On Monday, author Kelly Yang spoke to fourth and fifth graders about her book, “Front Desk,” inspired by her childhood experiences living as an immigrant to the United States. The book has won wide praise and numerous awards, including the 2019 Asian Pacific American Award for Literature and a Parents’ Choice Gold Medal Fiction award.
Yang shared some of her own story of being a very young new immigrant who struggled with speaking English, as well as someone who began college at age 13. She also spoke about writing and gave students advice on why and how they should approach the process. Reasons she gave for taking up writing included the fun involved in creating worlds that the creator can control and the importance of good writing in the students’ future academic and professional lives. To become a good writer, she said, students should make an effort to write every day, spend lots of time reading, and learn to analyze books and movies. During the Q&A session, Yang revealed that Scholastic was the only publisher who accepted her book, and that even as a published writer, she experiences self-doubt. “Everyone does!” she said. “But the answer is to write for yourself and not others.”
“Front Desk” is one of the books that students are reading for the Tournament of Books, in which students vote on various books placed in a bracket to determine the winner at the end of the year.
This past spring, Harker received an endorsement from the Global Education Benchmark Group, a nonprofit organization that “researches and establishes best practices in the field of global education and supports member schools to prepare students to thrive in increasingly interconnected world systems,” according to its website. Endorsements are awarded to GEBG member schools that exemplify the high standards established by the organization.
GEBG representatives visited Harker last winter and met with administrators, students, parents, department chairs, teachers and other people in the Harker community who were involved with the Global Education program. The committee’s report commended many aspects of the program, including the level of support from school administration, the availability of professional development opportunities (such as the Vegesna Foundation’s Teacher Excellence Program) and the school’s capacity for creating global citizens who are knowledgeable and empathetic.
“Over the past many years, I’ve observed students and teachers embark on life-changing international experiences, participate in hands-on global projects that enhanced their classroom experiences and met talented educators from across the world,” said Global Education director Jennifer Walrod. “I’m thrilled that we received this endorsement and look forward to our continued growth as I work towards implementing all the committee’s constructive feedback.”
Over the summer, fourth grader Omya Vidyarthi traveled to two international chess tournaments, taking first place in the U1700 Women’s category at the World Amateur Championship in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico, and winning gold at the PanAmerican Youth Championship in the U10 Girls category in Guayaquil, Ecuador, her third consecutive PanAmerican Youth gold medal. At the World Amateur Championship, she was the youngest player in her section, squaring off against adult players for most of her run.
Also finding success this past summer was eighth grader Dominic Ortiz, a bowling enthusiast who in August took first place in the boys handicap division at the All Star Tournament held in Reno, Nev., by the Northern California Bowling Centers Youth Bowling Association.
This story originally appeared in the spring/summer 2019 issue of Harker Magazine.
Walid Fahmy is a busy man at the lower school! He teaches health and P.E., and coaches after-school football, basketball, soccer and baseball, in addition to being a grade 5 homeroom teacher and the Spirit & Service Club coordinator. This Oakland native’s favorite things in the world are his two young sons, Marino and Rocco, but he also gets a lot of satisfaction volunteering for youth programs at his church and escaping to the beach to swim or lay in the sun. He tells Harker Magazine about a few more of his favorite things.
What do you like to do when you finally have a block of free time? Travel, travel, travel! I have been to 15 countries and would like to add to that.
What makes you feel like a kid again? Going to Disneyland with my boys and enjoying the rides, wearing Mickey Mouse ears and eating sugar all day!
What is something one of your parents said that you will never forget? My dad told me, “God gave you two ears, one mouth; so listen twice as much as you talk.”
What is something interesting about you that almost no one knows? I eat raw meat. Completely raw. I season it and never cook it.
What is the best compliment someone can give you? I truly appreciate when someone compliments my loyalty. I feel that loyalty is a strong character trait – evident in the fact that I have been with Harker for 22 years now!
