2004 December Harker News by The Harker School

DECember 2004 (VOL. 11, NO. 3)

est. 1893 • K-12 college prep

needs A

M O N T H L Y

inside Student government in all divisions fosters leadership and responsibility ............... 8 Harker musicians to tour Europe in February ............ 20 Three annual grade level trips provide unique learning experiences ........ 10, 16 & 17

online NEW on the Parent Home Page: ■ We now post photos from each edition of The Harker News in our online photo albums. Also see photos of recent academic trips! ■ New link - great info: Academic Counseling Department

events FASHION SHOW Fri., Feb. 4

■ Tickets on Sale Now! ■ Models Announced! See pages 6 & 7 inside

N E W S L E T T E R

F R O M

T H E

H A R K E R

S C H O O L

National Conference Invites TWO Harker Students! Two Harker students – juniors Samantha Fang and Amira Valliani – were among only 41 students nationwide invited to attend a special weekend conference at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3. The national Take the Lead Program is designed for idealistic, actionoriented young women who want to make a difference in the world. “It was absolutely amazing to be among such inspired and brilliant girls,” said Valliani. Activities during the long weekend included highly interactive workshops in areas such as team-building, publicity and public speaking, mentoring from former Take the Lead participants and leadership building exercises. Prior to arriving at the conference each participant was asked to choose an issue that is particularly meaningful to her, and then they turned those issues into “action projects,” with the help of their leadership mentors, over the weekend. Both Harker girls have goals of using their action projects to improve the levels of awareness and involvement in the election process. Fang seeks to build more community awareness of urban development projects in her hometown of Sunnyvale in a way that could be emulated throughout the country. “I’d also like to create a Web site that provides better voter access,” she said. Valliani hopes to use her project to search for ways to combat voter apathy in the United States. Both Fang and Valliani said that the activities from the Take the Lead program left them with tremendous skills for the future. “One of the best workshops I went to was on community organizing. It was done

by an absolutely vivid woman who has been organizing movements since the 60s, and by the end of it everyone was charged and ready to make a difference,” said Valliani. However, Valliani confessed, “I had the most fun when I was able to just to hang out or talk to all the girls there.” Similarly, Fang said, “The part of the weekend that was the most fun was the sleepover. I got to meet individuals that were so creative, and energetic and imaginative.” Nationwide, more than 700 young women were nominated by their counselors, teachers and other adult mentors to attend this annual conference. Regarding the selection of two Harker students for the program, one of the program’s organizers, Mount Holyoke’s Dr.

Patricia VandenBerg, said, “[Harker] should be very proud. There is enormous competition to get into the program.”

“Harker should be very proud. There is enormous competition to get into the program.” The proactive approach used at the Take the Lead program seems to have made an impact on the Harker students. “I think the two things that I brought home with me and really hope to keep are the inspiration I felt and the amazing network I built,” said Valliani. Fang concurred when she said, “The workshops taught me a lot, like how to mobilize people for change, use personal networks, raise money; all the basics for grass root social change.” Photo by Nick Gassmann

Tamagawa’s 10th Anniversary Visit Harker hosted our 10th group of visitors from the Tamagawa School in October (see full story and photos on pages 12 and 13). To honor this year's special visit, LS art teacher Eric Hoffman collaborated with Bill Bost, international programs director, on an art communication graphic design contest to create two logos for the front and back of a t-shirt for this year’s 10th anniversar y Tamagawa

visit, with guidelines to design something that represented 10 years of friendship between the two schools. “We added a bit of competition to the project by offering prizes for the winners,” said Hoffman. Over 130 entries were submitted and lucky winners were 6th graders Karen Wong and Jasmine Nee. Their designs were on the tshirts, the program at the welcome luncheon and banners hung in the gym. The winners each won a $50 Maido art supply gift certificate and Bost will ser ve the girls the lunch of their choice at a later date.

important editor’s note The US Judiciary Committee sponsored an US assembly in October that launched lively discourse about ethical dilemmas. Might be food for thought for family discussion this month!

december dates ■

Fri., Dec. 17, 5:30 p.m. - Both campuses close for Winter Vacation

■

Mon., Jan. 3 - K-12 classes resume

give

We also invite you to support any or all of the student-run outreach programs (see “give” this page) - we'll recap results in the next edition.

Student Holiday Collections

Have a wonderful Winter Break and we'll see you in 2005! —Pam Dickinson, Director Office of Communications pamd@harker.org

■ Toys for Tots, Dec. 6 - 17 Grade 3 students are collecting toys to present to the Marine Corps during the Dec. 17 assembly. Boxes/barrels will be stationed in the gym lobby. Contact Sarah Leonard, sarahl@harker.org.

quote “Student government officers make countless contributions to their fellow students, contributions that are often made with little or no recognition.” —Kevin Williamson US Dean of Students See student government feature, pg. 8

this month Winter Concert Dec. 7 - 7 p.m., BKN Gym Tickets - $10; $5 for students/seniors Join Harker’s instrumental ensembles and the Gr.7- 8 chorus for their annual Winter Concert! “Groove to the swing and rock and roll styles of the Jazz Ensemble, preview music from the Orchestra’s upcoming European tour, and get in the holiday spirit with Roxann Hagemeyer’s MS choir,” said instrumental director Richard Frazier. See you all there!

notes

Recapped below are the community outreach programs planned throughout the school this season. Feel free to participate in any and all! Contact information is next to each - enjoy, and many thanks!

■ Coat & Jacket Drive, Nov. 15 - Dec. 3 The MS Service Club is collecting coats of all sizes from Nov. 15-Dec. 3. Donations will benefit InnVision, a SJ organization that helps the homeless move toward employment and stability. Bins will be set up around Shah Hall. Contact Stacie Newman, stacien@harker.org ■ Christmas Giving Project, Dec. 2 - 16 In the US, each adviser group will be assigned a young adult from the Emergency Housing Consortium's youth shelter or transitional housing program. Adviser groups will collaborate and choose a gift to purchase from the recipient’s wish list (worth ~$35). The gifts will be delivered to the Emergency Housing Consortium on Dec. 17. Contact is Jaja Hsuan, jajah@harker.org. ■ Toiletries for Homeless Shelters The Class of ‘07 will once again be collecting toiletries to benefit homeless shelters in the area. While volunteering during their community service day last year they learned that homeless families often arrive at shelters with little more than the clothes they wear. Toiletries, as well as cleaning supplies, are one of the ongoing needs for these families. If you’re traveling over the holidays, bring those little bars of hotel soap and bottles of shampoo to school after the holidays – bins will be out beginning in January. Your contributions will be very much appreciated! Contact Diana Moss, dianam@harker.org

New HOTTS session starting Jan. 3! The HOTTS program (Harker/Oakwood Tennis Training System) is a competitive tennis program that utilizes a structured regimen of high-level tennis techniques and tactics to challenge the competitive player. Regular matchplay and the opportunity to play interclub matches with local tennis teams are offered. HOTTS is offered Monday through Friday afternoons, 3:45-6 p.m. and on weekends from 2:30-4:30 p.m. at Oakwood Tennis Center, 700 S. Saratoga Ave. (HOTTS program observes Harker’s vacation and holidays). Advanced players are urged to attend three days per week (Mon., Wed., Fri.), and beginner/intermediates are encouraged to attend four days per week (Tues., Thurs., Sat., Sun.) Cost is $85 per week. Ladder interclub matchplay is offered every Sat., from 12:30-2:30 p.m. for an additional $15. For more information, visit the Oakwood Tennis Center Web site at www.oakwoodtennis.info, or contact Craig Pasqua at pasqua@best.com.

USmoms Plan New Year Event USmoms (and interested dads, too!) will welcome in the New Year Fri., Jan. 7 at 7p.m., with a “jam” in the gallery of Dobbins Hall. Join a merry group for a glass of wine, some winter-y night nibbles and lots of friendly conversation. This happens to coincide with an US Coffee House night for the students, and the moms organizing this event are hoping lots of US parents will attend – click on the link to this event on the US section of the Parent Home Page to RSVP.

Domo Arigato! Harker parents gathered in Shah Hall on the Saratoga campus Fri., Oct. 29 to wrap gifts for Harker’s Tamagawa guests 10th Anniversary Welcome Luncheon on Sat., Oct. 30. For a full recap of this year’s visit, see page 12, and for other volunteer opportunities visit the Parent Home Page!

Harker Alumni Moms – Coffee Talk Event Alumni moms had a great time catching up with one another at the first Coffee Talk on Wed. morning Oct. 27. Hosted by Fashion Show Alumni Committee Chairs Susan Lee, Alice Bracken and Anu Barman, this first gathering focused on the up and coming Fashion Show and sharing ideas on how to help keep alumni connected with Harker. The alumni moms are working to organize alumni parent tables for the show to help promote ticket sales and encourage attendance. “Alumni moms: please don’t miss the fun! Join us at our next Coffee Talk!” said Lee. Alumni Moms Coffee Talk Wed., Dec.1, 8:30 a.m. Manzanita Hall, Saratoga Campus For more information contact Terry Walsh, alumni director, terryw@harker.org or 408.345.9205

Mystery Donors Sought! Two unknown donors mailed pledge envelopes to us with credit card information for gifts of $50 and $250. We are unable to process and properly acknowledge your gifts, so if you think this may be you please contact the Development Office at 408.345.0111. Many thanks! Harker News — December 04

NURSE

notes

No Flu Shot for You?

Preparations for the Gr. 6 - 8 move to the new Blackford campus continue, with plans currently being developed for building modifications to meet the needs of various departments. Mike Bassoni, facilities director, explained that those areas receiving the greatest focus will be food service, performing arts, athletics, technology and counseling. “The existing food service area will be totally gutted and then rebuilt to similar standards of the US program in The Edge,” he said. “A modern, commercial type kitchen facility with a food court atmosphere will be created to serve the 450 students and 110 staff that will be housed there next year.” Steve Martin, Harker’s food service manager/executive chef, said his staff is gearing up for some exciting offerings on the new campus.

So you couldn’t get a flu shot and now you’re wondering what to do? Here’s some info that should help prevent you from catching the flu, or if that fails, prevent its spread to others.

Chris Daren

Middle School Campus Update

The existing cafeteria will be converted into a theatre facility that will be utilized by both the MS and US – more on that in the coming months!

Tribute to the Nichols Howard Nichols — PAMA Grad to Headmaster Howard Nichols graduated from the Palo Alto Military Academy (PAMA) in 1956 and from the moment he returned to PAMA as a full-time staff member in 1965, he was a man of vision. Graduating with a B.A. in business from Stanford University, Howard said about his decision to work at the academy: “I could pursue the business career and yet work with the students, which was the fun part. It was a great combination for me.” Continued on back page

What does the flu look like? The symptoms are relatively uniform. The onset is quite sudden, unlike the common cold which begins with a scratchy throat, then a sore throat, then congestion and cough. The flu begins suddenly with a fever over 101 degrees, headache and body aches, mostly in the joints and back. Victims look and feel terrible and want to go straight to bed. Quickly following are the sore throat, congestion and cough, all of which can be severe. The fever can last for 3-5 days. How can I keep from getting the flu? There are two common ways to get the flu: 1. A person with the flu gets the virus on his hands by coughing or rubbing his nose. He then touches everything in his environment (doorknobs, pencils, papers, refrigerator handle). You then touch one of those contaminated objects with your hands, but you’re still okay. Then,

Stay home until your temperature is normal for a full day without Tylenol or Ibuprofen. comes the ominous move (pause here as scary music fills the air and the camera zooms in on your dominant hand). You touch your eyes, nose or mouth and transfer the virus to your mucous membranes, where it takes over a few of your cells, turning them into virus factories. Two to three days later, it hits you. So you can break the chain of infection by either washing the virus off your hands or not installing it onto your mucous membranes by keeping your hands away from the holes in your face. Antimicrobial hand gels won’t help you because they do not kill viruses, and colds and the flu are caused by viruses. 2. The other, less likely way that you can get the flu is by directly breathing it out of the air after someone with the flu has coughed or sneezed near you. Holding your breath won’t work, unless you’re a synchronized swimmer, because the virus will remain airborne until after you pass out on the floor and then breathe it in from your now supine position.

Harker Archives - both photos

How can we keep the flu from spreading through our school? 1. Don’t take Ibuprofen (Advil or Motrin) to mask your fever and come to school anyway. Stay home until your temperature is normal for a full day without Tylenol or Ibuprofen. The normal daily cycle of temperature means that a normal temp at 7 a.m. may still become 102 by 2 p.m. And of course, while you’re home and sick, do take Ibuprofen or Tylenol for your fever.

