Grade 5 and grade 12 students hit the turf at Davis Field on Sept. 20 for the first Eagle Buddies event of the year. After pairing up, the students separated into three groups, each taking part in one of three fun activities set up for the day.
One group of buddies had a blast playing a game in which they had to keep several balloons in the air. Each balloon had a topic written on it, such as role model, favorite animal or favorite superhero. At the end of the game, each pair of buddies caught one of the balloons and sat down to discuss what was written on the balloon. Over at the bleachers, buddies put their heads together to create stylish and intricate logos on their name tags. At another spot, buddies ran up and down the field in a classic three-legged race. Groups were rotated through the three areas to make sure every student had the chance to have fun with all the activities.
After the students had spent time at each activity, they all enjoyed conversation over a hamburger lunch on Davis Field.
Cole Smitherman, grade 5, and his buddy, Pranav Sharma, grade 12, had just met the day of the event but had corresponded by mail beforehand. They learned about each others’ favorite books during the balloon activity (Smitherman’s is “Harry Potter,” while Sharma’s is Albert Camus’ “The Stranger”). “It’s really cool just to be able to connect with someone who’s much younger than we are, and how we were once,” Sharma said.
Grace Hajjar, grade 5, has known her buddy, senior Amy Gendotti, since the Eagle Buddies program started in 2010. “When we first met, we were sort of shy and all, because we didn’t know what we liked,” Hajjar said. “So we got to know each other, and it’s been good.”
Gendotti said the program has been beneficial to her because, “I got to go to a lot of events I normally wouldn’t because I don’t have any younger siblings or anything.”
This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
This year, Harker faculty once again took advantage of Harker’s summer technology grant program to improve their classroom teaching methods. Since the program’s inception more than 10 years ago, dozens of faculty members have used tech grants to formulate new ways to teach, create and track assignments, devise engaging lessons and more.
Upper school librarian Meredith Cranston and history teacher Julie Wheeler collaborated on a project to help students better assess political issues. “Our tech grant goal was to identify the best platform to allow students to explore the broad range of political discourse, respond to these media forms, assessing credibility, accuracy and perspective and practice creating their own forms of political media in conversation with classmates and instructors,” Cranston said.
Cranston and Wheeler created a class blog for analyzing political issues, “a space where course content, current events and student interests will drive a lively and ongoing inquiry into democracy,” Cranston said.
Finally, they set up a site on Libguides.com that aggregates news and media on political issues, so students can create news feeds. “Together, we built a project that I know none of us could have come up with on our own,” Cranston said. “It was a very rewarding experience, and I feel very lucky to have had it!”
To help give her students greater access to geometry resources, middle school math teacher Vandana Kadam used Athena, Harker’s repository for online learning resources, to host “multiple resources for students for practice; I also posted all the homework answers so students can access this information any time,” she said. Kadam decided on this project after finding success in using Athena for a similar purpose with her Algebra II and Trigonometry classes.
“Students in the geometry classes will be able to use the practice material to get ready for tests, work on the activities for better understanding of the topics and also be able to check their homework at their own pace and come to class ready to ask questions,” she said. “This will be a huge time-saver.”
While working on the project, Kadam discovered more possibilities than she had originally imagined. “An idea that came up during the project is to put up some student work on the Athena page for other students to see,” she said. “I feel that the Athena page is now well-organized and students will be able to make full use of the resources.”
At the tech grant show-and-tell on Aug. 21, upper school biology teacher Jeff Sutton demonstrated an iPad application called Doceri, which allowed him to display an activity from his iPad on a laptop, which could in turn be hooked up to a projector. This granted him the ability to move freely about the classroom while making presentations and marking on the virtual whiteboard that faced the students. He plans to use the applications to display PowerPoint slides and make notes on them at the back of the classroom, so that the students can focus on the lessons being taught.
Another application he found, called Assist, analyzes photos of multiple-choice answer keys and saves them as files that can be compared with photos of student quizzes. The application then assigns grades to the student quizzes based on how well they match the answer keys. Sutton said students might be able to grade their own quizzes with the application by using a mounted iPad to take photos of their quiz sheets, which would then be graded automatically.
