The middle school open house on Dec. 6 gave prospective families a look into middle school student life and was an opportunity to meet and greet with Harker faculty, staff and students. Guests were greeted by staff from admissions and BEST, as well as parent volunteers. Student presentations were given by Arjun Goyal, Jithin Vellian and Shazdeh Hussain, all Gr. 8,and the Gr. 7-8 singing and dancing group Harmonics performed a pair of songs before heading off on their holiday tour. Guests were then invited to tour the campus, meeting various Harker faculty and learning more about the academic programs and extracurricular activities available to students. Student ambassadors representing various departments were on hand, assisting and guiding the visitors as they explored the Blackford campus and learned more about the Harker experience.
Drop into any classroom on the middle school campus, it seems, and you are bound to see students in Gr. 6-8 all 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.’’
Gurutam Thockchon, Gr. 6, thinks it has been a smooth, successful launch as the sixth graders just received their laptops on Nov. 6. Students in Gr. 7-8 started 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,’’ Thockchon said as he worked on his laptop during a study hall session.
And the Gr. 6 teachers, across all curricula, have found a multitude of projects and uses, such as 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), taking quizzes and tests and working on collaborative projects in history; and writing and researching speeches for the public speaking course.
In Pre-Algebra Honors, classes are doing warm-up problems and short activities; in Spanish, students record themselves speaking and take online quizzes; in music class, the students are taking notes on different musical historical periods; and in Health, students have used the laptops to visit MyPryamid.gov to learn about the new food pyramid and proper eating habits.
And this is only in the last two weeks. Angela Neff, the assistant instructional technology director for the middle school, said things have gone great so far!
On Dec. 4, middle school students presented gifts to representatives from Kidango, a nonprofit, child development organization based in the Bay Area. The organization brought five large vehicles, which were filled to capacity with the donations. According to faculty co-coordinator Peggy Crisler, this number is up from two carloads last year. In November, a representative from Kidango spoke at an assembly about what it means to give and the benefits of taking part in charity giving. Harker students were given cards that underprivileged kids had filled out with requests for items for Christmas.
Harker student Kelsey Chan, Gr. 8, wanted to give back to her community and can now point with pride to taking part in an innovative program. Middle school advisory groups are growing fruits and vegetables on campus and the harvest is going to Martha’s Kitchen, which feeds the hungry and the homeless in San Jose.
“It is such an easy way to be able to make a difference,’’ said Chan, who has been growing carrots with classmate Monica Lee.
Tim Culbertson, who teaches Gr. 6 environmental studies and Gr. 8 population studies, started the project last year after receiving a grant from the National Science Foundation through a Stanford professor he had been working with for the last few years. The idea was simple: grow edible annual plants (carrots, corn, etc.) to donate to food kitchens in San Jose.
The first harvest was in September, with carrots, onions and watermelons; the next harvest is coming up in March.
Students from four advisories, about 40 students, either pair up or work in groups of four and each group is responsible for a four-foot square plot, located at end of one of the classroom wings. The students must determine what to plant, how much space is required and when to harvest. They supply their own seeds, do the planting and tilling and, finally, harvest the crops. Students also do a short PowerPoint presentation on their endeavor.
Besides Culbertson’s advisory, students in Rebecca Williams’, Henry Cuningham’s and Steven Hewitt’s advisories all take part. Hewitt is the liaison between Martha’s Kitchen and the school, while Williams oversees the composting project, said Culbertson. Lunch waste from the four advisories is used to fertilize the plants.
During the school year, the students tend to the plants one to four days a week and during the summer months there is an automatic watering system, Culbertson said. “I also come out about once a week to check on things.’’
Culbertson is thrilled with not just the harvest but what the students get out of it. “It creates personal accountability because each group is responsible for their own spaces and the end result is that it is going for a very worthy cause,’’ he said.
Plans are already in the works to renew the grant for the upcoming year and to expand the area to about twice the size, Culbertson said. So, the next time you are on the middle school campus, make sure you take a gander at the garden!
This year’s Gr. 6 outing to Yosemite proved once again to be an exciting venture into one of California’s most treasured natural preserves. The week prior to the trip, students wore boots for the entire week to break them in before they were put to use.
The students and chaperones arrived at Yosemite on Oct. 26, along with their buddies from Tamagawa Gakuen in Tokyo, Japan. They spent the day hiking to the Spider Caves before meeting with their guides from the Yosemite Institute (YI).
Breakfast was had before the next day’s activities, which included an educational hike with the YI guides. The day was capped off with a special ice cream party to bid the Tamagawa students farewell.
