Vikas Bhetanabhotla, who starts Gr. 9 in the fall, won first place in the aerodynamics and hydrodynamics category at the California State Science Fair (CSSF) in May. Vikas’ project, “A Study of Magnetohydrodynamic Propulsion and Dimensionless Numbers,” earned him a medal and a $250 prize.
Vikas’ trip to the fair was assured in March at the Synopsys Championship, where he also won a first place award. He made adjustments to his projects during the time between the Synopsys event and the CSSF. At the fair Vikas was interviewed for four hours by 14 judges. His mother, Padmasri Behtanabhotla, said,“Every one of them was very appreciative of the amount of work he had done, his analysis and in-depth understanding of the subject.”
The varsity A team finished second place in the WBAL at 7-1, making them 14-1 over the past two seasons! Key players were Michelle Pagnon, Mercedes Chien and Nithya Vemireddy, all Gr. 8.
The varsity B team ended the season 9-1, taking second place in league. Key players were Jordan Peetz, Gr. 7, Saachi Jain, Gr. 8 and Savi Joshi, Gr. 7.
The varsity B2 team finished 7-3 in league, tying for second place. Christina Wong, Gr. 8, Leeza Kuo, Gr. 7 and Pooja Chirala, Gr. 8, were all key players.
The junior varsity A team, Gr. 6, went undefeated for the second year in a row, accumulating a record of 15-0 over the past two seasons. Coach Vonda Reid reported that the team’s outstanding ball control and tough serving helped them with this impressive record, including their easy defeat of Pinewood in their last match to win the league championship. The girls finished in first place in the WBAL at 6-0. Thanks to some great passing from the back row, Alex Dellar put up good sets and Doreene Kang, Shannon Richardson and Lauren Speckman were able to take some solid swings at the net to give the team an aggressive front row attack. Coach Reid continued, “They were a fun and hard-working group and one of the most talented sixth grade teams that I have coached here at Harker.”
The JV B6 team ended 5-2, which placed them second in league.
The JV B1 team finished in first place in the WBAL at 7-1! This is the third league championship for the Gr. 5 girls this year, having also won the league in softball and soccer; they missed the basketball league championship by one basket. Key players were Stefanie Ting, Joelle Anderson and Chetana Kalidindi.
The JV B2 girls ended the season 0-7 in league. They showed vast improvement in their skills throughout the season with fifth grader Tara Parimi’s excellent serving skills scoring many points and Surabhi Rao, Gr. 5, being the most improved of the team. Coach Casey Henderson enjoyed working with the team, reporting that the girls have been very positive and fun to practice with.
The intramural volleyball team, Gr. 4, learned important skills that were built on throughout the season. Coach Tobias Wade reported, “We practiced our serving techniques with games like ‘dead fish’ and contests against the fifth grade teams.” The girls worked hard on their footwork bumping and setting and made great strides in their skills. Wade added, “I am proud of the effort they put forth. The girls will be great assets to future Harker volleyball teams.
Boys Volleyball
The varsity A team was 5-1, playing an out-of-league schedule. Key players were Andrew Zhu, Kevin Moss and Jithin Vellian, all Gr. 8.
The varsity B boys ended the season 6-0 playing an out-of-league schedule.
The junior varsity A team finished 3-2, also playing an out-of-league schedule. Key players were Kurt Schwartz, Spencer Powers and Connor Powers, all Gr. 6.
Baseball
The junior varsity A team finished at 1-5 in league. Key players were Trevor Lee, Suraj Jagadeesh and Kevin Wang, all Gr. 6.
The JV B team ended the season 0-5 in league. Despite the season record, the boys had some close battles with St. Joe’s and the Harker Gr. 6 team. Nicolas Bean, Gr. 5, led the team with his athleticism, leadership and knowledge of the game. Other key players included Andrew Gu and Alex Youn, both Gr. 5. Overall, reports coach Walid Fahmy, “The season was a great success with the boys learning how to work together and really understanding the team concept.”
