May 2003 (VOL. 9, NO. 8)
A
M O N T H L Y
N E W S L E T T E R
est. 1893 • K-12 college prep
F R O M
T H E
H A R K E R
S C H O O L
Over 600 Volunteers Help Make Harker a Very Special Place
Fads & Fashions 2nd Annual Bucknall Dance Concert Fri., May 30 & Sat., May 31 7 p.m. • Bucknall gym $3 students & seniors $5 adults
tickets@harker.org See pg. 2 for more ticket information
top stories Bucknall Outstanding CML math scores received by 6th graders ......... 7
Middle School Harker student wins top state honors in writing contest ..... 14
Upper School JETS teams first in state ..... 18 Perfect Latin papers ........... 20
important dates Sat., May 24, 10 a.m. US Graduation, Class of 2003
Mon., May 26 Memorial Day - No classes K-12
Thurs., June 5, 7 p.m. Gr. 8 Graduation, BKN Gym
Wed., June 4 Last day, US (after last final)
As the 2002-03 academic year draws to an end, we would like to express our appreciation to the many parents and friends of the school who have volunteered throughout the year to support our students, our faculty, our staff and the outstanding programs that we offer. The number of volunteer hours logged this year will exceed 7000. These hours reflect the dedication of over 600 volunteers! This is the first of two special Volunteer Appreciation editions of the Harker News. Next month we will acknowledge volunteers for their participation in our end-of-the-year events, such as The Wonderful Picnic of Oz, final performing arts productions, end of the year parties, May field trips, final tournaments and club activities and spring sports events. We apologize if anyone has been overlooked in our many lists of names. Please know that you are appreciated! Volunteering is a great way to share your time and talents with your own child, as well as with our entire Harker community. Everyone benefits from what you are able to share with us, and no amount of time or effort is too small. Chat with Nancy Reiley, our wonderful community relations director, and she'll be happy to help you find ways to get involved that match your time and interests. Or you can watch for the 2003-04 Volunteer Handbook that she’ll be sending to families over the summer that outlines the many ways we welcome the participation of our parents. We hope you will be as inspired by the volunteer efforts of your fellow parents listed inside as we are and find some way, large or small, to get involved in the coming year. We can honestly say that because of you, our valuable volunteers, there truly IS no place like Harker - many thanks to you all!
Thurs., June 5 Last day of school, K-8 Check Web calendars for detailed end-of-year information.
Volunteer Appreciation Edition
—Howard Nichols on behalf of the entire Harker community
“We hope you will be as inspired by the volunteer efforts of your fellow parents listed inside as we are…” —Howard Nichols Head of School
Heartfelt Thanks! EDITOR’S NOTE: This month's edition is dedicated to the extended family of parents and friends who wholeheartedly support our students and Harker in so many ways. The successes of our students reported in this issue are in no small part a reflection of the commitment Harker families have in providing the very best possible education for their children. Now, let's celebrate their many successes and continue to let them know just how very proud we are of them - read on! —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!
Volunteer Leadership
events
Upcoming Events: Mark Your Calendars! Tickets and registration for most events are on the Parent Home Page (PHP).
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Announcement: Due to rain, the annual Harker Golf Tournament was postponed. The new date is Sun., June 8. Contact event organizer and parent, Nancy Hartsoch at 408.209.9250 with questions.
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Tues., May 6 - Fri., May 23: Bucknall Art Show Student work will be displayed throughout Bucknall campus.
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Lower/Middle School Parent Leadership Council Sandy Berglund Becky Cox Brenda Davis Janie Fung Sangeeta Mehrotra Leslie Nielsen Kim Pellissier Sue Prutton Kathleen Santora Karen Saunders
MAY
Tues., May 6, 8 a.m., STG FDR: Fashion Show Fundraiser Meeting Parents interested in joining the committee for this new parent organized fundraiser are invited to this introductory presentation where the event chairs will share job descriptions and some of the particulars that have already been decided. Meeting will begin with a 30-minute social period and breakfast. To sign up for the committee now, go to the PHP!
“My parent volunteers include an outstanding and long time backstage green room supervisor, who adds the final
Important Reminder Tues., July 1: Full Tuition for 2003-04 Due As noted on your last statement, full tuition for the 2003-04 school year is due to our finance office on or before July 1. At that time we create our student database, student class schedules, prepare files and fill any openings we have from our waitlist to ensure all is ready for a smooth start of school. Many of you travel over the summer, so remember to make arrangements to submit your tuition before you leave! Note: This adjustment to the tuition due date (which was previously Aug. 1) more closely matches that of other independent schools allowing qualified waitlisted students sufficient time to enroll and be prepared for August start dates. Thanks for your understanding!
touch for the dancers prior to
the dance shows, a Jill-of-all trades who is so helpful,
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creative and fast, a parent who spent hours scanning photos for this year's finale,
there for the all-day dress rehearsal - the day wouldn't flow smoothly without her. I'm grateful to these parents and more who contribute so much time and talent to our dance program!” —Laura Rae, Dance Instructor
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and a parent who is always
Fri., May 16 and Sat., May 17, 7:30 p.m., STG Gym: “The Boyfriend” See ad this page. Mon., May 19, 11:30 a.m., Edge Patio: Senior Moms’ Tribute Luncheon Gr. 9, 10 and 11 moms will host a potluck lunch in recognition of their Gr. 12 “sisters” in what they hope will become an annual tradition. Gr. 9-11 moms are sought to help plan the menu and organize the potluck contributions. Gr. 12 moms, let us know if you’ll be attending so we know how many “honorees” we will have. Register on the PHP.
Fri., May 30 and Sat., May 31, 7 p.m., BKN Gym: “Fads & Fashion” Dance Concert Tickets available starting May 19 at tickets@harker.org and in the Bucknall gym lobby on May 21 (dress rehearsal day) and from May 22-30 from 4-7 p.m. weekdays. $3.00 students and seniors, $5 adults. Thurs., June 12, 5:30 - 7 p.m. (Gr. K), 7:30 - 9 p.m. (Gr. 1-8), STG FDR: New Parent Orientation
Friday, May 16 & Saturday, May 17 7:30 p.m. Saratoga Gym A rollicking spoof of the 1920s that rocketed Julie Andrews to stardom!
Book, Music & Lyrics by Sandy Wilson
$5 tickets available at tickets@harker.org
Legend: STG – Saratoga; BKN – Bucknall; FDR – Faculty Dining Room
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Thurs., May 29, 8 a.m., STG FDR: Volunteer Recognition Breakfast The final invitation-only event of this year will honor and thank our parent volunteers.
Harmonics Spring Production
Upper School Parent Leadership Council Shyamoli Banerjee Cherrie Blair Violet Boyle Kim Bush Nancy Hartsoch Susan Lee Jackie Liu Amanda Lundie Gayatri Patel Pat Vucurevich
Thanks
Tues., May 27, 7 p.m., STG gym: Gr. 4-8 Athletic Awards
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Fri., May 9, 8 a.m., STG FDR: Lower and MS Ambassador Volunteer Meeting
fun to go shopping with during
Wed., May 21, 4:30 p.m., STG FDR: Spring Musical Bouquet Join Cantilena, Guys’ Gig and the Middle School Chorus for an afternoon sampling of choral, opera, and musical theater songs.
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quality costumes and is so
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Thurs., May 8, 9:30 a.m., BKN Gym: Fabulous Fractured Fairytales Annual kindergarden production. Admission is free!
seamstress who creates top-
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Wed., May 7, 8 a.m., STG FDR: US Ambassador Volunteer Meeting
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going on stage, an amazing
Summer Fun! Sat., July 26, 5 p.m., San Jose Municipal Stadium: Private Harker Day at the Ballpark! The stadium is COMPLETELY OURS that day as Harker has its own “private party” at the ballpark! Don't miss this first-time ever event for Harker, where we’ll sing the national anthem, throw the first pitch and have the whole stadium to ourselves to watch the San Jose Giants vs. Visalia Oaks. Tickets are only $5 and must be ordered in advance through the Harker ticket office at tickets@harker.org and we’ll mail them to you. All the proceeds go to Harker, so all family and friends of Harker are welcome - the more the merrier! Join us for an evening of great baseball, good food and fabulous family fun!
For more information on volunteer meetings and events, contact Nancy Reiley at nancyr@harker.org The Harker News—May 2003
Event
recap
Annual Development Council Celebration - April 11, 2003
All Photos: Bran-Dee Torres
The annual Development Council Celebration dinner gathered members and their spouses for a review of the annual giving
campaign and a scrumptious dinner prepared by Harker's very own Chef Steve and team. Highlights of the night included seniors Sophia Wang and Tiffany Day showcasing their exquisite violin and piano skills, annual giving team members
Volunteer Leadership
posing for a group photo and co-chairs Shyamoli and Christine sharing motivational words on how we CAN reach our campaign goal (see pg. 23). Huali Chai Stanek also received a round of applause as Howard recognized her 14-year tenure on the Development Council, which makes her the longest standing member. The evening ended with Howard and Diana expressing sincere thanks to all and presenting each DC member with a special ceramic picture frame handmade by our MS art students. It was a wonder ful evening to honor an outstanding group of parent leaders—many thanks to you all!
Development Council Shyamoli Banerjee, Co-Chair Christine Davis, Co-Chair Deb Ahlgren Tamra Amick Elie Antoun Fran Axelrad Kannan Ayyar Ken Azebu Sandy Berglund
—Reported by Bran-Dee Torres
—Heather Blair, US Registrar and Dean of Students
“It’s wonderful to see parents at school during the day and helping during special events. I love being able to wave across the way at a parent I know. It really helps to reinforce the warmth and cohesiveness of the Harker community.”
Annual Kindergarten Hat Parade - April 17, 2003
All Photos: Mark Tantrum
The Kindergarten Spring Hat Parade began six years ago when Gr. 2 teacher James Hamilton brought the tradition to Harker from his native England. He hoped the tradition would prosper here and it certainly has! “The hats are homemade with a partnership between the child and parents. They work together in creating their hats while putting their own “spin” into it! It is a big surprise to us all when the hats arrive on this special day,” said Tara McFarland,
kindergarten teacher. After this year’s parade the children had an egg hunt around the playground, collecting eggs in their own baskets, and a create-your-own icecream sundae celebration.
Heather Blair Alice Bracken Fred Carr Jan Case Ravi Chalaka Karen Coates Becky Cox Robb Cutler Al Davis Doug and Linda Emery Susanne Englert Catherine Frye Russ Grabeel Reeta Gupta Sangeeta Gupte Chris Gustafson Eva Hsu David Hutchings Ernaz Irani Deepa Iyengar Wayne Johnson Nancy Jones John Keyashian Sarita Kohli Srinivas Kola Jean Laws Wen-Li Lin Betsy Lindars Jacky Liu Continued on Pg. 4
Thanks May 2003—The Harker News
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Volunteer Leadership Development Council, cont. Mary McCarthy Anita Mehta Meena Mehta Nimi Nagalingam Jim Newton Leslie Nielsen Rupa Pal Philip Palmintere Kaushik Patel Gayatri Patel Kim Pellissier Sarah Pennell Julia Peppard Rodney Rapson Marcia Riedel Tanya Ringold Lynn Roberts Cindy Salisbury Matt Sanders Savitha Sastry Karen Saunders Bob Schwartz Mark Shapiro Abha Shukla Huali Chai Stanek Lynette Stapleton Kavita Suri Niyati Thapliyal Pat Vucurevich Heather Wardenburg
STAFF
update
■ Kim Coulter, Bucknall recreation director, is back at Harker, returning to work part-time after her maternity leave taking care of her twin boys. She’ll be here Wed.-Fri. each week. Many thanks to Lana Morrison, asst. recreation director, who has been doing a great job running the program while Kim had her hands full of babies. Lana and Kim both look forward to continuing to provide a fun, challenging and varied after-school program for Harker families. Welcome back, Kim! ■ US English teacher Sharon Mittelstet has received an Award of Excellence bestowed on her by the Outstanding Teacher Recognition Program of UC San Diego. The award states that it is given, “In recognition of your significant achievements as a teacher and your dedication to education.” Former student Teja Patil recommended Mittelstet for the award. ■ US chemistry teacher Robbie Korin received a certificate of recognition from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented
Youth. Former student Shalini Lal nominated Korin as a California educator who has had a lasting and positive effect on her educational development. Korin also received the Award of Excellence from UC San Diego. Former students Mayuran Nagalingam, Jennifer Fung and Anish Jina nominated Korin for this honor. ■ Bucknall music and drama teacher Michael L. Pease has been cast in a major role in an upcoming musical. He will play Dr. Neville Craven in “The Secret Garden,” which will be performed from May 22 - June 21 at the Bus Barn Theatre in Los Altos. This Tony award-winning musical has been called “a treasure for children and adults.” More information is available at BusBarn.org. ■ US music teacher Cathy Snider was awarded the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Musical Direction 2002 for “She Loves Me” at Foothill Music Theatre. This is the second year Snider has won this award!
