This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Girls Basketball
Junior Varsity B (grade 5) girls basketball, coached by Dan Pringle and Vanessa Rios, finished the league season with a 6-0 record and are league champs! The girls also participated in the WBAL tournament and finished in second place. They finished with an overall record of 8-1.
Team awards went to Brooklyn Cicero and Jacqueline Hu (MVP), Angela Jia and Ashley Barth (Eagle), and Gianna Chan and Anishka Raina (Coaches).
Junior Varsity C (grade 4) girls basketball, coached by Christina Mendoza and Tim Hopkins, finished their season with a league record of 3-3. Team awards went to Athena Wu (MVP), Brooke Baker (Eagle) and Jia Parikh (Coaches).
Lower school (grades 4-5) intramural basketball, coached by Therese Wunnenberg and Sean Leeper, enjoyed working on the fundamental skills of basketball and playing intersquad scrimmages. Team awards went to Syna Gogte, grade 5 (MVP), Aria Jain, grade 4 (Eagle) and Kavita Murthy, grade 5 (Coaches).
Boys Soccer
Junior Varsity B (grade 5) boys soccer, coached by Jared Ramsey and Tobias Wade, is currently 1-3 with two matches remaining in the season. Team awards went to Raj Patel (MVP), Aaditya Gulati (Eagle) and Bailey Castle (Coaches).
Lower school (grade 4) intramural soccer, coached by Jim McGovern and Kristian Tiopo, enjoyed working on the fundamental skills of soccer and playing intersquad matches. Team awards went to Rigo Gonzales (Eagle), and Pranav Mullappalli and Michael Pflaging (Coaches).
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
The much-anticipated Jan. 16 arrival of grade 10 students to the lower school campus signaled the start of two beloved annual Harker happenings: the schoolwide Pajama Day assembly and grade 3 Eagle Buddies get-together.
The sophomore students participated in the assembly as part of the Eagle Buddies program. Held in the gym, the event celebrated a grade 3 service project in which students collected items to donate to the Pajama Program (www.pajamaprogram.org), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing new sleepwear and books to kids waiting to be adopted.
For the past eight years, to make life a bit better for children living in local shelters, the lower school has donated countless pairs of pajamas and boxes of books to the program. Over the years, Harker has contributed thousands of new items, according to representatives of the Pajama Program’s local chapter.
Although the drive was primarily a grade 3 effort, all elementary school families were invited to participate by dropping off items in the gym’s lobby. Prior to the assembly, Ken Allen, lower school dean of students, urged parents to encourage their children to bring a pair of never-worn pajamas or a new book to donate to the program, noting that each “small donation will go a long way for someone who is less fortunate.”
The assembly occurred on a special dress pajama day, when all the students and faculty were encouraged to wear their favorite jammies to school. The program got underway with Butch Keller, upper school head, reading from the book “The Most Magnificent Thing” by award-winning author and illustrator Ashley Spires. Students enjoyed hearing the story, and seemed equally enthralled with seeing Keller donning a comfy robe and slippers, seated in a rocking chair on the stage.
“Raise your hand if you brought a book for your Eagle Buddy to read,” said Keller, after he finished the story. A bunch of eager hands went up. Shortly after, the third grade students had the opportunity to read with their upper school Eagle Buddies, who had also been encouraged to bring items to donate to the Pajama Program.
Wearing a colorful assortment of robes, pajamas, slippers and snuggly knit hats, the grade 3 students and their big buddies then headed outdoors for a pizza lunch, socializing and field games.
“I have a little sister at home, so I am used to being around younger kids. However, it is always the same group of younger kids – her friends – so I really liked getting to know a totally new group of lower school students through this program,” said Kshithija Mulam, grade 10.
Mulam’s grade 3 pal, Alisha Jain, said “I like hanging out with my buddies. I really liked doing the relay races together. That was a lot of fun.”
Jain’s other buddy, sophomore Vienna Wang, observed that “being an Eagle Buddy is a great stress reliever. You get to act like a kid again!”
Keller created the Eagle Buddies program to help bridge the upper and lower school campus divide. The buddies stay together for three years, until the sophomores graduate and the third graders matriculate into middle school.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Two afternoons a week, the lower school’s room 509 gets transformed into a movie and broadcast video production studio, thanks to two popular BEST (Bucknall Enrichment and Supervision Team) after-school offerings.
