In February, Karen Lantz from the San Jose Museum of Art visited four kindergarten classrooms to give the students a basic primer on key artistic concepts. Students learned about the primary colors, basic shapes and lines, and were shown three different paintings then asked to spot these different concepts within them. As an added bonus, the students each received a bookmark granting them a free visit to the museum.
The lower school and middle school girls basketball and boys soccer seasons are coming to a close, and what fantastic seasons they have been!
Girls basketball
The varsity A Gr. 8 girls basketball team finished the season at 7-3 in league play and 8-4 overall, taking third place in the league. They also were Gold Division consolation champs in the WBAL tournament. The team was led by Nithya Vemireddy, Regina Chen, Mercedes Chien and Alana Shamlou.
The varsity B Gr. 7 girls basketball team finished 3-4 in league and 5-5 overall, placing fourth in league. They put on quite a show in the WBAL tournament, finishing in second place in the Silver Division, only losing by a basket! The team was led by Diba Massihpour, Madhu Nori and Nikita Mittal.
The junior varsity A Gr. 6 girls basketball team also finished with a 3-4 record in league, taking fifth place. They finished the season with a 4-6 overall record and took fourth place in the WBAL tournament. The team was led by Shannon Richardson, Namitha Vellian and Sadhika Malladi.
The varsity B2 Gr. 7 and the junior varsity B6 Gr. 6 girls basketball teams finished a spirited season of play, learned a lot about the game of basketball and had fun with their teammates and coaches. The B2 team was led by Rama Prasad, Sheridan Tobin and Laya Indukuri; the B6 team was led by Shreya Mathur, Aishu Murari and Shivali Minocha. Both teams ended the season 0-7.
The junior varsity B1 Gr. 5 girls basketball team finished 5-1 in league, 6-2 overall and took 2nd place in the league and WBAL tournament! The team was led by Joelle Anderson, Sarah Baz and Jordan Thompson.
The junior varsity B2 Gr. 5 and the junior varsity C Gr. 4 girls basketball teams also had a successful season. They learned a lot about the game of basketball, had a lot of fun and also came out with a couple of victories. The B2 team was led by Swetha Tummala, Priyanka Taneja and Rachel Cheng; they finished the season 0-6. The C team, with a 2-4 record, was led by Raveena Panja, Ania Kranz and Ashna Chandra.
Boys soccer
The varsity A Gr. 8 boys soccer team finished 1-2-3 in league. The boys played a tough league schedule and many games could have gone either way but finished in a tie. The team was led by Kevin Moss, Jeffrey Hanke and Varun Kamat.
The varsity B Gr. 7 boys soccer season finished 2-4 in league and 2-6 overall. They enjoyed victories over Priory and Crystal Springs. The team was led by Nikhil Kishore and Neil Sadhu.
The junior varsity A1 Gr. 6 boys soccer team had a remarkable season! They went 3-1-1 in league and were 4-1-2 overall, taking second place in the WBAL. They were led by Nathaniel Stearns, Nick LaBruna and Calvin Kocienda.
The junior varsity B boys soccer team also had a fantastic season, with exciting victories against Crystal Springs, Pinewood and St. Joseph’s Sacred Heart. At press time, the team was 4-1 in league and in second place in the standings. The team was led by Nikolas Weisbloom, Kedar Gupta and Joseph Krackeler.
The intramural boys Gr. 4-5 soccer team also learned a lot about soccer and had a lot of fun with their teammates and coach Jim McGovern. The team was led by Nirban Bhatia, Rohit Shah and Shaya Zarkesh.
The junior varsity A2 Gr. 6 boys soccer team had an impressive season despite their record of 0-5-1, since they were playing all of the other schools’ top teams. The team was led by Kurt Schwartz, Rohan Daran, Justan Su, Nikita Kosolobov and Kevin Hu.
Tags: Featured Story, Sports
Firefighters from the San Jose Fire Department visited the lower school on March 3 to teach the students a few lessons on fire safety. The kids learned how to make an evacuation plan, the process of making a 911 emergency call and how to stop, drop and roll. Students had fun during the firefighters’ visit, paying close attention and taking the opportunity to ask questions, such as how to adapt an evacuation plan to the layout of one’s house.