Pam Dickinson

2. If you are coughing or sneezing, don’t cough onto your hands. Cough into your elbow. If you are carrying too many books to get to your elbow, cough into your shoulder. It looks a little odd, but it will keep the virus off your hands and off everything you subsequently touch.

Harker News — December 04

A special display honoring Howard and Diana Nichols was unveiled at the Family Picnic and will rotate between the two campuses this year to honor their many contributions. The Nichols' will both retire at the end of this school year. Watch for the display on your campus!

3. Wash your hands often. Everyone knows to wash their hands every time they go to the bathroom. But you should also wash your hands every time you come home. It gets in a couple of extra washings and keeps the germs you picked up elsewhere from taking up residence in your home. Make sure you get a good lather with the soap, and scrub top, bottom and between the fingers for about 30 seconds. Small children can lather long enough to sing Happy Birthday three times. A fun hand-washing Web site for young children can be found at www.scrubclub.org. As always, the nurses are available to answer any health related questions you may have. Feel free to give us a call! —Debra Nott, R.N./Nishi Vellian, R.N. Bucknall Campus: 871.4609 —Clare Elchert, R.N. Saratoga Campus: 345.9611

“MAHALO!” to all for Big Picnic in Paradise Success!

The Family Picnic has been around for 54 years. How do we sustain this wonderful event year after year? The answer is simple - it’s all in the family! From start to finish, our annual picnic is the grandest of family reunions! What a delightful opportunity to work together and play together and, in the process, benefit our children! This year’s proceeds totaled $70,000, over 3,000 people attended the event, and nearly 600 parent and alumni volunteers worked the game booths and special activities! Our core of 30 talented and dedicated parent committee chairs (who worked year-round to produce this event), along with their more than 100 eager committee helpers, absolutely outdid themselves in creativity, organization and theme

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you who worked so hard to create this memorable day - you make us all so proud! development. And our amazing team of room parents and grade level coordinators, with their hours of volunteer recruitment and curbside antics, gave new meaning to the term “class spirit!” Then, talk about spectacular student participation - at all grade levels our students sold raffle tickets, sported tropical t-shirts, took part in theme activities and helped with set-up and decorations. Combine that with the entire Harker administration and staff helping in so many ways - from planning to set up to volunteering on the day of the event - and you have the makings of our fabulous community celebration that has become a most fitting finale to Harker’s homecoming weekend! We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you who worked so hard to create this memorable day - you make us all so proud! And to our sponsors, donors and ser vice providers, we extend our deepest appreciation. Thank you all so much for making this year’s picnic absolutely “paradise!” —Lynette Stapleton and Kelly Espinosa Picnic Coordinators lynette@harker.org and kellye@harker.org

Picnic 2005: We’re already planning for next year’s event, and (a hint) it will be so-o-o-o “cool!” Watch for information in upcoming newsletters. And if you’d like to be more involved next time around, don’t hesitate to contact us! 4

“Picnic in Paradise” wouldn’t have been complete without lots of beautiful tropical foliage. So when newly appointed table decorations chair Kelly Delepine informed us that her parents and several of their friends in Hawaii had offered to gather an assortment of plants from their yards and send them to us for picnic day display, we were delighted! Little did we Howard and Diana sporting the know how absolutely specially flown in leis as they gorgeous the plants would participate in the “Two Tickets to be! Kelly’s parents, Grover Paradise” student show at the picnic. and Winnie Kam, also assisted us in securing the lovely leis that were featured at the picnic. That’s what we call community spirit from afar! We would like to extend a very special thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Kam, as well as Richard and Abby Poe, June and Jerry Naughton, and Ken and Queenie Kwock, for adding a spectacular and generous touch to our tropical day! Mahalo!!

Picnic Committee Chairs

Mike Leonard ’04

picnic ’04

THANKS!

HARKER

Sherry Ammatuna • Cherrie Blair • Candy Carr • Fred Carr • Nancy Claunch • Kelly Delepine • Linda Emery • Jeannine Hammersley • Angela Heslop • Dave Heslop • Sandhya Jagadeesh • Lana Kipnis • Roopal Mayor • Melody Moyer • Dede Ogami • Chidori Okubo • Robin Peetz • Kim Pellissier • Kathy Polzin • Sue Prutton • Nancy Reiley • Alice Schwartz • Janet Smith • Judy Stapleton • Carol Underwood • Jane Villadsen

Picnic Committee Volunteers

Kim Alonzo • Michelle Anderson • Christine Apap-Bologna • Ken Azebu • Beulah Babu • Mike Bassoni • Bob Benge • Heather Blair • Violet Boyle • Cynthia Bruketa • Vanessa Bullman • Christine Camara • Jose Camara • Stephanie Casner • Chi-Lan Chang • Kim Coulter • Christine Davis • John Davis • JR Del Alto • Francois Delepine • Chris Douglas • Doug Emer y • Magdalena Enea • Sudha Gattupalli • Kristin Giammona • Anita Hall-Reddy • Mayumi Hashimoto • Jennifer Helmonds • Jerusha Hew Len • Eva Hsu • Nelia Ishisoko • Deepa Iyengar • Sylvia Jansen • Helena Jerney • Sandy Johnson • Hrishi Kamat • Takako Khojasteh • Gar y Kipnis • Megu Kozu • Jane Kwant • Susan Lee • Michael Leonard • Kitty Leung • Betsy Lindars • Greg Mar tin • Shamitha Mathur • Michelle Maxey • Pankaj Mayor • Redka Nandakumar • Leslie Nielsen • Maria Nguyen • Mark Peetz • Joe Rosenthal • Jane Sowards • Luanne Stanley • Sam Stapleton • Joyce Sum • Shankari Sundar • Biswajit Sur • Jeanne Sur • Jonie Takatsuji • Simy Taneja • Yuko Tiernan • Bran-Dee Torres • Joey Tyndal • Terr y Walsh • Lisa Wang • Heather Wardenburg • Paulina Wegrowicz • Judy West • Roni Wolfe • Toni Woodruff • Katie Wu • Bella Yanovsky

Student Set-up Volunteers

Alison Axelrad • Matthew Azebu • Megan Azebu • Casey Blair • DJ Blickenstaff • Emily Carr • Andrew Cutler • David Cutler • Ethan Cutler • Kathy Cutler • Guillaume Delepine • Quentin Delepine • Tiphaine Delepine • Christine Emery • Matt Emery • Matt Giammona • Mia Giammona • Tara Hansen • Aakash Jagadeesh • Suraj Jagadeesh • Elaine Ke • Elliot Leung • Alisha Mayor • Natasha Mayor • Jordan Peetz • Christophe Pellissier • Stephan Pellissier • Amanda Polzin • Shanna Polzin • Hannah Prutton • Michael Prutton • Glenn Reddy • Jay Reddy • Patrick Smith • Alex Underwood • Scott Underwood

Harker News — December 04

Harker

picnic ‘04 One More Thank You!

Mark Tantrum - all photos

In addition to all the staff, parents and faculty who helped make Picnic In Paradise a success, we would like to thank the following students for assisting with game booths the day of the picnic: Chiraag Deora, Rajiv Ragu, Vishal Chetty, Amrit Sarathy, Lerna Kazazic, Stephanie Herh, Nina Vyedin, Ruth Tepper, Erika Lee, Anjali Naskar, Ashley Morishige, Jacob Yanovsky, Lauren Ill and guitarist Roger Kim for providing tropical entertainment. Thank you for contributing to the aloha spirit! —Jaja Hsuan, US Community Service

ANNUAL

giving Annual Giving When should I Campaign Update make my Annual ■ 46% of our current families Giving gift? have made a commitment with gifts/pledges.

You are an important part of The Harker School’s community and continuing success. Your annual participation is vital to sustain the breadth and depth of our student programs.

■ 70% of $1 million in funds needed to support student programs this year have been received.

Contributions to Harker are taxdeductible. You can pledge to the Annual Giving campaign now and decide later which year is best for you to make your gift.

■ Anonymous gifts received in October! Two unknown donors mailed in pledge envelopes with credit card information for gifts of $50 and $250. We are unable to process and properly acknowledge your gifts so please contact the Development Ofﬁce at 408.345.0111.

To ensure your gift is received and processed for 2004, make a gift online or send a check to the Development Ofﬁce before Dec. 31, 2004. If you wish to take the tax deduction in 2005, you can make your gift before May 31, 2005 so you can participate in this year’s campaign.

��

Your Generous Annual Giving Dollars at Work! Your gifts continue to provide Harker students and faculty with tools and resources to make so many of our school-wide programs successful. In this issue we are proud to showcase the following: LS Eagle Enquirer, page 14 NY Jazz Saxophonist Visits LS and US, pages 14 and 21 MS Roller Coaster Project, page 14 US Mentoring Project, page 20 Schoolwide Athletics, pages 18-19

Harker News — November 04

“I’m grateful to the parents who support Harker’s Annual Giving Campaign, because it allows me and my teammates to participate in sports like girls’ volleyball. This year we made it all the way to the CCS playoffs - thanks for giving us the chance!” —Tanya Schmidt, ‘08

Chris Daren

THANKS

—Bran-Dee Torres, Director of Annual Giving and Jennifer Helmonds, Director of The Harker Fund

FASHION FRIDAY Feb. 4, 2005 Fairmont Hotel San Jose 11:00 a.m. Luncheon Fashion Show

show ’05 Buy Tickets and Tables Today! Last year’s shows were sold-out events, so don’t miss your chance to have a rockin’ good time with exciting enter tainment, fabulous food and mar velous models, as Harker students, parents, grandparents, alumni and staff strut down the catwalk in the new spring fashions. Early event ticket purchases will ensure you the best seating! 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. Please join us for this special event. Together, we will rock the town!

$80 per person 5:30 p.m. Dinner Gala Fashion Show,

—Event Co-chairs: Shyamoli Banerjee, Reshma Dave, and Greta Jackson

Live Auction & Dancing to Wayne Foster Entertainment of Beverly Hills $150 per person

Rock your School - With Support! VOLUNTEER and be a part of the Fashion Show action! We have opportunities to volunteer out in the crowds or behind the scenes. Can’t help on Feb. 4? We need people on Feb. 3 and 5, too! Just a few hours of your time would help make this event a great success. DONATE to help the Fashion Show and the Harker School as the Showcase and Auction committee members make their big push for donations! To view the complete wish list, please visit the Rock the Runway! link on the Harker Web site. BE A SPONSOR and receive premium show seating, a program ad, donation drawing tickets, stage recognition, and all the other beneﬁts that sponsorship provides! BUY AN AD for placement in the beautiful keepsake program, to highlight your company or business, thank teachers and staff, congratulate your children, their sports team, or... the possibilities are endless! To learn more about volunteering, Showcase and auction donations, sponsorship levels and advertising, see the contact information box on the facing page. Hurry – the advertising and sponsorship deadline is December 17! Thanks to everyone who has committed to advertising in this year’s Rock the Runway! program, and a special thanks to this month’s new sponsors for their generous support: the Jain Family Foundation, Alex Alonzo Accountancy, the Connell Family, GMS Global Inc., Heritage Bank, Modular Process Technology Corporation and the Santora family.

TICKETS

And hats off to our 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.

Now available online: • Luncheon tickets - $80 per person

Grand Prize: Free Tuition!

• Showcase tickets - 10 tickets for $20

Here’s your chance to win the grand prize. For only $100 you could win one year’s tuition* at Harker for the 2005-2006 school year! Only 500 Grand Prize tickets will be sold, so your chances of winning are amazingly high.

www.harker.org - Click on Rock the Runway! link for all your ticket needs!

*Prize-winner can receive cash prize in lieu of tuition.

• Dinner tickets - $150 per person • Grand Prize tickets - only 500 will be sold! - $100

Harker News — November 04

The Runway is Already Rockin’ - Models Announced!

