MAY 2007 (VOL. 13, NO. 8) est. 1893 • K-12 college prep
A
M o n t h l y
inside Masterworks concert showcases instrumental groups from all three schools ......... 6 Both Gr. 3 Destination ImagiNation teams go to state finals ................................. 9 MS mathematicians place first in one contest, qualify for nationals in another ......... 10 Two US students win grand prizes, 11 garner awards at premier science fair .......... 18
events The MS Performing Arts Dept. presents
Bye Bye Birdie
N e w s l e t t e r
f r o m
t h e
Ha r k e r
S c h o o l
First All-Jazz Concert Brings Audience to Its Feet Jazz (and a little rock ‘n’ roll) came to a spring-themed Blackford Theater on Mar. 23. The US Conservatory presented Downbeat and Jazz Band to a packed and excited house. Downbeat started the evening with an awesome rendition of the pop anthem “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Then they passed the baton to the Jazz Band, whose first set included an amazing rendition of “Fever” with vocalist Andrea Wang, Gr. 12. Downbeat returned for an encore presentation of one of their fashion show hits and a swing medley, and Jazz Band closed act one with hep cat Winston Wey, Gr. 12, tearing up the house with his clarinet in a tribute to great bandleader (and clarinetist) Artie Shaw. The second act gave some departing senior Downbeat members a chance to perform some swan
Fri., May 11 • Sat. May 12 7:30 p.m. Blackford Theater Tickets: $5 Tickets available at MS Bookstore or tickets@harker.org
songs. Lauren Ammatuna, Gr. 11, and Siobhan Stevenson Gr. 12, sang a beautiful Broadway duet, Aseem Shukla, Gr. 12, surprised those who didn’t know he was a pianist with a jazz arrangement of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” and Nina Vyedin, Gr. 12, sang the smoky classic “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes.” The Jazz Band gave its sax section some major attention with the feature “Cruisin’ for a Bluesin’.” The evening ended with the first-ever Jazz Band/Downbeat combined number, “It Don’t Mean a Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing),” and the audience showed their appreciation with applause, screams and a standing ovation. Kit Schimandle, Gr. 12, designed the lights, and Esther Teplitsky, Gr. 12 and Andrew Hospodor, Gr. 12, ran the light and sound boards, respectively. Brian Larsen, parent and US technical director for the performing arts department and Paul Vallerga, LS performing arts teacher, oversaw the technicians and set design, and music department assis-
tant extraordinaire Tiffany Sanchez turned the theater into a spring treat for the eyes! Congratulations to directors Chris Florio, Laura Lang-Ree and Catherine Snider for leading their groups through such a cohesive and exciting program!
Hat Parade, Egg Hunt Kick Off Spring Break The LS Performing Arts Dept. presents The 2007 LS Dance Show
Chart toppers Fri., June 1 • Sat., June 2 7 p.m. • LS Gym Tickets: $5 Tickets go on sale in May. For more information, email tickets@harker.org Harker News — May 07
The annual kindergarten spring hat parade and egg hunt took place before the break at the end of March and the students had a great time hunting eggs in their spring finery! The hats, made at home, bring a thrill of anticipation to the parade and playground egg hunt. Refreshments were served for all. “Parents commented on the creativity of the children and thanked us for providing the chance to work on a fun project at home with their children,” noted teacher Nancy Curran. “The children enjoyed sharing with their classmates how they made the hats,” she added.
editor’s note Just an FYI that the 2007-08 Vacations & Holidays calendar is posted online, and we’ll have the more detailed division calendars available by midsummer. The next Harker News mailing which mails later than usual (midJune) - will include alumni and capital campaign supplements, so watch for it! Happy May! —Pam Dickinson, Director Office of Communications pamd@harker.org
photos Remember that we have hundreds of additional photos posted each month in our online galleries of our student performances and activities. They’re linked from the division home pages, so check them out!
kudos The Harker faculty recently participated in an all-day workshop sponsored by the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS). The event gave teachers an opportunity to mingle with colleagues from other schools, attend workshops in their disciplines and present workshops to their peers. Of the nine Harker presenters at the event, two were librarians: Lauri Vaughan (US) and Donna Ward (MS). The pair earned kudos from the editorin-chief of Knowledge Quest, an organization devoted to assisting in the development of library resources. The editor, Debbie Abilock, wrote to Head of School Chris Nikoloff, “I wanted to write how impressed I was with your staff presentations. It’s rare to see that kind of quality among school librarians – and to see collaborations with faculty and technology working so well. Harker’s teaching and learning deserves a national audience! Please let your library, tech and teaching staff know how inspiring they were.”
important dates
annual giving
Visit the Web calendars for the latest detailed date information for each division.
Heartfelt Thanks!
n Sat., May 26 – Graduation, Class of 2007 n Mon., May 28 – Memorial Day - No classes K-Gr. 12 n Thurs., June 7 – Last day of school for K-Gr. 11
Performances and Events n Thurs., May 3, 7:30 p.m. US campus FDR; Tickets: free of charge Cantilena presents their spring concert, with German, British and American music. Showcased in the program will be choral love songs written by Clara and Robert Schumann to each other. A song by Johannes Brahms, a very close composer friend of the Schumann’s, will also be on the program. n Fri., May 11, Sat. May 12, 7:30 p.m. Blackford Theater; Tickets: $5 This year’s MS musical is the Broadway favorite “Bye Bye, Birdie,” the story of an Elvis-like teen idol making a personal appearance in a small town before he is sent off to war. As a fun tie-in, the MS students will enjoy a spirit event, including a 50s-era dress-up day and a Bye Bye, Birdie Rubber Chicken Toss!
ByeBye Birdie
n Fri., May 25, 4 p.m. Blackford Theater; Tickets: free of charge Spring Sing! Join the entire Gr. 6 class and their special guests Vivace and Harmonics, as they guide us through a history lesson of music! n Thurs., May 31, 6 p.m. Blackford Theater; Tickets: $8 Bel Canto and Downbeat in concert! n Fri., June 1, Sat., June 2, 7 p.m. LS Gym; Tickets: $5 “Chart Toppers!” This year’s Bucknall dance concert showcases 220 Gr. 1-5 dancers (and their teachers) with routines set to Top 40 hits of the 50s to the present.
Chart toppers
For ticket information on the above events, email tickets@harker.org.
Correction An error in our Cinéfest Fashion Show supplement last month inadvertently omitted several of our outstanding greeters. Harker News strives for accuracy, and publishes corrections when appropriate. With our apologies, here is the complete list: Adam Creasman, Gr. 12; Alison Axelrad, Natasha Chitkara, Monisha Dillp; Scott Mohanram, Shanna Polzin, all Gr. 9; Malika Mehrotra and Ian Wolfe, both Gr. 8; Asia Howard and Christophe Pellissier, both Gr. 7; Slobhan Cox, Chloe Nielsen, Randall Riedel, Curran Shah, all Gr. 6..
The logo appearing at the end of some of our stories throughout the year indicates those activities or programs funded by Annual Giving. See page 6 for update.
chef’s corner Barbecue Time! Springtime has arrived and we’ll be concentrating on tropical fruits and barbeque until the end of the school year. In the tropical fruit department we’ll be serving pineapple, papaya, mango, bananas and kiwi, among other fruits. Pineapple and bananas are very familiar to us—they are grown in South America and Hawaii --but many fruits are now only available to us fresh due to modern shipping speeds. The mango, for instance, eaten fresh, used in preserves and as flavoring, is native to eastern India and Southern Asia, while the kiwis, eaten fresh, in beverages, desserts, and as a flavoring, are native to eastern Asia, according to www.tradewindsfruit. com. The papaya, eaten raw, but also used in juices, chutneys and various desserts, is native to tropical America but is now cultivated commercially across the globe in tropical and subtropical areas, the Web site noted. continued on pg. 20
The advancement office celebrated some of our hard-working volunteers in March at one of several thank-you luncheons held each year. Many thanks to all the parents and others who donate their time to Harker! Harker News — May 07
HEAD
lines
In Praise of Street Smarts: Let Kids Explore Their World children. Memory fools us into believing that the “good old days” were in fact better. Most mythologies speak of some kind of “Golden Age” from the past.
Looking back I am now struck by how free we were. My friends and I, in our small upstate New York town (so small that the town’s paper boy became the town’s garbage man when he grew up), were free to ride bikes, tromp in the woods, have sleepovers near the river, play sports in the neighbors’ fields, hold part-time jobs, and hang out in the center of town, all under very loose, casual adult supervision. “Mom, I am going outside to play.”
Students today do not seem to have unbroken stretches of unstructured, unsupervised time during which they have to negotiate, independent of any adult mediation, the real world. David Elkind, author of “The Hurried Child,” estimates that children, over the past twenty years, have lost approximately twelve hours a week of free, unstructured playtime. We usually regret this loss of free
The time period between the end of June and the first of September seemed to last forever, a true break from the responsibilities of school. I remember the month of July itself feeling like a lifetime. Remember the June bug’s crackling, shrill buzzing in the middle of a burning hot day? The long wail of the June bug seemed to stretch out an already long day even longer.
stretches of unstructured, unsupervised time during which they have to negotiate, independent of any adult mediation, the real world.” time because of how it may impact cognitive development. But I also regret the loss of street smarts in the broadest sense: the ability to think for oneself; to negotiate un-
these students to a variety of situations, adults and environments, and have let them learn to negotiate these independently. Margaret Meade, author of “Com-
ing of Age in Samoa,” noticed that the Samoan youth had a less intense, less exclusive relationship with their parents, and that they were largely raised by the other children and adults in the community. These youth had a considerably less difficult transition during adolescence than their Western counterparts. We know the African proverb “It takes a village to raise a child.” I would argue that a child needs a village to explore on his own, without his parents and without the safety of supervision or script. Paradoxically, a child has to learn that he is alone in the world and that his life is of his making before the world truly becomes his.
—Christopher Nikoloff, Head of School
update possible to see the ordinary human being behind the criminal; he’s an intense, deeply thoughtful individual, struggling seriously with the most important issues of his time,” Hanlon says. The play has connections to both of the new senior English seminars Hanlon is offering next year: Russian Literature and Modern European Drama. “Crime &
n US English teacher John Hanlon was cast as the lead (Raskolnikov) in the Northside Theatre Company’s production of “Crime & Punishment.” The play, based on the novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, takes place in the mind of the protagonist and brings to bear many of the forces that drive him to commit murder. “What’s always interested me about Dostoyevsky’s depiction of Raskolnikov is how it makes it
Supplied by John Hanlon
Supplied by Patricia Burrows
n Angelina Lai Tin-I Burrows, daughter of MS English teacher Patricia Burrows and her husband, Kit, entered the world at 2 p.m. on Mar. 23. Angelina weighed 7 lbs. 3 oz. and was 17 inches long. Mom, dad and baby are all doing well. Congratulations to the entire Burrows family!
