This article originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
The late winter sports season is coming to an end. Congratulations to all the boys soccer and girls basketball for a great season!
We had two league champions this season (grade 5 girls basketball and grade 5 boys soccer) and a tournament champion (grade 5 girls basketball). Read on for details!
Junior Varsity B girls basketball, coached by Coli Simmons and Jon Cvitanich, finished 9-1 overall, 7-1 in league, co-champs of the WBAL and champions of the WBAL tournament! Team awards went to Courtni Thompson (MVP), Maria Vazhaeparambil (Eagle), and Anna Vazhaeparambil (Coaches), all grade 5.
Junior Varsity C girls basketball, coached by Michelle Hopkins, finished 2-3, fifth place in the WBAL. Team awards went to Brooklyn Cicero (MVP), Ashley Barth (Eagle) and Anishka Raina and Angela Jia (Coaches), all grade 4.
Intramural girls basketball is coached by Vanessa Rios, Miles Brown and Laura Wolfe. Team awards went to Advika Phadnis and Aditi Vinod (MVPs), Anvitha Tummala and Vidya Jeyendran (Eagle), and Arusha Patil and Suman Mohanty (Coaches), all grade 5.
Junior Varsity B boys soccer, coached by Jared Ramsey and Walid Fahmy, is currently 4-1, and should finish as co-champs of the WBAL! Team awards went to Ryan Tobin (MVP), Arjun Virmani (Eagle) and Srinath Somasundaram (Coaches), all grade 5.
Intramural boys soccer is coached by Jim McGovern and Scott Rudolph. Team awards went to Sasvath Ramachandran (Eagle), Dhruv Saoji and Aaditya Gulati (Coaches), all grade 4.
St. Patrick’s Day was cause for celebration at the lower school. On the afternoon of March 17, students in grades 4-5 had some Irish fun during their monthly spirit assembly. Celebrating Irish-American culture, the annual event was sponsored by the Spirit/Service Club and held outdoors on the playground, blacktop and fields.
Homeroom teachers had previously encouraged the students to come dressed with as much green spirit as possible, with each classroom electing the student most passionate about St. Patrick’s Day to participate in a contest at the assembly. Students also were instructed to “search the usual places for hidden shamrocks before school and during morning recess.” The fourth and fifth graders had a blast hunting for shamrocks on the playground and in the hallways and lobbies of the gym building before turning them in to their homeroom teachers for additional spirit points.
After the assembly, the students continued to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day by enthusiastically participating in a range of themed activities, including dancing the freeze jig, stealing the leprechaun’s gold, jump roping as leaping leprechauns, navigating a four-leaf clover obstacle course, playing a luck of the Irish bingo game and more.
The beginning of March officially heralded Jump Rope for Heart season at the lower school. On March 7, K-5 students took to the blacktop in an annual effort to raise money for the American Heart Association.
Donations were still rolling in after the jumping activities ended. As of March 14, students had raised $4,012. Grade 3 student Rohan Gorti personally raised $1,610 through online donations. Lower school students, who had been collecting donation pledges for some time, spent the day on a variety of stations set up to celebrate their efforts.
They had a field day jumping rope, high jumping onto soft mats, doing the limbo, leaping over makeshift hurdles, crawling through obstacle courses, shooting baskets and participating in other fun activities. Some teachers got in on the action too, by helping to turn a rope, supervise the jumpers for a class period and jumping alongside them.
“Thanks to all of our P.E. staff for the work done on the jump day and to all of our students who collected donations and turned them in!” said Jim McGovern, who works in the lower school’s athletic department and helped organize the event.
Last year, as a participant in Harker’s Summer Camp+ program, grade 6 student Jeremy Ding wrote a letter to President Obama about the dangers of smoking. It was part of a summer language art class assignment and Ding was both surprised and thrilled when, in early February, he received a letter from the president in response.
The letter thanked Ding for writing and explained that finding new ways to help both children and adults lead healthy lives has been a priority for the Obama administration. In addition to discussing the Affordable Care Act, the letter highlighted the first lady’s Let’s Move! initiative, which teams up with schools and communities nationwide to help ensure kids are getting enough healthy food and exercise.
“It was plain amazing. After that, I was feeling pretty good about myself. Maybe many people receive these letters, but it would still be (I think) a minority,” said Ding, about his experience receiving the response from the president.
History came alive for grade 3 students and their teachers at the end of January when they attended school dressed as their favorite historical figures. The fun, fifth-annual Dress for History Day showcased favorite historic fashions, including cowboys, miners, Native Americans and more. The students had been instructed to come to school dressed in a historic fashion from before they were born.
Registration is filling up fast for Summer Camp+, which this year will feature a fun circus theme called “Under the Big Top.” The popular K-6 camp will include a wide variety of circus-related activities, guests and special events.
Held on the lower school campus, Summer Camp+ provides morning learning experiences followed by age-appropriate afternoon electives. Students in grades 1-6 will have the option of enrolling in two different academic morning programs called Core Focus and Learning Opportunities in Literature (LOL). Core Focus is a more traditional learning environment with language arts, math and academic electives for each grade level. LOL features academic courses designed around a literary theme.
This year LOL will focus on the work of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss. Both programs feature the same afternoon options, including arts and crafts, circus arts, dance, water play, wall climbing, archery and array of other field sports. The Summer Camp+ program traditionally kicks off with Color Clash, a fun event held in the Bucknall gymnasium.