At the end of the regular school day on Tuesdays, students in grades 4-5 become producers in the new Harker Student Productions (HSP) class, where they hone their video broadcasting skills. Then, on Thursdays, it’s “lights, camera, action” for grade 3 students enrolled in the Movie Makers class, now in its second year. In that class, students work to create part of the third grade video yearbook.
Following on the heels of last year’s successful Movie Makers class, BEST launched the HSP course at the start of this school year. Sixteen students are enrolled in HSP, working in teams to plan, film, edit and prepare footage about school events, service projects and classroom happenings to be shared at the end of the class with the entire Harker community. HSP students learn how to use iMovie on iPads and can also apply to become volunteer mentors to the Movie Makers class.
In the Movie Makers class, students capture, import, edit and bring images to life, also via the iMovie app for iPads. The 14 students now enrolled work in teams and cover such topics as field trips, classroom events, playground fun, parties, service projects, sprit events and Eagle Buddies gatherings. These shorter clips are then put together at the end of the year to serve as a video yearbook at the grade 3 party (a link is shared with parents as well).
Max Blennemann, grade 4, participated in last year’s Movie Makers class and is now enrolled in the HSP class. He also volunteers as a mentor to students in this year’s Movie Makers class. Taking his newly acquired filmmaking skills a step further, he recently made a short documentary, titled “Day in the Life of a Fourth Grader,” which was shared at an event for grade 4 parents.
“My dream was for students to have a positive experience in the Movie Makers class and then want to give back as a mentor in the HSP class,” noted lower school teacher Heather Russell, who launched both the HSP and Movie Makers classes. “Max is an example of that dream becoming a reality.”
“We have fun making videos and playing on the iPad. This is my favorite class at Harker. Someday I want to be a movie director because of it,” said Blennemann.
The first video put out by HSP was a 14-minute-long labor of love for class participants and is available for viewing at http://youtu.be/eaYbJ4x1ca0. “The end result is a wonderful student-made production that captures lots of memorable moments inside and outside of the classroom,” reported Russell.
The HSP class evolved out of a Harker-sponsored technology project grant Russell received after being inspired as an exchange teacher in Japan last year. After seeing a similar student-led video broadcast at Harker’s sister school in Tamagawa, Russell led Harker’s Movie Makers class in a collaborative video yearbook to show to the Japanese students. She wanted to expand on the idea of a grade-level video and also provide a vehicle for students to cover schoolwide topics.
The HSP broadcast is a student-directed, student-created, organic celebration of happenings at the lower school, Russellexplained. The production includes concerns the students feel should be constructively expressed, reinforcement of the theme of the year and The Toolbox Project, and allows the students to be creative in communicating important issues and events at the lower school.
The iPads being used by students in both the Movie Makers and HSP classes were made available from donations to Harker’s annual giving campaign – a gift for which grade 3 student Ceren Erdogan is especially grateful.
“I appreciate that we get to use electronics, because most schools don’t,” said Erdogan.
The lower school library department’s 19th Annual Ogre Awards had a science fiction spin this year, with the very existence of humanity being threatened by alien beings from the Dewey Decimal System.
On the afternoon of March 19, the Bucknall gym became the futuristic setting for “The BKN Millennium Eagle,” the alien starship commanded by Captain Clark (aka lower school librarian Kathy Clark).
The plot? The aliens planned to demolish Earth to make way for a new intergalactic superhighway. But first, Clark and her crew (aka fellow librarian Katrina Nye, along with the grade 2 homeroom teachers) decide to research earthlings and assess if they might be worth saving. (To conduct their findings, they used the “super 3” research techniques taught in the lower school library.)
“The heart of any civilization lives in the stories they pass down to their children. So now it is up to the characters from our folk and fairy tales to make the case for all humanity. They will teach our alien visitors about our hopes and fears, morals and values, strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps we are not so different from our alien brothers and sisters after all! Can our stories save humanity or will the aliens close the book on Earth?” asks the program for the Ogre Awards (informally known as “The Ogres”), summing up the show’s clever premise.
Performed by grade 2 students (otherwise known as the Ogre Academy), the awards show was dedicated to the characters of 21 classic folk and fairy tales, as well as the storytellers who created them. The beloved production was created by former library director Enid Davis. Since her retirement three years ago, the library department has proudly carried on the tradition of producing The Ogres with Danny Dunn, technical director of the Bucknall Theater. Dunn now serves as both the show’s writer and director.