Harker News — May 07
I am often asked if children need to attend public school to gain street smarts. No, I don’t think so. I see plenty of students in private schools who know how to handle themselves in unscripted situations, who interact with a variety of people well, who take responsibility for their own social graces, who do not take success for granted, and who have creative, ambitious responses to life situations. Their parents and schools have exposed
“Students today do not seem to have unbroken
Is this nostalgia speaking? Is this explained by the difference between a rural and a suburban or urban upbringing? The 1970s? A slower economy? Fewer opportunities for piano, karate or ballet lessons? Of course time seemed to move more slowly for us in the past, especially when we were
staff
scripted situations; to interact with a variety of people regardless of age or socioeconomic background; to take initiative; to know oneself.
Punishment” is playing at the Black Box Theatre in downtown San Jose until May 13. For more information, visit www.northsidetheatre.com. n Richard Hartzell, US division head, is moving to Taipei to assume the head of school position at the Taiwan American School beginning this fall. We wish he and his wife, Susanna Hartzell (who will also be leaving her position as an US Spanish teacher to teach at the school) the very best. We are delighted to announce that Samuel Edward Keller, Jr. has accepted the position of US division head beginning this August. Keller comes to us from The Steward School in Richmond, Virginia, where he served as US head for the past seven years. Before working at Steward, Samuel served in multiple capacities at Huguenot Academy in Powhatan, Virginia, including headmaster for four years. Samuel
holds a bachelor’s degree in education from St. Andrews Presbyterian College and a master’s degree in education from Delta State University. Please join us in welcoming the Kellers to Harker! n Recently appointed MS Dean of Students Lana Morrison has announced her replacement as the recreation director on the Blackford campus. Erin Clifford, who was a rec staff member in 2005-06, began her duties on Apr. 9. Congratulations, and welcome back, to Clifford!
HARKER
Blackford or Bust!! Yes, folks...it’s gonna be a Pioneer Picnic! Because of all the excitement of the planned construction on our Saratoga campus, we’re loadin’ up the wagons and headin’ west to our Blackford campus for next fall’s family picnic on Sun., Oct. 14. Funny how we’re feeling a lot like the pioneers of old...very excited, ready for a challenge and anxiously looking forward to what lies ahead! We’re bringing along lots of our favorite things and we’re thinking up some sure-fire new ones to go along with our wildest of western themes. We’ll be spinning the Wheels of Fortune and playing games galore! We’ll be sliding and climbing and dunking and riding, and panning for gold, of course! There’ll be plenty of great food and nonstop entertainment and a super silent auction in “Gold Country,” no less! So remember, though the location may change, there will always be “family” in the Harker Family Picnic...and plenty of fun, too!
picnic 2007
Pioneer Picnic Volunteers! The Picnic Posse is looking for good and hearty men and women to jump on our wagon train as we head West toward next fall’s Family and Alumni Picnic! We’re circling the wagons on:
Wed., May 30, 8-10 a.m. Blackford Multipurpose Room Drop in anytime! You’ll meet our Pioneer Picnic committee chairs, learn about a variety of volunteer opportunities, meet other parents, share your Pioneer ideas, and have a wonderful Western time! Questions? Contact Lynette Stapleton at 408.345.0112 or lynettes@harker.org
We’ve got a fantastic group of trailblazers leading the charge. Our ever-loyal picnic committee members are hard at work preparing our grandest of celebrations! Be sure to watch for information in the coming months about all the exciting activities and opportunities in store.
Hop to the next page for an Australian flashback with highlights and great adventures from last year’s picnic!
So saddle up...pack up your Wild West spirit and join us for an old-fashioned Pioneer Picnic!
Wagons Ho!
Picnic 2007 4
Lynette Stapleton and Kelly Espinosa, event coordinators
Picnic 2007
Picnic 2007 Harker News — May 07
Awesome Auction Trip Australia Vandana Kadam, K-Gr. 8 mathematics department chair, and her family won the signature trip to Australia at the October Down Under Family Picnic, and just returned from a fabulous time. The package included the flight to and from SFO and Brisbane and a seven-day stay at the Phoenician Resort at the Gold Coast. “We flew into Sydney and spent five days there, then went to Cairns to visit the Great Barrier
Reef for two days and then flew to Brisbane, and took a train to the Gold Coast (South of Brisbane) and stayed in an exclusive resort for a whole week,” said Kadam. Along with jet skiing and parasailing, the family had a number of sedentary and active adventures, including watching the finals of the triangular one-day cricket match between Australia and England at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground. “It was an
Provided by Vandana Kadam
awesome experience to get to see a match live at the SCG,” noted Kadam. “The Australian and English fans were cheering their respective teams and in general it was a very festive atmosphere.” On the active side of the coin, the family scaled the Sydney Bridge. “It is about a two-and-a-half hour hike to the top of the bridge and back,” explained Kadam. At the bridge, “they attach a harness that is tied to your body suit and the bridge railings for safety. The view of the Sydney skyline and the
Opera House is spectacular from the top,” said Kadam. Moving from dizzying heights to below the surface of the ocean, the family also went snorkeling and scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef, a 1,200-mile stretch of reef at the northeastern end of Australia. “The movie ‘Finding Nemo’ was filmed here. It is amazing that such colorful flora and fauna reside in the reefs,” said Kadam.
Sleepover Was No Snoozer
On a balmy Sunday in January, P.E. teachers Chrissy Chang and Melanie McKenna took four happy hikers to California’s oldest public park for a fun-filled day. Seventh graders Sarah Howells, Katie Siegel, Isabella Conrad and Sandy Fung enjoyed a beautiful day at Alum Rock Park in San Jose. Some of the memorable moments included a leisurely hike along the Penitencia Creek trail, rock jumping across Penitencia Creek, climbing the Todd Quick Trail, and lunch on Eagle Rock where the group had awesome views of downtown San Jose and the South Bay. The girls had this opportunity courtesy of Howells’ parents, who won the hiking package offered by Chang and McKenna at The Harker Family Picnic.
More than 130 LS students enjoyed fun and games on Mar. 23 at the Picnic PJ Party. Attendees spent the evening playing games, making crafts, watching movies and more. Fourth and fifth graders especially got a kick out of the night scavenger hunt, while younger students enjoyed donning glow-in-the-dark accessories, which brightened up outdoor activities. Although there were some tired eyes the next morning, everyone is eagerly awaiting next year’s event.
Provided by Melanie McKenna
Hiking Package a Day of Fun
Harker News — May 07
Perrotta, Assistant Recreation Director Kelle Sloan, recreation assistant Tristan Perks, and recreation staff members Nicole Burgi, Stephanie Burgi, Sabrina Nat, Maria Parry, Ashley Scheible and Matt Walsh.
Special thanks to the following staff chaperones: Gr. 6 history teacher Keith Hirota, Gr. 3 teacher Eric Leonard, classroom aide Paul Salazar, Gr. 2 teacher Tobias Wade, Dean of Non-Academic Affairs Kelly Espinosa, MS Dean of Students Lana Morrison, summer assistant Vanessa Bullman, bus driver Heather
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End of Year Reminder – Give Today!
I AT PA R T I C I P
If you haven’t already made your gift or paid your pledge to Annual Giving, please don’t delay. Our fiscal year closes this month, and we must have all gifts in for the 2006-07 school year. You may go online to make your gift and click on “Giving” from the Harker home page. Or you may send a check to the Harker Advancement Office, 3800 Blackford Ave., San Jose, CA 95117.
PDC Members Dine on Campus
CinéFest Reels in Awesome Amount The numbers are in! The income netted from our Cinéfest Fashion Show was $276,000! The beautiful showcases and silent auction brought in $29,901. Wow! Pictured here is the lucky winner of the $5,000 “Show Me the Money!” showcase. Kathy Fernandes and her husband, Tony, are the parents of Sean, Gr. 6. Congratulations to the Fernandes family!
Lisa Blickenstaff
harker
In April, we invited members of our Parent Development Council (PDC) to have lunch on our campuses. Members with children in K-Gr. 8 were able to relive their school days and join the cafeteria line with their children, while those with students in Gr. 9-12 enjoyed lunch with members of the faculty and administration. We are very grateful to our PDC members for their terrific work on the Annual Giving Campaign this year!
schoolwide
news
Masterworks Concert Was Music to All Ears Audience members were treated to a masterworks concert of great music on Apr. 12 in the Bucknall gym. All of Harker’s instrumental groups were on hand to display their talents, along with special guest, Cantilena. Louis Hoffman’s LS Orchestra performed an ambitious program of well-known works, including some Mozart and the theme from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The Gr. 6 Orchestra, directed by Chris Florio, did two exciting Rimsky-Korsakov pieces, one featuring clarinetist Katherine Woodruff, and then gave the stage to their schoolmates, the Gr. 7-8 Orchestra, who performed Schubert, Mahler,
Beethoven and Mozart. One of the many highlights of the concer t followed the first intermission, when Florio’s US Orchestra beautifully evoked the Scottish strains of Mendelssohn’s “Fingal’s Cave.” The set ended with the addition of Cantilena, the US women’s vocal ensemble directed by Susan Nace. Cantilena joined the orchestra for a mellifluous rendering of Brahms’ “Ave Maria.” Florio also dedicated an English piece by Vaughn Williams to violist Jennifer Owen, a US chemistr y teacher who has been playing with the group for four years, and who returns to her native England next fall.
Four members of the US Orchestra have formed a string quartet, and they opened the concert’s final set with a Mendelssohn piece. These excellent musicians, Audrey Kwong, Gr. 12, Jonathan Wang, Gr. 11, Joseph Chen, Gr. 12, and Julia Shim, Gr. 9, are to be congratulated for their sophisticated and melodic playing.
as the orchestra performed Aaron Copland’s love letter to the American pioneer, “Appalachian Spring.” Bravo!
Florio’s most ambitious selection was the climax of this spectacular evening,
Harker News — May 07
briefs
Here are some updates from our coaches and athletic directors, and some photos snapped of our students in action this past month. Enjoy!
from Kaytee Comee, Gr. 10. Other girls winners were Vivian Wong, Gr. 9, 200 IM; Stephanie Syu, Gr. 11, 50 and 100 freestyles; Tiffany Chang, Gr. 12, 100 butterfly and the 400 freestyle relay.
LS & MS Sports
As for the gents, “We now have six boys going to CCS as we got our third relay, the 400 free relay, to make CCS by almost seven seconds,” said coach Bart Wells. Other boys winners were the 200 medley relay, junior Senan Ebrahim, 200 freestyle; Cole Davis, Gr. 9, 100 freestyle; Justin Chin, Gr. 9, 100 backstroke; Andrew Chin, Gr. 10, 100 breaststroke. Including the relays, Harker now has 12 swimmers going to CCS!
