Susan Smith, Harker’s library director, traveled to Chicago over the summer for an annual conference sponsored by the national American Library Association (ALA), where a book she contributed to received a special award.
Last year Smith contributed a chapter to the now published book “Growing Schools: Librarians as Professional Developers,” showcasing librarians leading professional learning in the school setting. At the recent ALA conference the book received the prestigious Best Professional Reference award.
Smith called it “very special” to have the book recognized by a committee of her peers as being such a valuable resource for librarians in schools across the country.
According to the book, school librarians are ideally qualified to lead professional development because they service the entire school network, from the students and faculty to families and the community. The “Growing Schools” book is the first such resource to directly address the potential role of the school librarian as a staff developer.
Within the book’s chapters authors like Smith relate their own professional development journeys, collectively representing experience within K-12 public and private institutions, district and regional units, and universities across the United States and Canada.
Smith explained that the 50-page chapter she contributed to was the story of Harker’s ambitious and successful information literacy program which originated under former library director Enid Davis back in 2006. Since then, Harker has become recognized as having one of the premier library-directed information literacy programs in North America.
“I learned a tremendous amount from the other contributors, some of whom co-led a half-day professional development workshop with me at the ALA pre-conference in 2012,” recalled Smith.
This year’s ALA conference, which ran from June 27 to July 2, was the 137th annual event for the library association. The theme of the event – which carried an impressive lineup of guest speakers, including Khaled Hosseini, Ann Patchett, Oliver Stone, Alice Walker and Octavia Spencer – was “Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves.”
Laughing and shielding their eyes from the sun, a group of Summer Institute (SI) participants casually tossed a Frisbee to one another out on Rosenthal Field. Meanwhile, in the upper school gym, another group of students playing volleyball couldn’t help but notice the delicious aroma from the nearby kitchen where a cooking class was underway.
From backyard games held on the field to volleyball boot camp and “cooking corner” in the gym and kitchen, SI students this year are enjoying brand-new specialty class period offerings. It’s all part of Harker’s increasingly popular Summer Institute program, now up and running on the Saratoga campus.
Open to both Harker students and the general public in grades 6-12, the institute got underway on June 17 and runs until Aug. 9.
Holding a plate of freshly-made scrambled eggs in her cooking class, Romina Parimi, a grade 6 student at San Jose’s Challenger Berryessa School, called it her favorite special activity so far. As a non-Harker student and first-time participant to SI, she said she was impressed by how beautiful the upper school campus is. “The academics are good; the activities are good!” she enthused.
The unique specialty classes are available via SI’s afternoon activity program (A.P.) where many middle school-aged students like Parimi sign up for courses, which change weekly. In addition to outdoor games, volleyball and cooking, other rotating class options include art, jewelry-making, magic, improv, dance, tech, junior lifeguard, chess and circus arts.
SI has two separate tracks, one designed for middle schoolers and another geared toward upper school-aged students. All SI participants typically combine a morning academic program with afternoon activities, allowing them to earn credits and learn new skills, yet still have plenty of time left over for summertime fun.
The institute’s academic portion offers rigorous for-credit courses such as algebra, economics and programming, as well as non-credit opportunities for enrichment and growth like creative writing, Web design, debate and robotics. A driver’s education course is available for students aged 15 and up.
For middle school aged participants (grades 6-8) A.P. provides many options for specialty classes and recreational activities. Weekly sessions are divided by themes, such as superhero, western, fantasy, Harry Potter, Disney and animation. There are also off-campus field trips every couple of weeks to such hot spots as the shoreline, the Tech Museum and Capitola.
“The wide range of choices and flexibility allows each student to design a schedule around his or her own academic needs and personal interests,” explained Keith Hirota, summer middle school director.
Grade 9 students have the option to either participate in A.P. or join the older high school students who have no organized afternoon activity program but enjoy free, drop-in access to the library, pool, art room, Ping-Pong table, basketball courts and study spaces. For all grades, an on-site prepared lunch is included.
According to Hirota, a total of 920 middle and upper school students are enrolled in this summer’s overall SI program, of which 550 participants are non-Harker students. He added that an average of 80-85 students per week attend A.P., with about 50 of those individuals coming from the general public.
