2004 June Harker News by The Harker School

JUNE 2004 / end of year (VOL. 10, NO. 9)

M O N T H L Y

N E W S L E T T E R

est. 1893 • K-12 college prep

F R O M

T H E

H A R K E R

Class of ’04 Travels to San Diego for Senior Trip

inside

The entire senior class enjoyed surfing, biking, beach volleyball, a sunset bonfire and just relaxing on the 3rd annual senior trip at the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego May 16 and 17. Senior Michael Leonard said, “It was a time to have fun and enjoy the beauty of Coronado, as well as reflect and spend some final time with the people that we’ve seen - almost daily - since our freshman year.” See more graduation photos and news inside!

Student art showcased in annual art shows BKN ............................. 11 MS .............................. 22 US ............................... 24 Damn Yankees garners four nominations in prestigious AMT program ........................... 28

Fashion Show 2005 theme announced ....................... 15

Chris Daren

Student makes U.S. Olympiad Team ............................... 32 Harker goes to the dogs mascots, that is! From the Archives ........................... 35

S C H O O L

Young DI Team Travels to Tennessee for Global Finals rousing song and dance that left the audience commenting on their performance,” she laughed. “While they did not place high enough to win medals, the experience, learning, teamwork, overcoming obstacles and all that they have worked for makes them all winners,” Yeats added. We agree, and we congratulate this team – which also includes Saagar Sarin who was part of the team through the state finals but was unable to attend this competition – for a great year and for earning the honor of being invited to the globals!

october Sun., Oct. 17 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Saratoga Campus

Harker HOMECOMING Weekend See back page for details

The Harker Destination Imagination (DI) Brainstormers team of Bradley Araki, Neha Kumar, Suchita Nety and Tyler Yeats competed in the DI Global Finals (D2K.4) held the last weekend in May at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. This year’s event was the largest DI Global Finals competition ever with 830+ teams from 43 states and nine countries competing, and the Harker team did very well in their first-ever Global Finals appearance. They scored high in the Instant Challenge portion where they had

to solve a problem for which they had no prior knowledge, working together as a team under time pressure to come up with a creative solution. “During their main challenge, the wood and glue structure being tested during the presentation broke early, so they had to improvise to deal with this unexpected event. I was so proud of the way that they continued with their presentation despite the obvious disappointment,” said Nina Yeats, parent (mother of Tyler) and team coach. “They finished with a

Nina Yeats, parent - both photos

See pgs. 4 & 5 for details

important editor’s note From Grandparent’s Day to Graduation, families shared proud and heartfelt moments in May and June with their children. Students also forged lifelong friendships in Japan, helped others in countless outreach programs and, in their final Harker year, seniors found dozens of touching ways to express their appreciation to teachers and staff. Harker is honored to bring together this wonderful community of students, families and faculty who form bonds and memories to last a lifetime. Here’s to many more! —Pam Dickinson, Director Office of Communications pamd@harker.org

got facts? Harker students and families have access to a number of invaluable databases through our librar y, thanks to Annual Fund donations each year. New passwords are currently being established so that most of them are the same. Check the Parent Home Page (PHP) at the end of June for the links and new passwords to these numerous databases. Enjoy some summer research!

whatta guy! Chris Nikoloff, asst. head of school (and associate head of school next year), was a “kid magnet” at Tamagawa this year ...and loved every minute of it!

notes

important dates

tune in

Sat., July 10, 9 a.m. to noon, Shah Hall Field, STG - MS and US Used Book Exchanges

Catch the Harker Quiz Kids on TV

Mon., July 12, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., FDR - 2005 Fashion Show Meeting All welcome! See pg. 15 for details! Sat., Aug. 7, 9 a.m. - noon, Shah Hall Field, STG - MS and US Used Book Exchanges Thurs., Aug. 12, 6:30 - 9:30 p.m., FDR - Fashion Show Meeting Mon., Aug. 30, Gr. 7-12 - 112th Academic School Year begins (special schedules): 8 a.m., STG Gym - US Matriculation; 10 a.m., STG Gym- MS Students’ Orientation Tues., Aug. 31, 7:50 a.m. - Gr. 7-12 Classes begin Thurs., Sept. 2, 7:25 a.m. - K-6 Classes begin

KRON Channel 4 at noon: July 10 - Sacred Heart

Oct - HARKER HOMECOMING WEEKEND. See pages 4, 5, & back pg!

July 31 - Acalanes Aug 28 - Mountain View

Watch the Parent Home Page on the Harker Web site over the summer for fall calendars and back-to-school reminders!

Sept 11 - Half Moon Bay

College Acceptances and National Merit News Outstanding ■ College Acceptances All 131 seniors of the Class of 2004 were admitted to multiple colleges and received a total of 1,001 admission offers from 166 colleges nationwide. Additionally, this class was awarded over $2.5 million in scholarships. “Harker’s seniors experienced outstanding results, despite the fact that most universities received a record number of applications and admitted fewer applicants overall,” said Diana Nichols, head of school. In addition to their impressive admission and scholarship successes, many seniors were also admitted to extraordinarily competitive special programs. One student was accepted to the USC Film School (which admits only a handful of students nationwide), two students were admitted to extremely competitive performing arts programs (theater and music) at NYU, three seniors were admitted to the University of Pennsylvania’s Management and Technology program (which accepts less than 50 students nationally), and seven students were admitted to accelerated medical school programs. “The entire school congratulates the seniors on their stunning achievements and wishes them well as they embark on their exciting college adventures!” added Nichols.

Tune in to the airing of Harker’s Quiz Bowl team on the “Quiz Kids” television show this summer! And if you’re interested in joining next year’s team, advisor Bradley Stoll is looking for a few more team members. You can e-mail him at bradleys@harker.org.

Listed below are the colleges Harker seniors will most likely be attending in the fall, and the number of Harker students accepted for each is in parenthesis. University of Arizona (5), Boston College (6), Boston University (21), Brandeis (4), Brown (6), Bucknell (1), UC Berkeley (50), UC Davis (74), UC Ir vine (55), UCLA (54), UC Riverside (53), UC San Diego (67), UC Santa Barbara (51), UC Santa Cruz (63), Caltech(6), CSU Long Beach (4), CSU Sacramento (2), Carnegie Mellon (19), Case Western (10), University of Chicago (1), Claremont McKenna (4), Colby (1), Colgate (1), University of Colorado (7), Columbia (2), Cornell (13), Dar tmouth (7), Denison (1), Drew (4), Emor y (4), George Washington (6), Georgetown (9), Har vard (2), Har vey Mudd (5), University of Illinois (6), Johns Hopkins (12), Kansas State (1), University of Kansas (1), Kasturba Med. College in India (1), Kenyon (2), Lake Forest (1), Lehigh (10), MIT (7), University of Michigan (10), NYU (12), Nor thwestern (7), Occidental (11), Oxford College of Emor y (1), University of Pennsylvania (14), Pomona (2), Princeton (5), Principia (2), Purdue (7), Rice (6), Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (1), San Jose State (11), Santa Clara (22), Sarah Lawrence (2), Scripps (8), Smith (2), USC (35), St. Andrews in Scotland (3),

Stanford (8), Trinity University (2), Washington University in St. Louis (3), University of Washington (3), Wellesley (9), Whittier (2), and Yale (1). ■ 55% of Juniors Recognized in National Merit Program Out of 124 juniors, 68 have been identified as either national merit semi-finalists or commended students based on their PSAT scores. Semifinalists will be named in the fall and finalists will be named next spring. “These results are stunning,” said Diana Nichols, head of school. We congratulate our entire junior class for these outstanding results. ■ Other News According to the 2003 AP Scholars’ Repor t published by the College Board in Januar y, 2004, Harker student Alan Malek was the only sophomore in the world who received the National AP Scholar Award in 2003. Malek was also accepted to the 21st Annual Reasearch Science Insitute 2004 conducted by RSI, MIT and CAL tech, and sponsored by the Center for Excellence in Education. The accepted students, including Malek, have each been awarded a scholarship valued at $10,000 to attend this program. Watch for an update in the fall edition. Harker News — June 04

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Volunteer Thanks - Update In the May issue we thanked the many volunteers who help make Harker such a special place. Here are a few names we missed, or people who volunteered at key events after last month’s press time. Our warmest thanks to you all! —Nancy Reiley, Community Relations Director Picnic Geetha Swamy Library Christine Apap-Bologna Fran Axelrad Archana Desai Grace Edvalson Mary Holford Sylvia Jansen Helena Jerney Malathy Murthy Ernie Porter Nutan Prasad Maggie Tuan Book Fair Christine Apap-Bologna Fran Axelrad Maitree Banerjee Serpil Bayraktar

Zaklina Bujari-Gutierrez Fred Carr Suhasini Chandra Faustina Chen Heekyung Cho Karen Coates Archana Desai Chris Douglas Joan Dutrow Grace Edvalson Melinda Gonzales Mary Holford Helena Jerney Jessica Kao Arklin Kee Fumiko Kimura Cheryl Levy Michelle Maxey Malathy Murthy Leslie Nielsen

Galina Patil Vina Patel Kim Pellissier Ernie Porter Elizabeth Powers Sue Prutton Parveen Rasheed Jane Sowards Shankari Sundar Ram Swaminathan Jane Villadsen Judy West Roni Wolfe Elaine Yeh Room Parent Susan Mandell GP’s Day Kim Alonzo

Volunteer Breakfast Honors Contributions

Lisa Bowman

At the final volunteer recognition breakfast of the year, we were pleased to honor this year’s grade level coordinators, room parents, Grandparents’ Day workers, Performing Arts parent supporters, Robotics Club supporters, library and Book Fair volunteers, Bucknall Kiddie Carnival volunteers and bookstore assistants. This final tribute to the many parents who have participated in Harker’s volunteer program this year was held on the patio of Manzanita Hall at Saratoga. Harker News — June 04

Volunteers of the Month: GP Day Chairs This month our spotlight is on this year’s Grandparents’ Day co-chairs, Sangeeta Mehrotra and Becky Cox, and to their “emeritus” advisor, three-time past cochair, Kim Pellissier, for planning, organizing and coordinating this very special Harkertradition. Forty-two parent volunteers worked together in the months before this big event, addressing and mailing invitations, wrapping gifts, preparing nametags and prizes, and helping the Art Department install the art exhibit. Then they all came together to welcome our many guests on May 7 and to help capture happy faces as roaming photographers for the afternoon. These ladies had everything so organized that the afternoon went by without a hitch! Nick Gassmann

important

—Nancy Reiley, Community Relations Director

US Technology Update Thanks for your enthusiastic response to our first Family Computing Night last month! Just a note that the laptop packages demonstrated that night continue to be available to Harker families. Apple computer’s special packages will be available until late June. LaptopSchools.com’s IBM program (responding to parent feedback) has added an additional, lighter weight computer to its special offering to Harker families. These IBM packages will also remain available through June. The details about these packages (and other useful information) can be found at http://www.harker.org/laptoppackage. Several families have contacted me about laptop insurance. I’m happy to say that on campus thefts/disappearances of laptops are few and far between. The only losses we have experienced this year have been of unattended laptops left in public spaces. The best protection is to remind your student that the laptop should always be in one of two places – their hands, or in their locked locker. Your next step is to check and see what theft coverage you have under your homeowner’s/renter’s insurance. Then check your laptop warranty to see if accidental damage is already covered. Third party laptop insurance can cover several contingencies, theft/loss, accidental damage, and asset tracking (recovery). Schoolmate from SafeWare (http://www.safeware.com) offers laptop insurance that covers theft/ loss and accidental damage (broken screen is the big risk). ComputracePlus from AbsoluteSoftware (http://www.absolute.com) offers theft protection and an asset recovery service. Brochures describing both of these offerings can be picked up in the bookstore. Each of these programs has advantages. But the decisions about acceptable risk are up to you. Remind your students to leave their laptops only where they would leave 100 $20 bills and they will get the point. We’re looking forward to an exciting year with our new US laptop program in place. There will be an on-campus laptop rental program for students whose laptops are out for repair, free anti-virus software and other innovations. Details will be posted on the Web site at http:// students.harker.org in the Student Tech Help section as they become available. Please feel free to contact me with questions at any time. —Dan Hudkins, US Director of Instructional Technology danielh@harker.org or 408.345.9631

HARKER

picnic

Sleepover Pays Big Picnic Dividends! Outstanding Raffle Sellers Rewarded bumper bowling challenge, while Talyor Martin, John McKenna and Troy Townsen

Kerry Enzensperger

Over 70 Harker students recently enjoyed trips to reward them for raffle ticket sales for last October’s picnic. Twenty-six 4-6 graders and thirtynine K-3 students who sold over 100 raffle tickets each enjoyed beautiful weather for a day at Golfland. “We played some golf, zoomed down the water slides and won some neat

opted for the traditional bowling.

Milton Mui

Thanks to rec staff Kerry Enzensperger and Mike Hall for supervising the group on this trip.

be one for the MS students, as well! A special thanks to the families who participated, to the staff and teachers who all volunteered their time, and to the kids who made it so much fun!

prizes playing fun video arcade games,” said Kim Coulter, BKN rec. director. Seven MS students took an afternoon bowling trip to celebrate their outstanding sales status. Tianna Knight, Diana Beck, Nicole Woods and Sammy Levine took the left-handed,

Kerry Enzensperger

Ashley Sukovez

Harker’s First Annual Sleepover, offered as a silent auction item at Once Upon a Picnic, was a huge success. Raising over $10,000 towards this year’s picnic proceeds for Harker, over 117 children participated in this fun-filled evening held in April. At the end of the school day, 120 kids met Miss Kelly in the gym and the fun began! The evening included a BBQ dinner, swimming, crafts, the climbing wall, a jump house and then a campfire and songs, led by Harker staff. K-3 got ready for bed first and settled into the gym to watch “Brother Bear” on the big screen projector, while the 46th grade kids had a flashlight scavenger hunt before camping out in their part of the gym to watch movies throughout the night. “It was such a terrific night!” said Kelly Espinosa, mastermind of the evening. “It was so fun for the staff to watch the kids relax and really enjoy themselves. They played, they laughed, they swam, they ran around… it was great!!” Get your pencils ready to sign up for next year’s event – plus there’ll

Curbside Crazy A Short History of a Fascinating Phenomenon Which… (kûrb' sid kra' ze), n. A Harker parent, student or staff member who values school spirit and loves to have fun. Typically, Curbside Crazies love to dress in theme attire, carry colorful signs, gather Family Picnic donations at early morning drop-off (of course), and all in all brighten the day of anyone who arrives on campus. They also may visit classrooms and parade at student rallies and special assemblies.

