There was no shortage of fun activities to keep grade 6 students united and active during their recent class trip to the Santa Cruz Mountains. From kayaking to hiking, bird watching, completing a ropes course, and simply enjoying the area’s gorgeous weather and scenic beauty, there was something for everyone.
The group’s home base was Mt. Cross, a camping and retreat site located in the redwood forests of the Santa Cruz Mountains. With its ropes course, swimming pool, athletic field and close proximity to an abundance of tourist attractions, the site proved a perfect alternative to the originally planned trip to Yosemite National Park, which had been cancelled due to Hantavirus warnings.
The class trip was a mix of learning and fun, as highlighted by a visit to The Elkhorn Slough National Estuarine Research Reserve, one of 28 such reserves established nationwide as field laboratories for scientific research and estuarine education.
The Elkhorn Reserve is administered by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and managed by the California Department of Fish and Game. Following the reserve visit was an excursion to nearby Moss Landing, a quaint, historic fishing village known for its shopping, fresh seafood, fine art studios, bird and whale watching.
Even before the field trip to the Santa Cruz Mountains anticipation had run high as many grade 6 students took a weeklong opportunity to wear hiking boots to school in place of their usual uniform shoes.
It was all part of “boot break-in” week, a traditional Harker offering to sixth graders for more than 20 years. During the week, held in October just before the field trip, grade 6 students could be seen walking around campus clad in their regular school outfits but wearing their boots.
With the knowledge that broken-in boots make for happy hikers, Cindy Ellis, middle school head, had invited the students to wear their hiking shoes to school, especially if they had brand new ones to break in. In doing so, the students created quite the fashion statements, complete with skirts and dresses worn with hiking boots.
According to Ellis, all that pre-boot wearing paid off during the trip. “I watched students soar through the trees as their hiking group manipulated the ropes and helped them achieve new heights!” she said. After a fun-filled day out and about, students ended their days back at Mt. Cross for delicious dinners followed by incredibly popular freshly made chocolate cake and brownies for dessert.
“The students really enjoyed the trip and all its adventures,” Ellis said, noting that all of Harker’s middle school classes go on weeklong outings during the fall. (Grade 7 visits national parks around the Southwest, and grade 8 travels to Washington, D.C.)
The middle school fall play production, “The Seussification of Romeo and Juliet,” took Shakespeare into whimsical and hilarious territory in late November.
Directed by Monica Colletti, the wacky retelling of the Bard’s famous tragedy moved the drama ahead several centuries into the late 1980s with dialogue inspired by another beloved composer of rhymes, Dr. Seuss, alluding to some of the author’s most famous stories, such as “The Sneeches” and “Green Eggs and Ham.” The plotting was mostly familiar territory, with Romeo of the cleverly renamed House Monotone (Aditya Dhar, grade 8) falling head over heels for Juliet of the rival House Capitulate (Zahra Budhwani, also grade 8). With both houses in disarray over the affair (and Juliet arranged to be wed to the unbearably narcissistic Paris), the two lovers concoct a plan involving a fake suicide that, as is now known to many, goes spectacularly awry. Along the way, the feuding of the two houses culminates in a sword fight that ends tragically.
This being no ordinary interpretation of Shakespeare, however, much of the material has been lightened up in accordance with the allegorical lessons of Dr. Seuss books. The “poisoned cracker” that Romeo consumes upon seeing apparently (but not actually) dead Juliet was switched for a normal cracker, instead, and the sword fight turned out to not be so deadly after all. In the end, the two families reconcile and, as the saying goes, live happily ever after.
But not before performing a sped-up and highly amusing redux of the entire story. Set designer Paul Vallerga and prop designer Carol Clever created an environment worthy of the humorously affectionate play. Clever also designed the cast’s often garish costumes, which were more than appropriately representative of the time period in which the play took place.
All the while, the student crew of Sneha Bhetanabhotla and Justin Culpepper, both grade 8, and Praveen Batra and Justin Su, both grade 7, made sure the show was smoothly run and free of technical hiccups.
For weeks Nikhil Dharmaraj had been envisioning what it would be like to finally meet his overseas buddy, Momotaro Nakamoto. On Oct. 16 that vision became a reality when he, along with other excited grade 6 students, met their Tamagawa buddies from Harker’s sister school in Tokyo, in person, for the very first time.