About 160 new-to-Harker parents received a warm welcome upon attending an evening reception held in their honor at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club in San Jose.
Held in June, the annual event that welcomes new parents to Harker was graciously hosted by board member Sally Anderson. Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, opened the reception, then, while socializing over appetizers and beverages, attendees visited with current parent “ambassadors” from various grades who were on hand to answer questions.
The group viewed a variety of video clips highlighting Harker’s strong academic, performing arts and athletic programs. Capping off the event was Casey Near ’06, who spoke about her many memorable experiences at Harker and how they have helped shape her as a person.
“At the end of the evening, guests had connected with one another and were very excited to become a part of the Harker community,” observed Rosenthal.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly. Read the complete issue at http://bit.ly/10W17nX.
The Board of Fellows, an advisory board to Harker’s Board of Trustees, welcomed six new members during its spring reception held in April.
Current parents Dr. Raju Vegesna and Jeffrey Rothschild joined Harker alumni Ayanna Cage ’89, Ken Hunt ’79, Maheen Kaleem ’03 and John Owens ’85 in becoming part of a dedicated group of current parents, alumni parents and alumni who meet regularly to exchange ideas on strategic planning for the school.
Vegesna, a highly respected Silicon Valley entrepreneur, currently chairs the Raju Vegesna Infotech & Industries Group, a consultancy firm serving the information technology industry. Earlier in his career, he leveraged his technical and business expertise to found two leading technology companies, ServerWorks and ServerEngines. He and his wife, Bala, live in San Jose and are the parents of twins Ramanand and Srivani, grade 5.
Rothschild and his wife, Marieke, are the parents of Isaac, grade 11. Rothschild currently serves as the vice president of technology at Facebook and works as a consulting partner with Accel in Palo Alto. He co-founded Veritas Software, which merged with Symantec in 2004.
Cage is a corporate paralegal with Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto. She brings 14 years of experience as a paralegal, law clerk and licensed attorney in the state of New Jersey, including five years of experience in private practice. She is engaged to be married to John Carey this July.
Hunt, who received a Distinguished Alumni Award at the 2012 Harker Homecoming game, currently serves as the president of Produxs, which designs online marketing platforms for Fortune 500 corporations and sophisticated consumer video sites. With his experience in strategic marketing, he has secured and managed millions of dollars in commercial deals, government contracts, grants and venture capital. He lives in Seattle with his wife, Karen, and their two children, Mary, 13, and Kenneth, 9.
Kaleem has done extensive work in the movement against human trafficking. As one of the leaders of the Georgetown University anti-trafficking group SSTOP (Students Stopping the Trafficking of People), she helped organize a regional student conference on trafficking and is currently completing her studies as a student attorney at the Georgetown University Law Center. In 2010 she received the Community Service Award at Harker’s All-Alumni Day.
Owens is a partner at the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. He graduated first in his class from Stanford Law School in 1996 and served as a law clerk for the Honorable J. Clifford Wallace of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and for the Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that he was a federal prosecutor for more than 11 years, focusing on white-collar fraud and corruption cases. He and his wife, Marjorie, have two daughters, Jaclyn, 8, and Audrey, 4, and live in San Diego.
The Board of Fellows reception was hosted by Dr. Randhir and Shalini Thakur (Chandini, grade 9; Keshav, grade 8; Shivani, grade 3) at their Fremont home.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly. Read the complete issue at http://bit.ly/10W17nX.
In an effort to realign its recognition of outstanding students with its mission as a school, Harker has revamped its year-end awards format. This K-12 initiative will recognize students who not only have excelled academically but have also demonstrated other qualities that exemplify the school’s overall goals.
“Basically, we feel that it no longer makes sense to determine the best in a variety of categories when we have such an exceptional group of students,” said Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs. “That said, we still believe strongly in recognizing students for their efforts and hard work.”
To that end, the year-end awards now honor students who particularly reflect the school’s effort to instill love of learning, commitment to service, leadership abilities and other qualities crucial to Harker’s mission.
