Top Stories

Recent stories reprinted from Harker News online.

Harker News publishes stories online about our students and faculty, highlighting accomplishments and celebrating successes. Top Stories highlights a few of the most significant stories posted on Harker News since the last issue of Harker Magazine (fall/winter 2022) went to press. Visit news.harker.org to see full stories and hundreds more articles noting the truly remarkable efforts of our Harker students and faculty.

Harker once again reaches National Econ Challenge finals

May 5, 2023 https://news.harker.org/harkeronce-again-reaches-nationalecon-challenge-finals/

For the second consecutive year, Harker reached the finals of the National Economics Challenge. Juniors Vardaan Ghai, Alex Guo, Andrew Smith and Cynthia Wang headed to New York City for the national finals in May. Harker won last year’s NEC and went on to China’s team in the international quiz bowl.

Junior wins top award at Int’l Science and

Engineering Fair

May 22, 2023 https://news.harker.org/juniorwins-top-award-at-intl-scienceand-engineering-fair/

Junior Kaitlyn Wang received the George D. Yancopoulus Award in the Regeneron International and Engineering Science Fair, the largest STEM competition in the world for pre-college students. The award, which includes a $75,000 prize, is one of the top honors in the competition. Wang’s project was to develop a method for identifying exoplanets that are in close orbit to their stars. She used her algorithm to discover the smallest of these planets that is currently known.

Upper school debate wins

Lincoln-Douglas nat’l championship, named Leading Chapter

March 28, 2023 https://news.harker.org/upperschool-debate-wins-ld-natlchampionship-named-leadingchapter/

Seniors Muzzi Khan and Rahul Mulpuri and juniors Ansh Sheth and Panav Gogte were declared the National Speech & Debate Association’s Lincoln-Douglas co-champions this week, making Harker the national Lincoln-Douglas champion for the third consecutive year. In another exciting development, Harker was presented with the NSDA’s Leading Chapter Award for consistently being the top program over the last decade, spanning 2012-2022.

Harker journalism wins

two Gold Crowns at CSPA

Spring Convention

March 20, 2023 https://news.harker.org/ harker-journalism-wins-twogold-crowns-at-cspa-springconvention/

Harker journalism students visited New York City for the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s Spring Convention at Columbia University, where they were presented with two CSPA Gold Crown awards for the student news website Harker Aquila and the junior Maya Cheshire were selected to be featured in the 2023 ArtNow exhibit hosted by New Museum Los Gatos. This annual exhibit features pieces by Bay Area high school students, giving them the opportunity to gain real-world experience by including their work in a juried exhibition. The theme of this year’s exhibition is “Unarmed Truth,” showcasing original pieces that “reveal a personal or universal truth.”

Winged Post newspaper. The convention included workshops given by student journalists and an awards ceremony for this year’s CSPA Crown winners.

Students receive 256 awards in Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

Feb. 23, 2023 https://news.harker.org/studentsreceive-256-awards-in-scholastic-artand-writing-awards/

Grade 1 donation drive delivers hundreds of goods to animals in need

March 14, 2023 https://news.harker.org/grade-1donation-drive-delivers-hundreds-ofgoods-to-animals-in-need/

In March, first graders sent more than 500 items and more than $300 to the Humane Society Silicon Valley to cap off its annual donation drive. The effort ran from Feb. 28-March 10, collecting food, linens, toys and other goods for the many animals in HSSV’s care. “Our team was thrilled to receive the donations,” said Kristi Mack, HSSV’s human resources director. “Our team loved meeting all of your amazing first graders and their teachers. What a fun way to start a day learning about helping animals!”

Last month, Harker middle and upper school students received 256 regional awards in the 2023 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, comprising 107 awards for art and 149 for literature. All of Harker’s 30 Gold Key winners are eligible for national awards, which will be announced in March. A national ceremony to honor all of this year’s national award winners will take place in June.

Senior Sally Zhu named Regeneron finalist

Jan. 23, 2023 https://news.harker.org/regeneronscience-talent-search-selects-sixharker-seniors-for-top-300/

Today, senior Sally Zhu was named one of the top 40 finalists in this year’s Regeneron Science Talent Search. Zhu’s project, titled “On the Smoothness and Regularity of the Chess Billiard Flow and the Poincaré Problem,” was chosen by a jury of professional scientists. Zhu will attend the final stage of the competition, to be held in Washington, D.C., in March.

Student art to be featured in ArtNow exhibition

March 9, 2023 https://news.harker.org/student-art-tobe-featured-in-artnow-exhibition/

Pieces by senior Claire Kampmeier and

Harker takes second place at DOE Regional Science Bowl

Feb. 17, 2023 https://news.harker.org/harker-takessecond-place-at-doe-regional-sciencebowl/

Harker seniors Jeremy Ko and Rohan Bhowmik, juniors Ethan Liu and Arnav Swaroop, and sophomore

Jason Shim took second place at the U.S. Department of Energy Regional Science Bowl, held at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory at Stanford University. The team was coached by upper school chemistry teacher Mala Raghavan.

Harker DECA performs well at Silicon Valley Career Development Conference

Jan. 19, 2023 https://news.harker.org/harker-decaperforms-well-at-silicon-valley-careerdevelopment-conference/

More than 120 Harker DECA members attended the regional Silicon Valley Career Development Conference (SVCDC), held Jan. 6-8 at the Santa Clara Marriott. SVCDC officially kicked off this year’s competitive season and consisted of testing, roleplay and written presentations, as well as speeches from the state officer team and the election of this year’s California DECA vice president of Silicon Valley.

WORDS BY DAVID KIEFER

PHOTOGRAPHS BY JANE SNYDER