Student Models, Grades K-5: Michael Amick, Zoe Bhargava, Vikram Chari, Justin Culpepper, John Patrick Doherty, Michelle Douglas, Annika Jackson, Todd Jackson, Neha Kumar, Alisha Mayor, Maneesha Panja, Amanda Pennell, Amanda Quon, Sindhu Ravuri, Lauren Speckman, Madison Tomihiro, Robert Underwood, Molly Wolfe Student Models, Grades 6-8: Peter Auvil, DJ Blickenstaff, Emily Carr, Tiffany Chang, Jose Costa, Guillaume Delepine, Courtney Dellar, Jazmine Eubanks, Julian Gill, Madeline Lucas, Karlene McCallaCreary, Riya Parikh, Jennifer Pennell, Dawn Queen, Colby Rapson Student Models, Grades 9 – 12: Rand Ahlgren, Casey Blair, Steve Boyle, Albert Chen, Kristie Cu, Neha Deshmukh, Alexander Dodd, Ariel Gaknoki, Anjali Gill, Erika Gudmundson, Jason Han, Emily Hsi, Lauren Ill, Christine Kang, Salman Kothari, Shilpika Lahri, Tiffany Lau, Shikka Mittal, Shaun Mohan, Peter Obara, Neha Parikh, Kevin Park, Elissa Patel, Joshua Pinzas, Nicholas Rattazzi, Jacqueline Rousseau, Suman Sundaresh, Sabena Suri, Sheena Tomar, Irine Tyutereva, Alex Underwood Parent, Grandparent and Alumni Models: Kim Alonzo, Daniel Charlu, Sony Eubanks, Yury Gaknoki, Michael Leonard, Gordon Ringold, Rosa

Sferrazza-Gill, Neeti Sharma, Debra Speckman, Michael Speckman, Sheila Swanson Harker Faculty and Staff Models: Robb Cutler, Joe Gill, Richard Hartzell, Marc Hufnagl, Sarah Leonard, Diana Moss, Milton Mui, Chris Nikoloff, Nan Nielsen, Lisa Radice, Elise Schwartz ...and of course, Diana and Howard Nichols. Many thanks to our seven judges: Monica Messones Delgrande, a former Telemundo channel anchor; Christy Driscoll, community volunteer and former fashion show chair for the Junior League of San Jose; Linda Lance, model trainer and professional model, who also helped with the pre-tryout training session; Dennis Nahat, Artistic and Executive Director of San Jose Silicon Valley Ballet; Kim Selby, fashion show producer and owner of Fashion is Fun; Rob Sporrer, who has appeared in commercials for Levi’s, diet Coke and Old Navy; and Craig Stanley, owner of James Craig Salon.

Padma Eswari, parent

The Saratoga gym was buzzing with excitement as 174 students, parents, grandparents, alumni, faculty and staff attended the Rock the Runway! model tryouts on Sun., Oct. 24. Our thanks to all who participated in model tryouts and congratulations to this year’s models:

Rockin’ Entertainment - by Harker Students! The Harker Performing Arts Department is preparing to rock the runway at the 2nd annual Harker Fashion Show fundraiser, and dozens of talented students are busy rehearsing for this spectacular Feb. 4 event! • Lively pre-show music for both the luncheon and dinner events will be provided by the Harker Jazz Ensemble! • The luncheon performance by the US Dance Troupe will bring back the sounds – and moves – of the ‘80s!

Lauren Gutstein, Winged Post staff

• The LS Dance Ensemble and US Downbeat will rock the runway with songs and dances from the ‘50s and ‘70s in the show at both the luncheon and the dinner gala! See you in February!

CONTACTS

2004 Fashion Show Performance

—Laura Lang-Ree, Performing Arts Director and Fashion Show Entertainment Chair

FASHION SHOW ‘05 PERFORMERS LS DANCE ENSEMBLE: Anisha Agarwal, John Ammatuna, Monisha Appalaraju, Veronica Bither, Andrew Cutler, David Cutler, Tiphaine Delepine, Amanda Kalb, Margaret Krackeler, Daniela Lapidous, Michelle Lo, Malika Mehrotra, Michelle Ritter, James Seifert, Naomi So, Erica Woolsey US DANCE TROUPE: Katie Ball, Naeha Bhambhra, Mariama Eghan, Sarah Fingerhood, Julia Havard, Debby Liang, Fiona Lundie, Sasha Stepanenko, Aditi Uttarwar DOWNBEAT (US): Debanshi Bheda, Kevin Busch, Tara Chandra, Estelle Charlu, Anshu Das, Ankur Gupta, Jason Gutstein, Lauren Gutstein, Michael Hammersley, Andrew Nassar, Rachel Newman, Sahil Patel, Julia Price-Madison, Aseem Shukla, Siobhan Stevenson, Vyvy Trinh, Vijay Umapathy, Kimberley Wong JAZZ ENSEMBLE (US): Isaac Ball, Alyssa Donovan, Patrick Gendotti, Josh Karnes, Roger Kim, Josh Kwan, Jeff Le, Michael Lee, Spencer Lin, Brian Ma, Louis Prussa, Priya Sathaye, Sid Satish, Anton Sepetov, James Shaver, Sara Teplitsky Ariane Vartanian, Justin Wu FACULTY DIRECTORS: Catherine Snider & Laura Lang-Ree, Downbeat; Richard Frazier, Jazz Ensemble; Laura Rae, US Dance Troupe; Gail Palmer, LS Dance Ensemble

VOLUNTEERING: Tina Najibi: tmm@cadence.com ADVERTISING: Mary Malysz: mmalysz@mstpartners.com • Ernaz Irani: ernaz.irani@hp.com SPONSORSHIPS: Archana Sathaye: archana@sathaye.com • Barbara Drummer: barbara.drummer@intel.com DONATIONS - Live Auction & Showcases: Angela Heslop: a.heslop@att.net • David Heslop: david.heslop@prestonpipelines.com RESERVATIONS: Jeannine Hammersley: jhammersley@comcast.net • Violet Boyle: boylfam99@sbcglobal.net GENERAL: Hotline 408.345.0115; Email fashionshow@harker.org Click on Rock the Runway! link on the Web site for all the most up-to-date information!

Harker News — November 04

CAMPUS

wide

Student Government Fosters Leadership and Responsibility

Ali Abdollahi

The US student government consists of four Associated Student Body (ASB) officers and four

“Our main goal is to look out for what the students need. Sometimes that means going against what’s popular,” said Das, ASB president. “Also, since the high school is new we really want to make people appreciate Harker, create traditions that can be eternal and really establish the high school.”

Gorshetyn, and senator-at-large Barret Glasauer. “This is a really big year for the middle school,” said Case. “We’re getting ready for our move over to the Blackford campus, so we want to get the school ready for that, and it’s also Howard and Diana Nichols’ last year, so we want to make this year a tribute to them, too.” Kerr said, “Serving as a student body officer provides leadership training to help students learn how to effectively coordinate small and large groups, the appropriate protocol for suggesting and implementing change within a school and skill development which allows students to become successful leaders in high school and beyond.”

Lower School

Ali Abdollahi

officers for each individual class. The ASB officers consist of three seniors – president Anshu Das, secretary Najm Haque, and treasurer Sahil Patel – and one junior – vice president Amira Valliani. The Gr. 12 officers are: president Nicholas Rattazzi, vice president Estelle Charlu, secretary Erika Gudmundson and treasurer Nima Taheri. Gr. 11 officers are: president Jeff Le, vice president Lauren Gutstein, secretary Casey Near and treasurer Apik Zorian. The officers for Gr. 10 are: president Rupan Bose, vice president Adnan Haque, secretary Simren Kohli and treasurer Cassie Kerkhoff. The newly elected officers for Gr. 9 are: president Tiffany Liou, vice president Denaly Chen, secretary Robyn Chan and treasurer Vikram Reddy.

This past summer a number of the US officers attended 3-day leadership workshops. Patel, Charlu, Gudmundson and Najm Haque attended the California Association of Student Councils (CASC) conference at UC Santa Barbara, chaperoned by Williamson, and junior class dean

Hoffman, secretary Kristina Bither, corresponding secretary Emily Carr, spirit coordinator Ida

Lisa Radice chaperoned Gutstein, Le, Near, Rattazi and Taheri for another CASC camp held at Stanford University.

Middle School The MS student body officers fulfill many of the same duties as their US colleagues, and MS division head Cindy Kerr similarly described the MS student council as important liaisons between the students and the faculty and administration of the school. The MS student body officers consists of seven Gr. 8 students: president Elizabeth Case, vice president David Kastelman, treasurer Ian

Leadership-building activities on the lower school campus also provide students with the opportunity to participate in spirit and service activities. The LS spirit group known as “S-Club” spends most of its time developing and acting on ideas for school spirit events. Gr. 5 language arts teacher Jason Oncay, the club’s advisor, said, “The club has fifty members, and they work hard to make life around the school more fun for everyone.” The S-Club helps organize money from school fundraisers, frequently updates the spirit bulletin board

with Harker homecoming and picnic info and meets weekly to discuss ideas to build campus spirit. SClub officers are president Daniela Lapidous, Gr. 5; vice president Shreya Nathan, Gr. 6; secretary John Ammatuna, Gr. 6; treasurer Kristi Lui, Gr. 6. The service club has involved over 80 LS students in this year’s service committee. Elementary history teacher and service club advisor Keith Hirota said of the club members, “They volunteer their time throughout the day picking up trash, wiping down lunch tables and keeping our campus clean.” Service club members also serve as guides for Harker parents during Back to School Night, help set up and clean up chairs for the teachers during school assemblies and even pass out lollipops, pencils and birthday cards to their classmates on their birthdays. This ability to serve their fellow students and contribute to the betterment of their school fosters responsibility and accountability among Harker students at all grade levels. Das, who has been a member of Harker’s student councils for each of the past seven years, said, “If you’re not active in high school then you won’t be active in college. If that happens, you probably won’t be involved later on in politics or improving your neighborhood. The world is pushed to improve through change and change starts through activism. Student government teaches us about activism from the beginning.”

Jason Oncay

Upper School

Dean of students Kevin Williamson explained that the role student government plays at Harker benefits the school as well as the student body. “The main thing is the communication with the administrators and adults. Student government serves as a bridge between the students and those other groups,” he said. “Student government officers make countless contributions to their fellow students, contributions that are often made with little or no recognition,” he added, citing hosting talent shows, coming up with ways to improve commencement, and organizing fundraising, class gifts, senior trips, spirit activities and homecoming as just a few examples of their leadership responsibilities.

Mark Tantrum

Harker 2004-05 student government organizations follow in the school’s tradition of using decisionmaking activities to build leadership skills and responsibility amongst the students.

Harker News — December 04

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Over 100 Students Assist - and Impress - Guests at Open House Events

Harker recently held the US Preview Night for MS students and their families, and the Bucknall and Saratoga Open Houses for prospective students. The success of these events relies on participation from many of our current students, and we appreciate the helpfulness of these student speakers, guides and helpers: US Speakers: Rachel Newman,

US Guides and Helpers: Anna Huang, Julia Havard, Jonathan Chang, Sandeep Karipineni, Rahul Reddy, Danyal Kothari, Arjun Naskar, Andrea Brisker, Cassie Kerkoff, Sasha Stepanenko, Jamie Wei, Ariana Vergara, Jerry Hong, Meghana Dhar, Cathrine Ho, Melissa Chen, Rachel Yuan, Tiffany Lau, Sejin Kwag, Dena Chen, Natasha Wu, Ruth Tepper, Debby Liang, Christin Tu, Swasti Sarna, David Linder, Rahul Komati, Audrey Kwong,

Mansi Shah, Samantha Jagannathan, Nina Vyedina, Jacqueline Rousseau, Ben Carpenter, Sharon Su, Kritika Kailash, Aarathi Minisandram, Tiffany Lai, Frank Wang, Stephanie Kim, Tiffany Liou, Jessica Hsueh, Eugenia Sorotokin, Ashley Yang, Shannon Tan, Kristie Cu, Linda Yen, Nilay Gandhi, Adhir Ravipati, Jeffrey Le, William Waggoner, Devon Anderson and Karen Horovitz. MS Helpers: Priya Banerjee and Mitali Parmar. Nick Gassmann

Pam Dickinson

Anshu Das, Eric Hsieh, Michael Hammersley, Amulya Mandava, Richard Kwant, Kim Wong, Alisha Tolani, Eric Gavarre, Sara Laymoun, Candace Chang, Emily Hsi and Amira Valliani. MS speakers: DJ Blickenstaff and Christine Emery.

Gr. 5 Guides and Helpers: Marisa

Ayyar, Rishi Bhandia, Veronica Bither, Isabella Conrad, Michelle Deng, Sandra Fung, Margaret Krackeler, Cole Manaster, Priyanka Mody, Daryl Neubieser, Amanda Pennell, Saagar Sarin, Ayush Sharma, Kathryn Siegel and Noel Witcosky. Gr. 6 Guides and Helpers: Anisha Agarwal, Ambrish Amaranathan, John Ammatuna, Rex Chen, Andrew Cutler, Guillaume Delepine, Helena Gali, Ziad Jawadi, Gautam Krishnamurthi, Alice Loofbourrow, Malika Mehrotra, Henna Mishra, Shreya Nathan, Margaux Nielsen, Ava Rezvani, Brianna Tran and Erica Woolsey.

