In September, Cindy Liu, Gr. 7, was named one of the winners in category two (9-12 years of age) of the 2009 Peace Pals International Arts Awards and Exhibition, taking second place. Her artwork, along with that of the other winners, will be displayed around the world during the 2010 Peace Pals Art Exhibition Tour.
Tags: topfineartsAfter kicking off 2010 with a tournament title at the Victory Briefs Tournament in Los Angeles, Harker Speech and Debate has raised the bar again, winning three more tournament titles over the last two weeks.
Two weeks ago, 11 Harker students flew to North Carolina to compete in the Myers Park Laird Lewis Invitational. Eight students managed to make it to elimination rounds in Public Forum debate, including four Gr. 8 students. After attending the Harker Forensics Institute over the summer and applying their skills in the fall, six middle school students were invited to compete in the high school novice division of this national invitational. Jithin Vellian and Kevin Duraiswamy, both Gr. 8, made it to the round of 16 while classmates Stephanie Lu and Neil Khemani advanced to the quarterfinals (top eight) in the tournament.
In the varsity division, Kelsey Hilbrich, Gr. 12 and Frederic Enea, Gr. 10, beat a team from Ohio to claim the Laird Lewis title. Junior Justine Liu and sophomore Akshay Jagadeesh advanced to the round of 16 and earned their first bid to the Public Forum Tournament of Champions.
Both varsity teams attending the Laird Lewis were also invited to compete in the Public Forum Challenge. This elite tournament issues their invitations in the fall to the top 16 teams in the country. The challenge included the other two teams who won PF National Championship Titles in the 2008-09 season. While Liu and Jagadeesh were eliminated after four rounds of the challenge, the TOC National Champion Hilbrich and current partner Enea remained undefeated throughout the entire challenge, including beating both the returning member of the 2009 Grand National Championship team in the semifinal round and the complete 2009 NFL National Championship team in the final round on a 4-1 decision.
Over the three-day weekend, 16 Harker students traveled up to Union City to compete in the James Logan Martin Luther King Jr. Tournament. With competitors from five states in attendance, eleven Harker students made it to elimination rounds. Zina Jawadi, Gr. 8, became the first Harker middle school student to clear the elimination rounds in a high school varsity speech event, making it to quarterfinals in Expository Speaking. Freshmen Aneesh Chona and Anuj Sharma, sophomores Revanth Kosaraju and Ishan Taneja, as well as juniors Christine Chien and James Seifert made it to the round of 32 in Public Forum debate. In the round of 16, the team of Justine Liu and Jagadeesh were seeded to hit junior Ziad Jawadi and sophomore Aakash Jagadeesh. As the higher seed, Jawadi and Aakash were advanced over Liu and Akshay to the quarterfinal round. Both teams earned their second qualifying leg to the Public Forum Tournament of Champions, setting a new record for Harker qualifications in the event. Jawadi and Aakash Jagadeesh promised their teammates that they would try to win the tournament after eliminating another Harker team’s chance at the title.
In a 5-0 decision in finals against a team from Colorado, Jawadi and Aakash claimed the James Logan MLK 2010 Public Forum Championship title.
During the weekend of Jan. 23, students will compete in the NCFL Grand Nationals Qualifier in Sacramento and the Golden Desert National Invitational in Las Vegas.
For the first time in tournament history, a middle school team won the Novice High School Division at the Santa Clara University Invitational, a high school debate tournament held in mid-December. The winning Harker team consisted of eighth graders Rohith Bhethanabotla and Travis Chen. Because Harker is one of few middle schools with a debate team it is often difficult to find venues for competition. However, a small number of high school debate tournaments allow middle school teams to compete. Harker, the only middle school team in the tournament, sent 21 debaters and many of them came away with impressive achievements.
Other students who did especially well include Vikram Sundar, Kevin Duraiswamy and Jithin Vellian, all Gr. 8. Overall the team consists of primarily eighth graders but also includes some seventh and sixth graders. Their achievements are especially impressive because this tournament is attended by some of the best high school teams in the area.
Tags: topacademics, topdebateDrop into any classroom, it seems, on the middle school campus and you are bound to see many students hard at work using their school-issued laptops.
This is year two for all the grades to be using laptops, said Dan Hudkins, director of instructional technology for K-Gr. 12, and everything is going quite well. “It’s a reasonably mature program and we continue to explore additional options and ways for laptops to be used as learning tools.’’
