This article was originally published in the summer 2012 Harker Quarterly.
With bittersweet feelings, grade 8 students closed one academic door and opened another during their recent promotion ceremony. Held at the Blackford campus, the event celebrated the conclusion of their middle school years, while simultaneously heralding a meaningful next step towards transitioning on to their high school careers.
Following a brief processional, the ceremony got underway as Chris Nikoloff, head of school, welcomed and congratulated the students on reaching this important milestone. Then, Alexander Mo, grade 7 and incoming middle school student body president, led the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance. After that a slide show, created by Natasha Mayor, was shown commemorating her and her fellow eighth graders’ time at Harker.
The farewell address was warmly delivered by Patricia Burrows, middle school English teacher and advisory dean for the Class of 2016. She wished them well as they begin the next phase of their educational lives.
As Burrows exited the podium, the middle school vocal groups Harmonics and Vivace performed “Simple Gifts.” Next up was Raghav Sehtia, incoming upper school student body president and rising senior, who took center stage, welcoming the graduates to high school.
Finally, Nikoloff and Cindy Ellis, middle school head, awarded the students their much anticipated promotion certificates, cementing their status as middle school graduates. The ceremony officially came to a close as the grade 8 class sang a heartfelt rendition of the Harker school song.
“The promotion ceremony is a celebration of the class as they move on to high school,” said Ellis, reflecting back upon the event. “It is filled with nostalgic views of the eighth graders during their three years in middle school while projecting the potential and promise of future accomplishments. This year’s event was all that in spades!” she recalled, noting that Harker wishes the middle school graduates the best and hopes the visit often.
Harker grade 6 singers dazzled the large crowd at the Blackford Theater on May 25 during the seventh annual Spring Sing concert. This year’s show had a story to go along with the singing and dancing. The priceless Harker Chalice had been stolen by the infamous Punk Panther, and the performers were on a globe-hopping adventure to capture the thief and return the chalice to Harker. In all, 190 students were involved in the show.
Patriotic numbers such as “Over There” by George Cohan and “This is the Army, Mr. Jones” by Irving Berlin were performed along with present-day hits (“Someone Like You” by Adele) and Broadway show tunes. One of the highlights of the show was their version of “Africa” by Toto. As an additional treat, the grade 7-8 show choir Harmonics emerged from the audience to sing “The Time Warp” from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” For the finale, the grade 6 boys were joined by the grade 8 Harmonics boys for the early 1950s hit “Hey Mambo.” The entire show was written, directed, choreographed and costumed by middle school performing arts teacher Roxann Hagemeyer, whose husband, Rolando Queyquep, designed the show’s props.
Harker Future Problem Solving (FPS) teams, middle and upper school, took home multiple championships at the international finals (11 countries, 40 states) held in Indiana in June. Chris Nikoloff, head of school, said it all in a word: “Outstanding.” A complete listing of awards is at the end of the article, but Cyrus Merrill, FPS coach, tells the story below.
By Cyrus Merrill
Our amazing success is a direct result of the legacy of so many talented FPSers who have been part of our program, which is now a little more than a decade old and which has now earned over 10 world championships.
The topic at the international finals was pharmaceuticals and the scenario this year involved challenges and complications surrounding international regulatory acceptance of a new personalized (to your own DNA) medical pill being produced in Brazil.
Harker is now one of the single most successful programs around the world. For the first time ever Harker finished in first place in more than one age division and category. Harker was in the prestigious top 10 in the written booklet competition – in boththe middle and senior divisions.
We finished fourth in the middle team division and we were the overall champions in the incredibly tough and competitive senior/high school team booklet division. We also returned to our strong, proud tradition of being the presentation of action plan (skit) international champion (middle division) for the sixth time in the past seven years.
There is a link below to watch these amazing eighth and ninth graders in their final skit, which they were asked to reprise in front of thousands of people at the awards ceremony. Multiple coaches from several countries all came up to me and asked, “When is California (implying Harker) presenting its action plan skit?” because we have become so well known for our success in that area.
It is a big deal to be in the top 10 in any portion of the competition and we finished with six teams or individuals in the top five and two overall team championships – not bad, especially when you consider that this was out of six categories total.
Finally, I am also especially proud that two of the international finalists in the junior division were from other California schools where our own Harker students had helped to mentor and train those very student competitors and their coach this year.