Common Ground Speaker Series Event Well Attended by Harker

Harker News — December 04

Harker’s association with Dr. Mel Levine began over a decade ago when Diana Nichols arranged for him to speak at our annual teachers’ retreat. In addition to addressing his eight areas of Neurodevelopmental Constructs (Attention, Temporal-Sequential Ordering, Spatial Ordering, Memory, Language, Neuromotor Functions, Social Cognition, and Higher Order Cognition) in this presentation, the affable Levine shared numerous other insights. He believes in the importance of imaginary play for children and cautioned against over-scheduling children, asserting that an overscheduled child may be able to deal with details but is not able to grasp the “big picture” or become a visionary. Brainstorming and conceptualization are important parts of this process. As an example, Levine cited Michael Eisner’s ability to clearly see the details of a Disney theme park before the first plans were drawn up. It was designed and built to that vision and the park was lauded for its exceptional design features. To help children develop a sense of events and time, Levine also suggests a timeline that sets out events and how much time will be spent on each for an entire week at a time.

Sleep deprivation also concerns Levine who spoke of the tremendous amount of mental energy needed to pay attention in class, and that this energy is compromised if a child gets less than nine hours of sleep a night. In an effort to overcome this handicap, he said students go into “physical combat with their chairs,” or perhaps fiddle with a pencil in an effort to stay alert. He notes that between classes and after school, the child may exhibit more

energy but they do not have the mental energy necessary to manage the demands of a classroom. From Levine’s perspective, there are no abnormal or deviant children – each simply has strengths and weaknesses. Strengthening the strengths leads to a highly specialized mind which functions well in today’s society. —Reported by Anitra Sudderth, LS Teacher

Day of the Dead Celebration Observed

Mark Tantrum - both photos

Over 35 faculty and parents attended the presentation by Common Ground Speaker Series held Nov. 11 at Gunn High School where Mel Levine, Ph.D., lectured on his work with his nationally renowned All Kinds of Minds Institute and its Schools Attuned program. Levine challenges teachers and schools to utilize the extensive scientific research about neurodevelopmental functions to demystify the learning process and create an environment where all students can find success. He has authored numerous books, including “All Kinds of Minds” and “The Myth of Laziness.” Harker is a member of the Common Ground organizations as of this year, and Harker parents, faculty and staff may attend these events at no charge. “Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to attend Dr. Mel Levine’s lecture,” e-mailed Rekha Nandakumar (Maya, Gr. 2). “I had seen Dr. Levine on the Oprah show several months ago. Besides all his strengths I was very impressed by his optimism and his knowledge regarding children’s abilities. His lecture was very humorous and inspiring.” Visit www.commonground.org for information on future events. LS teacher Anitra Sudderth reports on the Levine presentation:

MS and US Spanish students continued Harker’s annual observance of the Central American and Mexican holiday of El Día de los Muertos, The Day of the Dead, a celebration to welcome the spirits of departed loved ones who are thought to return to visit family and friends each year on November 2. All students and staff were invited to remember someone they loved by placing a photograph or remembrance on the altar which included marigolds, candles, incense, traditional foods and artwork - for the enjoyment of visiting spirits.

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school ■ Officials Visit Classroom Gr. 2 science teacher Michael Bourquin invited the Santa Clara Water Department to do a presentation in his science classes in October where students learned about the history of water in our county, the importance of conserving water, and the environmental impacts of water from our homes.

2004 Yosemite Trip a Winter Wonderland In late Oct., Harker 6th graders continued the 28 year tradition of going to the Yosemite Institute for a week of hiking, exploration and education. The students are met by the Tamagawa students on Wed. as they join in on all of the activities. This year’s group experienced an extra special setting as 6-8 inches of fresh snow covered the valley. “Behavior was stellar and children were smiling whichever way I looked,” said MS division head Christy Vail. “It truly was a

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Winter Wonderland,” she added!

■ Snacks Win in Mock Election While America voted for its 44th president on Nov. 2, Harker Gr. 2 students voted for their favorite snack and Gr. 1 students voted for their favorite game, learning all about voting and election procedures in preparation for the big day when they will be eligible to vote. In Gr. 2 each class made and posted posters around the classroom promoting candidate choices such as Fruit by the Foot or Oreo Cookie. “Just like the presidential election, the votes were ver y close but Fruit by the Foot won,” said teacher James Hamilton. “Students enjoyed the winning snack at recess the following Friday,” he laughed. In Gr. 1 students registered and then cast their ballots for their favorite game among the candidate choices of Clue Jr., Don’t Break the Ice, Operation, and Guess Who? “The winning game was Don’t Break the Ice, and all first grade classrooms will now get their own Don’t Break the Ice game to play for the rest of the year,” said teacher Cindy Proctor. ■ Students Meet Author In October Janice Snyder’s Gr. 3 language arts classes were encouraged to attend an evening at Hicklebee’s Book Store in Willow Glen to hear author Jon Scieszka and illustrator Lane Smith speak about their individual successes and collaborations. “My classes studied Scieszka as their September author, so it was especially meaningful to get to meet these two personalities,” said Snyder. Their books include “The Stinky Cheese Man,” “Math Curse” and the new book, “Science Verse.” Snyder said, “The students who were able to attend were lucky enough to have photos taken with these gentlemen, as well as receive personalized autographs. This was a most exciting experience for all who were there, and will give new meaning and clarity to the books that their classes have read.” Harker News — December 04

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Outstanding Character Development Program Continues to Flourish

On Fri., Oct 29, Gr. 4 students, along with teachers and rec staff, delivered pumpkins and notes, handmade by the students, to the porches of some of the homes in the neighborhood around the LS campus. “It’s a small gesture, but a positive and interactive way for our students to learn that being a good neighbor is an important part of being a good citizen,” said Kelly Espinosa, LS dean, non-academics.

on developing a caring attitude toward our own community. During the first week of November students showed their school pride by entering an Eagle Drawing Contest, creating appreciation cards for the support departments of the school and holding Gr. 2 parents Kim Alonzo, Tina teambuilding exercises on the field Bean and Tamra Amick assisted during lunch recess. Eagle Contest teacher Katherine Sommer with a winners were: 1st prize - Elena homeroom project in which Bronder-Chang, Kdg.; Marita students created door decorations DelAlto, Gr. 1; Alexander Alonzo, for each of the 35 residents at The Gr. 2; Daniel Pak, Gr. 3; Tara Rezvani, Gr. 4; Thomas Tiernan, Gr. 5 and Cole Manaster, Gr. 6. The runner-up winners were: Conor Martin, Kdg; Mary Najibi, Gr. 1; Maya Nandakumar, Gr. 2; Richard Yee, Gr. 3; Sondra Costa, Gr. 4; Sophia Raggett, PUMPKIN DELIVERY Gr. 5 and Christina Li, Gr. 6. The 1st prize winners of the Eagle Drawing Contest won a gift card to Baskin Robbins and runnersup received two snack bar coupons to the Harker snack bar. All students in Gr. 1 made trick-or-treat bags for the kindergarten students, with decorations including safety tips to remind the kinder-garteners to have a safe and fun Halloween. Classes also read Halloween stories or poetry and had a fun Halloween snack. “What a great way to learn Harker News — December 04

Terraces, a senior home in Los Gatos. The decorations were made during class time, using autumn leaves, acorns, and ribbons which said Happy Thanksgiving, and a group of the

passion of hers,” said Alonzo. “She was instrumental in the evening, singing with the students and sitting with the seniors - she truly was enjoying herself.”

SENIOR VISIT

students delivered them one evening. Lucas Bruketa, Madison Beine, Alexander Alonzo, Jeremy Binkley and Sarah Bean attended the evening performance and giftgiving with their siblings and mothers, and the group sang a few songs and chatted with the residents. “Mrs. Sommer came up with the idea and it’s obviously a

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TEAM BUILDING

what community is within our school. The children have learned safety tips for trick-or-treating while making new friends,” said Tara McFarland, KDG teacher. “It was a beautiful experience.”

Kim Alonzo, parent - both photos

Nick Gassmann

This year the LS Recreation Staff is designating one week out of each quarter to hold special events in coordination with the Character Development Program, with a focus

Students in Gr. 5 sponsored this year’s Thanksgiving Food Drive, an annual activity launched years ago by teacher Pat Walsh. “I started the drive because I learned at a young age about the responsibility of giving to others. I was taught that when you are blessed with abundance, you should do what you can to lighten the load of others less fortunate,” he said. Over the last 10 years all of the food and money donated is delivered to St. Justin’s Church in Santa Clara. “They have a vibrant community outreach program that works to help people throughout Santa Clara over the entire year, not just the holiday season,” said Walsh, who added that the number of people needing assistance has increased steadily the last several years. The fifth grade teachers are always amazed at the generosity and kindness of the Harker families, who last year brought in over 3,000 food items. “One year, Ms. Giammona, Mr. Bost, and I raised a gaudy sum of money and were able to buy food from grocer y stores to bring to Loaves and Fishes, a downtown agency that serves the homeless,” said Walsh. “You should have seen the look on the grocer y clerks faces when we pulled up to the cashier with shopping carts carr ying well over 100 turkeys and all the trimmings for Thanksgiving dinners,” laughed Walsh. At press time, this year’s food drive was wrapping up as Gr. 5 students were helping deliver the food to St. Justin’s the day before Thanksgiving Break.

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Mark Tantrum - both photos

The 7th annual Halloween parade was a great success with over 575 K-5 students participating, led by the LS rec staff. Parents lined the entire parade route to watch, photograph and cheer the classes that passed by.

Master teacher and storyteller Jim Cogan told stories to students at both the Bucknall and Saratoga campus in Oct.

Celebrating Ten Years of Friendship with Memorable Anniversary Visit This year’s exchange visit of the students from the Tamagawa Gakuen School in Tokyo, Japan signified the 10th year of the exchange partnership between Harker and this sister school, and was highlighted with special programs to celebrate the 10th anniversar y.

said, “The best parts of the Yosemite trip were snowball fights and hiking, because there was a lot of time to talk.”

Arriving on Oct. 26, the Tamagawa students spent their first day in America panning for gold in the California Gold Countr y, and then traveled to Yosemite to meet their Harker buddies the following day, where they were introduced and matched up with their buddies for dinner and evening activities. Margaux Nielsen, Gr. 6, described the anticipation of meeting her Tamagawa buddy. “I was really excited and nervous,” said Nielsen, “When I was waiting for them, it seemed like eternity.”

The students returned to San Jose to meet their host families and attend a special 10th Anniversary Welcome Luncheon on Sat., Oct. 30, with President Yoshiaki Obara of the Tamagawa Gakuen School in attendance. The luncheon began with gift presentations and introductions by Head of School Diana Nichols. After comments from Obara, entertainment included the Harker faculty/staff choir Noteworthy, the US Downbeat, and magician Jay Alexander. Students then went home for the first time with their host families to enjoy the weekend, which included a special Halloween party organized for the Tamagawa students by Harker parents.

The Tamagawa students enjoyed two days of activities including hiking and evening campfires. Gautam Krishnamurthi, Gr. 6,

The students attended classes at Harker with their buddies Nov. 1 3, and activities included art and dance workshops, reading of

Japanese children’s fables and creating origami art projects, and a field trip for all 6th graders and Tamagawa visitors to the San Jose Tech Museum. One evening, Harker and Tamagawa buddies traveled to San Francisco to attend the Grand National Rodeo. This special 10th anniversar y visit concluded with a Farewell Reception in the Bucknall Gym on Nov. 3 that included Harker performances, student speeches, gifts and plenty of tears as our visitors boarded the bus for the airport. Harker host families described the cultural exchange as an experience that their families will always cherish. Host parent Leslie Nielsen said, “My most enjoyable moments with Karina were spent in the car to and from school. She would attempt to teach us Japanese songs. My car has never been so full of fun and giggles!” Nielsen continued, “I don’t think we actually memorized anything,

but those car rides will never be forgotten.” Harker would like to extend its appreciation to International Programs Director Bill Bost for organizing another outstanding and memorable visit. Special thanks also to these volunteers who made invaluable contribution to the Tamagawa visit: Kathy Polzin, Celia Feret, Deepa Iyengar, Faustina Chen, Jin Zhou, Alicia Moore, Takako Khojasteh, Chidori Okubo, Jonie Takatsuji, Ning Zong, Mayumi Hashimoto, Tomoko Regan, Yokiaki Aoshima, Sarah Auvil, Myint Thein and Hamangi Parikh. “As I was taking President Obara to the airport, he kept talking about how he was so pleased with his reception and the wonder ful things we are doing with his students,” repor ted Bost. This very special partnership between Harker and Tamagawa promises to hold many more wonder ful memories - and anniversaries - for years to come. Harker News — December 04

Photos by Mark Tantrum, Nick Gassmann, Chris Daren, Michael Leonard '04 - and a variety of Harker MS students!

international

Harker News â&#x20AC;&#x201D; December 04

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■ Lunar Eclipse Bonding Over 60 families turned out to view the lunar eclipse event on Thurs., Oct. 28. Gr. 3 science teacher Jason Pergament said, “It was a great chance for the kids to try out some telescopes - many parents brought their own in addition to the ones I have for my classroom - and

Gr. 6. The 12 winners each received a $5 gift certificate to the library’s book fair in May.

