This article originally appeared in the summer 2011 Harker Quarterly.
In its first year, the Harker Eagle Buddies program has thus far proven to be a runaway success. Established as a way to build a long-lasting relationship between the students at the upper and lower school campuses, the Eagle Buddies program pairs grade 3 students with one or two buddies in grade 10, with whom they will maintain contact until the Class of 2013 graduates from the upper school and the grade 3 students graduate to the middle school.
The program was started by Butch Keller, upper school head, who was inspired by the wonderful experiences his own children had in a similar program.
The sophomores began communicating with their buddies in the fall by sending cards to the lower school campus to introduce themselves and invite their buddies to talk about things they enjoyed. The buddies from both campuses first met face-to-face in October, with the sophomores being greeted enthusiastically by the third graders. After the initial meeting, Sarah Leonard, primary division head, said she was impressed with how well the third graders and sophomores hit it off. “For most, it was instantaneous,” she said. “The buddies clicked, and new friendships were born.”
They later met again at a special tailgate party held before the Harker Homecoming Game, where the parents of the grade 3 and grade 10 buddies had a chance to meet and chat with one another while their children watched the game. Liam Bakar got to watch his buddy, Robert Deng, play in the junior varsity game. The two hung out together after the game was finished, and Bakar said Deng was “very nice, and I like a lot of the things that he likes.”
In November the third graders were overjoyed to receive turkey handprint cards from their grade 10 buddies for Thanksgiving. “It was very well- received,” said Carol Zink, upper school history teacher and an Eagle Buddies coordinator. “They’re thrilled whenever they get anything from the big kids.”
Later, in January, the sophomores visited the lower school campus to participate in its annual Pajama Drive, started in 2007 by student Rishi Narain, now grade 7. During the special assembly, Keller, donning a bathrobe and leaning back in a rocking chair, read the story “We Are Going On A Bear Hunt” to the students in attendance. The buddies also enjoyed reading stories of their own to one another. Zink said the event was fun for students from both grades: the third graders got to spend quality time with upper school role models, and the sophomores had the opportunity to “lighten up and be kids for a little bit.”
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, the smaller buddies sent valentines to their big friends. The following month the favor was returned when the big kids sent St. Patrick’s Day cards to their buddies at the lower school.
Months later, the buddies celebrated Earth Day with each other by planting a tree at the upper school campus. The buddies helped dig a suitable hole for a London Plains tree which was donated by the Modern Woodmen of America and planted next to Rosenthal Field.
Later that month, the lower schoolers once again visited the Saratoga campus to participate in the upper school’s spirit rally. They enjoyed watching their sophomore friends perform a hilarious skit and also took part in the annual scream-off, where each class tried to out-yell the others. After the rally, the buddies enjoyed pizza and friendly conversation on the turf at Davis Field.
“One of the most fun things about this for me,” Zink said, “is that our high school kids get to be little kids for an hour here or there during the year.”
These activities are planned to be continued next year, when the current grade 2 and grade 9 classes move up to grade 3 and grade 10, respectively.
When this year’s buddies reach grade 4 and grade 11 at the beginning of next year, the two classes will exchange letters again to get caught up and reminisce about their summer activities. Some kind of activity for the buddies at the Family & Alumni Picnic is also planned. Toward the end of the fall 2011 semester, the two classes will team up for the Harker Toy Drive, which is the grade 4 students’ annual service project, and they will also make special holiday candy boxes for Scott Lane Elementary. The rising juniors will also visit Bucknall for a St. Patrick’s Day party, and their grade 4 buddies will likely visit Saratoga on Wednesday during the upper school’s spirit week for a special field day.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2011 Harker Quarterly.
Harker has a strong reputation for producing students who excel in math and science. This tradition of success can be traced back to foundations laid in the lower and middle school curricula, which emphasize methods and hands-on learning that open the door to later growth.
These seeds of success are planted early in the youngest Harker students, the kindergarten and grade 1 students. At this level emphasis is placed on defining what science is and what scientists do. So, for three periods a week, kindergarten students are engaged in hands-on projects that, according to Michelle Anderson, who teaches kindergarten science, math, social studies and English, “are more real to kindergarten minds.” Anderson explores essential, introductory themes like “the five senses, the solar system and changes in life cycles.” One of the kids’ favorite sections is focused on life cycles, where the students are
able to observe caterpillars as they develop from their larval stages to their chrysalises and then become butterflies. These broad topics, explored through reading, activities and experiments, lay a structure for later study.
Once students have progressed to grade 2, they begin to enter into more intensive science programs. The students are learning increasingly broader topics, such as measurement (a necessity for any burgeoning scientist), water, the human body, and electricity and magnetism. These topics are taught using the Lawrence Hall of Science’s Foss curriculum, which emphasizes the key principle that science is learned through conducting experiments and understanding concepts in a hands-on manner. Katy Sommer, grade 2 science teacher, notes that Harker students “devote a large amount of time to science, four periods a week, which helps them build strong foundations.”
