Harker will host free lacrosse clinics for middle school girls (those currently in grades 6, 7 and 8) on May 26 and May 28. The clinics will be held at Rosenthal Field (natural grass field) at Harker’s upper school campus (500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose) from 4-5 p.m.
On both dates, a bus will be provided at 3:45 p.m. for Harker students to take them from the middle school to upper school campus for the clinics. Parents can pick them up at 5 p.m. at the upper school campus or the girls can take the 5:05 p.m. intercampus shuttle back to the middle school campus.
Participants not enrolled at Harker should come directly to the upper school campus.
Participants should wear athletic clothes and shoes. All other gear (sticks and balls) will be provided.
There is no charge for the clinics and preregistration is not required. Just be there at 4 p.m.!
Although all middle school Latin students took the National Latin Exam and National Mythology Exam, there were some who wanted a bigger challenge and participated in four optional contests. There will be a lot of jingling as they walk away from Junior Classical League Awards on May 21!
National Classical Etymology Exam (Greek and Latin roots of English words), Novice level (grades 8 and below)
Bronze medals: Cynthia Chen, Avi Gulati, Eileen Li, all grade 7
Silver medals: Arushee Bhoja, Taylor Lam, both grade 8
Gold medals: Arohee Bhoja, George Wehner, both grade 6; Jack Hansen, Jin Tuan, Angele Yang, all grade 7; Nikhil Dharmaraj, Ayush Pancholy, Akshay Ravoor, Ashwin Reddy, Alexander Young, all grade 8
National Roman Civilization Exam (history and culture), Novice level (grades 8 and below)
Bronze medals: Akshay Ravoor, Ashwin Reddy, Alexander Young, all grade 8
National Latin Vocabulary Exam
Level 1/2, all grade 6:
Bronze: Saloni Shah
Silver: Akshay Manglik
Gold: Arohee Bhoja, Annamma Vazhaeparambil
Level 1, all grade 7, except where noted:
Silver: Avi Gulati, Jack Hansen, Allison Jia
Gold: Eileen Li, Kalyan Narayanan, Jin Tuan, George Wehner, grade 6
Level 2, all grade 8:
Silver: Akshay Ravoor, Ayush Pancholy
Gold: Nikhil Dharmaraj
Medusa Mythology Exam (This year’s theme was “Monstra in Corporibus,” mythological monsters sorted by body type)
Corona Olivae: George Wehner, grade 6; Jasmine Wiese, Jack Hansen, both grade 7; Allison Cartee, grade 8
Corona Laurea: Akshay Manglik, Annnamma Vazhaeparambil, both grade 6; Katelyn Chen, grade 7; Akshay Ravoor, Timothy Chang, Sara Min, all grade 8
Bronze: Allison Jia, Kyle Li, both grade 7; Alexander Young, grade 8
In late February, middle school Latin students took The National Mythology Exam, answering questions on the Olympians, Theseus (the theme) and classical literature (such as “The Odyssey” and “The Iliad”). The following students are certified myth mavens:
Bronze medals:
Grade 6: Jason Lin, Akshay Manglik, Arohee Bhoja, Saloni Shah, Linus Zheng, Maria Vazhaeparambil
Harker’s team came in third place at this year’s state Mathcounts competition, held at Stanford on March 21. Harker team members comprised Rose Guan and Katherine Tian, grade 8, and Cynthia Chen and Jeffrey Kwan, grade 7. “They did an excellent job at the competition and placed third as a team among 33 contending teams,” said Vandana Kadam, middles school math department chair, who coached the team. The competition included 33 teams with 174 individual contestants. Tian placed sixth individually and came in fourth in the speed math contest, called the countdown round. The top 16 students in the written round were invited to take part in the countdown round. Tian beat her opponents in all rounds and made it to the semifinals but lost in that round.
Chen finished 19th, Guan 27th and Kwan 28th. Only two points separated Tian from Chen. “The ranking difference tells you how tough a competition we have in the Bay Area,” Kadam, said.