■ Hot Snowman Grams The BKN S-Club will be selling Snowman Grams between Nov. 29 and Dec. 14, an annual event that raises money for purchasing spirit visors, t-shirts, prizes and decorations for spirit events throughout the school year. A Snowman Gram is a bag of candy with a personal note attached, which will be delivered to students, teachers and staff, the last few days before the winter break. “Last year, we sold over one thousand Snowman Grams, so we hope to have the same support this year,” said Jason Oncay, club advisor.

Nick Gassmann

■ Reading is a Treat This year’s Haunted House library contest garnered over 1,400 entries! Students filled out a contest entry form for each book they read during the month of Oct. Congratulations to the winners: Elan Friedland and Ankita Uppugunduri, Kdg; Jonathan Dai, Gr. 1; Alexandra Walker and Austen Goldman, Gr. 2; Urvi Gupta, Mercedes Chien and Anika Ayyar, Gr. 3; Matthew Hong and Shelby Rorabaugh, Gr. 4; Daniela Lapidous, Gr. 5 and Aamir Patel,

■ Pumpkin Hunt Teamwork When a rainstorm canceled the Kindergarten’s annual trip to the

Pumpkin Patch in Morgan Hill, Miss Kelly made a weekend trip to Uesugi Farms, filled her car with pumpkins, and on Monday morning generous Kindergarten parents worked as a real team to unload and hide the pumpkins on the playground for the annual kindergar-

ten “Great Pumpkin Hunt.” All the children found the pumpkins of their dreams, and a great time was had by all! ■ Finding Fun The Gr. 2 Movie Night Social was a great success with over 35 second graders, along with siblings and parents (totaling about 110) attending the event. The group enjoyed pizza, popcorn and ice cream while watching “Finding Nemo.” Some also enjoyed the fun experience of making shadow animals in front of the projector! “The kids went back again and again (and again and again) for popcorn. They just couldn’t seem to watch the movie for more than five minutes at a time,” laughed Greg Martin, Gr. 2 level coordinator and organizer of the social. “In the end, I think everyone had fun, and, as the MasterCard ad says: ‘Not having to cook dinner on a Friday night, priceless!’” Watch the Parent Home Page (PHP) for more grade level events throughout the year.

■ LS Performs for Tamagawa The LS Per forming Ar ts Department did a fantastic job welcoming our Tamagawa visitors at the welcome assembly Nov. 1. Student narrators reviewed some of the ways that various grades get involved with Tamagawa each year, and Gr. 3 music director Roxann Hagemeyer led her students through two American classics, “Yankee Doodle” and “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” Michael Pease’s Gr. 5 students illustrated the week’s friendship theme with “Friends” and “You’re My Best Friend,” and the Bucknall Dance Ensemble, under the direction of Gail Palmer, wowed the crowed with “Let’s Get Loud.” The Bucknall Orchestra, directed by Richard Frazier, per formed a “Dragon Dance” on Monday, and then on Wednesday also joined the US vocal group Bel Canto for the farewell lunch. Many thanks to our LS per formers and directors for the warm and spirited welcome to this 10th anniversary visit by our Tamagawa friends. See page 12 for a recap of the visit!

Mark Tantrum

enjoy time with each other.” Families met on the field at Saratoga, but due to fog in the valley only glimpses of the moon could be seen during the event. The evening was still a success as families enjoyed time together outside of the classroom. The evening was organized by Gr. 3 level coordinator, Ruth Mohanram. “Most kids were able to get a better view of the eclipse on their ride home,” laughed Pergament.

New York jazz saxophonist Hayes Greenfield joined Bucknall Orchestra director Richard Frazier recently for a special lower school assembly. Students particularly enjoyed trying the nonsense syllables of scat into the microphone!

Mark Tantrum

■ Eagle Enquirer Launched A group of enthusiastic and talented Harker 5th graders spent the quarter writing articles for the inaugural issue of the Eagle Enquirer, a new newsletter for Harker LS students. The first issue covered the devastation caused by the barrage of hurricanes in the Southeast, what’s new on the Bucknall campus, an informative interview of Karen Glovka, a new LS Spanish teacher, sports updates on the football and volleyball teams and an editorial page that dealt with homework from the perspective of an administrator, teacher and student. “In addition, one of the most popular pages was the Dear Gabby feature,” said Pat Walsh, teacher and newsletter advisor. Gr. 5 teacher Kate Shanahan and Walsh work with the students once a week to pull it all together before the presses run. “Or should we say before it’s uploaded?” laughed Walsh who explained that it’s an “online rag running on Harker’s intranet.” Enquirer student staff includes Kaitlin Halloran, Sebastian Herscher, Alexandra Ju, Jagdeesh Kottapalli, Jeffrey Kwong, Daniela Lapidous, Ollie Peng, Robert Maxton and Albert Wu, and technical consultants are Robert Maxton, student and Jason Oncay, Gr. 5 teacher.

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US Yearbook Staff to Help MS Scientific Roller Coaster Fun Students Produce New K-8 Yearbook

As part of Daren’s Editors in Training program, Irine Tyutereva, Gr. 11, and Elyse Kim, Gr. 10, will serve as editors-in-chief for the newly formatted K-8 yearbook this year in preparation for their roles as editors-in-chief of the Talon next year. “It’s been a really enriching experience to be in charge of a talented group of students,” said Kim. “It’s helping us learn how to work things next year with the Talon.” The new MS yearbook will be divided into five sections: student life, sports, academics, people and

The new yearbook will even include firsthand coverage of some of the most exciting LS and MS field trips of the year. Andrea Kim and Kristina Bither, both Gr. 8, interviewed Harker 6th graders and chaperones for a yearbook feature after the annual Yosemite trip in late October. MS staffers also covered last month’s Gr. 7 Grand Canyon and Gr. 8 Santa Catalina trips for inclusion in the book. “The work that goes into producing a yearbook to cover the whole school involves a lot of details that people aren’t aware of,” said Bither. “Those who create the yearbooks deserve a lot of respect for the work they do.”

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will assist MS students in creating their own, more elaborate, book this year, said, “The US yearbook has done very well, and this program offers the Talon staff an opportunity to assist the K-8 students in creating less of a memory book and more of a yearbook.”

clubs. The majority of the content for the K-8 yearbook will be compiled from the work of MS student journalists, who will author the articles, take photographs, and help design the cover. “This is a great way for the US and MS to interact, and for the US kids to help teach the MS kids what they know about journalism,” added Daren.

MS science teacher Raji Swaminathan had the students in his classes build miniature working roller coasters. This fun interactive project is part of the curriculum for Swaminathan’s Gr. 7 physical science courses.

MS Halloween Festivities

Beyond adding a new dimension to the K-8 yearbook, Daren added that this cross-divisional approach bodes well for the future of the Talon. “This program will definitely help me as a tool for recruiting future US yearbook students,” he laughed.

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Mark Tantrum

The Harker K-8 yearbook will receive a makeover this year, thanks to the help of US yearbook (Talon) students. US Yearbook and Activities Director Chris Daren, who

Inaugural Shanghai Trip Departure

Bill Bost

Twelve Harker 8th graders and their chaperones departed for Shanghai, People’s Republic of China on Sat., Nov. 6 for an inaugural two-week trip with Harker’s new sister school, the Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School (SWFLMS).

MS students convened in front of Shah Hall on Fri., Oct. 29 for the annual MS Halloween Party and were treated to doughnuts, refreshments and other goodies while showing off their costumes.

Watch for a full recap in the Jan. 2005 issue! Harker News — December 04

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school ■ Harker Math Invitational Goes International MS math teacher Vandana Kadam recently announced that the Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School (SWFLMS), Harker’s sister school in Shanghai, China, will be participating this year in Harker’s math invitational, held each year in March.

Santa Catalina Trip Provides Seaside Learning

Kadam sent a proposal to the school in early October, and the school recently accepted the invitation. With their participation, Harker’s tournament will now be called the International Math Invitational. “I’m thrilled at this opportunity of making Harker’s invitational go international,” said Kadam.

Gr. 8 students traveled to the island of Santa Catalina off the coast of Southern California the week of Nov. 8 for this second annual weeklong trip to introduce students to island ecology, marine biology and natural and human history. Groups of students rotated through a number of activities including tidepooling, hiking, kayaking, snorkeling and sea canoeing, and visited a “touch tank,” plankton lab and the aquarium.

Contest material will be e-mailed to Shanghai one day prior to the invitational, and Shanghai students will participate in the contest under test conditions at their own school. “This is a great opportunity for us to increase interaction between the two schools,” said Kadam. “Since the technology is so advanced we will be able to run the contest on the same day in both countries.” Kadam said Shanghai students will compete against one another during this first contest, but plan to compete against the other teams in the invitational next year. “This will give us an idea of how things work in the two countries in terms of math curriculum, “ she added. ■ Students Debate Stem Cell Research 8th graders Ian Hoffman, Nick Hyman, Vivek Reddy and Sean Doherty debated in support

CIndy Kerr, MS division head said, “The students had a great time, learned about marine and island life, and bonded as a class.” Thanks to the passionate par ticipation of our students, and their eagerness to learn this was another memorable trip. Many thanks are also extended to the wonder ful chaperones – Cindy Kerr, Cyrus Merrill, Tim Culbertson, Julie Pinzas, Simon Keilty, Doug Knight, Deanna Barnett, Camila Valdes, Vandana Kadam, Steven Hewitt, Michael Smith, Chrissy Chang, Deborah Martinez – for helping to make this a special experience for the children.

Lorna Claerbout

Simon Keilty & various MS faculty & students

Warm Southern California nights allowed for special nighttime activities, which included astronomy lessons from the Naturalist at Large, slide shows, night hikes and even night snorkeling where students used underwater flashlights to observe lobsters, crabs and various schools of fish. Students were also treated to leisurely night activities such as campfires on the beach, eating s’mores and the option to sleep outside under the stars.

of Proposition 71 on stem cell research as part of a mock vote activity held by the classes of MS science teachers Lorna Claerbout and Simon Keilty. Fellow 8th graders Christy Emery and Taylor Rapson debated the opposing position. Participants researched and debated Proposition 71, as well as Proposition 69 on a state See online photo gallery for more photos

Harker News — December 04

middle DNA database. Proposition 71 was supported by 66% of 8th graders, while Proposition 69 won the support of 47% of the class. ■ Teacher Exchange to Japan MS world studies dept. chair John Zetterquist departed for Japan on Nov. 8 to participate in Harker’s annual teacher exchange program with the Tamagawa Gakuen School in Japan. Zetterquist will teach lessons on United States history and geography in the Tamagawa Elementary Division, covering

school Grand Canyon/ National Parks Trip

Nighttime activities included the Navajo Experience, where the hosts created an authentic Native American village with traditional decorations and dining areas, and treated students to lessons and

demonstrations in Native American music, storytelling, folklore and wilderness living. The excellent behavior of Harker students did not go unnoticed. “We accepted compliments right and left from people about the children,” said Gill. “The head of catering pulled me aside and said that the Harker kids have restored his faith in the youth of America!” Many thanks to our students for making such an outstanding impression on the tour guides, and to the instructors and chaperones for taking such excellent care of the students. This year’s chaperones were Joe Gill, Lorna Claerbout, Henry Cuningham, Ilona Davies, Jim Eagen, Isabel Garcia, Mark Gelineau, Scott Graham, Patricia Lai, Kumi Matsui, Leah Minnery, Omar Nassery, Michael Schmidt, Raji Swaminathan and Margaret Wright.

Harker ARchives

Students in Gr. 7 embarked on their 3rd annual academic excursion to the Grand Canyon and its surrounding areas in November, enjoying rafting trips along the Colorado River, exploring beautiful red rock

formations in Snow Canyon State Park and hiking to the top of the Grand Canyon. Asst. Head of School Joe Gill said, “The class had a crystal clear day at the Canyon and a chance to stop and play in a few inches of snow on the way home.” Accompanied by geologists, the class also explored the natural wonders of Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks, witnessed a birds of prey demonstration, toured the Glen Canyon Dam and spent a day at Lake Powell, which included a Wild West Experience where students were given an opportunity to experience life as it was lived in the old-west 150 years ago.

topics such as geographic expansion and multiculturalism. He will also take a two-day trip to the cities of Kyoto and Hiroshima. A full recap of his trip will be included in the Jan. 2005 issue of The Harker News. ■ MS Performance News Monica MacKinnon announced that this year’s MS musical will be “Honk!,” the award-winning musical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Ugly Duckling.” The show will perform May 11-14, 2005 and will feature the MS performing group Harmonics and other MS students, by audition.

