Harker’s annual fashion show is nearly here and one of San Francisco’s top designers is bringing his latest fashions fresh from New York to the runway.
Of the 11 fashion designers being featured at this year’s event – a list that includes Tommy Bahama, Oakley and Eli Thomas – “the highlight might be the young San Francisco designer, Ken Chen, who’ll be providing some very edgy clothes for our senior girls to model,” said Sue Prutton, director of upper school volunteer activities and fashion show liaison. “Just two weeks before our event he will be showing at Fashion Week in New York and will be bringing his designs back for our students to wear on our runway!”
“It certainly is an exciting time for us,” Chen said. “We have had an amazing year presenting our first collection and we hope this new collection will bring about even more possibilities for us and our clients. New York Fashion Week has been a dream of ours from the start so we are pressing ourselves to make it amazing. Luckily, all the prep we’re doing for New York will also make the Harker fashion show an extravagant display as well!”
Chen believes editing a collection is one of the most crucial elements of the show, and at Harker, is looking forward to showing the highlights of the collection. Chen wants the audience to “see the range of different shapes and contours we design. We also want to convey how wearable our line is while retaining boldness and luxury.”
The collection is a combination of Chen’s interest in modern technology and architecture, and how they relate to the natural world. “This collection is an exploration of geometric, minimalist design with touches of luxury and extravagance. We continue to use cashmere/wool blends and leather for structured pieces, but now we’ve added lighter fabrics as well for fluidity and draping. These graceful moments expand our range and complement our signature structural motif,” he said.
Harker’s fashion show also allows Chen a chance to pursue another one of his passions: reaching out to the local fashion community. “We love the Bay Area,” he said. “We were very flattered and honored to be invited to such an exclusive event! We jumped on board knowing we’d have a whole new collection to show.”
The Harker School is proud of our students’ accomplishments not just in the classroom and on campus, but also off of campus, where they pursue their passions.
Avinash Nayak, grade 10, recently participated in the JUIC International Junior and Cadet Championships in table tennis, where he finished as the runner up. Players from several countries participated in the event, held in Milpitas at the India Community Center’s Table Tennis club. In the final, Nayak was down two games but came back to win the third. The fourth game was well fought, but ultimately went to his opponent, Adolfo Torres from Mexico. Stellan Bengtsson, the former World Singles Champion from Sweden, was there to award trophies to the winners.
Kudos also go out to Jerrica Liao, grade 6, who continues her consistent winning pattern in fencing. Liao traveled to Arizona in early December to compete in the Super Youth Ciruit. She placed third for Youth 12 in women’s foil, and as of mid-November, was ranked 12th in the United States, it is expected that after her high placement in Arizona, her current ranking may be higher
Finally, kudos go out to Shannon Richardson, grade 8, who was selected to participate in the Girls Future Selects High Performance Beach volleyball camp in Chula Vista in July, which will take place at the Olympic training site. The term “future Select campers” refers to players who were born from 97-99. Players must attend a high performance beach tryout, and may then attend the camp by invitation only.
Saratoga News – Nov. 15, 2011: In a story on Siemens contest finalists, students Lucy Cheng, grade 12, and Paulomi Bhattacharya, grade 11, receive mention for being named regional finalists in October.
San Jose Mercury News – Nov. 11, 2011: Student Sahil Kapur, grade 6, is featured in a story about the unique date of the year, referred to as “11/11/11.” Amazingly, the date was Kapur’s 11th birthday, which he celebrated by playing 11 holes of golf, inviting 11 friends to his birthday party and cutting the birthday cake at 11:11 p.m.
San Jose Mercury News – Nov. 1, 2011: The Harker School is recognized for earning second place in the 2011 Fall Startup Event math contest, in which Patrick Yang, grade 12, placed first in the grade 12 division.
Silicon Valley Community Newspapers – Oct. 28, 2011: Alex Najibi, grade 12, is profiled in a story about a website he created, www.goOutAndHelp.org, that assists students in finding places where they can perform community service.
San Jose Mercury News – Sept. 14, 2011: Receiver Daanish Jamal, grade 12, is mentioned in Varsity Extra’s “Highlight Reel” for his three-touchdown performance against Emery. Colby Rapson ’10 is also commended in “Movin’ On Up” for role in helping the U.C. Berkeley men’s rowing team, for which she is coxswain, complete an undefeated season.
In December, The Harker School learned that executive chef Steve Martin and his team were being recognized by Ledyard Foods, Inc. for the outstanding food service program they run here at the school.
Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, made the announcement to the school via email, noting that at a recognition dinner in Martin’s honor, Steve Rebottaro, Ledyard Foods, Inc.’s president, said Harker was very lucky to have one of the best food service directors and teams that he and his company have ever been associated with. In addition to the award, Martin was presented with a check to Harker in the amount of $1,600.
According to Rosenthal, the money is to be used to sponsor a student program. Rosenthal ended the email with a sentiment the entire Harker community echoes: “Congratulations, Chef Steve and team for all you do for our students and staff.”