COMMUNITY “We had 21 parent volunteers
a tremendous response that was much appreciated!” —Jeanne Tyrell, Gr. 5 Science Teacher and K-8 Assistant Science Dept. Chair
Grade Level Coordinators Marcia Hirtenstein - Gr. K Lavanya Kling and Shankari Sundar – Gr. 1 Tyra LaMar – Gr. 2 Debbie Gray and Roopal Mayor – Gr. 3 Kelly Delepine– Gr. 4 Pam Araki and Sarah Pennell – Gr.5 Harleen Singh – Gr. 6 Brenda Davis and Lynn Wilson Roberts – Gr. 7 Molly Grunbaum and Alexandra Swafford – Gr. 8
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■ The Prudential Spirit of Community Award was presented recently to senior Calvin Yu for his establishment of the YourBear Organization (see Jan. 2003 newsletter). “This recognizes Calvin as one of finest contributors to community service in California,” said Kevin Williamson, US dean of students. Congratulations to Calvin for earning this recognition, and for his spirit of service throughout the greater community. ■ Event organizer and P.E. teacher Pete Anderson reported that the final total for Bucknall’s 2003 Jump Rope for Heart was $13,154.25. The leading fundraisers were siblings Araby and Delaney Martin (Gr. 4 and K) with a combined total of $1,542. “Students and staff should be very proud of their efforts. They have helped make this year’s Jump Rope for Heart a huge success,” said Anderson. ■ Many thanks to Key Club members who recently spent the
■ US activities coordinator and yearbook advisor, Chris Daren, was invited by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association of Columbia Univ., New York, to present a seminar at their annual conference in March in New York City. Approximately 1,500 representatives from over 100 schools from all over the country attended. Daren’s presentation was on “Coverage” due to Harker’s distinction of winning the All Columbian Honors award for coverage in the 2001-02 TALON. Daren has also been asked to join the panel of judges for the 2003-04 contest to assist in critiquing yearbooks from other schools. Great job, Chris!
service
afternoon painting and sanding fences at Happy Hollow in San Jose: Asmita Jina, Sneha Krishna,
Jaja Hsuan
for our tidepool trip in April —
■ US French teacher Nicholas Manjoine has been accepted into the National Endowment for the Humanities seminar, “The Paris of Balzac, Zola and Baudelaire,” and will spend four weeks in Paris this summer. The seminar will provide Manjoine with an opportunity for substantive study of significant humanities ideas and texts to bring back to his classes in the fall.
Allison Kwong, Colleen Lee and Kathy Peng. In March the new Key Club officers were elected for the 2003-2004 term: President - Kathy Peng; Vice President - Emily Hsi; Secretary - Sneha Krishna; Treasurer - Jennifer Lin; Project Director - Jamie Trinh; Public Relations - Aditi Bhattacharyya; Historian - Janine Carpenter and Bulletin Editor - Audrey Leung. ■ In April, 29 US students participated in the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life cancer walk
and raised over $3,100 to go towards research and programs dedicated to cancer. “The participation and enthusiasm at the Cancer Walk was incredible,” said Emily Hsi, Gr. 10. “Watching the cancer survivors lead the first lap on the track was extremely touching. I was also able to learn about the common types of cancer at the informational booths. I’m glad that I, along with the Harker Key Club, have contributed to such a deserving cause,” she added. A special thanks to all the parents and faculty members who chaperoned at this worthwhile event. ■ The proceeds from the International Club mixer hosted on Fri., Mar. 21 went to a charity called Doctors Without Borders, recipient of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. Last year, in a charity dance, the International Club raised $700 for the Rainforest Action Network. The previous year the club collected money and school supplies to help an elementar y school in flood ravaged Honduras. Proceeds from this year’s event are still being tallied. The Harker News—May 2003
Lower/Middle School The spring sports have begun! The LS boys and girls are per fecting their skills in baseball and softball and MS boys and girls are enjoying soccer, volleyball, co-ed tennis and co-ed swimming. Everyone seems to be working hard and learning a lot.
Mark Tantrum
The Gr. 7/8 boy’s volleyball team is off to a great start. They have improved their record to 2-0 after an exciting win over St. Christopher’s. After losing the opening game 15-0, the team battled back and won game two, 15-6, and game three, 15-4. Outstanding hitting by Luke Grumbaum and clutch serving and passing by Chad Manning, Eric Tsai, Matt Wong, Jack Wu and Danyal Kothari helped lead the team to an exciting comeback victory. The Gr. 8 girl’s soccer team won their first game against Miller Middle School, 6-2. Stacy
Upper School Harker US spring sports are sprinting around the turn heading for the homestretch. The fast paced spring season has seen over 140 student athletes battling not only their competition, but the elements as well. The Harker golf team is currently tied for 1st place in the PSAL with a match record of 4-1. If they get help from a league opponent, the team could tie for 1st place in league, which would allow them to qualify for CCS post season play. Led by Ryan Graumann and Jon Jenq, the team looks to go to 5-1 in their upcoming match against Pinewood School. On the track, David Hsu, David Ly and John Ollila continue to maintain mastery of the league in the long jump, discus, pole vault, and the 100 meter dash. David Hsu jumped almost 20 feet in the long jump to win the last meet in that event. Teammate David Ly is continually in the top two or three in the triple jump as well as the 100. John Ollila is the league’s only, and best. pole May 2003—The Harker News
briefs
Volunteer Leadership
DosSantos had four goals! They lost to Valley Christian 1-2. Sharon Huang had numerous saves in goal. Top performers thus far have been Stacy DosSantos, Mariel Garcia, Twisha Buch and Megan Kehriotis. Keep up the good work! The Gr. 8 boy’s soccer team is also playing outstanding soccer. They are currently 4-2 with their only losses to Castro, 5-0, and Rolling Hills, 3-1. The team picked up wins against Price, 3-2, Campbell, 3-1, and C.T. English, 41. Team captains Brandt Warecki and Adam Rubin have been outstanding players and leaders. Warecki has had an outstanding year in goal, making 67 saves for the season with 21 saves in the Campbell game. Rubin, the team’s center midfielder and leading scorer, has scored six goals and assisted two times this season. The team has five other players with one goal each: Jonny Chang, Philip Chu, Adam Creasman,
vaulter and will match up with bigger schools in the upcoming CCS meets. John also throws the discus, long jumps, and runs the 100. A future decathlete in the works, it seems! On the girls’ track side, Lisa Nakano and Vickie Duong lead the Eagles in the sprints, with two time state cross country qualifier Deepa Mathew and Jennifer Shangkuan leading the distance runners. The Eagle tennis the squad is currently in third place in league, and looks to knock off probable league champ Pinewood in their next match. With Wesley Wu and Eric Liu returning next year, the team will bid to become the top team in the league. Swimming has competed in many exciting meets this season, with exciting races being the norm. A packed crowd cheered the teams on at Bucknall last month, with the final event, the 400-yard freestyle relay, coming down to a near photo finish with the Harker boys’ team, anchored by Rand Ahlgren winning
Room Parents, K-8 Nina Anand Gia Audebert Fran Axelrad Sandy Berglund Monisha Bheda Candy Carr Olivia Chang Tina Chang
“My parents were such eager field trip volunteers that on Mark Tantrum
SPORTS
one trip two of my parents helped another room that was short volunteers. The children Richard Kwant and Avinash Mandava; and four other players with assists: Grayson Hurd (2), Brian Ginn (1), Neil Shah (1) and Jonny Charlu (1). Ten players registered at least one point in five games played. Coaches Anthony Wood and Justin Sullivan are proud of the effort, camaraderie and heart of this year’s team. Keep up the great work! —Reported by Mary Kay Olks, Asst. Athletic Director, P.E. Teacher & Coach
at the wire. The softball team scored a 14-13 victory over league mate ICA, by scoring five runs in the bottom of the seventh to secure the come from behind victory. While the baseball team has battled all year, the very young team has run across some tough teams in league play. Fellow sophomore Ben Shapiro and Richard Wang have led the Eagles this year, with senior Chris Davis turning in a solid performance at the plate and in the field. Chris was recently honored by being selected to play in the North South Senior All Star Football game that will be held this July. Boys’ volleyball played a spirited and exciting match with long rallies in a four game loss to Redwood. The much shorter Eagles finally gave way to the tree sized Redwood players! The team, led by senior Paul Hardy, has been competitive and entertaining in its play this season. —Reported by Jack Bither US Athletic Director
loved having so many of “our” parents on the trip, and the teachers really appreciated the parent assistance so that we could ensure the trip ran smoothly.” —Stephanie Woolsey, Gr. 3 Teacher
Sarala Devi John Dickman Viji Dilip Sharvari Dixit Leslie Doherty Chris Douglas Barbara Drummer Roberta Estrada Lynn Forester Catherine Frye Rita Giomi Kathy Goller Ronlyn Goo Chris Gustafson Karen Hansen Joan Havard Deepa Iyengar Sandhya Jagadeesh Nancy Jones Oletta Ju Vidya Kamat Jessica Kao Nancy Kehriotis Angie Krackeler Kasia Kranz Geetha Krishnamurthy Tarini Kumar Continued on Pg. 6
Thanks 5
Volunteer Leadership
assisting us with our book fair, book collection ordering , class check-outs and book shelving, our programs would feel a terrific loss and we would never catch up with our work. So thank you!” —Enid Davis, Library Director
Kim Pellissier Jeannette Perez-Triant Kathy Polzin Ernie Porter Harshada Pothula Sue Prutton Charu Prakash Marcia Riedel Frances Ross Jyoti Sahdev Savitha Sastry Lillian Schmidt Pratibha Sharma Vivian Shen Abha Shukla Janet Smith Stacey Steele Joyce Sum Sujatha Suresh Continued on Pg. 7
Thanks 6
explained. In preparation for Pi Day the students were asked to do a Web search to find out the history of pi and fun facts related to it. On Pi Day itself the students got into groups with their newfound information and made posters to share their knowledge. “In my 8th period (all girl class) we even made Pi bracelets,” noted Janiak. “In the end, the highlight of Pi day was the sharing of “Pie” and any other circular treats. It was a ver y fun day that the students enjoyed!” she added.
■ Gr. 5 teacher Pat Walsh made his 3rd annual contract with a Bucknall student to sing a favorite Irish tune over the school’s PA system on St. Patrick’s Day. This year’s crooner was Leslie Sherman, Gr. 6, singing “Four Green Fields.” Last year the school was treated to “Danny Boy,” also sung by Leslie. Two years ago Casey McNamara started the tradition with a rousing rendition of “McNamara’s Band.” For her efforts, Leslie will be treated to a Taco Bell lunch. Walsh tried to get her to settle for a corned beef & cabbage dinner, but Leslie said, “No dice!”
