2003 January Harker News

JANUARY 2003 (VOL. 9, NO. 4)

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M O N T H L Y

N E W S L E T T E R

HARKER

est. 1893 • K-12 college prep

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T H E

H A R K E R

S C H O O L

headlines

Harker Kinder “Gardeners” Plant Trees in Special Ceremony

3RD ANNUAL CONCERT Vocal performances by Bel Canto, Cantilena, Show Choir & Guy's Gig Fri., Feb. 1 - 8 p.m. • Saratoga Gym $5 General Admission $10 Cafe Table Seat (includes premier seating, beverage & Conservatory CD) Tickets & Info: catherines@harker.org

Honor Your Student in New Book Drive

Saratoga - Math Students excel at Crystal Springs Math Contest ........... 7

School-Wide Students reach out to the community for the holidays .. 4-5

important dates Mon., Jan. 6 All classes resume

Tues-Fri., Jan. 14-17 US Finals

Wed.-Fri., Jan. 15-17 MS Finals Daily dismissal times vary so check with your student

Mon., Jan. 20 Martin Luther King holiday No classes

it’s something they look back on with fond memories, something they can call their own that signifies their beginnings here as a kindergartener,” said Sarah Leonard, primary division head.

Head of School Diana Nichols added, “We were particularly honored to have San Jose council member Linda LeZotte joining us for this special occasion.”

During the ceremony each class used props or wore mini-costumes to complement poems they recited.

Other activities included a song about water and a talk by Nichols about the importance of trees in our environment. Go to the Parent Home Page and view the Harker Photo Albums for more photos from this fun event!

The Harker Library has launched a new Book Drive that allows your tax-deductible donation to go toward the purchase of books for our libraries. The best part is you can dedicate your donation to the special person of your choice, and his or her name will appear inside the books on this beautiful bookplate, designed by graphic arts teacher J Gaston.

This is a wonder ful way to honor your student or a special teacher while helping our library acquire books. Do some online shopping that will make you feel great! For more information go to the Parent Home Page, the Librar y Page or contact Enid Davis, library director, enidd@harker.org or 408.345.9296.

EDITOR’S NOTE: At press time our proud Athletic Director, Jack Bither, announced that Harker’s varsity boys’ basketball team won the Redwood Christian Tournament and were named Cal Hi Sports “Team of the Week” by the producers of this popular high school sports television show. Their interview was aired at 4:30 p.m. on Sun., Dec.15. Congratulations to Coach Brewer, Coach Thompson, Coach Wiley and all of the players. Check out this month’s Sports Briefs inside for more details!

Mark Tantrum

Over 400 attend annual Grandparents’ Day ................ 2

Mark Tantrum

top stories Bucknall

Mark Tantrum

San Jose Council member Linda LeZotte officiated at Harker’s annual Kindergarten Tree-Planting Ceremony on Fri., Nov. 8 at the Bucknall campus. Since 1966 each kindergarten class has planted a tree in a special ceremony attended by all the kindergarten students, teachers and administrators. “As the students grow and move through their years at Harker,

—Pam Dickinson, Director, Office of Communications (pamd@harker.org) Remember to check the Parent Home Page for detailed calendars and additional updates between editions of the Harker News!

AROUND

bucknall

A Special Day for Harker Grandparents

Nancy Reily

which had something to do with grandparents, such as “Grandma’s Eyes” and “When I’m Sixty Four.”

Lynn Thode, guest of Madison Burke, Gr. 3, said she “loved the program!” Grandchildren seemed proud to have their grandparents sign up for Harker’s escrip program, earning them a free dress pass. Jordan Peetz, Kdg., was happy to earn two free dress passes since she had two sets of grandparents there for the afternoon!

Jordan said her grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. Peetz and Mr. & Mrs. Johnson, were very well behaved since she had given specific instructions the evening before, telling them to “practice their behavior” and that there was to be “no fighting or loud voices.”

Mr. Tomlitz, grandfather to Kristina Bither, Gr. 6, Veronica Bither, Gr. 3, and Brian Bither, Gr. 1, thought everyone was so friendly and was happy to repor t that grandson Brian’s, teacher had said, “He is awesome!” Grandma Tomlitz enjoyed watching the entertainment and seeing granddaughter Kristina on stage. Mr. & Mrs. Malysz, grandparents to Joey Malysz, Gr.5, and Emma Malysz, Kdg., said they “always enjoy the day and learn a lot when they come!”

Grandparents visited the classrooms and computer rooms and met with teachers. Many also enjoyed a stop at the Book Fair.

Grandparents enjoyed performances by the Bucknall Orchestra, the Bucknall Dance ensemble and the Harmonics. There was singing from students in Gr. 6 and Kindergarten. Students performed various numbers, many of

Our special thanks go to Grandparents’ Day Volunteer Chairs Janie Fung, Kim Pellissier and Debbie Gray, as well as all the parent volunteers who helped make this day so special: Fran Axelrad, Maitree Banerjee, Susmita Bhatacharya, Stephanie Casner, Karen Coates,

■ Students in Gr. 6 held a sodadrinking contest recently…out of baby bottles! Cyrus Merril repor ted, “The fastest baby was Sophie Newman, but all students had a great time!”

Kathleen Feretti

Kathleen Feretti

■ All Gr. 3 students embarked on their first field trip this year to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

With the help of numerous parent volunteers, the students spent the entire day exploring the Earth,

Space and Ocean wings of the academy, which coincided with the Gr. 3 curriculum focus on our solar system, marine biology and geology.

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Of special interest was a temporary exhibit called “Skulls” that gave the students an in-depth view of what lies beneath most living creatures.

The beautiful weather and enthusiasm of the students and chaperones helped to create a memorable day.

—Reported by Sabrina Criscione, Elementary Science Teacher

Nora Comee, Catherine Conrad, Becky Cox, Christine Douglas, Barbara Drummer, Grace KimEdvalson, Kim Hall, Debbie Hutchings, Tyra LaMar, Kitty Leung, Michelle Maxey, Ernie Porter, Sue Prutton, Karen Saunders, Allison Spiller, Shankari Sundar, Roni Wolfe, Nancy Yee, Deepa Iyengar, Afsaneh Oskouy, Takako Photos by Mark Tantrum except where noted

Over 400 grandparents and special friends attended the annual Grandparents’ Day at Harker on Nov. 22. Guests were greeted by parent volunteers and directed to the gym for a special Grandparents’ Day per formance. Howard Nichols greeted the guests and awarded various prizes to grandparents, including the grandparent who had attended the event the most consecutive years. Carole Zimmerman, grandmother of Khadija Zanotto, Gr. 5, won for attending 17 years in a row.

She started coming to Grandparents’ Day when her granddaughter Kendra Zanotto ’95 was in kindergarten in 1985!

■ Teacher Cindy Proctor reported that students in Gr. 1 were treated to a wonderful harp performance recently by parent Ruth Mohanram.

Mohanram shared with the classes that she has been playing since she was seven years old. She also taught the students about the parts of the harp. “The children sang along with some songs and enjoyed listening to her beautiful music,” said Proctor.