We are now the only school (and state or foreign country for that matter) to have been awarded a first place in more than one age group and in all of the categories of problem solving: 2012 – team and Plan of Action (several years); 2011 – Alternates (also in 2008 as part of an international group of students from different countries); 2009 – Individual.
The only problem solving category we have not had an overall champion in remains the adult and coaches division, however, I joked with the kids that I promise to eventually pull my own weight, having finished third this year and second several years ago.
I could not be more proud of our wonderful young students than I am at this moment. I want to thank all of them for their amazing efforts and late nights spent reviewing and brainstorming about the topics this year. I want to thank all of the parents for their support of the program as well.
I look forward to next year, when Harker will host the state bowl in April, and to continuing our remarkable success in an amazing program where kids have to work to research topics and analyze future crises all on their own. I love the FPS process and its motto, “Teaching kids how to think, not what to think,” but I would personally add “and then getting out of the way to let them do it on their own.”
RESULTS:
First Places:
International champions, beating out powerhouse teams from New Zealand, Great Britain (actually coached by a former coach at the Nueva School in California ) and Singapore! Remember, Kentucky teams go to FPS camp in the summer for several weeks and meet daily to prepare for the competition, and FPS is a statewide program in Texas and in several other states. Some schools spend more than 10 hours a week working on just FPS! Harker students, on the other hand, completed their school finals and then hopped on a plane the very next day so we were certainly at an apparent “disadvantage” with regard to our ability to prepare for or focus on the international finals topic.
Senior division – booklet competition: rising seniors Ria Desai, Sonia Gupta, Pooja Shah; rising junior Nikhil Dilip.
Middle division – presentation of action plan: rising sophomores Tiara Bhatacharya, Juhi Muthal, Madhu Nori, Sindhu Ravuri, Ankita Pannu, and rising freshman Michael Zhao. An amazing video of this group’s skit/action plan presentation is available. Go to 28:54 to listen to their action plan and 30:40-35:37 to watch their amazing skit being performed in front of nearly 3,000 people in the theater and a live Web audience as well. They wrote this skit and designed it in a mere couple of hours.
Second Place:
Senior division – alternate competition joining competitors from other countries to form a team – Andy Wang, rising junior
Third Place:
Adult division – booklet competition (Cyrus Merrill)
Fifth Place:
Senior division – scenario writing (first ever top five placement by someone from California). Shelby Rorabaugh, rising senior. Because of her finish she is now a published writer as the top five are published and sold.
We also had a second middle division team of rising eighth graders Evani Radiya-Dixit, Sneha Bhetanabhotla, Angela Kim, Priyanka Taneja, Swetha Tummala and Neymika Jain, who finished tied for second place in the preliminary round (and the top two teams out of 11 from each preliminary round advance). They lost out in essentially a coin flip/tie breaker or they would have been finalists as seventh graders in a division ranging from grades 7-9, so the future of our program looks good, too! Our one other international competitor was rising senior Joy Li who missed out on a top three position this year, but was “merely” the first place alternate champion last year as a sophomore.
The middle school Science Bowl team, Rishabh Chandra, Jonathan Ma and Michael Zhao, all grade 8, and Aneesh Samineni and David Zhu, grade 7, took fifth place at nationals at the end of April.
The team won the regional Science Bowl competition held at NASA AMES research center on March 3, earning an invitation to the national competition in Washington, D.C. – the middle school’s first exposure to the Science Bowl national competition.
Forty-four teams, all regional winners, took part in the finals. The Harker team did an excellent job in the round robin tournament, handsomely beating all six teams in their bracket. This led to double-elimination where Harker defeated two teams in a row, but unfortunately lost their third and fourth matches, including one to Hopkins who has finished in the top three for the last three years and went on to win the national championship title again this year.
The results put Harker fifth in the entire country, and earned the school a tidy $1,000 in award money. B.J. Hathaway, of Harker’s BEST program, chaperoned the trip in place of coach Vandana Kadam, who could not attend the nationals due to a schedule conflict.
“In addition to the academic part of the competition, National Science Bowl requires students to make a car using a lithium ion battery,” said Kadam. “Our team constructed the car based on the specifications before heading to D.C. Harker took fifth here, too, covering 20 meters in 7.05 seconds. Great job, gentlemen – congratulations!”