The “Curbside Crazies” arrived in full force at the recent volunteer info-session for grade level coordinators and future room parents on May 19. What is a Curbside Crazy, you ask? Leading the pack of Curbside Crazies over the years has been

Harker parent Melody Moyer – the original Curbside Crazy – who began her antics as a space alien for the “Blast Off Picnic” of 1995. The following fall Melody was joined by former Harker parent Nancy Claunch as they paraded in Western garb for volunteer and student audiences alike. With a wink and a smile, they gathered gifts, built community spirit, and in general made the entire picnic experience fun for all. In the spring of 1998 for the “Harker Goes

Hollywood” theme, Nancy and Melody were joined by anyone who loved to dress in costume, including Sherry and Louis Ammatuna,

Harker News — June 04

HARKER

picnic Mark Your Calendars … Sun., Oct. 17, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saratoga Campus

And Join in on All the Crazy Fun! The light-hearted and fun Curbside Crazy activity has been such a huge success that we’ll be doing it again for Picnic in Paradise 2004, so plan ahead to join in on the fun! Grade level gift categories traditionally are: Kindergarten – Plants, garden tools and accessories First Grade – Homemade baked goodies and gourmet treats Michelle Anderson, parent

Second Grade – Toys, games and collectibles for children Third Grade – Wine and/or wine accessories Fourth Grade – Sports memorabilia, tickets, equipment and accessories Fifth and Sixth Grades – Gifts for grownups Sixth and Seventh Grades – Cool stuff for teens Upper School – Gift certificates for anyplace, anytime Our tropical theme will make it extra fun this year, so whether you’re planning to participate as a grade level Curbside Crazy or want to “shop ‘til you drop” for picnic prizes this summer, we welcome your support! “Harker community spirit is what the Family Picnic is all about,” says event coordinator, Lynette Stapleton. “Kelly (Espinosa) and I have planned many a Harker Picnic, but we absolutely could not do it without the help of so many wonderful parent, staff and student volunteers – especially the fabulous members of our Picnic Committee. We treasure their creativity, their generosity, their drive and dedication. They’re the ones who make it happen…and we love them one and all!” Watch your mail and the Web site for information on registration, raffle ticket sales, sponsorships, donations and booth signups. And if you’d like to sign up for a summer arts and crafts workshop to help us get things ready for the picnic, please contact Lynette Stapleton at lynettes@harker.org.

… Is Defined in the Harker Dictionary as the Curbside Crazies

Harker News — June 04

Veteran “performers” include Harker parents Candy and Fred Carr, Christine Davis, Debbie Dawkins, Fumiko Kimura, Leslie Nielsen, Dede Ogami, Chidori Okubo, Kim Pellisier, Kathy Polzin, Alice Schwartz and Janet Smith, along with Kim Alonzo, Linda Emery, Dave Heslop, Angela Heslop, Carol Underwood and Jane Villadsen who have arrived on the scene with style. “There’s

nothing quite like seeing the smiles as you open the car doors and greet the children at the loading zones,” Dave says. In the fall of 2003, grade level families joined in the fun, and during the four weeks prior to the event, parents and students from each grade level dressed in costume and collected prize donations at the loading zones on a designated day for a specific gift category.

Photos from Harker Archives

Amanda Lundie, and even lower school teacher Diann Chung, to name a few! The group also expanded to include children that year, and the troupe of Curbside Crazies, as we officially know it, was born. In the spring of 1999 the Curbside Crazies arrived at the Bucknall loading zones and have been promoting picnic activities on both campuses ever since.

HARKER

fund

WE MADE IT! 100%

Thanks to the support of the Harker community, we have

President’s Reception The very special evening kicked off with several spectacular student performances by our US Performing Arts group Downbeat! led by Laura Lang-Ree and Catherine Snider. The President’s Reception is held annually to thank those families who donated $2,500 or more to the Annual Giving Campaign which supports student programs and services.

reached our 2003-04 Annual

90% 80%

Giving campaign goal of $1 Million dollars, which will be

70%

used to enhance school-wide

50% 40% 30% 20% 10%

student programs! We are incredibly grateful to the Harker families, Development Council members, faculty and staff, alumni, grandparents and friends who have committed to support the campaign. Your generous contributions provide the “margin of excellence” for our students, which makes such a difference in our student programs and experiences. Special thanks to our group of 82 dedicated parent volunteers of the Development Council for all the amazing work you do! On behalf of all our students, thanks a million!

Photos by Chris Daren and Bran-Dee Torres

60%

Coming in the Fall: The Harker Annual Report, our special publication that recognizes all of our generous donors! Best wishes for a safe and fun-filled summer! —Bran-Dee Torres, Donor Relations Manager, brandeet@harker.org

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: US Performing Arts productions, throughout this edition Student Art Shows, pages 11, 22 and 24

THANKS Graduation at Mountain Winery, pages 16 and 17 MS literary magazine, enlight’ning, page 20 Annual Junior Regatta, page 27

Development Council parent volunteers Karen Saunders, Deepa Iyengar, Huali Chai Stanek, Galina Patil, Brian Moss, Grace Edvalson and Joe Rosenthal were recognized at the last counci meeting of the year for going the extra mile! (Not pictured: Ernaz Irani and Becky Cox) Harker News — June 04

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bucknall

A Jolly “Spot of Tea” for Harker Grandparents! Fri., May 7 found Bucknall students excitedly awaiting the arrival of grandparents and special adult guests to our beautiful campus. Over 300 guests were warmly greeted and registered by a host of friendly parent volunteers in the gym. Our visitors were gifted with commemorative Harker tea mugs brimming with a variety of tea bags to remember this special afternoon with our students. Inside the gym a lovely tea table had been set for them with finger sandwiches, cookies, petit fours, luscious fresh strawberries and, of course, piping hot tea! As our guests waited for performances by Gr. 1 singers, Gr. 6 singers and a dance by the Bucknall Dance Ensemble in their honor, they were able to peruse the Bucknall student art show entries which were displayed around the gym and gym lobby or visit the book fair going on in the library. Howard and Diana Nichols were on hand to welcome the grandparents to the Bucknall campus and to share a little of the school’s colorful history. It seemed only fitting to give our visitors a little academic quiz to find out how much they knew about Harker. Five winners in the audience were delivered beautiful orchid plants by volunteers, and some guests were lucky enough to receive flower pots handpainted by Bucknall after-school art students as unexpected door prizes. With balloon bouquets in hand, an army of parent volunteers conducted guests to homerooms around the campus where grandchildren were waiting for them. Once united, students and their guests spent a happy afternoon touring the campus, meeting teachers and favorite classmates, visiting the book fair, popping in for introductions to our own school nurses, division heads and other Harker friends—and, of course, returning to the gym for another tasty cookie and sip of tea prepared by our own Harker kitchen staff. It was a glorious day, and we were thrilled to have “put the kettle on” for so many wonderful guests!

Photos by Nick Gassmann & Bran Dee Torres

—Nancy Reiley, Community Relations Director

Harker News — June 04

■ Students write 1,000 book reviews Students in Janice Snyder’s two Gr. 3 Language Arts classes recently enjoyed a special party to celebrate the achievement of writing 1,000 book reviews for Snyder’s interactive literature Web site.

gold medals were also presented at this party. “Considering that these are third graders who lead busy lives and devote much time to all their other classes, it is really amazing how much effort was given to this tech site,” said Snyder, who added that she’d like to thank all the past and present students who participated in making such a success out of this program “that is very near and dear to me.” We salute Snyder for this innovative project and commend all of the students who participated with their outstanding reviews.

The literature Web site program was designed four years ago by Snyder through a Harker teacher

Terry Walsh

For those who are interested in seeing how this site works and in reading some wonderful reviews, log on to: http://faculty.harker.org/janices/ . Then click on “Mrs. Snyder’s Interactive Literature Site.” Enjoy!

Scholastic Book Fair a Success Once again, the 10th annual Scholastic Book Fair at Bucknall was a great success. The library was transformed into a colorful bookstore with books, posters and games on sale for all ages. Many volunteers helped with set-up, aided shoppers and rang up purchases, and the entire library staff pitched in to create an energetic atmosphere. Harker sold over $19,000 in merchandise, and the $4,458 profit will be used to purchase more books for the librar y. Many thanks to all the parents who volunteered and to all the shoppers who suppor ted this great event!

■ First family camping trip for second graders may become annual event The weekend of April 16-18 was loaded with fun for 2nd graders and their families when 28 families – 102 people – went camping at a local KOA campground, occupying cabins and tent sites (one family

from other grades to keep siblings enter tained, and ever yone enjoyed the pool and Jacuzzi, bike rentals, etc.,” said parent Kim Pellissier. “We had great cooked breakfasts on both mornings and a gourmet potluck dinner on Saturday night that was so good – and with so much food – we couldn’t believe we were on

even brought their RV!) There was a campfire on both nights to roast marshmallows, make s’mores, and sing around until the “quiet time” of 10 p.m. The group also enjoyed a trip to the beach (cut short due to some rain), time at the playground and wonder ful arts and crafts in the hall provided by parents Terry and Mandana Martin. “There were enough kids

a camping trip,” laughed parent Marguerite Paseman. Parents planned the trip for families to enjoy the oppor tunity to be together, and siblings from other grades formed closer bonds as well. Special thanks to the Mar tins and the Mohanrams for the superb organization, and to many other families for helping in the kitchen and with all the

Marguerite Paseman, parent

summer tech grant, with the aid of a former teacher, Dr. Rand Harrington. In the program, students choose a book from a list of 100 titles in the book presentation category on the Web site and after reading it, present both a written and oral report, along with some artwork and an activity based on the book. Students then write a brief review of the book to post on the Web site. This year, Nikhil Baradwaj did 153 Internet reviews by 3rd quarter and Piyush Prasad recently achieved 100 reviews. Synder said that since there was such a wonderful effort by both of her classes to reach her personal goal of 1,000 reviews, she decided to throw a party for these two classes. Students contributed goodies and made paper crowns for the three top reviewers, and certificates for 3rd quarter were given out at the party to students who wrote a specified number of reviews. Bronze certificates went to those students meeting the basic requirements of one author per month and one book presentation review, and silver certificates went to those students that wrote a few reviews above the basic requirements. The gold certificates were given to those students who reviewed more than ten books for that quarter. Because it was such a special occasion, bronze, silver and

bucknall

All photos by Nick Gassmann

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activities. Sounds like a new Harker tradition! ■ In preparation for the last field trip of the year – and the inevitable trip to the gift shop – Stephanie Woolsey’s third grade math class received a real-life lesson in estimation and shopping etiquette. Students practiced estimating costs of items in a pretend store, and when they reached the cash register, which was run by classmates, had to be prepared for the additional tax that would be added to their purchases. Cashiers learned to use a tax char t to determine the correct amount of tax, and customers, who were required to purchase at least three items totaling over $5, learned the correct way to hand money to a cashier. “Ever yone was able to be both a customer and a cashier, and the students had so much fun during this experience they all want to know when they can shop again,” laughed Woolsey! Harker News — June 04

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bucknall

Bucknall Students Raise $10,200 for Heart Association On April 21 students at Bucknall helped the fight against heart disease in their annual Jump Rope for Heart event, raising $10,200 in donations from family and friends for the American Heart Association (AHA). Pete Anderson, P.E. teacher and event organizer, reported that students enthusiastically jumped and laughed during their P.E. class

Nick Gassmann

Harker News — June 04

children, but who work so hard all year long in our after-school programs to ensure that our students have so much fun: Miss Diana Aguilar-Sands, Miss Vanessa Bullman, Miss Rina Chan, Coach

Jeff Diokno, Miss Tina Fajardo, Miss Shannon Hickey, Miss Stephanie Hilliard, Coach Eric Leonard, Miss Gina Lopez, Miss Kiely Modiri, Coach Rob Monroe, Miss Lana Morrison, Coach Milton Mui, Miss Lupe Ramirez, Miss Annie Ravizza, Miss Gerry-Louise Robinson, Miss Nicole Vazquez and Coach Alex Zigler. ■ Spirit week at Bucknall was a great success as the students enjoyed themed dress-up days and organized events. Theme days included a Sporty Day with athletic attire, a Medieval Day with princesses, barbarians and knights, Twin Day and Clash Day. The S-Club showed up early to be “curbside crazies” on Twin Day, and the teachers seemed to like Clash Day

Teri Fernandes, parent

■ The 24th Annual Kiddie Carnival was held on the last day of school again this year to the delight of our students on the Bucknall Campus. “Breakfast Bounce, the Morning Tee off and Shooting Scones seemed to be the favorite attractions,” laughed Kim Coulter, Bucknall recreation director. Special thanks to the K3 teachers, and Kim Coulter and these Bucknall rec staff who not only staged another wonderful Kiddie Carnival for our

All photos by Nick Gassmann

time, with Celine Liang, K, and Delaney Martin, Gr. 1, as the top fundraisers from Harker, raising $1,000 each. Liang was also selected to throw out the first pitch at a special pre-game ceremony at the San Jose Giants Game on May 20 for top fundraisers from the San Jose district. Congratulations and many thanks to all of the Harker students, families, faculty and staff who once again supported this worthwhile event.

the best with students wearing everything from pajamas and parts of Halloween costumes, to big fluffy slippers. “I even saw one boy continued on pg. 10

continued from pg. 9 wearing a miniskirt over his jeans,” said Jason Oncay, Gr. 5 English teacher and event organizer. Another activity revolved around students trying to guess the price of some school supplies, the price of a giant playground ball, the number of candies in a jar and the identity of the teachers portrayed in baby pictures on a display and putting their guesses into separate boxes. There were nearly 300 guesses in each box when guessing stopped after recess that day! The best guesser for the baby pictures, getting four out of eight correct, was Oishi Banerjee, Gr. 2, who won a $10 Baskin-Robbins gift certificate. The playground ball went to Sam Gurevich, Gr. 4, the school supplies went to Alyssa Amick, Gr. 1, and the candy jar went to Alexis Moon, Gr. 3. “The

bucknall events were fun and creative and they gave us all an opportunity to show our school spirit!” said Kelly Espinosa, dean of non-academic affairs. Thanks to Jason Oncay and the S-Club, the Rec Staff and the many teachers who helped make this spirit week such a success. ■ Lower School Math Update Harker 6th grade math students took the highest honors at the California Math League Contest (CAML) by placing first in the state. In the May edition of the newsletter, we reported that Harker 7th grade students also placed first in state, while 8th graders placed second in the CAML, leaving Harker with nearly a clean sweep! Devoted 6h grade math wizards went to great lengths to tackle the 40question exam, and 6th grader Daisy Lin was marked “excep-

Janice Snyder’s 3rd grade Language Arts classes designed posters commemorating Martin Luther King, Jr. The posters were hung in the foyer of the gym for students, faculty and visitors to enjoy.

Nick Gassmann

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tional” by the CAML by scoring a near perfect 39/40. Cindy Kerr, MS math teacher and math dept. chair, also reported that Andrew Zhou was one among 17 students in the state to earn a score of 38, and Victor Chen and James Feng

were 2 of 21 6th grade students to earn a score of 37. Congratulations to the students and many thanks go out to the math faculty who have always expected and insisted that our students be problem solvers!