■ The four homerooms in Gr. 2 each held different festivals from around the world as part of their Winter Celebration. Students

Khojasteh, Trish Tobin, Jane Villadsen, Shamitha Mathur, Leslie Nielsen, Karen Hansen, Ann Brandewie, Lalu Kling and Roopal Mayor.

enjoyed traditional Christmas in James Hamilton’s classroom, Hanukkah in Judi Beil’s, Scandinavian festivities in Anitra Sudderth’s and Kwanzaa in Lisa Hirata’s classroom. Each class rotated through the classrooms to view the displays and artifacts, and enjoy the food, books, videos, and crafts provided by parent volunteers.

Special thanks to Grade Level Coordinator Tyra K. LaMar for organizing this wonderful Gr. 2 holiday celebration!

■ Students in Diann Chung and Cindy Proctor’s Gr. 1 homerooms recently tasted fresh garden vegetables, such as lettuce, spinach and peas, from the garden they planted last Sept. With the help of parent Kim Pellissier, the students picked, washed and thoroughly enjoyed their “crops!”

AROUND ■ Kathy Polzin, library assistant, reported that the Round One results from the Magic Ready, Set, Research! event have been tabulated for the library’s Harkworts Knowledge Cup research contest. Polzin said, “Gr. 3 has pulled out to a commanding lead!” The number of correct answers for each house is as follows: Gr. 3, Ferrera House 359; Gr. 4, Hirota House 155; Gr. 5, Walsh House 50; Gr. 6, Moll House 44.

bucknall Marin Headlands Academic Trip Takes Education Outdoors The Gr. 5 students and teachers spent Dec. 4-6 at the Marin Headlands Institute. This annual outdoor education trip is wildly popular with the students, and this year they had the good fortune to have three rainless days. “I hardly recognized the place without 136 students in storm gear rushing about,” Pat Walsh quipped.

Institute naturalists led groups of Harker students through a wide

Round 2 begins Jan. 20 and ends Feb. 4, so watch for those results in future editions!

Certificates for individual achievements will be awarded at the end of the second quarter.

celebration where homes are thoroughly cleaned, candles and lamps are lit and windows are opened to welcome Laksmi, goddess of wealth. Gifts are exchanged and festive meals are prepared for this celebration.

Kathleen Feretti

Harker parents brought in food, traditional clothing and crafts. “The food was delicious and the art crafts were delightful,” said teacher Janice Snyder. “The chance to try on native outfits and make music was exciting for the students, and all the children and teachers learned so much about the culture and traditions of India,” she added.

Jason Oncay

range of activities, from studying the various species that inhabit the local pond and lagoon to a journal writing session on Scotty’s Bluff to help illustrate the delicate balance between all the elements of an ecosystem. A night hike to the beach to search for bioluminescent plankton and a campfire highlighted the evening activities, and the Institute staff had the crowd laughing hysterically with their “Cowboy Bob” skit.

“Headlands staff and instructors commented that the Harker kids were great! They were well behaved and very engaged in all the activities,” said Christy Vail.

Chaperones for the trip were Joe Chung, Kathy Ferretti, Kristin Giammona, William Hawkes, Eric Hoffman, Kristen Janiak, Cathy Le, Jason Oncay, David Qua, Kate Shanahan, Jeanne Tyrrell, Christy Vail and Pat Walsh. Many thanks to Janiak for being the official photographer for the trip and getting some wonderful photos!

Photos by Kristen Janiak except where noted

Kathleen Feretti

■ Parent volunteers helped organize a Diwali celebration for Gr. 3 students recently to share the spirit of this annual celebration.

Diwali, which means “rows of lighted lamps,” is a five-day Hindu

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update Dracula Dinner Theatre Over 200 attended the Dracula Dinner Theatre on Nov. 23, where diners enjoyed their pre-show meal in the Edge, which was transformed by staff and parent volunteers into Countess Dracula’s Transylvanian dining room. Many thanks to the talented parent crew of Melody Moyer, Cherrie Blair, Kim Pellissier, Becky Cox, Doug DeMers, Cindy

US MOMS Harker upper school moms want to get together occasionally (girls just wanna have fun, you know!), so we’re planning our first ever “Harker Happy Hour” for doting mothers, grades 9-12.

Fri. night, Feb. 28th at 5 p.m.

Westgate Chevy’s on Saratoga Ave.

Volunteeer Thank-You Luncheon #1

Mark Tantrum

Parent volunteers who have assisted Harker over the summer and into Nov. with our Ambassador program, mailings, school picturetaking, athletic dept. support, debate and JCL tournaments, Tamagawa, the annual Book Fair and Grandparents’ Day were invited to a special Volunteer Recognition Luncheon on Dec. 13 to thank them for their time and effor ts.

Following lunch, guests were invited

to join the student assembly in the gym for performances by the orchestra, middle school choir and Show Choir.

As the year unfolds, there will be two more volunteer recognition events to pay special tribute to other parents who give of their time and their talents to benefit our students and faculty. Many, many thanks to all!

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Members of the cast hovered and floated among the guests during dinner, and then guests were escorted to the gym for their specially reserved seats for this year’s fall production of “Dracula.”

Harker’s dinner theatre events are fast becoming a tradition, now that last year’s Oklahoma event and this year’s Dracula event have proven to be so successful. It’s a wonder ful way to have a fun night out with fellow parents and a great way to support our outstanding Conservatory program. Thanks to all who attended!

Q & A Events Mark Tantrum

Mark your calendar and watch for more details in next month’s newsletter and on the Parent Page online!

—US Leadership Council

Maria Nguyen, Bran-Dee Torres and Jerusha Hew Len for setting the stage with their fabulous decorations!

Salisbury, Violet Boyle, Marilyn Tearse, Cindy Wong, Reeta Gupta, Jeannine Hammersley and Alice Schwartz and the Harker staff crew of Amalia Keyashian, Nancy Reiley,

Hundreds of parents have attended the grade level Q & A events held so far this year with Howard Nichols, president, and Diana Nichols, head of school. Held annually to provide the parents at each grade level with an opportunity to discuss pertinent issues and ask questions, this year's events have been particularly well-

COMMUNITY ■ The K-6 students’ Food Drive was a great success, with hundreds of cans of food loaded by the students and delivered in truckloads to the Community Ministry, along with $300 in checks.

“People who don’t have money find it hard to get a job, which makes it hard to get money and then it’s hard to afford food,” said Jane Thomas, Gr. 5.

Taryn Spiller and Tiffany Mo summed up their thoughts: “Lots of people don’t have food and are hungry. We want them to be happy.

No matter what it is, people who can should give something to those in need.” Joe Bauer, director of the program, was very pleased and impressed. “The number of people seeking assistance is skyrocketing, and this couldn’t have come at a better time. Tell your

attended. Lively discussions arose around issues germane to particular grade levels and ranged from choosing healthy snacks to

Mark Tantrum

EVENT

deciding the best time to take the PSATs. Many, many thanks to those parents who took the time to attend. “The partnership between parents and the school is vital,” said Diana Nichols. “An ongoing dialogue between the parents and the school contributes to the success of all of our children.”

The final two Q & A events of the year will be held in the Saratoga library on the following dates: Gr. 7:Tues., Jan. 8, 5-6 p.m.

Gr. 8: Wed., Jan. 22, 5:30-6:30 p.m.

service

kids and parents I am thankful for all their support.”