In grades 1-5, students will receive citizenship awards for meeting or exceeding expectations in all courses and maintaining a clean disciplinary record. An effort award will be given to students who meet or exceed expectations in every course they take.
Middle school students are eligible for the Honor Roll, which includes three categories. Maintaining a grade point average of 3.7 or higher will earn the student an Honor Roll certificate for academic achievement. A citizenship Honor Roll certificate will be awarded to students who meet or exceed expectations in all of their classes and receive no more than two disciplinary hours. For meeting or exceeding expectations in all of their courses, students will receive an Honor Roll certificate for effort. A certificate with a gold ribbon will be awarded to students who earn recognition in all three of these categories.
At the upper school, the community service director will highlight five students for their efforts approximately every other month at a school meeting. These students will receive a community service award, and each awardee will have the opportunity to donate $200 to a charity of his or her choosing.
Students who showed their dedication to the Harker community by serving on the student council or honor council will be honored with a school service recognition certificate.
In grades 4-12, students will be given a love of learning award for showing their dedication to being engaged in the classroom and displaying a genuine passion for their subject. Recipients for these awards will be chosen by teachers, with faculty nominating up to five students they believe worthy of the award. Division heads and deans will then review the list of nominees and decide who will receive the awards. Awardees who were nominated by more than one faculty member will receive a special keepsake along with their certificates, which they receive by mail.
Students in grades 4-12 who best encompass Harker’s philosophy and goals will receive the mission of the school award. As with the love of learning award, teachers will nominate up to five students who they feel exhibit and promote kindness, respect, integrity and intellectual curiosity, while acting as role models to fellow students and helping to strengthen the Harker community. The list of nominees will be reviewed by each campus’ respective division head and dean, and the awardees will be mailed their certificates. Those students who were recognized by more than one faculty member will receive a special keepsake.
At the upper school, a leadership award has been introduced, which will honor students who have successfully enlisted the help of others in achieving a goal that benefits and strengthens the Harker community. The process for selecting recipients for this award is similar to that of the love of learning and mission of the school awards. Upper school teachers will select up to two students in their classes who they believe are worthy of the award. After the list is evaluated by the upper school division head and dean, the award recipients will be mailed their certificates, and those who were nominated by more than one faculty member will receive a memento with their certificates.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly. Read the complete issue at http://bit.ly/10W17nX.
Bringing together hundreds of donors and members of the Parent Development Council (PDC), this year’s Head of School’s Circle Celebration thanked donors who give $2,500 and up for their continued commitment to The Harker School and its mission.
Upon their arrival at the event, held in early May in the upper school’s Nichols Hall atrium, participants enjoyed appetizers as they strolled the room, admiring artwork still adorning the walls from the art students’ recently held exhibit.
After opening remarks from Chris Nikoloff, head of school, audience members were treated to performances by Harker’s upper school show choir Downbeat, its middle school all-male dance team High Voltage and middle school girls’ dance group Showstoppers.
A handful of upper school students representing athletics, business, entrepreneurship and other learning areas also talked about how greatly those programs had impacted them. They thanked the audience members for supporting curricula they are so passionate about.
The engaging evening was brought to a close as dessert and coffee were served in the atrium.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly. Read the complete issue at http://bit.ly/10W17nX.
With Harker applying for a $5 million grant from the Valley Foundation to support its capital campaign for a performing arts and gymnasium complex, the school launched an end of the year appeal called “5-for-5,” asking those who had not yet contributed to Harker’s annual campaign to donate $5, $50, $500 or $5,000 to help secure the $5 million.
For a number of years Harker’s advancement team has sought to emphasize how important it is for schools seeking financial support from foundations to have a high percentage of participation from parents contributing to annual operations via the annual giving campaign – the amount of the donation is not as important as the commitment to donate.
This year, the message really got out and now just over 80 percent of Harker parents are contributing to the annual fund. “I think the word spread because we were able to be very specific about exactly which foundation we were applying to and the large amount of money that we are seeking. That made it very real for people,” said Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement.
“Response was tremendous, with hundreds of gifts coming in during the last week of the fiscal year,” reported Melinda Gonzales, managing director of advancement, of the temporary fundraising drive. “Even a five-dollar gift from a family helps increase our parental participation level,” she said.