LS spring sports, girls softball, boys baseball and combined LS/MS swimming at BKN, are in full swing. There are no games scheduled for these young athletes, except one game in late April for the boys baseball team. The results were too late to report on, in this issue, but watch the June issue for a wrap up! MS athletes have racked up five victories and a loss in spring play. n Tennis The first tennis match against Kennedy ended in a 72 victory for Harker’s coed team. n Girls Volleyball The A girls volleyball team beat Quimby Oaks Middle School, 2-1; the B girls volleyball team beat Los Altos Christian by the same score, and shut out Pinewood in mid-April 2-0. n Boys Volleyball The A boys volleyball team lost its first match to Quimby Oaks 0-2 and the B boys volleyball team beat Los Altos Christian 2-0. More as the season develops!
US Sports US sports covered a lot of ground in the few weeks since spring sports began. n Swimming Our boys and girls swim teams defeated Pinewood in mid-April, leaving both teams undefeated in their leagues! Both teams also defeated King’s Academy in late March and the girls 200 medley relay qualified for CCS behind an impressive butterfly leg Harker News — May 07
n Girls Lacrosse Girls lacrosse, a new sport at Harker, played their first home game ever, clipping Mercy-Burlingame 6-2.
n Softball The girls softball team defeated Pinewood in midApril 12-8 to improve their record to 9-5 overall. The team played a determined game against perennial power Mercy Burlingame in late March. Team members remained positive after the tough 5-4 loss in nine innings. The opposing coach was very complimentary about our players and coaches and spoke highly of the program’s turnaround this year.
n Boys Volleyball The boys volleyball team defeated Eastside College Prep in mid-April and is now 16-8 overall and 5-0 in league play. In late March, the team entered the Mercury News’ top 15 CCS rankings, at number 11, for the first time ever. The team hosted a tournament at Blackford in mid-March and the gym really erupted when unranked Harker defeated mighty Archbishop Mitty in
n Baseball The team played Independence and Willow Glen, losing both games but playing well. The team fought hard in late March but lost to well-respected Sacred Heart Prep. They were coming off an earlier victory, having beaten Pinewood 10-1 a few days earlier. As of mid-April the team was 7-7. n US Gym Chairs Harker athletes got a little extra cush where it counts when new sideline chairs arrived in March. The sturdy metal-framed, backand seat-padded chairs, stored at Blackford, are adorned with the Harker eagle and name and are sure to excite envy from visiting teams.
Earlier in March, the team won their three-team pool at the Watsonville Tournament by beating Greenfield 8-2 and Pinewood 10-7. They then lost to Menlo-Atherton in the playoff round 2-0. n Boys Tennis In mid-April the boys lost to powerhouse Gunn High School 5-2 in a nonleague match, but in late March had a pair of victories over Woodside Priory.
n Track and Field At the PSAL meet in March, senior Jacob Bongers placed first in the 400-meter run and first in the long jump. He also has the top mark in all of CCS in the triple jump. Late breaking news has Bongers winning multiple events in a mid-April meet. n Boys Golf Harker reached a milestone when freshman James Feng became the first Harker player to shoot under par in a match. “He shot 35 on the par 36 front nine at San Jose Muni,” said John Zetterquist, boys golf coach. “While we were defeated by Woodside, one of the two very strong teams in the league, 205-216. This is quite an accomplishment.”
Stephen Wong
SPORTS
GO EAGLES!!
the semifinals. The team lost to Mountain View finishing second, but that was the furthest any Harker boys volleyball team has gone in a tournament. Juniors Brian McEuen and Joey Shapiro both made the all-tournament team.
Lower
school
Students Bring a New Kind of Energy Projects ojects Brighten Community o Even Gr. 4 students are getting into the renewable energy debate. Jason Pergament’s science classes have been working hard on a city energy project highlighting nonfossil fuel energy sources. “I wanted the students to think about how their future will look as we run out of nonrenewable energy sources and start looking for new answers,” said Pergament.
Students have been hard at work with community service projects around the campus, starting with Gr. 1 teacher Mary Holaday’s class, which made posters for the annual donation drive for the Humane Society of Silicon Valley and hung them around the campus. V
“The students were instructed to build and wire a city using no more than one fossil fuel energy source. We have simulated/used models of nuclear power, hydroelectric dams, wind farms, solar panels and even tidal power,” he noted. Students wired the city of the future using working bulbs, switches and alternative energy sources. “This city is fantastic to see lit up and the students are very excited to share their work,” added Pergament.
“The project went quite well,” noted Holaday. “Students also made posters for the donation boxes and they made a book in computer class about loving animals. The bulletin board turned out well with a lot of pictures of the first graders with their pets,” she added.
From Russia, With Love
Holaday’s students found the process rewarding. “We took care of the animals without seeing them, but by collecting things for them,” said Satchi Thockchom. Classmate Eric Hooton said, “we tried to help the animals by giving them food. We helped the rabbits’ and hamsters’ teeth by giving them toys to chew on,” he said.
Harker connections to Russia are in full swing in Anita Gilbert’s classes. Gilbert, who teaches creative writing, said there are 88 students participating in the exchange with a Russian school.
In other community service news, a number of classes participated in the nationwide April 22 Earth Day grocery bag project, where new grocery bags were picked up from local grocers, decorated by Harker students with environmental awareness messages, then returned to the grocer for use on Earth Day.
“The school is named School Seven and it is in the city of Miass. The project got started through our technology department and Bill Bost, our global education director,” Gilbert said. Gilbert’s opposite number, Rimma Zhukova, a Gr. 5 English teacher, leads her fifth-grade students in the creative writing project. “Rimma sent me a picture of one of her classes and there were about 12 kids in it, but it is a big school and I don’t know exactly the number of Russian students participating,” Gilbert noted. “This…is a part of our fourth-grade creative writing project, ‘A Sense of Caring.’ Rimma e-mailed us some fantastic art along with statements in English telling about the subject of the art. They live near a big lake and the students have a great love of nature and of protecting their environment. “We, in turn, wrote ‘If’ poems which focused on careers that were more in the line of service, such as ‘If I Were a Doctor.’ The ‘If’ poems were illustrated and we had to mail about 80 plus of them to Rimma because there were so many.”
According to the Web site www.earthdaybags.org, “this project has put several million pieces of inspirational art, carefully created on grocery bags by children who cared about their Earth, in the arms and homes of people all over the world.”
Harker T Town Opens for Business One sunny day in March, students in Cynthia Proctor’s, Diann Chung’s and Mary Holaday’s Gr. 1 math classes transformed their classrooms into stores es in Harker TTown. Students made posters, priced and sold various items in the many stores. The little municipality also incorporated a farming community. The populace browsed through the stores, which included a General Store selling groceries and drinks; the Bead Barn, where customers could make bracelets and necklaces; the Antique Store, which sold “gently used” treasures; the Stationery Store, Movie Theater and the Livery, where students created their own pet rocks.
Harker art has been put on display at the Russian school. “I was so touched by this and so were my creative writing students,” said Gilbert.
Harker students received “some ver y lovely letters telling about their environment, and their love of nature,” said Gilber t. “Many of their letters are star ted with the phrase, ‘Dear Friends.’ A bond has definitely been made.”
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Cindy Proctor
In another project, Harker students researched an animal then used innovative ways of communicating their wish to protect these animals. Some students used personification; some were in the form of a diary entry.
There were also a bakery and chicken farm and even a dairy where students mixed their own chocolate milk. All students had the chance to be shoppers as well as store keepers and the exercise was a fun way to get ready for spring break. Harker News — May 07
Destination ImagiNation T Teams eams Earn A Awar wards, Advance to State Finals Sendonaris, Kathleen Y Yang and Darius Y Yohannan.
Three Harker teams attended the Silicon V Valley r egional Destination ImagiNation tournament held in mid-March at Indepen-
Susan Moling-Ekici
The contest has two parts, central challenge and instant challenge. For their central challenge, Switching Traditions, the DDogs researched cultural traditions of six countries around the world in
Harker’s Gr. 3 teams, Destination Dogs (DDogs) and Tigers, both took third place in their respective central challenges, Switching Traditions and Direct Flight, and both were invited to compete in the DI State Finals tournament in Sacramento in late March. Destination Dogs are Katharine Cutler, Grace Guan, Maya Jeyendran, Sadhika Malladi, Elisabeth Siegel and Vikram Vasan. Tiger members are Selin Ekici, Arjun Narayan, Michael Quezada, Elina
Srinivas Nori
dence High School. Two Gr. 3 and one Gr. 4 team par ticipated. T Teacher Jason Pergament was Harker’s official DI coordinator this year.
advance. At the tournament, as a challenge to their improvisational skills, they had to put together a skit about traditions from three of
the countries chosen at random.
matter what,” she noted.
In the instant challenges, once the challenge is given, teams have four minutes to work on building a solution and two minutes to present their solution, typically through a short skit, to the appraisers.
The Gr. 4 team, Golden Eagles, was awarded “DaVinci” medals for their work at the tournament. The award was made for the outstanding creativity demonstrated in the design of “The Voiceprint Machine,” which uses the proper ties of sound waves and visible light to identify a criminal in the team’s “CSI” project.
”Most of all, the kids (and the adults) all had great fun and they all want to do it again next year,” said David Guan, adviser and Grace’s father. The Tigers encountered some frustrating moments and occasional arguments while building their team spirit, noted Susan Moling-Ekici, one of the team managers and mother of Selin. However, with encouragement from their team managers the kids decided just to do their best and recognized that just making it to the regional tournament would be an accomplishment. “The fact that they won third place was just icing on the cake,” said Moling-Ekici. “They had already won the greatest reward: a deeper knowledge about and confidence in themselves and a crucial life lesson: to not quit or give up, no
The award goes to only one team out of the approximately 100 teams that par ticipated, noted Soma Bhattacharjee, team manager and mother of team member Madhuri Nori. According to the Web site, this award is given for having a unique approach to a solution, for risk taking, and/or for outstanding creativity. The Golden Eagles are Madeline Bourquin, Ajay Chitkara, Neil Chitkara, Allen Huang, Sindhu Ravuri and Nori. “We thought DI was a ver y fun and challenging experience and we learned a lot from it, including the impor tance of team work,” said Nori. “When we won the DaVinci Award it made our ef for t wor th it.” Teams that win a qualifying place at the State Finals will go on to the D.I. Global Finals, which will take place May 23-26 at the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville.
kid talk Who do you want to be when you grow up? Ariana Shulman, Gr. 5: I want to be an orthodontist because I’ve always wanted to be a doctor and help people, but I’m not so good with blood.
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Jonathan Friedland, Gr. 4: I want to be a video game creator because I like video games and I’ve thought about it before and I like being creative.
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Robbie Underwood, Gr. 3: I’d want to be a geologist or maybe a chemist because I like studying different types of rocks and I’m really into mixing stuff and seeing what happens.
