Backpacks weren’t the only thing recently being toted around the Blackford campus. As part of their health education curriculum, the grade 8 class carried five-pound flour sack “babies” for an entire week. The students were responsible for ensuring the safety of their sack babies, earning points for science as well as health education. The project, while fun, was taken seriously, complete with day care centers set up for students participating in after-school activities. Students were responsible for their babies during the school day, and lost points due to any abuse or neglect.
Middle school students brought home a slew of first and seconds from the 2012 Glendale Middle School Warm-up Speech and Debate Competition tournament hosted by Glendale Community College. This is the first year the event has been held and there were more than 100 entries. Harker students usually participate in high school-level tournaments and were very excited to attend one of the few middle school tournaments of the year, held at Glendale College.
The Harker contingent, 36-strong, brought home many awards and was in the final round of every style of debate. Four teams advanced to the elimination rounds of public forum debate. Students in that debate had been preparing for six weeks prior to the tournament doing research on childhood vaccines and discussing whether state-mandated administration of childhood vaccinations is justified.
Neeraj Agarwal and Michael Kwan, both grade 6, were double-octofinalists. Joyce Huang, grade 7, and Shivali Minocha, grade 8, made it to the sweet-16 level in the public forum debate. Sophia Luo and Panny Shan, both grade 8, were both congressional debate finalists, as well as making it to the semifinals in public forum debate. Alexander Lam and Aditya Dhar, both grade 7, made it to the finals, where they received second place in that category.
The middle school team also saw six students advance to the elimination rounds of the Lincoln-Douglas debate. Students had been preparing for this topic for the past two months. Students in this category examined whether targeted killing is a morally permissible foreign policy tool. Ray Xu and Manan Shah, both grade 7, were in the sweet-16 level of this debate. Abhinav Keteni, grade 8, and Steven Cao, grade 7, were quarterfinalists in Lincoln-Douglas. Karen Qi, grade 8, advanced to the semifinals. Sagar Rao, grade 6, made it to the final round and received second place.
Dhar received first place in the congressional debate, where he has had continued success throughout the competitive season. Moreover, Dhar is one of the few middle school students to ever earn a bid to the high school national Tournament of Champions.
Harker walked away with five of the top six awards given at the tournament. Emaad Raghib, grade 7, received second place. Misha Tseitlin, grade 7, received fourth place. Cao received fifth place. Prithvi Gudapati, grade 8, received sixth place in the congressional debate, which was his first debate tournament.
Harker continued its success in the speech events. Divya Rajasekharan, grade 7, won first place for her piece on the effects of bullying. She has presented this piece at two other tournaments and has also won first place at both of them. She received fifth place for her piece titled “Beauty is a Beast.”
Sana Aladin, grade 7, debuted a humorous piece about the perils of being a flight attendant and won third place. She was also given the opportunity by the flight attendants during the trip to present her piece, “Safety Shuffle,” over the intercom on the plane.
Carissa Chen, grade 7, won first place for the speech she wrote about the benefits of gossip. She has been practicing this speech for the entire year. She also won fifth place in dramatic interpretation for her Amy Tan piece about playing the piano.
Lisa Liu, grade 8, has brought home many accolades from each tournament she attends. This tournament was no different. She scored first place in the impromptu category, second place in humorous interpretation and third place in dramatic interpretation.
Sixth graders Serena Lu and Liza Turchinsky both tried new events at this tournament and won fifth and sixth place, respectively. They participated in extemporaneous speaking where they answered current events questions and analyzed different media sources for the judge.
Rishab Gargeya, grade 7, placed fifth in impromptu speaking. In the final round he was given a selection of three colors. He had two minutes to prepare his speech and then was asked to speak on those colors for five minutes.
Raghib received fourth place in impromptu speaking, while Arjun Subramaniam, grade 7, received sixth place in storytelling. For that piece, Raghib retold children’s stories for the judges. Finally, Xu, grade received third place in extemporaneous speaking.
In other news, Shan and Cao were further selected to attend the Junior Varsity Nationals. Held at Woodward Academy in Atlanta, Ga., the tournament was for teams in their second year of policy debate.
During that event, Shan and Cao – who were among the few middle school students in attendance – discussed the benefits of U.S. space exploration and asteroid detection. They won three out of six rounds.
“This was far above their experience level and they were mainly competing against high school sophomores,” said Karina Momary, director of middle school forensics, noting how well the middle school students placed in both the California and Georgia tournaments.
Still in awe over their recent trip to China, the fifteen grade 8 participants have settled back into school – but with a new shared bond from an exciting, uplifting adventure.
The annual trip to China is a highlight and culmination of the middle school experience for these students, and something they look forward to for many years.