The Gr. 4 intramural baseball team began the season with a couple of students with Little League experience. The team moved forward from that point and progressively learned the rules, the art of hitting, proper fielding techniques and base running. The season finished with many spirited games where the players put their individual skills to the test while helping their team compete. Coaches Tomas Thompson and Jim McGovern commended the sportsmanship and strong play of Nirban Bhatia, Will Holaday, Sunny Jayam, Michael Kwan, Brando Pakel, Aadith Srinivasan, Vince Vu and Maxwell Woehrmann.
Tennis
Varsity A tennis finished in a three-way tie for first place in the WBAL with a record of 7-1. They also participated in the MTP league where they ended 5-1. The team qualified for the playoffs in both leagues! Key players were Katia Mironova, Gr. 8, Kilian Burke, Gr. 8, Srivinay Irrinki, Gr. 7, Andy Wang, Gr. 8 and Andrew Jin, Gr. 7.
Water Polo
Both boys and girls water polo teams showed improvement all season. The boys had some very close games against some very good teams, with top players being Charles Manchester, Gr. 8 and Eric Holt, Gr. 7.
Key water polo players on the girls team were Anna Levine, Gr. 8, Lea Daran, Gr. 8, Sadhika Malladi, Gr. 6 and Emma Malysz, Gr. 7.
[Update] Riya Chandra has been named a top 10 national finalist in the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge! She traveled to New York in early October to participate in live science challenges and though she did not win, received a $1,ooo consolation prize.
[Posted Aug. 4 2010]
Incoming student Riya Chandra, who will start Gr. 6 this fall, was recently named a state semifinalist in this year’s Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist challenge. Chandra received a $250 cash prize and a special plaque to honor her achievement. In addition, the budding scientist’s work was featured in a story in the Tri-City Voice newspaper which serves cities in southern Alameda County. The top 10 national finalists, who will travel to the finals in New York City in October, are set to be announced this month. Founded in 1999, the competition accepts video presentations on various topics from students in grades 5 through 8 located throughout the country. Chandra’s project discussed germs and disease prevention.
Tags: In the News, Science, topscience
Harker’s big yellow buses don’t sit idle in the summertime–there are eager campers in color-coded T-shirts headed to destinations near and far.
The planetarium, ice skating, aviation and tech museums, boating, wildlife centers and beaches: Every age group has its own field trips and each camper attends one every two weeks. Children signed up for all eight weeks experience four unique adventures.
Harker’s field trips help set it apart from other summer camps, but the difference is not just in where the kids go and what they do there. Also important is who accompanies them and how.
Shepherding a couple dozen or more children through an off-campus experience doesn’t seem a suitable job for the faint of heart. But it’s not as hard as you might think, says Vanessa Bullman, Harker’s calm, competent and unflappable program director. The campers wear their identical camp T-shirts on field trip days, she says, “and we always bring plenty of staff. At Harker, it’s always ‘safety first.’”
“We do this all the time,” adds Kelly Espinosa, director of summer programs, “and we train our staff very well.” In fact, it’s not uncommon for children from other camps to approach Harker counselors on a field trip because they are very visible and accessible, she says. “They are the ones out there doing the activity with the kids.”
Staff members are deployed strategically by the program planners, who expertly assess each location. As an example, Espinosa says, “We noticed that one venue has a door to the outside in a place that is not usually monitored. So we put a staff member there for the entire time we are there.”
Of course, the kids don’t know about all the planning and training that precedes an off-campus adventure. For them, the experience starts with getting on the bus. Here, as in other areas, Harker has a clear built-in advantage. “Parents like that we use our own buses for field trips, with our regular Harker bus drivers,” says Espinosa. “The kids get to know the drivers as part of the staff.”
And when they get off the bus, the campers should find an experience that is stimulating and a little bit different. “We try to offer field trips that are really fun, and either new to most kids or something they don’t get to do very often,” says Bullman.
Shonak Gosh, Gr. 1, said he enjoyed touring the Hiller Aviation Museum this summer with his group, the Owls (Gr. 1-2). Besides seeing the exhibits and making an airplane in a workshop, his favorite aspect of the trip was “getting to turn on the radio in an airplane.”