■ Harker participated extensively in holiday giving again this year, donating gifts for families through the Adopt a Family program at Sobrato Family Living Center and gifts for teenagers through the Our House program, both part of the Emergency Housing Consortium. In the US, 40 adviser groups each adopted either a family or a teenager, and the MS Student Council led a campaign for each homeroom to adopt one family. Overall over 200 gifts were purchased, wrapped and presented to the centers.

■ US Key Club member Calvin Yu formed an organization of his own called Your Bear Organization. He collected over 50 donated teddy bears from US students. After he

cleaned, decorated and personalized them, they were given to children at the Oakland Children Hospital and the San Jose Family Shelter.

■ In what has become a Harker tradition, Toys for Tots collections were held on the Bucknall campus with children bringing in stacks of new toys to be donated to this organization. The whole campus was in attendance as Student Council President Barrett Glasauer made the presentation to our two guest Marines before the holiday per forming arts assembly.

■ Warren Hegg, president of Digital Clubhouse Network, notified Harker that students who participated in the Stories of Service Project at the Digital Clubhouse Network were among those honored on Nov. 11 as part of a special Veterans Day event that was hosted by the City of San Jose on behalf of the Veterans’ History Project of the Library of Congress. The Stories of Service Project is dedicated to bringing

SERVICE Continued from pg. 4

Mark Tantrum-both Service photos

communities together to preserve the precious memories of our nation’s veterans. Students and volunteers work with veterans to create multimedia projects about the veterans’ wartime experiences.

“These ‘Digital Stories’ are not simply oral histories; they are moving and inspirational pieces of storytelling that record the extraordinary courage, commitment, and sacrifice of ‘ordinar y’ Americans who served their country in its time of greatest need,” said Hegg. Harker students who contributed an average of 20 hours a month in community-based service learning include the

Calvin Yu poses with his bears. following individuals: Gr. 8, Philip Perkins; Gr. 9, Hailey Lam and Jonathan Chu; Gr. 10, Greg Perkins, Alex Segal, Pia Pal and Cristina Figueroa. You can see samples of this project by visiting www.stories-of-service.org ■ A reminder to US students that community service requirements must be fulfilled in order to graduate from Harker. Students are encouraged to fulfill their service hour requirements by the end of winter quarter. Students not already involved in some means of community service can find out about opportunities for volunteering via postings on our community service bulletin board or by going to the community service Web site located at http://users.harker.org/ hs/LinN. Enjoy!

PERFORMING

arts

The Harker Performing Arts department brought the joy of music and dance to thousands this past holiday season. In addition to producing five Harker assembly performances and three special concerts for Harker families, our talented students performed out in the community.

scarves, Santa hats and mittens, visited Belmont Village and The Terraces of Los Gatos. They also had an evening performance at Vallco Mall.

Monica MacKinnon repor ted that the MS Harmonics had two full tour days, performing at retirement centers, Westgate Mall, First Congregational Church and The US at a fundraiser for Beginchoral ning Steps, a school for groups of Show children with developmental Choir, under the delay. They also enjoyed a direction of Laura long-standing tradition of Lang Ree and lunch with the priests at the Catherine Snider, Fathers of Mary Knoll and Bel Canto, led by Residence. “The Harmonics Snider, had a busy had a variety of songs and holiday season. Show styles and per formed for a Choir performed at variety of audiences—from several retirement preschoolers to priests,” homes, Stanford McKinnon laughed. “Fun Hospital, Filoli Gardens was had by all!” and San Jose’s “ChristMany thanks to all of our mas in the Park,” topping off their tour with an evening singers and dancers, as well as to the Harker performing performance at the arts faculty, who bring out Fairmont Hotel. Bel the best in our students!

Canto, decked out in

Upcoming Community Service: On Sat., Jan. 18 Lin Ng, community service director, announced that a group of 35 Harker US students are needed to volunteer at Sacred Heart Community Center in San Jose, packing and sorting food and clothes. Students must arrive at Harker at 8:15 a.m. and can be picked up by 12:15 p.m. from Harker. Obtain a permission slip from the Community Service slot in the Dobbins Office. First come, first served to the first 35 to submit their completed permission slip.

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briefs championship at the 28th Redwood Christian Basketball Classic by winning three games in a row and defeating the host school in front of a packed gymnasium.

Lower/Middle School At Saratoga the MS basketball season is underway, and the Bucknall coaches and kids are finishing up soccer with basketball tryouts just around the corner!

Basketball tryouts for Gr. 6 boys and girls begin Dec 16, and Gr. 4 and 5 star t basketball practices on Jan 6.

All around play from Ryan Graumann, A.J. Reid, Felix Lee, and Jonathan Louie helped stymie their opponents. Coach Jeremiah Brewer reports that it was the best basketball this team has played in three years. “They were excited and ready to go, very focused,” he repor ted. In fact, Dan Hughes, our beloved transportation guru, was at the game, and he commented that it was the most exciting basketball game he had ever watched! Down 18-5 after the first period, the Eagles roared back to take the lead by halftime with a dominating second period. Making crucial shots down the stretch, combined with inspired defense, the Eagles turned back several late Redwood rallies.

Mark Tantrum

The A1 boys won their first game at St. Christopher’s in December, 4643! The A2 boys lost their first game against Hillbrook and lost their second game against Apostles, although it was a close game down to the last minute. The A3 boys lost their first game to Apostles.

The A1 girls won their first game against Carden, 32-7. The A2 girls are 1-1 with a loss to Hillbrook and a win against Apostles 17-10 The B1 boys lost their first game to Kings, 42-48, and suffered their second loss, a close one against Hillbrook with a final score of 2930. The B1 boys then rebounded with a victory over Carden, 48-17.

B2 boys lost their first 2 games of the season against Hillbrook, 1733, and Carden, 18-20

The team, now sporting a 6-0 record, was featured on television as Cal Hi Sports Team of the Week on Dec. 15, where the entire team was interviewed and honored on

Bucknall students are enjoying soccer practice and intersquad scrimmages.

Keep up the good work, coaches and kids—the season is still early, and we are hoping for lots more wins!

—Reported by Mary Kay Olks, P.E. Teacher and Coach

Upper School Eagle Basketball Soars!—The Harker boys’ basketball team earned another Harker sports first the weekend of Dec. 7. Behind the play of Tournament Most Valuable Player and All Tournament selection Brian Chow, the Eagles claimed the

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Mark Tantrum

B1 girls are off to a 2-0 start with wins against Hillbrook, 29-8, and Valley Christian, 29-17. B2 girls are 0-1 after their season opener loss to Hillbrook.

the popular high school sports show! Way to go, Eagles!

Girls’ soccer is currently sporting a 5-1 record at press time. Following a five game winning streak, in which the Eagles outscored their opponents 31-1, the Eagles ran into a tough Redwood Christian team and dropped a 3-1 decision.

Head Coach Tia Barth and assistants Evan Barth, (yes, they are related!) and Gina Barton have

the girls playing exciting soccer. prestigious Peninsula tournament, Goal keeper Pamela Williams has hosted this year by Terra Nova HS. made several sterling saves, and Teams from over 40 schools with crucial help from sweeper Sara converge for this two-day classic.

