Five Harker instrumentalists were selected for the 2014 All-State Honor Band and played in formal concerts over the weekend, and another student was selected for the National Youth Orchestra and will perform with that group this summer.
Victoria Ding, grade 10, flute; Andrew Kim, grade 10, double bass; Austin Lai, grade 11, viola; Kristen Park, grade 10, soprano clarinet; and James Shaw, grade 8, trombone, were selected from more than 1,700 applicants statewide by the California Band Directors Association, an affiliate of the California Association for Music Education. “This is the ninth straight year we’ve had students in all-state,” said Chris Florio, upper school orchestra director, “and this is the largest number of students we have had accepted in a single year.”
Those selected played in a concert band, jazz band or orchestra in Fresno following concentrated rehearsals. “James is a member of the Grades 7-8 Orchestra and Middle School Jazz Band this year,” said Dave Hart, middle school orchestra director. “He was first chair in the Junior High All-State Band. This was a great opportunity for James, who said that he left the experience inspired by the music and new friends he made.”
In other exciting music news, Helen Wu, grade 11, was recently accepted to the National Youth Orchestra. Wu has not yet committed to the program, but being accepted “is a huge honor,” said Florio. “It is a month-long program that is sponsored by Carnegie Hall and is 100 percent free. The orchestra is extremely competitive to get into. The orchestra will be conducted by St. Louis conductor David Robertson and will tour the U.S., performing at such halls as Carnegie, Disney Center and others.”
In early February, four Harker seventh graders placed high at the United States Open Music Competition, an annual piano competition that has highlighted the talents of young musicians for more than 20 years. Constance Horng and Nicole Chen took first place in the Open Duet Intermediate category for their performance of Claude Debussy’s “En bateau” from Petite Suite. Tiffany Zhao took second place in both Piano Showcase Solo Junior F and Treasury of Popular Music Intermediate A, as well as fourth place in Open Solo 4B. Sian Smith took fourth place in Treasury of Popular Favorites Intermediate A.
Come June, the upper school campus will be filled with students in grades 6-12 who are participating in Harker’s Summer Institute (SI), a unique program open to both Harker students and those from other schools.
The Summer Institute has two tracks, one designed for middle schoolers and another for high school students. Participants typically combine a morning academic program with afternoon activities, allowing them to earn credits and learn new skills, yet still enjoy summertime fun.
The academic portion of the day offers rigorous for-credit courses such as algebra, economics and programming, as well as non-credit opportunities for enrichment and growth including creative writing, Web design, debate and robotics. A driver’s education course is available for students ages 15 and up.
For middle schoolers (grades 6-8), SI’s afternoon activity program includes many specialty classes and recreational activities; students in grade 9 are also invited to sign up for the afternoon activities. Last year’s participants were introduced to specialty classes including backyard games, volleyball boot camp and cooking. These classes will be available again this year, along with other rotating options such as art, jewelry making, magic, improv, dance, tech, junior lifeguard, chess and circus arts. There also will be off-campus field trips every couple of weeks to various sites such as The Tech Museum and Capitola.
Keith Hirota will reprise his role as SI middle school director and Evan Barth, upper school dean of studies, has enthusiastically taken on the role of SI principal for the upper school students.
Barth – who joined Harker in fall 2000 and has taught mathematics, coached soccer and volleyball, been a class dean and served on the Honor Council – said he is looking forward to working with SI’s older students this summer. In his present capacity as the dean of studies, he meets with each incoming student to create an academic plan for high school.
Hirota noted the success of last year’s program, which totaled some 920 middle and upper school students. An average of 80-85 students per week attended the afternoon activities.
Both Hirota and Barth agreed that the variety of choices and flexibility of the SI program allows students to design their own perfect schedule, taking into consideration individual academic needs and personal interests.
Eight Harker middle school students have won prestigious Scholastic Art Awards for their outstanding artwork. Two received the coveted Gold and Silver Key Awards, and six others were lauded with honorable mentions. All of the students’ work will be featured in the upper school art exhibit in the spring.