Although the appeal was aimed at parents, the 5-for-5 campaign attracted the attention of grade 3 student Daniel Wu, who donated money he had won in a piano recital to the cause.
“I participated in a piano competition and won $200! I practiced hard for about two years and decided to donate half my prize money to Harker because it is and always will be my favorite school,” said Wu, adding that he loves all the fun activities at Harker such as the picnic and fashion show.“I want to contribute to the 5-for-5 program to make Harker even more successful.”
“What an incredible third grader, to be thinking about giving back at such a young age!” noted Elise Robichaud, who teaches grade 3 language arts, voicing how proud she was to be his teacher.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Spring is a special time for art at Harker, when all three campuses hold exhibits, giving students age-appropriate venues in which to display various works they have completed throughout the year. At the lower and middle school shows, students featured their best drawings, paintings, carvings and ceramics. In the upper school, older students showcased selected items from a range of artistic media, including sketches, chalk pastels and bronze castings. Below is a year-end reflection of art at Harker, which was, indeed, in full bloom this past spring!
Lower School Students Impress with Wide Range of Work
Harker’s youngest artists (K-5 students) kicked off their annual art show at the lower school with a well-attended opening reception in May. Refreshments were served as exhibiting students once again demonstrated an impressive range of abilities in their remarkably sophisticated sculptures, drawings and architectural designs.
The festive art show began in the main lobby outside the Bucknall gymnasium and wound its way into the gym and up the stairs, all the way to the top floor classrooms.
Displays were grouped by themes which included, among other items, grade 5 oil pastels dubbed “Inspired Starry Nights,” grade 3 foil/metallic pen creations called “African Reliquary Figures” and grade 2 ceramic “Self-Portraits.”
Among the grade 4 art on display were many illustrations of vases holding dainty pussy willows and scenes of bridges running over beautiful waterways. Meanwhile, grade 1 students created a series of unique depictions of owls using chalk pastels, clay, acrylics and even Sharpie pens. Kindergartners specialized in creating playful pictures of sea creatures, moonlit pumpkins and flowers.
“I think it’s really cool to see everything the other grades are doing,” said Rashmi Iyer, grade 5, who had stopped to admire several works in the art show on her way up to class.
“This year we got to try new things,” she added, excitedly noting that she had created a “Starry Night” illustration (based on the famous Van Gogh piece) as well as some ceramic animal sculptures.
Arushi Nety, also grade 5, added that even though she doesn’t consider herself an artist, she enjoyed making a ceramic whale and seeing it on display at the art exhibit. “It’s a very different type of whale,” she said, with obvious pride.
Middle School Students Showcase Increasingly Complex Pieces
The middle school art exhibit is unique in that its opening reception is held off-site, at the Saratoga main reception lobby, to showcase the quality of middle school art for the many visitors to the school’s main office.
The beautiful gallery-style showing featured select student work of colorful paintings, ceramics, figurines, wire sculptures and mobiles. After a brief run at the upper school, it was relocated to the Blackford multipurpose room.
Among the items on display were animal-themed ceramics, playful illustrations of sneakers and high-heeled shoes, small canvas paintings held on stands, intricate hanging glass designs and an array of sculptures depicting familiar scenes, including that of a diner.
In May, the middle school hosted an end-of-the-year art exhibit at its Blackford campus, which was all-inclusive and ran through that month following an opening afternoon reception.
According to art instructor Elizabeth Saltos, at the end of each year the middle school’s visual arts program honors outstanding students working in various media with Golden Brush awards.
“The students who stand out in an art class are the ones who consistently explore each lesson. They take it farther. They use it as a window into their minds. What these students create goes beyond the lesson and reveals something about themselves,” said Saltos.
Beyond the Harker shows, Saltos was excited to note that a number of her students had artwork selected for display in the nearby Saratoga Rotary Exhibit at West Valley College, also held in May.
Upper School Students Create Gallery-Style Art
It was nearly March when Harker’s talented AP Studio Art students put their works on display at a special reception held in the upper school’s Nichols Hall atrium. Using a variety of media, grade 12 students created paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs covering a vast range of styles and themes.
