NOVEMBER 2003 (VOL. 10, NO. 2)
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
Harker Students Receive Extraordinary AP Distinctions
inside
At press time Harker was notified by the College Board that 139 Harker students were recognized as AP Scholars this year for their extraordinar y achievements in the Advanced Placement program. According to the College Board, nationally about 15% of the over one million students who take AP exams are recognized as AP Scholars. At Harker, 50% of the students who took AP exams in 2003 earned AP Scholar awards, including 62 seniors, 66 juniors, and 10 sophomores.
S P E C I A L Homecoming Edition First Harker Fashion Show heating up....page 4 MS wins national recognition for enlight’ning .............. 11 The Big Weekend a big success .......... 3, 8, 9 & 13 Bucknall elects student body officers ........................... 6
• 44 students earned the AP Scholar award for receiving grades of 3 or higher on three or more AP Exams on full-year courses or the equivalent. • 42 students earned the award of AP Scholar with Honor for receiving an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more of these exams on full-year courses or the equivalent.
• 52 students earned the award of AP Scholar with Distinction for receiving an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on five or more of these exams on full-year courses or the equivalent. This number includes the eight students noted below who were also named National AP Scholars. • 8 recent Harker graduates earned the award of National AP Scholar for receiving an average grade of at least 4 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 4 or higher on eight or more of these exams on full-year courses or the equivalent. One current Harker student has attained this outstanding National AP Scholar status as a sophomore (see sidebar). “Naturally, we are extremely proud of our students and faculty,” said Head of School, Diana Nichols. “This is one of the many ways Harker students and faculty demonstrate their commitment to excellence.”
Alan Malek Only Sophomore in America Named National AP Scholar Alan Malek, currently a junior, has been named a National AP Scholar based on work completed through his sophomore year. Between 8th, 9th and 10th grade, Malek took a total of nine AP Exams and earned a 5 on all nine. According to the College Board’s published data, up until this year no students in the world had achieved National Scholar recognition based on work through 10th grade. This year, Malek and a student from outside the U.S. earned this extraordinary and historic AP Scholar with Honor recognition. Congratulations to Malek for this truly outstanding achievement!
Wed., Nov. 19, 5 p.m., $5 Preview for Gr. 4-8 families only Thurs., Fri., Sat., Nov. 20, 21, 22 8 p.m., $10 Sat., Nov. 22, 5:45 p.m., $50 Dinner and Theatre Event Limited seating! See page 3. All performances in Saratoga Gym Tickets available in Bookstore and at tickets@harker.org
Mark Tantrum
Danish Educators Visit Harker
On Oct. 10 Harker was pleased to host a delegation of 15 science educators from Aarhus Akademi of Aarhus, Denmark, who were here to explore how Harker incorporates technology into our math and science curriculum. Aarhus is the second largest city in Denmark with a population of over 250,000 people and a reputation for being a City of Education. Group organizer from the school, Gert Hansen, noted that in planning the study tour, they were looking for a school
to visit in the Stanford - San Jose area. “As a member of the American Association of Physics teachers, I receive the journals, ‘The Physics Teacher’ and ‘The Announcer,’ and in my browsing of these journals I happened to notice...Harker School winning at a physics contest.” Bill Bost, international programs director, said that the daylong visit included over 15 classroom visits, as well as meetings with administrators to share ideas and information.
Several thousand students, parents, faculty and alumni enjoyed a fabulous fall day of fun at Harker’s 53rd Annual Family & Alumni Picnic on Sun., Oct. 18. The 2003 theme brought out princesses, mice, giants, ogres and tigers that enjoyed the day of games, great food and fabulous entertainment. While the “spring back to fall” date change had our event organizers and dedicated parent volunteers working double time this year, the results were storybook perfect. The official picnic wrap-up will appear in the next edition. However, it’s clear that Once Upon a Picnic had a happy ending—check out the photos on page 9!
IMPORTANT editor’s note With the exciting, fun-filled Big Weekend of picnic and Homecoming behind us (and the Big Nap we took right afterwards), things are now heating up with the passionate fashion show committee for this new February event. Details inside this edition. Remember there are no classes for a full week this month for teacher conferences and Thanksgiving (and another Big Nap, if need be). Check the schedule below. Get your tickets to "Hamlet" and have a great November! Pam Dickinson, Director Office of Communications pamd@harker.org
reminders
■ US Closed Campus Policy Campus is closed once a student arrives at Harker; campus remains closed for the student until the end of the regularly scheduled day. Campus is open at the end of the regularly scheduled day: Mon. - 2:40 p.m. Tues. - 3:35 p.m. Wed. - 2:50 p.m. Thurs. - 3:30 p.m. Fri. - 3:25 p.m. if there is an assembly. Otherwise, 2:25 p.m. Students may leave closed campus after their last academic commitment (includes classes, Class Meeting, and Assembly), but if they do so, they may not return to Harker until the campus is open (see times noted above). We want students to have the opportunity to leave campus when appropriate, but, for safety reasons, we want to
important dates Refer each month to the monthly printed calendar sent home, or go to Web calendars for detailed division calendars and full listings. Web calendars are updated throughout the month and reflect the most current information. ■ DATE CHANGES & ADDITIONS Gr. 9 – Parent College Night changed from Feb. 12, 7 p.m. to Mar. 11, 6 p.m. Location remains the same in the STG Gym. Thurs., Dec. 4, 7 p.m., BKN gym - Orchestra / MS Choir Concert (new) Conservatory Concert dress rehearsal on Jan. 30 changed to Wed., Feb. 11, 3:30 - 7:00 p.m. Conservatory Concert on Jan. 31 changed to Thurs., Feb. 12, 8 p.m., STG gym ■ NOVEMBER PARENT EVENTS In Nov. and Dec., Howard and Diana Nichols will continue to host their annual Q & A events. Check the Web site for the date of your grade level Q & A. Contact laurap@harker.org if you have questions or wish to RSVP. Wed., Nov. 12 - Gr. 12 Grad Fitting (see this page) Sat., Nov. 22 - Special Parents' Dinner and the Theatre event (see facing page) ■ NOVEMBER ALL SCHOOL DATES Sun., Nov. 2, 1 – 6 p.m., BKN gym – Fashion Show Model Tr youts (see Web site for details) Thurs., Nov. 6, 7 p.m., STG FDR - US / MS Musical Concert (see facing page) Thurs. – Sat., Nov. 20 – 22, 8 p.m., STG gym – US Conservatory production of “Hamlet” (see facing page) Mon., Nov. 24 – K-12 Parent/Teacher Conferences. No classes K-12. Tues., Nov. 25 – K-12 Parent/Teacher Conferences. No classes K-12. Wed., Nov. 26 – Sun., Nov. 30 – Thanksgiving Holiday Mon., Dec. 1 – K-12 classes resume. Also, see Volunteer Needs, this page.
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discourage “casual” traffic— pedestrian or vehicular—between Harker and the surrounding area. Students who have a legitimate appointment that a parent has cleared in advance with the attendance office may leave closed campus and return to closed campus. Students must sign out any time they leave closed campus. There are two locations where they can sign out: the Main Building (Reception) or the Dobbins attendance office. Upon signing out, students will receive a pass; students will not be allowed to leave closed campus without a pass. If you have questions, contact Kevin Williamson, dean of students, at kevinw@harker.org.
■ Important: Grade 12 Parents & Students GRADUATION FITTING and MORE! Wed., Nov. 12 at 5:30 p.m., The Edge All Gr. 12 students, and at least one parent, need to attend this important meeting where students will be measured for their caps and gowns, graduation announcements and brunch tickets will be pur-
chased, and orders can be placed for various graduation memorabilia. Parents who have not yet received in the mail the graduation packet that outlines and describes the various items available for purchase that evening, should contact Chris Daren at 345.9236 or chrisda@harker.org. All items can be paid for with check, credit card or cash. A Harker representative will be collecting payments for brunch tickets, which are $30 each. All other items are sold
Class of 2004 through Herff-Jones, who will also have representatives at the event. In addition, information will be shared that night about a new Harker Senior Collage tradition, where parents and students will work together to create a collage of their student’s life and then Harker will hang them all in the gym at the annual awards ceremony. This will be an important—and exciting!—evening of preparation for our 2004 grads, so make sure to be there!