Laymoun and The Eagles, defender led by Rachel senior and Both football and tennis Warecki, the CCS ranked Eagles are Charles were awarded the Central tough to Hung, are score on. Up looking to Coast Section (CCS) front, Jenn capture the Jenq, Santa Clara Scholastic Championships!

Rebecca Valley El Chang, Camino Shabnam Aggarwal and Lauren Division crown after finishing in Gutstein are peppering the nets second place last year. Only a thus far. In 4-0 and 3-1 victories tiebreaker kept the Eagles from over Valley Dublin and St. capturing the league title last Lawrence, the entire team made season. Returning grapplers Matt significant contributions, and the Vucurevich, Salomon Awe and Eagles hope to make a run at the Andrew Chang lead the Eagles this WBAL title this season. The team is season. The team will be in several playing on campus on the Shah Hall upcoming tournaments, and if you Field, hoping to draw momentum from the home crowd! Other victories have come against East Palo Alto HS, Eastside College Prep and Half Moon Bay HS, where the Eagles clinched an exciting 1-0 victory under the lights.

Girls’ basketball made it to the semifinals of the Yerba Buena tournament this past weekend, missing the championship game by only two points! In an opening round victory over Hillsdale of San Mateo, the Eagles blew the game open with a big third quarter run. In the semifinal game, the Eagles dropped a 35-33 decision to Yerba Buena after a last second shot failed to drop through the net.

At press time they were looking to get back on track for their tournament at Cupertino High School the week prior to Christmas.

The Eagles play in the tough West Bay Athletic League this year. With a strong group of freshmen who came from the middle school, the JV team looks to be tough this year as well.

Wrestling began its season with a tournament at Westmont High School. Matt Vucurevich earned a 3rd place medal at the varsity level, pinning wrestlers from Bellarmine, St. Francis and Casa del Robo from Sacramento. Next up is the

Mark Tantrum

SPORTS

follow wrestling, you know the teams are there at the crack of dawn on weekends, with the championship matches finishing up well into the evening. It takes a great deal of dedication and commitment to pursue the sport of wrestling. Coach Karriem has instilled a wonder ful sense of pride and dedication in his young athletes!

Some exciting news from the fall sports is that both football and tennis were awarded the Central Coast Section (CCS) Scholastic Championships! Awarded to teams with the highest cumulative grade point averages, the Eagles are true student athletes. Football has won this award for two years running. Golf and volleyball finished a close second, and the Eagle athletes look to add to the nine championships garnered in this competition during the last school year.

—Reported by Jack Bither, US Athletic Director

■ There was a great turnout for Open Houses held in Nov. on the Saratoga and Bucknall campuses for prospective families. Harker students were on hand to give tours, do demonstrations in the classrooms and inform guests of all the wonderful opportunities here at Harker.

Pam Dickinson

Many thanks to our students who gave up their Sunday mornings to come in and help out!

Gr. 5 - Ryan Fan, Bennett Jones, Tiffany Mo, Brea Borlas, Gautam Srinivasan, Kristen Santora and Christine Trinh; Gr. 6 - Louis Prusa, Angeli Agrawal, Elizabeth Case, Katie Comee, Sophie Newman, Neha Sabharwal, Sabina Sood, Andrea Thomas, Thomas Wang, Patrice Lin, Jimmy Wu, Vivek Maheshwari, Alison Palmintere, Christopher Berglund, Kristina Bither, Courtney Dellar, David Kastelman, Elena Madan, Joe Hospodor and Becky Yanovsky.

Pam Dickinson

Gr. 7 and 8 student guides were Natasha Sarin, Danielle Shulman, Emily Isaacs, Sho Okuba, Robert Cheng, Jessica Lee, Swampanthy Nagulpall, Jennifer Fung, Kritika Kailash, Annelise Han, Zainab Rangwala, Nitasha Ranganath, Sid Chandrasekhar, Sabena Suri,

Audrey Kwong, Stephanie Benedict, Rahul Komati and Tiffany Lai. US Ambassadors were Karen Chiu, Anjana Dasu, Avanti Deshpande, Sharon Her, Amanda Polzin, Urvashe Sameer, Andrea Brisker, Debby Liang, Esha Ranganath, Nickisa Hodgson, Allison Kwong, Alex Dodd, Anjana Raman, Mickey

wide Selbo-Bruns and Casey Near.

Sun, Gr. 8, was the first to ever score a perfect 15.

■ Thirty-five Harker students in Gr. 6, 7 and 8 participated in the annual Crystal Springs Math Contest on Nov. 23. There were 17 Bay Area schools participating, with a total of 282 students as part of 55 teams. Cindy Kerr, MS math dept. chair, reported that our students performed exceedingly well at both the team and individual levels.

Congratulations to the winners and a special thanks to Vandana Kadam, Cindy Kerr, Leah Moll and US Gr. 9 students Yi Sun and Hailey Lam for helping out with the contest preparation.

■ Cindy Kerr, K-8 math department chair, reported that the AMC-8 Contest (for students in Gr. 8 or lower) was held recently, and many of our students participated and did extremely well. We congratulate you all!

Special congratulations to our two students who scored a perfect score on the exam: Justin Chin, Gr. 8, and Thomas Wang, Gr. 6. Great work, Justin and Thomas!

The Gr. 6 team comprised of Andrew Chin, Thomas Wang, Debra Yen, Jeanette Chin, Joseph Swernofsky and Sachin Rangarajan placed 1st out of 20 teams. The individual placements for students in Gr. 6 were Joseph Swernofsky 1st, Thomas Wang 5th, Jeanette Chin 6th (competed as the only 5th grader) and Vikram Nathan 10th.

“Gr. 6 participants worked hard and enjoyed the highly spirited competition. Hopefully they will be able to compete in March at the Harker Math Invitational,” said Vandana Kadam, MS math teacher, who helped coordinate Harker’s participation in this year’s event.

The students in Gr. 7 and Gr. 8 also per formed at the top level. The Gr. 7 team of Alex Fandrianto, Tonia Sun, Spencer Liang, Rachel Fong, Joshua Wang and David Kuo was awarded 1st place out of 19 teams. The Gr. 8 team of Justin Chin, Kimberly Wong, Jessie Li, Jessica Lee and Adam Rubin placed 2nd out of 16 teams.

Individual placements: Gr. 7 Tonia Sun 1st with all correct answers, Rachel Fong 5th, Kevin Pan 8th; Gr. 8 - Justin Chin 2nd, Brice Lin 6th, Harry Tseng 8th and Jessica Lee 9th. Kimberly Wong also won the estimation contest for the closest answer, guessing 7348 stars of the actual 7328 on a group of posters.

Special recognition goes to Tonia Sun who was only the second student in the 21-year history of the contest to score a perfect 15/ 15. Last year Harker student Yi

■ The US Student Mentor Program, in its second year, is run through the Key Club and supervised by Chris Colletti, US counselor. There are currently about 45 US student “mentors” who offer tutoring to Harker K-8 students, working with the younger students once a week for an hour in any subject. To join the program,

Terry Walsh

CAMPUS

US students fill out an application stating which subjects they feel qualified to tutor, what grades they would like to tutor, why they want to tutor, etc. and then the counseling dept. handles the final matching.