What is your most treasured memory? Delivering my firstborn son. Mine actually were the first hands to touch him. That makes me very happy!
Last month, four Harker students took first place for the second straight year at the 2019 Middle School State Championship Ultimate Frisbee tournament in Sacramento! Eighth graders Athreya Daniel, Brian Harder and Johnathan Mo and fifth grader Leah Harder were one of 12 teams competing in Division II, the category for developing teams. Other cities represented at the event were Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Berkeley and Davis. Rain began to pour during the team’s final match against San Francisco’s “Fire Hucks,” but it forged ahead for an 11-5 victory.
The students first came together to play Ultimate Frisbee – a fast-growing sport that now boasts more than 800 college teams – two years ago in an after-school club, where they developed their skills in a fun and friendly environment. The club’s faculty sponsor for this year as well as last year was middle school English teacher Rebecca Williams.
VA (Grades 6-8) Gold Tennis: The varsity A gold tennis team, coached by John Fruttero and Mike Nguyen, finished in first place in the WBAL at 6-1 and second place in the MTP at 2-1. The team finished the MTP tournament in second place and had an overall season record of 9-3. Team awards went to Anthony Tong and Ryan Chang, both grade 8 (MVPs), Medini Halepete, grade 7, and Jeffrey Zhang, grade 6 (Eagle), and Jacob Huang, grade 8, and Audrey Feng, grade 6 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 6-8) Silver Tennis: The varsity A silver tennis team, coached by John Fruttero and Mike Nguyen, finished in seventh place in the WBAL with a record of 1-6. Team awards went to Yasmin Sudarsanam, grade 6, and Joe Li, grade 7 (MVPs), Brian Harder, grade 8, and Katilyn Su, grade 6 (Eagle), and Ramit Goyal, grade 7, and Misha Tkachenko, grade 6 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The varsity A team, coached by Theresa Smith and Stephanie Coleman, and assisted by high school volleyball players Katrina Liou, Srija Gadiraju, Lauren Beede, Emily Cheng and Anya Gert, finished in a two-way tie for second place in the WBAL with a record of 6-2 and went 6-3 overall. Team awards went to Vivian Bi, grade 8 (MVP), Rachel Ning and Allison Zhu, both grade 8 (Eagle), and Jessica Tang, grade 8 (Coaches).
VB (Grades 7-8) Girls Volleyball: The varsity B team, coached by Kurt Schwartz, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 6-2. Team awards went to Sonya He, grade 8, and Anjali Yella, grade 7 (MVPs), Kate Grannis, grade 7 (Eagle) and Ashley Ma, grade 8 (Coaches).
JVA (Grade 6) Girls Volleyball: The junior varsity A team, coached by Belle Carley, finished in second place in the WBAL with a record of 5-1. Team awards went to Stephanie Bossolina (MVP), Alison Yang (Eagle) and Angelina Burrows (Coaches).
JVB1 (Grade 5) Girls Volleyball: The junior varsity B1 team, coached by Ellie Pereira, finished in first place in the WBAL with a record of 6-0. Team awards went to Tanvi Sivakumar (MVP), Aline Grinspan (Eagle) and Delara Gholami (Coaches).
JVB2 (Grade 5) Girls Volleyball: The junior varsity B2 team, coached by Allie Pereira, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a record of 2-4. Team awards went to Sophia Schafer-Wharton (MVP), Ava Bhowmik (Eagle) and Anika Rajaram (Coaches).
Intramural (Grade 4) Girls Volleyball: Team awards went to Riya Samuel (MVP), Divya Bhupathi(Eagle) and Finley Ho (Coaches). The team was coached by Emily Pereira and Kaitlyn Seawright.
VA (Grades 7-8) Baseball: The varsity A team, coached Jon Cvitanich, Richard Amarillas, Adam Albers and Marcus Anderson, finished in sixth placein the WBAL with a record of 2-5. Team awards went to Freddy Hoch, grade 8 (MVP), Nicholas Delfino, grade 8 (Eagle) and Daniel Lin, grade 7 (Coaches).