VOLUNTEER
needs
Parent Volunteers Needed ■ Parent volunteers from any and all grade levels are needed to help prepare for Harker’s second Parents’ Dinner and the Theater event to be held Sat., Nov. 22 in The Edge on the STG campus immediately preceding the US Conservatory’s schoolwide production of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Helping hands, creative ideas, artistic touches and not very skilled elbow grease are sought to help turn The Edge into a belated wedding reception in honor of the ill-fated marriage of King Claudius and Queen Gertrude of Denmark. Work will begin in Nov. in preparation for the Nov. 22 dinner and performance. Contact Nancy Reiley, community relations director, at nancyr@harker.org for more information or to offer your services. ■ Sat., Nov. 15 - Studio Audience Fans Needed! Be on TV while supporting Harker’s own “Quiz Bowl” team! Harker’s Quiz Bowl team will have their first taped competition on Sat., Nov. 15 at 1:45 p.m. at Peninsula TV Studio in San Carlos. Admission is free and the audience will be admitted 15 minutes prior to the match. Students and parents are encouraged to come and will receive a complimentar y pom-pom to cheer the team to victory. “It’s important that we get Harker support there,” said Bradley Stoll, teacher and Quiz Bowl advisor. “Team spirit really counts!” The event will air on KRON TV on Sat., Jan. 17 at noon. Current team members for this competition will be Yi Sun, Mason Liang and Lev Pisarsky, with Vivek Bansal as an alternate, though Stoll said this is still tentative and subject to change. For more information contact Stoll at bradleys@harker.org. Harker News — November 03
events
Parents’ Dinner & the Theater Sat., Nov. 22, 5:45 p.m. • The Edge, STG Campus • $50 per person A special opportunity to have a fun dinner with Harker friends and acquaintances AND a reserved “front of the house” seat at the US fall production of “Hamlet!” First come, first served, and seats are limited, so visit the Parent Home Page and order your tickets online today! Parents are cordially invited to attend Harker’s second “Dinner and the Theater” couples’ event on Sat., Nov. 22. Arrive at 5:45 p.m. at The Edge on the Saratoga campus for a brief cocktail By invitation of interlude. Buffet dinner service will King Claudius & begin at 6:15 p.m. in The Edge, this year billed as a “royal wedding reception Queen Gertrude feast” as only Queen Gertrude, King of Denmark, Claudius and the brooding Prince of the pleasure of your Denmark could promise. Your seats for the 8 p.m. performance will be reserved, company is requested… and following dessert you will head to the gym for the opening of the curtain.
EVENT
recap
Homecoming 2003 – 3rd Annual Long before game night, Harker was gearing up for another great Homecoming weekend, and everyone got in the act! Pregame spirit began with the Bucknall Homecoming rally where K-6 students dressed in school colors filled the gym to see the US football team in uniform and holler their support along with the US cheerleaders! A hilarious spirit event had blindfolded teachers feeding each other ice cream, and Mark Tantrum
NOVEMBER
Dinner and the Theater is an adult-only social event, and we welcome Harker parents, extended family and adult friends of the school to join us for this special pre-per formance dinner. Last year’s event was filled with some entertaining surprises, and our outstanding Conservatory students and faculty have some further drama up their sleeves this year.
Musical Concert: Bonjour ~ Beausoir Thurs., Nov. 6, 7 p.m. • FDR, STG campus, free admission Susan Nace, director of Cantilena and Guys’ Gig, announced that the entire K-12 Harker community is invited to join them for “an evening of beautiful, exotic, humorous and lusciously complex vocal harmonies” in this special performance in November. Cantilena, Guys’ Gig and the new MS choir, Guys and Dolls, will be the featured performers for the evening with Parisian Renaissance chansons, jazz, contemporary men’s a cappella works and American and French folk songs. Guys and Dolls members are “excited to have a new name, a new identity and to be singing in harmony,” said Sarah Lougheed, director of the new MS vocal ensemble. In addition, Cantilena will reprise their ensemble’s theme song “How Can I Keep from Singing” as well as debut their 2003 – 2004 theme, “Leave No Song Unsung” by Linda Spevacek. “The 18 voice men’s ensemble Guys’ Gig will groove your bones with their contemporary a cappella,” laughed Nace, adding that the audience can anticipate surprise guest debuts, too. See you all there! Harker News — November 03
the Gr. 1 faculty won the dubious first place honor! The MS Maniacs held spirit events during Homecoming week, competing in games such as Fairy Tale Football Obstacle Course and Four Corners Trivia where students were asked questions on fairy tales and football. There was a special MS Maniacs Package for $1 that included free admission for their entire family, a reserved seat in the MS Maniacs section at the game, a Maniac bandana and the chance to win special prizes at a drawing during the breaks in the game. Mark Gelineau, spirit advisor, repor ted that 171 MS students and their families participated – go Maniacs! Mark Gelineau
Mark Tantrum
Tickets are limited due to the seating capacity of the gym, so hurry and register now for this fun evening - it will be an evening you will long remember!
Mark Tantrum
Purchase tickets online (by credit card or account charge) on the Parent Home Page – visit for detailed instructions. You will receive an e-mail acknowledgement as a receipt of your completed transaction, and when you arrive on campus, your tickets, programs and nametags will be prepared and waiting for you as you enter The Edge.
Fairy tales never had so much ‘tude as each of the US classes chose a fairy tale as their class theme to tie into this year’s picnic theme of “Once Upon a Picnic.” Freshmen chose The Gingerbread Boy (“You can’t run from me because I’m a freshman!”); sophomores rocked Sherwood Forest as Robin Hood and his merry band of, well, men in tights; there were so many juniors that they did know what to do with the Old Lady in the Shoe theme (and a staff-owned bus decorated to look like a giant shoe!), and seniors chose Peter Pan with Barbie-girl mermaids and breakdancing Lost Boys. Lots of organization, energy, creativity, sweat – and duct tape – were displayed throughout the week as the classes each had one day to present their class theme to the student body by decorating the blacktop area in front of Dobbins Field. The week ended – and game day officially began – with a Homecoming rally in the quad, where the crowd cheered for their football team and for their class in skits, spirit activities and more, which included the debut per formance of the Jazz Ensemble. At press time Chris Daren, US activities coordinator and yearbook advisor, reported the final Homecoming Spirit Week results: seniors won the class decorating, sophs won the rally and sophomores won the overall week! On to Foothill College! Attendees surged into this new venue, which was packed to capacity with over 3,000 Harker fans there to cheer on the Eagles cont. on pg. 13
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FASHION
show 2004
Lights, Camera…PASSION!! Celebrating our Passion for Education The weather may be cooling down, but things are definitely heating up for Harker’s fashion show fundraising event! If you have not already done so, mark your calendar for a day of passionate fun, fabulous food and marvelous models as Harker students, parents and staff strut down the catwalk in the new spring fashions. Remember, proceeds from this fundraising event will be used to benefit the Harker School Scholarship Fund, Teachers Fund and the new Math, Science and Technology Center. Visit the fashion show pages on the Harker Web site at www.harker.org for more information about all of the following:
Fri., Feb. 6, 2004 Fairmont Hotel, San Jose 11:00 a.m. Luncheon Fashion Show $75 per person 5:30 p.m. Dinner Gala Fashion Show Live Auction and Dance $150 per person
Show Your Harker Passion - Buy Tickets and Tables! Tickets for the Lights, Camera… PASSION! Luncheon and Dinner Gala Shows are on sale NOW on the Harker Web site. Don’t miss your chance to support Harker by purchasing fashion show tickets and tables!
Look at All These Passionate Prizes! You do have to be present to bid on a live auction item, but you don’t need to be present to win one of these six Passion Showcases: • Passion for the Good Life • Passion for Good, Clean Fun
• Passion for Entertainment • Passion for Travel
• Passion for Adventure • Passion for Santana Row
Each Passion Showcase is a fabulous themed collection that will provide hours, days, maybe even weeks of fun and excitement. All it takes is the purchase of the lucky donation drawing ticket, and one of these great showcase packages can be yours!
The Grand Prize: Passion for Education Here’s your chance to win the grand prize: one year’s tuition* at Harker for the 2004-2005 school year! Only 500 Grand Prize tickets will be sold, so your chances of winning are amazingly high. * Cash prize available in lieu of tuition.
MORE WAYS TO SHOW YOUR PASSION! In addition to attending this exciting new event, here are some other ways you can support the fashion show:
Your Name in Lights… Become a Sponsor or Advertiser! There’s still time to become a sponsor and receive premium show seating, a program ad, drawing tickets, stage recognition, and all of the benefits that sponsorship has to offer! You can also purchase an ad for placement in the beautiful keepsake program to highlight your company or business, thank teachers and staff, congratulate your children or just show your passion for Harker. Hurry – deadlines are approaching!