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Allison Kerkhoff, Gr. 4: I want to be a history teacher because my history teacher right now really inspires me. In the second of two March sessions, this one at the LS, MS students spok spoke e to Gr Gr.. 5 students about transitioning to the Blackf Blackford campus next year year. The MS mentor mentors answered wered w ered questions and talk talked ed about academic requirements and campus life. Harker News — May 07
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Priscilla Auyeung, Gr 6: I want to be a chef because I love making food and watching the food network.
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Lower
school
Fairyy T Tale Characters Come to Life at Much-Anticipated Ogre A Awards
The show is written and directed each year by Enid Davis, library director. Special thanks to librarian
Kathy Clark, Danny Dunn of the performing arts department, and stage hands Smith, Ward and library clerk Maureen Lennon. Carolyn Bean, the library intern from San Jose State’s graduate library school, added her voice to help carry ry of f the tunes. The Ogre Awards, starring ring all the second graders, celebrates the world’s fairy tales and teaches life’s lessons in entertaining taining ways. As Aili, a foolish character from “Aili’s Quilt,” says to the fisherman’s
wife who went from fr being emperor emper to hovel dweller after she demanded to be God, “That was a pretty etty dumb wish!” wish! I guess we all need to know when enough is enough.
Harker Students Score in Worldwide Math Contest Students in all Gr. 3 math classes completed the third of three Continental Mathematics League contests in mid-March, and the results placed Harker in the top four percent worldwide, with one student
nie Woolsey, Gr. 3 and 4 math teacher. Classmate Ankita Sharma, with a cumulative total of 17 points, received a medal with Guan. Three students, Selin Ozcelik, Jonathan
Along with stellar individual results, the Harker team, based on the six highest scores from the school, finished as a regional winner winner, as well. earning a national award for her per fect score. Over 500 schools participated worldwide, and cumulative results for the third contest arrived in early April. The contests challenge students’ logical thinking and reasoning skills using a variety of word problems and, this year, Harker’s Grace Guan earned a medal for her per fect scores of six in all three contests. But over the break, even better news arrived. “In addition to earning a medal for being the top scoring student at Harker, Guan also earned a much larger national award medal for earning a per fect score of 18 on the three contests,” said Stepha-
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Dai and Panny Shan, each earned 16 points and were awarded certificates for participating with distinction. Akshay Battu, Kristen Park and Elisabeth Siegel earned 15 points each. Rishabh Chandra was out of the countr y for the first contest, but earned per fect scores on the second and third contests. Along with stellar individual results, the Harker team, based on the six highest scores from the school, finished as a regional winner, as well. The region includes states from the southwestern U.S. and from Germany, the United Kingdom, Japan and other countries around the world. “Although not earning high
cumulative scores, some students worked particularly hard to learn new problem-solving skills over the three months of the contest,” said Woolsey. Woolsey noted that a number of students are to be commended for steady improvement in contest scores, including Aashika Balaji, Connor Buss, Jacqueline Chen, Zachary Clausen, Katharine Cutler, Emma Doherty, Suraj Jagadeesh, John Nicolas Jerney, Abhinav Ketineni, Jonathan Ma, Sadhika Malladi, Michael Quezada, Nikita Ramoji, Natalie Simonian, Jonathan Ta, Robbie Underwood, Vikram ikram V Vasan and Jonathan Yiu. “This is the third year Harker thirdgrade students have competed in this contest, but the per fect scores achieved by Guan are rare,” noted Woolsey. “The students all seem to enjoy the challenge of these problems, as well as competing with students from around the globe. Thanks so much to the parents who contribute to the Annual Giving Campaign that makes participation in this contest possible for our third-grade students!” she said.
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Aneesh Samineni, Gr. 2, stung the competition in regional spelling, vocabular y and math bees conducted by Nor th South Foundation (NSF) in Southern California. He placed first in the Junior Spelling Bee and Level-1 Math Bee, and second in the Junior Vocabular y Bee. He was invited to attend the national finals to be conducted in Columbus, Ohio, Aug. 25-26. NSF encourages excellence in education among the children of the IndianAmerican community in the United States and Canada by conducting educational contests, and provides college scholarships to the poor in India.
Madhavi Parvathaneni
The 11th annual Ogre Awards, featuring 85 fairy tale characters, in full regalia, from more than a score of fairy tales, was held just before spring break. The show included a unique performance of “The Fisherman and His Wife,” special Ogre Awards to librarians Susan Smith and Donna Ward and an opening tune sung by Jennifer Cowgill, LS performing arts teacher. The actual Ogre Awards were of course awarded to favorite characters, and there were cameo appearances by “giant” Brian Larsen and “troubadour” Dan Hudkins, whose day jobs are, respectively, production manager for the performing arts department and K-Gr. 12 director of instructional technology.
Harker News — May 07
Middle
school
Internet Safety: Online Lingo One of the best ways parents can stay abreast of their children’s online activity is to be educated about the instant messaging “lingo” the kids are using. Check out these commonly used acronyms and share some of them with your kids. It may open the door to other more meaningful dialogue. Though they may be taken aback at first, your children will appreciate your taking an interest in their online life. It is also fun and you may learn a few things you can use when dialoguing with them online. Sending your children (friendly) IMs and e-mail is another way to get into their world. The terms in bold may indicate cause for concern.
Students A Await Laptop Rollout Laptop Alert! As the magic day where all MS students receive their own laptops approaches, Harker administrators are continuing the process of education on student and parents roles, if you will, in the rollout. In early April, all students went through a basic introduction to the program. Handouts were sent home with students outlining the choices, which included type of operating system and color choices for carrying cases.
—Angela Neff, Assistant Director of Instructional uctional TTechnology
Commonly Used Online Acronyms 121: one to one ADN: any day now AFAIK: as far as I know AF AFK: away from keyboard A/S/L: age, sex, location B4: before B4N: bye for now BF: boyfriend BFN: bye for now BG: big grin BTA: but then again BT BTW: by the way CID: crying in disgrace CNP: continued (in my) next post CP: chat post CU: see you CUL: see you later CYO: see you online DBAU: doing business as usual FUD: fear, uncertainty, and doubt FWIW: for what it’s worth G2G: got to go G: grin GA: go ahead GAL: get a life GF: girlfriend GFN: gone for now GMBO: giggling my butt off GMTA: great minds think alike GMT HAGN: have a good night HDOP: help delete online predators HHIS: hanging head in shame IAC: in any case IANAL: I am not a lawyer (but) IC: I see IDK: I don’t know IMNSHO: in my not-so-humble opinion
IMO: in my opinion IOW: in other words IPN: I’m posting naked IRL: in real life L8R: later LD: later, dude LDR: long distance relationship LLTTA: LLT A: lots and lots of thunderous applause LMIRL: let’s meet in real life LLTR: long-ter m relationship LULAB: love you like a brother LULAS: love you like a sister M/F: male or female OLL: online love OTOH: on the other hand RPG: role-playing games SHID: slaps head in disgust SO: significant other SOMY: sick of me yet? SOT: short of time TTYL: talk to you later UW: you’re welcome WB: welcome back WFM: works for me WIBNI: wouldn’t it be nice if WTGP: want to go private? WTG: way to go YM: young man
The Online Lingo list was obtained at: http://www.netsmartz. org/netparents.htm. See: HDOP: Help Delete Online Predators.” Netsmartz. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. 28 Mar. 2007.
Harker News — May 07
Two days later, Harker hosted a parent informational meeting. Parents had an opportunity to ask questions and preview departmental demonstrations of some of the valuable methodologies the laptops will provide for our teachers and the learning experiences they will create for students. “We are very excited to initiate this program in the middle school, providing every teacher the opportunity to diversify their instructional options and each student the ability to broaden their academic resource base,” said Cindy KerrEllis, middle school division head.
Librarians Crank Up the V Volume Students gathered in the library for an old-fashioned game playin’ session on the Friday morning before spring break, courtesy of librarian Donna Ward. Students from all three grades stopped by to play Scrabble, Monopoly, Risk, checkers, chess, Sorry ry and dominoes, among other games. “We call these events V Volume Up Friday,” said Ward. “The students can come to the library, listen to music and play board games. They are welcome to talk freely and are not told to quiet down,” she noted. “There are e no distracting computers allowed during V Volume Up Friday. The students look forward to being able to talk more loudly in the library, listen to music and hang out with their friends whilst playing a fun board game. The sessions have been very enjoyable both for them and for the library staff,” Ward added.
Latin T Test Results Trickle In Latin students eagerly await the results of tests taken in February and March, but at press time, some information had just become available: the California Junior Classical League (CJCL) has awarded $300 scholarships to Jessica Lin and Ramya Rangan, both Gr. 7, to be used for travel to the National JCL Convention at the University of TTennessee in July. Only nine scholarships are awarded statewide. Sophomore Elizabeth Cutler received one too, noted Lisa Masoni, MS Latin teacher, giving Harker students a third of the awards in the state. “The basic concept is that the scholarship helps those students who will make a positive contribution to the California delegation, to attend the national convention,” said Masoni.
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Middle
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Two wo Students Make State MathCounts T Team, eam, Others Rank in League T Test est Harker had an awesome showing at the state MathCounts competition held at UC Davis in mid-March. Patrick Y Yang, Gr. 7, came in second and classmate Albert Wu came in third, and both of them will
chelle Deng, Revanth Kosaraju, Wu and Y Yang. In addition to the Harker team members, two students went as independents, Ian Wolfe, Gr. 8, and Ramya Rangan, Gr 7. “Everyone performed exceptionally well,” Kadam said.
Vandana Kadam - all photos
Team members Yang, Wu, Y Kosaraju and Deng ranked second, third, 15th and 17th, respectively, and inde-
represent California at the National MathCounts competition to be held in May in Fort Worth, th, TTexas. “This is a first for Harker!” said Vandana Kadam, K-Gr. 8 mathV ematics department chair. “It is extremely hard for any school to get multiple students on to the state team of four students. Of the four students in the California team, three are from Northern California and two of these are from Harker,” she noted.
Raji Swaminathan
Harker, the Santa Clara Chapter MathCounts champion, was represented at the state MathCounts competition by seventh graders Mi-
chapter champions, along with independents. A parallel contest was run at UC Irvine. Four top students from these 338 students (both venues) were chosen to be part of the California team to go to the national competition in TTexas. Those four had the same exact score (41 points out of a possible 46). To break ties, the difficulty level of the problems answered was considered. “This success is highly encouraging to the students,” said Kadam. “This is an incredible achievement for the students and for the school.” In addition, the results of the California Math League test held on Feb. 27 are in. All students in Gr. 6, 7 and 8 participated in the contest. The league states that a score of 15 points or higher is commendable and a score of 30 points or higher is exceptional.
pendents Rangan and Wolfe took 13th and 27th, respectively. The scoring was extremely close, noted Kadam. “Just to give you an idea of the competition, Ramya scored 38 points, only three points less than the first to fourth place winners, and moved to 13th place.” Thirty-two teams participated, all
The Gr. 6 team score was 175, placing first in Santa Clara County and sixth in the state. TTop scorer Ashvin Swaminathan had a perfect score of 40. Other high scorers were Sierra Lincoln, 35, Michael Cheng and Tyler yler Y Yeats, each scoring 34, and Vladimir Feinberg g and Ravi T Tadinada, each with 32 points.