Co-directing this year’s program are Gr. 12 students Ilana Eydus and Tiffany Day. “I enjoy the program because I love to work with younger children. I am grateful for the opportunity to observe all the new ideas of the next generation. I am eager to witness the new students, new mentors and new smiles,” said Eydus.

Now in its fourth year, the purpose of the MS Mentor Program is for selected students in Gr. 8 to form

bonds and friendships with the Gr. 6 students in an effort to help them feel comfortable during their transition to middle school and through early adolescence. The mentors meet during their long lunch period on Wednesdays with Deanna Barnett, head of academic counseling, to discuss, plan and practice the presentation to be given to the 6th graders. The 8th grade mentors travel to the Bucknall campus several times during the year to talk to the 6th graders about friendships, cliques, and middle school life, among other topics. The 8th graders also prepare the 6th graders for Step-Up Day where 6th graders travel to the Saratoga campus and get a taste of what MS life is like. Mentors are expected to be role models in and outside of the Harker community, both to their 6th grade mentees and to their MS peers. Mentors use the training they receive to become better communicators both within and outside of this program. The mentors are assigned to Gr. 6 teachers Bina Barnabus, Mariko Finn, Kristin Janiak, Paul Lukes, Leah Moll, Ben Morgensen and Sandra Murillo.

This year’s student mentors are Natasha Sarin, Aneesha Nilakantan, Jonathan Yuan, Shilpika Lahri, Danyal Kothari, Akshay Bhatia, Jamie Cisar, Diane Strutner, Siddarth Chandrasekhar, Siobhan Stevenson, Cassie Kerkhoff, Alexandra Nazari, Matt Wong and Rupan Bose.

Many thanks to our US and MS student mentors for their contributions to their fellow students and the Harker community. We’re very proud of you!

■ The California Center for the Book is sponsoring their annual contest, Letters About Literature, 2003, where students in grades 4 through 12 are invited to write a letter to an author living or dead explaining how this author’s book gave them wings and changed their way of viewing the world and continued on pg. 11

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Middle School ■ Sweet Balance—A Cookie Lab! Students in Gr. 7 Physical Science made “No Nuts—No Bake Cookies” to learn about chemical reactions.

Teachers Raji Swaminathan and Lorna Claerbout equipped the students with the materials needed, oats, butter, sugar, etc., along with some caution and procedural instructions. Students made the cookies in class and came up with their analyses and

saratoga essays last month to these influential people. We feel, along with our teachers, that it is crucial to inform these people of why they are so special to us, so they may recognize their unique talents.

—Reported by Neha Deshmukh, Natasha Wu and Patricia Li We agree with the students that it’s wonderful to share feelings of appreciation and gratitude, and we have included a few excerpts from some of the letters here. We congratulate all of the students for their fine writing and for sharing their thoughts with those who have influenced them.

Raji Swaminathan

“I have had many teachers before him and after him; no matter how charitable they were, there was never a teacher as inspiring as (he) was.”

—Diane Wang conclusions. They determined whether they were seeing an endothermic or exothermic reaction, identified the factor that was used to change the rate of the reaction and wrote the chemical equation for the reaction. For example: 1 cup sugar + 1/4 cup butter + 1.9 oz chocolate + 1/3 cup milk + 1 cup oats —> 10 cookies. “The kids had great fun making the cookies and eating them,” said Swaminathan. The recipe can be found on her Web site!

■ In November, our expositor y writing teachers Mrs. MacKinnon and Mrs. Newman asked the Gr. 7 students to write an essay on an important person who has greatly influenced them. Parents, Harker faculty, former teachers from other schools, rec staff, nannies and older cousins were some of the special people who were the subjects of these essays. After completing the essay, the students were asked to revise them and then actually mail them to the people they wrote about. Some were reluctant to do this, but Mrs. MacKinnon explained to her students that her boss once told her: “People don’t always know their own talents until you tell them exactly what they are.” Consequently, our classes sent the

8

She was my nanny for many years. One reason she had a strong impact on my life is that I learned so much from her wisdom. From her, I learned to read, write and speak Spanish, how to cook, and other simple daily necessities. —Ian Cohen “She has influenced me to be a more productive mathematician…

She is probably my favorite teacher in the school who has influenced me the most, and her class is my favorite academic class of the day.”

—Excel Que I feel comfortable around her because I am always at her house to see my friend, and when she answers my questions, she does not judge me or laugh at me.

—Rachel Hammersley “She is a caring, funny teacher who makes learning exciting.”—Lauren Ammatuna “It is essential to have a passion for knowledge, and I am grateful that I was able to have a teacher who could pass that on to me.”

—Kit Halvorsen “He inspired me to do the best I could in my work to achieve better grades, and he always praised me for my work, which made me feel like my labor was useful.”

—Joshua Pinzas

My brother’s friend…has influenced the way I think and my selfconfidence. His influence will stay with me for the rest of my life, and as he continues to tutor me, I am sure I will learn more.

—Marvin Ho She always felt comfortable whenever she put me in any position, whether it was post or point guard; she had faith in me.

She taught me numerous techniques, and although I had many skills, she believed ever yone could always learn something new.

-—Jennifer Scharre

Upper School ■ Robbie Korin, US chemistry teacher and advisor for the Junior State of America (JSA) club, reported that for the second year, Harker students attended the Fall State 2002 JSA conference, held this year in Santa Clara. JSA is the largest student-run high school organization in the U.S. for students interested in politics, government, debate, law and education. Students organize every aspect of JSA, from the school chapter level to national administration. The three annual conferences allow for an exchange of ideas through student participation in debates, problem solving, open forum discussions, various simulations, etc.

This year’s convention theme was “Looking Inward: Reflections on Our Government,” and Korin said that 18 Harker students attended, adding that Atin Agarwal earned a Best Speaker Award in one of the debates on gender roles in society.

“I heard he had the crowd going,” Korin added. Congratulations to Atin and to all the other students who participated in this event: Mathias Belayneh, Vikas Bhagat, Neil Bhalerao, Ajay Kamat, David Ly, Vikram Malhi, Rishi Mandal, Saahil Mehra, Nayan Mehta, Ravi Mishra, Suhaas Prasad, Bharat Reddy, Sandeep Subhedar, Rishi Sukla, Shivani Tomar, Sonia Rastogi and Josh Zloof.

■ Harker participated in the 23rd annual Glenbrooks National Speech and Debate Tournament held on four high school campuses over the weekend of Nov. 23 in Deerfield, Illinois. Schools representing 36 states gathered to compete in what is considered to be the largest

national high school forensics event. Matt Brandstetter, Harker debate coach, noted that Harker students came away with the school’s best showing ever at this tournament.

VARSITY POLICY DEBATE (201 teams competed in 7 preliminar y rounds): Double-octafinalists (reaching the field of 32 teams) Catherine Kim & Alex Iftimie NOVICE POLICY DEBATE (32 teams competed in 5 preliminary rounds): Quarter-finalists (reaching the field of 8 teams) Michael Kim & Colleen Lee ORIGINAL ORATORY (70 competitors overall): Quarter-finalist (reaching the field of 24 competitors) Aruna Bharathi SPEAKER AWARDS: 12th Varsity Speaker (out of 402 debaters) Alex Iftimie 2nd Novice Speaker (out of 64 debaters) Colleen Lee (missed 1st place by 0.5 points) Brandstetter said that Harker also competed against some of the best debate schools at the Ohio Valley Invitational held over the weekend of Dec. 7 at the University of Kentucky. They competed in the novice, junior varsity and varsity

Galapagos Islands STUDENT EXPEDITION June 14-26, 2003

The Trip of a Lifetime!