Groups of campers on yellow, red, green and blue teams participate in an array of silly games cheered on by captains (aka camp counselors) wearing color-coordinated outfits that run the gamut from superheroes to hula skirts and silly hats. The kickoff is just the start of a session full of friendly competition around the color groups.
“It’s a great way to build team spirit and the kids just love it,” said longtime camp counselor Troy Townzen, ’08. “Color Clash costumes and activities create some of the best camp memories!”
The program offers something for everyone, according to Joe Chung, program director of Summer Camp+ and elementary computer science teacher. On-site happenings often include a patriotic games bash, a water carnival, a sleepover for older campers, a presentation for parents and a birthday celebration for camp mascot “Ray.”
Campers also partake in numerous field trips, including bowling, miniature golf, the Oakland Zoo and Coyote Point. Last year enrollment for camps and other summer programs skyrocketed to a record-breaking 2,740 participants across all campuses, according to Harker’s summer programs office.
“We were thrilled and delighted at the incredible turnout for Harker summer last year … and are already seeing a jump in enrollment for this year!” enthused Kelly Espinosa, longtime director of summer programs. The Harker School has offered extensive summer programs for more than 50 years. The Summer Camp+ program is accredited nationally by the American Camping Association.
This story was submitted by Harker parent Heather Wardenburg (Frederick, grade 5).
Hundreds of families’ Thanksgiving feasts were made better by the generosity of the Harker community. The grade 5-sponsored food drive, under the leadership of longtime Harker math teacher Pat Walsh, collected 400 bags of food and $4,332.77 for the St. Justin’s Food Pantry. St. Justin’s Community Outreach Program serves about 2,900 people each month. Harker’s donations helped fill Thanksgiving baskets for 750 families. Walsh, who has been organizing the annual event for 30 years, was thrilled by the donations from the lower school community. “I never cease to be amazed by the generosity of the Harker Community,” he said.
Many thanks to the grade 5 student council for promoting the event, the grade 5 teachers and administration for their support, grade 4-5 division head Kristin Giammona for her help and support, lower school dean Ken Allen for his help in loading, unloading and driving the truck, and the wonderful parent and student volunteers.
Walsh’s enthusiasm and dedication to this program inspired all involved to make the Thanksgiving of these 750 families even better!
Maruko Ishigami, a visiting exchange teacher from Tamagawa Academy K-12 School & University – Harker’s sister school in Tokyo, Japan – was touched by the warm welcome she received from students and faculty during her visit to Harker Jan. 7-18.
“This has been a very good experience. I am impressed by the children’s artwork here,” said Ishigami, who teaches art at Tamagawa’s elementary school and spent time observing classes at Harker’s lower, middle and upper school campuses.
She also helped teach art classes for grades 2-5, showing the second and third graders how to make traditional Japanese wood coasters and instructing the fourth and fifth graders in various painting techniques used in her country.
Grade 2 students Emi Fujimura, Shayla He and Shareen Chahal agreed that the best thing about making the wood coasters with Ishigami was “building it” from scratch, noting that the process reminded them of putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Fellow classmate Vivek Nayyar said he especially enjoyed having a “visiting teacher” come to the classroom.
“It has been a truly fantastic experience having Maruko here,” agreed Gerry-louise Robinson, Harker’s lower school art teacher. “All the students warmed quickly to Maruko’s wonderful smile and gentle approach. Both grades 2 and 3 embraced this project with enthusiasm and determination!”
Ishigami also observed ceramics classes at the middle school and sat in on graphic arts, stone carving, drawing, photography and other art courses at the upper school.
Because her English is not fluent, Ishigami was aided by several Japanese-speaking faculty members who offered to be interpreters, joining her for meals and serving as friendly faces around campus.
From the moment her plane touched down at the San Francisco International Airport, Ishigami was kept engaged and busy. In addition to spending time observing and teaching classes at Harker, other highlights of her visit included lunch with the administration, a visit to the San Jose Museum of Art, and sightseeing expeditions to Monterey Bay and San Francisco.
“I’ve really enjoyed showing Maruko around. She is very interested in everything that we do at Harker and is eager to learn all she can about our school and students. As an art teacher, she enjoyed viewing all the types of artwork our students are doing. It’s been fun seeing the students enjoying showing her their work,” noted Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s director of global education.
Tamagawa, a K-12 school and university, was founded in 1929 as an elementary education organization. Secondary education divisions were added later, and in 1947 Tamagawa University received approval for establishment as an “old system” (pre-war) university. As a comprehensive institution (gakuen), they currently provide education from kindergarten to graduate school on a single campus.
The grades 2-3 holiday show, titled “The Most Wonderful Time of Year,” packed the Bucknall Theater on Dec. 19, as the students in both grades celebrated the season with holiday songs both new and old.
Directed by Carena Montany, the show began with students in both grades singing the holiday classic “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” They continued with more seasonal favorites, including “Feliz Navidad,” “Little Drummer Boy” and “Winter Wonderland.” Their repertoire also featured nods to other cultures, such as the Liberian folk song “African Noel” and the Hawaiian Christmas anthem “Mele Kalikimaka.” The choreography by Kimberley Teodoro and amusing narration by students between songs kept the atmosphere light and provided smooth transitions between performances. Paul and Toni Woodruff accompanied for the singers on piano and violin, respectively.
The show ran smoothly thanks to the efforts of longtime technical director Danny Dunn and assistant technical director Carol Clever, as well as Dunn’s grade 5 technical theater students.