Passion for Donations Santana Row is donating all the items for the Passion for Santana Row showcase, and we are looking to the Harker community and their friends for items to display and include in the other Passion showcases. We really need physical items! Here are just a few examples of what we’re hoping for: home furnishings and electronics; sporting equipment and vacations; jewelry, luggage and fine wine; play and recreational items; collector sports memorabilia. To view our complete wish list, please visit the Web site. If you have questions or an interesting item to donate call Bill Bost at 345.9656 or Karen Hansen at 354.5003.
Seeking Passionate Students! Remember that model tryouts for Gr. 6-12 students and parents & Harker staff will be Sun., Nov. 2. You must preregister, so visit the Web site for details. Juniors and seniors have a special opportunity to support the Fashion Show – sign up to act as a host or hostess! Contact Chris Daren (chrisda@harker.org) to find out how you can be an important part of this public relations effort on show day.
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Harker wishes to thank our Passionate Partners, Sponsors and Advertisers! Hats off to our official Santana Row fashion partner stores for providing clothing and accessories for our models. Kudos, as well, to San Jose Magazine, our official media partner, for providing magazine pages to promote the show. A special thanks to the following cash sponsors and advertisers for their generous support: Audasis Systems, the Banerjee/Chopra Family, CH Jewelers, Chelsea Court Design, Commando Group, Conrado Company, Courtesy Chevrolet, GMS Global Inc., the Harris Family, Lexus of Stevens Creek, David Mendoza - Merrill Lynch, PW Markets, the Riedel Family, Santana Row, the Santora Family, the Sathaye Family Foundation, TMFC and US Bank. A warm “thank you!” to the Advertising and Sponsorship sales team for all their hard work! Watch for Fashion Show 2004 invitations in the mail this month! Show your passion fast – this event will sell out quickly! —2004 Harker Fashion Show Committee Co-chairs Christine Davis, Ellen Harris and Marcia Riedel Harker News — November 03
arts
SARATOGA CAMPUS ■ MS Storytelling Workshop The PA Dept. is sponsoring a MS workshop featuring Mark Lewis, a two time Emmy Award winning storyteller, feature actor, creative consultant and writer. The Word Weavers Writers Workshop incorporates imagination, storytelling technique and creative writing, and each student will learn writing and storytelling techniques and create and perform an original piece. For details contact Monica MacKinnon, mmackinnon@harker.org.
■ MS/US Holiday Concert Thurs., Dec. 4, 7 p.m., BKN Gym The orchestra and MS Choir (newly named Guys and Dolls!) are busy preparing for their Holiday Concert. Instrumental groups, under the direction of Richard Frazier, will be the Harker String Orchestra (MS and US string players), the Harker Winds (a MS and US chamber wind ensemble), the Bucknall Orchestra (string players, grades 4 through 6) and the Harker Jazz Ensemble (MS and US students). Sarah Lougheed will be directing Guys and Dolls. The groups will perform seasonal and nonseasonal music - separately and in combination – and it promises to be a light holiday show that will warm your heart!
■ “Hamlet” Cast Chosen for Fall Play Congratulations to this year’s cast in Director Jeffrey Draper’s upcoming US fall production of “Hamlet”: Hamlet - Steve Boyle, Julia Havard, Genna Erlikhman, Emma Hawley; Ger trude Kamilla Khaydarov, Kimberley Wong; Claudius - Vijay Umapathy, Ivo Salemink; Ophelia Casey Blair, Lisa Schwebke; Polonius Boris Fedorov; Laertes - Ankur Gupta; Horatio - Erin Schwartz; Rosencrantz - Leann Duong; Guildenstern - Peter Combs; Marcellus/Player Queen/Osric Asavari Gupte; Ghost/Player King/Priest - Aseem Shukla; Bernardo/ Player/Gravedigger/Sailor - Lauren Harries; Asst. Director/Understudy Daphne Karpel; Stage Manager - Nikhil Deshmukh. Mark Tantrum
PERFORMING
See pg. 3 for per formance information.
Harker's Pep Band helped keep the "eagle spirit" soaring throughout this year's recent Homecoming game great work to all!
The new chamber music program is off to a great start. The Baroque Ensemble of Joseph Chen and Glen Lee (violins), Tracy Chou (cello), and Justin Wu (piano) performed for the NHS installation on October 15. Other groups are forming and will play in concert, as well as for the Bay Area CMEA Solo and Ensemble Festival in March. The Jazz Ensemble will be competing at the Jazz Festival Jan. 31, and the Harker String Orchestra will compete at the Orchestra Festival on May 1.
■ US Downbeat Public Performance Schedule Fri., Dec. 5, 3 p.m., Filoli Gardens Holiday Tour, Woodside (admission fee – contact Filoli) Fri., Dec. 5, Christmas in the Park, San Jose (time is pending) Thur., Dec. 18, 6 p.m., Santana Row, main outdoor stage Thur., Dec. 18, 7 p.m., The Fairmont, lobby bar Downbeat directors Laura Lang-Ree and Catherine Snider are busy preparing the group for several upcoming performances, including the Tamagawa Welcome luncheon and their Holiday Tour to Lytton Gardens, The Forum Retirement Community, Stanford Children’s Hospital, Mary Knoll Jesuit Retirement Center and more. Performances open to the public are noted above. Bring the whole family to one of these public performances and enjoy the spirit of the entire season!
Pam Dickinson
Mark Tantrum
■ Chamber Music Program
BUCKNALL CAMPUS ■ Bucknall Dance Ensemble Fourteen students in Gr. 4-6 were chosen to be members of this year’s Dance Ensemble at Bucknall. They were selected based on the technique, stage presence, energy, commitment to movement, rhythm and timing they demonstrated at the audition. Dance instructor Gail Palmer said she was proud of the effor t and positive attitude of every student who auditioned. Members of the 2003 - 04 Dance Ensemble: Gr. 4 – Veronica Bither, Margaret Krackeler, Michelle Lo; Gr. 5 – Anisha Agarwal, John Ammatuna, Malika Mehotra, James Seifert, Kenny Wong; Gr. 6 – Nikita Agrawal, Namrata Anand, Alison Axelrad, Shanna Polzin, Colby Rapson and Adrienne Wong. “The Dance Ensemble’s first performance was their upbeat and shoulder-shacking routine at the family picnic to Disney Mambo #5,” laughed Palmer. We loved it and look forward to an entertaining year of performances by our young dancers!
■ Winter Concert Thurs., Dec. 18, 6:30 p.m., BKN Gym
■ US Downbeat News Our US elite choir, Downbeat (formerly Show Choir), welcomes its new members for the 2003-2004 season! Lisa Schwebke (soprano), Estelle Charlu (soprano), Albert Wu (tenor) and Jason Gutstein (bass). They are doing a fabulous job! Harker News — November 03
Students in Gr. 2 and 3 are busy preparing for their Winter Concert in Dec., where all 10 classes in both grade levels will perform songs from around the world in tribute to the many winter holidays. With the concert so close to the longest night of the year, students will also present lullabies sung in different languages to “highlight our universal humanity and a hope for peace throughout the world,” explained Sarah Lougheed, music instructor. Plan to be there for this evening of song and celebration!
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bucknall
AROUND
Trish Tobin, parent
Kim Alonzo, parent
Timothy Chou, Ambrish Amaranathan, Abhilasha Belani, Nidhi Gandhi, Nicholas Kehriotis, Elliott Leung, Monisha Appalaraju, Jennifer Dai and Christine Chien. Many parents and faculty noted how helpful the guides were and what great ambassadors they were for the school. Thanks to all for helping make the evening go so smoothly!
planted fall vegetables and flowers in their garden, and participated in a variety of sunflower themed activities. After reading many stories and poems about dinosaurs, they also held a Dinosaur Party recently where the children made masks, did dinosaur sponge painting, decorated dinosaur cookies and played dinosaur games. ■ A special thanks goes to these Bucknall students who helped parents find their way around campus on Back to School Night in October: Eugene Huang, Carissa Jansen, Melanie Herscher, James Feng, Victor Chen, Kent Arai, Tamara Kawadri, Madeline Clark, Matthew Azebu, Nikhil Bhargava, Monisha Dilip, Kacie Kaneyuki, Kyle Sum, Carmen Das-Grande,
Mark Tantrum
Student Leaders Chosen
The following Bucknall students were elected student body officers recently for the 2003-04 school year: Christine Trinh, president; Ryan Fan, vice president; Arjun Mody, secretary and Kendra Moss, representative at large. Homeroom representatives were also elected and the following students will represent their grade levels: Gr. 5 Molly Mandell, Shreya Nathan, James Seifert, Andrew Cutler, Timothy Lin and Priya Sahdev; Gr. 6 - Jackie Ho, Sanjeev Datta, Amiti Uttarwar, Colby Rapson, Tim Healy, Shanna Polzin and Sonya Huang. Congratulations to all of these student leaders!