“This year is an homage to science fiction – our own modern fairy tales,” explained Dunn, adding that The Ogres are also an important part of the library curriculum. “The kids are bringing the folk and fairy tales they learned to life!” she enthused.
In addition to her role as the alien captain of the research vessel, mistress of ceremonies Clark was in charge of The Ogre’s educational aspect, telling the stories to the students, leading them in discussions and assisting them in voting on their favorites. Her son, Daniel Clark ’10, served as stage manager (and formerly played the role of Anansi the spider in his grade 2 Ogres many years ago).
The second graders enthusiastically portrayed the show’s cast of characters and creatures from the folklore of cultures around the world, including enchanted royalty, witches, fools, tricksters, heroines, villains and siblings.
All but one of The Ogre Awards are bestowed upon fairytale characters. A special Ogre Award is given each year to a member of the Harker community who provides exceptional service or support to the Harker libraries. This year that honor went to the lower school facilities department. Maintenance director Dan Rohrer accepted the 2015 Special Ogre Award for Lifetime Achievement on behalf of his team, many of whom joined him onstage. Another highlight of the Ogre Awards was the much-anticipated Best Folk or Fairy Tale Award, which this year went to the Spanish tale “The Water of Life.”
Production for the show was made possible by The Harker Federation of Planets, along with a dedicated team of faculty, staff and parent volunteers.
Concluding the show, Sarah Leonard, primary school head, made a surprise guest appearance as the Grand Arch Chancellor of Intergalactic Transportation, whose job it was to make the final determination on the fate of the earth. Thankfully, it was determined that the wish for a happy ending is universal, and the earth was saved … ensuring that humankind, as well as The Ogres, will go on!
Over the weekend of March 14-15, the Willow Glen Thunder National Junior Basketball team, which features grade 6 students Hunter Hernandez, Courtni Thompson and Dylan Williams and is co-coached by Hunter’s father, Sam Hernandez, took home the NJB All-Net National Championship! The team was undefeated the entire weekend, using a fast-paced play style, rock-solid defense and perimeter shooting to finish with a 16-1 overall record on the season. The three girls also were part of the Harker JVB basketball team that earned the league championship a few weeks ago!
That same weekend, Freddy Hoch, grade 4, and Om Tandon and Justin Chao, both grade 3, who play for the NJB Saratoga D3 All-Star team, helped their squad win the Silicon Valley Championship. They will play in the All-Star championship tournament this weekend in Anaheim. Wish them luck!
On Friday, March 6, students and staff at the lower school had a blast jumping rope and shooting hoops during Jump Rope for Heart, an annual effort to raise money for the American Heart Association.
The event, which raised $6,300, took place throughout the day in the Bucknall gym, as well as on the grades 4-5 blacktop for those who wished to participate in Hoops for Heart instead of – or in addition to – jumping. Staff and students of all grades got in on the action, showing of their double dutch rope moves or hoop skills in support of a worthy cause.
“Holding this event not only engages students in physical activity while empowering them to improve their own health and help others with heart-health issues, but it also raises awareness of heart disease and stroke,” said Jim McGovern, who works in the lower school’s PE department and helped organize the event.
Among the day’s fun happenings were all kinds of jumping rope (short ropes, long roping, Chinese jump ropes), shooting baskets, and playing lightning and other basketball games. At the conclusion of each period, T-shirts, jump ropes and other gifts were raffled off to about a half dozen students. Participants also signed their names on a special heart table to show their support for those afflicted with heart disease.
Grade 2 chess enthusiast Vyom Vidyarthi has been very busy the past few months. On Feb. 8, he took first place out of 84 competitors in his age group at the 2015 CalNorth Youth Chess Championship, winning all five of his matches. In November, he was ranked No. 66 among the top 100 chess players in the country in the Age 7 and Under category. He ranked at No. 94 in the same category in September.
In November, Bhavya Srinivasan, grade 2, received a letter from the White House after writing to President Barack Obama to express her concerns about smoking. The letter, which included a signed photo of the Obama family, thanked Bhavya for writing and told her about some of the recent initiatives to improve and maintain the health of America’s youth.