The staff consistently incorporates new field trips while keeping and refining favorites for each age group. Since most campers attend the same camp session (A or B) each year, the trips are rotated annually. At the end of the two-year cycle, the campers have moved into the next age group–and on to different field trips.
A perennial favorite with the kindergartners is Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont. There they can see a variety of farm animals and a working garden, and learn about such activities as grinding corn and making rope.
Kelle Sloan, program director, says that the students really enjoy just walking around experiencing such a different environment. She adds, though, that the biggest highlight in the past has been a ride on a historic 1885 North Pacific Coast Railroad flatcar pulled by draft horses.
At the other end of the age spectrum, the Eagles (Gr. 5-8) enjoy temperature extremes. One week they go ice skating, and another they head to the beach in Santa Cruz (lifeguards in tow) for an afternoon filled with games, water play and a sandcastle-building contest.
Meanwhile, the Condors (Gr. 3-4) traveled recently to Natural Bridges State Park. There, the campers divided into groups and embarked on a docent-led nature walk. Alexandra Janssen, Gr. 4, said that her group received an impromptu visit from a painted lady butterfly and “we got to see this really cool, mossy lake. It was all greenish on top because of duckweed.” Alexandra loves the field trips her group takes. “I like that they are really fun and educational, but they are not too educational because they still have the fun in them,” she says.
A young boy whose mother has died is told by a wizard that he can bring her back to life with a magical “Liferock,” but he will have to fight an evil villain atop Mount Everest to obtain it. There are twists and turns, but our hero triumphs over all and is reunited with his mother.
Reminiscent of a fairy tale, this short story actually sprang from the fertile mind of Young-Jae (Andrew) Chang in Write 4 Life, one of the two-week summer courses available to students in grades 5-8. The classes go all day (8:30-3:30) and offer a fun take on a single subject area.
Flexing Their Creativity
Write 4 Life Teacher Martin Walsh is thrilled to see Chang and his other students implementing Freytag’s structure for dramatic storytelling, which is one of the key concepts he tries to drive home in the class. But he is equally excited to see their creativity bubbling over.
A former teacher in international schools (Caracas, Phnom Penh) and university admissions director, Walsh is currently a college counselor at Harker’s high school. “My colleagues and I in the college counseling department think that writing your personal statement for college, being creative on that application, is a muscle,” he says, and “like any muscle, it needs to be worked out.”
His students are indeed getting a workout, and one that will serve them well. Chang, hailing from Korea, is fairly typical among his classmates. Most are international, many from Asia, and Walsh anticipates that nearly all of them plan to attend college in the United States.
When asked what he thinks of the class, Chang indicates that he really likes his teacher. Walsh is “very congenial and kind to everyone,” he says.
Walsh is, in fact, quite congenial, but since when did fifth graders use that word? The answer is since teaching assistant Diana Lai, a Harker alum and sophomore at Washington University, collected a list of common PSAT words to use in daily vocabulary games.
Students will not be tested on the words, though. Summer courses are “a lot lighter,” says Walsh, “If you get the vocabulary, great, but there are no grades and no homework.”
All the better to let the students’ ideas flow where they will. “On the board is a list of all the ways I have been killed in their stories,” says their teacher and muse, “and then there are the Walsh Aliens and Walshettes….”
Next up was a factual writing exercise in which the students were to watch video of a rocket launch and write a news story about it. No offense to the Walsh Aliens, but they were not invited.
In Robotics, another of the two-week gr. 5-8 courses, students use Legos to construct robots of all kinds.
Middle school computer science and robotics teacher Michael Schmidt models the class on his required 7th grade course. Aside from a few key concepts, much of the curriculum emerges naturally he says, “I just start them off and go where they go.”
Of course, it’s not too hard to predict where they will go. “Once they can make the robots move, the natural tendency is to make them slam into each other,” he says, “So we end up with a lot of robots just pushing against each other in the middle of the room. They think this is hilarious.”
It’s also a teachable moment in which Schmidt offers, “If this is what we are going to do, then we have to make proper bumpers and devices to flip the other person over.” Robot wars, anyone?