The much anticipated live meeting between Harker’s 27 middle school students and the Tamagawa K-12 School & University students came on the heels of a previously held video chat. The Tamagawa students were accompanied by three chaperones, and, in the spring, Harker students will head to Japan as part of the reciprocal exchange program.
Dharmaraj has had prior experience serving as a buddy for Harker newcomers, but said this is the first time he has been a buddy to a visiting foreign student. “It’s been a really great opportunity!” he enthused.
The Tamagawa students were at Harker for several days before heading off to Yosemite on Oct. 22 after a farewell party hosted on their behalf in the middle school’s multipurpose room. They stayed in homestays with their Harker buddies, sightseeing around the Bay Area, visiting special classes, observing middle school classes, and reading stories and doing origami projects with K-3 kids.
While participating in a special dance class held in the gym, the students said they were having fun getting to know one another and were still excited about an outing they had the day before, which included a visit to a pumpkin patch and haunted house.
During the dance class, instructor Gail Palmer reminded the Harker students what a great opportunity it is to work with a student from another country before asking them to give the Tamagawa student standing next to them “a big high five!” The Harker students, wearing green shorts and school T-shirts, gladly obliged, high-fiving their Tamagawa buddies who were dressed in sharp looking school uniforms.
“It’s that Tamagawa time of year again!” enthused Jennifer Walrod, director of Harker’s global education progam.
Tamagawa was founded in 1929 as an elementary education organization. Later secondary education divisions were added, 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 within a single campus.
The popular student exchange program between the Tamagawa and Harker schools is just one example of Harker’s rich global education program, which strives to weave global activities into its students’ daily lives.
Learning and a whole lot of fun was had by grade 8 students during a recent biology lab class on calorimetry. Thanks to biology teacher Thomas Artiss, the students had the opportunity to run the perennial calorimetry lab, which involves burning food to estimate its caloric content. They also had the chance to warm their hands over roasting marshmallows!
It’s all about “kids doing science and having fun,” enthused Artiss, who used the lab experiment as an opportunity to teach his students about how calorimeters are used to determine the energy content of foods by burning them in an oxygen atmosphere and measuring the energy yield in terms of the increase in temperature of the calorimeter.
On Sept. 21 and 28, grade 6 students mettheir Tamagawa buddies and families from Harker’s sister school, Tamagawa Gakuen in Tokyo, Japan, for the first time via two separately held video conferences.
The much anticipated initial meetings for Harker’s 27 middle school students participating in the Tamagawa exchange program served as a prequel to the even more exciting upcoming live meetings slated to occur Oct. 16 when Tamagawa students visit Harker. Then in the spring, Harker students will head to Japan as part of the reciprocal exchange program.
“The video conferences are fun events held on the Blackford campus where each Harker family is scheduled for 10 minutes to meet their child’s Japanese buddy and family. We have a translator present to assist with communication,” explained Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s director of global education.
The video conferences began with Harker students introducing their families and asking questions about what their buddies want to see, do, or eat while they are visiting at the end of October. The Japanese buddies also got to ask questions about their fast-approaching visit.
“The students are always so excited for this event! We meet beforehand to discuss what types of questions to ask, the kids brainstorm and write down things. Some students wear various uniforms to show their buddies and even bring in photos of their home, bedroom and family pet to share. The conferences are also a good time for parents to give information about any allergies or special concerns their child may have about traveling to a foreign country. I talk with each family as they leave their video conference,” said Walrod.
Tamagawa Gakuen is a K-12 school and university founded in 1929 as an elementary education organization. Later secondary education divisions were added, 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 within a single campus.
The recent video conferences have now set the stage for what should prove to be an exciting student exchange program between the Tamagawa and Harker schools. Through its rich global education program, Harker has long strived to weave global activities into its students’ daily lives.
In July, Michael Kwan, grade 7, participated in the International Math Contest in Taiwan and won the Individual Merit Award and two runner-up team awards. Kwan was eligible for the contest after competing in two qualifying rounds in February and April and completing a 12-week training course. The contest had 588 entrants from 28 countries.
Harker’s Junior Classical League (JCL) got off to a great start with this year’s inaugural event, held Sept. 28 at Laser Quest in Mountain View.