“Despite a belly full of ice cream, students were able to fall asleep in order to reenergize for yet another day at Yosemite,” reported Lana Morrison, middle school dean of students. The day was spent doing a group of team activities led by the YI guides. Later that evening, middle school science teacher Danny Sommer made dessert for student Anish Velagapudi’s birthday celebration. After a night hike, the group arrived at a nearby theater to see a Bear Program put on by the YI guides, who performed skits and showed an educational video about bears.
The final day at Yosemite saw great hiking weather, and students were given the choice of returning to some of their favorite hiking locations or heading somewhere they hadn’t yet been. In the evening, the trip was formally and fittingly concluded with a campfire under the stars.
During this year’s Gr. 6 trip to Yosemite, middle school Spanish teacher Susan Moling’s hiking group became the first among Harker students to make the hike from their base camp to Glacier Point. The group started their hike at 9 a.m. and traveled approximately eight miles and climbed 3,200 feet over a period of five-and-a-half hours, taking short breaks along the way. After reaching the summit, the group took a bus back down, as walking back would have taken much too long. “We wouldn’t have made it back till 7 or 8 p.m.,” Moling said.
Harker eighth graders arrived in the Washington, D.C., area over the weekend and have been greatly enjoying their trek through the nation’s capital and environs. The students landed in Williamsburg, Va., on Oct. 24 and spent the following day exploring the city. “The day was highly educational,” said Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs. “Through our tour of the Jamestown settlement and visit to colonial Williamsburg, the students learned a lot about our first permanent English settlement.”
Before touring the Jamestown settlement, students Kevin Moss, Anisha Padwekar and Regina Chen gave an informative presentation to their bus groups about the importance of the area. Students Vikram Naidu, Arjun Goyal and Vikram Sundar gave their own presentations on the historic city of Williamsburg.
“The highlight for the students was the colonial games we played at one of our stops in Colonial Williamsburg,” Gargano said. “Groups of students participated in a relay to see which team could roll a barrel hoop the fastest.”
The group began the following day by finishing up their tour of Williamsburg. Cyrus Merrill, middle school history teacher,got in spirit by dressing in colonial attire for the occasion. “I believe the highlight of the day was our visit to The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier after lunch at Pamplin Park,” Gargano recalled. “The students felt a part of history knowing that they were standing on the site of the Breakthrough Battlefield of April 2, 1865, where Union forces broke through Petersburg’s defense lines.”
The students also toured the museum wearing headsets that provided audio of the life of a particular soldier, which, Gargano said, “was quite interesting and moving for many students.”
Before the tour began, students Darian Edvalson and Arman Mortazavi gave presentations on the historical importance of Pamplin Park.
Later that day, the group arrived in the District, where they visited the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. Many photos were taken there, with the iconic statue of FDR seated in his wheelchair being a favorite subject. Presentations by Sean Youn, Nathan Dhablania and Kiran Kothuri told of the history of Roosevelt and provided information about his memorial.
The trip will continue through the week with visits to Arlington Cemetery and Gettysburg National Military Park.
Raji Swaminathan’s Gr. 7 science students spent a week in October learning about momentum and how it is an important factor in analyzing automobile collisions.
In this lab, students experimented by rolling a cart from varying heights from a ramp, and saw that the velocity of the cart increased with the height from which it rolled. Since the mass of the cart is constant, the students realized that the cart’s momentum depends upon its velocity. As the cart rolled down from different heights, it was made to crash into an object at the bottom of the ramp. Students observed that the greater the momentum of the cart, the further the object was pushed, which measured how much damage was being done to the automobile. “These students, who will be driving in the future, learn a valuable lesson that the higher the velocity of the car that they are driving, the higher its momentum, the higher its kinetic energy and the greater the amount of damage if it unfortunately is involved in a crash collision,” Swaminathan said.
Gr. 7-8 parents and students saw what’s in store for them at the high school level during the upper school’s annual preview night on Oct. 1. The evening began with a performance in the gym by the upper school vocal and dance group Downbeat, which was followed by speeches and presentations from students detailing everyday life at Harker for US students. Parents then visited classrooms around the Saratoga campus and meet with teachers, who discussed the classes they teach and their various teaching methods.
Over at Nichols Hall, students set up displays containing information on the many clubs available to students. Guys’ Gig, an all-male vocal club, also performed to close the evening on an entertaining note.
Lower and middle school sports teams were busy in September; football, cross country, softball and swimming have kept our after-school athletes literally on the run! Take a look at the slide show at the bottom of this post to see for yourself.