Fourth Graders Strike Gold in Coloma of Coloma and the California Gold Rush. The highlight of the evening was the presentation of stories and songs by Kimberly Shining Star, a Native American woman from the area. She invited several students to accompany her by playing hand- made Native American musical instruments. “Just before leaving on Friday, all of the fourth graders participated in a group ceremony and dunked their mandalas (leather name tags) into the American River,” said teacher Keith Hirota.

All photos by Kristen Janiak

Once again, the 4th graders had a great time during their 12th annual 4-day trip to the Gold Country. On the first day students worked together as a team to make a shelter from tree branches and tarps, discovered that making a simple loaf of cornbread cost the miners $40 - $45 (due to inflation), panned for gold and square danced to live music by Slim Pick’ins. The second day, students went on an all-day hike along the Monroe Ridge and learned about the flora, fauna and history

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Thirty-two excited Harker 6th graders and six chaperones made the 9th annual trip to Japan as part of Harker’s international exchange program. Christy Vail, LS division head, said she was impressed the moment she arrived at the Tamagawa School. “We were greeted by so many friendly faces— parents, teachers, administrators, our Tamagawa buddies and the 6th grade welcoming committee, who all planned a delicious, fun and touching welcome for us that made us feel right at home. It seemed the entire community had been eagerly awaiting our arrival,” said Vail. The Harker group made a stop at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo before the students were reunited with their Tamagawa buddies on a train headed for their annual hike at Hakone National Forest near Mt.

Fuji. “The hiking in Hakone was fabulous - all the Harker kids were reunited with their buddies on the train en route. Imagine the sight of 64 kids walking in a long line down the narrow streets of the town,” said one of the Harker chaperones, Diana Moss, Spanish teacher.The entire group then proceeded from there to the homes of their Tamagawa buddies for their home stay. The chaperones enjoyed a special trip to the opening day of the Sumo Basho in Tokyo. “One of the Tamagawa host parents was a former sumo wrestler and he treated us all to great seats,” explained Bill Bost, director of international programs. They also enjoyed a formal and lovely gourmet Japanese meal with Yoshiaki Obara, president of Tamagawa Gakuen. Students attended classes and

assemblies with their buddies, and Harker students Tara Hansen and Jennifer Pennell said they enjoyed bashing on a Taiko drum along with chaperones Diana Moss, US Spanish teacher, and Bost. Moss and Tara McFarland, K teacher, taught the song, “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” in both English and Spanish to the kindergarten class. “It was an emotional good-bye as Harker chaperones and students and all the Tamagawa elementary teachers

Photos by Tamagawa staff

From Tea to Taiko, An Adventure to Remember

and students gathered in the atrium of the school building, singing ‘You are my Sunshine’ with them as we bade them farewell,” said Moss. After departing Tamagawa School the Harker group made stops at the shrines and temples of Kyoto and the Peace Memorial at Hiroshima. “Traveling to Japan was the opportunity of a lifetime. Our Tamagawa guests were deeply hospitable and our students represented our school and nation extremely well. The chaperones were proud to travel with them,” said Chris Nikoloff, asst. academic head.

K-6 Art Showcased in May Show

All photos by Nick Gassmann

The 22nd annual Gr. K-6 Bucknall May Art Show was held May 4-22 with 1,297 pieces of art from student art classes and the Afterschool Art Program. Works on display included watercolors, ceramics, fused glass, woodwork, weaving, textile art, painting, drawing and printmaking. Special thanks to Bucknall teachers Eric Hoffman and Pilar Aguero-Esparza, art assistant Janie Fung, and after-school teachers Sylivia Beals, Dana Lurie and Margaret Peterson for the extraordinary work they do.

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All photos by Chris Daren

In the 3rd annual Bucknall Dance Concert, “Movie Madness,” over 200 dancers took us to the movies over and over again with great music, vibrant settings and special lighting effects that helped us imagine and remember our favorite films. From “Wizard of Oz” to “Saturday Night Fever” to “Grease,” it was ten times more fun than a double feature! Dancers, you were spectacular! And many thanks to Bucknall dance teacher Gail Palmer and Bucknall technical director Danny Dunn for your devotion and creativity – once again, you gave us a show to remember for many years to come.

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Very Busy Kindergarteners Delight All With Fun-Filled Show

Raji Swaminathan

The Bucknall Orchestra took the highest possible honor this year – a Unanimous Superior – at the annual California Music Educators’ Association (CMEA) Orchestra Festival held in May in San Jose. This competition is designed for middle school and high school orchestras, and the Bucknall orchestra, comprised of mainly 3rd

Harker News — June 04

to 6th grade, was the only elementary school in attendance. “The elementary students distinguished themselves, even in competition with high school orchestras,” said Richard Frazier, music teacher. Judges, who are all professional music educators who meet criteria determined by the CMEA, award points in the categories of technique, quality of sound, musicality, choice of music and appearance. Congratulations to all of these talented students for this outstanding achievement, and we look forward to enjoying many future performances by these accomplished young musicians.

The entire 1st grade class performed “Vive la Compagnie” and “It Isn't Any Trouble Just to Smile” for their annual Grandparents’ Day performance, directed by Michael Pease.

Both photos by Nick Gassmann

Bucknall Orchestra Superior!

All photos by Nick Gassmann

Kindergarten students performed to a packed house in May for their annual performance, which this year was entitled “The Very Busy Kindergarten Show,” written by Sarah Lougheed, LS music teacher and show director, who quilted together a show of plays, poems and songs that incorporated dance, movement, American Sign Language, monologues, unison reading and choral singing based on stories and poems by Eric Carle and other children’s authors. “I was touched by the infectious buoyant spirits of my amazing students who swayed to the music with beaming smiles and performed with energy and creativity,” said Lougheed, who also credited the team of designers and volunteers for their contributions to the overall success of this show: “I feel blessed to be working with such great designers and parents and teachers. Everyone was committed to giving his or her best, and it all culminated in a terrific performance for these young students just starting out in theatre,” she said. We say “well done!” to our budding performers, and we look forward to your Harker performing arts careers!

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FPS Teams Shine Earth Day Honored Schoolwide

Teams had to address media impact, read through the scenario or “future scene,” and then two hours (and six problem-solving steps) later choose and present via a persuasive essay the most viable solution, detailing its benefits. At the end of the writing process, students were given a bag of materials ranging from markers to aluminum foil to help make signs and design props for a 4-minute skit illustrating their solution idea. Students memorized lines, blocked out their scenes and designed props in the course of two hours with little or no help from their coaches. “I look forward to watching us build on our success and experience to field teams that take first in all of the divisions, but most of all I look forward to watching teams build their logic, writing and analysis skills to become truly great thinkers,” said Merrill.

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Creek photos by Jaja Hsuan

and a few classes helped raise awareness of grocery bag waste by decorating paper bags and distributing them through Whole Foods markets in the South Bay. More teachers and staff members started carpooling in an effort to reduce air pollution. In the US, the HEART club displayed an Earth Day table in front of the Edge during lunchtime, and 30 students teamed up with the San Francisquito Watershed Council and the

Jason Pergament

athletic shoes to be reused to create new playground surfaces and rubberized tracks at community centers and high schools across the Bay Area. Bucknall students also decorated the campus with “rip art” posters, saving trees by using scraps of construction paper to make works of art. MS students pledged to reduce waste by carrying their own water bottles until the end of the year,

community in April to clean up the creek running along El Palo Alto Park, digging up such items as car batteries, rusted bicycle frames and old carpets. We commend our students and faculty for their commitment to conser vation and pollution issues in April – and year-round.

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■ Harker’s head nurse, Debra Nott, competed in the Team in Training annual Wildflower Triathon in May, and through the support of 67 Harker pledges, raised $5,100 for the research conducted by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The event was comprised of a 1 mile swim, 25 mile bike course and a 6 mile run. The Wildflower Triathlon is considered to be one of the most difficult in the nation because of all the hills. “It was an extremely hot day - well over 100° on the asphalt,” said Nott. “But a gallon of 50/50 Wildflower Web site

Finn explained that Harker had the largest delegation of teams at the state finals of any school in California, and two Harker teams had the highest point total a Harker team has ever scored. “This really shows how much our teams have grown, as well as the level of the competition,” added Merrill. “Other schools were amazed by the number of teams that we had.”

Students from grades 4-6 collected over 125 gallons (two large recycling bins) of unwanted pairs of

Nick Gassmann

Five Harker teams competed in this year’s Future Problem Solving (FPS) State Bowl in Burbank and came away with high scores and awards. Coaches Cyrus Merrill, MS history teacher, and Mari Finn, LS history teacher, reported that the 6th grade team of Haran Sivakumar, Patricia Chang, Namrata Anand, Arjun Bhargava and Ketul Patel won the Junior Division Action Plan Presentation Award. “The 6th graders grinned from ear-to-ear as they accepted their award and certificates,” said Finn. “The other Harker teams cheered them on and congratulated the 6th graders throughout the weekend.” The 9th grade team of Julia Havard, Siobhan Stevenson, Maya Ziv and Ashley Morishige teamed up with a 7th grader, Sachin Rangarajan, to place 2nd in the state in the Oral/ Action Plan Presentation part of the competition. “This is the third time that these four ladies have finished first or second in the state,” noted Merrill.

Gatorade/water later, I ran across the finish line in just under five hours. Our team manager says it’s the endurance events that really bind you to the people fighting leukemia. The hills I climbed are behind me now, but for people with leukemia, it’s all the time, every day. Thanks again for your support. Together we will make a difference and someday we’ll find a cure.” ■ Craig Michalski attended a Write Traits conference in Ft. Lauderdale in April. Write Traits is part of the professional development family of

Great Source Education Group, offering workshops on the 6-trait writing model. The conference featured the 6-traits of writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice and sentence fluency. Many thanks to our parents for their donations to the Annual Fund that subsidizes the professional development of our teachers. ■ Nick Gassmann, who works at Harker in the rec dept., coaches seasonal sports and is a PT photographer in the communications department, was recently featured on ABCnews.com with his band Mister Rock Star (Gassmann is their bassist). The band recently won the Battle of the Bands at Stanford University and was featured for producing and distributing their own CD, which has been getting airtime on XM Satellite radio. Congrats to Nick, our own rock star! Harker News — June 04

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A New Tradition – The Big Spring Concert assembly). One of the highlights was a performance of the theme from “Masterpiece Theatre,” performed by violinist sisters Sonya (Gr. 6) and Patricia (Gr. 3) Huang and cellist Vivian Huang (Gr.

Charlie Huang, parent

On April 22, The Big Spring Concert, which included instrumental students from both campuses, was held in the Bucknall gym. Students from Gr. 2 – 12 shared their musical talents, performing in The Harker String Orchestra, The Harker Winds and The Harker Jazz Ensemble from the Saratoga campus, and The Bucknall Orchestra and Bucknall Strings Class from the Bucknall campus. Instrumental music director, Richard Frazier, kicked off the evening’s festivities with the cool sounds of Miles Davis and a vivacious Latin number featuring sophomore Siddarth Satish on drumset. Featured jazz soloists included freshman Roger Kim, guitar; sophomore Jeffrey Le, bass guitar; junior Joshua Kwan, alto sax and senior Surbhi Mahendru, trumpet. The Bucknall Orchestra performed a demanding set of pieces representing many different styles (and returned the next day at 2:45 p.m. to perform several of their concert selections for a student

6), joined by freshman pianist Shannon Tan. Sonya and Shannon also performed the Concerto in D by the venerable J.S. Bach. These two pieces were performed at the CMEA Solo and Ensemble Festival in March, where the musicians were awarded the highest recognition: Command Per formance Superior Rating (see full stor y page 13). The concer t was brought to a rousing conclusion when The Harker String Orchestra and The Harker Winds joined forces to present the finale of Tchaikovsky’s Second Symphony, the “Little Russian.” Many thanks to Frazier and to the students for their wonder ful per formances!

Cherrie Blair, parent

Dancers Entertain Stanford Shoppers

Highlights from this year’s dance production were featured to crowds of 200+ shoppers by the MS and US dance troupes in two May per formances at the Stanford Shopping Mall. “May is international dance month and our talented dancers continued in the tradition of celebrating dance along Harker News — June 04

with thousands of other dancers in the Bay Area to bring dance awareness to our local communities,” said Laura Rae, dance teacher. Per forming fortyminute shows, dancers per formed in the center of the mall, and specatators cheered enthusiastically. After the per formances, Rae said dancers “shopped until they dropped” and then had dinner together at Rae’s favorite restaurant. Special thanks go to Andrew Hospodor and Kit Schimandle for their technical suppor t and to the many dancers involved in dance troupe!

Announcing…

The runway of fashion… The runway of life… The runway to adventure… The runway to success! Harker’s second annual fashion show will feature Harker students, parents and staff in a fun fusion of fashion trends and musical styles from the past and present. Students, parents, faculty, alumni and the community are all invited to be a part of this upbeat and entertaining event!

SAVE THE DATE! Fri., Feb. 4, 2005 Fairmont Hotel Imperial Ballroom

TWO SHOWS * LUNCHEON Fashion Show * DINNER GALA Fashion Show with Live Auction, Grand Prize Drawing and Dancing

JOIN THE PARTY! Volunteers made Fashion Show 2004 a huge success, and volunteers will do it again for Fashion Show 2005. Be a par t of this exciting fundraising event and join your friends on the Fashion Show committee for a rockin’ good time!

Plan to attend the Fashion Show meetings over the summer to learn more about how we’re going to rock this town! Mon., July 12, 6:30 p.m. • Thurs., August 12, 6:30 p.m. Both meetings will be held at the Saratoga campus Faculty Dining Room.

Watch the Parent Home Page on the Harker Web site for more information. Let’s get rockin’!!!

—2005 Event Co-chairs Shyamoli Banerjee, Reshma Dave, and Greta Jackson

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“Graduating” Moms Receive Fond Farewell

Lisa Bowman - both photos

Last year USMoms (Upper School Moms) began a new tradition to honor senior mothers by hosting a potluck luncheon in

their honor. On May 17, a group of 9th – 11th grade moms cooked and hosted a luncheon of multicultural, homemade dishes on the Edge Patio to pay tribute to the 41 senior moms who were able to attend. The honorees enjoyed a variety of homemade dishes representing many different cultures and countries including Gulab Jamuns, Spicy Potato and Pea Samosas, Russian Salad, Asian Flank Steak, Soba Noodles with Shrimp and Calif Roll Sushi. A special cake for dessert was cut ceremoniously in their honor.

First Annual Grade 8 Promotion Ceremony In another ceremony to celebrate a landmark passage for our students, 162 8th graders participated in the 1st annual Gr. 8 Promotion Ceremony held in the Saratoga gym, an event that has replaced MS graduation now that we are a K-12 school. Hundreds of parents and guests attended the ceremony. Eighth graders received their final awards and sang the Harker school song, and the Harmonics sang “Seize the Moment” for an appreciative audience. Congratulations to all our MS students for their achievements and hard work – have a great summer. We look forward to seeing most of you in the fall, and a fond farewell and good luck to those moving on.