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Gr. 1 students recently visited the Johnson Farm in the Santa Cruz Mountains for a field trip. Highlights were hayrides and bringing home pumpkins!
■ Kindergarten students enjoyed their first field trip of the year to the Teddy Bear Factory in San
Francisco where each class toured the bear factory and learned that the teddy bear got its name from Teddy Roosevelt. Children learned the sequence of making the bears, got to choose their favorite bear color and proceeded through the five stations of stuffing, sewing, brushing, bathing and selecting a ribbon to create their own bear. Afterwards, the kindergarteners had a picnic and played on the playground. “It was a beautiful sunny day full of meeting new people, laughter, playing and making our teddy bears,” said teacher Tara McFarland.
■ Linda Alexander’s Gr. 1 homeroom class invited parents to join them in Sept. for a “read-in” of Arthur Read books. The class had been learning about Marc Brown, the author of books about the character Arthur Read, and since the books are a class favorite the children invited parents to join their reading groups to read a Brown book together. They also made some board games especially for this event. “It was a great celebration of our love of reading good books by good authors,” said Alexander. ■ “Bucknall’s spirit club is huge this year,” laughed Jason Oncay, club advisor. Bucknall’s S-Club, with close to 50 Gr. 5 and 6 students, held club elections recently and elected the following student leaders: Mahum Jamal, president; Brea Borlas, vice-president; Nikita Agarwal, secretary and Shreya Nathan, treasurer. Committees were formed to maintain the new bulletin board across from the main office and to work on ideas for teacher morale boosters, such as notes in mailboxes and centerpieces on the lunch tables.
Jason Oncay
are made at the mint and about the four different mints in our country. At the end of his presentation, Doty was presented with a Harker jacket in appreciation for all that he has done for Harker students. “The students adore Mr. Doty and he will be missed,” added Saltzman.
■ Students in Diann Chung and Cindy Proctor’s Gr. 1 classes celebrated fall with a Sunflower Party in September. Students
Tara McFarland
Mark Tantrum
■ Over the years Phil Doty of the U.S. Mint in San Francisco has been a very popular speaker with the Bucknall students. He is retiring this year after 18 years with the mint and came to the Bucknall campus in Sept. for one last visit with the students. “Doty went out of his way to talk to our 3rd graders before retiring at the end of September,” said teacher Howard Saltzman. As usual, Doty came with many gifts, and each student received a book cover, bookmark, tattoo, a set of pennies and two coin holders for the 50 State Quarters program. The students were told how coins
Harker News — November 03
AROUND Oncay reported that the first spirit event of the school year was held in early October. “Gr. 4 students were invited to join in the fun, and 18 homerooms took over the gym making lots of noise,” he said. Two games had students competing for the coveted Spirit Stick and a case of ice-cold soda, and after tallying the points, Dan Sommer’s Gr. 4 homeroom took the win and Rob Regan’s Gr. 5 homeroom took 2nd.
we sold over 1,000 and we hope to beat that record,” added Oncay.
Eric Hoffman
■ Working with Bullseye Glass Factory in Oregon, Eric Hoffman, LS art teacher, recently taught students in Gr. 6 elective art the art of hot glass fusing. “The company
COMMUNITY
Kelly Espinosa
■ Kindergarten teacher Tara McFarland, who volunteered at the 4th annual Silicon Valley Kids’ Triathlon held in July at DeAnza College, announced that a number
of Harker students participated in the event and received medals: Gr. 1 - Sidhart Krishnamurthi, Vikram Chari, Lauren Titus, Paris Grabeel, Jordan Peetz and Jeremy Binkley; Gr. 4 - Sarah Howells. In addition, Peetz placed 3rd in her age group. The race, which is for students ages 6-14 years old, is comprised of groups competing in the three events of swimming, biking and running. McFarland, who is an active member in the Silicon Valley Triathlon Club, said, “It was an event that neither I or the children will ever forget — what a confidence booster!” All proceeds from this event went to Silicon Valley Children’s Fund. ■ The K-6 community service plans this year include new projects Harker News — November 03
pieces, which they donated to Harker Family Picnic to be used for prizes! To see the students’ work, visit Hoffman’s page on the Harker Web site.
service school year they will receive a service pin for 15 - 30 hours of service, a service medal for 30+ hours and a plaque for the most hours served by the end of the year. “Students are eagerly awaiting the chance to be of help to the teachers,” remarked Hirota.
through the updated character development program, as well as the traditional projects that have been so successful. Activities this year will include the new monthly Gratitude Baskets for the firefighters of Station 14 (reported in the Oct. edition), traditional holiday food drives, Toys for Tots and the annual Jump Rope for Heart. Watch future issues for news about Bucknall’s wonderful community service programs and ways that you and your child can get involved. ■ While most of Harker’s community service is outreach, we encourage students to also help out within the Harker community. Bucknall teacher and advisor for the new Student Service Committee (SSC) Keith Hirota reported that all students in Gr. 4, 5 and 6 are now offered the chance to serve their own community by providing assistance to Bucknall teachers. Students in this new service committee may assist with various tasks, such as cleaning the white board, emptying trash and recycle bins, posting items on bulletin boards, setting up for projects and organizing books. They are responsible for filling in their service logs and having them signed by the teacher as soon as the job is completed and will earn one service point for every 15 minutes of work. At the end of the
Saratoga ■ Almost 30 US students and faculty joined thousands of fellow Californians in Sept. to clean up our state’s inland waterways and coasts in the annual Coastal Clean Up Day. Students met with neighboring schools and service groups at Watson Park Creek in
Mark Tantrum
Bucknall
was very helpful with educational information and materials to set up the glass program,” Hoffman explained. Students planned and sketched designs of their own jewelry and selected and assembled pieces of pre-cut glass to fabricate their ideas. The glass was then fired in a kiln to fuse their projects into a solid piece of jewelry. The students used an additional class session to make extra fused glass jewelry
Eric Hoffman
Beginning Nov. 24 the S-club will be selling Snowman Grams which are cards attached to a small bag of candy that are delivered to students or staff before the Winter Break. All proceeds go to the SClub for future events and spirit projects around campus. “Last year
bucknall
San Jose and learned about the impact of waterway debris and how to take care of our fragile ecosystem while providing community support and having fun. Thanks to US teachers Phillip Becker, Dasha Polzik and Masako Onakado who supervised the trip.
■ Ten US students also volunteered for the season opening of the Mission Chamber Orchestra at Le Petit Trianon in San Jose, helping set up for the pre-concert silent auction and raffle, greeting patrons, and handing out brochures for the evening performance. “They did a fantastic job catering to the needs of the staff and guests at this popular musical gathering,” said Jaja Hsuan, community service director. ■ In October, eight Harker students volunteered at the Stanford Science Festival joining Stanford volunteers to help set up booths and direct participants to their workshops, as well as attending the street fair full of scientific facts and activities. The event featured Dr. Sally Ride, America’s first female astronaut, who was the keynote speaker. Harker senior Vivian Leung, one of the volunteers, was grateful for the opportunity to help at the event, and to meet Ride. “I was able to talk to Sally personally - she was my hero when I was little. I also had the chance to speak with a Stanford biology professor. I worked at a booth with robots and had lots of fun chasing little kids around with the bots,” she laughed. ■ At press time our freshmen were enjoying their Community Service Day – photos and an update will appear in the Dec. issue.