■ Rita Stone’s 1st grade homeroom had a visit from dentist Jenny Lu, mother of Mercedes Chien, who shared her expertise in the field of dentistry. She showed the class the parts of a tooth, explained how cavities form and can be prevented, demonstrated the proper way to brush, brought actual extracted adult teeth to look at, and gave each member of the class a bag filled with brushes, toothpaste, a prize and an hourglass timer to help students remember to brush for three minutes for good dental health. “The kids had lots of questions and comments and thoroughly enjoyed this visit from the friendly dentist,” said Stone. ■ The Bucknall multicultural committee sponsored a cultural trivia game in March. K-3 students and 4-6 students all were given a set of questions to answer and had one week to complete the questions with the option of bringing them home to work on with their families. Students were challenged by questions such as, “Which country hosts the two
learning about in social studies,” said teacher Howard Saltzman. Children also enjoyed the gift shop and O’Brien’s Ice Cream Parlor! “The docents were very impressed with both the behavior and enthusiasm that the Harker students displayed on the tour,” added Saltzman. ■ For the second year, Phil Doty from the U.S. Mint in San Francisco came to speak to the students in Gr. 3. Doty explained to students how coins are made, told them about the four different mints in our country and talked about the 50 States Quarter Program. Students received a set of pennies, bookmarks, a book cover, and a tattoo from the U.S. Mint, plus State Quarters coin holders for the years 1999, 2000, 2001, and 2002. “I like how he used making cookies for us to understand how a
Mark Tantrum
volunteers on each campus
bucknall cultures that invented chewing gum and chocolate?” and “Who invented the traffic signal?” Over 100 students joined in the game, and the first 15 students from K-3 and 4-6 who answered all the questions correctly received gift certificates to Baskin Robbins. Congratulations to all winners and special thanks to the organizers of the game, teachers Marcie Gilbert and David Qua, and to all homeroom teachers for helping out! (ANSWERS: Chocolate, an Aztec confection, and chewing gum from the Mayan culture are both from Mexico, and the traffic signal was invented by black American Garret Morgan.)
■ In March students in Gr. 3 enjoyed a field trip to the San Jose Historical Museum, touring the museum grounds and getting a sense of what life was like 150 years ago during the Victorian era in the Santa Clara Valley. “This field trip was a wonderful way to enhance what the students are
Kathy Feretti
“Without the library
■ Kristen Janiak reported that her math classes celebrated Pi Day on March 14. “People began celebrating pi on this day because of the first 3 digits in pi: 3.14,” Janiak
Mark Tantrum
c
Room Parents, K-8, cont. Jo Leung Hannah Lewis Jenny Lu Lise Lucas Ashima Madan Bhavani Mamidanna Diane Martin Lisa Mata Lisa McEuen Liz Melbourne Jay Minisandram Rahat Modi Maryann Montrym Kisstopher Musick Rekha Nandakumar Tan Nguyen Leslie Nielsen Afsaneh Oskouy Vina Patel
AROUND
coin is made,” said Katie Siegel. She added, “I liked the cool things he gave us. The bookmarks taught me things, the pennies are cool, the coin holder now holds coins and the tattoo has a nice picture. His presentation was nice and interesting.” Thanks to teacher Janice Snyder, a friend of Doty’s, who helped arrange the visit, and Howard Saltzman for organizing the visit. ■ Linda Alexander reports that her G level math class has been learning about the concept of multiplication. The children made books called “I Can Do Multiplication,” making up their own multiplication problems and using stamps and inkpads to do the illustrations. “They particularly enjoyed using the teacher stamps that said things like “A+” and “Great Effort,” laughed Alexander. The Harker News—May 2003
AROUND
bucknall
Grade 6 Students Shine in California Math League Contest In last month’s issue we reported the outstanding results of our Gr. 7 and 8 math students in the annual California Math League contest. The Gr. 6 results are now in, and they too made a very strong showing in this rigorous competition. K-8 math dept. chair, Cindy Kerr, explained that this 40question exam contains so many
difficult questions that contest officials consider a score of 15/40 to be “Commendable” and a score of 30+/40 is considered “Exceptional.” Kerr was delighted to report that 96% of our Gr. 6 students earned a score in the “Commendable” or higher range, and 25% scored in the “Exceptional” range. The winning “team”
score is the sum of the top five scores, and the team score for this impressive group was 195/200: Thomas Wang, Joseph Swernofsky, Lexie Ross, Aaron Lin and Sean Mandell. Congratulations to these students and to the entire 6th grade for their outstanding scores, and to math teacher Leah Moll for organizing this Bucknall event.
Volunteer Leadership Room Parents, K-8, cont. Lawrence Taylor Niyati Thapliyal Mary Titus Trish Tobin Radhika Venkatraman Linda Wang Heather Wardenberg Paulina Wegrowicz Helen Wei Dora Wong Marianna Yanovsky Nancy Yee Jin Zhou
“Organizing, planning and even a little scheming to get things done and make things fun for the third graders is All Photos: Mark Tantrum
what my room parents do for me. They are wonderful!” —Kathleen Ferretti, Gr. 3 Teacher and Gr. 3 Dept. Chair
Annual Ogre Awards Honor Favorite Fairy Tale Characters The 7th annual Ogre Awards was another rousing success, and lots of classes, families, friends and Harker staff enjoyed this highly anticipated show. The annual Ogres are a clever parody of the Academy Awards. Selected characters from fairy tales are given a quick mention of their part as prompted by Enid Davis, library director. Presenters, who are also fairy tale characters, announce the winners and hand out the Ogre awards. Elementary division head, Christy Vail, sang “Another Openin’ of an Ogre Show” to begin this year’s Ogres, which included 46 fairy tale characters and 21 stories. The performances by Harker 2nd graders got off to a rocky start with a group of three wolves protesting their portrayal as big and bad in fairy tales! In the end, awards were given for Best Performance by a Fool, Trickster, Heroine, Magical Object, Witch, May 2003—The Harker News
Hero and Wolf. There were three nominated songs, and a highlight of the annual performance was a giant, played by Brian Larsen, technical director, belting out “Everything’s Comin’ Up Beanstalks!” The final award went to the Best Story. In the Ogre show presented by the homerooms of Lisa Hirata and Anitra Sudderth, “Tsarevich Ivan and Grey Wolf” was the winner. James Hamilton and Judy Beil’s homerooms chose “The Two Old Women’s Bet” for top honors. Special thanks to Davis, the brainchild of this event, and the many staff involved in this production. This was the first time I attended the Ogres, and I came away with such a good feeling that I plan to attend both performances from now on! —Reported by Terry Walsh
School Pictures Chairs Smita Patel, Saratoga Tricia Strutner, Saratoga Kim Hall, Bucknall Bucknall Grandparents’ Day Chairs Janie Fung Debbie Gray Kim Pellissier Harker Golf Tournament Nancy Hartsoch, Chair Ambassador Program Chairs Sandy Berglund Violet Boyle Becky Cox Gayatri Patel Kathleen Santora Karen Saunders Susan Lee Volunteer Recognition Leslie Nielsen Mailings Karen Saunders, Coordinator
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Classroom & Teacher Support Holiday homeroom/grade level party help, field trip chaperones, refreshments, special classroom projects Cheryl Acheson Dorit Adar Kim Alonzo Tamra Amick Michelle Anderson Christine Apap-Bologna Pam Araki
“My sincerest thanks to our Room Parent Extraordinaire ~
PERFORMING ■ Bucknall Dance Concert - May 30 and 31 See cover and pg. 2 for details. ■ “The Boyfriend,” MS Harmonics Spring Musical - May 16 and 17 See pg. 2 for details. ■ Fifteen Harker students participated in the annual California Music Educators’ Association Solo/ Ensemble Festival at San Jose State recently. Music teacher Catherine Snider explained that in this competition students perform for a judge, who then critiques them and awards each student a rating of Superior, Excellent, Good, Fair or Needs Improvement. In
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addition, the judge may award the coveted Command Performance, which invites the recipient to perform again at the Command Performance Concert, which runs throughout the day for festival-goers to enjoy. Snider said that very few students in the competition received Command Performance ratings. However, Harker had six students who earned this rating and were invited to perform later in the day: cello/piano duet of Eric Hsieh and Sophia Wang; violin/piano duet of Takeo Toyoshima and Jessica Cu; violin soloist Tiffany Day, accompanied by Sophia Wang. Additional Superior ratings went to the
following students: vocal duet of Mickey Selbo-Bruns and Kathy Peng; flute soloists Meghan Desale and Jessica Travis; vocal soloists Tara Chandra, Whitney Graves, Amulya Mandava, Mickey SelboBruns, accompanied by Kathryn Lee; Gabby DeMers, accompanied by Jessica Cu. Excellent rankings were awarded to vocal soloist Kathy Peng and French horn soloist Tanu Shenoy. Congratulations to all the students who participated! ■ Congratulations to US music teacher Catherine Snider for her recent recognition. See Staff Update, pg. 4!
the inspiration and guiding light for our classroom for
“Fairytale Courtroom” Showcases Hilarious Gr. 6 Talent
every festive event and field
whose tireless efforts have yielded not only cookies, crafts, and costumes, but many fond memories of this past year at Harker. She has become an integral part of our classroom!” —Ruth Benson, Gr. 3 Teacher
Zaineb Asaf Gia Audebert Fran Axelrad Beulah Babu Maitree Banerjee Alivelu Basava Andrew and Sylvia Beals Cindy Beine Ilana Berger Reena Bhargava Susmita Bhatacharya Monisha Bheda Cynthia Bruketa Angela and Andrei Brunfeld Candy Carr Brenda Chan Tina Chang Sheila Chatterjee Rahul Chopra Betsy Chung Karen Coates Continued on Pg. 11
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In March the entire 6th grade class performed the “Fairytale Courtroom,” a comedy by Dana Proulx. It was directed by drama teacher Michael Pease with invaluable help from the rest of the Bucknall Performing Arts staff. The 6th graders were split into two casts that performed on different nights, and all the Gr. 6 students were able to showcase their acting, singing and comedic abilities in this hilarious show. Some students were asked about their experiences with the production. Jimmy Wu, who played a Wolf, said, “This has given me a chance to experience what it feels like to be a real actor, including the responsibilities and pressure, but mostly the many, many lessons to learn.” “The tech process was one of the best parts. I got to help paint the sets and make some of the props,” said Elizabeth Case. Amaresh Shukla said, “One of the best parts of the show was to act as a character [the Prince] who brags and boasts…We shared many laughs with our fun and energetic teacher, Mr. Pease.” Harker parent Cheryl Acheson (Nick Hyman) wrote, “Thank you and congratulations for all the hard work...the play was so funny and appropriate for the group.” Parent Susan Mandell (Jeffrey and Sean) agreed. “Bravo!! The 6th-grade performance was great! It seemed like a very complex undertaking that came together beautifully, thanks to what had to be incredibly hard work by all of you.” We couldn’t agree more - congratulations to Pease and all of the 6th graders for the wonderful shows! And remember that photos from the shows are online on the Parent Home Page for viewing or ordering. Enjoy!
All photos: Mark Tantrum
trip this year, a room parent
The Harker News—May 2003
PERFORMING
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Chris Daren
Our award-winning Harker Conservatory presented Sondheim’s “Into the Woods” in three sold-out performances in April. This fractured fairy tale full of twists and turns delighted audiences and showcased the outstanding talents of our US students who, once again, amazed us! Congratulations to the entire cast and crew and to performing arts director Laura Lang-Ree for another truly remarkable spring production. And special thanks to our many faculty, staff and parents who provide such valuable behind-the-scenes support – our shows couldn’t go on without you!