This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
Craig Pasqua, the tennis director at the upper school campus, took his tennis skills off campus this summer – all the way to Oklahoma City, Okla., to compete in the inaugural Jim Thorpe Games. The games benefit the Jim Thorpe Association, which encourages and celebrates excellence in athletes representing Indian nations. “My regular partner, John Blackhawk, who is the CEO of the Winnebago Nation in Nebraska, couldn’t make it so I teamed up with another partner,” Pasqua said. The last-minute change didn’t rattle him. In fact, the duo proved to have a winning chemistry, and they took home a bronze medal in doubles. Pasqua said he had also planned on entering the men’s 35 singles, but the category, it turned out, wasn’t being offered. He instead entered men’s singles, where he was consolation champion.
The games are named after legendary athlete Jim Thorpe, a Native American who competed in college football, professional football, Major League Baseball and the Olympics. All proceeds from the games go to benefit the Jim Thorpe Bright Path Youth programs and Native American diabetes research.
Victor Adler, a mathematics teacher at the upper school, also found an exciting outlet for his talents and experiences this summer. While teaching a pre-calculus summer class, he was offered a diagnostic test to give his students that would help show where each student stood in math placement. Coincidentally, a friend of his who teaches at the University of California, San Diego, called and said he was working on an interesting project – the same diagnostic test Adler had been offered. There was an opening on the test development team, and Adler was happy to join in.
“The cool thing is that these guys have collected a lot of data,” Adler said. “There’s a very methodical, rigorous method to producing questions on this test that allows you to collect good data. You can take the test online and get the data back nearly instantly.” The test helps teachers analyze where students are weak and at what stages. “I have a feeling the test will be a bit too easy for Harker students,” he said. “It’s aimed more at the general public.”
In addition to being part of great data collection and test development, Adler was also able to work with teachers from around the state, including University of California and California State University professors. “It gives me a greater connection to what is being taught at a large swath of educational institutions,” Adler said.
Chrissy Chang, K-8 P.E. department chair, was invited by the San Jose State University department of kinesiology to speak at the department dinner for the university’s 150th graduation in late May. Chang is a 1996 graduate of the department and a former student-athlete on the women’s basketball team. She currently serves on the board of directors for the SJSU Alumni Association and Order of Sparta.
Chang said as a proud alumna, it was an honor to be chosen as the speaker for this event and added that the university has helped shaped her into the person that she is today.
“The celebratory evening was great,” said Chang. “To be in the presence of faculty and staff who prepared me as well as the graduates to be leaders, difference-makers and problem- solvers within the kinesiology field was awesome. It was an opportunity to thank those who gave me the tools and foundation to be successful in my career and share my personal story with the graduates. Be a proud Spartan! Go Spartans! Hail Spartans!”
Chang teaches grade 8 P.E. and middle school health, is a member of the coaching staff and has worked in the past as a director of the summer program.
This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
Many of Harker’s performing arts faculty enhanced their professional resumes this summer, returning to Harker with new stories and new skills.
Jenny Sandusky, who leads lower and upper school vocal ensembles, went on tour to Los Angeles with Ragazzi, a Grammy award-winning boys chorus based on the peninsula. Sandusky is the group’s associate artistic director.
Karl Kuehn, upper school dance teacher, also connected with Ragazzi. “I worked [with them] on choreography for their upcoming season,” he notes. Kuehn also taught a summer dance intensive at Atlas School of Dance in San Jose and attended the Dance Teacher’s Summit in New York City, where participants took part in movement sessions, seminars and workshops led by expert teachers.
Monica Colletti, middle school performing arts teacher, visited the famed Second City organization in Chicago. “I worked on my improvisation skills in a week-long intensive course in improv and sketch writing,” she said. Second City is a top-notch theater and improvisation group that has produced countless Saturday Night Live alumni.
Danny Dunn, lower school technical director, wrote and directed two circus shows in the month of July and found outlets for a wide variety of skills across various media including finishing another children’s book.
Every summer, Jeff Draper, upper school performing arts teacher and dean of the class of 2013, is the education director at Young Rep, a theater workshop in Walnut Creek now in its 39th year. He directed and taught classes as varied as British scene study performance, Shakespeare in performance, a make-up master class and an advanced voice and speech class. He also taught film acting: “A lot of film equipment that I learned how to use and edit with, I will be using at Harker this fall.”