Grade 6 students boarded a Tokyo-bound plane on May 10 for the annual trip to Japan. The 18 students, along with chaperones Jennifer Walrod, global education director, and Dan Hudkins, director of instructional technology, arrived in Tokyo after an 11-hour flight and were greeted by a tour guide and an English teacher from Tamagawa Gakuen. At a rest stop on their way to their hotel for their first night’s stay, the students sampled Japanese snacks, ice cream and fried chicken.
Their first stop on the weeklong trek was Hakone National Park, where they visited the Hakone sekisho (“checkpoint”), an important inspection area for travelers during Japan’s Edo period, and walked along Lake Ashi. A boat ferried the group to the other side of the lake, where a beautiful wooded area awaited them. “We stopped at a small Shinto shrine where the kids wished for good luck before heading back,” Walrod said in one of several emails to the parents she sent during the trip. “The kids then had the opportunity to create a wooden mosaic cup placemat, taking their time gluing each individual piece together.”
Afterward, they rode a gondola to the top of a nearby mountain, where they took photos of the breathtaking scenery.
Saturday was special for the Harker students, as they reunited with their buddies from Tamagawa. En route to the school’s campus, the students practiced their Japanese speeches and asked questions about their homestays. “As we drove across the Tamagawa campus we could see all our buddies, families and teachers outside the middle school awaiting our arrival. The kids were so excited!” Walrod said.
At their welcome ceremony, the Harker students were treated to a performance by Tamgawa’s handbell ensemble, accompanied by two singers. “Our students did a great job with their Japanese speeches!” exclaimed Walrod. Two Harker students, Sameep Mangat and Ania Kranz, sang a duet to their Tamagawa friends. During the rest of their time at Tamagawa the students enjoyed a scavenger hunt and a variety of Japanese treats. Afterward, the Harker students went to enjoy the rest of the day with their homestay families.
During their first full school day at Tamagawa, the Harker kids accompanied their Tamagawa buddies to a number of classes, including math, Japanese, science and P.E. Later, they met with Yoshiaki Obara, president of Tamagawa, to share with him their experiences so far during the trip. “He told the kids that this trip was good for them as it made them realize that not everyone spoke English,” Walrod wrote. “He then encouraged the kids to be sure to speak slowly when talking with their buddies and other Japanese kids.”
The students later gave presentations on American culture during an English class, covering topics such as the Fourth of July, music and food.
May 15 started with the Harker students being introduced to all of Tamagawa’s middle school students. “It was a wonderful experience for our kids listen to their peers sing a few songs, including their school song, in four-part harmony,” Walrod wrote. From there, the students received a tour of some of the Tamagawa facilities, including the planetarium and the Future Sci Tech Lab, where they saw a presentation by a representative from their Plant Factory Research Center and Space Farming Lab, during which they learned of Tamagawa’s involvement with the research of crop production in space.
Later, the students enjoyed lunch with their Tamagawa friends and spent the afternoon in a calligraphy class.
The following day was the Harker students’ last day at Tamagawa. In the morning, they were introduced to Tamagawa’s lower school students and visited several classes, where they played games, folded origami, enjoyed activities with hula hoops and more. After a potluck lunch, the students enjoyed a farewell party. “Tamagawa kids sang, played the piano, danced and gave speeches, all performed and organized by the ‘Harker Welcome Committee,’ a student run group who had organized much of our visit to the school,” Walrod said. Mangat and Kranz again sang to their Tamagawa friends, and Rajiv Movva gave a moving speech. The Harker visitors each then received a gift bag from their Tamagawa buddies.
“As the bus drove away, we passed tons of kids and families lining the sidewalk waving goodbye,” Walrod remembered. “Between the sounds of the kids laughing and sharing their homestay stories with one another, we could hear several kids still sniffling and crying, sad to see such a wonderful experience come to an end.”
Thursday began with a two-hour shinkansen (“bullet train”) ride to Kyoto, where they met with Ms. Sawa, who would act as their guide for the rest of the group’s stay in Japan. They first visited Kiyomizu Temple, a Buddhist temple constructed without the use of any nails. The temple’s veranda offered a wonderful view for taking photos, and the students also paid to receive their fortunes, “and for those of us who got not-so-good fortunes, we were sure to tie the paper fortunes onto a railing provided so we could keep the adverse fortune at the temple,” Walrod said.