The evening, which landed on the last Friday night of the month, provided an informal opportunity for participants to unite in a fun, casual atmosphere.
According to Lisa Masoni, a middle school Latin teacher who helped spearhead the event, students enjoyed relaxing together and ending their busy week by “accessing their inner warriors and enjoying a Roman dinner of pizza and soda!”
The JCL is part of a larger organization – the California Junior Classical League – which was founded in 1955 to provide a forum for Latin students to compete in a wide range of academic, art and athletic contests, both individually and by chapter.
To qualify for admittance to the JCL students must be enrolled in or have successfully completed a semester of a classical language course.
This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
Harker’s middle school speech and debate team capped another strong season on June 18, earning one of only three all-around school of excellence awards at the National Junior Forensic League (NJFL) National Championships in Indianapolis. This honor recognizes the combined accomplishment of the 26 students who competed. The team also extended their streak as one of the five recipients of the school of excellence in debate award to three consecutive years.
Aditya Dhar, now grade 8, earned an individual national championship – Harker’s third straight. He was joined in the final round of congress by teammate Alexander Lam, grade 8, who earned second place.
Harker also enjoyed its best performance to date at nationals in policy debate by advancing all three teams it entered. Numerous public forum debate teams advanced to elimination competition as well.
The all-around school of excellence award was made possible by a breakthrough for Harker’s forensics program, as the school entered a significant number of students in the speech events for the first time. Though the middle school speech program is new, several students excelled at the tournament.
Harker’s growing accomplishments at NJFL Nationals have occurred under the leadership of Karina Momary, the director of middle school forensics. This year the school also welcomed new assistant coach Marjorie Hazeltine, who has ably coached the fledgling group of speech competitors. The returning middle school students look forward to continuing their tradition of success next season in preparation for the 2013 NJFL Nationals in Birmingham, Ala.
After an especially busy back-to-school time for students in grades 6-8 and their families, the middle school’s first annual barbecue afforded an opportunity for them to simply hang out.
Having fun and uniting as a group were the only things on the agenda at the Sept. 15 weekend barbecue, which came on the heels of a range of important events including the middle school orientation, preview event and parent volunteer information breakfast.
During the barbecue, which took place on the middle school campus, there were action-packed activities such as a student versus parent tug of war. Students also chose to play Nerf football, bocce ball, Ping-Pong or just hung out with friends. Meanwhile, there were plenty of hot dogs and burgers flipped on the grill and served buffet-style with tasty side dishes. Dessert was pot luck from families and included a plethora of tempting treats.
According to Jennifer Hargreaves, director of Harker’s middle and upper school volunteer programs, nearly 400 people attended the barbecue, marking a great turnout for this inauguarl event.
“This success was made possible by the grade-level coordinators involved in the planning, as well as the assistance of many parent volunteers who did the heavy lifting, grilling, serving, setting and cleanup,” she said.
The transition to middle school was made easier for both new and returning Harker students entering grade 6, thanks to a middle school preview event held on the middle school campus on August 24.
Both the newcomers and returnees and their families benefited from the day-long preview which afforded grade 6-8 participants the opportunity to reconnect with friends, meet new students and parents, and become familiar with the middle school campus. The jam-packed day had two tracks – one with an emphasis on information for parents and the other offering fun activities for students.
Lana Morrison, middle school dean of students, explained that an important component of the preview is a “special event with our annual ‘buddy bash’ for new students and their Harker buddies. It’s an opportunity for current students to help new students transition into Harker.”
While the buddy bash was underway a new parent social and breakfast with current parents occurred. The breakfast gave new parents the chance to meet with current parents and get many questions answered.
Shortly after the buddy bash program all returning grade six students and their families arrived. While the students went off to hear the dean’s orientation and partake in grade level activities in the multipurpose room, their parents headed for an informal meeting in the gym.
The meeting for parents was led by Cindy Ellis, middle school head, who shared important information about adolescence and the middle school experience, followed by a casual question and answer reception.
Seventh and eighth graders also had a laptop orientation in the library and students received their much anticipated computers and cases (grade 6 students received their laptops later in August). All students then met in the amp for “house and spirit” activities. The exciting day ended with student council members giving campus tours to both students and parents.