May 2003—The Harker News
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AROUND
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Harker 7th Graders Enjoy Grand Canyon Expedition This year’s 7th graders enjoyed Harker’s first-ever academic week-long trip to the Grand Canyon during the week of March 24. Flying into Las Vegas and then busing to the Grand Canyon in Arizona, students were oriented with a Desert View Drive that offered easy access to great overlooks and some short hikes. Experienced rangers guided hikes where students examined the geology and formation of the Canyon. They also enjoyed short hikes along the Village Rim Trail. “A major highlight of the trip was an exciting 15-mile float trip on the Colorado River,” said MS teacher Raji Swaminathan. “Rafts of Harker students raced down the Colorado River from the Glen Canyon dam – there were cheering students and fantastic views. It was an unbelievable experience!” she added. Zion National Park was also among the stops with several options for hiking including an easy hike to the famous Emerald Pools, a series of pools below waterfalls. Teacher Ilona Davies led some students on a rigorous hike to the Upper Emerald Pool. “It was well worth the effort,” said Davies. The huge sandstone cliff there has been carved out by the Virgin River for over 150 million years. Student Gwynne Davis said, “The trip was rewarding and enjoyable, especially the river rafting!” Student Sumita Sharma said, “I liked the Emerald Pools and spending time getting to know my friends better.” The students also visited Bryce Canyon National Park where rangers led canyon hikes on the Navajo Loop Trail, Tower Bridge Trail and Queens Garden Trail. An afternoon scenic drive to Sunrise, Sunset, Inspiration and Bryce viewpoints showed the group the best Bryce has to offer. An Old West evening included a cowboy style dinner, a museum stop featuring paraphernalia from the frontier days, learning to line dance and participating in or watching reenactments of gun battles right at sundown! “I liked all the places we went to eat. They were all fun experiences, especially the cowboy dinner where we got to dress up and act in a play,” said student Zainab Rangwala.
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All photos: Raji Swaminathan
Jennifer Gargano, MS division head, asked the students to write about the most interesting things they did and learned on the trip. She said their highlights included learning about the Native American culture and the history of how each of the canyons was formed. Students enjoyed the “gorgeous views and waterfalls” during the hikes in Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. “The students especially enjoyed the rafting trip down the Colorado River in Moab, Utah, where they were able to learn about and see 300 million years of rock history, abstract sculpted sandstone spires and ancient Anasazi petroglyphs and granaries,” said Gargano. The Harker News—May 2003
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Middle School Poetry Winners Gr. 8 English teacher, Sylvia Harp held the 4th annual Gr. 8 poetry contest recently and these selected poems will appear this fall in a book entitled, “The Teacher’s Selection – Anthology of Poetry.” Two of the poems are Elizabethan sonnets. Congratulations to these creative students!
The Wind The lonely wind wanders through moonlit fields Where slowly swaying wheat marks her way, She makes no sound, her lips are sealed Nowhere does she wait or stay. The wind sings a soundless song As she longs for the dawn of a new day. This lifeless dark is not where she belongs Here, she knows, her soul cannot remain. Still, she is silent and lonely as she lingers Waiting for the darkness of night to clear, Until slowly, the sun’s first warm fingers Gently caress the wind, bringing life near. Then the wind continues on her path Dancing, twirling, free of darkness at last. —Annelise Han
Casualties
Acquiescence A girl walks down the filthy, rueful street Around her lies the barely breathing dead A man immersed in blood lies at her feet Because of tear-stained blood, his eyes are red. What is this concept that we all call life? The little girl sits down and ponders why. To be is to endure the strenuous strife In the end we all acquiesce and die. Epiphany emerges then at last She knows that humans simply need a rest From pain, from fear, from aching hearts. Perhaps The long sought after key to life is death. With this she crosses to where the man lies And gently closes his exhausted eyes. —Elyse Trinh
The deserted battlefield is an unforgiving sea of brutal nothingness. The bleeding sun dies slowly and inexorably in the west, throwing shadows Upon the last remnants of compassion amongst brothers. All that remain are the uncountable masses of littered, crumpled carcasses Mutilated by the differences between their gods and the enmity of their leaders Presidents, Kings, and other such gaudy titles Sitting smugly, concerned with their affairs and popularity Arrogant, impersonal Titans Sending their people to a tragic and horrifying end In the name of God, Gods, or the Pride of the Nation. They soften the brutally raw truth, Oppress the honest and corrupt the gullible, And turn colorfully explicit images of carnage and deception to easy, bite-sized, friendly black-and-white and good-versus-evil images of righteousness. Because everyone knows we are always right, and they are always wrong. And the corpses lie cold, indifferent. Slumped silently, sorrow seeping. Ambitions quelled forever in their chests, Vitality drained like blood through bullet holes, Staining uniforms That will be sterilized, recycled, reused By the endless crop of patriotic martyrs, confident now But with experience they all become lost and astonished children, waiting to be saved from the icy waters of Hell by their treacherous father. Never to endure, never to enjoy, never to see Stripped of their visions like blind beggars. Wispy steam, searching for the brilliant flames from whence it came And which have been so pathetically and tragically extinguished. Alighting delicately on a bare, black, dead branch, a crimson robin twitters, oblivious. His serves as a final symphony for his silent audience, apparently absorbed in thought. —Adam Creasman
May 2003—The Harker News
Classroom & Teacher Support Holiday homeroom/grade level party help, field trip chaperones, refreshments, special classroom projects, cont. Catherine Conrad Becky Cox Christine Davis Kelly Delepine Archana Desai Sarala Devi Viji Dilip Leslie Doherty Chris Douglas Barbara Drummer Grace Edvalson Roberta Estrada Jill Finlayson Lynn Forester Eugenia Friedland Vanaja Gadiraju Kathy Goller Melinda Gonzales Ronlyn Goo Julie Grabeel Debbie Gray Molly Grunbaum Sunita Gupta Chris Gustafson Cheryl Halloran Karen Hansen Ellen Harris Marisol Herrera Marcia Hirtenstein Joni Ho Deepa Iyengar Anu Jagadeesh Sandhya Jagadeesh Ambreen Jamal Helena Jerney Nancy Jones Oletta Ju Anu Kalidindi Vidya Kamat Jessica Kao Laura Kavinsky Nancy Kehriotis Lana Kipnis Lavanya Kling Lynette Knudsen Angie Krackeler Anu Kottapalli Kasia Kranz Geetha Krishnamurthy Sridhar Krishnamurthy Sandhya Kulkarni Lalitha Kumar Monica Kumar Jagadeesh Kyathsandra Continued on Pg. 12
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Classroom & Teacher Support Holiday homeroom/grade level party help, field trip chaperones, refreshments, special classroom projects, cont.
VOLUNTEER
paparazzi
Sometimes there’s a camera handy to capture some of the wonderful things our parents do throughout the year to make the lives of our children and community richer—and more fun! Here are just a few of the memories…
Vidya Lakshmi Tyra LaMar Laura Lang-Ree Nelly Leong William Leong Ilene Levine Hannah Lewis Shiao-Yen Lin Betsy Lindars Jenny Lu Renuka Madduluri
“This has been my first year at Harker, and there have been moments when two wonderful parent volunteers were personally responsible for brightening my day, beautifying my classroom, and of course bringing ease, creativity, and joy to all of our parties, field trips…you name it. My gratitude to them is profound! Thank you, volunteers, for making my first year that much more enjoyable and welcoming! —Marcie Gilbert, Gr. 4 Language Arts Teacher
Carol Malone Bhavani Mamidanna Mandana Martin Lisa Mata Roopal Mayor Liz Melbourne Sundari Mitra Ruth Mohanram Mary Ann Montrym Ann Moudgal Melody Moyer Neeraja Muthal Rekha Nandakumar Vidhya Narasimhan Suchita Narayen
Continued on Pg. 13
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The Harker News—May 2003
Classroom & Teacher Support Holiday homeroom/grade level party help, field trip chaperones, refreshments, special classroom projects, cont. Diane Nasser Maria Nazari Debbie Neubieser Tan Nguyen Leslie Nielsen Afsaneh Oskouy Sandhya Padewekar Regina Panikar Kalpana Parulkar Kim Pellissier Sarah Pennell
“My Room Parents are a great team! They are energetic, creative, organized, hardworking, cooperative, thoughtful, supportive, and very, VERY enthusiastic! I also have lots of other parents who are equally wonderful and come on field trips, read to the class, share family traditions and more. They make my job so much easier…I’m very lucky to have them!!” —Linda Alexander, Gr. 1 Teacher
Jeannette Perez-Triant Kathy Polzin Don Porter Mark and Kamila Powell Charu Prakash Allison Prusa Sue Prutton Nalina Ramalakshmi Meena Ravuri Elsa Reddy Marcia Riedel Frances Ross Ruchi Sadhu Barbara Sancen Savitha Sastry Archana Sathaye
Continued on Pg. 14
Thanks May 2003—The Harker News
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Karen Saunders Malathy Sethuraman Seema Sharma Vivian Shen Shawna Shu Harleen Singh Saradha Srinivasan
“I've really been blessed with hard-working homeroom mothers. For the Family Picnic and other events during the year, they always shoulder the responsibility, and I never have to worry.” —Henry Cunningham MS English Teacher
Andrew Stack Joyce Sum Shankari Sundar Sujatha Suresh Wanda Tam Simy Taneja Michelle Taylor Niyati Thapliyal Melissa Thomas Mary Titus Trish Tobin Jane Villadsen Karen Walker Ray Wallin Heather Wardenburg Grace Wang Joan Wang Linda Wang Paulina Wegrowicz Helen Wei Theresa Weisbloom Marcos Woehrman Catherine Wong Dora Wong Wing Wong Oxana Wootton Fei Xu Bella Yanovsky Nina Yeats Nancy Yee Linda and Nelson Yu Maggie Zheng Jin Zhou
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Middle School ■ Gr. 7 Math Students Ranked #1 In California Harker’s 7th grade students placed first in the state in the recent California Mathematics League exam, and our 8th graders also earned top honors, placing first in the county and second in the state. In addition, the individual scores of Gr. 7 students Jay Shah, Ankur Sharma and Tonia Sun placed among the top four scores in the state, and the individual scores of Gr. 8 students Jay Han and Brice Lin tied with several other thirdplace California winners. “We’re over-the-top proud of our students,” said MS math teacher and dept. chair, Cindy Kerr. The test, which was taken on Feb. 25, is based on logical and mathematical reasoning, and students had 30 minutes to solve 40 complex questions. Harker students competed against 7th and 8th graders from 134 other California schools. Over 1 million students participate nationwide. For further results go to http:// www.mathleague.com. ■ Harker FPS Teams Qualify for State Finals for Fourth Year Harker’s Future Problem Solving team (FPS) did extremely well at the state qualifying competition round held in February, a program where teams meet to research, discuss, and then solve their hypothetical future problem. This year’s topic dealt with complications arising from the use of nanotechnology in space travel. Harker had five teams competing in an intense climate where they had to generate a 12page document in two hours, addressing challenges and, ultimately, solutions to a one-page hypothetical future scenario. The following two Harker teams qualifyied for state finals: Gr. 8 team - Maya Ziv, Adam Creasman, Andy Drukarev and Ashley Morishige; Gr. 9 team - Sean Turner, Amira Valliani, Jonathan Chien and Sameer Chopra.
saratoga Julia Havard Wins State Writing Contest In the Jan. newsletter (pg. 9 and 11) we reported on The California Center for the Book’s annual Letters About Literature program, a national reading-and-writing contest that invites students to write a letter (L to R) Arko, Ayse, Julia and Allison to an author, living or dead, explaining how this author’s book gave them wings, became a part of their lives, or changed their way of viewing the world and themselves. The work of many of the students in MS teacher Sylvia Harp’s Gr. 8 honors class, as well as students in the classes of LS English teachers Marcie Gilbert, Paul Lukes and Bina Barnabas, was submitted. We are pleased to report that out of a field of 3,400 entries in the MS division (Gr. 7 and 8) Julia Havard, Gr. 8, was chosen as the first place winner in the state of California.
Mark Tantrum
Holiday homeroom/grade level party help, field trip chaperones, refreshments, special classroom projects, cont.
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Joan Havard
Classroom & Teacher Support
In addition, two other Gr. 8 students, Ayse Celebioglu and Allison Wong, finished as top ten semifinalists. And Arko Mukherjee, Gr. 4, was a top ten semi-finalist out of 8,600 entries in the Gr. 4-6 level. Julia wrote to author Pablo Neruda about his book of poems entitled “Ode to Common Things,” Ayse wrote to Anne Frank for the book “Diary of Anne Frank,” Allison wrote to Barbara Kingsolver who wrote “Poisonwood Bible” and Arko wrote Bernard Miles for the book “Favorite Tales from Shakespeare.” Julia and her family will attend a ceremony in Sacramento as guests of the center where Julia will be honored. Her essay will also be sent to Washington D.C. to be considered for national recognition. All of the top twenty letters from California are published annually in a Letters About Literature booklet, which is distributed to librarians, teachers, students, and the authors to whom the students wrote. Congratulations to our fine writers!