JVA (Grades 4-6) Baseball: The junior varsity A team, coached by Jon Cvitanich, Tim Hopkins, Brandon Carroll and Marcus Anderson, finished in fourth place in the WBAL with a record of 0-6. Team awards went to Zackary Delfino, grade 4 (MVP), Kylie Anderson, grade 6 (Eagle) and Nathan Wilcox, grade 6 (Coaches).
Intramural (Grades 4-5) Baseball: Team awards went to Spencer Mo and Ameera Ramzan, both grade 4, (Eagle) and Anirudh Subramanian, grade 4 (Coaches). The team was coached by Walid Fahmy and Tobias Wade.
VA (Grades 7-8) Boys Volleyball: The varsity A team, coached by Pete Anderson, finished in first place in the ADAL with a record of 8-0. The team went 10-0 overall. Team awards went to Tyler Beede, grade 8, and Adrian Liu, grade 7 (MVPs), Spencer Mak, grade 7 (Eagle) and Michael Sullivan, grade 8 (Coaches).
JVA (Grades 6-7) Boys Volleyball: The junior varsity A team, coached by Spring Wang and Sara Pawloski, finished in a tie for third place in the ADAL with a record of 5-3. Team awards went to Liam Jeffers, grade 6(MVP), Rayan Arya, grade 6 (Eagle) and Varun Bhupathi, grade 6 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 6-8) Boys Water Polo: The middle school boy’s water polo team, coached by Ted Ujifusa and Allie Lamb, finished with a 2-4 in the WBAL. Team awards went to Indigo Lee, grade 8,and Lachlan Rossi, grade 7 (MVPs), Robert Fields, grade 6 (Eagle) and Drake Piscione, grade 8 (Coaches).
VA (Grades 6-8) Girls Water Polo: The middle school girl’s water polo team, coached by Ted Ujifusa and Allie Lamb, finished 3-2 in the WBAL. Team awards went to Jasleen Hansra, grade 8, and Sydney Adler, grade 8 (MVPs), Chiling Han, grade 6 (Eagle) and Ria Kohli, grade 6 (Coaches).
MS (Grades 6-8) Golf: The middle school golf team, coached by Ie-Chen Cheng, took second place in the WBAL spring tournament held at the Moffet Field Golf Course. The team shot a 156 on the front nine. The top eight golfers were Freddy Hoch, grade 8 (36), Athreya Daniel, grade 8 (38), Allison Yang, grade 6 (39), Nika Gholami, grade 8, and Jack Yang, grade 7 (43), Yu Bai, grade 7 (44) and Emi Fujimura, grade 7 (47) and David Jang, grade 7 (51).
LS (Grades 4-5) Boys and Girls Track: The lower school track team, coached by Brighid Wood, Karriem Stinson, Colleen Campbell, Brittney Moseley, Hannah Grannis and Dini Wong, took second overall at the WBAL track meet.
First place finishers were:
David Kelly, grade 4 (100m)
Brandon Labio, grade 4 (400m)
MS (Grades 6-8) Boys and Girls Track: The middle school track team, coached by Brighid Wood, Karriem Stinson, Colleen Campbell, Brittney Moseley, Hannah Grannis and Dini Wong, took second overall at the WBAL track meet.
First place finishers were:
Chiling Han, grade 6 (200m, 400m, 800m)
Anjali Yella, grade 7 (50m, 100m, 200m, long jump)
Andrew Fu, grade 8 (long jump)
Rigo Gonzales, grade 8 (200m, 400m, 800m)
Rigo Gonzales, Andrew Fu, Zain Vakath and Armaan Thakker, all grade 8 (4 x 100 relay)
Sibling chess enthusiasts Vyom and Omya Vidyarthi – grade 6 and grade 3, respectively – have done it again! The pair traveled to Nashville over the weekend to compete at the US Chess National Elementary Championship. Both students were winners in their respective sections, with Vyom taking first in K-6 and Omya placing first in K-3. Approximately 2,000 players traveled to this event from around the US.