Hannah Eckert, grade 7, won a Gold Key award for her “Corn Plants” drawings, featuring one piece done using contour lines and another sketched in pen and ink. Liana Wang, grade 8, won a Silver Key for her creative ceramic sculpture titled “Abstract Figure.”
“This is very exciting for us and begins a new tradition of recognition in the arts on both a state and national level,” said Elizabeth Saltos, who teachers visual art at the middle school.
Honorable mentions for this year’s Scholastic Art Awards went to: Anthony Contreras, grade 8, for his sculpture “Smoov”; Natalie Luo, grade 8, for her sculpture “Reclining Figure”; Rebecca Mak, grade 7, for her drawing “Reflection”; Nicole Selvaggio, grade 7, for her sculpture “Abstract Figure”; Andrew Semenza, grade 8, for his drawing “Desert Cascade”; and Ally Wang, grade 7, for her drawing “Black And White.”
When grade 8 students in Cyrus Merrill’s history class began an assignment in the fall writing letters to their national representatives in Washington, D.C., they had no idea the effort would yield such tangible results.
In addition to writing their state representatives about reform issues, some students chose the “blanket” approach (as part of their lobbying plan), writing to state, local and national officials, as well as various newspapers.
Thanks to the class’ letter-writing campaign, several members of Congress contacted Harker about meeting with the grade 8 students during their upcoming trip to Washington, D.C.
“That helped allow us to choose who we wanted to meet with while we were in D.C., so all of their lobbying worked,” recalled Merrill.
In addition, Akhil Arun’s letter to the editor was published in the San Jose Mercury News during the government shutdown. Meanwhile, classmate Millie Lin received a call from a representative in state Sen. Jerry Hill’s office in response to her letter, which also expressed concern over the shutdown.
“The letter was a history assignment given when the government shutdown occurred,” explained Lin. “I really enjoyed this assignment. I also sent it to two other senators and a newspaper and got normal responses. My mom picked up the phone, because I was not at home. During the talk, the topic of internships was brought up. They needed someone who could write.”
Based on Lin’s writing (and passionate analysis about the debt crisis and government shutdown), the representative began discussing the possibility of an internship before realizing that Lin was only in middle school. Typically, students interested in public service and federal government are eligible to apply for an internship in a senator’s office as undergraduate college students.
The California State Senate has a legislative body of 40 members, with each member representing approximately 931,000 people. Due to the state’s large population and relatively small legislature, the state Senate has the largest population per representative ratio of any state legislative house.
“Millie Lin really wowed the senator’s staff!” enthused Cindy Ellis, middle school head.
Most recently, the grade 8 students embarked on a new letter-writing campaign to their state representatives as an extension of studying the reform era in the 19th century. The students are making modern appeals and expressing concerns over such topics as mental health, alcohol related topics, and the treatment and protection of women.
“I can understand why Millie enjoys Mr. Merrill’s assignment: These types of assignments inspire the students to be engaged in current affairs that are history in making. They are very creative and thought-provoking. It’s very different from the way I learned history, which was mainly based on memorization,” noted May Chen, Lin’s mother.
Candy Land was the theme of a recent Fun Friday Program sponsored by the middle school’s BEST (Blackford Enrichment & Supervision Team). During the event, students had a blast becoming live pieces in a game of Candy Land, held outside on the field. To play, they had to spin a wheel and physically move from spot to spot to see who would reach the end first. Winners received a round of applause – as well as a yummy bag of popcorn.
“It was off the wall awesome!” reported BJ Hathaway, assistant director of BEST.
Harker’s upper school soccer teams competed last week in the annual Kicks Against Cancer games, putting up big numbers in the fundraising tally and on the scoreboard as both the boys and the girls trounced their opponents 6-0. The boys’ blowout came against Pinewood, led by 2 goals from sophomore Oisin Coveney, a penalty kick goal from senior goalie Samir Chaudhry, and scores by seniors Isaac Rothschild and Jeff Hanke, and sophomore Omar Hamade. The girls’ victory came against Summit Prep after freshman Joelle Anderson scored an amazing four goals. Junior Safia Khouja and senior Julia Fink added scores as well to extend the girls’ undefeated streak in league. The girls are now 6-0-1 in league play and 8-1-1 overall. On Tuesday, the girls go up against ECP, then play their senior day on Friday against Mercy San Francisco. The boys, meanwhile, who are 4-2 in league and 7-3-1 overall, host ECP on Wednesday and then play rival Sacred Heart on Friday.