At the Jishu shrine, the group found two stones placed approximately 20 feet away from one another. Local legend told that those who could find their way from one stone to the next with their eyes closed would find true love. Those who needed assistance would need a “go between” to help them in finding their mates.
Students also had the chance to write their troubles on a paper doll, which was then placed into a bowl of water to be dissolved, along with their worries.
After exploring more of the temple, the next stop was the famed Kinkakuji, also known as the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. The brilliant golden building, situated in a pond, is surrounded by gorgeous trees, with the scenery reflecting off the surface of the water. The students were instructed not to talk. “We walked around the pond and through the trees, stopping to take photos of the natural beauty,” said Walrod.
Later the students tried their hand at landing a coin in a bowl placed in a tree. If successful, the thrower was supposedly guaranteed good luck. The students also purchased candles that were said to bring good fortune and enjoyed snacks from vending machines.
Finally, the students visited a yuzen cloth dying center, where they made their own scarves with stencils and paint.
On their last full day in Japan, the group boarded the shinkansen to Hiroshima. There, they stopped briefly at Hiroshima castle for a quick photo op, then continued on to Miyajima Island. The group enjoyed lunch at a restaurant that specialized in okonomiyaki, a pancake made with egg, pork, soba noodles and other ingredients. “The kids seemed to really enjoy this meal as there were lots of empty plates at the end of lunch,” Walrod said.
With lunch finished, everyone headed to Itsukushima Shrine and its famous torii (“gate”). The gate was covered with scaffolding due to a storm that blew off the top of the structure, but students nevertheless took several photos of the historic site.
The next stop on this very busy day was Peace Memorial Park, where they visited the Atomic Bomb Dome, which marks the spot where the first atomic bomb landed in Japan. The ruins at the site are dedicated to those who died at the site. Later, they delivered 1,000 paper cranes they had folded earlier this year to the Children’s Memorial, referencing the famous true story told in the book “Sadako and the 1,000 Paper Cranes.” The cranes were hung in an enclosure along with thousands of other similar cranes delivered by kids from all over the world.
Continuing through the park, the group stopped briefly at the Flame of Peace, which has burned since first being lit in 1964. “This flame continues to burn as a symbol of the Japanese anti-nuclear resolve to burn the flame until all nuclear weapons are gone from this earth,” said Walrod.
Finally, at the Peace Memorial Museum, the students learned about the events surrounded the bombing of Hiroshima and the effects thereafter. The museum contained artifacts owned by survivors of the bombing and some of the paper cranes folded by Sadako Sasaki, the titular figure of “Sadako and the 1,000 Paper Cranes.”
The trip back to the hotel gave the students time for reflection on the meaning of peace and the fun-filled, memorable journey they had embarked on over the last week.
On May 19, the last day of sightseeing, the group went to the scenic Arashiyama, a popular tourist spot located just outside of Kyoto. While hiking up Arashiyama Mountain, the students noticed some of the area’s wildlife. “The kids were excited to spot the first monkeys running up the side of the mountain and in the trees,” Walrod said. “At the top of the mountain, there were dozens of monkeys wandering around.” The kids also got to feed the monkeys in a special “people cage.”
The final stop of the day was at Kyoto’s Nijo Castle, home of the Tokugawa Shogunate. The visitors removed their shoes before entering the castle, which had special floors installed during the Tokuagawa period that made noise when walked upon so that assassins could not walk about the castle undetected. “Only highly trained ninjas can walk on these floors silently,” said Walrod. After taking photos and viewing scenes and paintings of life as a shogun, everyone headed back to the airport for the long flight home.
Upper and middle school baseball players and coaches took a group trip to Oakland on Monday to watch the A’s trounce the Angels 2-1. The evening bonding trip was sponsored by Kari Wolff, mother of Drew Goldstein, grade 11, and Arthur Goldstein, grade 8. The group was lucky enough to enjoy the game in a luxury suite, owned by Lew Wolff (Kari Wolff’s father). Harker athletics organizes crossover get-togethers like these specifically to foster a sense of connectivity between the upper school and middle school teams, in conjunction with an overall program goal to connect campuses across all sports. Here’s to many more bonding trips in the near future!