This article originally appeared in the winter 2011 Harker Quarterly.
The atmosphere at Harker’s Homecoming was jubilant in defiance of intermittent rain on Nov. 11, as both the JV and varsity Eagles met Cupertino High School at Davis Field. Both contests were thrillers, each decided by a single-score deficit, with JV losing 18-15 and varsity winning 35-28.
Aside from the games, the many attendees had plenty to keep them occupied. Prior to the varsity game, the Harker Jazz Band warmed up the crowd from the stands and the lower school’s junior cheer squad performed, to the delight of the audience. The Eaglets’ fly-by, a Harker Homecoming tradition, saw lower school students donning their trademark eagle costumes to perform a spirited and well-received dance routine. In a continuation of the spirit rally earlier in the day, students in grades 9 and 10 met to compete for third place in the tug of war contest, with the sophomores declared the winner.
Another special pre-game event was the singing of Harker’s school song as well as “The Star-Spangled Banner” by students representing vocal groups from all three Harker campuses.
In the stands and in areas around Davis Field, the atmosphere remained festive as people from virtually every corner of the Harker community came together. Lower and middle school students met and made new friends with upper school students. Returning alumni reunited and caught up with their former teachers and reminisced about their days as Harker students. “This brings back a lot of memories of last year,” said Chris McCallaCreary ’11. “I just hope these guys cherish it while they still have it.”
The upper school parking lot was active for the duration of the event, with student organizations setting up tables to sell food and souvenirs. John and Christine Davis, parents of Cole Davis ’11, brought their RV to the special alumni section, which was busy with alumni and parents chatting and enjoying the many food options available. The Eagle Buddies also had their own section, where students in that program, as well as their parents, met and socialized. “It’s just a great way for the K-12 community to get together and support the school,” said Chris Nikoloff, head of school.
Following an exciting first half which left the varsity teams of Harker and Cupertino tied at 14 points, the crowd was treated to performances by the upper school cheerleaders and varsity dancers and also watched the tug of war contest between grades 11 and 12, who vied for first place. The seniors won the contest, continuing grade 12’s dominance in tug of war.
Capping off the halftime festivities was the appearance of the Homecoming court, each couple riding in golf carts driven by their class advisors. Nikoloff went out on to the field to thank the crowd for the great attendance and enthusiasm, before bestowing the title of Homecoming queen on Michelle Lo, grade 12, and naming Revanth Kosaraju, grade 12, this year’s Homecoming king.
The Eagles football players, thoroughly pumped to play two more quarters, burst through a large paper sign to signify the start of the second half. For the rest of the evening, onlookers watched as the Eagles soared to a hard-fought and well-deserved win.
On the following Monday, Greg Lawson, assistant head of school for student affairs, extended his thanks to all who helped make Homecoming “a rousing success. From the teams on the field, to the performers, to those working in the background on logistics; from food service, to the advancement staff, to the amazing facilities team; from the adults who volunteered or were assigned to work, to the athletic department; and finally, to those who simply attended and contributed to the wonderful spirit that could not be dampened by the rain – you have my thanks and appreciation for your contributions.”
Check out our Homecoming video posted on YouTube — search on “Harker Homecoming 2011”!
This article originally appeared in the winter 2011 Harker Quarterly.
Harker, like most schools, hosts visitors at athletic events, student-run events like Junior States of America, performances of all types and debate and math invitationals. But as the school has matured, bringing people to the campus has taken on a new dimension.
A dozen years after the upper school came into being, Harker now hosts a myriad of events each year in addition to its student events, which bring to its Silicon Valley campuses visitors not only drawn from Harker families, but local and global intellectuals and art-seekers. The growth in visitors has been bolstered by a thriving academic environment across three campuses and the addition of the auditorium in Nichols Hall, which provides an acoustically appropriate space for small gatherings.
As the upper school found its groove, students began going off campus, representing Harker around the country, and, eventually, the globe. Administrators knew the value of bringing the world to Harker, too, and the doors were open to a variety of visitors from outside the Harker community of students, alumni, parents and relatives.
The Harker Invitational Debate Tournament, the first Harker-sponsored event to draw upper school students from other schools, started in 1999 and continues to this day. By its fifth year, the event drew teams from 20 schools from California, Oregon and Nevada. Another early event is the middle school’s Harker Math Invitational, which started in 2001.
The upper school performing arts events have always drawn crowds; in the fall of 2001, as the student body grew in size and maturity, the upper school play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” drew an estimated 1,000 audience members, and the following May more than 1,300 attended “Oklahoma!” Though audiences were no doubt mostly Harker community members, the shows have always been open to the public, and there were plenty of seats for friends, neighbors, and Shakespeare and musical aficionados.
Through the early 2000s, plays, concerts and dance productions involved more students, bringing more visitors to the campuses. Athletic events also grew in size and number as the upper school athletic program began to flower, and the debate tourney, now renamed the Howard and Diana Nichols Invitational Debate Tournament, and math invitational continued to draw middle school participants.