Kindergarten Tree-Planting Ceremony Longstanding Harker Tradition

Grade 6 Promotion Ceremony and Awards On Wed., June 2, students in Gr. 6 ended their school year – and their career on the Bucknall campus – with a day of fun activities and a special promotion ceremony. At the party that afternoon students signed yearbooks, had a talent show, enjoyed a pizza lunch and the option to swim before the parents supplied the fixings for ice cream sundaes and root beer floats. The 3rd annual Gr. 6 Promotion Ceremony and Awards followed the activities, and families and friends of 145 sixth graders gathered in the Bucknall gym to celebrate and honor the promotion of our students from elementary to middle school. The students sang a patriotic medley and concluded the program with the singing of the school song. “The big news is that it’s the last ‘wearing of the green’ uniform for them, as MS students wear navy blue,” laughed Christy Vail, LS division head.

Nick Gassman - both photos

In a tradition that harkens back to 1966, Harker kindergarteners planted a tree in their annual Kindergarten Tree-Planting Ceremony on June 2, officiated by head of school, Diana Nichols. Primary division head Sarah Leonard explained that this annual event, attended by all of the kindergarten students, faculty and administrators, signifies the beginning of the students’ Harker experiences and is something they can fondly look back on as they move through their years at Harker.

Lisa Bowman - both photos

Members of the US Parent Volunteer Leadership Council have masterminded this luncheon for the past two years, and special thanks are extended this year to Eva Hsu and Joan Brooks, Gr. 11 co-chairs, Kim Gudmundson, Gr. 9 chair, and Cherrie Blair, Gr. 10 chair, assisted by sophomore parents Reeta Gupta, Violet Boyle and Jeannine Hammersley; to Amanda Lundie for creating thoughtful gifts for the senior moms; and to senior parent Claire Hawley for providing candle table favors as her parting graduation remembrances to her fellow Harker parents. Chris Nikoloff, asst. academic head, was on hand to say a few words to the gathered mothers and to help present gifts to mothers of this year’s Harker grads. “The event was a fitting farewell to some obviously proud, relieved and excited parents,” laughed Nancy Reiley, community relations director.

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Unforgettable Farewell Ceremony at Harker Baccalaureate 2004 In keeping with tradition, this year’s Baccalaureate was an unforgettable ceremony—a fitting farewell, both joyous and solemn, for the Class of 2004. As always, the seniors chose the keynote speaker for the event, and they selected US AP History teacher John Near, whose speech enthralled the invited guests: the seniors, their parents, the juniors, and the faculty and administration. Mr. Near used the example of his own life to caution the seniors to expect crooked paths in their future; he exhorted them to seek constantly a meaningful life; he encouraged them to keep in mind the lessons of the past (and not be afraid to quote from old films!); finally, he challenged them to resist cynicism. With graduates like those of the Class of 2004, there is, indeed, reason to be optimistic! [Look for the complete text of Mr. Near’s speech on the Harker Web page.] Sanby Lee and Karan Lodha, salutatorians, and Howard Nichols, Harker president, added their profound, insightful thoughts, and beautifully selected chamber music rounded out the program.

All photos by Anne-Marie McReynolds

—Richard A. Hartzell, Head of Upper School

US students and families enjoyed viewing the Harker senior collages (above left), a new tradition this year. Created by seniors and their families, these large, framed collages of photos and memorabilia were hung around the gym to honor the seniors during the US Awards Ceremony and Baccalaureate. Seniors (above right) enjoyed speaker remarks. Harker News — June 04

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Harker News â&#x20AC;&#x201D; June 04

Photos by Anne-Marie McReynolds and students Lauren Gutstein and Matt Wong

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Middle School

MS Math Olympiad Debut Impressive Twenty-two students from Harker were among nearly 150,000 students worldwide who participated this year in the Math Olympiad program organized by the Mathematical Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools (MOEMS). MS students participating in this event, which consisted of a series of five monthly contests from November to March of five problems each, had weekly practice sessions with MS math teacher and Olympiad coach Vandana Kadam.

■ Harker students recently took the National Myth Exam (NME), a test for 3rd to 9th graders run by the Excellence through Classics for Elementary/Middle Levels of the American Classical League. Not all students take all sections, depending on age and interest, and scores of 90-95% earn a special recognition (silver) certificate, with scores of 96-100% earning a gold medal. Latin teacher Lisa Masoni reported that Jonathan Liu, Gr. 7, earned a 100% and a gold medal; Rachel Fong, Gr. 8, received a gold medal; and Sasha Desai, Gr. 8, and Elizabeth Cutler and Sachin Rangarajan, both Gr. 7, received silver certificates. Masoni explained that the goal of the test is to motivate students to learn about classical mythology and literature, with test sections that include general Greek Mythology, the “Iliad” and Native American and African mythology. Congratulations to these students for their achievement! ■ For the past five years, Cyrus Merrill has included “Dressing for the Decades” as part of his curriculum in his Gr. 8 US history classes. Merrill has become well known for wearing outfits connected to the time period his students are studying, helping his students gain

insight into particular eras and how various social movements were reflected or related to fashion trends. Merrill dons a few outfits early in the year for the 1800s and then has one for every decade of the 20th century. (Student favorites are a 1940s zoot suit and the classic 1970s disco collection!) Students presented their end of the year Decade Presentations connecting political and cultural events of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s during the last few weeks of classes. ■ The MS students in Intermediate Japanese went to Tomi Sushi for a Japanese field trip. Japanese teacher Kumi Matsui asked the restaurant staff in advance to speak only in Japanese to her students. “This was a great chance for them to review how to order at a restaurant in Japanese, and they all successfully ordered their own drinks and dishes,” said Matsui who added that the restaurant commented on how politely the students behaved at the restaurant. The group also went to a Japanese supermarket and bookstore. ■ The 2004 issue of enlight’ning, the annual MS literary publication, was distributed in late May and included the art, poetry and short essays of 28 students in Gr. 7 and 8. Thirteen students worked on this year’s edition, including coeditors Alice Liang, Natalie So and Tonia Sun. “It’s our biggest and best ever,” said Stacie Newman, MS expository writing teacher and enlight’ning faculty advisor.

Nick Gassmann

■ MS students celebrated spirit week in late April with teacher-organized theme dress-up days

Kadam reported that all 22 of the Harker participants were in the top 50% of all participants and were awarded Olympiad patches. Thomas Wang and Spencer Liang were two of only 98 children in division M (7th and 8th graders) to earn the prestigious Dr. George Lenchner Medallion, awarded for a per fect score of 25 points. Students in the top 2% (98th percentile) earned a gold pin, and, along with Wang and Liang, Joseph Pei and Alex Fandrianto received this honor for scoring 24 points. The silver pin, awarded to students in the 90th to 97th percentiles (top 10% excluding the gold pin winners), was awarded to 12 out of the remaining 18 Harker students for scoring between 20 and 23: Rachel Fong, Jay Shah, Aarathi Minisandram, Joshua Wang, Andrew Chin, Kritika Kailash, Aaron Lin, Raymond Paseman, Eric Trinh, Spencer Lin, Jonathan Liu and Vivek Maheshwari. For being in the top 10% of all teams, represented by the top ten student scores, Harker was also awarded a plaque for Highest Achievement with a combined total score of 230 (the minimum to be in this category was 209). In division M, out of a total of 761 teams, only 63 teams received this recognition. This was Harker’s first year participating in the Math Olympiad at the elementary and MS level. ”The students thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the math contests this year and this achievement is another feather in their cap,” said Kadam. We agree, and our congratulations to our fine math students – and to all of our dedicated math teachers – for these outstanding results. Kadam added that Harker will continue to participate in this contest in the future and hopes to extend it to more students.

of Twin Day, Crazy Hair Day/Pajama Day, Decade Day, Hawaiian Day and Homeroom Color Day. Lunchtime activities included guessing the contents of the big “tub o’ fun,” the devastating Gladiator Combat led by the MS Junior Classical League and the “student stuff” (how many 7th and 8th grade students can fit into an outline of a VW bug). The week was highlighted with a homeroom lip-sync contest won by Chrissy Chang’s homeroom for performing “Thriller,” and Cyrus Merrill’s homeroom for performing “Summer Lovin’.” Other winners were Alex Underwood, Gr. 8, who won the big “tub o’ fun,” and the 7th grade class who won the student-stuffing contest, with 67 students squeezing into the outline of a VW bug. “Overall the entire week was a huge success, and the effort put into their lip sync acts was evident,” said Mark Gelineau, MS English teacher. “It was great to see the whole MS come together and support each other and

have a good time.” Special thanks to event organizer Gelineau and all the MS homeroom teachers for all the additional work they put into this fun week. ■ Students in Gr. 8 Algebra 2/Trig (honors) classes ended the year with their annual display of trig projects in Shah Hall. This project is assigned to all students, who work in teams of three or four to make 3D models of real-life situations. Using trigonometry to solve the problems, each team also creates a poster detailing how they used trig to solve the problems.

Nick Gassmann

Lerna Kazazik

■ Bon Appétit! Students in Carol Parris’ Gr. 8 French classes celebrated the end of the school year with lunch at Crêpe Danielle in Saratoga. “There were even a few brave souls who tried the escargots,” laughed Paris. Julie Pinzás, MS Spanish teacher, had a multicultural experience as she joined Mme Parris and the students for French food and fun.

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■ The School Rocked! The Harker gymnasium was rocking for the Harker Harmonics production of “School House Rock!” for two evening performances May 14 and 15. Thirty MS students, along with MS English teacher Mark Gelineau performed in this fun and energetic show, with over 18 students working as stage managers or crew members and helping with everything from setup to breakdown of the show. Many in the audience sang along to popular favorite “Conjunction Junction,” and “Lolly, Lolly, Looy” really had the audience moving! Special thanks to Monica MacKinnon, director, Susan Nace, musical director, Brian Larsen, tech and sound director, and Paul Vallerga, tech and scenic designer – not to mention the rockin’ performances by the cast and hard work of the crew – for another lively spring musical. Congratulations to all!

All photos by Chris Daren

■ Thank you to all the students whose names were drawn in the MS Above and Beyond program in the last few weeks of school for their helpful contributions to the Harker community: Marvin Ho, Gr. 8 – getting nurse for recreation staff when a student needed attention; Taylor Rapson, Gr. 7 – cleaning up after Earth Day Art Work Project without being asked; Taylor Martin, Gr. 7 – helping another student save a document to be printed; Whitney Huang, Gr. 8 – making Japanese flashcards for other students; Evan Sanders, Gr. 8 – helping teacher fix a window; Johanna Sambyal, Gr. 7 – helping teacher bring materials from her car and organizing for a lab; Eric Sum, Gr. 8 – turning in a basketball to rec staff that had been left out by someone else; Prachi Sharma, Gr. 7 – helping another student organize papers to take home; Diane Wang, Gr. 8 – helping her science teacher set up a lab; Sabrina Paseman, Gr. 7 – cleaning white board tray for a teacher; Tiffany Lai , Gr. 8 – helping clean up after lab class; Ruchi Srivastava, Gr. 8 – volunteering to empty a teacher’s trash can; Minaz Laiwalla, Gr. 7 – cleaning white boards for teacher; Ariq Rahim, Gr. 8 – volunteering to empty teacher’s recycling bin; Kritika Kailash, Gr. 8 – helping teacher run spirit event; Amrit Sarathy, Gr. 8 – helping teacher run an errand; Whitney continued on pg. 22 Harker News — June 04

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Huang, Gr. 8 – staying after class to help teacher clean up after a lab for her science teacher; Josh Pinzas, Gr. 8, staying after class to clean up; Sinthuja Nagalingam, Gr. 8 – helping teacher set up a lab; Neil Gupta, Gr. 8 – helping clean lunch tables in quad; Ariq Rahim, Gr. 8 – emptying a teacher’s trash and recycling; Megan Leung, Gr. 7 – lending list of study questions to classmate who had forgotten theirs. Many Harker students go above and beyond every day, and this is simply a sampling of the small gestures that can mean so much. We commend you all for being good citizens and kind human beings, and for helping make Harker such a special place.

poolside, cheering the teams on. Each of the two teams, captained by Brian McEuen (white) and Trevor Sambyal (blue), consisted of eleven total players, with five players and a goalie in at one time. At the end of a close and wellplayed game, the blue team won by a score of 6-5. Sambyal with four goals and Max Rohrer with two goals were the leading scorers for the blue team, and Evan Sanders with three goals and Will Roberts with two goals were the leading scorers for the white team. The event was lead by coaches C.J. Cali and Justin “Sully” Sullivan, who say they plan to make this a yearly event. “The idea for this game came from McEuen, so from now on, the event will be named the McEuen Invitational,” said Cali.

■ The 1st annual Gr. 8 Water Polo Game, held one day during lunchtime in May, was a great success with over 60 MS students,

■ Gr. 8 student Gar Yun Ho’s eagle drawing was chosen by faculty judges as this year’s winner of the MS Harker Eagle contest. A Harker

tradition that was revived three years ago by art teacher Margaret McGovern, the contest is open to students in Gr. 7 and 8. Students submit an original Harker eagle drawing for consideration, and the winning entr y is painted by the student on a masonite board that is hung on the STG gym scoreboard in the fall and remains there for the school year. In the spring, when the new contest is held, the new eagle art is hung and the previous winners work is mounted on the gym wall along with past winners. “We encourage students to enter, no

Terry Walsh

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matter what their drawing or painting skills. We are looking for a drawing that shows the Harker spirit,” said McGovern. Congratulations to Ho for joining the “Eagle Hall of Fame!”