Results from this year’s National Mythology Exam arrived recently, and several middle school students earned high marks. Gold medals, earned for scoring 100 percent on the exam, were awarded to Isabella Min, grade 6, Aditya Dhar and Nikhil Manglik, both grade 7 and Elisabeth Siegel and Alison Wang, both grade 8.
Grade 6 students Derek Yen and Rahul Bhethanabotla won silver medals, as did seventh graders Arjun Subramaniam, Manan Shah, Austin Tuan, Karthik Sundaram, Kshithija Mulam, Amrita Singh, Eric Pei, Raymond Xu, Christopher Finsterbusch, James He, Albert Xu and Peter Wu, as well as Kaushik Sankar and Michael Moncton, both grade 8.
Bronze medalists from grade 6 were Praveen Batra, Edgar Lin, Justin Su, Adrian Chu, Olivia Long and Rishi Iyer. Grade 7 bronze winners were Venkat Sankar, Alexander Lam, Brendan Tobin and Jackson Su, while Grace Guan, Rishabh Chandra, John Jerney, Anthony Luo, Arjun Narayan and Gurutam Thockchom won bronze in grade 8.
As spring sports wind up, the laurals are being awarded! Six out of Harker’s 10 volleyball teams have won their league titles and varsity A tennis, Grades 6-8, is peaking and heads to playoffs. Read coach Theresa (Smitty) Smith’s report:
Grade 8 varsity A girls volleyball has not lost a match in the last two years, went 7-0 this season, good enough for WBAL champions.
Grade 7 varsity B girls volleyball finished 6-1, good enough for WBAL tri-champions.
Grade 6 junior varsity B6 girls volleyball finished 6-2, good enough for WBAL tri-champions.
Grade 5 junior varsity B1 girls volleyball finished 5-1, good enough for WBAL co-champions.
Boys
Grade 8 varsity A boys volleyball finished 10-1, good enough for ADAL champions.
Grade 7 varsity B boys volleyball finished 6-2, good enough for ADAL champions.
Tennis:
Varsity A tennis, grades 6-8, finished the WBAL season at 8-0, and won the WBAL playoff championship v. Menlo, 6-3. They are currently 8-0 in the MTP and play in the semifinals next Monday and the finals next Wednesday. They currently hold an overall record of 16-0!
Faculty members put forth a great effort in late April, but succumbed to eighth graders on the volleyball court 48-42. This annual event drew cheering crowds as first the grade 8 girls, then grade 8 boys took the court against a hodgepodge of faculty and staff and crushed all hope of a faculty free dress day.
“Faculty got off to a slow start,” said Kyle Cavallaro, school photographer. “We caught up as we warmed up and made the grade 8 boys work, but they were better than I thought they would be!”
“With great plays and spectacular saves, it was a game to remember!” said Lana Morrison, middle school dean of students. On May 24 all students will have free dress while, alas, faculty and staff will wear the middle school uniform.
Harker’s musical talent shined in the recent campuswide Spring Concert, presented by the school’s music departments. Lower, middle and upper school orchestras united on stage, to the delight of friends, parents and faculty members in attendance.
Held in mid-April at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose, the show featured a unique pre-concert lobby music performance by the middle school chamber ensembles. Kicking off the concert, the Lower School String Ensemble opened with “Burst,” by Brian Balmages, and “Battle of the Ancient Dragons,” by Rob Grice.
The Lower School Orchestra then performed two numbers before being joined by the Grade 6 Winds, Strings and Orchestra. Then the Grade 7-8 Orchestra took the stage, performing Johannes Brahms’ “Variations on a Theme,” and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera.”
A special treat was the K-12 combined orchestra, which played a beautiful rendition of “Hornpipe” from Handel’s “Water Music.” A brief intermission followed after which the The Harker School Orchestra showed their range of skill by performing such high-level pieces as Felix Mendelssohn’s “Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The Spring Concert was a joy to attend and skillfully directed by its respective upper, middle and lower school conductors: Chris Florio, David Hart, Louis Hoffman and Toni Woodruff.
“We had a very challenging program and the students truly stepped up their game for a wonderful performance. I was especially happy to honor such an amazing group of musicians. This class has been a huge part of the growth of the orchestra program and it was fitting that they ended with such a wonderful concert,” said Florio.