• A unique trip customized for Harker Upper School students

▼

AROUND

• A FEW SPOTS REMAINING! NOW ALSO OPEN TO CURRENT 8TH GRADERS • An amazing experience to write about on college essays • Also earns college credit For more information contact US biology teachers: Jeff Sutton: jeffs@harker.org or Anita Chetty: anitac@harker.org

AROUND divisions of policy debate and came away with 14 awards. In addition, novice and junior varsity debaters competed in the Damien Debates at Damien High School in La Verne, California, in Dec. and came away with first place in two of the three divisions they entered.

Check the Web site for more detailed debate results. A hearty congratulations to all of our hardworking debaters!

Misael Fisico

■ On Nov. 16, Harker participated, along with many other Bay Area

Region schools, in the Polya Math Competition, an interscholastic Mathematics Tilt that focuses on team problem solving and proving.

Held at Gunn High School in Palo Alto, the theme of the contest was “Combinatorics, Probability and the Pascal’s Triangle.” The Harker Caffeinated Team (veterans) consisted of Ozan Demirlioglu (Gr. 11), Yi Sun (Gr. 9), Charles Hung (Gr. 12), Felix Lee (Gr. 12), Justin Wu (Gr. 10) and Jerry Hong (Gr.10). The Harker Flaming Glory Team (“novices” to math competitions) consisted of Kevin Park (Gr. 10), Mason Liang (Gr. 10), Lev Pisarsky (Gr.10), Sarada Pyda (Gr. 11), Karthik Kailash (Gr. 11) and Jasper Shau (Gr.9).

The Harker Caffeinated team placed 5th overall, which US math teacher and advisor Misael Fisico said was quite an achievement since they beat some schools who had students with USA Math Olympiad experience.

In the individual round, Yi Sun, a freshman, placed 3rd overall, beating most seniors, juniors and those who have had USA Math Olympiad experiences, including former Harker student Alan Chu. Mason Liang and Kevin Park placed first and second, respec-

saratoga tively. Felix Lee, Ozan Demirlioglu, Charles Hung and Karthik Kilash each received honorable mention awards. Overall, Harker received the most number of individual awards.

Congratulations to all of our students for their performance at the event!

■ Harker Visited by Top Colleges Each fall representatives from colleges all over the country pack their suitcases and travel the U.S. in search of outstanding applicants.

With the tough economic times and new recruitment strategies, most colleges have reduced the number of high schools their admissions staff visits. Although Harker sent its first class on to college just this fall, the school already has an outstanding reputation and remains one of the “must-see” institutions. Over 40 admissions representatives from many of the nation’s top universities (listed below*) visited Harker this fall to meet with our seniors. The group meetings, open only to Harker seniors, were mutually beneficial for students and college representatives. Students asked important questions not easily answered by college guidebooks, while the representatives, who will most likely read applications from Harker, had the chance to highlight the strengths and offerings of their universities. Senior Nicole Gaknoki said, “I learned that the admissions officers care about other factors besides grades and SATS…they want to learn about me as an individual.”

At the end of their presentations, several admissions representatives commented on how impressed they were with the students. Harker continues to be one of their favorite stops because the seniors are well prepared, have insightful questions and take an active role in the discussions. Our seniors should be proud of how they represented themselves and the school.

—Repor ted by Shena Bachman, College Counseling Dept. *American University in Paris, Beloit College, Brown University, Bryn

Harker Students Visit Livermore Lab Dr. Rand Harrington reported that on Wed, Dec. 11, 15 students from his modern physics class visited the Lawrence National Laboratory in Livermore. “Overall, this was an extraordinary experience for Harker students,” said Harrington, adding that it’s very rare for school groups to have access into this facility.

After passing though heavy security and receiving individual security badges, students were taken to the National Ignition Facility where they were met by NIF project manager Craig Weust. After a short presentation about NIF, Harrington said the students put on hard hats and boots and were taken into the building, which houses the largest and most powerful laser on the planet. “It’s about the size of a football field,” he said.

The laser has 96 beams, and a second laser of the same size is currently being built in the same building. The projected finish date of the new laser is 2008, and then all 192 beams will be directed at a plastic pellet filled with hydrogen. “The energy from the beams will create an

Mawr College, Bucknell University, Carnegie Mellon University, Claremont McKenna, Clark University, Colgate University, Columbia, DePauw University, Duke University, Emor y University, George Washington, Georgetown University, Harvey Mudd College, Haver ford College, Lehigh University, Lewis and Clark College, Mount Holyoke College, Oberlin College, Occidental College, Pitzer College, Princeton University, Reed College, Rice University, Santa Clara University, Scripps College, Smith College, Southern Methodist University, St. John’s College, UC Ir vine, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz, University of Pennsylvania, University of Puget Sound, University of Southern California, University of St. Andrews (Scotland), Vassar College, Washington University (MO), Wellesley College, Whitman College and Yale University.

environment that is more that 100 times hotter than the sun, causing the hydrogen atoms to fuse together releasing even more energy,” he explained.

After leaving NIF, Harrington said the students were taken to the Spheromak (SPSX) magnetic confinement fusion facility where they were able to visit the control room, the power facility, which was filled with huge capacitors, and the SPSX vessel itself.

“Scientists working on the project answered questions and talked to the students about their research, and many of the scientists and engineers encouraged the Harker students to apply for internships,” he said.

Many thanks to Dr. Harrington, US science dept. chair, for arranging this dynamic experience for our students. Each year the modern physics class, a UC approved course offered each fall to students who have successfully completed 9th grade physics, tours a major laboratory in the Bay area. Next year the class plans a trip to the Lawrence Laboratory at Berkeley to visit the experiments at the Cyclotron.

■ Cookbook Fundraiser for Debate The US Speech and Debate program is sponsoring a fundraising cookbook project that will be open for entries from the entire Harker community, including alumni. More information to follow in the Feb. newsletter and on the Parent Home Page, but start pulling out your favorite recipes and plan to support this great parent-organized fundraising project for the debate program! For more information, contact Harker parent Maria Tung (mariawt@hotmail.com).

■ US biology teacher Maria Diaz repor ted that Harker received a special grant from the Synopsis Outreach Foundation to assist us in preparing student projects for the Synopsis Championship, to be held in March at the San Jose Convention Center. Watch for more details about this exciting competition in future issues!

9

Activities Update

■ Last chance! If you haven’t ordered your US yearbook yet, this is the final opportunity! Deadline is Jan. 17, and the cost is $75 per book. Remember that we don’t order extra books, so if you change your mind after the deadline, there are no additional books available for sale at the end of the year. Last year’s book received a gold medal ranking from Columbia, and the students are working hard to make this year’s even better. You won’t want to miss your chance to forever preser ve your school memories.

Make checks payable to The Harker School, and send them attn: Chris Daren. You can contact Daren at chrisda@harker.org.