Terry Walsh

Talented MS Artists on Display at Annual Show

Nick Gassmann & Lee Trotter - all art photos

MS art students and their parents attended an artist’s reception to kick off the annual MS Art Show where over 100 works of art from the entire school year were on display. Margaret McGovern, MS art teacher, said guests enjoyed cheese, crackers and soda as they wandered through Shah Hall looking at the artwork, which ranged from paintings and sculpture to block prints. Students in attendance also had fun playing the game Pictionary where students drew picture clues on an easel for other students to make their guess. Artwork remained on display for all to enjoy through the month of May. Congratulations to our talented MS artists for the impressive showing! Harker News — June 04

AROUND US Math Update ■ First and Second Place Math Awards for Harker The 2003-04 school year ended with a big bang for math competition groups of The Harker School. Our “mathletes” were honored with many firsts and second place awards in various competitions. Here’s the latest set of accolades our students received in mathematics contests. ■ Harker Wins First Place in California Math League…Again! Harker won the California Mathematics League for the second year in a row! This contest attracted at least 200 schools in the state, including 17 schools from Santa Clara County. In the MS category, Harker also placed first in the Gr. 6 and Gr. 7 categories, and second in Gr. 8. In the Students’ Category, Yi Sun, Gr. 10, tied for first place with a perfect score of 36 points. Justin Wu, Gr. 10, placed second in the competition. The other Harker students who were named on the Web site as “High Scoring Students – Cumulative” were Justin Chin, Gr. 9, Daniel Hung, Gr. 11, and Mason Liang, Gr. 11. ■ First and Second in USF BAMM On April 24, three US students participated in the Bay Area Mathematics Meet (BAMM) sponsored by the University of San Francisco. The Harker team of Lev Pisarsky and Mason Liang, Gr. 11, and Yi Sun, Gr. 10, received the second place award trophy after a grueling battle of the brains. In the individual round (Test of Ingenuity), Sun was unbeatable, receiving the first place award. ■ Overall First in CSU Fresno Math Field Day On April 17 seventeen MS and US students traveled to Fresno and participated in the 2004 Math Field Day sponsored by CSU Fresno Math Department. A number of these 17 were not veterans to math competitions and, despite that, Harker received the Overall Winner Award. There were four categories in the contest and these were the results: Madhatter B - Individual Event for 9th and 10th graders: Tiffany June Lin, Gr. 9 - 1st place; Rachel Fong, Gr. 8 4th place; Tatsunori Hashimoto, Gr. 9 - 8th place and Arkajit Dey, Gr. 9 10th place. Madhatter A - Individual Even for 11th and 12th graders: Hailey Lam, Gr. 10 - 1st place; Robert Li, Gr. 10 - 4th place; Gregory Finkelstein, Gr. 11 - 5th place. Nim Harker News — June 04

saratoga Game Competition: Suhaas Prasad, Gr. 11 - 1st Place; Justin Chin, Gr. 9 4th Place; Siddharth Chandrasekhar, Gr. 9 - 8th place; Richard Kwant, Gr. 9 - 10th place. Leap Frog Relay - two member team competitions: Team of Justin Wu and Jerry Hong - 2nd Place; Team of Daniel Hung and Joel Wright - 7th place. School Category: Small School Category - Harker, 1st place; Overall Result - Harker, 1st place. Jeanette Chin, Gr 6 and Albert Wang, Gr 11, also participated in the contest. ■ Yi Sun Wins Awards in USAMO and APMO, goes to MOSP Yi Sun, Gr. 10, won the Honorable Mention Award in the recently concluded by-invitation-only USA Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO) held April 27-28. Sun was among the elite group of 261 high school students across the country who had a solid performance in the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) in March, the second stage in the series of tilts sponsored by the American Math Competitions (AMC). This school year about a quarter of a million students participated in the annual event. Sun is indeed one step from representing the country in the prestigious International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), the pinnacle of mathematics competitions in the world for secondary students. IMO will be held in Athens, Greece, this year and next school year, in Mexico. Incidentally, a former Harker student, Tiankai Liu, (Valedictorian, MS class of 2000) was a two-time IMO gold recipient, and this year’s USAMO first place winner. Because of his outstanding performance in the USAMO, Sun qualified to participate in the annual training for math Olympiads, the Mathematical Olympiad Summer Program (MOSP) to be held at the University of Nebraska. This will be the third consecutive year that Sun will be in the MOSP. Aside from the USAMO, Yi Sun also took the Asian Pacific Mathematical Olympiad (APMO) in March. Based in Australia and Canada, the APMO is an International Olympiad sponsored by top mathematicians and educators in the Asian Pacific Region. The APMO organizers extended the competitions to some countries including the United States. The AMC organizing committee is the one responsible for choosing the American candidates and Sun was invited this year. Sun received a very solid score of 29 out of 35 points,

URLs

Additional information is available online at the URLs listed below

CA Math League: http://www.mathleague.com/reports/2003_04/CA6.HTM USF BAMM: http://bamm.usfca.edu/bowl2004_tournament.pdf Fresno Math Field Day: http://www.csufresno.edu/math/ USAMO, APMO, and MOSP: http://www.unl.edu/amc/f-miscellaneous/f5asianpacific/asianpacific04.html Mandelbrot National Competition: http://mandelbrot.org/ Math Honors Society: http://www.natassessment.com (test information); http://www.mualphatheta.org (information about the society).

and he placed second in the contest. He will be receiving a silver medal from this contest. ■ Harker US in First Tier, Mandelbrot National Competition The Harker team is placed in the First Tier in the Mandelbrot National Competition, placing a very solid fifth behind four East Coast schools. The first tier had 36 schools and the second tier had 33 schools. The following students contributed to Harker’s fifth place award and were mentioned on the contest’s Web site: First Tier: Yi Sun, Gr. 10, with a score of 52 out of 56 possible points. Second tier: Jerry Hong, Lev Pisarsky and Justin Wu, all Gr. 11. Third tier: Thomas Wang, Gr. 7, and Daniel Hung, Gr. 11. ■ First in Math Honors Society This school year marks the first year of Harker being a school-chartered member of the Mu Alpha Theta National Math Honors Society, and Harker had 16 members this year. Mu Alpha Theta categorizes their membership by geographic region, and Harker is in Region 1 (of the four total regions), which is roughly the western half of the United States. Students are also grouped into three categories: Mu Category for students who are currently taking Calculus and beyond courses; Alpha Category for students who are currently taking Algebra and beyond courses; and Theta category for high school students taking courses lower than Algebra 2. (Harker only had students in the Mu and Alpha categories). In this year’s competition there were three rounds in November, January, and March, and each round covered a broad range of topics and difficulties, presenting individual students with fifteen problems to be solved in thirty minutes. Students participated in each round at their school using materials their advisors received by postal and electronic mail, which is how all National Assessment and Testing contests are administered. After waiting for results from thousands of students

from hundreds of schools, several Harker School students received individual awards, helping their team to finish first in their region. In the Mu (most advanced) division, Yi Sun, Gr. 10, was second; Karthik Kailash, Gr. 12, and Lev Pisarsky, Gr. 11, finished in fourth and fifth places after their tie was broken; Justin Wu, Gr. 11, placed seventh; Daniel Hung, Gr. 11, was nineteenth; Kevin Park, Gr. 11, placed twentieth; Jerry Hong, Gr. 11, finished in twenty-second place; and Mason Liang, Gr. 11, was twenty-fourth. In the Alpha (middle) division, Justin Chin, Gr. 9, placed second; Jessie Li, Gr. 9, finished in fifth place; Tatsu Hashimoto, Gr. 9, was sixth; and Tiffany June Lin, Gr. 9, placed eleventh. A recent press release from the society states: “The Harker School has some of the best highschool mathematicians in the country, as demonstrated by their first-place finish in the 2003-2004 Mu Alpha Theta Contest.” National Assessment and Testing plans to administer this contest again as one of six contests offered in the 20042005 academic year. ■ Harker First in Individual, Second in Team at LLNL On May 8 six US students went to Las Positas College in Livermore and participated in the 15th Annual Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) High School Math Challenge sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy’s NNSA Livermore Site Office and Las Positas College. Harker placed second in the team competition, and the winning team was composed of Hailey Lam and Yi Sun, Gr. 10, and Jerry Hong, Gr. 11. In the Male Individual Category, Yi Sun, Gr. 10, placed first while in the Female Individual Categor y, Jessie Li, Gr. 9, placed second. Tiffany-June Lin, Gr. 9, and Justin Chin, Gr. 9, were also members of the Harker ensemble and per formed well in the contest. —Misael Fisico, US Math Teacher

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Harker Students Serve on Congessional Student Advisory Committee

Mike Honda staff

Seniors Anita Gupta and Karan Lodha culminated their year of service as selected Harker delegates on Congressman

Honda’s Congressional Student Advisory Committee (SAC) at a special ceremony and presentation held at Benson Theater at Bellarmine on May 25. At the beginning of the year, this panel of

20 students from various Santa Clara county schools selected the topic “Teenage Sexuality and Responsibility” as its focus in relation to California’s youth, and then spent the school year surveying their schools, exploring the community, and interviewing men and women involved in solving problems related to this issue. They also performed community service, talking about sexual responsibility and promoting awareness to the middle school students of the City Year organiza-

tion. The presentation and report entirely represented the students’ findings and will be used to advise the congressman. At the presentation, Honda learned for the first time what the delegates had discovered in their months of work. Both Gupta and Lodha said they benefited greatly from this appointment. “As a minor, I am ineligible to vote,” said Lodha. “However, SAC allows me to get politically involved and make an impact on my community. Though this requires a considerable time commitment, it is enthralling because I am making a difference in Californian politics. Being selected for SAC has raised my awareness of pressing local issues and inspired me to strive to improve my state and nation,” he added. Gupta agreed and said, “I thought this program was very strong since

it brought together teens from different schools, various ethnicities and diverse backgrounds, but everyone shared the common goal of wanting to help the community and build awareness of teen sexuality. I mostly liked that the message is to teens from teens, which I believe is the most successful method of spreading information,” she said. The SAC organized all of their yearlong findings in a report that they presented to the local media and to Congressman Honda at the ceremony. The committee plans to organize a community service program that will seek to resolve the issue. Congratulations to Lodha and Gupta for their selection to this committee, for their commitment and dedication throughout the year, and for their contributions in helping to solve this important issue.

Annual Art Show Features Wide Variety of Artwork

Nick Gassmann - all art photos

The annual US Art Show was quite literally a constant flow of new work from April 30 to the end of May. “As students finished pieces they had been working on throughout the year, they were added to the show,” said Jaap Bongers, US art teacher and dept. chair. The Dobbins Gallery was brightened by the colorful displays, and students and staff enjoyed the wide variety of artwork. Along with paintings and drawings, there were stonework, foam board constructions and ceramic masks. We commend the students for their tremendous talent, and our special thanks to US art teachers Bongers, Don Maxwell and Margaret McGovern.

Harker News — June 04

saratoga ■ Senior Karan Lodha and junior Varoon Bhagat were each awarded the Outstanding Student in Psychology Award by the American Psychological Association (APA) Teachers of Psychology in Secondary Schools (TOPSS). Students were selected for recognition based upon their exemplary achievement and efforts in the study of psychology. Their AP Psychology teacher, Raymond Rogoway, was also commended for his dedication and commitment to the teaching of high school psychology. Congratulations to Lodha and Bhagat for this outstanding recognition, and to Rogoway for this high commendation.

Student Talents Benefit Harker ■ Homework Management System in Place Harker has a new, student-designed Homework Management System (HMS), thanks to two graduating seniors, Aaron Kleinsteiber and Ozan Demirlioglu. Their site began as a final project in Robb Cutler’s AP Computer Science course last year, where they wrote it to solve the problem of students having to navigate to six different teachers’ Web sites in order to find all their homework assignments. “Aaron and Ozan designed the system with input from students, teachers, and administrators,” said Cutler. He added that the HMS is based on a database of student, teacher and class information so students can log in on any given day and find all their homework, classwork and tests for all of their classes by looking at one Web page. Aaron and Ozan spent much of the summer and first semester this year adding features and refining the system, which went live in February. “I thought that HMS was not only impressive in its functionality - at least as solid as anything I see built inside our papers to present information from our systems - but also had a nice design quality and strong user interface,” said Harker parent Sharon Mandell, (Molly, Gr. 5) and VP of technology at Knight-Ridder Digital. “That’s something that’s often lost on software engineers when they build systems. You tend to get pretty or functional, but not always both.” Cutler is equally impressed with their professionalism. “They respond quickly to feedback and continue to solicit ideas for improvement from the people who use the system. This level of maturity and engineering sophistication is extremely rare at their age.” The two students will be working this summer to make further improvements and refinements, and Harker is hoping to provide this new system to our MS students in the fall. We congratulate these Harker grads for applying what they learned in the classroom to create such a useful site for their peers and the school.

■ In early May about 30 Gr. 11 biology students and some of this year’s Galapagos travelers participated in an optional trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, accompanied by teachers Gary Blickenstaff and Tim Woods. The trip was a great way for the biology students to wrap up their year in the biology course with a tangible and entertaining experience that also allowed them to see firsthand some of the organisms they have studied throughout the year. Woods said students got closeup views of

Madur Bhatnagar, parent

In another success story of Harker students discovering a talent and then lending that talent and knowledge to the Harker community, Anita Chetty, human anatomy teacher, reported that she will be using the anatomy sketches of Rishi Bhatnagar, ’04, in her class. Bhatnagar, who has donated the sketches for classroom use, began sketching last summer after he discovered that there were no real sketchbooks available to use in Chetty’s class. Vascular surgeon Dr. Polyxene G. Kokinos reviewed Rishi's drawings and said, "These are extremely impressive drawings of difficult anatomy that will impact the medical field for years to come." Chetty added that she and Howard and Diana Nichols accepting Bhatnagar have come up Rishi Bhatnagar's donation of anatomy with an idea for a book that drawings for classroom use. will incorporate cadaver images with his sketches. “Our students are teaching future students—very powerful stuff,” commented Chetty. This summer Bhatnagar will be working for the head of the anatomy department at Stanford, drawing from a cadaver to create sketches which will be used in their lectures. Our thanks to Rishi for his donation of sketches, and we congratulate him for his work with Stanford. Rishi will be attending Santa Clara University in the fall.