The Gr. 7 team score was 192, placing Harker second in Santa Clara County and second in the
state, just two points behind the first place team. The top scorer was Deng with a per fect 40, Revanth Kosaraju hot on her heels with 39, Daryl Neubieser and Patrick Y Yang with 38 each and Ollie Peng, Katie Siegel and Wu with 37s. The Gr. 8 team score was 193, placing third in Santa Clara County and sixth in the state. TTop scorers were Jerry Sun, Benjamin Tien and Wolfe all with 39, Timothy Weng, 38, and Ambrish Amaranathan, Tiffany Chien, Amanda Kim, Max Lan, Jasmine Nee and Ganesh Sivakumar all with 37 points. Outstanding!
Students Ask ‘What’s the Matter?’
Class Reaches Out to Autistic Kids
It was a matter of matter classification in teacher Raji Swaminathan’s Gr. 7 science class in late March. Students classified 12 items into elements, compounds, solutions, suspensions and heterogeneous mixtures. ”It is an excellent and efficient lab which drives across the concepts learned very quickly,” noted Swaminathan. Students Jessica Lin, Priyanka Sharma and Priyanka Mody reported, “When we tested the glue and the milk of magnesia with the red laser pointer, we saw that both of them scattered the light. So, they are suspensions. We realized then that when we drive over the Golden Gate Bridge on a foggy morning with headlights on, the same thing happens. Fog is a suspension too. This is cool!”
Harker’s sixth graders are reaching out to kids with autism. History teacher Jared Ramsey has forged a campus exchange with The Morgan Center, a local school that serves children and young adults with autism.
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“The exchange allows our students to work alongside individuals with autism. By doing so, it is my hope that our students will gain a view of their community,” explains Ramsey, who worked at The Morgan Center before joining the Harker faculty. Harker students will help clients of The Morgan Center develop basic skills, the most important being social skills, through group lunches, study sessions and physical activities. “I hope this will be an eye-opening experience for our students,” adds Ramsey. Harker students say they enjoyed their first visits to The Morgan Center and are eager to return. “The Morgan Center was a special experience,” says Michael Amick, Gr. 6. “I got to meet new people and make new friends…I cannot wait to go back.” Despite their disabilities the students at The Morgan Center have a lot in common with those at Harker, notes Sondra Costa, Gr. 6. “The Morgan Center was a new and wonderful experience,” she says. “Things were different than here at Harker. The kids may have been ill, but if you look through them, they are very much like us.” Harker News — May 07
eCybermission T Team Heads to D.C.
Was It Art Class or Wood Shop?
Harker Gr. 7-8 eCybermission teams racked up a series of awards this year, and one team will represent Harker in Washington, D.C., at the national competition.
When Elizabeth Saltos hands out an art project, she doesn’t fool around. In late March, her Gr. 7 and 8 students found themselves measuring wood and wire, drilling holes, then painting and assembling their art projects.
The Gr. 7 BacteriaBusters, Daniela Lapidous, Ramya Rangan, Neel Salukhe and Revanth Kosaraju, won first place in the southwest region in their grade level for their work on E. coli contamination mitigation. Each member received a certificate of award and a $3,000 savings bond, along with the trip to the nation’s capitol in mid-June.
“This assignment was to design an abstract sculpture using wood as mass and wire as line, modeling the period of art called ‘Russian Constructivism’ from around 1912-1932,” said Saltos. “This unique and exciting period of art … integrated industrial design and the industrial revolution into the fine arts in a way that is unmatched in art history.” Raji Swaminathan
The students used hand tools to cut, prep and assemble wood and wire elements. “We used wooden dowels as connectors so the art could be assembled and disassembled to paint each section different
Two Gr. 8 teams each took home awards as well. The Chargers, Guillaume Delepine, Shreya Nathan, Justine Liu and Supraja Swamy, won the Innovation, Originality and Creativity award for energy conservation work, and the Musical Monkeys, Tif Tiffany Chien, Jennifer Dai, Kristi Lui and Sheridan Jones, won the TTeam Collaboration and Communications award for their work on the ill effects of radiation. Each of the eight students will receive a $2,000 savings bond.
Freshman Orientation In mid-April, eighth graders had an opportunity to find out more about life as a freshman at the freshman orientation held at the Saratoga campus. Information on classes was presented, along with “an overview of the high school years, a video of activities and a scavenger hunt with the help of upperclassmen guides,” noted Nan Nielsen, director of admission and financial aid. Visiting eighth graders toured various spots on campus collecting swag as they went, including a travel mug, “Go Eagles!” post-its, a bumper sticker and Harker pens and pencils. Sponsored by the admissions office, the evening event was the first gathering of the Harker Class of 2011 and in honor of the occasion, pizza and soft drinks were served.
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kudos Cindy Tay, Gr. 7, was selected in March as a state finalist in the 2007 “Letters About Literature” contest held by the California Center for the Book. Out of 4,600 entries, her letter was one of only 10 selected for the Level II award. Tay’s letter, to long-deceased author Jack London, expounded on how much the reading of London’s tale “White Fang” opened her eyes to literary riches as well as philosophical notions of survival of the fittest. Tay’s letter will be published in the center’s annual booklet honoring winners and she has been invited to attend the awards ceremony in late April. According to its Web site, www.calbook.org, California Center for the Book is a nonprofit agency affiliated with the California State Library and The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress.
Harker News — May 07
Elizabeth Saltos - both photos
Another Gr. 7 team, the Calnilers, Albert Wu, Evan Yao, Jennie Xu and Michelle Deng,, won the TTeam Collaboration and Communication Award for the southwest region, each receiving a $2,000 savings bond and a certificate of award. Their research was on West Nile Virus issues. colors. Craftsmanship ranks very high in this project,” Saltos said. Rachel Fang, Gr. 8, noted that the biggest challenge was “using tools – you have to get it right when you cut. The most fun was getting to do something we wouldn’t do anywhere else. This is out of our normal experience in the classroom. It was really fun to learn how to use tools,” she finished. The preparation for each piece was important. “The students had to design using the materials we had, draw it in process and show where they used five of the principles of design in the work. We had aid-process critique where the students defended their art and explained where they used principles such as harmony, balance, emphasis, gradation, etcetera,” said Saltos. V Various lessons were learned. Adam T Tong, Gr. 8, noted,”The challenge was preparing materials to take the paint. I had to redo pieces and it was frustrating but I did learn a lot.” Others discovered special talents. Priya Sahdev and Ashtyn Ka, both Gr. 8, said they “liked painting the pieces and putting it together. We also liked cutting stuff up.”
Engineer Leads Biotech Lesson Seventh graders had a chance to learn about biotech just before spring break when Dr. Alfredo Alba from the IBM Almaden Research Center visited Raji Swaminathan’s classes. “He talked about the scarcity of scientists and engineers in the growing field of biotech,” said Swaminathan. “He talked about biotech automation – the need for sophisticated computers to analyze millions of DNA data, bioinformatics, the Human Genome project and stem cell research. “It was fascinating,” noted Swaminathan. “Each period had different types of questions, so each class presentation was unique. We just ran out of time in each class since kids had many questions for Dr. Alba,” she finished. Alba has a master’s degree in physics and a Ph.D. from Stanford. He joined IBM in 1997 and the research center in 2001, where he has designed and implemented discreet mathematics models and software solutions in the IT, biotechnology and intellectual property fields.
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UPPER
school
Boomshaka Stomps Onto Campus
Clubs T Tackle Impor tant Causes
US students were mesmerized at a performance by Boomshaka at a recent assembly. The high-energy drum, dance and rhythm ensemble from Northwestern University visited Harker while on tour in Northern California. The student-run group is produced by Jackie Laine ’03, a former Conservatory member herself. Using trash barrels, metal cans, poles, drumsticks and their bodies to put together complex rhythms, this coed group was a combination of Stomp, a drum line, a dance group and a comedy troupe.
The Harker Environmental onmental and Animal Rights TTeam (HEART) has had a busy time in March and April. The club, led by senior Kari Berglund, president and advised by biology teacher Jeff Sutton, continued their weekly recycling collection on the Saratoga campus, watched daffodils bloom from their November planting and voted to donate money to the Rainforest Alliance for the second year in a row. The group has had presentations on nuclear and wind energy, and held discussions on global warming.
JETS T Teams Sweep Competition Harker’s s JETS (Junior Engineering TTechnical Society) state results have come in, and they confirm last month’s sweep of the local competition. The JETS competition consists of two parts: Part I is multiple-choice and determines regional and state winners. Part II is essay and is used for national rankings. The national JETS office announced the schools with highest Part I scores in the nation, “and and for both V Varsity arsity and Junior V Varsity arsity that honor this year went to The Harker School,” noted Tony Silk, math teacher and coach to the group. Harker’s state results esults put our V Varsity A (an all-senior team) in first place. Members are Justin Chin, Danyal Kothari, Richard Kwant, Jessie Li, Tiffany June Lin, Daniel Paik, Jacqueline Rousseau and Aline Zorian. The Harker V Varsity B (an all-junior team) took second place. Members are Catherine Chiu, Paul Christiano, Rachel Fong, Spencer Liang, Scott Liao, Thomas Roxlo, Jonathan Shih and Tonia Sun. And the Harker JV A (an all-sophomore team) took first place in the JV category. TTeam members are Shubha Guha, Aaron Lin, Sean Mandell, Anand Natarajan, Vikram Nathan, Lexi Ross, Denzil Sikka and Daniel Tien. All three teams will advance for national scoring, said Silk.
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Heid Wang
The ensemble returned later the same afternoon to lead a workshop for 20 lucky Conservatory students. The 18-member group divided the students (and a few Conservatory faculty members) into several small groups and taught them a dance and rhythm routine they had performed at the assembly. After about 40 minutes of hard practicing, the students and “Boomers” merged into two large groups and confronted each other across the gym, stomping, slapping and clapping their way through the short routine in a moment reminiscent of the Sharks and Jets from “West Side Story.” “It was really fun, and I definitely didn’t need my regular workout that day!” said music teacher Catherine Snider.