NEWS

you need

Maintaining a Safe Environment for Our Children ■ In our ongoing mission to provide an environmentally safe and healthy educational facility for both students and staff, we would like to share our management policy on the presence of Asbestos Containing Building Material (ACBMs). As asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that exists in many areas of our planet, it is virtually impossible to eliminate minute amounts of exposure, and a large percentage of buildings constructed in the U.S. before 1970 have some ACBMs. These ever-present materials can be identified and managed in such a fashion as to pose no effective health hazard. Both Harker campuses have been thoroughly inspected for ACBMs by licensed contractors, and those materials creating active health issues have been removed. All encapsulated and contained ACBMs are monitored on a biannual basis by our trained staff and also inspected every three years by an outside licensed agency as required by the AHERA act.

Even prior to the federal AHERA act of 1987, Harker was working towards compliance with these regulations and standards. Whenever renovation or construction occurs on either campus, we carefully follow all the state and federal guidelines in order to protect our students and staff. If you have any questions concerning these procedures, please contact Mike Bassoni, director of building and grounds, at mikeb@harker.org.

■ In Harker's ongoing commitment to the safety and security of our students, the administration and faculty have been participating in an extensive preparedness program in conjunction with the Emergency Training Institute to further enhance our current emergency response system.

The Emergency Training Institute is providing us with equipment, guidance and training on both campuses in the CHRIS (Comprehensive Historical Regional Indicator System) System which is a premier emergency management tool that conforms with SEMS (Standardized Emergency Management System) used by the Fire Department. Information on these programs can be obtained at the following Web site: http:// www.co.kern.ca.us/fire/oes/sems1.htm. The entire faculty and staff are participating in some portion of the training program to update skills and ensure effective responses to a variety of emergency situations, including fire, earthquake, chemical & toxic spills, bomb threats and intruders.

Chris Daren

Mark Tantrum

■ The 2nd US Coffee House of the year was held on Fri., Dec. 6. John Hawley, US Latin teacher and advisor for the event, reported that

over 40 Harker students and guests attended this popular, open mike event. Improv sessions opened the evening, consisting of games seen on “Whose Line is It Anyway?,” including “World’s Worst,” “Props,” “Dating Game,” etc. Improv performers were Dav Yendler, Andrew Shvarts, Michael Vu, Whitney Graves, Boris Fedorov, Cooper Berkmoyer, Genna Erlikhman and guest John Collins.

Hawley said the mood shifted from comedy to “a mellow open mike atmosphere” where stories, poems and songs were shared. Brian Larsen, Harker’s technical director, sang two songs accompanying himself on guitar, Fedorov told a story about his Alaskan adventure; guest Mallika Bandarkar sang a song accompanied by Nikhil Deshmukh on guitar; Shvartzs read from an original story and did a three part story he had written with Graves and Yendler; Hawley read from Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s poems; Erlikhman did a routine on Rowan Atkinson’s work, etc.

saratoga

Mark Tantrum

AROUND

If you have questions about Harker's emergency preparedness plan, contact Joe Gill, asst. head of non-academic affairs, at joeg@harker.org.

Seniors won the “Window Decorating Contest” recently, and a section of the window is shown here.

■ The Winter Ball, sponsored this year by the Junior Classical League club, had “An Enchanted Evening” theme, and over 250 students attended this first formal of the year. Students arrived to find the Saratoga gym transformed into a beautiful park setting that included a working fountain. Great job, JCL!

HARKER LOGO STORE

It's raining, it's pouring..... it's time to buy a Harker umbrella!

Special price for the month of January at the Harker Logo Store • ONLY $12 (Reg. $14.65) No limit! Order must be placed by Jan. 31!

10

Bucknall families, we'll deliver to that campus so you can pick up your purchases there!

Watch for next month’s ITEM OF THE MONTH!

Mark Tantrum

Chris Daren

Chris Daren

Contact Bob Benge at 408.345.9226 or bobb@harker.org to charge items to your account and arrange for pick up.

Activities Update

■ Last chance! If you haven’t ordered your US yearbook yet, this is the final opportunity! Deadline is Jan. 17, and the cost is $75 per book. Remember that we don’t order extra books, so if you change your mind after the deadline, there are no additional books available for sale at the end of the year. Last year’s book received a gold medal ranking from Columbia, and the students are working hard to make this year’s even better. You won’t want to miss your chance to forever preser ve your school memories.

Make checks payable to The Harker School, and send them attn: Chris Daren. You can contact Daren at chrisda@harker.org.

NEWS

you need

Maintaining a Safe Environment for Our Children ■ In our ongoing mission to provide an environmentally safe and healthy educational facility for both students and staff, we would like to share our management policy on the presence of Asbestos Containing Building Material (ACBMs). As asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral that exists in many areas of our planet, it is virtually impossible to eliminate minute amounts of exposure, and a large percentage of buildings constructed in the U.S. before 1970 have some ACBMs. These ever-present materials can be identified and managed in such a fashion as to pose no effective health hazard. Both Harker campuses have been thoroughly inspected for ACBMs by licensed contractors, and those materials creating active health issues have been removed. All encapsulated and contained ACBMs are monitored on a biannual basis by our trained staff and also inspected every three years by an outside licensed agency as required by the AHERA act.

Even prior to the federal AHERA act of 1987, Harker was working towards compliance with these regulations and standards. Whenever renovation or construction occurs on either campus, we carefully follow all the state and federal guidelines in order to protect our students and staff. If you have any questions concerning these procedures, please contact Mike Bassoni, director of building and grounds, at mikeb@harker.org.

■ In Harker's ongoing commitment to the safety and security of our students, the administration and faculty have been participating in an extensive preparedness program in conjunction with the Emergency Training Institute to further enhance our current emergency response system.

The Emergency Training Institute is providing us with equipment, guidance and training on both campuses in the CHRIS (Comprehensive Historical Regional Indicator System) System which is a premier emergency management tool that conforms with SEMS (Standardized Emergency Management System) used by the Fire Department. Information on these programs can be obtained at the following Web site: http:// www.co.kern.ca.us/fire/oes/sems1.htm. The entire faculty and staff are participating in some portion of the training program to update skills and ensure effective responses to a variety of emergency situations, including fire, earthquake, chemical & toxic spills, bomb threats and intruders.

Chris Daren

Mark Tantrum

■ The 2nd US Coffee House of the year was held on Fri., Dec. 6. John Hawley, US Latin teacher and advisor for the event, reported that

over 40 Harker students and guests attended this popular, open mike event. Improv sessions opened the evening, consisting of games seen on “Whose Line is It Anyway?,” including “World’s Worst,” “Props,” “Dating Game,” etc. Improv performers were Dav Yendler, Andrew Shvarts, Michael Vu, Whitney Graves, Boris Fedorov, Cooper Berkmoyer, Genna Erlikhman and guest John Collins.