Inspired by Tim O’Brien’s book, “The Things They Carried,” Emily Wang created a series of drawings depicting famous historical events, such as the raising of the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima, the Tiananmen Square protests and the Vietnam War.
Meanwhile, a series of sculptures by Sylvie Dobrota illustrated principles of tension and movement that came to mind while examining a knot. Eric Swenson’s photography portraits featured subjects as they imagined key moments in their lives, such as the passing of a loved one or a climactic scene in a movie.
The professionally-styled show was visited by both students and faculty, who strolled through the atrium admiring the various projects. AP Studio Art is a high-level class for talented artists, mostly seniors, interested in both 3-D art, taught by Jaap Bongers, and 2-D art, taught by Pilar Agüero-Esparza.
Following on the successful heels of the AP Studio Art exhibit was the upper school’s regular annual art exhibition held in May, also at the Nichols Hall atrium gallery. That show featured juried art selections, distribution of prizes to a dozen student artists and DJ music (sponsored by the Spirit Club) during a long lunch on the day of its opening.
The exhibition, which featured more than 150 pieces in various genres such as paintings, ceramics, advanced photography, 3-D models and sketches, was juried by Ace Lehner, an Oakland-based artist, arts and culture writer and art educator. In judging the works, Lehner looked for technical proficiency, critical engagement or inspiration, and originality.
Standing in front of her still-life depiction of strawberries, exhibiting artist and senior Molly Wolfe said that she finds taking art classes to be a great “de-stressor” and wonderful way to take a break from the pressure of studying.
“I love it! I advise other students to take art, even if only for one semester,” said Wolfe.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
For Harker students looking for a unique and engaging way to address global issues, the Future Problem Solving (FPS) program has been a mainstay for more than 15 years. “FPS is a great program,” said Olivia Zhu ’11, who began participating in FPS in grade 7. “I think that students get an amazing opportunity to learn a lot of fundamental skills that they perhaps wouldn’t get the chance to develop as much in traditional classes.”
Started in 1974 by Georgia-based psychologist Ellis Paul Torrance, FPS now boasts participation by more than 250,000 students in grades 4-12 worldwide each year. At Harker, the program is offered to students in grades 6-12. Middle school history teacher Cyrus Merrill took over the Harker program during the 1998-99 school year, and with the key involvement of upper school computer science teacher Susan King and middle school math teacher Margaret Huntley, it has since experienced immense growth and success. In addition to winning a number of categories at every competition they’ve attended since 2002, Harker FPS students have won the privilege to compete at the international finals for 10 years running.
“It’s very exciting for the kids because there are teams that are doing this in Singapore, China, Australia, New Zealand; so they meet all these [students from] different schools,” Merrill said. “We’ve become sort of the powerhouse school in the state, so routinely we send multiple teams to internationals, and last year we took first place in the senior team [category].”
Each year, Future Problem Solving Program International (FPSPI) chooses topics that form the basis of the problems that students will solve at state-level and international competitions. Topics have included everything from neurotechnology to alternative energy to celebrity culture.
Students perform their own research on these topics in preparation for receiving the scenarios that FPSPI will eventually distribute to the many participating schools. Using the topic as the major theme, these scenarios describe a troubling situation 30 years into the future for which students must devise solutions.
The process starts with students – either as teams or individuals – coming up with a number of challenges the scenario presents, such as negative environmental impact, economic recession or public health problems. Each of these challenges must integrate different categories or aspects of society affected by the challenges that are defined by FPSPI, such as government, technology, economics, religion and so on.
After identifying the challenges, students work on finding and summarizing an “Underlying Problem,” an especially important challenge posed by the future scenario. The students then formulate a number of possible solutions (16 for teams, eight for individuals) to the underlying problem and develop criteria by which to evaluate them.
Criteria can include cost-effectiveness, benefit to society, ease of implementation and other factors.
After selecting what they deem to be the best solution, students then come up with an action plan that would be used to roll it out. During competition this entire process takes place in a two-hour time period, which can seem a formidable task for many first-time FPS competitors. Luckily, students have the opportunity to go through a practice round at their respective schools, which FPSPI also uses as a means of getting feedback on the chosen topic.