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8 Harker News — November 03 Harker News — November 03
9 Picnic photos by Mark Tantrum, parent Ron Saxon and students Michael Leonard and Talon staff member Matt Wong
Homecoming Photos by Chris Daren, Pam DIckinson, Justin Sullivan, Mark Tantrum and Talon staff member Matt Wong
Gr. 4 - 8 Gr. 4-6 swimming is off to a tremendous start. Coached by Mel Robinson, Josh Torres and Melissa Dondero, the team boasts of over 80 swimmers, the biggest swim team yet! The team has been practicing racing dives, relay starts and flip turns, as well as improving on stroke technique and are looking forward to an intramural swim meet at the end of the season. The A football team, coached by C.J. Cali and Walid Fahmy, is 2-1-1 so far this year. They beat Carden in the season opener, 26-14, and also beat Kings Academy, 27-6. After a tough loss to Valley earlier in the season, the boys came back and played them to a tie in their most recent challenge. The B football team, coached by Justin Sullivan and Airto Smith, played one game and it was a shootout with Valley Christian. They lost on the last play of the game, 47-53. Arman Gupta has been a great team leader. Jasper Liao has been racking up yardage on kickoff returns and is also the team’s total yards leader in both receiving and rushing. The C football team, coached by Bryan Enos and Aaron Firth, has a record of 2-1 so far this year, with their most recent win coming against Hillbrook. Patrick
Upper School
Smith and Ryan Cali have played key roles on offense and special teams and lead the team, which eagerly awaits the St. Victors Tournament. The D football team, coached by Cyrus Merrill, Carson Carattini and Nick Gassmann, has been working very hard this season, completing their first touchdown pass, Tim Lin to Gautam Krishnamurthi in their very first game! They are looking for ward to their game against Hillbrook as well as the St. Victors Tournament. The 4th football team has also been working hard with coach Jim McGovern and coach Dave Hardy. Nearly 30 boys are out for the team and the coaches are thrilled with their progress! A1 volleyball is off to a great start! Coached by Vonda Reid, the girls are currently 2-0 after beating Valley Christian and Carden. They also took 1st place in the St. Victors Tournament over the weekend. A2 volleyball is having a rockin’ season! They have lost a couple of close matches but are improving their skills and building a strong team. B1 volleyball is also off to a great start. Coached by Jason Reid, the girls are 1-0 in league after beating Valley Christian and they also took 1st place in the recent St. Victors Tournament. B2
team effort, with senior Saahil Mehra, junior Alex Dodd, sophomore Jonny Jenq, and freshman Adam Rubin all playing great soccer. The Eagles have won three
Harish Venkatesen, Talon staff
Eagle fall sports teams are beginning to wind down their seasons, with many exciting games and matches. Leading the way is the Eagle soccer team, who most recently scored a dramatic 1-0 victory over perennial league champion Sacred Heart Prep. The Eagles jumped out on top late in the first half on a cannon like shot from winger Sandy Msutta. The hard shot was too much for the Prep goalie to handle as the ball slid through into the net. It was the only goal the talented goalie would allow, but on this day it would be enough. The Eagle defense, led by sophomore goalie Naushad Godrej and defender Karan Lodha made dazzling play after play throughout the second half as the Gators applied continual pressure on the Eagles. The victory was a total
briefs
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in a row, hold a 6-4 league record and still harbor hopes of making the playoffs if they can continue their hot play. Coach Dave Gold has the team playing fast paced technical soccer, and the team is getting better with every match.
volleyball is currently 1-2, with their recent Hillbrook victory. The team is coached by Leah Minnery, who is very proud of her girls for “hanging in there.” Coach Pete Anderson’s C1 volleyball team is currently 1-1 with a victory over Hillbrook in two games. They also played tough against Apostles Lutheran, but lost in three games. Jacque Scharre has led the team with her setting and serving. C2 volleyball has had an exciting start, beating Apostles Lutheran in a 3 set match. Coached by Rebecca Esquivel, the team has demonstrated exceptional passing and all around great sportsmanship this season. Taryn Spiller, Nicole Lindars, Jane Thomas and Shefali Netke contributed greatly to the serving success against Apostles. D volleyball, coached by Mel McKenna and Ashley Sukovez, is off to a 1-1 start. They have played two very close league matches against Apostles Lutheran and
Football is also doing well this season sporting a 4-2 record, including the Eagle homecoming win against Sierra Christian. After defeating Del Mar 16-7, the Eagles then dismantled Burton of San Francisco 36-6. A tough 19-7 loss to an inspired James Lick squad was followed by a resounding 32-20 victory over Vacaville. Week five saw the Eagles run into an undefeated St. Elizabeth team, whose combination of speed and size was too much for the Eagles to overcome. The team now enters PSAL league play with games against Kings Academy, St. Lawrence and Sacred Heart Prep. It will be the first year of league play for football, and the title is up for grabs. Girls golf is currently in second place in WBAL play with two important matches that will have been played by press time. Led by
Pam Wood, parent
SPORTS
Hillbrook, and they most recently took 1st place in the St. Victors Tournament! The coaches would like to recognize Shireen Moshkelani, Jacque Salinas, Jalyn Burrell and Margaux Nielsen for their efforts in the Apostles match and Henna Mishra and Katie Forsberg for their efforts in the Hillbrook match. Gr. 4 volleyball, coached by Tomas Thompson and Paula Bither, has been improving daily. There are approximately 20 girls on the team who are getting themselves ready for league play next year. —Theresa “Smitty” Smith, Gr. 4-8 Athletic Director, theresas@harker.org
senior Jennifer Jenq and freshman Elyse Kim, the team may well have earned the regular season title by the time this edition runs. The teams play nine-hole matches with the scores being a combined total of the top four scorers, so balance within the team is important to their success. Audrey Leung, Colleen Lee and Tiffany Lau round out the Eagles squad. Coach Bob Dowling leads the way and is quite impressed with this year’s squad. After a remarkable season last year, finishing 23-7 and losing four starters and six seniors in all to graduation, the young girls’ volleyball is currently 12-10. They have two big matches this week with rivals Notre Dame San Jose and Castilleja. The entire WBAL league is very balanced this year with most teams capable of beating the others on any given day. Coach Smitty starts two sophomores, Mariah Bush and Sharon Her, along with four-year starter Sumana Rao providing the senior leadership. Samana will be visiting Dartmouth Harker News — November 03
AROUND on a recruiting trip later this month and hopes to play at the Ivy League school next year! The JV squad is doing very well this season with an 8-4 record. Led by freshmen Kristie Cu and Faustine Liao, the team is earning recognition and respect throughout the league as a team that will be reckoned with in the coming years. Cross country, led by third place finisher Jennifer Shangkuan, seeks
Middle School ■ Publication Wins Recognition Harker received notification from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) that the 2003 edition of the MS literary magazine, enlight’ning, has been awarded a silver medal certificate. Stacie Newman, expository writing teacher and advisor, said the
Matt Wong, Talon staff
recognition came with a detailed assessment of our publication. The highest rankings overall came for the high quality of the student writing and the art. “We were singled out especially for two things by CSPA,” said Newman. “They commented positively on pieces that reminded the reader of other literary works, and yet were highly original ‘takes’ on that poem,” said Newman. “The judges also specifically commented on the visual content.” Judges comments included a “good variety of artwork,” and Natalie Torbin’s por trait was noted as “exceptional — the eyes have it!” They also singled out the work of Elyse (Vyvy) Trinh and Sasha Desai as “exceeding expectations.” to earn their third consecutive trip to the State Championships in November. Senior Sean Dyal leads the boys’ team, and they will battle their opponents—as well as the elements—in their next league contest on Oct 21 at Crystal Springs. The team is Harker’s largest ever with almost 30 runners. They have continuously improved their times and look to make a strong push at the end of the season.
saratoga MS students’ artistic expressions. All students involved in this project should feel especially proud of their fine work,” added Newman. We congratulate Newman and our talented MS students for their creative dedication to this new literar y publication. ■ US Preview Night a Success US preview night for our MS families was a huge success with close to 500 in attendance. Special thanks to these US students who volunteered their time to help out by presenting, doing demos, per forming or guiding parents around campus: Rachel Bareiss, Karla Bracken, Anish Dhamija, Carissa Chu, Rubina Chuang, Jackson Davis, Ozan Demirlioglu, Sara Eslinger, Ayumi Funaki, Jason Han, Wilson Haung, Sharon Huang, Josh Karnes, Meghana Komati, Jackie Laine, Bernie Lee, Debby Liang, Eric Liu, Alan Malek, Jacinda Mein, Yi Sun, Sinead Toolis-Byrd, ElyseTrinh, Jennifer Whang, Albert Wu, Claudia Wu, Justin Wu, Chris Xiao and Annie Zhou.