Joe Gill

The MS Performing Arts Department also added their talents to the special festivities that marked the 10th anniversary of our exchange program with Tamagawa. Dance instructor Adrian Bermudez cheered on his MS Dancers as they performed to the Gershwin classic “I Got Rhythm,” and Harmonics got in the act with “Hello” and “La Musica.” Thanks to Bermudez, Monica MacKinnon and Susan Nace for leading their groups through the festivities! See page 12 for a recap of the visit! See online photo gallery for more photos Harker News — December 04

SPORTS Lower & Middle School Led by offensive and defensive MVPs Jasper Liao and Arman Gupta, the Harker A football team finished undefeated in spectacular fashion this season. With a record of 14-0, the team easily stamped the Harker Eagle symbol on this year’s St. Victor’s tournament with win after win. Following in their predecessor’s trail, the Harker B football team was just as impressive as their older counterparts. While finishing 6-1 this season the team’s MVPs Ryan Cali and Lung-Ying Yu made sure that the early season loss would be the only blemish on their record this year. Along with Cali and Yu, the team was led by Patrick Smith, Kevin Fu, Cole Davis and Kurtis Lin. They were a strong defensive team, that scored from anywhere on the field. Coach C.J. Cali said, “I would like to thank Karriem Stinson, Rich Amarillas and Brian Enos for their hard work and effort with the boys this year.”

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The C football team refused to let a loss to Hillbrook late in the season ruin their run and were able to demonstrate their dominance in the last game

briefs of the year, easily beating Carden 34-7. The D football team fought hard against opponents this year. With stellar performances turned in by MVP Stephen Hughes and teammates Rahul Maddurluri, David Eng and Saagar Sarin, the 5th graders played tough versus the 5-7th graders from Hillbrook, Rainbow Bridge and St. Christopher’s. They capped their season off with a game against the fundamentally strong team of 4th grade boys from Harker. Both C and D girls volleyball ﬁnished on a good note this season, with strong play turned in by Veronica Bither and Sandy Fung. The A1 volleyball team ﬁnished the season 18-2 and took 1st place at this year’s St. Victor’s, Notre Dame and Hillbrook tournaments with the help of team MVP Candace SilvaMartin. B1 girls volleyball was equally impressive by polishing off the Hillbrook tournament and placing 2nd at the St. Victor’s tournament. Alysia Patel and the 7th grade ladies showed their power and strength on the courts this year with a deceptive 8-4 record. Basketball is in progress for the 7 & 8th grade boys

Annual Faculty – Student Volleyball Match

won ﬁrst place in the three of their four tournaments,” said

The annual faculty volleyball game took place Thurs., Nov. 4 in the Saratoga gym. The MS A-1 girls volleyball team battled a faculty team that consisted of Chrissy Chang, Henry Cuningham, Simon Keilty, Patricia Lai, Lisa Masoni, Jason Reid, Vonda Reid and Josh Torres. The faculty team earned a hard-fought victor y in the hotly contested match. “The A-1 team went 18-2 in their season and

Gr. 4-8 athletic director Theresa Smith, “so this was the toughest competition the faculty has had in years.”

and girls, soccer for 5th & 6th grade boys and girls and basketball for 4th grade boys and girls. After winter break, starting on Jan. 3, 5th & 6th grade girls and boys will start basketball and 4th grade boys and girls will have soccer. —Theresa “Smitty” Smith, Gr. 4 - 8 Athletic Director, and Nick Gassmann, Coach

Upper School As press time closes in, the fall season is in the midst of the playoff season. Volleyball, tennis and cross countr y are all involved in CCS playoff action, and football concluded their season with exciting victories for both the junior varsity and varsity teams. Not to be outdone, soccer finished their season with a flourish, winning seven out of their final nine games. Golf concluded their championship season as well, earning a cochampionship of the WBAL. The volleyball team wowed a packed house at the Bucknall campus on Wed., Nov. 10 with a five game victor y over rival Sacred Heart Prep to open the CCS Division 4 playoffs. Harker was seeded 8th and Prep 9th as the Eagles hosted their first ever CCS playoff contest. With a capacity crowd on hand, the team overcame their ner ves and a first game loss by totally dominating the second and third games. Behind the 29 kills of junior Sylvia Schmidt, the Eagles tired in a game four loss, sending the match to its final pressurepacked game. Coach Smitty’s squad never gave Prep a chance in the final game, roaring out to a commanding lead, and holding off the spirited Prep comeback, winning the game and the match by a 15-11 score. The thoroughly entertained crowd of students and faculty showed their appreciation by storming the court to celebrate with the excited and exhausted

players. The televised show “High School Sports Focus” was on hand to witness the great game and the amped up crowd – it was clearly one of the greatest moments of Harker’s brief US sports history. Coach Theresa Smith is quickly earning the reputation around the section as a big game coach: her teams always play exceptionally well in big matches! The team is to take on the top seed, #1 ranked Notre Dame Salinas on Sat., Nov. 13, just after press time. A win by the 23-6 Eagles would be a huge upset by volleyball standards, but don’t count out the Eagles – look for results in next month’s edition. Girls golf, led by CCS individual qualifier Elyse Kim, earned a co-championship to go with their outright title from last year. All of the members of the team were mentioned in last month’s column in recognition of their fine accomplishment! The boys cross country team was running at El Toro Park in Salinas in the CCS championships at press time. The team returns to the meet after qualifying three out of the past four years. On the girls’ side, freshman runner Jessica Hsueh qualified as well. Look for results next month! Sophomore sensation Christina Harker News — November 04

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Community Service Update

Yee takes her season-long undefeated streak into the CCS singles championship. Currently Yee is 22-0 and has not lost a single set all year. Her ﬁrst match was on Nov 22 after press time, so look for good news on Harker’s nationally ranked tennis phenom – the quiet and unassuming Yee has a good chance of advancing deep into the tournament! The junior varsity football team triumphed in their last game vs. CSD, earning the victory with crisp tackling and solid run blocking. As one coach remarked, “It seemed like it all came together for them in this game, they really understood how the game is to be played.” Not to be outdone, the varsity football team also defeated CSD 20-8 behind the arm of sophomore quarterback Jason Martin, and the legs of senior running back Allen Lin.

Martin threw a picture per fect bomb to Adhir Ravipati for the team’s first touchdown, and followed up with the two-point conversion. In the second half, in pouring rain, the Eagles took the kickoff and promptly went on an 80 yard drive gaining all the yards on the ground behind superior run blocking. On their next possession, the game was put away when Lin popped off tackle and outran the defense on a 70-yard scamper, providing the Eagles with the 20-8 victor y, for their 4th victor y of the season. Over the last four years the football team has compiled a 19-20 record. With soccer winning seven out of their last nine games, the team finished third in the PSAL this season. Led by the superb defense of all-league goalie Naushad Godrej and the scoring of winger Adam Rubin, the team really gelled during the second half stretch run. Senior Sahil Patel came up big in the late season surge. Winter sports will be up and running by the next edition, with girls soccer, boys and girls basketball and wrestling all taking to the courts and fields! Go Eagles! —Jack Bither, US Athletic Director

Harker News — November 04

■ Key Club Continues Annual Support for UNICEF In last month’s newsletter, we reported on Key Club’s “Trick-orTreat for UNICEF” project. Students counted their donations and were pleasantly surprised by the $251 total they collected in one night. The top three collectors, Cooper Sivara, Ruehanee Killer and Julia Havard, were presented with a certiﬁcate and “Thank You bags” which included candy in exchange for the coins they gathered on Halloween. The Key Club also received a UNICEF Certiﬁcate of Appreciation for their annual contribution.

■ H.E.A.R.T. Club Celebrates Daffodil Days During the hustle and bustle of the new school year, the US H.E.A.R.T. Club (Harker Environmental and Animal Rights Team) took the time to help beautify the Saratoga campus for the 10th anniversary of San Jose Beautiful, a citywide community spirit and volunteer project. Each year this non-proﬁt organization, founded in 1986 by the Mayor and City Council, empowers citizens to actively take part in making San Jose a more beautiful place in which to live, work or visit by distributing up to 35,000 daffodil bulbs to businesses, school, and managers of public spaces. Under the guidance of Harker’s Facilities Manager Mike Bassoni, and club adviser Phil Becker, H.E.A.R.T. members planted daffodils in the front parking lot, in the open patches

near access roads and adjacent to Shah Hall. Kari Berglund, Ashley Dang, Vani Pyda, Tracy Chou, and Alice Chang participated, and we look forward to seeing the flowers bloom in the spring! ■ Key Club Helps Local School After enjoying or having heard about our own US outdoor movie night, several students volunteered to help make the JF Smith Elementary movie night just as exciting, handing out tickets and selling items at concession stands. PTA Coordinator Faith Mason applauded the students for their outstanding attitude and effort. “The Key Club was great. They showed up on time, they were proactive and asked excellent questions to get things going for the night. The event went very well.” Volunteers included: Joanna Xu, Kyle Kitasoe, Charlie Fang, Ruchi Srivastava, Mansi Shah, Debby Liang, Anjali Joy, Spencer Liang, Shrestha Singh, Grace Liang and Ruehanee Killer. ■ Harker News Express In our ongoing efforts to avoid duplicate mailings for families with more than one student at Harker, a team of US students – Jonathan Wang, Nina Duong, Ashley Yang and Aline Zorian – helped us label and stuff some of last month’s Harker News envelopes. If you would like to be a part of The Harker News Express team, contact Jerusha Hew Len at JerushaH@harker.org. ■ Canned Food Drive The US sponsored a holiday food drive this month to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank. Donation results were still in the process of being recorded by Second Harvest during our newsletter press time. Stay posted for a report on the final count and the winning class of the “Ultimate Giving” title in the next Harker News. ■ Holiday Fundraisers! See page 2 for holiday fundraising efforts school wide! —Jaja Hsuan, US Community Service Director

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Harker Musicians to Tour Europe

Matt Wong, Talon staff

The Orchestra will play, with one exception by Bach, all American music, mostly written in the last two years. Most exciting, they will present the world premiere of a work called “Prayer for Peace,” a choral and orchestral work specially commissioned by the groups from composer Brian S. Wilson. The text is from “Whispers from Eternity” by yogi Paramahanasa Yoganananda. It’s a three-part piece, which Wilson describes as “a threefold blessing …gives way to a fast part full of angst which bemoans the illogic of man’s wars….The conclusion, a pentatonic apotheosis builds to a climax on the theme of universal brotherhood.”

Cantilena director Susan Nace says, “It is every choir’s dream to be able to sing in the places where choral music was born, nurtured, and brought to maturity. Choral music is essentially a Western music phenomenon. At the same time, we are very pleased to be taking to Europe music they love as well as music they do not normally experience, which reﬂects Harker’s cultural diversity: an AfricanAmerican spiritual, a Chinese

folk song, a Dravidian Dithyramb, and a Mexican huapango. It will be a cultural exchange using the universal language of music.” The students have already begun working on the tour repertoire, and are in the thick of preparations. Cantilena sophomore Julia Havard says, “I want to see where our music came from and this is our chance! Europe has so many

Chris Daren

Two US music ensembles, the String Orchestra and Cantilena, are embarking on a unique journey next February – Harker’s ﬁrst European Musical Tour. The groups will play four concerts, make a recording, take guided tours and attend concerts and workshops in Budapest, Eisenstadt, Vienna and Prague. Orchestra director Richard Frazier remarks, “The bonding that occurs when students play great concerts for responsive audiences on tour can not be duplicated anywhere else. It is one thing to go to another country as a tourist but something entirely different when we bring our collective artistic achievements to an entirely new setting. We are playing ‘our’ music, sharing it on an international basis.”

old and rich cultures and I feel incredibly blessed that we can sing in such an environment. I can’t wait!”

“Europe has so many old and rich cultures and I feel incredibly blessed that we can sing in such an environment.” The Cantilena students going on tour are: seniors Kathy Peng and Paloma Solorio; juniors Casey Blair, Shivani Bhargava, Avanti Deshpande, Subha Gollakota, Lauren Harries, Katherin Hudkins, Gail Nakano, and Rohini Venkatraman; sophomores Jessica Dickinson Goodman, Julia Havard, Emily Isaacs, Molly Newman, Vani Pyda, Sarah Syrett, and Nina Vyedina. The Orchestra students going on tour are: sophomores Aneesh Donde, Audrey Kwong, Glenn Lee and Harry Tseng; freshman Whitney Huang; Gr. 8 Nikhil Raghuram; Gr. 7 Eileen Cho, Sonya Huang, Vivian Huang and Mark Roh.