Harker sixth grader Gurutam Thockchom said it has been a smooth, successful launch since sixth graders just received their laptops in early November. Students in seventh and eighth grades start the school year with theirs. “It is better using a laptop because it is easier to write, keep track of things and not have to carry around so many papers,’’ Thockchom said, as he worked on his laptop during a study hall session.
Angela Neff, the assistant instructional technology director for the middle school, said things have gone great so far with the 153 members of the sixth grade class.
Gr. 6 teachers, across all curricula, have found a multitude of projects and uses for students on computers, including creating PowerPoint presentations in Environmental Studies; writing essays, doing research and vocabulary exercises in English classes; having access to a variety of resources on Athena (handouts, Web links, study guides) and taking quizzes and tests. In a few months, students will work on collaborative projects in history, write and research speeches for their public speaking courses and do warm-up problems and short activities in Pre-Algebra Honors. In Spanish classes, students record themselves speaking and take online quizzes; in music class, the students are taking notes on different musical historical periods; and in health class, students have used the laptops to visit MyPryamid.gov to learn about the new food pyramid and proper eating habits — just in time for the New Year!
The middle school Writing Mentor Program is off to a great start this year. Created last year, the program has expanded a good deal since its inception and currently includes 18 upper school mentors selected via teacher recommendations and personal interviews. One of the most interesting aspects of the program is that it is driven by middle school students who want to improve their writing, rather than parental involvement.
In order to be considered for the program, students in Gr. 6-8 must send an e-mail explaining why they want to join to program director Patricia Lai, Gr. 8 English teacher. Upon being selected, middle school students work on a variety of topics including personal narratives, short persuasive essays, descriptive essays and expository paragraphs, depending on their individual needs.
Rather than being remedial, Lai states that this program “provides enrichment opportunities for students wanting to improve their writing skills.” When asked about the benefits of the program, mentor Timothy Chou, Gr. 11, commented that he believes “having good writing skills can vastly improve one’s life by helping one express ideas in a clearer way.”
Seventh graders have been learning about the basics of electricity and kinetics in science class. Raji Swaminathan, Gr. 7 science teacher, says the section on electricity is particularly appealing to students because “every day [they] have a hands-on activity that demonstrates the concept learned.” Recently the students studied Ohm’s Law, which relates to resistance and current. In the experiment, students examined current readings while changing resistance through an Ammeter, which measures current, and by watching a light bulb connected to the circuit change in brightness.
Science classes also use fun and exciting ways to learn physics. After covering topics such as potential energy, kinetic energy and the Law of Conservation of Energy, students were tasked with building a roller coaster to demonstrate their knowledge. These coasters were constructed using PVC pipes, foam insulation tracks and tape with a marble acting as the coaster. Each coaster had to meet a specific list of requirements regarding size and features. These were a initial hill tall enough to provide the coaster with enough potential energy to complete the course, a loop-the-loop and an exit hill.
In the experiment, not only did the marble have to make it through the entire track without stopping, it had to do so without flying off at any point. After this was accomplished the real work began. Students calculated the potential energy values at the top of the first hill, top of the loop and top of the exit hill. Knowing that total mechanical energy (sum of potential and kinetic energies) stays a constant, students calculated the kinetic energies at the three above-mentioned points and hence figured out the velocity of the coaster at these three points. Through hands-on experiments like these, the lessons students learn are remembered for a lifetime!
The Harker Middle School sponsored six robotics teams this year, five of which entered competitions in the last few weeks. The teams, ranging from three to five competitors, are coached by middle school teacher Michael Schmidt. The first two teams to compete placed sixth and seventh out of 24, and one of them received the award for most well-rounded team in addition to an invitation to compete in the second of three rounds.
On Nov.14 three additional teams competed, placing fifth, 10th and 12th with overall scores that were even higher than the first group’s. Both the fifth and 10th place teams advanced to the next round and the 10th place team was awarded first place for teamwork. These students have shown a high level of commitment given that practices and competitions are on Saturdays. Watch for more from these teams as the next round of competitions is Dec. 19 and the championship will be held on Jan 16. Good luck, robotics teams!
Tags: topscienceIn November, Harker seventh graders made a special “make-up” trip to Japan that was originally scheduled to take place last May, but which was canceled due to fears caused by the H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic. “The kids waited nearly 500 days from the time they first applied for this trip in fifth grade to actually going in seventh grade!” said Jennifer Abraham, director of global education.
