School meeting recap 11/8/18

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Kathy Fang

Forensics representatives Nakul Bajaj (11), Nikki Solanki (11), Maddie Huynh (11) and Anusha Kuppahally (12) announce results from recent competitions.

by Ryan Guan, Executive News Editor

Eagle Update presenters congratulated girls volleyball on their successful CCS run. Girls golf placed seventh in NorCal and second in CCS, and Natalie Vo (10) qualified for the state tournament.

Rohan Arora (11) spoke for the year’s first community service spotlight. He described how his mother’s multiple sclerosis diagnosis 12 years ago influenced his goal to create a nonprofit, Touched By MS, with his sister Riya Arora (9) in order to fundraise for research into MS. He encouraged students to find something that they care about and contribute to it.

Green Team announced a screening of the documentary “Tomorrow” next Wednesday and Friday during long lunch in Diana Moss’s classroom.

Harker Horizon’s club week will begin next Monday. Submissions to Horizon, a student-run science research magazine, are open until Nov. 26. Horizon will host a research article workshop in Chris Spenner’s classroom on Monday at 12:40 p.m. They will also be selling popcorn chicken, donuts and baked goods outside Manzanita throughout the week.

Students Partner with Veterans will hold a flag ceremony on Monday at 10:30 a.m. in the quad in honor of Veterans Day on Sunday. The flag ceremony will honor the service of all military personnel and include a moment of silence.

Quadchella, the upper school’s informal talent show, took place in the quad Thursday from 12:30 p.m. to 1:25 p.m.

Career Connect will hold a Lunch and Learn session in the Innovation Center on Nov. 27 at noon. Guitar Hero creator Kai Huang will speak about his experiences as a serial entrepreneur.

Speech and debate announced recent tournament results. In policy debate, Anusha Kuppahally (12) and Maddie Huynh (11) made the elimination rounds of the Valley Invitational in Iowa, the Heart of Texas Invitational, hosted by the St. Mark’s School, and the Davis Classic in Los Angeles. Andy Lee (10) and Deven Shah (9) made the elimination rounds in Iowa and Los Angeles.

In Lincoln-Douglas, Kelly Shen (12), Akshay Manglik (10) and Quentin Clark (11) qualified for elimination rounds in Iowa. Akshay, Aditya Tadimeti (10), Sachin Shah (11) and Anshul Reddy (9) made the elimination rounds at the Presentation Voices Invitational in San Jose. Akshay, Aditya and Anshul also made the elimination rounds at the Heart of Texas Invitational. At the Davis Classic, Kelly made it to elimination rounds and Sachin made it to the top four, earning him a bid to the Tournament of Champions in Kentucky next April.

In speech, Alycia Cary (12) won an award at the Yale Invitational in original oratory. Nikki Solanki (11) took second place in programmed oral interpretation and dramatic interpretation at the Florida Blue Key Invitational and first place in dramatic performance at the Florida Blue Key Round Robin. Jay Menon (12) reached elimination rounds in Florida with his oratory. Brian Pinkston (10), Ellis Goldman (10), Andrea Thia (9) and Brandon Lin (11) made the final rounds at the local league tournament.

In public forum, the duos of Annie Ma (11) and Amanda Cheung (11), Cindy Wang (12) and Clarissa Wang (12) and Datha Arramreddy (11) and Raymond Banke (12) qualified for elimination rounds at the Milpitas Invitational. Naveen Mirapuri (11) and Chandan Aggarwal (11) won awards at the St. Francis Tournament.

In congressional debate, Jason Lin (10), Jason Huang (12) and Andrew Sun (10) earned bids to the Tournament of Champions at the Yale invitational. Andrew and Nakul Bajaj (11) both placed second at a league event. Jason Lin, Andrew, Riyaa Randhawa (9) and David Feng (11) earned bids to the Tournament of Champions at the Florida Blue Key Invitational.

November is DECA Month, and DECA’s club week will begin on Nov. 26. They hosted a yard sale in the Innovation Center on Friday from 3 to 5 p.m. The DECA Idea Challenge with a mystery item is also beginning, with a possible prize of $1,000. DECA will also hold the Bagels for Business event, as well as Hoops and Scoops on Nov. 29, where they will sell Dippin’ Dots at a basketball game to raise funds for the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Performing arts groups including Kinetic Krew, varsity and junior varsity dance, Downbeat, Dance Fusion, High Voltage and Showstoppers will perform next Tuesday at the Santana Row tree lighting ceremony. Pre-ceremony entertainment starts at 5 p.m. and the ceremony begins at 7.

To close the meeting, ASB President Neil Ramaswamy (12) held a moment of silence for the 13 victims of a mass shooting in Thousand Oaks on Wednesday.