Harker News — June 04

Friendly passerby

■ Harker Grad’s Anatomy Sketches Catch Stanford’s Eye

animals they would never otherwise be able to see in person and also witnessed the ecological interaction between sea creatures in a seminatural environment. The new shark exhibit was a favorite, “complete with some moderately terrifying hammerhead sharks,” he laughed, and seeing the otters being fed and playing “fetch” with Aquarium staff was also a unique experience for students. Woods added that it was hard for participants to resist the “sometimes playful, sometimes incredibly lazy, but always charismatic” penguin exhibit. “Aside from the enthusiastic endorsement of

the trip, a bus filled with sleeping students was the surest sign that fun was had by all,” added Woods. ■ Freshmen world history classes enjoyed a visit from Jim Schimandle (father of Kit, Gr. 9)

Nick Gassmann

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who constructed his own trebuchet and gave a demonstration of its firepower using chocolate Easter eggs. Trebuchets were important weapons in medieval siege warfare, and Schimandle explained some of the physics behind their operation. He illustrated his talk with clips from the movies “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and “Timeline.” “We learned a great deal about the logistics of medieval warfare and how difficult it was to break through the layered defenses of a castle,” said Ruth Meyer, US history teacher. ■ Elections were held in May for the 2004-05 associated student body (ASB) officers and class officers. Congratulations to the following student leaders: ASB OFFICERS – Anshu Das, president; Amira Valliani, vice-president; Najm Haque, secretary; Sahil Patel, treasurer. SENIOR CLASS – Nicholas Rattazzi, president; Estelle Charlu, vice-president; Erika Gudmundson, secretary; Nima Taheri, treasurer. continued on pg. 26

continued from pg. 25 JUNIOR CLASS – Jeff Le, president; Lauren Gutstein, vice-president; Casey Near, secretary; Apik Zorian, treasurer. SOPHOMORE CLASS – Rupan Bose, president; Adnan Haque, vice-president; Simren Kohli, secretary; Cassie Kerkhoff, treasurer. The freshman class will hold their elections in September.

that qualified to compete at this national event. At this event, they were placed into eight round robins, and the top two teams from each round robin advanced to a 16-team double elimination. Harker’s team made it to the top 16 teams, and went on to tie for 9th place, winning a team trophy and $1,000 in prize money for finishing so well. “The overall second place finisher was in our round robin, and we lost to them by one question at the buzzer which indicates we can certainly compete at the highest level,” said Korin. In a second event held on Saturday the team placed fourth in

Harker archives

■ The class deans reported that they are very pleased with the results of a new mentor program that helps incoming freshmen adjust to US life. In this new program senior class mentors

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Senior mentors served as a valuable resource for new freshmen.

attended each freshman advisory group meeting once a month to share their own perspectives about academic and social issues facing students at Harker. “They gave valuable advice to freshmen based on their own experiences,” said Diana Moss, US Spanish teacher and freshman class dean. “Freshmen seemed to appreciate the opportunities not only to ask questions of the mentors, but also to develop friendships with the seniors.” Marc Hufnagl, US English teacher and senior dean, as well as all of the freshman advisors, also assisted with the program. Many thanks to these Harker seniors who served as mentors this year: Rachel Warecki, Vivian Leung, Karla Bracken, Jacinda Mein, Anjali Vaiyda, Prithi Trivedi, Vivek Saraswat, Andrew Chen, Saahil Mehra, Meghana Desale, Surbhi Mahendru, Matt Jones, Thomas McMahon, Jennifer Jenq, Maya Hey, Courtney Johnson, Jackie Laine, Erin Schwartz and Anita Gupta. ■ Over the weekend of May 1 Harker’s Science Bowl team, along with advisor Robbie Korin, traveled to Washington, D.C. as one of only 64 teams out of a field of 1,800

an optional fuel cell challenge. Congratulations to our Science Bowl team for doing a phenomenal job in their first year of this newly formed team! Team members are Yi Sun, Anjali Vaidya, Mason Liang, Lev Pisarsky and Jasper Shau. ■ In April Gr. 11 students Yi Sun and Eric Tzeng went to Livermore to take a Chemistry Olympiad National Exam. These Olympiad exams are offered in math, chemistry and physics and are only offered to two students per school. Yi Sun made the top 20 and has been invited to the Chemistry Olympiad Camp at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, June 6-20. The top four from this event will make the national team to compete at the world event. Congratulations to Yi Sun for qualifying for the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad Study Camp 2004. ■ Harker hosted their final speaker of the year in the US Distinguished Speaker Series with Paul Locatelli, president of Santa Clara University, who focused his presentation on voting as a civic duty. “This represented both a great privilege and a wonderful opportunity for our school; university presidents do not usually drop over for a high

school assembly,” commented Richard Hartzell, US division head and founder of this series, which began last year. One of the main goals of the series was to provide opportunities for students to learn about a wide range of political and social views. “I personally feel that it’s important that the students be given exposure to a wide range of views, ideas and opinions so they have a sufficient volume of material to formulate their own philosophies,” said Eric Nelson, US teacher. “The Distinguished Speaker Series appears to be meeting this need.” We thank all of the following 200304 speakers, in addition to Locatelli, for sharing their valuable time and insights with our students this year: Moshe Zloof, CEO, Exemplary Software; Steve Berglund, CEO, Trimble Navigation; Richard Keady, director of Institute for Social Responsibility, Ethics & Education and professor of

Comparative Religious Studies, SJSU; Kate Kendell, executive director, NCLR; Jean Wakatsuki Houston, author of “Farewell to Manzanar;” Catherine Bell, chair, Department of Religious Studies & director of Asian Studies, Santa Clara University; and Mahogany Foster, poet. ■ Sophomore Ropes Course In April the sophomore class participated in the Ropes Course program, a required Outdoor Education component of the US curriculum that uses physical and mental challenges to encourage collaboration, teamwork, mutual support, and personal goal setting. This year 140 sophomores and 16 faculty advisors attended, with students and faculty working together to develop communication, leadership and team-building skills. “We really focused on teamwork, and that brought the class closer together,” said Mariah Bush, Gr.10.

artists of the month ■ Laurie Alexander, Gr. 11, has enjoyed art since she was young, beginning with inventions made out of household items. She still chooses to build things and work with her hands rather than drawing or painting. Alexander doesn’t have a specific medium that she works with exclusively, but she does prefer working with clay and stone. “I enjoy making constructive and subtractive pieces,” said Alexander.

Nick Gassmann - both photos

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■ Fiona Lundie, Gr. 11, was very excited to take Sculpture and Stone Carving since she hadn’t taken art in years. She spent a long time planning and testing the components of her construction project because the assignment was explained as an apartment building design. “I couldn’t, in good conscience, subject my tenants to shoddy workmanship,” laughed Lundie. Her favorite expression medium is stone. She spent winter break carving a small stone and has been working on a large stone during fourth quarter. She enjoys the interplay of light and shadow that subtle contours create.“ I will definitely be pursuing stone carving in the future, as a class or a hobby,” added Lundie. —Don Maxwell, US Art Teacher

Harker News — June 04

Pam Dickinson

Japanese National Honor Society (14 students), the Latin National Honor Society (10 students) and the Spanish National Honor Society (32 students). These students join the 118 students who were inducted last year. Congratulations! ■ Students Rank High on National Spanish and French Exams Harker language teachers were proud to announce impressive results in recent national exams. Of the 135 Harker Spanish students who took the National Spanish Exam in March, the overwhelming majority placed in the top ten in the region and in the top twenty in the nation. The following students placed in the top three placement groups in the region and have received certificates and prizes for their accomplishments. Their national placement group is also noted: SPANISH 1: Jacob Yanovsky - 3rd in our region and 7th in the nation; SPANISH 2: Arjun Banerjee and James His - 1st in the region and 7th in the nation; Tara Chandra 2nd in the region and 9th in the nation; SPANISH 3: Justin Chin, Allison Wong and Subha Gollakota - 1st in the region and 4th in the nation; Sharon Huang, Rohan Narayen, Amulya Mandava and Aseem Shukla - 2nd in the region and 5th in the nation; Siobhan Stevenson - 3rd in the region and 6th in the nation; SPANISH 4: Michael Hammersley and John Tepperman - 2nd in the region and 9th in the nation; Jaya Iyer and Kathy Peng - 3rd in the region and 10th in the nation; SPANISH 5: Stephanie Chun - 1st in the region and 6th in the nation; Debby Liang 2nd in the region and 8th in the Harker News — June 04

nation. Congratulations to these students and to Spanish teachers Abel Olivas, Diana Moss, Susanna Hartzell and Francoise Thompson. The following students distinguished themselves on the Northern California Chapter of the 2004 National French Exam. The nationally ranked placement group of each is noted: LEVEL I (22,544 students): Aline Zorian, 4th; Avinash Mandava, 5th; Ashley Yang, 5th; Juliana Daniil, 6th; Anjali Gill, 8th; Chanelle Kasik, 8th; Rachel Bareiss, 9th; Ashutosh Sheth, 9th; Sarah Syrett, 9th; and Andrew Tran, 9th; LEVEL II (23,340 students): Andrew Tran, 1st; Connie Tung ,1st; Akshay Bhatia, 2nd; Sho Okubo, 2nd; Esther Teplitsky, 2nd; Ariane Vartanian, 2nd; Siddarth Satish, 3rd; Vani Pyda, 3rd; Sasha Stepanenko, 3rd; Vivian Bond, 4th; Karena Chan, 4th; Anjana Dasu, 4th; Jessie Li, 4th; Brandt Warecki, 4th; Cheryl Chiu, 5th; Tiffany Dai, 5th; Kriti Lodha, 5th; Cooper Sivara, 5th; Nina Vyedina, 5th; Jason Lee, 6th; Jason Charlu, 7th; Aeshna Raman, 7th; Jonathan Chang, 8th; Saloni Mathur, 8th and Sara Eslinger, 9th. LEVEL III (19,858 students): Yi Sun, 1st; Elizabeth Burstein, 2nd; Janine Carpenter, 2nd; Siddharth Chandrasekhar, 3rd; Samantha Fang, 3rd; Emily Isaacs, 4th; Rushikesh Sheth, 4th; Abhiram Varadarajan, 4th; Asavari Gupte, 5th; Bharat Reddy, 5th; Lynette Tsai, 5th; Shilpa Vadodaria, 5th; Tavishi Agrawal, 5th; Simren Kohli, 6th; Caroline Bitter, 7th; Rupan Bose, 7th; Kevin Busch, 7th; Anshuman Gupta, 7th; Meghana Komati, 7th; Alex Tearse-Doyle, 7th; Christine Vu, 7th; Shawn Huda, 8th; Gail Nakano, 8th; Houston Hoffman, 9th; LEVEL IV (12,760 students): Jacqueline Laine, 3rd; Alexandra Garr-Schultz, 4th; Rachel Newman, 4th; Irine Tyutereva, 4th; Hermanjit Bajwa, 5th; Cristina Figueroa-Cortes, 6th; Samantha Levinson, 6th; Tanuj Thapliyal, 6th; Rohini Venkatraman, 7th; Ariana Vergara, 7th; Mariah Bush, 8th; Andrew Chen, 8th; Liat Noten, 8th; and Lauren Harries, 9th; LEVEL V (5,817 students): Laena Keyashian, 2nd; Alfred See, 4th;

and Nima Taheri, 6th; Congratulations to all our students and to Harker French teachers Nicholoas Manjoine, Antoinette Gathy and Francoise Thompson. ■ Junior Regatta – The Harker Cup 124 juniors along with 16 faculty advisors traveled to Santa Cruz Harbor and the Pacific Yachting & Sailing Club to participate in the 3rd annual Race for the Harker Cup. Students began the day with sailing theory and instruction in the morning and practiced what they learned on the water with the captains. In the afternoon, the teams gathered for the race. Working six to a boat, all students and teachers took turns steering,

Emily Hsi - both sailing photos

■ Harker’s Modern and Classical Languages department held a ceremony in April to induct a total of 79 students into Harker’s chapters of the French National Honor Society (23 students), the

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working the sheets, and setting the sails as they changed stations throughout the race. Attitude, communication skills and perseverance came together as the race unfolded. “Building teamwork and collegiality beyond the classroom is the goal of this trip, and the mission was clearly accomplished,” said Kevin Williamson, dean of students. This year the following names will be engraved on the silver Harker Cup as the winners of this year’s race: Hillary Brooks, Christopher Holmes, Sneha Krishna, Joshua Kwan, Brian Thurgate and Nina Zheng.

Harker Has Been Home to These 18 Very Special Grads Congratulations to the following graduates from the Class of 2004 who either completed at least 13 years at Harker or who mark the end of an era as one of the final

Anne-Marie McReynolds - both photos

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groups of graduates who were once part of our former boarding program. Congratulations to all, and we’re especially honored that you chose Harker as your second home. Good luck to all! SINCE JR. K – Rishi Bhatnagar, Nicholas Klute, Vivian Leung, A.J. Reid and Wesley Wu. SINCE K – Leanne Duong, Vickie Duong, Laena Keyashian, Michelle Lauris, Michael Leonard, Ravi Mishra, Erin Schwartz, Sean Weinstock and Tommy Polzin. GRADUATING FORMER BOARDING STUDENTS – Andrew Chen, Michael Tang, Wendy Tsai and Vinnie Yen.

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Hot Damn! ATM Honors Harker A resounding kudos to the cast and crew of the US spring musical production of “Damn Yankees” on being nominated in four out of the five categories in the annual American Musical Theatre (AMT) High School Honors program. Out of 21 Bay Area schools, Harker earned nominations for: BEST SHOW BEST ACTRESS – Lisa Schwebke, Gr. 12 BEST ACTOR – Kevin Busch, Gr. 11

Susan Nace: Gr. 12- Daphne Karpel, Erin Schwartz, Mickey Selbo-Bruns; Gr. 11- Kathy Peng, Paloma Solorio; Gr. 10-Subha Gollakota, Lauren Gutstein, Lauren Harries, Katherin Hudkins, Amanda Tobin; Gr. 9-Kimberly Wong. Harker instrumental music students received Superior ratings at the CMEA State Solo & Ensemble Festival in Sacramento on May 15 when three of the four Harker entries won the Gold Plaque and one entry captured the Bronze Award. One Gold Plaque winning group, receiving the highest individual distinction granted to music students in the state of California, was comprised of Sonya Huang – Violin, Gr. 6, and Shannon

Tan – Piano, Gr. 9, performing the “Bach Concerto No. 1 in A minor.” A second gold group was Vivian Huang – Cello, Gr. 6, Patricia Huang – Violin, Gr. 3, Sonya Huang – Violin, Gr. 6, and Shannon Tan – Piano, Gr. 9, performing the “Theme from Masterpiece Theater” by Mouret. In addition, violinist Audrey Kwang, with assistance from a CMEA staff accompanist, won a Superior-Gold Award performing the “Symphony Espangnole” by Lallo. Winners of the Superior-Bronze Award were violinists Joseph Chen, Gr. 9, and Glenn Lee, Gr. 9, cellist Tracy Chou, Gr. 9, and pianist Justin Wu, Gr. 11, performing the “Sonata No. 4 in A minor” by Corelli. Congratulations to all for these musical achievements!

Further recognition went to Hawley who was awarded overall Best Supporting Actress at the final awards ceremony on May 21 at Great America. Many congratulations to Hawley, to the finalist nominees and to the entire cast and crew for another great show, and for once again distinguishing yourselves in the Bay Area high school musical community. Diana Nichols, head of school, said of the per forming ar ts students and faculty: “You folks are nothing shor t of amazing. Thank you for all of the enter tainment and joy you have provided for the whole Harker community.”

Harker Vocalists and Musicians Earn CMEA Superior Ratings Judges at the California Music Educators’ Association (CMEA) awarded a Superior Performance Rating to Cantilena, Harker’s small female vocal ensemble, with scores

dynamics. Diction is clear – I can understand every word. Regarding technique, I couldn’t think of a better way to do it. Bravo for your musicality and choice of literature! I

“Bravo for your musicality and choice of literature!” —Lois Vidt, CMEA Judge of 93, 97 and 99 out of 100. Judges submitted taped and written comments to the performing ensembles and one judge, Lois Vidt, commented, “Excellent

don’t think I would have had the courage to tackle these songs, but you did and you did them beautifully!” Congratulations to Cantilena’s members, directed by

Cantilena/Guys’ Gig Charm Crowd

Nick Gassmann - all photos

Chris Daren - both photos

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS – Emma Hawley, Gr. 12

The Harker Conservatory presented a “Welcome Spring”concert to parents and guests at the annual Cantilena and Guys’ Gig concert in April. Music selections covered 500 years of music, including folk songs, music theater and contemporary a cappella. Students presented their vocal music director, Susan Nace, with a specially written song and flowers at the end of the concert as a thanks for her work with them. Great concert and very classy touch by the students!