In grade 5 students have advanced to more complex life science topics. Here students learn about scientific method in detail and spend a substantial amount of time on essential topics such as taxonomy. At this level students continue to be exposed to real-life applications of what they learn in their textbooks. In order to associate theory learned in class into hands-on knowledge, this year’s entire grade 5 class explored the tide pools at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve in Monterey in April. Catherine Le, grade 5 science teacher, said that her students could find many of the things in tide pools they had just finished learning about in class. Learning the characteristics of the echinoderm phylum becomes more real when a student can hold a sea star and physically observe it.
As the students enter middle school, the fundamental topics and ways of thinking that have been established begin to come into contact with the more complex scientific concepts that will be emphasized in high school and college. In grade 6 experimental design and methods of data gathering are explored through the physical sciences. At the end of the year, students are tasked with designing an experiment, conducting it and interpreting the resulting data. The students then synthesize the information into a poster board presentation.
In grade 8 students conduct three experiments in their biology classes. These experiments utilize tools to explore human physiology, allowing students to measure characteristics like lung capacity and heart rate and also track the student-designated variable of interest.
The general process of designing and conducting experiments becomes more complex as the students move from grade to grade. When considering their progress, Lorna Claerbout, K-8 science department chair, says “the learning spirals as it moves upward. Threads are repeated as students have a higher capacity to understand.”
These repeating threads, with their heavy emphasis on data gathering, critical thinking and pattern recognition, mean that Harker students are consistently recognized as exemplary. At the Synopsys Championship Fair, held March 6-7, Harker students were recognized at many levels for their outstanding work. The middle school students produced more than a half dozen award-winning projects. They were recognized for laudable work in physics, medicine, environmental sciences, biochemistry, botany and zoology subjects for both individual efforts and team submissions.
These results are but the latest in a long line of strong Harker performances in the sciences, and while the high caliber of student cannot be discounted when tracing the roots of their success, we must certainly pay tribute to where they began, in the lower and middle school science classrooms.
In February, lower school math teacher Pat Walsh’s grade 5 students submitted building designs to Aaron Bean ’85, who now works as a general contractor. Bean assessed designs submitted by students in all of Walsh’s classes, and selected a winner from each class to go on a special trip to a building site.
Bean chose Makenzie Tomihiro’s design for its creative design. “The right use of offsets in a building’s shape can really improve the architectural design,” he said. He gave the honorable mention to Kaitlin Hsu, calling her design “beautiful.”
From Walsh’s period 4 class, Bean selected Mateusz Kranz as the winner. “I saw amazing maturity in his design: the proportions of rooms were very good, and even more importantly, the floor plan has flow,” he said. The runner up was Ben Hyver, whose round design impressed Bean. “Does Ben know that a round exterior is the most efficient one to complete? Definitely thinking outside the box!” he exclaimed.
“The 25’ wide by 20’ deep unobstructed space that includes the entry, kitchen, dining and living spaces is really inviting,” Bean said of Tanvi Singh’s design, which was chosen as the period 5 winner. Runner up Akshaya Vemuri created “an example of overall good layout. Akshaya minimizes hallways and uses the space in each room to its fullest potential.” Taylor Kohlmann’s house, with its trampoline room and indoor water slides, was given an honorable mention. “I just love the color and creativity!” Bean said.
Period 7 student Amy Dunphy’s design won for what Bean called its “simple elegance. This is the most versatile floor plan I saw. Amy even thought about the shape of the opening and passageways!” Bean said. Runner up Ania Kranz submitted another “open” design. “Here is another situation where simplicity wins!” said Bean.
Mateusz Kranz was selected as the overall winner from all the classes.
The lower school celebrated the 100th day of school at the Harker Town Carnival in February. This carnival featured an academic twist that delighted both the students and teachers. The carnival activities were centered on real-world mathematics, like making change and working with money. The fun activities allowed the students to practice skills that they will use every day in their future lives.
Third grade students earned a Regional Award in the recent Continental Mathematics League (CML) contest. This yearly contest, which consists of three separate meets, gives students the chance to compete in mathematical problem-solving against a worldwide group of third graders from participating schools.
This is the fourth year Harker’s grade 3 team earned first place in the region, which includes 15 U.S. states as well as the countries of Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Puerto Rico, Singapore and the United Kingdom.
For each meet, the six highest scores are sent in as a team score, thus the team members can change from month to month. The contest, which consists of six questions per meet, was held January through March, and three students tied for the top score for Harker, at 15 out of a total of 18 possible points.