After arriving at the Pudong International Airport on March 29, the students were welcomed by their Chines buddies from the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS), who presented them with bouquets of flowers. From there they hopped on a bus for the short drive into the city to meet their host families.
The next morning, upon arriving at WFLMS, the Harker students were warmly greeted by the school’s teachers and students. The day began with a welcome ceremony, broadcast to the entire school, followed by a fun scavenger hunt.
The group also attended a special art class where they learned about theater masks and had the opportunity to sketch and paint masks of their own. Additionally, they attended a “wushu” class, a form of martial arts and popular Chinese sport.
After giving PowerPoint presentations on American culture to their Chinese peers, the Harker students headed off to the cafeteria to make dumpling – almost as fun as eating them! The day ended with a spectacular show called “ERA Intersection of Time,” featuring a dramatic combination of circus-like acts, acrobats and dance set to music with special effects.
Soon after, the students were excited to set out for their first field trip, to Zhujiazhou, which is a beautiful canal town outside of Shanghai. There, they walked along the canals and narrow cobblestone streets, stopping occasionally to visit museums, a Buddhist temple, and a garden filled with rock structures which invited climbing.
“At one point we stopped our wandering so the kids could purchase live fish and turtles to release into the water as a symbol of good luck and character,” recalled Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s global education director, who accompanied the students on the trip.
From there, they enjoyed sightseeing and shopping, with many students trying their hand at bargaining, and several walking away with incredible deals. The final activity of the outing was a beautiful boat ride through the canals, or what Walrod referred to as the “Venice of Shanghai.”
That evening was bittersweet as both Harker and WFLMS students gave touching goodbye speeches and performances, preparing to depart for the next phase of the trip to Beijing. The Harker students’ first adventure in Beijing consisted of a rickshaw tour of the Hutong, or ancient alleyways that once covered the city.
Next on the itinerary was a visit to the Great Wall of China. Taking a ski lift to the top of the mountain, they entered onto the wall. Many photos were taken of the renowned structure, and the students were thrilled to take a toboggan ride back down the side of the mountain.
The contingent returned to Beijing the next day and visited Tiananmen Square, site of the 1989 protests and ensuing military action. They next headed to the Forbidden City, where they were guided through several of its 980 palatial buildings.
After enjoying lunch, they went to the Silk Street, a shopping center where they could continue to improve their haggling skills with its many vendors. From there they traveled to a final outing, Summer Palace, China’s largest imperial garden, and rode a dragon boat to the palace’s pavilion.
The students arrived back home on April 7, feeling both bonded and eager to share their trip experiences with friends and family.
A group of 20 Harker middle school students attended the local Spring Forensics Tournament at Santa Clara University, held earlier this month. Many of them were competing for their very first time in the event, which predominantly consisted of high school students. The Harker contestants held their own, winning a number of awards, as noted below:
Divya Rajasekharan, grade 7: Rajasekharan took first place in Humorous Interpretation. She has received many awards for this piece; a 10-minute memorized number titled “Beauty is a Beast,” about a spoiled princess. She also received first place in Dramatic Interpretation for a 10-minute memorized piece, titled “The Shape of a Girl,” about bullying.
Lisa Liu, grade 8: Liu competed in several different speech events and was a finalist in each. She competed in Dramatic Interpretation and was qualified to go to the final round. Her piece was a 10-minute topic about illness and family. She also was a finalist in impromptu speaking for which she was given a topic and just two minutes to prepare before speaking for five minutes on the subject. She also received second place in Varsity Humorous Interpretation with her piece, titled “Wayside School is Falling Down.”
Carissa Chen, grade 7: Chen competed in Dramatic Interpretation for the first time and advanced to the final round.
Adele Li, grade 8: Li competed in the varsity division with a topic questioning whether or not targeted killings by the government are justified. She advanced to the Sweet 16 level.
Shivali Minocha and Jasmine Liu, grade 8: Both eighth graders competed in the public forum with the topic “State Mandated Childhood Vaccines” and were undefeated in the preliminary rounds, winning all five. They were the top candidates going into the elimination rounds and made it to the quarterfinals. Liu, in this, her first debate competition, was individually recognized as being the 10th best speaker in the tournament.
This year’s annual Harker Cancer Walk was a huge success, bringing in $7,700 in one day alone, with donations still being received at Harker News Online press time. Middle school students, faculty and Harker family members went the extra mile – both literally and figuratively – in an effort to raise money for Camp Okizu.
The camp provides fun activities and quality care for young cancer patients, enabling them to enjoy such outdoor childhood pastimes as swimming, boating, archery and a ropes course, in addition to social events.