“Needless to say, it was a tough competition with William Hopkins, Hyde, Kennedy, Redwood and Miller schools also fielding extremely strong teams,” Kadam added. “Harker’s team members had a consistent high performance on the individual rounds which served them well. With the kind of competition we see around here, the rankings keep changing every year. Last year Harker placed first at the state Mathcounts, while Cupertino Middle School and Miller Middle School came in second and third, respectively.” Please congratulate the students on their accomplishment!
For the ninth year in a row, young cancer patients attending Camp Okizu will benefit from the annual Harker Cancer Walk.
On March 24, students, parents, family members, faculty and staff from Harker’s four campuses united at the middle school field for the walk, which has become a beloved annual tradition.
Cindy Ellis, middle school head, was thrilled to report that “between the baked goods, smoothies, shirts and donations, we raised over $10,000!”
Located in the Berry Creek area of the Sierra foothills and mirroring a residential camp experience, Camp Okizu provides a safe place for children with cancer to enjoy regular summer camp activities and social events.
The name Okizu (oak-eye-zoo) comes from the Sioux language and means “unity.” Camp Okizu is free of charge to all attendees, but it costs $700 to $1,000 to provide a week-long camp experience for one child. Therefore, the camp relies on donations, making fundraising efforts such as the Harker Cancer Walk incredibly important.
“There’s always a moment at each Cancer Walk when I stop and look around at everything that’s going on. People are smiling, laughing and talking. There’s hustle and bustle in front of various tables. And even though the event can be a reminder of something sad, it also can be a reminder of those wonderful days gone by,” recalled Michael Schmidt, middle school computer science teacher and department chair, who had the idea for the fundraiser following the passing of his own mother due to cancer.
Today, he said, he no longer views the Cancer Walk as just a tribute to his mother “as much as I think of it as a tribute to the people and relationships I’ve experienced at Harker. Thank you all for sharing that with me.”
Prior to walk, students engaged in activities to learn about different forms of cancer and cancer prevention strategies. In a further show of support for the fundraising effort, many teachers displayed door decorations with themes designed to promote cancer awareness.
Harker’s middle school students won numerous awards for their scores on The National Latin Exam, which was taken this year by more than 153,000 Latin students from the United States and 20 other countries.
The exam is sponsored by the U.S.-based American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League. The test covers general knowledge of grammar and vocabulary, mythology, Roman culture, derivatives, and translation abilities.
The National Latin Exam prides itself on providing every Latin student the opportunity to experience a sense of personal accomplishment and success in his or her study of the Latin language and culture. The exam is a 40-question, multiple-choice test with a 45-minute time limit.
According to middle school Latin teacher Lisa Masoni, Harker students earned the following awards, which they will be receiving at a special ceremony in May:
The Introduction to Latin Exam (all grade 6 unless noted):
Achievement: Roberto Salgado, Shalini Rohra, Saloni Shah, Sriya Prathuri (7), Angela Cai, John Lynch, Maria Vazhaeparambil, Betsy Tian
Outstanding Achievement: Sidra Xu, Jason Lin, Akshay Manglik, Blake Richmond, Linus Zheng, Anna Vazhaeparambil
Perfect Paper: Arohee Bhoja, Jeffrey Fung (7)
The Latin 1 Exam (all grade 7 unless noted):
Cum Laude: Anvi Banga, Kashov Sharma, Jedd Hui
Magna Cum Laude: Henry Wiese, Rachel Abellera
Maxima Cum Laude (Silver Medal): Fiona Wiesner, Mahika Halepete, Vedanth Sundaram, Matthew Jin, Catherine Zhao, Zachary Wong (8), Angele Yang, Lauren Fu, Cynthia Chen, Katelyn Chen
Summa Cum Laude (Gold Medal): Jasmine Wiese, Kyle Li, Kalyan Narayanan, Jatin Kohli, Angela Chen, Ashley Duraiswamy, Andrew Cheplyansky, Montek Kalsi, Jai Bahri, Allison Jia, Jack Hansen, Alyssa Huang, Jin Tuan, Eileen Li, Avi Gulati
Perfect Paper: George Wehner (6)
The Latin 2 Exam (all grade 8):
Cum Laude: Ashwin Reddy, Sophia Angus
Magna Cum Laude: Sahana Narayan
Maxima Cum Laude (Silver Medal): Ally Wang, Timmy Chang, Tiffany Zhao, Heidi Zhang, Ayush Pancholy, Taylor Lam, Jacob Kim, Sara Min, Nicole Selvaggio, Nikhil Dharmaraj, Allison Cartee, Tiffany Wong
Summa Cum Laude (Gold Medal): Bobby Bloomquist, Alexander Young, Kaushik Shivakumar
Perfect Paper: Mathew Mammen, Akshay Ravoor, Clarissa Wang
Harker students Haris Hosseini and Alexander Young, both grade 8, received certificates of recognition for superior writing ability from the National Council of Teachers of English Promising Young Writers Program. Out of 191 students nominated nationwide, only 45 received this honor; of those recognized, only four students were from California. Each student submitted two pieces of writing, which were read by national judges. Papers were judged on content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development and style. “It is so exciting that both of our nominees were selected as California winners,” noted Patricia Lai Burrows, middle school English teacher. A complete list of winners is on the NCTE website at http://www.ncte.org/awards/student/pyw/2015. Go Writing Eagles!