The next step forward comes when students get frustrated with the wires connecting their robots to the remotes they are holding. “True robots are autonomous,” Schmidt points out as he teaches them how to program the robots in advance.
Girls Rock Robot Wars
Schmidt always has a mix of boys and girls in the class, and one needn’t worry about how girls fare in the realm of robot wars. This year, “the girls were the first ones to figure out how to win consistently,” he says.
He attributes this to the fact that, while the boys tended to focus on combat apparatus, the girls “started making their robots more streamlined and protected.” The last robot moving freely is the winner, and those with too many appendages inevitably got tangled together.
At the beginning of the course’s second week, Schmidt shifted the focus from destruction to construction, mandating the students to come up with a robot that does something useful.
Products included several Lego motorized wheelchairs, robotic pets, a grocery scanner, and a vending machine–made out of Legos–that operated perfectly during the parent demonstration before slipping off the table and falling apart. With a maturity beyond his years, the builder shrugged, “That’s why vending machines aren’t built out of Legos.”
Schmidt imparts some essential take-aways while his students are having fun making fighting, singing, or vending robots. To be successful in the class, they need to learn about sequential ordering. He says, “I push the concept that programming is a big set of instructions broken down into smaller ones that they can manipulate using modifiers.” He also introduces one electrical engineering concept: that of polarity. “It just means the direction the electricity is running,” he explains, “We talk about alternating current vs. direct current.”
Of course, the students usually end up way beyond that. This summer, says Schmidt, “We started talking about subroutines and using stored memory.” Clearly, they are not just playing with Legos.
Their teacher’s enthusiasm for robotics is infectious. “The more fun I’m having the more fun they’re having,” says Schmidt, “I don’t ignore the rules, but if I’m looking at something and thinking it’s fun, then 90% of them are probably doing that, too.”
So many choices, so little time! On any given day one can find hundreds of lower and middle school students remaining on campus after the academic day ends. These students have a wide range of enrichment activities from which to choose, many provided by the staff of BEST (Bucknall/Blackford Enrichment and Supervision Team). At each campus, students can sign up for regularly scheduled enrichment classes or can drop in for a variety of activities, both physical and less active. Some classes are taught by outside instructors, some by BEST staff, and all are quite popular.
the Bucknall campus, students can choose from classes such as musical instrument instruction, Hindi, yoga, chess, cheerleading and art. One of the most popular activities is dance. In K-Gr. 5, 290 students chose dance this year, and 250 of them – all but the kindergartners – danced in the May dance show. Preethi Kandappan, Gr. 5, has been taking after-school dance since Gr. 1, and took up tap dance fourth quarter. “I like being on stage and being with my friends,” she stated. Laughing, she added, “I like everything!”
Jason Ting, Gr. 3, participates in jazz ensemble, chess and dance after school. His favorite is jazz ensemble, which is a new activity this year. In this class, he said, ”I get to interact with other students, and I like playing the trumpet.” He likes chess because, “I actually get to play with other people and get to experience new techniques.” He has taken chess and dance since first grade.
Amanda Crook, program coordinator, is a typical example of an enthusiastic BEST staff member. One of her favorite activities is the end-of-year Kiddie Carnival, held for school. “Every year planning a party for the last day of school – what could be better than that?” she asked.
Kim Coulter, Bucknall’s BEST program director, has been with Harker since 1987. The program has grown since then from one full-time director, Kelly Espinosa (now director of summer programs) and five part-time staff members to two separate programs, each with its own director, and eight full-time and 25 part-time BEST staff. Each campus has additional learning workshop teachers and outside companies that provide programs as well. In addition to leading enrichment activities, BEST staff members provide supervision before and after school as well as at recess and lunch.
Coulter, who has a B.A. degree in liberal studies with a minor in child psychology, is constantly working to find new ways to improve the BEST program, and feels that children should be provided as many different enrichment options as possible. She recently explained, “It is my hope that the children can find their passion and talents through the BEST program, allowing them success in doing what truly makes them happy.” She added, “The BEST program is like no other program you’ll find. We have amazing staff, offer a variety of activities and provide the ‘neighborhood’ to the students of The Harker School.”