Upper school music teacher Susan Nace participated in Harker’s Tamagawa teacher exchange program. Read the full story here.
Finally, Laura Lang-Ree, K-12 performing arts department chair, worked on both her directing skills and her theater skills at the Broadway Teachers Workshop in New York City, a course that brings in current Broadway professionals to work with participants. She took courses on script analysis, vocal interpretation and dance. Lang-Ree is also the vocalist for the Los Gatos/Saratoga Big Band, and performed with them at Santana Row and the San Jose Jazz Festival.
This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
The Harker School is proud of its faculty, who set an example for the Harker community by going “all in” last year with a record-breaking 100 percent participation in the school’s annual giving campaign drive.
“This is just one of many ways our faculty show their dedication to our students’ education,” said Melinda Gonzales, managing director of advancement.
Now, with the fall launch of this year’s “All In!” annual campaign, parents are poised to join faculty in supporting student programs by making a gift themselves. The official campaign phoneathon is the week of Sept. 30, but parents may make their gift any time by going online to www. harker.org/onlinegiving or by using the envelope included in this publication.
If parents have any questions about making their gift, they are urged to contact Gonzales at melindag@harker.org. They are also invited to visit Harker’s new “Recognition & Thanks” page on the parent portal at www.harker.org/rt.
“Each month we recognize our most recent donors and volunteers – those people who help to create our strong and vibrant community,” noted Gonzales.
This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
Harker parents became better acquainted with the school’s vibrant community by bonding with fellow parents and exploring the many volunteer opportunities available during a series of recent back-to-school events which kicked off the new year.
On hand at all events were current parent volunteers and advancement office personnel to welcome newcomers and answer any and all questions about volunteering.
At the lower school, immediately following drop-off on Aug. 31, was a special breakfast for parents, with volunteer information and sign-up sheets on display.
Additionally, there were other welcome events affording new and returning parents the opportunity to mingle, including an elementary school-age barbecue, kindergarten barbecue and lower school parents-only coffee and social time.
Meanwhile, on Aug. 27, middle school parents enjoyed a breakfast at the Blackford multipurpose room immediately following the parent orientation, where volunteer information and sign-ups were available. And on Sept. 6, upper school parents had the opportunity to attend a volunteer informational breakfast in the Nichols Hall atrium.
“These happenings are a fun and important way for new parents to become a part of the Harker community by getting involved and learning from returning parents,” said Teré Aceves, who directs K-5 volunteer programs.
This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
The weather was as warm as the atmosphere as nearly 200 guests turned out for a summer evening reception for new parents held at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club in San Jose this past June.
The annual event welcoming newcomers to Harker was graciously hosted by board member Sally Anderson, with opening remarks by Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement.
After time for mixing and mingling, Rosenthal kicked off the evening’s program by showing clips from televised news stories about Harker and its students. Many of the new parents had not seen the clips and were clearly impressed at the school’s many newsworthy accomplishments.
Following that, Casey Near ’06 spoke about her years and experiences at Harker, noting the impact her peers had on her and how well- prepared she felt for college and beyond.
Attendees were visibly moved by the event. They also enjoyed appetizers, drinks and dessert while connecting with one another as they prepared to become a part of the Harker community.
This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
Greg Martin, longtime parent at The Harker School (Araby ’11; Delaney, grade 10; Conor, grade 8) and a devoted volunteer at the annual picnic and fashion show, as well as other events, passed away Sept. 5 after a brave battle with cancer. A memorial service Sept. 9 was followed by a reception at the Martin family’s favorite restaurant, Capers.
“Everyone who worked with Greg will remember his sense of humor, zest for life and loving, caring manner,” said Chris Nikoloff, head of school.
Kelly Espinosa, picnic coordinator, worked with Martin for many years on the picnic committee. “Greg was in charge of the setup in the MPR,” said Espinosa. “He took great pride in acquiring beer for the bar that matched our picnic theme each year and puzzling out ways for us to have the most popular football games available to picnic goers. As one of two men on our female-filled committee he took our teasing in stride, kept us laughing, and was a dedicated, creative contributor to our team who will be sorely missed.”
Martin was both a logistics guru and an awesome treasurer for the fashion show, said Sue Prutton, that event’s former organizer. “He made life easy for those who depended on him; he was always committed to excellence and had abundant common sense. More than that he was just fun to be around, and that’s an invaluable commodity.” He will be missed.