In addition, the following individuals were invited to compete: Gr. 8 Siobhan Stevensen, Anne Giomi and Julia Havard; Gr. 7 - Stephanie Lio and Neha Deshmukh. The two teams, along with individual competitors Siobhan Stevenson and Stephaine Lio, will fly to Burbank at the end of April to represent Harker at the state finals. Here are the other team members and competitors who participated: Gr. 8 - Aseem Shukla, Michael Chaykin, Nina Vyedina, Andrew Swafford, Andrew
Hospedor and Matt Holmes; Gr. 7 Emma Patten, Ayushi Gummadi, Tonia Sun, Shilpa Rajgopal and Jacque Titus. This year marks Harker’s 4th year to make the state finals, winning the state championship in the per formance phase four years in a row! Cyrus Merrill, Harker LS ancient history & MS history teacher and FPS coach, noted, “Next year we should have continued success with experienced veterans blending with any other thinkers willing to work intensely to solve unknown crises in the future. In a real sign of the success of the Harker FPS team, even our newcomers scored higher than most returning teams from around the state!” Congratulations to all of our participants, and good luck at the state finals! The Harker News—May 2003
■ In March over 120 students in 6th, 7th and 8th grades from schools around the area gathered on the Saratoga campus to participate in the 2nd Annual Harker Math Invitational. “The
Vandana Kadam
TEAM AWARDS First Place, Gr. 6 -- Thomas Wang, Andrew Chin, Kartik Venkatraman, Joseph Swernofsky, Vlad Furman and Harrison Schwartz; Gr. 7– Jay Shah, Alex Fandrianto, Nicholas Sutardja, Joseph Pei and David Kuo; Third Place, Gr. 6 – Aaron Lin, Jonathan Liu, Niklil Bhargava, Jeanette Chin, Becky Yanovsky, Debra Yen and Tiffany Lin; Gr. 8 – Brice Lin, Mark Hsu, Harry Tseng, Jessica Lee and Jessie Li. Kerr would like to thank fellow Harker teachers Leah Moll, Sammy Osoka, Jacob Hazard, Annette Fisher and Vandana Kadam for their support both prior to the event and especially on the day of the event. Big thanks also to US students Jayasaree Sundaram, Rohini Venkatraman, Avanti Deshpande, Stephanie Tung, Anmol Aulakh, Anthony Hsiao, Amy Huang, Abhishek Belani, Priya Patel, Ariane Vartanian, Alyssa Zachariah, Christine Hsueh, Subha Gollakota, Oluoma Kas-osaka and Jasper Shau who volunteered to help with the contest.
Invitational was a great deal of fun for all involved,” said Cindy Kerr, K8 math dept. chair. Kerr created the invitational last year as a means of providing MS students in the area an opportunity to gain experience in math competitions
Vandana Kadam
■ The entire Gr. 6 visited the Saratoga campus on March 28 for the second annual Step Up Day, a special day in preparation for their move to the Saratoga campus as incoming 7th graders in the fall. The students toured the campus, heard about what all their MS clubs
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS First Place – Thomas Wang, Gr. 6, and Rachel Fong, Gr. 7; Second Place – Nicholas Tan, Gr. 8; Third Place – Alex Fandrianto, Gr. 7, and Harry Tseng, Gr. 8; Fourth place – Andrew Chin, Gr. 6; Fifth Place – Mark Hsu, Gr. 8. May 2003—The Harker News
Mark Tantrum
with their peers and enhance their ability to successfully compete in the competitions awaiting them in high school. All students expressing an interest qualify to compete, though each grade level is limited to a maximum of two teams of up to seven competitors each. This year 36 Harker students competed in the event, and Harker garnered the awards listed below. Congratulations to all students who participated and to these students for their performance:
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and activity options will be and experienced an abbreviated rotation of their fall schedules. Gr. 6 student Anan ya Anand said, “A lot of people were nice and made you feel comfortable,” and many of the
Classroom & Teacher Support
Mark Tantrum
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students also commented on the different food options. Overall, the students were excited about the day and seem eager to move to their new campus. Sachin Rangarajan commented, “I like the feel of the campus, I feel more mature!” Many thanks to these Gr. 8 student mentors who toured the students, answered questions and made our Gr. 6 students feel so welcome: Jamie Cisar, Diane Strutner, Matt Wong, Rupan Bose, Akshay Bhatia, Danyal Kothari, Siobhan Stevenson, Sidd Chandrasekhar, Alex Nazari, Cassie Kerkhoff, Natasha Sarin, Aneesha Nilakantan, Jonathan Yuan and Shilpika Lahri. ■ Using hair samples provided by some of our teachers and staff, students in Gr. 8 science classes applied their study of mammalian skin to solve a “crime” recently in their labs. Students first learned about the basic structure of hair in mammals and how that structure is different from species to species. “Besides length, width and color, there are actually specific arrangements of the structures that are unique,” explained teacher Simon Keilty. The fictional crime involved the kidnapping of a cat, and the only evidence the students had were hair samples from the suspect’s car. Every class had a different criminal, but the suspects were cont. on pg. 16
Picnic Booth Coordinators Nina Anand Gia Audebert Fran Axelrad Sandy Berglund Reena Bhargava Monisha Bheda Candy Carr Becky Cox Sarala Devi Barbara Drummer Grace Edvalson Lynn Forester Catherine Frye Ronlyn Goo Lise Hancock Marcia Hirtenstein Sandhya Jagadeesh Nancy Jones Jessica Kao Nancy Kehriotis Angie Krackeler Kasia Kranz Jo Leung Sharon Mandell Lisa Mata Lisa McEuen Jay Minisandram Kim Pellissier Jeannette Perez-Triant Kathy Polzin Ernie Porter Harshada Pothula Charu Prakash Elsa Reddy Frances Ross Jyoti Sahdev Savitha Sastry Lillian Schmidt Vivian Shen Abha Shukla Janet Smith Joyce Sum Geetha Swamy Sandy Syrett Mary Titus Radhika Venkatraman Jane Villadsen Helen Wei Bella Yanovsky Nina Yeats Jin Zhou
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Student Activities AROUND & Clubs Support cont. from pg. 15
who really care about our program (you know who you are!), and we couldn’t manage without them. From scoreboard help to assisting with referees, coaches and players, I’m grateful to have these caring, enthusiastic parents on my ‘team!’” —Theresa “Smitty” Smith, Gr. 4-8 Athletic Director
Nancy and George Davis Roger and Roberta Dodd Renu and Dhrumil Gandhi Alberto and Sherrie Gavarre Tim Graumann and Clare Lindsay Matthew and Pia Graves Carol and Leo Gutstein Mitch and Nancy Hartsoch Ginny and Haw-Ming Haung Ed Kwan Tony and Jacky Liu Wen and Wenli Lin Kisstopher and Chad Musick Nida Nobakht and Bruce Fitzpatrick Peggy and Peter Noonan Rankaj and Smita Patel Continued on Pg. 17
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2nd Annual Edition
Coming in May! Our MS students are busy working on the 2nd annual edition of enlight'ning, a literary magazine featuring the writing and art of our talented students. Parents, watch for your copy of this wonderful book, which will be sent home with MS students at the end of May!
■ Harker won two Honorable Mention awards in ExploraVision, a national competition sponsored by Toshiba that encourages students to combine their imaginations and explore the vision of a future technology. Eight Harker Gr. 7 teams submitted entries, working in groups of two to four to simulate research and development (R&D) teams, and each student team selected a technology, or an aspect of a technology, that is present in or relevant to their lives. They then explored the history and current status of that technology and projected into the future what that technology could be like 20 years from now. Their entries had to convey their vision to others through both a written description and five Web pages. The honorable mention awards went to Stephanie Herh, Charisma Kaushik, Nina Duong and Anjali Naskar for EverVision (Vision Technology) and Erica Chang and Melissa Chen for Memory Metals. “Students have worked on this project for about three months,” said teacher Raji Swaminathan. “I am proud of the work they did and the dedication and determination with which they completed all the required details.” The other student teams and their
Sorotokin - Vacc-Eczema (a vaccination for eczema); Excel Que, Ben Englert and Victor Chen VirtueNet (virtual communication); Thomas Roxlo and Neelaysh Vukkadala - TennisX (futuristic tennis); Michael Wang and Andrew Lee - Cloning; Phillip Chu and Marvin Ho - Electric Guitars; Spencer Lin and Anik Debnath Alternative Sources of Energy. Toshiba sent locker organizers with digitech calculator, world clock and currency converter to the honorable mentions and a monocular (mini binoculars) to each participant. ■ Many who work and attend school on the Saratoga campus have noticed a student and her father arriving on campus on their bicycles each day. MS student Maya Perelman and her father, Roberto Perelman, opted for the 1/ 2-hour commute via bikes from their home in Sunnyvale when they lost their carpool last year. “I used to not like it, but now I am used to it and enjoy riding to school,” said Maya. “But I prefer mountain biking on the weekends!” she added. Maya’s father continues on from Harker to his job at Adobe Systems in downtown San Jose each day.
Our yearly visit by a Mallard family during their annual spring migration was met with delight by students and staff on the Saratoga campus. “These ducks are probably third or fourth generation. This annual spring migration to our campus to lay and hatch eggs has been going on for 1520 years,” said Mike Bassoni, facilities director (and former natural history teacher!)
A number of other Harker students and staff members also commute to Harker by bicycle. US student Ozan Demirlioglu, Gr. 11, who rides “because it’s fun and he likes to get here on time,” rides his bike about 50% of the time. MS teacher
Mark Tantrum
“I’ve got some ‘sports angels’
projects from Swaninathan’s and Ilona Davies’ science classes were Aarathi Minisandram and Eugenia
Terry Walsh
Athletics Moses and Theresa Awe Keith and Moribito Ball Heather Blair and Robb Cutler Jackie and Terence Bohn Denise Boland John and Wendy Busch Lina and John Chang Diptish and Sue Datta
always teachers and staff on the Saratoga campus. To identify the culprit, the students needed to gather quantitative microscopic data to prove that one of the cars contained not only human hair, but also cat hair. “It was a quick and fun lab that met the needs of spring break-distracted students and teachers,” laughed teacher Simon Keilty, who was impressed that the students correctly identified the suspect in each class crime lab.
Mark Tantrum
Art Department Margaret Peterson Barry Beals Andy Beals Janie Fung Lalu Kling Dana Lurie Elaine Mathews Kim Pellissier Ernie Porter
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Henry Cunningham rides at least four days a week for stress relief and exercise and “because there’s no point in driving since I live so close by,” said Cunningham, who lives in Santa Clara. Marc Micek, US teacher, rides to work every day. “My family has only one car, plus I like the exercise and it is environmentally friendly,” he explained. Theresa ‘Smitty” Smith, Gr. 4-8 athletic director, and Kareem Stinson, coach, ride intermittently during the winter and almost every day in the spring and summer. They said they both ride for exercise and because they like to help out with the environment and save on gas. Jerry Pickett, assistant maintenance dir., and US teacher Lee Carter both ride because of their dislike of traffic. Chris Yamashita rides when it’s not too wet and he has the time. “Riding gets my blood going in the morning!” The Harker News—May 2003
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Upper School
Students Work with Congressman Honda
■ Harker Students Invited to National ACSL All-Star Competition in Anaheim
In only our second year of ACSL participation, the Harker team has been invited to the ACSL All-Star Competition in Anaheim! On Memorial Day weekend, three Harker juniors, Ozan Demirlioglu, Akash Shah and Matt Jones, will be matching wits with some of the best computer science students in the country. “Very few teams are invited to the All-Star contest; this is quite an honor for these students and for Harker,” said Robb Cutler, US computer science teacher.