Hawley said the mood shifted from comedy to “a mellow open mike atmosphere” where stories, poems and songs were shared. Brian Larsen, Harker’s technical director, sang two songs accompanying himself on guitar, Fedorov told a story about his Alaskan adventure; guest Mallika Bandarkar sang a song accompanied by Nikhil Deshmukh on guitar; Shvartzs read from an original story and did a three part story he had written with Graves and Yendler; Hawley read from Yevgeny Yevtushenko’s poems; Erlikhman did a routine on Rowan Atkinson’s work, etc.

saratoga

Mark Tantrum

AROUND

If you have questions about Harker's emergency preparedness plan, contact Joe Gill, asst. head of non-academic affairs, at joeg@harker.org.

Seniors won the “Window Decorating Contest” recently, and a section of the window is shown here.

■ The Winter Ball, sponsored this year by the Junior Classical League club, had “An Enchanted Evening” theme, and over 250 students attended this first formal of the year. Students arrived to find the Saratoga gym transformed into a beautiful park setting that included a working fountain. Great job, JCL!

HARKER LOGO STORE

It's raining, it's pouring..... it's time to buy a Harker umbrella!

Special price for the month of January at the Harker Logo Store • ONLY $12 (Reg. $14.65) No limit! Order must be placed by Jan. 31!

10

Bucknall families, we'll deliver to that campus so you can pick up your purchases there!

Watch for next month’s ITEM OF THE MONTH!

Mark Tantrum

Chris Daren

Chris Daren

Contact Bob Benge at 408.345.9226 or bobb@harker.org to charge items to your account and arrange for pick up.

FROM

the archives

Catherine Harker—What’s in a Name?

For a symbolic reason, I have left Catherine Harker’s profile last in the series of our school’s founders.

The school has gone through many name changes in its 110 years, but the “Harker” as in Miss Harker’s School for Girls still stands.

Catherine was born to a pioneer family in Portland, Oregon, on March 2, 1865. She was the daughter of James Bartlett Harker and Sarah Ellen Polk. The family was of English, Scotch and Dutch ancestry. Catherine, known as “Cassy” to family and friends, was the oldest of three sisters. Middle sister Sara became Catherine’s right-hand woman at Miss Harker’s School for Girls. Sadly, Caroline, the youngest, became despondent while in her early twenties and ended her own life.

Young Catherine attended Portland Oregon High School. Before she came to Palo Alto to open her school in 1903, she was a substitute at Portland High School,

parent Upcoming Volunteer Needs Summer Camp Mailing: Our Mailings Coordinator Karen Saunders will be sending out an e-mail SOS soon with details of the date and time of this mailing. And as Picnic flyers begin to be created, there will be more tasks ahead for early morning envelope stuffers.

Catherine opened her school for girls in 1903. It began on the corners of Kingsley and Bryant in the vacated Castilleja Hall.

Eighty students were enrolled and seven graduated the first year. In 1907, the school moved to a sixplus acre spot in an old vineyard. Cows, chickens, potato patches and vegetable gardens could be sighted from the classrooms. Board and tuition in 1903 was $500; the day school cost was between $50 to $90.

Harker Archives

Who was Catherine Harker? What was her character? Is she someone whose values we can cherish as much as we do her name?

had private students, taught at Curtner Seminary in California (1895-1898) and at Mills College in Oakland, California (1890-1893; 1898-1901).

Headmistress Harker, who taught Latin and mathematics in addition to her administrative duties, has been described in a variety of sources as a person with three outstanding traits: humor,

Nancy Reiley

and Central became Melville and Harker, respectively.

“Miss Catherine Harker… was not only a meticulous scholar whose daily lessons were carefully organized in neatly penciled notes, but she was a strongly attractive teacher, usually dressed in the dignity of white shirtwaists and long black skirts of her day, who reassured her students with a contagiously delightful sense of humor.” —(Miss Harker’s School,”The Echo.” School yearbook, 1952.)

Still on a symbolic hunt for meaning behind the word “Harker” (English majors unite!), I checked out the library’s Oxford English Dictionary.

One of the meanings of the word “hark,” is “to hear with active attention.” A “harker,” is, of course, a listener.

“Her faculty of combining humor and scholarliness made her courses a delightful experience.” —(Tall Tree, Vol. 1, No. 4. October, 1952).

—Enid Davis, Library Director and Histor y Committee Chair

The motto of Miss Harker’s School for Girls was “Not to be served, but to serve - Non ministrai, sed ministare.”

In 1923, the City of Palo Alto changed its street signs to reflect the school’s presence. Katherine

So hark! Our school name comes to us from an intelligent, scholarly, person with a good sense of humor, whose selected school motto was to serve others. She dedicated her life to education. Catherine died of a heart attack on the school grounds on December 12, 1938, but her name certainly lives on.

Sources: Miss Harker’s School,”The Echo.” School yearbook, 1952.

Oxford English Dictionary. 2nd ed.

Claredon Press, 2001.

San Francisco Chronicle, Dec. 14, 1938.

Tall Tree, Vol. 1, No. 4. October, 1952.

San Jose News, December 31, 1976.

Vassar College, Catherine Harker’s Biographical Reference Questionnaire, no date.

volunteers grade level Winter Holiday celebrations. Special thanks to volunteers Alexandra Swafford and Kim Pellissier who procured 27 trees for homerooms on both campuses.

■ On Fri., Dec. 6 Gr. 8 parent volunteers transformed the Saratoga gym with trees and twinkling lights for the MS US English teacher Winter Dance, John Heyes needs one thanks to the more parent volunteer coordination effor ts to chaperone his Melody Moyer spearheaded of Alexandra student trip to the Dracula Dinner Theatre Swafford and to all National Steinbeck decorating. the 8th grade Center in Salinas on parents who helped out.

Tues., Feb. 11. Contact johnh@harker.org if you’re interested!

■ With the holiday season behind ■ Many thanks to the grade level us, the momentum builds for coordinators and room parents in Harker’s 52nd Annual Family and grades K – 8 who brought the Alumni Picnic. Mark your calendars holiday spirit into classrooms at for Sun., April 27, when we all learn both campuses on Fri., Dec. 20 for that “There’s no place like Harker,”

12

scholarship and dignity. Two quotes from our archive sources follow:

and get ready for this year’s “Wizard of Oz” theme!

If you’re interested in helping with this year’s fun Picnic, join our Picnic Steering Committee as they hit the Yellow Brick Road on their way to the Emerald City!

There will be a Picnic Kick-off at the Advancement Office on Tues., Feb. 4.

■ There will be a mandatory meeting for all grade level coordinators and room parents on Thurs., Feb. 6 when we hope to be giving out information about Picnic

booth assignments and theme week activities. Watch for e-mail reminders!!

■ New! Recognizing that parents like, and sometimes need, to make friendly connections with each other, the US Parent Volunteer Leadership Council is launching “usMOMS,” a community-building group to bring Harker US parents together from time to time (see ad and info on page 4).

—Nancy Reiley, Community Relations Director, nancyr@harker.org

The Harker News is published monthly by the Harker Office of Communications. Current and archived issues are also available on the Parent Home Page on the Web site at www.harker.org.

Editor: Pam Dickinson Asst. Editor: Terry Walsh Photo Editor: Chris Daren

Design: Blue Heron Design Printing & Mailing: Communicart Mailing Coordinator: Bran-Dee Torres

The Harker School does not discriminate in the administration of its educational policies, athletics or other school-administered programs, or in the administration of its hiring and employment practices on the basis of age, sex, race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or non-job-related handicap.