Students earning medals this year as the top scoring students were Andrew Cheplyansky, Naviya Kapadia and Nevin Liang. Second-place students who earned certificates of achievement were Anvi Banga, Matthew Jin, Eileen Li, Sachin Shah and Gautham Viswanathan. Several students earned perfect scores in one of the three meets, including Cheplyansky, Kapadia, Benjamin MacDonald, Viswanathan and Angele Yang.
Congratulations to these students, who deserve to be recognized for their strong approaches to problem solving! This is the seventh year we have participated in the contest. Last year, grades 4 and 5 began participating as well.
The grade 6-8 tennis team, although still competing in playoffs, went a combined 10-4 this season in two separate leagues. The team went 5-2 in the WBAL and took third place in the final tournament. The team went 5-2 in the MTP and are currently in the quarterfinals of the final tournament. The team is led by Sophia Luo and Vikram Vasan, grade 7, and Srivinay Irrinki, grade 8.
The grade 6-8 water polo team finished off the season in fine fashion this past weekend with convincing victories over Terman 22-4 and Castilleja 20-0. They finished the season with a combined record of 6-3. The team was led by Billy Bloomquist, Delaney Martin, Ryan Palmer and Darby Millard, all grade 8; Shivali Minocha, grade 7; and Harry Xu and Pooja Kini, grade 6.
The grade 5 girls JVB1 girls volleyball team won the WBAL title with a record of 6-0! Key players were Satchi Thockchom, Aria Coalson and Sameep Mangat. Key players for the JVB2 team were Julia Amick and Jennifer Hayashi, grade 4 and Sanjana Avula, grade 5.
The grade 6 girls JVA girls volleyball team were tri-champions of the WBAL with a record of 6-1! Key players were Lindsey Trinh, Rachel Cheng and Joelle Anderson. Key players for the JVB6 team, who finished in a three-way tie for second in the WBAL, were Priyanka Chilukuri, Priyanka Taneja and Sarah Tien.
The grade 7-8 girls were combined into three teams. The varsity A team went 9-0 to take first place in the WBAL! The team was led by Shannon Richardson, Jacqueline Chen and Doreene Kang, all grade 7. The varsity B team went 8-1 to take second place in the WBAL. The team was led by Leeza Kuo, Hannah Bollar and Allison Kiang, all grade 8. The varsity B2 team went 7-2 for a two-way tie for second place in the WBAL. The team was led by Kelly Wang, Neha Sunil and Archana Podury, all grade 8.
The grade 6-8 boys volleyball teams went a combined 15-0 this season! The varsity A team was led by Matt Ho, Justin Lee and Richard Gu, all grade 8. The varsity B team was led by Austin Tuan, Alex Youn and Andrew Gu, all grade 6. The junior varsity A team was led by Justin Xie, Albert Xu and Shekar Ramaswamy, all grade 6.
The grade 5-8 baseball program continues to develop and there were some exciting games with Crystal Springs and Sacred Heart, and of course, the close game between the Harker grade 5 and 6 teams where the fifth graders took home the victory this year. The lower school team was led by Michael Sikand, grade 7 and Tanay Kamat and Will Holaday, both grade 5. The middle school team was led by Logan Drazovich, grade 7 and Karan Walia and Alex Lam, both grade 6.
The lower school’s Bucknall Choir and instrumentalists have had a busy month. The entire group held its annual concert on May 10 and the Orchestra and Jazz Ensemble attended the Heritage Festival at Foothill College just a few days later, with the artists garnering kudos both places.
At the annual Bucknall Instrumental and Choir Concert , performances were by the Lower School Choir and all the instrumental students from Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble, String Ensemble, Prep String Ensemble, Wind Ensemble and seven first-year group classes, and there were a few nice surprises.
Joe Connolly, dean of students K-5, was master of ceremonies while Tomas Thompson of the P.E. staff was the guest conductor for the Harker school song, which was performed by the complete ensemble at the opening of the program. Tiffany Wong, grade 4, on harp, accompanied the orchestra on “O Mio Babbino Caro,” and Kathleen Ferretti took a break from her day job as the lower school’s math department chair grades 2-3 to play Taiko drums on the grand finale of “I Want Candy.”
Two special pieces were performed that were composed by grade 2 students. “Both students studied with me in learning composition, orchestration and arranging,” said Louis Hoffman, director of instrumental studies K-Grade5. “Paul Kratter wrote for orchestra. His piece is ‘Rondo in A Minor.’ Aditya Andrade wrote a piece for the Jazz Ensemble called ‘Fun with Blues,’” said Hoffman. Kratter s conducted the orchestra for his piece and Andrade the Jazz Ensemble for his.
The boys’ compositions grew from a new program Hoffman started called Young Composers Series. “Any student can submit a composition for performance to be played by any of our ensembles (orchestra, jazz ensemble, string ensemble, choir, etc.,” said Hoffman. “The student is taken through all the steps from composing, orchestration and arranging to preparing a score and parts to performance and conducting.”
