them when their podcast is released. The Harker Podcast Series has high hopes for their club. “We aim to be, as the podcast series, not just a Harker opportunity. We want it to be the best, the elite podcast for all high schools up in the nation. All over the world,” Glass said. PROVIDED BY HARKER.ORG
The Harker Podcast Series is a selection of monthly 20 to 30 minute videos, featuring Glenn Reddy (11) as interviewer. The club formed when Glenn talked to Juston Glass (Director of Business and Entrepreneurialism) at the Upper School that he wanted to start something in the Business and Entrepreneurialism Program (BE). The idea for this series came from Entrepreneur on Fire, a business website that posts about thirty podcasts a month. Glass and Glenn decided to emulate. “We have so many qualified speakers, just among faculty and even parents. There are so many great people we could interview,” Glenn said. As president of the club, Glenn’s main role includes interviewing the volunteers and leading the club. John Nicolas Jerney (10) was recruited immediately to run the tech side of things. “I maintain the website, keep it updated. I do the recordings in the multimedia room, and I’m just the guy who makes sure the cameras are all running. I also take the footage and edit it,” he said. Sophia Luo (10) was recently added to the club to help out with marketing and social media, and she is currently designing the Harker Podcast Series’ logo. Glass says his role is “to be there as an adult supervisor and to help facilitate anything that they can’t do, reserving rooms, giving advice, connecting them with the office of communications as their adult leader.”
BEHIND THE SCENES Glenn Reddy (11) mines entrepreneur Scott McNealy’s experience in the second video of the Harker Podcast Series.
terstellar would be interesting because it’s unconventional,” said Cindy Liu (11), co-Vice President of the Math Club. “[It] was a challenge at first.” After the preliminary round, the Math Club became one of 64 teams with the highest score averages throughout the four weekly “matches,” and was placed in the first division. Among these 64 teams, the Math Club made it to the finals and competed against the Academy for the Advance of Science/Technology from New Jersey, winning by .2 points over their competitors.
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