■ New Harker NHS Members Welcomed at Induction Ceremony Over 40 Harker students were welcomed as new members of the National Honor Society (NHS) at a recent induction ceremony on Oct. 20 in the Saratoga Gym. To qualify for membership in the Harker NHS chapter students must be sophomores or above, have an overall GPA of 3.7 or higher, participate in community service (both in school and outside school), and demonstrate leadership and personal integrity. Applicants were also required to submit a minimum of three letters of recommendation. Congratulations to these 44 newly inducted members, who join the 54 current Harker student members of the NHS: Arjun Banerjee, Shruthi Bhuma, Swathi Bhuma, Rupan Bose, Seraﬁne Chen, Karen Chiu, Arkajit Dey, Ayumi Funaki, Jason Gutstein, Lauren Gutstein, Annelise Han, Jason Han, Julia Havard, Christine Hsueh, Emily Issacs, Ruchi Jhaveri, Sherwin Jiang, Elyse Kim, Rose Kirby, Jocelyn Ko, Danyal Kothari, Richard Kwant, Hailey Lam, Jessie Li, Tiffany June Lin, Ashley Morishige, Amit Mukherjee, Yuanyuan Pao, Jacqueline Rousseau, Natasha Sarin, Siddarth Satish, Sylvia Schmidt, Jasper Shau, Rushikesh Sheth, Jayasree Sundaram, Shannon Tan, Alisha Tolani, Elyse Trinh, Rohini Venkatraman, Carolyn Wang, Allison Wong, Kimberly Wong, David Yao and Hann-Shuin Yew. ■ Ludi Octobres Latin teacher Lisa Masoni reported that on Sat., Oct. 23, a contingent of 25 students from Harker attended a soggy Ludi Octobres at the Bentley School in Lafayette, and many Harker students took top honors in academic contests. MIDDLE SCHOOL - Level 1: Monisha Dilip, Gr. 7, 2nd Mythology. Matt Park, Gr. 7, 1st Mythology; 1st Roman History. Advanced Level: Liz Cutler, Gr. 8, 3rd Mottoes, Quotes, and Abbreviations. Pratusha Erraballi, Gr. 8, 2nd Roman Life; 1st Mottoes, Quotes, and Abbreviations. Sonya Gilman, Gr. 8, 2nd Certamen Team; 2nd Reading Comprehension. Prachi Sharma, Gr.8, 2nd Mottoes, Quotes, and Abbreviations. HIGH SCHOOL - Level 2: Kritika Kailash, Gr. 9, key member of the

1st Place Certamen Team; 1st Pentathlon. Aarathi Minisandram, Gr. 9, key member of the 3rd Place Certamen Team; 3rd Pentathlon. Preeta Reddy, Gr. 10, 2nd Vocabulary. Ruchi Srivastava, Gr. 9, 3rd Mythology; 3rd Mottoes, Quotes, and Abbreviations. Advanced Level: Michael Kim, Gr. 11, 1st certamen team; 2nd Pentathlon. Richard Kwant, Gr.10, 2nd Vocabulary, 1st Grammar. Colleen Lee, Gr. 11, 1st Mythology. Shaun Mohan, Gr.12, 2nd Roman Life. Roberta Wolfson, Gr. 12, 3rd Vocabulary. Others contributing to Harker’s effort were: Gr. 7 - Lauren Guerra and Veronica Hsieh; Gr. 8 - Niru Gadagottu and Minaz Laiwalla; Gr. 9 - Lauren Ammatuna and Eugenia Sorotokin; Gr. 10 - Yuanyuan Pao; Gr. 11 - Jayasaree Sundaram and Ariane Vartanian; Gr. 12 - Sheena Tomar. ■ Mentor Program Underway This year’s mentor orientation luncheon was held on Mon., Nov. 1 to help prepare new and returning mentors for the upcoming year. “The orientation gives the mentors an opportunity to listen to other mentors about what approaches work best with the students,” said Mentor advisor Joey Tyndal.

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The Mentoring Program matches adult mentors with students interested in their professional ﬁelds to help the students make informed decisions about their futures. The diverse career offerings for this year include ﬁelds such as mechanical engineering, architecture, dentistry, law and aerospace. Two off-site mentoring sessions are held – an all-day session in late November and a wrap-up session in February – where mentors share information about their career paths with their students, usually at the mentor’s workplace. Mentors are invited back to Harker in March for feedback and review of the program and for a thank-you luncheon in acknowledgement of their contributions to Harker and Harker News — November 04

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■ Student Directed Showcase Laura Lang-Ree’s Student Directed Showcase class has been selecting and analyzing their one-act plays this last quarter. The six student directors, seniors Genna Erlikhman, Boris Fedorov, Kamilla Khaydarov, Rachel Newman and Kimberley Wong, had over 60 US students audition for their shows for this very popular class. Once the shows are cast, the directors use class time to develop their directing, organization and rehearsal skills, and after-school time to rehearse their shows for a January performance. Good luck directors! ■ Update Debate! Matt Brandstetter, Harker’s debate coach, reported that Alisha Tolani, Gr. 11, represented Harker at the Immaculate Heart All-Female Lincoln-Douglas Round Robin Debate Tournament in Los Angeles Oct. 15 -16, and though she is only in her second year of competition, competed in the varsity level placing 5th overall and earning 3rd speaker in her own wheel. The following weekend Tolani went on to achieve a 4-2 record in LincolnDouglas debate at St. Mark’s School of Texas out of a field of 180 LD debaters from across the country. “Her 4-2 record and 115 adjusted speaker points placed her in a virtual tie for advancing to the field of 32 debaters after six rounds,” said Brandstetter. “The third tiebreaker unfortunately prevented her from progressing to the double-octafinal round as she missed the cut by one point.” Alex Hsu, Gr. 12, also debated in a break round; his 3-2 record after five rounds placed him in headto-head competition with another 3-2 debater, the winner achieving a record eligible for out round competition. Alex was defeated in his sixth round and ended the competition with a 3-3 record overall. In further Lincoln-Douglas news, junior Siddarth Satish placed first in the Victory Briefs logo contest. Victory Briefs, located in southern California, hosts a major summer institute for LincolnDouglas and policy debaters and will be at Harker Dec. 27-28 Harker News — November 04

for its Victory Briefs Tour 2004. Sid’s accomplishment has netted the school a free full-year subscription to the Victory Briefs annual topic analysis on each of the released LD debate topics, and the national tournament topic analysis. Congratulations, Sid! And finally, Harker debaters traveled to the University of Southern California Nov. 6-7 to compete at the 48th Annual Trojan National Championship Debate Tournament, a competition with nearly 300 students representing five states. Harker students, totaling 56 strong, represented the largest number of competitors from any one individual school. Harker overwhelmingly earned the Grand Sweepstakes Award for the fourth consecutive year, outdistancing the field by points accumulated from the top six competitors in each division of debate. The following is a summary of the individual student honors:

US Activities Update The US Spirit Club delivered cookies, brownies and other sweets to staff on the Saratoga campus last month to say “Thanks!” for the behind-thescenes things they do for the students. Halloween week spirit activities included a class pumpkin carving competition. The juniors edged out the senior class to win this imaginative contest, and now lead in this year’s overall spirit competition. Students showed their Halloween spirit on Fri., Oct. 29 as they spiced things up with their fabulous costumes - Oscar the Grouch, Superwomen, and The Crow, to name a few - to mark the occasion.

VARSITY LINCOLN-DOUGLAS Semi-finalists - Amulya Mandava, Jaya Pareek; Quarterfinalists - Priya Takiar, Chris Xiao; 6th Place Speaker Award - Amulya Mandava; 10th place speaker award Siddarth Satish JUNIOR VARSITY LINCOLNDOUGLAS DEBATE Quarterfinalists - Lauren Choi, Anjali Menon; Octafinalists - Carolyn Wang, Nikita Jeswani; Double Octafinalists - Frank Wang, Serafine Chen, Mounica Yanamandala, Paula Lauris, Anuj Kamdar, Kimberly Wong, Catherine Chiu; 10th Place Speaker Award - Lauren Choi VARSITY POLICY DEBATE Double Octafinalists - Tatsu Hashimoto & Nicholas Tan

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its students. Check the April 2005 issue for photos and a recap of this invaluable program.

US Students Selected for New Swiss Trip The Harker students who will travel to Fribourg, Switzerland in June, 2005 for our ﬁrst international program visit have been selected. The students, pictured below with US French teacher Nicholas Manjoine, are: (front row) Cheryl Chiu, Gr. 11, Lauren

Harries, Gr. 11, Liat Noten, Gr. 12, Debanshi Bheda, Gr. 10; (back row) Brandt Warecki, Gr. 10, Emily Isaacs, Gr. 10, Asavari Gupte, Gr. 11, Simren Kohli, Gr. 10, Andrew Tran, Gr. 10. Christine Vu, Gr. 11, not pictured. Congratulations!

JUNIOR VARSITY POLICY DEBATE Double Octafinalists - Stephanie Benedict & Allison Wong ■ Cool Noon Jazz Legendary New York jazz saxophonist Hayes Greenfield performed in the Edge courtyard during lunch recently with his combo - pianist Dahveed Behroozi, and drummer David Lichtenstein and our own jazz ensemble director Richard Frazier on bass. Greenfield then conducted a Jazz Workshop for Harker players and singers. Greenfield also performed for LS students - see pg. 14.

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Pam Dickinson

vary from scheduling and study tips to more personal social issues. “It’s a valuable relationship... because it builds a sense of ‘peer family,’ the big sister or brother lending helpful advice on handling the trials and tribulations of being a student,” said Freshmen Dean Marc Hufnagl. “Freshmen feel the seniors care and they trust them to give guidance from the student’s point of view.”

The Harker School was a supporting sponsor of this year’s YWCA’s annual fundraising event at the San Jose Convention Center, and the young women serving on Harker’s US student councils were invited to attend to hear guest speaker and female astronaut Sally Ride. Those able to attend were, L to R: Cassie Kerkoff, Amira Valliani, Erika Gudmundson, Casey Near, Estelle Charlu and Lauren Gutstein. Also attending were chaperones Lisa Radice, physics teacher; Robb Cutler, asst. head of school; Pam Dickinson, director of communications; and Heather Blair, registrar. ■ Students Stage Mock Debate and Election Harker’s Junior State of America (JSA) club sponsored a mock presidential debate and election in Nov. to give our mostly non-voting age student body a chance to experience an election ﬁrsthand. Juniors Sean Turner and Amira Valliani were the debaters, representing President George W. Bush and John F. Kerry, respectively. Here are the results by class, reported by Dan Hudkins, JSA’s faculty advisor: Seniors (44.35% turnout) • 13.21% Bush • 86.79% Kerry Juniors (34.04% turnout ) • 22.92% Bush • 77.08% Kerry • Low turnout due to mentoring

sessions held at the same time as voting Sophomores (43.71% turnout) • 23.94% Bush • 76.06% Kerry Freshmen (44.44% turnout) • 30.88% Bush • 69.12% Kerry ■ Seniors Mentor Freshman in New Program A new peer mentoring program has begun this year to help guide freshmen through their ﬁrst year in the upper school. Based on an experiment in advisory meetings last year, this new program pairs each freshmen advisor group with a senior mentor from Harker’s National Honor Society who will visit an assigned advisor groups ﬁve or six times this year to discuss topics relevant to freshmen. Topics can

This year’s inaugural batch of senior mentors are: Ilya Arbatman, Katie Ball, Varoon Bhagat, Kevin Busch, Estelle Charlu, Anshu Das, Nilay Gandhi, Erika Gudmundson, Jerry Hong, Yagmur Ilgen, Asmita Jinal, Salman Kothari, Shephalie Lahri, Arjun Naskar, Mike Nguyen, Sahil Patel, Sonia Rastogi, Sam Singh, Sheena Tomar, Ariana Vergara, and alternate Emily Hsi. ■ Quiz Bowlers Earn Team and Individual Honors Two Harker teams made impressive showings at the Cardinal Junior Classic Quiz Bowl at Stanford University on Sun. Oct. 24, where both teams qualified for the six-team upper bracket. Harker Team “G,” made up of seniors Mason Liang and Lev Pisarsky, junior Hailey Lam and sophomore Jessie Li, finished in sixth place. Harker Team “T,” comprised of juniors Samantha Fang, Yi Sun and Hann-Shuin Yew and sophomore Arkajit Dey, finished in third place, qualifying for the

The televised Quiz Bowl competition scheduled for Sat., Nov. 6 that Harker was to compete in was canceled at the last minute by the opposing team. Watch future issues for upcoming dates for this year’s televised Quiz Bowl show. ■ US Performs for Tamagawa The US Performing Arts Department was very busy during the recent 10th anniversary Tamagawa visit. Downbeat, the US jazz group directed by Laura LangRee and Catherine Snider, fresh off a performance at the Oct. 28 Preview Night, performed a rousing medley of friendship-themed songs at the welcome lunch on Sat., Oct. 30. Performing for the second year in a row was our US staff choir Noteworthy, directed by Susan Nace, who celebrated American culture by performing a spiritual. The dance department was represented by Laura Rae’s

US Dance Troupe dancing to “I’ll Be There For You.” Many thanks to our US performers and directors for helping to make the 10th anniversary Tamagawa exchange such a success. See page 12 for a complete recap of the visit!