On Feb. 15, Gr. 5 students and teachers performed at the annual Lip Sync event, in which students, faculty and staff all played the role of pop star while backed by some of their favorite songs. Highlights included Jonathan Schwartz and Aashish Jain pantomiming to the Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling,” P.E. teachers Jim McGovern and Walid Fahmy teaming up with Alex Mo for Jay Sean’s “Do You Remember” and Sean Costello’s version of Elvis Presley’s “Teddy Bear.”
On Jan. 29, Gr. 3 social studies teacher Heidi Gough held Dress for History Day for her students, in which everyone (teachers included, such as Gr. 3 English and study skills teacher Elise Schwartz, pictured) dressed up in outfits representing various peoples from bygone eras. Cowboys, cowgirls, gold miners, Native Americans and more familiar figures from California history were represented in the wide variety of costumes that students wore throughout the day.
Tags: Harker HistoryThe Gr. 5 show on Jan. 28-29 presented what many people would consider a nightmare scenario: a world without iPods, laptops, video games or cell phones. In the play, titled “A Kid’s Life,” an electromagnetic attack from space renders everyday technological conveniences unusable. Without the gadgets they once took for granted, the kids must learn how to unlock the power of their imaginations to have fun, in the process learning important lessons about each other, themselves and life in general.
Directed by lower school music teacher Jennifer Cowgill, the production featured the entire Gr. 5 class, with multiple actors often playing the same role. Lower school faculty and staff – including Joe Connolly, dean of students K-Gr. 5, Pat Walsh, Gr. 5 math teacher and Kristin Giammona, Gr. 4-5 division head – made special guest appearances to the delight of those in attendance.
Lower school performing arts teacher Danny Dunn acted as technical director and sound engineer, and her Gr. 5 technical theater students served as the crew during the play. Dunn’s middle school tech club created the elaborate stage props used in the production. Dunn’s husband, Beric, provided sound effects. Other assistance was provided by helpers Caela Fujii, who acted as board operator, Whitney McLelland, a long-time helper who has designed the scenery for many Gr. 5, kindergarten and holiday shows, Marylin Watts, who has designed costumes for Bucknall shows for several years, and Carol Clever, technical theater assistant for Bucknall shows who acted as stage manager during the play.
Tags: Featured Story, Performing ArtsLower school students were recently given the opportunity to participate in the 2010 National Geographic Bee. Over 40 fourth and fifth graders volunteered and competed during their lunch hours in early January. Ten students were selected for the championship round later in the week with Nikhil Manglik, Gr. 5, edging out classmate Venkat Sankar in the championship. Manglik, the winner last year as well, will take a further test at Harker, which will be submitted to National Geographic for a chance to compete at the state level.
Gr. 5 students were introduced to what awaits them as middle schoolers during Step-Up Day on Nov. 20. The children headed to Blackford and took a tour of the campus while being introduced to the middle school faculty and staff, and learning about the various academic and extracurricular activities that they will experience next year. The students were also treated to a special vocal performance by their future schoolmates, the Gr. 6 choir.
Harker students continue to perform well in this year’s Continental Mathematics League competition. After three meets, the current lower school leader at the Gr. 4 level is Rose Guan, Gr. 3, who has solved 17 of 18 problems correctly. The Gr. 5 level leaders are Peter Wu and David Zhu, both Gr. 5, who have correctly solved 18 of 18 problems.
At the CML meet held Jan. 7, Gr. 4-level competitors Guan and Shaya Zarkesh, Adrian Chu and Griffin Ellis all had perfect scores. Earning perfect scores at the Gr. 5 level were Zhu and Wu, as well as Antony Sagayaraj, Aneesh Samineni and Steven Cao.
Tags: MathematicsA robotics team made up of Harker lower school students had a major success in their most recent competition. Fifth graders Sneha Bhetanabhotla, Aditya Dhar, Rishab Gargeya and Austin Tuan competed in the First Lego League (FLL) qualifying tournament on Nov. 28 at NASA Ames Research Center. Their task was to choose a transportation-related problem, research it and present a solution. They took first place for their presentation on Bay Area traffic congestion and advanced to the next round of competition which will be Dec. 19 in San Jose. The team is coached by two of the students’ fathers, Murthy Bhetanabhotla and Srini Gargeya.
Tags: topscience