Harker chess players had a very successful weekend at the U.S. National Game/30 and Game/60 Championships in Santa Clara. In the main Game/60 event (where games are set for a maximum length of 60 minutes), Omya Vidyarthi, grade 2, claimed first place in the 1200-1399 rating category, winning all four rounds.
Harker students also competed in a scholastic side event held that same weekend, in which Kyle Chang, grade 7, placed first in the Game/60 competition’s 400-599 category, and fourth grader Mihir Kotabgi earned a respectable seventh in the 800-999 category. Together with the points earned by seventh grader Max Pflaging, Harker was the first-place Under 1000 team with a total score of 8.5.
In the Game/30 scholastic event, where games are played with a 30-minute time limit, Kotbagi’s second-place performance in the 800-999 category and the points earned by Saanvi Bhargava, grade 5, in the 400-599 category helped put Harker in a solid fifth place in the school team standing.
Over Labor Day weekend, chess players Saanvi Bhargava, grade 5, Kyle Chang, grade 7, Mihir Kotbagi, grade 4, and third graders Lucas Lum and Ayden Grover, competed in the 2017 Labor Day Kids Championship in Santa Clara. Their combined victories resulted in Harker taking second place overall as a team, with Bhargava and Chang each winning four of the five games they played. Great work!
Sept. 8 was a special day for Heather Russell’s grade 3 morning language arts students, who became the first at Harker to use virtual reality (VR) technology as a teaching tool in the classroom. Students wore headsets equipped with smartphones that displayed special YouTube videos, giving them a full 360-degree view of the area shown in the videos.
The students used the technology to take a virtual trip to Tokyo’s Shibuya Station, one of Japan’s busiest rail stations. Russell instructed them to be on the lookout for the statue of Hachiko, an Akita dog famous in Japan for waiting at Shibuya Station every day for nearly a decade for his deceased owner to return. Hachiko’s perseverance made him a national symbol of loyalty.
Russell’s students, who had been reading a story about Hachiko, watched two videos with the use of the headsets and wrote out their reactions to each video, describing how they might feel if they had to travel that way to school each day and how they might feel if they were Hachiko himself.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2017 issue of Harker Magazine.
Pat Walsh is a legend at Harker. The lower school math teacher has been at Harker since 1976, first as a summer camp coach, then dorm houseparent, and is retiring this year. He’s done it all, including driving a bus, coaching sports and organizing Harker’s Thanksgiving food drive for most of his career here. Students who went through his classroom remember him forever, and it’s clear from his interview that the passion he has for teaching, for his family, for volunteer work (and, oh yes, his obsession for the San Francisco Giants) is why his students love him so dearly. Walsh’s wife, Terry, whom he calls “the rock of our family,” worked at Harker for 35 years, and their three sons, Matt, Danny and Kevin, all attended Harker through grade 8.
What is something one of your parents said that you will never forget?
My mother was a teacher, and she told me a teacher’s No. 1 job is to be an advocate for all of their students. And in order to be an advocate, one has to focus on a kid’s good qualities … and every kid has plenty of good qualities.
What was one of your funniest classroom moments?
It’s embarrassing. Years ago while teaching third grade, I let my room mom, Melody Moyer, talk me into wearing a cupid outfit for the Halloween party. The kids were absolutely howling when they saw me. Now on Valentine’s Day, we play “Pin the Diaper on the Cupid.” It gets pretty silly, and they love it.
What is the one thing in the world you would fix if you could wave a magic wand?
Childhood poverty and lack of opportunity. It breaks my heart. This is something I emphasize with
my kids, too. I believe that those of us who have been blessed with abundance have a duty to
give back to those who are less fortunate.
Where in the world are you the happiest?
Family gatherings. I love to lay low and watch my sons talking with my friends and their other relatives. I learn a lot about them just by watching. All three of them are good men and interesting people.
What’s one of the favorite things you do in the classroom?
One of the things all of my students comment on when I see them years later is the “letter.” Each year I have taught, I have my kids write a letter to themselves. The first part of the letter is a summary of their year in grade 5. For the second part of the letter, I ask them to look into the future and predict how they think their lives will change over the course of the next three years. I mail these out the week they are wrapping up eighth grade.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2017 issue of Harker Magazine.
Judge John Byron Owens MS ’85 earned his first paycheck, for $180, from Harker in 1985. He rode his bike from Cupertino to campus every day that summer to work as a camp counselor. It was the beginning of a journey distinguished by hard work, intellect and honor.
“No one at Harker is surprised by John’s success,” said Pat Walsh, Owens’ fifth grade teacher. “It’s not just that he’s brilliant, which he is, but that he’s filled with integrity.”
Owens, who attended Harker from grades 3-8, has remained in touch with Walsh. In 2014, Owens even invited Walsh to his swearing-in ceremony as a Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
Before being nominated by President Barack Obama, Owens had a successful career as an attorney, served as a clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and graduated first in his class at Stanford Law School. All these successes came with a lot of hard work, one of Owens’ core values, along with honesty and kindness.