*See page 15 for campuswide performing arts news. Harker News — June 04

performing

arts

Third Annual Senior Showcase Honors 16 Conservatory Graduates

Chris Daren - all photos

Sixteen senior certificate candidates performed to a full house of teachers, parents and friends at the 3rd annual Harker US Conservatory Senior Showcase, held April 30 at the Le Petite Trianon in San Jose. The graduating seniors performed

their best work, as selected by their Harker faculty advisors, from the portfolio that each has been developing over the past four years. “During the four years in the US Conservatory Program, certificate students not only develop deep

Master Musicians Visit Classroom

proficiency in their chosen fields, but are guided through a series of focused requirements in all of the other fields as well,” explained Laura Lang-Ree, performing arts director. All received a personal presentation of their Conservatory Program certificate from their advisors. Congratulations to the following graduating seniors for their outstanding performances: DANCE: Maya Hey, Vivian Leung, Harker News — June 04

Joycelin Tsai. Advisors – Laura Rae, Adrian Bermudez. MUSICAL THEATRE: Neil Bhalerao, LeAnn Duong, Whitney Graves, Emma Hawley, Jacqueline Laine, Lisa Schwebke, Sean Weinstock. Advisor – Laura Lang-Ree. INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC: Meghan Desale, Nikhil Deshmukh, Kathryn Lee. Advisor – Richard Frazier. VOCAL MUSIC: Alexandra SelboBruns. Advisors – Susan Nace, Catherine Snider. THEATRE: Daphne Lee Karpel, Erin Renee Schwartz. Advisor – Jeff Draper. TECHNICAL THEATER: Nikhil Deshmukh. Advisor – Brian Larsen.

Nick Gassmann - both photos

The Harker String Orchestra took part in a master class in April presented by Lawrence Granger, longtime member of the San Francisco Symphony cello section and acknowledged master teacher, and Michael Yokas, violinist with the Santa Rosa Symphony, the New Century Chamber Orchestra, the Chamberlin

String Quartet and the Pacific Piano Trio. These master teachers performed for and with the String Orchestra students as everyone rehearsed the Mendelssohn String Symphony. “It proved to be an inspiring way to gain professional and highly artistic insights into music-making in general and string playing in particular,” said Richard Frazier, instrumental director. The event culminated with a root beer float reception, where students spoke individually with Granger and Yokas.

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US students received annual awards at the end-of-the-year assembly, and most - but not all - recipients are pictured here.

Lisa Bowman - all photos

Debaters Celebrate Outstanding Year

The 6th Annual High School Debate Award Ceremony was held April 26 in the Saratoga gym where Harker debaters were honored in the categories of Spirit, Rising Stars and Outstanding Tournament Performances. One hundred thirtytwo students are currently involved in Harker’s debate program, which is coached by Matt Brandsetter, Jennifer Fields and Dasha Polzik, and over 150 parents and friends gathered to enjoy this special evening of recognition. Among those recognized were National Forensic League (NFL) Academic All-Americans, Wesley Wu and Derek Hwang, an honor based on students earning degrees of superior distinction, maintaining a minimum GPA of 3.7 and scoring 1400 or higher on SATs or 27 or higher on ACTs. In addition, they must demonstrate qualities of character, leadership and commitment, as verified by both coach and principal. Payom Pirahesh, Gr. 12, was acknowledged for attaining the most NFL points in his four years with a 787 point total overall. In addition, the seniors read their last wills and testaments, leaving some items of value to the squad or team members. Reading their testaments were Pranab Barman, Anita Gupta, Derek Hwang, Simon Linder, Edward Peng, Payom Pirahesh, Anjali Vaidya, Wesley Wu and Joshua Zloof. A feature of the evening was a slideshow put together by Donna Brandstetter, representing memorable pictorial moments from the past year’s competitions. In a previous ceremony earlier this year, students from Harker’s Speech and Debate Society honored Howard and Diana Nichols with two bronze eagles in appreciation for their longstanding support of the program. The students also thanked Joe Gill and Richard Hartzell for their behind-the-scenes support during the year. We congratulate our outstanding debate students and coaches for another distinguished year.

■ Twenty Harker chapter members of the Junior State of America (JSA) joined 700 other students in April to attend the Northern California Spring Convention held this year at the Santa Clara Marriott. JSA is a student-run model congressional session. The main item on this 3day spring conference agenda was the election of officers. Students running for elected offices for their region campaigned by distributing literature about themselves and giving speeches. Tara Chandra, Gr. 10, was elected mayor of the Golden Gate Region (GGR), and Amira Valliani, Gr. 10, was elected senator to the state of Northern California from the GGR. Northern California is divided into 3 regions with the GGR being the largest with over 70 schools. Chandra is responsible for relations among the

chapters, founding new chapters in the region and planning and implementing region-wide activities. Valliani is responsible for planning and implementing statewide activities. Chandra has appointed Natasha Sarin, Gr. 9, as her chief of staff. Along with these election honors, Sarin received a best speaker award and Sheena Tomar, Gr. 11, received two best speaker awards. JSA members attended a conference in the winter that sparked their interest in running for election. “We fell in love with everything about JSA, especially the debating and thought talks. We saw all the newly elected officials standing up there leading and we were so impressed,” said Chandra. Her goal is to win JSA Chapter of the Year next year so she will be encouraging students to get involved!

Coffee House/Improv Nights Popular Harker’s US students held five Coffee House/Improv nights this past school year with about 8 -10 students regularly participating in

performances by staff, with Brian Larsen playing old rock and roll songs under the pseudonym of Rufus and John Hawley occasionally reading a poem or singing a song as Seamus. “Personally, doing the coffeehouses has been one of my favorite experiences at Harker,” said Genna Erlikhman, Gr.

John Hawley - all photos

Chris Daren

AROUND

the improv portion of the night and a dozen or more showing up to perform at the “open mike.” Performances are varied and have included students singing show tunes, playing current or old rock songs, reading their own poetry or that of others, telling short stories, or doing dramatic interpretations, monologues or old comedy routines. There have even been

11. “It’s one of those rare times when I can do, dress, and say pretty much whatever comes to my silly head and have people laugh or not laugh and it not matter to me at all.” The students plan to form The Harker Improv Troupe (HIT) next year and hope to start a competing team that would run the coffeehouses and participate in interscholastic improv competitions. Watch for more news of this group next year! Harker News — June 04

ACTIVITIES

update

Spirit Week Full of Hilarious Surprises competition for the title of Most Spirited Class ended in a tie between the two classes. Congrats to both the class of 2006 and 2007!

Pam Dickinson, Chris Daren & Talon staff - all photos

US Spring Spirit Week was a huge success, and from the ver y enter taining dress-up days to the daily lunchtime class competitions, it seemed ever yone had a great time. “By far the most loved was the second annual duct tape regatta, this year won by the faculty boat, which was constructed by Latin teacher John Hawley,” said Chris Daren, US activities coordinator and yearbook advisor. The week concluded with the final rally of the year, and all four classes did their best to enter tain ever yone and show their class spirit. “The competition all year was fierce between the freshmen and sophomores,” said Daren. The rally was won by the freshmen, but the yearlong

Junior/Senior Prom Attendees Dance the Night Away at Santana Row

Chris Daren - all photos

Over 240 students packed the ballroom of the Hotel Valencia in Santana Row to enjoy their Night on the Town, this year’s theme. Students enjoyed scrumptious desserts and smoothies while they danced the night away. “The event had the feel of being at a premier club in the city,” said Daren.

Congratulations and thanks to Daren and the 2004 Prom Committee of Kathryn Lee, Sumana Rao, Jacinda Mein, Casey Near, Lauren Gutstein, Amira Valliani and Jaya Pareek for creating such a memorable event.

Harker News — June 04

AROUND

saratoga finals and going on to take the second exam in the series. On this exam, the AAPT Web site states: “Students who qualify to take the second, finalist-screening exam for the U.S. Physics Team are among the most bright and motivated. These represent the top 150 -200 students in quantitative sciences in the U.S. and its territories.” Once the second test was scored, and student transcripts and letters of recommendation were submitted, Sun was selected as one of 24 students from the 207 high school semifinalists in the country, to attend a nine-day training camp in May where team members refined

Sun entered the first rounds of the competition with 10,000+ other students around the nation in January, making the semi-

■ In May all Physics and Honors Physics students attended the annual Physics Day at Great America. US physics teacher Lisa Radice reported that students were given labs that included questions about the rides, mostly covering the principles of mechanics — velocity, acceleration, and force. Students were armed with vertical and horizontal accelerometers to aid them in collecting data. “It was soooo fun,” said student VyVy Trinh. “Applying what I learned in the classroom to real life helped me further understand the physics concepts,” noted Ashley Morishige. “The best part of the excursion was being able to understand the physics behind all of the crazy loops and corkscrews. I’ll never look at roller coasters the same way again.”

■ The Class of 2004 was warmly welcomed into the Harker Alumni Program with the 3rd annual Senior Alumni Day, an event held each year for students to bond with each other and to be reassured they will always be a part of the Harker community. The event was held at the home of Neil Bhalerao, whose parents graciously opened their home to 134 teenagers. The senior time capsule was on display and many of the seniors spent most of their time writing letters to each other to put inside of it. They also relaxed by the pool,

Terry Walsh

■ Harker's computer science team members wrapped up their season over Memorial Day weekend when they traveled to Chicago to compete in the invitation-only American Computer Science League (ACSL) All-Star Tournament. Seventy-five teams from around the world matched wits in programming problems and computer science questions. In the top Senior-5 division, Harker's team of Ozan Demirlioglu, Matt Jones, Peter Combs, Ethan Karpel and Hailey Lam earned a sixth place finish. Demirlioglu, Jones, Combs and Lam all placed individually, winning books for their efforts. As a sophomore, Hailey led the team -scoring 20 out of 20 points on his programming problem and 10 out of 12 points on the short answer.

Harker's computer science team competes in several computer science and programming competitions throughout the year and is coached by Robb Cutler.

played games and signed yearbooks. Now that they are alums, they’ll receive alumni editions of the newsletter, announcements about events such as homecoming, the family picnic, etc. – and eventually news that it is time to plan a reunion. We miss them already!

Nick Gassmann

Yi Sun Makes U.S. Olympiad Physics Team The America Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) reported that Harker sophomore Yi Sun was named as one of the five team members to represent our country (and Harker!) on the 2004 United States Physics Olympiad Team in Pohang and Gyeongiu, South Korea, this summer. “This academic achievement distinguishes Yi as a superior student - one of the best in the country,” said Eric Nelson, US physics teacher.

their problem-solving and laboratory skills. Students were then scored on exams and labs, along with an unknown factor, to determine the final five students to go to the international competition, and Sun was one of them. ”We figure the

‘unknown factor’ must have something to do with Yi’s charming personality,” said Nelson. The goals of the Olympiad, a nineday international competition among preuniversity students from more than 60 nations, are to encourage excellence in physics education and to reward outstanding physics students. Congratulations to Yi, and watch for an update in the first issue next year! *Also see Chemistry Olympiad news, page 26.

US Community Service Wrap-up ■ “Thank You” from Sunday Friends A special thank-you package recently arrived from Janis Baron, the program director of Sunday Friends. The package included 10

personal, handwritten letters and drawings from children and parents who benefited from Harker’s service trip in April. One parent wrote, “Many thanks for all your help. This program would not exist without you. Thank you for coming.” Baron also included the following message: “Dear Harker students – you stormed into the cafeteria on Sunday and brought your project to life. The kids just loved constructing the colorful Easter eggs with you and the final display, with the help of everyone, was completed in time. You made it a GREAT day!” ■ Mentoring Program The Mentoring Program at Bucknall, led by faculty advisor Le Nguyen,

has been a valuable experience for many students this year. Beginning in November, US students, Katie Ball (Gr. 11), Jocelyn Ko (Gr. 9), Alex Ladonnikov (Gr. 11), Arjun Naskar (Gr. 11), and Maya Ziv (Gr. 9) devoted an hour per week after school to tutor Gr. 2 and 3 students at the Bucknall library. When asked about what they enjoyed most about the program, Ladonnikov said, “Seeing a noticeable progression in my student’s reading and writing comprehension.” Ball replied, “I feel like I am actually helping the students better themselves in the subjects that I assist them with, whether it be spelling or organizing.” Additionally, a number of US students contributed countless hours this year as mentors to students in grades 4-8. We applaud these students for their commitment to share their time with younger students and for carrying on the tradition of service at Harker: LS MENTORS - Katie Ball, Jocelyn Ko, Alex Ladonnikov, Arjun Naskar, Maya Ziv; MS MENTORS Allison Kwong, Christin Tu. K-3 counselor Linda Heyes said about the program, “I feel it has been extremely valuable to our children here academically, as well as providing a strong, caring role model for the younger children.” US students interested in participating may contact Jaja Hsuan, US community service coordinator, or Le Nguyen in the fall. Harker News — June 04

reached their goal of $150,000 in May. That’s a lot of pennies! The issue included a caption highlighting Harker’s junior class surprise and US penny war results. Harker’s US placed in the top 20 fundraising schools this year out of 100+ Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay area schools. Thanks again for your participation and remember to start saving up those coins for next year’s fundraiser! ■ Mission Chamber Orchestra Volunteers A group of US students recently assisted at the Music Chamber Orchestra’s season finale concert in San Jose. They welcomed patrons, assisted musicians by transporting instruments, collected tickets and assisted the elderly and handicapped guests. Freshman Cooper Sivara explained, “The first thing we did was get all the of the programs ready. When [the guests] arrived, we were at the door ready to greet them. Before I helped the harp musician move the harp on stage, a fellow volunteer and I collected surveys of the concert from the guests…The event was very nice and the music was excellent.” Maureen Stroup, the volunteer coordinator, extends her gratitude to Cooper and the following students who helped create a memorable evening for the Music Chamber Orchestra: freshmen Rachel Bareiss, Jonathan Charlu, Tiffany Dai, Arkajit Dey, Liz Burstein and Andrea Wang; sophomores Houston Hoffman, Eric Tzeng, Irine Tyutereva; junior Paloma Solorio. Harker News — June 04

■ Summer Service Opportunities Although the school year has come to an end, our communities certainly will not be on vacation. Many underprivileged families, children and nonprofit agencies will be looking for additional support during the summer. Homeless shelters and soup kitchens will still have many people to serve. Local libraries and summer programs will need mentors and tutors for children. City parks and creeks will still need cleanup crews to help do away with litter. The bottom line is volunteers of all ages are needed year-round in your community. This is also, of course, a great time for US students to get a jumpstart on the service requirement for the upcoming school year. As a reminder, all service hours accumulated during the summer will count towards the 2004-2005 requirement. Visit http:// faculty.harker.org/JajaH/ for summer service ideas.