Juniors Margaret Chen and Anjali Vaidya, Harker’s representatives on Congressman Honda’s 2002-03 Congressional Student Advisory Committee, recently joined representatives from 15 area high schools to present their findings on the topic of Teen Mental Health. Both photos: Mark Tantrum
The American Computer Science League (ACSL) is a nationwide computer science competition that challenges students in the fields of computer science theory and computer programming. Students take four short-answer exams and write four computer programs throughout the school year. At the end of the year, the highest-scoring teams are invited to attend the national ACSL All-Star Competition. This year, over 250 teams from more than 200 schools participated in the American Computer Science League.
Classroom & Teacher Support
The presentation was the culmination of the work these area students have done over the past year as members of the 15th Congressional District Student Advisory Committee (SAC) established by Congressman Honda in October 2001. The goal of SAC is to bring together a diverse and dynamic group of motivated high school students to identify and discuss key education issues confronting South Bay students and schools and to collaborate on possible solutions to these issues. This special community meeting was before Honda, members of the Santa Clara City Council and other local elected officials. Honda and his staff thanked the students for their input and noted that with these young people coming through the ranks, the future of America is in good hands. We’re very proud of Margaret and Amjali, and we thank them for representing Harker on this special committee!
Congratulations to Ozan, Akash and Matt – and good luck! ■ These Harker students were chosen by the Los Gatos/San Jose Rotary Club to attend the annual Enterprise Leadership Conference in March at the Asilomar Conference Center in Pacific Grove: Sridhar Chadalavada, Lekha Challa, Derek Hwang, Kathryn Lee, Ed Peng, Payom Pirahesh and Matt Vucurevich. The conference featured guest speakers, advisors and classes, and students were also put in groups of ten with other students from various schools to create, market and sell a product. “The sessions with business officials, personally talking one-onone with the executive Mrs. Susan Goldberg, executive director of the San Jose Mercury News (totally cool by the way!), and playing on the beach highlighted the conference,” said student Lehka Challa. “Overall, it wasn’t our first place win for our proposed plan that made it a great conference,” she added. “It was meeting such a great group of individuals and getting to know them while working together for a common cause that was just exhilarating!” May 2003—The Harker News
Participant Kathryn Lee said, “One of the presentations offered an interesting piece of advice: fail early and often. It was really fun to meet other students from other schools, and it didn’t hurt that we got to spend time in the beautiful surroundings of Pacific Grove!” Two Harker students were on winning teams: Challa, first place team, and Hwang, second place team. Both teams made presentations to the Rotary Club at Lou’s Village in March. ■ The Class of 2003 has been working all year on a Video Memories Project to chronicle and remember their last year at Harker. Executive Director for the project has been senior Julia Gitis who said some of the students got together last summer and talked about the video. “We decided it would be an awesome idea to document the best memories of our senior year. So far, we’ve done some teacher interviews and student ‘ten seconds of fame’ and recorded some class competitions,
rallies, and school-wide events.” Gitis said that while the project isn't a secret, they hope to surprise ever yone with the final product, which will be premiered in the Saratoga gym after the baccalaureate ceremony in May. The festivities that night will also include a special pot luck party planned by the seniors for senior students, parents and teachers. In addition to Gitis, this completely student-run project has included the hard work of seniors Mallika Bhandarkar, Brendan Boland, David Hsu, Marc Leglise, Jonathan Louie, Kenny Wat, Maheen Kaleem, Kelly Gault, Trinh Nguyen, Andrew Shvarts “and many others in the senior class!,” laughed Gitis. “We've got some great, really dedicated, awesome students who have shown their support,” she added. Good luck to Gitis and her crew, and congratulations to our seniors for taking time to document your last year at Harker so that the Class of ’03 can enjoy it for years to come.
Athletics, cont. Howard and Susan Saltzman Mark and Barbara Shapiro Janpieter and Christine Scheerder Tim and Kim Thurgate Alexander and Sukyee Wat Benjamin Tsai and Lily Wu Pat and Ted Vucurevich Debate & Forensics Volunteers Anu and Dinesh Barman Donna Brandstetter Ivy Chang Nilima Das Galina and Yuri Gaknoki Carol Gutstein Eva Hsu Ellen Kim Susan Lee Aloka Naskar Gayatri Patel Kathy and Steve Polzin Naoko Toyoshima Maria Tung Mary Usher Nilda Vergara Marina and Henry Weinstock Cindy Wong Yvonne Wong Junior Classical League Susan and Bob Biskeborn Archana Desai Barbara Drummer Jeremy Gorman Francesca and Ron Karpel Ellen and David Kim Stella Kwong Lisa Mata Awtar Mazloom Anita Mehta Jay Minisandram Natalia Platonova Shobha Reddy Jessie Shangkuan Performing Arts Cherrie Blair Susan Biskeborn Jackie Bohn Violet Boyle Becky Cox Kelly Delepine Doug Demers Archana Desai Chris Douglas Reeta Gupta Continued on Pg. 18
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Student Activities & Clubs Support
AROUND
Performing Arts, cont. Jeannine Hammersley Melody Moyer Stacy Newman Kim Pellissier Kathy Polzin Cindy Salisbury Alice Schwartz Stacey Steele Maura Stevenson Marilyn Tearse Niyati Thapliyal Cindy Wong Dora Wong
Both JETS Teams First in State!
“Parent volunteers made all the difference for the Robotics Club this year. Their boundless energy helped to motivate the students to get through a long and arduous competition. Their selfless mentoring educated
■ Harker recently hosted the 20th annual Santa Clara County Spanish Poetry Declamation contest where students from throughout the county memorize and present a dramatic interpretation of a poem in Spanish. Harker has participated in the contest for the past three years and has received first place honors each of those years. Harker students who participated were selected and coached by Spanish teachers Susana Hartzell, Diana Moss, Abel Olivas, Paul Pickering and Francoise Thompson and drama teacher Jeffrey Draper. Following are the winners for each level: Spanish 1,- Arjun Banerjee, Gr. 9, second place; Spanish 2Amulya Mandava, Gr. 9, first place, and Suman Sundaresh, Gr. 10,
the club members in both the theoretical and practical aspects of robotic engineering. And most importantly, their tireless support inspired the students to do their best work.” —Robb Cutler, US Computer Science Teacher
Destination Imagination Loyd Case Viji Dilip Liz Melbourne Anoo Nathan Radhika Padmanabhan Saradha Srinivasan
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Chris Daren
Robotics Club Y-N Chen Larry Jones Yuko and George Malek Vaidhi Nathan Diane Reese and Charles Perkins Marina Segal Allen Wright Hansen Yao
second place; Spanish 3 - Sahil Patel, Gr. 10, first, and Kathy Peng, Gr. 10, second; Spanish 4Kamilla Khaydarov, first place. Also representing Harker were Ed Hejtmanek, Gr. 9, Janine Carpenter, Gr. 10, Aditi Iyer, Gr. 12, and Kathryn Lee, Gr. 11. Congratulations to all these students for their wonder ful performances. ■ During each school year, juniors and seniors attend weekly college counseling classes (below) to learn about the college admission process, covering such topics as
Mark Tantrum
In last month’s issue we announced that Harker’s JETS teams placed first in the regional competition. This month at press time, Judy James, US math teacher and advisor for Harker’s JETS teams (Junior Engineering Technical Society), was notified that both teams have placed first in the state in our division. Congratulations to our JETS teams! JETS is a non-profit organization that promotes interest in engineering, science, mathematics and technology. National rankings will be announced at the end of April, so watch for more JETS news next month!
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SAT testing, the University of California system, private college admissions, college application and essay writing, and interviewing for college. Students attended their final session for this year with our college counseling department in April.
■ The Harker Robotics Team with their robot "TORK" competed in the Silicon Valley Regional FIRST competition March 27-29 (http:// www.usfirst.org). The competition, which emphasizes team work and gracious professionalism, attracted teams from 47 different schools to this regional, one of 23 held nationwide with participation by over 800 schools. On the first day of competition, HRT and TORK ran into some bad luck in the seeding rounds, losing several very close matches and ending the day ranked 37th. The following morning TORK came from behind and in three matches Students and faculty following along in a dance lesson taught moved up ten by guest dance instructor Jose Luis Rodriguez at a recent spots to 27th Friday assembly. overall.
Following the seeding matches Harker was chosen to compete in the final rounds with two other teams. (Only 8 three-team alliances are chosen for the final championship rounds.) Although they were knocked out after their first match in the quarterfinals, all team members should be proud of what they accomplished in their rookie year in FIRST. In the spirit of the Harker Picnic, the Harker team adopted the Wizard of Oz Theme for their costumes and hosted a swing dance competition during one of the intermissions in the championships rounds, earning Harker the “Daimler Chrysler Team Spirit Award” trophy. Costumes were worn by Alan Malek (the Lion), Greg Perkins (the Tin Man), Vivek Saraswat (the Wizard), Albert Wu (the Scarecrow), Irina Khaimovich (the Good Witch of the East), Pia Pal (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Leann Duong (Dorothy), plus there was a special appearance by Alex Segal as the team icon, StickMan. An entry on the FIRST discussion board summed it up: “It was cool seeing Harker at Sacramento and Silicon Valley…their team's so spirited! They know how to swing it!” “FIRST was a really challenging experience this year, especially so because this was our first year," said team member and sophomore Alex Segal. “None of us knew what to expect when we started the build period, but by ship date, everyone knew our way around the robot. I think we really came togeather as a team and built a great robot. Everyone who went to the Sacramento regional knows how fun the competition is, and that it’s not just about the robot; it really is designed to be a spectator sport. A lot of us lost our voices from all the cheering.” Special thanks to team mentors and Harker parents Hansen Yao and Allan Wright, as well as to all the supportive parents, students and faculty who helped out this year. Particular thanks to Yuko Malek, Diane Reese and Marina Segal for coordinating parent volunteers and helping out in so many ways. The Harker News—May 2003
■ Librarian Sheila Chatterjee reported that the US Book Club was looking for activities to make the club more dynamic, so Meghana Komati, Gr.10, came up with the idea of reading to younger children. Komati has organized an effort to have book club members read each Thursday to Bucknall students who come to the Saratoga campus on the afternoon shuttle. The students are greeted at the plaza by a book club member, and then they go to a classroom for some reading time. Thanks to Meghana and all of the other book club members - Julia Gitis, Linda
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School Community Support
Mohammadian, Rashmi Sanbhadti, Emily Hsi, and Tavishi Agarwal - for organizing this great idea! ■ Hem Navangul’s astronomy class visited the Independence Planetarium in March where students learned about constellations and stars from both the northern and southern hemisphere as well as about the HR diagrams used to classify stars according to their sizes, temperatures and brightness. “I really liked when they showed us the different intensities of light pollution,” said senior Aaron Miner.
Chris Daren
AROUND
Incoming freshmen gathered in the Saratoga gym recently for the Gr. 9 Course Selection Night to prepare for their first year as US students this fall.