Rec Activity of the Month Harker’s recreation dept. continues to offer intramural sports during lunchtime to MS students. The school year started off with five flag football teams competing during lunch, and in Oct. two unnamed teams met on Shah Field to go head-to-head for the championship title. Arman Gupta, Anteneh Daniel, Abhinav Mathur, Elizabeth Case, Vivek Maheshwari and Barrett Glasauer rose victorious with two touchdown passes from Daniel to Glasauer, ending the game 147. The opposing team also had a great touchdown pass from Diana Beck to Brian Chow. Congratulations to the champions and all the other players! The next sport will be basketball! —Chris Yamashita, Saratoga Rec Director
MS teachers Raji Swaminathan and Lorna Claerbout recently attended an educational research trip to Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) as part of a special tour for K-12 science teachers. The teachers hope to enhance our MS science curriculum with a future student field trip to SLAC.
“From its inception, enlight’ning has served one main purpose, to provide a showcase for our gifted
MS Back to School Night The following MS student guides helped confused parents find their way at the recent MS Back to School night. Many thanks to these busy students for taking the time to help out: GarYun Ho, Jane Wang, Joshua Wang, Nikita Jeswani, Rachel Yuan, Stephanie Indrajo, Whitney Huang, Kritika Kailash, Daniella Shulman, Natalie So, Tiffany Lai, Melissa Chen and Tanya Schmidt.
Mark Tantrum
Tennis is in a rebuilding mode this season, after having lost league MVP Ranju Kumar to graduation. With some very talented opponents, wins are not as frequent for the squad, who may miss out on CCS play for the first time in three years. The balance in the WBAL is as good as it has ever been, and with several freshmen and sophomores on the squad, the team is gaining valuable experience that will pay off down the road. —Jack Bither, US Athletic Director Harker News — November 03
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Upper School ■ National Merit Semifinalists As reported at press time in the Oct. edition, 59% of this year’s graduating class received National Merit recognition with 42 seniors receiving Letters of Commendation and 35 being named as National Merit Semifinalists. We congratulate all of the Harker students who achieved recognition in this annual merit-based scholarship program. These Semifinalists will now be considered for a Merit Scholarship award, which will be announced in February: Vivek Bansal, Eric Berglund, Neil Bhalerao, Sridhar Chadalavada, Margaret Chen, Stephanie Chun, Peter Combs, Ozan Demirlioglu, Nikhil Deshmukh, Leann Duong, Victoria Duong, Whitney Graves, Matthew Jones, Karthik Kailash, Aaron Kleinsteiber, Allison Kwong, Jacqueline Laine, Kathryn Lee, Sanby Lee, Angela Lin, Karan Lodha, Nayan Mehta, Ravi Mishra, Sarada Pyda, Utsab Saha, Vivek
saratoga Saraswat, Alfred See, Akash Shah, Michael Tang, Khanh Tran, Anjali Vaidya, Matthew Vucurevich, Albert Wu, Wesley Wu and Joshua Zloof. ■ Using eMac computers, students in Computer Science I created informative iMovies about their class during the first weeks of school. “The iMovies explained what was covered in the course and some were used as presentations at Back to School Night to inform parents of the various activities that the students will be participating in during the semester,” said Fred Triefenbach, US computer science teacher. He explained that the iMovie project required students to use software, such as iMovie, Fireworks MX and Microsoft Word and included digital video photography, digital still photography, importing music, recording voiceovers, transitions and titles. After students created their iMovies, they were exported as QuickTime movies so they could
be used later for presentations. ■ The freshman class held their class elections recently with 82% voting in this very close race. Congratulations to the following freshman class officers for the 200304 school year: Danyal Kothari, president; Adnan Haque, vicepresident; Elyse Kim, secretary; and Rupan Bose, treasurer.
Mark Tantrum
AROUND
■ Students with a passion for research have joined the new BioResearch club! Conceived by Anita Chetty, US biology and dept. chair, and offered after school by US science teachers Maria Diaz and Jeff Sutton, the 21-member group recently elected the following club officers: Neha Bajwa and Pranab Barman, co-presidents; Deepa Mathew and Maya Hey, secretaries; Justin Wu, treasurer; Kathy
The US Spirit Club delivered packages of treats to over 50 Harker staff as a thank you for all the "behind-the-scenes" things they do for the students and the school (shown here are two club members delivering to photo intern, Mark Tantrum, who snapped this photo while accepting his treats!)
Peng, PRO (publicity) and Jessica Wu, historian. The students will be submitting one research project for the whole year and are encouraged to enter them in the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship in March. Chetty explained that some members want to do a research project, while others just want to gain more experience in doing research by helping others with their projects. “That’s just fine,”
Harker Debate Ranked 24th in Nation
Harker debate students traveled to CSU at Long Beach in Oct. to participate with 81 other high schools from as far away as Michigan in the 17th Annual Jack Howe Memorial Speech and Debate Tournament. Harker not only earned first place in the novice LincolnDouglas division, but also placed 5th overall in the sweepstakes division. The individual awards were as follows: Amulya Mandava, 1st
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place Lincoln-Douglas debate and first seed after six preliminar y rounds of competition; Alisha Tolani, seeded #2 after six preliminary rounds of competition with a 6-0 record and octafinalist trophy winner; Priya Takiar, 3rd place Lincoln-Douglas debate and seventh seed after six rounds of preliminary competition; Sid Satish, winning record of 4-2 but missed making the elimination rounds by a matter of points; the teams of Rahul Jaswa/Michael Kim and Amira Valliani/Rose Kirby achieved winning records of 4-2 in varsity policy debate just missing the cut
because of speaker points. Speaker awards (JV Policy Debate) went to Swapanthi Nagulpally, 8th and Xin Wang, 9th. Harker debaters also traveled to Winnetka, Ill., to attend the 32nd Annual New Trier Township National Debate Tournament, where teams from 18 states brought 118 teams for the competition. After six preliminary rounds, Varoon Bhagat and Jerry Hong, seeded 26th, advanced to the field of 32 teams, winning this round on a 3-0 decision. Advancing to the field of 16 teams remaining, they lost on a close 2-1 decision. As a result of
the team’s achievement, the Glenbrooks National Tournament committee extended an invitation to Harker to bring one additional team to the Glenbrooks Nationals held in November. The 4th Annual Harker Invitational Debate Tournament was held in Sept. at the STG campus, with 23 schools participating. Alumni turned out to help at the event, as well as a large contingent of parent volunteers. Many hands made this Harker-hosted annual event another huge success – see below for this month’s Volunteer of the Month feature!
Volunteer of the Month: The Harker Debate Parents It’s impossible to focus our very first Volunteer of the Month salute on any single individual, so this month we pay a rousing tribute to the ENTIRE parent group who supported Harker’s 4th invitational debate tournament on the Saratoga campus in September. They were fabulous, and thanks to their efforts, participants, judges, coaches and visitors to our school left the Saratoga campus feeling very warmly welcomed by the group of gracious and eager US parents who supported this event.
Nancy Reiley
As a result of Harker’s successful weekend performance at CSU (see below), Harker has achieved a ranking of 24th in the nation by the National Forensic League (NFL) among a list of over 2,700 high school forensic programs nationwide. This ranking comes from the NFL itself, as a result of an overall ranking done by the organization based on wins/losses and NFL degrees earned by the student members of the organization. The ranking begins every fall after all senior graduates are eliminated from a school’s active list to more accurately reflect the current school’s strength. Congratulations to all of our debate students and to our debate coaches, Matt Brandstetter and Jennifer Fields, for this outstanding achievement!
Led by parents Dinesh and Anu Barman, Susan Lee and Eva Hsu, a host of parents prepared for the tournament, put up signs and registration tables, met and greeted our campus visitors, supervised in the rooms being used for debate activities, staffed the concession stand, and fed a crowd of well over 100 people both days of the tournament from early morning breakfast to late afternoon snacks. Let there be NO DEBATE—Harker parent volunteers rock! —Nancy Reiley, Community Relations Director, nancyr@harker.org
Harker News — November 03
AROUND she said. “Those members will probably be supporting the ones doing their projects or will just watch on the sideline as the others perform experiments.” Some students have already submitted research project topics, such as The Biological Basis of Some Psychological Disorders, X-ray Crystallography of Proteins, and Light Pollution and Bat Activity. Watch for news of the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science and Technology Championship later this year where these club members will be able to display their projects. ■ Congratulations to the following new National Honor Society (NHS) members who were inducted at a special ceremony on Oct. 15 and join the 80 current Harker students
HOMECOMING cont. from pg. 3
Chris Daren Jessica Liu, Talon staff
Katie Ball, Talon staff
Jessica Liu, Talon staff Chris Daren
Harker News — November 03
currently accepted into NHS: Hermanjit Bajwa, Varoon Bhagat, Shivani Bhargava, Tara Chandra, Carissa Chu, Meghana Dhar, Samantha Fang, Anthony Fu, Nilay Gandhi, Sharon Her, Daniel Hung, Salman Kothari, Mina Lee, Colleen Lee, Teddy Lee, Raj Misra, Casey Near, Amir Nobakht, Sahil Patel, Lev Pisarsky, Suhaas Prasad, Alexandra Selbo-Bruns, Sumedha Singh, Yi Sun, Priya Takiar, Shilpa Vadodaria, Sheena Vaswani, Joel Wright, Jessica Wu, Justin Wu and Christine Yeh. US teacher and club advisor Hem Navangul explained that to qualify for membership in the Harker NHS chapter, a student must be a sophomore or above, have an overall GPA of 3.7 or higher, spend some time in community service (both in school
and outside school), have proven leadership qualities, and possess personal integrity. Students applying were required to submit an application form and a minimum of three letters of recommendation. Congratulations to our new and returning NHS members!
gowns as “teachers ‘n the hood” with their cheer to “Wild, Wild West.” Over 40 junior cheerleaders and the always fabulous US cheerleaders kept the crowd
stomping, yelling and whooping all night.