On April 10, middle and upper school orchestra ensembles gathered at San Jose’s Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater for the 2015 Spring Orchestra Concert.
Up first was the Grade 6 Orchestra, directed by Dave Hart, which performed Brahms’ “Hungarian Dance No. 5” and the modern folk classic “Ashokan Farewell” by Jay Ungar, finishing with the famous “James Bond Theme” by Monty Norman. The Grades 7-8 Orchestra, also directed by Hart, began with the invigorating theme from “Pirates of the Caribbean” and continued with selections by Brahms, Wagner and Tchaikovsky.
The middle school orchestras then joined forces for a crowd-pleasing performance of “Prelude to Carmen” by Georges Bizet.
Chris Florio directed The Harker School Orchestra, which headlined the evening, starting with Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Danse Macabre” before performing the entirety of Stravinsky’s “The Firebird.” Two soloists also performed. The first, senior violist Austin Lai, performed Léo Delibes “La Paix,” from the ballet “Coppélia,” while senior violinist Helen Wu, who recently earned a spot on the National Youth Orchestra for the second year in a row, performed the allegro from Samuel Barber’s “Concert for Violin & Orchestra.” The orchestra closed the evening with a spirited version of “Huapango” by renowned Mexican composer José Pablo Moncayo.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2015 Harker Quarterly.
For nearly a decade, Harker’s speech and debate program has given students the invaluable skills they need to present and persuade. In the past five years, Harker students have won multiple national championships in nearly every speech and debate event they have entered. The department’s profile has continued to grow as more people realize the critical importance of clear, persuasive communication.
Before department chair Carol Green joined Harker in 2006, the speech and debate program consisted of only a few dozen students at the upper school. “Now I myself teach about 70,” Green said. She attributes the heavy growth over the past several years in part to the program’s expansion into more types of events.
“When I first got here, the only two events we did were policy debate – which is a very technical two-person debate – and Lincoln-Douglas debate, which is a very technical one-person debate,” Green recalled.
These events have students debating a single topic year-round, requiring intensive research. They are judged by experts in the chosen topic who are keenly aware of how nuances of speech can affect how a message is received.
The judges’ expertise in the chosen topics means students must demonstrate considerable knowledge of the subject area when arguing their sides.
In her second year at Harker, Green added public forum debate to the program. In contrast to the more research-heavy debate events, public forum changes topics every month, and is evaluated by citizen judges.
“Citizen judges are anyone off the street – lawyers, doctors, moms, dads. People you’re going to have to persuade in everyday life,” Green explained. “So you’re looking at a different type of persuasion, because they don’t know necessarily the most technical jargon, but you’re still looking at the human elements of persuasion.”
In addition to public forum, the department added individual speech events and congressional debate, which fit better with the schedules of most Harker students. “So if a child takes a month off to go do robotics, they don’t lose out on a competitive edge because they just skip,” Green said. “And so when we introduced these other activities that still taught oral communication skills, taught research skills, but maybe weren’t as intense, we had a greater retention level.”
Once more students began entering these events, “the students became successful and success breeds success,” Green explained. The program’s growing profile and the reputation it developed for building strong communication and presentation skills attracted more students to the program.