“Even Mother Nature got with the program!” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head, who organized the event with middle school computer science teacher Michael Schmidt. Schmidt began organizing the Cancer Walk in 2007 following the passing of his mother due to cancer in 2006.
Along with the welcome warm weather, Ellis was pleased with the large amount of T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wrist bands which were sold, supplementing the direct donations.
Thanking the Harker community for once again stepping up to the plate, Schmidt said, “It was a beautiful day filled with sunshine, giving and inspiration.”
“Michael deserves a special word of gratitude; he is the driving force behind this event. Fortunately, he has picked up some special helpers along the way. This walk signifies the wonderful heart and spirit of the entire community, including faculty, staff, parents and students,” said Ellis.
Donations are still being accepted at this time. Checks or cash can be brought to the Blackford campus front office. Checks can be made out to either Camp Okizu or Harker.
Last month the lower, middle and upper school jazz bands united to present an Evening of Jazz. Held at the Blackford Theater, the event was led by Louis Hoffman, Dave Hart and Chris Florio, the directors of the jazz bands for each campus.
Kicking off the evening, The Harker School Jazz Band performed “Two Seconds to Midnight” by composer Alan Baylock and “Harker Swing” by David Len Allen, arranged by Harker music aide Paul Woodruff.
Those numbers were followed by the Lower School Jazz Ensemble’s rendition of John Coltrane’s “Equinox” and Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man.” Then, the Middle School Jazz Band performed the more traditional numbers “Motherless Child” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Following a brief intermission and further performances by all three ensembles came the combined finale, “Work Song” by Nat Adderley. Running the gamut from rousing, upbeat swing numbers to slow, soulful ballads, Evening of Jazz showcased the breadth of Harker student talent and entertained and delighted its audience.
Staff for the show included Brian Larsen, production manager, and Paul Vallerga, technical director. The Harker performing arts department noted its gratitude to contributors to the school’s annual campaign, which helps make programs such as this possible.
The regional Science Bowl held at the NASA AMES Research Center in March was won by Harker’s team of Rishabh Chandra, Jonathan Ma and Michael Zhao, all grade 8, and Aneesh Samineni and David Zhu, both grade 7. This team will be headed to Washington, D.C., in late April to compete at the national competition. “The students have worked extremely hard to earn this title and deserve every bit of this success,” said Vandana Kadam, middle school mathematics department chair.
Upper school students Matthew Huang, grade 9, Stephanie Chen, grade 10 and Christopher Fu, also grade 10, coached the middle school students in preparation for the competition, visiting the middle school campus on Fridays after school. “They have put in an enormous amount of time, effort and energy into training the team and taking them to the top spot,” Kadam said. “They deserve the kudos along with the participants.”
Middle school mathematics chair Vandana Kadam is currently on an exchange trip in Shanghai to visit and instruct at the World Foreign Language Middle School.
Kadam has been observing and teaching classes, including four sections of grade 6 classes. “The students have been extremely receptive and that curiosity I see in them makes it fun for me to teach,” said Kadam. Her classes include a mix of Chinese students fairly proficient in English and those newer to English. She also has a Chinese co-teacher to translate her lessons if needed.
The language barrier, however, is proving itself to be mostly a non-issue. “[The Chinese students] were comfortable interacting with me as I used some manipulatives and played games with them,” said Kadam.
Coming up, Kadam will be teaching grades 7-10, and has been making lesson plans based on what teachers and students requested would be most beneficial.
Noah Levy, grade 12, earned the rank of Eagle Scout in a recent ceremony at Harker’s Nichols Hall. Levy completed requirements for 23 badges, thoguh only 21 are required, in addition to rebuilding a dilapidated footbridge/horsebridge in Belgatos Park in Los Gatos, as part of his Eagle Service Requirement. Levy has played varsity baseball for Harker for four years, now starting as a center fielder. He is also proficient in Japanese, after taking the language for six years at Harker and spending a summer learning abroad in Tokyo and living with a host family. Levy begins his first year at Tufts University, his first choice, in Boston in the fall.
Anooshree Sengupta, grade 6, recently participated in “Dear Mr. Henshaw,” a play presented by the California Theater Center (CTC) in Sunnyvale. The play, written by Newberry Award-winning author Beverly Cleary (Henry Huggins, Ramona Quimby), is about an author, Mr. Henshaw, who encourages Leigh, his number one fan, to write a journal to help him come to terms with the challenges of growing up, his parents’ recent divorce, and with being the new kid in school. The plays at CTC are a mix of adult and child actors. Sengupta participated in 15 performances of the play.
Middle school Japanese students had an enlightening time on their annual field trip in late February. This year’s outing, led by teacher Kumi Matsui, was to San Francisco to attend the 2012 Way of Tea Program, a day-long event.