Football
The Gr. 8 varsity A flag football team completed a very successful month by placing third in the annual eight-team Harker Flag Football tournament. Quarterback Brian Bither and running back Kevin Moss provided many of the offensive fireworks as the Eagles swept three games in pool play to earn a spot in the semifinals. The duo combined for four of the team’s six touchdowns in those three games, while touchdowns by wide receiver John Hughes and running back Arjun Goyal completed the scoring. The wins earned the Eagles a semifinal showdown with St. Joseph’s. Ian Richardson and Adarsh Battu led a strong defensive effort as the two teams battled to a 6-6 tie before St. Joe’s advanced to the finals after winning the California tiebreaker. Harker then earned third place with a 14-0 win over Menlo’s varsity B team. The 4-0-1 tournament record left the Eagles at 8-1-1 overall for the year, 3-1 and in second place in West Bay Athletic League play.
Harker opened the season and league play with wins over Pinewood and Crystal Springs Upland before dropping a tough 28-19 decision to Menlo. The Eagles rebounded from that loss to defeat King’s Academy 15-13, rallying from a 13-6 halftime deficit on a touchdown by Battu and a late safety by Richardson. The following day Harker rolled over Valley Christian 25-7. In addition to those mentioned above, coach Mike Delfino commends the strong play of Sean Youn, Sean Knudsen, and Andrew Zhu. The team has two remaining home games, Oct. 6 and Oct. 13.
The Gr. 7 varsity B football team has a record of 5-1 in season play, along with a tie for fifth place at the Harker tournament. The record does not reveal that the team had given up only four touchdowns and one extra point in the first few games. Coach Justin Sullivan credits the entire team with tenacious defense, and reports that the offense is starting to move the ball more each game as the season progresses. The team beat Valley Christian 19-0 on Sept. 24, and hopes to beat them again on Wed., Oct. 7 at Valley. Come out and cheer on the boys!
The Gr. 6 J.V. A football team has a 4-2 record, with impressive wins against Crystal Springs Uplands (41-0) and Priory (20-13). The team has two home games left on Oct. 6 and 14.
Fifth graders on the J.V. B team have played their way to a 2-1 record, with wins against Woodland (39–19) and St. Matthews (15-13). Remaining home games will be against St. Joseph’s on Oct. 6, and Keys on both Oct. 13 and 15.
Coaches Jim McGovern and Tomas Thompson report that the Gr. 4 boys are off to a solid start with flag football. The players are learning positions, pass patterns, the intricacies of hand-offs, listening for the snap count and pulling flags. Teamwork and fair play have been emphasized for the beginning of the season and the boys are extremely enthusiastic out on the field each day. Standout performances so far have included Michael Kwan and Brando Pakel both showing exemplary leadership early on in the season. Positive attitude and overall great effort have been shown by Albert Drewke, Rohit Shah and Maxwell Woerhrmann.
Cross Country At the Sept. 24 meet at JD Morgan Park, the MS cross country runners continued to perform well. Calvin Kocienda, Gr. 6, took ninth for the boys and Alexandra Dellar, Gr. 6, placed third. Alyssa Amick came in third for the Gr. 7 girls, and Claudia Tischler and Nicholas Navarro, both Gr. 8, took fourth and sixth, respectively. At the meet against C.T. English on Sept. 30, Dellar and Kocienda earned fourth and tenth; Amick again came in third, with Corey Gonzales, Gr. 7, taking sixth. Tischler and Navarro both took fourth.
Softball The MS varsity A softball team started off strong with a 13-4 victory over Priory. According to coach Raul Rios, “We had strong pitching from Regan Heslop, Gr. 6, who had eight strike outs and was relieved by Marita Del Alto, Gr. 6, who shut down the Priory offense.” The team played great defense, allowing only four hits. Laura Thacker, Gr. 8, “was like a wall behind the plate for us this game.” Hits from Safia Khouja, Gr. 7, Sarah Bean, Gr. 7, Heslop, Thacker and a long ball smash double by Nithya Vemireddy, Gr. 8, contributed to the high score of this win. They are now 2-2, with losses to King’s Academy and Valley Christian and an additional win against Castilleja 7-6.
The LS J.V. B softball team, coached by Casey Henderson and Michelle Hopkins, is undefeated with three wins, beating Woodland 17-3, St. Josephs 10-9, and Pinewood 9-8. Henderson reports, “The girls are still learning but we are hoping to continue the advancement of their technique and enthusiasm. Special thanks to all of the wonderful and supportive parents!”
Swimming
The LS and MS swim teams have had another great turn out this year with over 60 MS swimmers and 65 LS swimmers participating. The Gr. 6-8 girls had their first meet on Sept. 25 at Castilleja, and all the swimmers are gearing up for their meet Oct. 7 at the Bucknall campus. Come out and cheer on the team at the only home meet of the season!