■ Harker’s Environmental and Animal Rights Team (H.E.A.R.T.) recently sponsored a celebration of World Vegetarian Day (WVD), an annual event to honor and explore ethical, environmental, health and humanitarian benefits of a vegetarian lifestyle. Phil Becker, US physics teacher and club advisor, said that the Oct. 1 event was highly successful due to the suppor t of the kitchen staff, the receptivity of the community at large, and the “energetic and
enthusiastic” students. Over a dozen members of HEART worked various shifts during their lunch periods to staff a WVD education and outreach table, where they took pledges from Harker community members to “go meatless” for the day and distributed Healthy Heart brochures, VegPledge flyers and hundreds of other publications. Becker said an extra big thanks goes to the Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG) of Baltimore, MD, and EarthSave International (ESI) of New York, NY, for their generous donations of educational materials. At press time, the group was preparing for Daffodil Planting Day, a San Jose Beautiful annual event. Watch for details in the next edition.
Over 50 alumni attended, catching up with former classmates and teachers and bringing true meaning to “homecoming!” All who checked in with Alumni Over 350 US students celebrated the end of an exciting week at the annual Homecoming Dance held Sat., Oct. 18 in Relations Director Terry Walsh the BKN gym. received a warm welcome and a special alumni The spirited evening ended with megaphone. cheers for the Eagles, who, in an early close game with opponent The halftime show started off with Sierra Christian that was tied 6-6 at the Tug of War, won by the senior the first quarter, steadily pulled class, followed by the Homecoming away to win 42-14. Go Eagles! Court parade which dazzled the Chris Daren
to victory. Pregame activities featured all of Harker’s singing groups, Harmonics, Guys and Dolls, Downbeat, Cantilena and Guys Gig, leading the crowd in the “Harker Anthem” and the “National Anthem.” The Harker Gr. 2 Eaglets performed “Fly Like an Eagle” and kept the crowd charmed (until it was their bedtime!), and the faculty cheerleaders were too hip for their
saratoga
crowd as the participants were driven out in convertible Mercedes on loan from Beschoff Motor Cars. Howard and Diana Nichols led the parade, escorting last year’s king and queen, Brendan Boland and Kelly Gault, followed by the 2003-04 Homecoming court: freshmen Julia Havard and Rupan Bose; sophomores Mariam Rangwala and Michael Hammersley; juniors Shephalie Lahri and Nima Taheri; seniors Victoria Duong, Deepa Mathew, Anita Gupta, Sean Weinstock, Josh Zloof and Neil Bhalerao. Duong and Bhalerao's crowning as this year's king and queen was met with a surge of family paparazzi and resounding cheers from the crowd.
This exciting annual event has clearly become another beloved Harker tradition, and the Harker community support and enthusiasm shown throughout all of the Homecoming activities were fabulous! Special thanks to The Harker Homecoming Committee and all the many Harker employees who contributed to the success of the evening; Ray Beschoff and Steve McCarthy for the generous use of seven beautiful Mercedes for the court; Gary’s Tuxedos for helping our male court members look snazzy. Save your pom-poms and your megaphones and we’ll see you next year!
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BEHIND
the scenes
Business Office Helps Keep Harker Running Smoothly Editor’s Note: This periodic feature, written by Harker students and alumni, will showcase the dedicated Harker staff and volunteers who support our community of educators and students, and help make Harker a special place for all!
Teachers teach. Students study. The wheels on the intercampus shuttle go round and round. Yet there are unseen forces, pillars of strength in their own right, which make the wheels of the Harker enterprise turn smoothly. One of these pillars is the Harker School business office, led by Marie Clifford. “We work yearround to help keep the school running,” said Marissa Ortiz, human resources supervisor. Her coworker Tani Gavron agreed: “Our job is vast and we handle many different issues.” From managing payroll to implementing policy changes in the Personnel Policies Handbook, the fabulous HR department answers the questions and concerns of all Harker employees. Kristin Neu, Harker’s cash receipts and property manager, sorts out various financial transactions. Neu said that while we all enjoyed the many booths and activities at the recent annual family picnic, she and Ado Alibegovic (finance accounts supervisor), Rosemarie Balani (accounts receivable) and Sharon Paik (budgets & special
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projects), and the rest of the business office staff, “were locked in a room madly counting money and sending it away in an armored car,” she laughed. Any trends she has noticed? “Now more people have automated bill pay systems, and we’re adjusting to increased electronic use,” she said. Account manager Julie Troop prepares Harker’s financial statements and works closely with the advancement depar tment to properly record gifting to the Harker School. Managing the accounts payable department is Kim Benge whose job is to make sure that all of Harker’s vendors are paid accurately and promptly. Together with Sherry Fong and Melinda Shanks, Benge said: “We pay everything from reimbursements of out-ofpocket expenses to tournament entry fees.” Clifford noted that much has needed to change as Harker doubled in size over the past five years. “Many procedural changes were necessary in order to successfully discharge the fiduciar y responsibilities associated with the financial side of the business of running a school,” she
explained. “Thanks to the flexibility and cooperation of the entire Harker community, we have been successful!” Our sincerest thanks go to Clifford and the business office staff for helping The Harker School go round and round! —Julia Gitis, Class of ’03 Current Freshman at UC Berkeley
STAFF
update ■ Justin Sullivan has been appointed pool director at the STG campus and is responsible for all the needs related to the pool facility. Sullivan started at Harker in the summer of 2000 and has since coached MS football, basketball, soccer, baseball and swimming at Harker for the past three years.
■ Joanne Mason, US mathematics dept. chair, has been asked to present a paper at the joint conference of the American Math Society and the Math Association of America in Phoenix in January. The conference will be attended by college and university professors and members of the international professional mathematics community who encourage and promote interest in mathematical scholarship and research, and the advancement of mathematical achievement. As part of a special session of contributed papers and discussions on Computer Algebra Systems (CAS), Mason will present her paper, “A Comprehensive Mathematics Curriculum with Mathematica,” followed by questions and discussion. Her paper, which reports on the comprehensive advanced mathematics curriculum at Harker featuring extensive use of CAS software (Mathematica), will be subsequently submitted for publication. Congratulations to Mason for earning this prestigious honor and for the wonder ful opportunity it affords to highlight Harker’s progressive mathematics curriculum to the wider university community. ■ Richard Hartzell, US division director and AP English teacher, has been selected as a panelist for the College Board’s 51st Annual Western Regional Forum in San Francisco in February. The College Board’s Western Regional Forum, attended by over 500 educators from over 300 schools and colleges from 12 western states, is an opportunity for educators and administrators to come together to discuss many of the important issues in education today. Hartzell will be participating in the conference session, “Writing the Great American College Recommendation Letter,” which will focus on the key components of writing a successful recommendation letter for college applications, and a review of how college admissions personnel interpret the letters. Harker News — November 03
ANNUAL
giving 2003-04 Q. Why does the school ask for contributions in addition to tuition and fees?
FAQs about The New Harker Fund Q. A.
What is the annual Harker Fund?
Q. A.
What are the Harker Fund goals?
Q. A.
How can I participate in the Harker Fund?
We have consolidated the three major activities generating charitable dollars to support Harker’s annual operations each year. Beginning this year, proceeds from the Annual Giving Campaign, Family & Alumni Picnic and Harker Fashion Show (portion of the proceeds will also support the Capital Campaign) will now comprise the new annual Harker Fund and support Harker’s “margin of excellence” for our students.