Erin Clifford, Blackford’s BEST program director, has been at Harker since 2005, and holds a B.S. in kinesiology with an athletic training emphasis and a minor in sociology. She is also driven to find new programs. “The middle school students have so much energy and curiosity!” she exclaimed. “I enjoy the challenge of finding enrichment classes and activities that will peak their interest.” This includes classes such as Photoshop, Mandarin, food science and Club BEST, in which students can choose from a different daily physical or non-physical activity. “The most important part of BEST is giving the students a sense of security while having fun,” Clifford said.
The staff certainly seems to provide that. Melina “Bean” Nakos, Gr. 6, likes the drop-in and special activities offered after school. She explained, “I like when they do competitions, like when they did the competition for spirit week on making a cookie.”
Ian Richardson, Gr. 8, also enjoys Club BEST. He added, “I kind of like when the BEST staff gets all fun with us and we play the Ninja game. It’s kind of fun because they interact with us.”
For the first time, choirs from all three campuses came together one March evening for the United Voices concert, which featured the lower school’s Bucknall Choir, the Gr. 7-8 singing group Vivace (both directed by Jennifer Cowgill) and the upper school groups Bel Canto, directed by Catherine Snider, and Cantilena, directed by Susan Nace. All four groups thoroughly entertained the evening audience at the Blackford Theater, each singing pieces in a number of different styles from cultures all over the world. Among the many highlights were the Bucknall Choir’s version of the Spanish folk song “Que Llueva,” Vivace’s rendition of Mozart’s “Luci Care,” a performance of the Mack Gordon and Harry Warren classic “At Last” by Bel Canto and the closing song, the American folk hymn “How Can I Keep From Singing?” by Cantilena.
Nearly 50 Gr. 7 and Gr. 8 students hit the Blackford stage in May for the spring production of the popular musical “Fiddler on the Roof,” directed by drama teacher Monica Colletti. The much-loved musical, which tells the story of a Jewish patriarch and his five daughters as they face the forces of social and political change in 1900s czarist Russia, was a hit with audiences at every show. The production’s famous numbers, including “Tradition,” “Matchmaker” and “Sunrise, Sunset” were sung and danced wonderfully by the young performers, who were supported by splendid musical accompaniment, directed by music teacher Roxann Hagemeyer.
The set design by Paul Vallerga uniquely recreated the quaint village of Anatevka, and lighting by the always-dependable Natti Pierce-Thomson once again gave the production an evocative atmosphere.
In March, the lower and upper school jazz bands presented an Evening of Jazz at the Blackford Theater. Directed by lower school music teacher Louis Hoffman, the lower school ensemble performed the John Coltrane standard “Blue Trane” and a special arrangement of the Deep Purple classic “Smoke on the Water.” To further liven things up, Hoffman and several members of the ensemble donned eye-catching and often silly hats. The Harker School Jazz Band, directed by Chris Florio, played a variety of tunes from greats such as Count Basie, George Gershwin and Arthur Hamilton. Running the gamut from rousing, upbeat swing numbers to slow, soulful ballads, the US band performed their set with equal parts subtlety and aplomb.
Middle school Latin teacher Lisa Masoni has been named ACE / ACCG Teacher of the Year. The Ancient Coins for Education and Ancient Coin Collectors Guild organizations join forces to encourage Latin studies at the middle and high school levels.
“We have been so impressed by the way you have obviously inspired your students in the study of Roman coins and history,” said Souzana Steverding, director of ACE, in her award letter to Masoni. “When we see how your students … have really been working so hard, devoting obviously a lot of time and energy to researching such varied niches in Roman history as Gallienus, the early adoptive emperors and beliefs in the ancient world, then we know what a fine teacher these students are lucky to have. A huge thank you for your devotion and hard work and the inspiration which you pass to your students,” the letter concluded.
Masoni received a certificate and a commemorative ancient coin, minted in the first century A.D., with the award.