This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
Harker’s former director of global education, Bill Bost, passed away in June and his friends at Harker are joining with Bost’s dear friend, Mike Kerbyson, in holding a memorial to celebrate his life.
The memorial will be Sat., Nov. 17 at 2 p.m. in the Bucknall gym, followed by an informal gathering at Harry’s Hofbrau near the Saratoga campus, 390 Saratoga Ave. Bost’s children, Tanner and Klara, and their mother, Katrina Church, will be flying in from North Carolina.
Bost started at Harker in 1993 as a grade 4 teacher and in 2001 became director of special projects in the advancement department. A year later he took on the position of grant writer/director of international programs, which later became the global education program; Bost became director of that program in 2004. He also worked for many years as a summer program administrator. Kristin Giammona, elementary division head and long-time friend of Bost’s, said she hopes many will attend the memorial, “so Tanner and Klara can grasp how important and special Bill was to Harker and to his Harker friends.” If you have any photos you would like to include in the memorial’s slide show, please email them to Giammona at kristing@harker.org.
Author and neighborhood organizer Mike Lanza spoke at the first Harker Speaker Series event of the year on Sept. 14 to share his insights into how neighborhoods can be great places for children to grow up and lead fun, fulfilling lives.
Beginning with some of the problems currently facing children, Lanza made the point that many kids spend too much time in front of screens, be they television, sets, laptops or tablets. On average, he noted, kids spend about eight hours each day consuming visual media.
Their lives are also highly scheduled, with sporting events, lessons and other activities. “They have no time on their own in the world to do things,” Lanza said.
Lack of unstructured play time leads to several problems, he said, among them obesity, depression and lack of creativity. He added, however, that taking away screen time and sending kids off into their neighborhoods won’t work on its own, because many neighborhoods are “boring.”
To remedy this problem in his Menlo Park neighborhood, Lanza got active and began making changes to his home to make it into a place where neighborhood children could play whenever they wanted. Among the modifications made to his home were a driveway that could be drawn on (it now contains a mural representing different parts of the neighborhood), a picnic table in the front yard, a whiteboard fixed to a fence and a play house where kids have been encouraged to write on the walls.
“We’re defacing everything we can,” Lanza said. “We want this place to look like kids live here. We want them to feel like they own this place.”
He and his family also visited homes throughout the neighborhood and encouraged other families to use the various amenities he had installed, even when no one was home. As a result, children regularly engage with one another in outdoor activities and neighborhood families have come to know one another much better.
Lanza also touched on other examples of American neighborhoods that were transformed to provide their children with meaningful play lives, such as Lyman Place, located in the South Bronx of New York City, normally an area associated with drug problems and high crime rates. In the 1970s, Lyman Place resident Hetty Fox led an effort to designate the area as a traffic-free spot from the morning until the late afternoon during the summer months. For more than 35 years, Fox has helped maintain the neighborhood as a place where kids of all ages can play safely in the street, and hires youth workers as assistants.
Another case study was a spot in Portland, Ore., where an architect had the street in his neighborhood painted with intricate designs and placed installations on every corner, including a clubhouse with toys for kids, a book exchange station and a solar-powered tea stand that is refilled by residents of the neighborhood.
Lanza finished the talk by providing advice to the audience about what they could do to change the atmosphere of their neighborhoods to accommodate kids at play. When moving, he said, parents should think about what’s in their children’s interests besides schools and housing amenities. “Are we really moving for our kids? Do they want this high-pressure school district you’re moving them to? Do they want the extra bedroom?” he asked. “Kids would love to double up in bedrooms if they have a neighborhood that’s thriving, that’s really happening.”
He also urged parents to make a neighborhood hangout, a place where kids could be certain something was happening a good portion of the time. “Kids are not going to go outside if there’ s nothing going on,” he said. “The best way to assure that something’s going on is if there’s a place where people can go where there’s something happening.”
Another important task, he said, is to “make the place you live into a close, communal village, where you know people, where they know you, where they know your kids, where you know their kids. If you can make that into a nice, comfortable place then you’ll comfortable letting your kids go. And other kids will show up at your door because they’re comfortable with you.”