US Service Awards Jaja Hsuan, US community service coordinator, announced that this year’s Presidential Freedom Scholarship recipients, juniors Gregory Perkins and Alexandr Segal, were nominated for their outstanding leadership in service to the community. Both students have volunteered well over 350 hours each this year as youth producers for the Digital Clubhouse Stories of Service Project (see story at right). As producers, they trained younger students and worked with war veterans to create historical documentaries in a multimedia format. Their outstanding work is being preserved by the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution and the National Museum of American History. A new award was also created this year to honor US students who have shown an extraordinary commitment to service both within and outside the school community. The Harker Excellence In Service Award was presented to Sarada Pyda (Gr. 12) for her dedication to the recycling program at the Saratoga campus and as an ongoing volunteer at Stanford Hospital. Thirty Harker US students with over 100 service hours each this year were named for the 2004

Harker Students Invited as Delegates to WWII Dedication On May 26 three Harker US students joined ten other area teens to accompany an honored delegation of San Jose area WWII veterans to Washington, DC, to participate in the dedication of the World War II Monument on the Mall. During the long weekend, juniors Greg Perkins and Alex Segal, and sophomore Rohini Venkatraman, escorted veterans whose digital stories they had produced through the Digital Clubhouse Network (DCN) on the national “Stories of Service” project. At a Capitol Hill reception hosted by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, the students presented their story archives to the Library of Congress, and later “Stories of Service” student volunteers were to the Smithsonian. commended by the San Jose City Council Vice “Although this work is Mayor, Pat Dando, in chamber quarters prior really nothing to the Washington, D.C. trip. compared to what they did during the war, it was still nice seeing our efforts to preserve their memories recognized,” said Segal. Following the moving dedication of the Monument on Saturday, which they witnessed from the first visitors’ section, they escorted the local veterans to the Veterans Committee Banquet, then returned to the monument after dark to view it at night. “In a way we have validated our project, and immortalized it, while experiencing such a Veterans, students and Zoe Lofgren at fantastic dedication event,” her Capitol Hill reception. said Perkins. It clearly was a unique opportunity and moving experience for the students and veterans alike. Philip Perkins, Gr. 9, was also invited to join the group, but stayed behind to staff the Stories of Service table at the San Jose Memorial Dedication Event at the Convention Center. We commend all of these students for their countless hours of work documenting the stories of our veterans, and for being selected as official youth delegates. Diane Reese

Jaja Hsuan

■ Pennies For Patients News The totals are in for this year’s Pennies For Patients program, benefiting the Silicon Valley and Monterey Bay Chapter of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In the Society’s May issue of the “Penny Times,” the coordinators reported that they successfully

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Anita McFarnland, DCN

AROUND

President’s Volunteer Service Award, the highest national honor: GOLD CATEGORY (250+ hours): juniors Gregory Perkins, Alexsandr Segal; seniors Akash Shah and Sean Weinstock. SILVER CATEGORY (175-249 hours): Philip Perkins (Gr. 9), Rohini Venkatraman (Gr. 10), Shilpam Singh (Gr. 11) and Pranab Barman (Gr. 12). BRONZE CATEGORY (100-174 hours): freshman Sho Okubo and Vijay Swamy; sophomores Michael Hammersley, Timothy Ho, Akhil Mehta and Ariane Vartanian; juniors Ruchi Jhaveri, Nina Joshi, Meghana Komati, Audrey Leung,

Raj Misra, Shikha Mittal, Arjun Naskar, Liat Noten, Pia Pal and Ariana Vergara; seniors Maggie Chen, Stephanie Chun, Ana Maheshwari, Danna Rubin, Mickey Selbo-Bruns and Sheena Vaswani. “Each of these students has made a unique contribution to our community. They have embraced the understanding that education can go well beyond the confines of the classroom and that responsible citizenship means caring about more than just yourself. They have chosen action over inaction by getting out into the real world and making a difference in the lives of others. Kudos to all!” said Hsuan.

briefs

Grades 4-8

the final match of the season in order to determine the champion. Although they lost that match, the team had an outstanding season finishing 16-6, and 9-3 in league. The team was lead by PSAL league MVP A.J. Reid and 1st team allleague player Adhir Ravipati. Senior setter, and four-year starter Michael Leonard was named second team all-league as was senior hitter Shethel Bearelly. Eric Tsai and Lung-Hao Yu were named honorable mention all-league.

The LS boys’ volleyball team had a great season as well. They participated in two scrimmages and finished 1-1.The boys worked very

Ron Griggs

Boys’ tennis also went into their final league match with a championship on the line. The big match vs. Sacred Heart Prep didn’t go the Eagles’ way, but again, it was an outstanding season with the team ending up 11-5, 10-2 in league. They also qualified for the CCS playoffs for the third time in four years, losing a tough match to Robert Louis Stevenson in the postseason. Earning 1st team allleague was a sophomore Eric Liu and freshman Rohan Narayen. Four team members were elected second all-team league. Wesley Wu, Varoon Bhagat, freshman Michael Keller, and Harry Tseng were all honored. Honorable mention went to Khanh Tran and Jerry Hong, so congratulations to all the players for an outstanding season.

hard to pick up a relatively new sport to them and their skills improved dramatically throughout the season. Special recognition goes to Lung-Ying Yu, Matt Azebu and Eugene Huang.

Boys’ golf was the third Harker team to finish second in league this spring, finishing the season with a 7-1 record, one win shy of winning the title. Sophomore Jon Jenq and freshman Cooper Sivara were outstanding contributors to the team.

The MS tennis team, led by Eric Trinh, Harrison Schwartz, Dominique Dabija and Rohit Jayakar, recently completed another solid league season. The team also qualified for playoffs and was a Consolation Finalist!

Girls’ swimming enjoyed an outstanding season, taking 3rd place in the WBAL championship meet. Seven girls qualified for the

Thanks to all the 4th-8th graders who participated in after-school sports this school year. We had a very successful year and look forward to working with you again next year. —Theresa “Smitty” Smith, Gr. 4-8 Athletic Director

Upper School

league finals, with an additional five girls qualifying for CCS action. Nickisa Hodgson, Samantha Levinson and Lucille Hu all joined CCS qualifiers Lynn Chang, Tiffany Chang, Vivian Leung, Beth Low and Fiona Lundie. The team served notice that they will be challenging for the league title! Boys’ swimming enjoyed a successful season as well. While the league only has four teams competing at this point, the Eagle swimmers won all five meets they participated in, thus becoming the unofficial league champion. Senior Michael Tang led the way, along with Eric Gavarre. Track and field enjoyed a third place league finish with A.J. Reid, Jacob Bongers, David Ly and John Ollila leading the way. In fact, John was the league champion in the pole vault, thus qualifying for the CCS championship, where he jumped 13 ft. and made it to the CCS Finals. John has achieved a career high of 14 feet this spring! Jacob earned medals or ribbons in four different events, leading the team with 14 individual points earned for the squad. Girls track saw Lisa Nakano take 3rd in the 100 M high hurdles, while teammate Faustine Liao took 2nd place in the long jump.

Ron Griggs

The spring sports season has concluded with seven different sports having participated. Leading the way was boys’ volleyball, who finished in 2nd place in the PSAL. The team played Kings Academy in

Softball finished their season with a doubleheader split with WBAL member ICA. The team scored 24 runs in the win, highlighted by second team all-league performer Rachel Warecki. Ron Griggs

The MS boys’ volleyball team finished their season on a high note taking 2nd place in both the Harker tournament and the Mt. Madonna tournament. They finished the season 17-2, losing only to Mt. Madonna twice! Joey Shapiro, Brian McEuen and Nick Sutardja led the team.

suicide squeeze to win the game in the bottom of the 9th inning! The team was led by second all-league selection Jason Martin, just a freshman, and honorable mention selections Ben Shapiro and Allen Lin. The team started five freshmen this year in a varsity league and managed a 9-12 record.

Baseball ended their season with an exciting extra inning win over Pinewood, executing a perfect

The annual scholar athlete awards were presented at the final awards program with the Male Scholar Athlete Award going to senior A.J. Reid, chosen after he won league MVP honors in both basketball and volleyball. The Female Scholar Athlete was Vickie Duong, who doubles as a winner of the General Excellence award. In fact four out of the five general excellence winners for the 2003-2004 school

Chris Daren

SPORTS

year were varsity athletes, including Vickie Duong, who was accepted to Stanford. Co-senior General Excellence award winner Karan Lodha was also a two-sport varsity member while at Harker, and we wish to congratulate all of these fine student athletes. The summer time will be busy with athletics at Harker as both girls' and boys' basketball will be playing in summer leagues, while cross country, wrestling, football, boys' volleyball and girls' volleyball will all be in training. High school athletics require a great deal of commitment throughout the year in order to be successful, and our student athletes are quickly learning the value of commitment and dedication, in the classroom, as well as on the fields and courts. —Jack Bither, US Athletic Director Harker News — June 04

FROM

the archives

Late breaking news! A Harker Track & Field First!

Ollila won the PSAL championship and then qualified at the CCS semifinal meet – where only the top eight of the entire section advance to the finals – to earn his spot at the recent finals. John also threw the discus and was a member of the league’s second place 4 x 100 relay team. Not only is he a fantastic track and field par ticipant, John earned entr y into the CCS wrestling meet this past winter by finishing in the top three of league. Congratulations, John!

Summer NOTES: Open Gym Info The Harker athletic program offers times during the summer when the gym or other facilities are open and staffed for students to take part in a specific sport. All students attending any of these sessions must be enrolled in The Harker School for the 2004-05 school year: Basketball: Boys and girls entering grades 9 through 12 are welcome to take part in Harker’s summer basketball program. Volleyball: Boys and girls entering grades 6 through 12, especially those planning to play on the JV or varsity teams, come out and keep up your volleyball skills. Weight training and conditioning: Boys and girls entering grades 6 through 12 work on strength training, speed, agility, jump and endurance training. Double Days: US girls JV and Varsity volleyball players have mandatory days for practice. For information, dates and times of any of the summer gym for any of the above sports, please check the link on the Parent Home Page on the Harker Web site. Harker News — June 04

All photos from Harker archives

Harker junior John Ollila placed four th among all CCS pole-vaulters at the CCS track and field meet May 28, matching his personal best of 14 feet and being the first Harker track and field athlete to ever place in the CCS finals meet.

A Boy’s Best Friends: Ajax, Babo, Hokie, Klute and Dutch “Where else could you find a combination mascot-watchdog for 112 boys?” asked Major Donald Nichols, owner and superintendent of the Palo Alto Military Academy (PAMA), as reported in an article about the PAMA mascot Ajax in the Feb. 26, 1954, edition of the Palo Alto Times. Throughout the 1950s, ’60s and into the ’70s, the cadets of the Academy loved and cared for a series of Major Nichols’ pets who served as the Academy’s mascots. The Palo Alto Times article explained that the first of these was Ajax, a 180-lb. mastiff, who was flown from British Columbia as a puppy to the Academy in 1952.

He was often pictured riding in the back of Major Nichol’s jeep, “with all the ramrod dignity of a five-star general on a Saturday morning on an inspection tour.” The article also noted that Ajax was very protective of the boys and would go through the dormitory each night, checking each of the boys’ rooms “like a trained sentry. Of course, Ajax had a huge appetite. He once put away 12 lbs. of meat that the academy cook set out for overnight defrosting. Ajax was found in the kitchen contentedly sleeping next to the empty tray the next morning!” Where, you may ask, does a 180 lb. mastiff usually sleep? The article tells us that one morning Ajax was found “snoozing peacefully in one of the primary students’ beds, having nudged its former occupant onto the floor.” Ajax’s puppy, Babo, was also an Academy mascot in the late 50s, and Hokie, a St. Bernard who tipped the scales

at 200 lbs, followed him. An undated PAMA press release stated that Hokie was cared for by Lt. John Humphrey (‘69) who was practicing to be a veterinarian at the time. This dog participated in every aspect of life at the Academy, even accompanying the boys on the annual Squaw Valley ski trips. Another St. Bernard, Klute, came next. When Harker moved to the Saratoga Avenue location, the last

Throughout the 1950s, ’60s and into the ’70s, the cadets of the Academy loved and cared for a series of Major Nichols’ pets who served as the Academy’s mascots. mastiff, Dutch, followed the Major to the new campus and posed in this 1973 summer camp photo. For those of you old enough to remember, there was a reason behind the names of the mastiffs. Howard Nichols, class of ’56, said, “Ajax, Babo and “Old” Dutch were all the names of cleansers!” Though it is difficult to imagine big dogs around small boys in a school today, these canine friends were important members of the PAMA family. —Sue Smith, Harker Archivist

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Summer

Make sure you’re in town for the biggest weekend of the year…

The Harker School

HOMECOMING WEEKEND! Just BE there!

Reading

Rememb er your s ummer re Book lists ading! are poste d on the Parent H ome Pag e on the Web site Harker .

Homecoming Game Fri. Oct. 15, 7 p.m., Foothill College Eagles rule – and the crowd roars! US Homecoming Dance Sat., Oct. 16, 8 p.m., BKN Gym US students celebrate!

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ailed Next issue m eck the Parent Ch r. be em Sept over the Web site on Home Page l oo ch -s -to ck ba r the summer fo n! tio ca va a great updates. Have

Rock the Runway this Summer! Attend the summer fashion show meetings (see page 15) and get involved in this outstanding new event. Meet great people, help Harker continue to build this new event and have a great time doing it!

The Harker News is published nine times per year by the Harker Office of Communications. Current and archived issues are also available on the Parent Home Page on the Harker Web site at www.harker.org. Editor: Pam Dickinson Asst. Editor: Terry Walsh Printing & Mailing: Communicart Design: Blue Heron Design

Mailing Coordinator: Bran-Dee Torres Contributors: Lisa Bowman, Chris Daren, Nick Gassmann, Julia Gitis, Jaja Hsuan, Diane Reese, Ashley Sukovez, Laura Vandendries

Family Picnic Sun., Oct. 17, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., STG Campus The whole community plays! (See pages 4 & 5, this issue) Watch the fall edition for more details!

Keep Us Postmeyodur summer travels –

fro Send us a postcard campus a or the Bucknall og rat Sa either to the bulletin board a will post them on address – and we teachers d an ff sta room so the e up to! in the teacher’s u’r yo er will know what working this summ

The Harker School is a K-12 independent, co-ed, college-prep school.

Grades K-6: 4600 Bucknall Rd., San Jose CA 95130 Phone 408.871.4600 • Fax 408.871.4320 Grades 7-12: 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose CA 95129 Phone 408.249.2510 • Fax 408.984.2325

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

Harker News — June 04