“FPS focuses on developing good research skills, critically analyzing a situation, developing solutions and an action plan and then presenting that plan concisely and convincingly,” said Zhu. “Condensing those steps in a single process provides fundamental and important training that is useful for academic work in high school and college, extracurriculars and so much more. The possibilities and applications really are endless.”
Merrill feels one reason for Harker’s continued success in FPS competitions is the mentorship provided to middle school FPS students by members of the upper school FPS club, who have already been competing for a number of years by the time they become upper school students.
“It’s daunting to learn how to do all this the first time around, but their training of the younger kids works really well, and of course they’re also role models when the kids look up to them,” Merrill said.
For the most part, Merrill tries to limit his role in the process in order to encourage the students to become reliant on their own critical thinking and problem-solving skills. “My goal in teaching is to fire myself from the process,” he said, later adding, “To me, my goal is to motivate students to do things on their own, and I want them to develop leadership skills and concepts.”
Another skill that develops during involvement in FPS, and one that has earned Harker students many awards in state and international competitions, is presentation. This portion of the competition, which often has Harker students performing skits with musical numbers featuring adaptations of modern pop songs with altered lyrics, have also become a source of confidence for the students, as well as a nice break from an otherwise heavily analytical process. “It’s giving confidence and presentation skills which are completely different from the analytical writing,” Merrill said.
“In my first year participating in seventh grade, I was extremely shy about getting on stage and speaking in front of crowds,” said Shelby Rorabaugh, grade 12, who started with FPS in grade 7. “So when Mr. Merrill told us we would all have to sing and dance and make silly puns in ridiculous garbage bag costumes in front of a full auditorium, I was terrified.” Though she disliked the presentation aspect of the competition at first, it later became something she enjoyed. Two years after her first appearance, her team’s presentation won first place at the international competition. “I could hardly believe the progress I made from that shy seventh grader, fumbling around stage with a quiet voice,” she said. “Just two years later, I would be winning my first major award at internationals.”
FPS also contains a scenario-writing competition, in which students compose short stories based on one of the competition topics. Earlier this year, Rorabaugh was named the first place international winner in scenario writing, becoming the first Harker student to win this honor. She has qualified for internationals in scenario writing in every competition since she began competing in grade 8 and said that her creative writing skills have since dramatically improved. Her proudest achievement, however, has been helping the upper school FPS club become more established. “I couldn’t be more proud of my fellow senior club members,” she said. “We’ve really worked hard to improve the high school portion of FPS, since it is relatively student-driven in its leadership compared to the middle school division.”
Several years ago, Merrill decided to offer a parting gift to the graduating seniors of Harker’s FPS program. He settled on rubber ducks, “because when you buy rubber ducks they come in themed sets of four,” one for each team member. It has since become a fun and revered tradition of the program, and rubber ducks of many different sizes can be seen in various places around Merrill’s classroom.
Rorabaugh has called her decision to join FPS “the best decision of my life. I came because of friends, and I stayed for the quirky community of friends and faculty and the learning environment.”
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Lower, middle and upper school instrumentalists displayed their talents for an evening audience at the Spring Concert, held April 12 at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose. Several groups performed orchestral music from a wide selection of styles and time periods.
The Lower School String Ensemble kicked off the evening with a medley of American songs, and the Lower School Orchestra followed with Beethoven’s famous “Ode to Joy” and “Aragonaise” by Georges Bizet.
The Middle School Orchestra then introduced themselves to the show by teaming up with the Lower School Orchestra for a performance of a segment of Mozart’s Symphony No. 25. Harker Winds, the grade 6 wind ensemble, performed “You Are My Sunshine.”
After a brief intermission the Harker Orchestra took the stage, performing, among other pieces, “The Moldau” from Bedrich Smetana’s “Ma Vlast,” Max Bruch’s “Romanze for Viola and Orchestra,” featuring Nayeon Kim, grade 12, and the final piece of the night, “Huapango” by Jose Pablo Moncayo.