The W WAC AIDS Benefit Lunch raised $3,050 in suppor t of Thai Y Youth Action, a program designed to educate the youth of Thailand on ways to avoid contracting HIV/AIDS. Area restaurants generously donated food and the maintenance department and Harker head chef Steve Martin and his crew donated their time to help set up the “WAC Shack” in the gym. While
over 300 students and teachers dined on an international feast, two guest speakers, Britt Ehrhardt from the Firelight Foundation and Sally Adelus from om Hospice of the V Valley, spoke about AIDS prevention and Hospice of the V Valley’s care programs for the terminally ill and their families. One of the fund raisers for Global Awareness Week was the production and sale of Global Grooves, a CD featuring music by Harker students, staff ff and faculty. To help promote the CD on Global Awareness Day, Marc Hufnagl, English teacher and junior class dean, played an in-classroom set on the acoustic guitar. US musicians pitched in, too. MOPS, the Music Outreach Program, hosted a Hepatitis Awareness Week in late March, featuring a documentary on liver illnesses, especially Hepatitis B. According to a US bulletin announcement, one person dies of liver cancer or liver failure caused by Hepatitis B every minute. Catherine Chiu, co-president of MOPS, hosted two sessions teaching juniors about Hepatitis B and convinced about 60 students to wear special T-shirts. “Since Hepatitis B affects about ten percent of the Asian population, the 60 people were meant to represent ten percent of the Harker (Saratoga student) population,” Chiu said. Latin Club members found themselves in a high profile role working for a good cause in early March. The 11 students answered calls from those wishing to pledge money to KTEH, a community educational television station. “One of our goals this year was to have a club ser vice project and I suggested doing the member pledge phone-in at KTEH,” said adviser and Latin teacher John Hawley. “I had more volunteers than spots I could fill, and only sophomores and above were permitted by the station. They loved what they were doing, although it was a bit daunting at first to talk with the public. “Their task was to answer the phones and take the pledges from member donors. They liked the activity so much they wanted to do it again,” Hawley noted. Harker News — May 07
Community Service a Win-Win
In late February, a large group of seniors went to see a stage production of the popular novel “The Kite Runner” by Khaled Hosseini. “Because Hosseini’s novel had touched so many of us, our class was really looking forward to the ‘Kite Runner’ production,” said John Heyes, English department chair.
Students have been volunteering at Scott Lane Elementary, a K-Gr. 5 school in Santa Clara, for the second year in a row. The group works with the children every Wednesday from 3 to 5 p.m., said Kerry Enzensperger, director of community service. “The students play games, do art projects and help with homework. Our students absolutely love it; many of them have completed
Students each found something different in the matinee performance. “What I enjoyed most was being able to compare my own imaginings about scenes from the novel with the way those scenes were acted out in the performance,” said Elyse Kim. Classmate Ashley Morishige said, “I really enjoyed seeing the play after having read such an amazing book, especially because whenever I read, I like to see, to hear and to understand other people’s perspectives. The novel had so much to it, so it was fantastic to see the essential threads of the story on stage. Because so many seniors went, the trip was a great opportunity for us to bond and to have a fun day out.”
Kerry Enzensperger - all photos
Seniors Attend ‘Kite Runner’ Play
Global Warming rming a Hot T Topic With so many programs on the topic going on on campus, it is hard to ignore the convincing argument that global warming does, in fact, exist. The documentary “An Inconvenient Truth” was screened at two consecutive lunches and was required for all second-semester Ethics students. Ethics teacher Shaun Jahshan explained that her students had been watching clips of the documentary in class and were looking at the topic as an ethical dilemma: do people have an ethical obligation to help correct the problem? They are also planning to have a forum with Jeff Sutton’s Ecology class to see more concrete evidence. Jahshan said the ethical points of global warming come in to play with the fact that there is a simple causality to all actions. “If you leave your car running or leave the lights on, it directly affects our planet and global warming,” she noted. Jahshan explained that both she and her students found that throughout the movie the most interesting parts were all the different data and concrete facts given to prove global warming. Jahshan advocated following recommendations mentioned in the movie, including changing light bulbs, using hybrid cars, carpooling and not leaving lights on or cars running.
their community service hours and yet they still go every week.” In other activities, 25 Harker students met at a self-storage facility in Santa Clara to sort, inventory and pack medical and school supplies to be loaded for shipping to Africa to help those in need. Enzensperger led the group. “The students were amazing: even through the heat of the day, and let me tell you it was hot working on the blacktop in the sun, they were optimistic and enthusiastic. The help was much appreciated and the efforts were for an amazing cause,” she said. In addition, US students have been helping out sorting goods for RAFT, the Resource Area ea for TTeachers, which provides low cost supplies to Bay Area teachers, Enzensperger noted.
Assembly Celebrates Diversity
Students were motivated by the movie’s call to action, too. Serafine Chen, Gr. 12, said, “After watching that movie, I felt that people had a moral obligation to help improve the issue at hand. I think we have to do something to stop the global warming that seems to be plaguing the world, not only as a duty to our home and ourselves, but also for our children and the people who follow after us.” She noted that it is hard to see the movie and not want to do something to help.
Others are already in motion to push for change. Senior David Linder gave a speech in mid-March, before the movie ran, regarding global warming. Linder showed the audience that it does not matter whether or not we believe global warming is fact or fiction – there are still harmful effects of greenhouse gasses plaguing the planet. He emphasized the message that it is up to us to help. After seeing the documentary and having her students watch it in class, Jahshan said, “It is important to start seeing humans all as being connected and part of a larger whole … and when we start acting together, we can really do something major to help.” With all the brain power coming out of Harker, something good for the earth should follow! —Beckie Beckie Y Yanovsky, Gr. 10, HN intern Harker News — May 07
Esther Teplitsky T
There were other students who were not yet convinced global warming is a problem, but are concerned. Tiffany Chang, Gr. 10, said she is not sure whether or not she believes in global warming, but maintains that if it does exist, we should definitely do something to stop it.
Multicultural week culminated in Multicultural Day just before spring break, and there were celebrations galore. The special assembly started early on March 30, featuring food, folks and fun, and was touted as the perfect occasion to dress up in ethnic clothing from around the world. The event is a time to celebrate Harker’s diversity with food and entertainment from national and other cultures around the globe. Students and faculty set up tables in the gym representing different countries, with colors, photos, artwork, food, games or other items that represented the chosen ethnicity. Students and faculty mingled, sampling foods and cultural icons while keeping at least one eye on the cultural performances on stage. All in all, it was a great way to kick off the break!
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We’ve been reporting on the advancement off senior David Linder up through the ranks of the Lion’s Club Student Speakers Competition. The latest news is that Linder made his second appearance at the district level in April. He has gotten further than any other Harker student in this competition, and this next level is much more difficult than all of the previous levels, as 46 clubs participate at the district level. In the second week of March, four Harker students joined over 2,000 other high school students from 12 countries, 31 states and one U.S. territoryy in New Y York City for the National High School Model United Nations Conference (NHSMUNC). The conference was sponsored by the International Model United Nations Association, a non-governmental organization registered with the United Nations.
Carol Green
Representing Albania, Harker students worked 16-hour days through floor speeches, caucuses and vot-
ing blocs, while practicing diplomacy in order to come to a consensus about some of the biggest issues facing the United Nations and the world today. Stephanie Benedict, Gr. 11, Neha Sabharwal, Gr. 10, Christine Yu, Gr. 10 and Sophia Gilman, Gr. 10, debated on the floor of the United Nations General Assembly Hall, passed resolutions regarding issues ranging from trade liberalization to global illiteracy and listened to speeches from Dr. Hamid Al Bayati, permanent representative of Iraq to the U.N., as well as James J. Carragher, a senior foreign service officer in the U.S. Department of State. Communication studies teacher Carol Green said, “With 170
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countries represented by student delegations, NHSMUN is one of the largest MUN conferences in the world. The program is an excellent opportunity for students to engage in learning about aspects of conflict resolution and international relations, and to practice problem solving, communication skills and research skills in an interactive, noncompetitive learning experience.” The following week, nine Harker students joined 1,500 students from across the country at UC Berkeley for the West Coast Model United Nations National Conference. Students represented Georgia, Singapore and the Philippines in various General Assembly sub-committees and in the International Atomic Energy Agency. Senior Aseem Shukla, juniors Sabena Suri and Shaila Punj, sophomores Vivek Reddy, Denzil Sikka, Aditya Y Yellapragada, Raghav Aggarwal and Richa Goyal and freshman Mahum Jamal worked hard in preparing research papers for the conference, as well as speeches and resolutions during the conference. Senior Caitlin Contag and Aggarwal faced competitors from seven states and made it to the semifinals of Public Forum Novice Nationals in Iowa City, Iowa, in late March. Debating whether or not the amount of credit available to American consumers ought to be limited, Contag was also named second speaker at this national tournament. Harker debaters also joined 43 other schools at the Second Y Year and Novice Debate Nationals at Woodward Academy in Atlanta, Ga. Our students advanced to elimination rounds and received speaker awards in their various divisions:
Novice policy debaters Andrew Zhou & Kevin Zhang, both Gr. 9, advanced to the quarter finals before losing a close decision to debaters from the Bronx Science School. Bansal, Ayush Jain, Gr. 10 and Juliane Tran, Gr. 10, all advanced to the quarter finals; Ramachandran and Vakkalagadda both advanced V to the semifinals of their respective divisions. Late breaking news from director of forensics Matthew Brandstetter: Please congratulate Deepa Ramakrishnan, Gr. 11, Caitlin Contag and David Linder for earning qualification to this year’s National TTour nament of Champions in Lincoln-Douglas and Public Forum Debate, respectively. The annual
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Matthew Brandstetter
Debate Students Keeping Busy from Coast to Coast
tournament is held at the University of Kentucky in early May. This is the seventh consecutive year that Harker has earned an appearance at this national event. “Kudos to Harker coaches Rick Brundage and Carol Green for their tireless efforts in helping the students achieve this national recognition,” added Brandstetter.
kudos ■ Violinist Audrey Kwong, Gr. 12, won first prize in the 2007 Peninsula Symphony Y Young Musicians Competition. Kwong competed against more than two dozen of the Peninsula’s finest young musicians performing Barber’s “Concerto for Violin and Orchestra.” In addition to a $500 prize, Kwong was invited to perform the Barber concerto with the Peninsula Symphony on July 29. “I am really, really looking forward to playing with the symphony in July,” she said. “I love the (Barber) piece … and I’ve played it for a whole bunch of events and auditions.” Kwong has been playing the violin since she was about 3 years old and has been the concertmistress of the Harker orchestra for the past six years. “She is undoubtedly one of the most talented musicians Harker has ever had,” said Chris Florio, K-Gr. 12 orchestra and US jazz band leader. “Audrey is not only a fantastic soloist but also a great leader.” The Peninsula Y Young Musicians Competition was filmed by Peninsula TV26 and will be aired at a later date. ■ Junior Gwynnie Vernon and her business group took third place at the Rotary Enterprise Leadership Conference and moved on to present at the Los Gatos Lodge. “Our business group was ‘Mabric Apparel,’ a corporation my team and I created that would solve the problem of small rips in sports uniforms,” noted Vernon.
In Second Y Year Policy Debate, Pratusha Erraballi, Gr. 10, earned 10th speaker.
“In our clothing, we would use a fabric made of very small polyester fiber hooks that do not rip, but rather separate and just have to be rubbed back together to realign and hook back up, getting rid of the tear,” she said.