Chaperones during the trip were Abraham, middle school teacher Vandana Kadam, lower school teachers Eric Leonard, Mary Holaday and Grace Wallace and upper school teacher Adam Nelson.
Upon their arrival in Tokyo, the group stayed in a hotel, and the next morning went to Harker’s sister school, Tamagawa Gakuen, where they received a warm welcome. “We were greeted by a group of cheering kids, happy to see their Harker buddies after nearly a year apart, and their families,” Abraham reported. “Our kids did a great job with their Japanese speeches at the welcome.”
Since the group arrived in Japan during a three-day weekend, they went sightseeing around Tokyo, climbed the Tokyo tower, went shopping and visited Mt. Fuji. “Tuesday was our one and only day at the school,” Abraham said. Morning was spent in classes, and in the afternoon the kids took a tour of the beautiful, wooded, 130-acre Tamagawa campus. Kids collected Japanese maple leaves, which they used to make imprints onto special paper they made into cards. They also attended a calligraphy class where the students wrote their names and other symbols.
“Wednesday we all met up again at the Yokohama Arena to spend the day together sightseeing at the Yokohama Museum and Sankei-en Japanese garden,” recalled Abraham. The students got the chance to see a Japanese green tea ceremony. That evening, the students spent time with their host families and chaperones at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. The next day, they had the wonderful opportunity to witness Tamagawa’s 80th anniversary celebration at the Yokohama Arena. Performances were by students in Tamgawa’s first through graduate grade levels. Advancement director Joe Rosenthal and his wife, Blanca, traveled from the U.S. to witness this special occasion. The spectacular show was watched by more than 12,000 people.
Thursday night – through many tears from Harker kids, their Tamagawa buddies and the host families – the students said their good-byes. Friday, the group set off by bullet train to Kyoto. “The weather was beautiful, trees bright yellow,” Abraham said. “We visited Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), where we were met by a man who had attended Tamagawa from grades K-12. He had close ties to the GP so gave us a special tour not available to regular tourists.”
On Saturday, everyone took another bullet train to Hiroshima, and took a ferry out to the Itsukushima shrine, a Shinto landmark. “When the tide is in, the main gate of the shrine appears to be floating on the water,” Abraham recalled. “We arrived when the tide was out so were able to walk right out to the base of the gate.” Later, at the Peace Memorial Museum, the travelers had a moment of silence before entering the museum in honor of those who were killed by the atomic bomb. The museum contained many vivid displays of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. When asked what she thought of the museum, Agata Sorotokin said, “It makes me want to make the world a more peaceful place.”
In the morning of their last day in Japan, the students visited Himeji Castle, situated on top of a high hill. Some last-minute shopping was done before everyone set off for the airport for their flight home.
Tags: Featured Story, Global EducationUpper and lower school students recently collaborated on a project to help students become more environmentally conscious. Last year the upper school Key Club placed stickers on all upper school towel dispensers in an effort to improve conservation and promote responsible use of paper towels. This year they proposed expanding this program to the lower and middle schools as well and this fall, Key Club members met with members of the lower school Service Club to complete the project.
While putting up the stickers, the students shared some of their experiences and ideas for future projects. In addition to providing a valuable environmental service to the lower school, this project also gave younger students a chance to see what kinds of activities await them when they get to the upper school. Look for collaboration across grade levels to continue, as the Key Club has invited Service Club members to join them at several CVS pharmacies this holiday season in an effort to raise money for Second Harvest Food Bank.
Gr. 8 students have earned the unique privilege of free dress in shoes for exemplary behavior as a whole. Starting after the winter holiday break, all eighth graders may wear their choice of shoes on any day of the week, including Monday, usually formal uniform day.
Lana Morrison, middle school dean of students, and Cindy Ellis, middle school head, met with students to make the announcement. “We have witnessed them act positively towards their peers, faculty and staff as an overall class of young men and women,” said Morrison. “Given this enthusiastic and energetic bunch of eighth grade students, we are excited to see what they will accomplish in semester two.”
The only limitation to the free shoe policy is “no flip-flops allowed,” noted Morrison, and “we do ask they keep at least one pair of black shoes for our annual award program at the end of the year. This special privilege begins officially on January 4. It’s time to celebrate!”