Previously, at the Susan Polgar National Open Championship in April, Vyom and Omya had top placements in their groups. Omya won the Under 16-Under 18 girls group, where she was the youngest competitor. Vyom, who competed in the Under 16-Under 18 boys category, tied for second place and placed third overall after a tiebreaker. Notably, he also met the 2200 rating requirement to earn the United States Chess Federation title of “National Master.”
Both students also performed well in Blitz chess events, where Vyom placed second in the Grade 5 and Up category and Omya took second place in the Grade 4 and Under section.
Sibling chess enthusiasts Vyom and Omya Vidyarthi – grade 6 and grade 3, respectively – have done it again! The pair traveled to Nashville over the weekend to compete at the US Chess National Elementary Championship. Both students were winners in their respective sections, with Vyom taking first in K-6 and Omya placing first in K-3. Approximately 2,000 players traveled to this event from around the US.
Previously, at the Susan Polgar National Open Championship in April, Vyom and Omya had top placements in their groups. Omya won the Under 16-Under 18 girls group, where she was the youngest competitor. Vyom, who competed in the Under 16-Under 18 boys category, tied for second place and placed third overall after a tiebreaker. Notably, he also met the 2200 rating requirement to earn the United States Chess Federation title of “National Master.”
Both students also performed well in Blitz chess events, where Vyom placed second in the Grade 5 and Up category and Omya took second place in the Grade 4 and Under section.
Sibling chess enthusiasts Vyom and Omya Vidyarthi – grade 6 and grade 3, respectively – have done it again! The pair traveled to Nashville over the weekend to compete at the US Chess National Elementary Championship. Both students were winners in their respective sections, with Vyom taking first in K-6 and Omya placing first in K-3. Approximately 2,000 players traveled to this event from around the US.
Previously, at the Susan Polgar National Open Championship in April, Vyom and Omya had top placements in their groups. Omya won the Under 16-Under 18 girls group, where she was the youngest competitor. Vyom, who competed in the Under 16-Under 18 boys category, tied for second place and placed third overall after a tiebreaker. Notably, he also met the 2200 rating requirement to earn the United States Chess Federation title of “National Master.”
Both students also performed well in Blitz chess events, where Vyom placed second in the Grade 5 and Up category and Omya took second place in the Grade 4 and Under section.
Last week, the lower school library hosted its annual Book Fair, where attendees partook of a wide selection of books for all reading levels. A variety of fiction (from sci-fi to historical fiction to mysteries) and non-fiction (history, sports and biographies) were available for both children and adults.
“The Book Fair promotes reading at all levels, and provides more books to our community,” said lower school librarian Kathy Clark. Because the Book Fair coincided with Grandparents’ Day on Friday, “parents and grandparents purchase books that their students are interested in reading, titles for summer reading and gifts,” she continued. Families also often show their generosity and gratitude to Harker teachers by purchasing books for the classrooms. Money raised by the Book Fair goes into library budget so that more books can be purchased.
By Clark’s estimation, the Book Fair started in 1998 and was first held in the lower school gym’s lobby. In addition to being a great way to find new books, the Book Fair also fosters “a sense of community!” Clark said. “Students and their friends meet in the library, sharing the books they find. Parents meet in the library too, talking about the books their students want to read. Our library staff spends a lot of time recommending titles that are appropriate for the various age levels, and it gives us a chance to get to know the parents a little better.”
Parents also get involved with the Book Fair by volunteering to run the cash registers and assist students in finding books that interest them. “We can’t operate the fair without them,” said Clark. “Some volunteers return year after year because they enjoy working during the fair.”