Rallies and Mixers and Tangos - Oh My!
of ’03 won the rally and is in the lead, but only by 1,150 points since the scrappy freshman won every single dress day during spring Spirit Week! The other spring Spirit Week
May 2003—The Harker News
The Classes of ’04 and '06 each held car washes this spring at Bucknall, and both raised over $400. Thank you to all the families and faculty who supported their efforts! The International Club hosted a mixer on Fri., March 21 to celebrate spring called “Fiesta Primavera.” It was a charity dance for Doctors Without Borders, a recipient of the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. The International Club strives to educate about diversity and contribute to the improvement of the world. Last year, in a charity dance, the International Club raised $700 for the Rainforest Action Network. The previous year the club collected money and school supplies to help an elementary school in flood ravaged Honduras. Proceeds from this year’s event are still being tallied. Congratulations to our International Club for hosting this
Chris Daren
activities in April were also a big success and included Powder Puff Football and a “cardboard and duct tape regatta” in the pool. Year-end class points will be reported in the June edition.
terrific event and to senior Marc Leglise, who was the DJ at the event! Harker and Pinewood held a combined mixer in Los Altos on Fri., April 11. This was the first mixer for Pinewood, and it was great to team up with them! —Compiled and reported by Chris Daren, Activities Coordinator and Yearbook Advisor
School Pictures Pam Araki Sylvia Beals Sarala Devi Chris Douglas Janie Fung Kim Hall Ellen Harris Kyong Kim Kisstopher Musick Kalpana Parulkar Smita Patel Kim Pellissier Ernie Porter Sue Prutton Uma Rangarajan Monica Salinas Archana Sathaye Lillian Schmidt Allison Spiller Continued on Pg. 20
Chris Daren
Jessica Liu, student
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In March our Winter Rally theme was Disney, and the classes competed in two class competitions. One was a relay race and the other was a music video performance by each class. The Frosh did Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” Sophs did Back Street Boys, Juniors did the famous “Macarena” and finally, the Seniors chose to do a very special rendition from the movie “Chicago” of the “Cell Block Tango.” It was a hoot! The Class
Mailings Volunteers Tamra Amick Pam Araki Gia Audebert Keith Ball Olivia Chang Betsy Chung Becky Cox Susan Eckhardt Deepa Iyengar Takako Khojasteh Fumiko Kimura Sandhya Jagadeesh Kitty Leung Renuka Madduluri Sharon Mandell Ruth Mohanram Maryann Montrym Alicia Moore Melody Moyer Dede Ogami Chidori Okubo Kalpana Parulkar Marguerite Paseman Kim Pellissier Jeannette Perez-Triant Harshada Pothula Sue Prutton Barbara Sancen Archana Sathaye Karen Saunders Janet Smith Joyce Sum Shankari Sundar Jane Villadsen Jongqi Wang Helen Wei
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School Community AROUND Support US Math Update
Library Shalini Agrawal Maitree Banerjee Chandra Bose Cynthia Bruketa Fred Carr Olivia Chang Karen Coates Chris Douglas Stan Dutrow Celia Feret Jill Getzan Helena Jerney Fumiko Kimura Lavanya Kling Sangeeta Mehra Kim Pellissier Ernie Porter Sue Prutton Jane Sowards Shankari Sundar Amrita Srinivasan Jane Villadsen Roni Wolfe Nurses’ Support Sue Prutton Geetha Krishnamurthy Bucknall Book Fair Tamra Amick Christine Apap-Bologna Gia Audebert Fran Axelrad Maitree Banerjee Cynthia Bruketa Candy and Fred Carr Sarala Devi Chris Douglas Stan Dutrow Grace Edvalson Melinda Gonzales Sylvia Jansen Margeaux Kee Sridhar Krishnamurthy Susan Mandell Afsaneh Oskouy Kim Pellissier Ernie Porter Sue Prutton Manisha Ramachandran Jane Sowards Shankari Sundar Continued on Pg. 21
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■ In CaMeL Round 5 Harker Still Number 0ne! In the official results of the fifth round of the California Mathematics League (CaMeL), the Harker US is still tied for first in a field of 201 participating schools from California, including 17 schools from Santa Clara county. The 6th and final round was held on April 8, and results weren’t available at press time, so watch the June issue! The following top three Harker students are also mentioned in the CaMeL website http:// www.mathleague.com/ reports/2002_03/ CA5.HTM among the High Scoring Students – Cumulative: Felix Lee, Gr. 12, Ozan Demirlioglu, Gr. 11, and Justin Wu, Gr. 10.
Association (SCVMA). Among 24 participating schools (432 students), Harker School placed third overall. “Unlike other math competitions wherein the official score of the team is only determined by the top three students, all scores of the 18 students from
Misael Fisico
School Pictures, cont. Tricia Strutner Shankari Sundar Michele Taylor Nancy Yee
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■ Harker Students Among Top 10% of National Participants Thirty-eight students from Harker qualified in the second round of the American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) and took the three-hour American Invitational Mathematics Examinations (AIME) test in late March. Results from this round will be available in late April, and students who perform exceptionally well in the AIME will qualify for the USA Math Olympiad (USAMO). QUALIFYING STUDENTS: Gr. 12 – Brian Biskeborn, Shelton Chow, Charles Hung, Alex Iftimie, Felix Lee, Jigish Patel, Rishi Mandal, Jason Shangkuan, Alexandra Stanek, Tiffany Yun and Andrew Zhang. Gr. 11 - Shethal Bearelly, Eric Berglund, Peter Combs, Ozan Demirlioglu, Meghan Desale, Jerry Hong, Karthik Kailash, Ethan Karpel, Ravi Mishra, Elise Nguyen, Edward Peng, Alex Reid, Amit Saxena, Alfred See, Akash Shah, Manu Srivastava and Anjali Vaidya. Gr. 10 – Mason Liang, Karan Lodha, Kevin Park, Gregory Perkins, Lev Pisarsky, Alex TearseDoyle, and Justin Wu. Gr. 9 – Robert Li, Jasper Shau and Yi Sun. ■ Other Math News In March four MS and 14 US students participated in the Mathematics Field Day sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Math
each school were summed up,” explained Misael Fisico, US math teacher. In addition to the third place overall win, Harker received eight individual awards, including Second Place in the Leapfrog Event by Ozan Demirlioglu, Gr. 11, and Yi Sun, Gr. 9, and Fourth Place in the Algebra 1 category by Thomas Wang, Gr. 6, who competed primarily with Gr. 8 contestants. Congratulations to all of the students who competed in the event: Gr. 7 - Casey McNamara and Joshua Wang; Gr. 8 - Brice Lin; Gr. 9 – Christine Hsueh, Teddy Lee, Eric Tzeng and Hailey Lam; Gr. 10 Adrik McIlroy, Justin Wu, Kevin Park, Greg Finkelstein and Lev Pisarsky; Gr. 11 - Karan Lodha, Gr. 12 - Andrew Zhang. In Feb. the following students received awards at a special ceremony at Stanford University for their performance in the Bay Area Mathematical Olympiad (BAMO): Freshman/Sophomore category: First Place - Yi Sun, Gr. 9; Fourth Place - Justin Wu, Gr. 10; and Honorable Mention - Mason Liang, Gr. 10. Harker also participated in the Mandelbrot Mathematics Competitions, sponsored by the Greater Testing Concepts based in M.I.T. in Massachusetts. The contest is a mail-in mathematics tilt with four rounds during the school year. Of the five Harker students competing, the following students made the list of top performing students: Yi Sun, Gr.9; Felix Lee, Gr. 12; and Justin Wu, Gr. 10. For official results of the contest, visit the web contest site: http://www.mandelbrot.org/
Latin Students Excel Seniors Allison Kwong and Brian Biskeborn each presented perfect papers in the National Latin Exam taken by more than 127,000 students from the United States and nine foreign countries. This is the fourth year in a row Harker students have gotten perfect scores and were deemed summa cum laude gold medal winners. They are two of 50 Harker students who received awards, which included 14 gold medals, six silver medals, and maxima cum laude, magna cum laude and cum laude honors. Other Harker gold medal winners were Ashley Dang, Jayasree Sundaram, Michael Kim, Roberta Wolfson, Richard Kwant, Wesley Wu, Ivan Osokine, Utsab Saha, Anita Mazloom, Sridhar Chadalavada, Sheena Reddy and Cathy Kim. The National Latin Exam, created in 1978, helps identify top students in Latin Studies by testing their knowledge of the language including historical terms in the Roman Republic and Empire, ceremonial terms and customs, architecture, Greek and Roman authors and their works, and mottoes and quotations. Harker’s JCL chapter once again won first place in its division at the 2003 California Junior Classical League Convention held March 15 in Atherton. Harker’s first place awards included Overall Sweepstakes Points, Spirit and Middle School 1 Certamen. MS student Aarathi Minisandram and US student Catherine Kim were each awarded first place Overall Academic and first place Overall Combined at their levels. Other first place winners were Sridhar Chadalavada, Gabrielle DeMers, Ethan Karpel and Allison Kwong. In addition, three advanced Harker Latin students, Brian Biskeborn, Catherine Kim and Anita Mazloom, were each awarded $1,000 California JCL scholarships that they will receive after completing a course in Latin or Greek in their freshman year in college.
The Harker News—May 2003
AROUND
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School Community Support
Debate News
In other debate news, Harker participated in the SCU Spring Speech and Debate Tournament in April. Among the awards earned in the Novice category were Speaker Awards - First Place for Shilpa Vadodaria, Gr. 9, and Third Place for Sean Turner, Gr. 9, and Third place in Policy Debate for Alexandra Garr-Schultz, Gr. 10 / Sean Turner, Gr. 9. For our Varsity debaters, the following students made the quarterfinals: Policy Debate – sophomores Jerry Hong / Nilay Gandhi; Parliamentary Debate – seniors Anita Grover/Aditi Iyer. Harker students also participated with 47 other schools at the Woodward Academy Junior Varsity and Novice National Debate Championships in April in Atlanta, Georgia. In Novice Policy Debate, freshmen Rose Kirby and Amira Valliani were quarterfinalists, and Amira was named 15th Speaker out of 152 debaters in that field. Rahul Jaswa, Gr. 9, and Arjun Naskar, Gr. 10, were octofinalists, with Rahul earning 8th Speaker. In the JV Lincoln Douglas Debate, Alexander Hsu was a quarterfinalist and also earned 5th Speaker. Congratulations to all of our debaters who participated in these events! May 2003—The Harker News
Administrators and staff joined in the spirit of "Twin Day" during Spirit Week and surprised the students by dressing alike and earning points for their favorite class!
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Andrew Shvarts ’03 Editor’s Note: In this monthly column we ask some of this year’s graduating seniors to share their summer internships, interests and college advice. Enjoy! On interests and college: My main interest in college is creative writing. I've wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember, and I don't imagine that'll change anytime soon. It's what I intend to major in and what I want to pursue, both during college and after it. On the other hand, there are a lot of other subjects that I want to explore...I'd love to do more work in film or history, for example. Regarding what college I'm going to, I haven't actually decided (Whoo procrastination!). I want to go a small East Coast liberal arts college, and I'm choosing between a couple of them (namely Vassar and Bard). How and when did you decide on your path? I wish I could point to some glorious epiphany or dawning moment of realization, but, honestly, there never was anything like that. I've always been a storyteller and an entertainer (you should've heard my fibs in elementary school). I probably came out of the womb cracking jokes and telling exaggerated accounts of my time in utero. Did you do anything interesting last summer to explore your interests? I attended a 5-week Creative Writing Workshop at Wesleyan University, which was simply amazing. I grew so much as a writer and developed a taste for
Chris Daren
Harker Novice debaters also competed with 250 other first-year debate students at the 9th Annual Great Midwestern Novice Championships in March held on the campus of Iowa City West High School. The following students received exemplary recognition in Overall Speaker Award: Second Place for Rahul Jaswa, Gr. 9, and Fourth Place for Lynn Chang, Gr. 10. “Rahul dazzled his competitors by reading a one-page selection from Harry Potter in a mere 22 seconds,” said Brandstetter.
Bucknall Book Fair, cont. Trish Tobin Jane Villadsen Heather Wardenburg Roni Wolfe
Jonathan Louie
In top debate news, a big congratulations to Kamilla Khaydarov, Gr. 10, for qualifying to compete in the California High School Speech Association State Tournament May 2-4 at CSU in San Bernadino where she will represent Harker and the Coast Forensic League. Her qualifying event was Dramatic Interpretation. “This is the second year in a row that Harker has qualified students to the state tournament in speech and debate,” said Matt Brandstetter, debate advisor. Good luck, Kamilla!
college and the East Coast. What advice would you give to younger students trying to decide what path to take, what college to attend? The type of advice I'd give would depend on the nature of the student. Those of you who know what you want, who have found something you love to do and want to do for the rest of your life, pursue it with vigor throughout high school. Devote yourself to your passion and really take every opportunity to explore it. On the other hand, if you don't know what you want to do, and I'd imagine that fits most, explore. Try as many venues as possible and don't limit yourself, either through closemindedness or by caving in to the overarching expectations of others.