A huge cast of performers from grades 2 and 3 took the stage at the Bucknall Theater on the lower school campus on Dec. 18 for the annual Holiday Show. Dozens of students, directed by music teacher Carena Montany, sang a variety of songs to celebrate the holiday season, from classics “Jolly Old St. Nicholas,” “O Chanukah, O Chanukah” and “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” to newer fare including “Let It Go,” from the hit film “Frozen.”
The show ran smoothly thanks to the hard work of technical director Danny Dunn and her grade 5 technical theater class, as well as deck manager Ken Boswell and stage manager Stephanie Woolsey. Choreography was done by Kimberly Teodoro, and Melissa Lin and Toni Woodruff provided accompaniment on piano and violin, respectively.
Days before the start of winter break, the grade 1 homeroom students of Imelda Kusuma, Cindy Proctor, Larissa Weaver and Rita Stone gathered for the Grade 1 Holiday Show, titled “My Favorite Time of Year.” Directed by Carena Montany, the concert featured students singing holiday favorites such as “Frosty the Snow Man,” “Jingle Bells” and “Spin a Little Dreidl,” with students doing narration between songs. The performance of “Little Saint Nick” featured several dancers, with choreography by Jessalyn Espiritu.
Instrumental accompaniment was provided by pianist Melissa Lin and violinist Toni Woodruff. Danny Dunn and her grade 5 technical theater class served as the technical director and crew, respectively.
The much-anticipated Jan. 16 arrival of grade 10 students to the lower school campus signaled the start of two beloved annual Harker happenings: the schoolwide Pajama Day Assembly and grade 3 Eagle Buddies get-together.
The sophomore students participated in the assembly as part of the Eagle Buddies program. Held in the gym, the event celebrated a grade 3 service project in which students collected items to donate to the Pajama Program (www.pajamaprogram.org), a national nonprofit organization dedicated to providing new sleepwear and books to kids waiting to be adopted.
For the past eight years, to make life a bit better for children living in local shelters, the lower school has donated countless pairs of pajamas and boxes of books to the program. While the final numbers for this year’s drive are still being tallied, last year’s drive collected 2,000 pairs of pajamas and 2,400 books, according to representatives of the Pajama Program’s local chapter.
Although the drive was primarily a grade 3 effort, all elementary school families were invited to participate by dropping off items in the gym’s lobby. Prior to the assembly, Ken Allen, lower school dean of students, urged parents to encourage their children to bring a pair of never worn pajamas or a new book to donate to the program, noting that each “small donation will go a long way for someone that is less fortunate.”
The assembly occurred on a special dress pajama day, when all the students and faculty were encouraged to wear their favorite jammies to school. The program got underway with Butch Keller, upper school head, reading from the book “The Most Magnificent Thing” by award-winning author and illustrator Ashley Spires. Students enjoyed hearing to story, and seemed equally enthralled with seeing Keller donned in a comfy robe and slippers, seated in a rocking chair on the stage.
“Raise your hand if you brought a book for your Eagle Buddy to read,” said Keller, after he finished the story. A bunch of eager hands went up. Shortly after, the third grade students had the opportunity to read with their upper school Eagle Buddies, who had also been encouraged to bring items to donate to the Pajama Program.
Wearing a colorful assortment of robes, pajamas, slippers and snuggly knit hats, the grade 3 students and their big buddies then headed outdoors for a pizza lunch, socializing and field games.
“I have a little sister at home, so I am used to being around younger kids. However, it is always the same group of younger kids – her friends – so I really liked getting to know a totally new group of lower school students through this program,” said grade 10 Eagle Buddy Kshithija Mulam.
Her grade 3 pal, Alisha Jain, said “I like hanging out with my buddies. I really liked doing the relay races together. That was a lot of fun.”
Jain’s other buddy, sophomore Vienna Wang, observed that “being an Eagle Buddy is a great stress reliever. You get to act like a kid again!”
Keller created the Eagle Buddies program to help bridge the upper and lower school campus divide. The buddies stay together for three years, until the sophomores graduate and the third graders matriculate into middle school.
Another Eagle Buddies activity is slated for Jan. 29, when the juniors will host their fourth grade friends for “clown day” at the upper school. After eating lunch in the gym together, the students will watch a performance by professional clowns and even get to try a few clown tricks themselves.