Basketball
The varsity boys took Menlo to overtime on Friday before finally falling 72-65. After the loss, their record still stands at 5-2 in league and 10-6 overall. In the loss, junior Eric Holt had a double-double, netting 11 points and snagging 10 rebounds. Junior Nic Nguyen led the team with 15 points, with senior Will Deng close behind with 14.
The junior varsity boys, meanwhile, pulled out an amazing 44-43 victory over Menlo, with sophomore Rohan Desikan accounting for nearly half the scoring after putting up 19 points. The boys all travel to Priory on Tuesday, then return home to host Crystal Springs on Friday.
The girls played first place Castilleja last week and held tough throughout the first half before slipping in the second and finally falling 46-23. The girls will host ICA on Wednesday, and then hold their senior night on Friday against Crystal Springs.
Wrestling
On Thursday, freshman Philip Kendall won a match against an opponent from Lynbrook High.
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.
Learning how to make Native American dream catchers was one of many exciting activities students from the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS) in Shanghai, China, enjoyed during their visit to Harker in mid-January.
While patiently working on her dream catcher, WFLMS student Liza Xiao looked up for a moment to exclaim, “I’m having an awesome time visiting Harker! And my buddy is really sweet. The teachers are all kind and the classes are fun.”
Xiao was one of 18 students visiting from Harker’s sister school in China. The students learned all about the dream catchers (a generations-old part of Native American culture) before making their own to take home as cherished souvenirs. The traditional dream catcher was intended to protect sleeping individuals from negative dreams, while letting positive ones through.
This year, there was an emphasis on deepening the Chinese students’ understanding of Native American culture, according to Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s director of global education.
Harker’s unique partnership with the school in the People’s Republic of China began in 2003 and is the first of its kind. The visiting students were accompanied by several chaperones (all teachers at WFLMS). They were welcomed to Harker and introduced at a morning meeting at the middle school before embarking on a tour of Stanford, including a visit to university’s museum to see the Native American collection.
Harker’s middle school students and their WFLMS buddies had been corresponding since the fall. Come spring, a contingent of Harker students will head to China as part of the reciprocal exchange program, which is an annual highlight of the middle school experience for many grade 7 and 8 students.
“This year, the students participated in a wide range of activities where they had the opportunity to deepen their understanding of American culture and the surrounding area. They learned all about football and tailgating, watched American movies, created their own lunch of ‘California cuisine,’ and participated in a walking tour of San Jose,” reported Walrod.
While here, the exchange students observed and attended several middle school classes, including history, art, drama and dance. They also enjoyed a scavenger hunt on the middle school campus and a field trip to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The WFLMS students’ visit ended with a fun farewell party – and a promise to see their buddies again in the spring!
This article originally appeared in the winter 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Teams across the middle school sports spectrum finished with solid records, with our junior varsity B softball team and middle school golf team taking league titles and with first-place finishers in cross country and swimming.
Football
Varsity A football (grade 8) was 1-6; varsity B football (grade 7) was 5-0-2 in league play, 10-2-2 overall and finished in second place in the WBAL; junior varsity A football: 5-2 in league play, 6-3 overall record and finished in third place in the WBAL.
Softball
Varsity A softball (grades 6-8) had a 6-1 record and finished in second place in the WBAL.
Cross Country
At the WBAL finals we had several top 10 finishers: Kevin Chen, grade 6, ninth place; Gina Partridge, grade 6, first place; Mason Payne, grade 7, seventh place; Julia Amick, grade 7, first place; and Lilia Gonzales, grade 7, seventh place.
Swimming
Harker had several first-place finishers at the WBAL finals, including Jeffrey Ma, grade 8, boys I00-meter; Sarah Savage, grade 8, girls 100-meter, girls backstroke and girls breaststroke.
Golf
The Harker team won the fall WBAL golf tournament held at Shoreline Golf Course with a score of 155. This is the fourth tournament in a row that the team has won!