Upper School Mentoring Program Ram Appalaraju Andy Combs Esin Demirlioglu Ajit Deora Stan Dutrow Kristen Edwards Gulbin Ezer Sam Giammona Eric Gray Dorene Kastelman Le Kha Leon Khaimovich Ashima Madan Mary Malysz Suhani Modi Monu Mukherjee Suchitra Narayen Julia Peppard Rodney Rapson Gordon Ringold Krishna Saraswat Patrick See Bindya Singh Anu Sridhar Alexandra Swafford Larry Votta Ambassadors Alpana Agarwal Pam Araki Theresa Awe Fran Axelrad Shyamoli Banerjee Anu Barman Elsbeth Bartlett Vinita Belani Reena Bhargava Jackie Bohn Violet Boyle Cynthia Bruketa Candy Carr Jan Case Stephanie Casner Brenda Chan Ivy Chang Malti Charu Lori Chaykin Brenda Davis Nancy Davis Kelly Delepine Leslie Doherty Continued on Pg. 22
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School Community CAMPUS wide Support Plan Now to Have a Harker Summer Ambassadors, cont. Carol Douglas Grace Edvalson Rosalie Falconer Janie Fung Julie and Russ Grabeel Kim Gudmundson Chris Gustafson Marcia Hirtenstein Joni Ho Tricia Hoffman Debbie Hutchings Deepa Iyengar
“I’m grateful for the dedication, creativity and leadership of the grade level coordinators who also ensured that our students contributed to the community outside of Harker.” —Kristen Giammona Gr. 5 Language Arts Teacher
Marie Le Ilene Levine Hannah Lewis Jacky Liu Lisa Mata Diane Nasser Debbie Neubieser Priscilla Ng Kathy Polzin Charu Prakash Nancy Price-Madison Sue Prutton Meena Ravuri Diane Reese Lynn Roberts Monica Salinas Pauline Shulman Sharad Singh Janet Smith Jane Sowards Stacey Steele Shankari Sundar Sudha Sundaresh Marilyn Tearse Nancy Tepperman Kim Thurgate Ruby Vaswani Jane Villadsen Pat Vucurevich Paulina Wegrowicz Angela Williams Rosy and Moshe Zloof
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K-8 Summer Camp Spend the summer with your favorite teacher! Many of your favorite Harker teachers trade in their briefcases for shorts and have a vacation of their own stepping out of their regular teaching roles of math, English and science to teach something of special interest to them during summer camp. See your teacher in a different role this summer! Listed below are some of the “specialty” classes being offered this summer by Harker teachers. Spaces are still available, so find a favorite and sign up today! SARATOGA CAMPUS – Grs. 4 to 8 Margaret McGovern - Artists Workshop (Gr. 4-5); Jeff Gatlin Orienteering (Gr. 4-6); Jim McGovern - Cool Chemistry (Gr. 56): Pete Anderson - Probability Powerhouse (Gr. 6-8): Mark Gelineau - Don’t Touch That Dial (Gr.7-8); Mark Vail - Digital Music (Gr.7-8). BUCKNALL CAMPUS – Grs. K to 3 Session 1: Lisa Hackwood – Kindercamp (Gr. K); David Qua Computers (Gr. 1-3); Campbell Miller - Probability Parade (Gr. 2); Lorna Claerbout - Under the Sea (Gr. 2); Kathy Ferretti - Reader’s
Theater (Gr. 3); Stephanie Woolsey - Zany Brainy Math (Gr. 3); Ilona Davies - What’s Up Doc? (Gr. 3); Sylvia Beals - Artists Workshop (Gr. 1-3). Session 2: Catherine Le – Gadgets (Gr. 2); Kathy Ferretti - Market Math (Gr. 3); Zak Shaffer Dinosaur Digs (Gr. 3); Sylvia Beals Artists Workshop (Gr. 1-3). For more information contact Cindi Gonsalves at cindig@harker.org or 408.871.4611
New Offering This Summer!
TheatreWorks, the Peninsula’s foremost professional theatre, and Harker’s Summer Conservatory have combined resources to offer a unique summer program for the serious performing arts student. Intensive study of a variety of performance skills in the mornings will be paired with per formancebased afternoons, and students will leave this course with audition-ready material.
HARKER IN THE NEWS
K-8 Summer Camp Dates: Session I: June 23-July 25 Session II: July 28-August 15 Favorite offerings filling up fast—register today!
San Jose Magazine – Full-page features on seniors Gabby DeMers (Feb.) and Sophia Wang (April). Mercury News – Gr. 8 English teacher Sylvia Harp featured as “Teacher of the Week” in the April 3 weekly Guide. Mercury News - Kelly Espinosa, summer camp director and newly appointed dean of non-academics for Bucknall, was noted in the Mar. 20 weekly Guide and in their March 30 Summer Camp Fun section for her national award from Camp Counselors USA as Camp Director
“Ragtime” - TheatreWorks ’02 production Participants will hear weekly guest lectures from TheatreWorks actors, casting directors and technical directors, attend two TheatreWorks productions and go on two backstage tours, including a tour of their vast costume and scenic shops - a truly unique educational experience. Students who show promise will be invited to audition for the casting director of TheatreWorks. Applications must be received by May 23, and an orientation will be held Mon., June 2, at 3:30 p.m. at the Saratoga campus. Incoming Harker 8th graders and any students entering grades 9 through 12 in the fall are eligible to apply. Both advanced and novice students will be considered and evaluated first on their skill and, more importantly, on their seriousness about the performing arts and their commitment to a summer intensive. Contact Laura Lang-Ree, director of performing arts at laural@harker.org for more information about this exciting new Harker offering!
headlines of the Year. Harker’s summer programs were also featured in the March 30 summer section. Mercury News – Feb. 27 Guide article and photo about Bucknall’s Jump for Heart fundraising event. Mercury News – April 3 photo and announcement about the US production of “Into the Woods.” Wolfram Research Posting – Case study article posted on the Wolfram Research Web site regarding Harker’s Mathematica grant project: http://www.wolfram.com/ products/mathematica/experience/. The Harker News—May 2003
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Special Events Support
Our Students and Teachers Need Your Help! Annual Giving Campaign Update: • 62% of our current families have made gifts or pledges so far. • 72% of $1.25 million in funds needed to support student programs this year has been received to date. • We have one month to go. Please support our students and teachers by making a gift this month!
Status of Matching Challenge Pledges:
Now is the Time! “The needs of the Harker School are our children’s needs. One hundred percent of the money raised in Annual Giving goes to enrich each and every student’s experience at Harker. We are grateful to have families who are willing to extend beyond their contribution and match the pledges of those who have yet to participate. Now more than ever we need your help to reach our goal of $1.25 million so that Harker can continue to provide all the fun and exciting opportunities that our children enjoy around Harker, such as performing arts, sports, dance and the library, to name a few! Mark Tantrum
• Challenge 1 in October - $30,000 pledge to match dollar-for-dollar any gift made by families who did not participate last year. Pledge has been matched 100%!
• Challenge 3 in March - $5,000 pledge to match all gifts/pledges received during the March Phonathon week. Pledge has been matched 100%! • Challenge 4 in March - $23,000 pledge to match dollar-for-dollar any gift made from new families and returning families who did not participate last year. Pledge has been matched 59%! Your contributions continue to make a difference in the opportunities and experiences our children receive! — Bran-Dee Torres Donor Relations Manager, brandeet@harker.org
— DC Co-chairs Shyamoli Banerjee & Christine Davis
Senior Parent Appreciation Campaign Kicks Off! Last year the Class of 2002 senior parents started a tradition to honor their graduating students with a special inscribed brick. This year senior parents continue the tradition, and committee members have been busy contacting fellow parents with details on how they can participate and honor all the wonderful experiences and opportunities their children have had at Harker. If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Joe Rosenthal at joer@harker.org or 408.345.9266. Very special thanks to committee co-chairs Huali Chai Stanek, Ghizala Kaleem, Amanda Lundie and Cindy Salisbury for their enthusiasm and leadership. The dedication of Graduates’ Grove, located between Dobbins and Manzanita Hall, will occur at the annual Harker picnic. Mark Tantrum
• Challenge 2 in October - Gourmet wood-fired pizza party at the lovely home of John and Christine Davis for all of the parents in the first class to reach 100% participation. Move your grade level into the lead!
We are very proud to say that 2nd and 5th grade families have reached 76% participation to date, and the team leaders are working hard to reach the 100% participation goal. We cannot reach 100% participation without your support!”
Visit the Advancement Web page for more information about any of our donor programs! May 2003—The Harker News
Grandparents’ Day Fran Axelrad Maitree Banerjee Susmita Bhatacharya Ann Brandewie Stephanie Casner Karen Coates Nora Comee Catherine Conrad Becky Cox Chris Douglas Barbara Drummer Grace Edvalson Kim Hall Karen Hansen Debbie Hutchings Deepa Iyengar Takako Khojasteh Lavanya Kling Tyra LaMar Kitty Leung Shamitha Mathur Michelle Maxey Roopal Mayor Leslie Nielsen Afsaneh Oskouy Ernie Porter Sue Prutton Karen Saunders Allison Spiller Shankari Sundar Trish Tobin Jane Villadsen Roni Wolfe Nancy Yee Tamagawa Visit Support Yuko Arai Fred and Candy Carr Kayo Yamamura Green Kaoru Hirose Yuko Malek Chidori Okubo Mani Papola Emiko Matsui Sung Abha Shukla Naoko Toyoshima Ning Zong Harker Golf Tournament Gayatri Patel Annual Picnic The June issue will feature the names of all those dedicated parents who worked on this huge annual event, which was occurring at press time.
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FROM
the archives
From Calisthenics to Climbing Walls, Harker Has a History of Summer Fun! With summer fast approaching we thought it would be fun to share some Harker summer memories with you from our archives! A summer program brochure from 1920 describes a schedule of morning academics, military drills, calisthenics, swimming, baseball and hikes. In
Summer program
Circa 1920
brochures capture spirit of
’50s
▲
the late ’20s and into the ’40s, brochures touted an academic “Coaching Program” in Palo Alto with morning classes in arithmetic, spelling, composition, reading and penmanship, followed by an 11:30 – 12 military drill and an afternoon of exercise and daily swimming. Harker also hosted a recreational camp at Camp Eldorado at Lake Alpine in the Sierras where the boys slept in tent cabins and ate in a log cabin mess hall. Fishing, archery, swimming and campfire programs were offered, and popular activities included bike and horseback riding, bugling, rifle practice and boating at the Palo Alto Yacht Harbor and at Lake Alpine.
▲
their times.
2003
We have few summer program records from the early decades of the Miss Harker School. However, by the 1950s the summer program featured Puppet Pantomime, an original variety show presented by the children, Aquacade in the school pool, arts, crafts and woodworking. By the 1960s after Major Nichols purchased the school - the Harker Day School featured a six-week program of “Academics, Recreation, and Just Plain Fun!”
Group Photo: Late 1970s
In the ’90s Harker began offering extended trips such as Fields of Dreams – A Midwest Baseball Tour and Excellent Adventure in San Diego. Non-academic classes such as Hands on Science, Friendly French and performing arts workshops were offered in the morning. A three-week Club Harker session was added at the end of the original five-week camp offering families even more options, providing a more relaxed format of the regular program, as well as offering World Camp, an intensive English instruction that ended with a California Caravan Tour. Today, Harker continues to offer fun and famous summer programs, including the newly formed Summer Institute and Summer Conservatory. Years from now we’ll reminisce about our climbing wall, Ray, the summer camp cartoon mascot, Kindercamp and the infamous Dan Gelineau and Miss Kelly – stay tuned!
▲
After the move to the Saratoga campus in 1972 and into the 1980s, Harker’s summer school continued to offer academic enrichment, recreation and sports for boys and girls in both boarding and day programs. Activities included archery, dance, drama, martial arts and weight training, and an ESL program was added with boarding students coming from around the world.
’40s
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 Photographer: Mark Tantrum
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.
—Compiled by Sue Smith, Harker History Committee, sues@harker.org
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The Harker News—May 2003