In Second Y Year Lincoln-Douglas Debate, Chetan V Vakkalagadda, Gr. 10, earned eighth speaker and Mohit Bansal, Gr. 10, fourth speaker.
At the conference, the 96 students from various public and private schools divided into 12 teams who competed to create the best business promoting a new product or service needed in the world, she added.
In Novice L-D: Anu Ramachandran, Gr. 10, earned 5th and Ketan Ramakrishnan, Gr. 10, earned fourth speaker awards.
In the end, three teams out of the twelve were selected to present to the Los Gatos or San Jose Rotary clubs; Vernon’s group presented in late March.
Harker News — May 07
Masako Onakado
Tea T ea and T Tests ests for Japanese Classes
Symposium Was Better Than Ever
Just before spring break, students in Level 2 and Level 4 Japanese took part in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies. Japanese 2 students visited Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, where they strolled around the beautiful grounds and feasted on lunch from a local Japanese restaurant. Afterward, students attended a tea ceremony at the tea master's house. Although some students complained that their legs hurt after sitting for the lengthy ceremony, most said they learned a lot and enjoyed the day. “One word to describe the field trip: awesome!” said Eric Nguyen, Gr. 11. “I felt more in tune with nature, and the views of the ponds and tall bamboo were quite amazing.”
The second annual Research Symposium was held in late March, and there were a number of changes from last year, said Anita Chetty, science department chair and faculty organizer for the event.
Meanwhile, Japanese 4 students attended an in-depth workshop and traditional tea ceremony in San Francisco called the Way of TTea, sponsored by the Japan Information Center of the Consulate General of Japan. Students learned the etiquette, order and meaning of the tea ceremony (often called a “tea gathering”). After the workshop, students enjoyed lunch in Japan TTown. “I thought this trip was really informative in that it not only taught us about how a tea gathering is performed, but it also gave us an insight into the history of tea in Japan,” said Divya Mandava, Gr. 11. On a separate note, in December, 20 students took the Japanese Language Proficiency oficiency TTest, and most passed. The test has four levels from Level 4 (lowest) to Level 1 (highest). The following students passed their respective tests: Level 2 – Marisa Cheng, Gr. 10 Level 3 – Shizuka Tiernan, Gr. 9; Emily Chow, Jessica Hsueh, Whitney Huang, Grace Hudkins, Ying-Teh g-Teh Andr ew Lee, Divya Mandava, Robert g-T Oh and Rachel Yuan, Gr. 11; and Brittany Schieron and Jennifer Whang, Gr. 12. Level 4 – Alyssa Donovan, Carolyn Kuo, T Tsung-Ju Jef f Lu, Mai Nguyen and Nikhil Raghuram, Gr. 10; and Brian Ma, Gr. 11. Congratulations to all!
Student Advances in Physics Olympiad Anand Natarajan, Gr. 10, made the semifinals for the 2007 Physics Olympiad – and is still in the running for the finals. Natarajan was one of four Harker students who took the initial exam, and one of just 200 students nationwide who made it to the semifinals. Natarajan has already taken the semifinal exam; as of press time, semifinal scores had not been released. Natarajan said he was excited – and even a bit surprised – to learn he made it into the semifinals. “The problems are quite challenging and cover a broad scope of physics material,” he explained. Students who pass the semifinal exam will travel to the East Coast for a “physics camp,” where a final team will be selected to travel to the international competition in Isfahan, Iran, in July. In 2004, Harker’s own Yi Sun ’06 was chosen to compete in the final competition in South Korea. The American Association of Physics TTeachers and the American Institute of Physics sponsor the annual competition in which a U.S. physics team is chosen to represent the United States at the International Physics Olympiad Competition. (Note: According ding to the U.S. Physics TTeam Web site, unless the political climate in Iran improves, the United States may not send a team to the finals this year.) Harker News — May 07
This year’s symposium featured 34 presentations by students, including two from other schools, and six special sessions. The keynote speaker was Monica Kress, instructor of physics and astronomy at San Jose State University. “Harker’s 2007 Research Symposium was a resounding success,” said Chetty, adding that there were about 10 more presenters this year. “The symposium is an opportunity for students to present research papers to members of the Harker community as well as specially-invited guests in a noncompetitive setting. “This year the biggest difference was that there was a greater emphasis on student participation overall. This year, we had only one adult speaker, the keynote speaker. Apart from one other special session presentation, the rest of it was purely student presentations,” she said. “We also put a greater emphasis on getting students as audience members. Another new thing this year is that (science teacher) Kate Schafer, myself, and Dan Matthews (physics and electronics teacher) held one-hour workshops. My topic was research internships. Kate’s was on writing technical papers and Dan spoke on research competitions. These were very well-attended,” Chetty noted. “The other thing that was new and very exciting was that we had Google and Intel as our corporate sponsors. The reason we wanted the corporate presence was to raise the profile of the symposium, and also to let the students understand the connection between research and development and the economy of Silicon V Valley,” Chetty stated. “Our eventual objective is to make it a nationally recognized event, so this year we invited student presenters from Lynbrook and Monte Vista high schools, selected for their success in science competitions. “We plan to have an ongoing research page, highlighting successes at various competitions, what is going on in the research class and link to abstracts from student papers,” Chetty summarized. Best of luck each year as this seminal event develops!
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School, Students Earn Top pA Awards at Prestigous Science Fair
dozen of Harker students took home some solid awards. As a school, Harker was awarded a plaque and $1,000 as an Outstanding School from the Whitney Education Foundation as one of the three schools with the best biological science, physical science and ESUHSD (East Side Union High School District) projects. This honor included a $100 cash award from Trimble Navigation. Students won two grand prizes in the Synopsys Championship 2007, Upper Division category. Sushant Sundaresh, Gr. 11, won a grand prize and trip to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair under the biological sciences affiliation sponsored by MedImmune; and Arkajit Dey, Gr. 12, won a grand prize and trip to the Intel ISEF under the Physical Sciences affiliation, sponsored by Intel. Sundaresh’s project is called “Host-Bacterial Specificity during Legume-Rhizobium Symbioses” and Dey’s, “Tree-Realizability of a Distance Matrix.” Harker students garnered eight first place awards, starting with trio Alice Chang, Tracy Chou and Tiffany Dai, all seniors, who were each awarded a first place prize and a $100 cash award from the California Water Environment Association, second place in category, a $100 cash award from Trimble Navigation Ltd., a certificate of achievement from the American Society of Civil Engineers and a certificate of achievement and
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the opportunity to advance to their Stockholm competition from the Water Environment Federation’s Water Prize. The trio’s project is titled, “A Comparative Study of Costa Rica’s Guacimal and San Luis Rivers’ Water Qualities Using Visual Assessments, Chemical TTests, and Macroinvertebrates to Appraise the Effects of Urbanization.” In addition, Jonathan Charlu, Gr. 12, earned First Place TTechnical Paper for his project, “The Effects of Motor Neurons Derived From Stem Cells in Delayed vs Immediate Treatment”;
V Vacuum Society - Nor thern California Chapter; $100 cash, Certificate of Achievement, and book about female scientists from the Association for Women in Science - Palo Alto Chapter; a book and certificate from the Promethium Chapter of Iota Sigma Pi; and First Place High School and $150 from RAE Systems. Her project is titled, “The Orientation of Polydiacetylene Ethanolamine Monolayers.” Finally, Daniel Matthews, physics and electronics teacher, was awarded $100 from the American Vacuum Society, Northern CaliforV nia Chapter, and a teacher award
of $500 from the Santa Clara Science and Engineering Fair Association board of directors. “Harker’s participation has increased from four students in 2003, to 15 students this year with 10 of 12 projects winning prizes,” noted Matthews. “Six students from the research class received at least one award, as did two projects from the Costa Rica trip. One other note: Anthony Silk of the US math department has been a judge at the fair and will present the US Navy and Marine Corps ISEF award,” Matthews added.
Spanish Fashion and Poetry Students in Harker’s Spanish classes are learning more than how to speak the language. They are learning first-hand about Spanish culture – and having fun at the same time!
Jocelyn Ko, Gr. 12, earned First Place in Category for her project, “Identification of the Cytolytic Subpopulation within the MCIK Cell Population”; seniors Jessica Lee and Joanna Xu each earned a First Place in Category for their project, “Incidence of Fungal Infections and Insect Damage in Coffea Arabica Leaves.” Tiffany June Lin, Gr. 12, earned First Place TTechnical Paper and a year’s subscription to Scientific American from Scientific American for her project, “Effect of Duct Shapes and Surface Areas on Fluid Velocity of Porous Materials”; JusV tin Iso, Gr. 10, earned Honorable Mention in Category for his project, “Anatomical Function in the Marine Mussels’ Adhesive Plaque”; Andrew Stanek, Gr. 10, earned Honorable Mention in Category for his project, “Transformation of EcoBI Restriction Enzyme Defense.” Carolyn Wang ng earned Honorable Mention in Category; first place student, $100, from the American
Diana Dailey Moss
The results of the Synopsys Silicon V Valley Science and Engineering Fair are in and a baker’s
To culminate a unit on clothing vocabulary, students in Diana Moss’ Spanish 1 class recently held a fashion show featuring styles for every activity and season. Students modeled to Salsa music while other students described the outfits in Spanish. “(It was) the Spanish department’s version of CinéFest 07!” Moss joked. Meanwhile, on March 29, students of every level competed in the 27th annual Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer Spanish Poetry Contest at St. Lawrence Academy. “This is an invitational contest for Spanish students throughout Santa Clara County in which students memorize and dramatically interpret a poem in Spanish of approximately 24 lines,” Moss explained. “Two students are selected to represent every level of Spanish 1 to 5 and native speakers.” As a school, Harker earned second place. Individual awards were as follows: Katarina Kertysova, Gr. 12, first place (Spanish 1); Rashmi Sharma, Gr. 9, first place (Spanish 2); Nina Duong, Gr. 11, first place (Spanish 4); Neha Sabharwal, Gr. 10, third place (Spanish 4); Laura Sánchez-Hartzell, Gr. 12, second place (Native Speakers); and Kendra Moss, Gr. 9, third place (Native Speakers). “The Spanish teachers are extremely proud of all of the students who participated, and we send out a special thank you to (drama teacher) Jeffrey Draper for once again serving as dramatic coach for the participants,” said Abel Olivas, chair of the foreign and classical languages department.
Harker News — May 07
Harker Hosts JSA Mini-Con The second annual Junior State of America Mini-Con 2007 was held at Harker in late March, with students from the JSA chapters at Harker, Saratoga and Notre Dame (San Jose) high schools. The challenging question of the day: U.S. Democracy in the Middle East: Imperialist or Liberator? Handson or Hands-off?