Senior Nikhil Kishore, who in the fall semester earned a trip to the National Speech & Debate Association’s Tournament of Champions, found that he enjoyed debate because it gave him more control over how far he progressed in comparison to other competitive events, such as sports.
“It’s a lot more student driven,” he said. “If you actually do more work yourself, that’s a lot. It really dictates how well you do, how much research you’ve done, how much prep you’ve done.”
He has also found the environment highly collaborative, which has been key to his success. “It’s really good because you can bounce ideas off of [peers] and you’re working with some of the smartest people, which helps you create all these good ideas and things that you can work with in a debate.”
“If you get eliminated [from a tournament], you immediately turn around and become a member of the coaching staff and continue to help until Harker is eliminated as a whole,” Green said. “Because even though you’re an individual competitor, you’re still part of a team.”
In summer 2010, Harker’s middle school debate squad traveled to the National Junior Forensic League’s national championship, where it took both first and second place in public forum. The addition of Karina Momary to the faculty later that year bolstered the middle school debate program. Momary quickly sought to expand the middle school program by adding more events.
Having come from a larger debate program in her previous job, Momary wanted to enhance the middle school program by offering more than public forum, which focuses on current events. “Not everyone likes talking about current events. Some people want to talk about moral values and some people want to talk about policy issues,” she said.
Since then, the middle school program has won at the national level in every debate event it has entered. “A lot of parents ask me which style of debate are we better at, and we are just as good at all of them,” Momary said. “Part of the reason is we encourage students to find their passion and to research something that interests them, and with that comes the passion to excel.”
When she joined Harker, there was a scarcity of local middle school debate competitions, which made preparation for national tournaments a challenge. Momary took the bold step to start entering her students into high school-level tournaments, which drew criticism from some in the debate community. “And then our kids started beating the high school kids,” Momary said. “And now all the middle school programs out here do the same thing.”
Green attributes much of Harker debate’s success to the resources available to students. “Honestly, I think the Harker community’s a large part,” she said. In a recent example, upper school debate teacher Greg Achten’s students were to debate on environmental issues, which prompted Achten to invite science teacher Kate Schafer to speak with his students on the topic. “Being able to draw from the rest of the Harker resources and the Harker community really allows our students to take it outside of the text,” Green said.
Green added that students also learn how to argue from both sides of the debate, “forcing students to question their own beliefs, to understand and build stronger foundations in their beliefs, because they know what the opposition’s going to say and they know how build a response to that.”
Middle school students also get help from upper school debaters, who offer support and guidance at after-school practice sessions and workshops. Momary noted that middle school team captains are in near-constant contact with upper school captains to coordinate and prepare arguments. When middle and upper school students travel to tournaments together, they are set up as buddies. “Everyone supports each other and really works as a team,” she said.
“Harker debate is really like a huge family,” said Cindy Wang, grade 8. “The shared love of debate connects all of us and we help each other in difficult or stressful situations. Being on the team is an amazing experience; the support I have received from the parents, coaches and peers has really helped me work hard toward improving.”
A large part of debate’s popularity with Harker students can be attributed to the skills its students develop, which can be applied to many disciplines, including academics or future careers. “They’re learning how to construct an argument, which is really helpful when they’re doing things like writing persuasive essays or writing research papers and things like that, for social sciences and for STEM,” said Green.
“There’s nothing that would prepare them for the boardroom better than being able to stand up and deliver their ideas,” said Momary. “A few of the parents have come back and told me they watched their students talk to VCs in a boardroom and couldn’t believe that they had the ability to do that.”
Debate also gives students the opportunity to perform extensive research on a wide variety of topics. While researching a debate topic, students may immerse themselves in global economics, environmental sciences, current events or even the nature of debate tournaments themselves.
“We focus a lot on current events. So it encourages you to keep up with the world and see what’s going on, which is pretty interesting because often you learn a lot of things that you wouldn’t have otherwise known,” Kishore said.
As students frequently travel to tournaments, time management also becomes an important tool of the trade, which Wang found especially important. “I’ve learned to do my homework faster and more efficiently so I can leave time for debate, and I can apply this skill everywhere to do as much as possible in a given timeframe.”