This year’s primary focus is to increase grade level parent participation, overall participation and to raise $1 million for student programs and services. This is vital to the school, as it allows student programs to flourish and helps us secure foundation and corporation grants.
A. Independent schools are “independent” because they have distinct missions and are primarily supported by tuition payments, charitable contributions and endowment revenue. Tuition and fees do not cover the total cost of educating each student, and your gift provides the special features, which we refer to as the “margin of excellence” for our students. Our athletic program, for instance, would not have the breadth and depth it does without the generous support of our donors. And thanks to your charitable contributions, Harker students have wonderful fine art and performing art options, ample computers and the latest software, hundreds of field trip opportunities and more.
There are a number of ways you can support the Harker Fund: • Donate to the Annual Giving Campaign via a cash or in-kind gift (a gift of tangible property that will be used by Harker) • Make a cash gift or sponsor a booth at the Family & Alumni Picnic • Make a cash gift or sponsor the new fashion show - Lights, Camera...PASSION! Your combined cash gifts to these three activities will determine your cumulative gift club level for the Harker Fund, which will be reported in the Annual Report publication.
All gifts, regardless of their size, make a difference and are greatly appreciated! Your gift will directly and immediately benefit Harker students, faculty and programs for the fiscal year. In addition, by giving now you make it possible to secure foundation and corporate grants based on increased percent of participation.
In-Kind Gifts Note: If you make an in-kind gift of a prize or auction item to the picnic or fashion show, it is tax-deductible and you will be recognized in the Annual Report in-kind gift clubs section. However, to ensure proper reporting of funds available for student programs, these in-kind gifts are not added to your cumulative gift club.
Your unrestricted gift will be used for school-wide programs supporting all areas and students. If you choose to restrict some or all of your gift to specific “Eagle Club” programs (Athletics, Arts, Library, Debate, Robotics or Scholarships), it will directly support the program you select.
Event Attendance Note: We hope you will also show your support by attending two great fundraising events, the Family & Alumni Picnic and new fashion show event. A portion of your fashion show admissions ticket will be tax-deductible and details will be printed on your ticket. All other eventrelated tickets, picnic admissions, raffle, carnival, food and beverage tickets are not tax-deductible because you are receiving goods/or services…and we want you to have fun doing it!
LS dance teacher Gail Palmer said that Bucknall dance classes are now enjoying their newly renovated dance room, thanks to funds from the annual giving campaign last year. The stairs in the Bucknall dance room were removed and replaced with a raised hardwood floor that matches the rest of the dance room floor to provide more floor space for our budding dancers. Then the entire floor was sanded and given a clear protective finish and the walls received a fresh coat of paint. “The room is looking fantastic and this is going to make a huge difference in space for our classes,” Palmer added. Many thanks to our parents!
THANKS!
Q. A.
What is the Annual Giving Campaign?
The Annual Giving campaign (fiscal year is June 1 - May 31) provides funds for student experiences, programs, resources, classroom enhancements and hands-on opportunities that tuition fees do not cover. Your ongoing support is essential in providing the additional programs and equipment that make the Harker experience special for our students. Harker News — November 03
Q. A.
How will my gift make a difference?
Q. A.
How will my gift be used?
Q. A.
Will my gift be tax-deductible?
Q. A.
Can a gift be made anonymously?
Yes. The Harker School is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and all contributions are tax-deductible.
Yes. When you make your contribution, let us know you would like to be recognized as anonymous. Anonymous donors will be listed in the class parent participation section of the Annual Report, but not in the gift club section, which identifies the dollar range of your gift. For more information on Harker donor programs, please visit us online at www.harker.org or contact the advancement office. Joe Rosenthal, Executive Director of Advancement, 408.345.9266, joer@harker.org Amalia Keyashian, Director of Annual Giving, 408.345.0107, amaliak@harker.org Bran-Dee Torres, Donor Relations Manager, 408.345.9111, brandeet@harker.org
The Bernardus Lodge & Spa weekend getaway winner was Jocelyn Brauns, parent of Ashley Morishige, Gr. 9! Congratulations and enjoy your weekend getaway in Carmel Valley. Thank you to all who pledged by Oct. 19 and were eligible for this drawing. Your continued support provides for the margin of excellence for our students!
15
the archives
FROM
GIFT
ideas
People Tags! Pet Tags! Equipment Tags! Harker's first football team and cheerleading squad? Nope! These photos from the archives are of a skit from the 1975 May Festival. Who would have dreamed then that Harker would one day would actually have these things? In honor of Homecoming, three cheers to these Harker alumni whose images from the past so serendipitously apply to the here and now!
For everything we do and everywhere we go, the Harker Speech & Debate Society presents Tags for Every Occasion! No more wading through a sea of seemingly identical black backpacks, laptop cases or luggage. No more tying pink pom-poms and orange yarns to prevent your bag from being grabbed by mistake! The perfect stocking stuffer, the perfect birthday gift, the perfect gift for the graduate, the per fect gift for the business traveler, the perfect gift for the perpetual tourist, the per fect gift for the student with the many hats – oops - bags! All proceeds from the sale of these snappy tags benefit the Harker Speech & Debate Travel Fund. The Harker forest green tags have the Harker logo on them and are approximately 2" x 3.5" with loop fastener included. The set of two tags costs $10, and the set can be custom engraved to your specifications, with up to five lines of the same personalized text on each. White vinyl covers for added security are optional. Order luggage tags by Nov. 14 for holiday gift giving!
Debate Cookbooks In This Month! Also, remember that the first Harker cookbook ($10 each) will be arriving this month in time for the holidays, so the Harker Speech & Debate Society is also offering…
Gift Baskets for the Holidays!
NEXT
month
Next month we'll have recaps and photos about these exciting Harker trips and activities: ■
Family & Alumni Picnic final wrap-up
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Tamagawa sister school visit
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Gr. 8 Catalina Island trip
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Gr. 6 Yosemite trip
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Gr. 7 Grand Canyon trip
Editor's Note: Our goal is for Harker families to receive their newsletter just prior to the start of each month so that the reminders contained inside are as relevant and helpful as possible. Since the Harker community is comprised of many cities and several counties, even first class mail delivery (which we use for the monthly mailing) can vary a great deal. As always, please notify us if you do not receive your newsletter by the start of the month, and we will send an extra copy home with your student to tide you over until the postal service in your area catches up - thanks! —Pam Dickinson, pamd@harker.org The Harker News is published nine times per year by the Harker Office of Communications. Current and archived issues are also available on the Parent Home Page on the Harker Web site at www.harker.org. Editor: Pam Dickinson Asst. Editor: Terry Walsh Photographer: Mark Tantrum Additional photos: Chris Daren & Talon Staff
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Design: Blue Heron Design Printing & Mailing: Communicart Mailing Coordinator: Bran-Dee Torres Contributors: Crystal Boyd & Laura Vanendries
The basic set includes one Harker Family cookbook,”Cibus Fabulosus,” in a tastefully wrapped basket with a gift card for $15. Customized baskets with fabulous additional items, such as bottles of wine, gourmet olive oil, Harker mugs and more can also be ordered. Deadline for ordering gift baskets will be Dec. 5 for pickup the week of Dec. 15! Watch the Parent Home Page for order forms for tags and baskets or contact us! Completed form and payment should be mailed to: Eva Hsu, 2358 Susan Drive, Santa Clara, CA 95050 or Anu Barman, 27718 Altamont Circle, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022. Contact anubarman@direcway.com if you have questions. Checks should be made out to “The Harker School” with “S/D Tags” written on the memo line. Get your order in today! All items will be available for pickup at the STG Bookstore.
Other Harker Gift Ideas! Plan now to celebrate Hannukah, Christmas, the first day of winter, New Year's and more with great holiday gifts from the Harker Bookstore! Jackets, sweatshirts, wine glasses, stadium cushions—you name it—lots of fun gifts and stocking stuffers for students and Harker fans! Give tickets to your inlaws, your spouse, your significant other and your best friend to Harker's first-ever fashion show fundraiser in Feb. and show your passionate support of this exciting event! Make a weekend out of it with the special rates Fairmont is extending to attendees—see page 4 and the Web site for details! The Harker School is a K-12 independent, co-ed, college-prep school.
Grades K-6: 4600 Bucknall Rd., San Jose CA 95130 Phone 408.871.4600 • Fax 408.871.4320 Grades 7-12: 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose CA 95129 Phone 408.249.2510 • Fax 408.984.2325
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 nonjob-related handicap.
Harker News — November 03