Question: Can the United States’ foreign policy ser ve both the U.S. and the rest of the world? Or should we acknowledge wledge that we will ser ve our own wledg n ends fir first? The opening keynote speaker was Mitchell G. Bard, a leading authority on U.S. and Middle East policy and executive director of the nonprofit AmericanIsraeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE). Bard is also the director of the Jewish Virtual Library, the world’s most comprehensive online encyclopedia of Jewish history and culture. Dr. Bard has appeared on Fox News, MSNBC and NBC. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from UCLA. The closing keynote speaker was Ghada Saliba-Malouf, a San Franciscobased attorney at a leading national financial institution with close personal ties to her native Lebanon. Saliba-Malouf is active with a number of ArabAmerican organizations and was appointed by two mayors to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and served for eight years, three years as chair. Saliba-Malouf received her J.D. from Golden Gate University in 1992. Attendees debated a number of questions, including whether or not the U.S. should take an active role in facilitating talks between Israel and any elected Palestinian government and whether or not the U.S. should or should not provide aid to any Middle Eastern state that does not concede the sovereignty of all other United Nations member states. The closing question was: Can the United States’ foreign policy serve both the U.S. and the rest of the world? Or should we acknowledge that we will serve our own ends first?
ATTENTION: Class of 2007!
H a r k e r a l u m n i association
Save the date! — Sat., June 2 Sav The Harker Alumni Association’s 2nd annual All Alumni Day & A Awards Sat., June 2, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saratoga campus All alumni invited, along with current and former teacher staff and board member teachers, members. The highlight of this event is the presentation of the 2007 Harker Alumni Association Awards and we hope many of you will come out to honor this year’s recipients: ■ John Owens ’85 – HAA Distinguished Alumni Award ■ Leena Bhalerao ’02 – HAA Community Service Award ■ Margaret Peterson – HAA Phyllis Carley Award “Last year’s pilot event was a success and alumni truly enjoyed visiting with Harker teachers and staff,” said Terry Walsh, alumni director. “This year we are expecting many alumni from the grad years celebrating their class reunions – 2002 (5 year), 1997 (10 year), 1992 (15 year), 1987 (20 year), 1982 (25 year), and 1977 (30 year),” added Walsh. Invitations will be in the mail soon. Contact Terry Walsh at terryW@harker.org for more information.
Musicians Impress CMEA Judges
Victory Eludes Robotics Ream
Harker musicians attended the California Music Educators Association solo and ensemble festivals throughout March. Students performed classical pieces in front of an adjudicator, who then worked with the student(s) in a kind of master-class setting. The adjudicator then assigned the student or ensemble a rank: Superior, Excellent, Good, Fair or Needs Improvement. If the adjudicators are so inclined, they may also give a superior-ranked student a Command Performance, which earns the student the right to perform again at an ongoing concert for all festival goers.
The Harker robotics team must have had a few philosophic moments this season, as victor y has been elusive. On the heels of a stressful day at their mid-March competition in Los Angeles, just two weeks later, at UC Davis, QUIBIT, the Harker robot, suffered complete failure of a critical component. “They never did get the manipulator arm to work at UC Davis, so the robot was not able to score and had to play a strictly defensive game,” said Eric Nelson, science teacher and team adviser.
At the instrumental festival, only 23 coveted command performances were given out to the over 250 attendees. Nine were from Harker, the highest contingent from any one school, making those students now eligible to participate in the state festival in May. Congratulations to Audrey Kwong, Gr. 12, violin; Jonathan W Wang, Gr. 11, violin; Stephanie Kim, Gr. 11, violin; Julia Shim, Gr. 9, cello; Roger Kim, Gr. 12, guitar; Robert Oh, Gr. 11, flute; the string ensemble of Kwong, Wang, Shim and Joseph Chen, Gr. 12; clarinet duo Diana Lai, Gr. 10 and Winston Wey, Gr. 12, and cellist Jeffrey Kwong, Gr. 7. A large contingent of vocalists attended the CMEA vocal festival. Two of our students, Jessica Dickinson Goodman, Gr. 12, and Ana Henderson, Gr. 10, were awarded Command Performances. Anita Satish, Gr. 9, received a Superior rating, and the rest of our vocalists received Excellent ratings: Nicole Lindars, Gr. 9; Ida Gorshteyn, Elena Madan, Amaresh Shukla and Kartik V Venkatraman , all Gr. 10; Nina Duong, Ariel Gaknoki and Whitney Huang, Gr. 11; Emily Isaacs, Samantha Jagannathan and Anjali Menon, Gr. 12.
“Unfor tunately, we were paired up with other robots which were also not able to score. As a result, we tied 0-0 our first two games and then lost 0-32 and 0-17 on the next two. We won the next game 32-16 but by then we were dead last and stayed there. We tied 0-0 on the following game and lost 16-6 on our final game,” Nelson said. The day was not without a high point. “We did win the XEROX Creativity Award which celebrates creativity in design and use of a component,” said Nelson. “Our robot had student-designed wheels that allowed it to move freely in any direction without the need to turn around. These Mecanum wheels, pictured at right, gave the robot a lot of mobility, which is great if you can score, which was the original plan. The robot does have cool wheels, but it was not competitive,” Nelson summed up.
The Harker News is published nine times a year by The Harker School, Office of Communications, 500 Sarato Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129. Periodical Postag Postage Rate is paid at San Jose, CA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address dress chang changes to The Harker News, 500 Sarato Saratoga Avenue, San Jose CA 95129. The Harker News provides timely information, news and features about the Harker community to current and alumni Harker families.
Harker News — May 07
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In the News
California Baseball Adventure
n San Jose Mercury News – Mar. 15 Harker senior Tiffany June Lin was pictured explaining her science project to Santa Clara County science fair judges. She was one of many students to participate in the 47th annual fair, which was sponsored by Synopsys, a Mountain View software firm.
The perfect trip for baseball fans and adventurers alike! See a game in every California baseball park, travel on a snazzy bus, check out batting practice, learn how to be a great baseball fan, visit other sites in Southern California, sample the food at each park, spend a day at Disneyland and so much more!
n Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal – Mar. 2 Featured as part of the Journal’s Valley Life section, the 2007 Harker Fashion Show was recognized for its fundraising. n Sunnyvale Sun – Feb. 14 Ambrish Amaranthan, Gr. 8, was featured as one of many Harker students who have become fencers. For more than 18 months, Amaranthan has dedicated himself to this fast-paced, high-endurance sport by practicing two to three times a week for three hours at a time. n West San Jose/Winchester Resident – Feb. 9/Feb. 10 Robb Cutler, Harker’s assistant head of school for operations and finance, and Mike Bassoni, the director of facilities, attended a meeting of The Blackford Neighborhood Action Coalition where they discussed the upcoming major construction to take place at Harker in summer 2007. n Contra Costa Times/San Jose Mercury News – Jan. 18 A surprise assembly, complete with camera crews and reporters, was called to announce that three Harker students had been chosen as semifinalists in the Intel Science Talent Search contest. Out of pool of 1,705 entrants, nine semifinalists came from the Bay Area with seniors Adam Creasman, Arkajit Dey and Carolyn Wang representing Harker. n Cupertino Courier – Jan. 17 The US math team was recognized for their accomplishments at the 2006 Ciphering Time Trials, a national mathematics contest administered by National Assessment and Testing. Harker students receiving individual recognition included Jeanette Chin, Gr. 9, Justin Chin, Gr. 12 and Charlie Fang, Gr. 11. n San Jose Mercury News – Jan. 5 One of two Bay Area volleyball middle blockers to be mentioned, Tanya Schmidt, Gr. 11, was listed among the nation’s top 50 college prospects from the class of 2008 by prepvolleyball.com. n West San Jose Resident – Nov. 23 During a schoolwide assembly, 16 Gr. 6-9 Harker students were rewarded for their accomplishments in the 2004-05 eCybermission competition. District 1 Councilmember Linda LeZotte presented the students with a combined total of $58,000 in U.S. savings bonds for the students’ drive to help solve real world problems within their communities. n Boston University Today – March 2007 Meghana Desale ’03, a junior at Boston University, has been named a 2007 Truman Scholar. Sixty-five students from 56 U.S. colleges and universities were announced by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, the president of the Truman Scholarship Foundation. Desale will receive $30,000 for her graduate studies, as well as special opportunities for graduate training, counseling and federal internships. She will be awarded her scholarship at the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., on May 20, 2007.
Fri., June 15 – Fri., June 22; Cost $1,350 Staff: Pat Wash, Jason Pergament, Natalie Philpot. This program is part of the Summer Program but is not listed on the paper application or the online form because it is only available to Harker students. If you wish to apply, please download a paper form and write in the trip on the payment line. Spaces on both trips are limited, and spots are filled on first-come, firstserved basis. Full payment required with registration.
Grab a Friend, Win a Trip to Raging Waters! The best thing about summer is spending it with friends, so we’re encouraging Harker students to talk to each other, make a plan and spend some time at Harker this summer! When you sign up for camp with a friend, you will both receive a very special 2007 Camp Travel Pack that includes a 2007 Passport to Summer T-shirt, water bottle and dog tag! Plus, you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a trip with your Harker friend to Raging Waters! Visit the division home pages on our Web site for the special sign-up form! Please let us know if you have any questions about Summer@Harker – lots of choices, and something for everyone!
Chef’s Corner - continued from pg. 2 On to barbeque! In consultation with Harker nutritionist Anne Kolker, we’ve worked out a healthy barbeque menu and will be grilling in the patio area periodically until the close of the school year. “Grilling is a dry method of cooking using radiant heat directed from below or above the food,” said Kolker. “Harker’s culinary team has already cleaned up the grill and will be introducing students to the wonderful taste sensation of grilled vegetables and fruits this spring. Vegetables actually taste a little sweeter when grilled because the sugar is more concentrated. Just brush them with a little vegetable oil prior to grilling and add salt or other seasoning. “Fruits also benefit from being brushed with oil prior to grilling so they don’t stick. For added flavor, brush them with margarine, sugar and cinnamon,” and make kebobs for “side dishes that the kids will really enjoy,” Kolker advised. —Chef Steve Martin
The Harker School is a K-12 independent, co-ed, college-prep school. Grades K-5: 4600 Bucknall Rd., San Jose, CA 95130; Grades 6-8: 3800 Blackford Ave., San Jose, CA 95117; Grades 9-12: 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129 Harker believes that all persons are entitled to equal employment opportunity and does not discriminate against its employees or applicants because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions), national origin, ancestry, age (over 40), marital status, political affiliations, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, or any other basis protected by state or federal laws, local law or ordinance.
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The Harker News provides timely information, news and features about the Harker community to current and alumni Harker families. Editor: Pam Dickinson; Lead Writer: William Cracraft; Copy Editors: Catherine Snider, Jennifer Maragoni; Production: Crystal Boyd, Blue Heron Design Group, Jaja Jones; Photos: Mark Tantrum, unless noted; Printing: Carol Sosnowski; Mailing Coordinator: Desiree Mitchell. Harker News — May 07