“There is no substitute for hard work, especially when you are in high school and college. Hard work now makes the rest of your life much easier,” is advice he has shared with Harker students in the past and regularly shares with his two daughters.
And Owens definitely walks the talk. Last season he coached his eldest daughter’s club basketball team, which made the playoffs. He stressed to the team to work hard at practice but also at home on shooting and dribbling. He realized that a coach cannot ask his players to work hard if he also isn’t willing to put in the time, so he spent hours reviewing game films and statistics, and designed a new offense for the team. They won both playoff games by nearly 20 points.
“So it may seem crazy – a federal judge is spending hours watching youth basketball games – but it was an important lesson for our players and especially my oldest daughter to understand that success only happens through hard work,” said Owens. “It is not fair to have hard-working players led by an unprepared coach.”
Owens has always loved sports and even worked as a marketing assistant for the Golden State Warriors when he was an undergraduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. But his love of the law prevailed. His law career includes serving as an assistant U.S. attorney for both the central and southern districts of California, as well as a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP.
Owens, a big science fiction fan, was lauded by “Above the Law” for “nerding out.” The legal website referenced Lone Star Security & Video v. City of Los Angeles, where he incorporated “a Monopoly analogy and a reference to ‘The Twilight Zone’ to urge the Supreme Court to reconsider its holdings.” Other opinions have referenced “Game of Thrones,” “Star Trek” and the horror movie “The Thing.”
His lighter, nerdier side often peeks through when he returns to Harker, from sharing his experience as a judge with third graders to discussing honors and ethics with upper school students. He earned the Distinguished Alumni Award in 2007 and serves on Harker’s Board of Trustees.
“He is well-respected regardless of his role on campus,” said Sarah Leonard, Owens’ third grade teacher and now primary division head. “He has a wonderful way with the third grade students, really driving home his message about hard work, determination, setting goals and perseverance, but he does so in a manner that captures the children’s attention and holds them almost spellbound.“
Owens and his family live in San Diego. In their free time, they enjoy going to the boxing gym on Saturday mornings, where they hit the bags while the youngest takes karate. A perfect day would include a 5-mile run for Owens, followed by a relaxing afternoon and watching the Warriors play in the evening (he’s still a big fan).
Owens values time with his family and, when asked what his proudest accomplishment was, he replied, “That’s easy – my two girls. They both learned at an early age from my wife and me that success in life – academics, sports, the arts – requires hard work.”
Contributor Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective.
The grandparents of preschool and lower school students visited their grandchildren’s respective campuses in early May, touring the grounds and enjoying special activities. See the accompanying slideshow for a look at the fun!
The grandparents of preschool and lower school students visited their grandchildren’s respective campuses in early May, touring the grounds and enjoying special activities. See the accompanying slideshow for a look at the fun!
The grandparents of preschool and lower school students visited their grandchildren’s respective campuses in early May, touring the grounds and enjoying special activities. See the accompanying slideshow for a look at the fun!
At the World Chess Federation’s 28th Panamerican Youth Championship, held June 30 to July 7 in Costa Rica, student Omya Vidyarthi, a rising grade 2 student, took first place among girls under age 8. Vidyarthi was one of four gold medalists to represent the United States at the competition, and her win helped make the U.S. the highest-placing country. She also received the title of Woman Candidate Master, which is awarded to female players who have at one point achieved a rating of 2,000, and she placed first in her age group for blitz chess, a variation of speed chess.
During the spring semester, lower school English teacher Heather Russell got 32 lower school girls involved with the national Girls on the Run program. “I’m a runner and I thought this would be a great thing for girls, [because] many of them don’t think of themselves as runners,” Russell said. “But it’s really a lot more than that, because it’s an incredible curriculum that focuses on self-esteem and positive self-talk and self-image.”
The girls trained together for a 5K run in late May, in which they participated with 5,000 other runners. Each meeting started with a brief classroom activity based on the week’s theme, such as bullying, gossip and qualities that make good friends. Students also learned about healthy life habits and nutrition. The runners then did warm-up exercises and went on practice runs, which integrated various activities, including a scavenger hunt that had students locate scraps of paper that provided tips on how to be a good friend, such as learning how to say something positive about someone else. Parents of Girls on the Run participants were sent summaries of the topics so that they could continue the discussion at home.
“I thought this would be a great way to meet new people, make great friends and grow emotionally,” said Trisha Iyer, grade 5. “It’s a great way to talk about all these topics that everyone has trouble with but never really wants to share.”
Russell noted that even with increased efforts to encourage young girls to enter careers they are interested in, they still often feel insecure, something she hopes to improve with Girls on the Run. “What is exciting for me is just to see them discover the beautiful qualities of themselves,” she said.