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Marine Alumna Chou ’95 Visits Classes Alumna Katie Chou, MS ’95 returned to Harker in her U.S. Marines uniform as a guest speaker to U.S. histor y teacher (and Katie’s mom) Carol Zink’s classes. After Harker, Chou attended Palo Alto High School and Northwestern University, graduating with a dual degree in Industrial Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering through the ROTC program. Zink’s students submitted questions ahead of time, to let Chou know what topics were of most interest to them. Chou gave the students advice on preparing in high school for college, her involvement with ROTC in college and explanations of her training, duties and what lies ahead for her. Alumni Director Terry Walsh brought out the MS ‘95 yearbook and students could see that, although she was now a bit taller, she looked just the same! Former teachers had a chance to visit with Chou at lunchtime, who is currently home on leave from her ﬁrst duty station in Hawaii. If the war continues, it is probable that she will be deployed to Iraq. “We wish Katie the best of luck and look for ward to her returning to Harker for other visits and future reunions with her classmates,” said Walsh.

national competition. Individually, Sun received ﬁrst place honors while Liang placed seventh in the individual score.

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■ Correction The Harker News ran a story in the Nov. 2004 edition about the newly formed US French Club. In that article we failed to mention that US French and Spanish teacher Françoise Thompson will also be advising the club, in cooperation with fellow US French teacher Antoinette Gathy. We apologize for the omission. Harker News — November 04

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Judiciary Committee Educates and Promotes Ethics

“Since its inception the first year, the Judicial Committee has refined its mission. It evolved from a group meeting to determine disciplinary guidelines to one where students share valuable insights about the situations that are brought to their attention and educate the community about the Honor Code and the values that our community should strive to uphold,” explained Jennifer Gargano, former committee chair and current asst. head of school. Nine students and three faculty comprise the committee, with students serving two year terms, except for one additional senior selected annually, and faculty serving three-year terms. All students are elected by their peers, one faculty member is elected by faculty peers, and two are appointed by administration. This year’s committee members are: Students - seniors Salman Kothari, Linda Yen and Alex Hsu, who is serving a one-year term; juniors Asavari Gupte and Samantha Fang; sophomores Richard Kwant and Vyvy Trinh, and two freshmen who will be elected at the end of Quarter 2. Faculty - Donna Gilbert (elected), and Robbie Korin and John Hawley (appointed). One faculty member serves as co-chair with the seniors, who rotate as co-chair throughout the year. Trinh feels that having students participate so fully is crucial: “We provide a student perspective, which is important in order to help the administration understand student issues better.” Dean of Students Kevin Williamson is the first point of contact for students facing discipline issues. If further action is necessary - particularly those involving breaches of the Honor Code - the Judiciary Committee is convened. At that point the student is called in to discuss the case, bringing a teacher or advisor to offer support, if desired. Once the case is heard, Williamson and Harker News — November 04

the student leave the committee to their deliberations, which then recommends a course of action to the administration. (Williamson notes that over the years as committee members rotate, he tracks recommendations to help ensure they remain consistent.)

student copied 85% of his paper off the Internet. After viewing the segment together, 2-3 Harker advisor groups met together, with one student acting as a moderator, to discuss what they had seen. One such group found they had much in common in the

“We provide a student perspective, which is important in order to help the administration understand student issues better.” Faculty member and committee co-chair Robbie Korin said the committee promotes Harker’s Honor Code in two main ways. “The fact that students are on the committee is a powerful deterrent for violators who do not wish to face their peers. At the same time it helps students invest in the Code, because they have input and are part of the system,” he explained. In the committee’s evolved role, they recently sponsored a school assembly Oct. 21 in the gym where they showed a segment from ABC News Primetime where several students from a high school history class in Virginia were interviewed. After a class discussion on Internet plagiarism at this Virginia school, the teacher had submitted her students’ essays to a plagiarism Web site without telling them. Even though the students had all agreed in their classroom discussions that cheating was wrong - and in spite of the school’s very publicly displayed and oft-discussed honor code - 30% of the class plagiarized at least a portion of their papers, and one

In addition to the 2004-05 committee, here are the student and faculty JD committeee members who have served over the years: 2003-04 Faculty: John Near (Co-Chair), Donna Gilbert, Robbie Korin Students: Seniors – LeAnn Duong (Co-Chair), Peter Combs, Matt Jones; Juniors – Salman Kothari, Linda Yen; Sophomores – Samantha Fang, Asavari Gupte; Freshmen – Richard Kwant, Vyvy Trinh

way they interpreted honor, and in answer to the question, “What’s more important: honor or grades?” students seemed to agree that grades are paramount. Comments included: “It’s most important to have integrity AND get good grades,” and “We’re high school students – it’s our job to get good grades.” The students discussed more questions, such as “Where does the pressure for good grades come from?” and “Would you feel guilty if you cheated and got an A?” and “Once you start cheating, can you stop?”

2002-03 Faculty: Joanne Mason (Co-Chair), Donna Gilbert, Robbie Korin, John Near

The overriding question seemed to be, “What is honor?”

Students: Seniors – Leena Bhalerao, Alan Liu, Matt Wong; Juniors – Palak Patel, Alexandra Stanek; Sophomores – LeAnn Duong, Matt Jones; Freshmen – Salman Kothari, Linda Yen

Students: Seniors – Alexandra Stanek (Co-Chair), Kunal Kothari, Christiana Ratazzi; Juniors – LeAnn Duong, Matt Jones; Sophomores – Salman Kothari, Linda Yen; Freshmen – Samantha Fang, Asavari Gupte 2001-02 Faculty: Jennifer Gargano (Chair), John Heyes, Joanne Mason, John Near

“Discussing ethical dilemmas with the school community helps the judiciary committee work to promote good decision-making, rather than only proposing consequences for poor decision making,” added Gargano. Advisor Diana Moss summarized the event: “Learning can be evaluated by grades and rewarded with awards, but how does one evaluate or reward good behavior? How can we honor honor?”

2000-01 Faculty: Nicholas Manjoine (Chair for Sem. 1), Jennifer Gargano (Chair for Sem. 2), Jaap Bongers, John Heyes Students: Juniors – Kimberly Kanada, Vikram Kumar, Matt Wong; Sophomores – Palek Patel, Alexandra Stanek; Freshmen – Leann Duong, Matt Jones 1999-00 Faculty: Nicholas Manjoine (Chair), Jaap Bongers, Jennifer Gargano, John Heyes Students: Sophomores – Kimberly Kanada, Vikram Kumar, Matt Wong 1998-99 Faculty: Jake von Scherrer (Chair), Christine Baron, Jaap Bongers, Henry Klee, Nicholas Manjoine Mark Tantrum

Harker’s Judiciary Committee, which was originally formed in 1998 in the US to help enforce school rules, has evolved over the years to its present role in creating Harker’s current US Honor Code, and in leading recent discussions on ethics this past month.

Judiciary Committee Members

Students: Freshmen – Andrew Hong, Kimberly Kanada, Vikram Kumar, Matt Wong

FROM

the archives

Howard Nichols - From PAMA Grad to Headmaster continued from pg. 3 Howard joined his father, Major Donald Nichols, superintendent and owner of both the academy and The Harker Day School (located across from the military academy), in his first job as commandant and athletic director of the military academy, where he coached the basketball team in addition to coordinating soccer, flag football, softball, hardball, tennis, track and field, and swimming throughout the year. He was always interested in the operations side of the business, and by 1966 Howard and his dad had formed Palo Alto Private Schools, Inc. (P.A.P.S.) as an umbrella corporation for PAMA and The Harker Day School. Both schools were still run independently at that time. After considering prohibitively expensive renovations to the circa 1900 school buildings, they began a search for a new larger property to house the two schools. This proved to be a painstaking process. Real estate prices were soaring in Silicon Valley, and it was important to find the right site. Finally, in 1971, the Mother Butler High School became available. The school, which had been constructed in 1959, included two science labs, a library, and an auditorium, to mention a few of the most desirable features. The school also came with a steep price tag: one million dollars. Nichols recalled, “We entered into negotiations with Sister Kathleen Marie, the president of the Religious of the Sacred Heart of Mary who owned the school. We made them an

offer, wrote a check for $10,000, and then we got cold feet,” he recalled. “The school was way down in San Jose and there were concerns about retaining students. And it was also a big move for us because we had to sell all the properties.” The Saratoga property was ﬁnally purchased in Jan. of 1972 and the two schools would begin to combine programs and staff for the projected move-in of late Aug. 1972. The Nichols family, who owned several houses in the Palo Alto neighborhood then occupied by PAMA teachers and staff, loaned their own money to P.A.P.S. to support initial operations and for new construction of a dorm. The former convent would be converted into the girls’ dormitory, but a boys’ dormitory needed to be built before they could open in the fall of 1972. The previously planned PAMA summer camp lasted until Aug. 4 on the Palo Alto campus, leaving only three weeks to pack up the two schools and move them twenty miles to the south. The initial success of the new school, Harker Academy, would rely on students following Major Nichols down to the San Jose campus. Howard said, “In the end, the school retained an amazing 90% of the 300 students, including 130 boarders.” Thus began a new chapter in Harker’s history.

Harker Archives - all photos

Major Nichols retired the following year as superintendent emeritus, and Howard, in his early 30’s, became the headmaster. Alice Williams, principal of The Harker Day School, continued on as principal at Harker Academy and Phyllis Carley also made the move as receptionist for the school. Howard had overall 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. Editors: Terry Walsh, Crystal Boyd; Photo Editor: Mark Tantrum; Contributors: Ali Abdollahi, Cathy Snider, Jaja Hsuan, Laura Vandendries, Chris Daren, Nick Gassmann; Design: Blue Heron Design; Printing: Harker Copy Shop; Mailing Coordinators: Ashley Sukovez, Jerusha Hew Len

responsibility for the school, from the facilities and grounds to the enrollment and staff. The boarding program was an integral part of the school and Howard rotated with other staff to serve as Dutymaster, staying over one night a week to supervise the dorms. Over the ﬁrst few years at the new location, Nichols added girls to the boarding program and slowly phased out the military program. He also had some minor remodels done to the campus, including additions to the dorm for staff housing, enclosing an overhang in the front of the school to add additional ofﬁce space, and the addition of an overhang for the buses – built by then boarding program director, Jeff Haugaard with the occasional help of the students during their activity period. The biggest change to the campus came with the addition of the pool and tennis courts in the spring of 1976. Teacher Pat Walsh was here during these early years, and he shared some memories of Nichols during this period: “Soon after starting at Harker, Dan Gelineau, former dean, was looking for staff members who would work that night on completing the job of getting our busses prepared for the California Highway Patrol inspection the next day. He put together a group of

us, including Headmaster Howard Nichols, and we worked until the wee hours installing the rubber ﬂooring, painting the interior and reinstalling the seats. I remember being impressed that our boss worked alongside us for the duration. He didn’t supervise: he rolled up his sleeves like the rest of us and did whatever was asked of him. We ﬁnished the job well after midnight and the inspection went smoothly. I remember thinking that it was nice working for someone who was willing to do some of the same grunt work that a newly hired 23-year old was asked to do.” Walsh said that things haven’t changed much. “Now 28 years later Howard can still be found moving desks prior to the opening of school or bending down to pick up a piece of litter on his way back from lunch.” — Sue Smith, Harker Archivist and Terry Walsh, History Committee Coming Next Month: Diana’s pivotal role in Harker’s international and technology programs.

Alice Williams, Howard Nichols and Phyllis Carley The Harker School is a K-12 independent, co-ed, college-prep school.

Click on the Tribute to the Nichols link on the Harker Web site and share your memories and congratulations!

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 04