At the Heritage Festival, the Orchestra took a gold award and the Jazz Ensemble placed a close second with a silver award. “Only two schools received the gold,” said Hoffman. “Not too shabby. Both groups wowed the adjudicators, who gave high praise to the students for their outstanding performance level and composure.”
Both the young composers whose pieces were performed at the school concert were specially honored: Kratter and Andrade each got a standing ovation and were awarded Maestro trophies at the festival. “This is a high honor and the first time ever in the over 30-year history of the festival that two young composers were honored,” said Hoffman. “Please join me in congratulating our young budding musicians in their wonderful and well-deserved accomplishment.”
In April, the entire kindergarten class performed at this year’s kindergarten shows, which took on an undersea theme. Louis Hoffman directed each kindergarten class at every one of the four shows. Students, costumed as various forms of undersea life, sang several popular songs paying tribute to the life aquatic, including “Somewhere Beyond the Sea” by Charles Trenet and Jack Lawrence (and made famous by Bobby Darin and others), The Beatles’ “Yellow Submarine” and “Wipe Out” by The Surfaris.
Faculty and staff members also appeared in the show, including Lisa Diffenderfer, who narrated the show while dressed as a mermaid, Larissa Weaver as a water buffalo and piano accompanist Paul Woodruff as the submarine helmsman. Each kindergarten homeroom teacher made a guest appearance in the show as the titular character from the Disney Pixar film “Finding Nemo.” Not to be outdone, Hoffman directed the entire show dressed as a deep-sea diver. The show was Hoffman’s last as director, as he will be going on to teach in the after-school music program full-time.
Danny Dunn, technical theater teacher, served as technical director as well as set and lighting designer. She was assisted by her grade 5 technical theater class, who acted as the technical crew. The middle school’s technical theater club came up with the show’s costume concepts. Gail Palmer, lower school dance teacher, choreographed the show’s dance sequences.
The middle school’s spring musical, Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” entranced young and old with simple but evocative sets, colorful and active crowd scenes and superlative performances by leading actors.
There were three showings, plus shows for students during school time, and two casts, so special kudos go to Monica Colletti and Roxann Hagemeyer, the director and musical director, for the stellar performance of both groups!
Dinner was available before each of the evening shows and the Saturday matinee show was a special family event where children dressed as a prince or princess and met cast members in costume.
The story was introduced by players speaking to the audience. Then, the curtain opened to the vivid, active panorama of the village square, where we are introduced to Belle, the beauty, played by Apoorva Rangan and Rasika Raghavan, both grade 8, a quirky young woman and the only one in the village with the perspicacity –and motivation– to tame the Beast/Prince, played by Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari and Glenn Reddy, both grade 8. About 50 middle schoolers were in the cast, with more working as stage hands and in other technical positions.
Highlights included very fast set changes with the curtain open, displaying the clever arrangement that kept the continuity of the play intact. The village backdrop was simple, leaving center stage as the action focus; the interior of the Beast’s castle had simple risers that played into the plot, but again, kept the action center stage.
Characters were fun! The hunter, Gaston, played by Ryan Pachauri, grade 8, was a swaggering braggart, and his side kick Lefou, played by Sid Krishnamurthi and Agata Sorotokin, both grade 8, was by turns insouciant and ingratiating. Other characters brought the drama alive, including Lumiere, played by Ishanya Anthapur and Maya Nandakumar, both grade 8, whose inspired delivery and lively movement captivated the audience.
Costuming was thorough and fun, with Belle in a lovely dress, the prince in velvet and a shaggy mask, and market folk in peasant dress.
Crowd scenes were especially energizing, with opposing rows of players singing and moving back and forth across the stage to create symmetrical movement, while the chaotic raid by the villagers delighted young audience members with its frenzied search for the Beast/Prince.
“I am constantly amazed at the depth of talent that exists within this community amongst students, faculty and staff,” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head. “A special thank you to Monica Colletti and Roxann Hagemeyer, our phenomenal directors, and to Paul Vallerga and Brian Larsen, our magical tech and set managers. I know there are untold hours that go in to such a lavish production!”
At the beginning of April, the grade 4 class took a trip to Golden Gate Park to visit the de Young Museum of Fine Arts in San Francisco. The trip was used to expose the students to excellent art and then have them develop their writing skills by describing it at length for their English classes. But the trip was not all school work; fun and appreciating art were also key parts of the trip.
After studying the art under the supervision of Colin Goodwin, who teaches grade 4 English, and other teachers, the kids completed a treasure hunt in the Oceanic Art room to learn about Polynesian culture, tying in to the novel “Call it Courage” that they are reading in class.
This is the second year of the trip and hopefully the tradition of fun, art and writing will continue in the following years.