Ancient and modern China formed an intriguing focus of study for 21 middle school students during their recent visit to the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS), Harker’s sister school in Shanghai.
At the end of March, 16 seventh graders and five eighth graders united for an action-packed week with their WFLMS buddies, who had earlier in the school year spent time at Harker as part of an annual reciprocal student exchange program.
Journeying to China is a much-anticipated adventure and highlight of the middle school experience for many grade 7 and 8 students. While there, the Harker contingent visited numerous landmarks and historic sites.
Originally based around the grade 8 computer science class’ global issues forum, the annual China trip expanded two years ago to incorporate the grade 7 historical component of learning about ancient China.
Keith Hirota, grade 6 ancient civilizations teacher, headed this year’s trip. Carol Green, Harker’s middle and upper school communication studies department chair, who was already in China serving as an exchange teacher at WFLMS, joined the group as a chaperone.
After a smooth flight, the students were warmly welcomed at Pudong International Airport by their pals from WFLMS, Hirota recalled. From there, they hopped on a WFLMS bus for the short drive into the city to meet their host families.
The next morning, when the group arrived on the school’s campus, a large electronic sign read, “We warmly welcome the teachers and students from The Harker School.”
“The students were greeted by WFLMS computer teacher Jack Sheng (who speaks fluent English with an Aussie accent), who sent them around campus on a fun orientation/scavenger hunt,” shared Hirota.
After that, the Harker students participated in a dance class, followed by a class on the history, culture and food of China. The students also attended a class on Chinese geography that highlighted the Shanghai area. At the conclusion of the lesson, they headed to the auditorium, where they shared information about their American culture with the WFLMS student body.
“They each did a great job talking about Harker clubs, after-school activities, spirit events and houses, speech and debate, special classes and electives, middle school sports, lunch and snacks, American holidays, famous American points of interest, video gaming and social media,” Hirota observed.
The Harker students then hopped on a bus and headed for Zhujiajiao. The word Zhujiajiao means “Zhu Family Settlement.” It is one of six ancient water villages on the outskirts of Shanghai. With a population of 60,000, it features 36 stone bridges and thousands of ancient buildings along the riverbanks. After a boat ride through the canal, the students were given time to explore and bargain hunt throughout the hundreds of food and novelty shops in the area.
“We had a 12-course family style lunch with a scenic view overlooking the canal and shops. After lunch, students were given more time to explore and shop. We drove back to Shanghai and had an early dinner at Da Niang Dumplings. Before heading off to ‘Era’ (the Shanghai Circus), the students had some time to buy desert and snacks at a few local shops. After a brief drive through the city, we arrived at the circus venue and our students were met by their WFLMS buddies. The circus was simply amazing and the highlight of the day!” reported Hirota.
The students’ subsequent time at WFLMS included learning a form of ancient Kung Fu called Wushu and how to play Chinese instruments called the erhu and pipa. They also had fun making Chinese opera masks to take home.
Another highlight for the Harker students was taking a rickshaw tour of Beijing, which included a moving visit to Tiananmen Square, site of the 1989 protests and ensuing military action. From there the group headed to the Forbidden City, where they were guided through several of its 980 palatial buildings. Then came a memorable visit to the Great Wall of China. After taking a ski lift to the top of the mountain, the group entered the wall. Students took many photos of the renowned structure and enjoyed a toboggan ride back down the mountain.
The students’ time at WFLMS ended with a farewell ceremony and dinner. “The ceremony was bittersweet as we watched several students from both schools give touching speeches and performances,” recalled Hirota, noting that Harker students and their WFLMS buddies had been faithfully corresponding since the fall.
Reflecting on the trip, grade 7 student Jatin Kohli said he really enjoyed the homestay with his buddy and the time they spent walking along the Huangpu River and the Bund, a famous waterfront area. “I wish our buddies could have joined us on our trip north to Beijing. The trip felt too short and I wish I had more time,” he said.
Grade 8 student Julia Amick added, “My favorite part of the homestay was getting to tour around Shanghai with my buddy and her parents and trying new and exotic foods like stinky tofu!”