In 2004, events took on a new dimension and Harker began to bring people to campus to strengthen the school’s bonds with the greater community, inform parents and expose students to ever more sophisticated events. To that end, Harker joined Common Ground, a coalition of Bay Area schools working together to provide parent education to their communities.
As a member school, Harker began hosting speakers and, for the first time, parents from other schools began coming to campus regularly, other than for athletic events. In 2006, a Common Ground speaker at Harker drew 231 parents; 153 were from other schools, a full two-thirds of the audience.
In 2005, a wider variety of visitors started coming to Harker. The Junior State of America (JSA) club hosted a “Pizza and Politics” event to watch a presidential debate and more than 80 students and faculty, including JSA students from Independence High, San Jose High Academy and Monte Vista, attended and participated in the debate.
Capping off 2005, audiences were treated to Harker’s new performing arts venue in the middle school’s “cafetorium,” renamed the Blackford Theater by the performing arts department. The refurbished space is the primary performance venue for the school, with tons of parking, easy access through gates to the venue and a raised sound and light booth. Each year thousands attend events at the space, and the temporary digs have served a valuable function in keeping the performing arts department housed while funds are raised for the much-needed new performing arts center on the Saratoga campus.
In April 2006, a bright star, the Harker Research Symposium, appeared in the constellation of visitor-friendly events. Organized by Anita Chetty, science department chair, and the WiSTEM student organization (Women in Science Technology, Electronics and Mathematics), the symposium features talks by Siemens/Intel competitors and finalists; video conferences with Harker alumni at research labs across the United States; and workshops on technical writing, research internships and research competitions. The event has grown year by year and Chetty has been extremely successful in drawing progressively more high- profile speakers, who in turn draw avid adult listeners to the event.
The 2011 symposium, themed “A Call to Innovation,” drew 500 visitors, a 50 percent increase over 2010, and there were standing- room only audiences for world class keynote speakers Scott McNealy, co-founder and former CEO and chairman of the board of Sun Microsystems (and a Harker parent), and Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering at Facebook.
While science marched on, performing arts added new shows open to the public. The first all-jazz concert was held early in 2007 and in 2010 groups from all three campuses were participating. Upper school plays drew packed houses for their single-weekend performance runs and two musicals were selected to travel to the prestigious Festival Fringe in Scotland in the summers of 2007 and 2011.
In May 2007, ground was broken for a new science and technology building, Nichols Hall, including an auditorium with 192 stepped seats, a perfect venue for medium-sized audiences for lectures, small concerts and meetings.
At the other end of the campus, at the start of the 2007-08 school year, Davis Field opened. This emerald of a football field has it all, from a top notch artificial surface to ensure year-round games, to lights and seating for more than 500 spectators. Over this past summer seating was augmented, bringing the total capacity to 780. Besides spectators, last year Davis Field shook to the tramp of the 250-person UCLA Bruin Marching Band, which has four former members on faculty at Harker. The storied band borrowed Davis Field for practice before a game with University of California, Berkeley, to the delight of students and faculty.
A month after Davis Field opened, the adjacent, spacious Singh Aquatic Center was christened, providing a great competitive venue with bleachers for swimming and water polo competitions. To round out the athletic facilities, a new gym is planned on the same schedule as the performing arts center.
In March of 2008, Harker added a new dimension to its activities with the Harker Speaker Series (HSS), intended to bring leaders and visionaries from a wide variety of fields to share their expertise or unique experiences with both Harker and the greater community. Using the Nichols Hall auditorium, the gymnasium, or both, Harker has brought in nearly a dozen speakers of national acclaim.
“The addition of Nichols Hall – and the auditorium – provided the school with the perfect space to share even more with the K-12 community and the general public,” said Pam Dickinson, director of the Office of Communication. “We’ve always believed in fostering an inspiring and motivating community, and the expanded space gave us new opportunities to do that.”
From the start, HSS benefited from a serendipitous connection. “John Jerney helped us launch the HSS, and it was his brainchild,” said Dickinson. Jerney, a writer and Harker parent (Cristina, grade 11; John Nicolas, grade 8), brought the first speaker, Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Mountain View, to Harker for the series, and followed up with many other connections.
HSS speakers in 2011 include decorated “Endeavour” astronaut Dr. Gregory Chamitoff, who spoke on achieving his lifelong dream of going into space, and Dr. Jill Tarter, director of SETI’s Center for SETI Research in Mountain View.
In January 2011, ragtime pianist Bob Milne, hired by the Library of Congress to create reference recordings of famous ragtime works, came to speak and perform as part of the HSS. His visit was the seed for the Harker Concert Series (HCS), which officially started two months later with a concert by the MarcOlivia Duo, two well-traveled, Fulbright-winning violinists who played stirring European folk songs. On December 2 of this year, Opera San Jose performed, and the spring semester 2012 will see visits from the Gerald Clayton Trio, pianist Adam Golka and Afiara String Quartet, all open to the public.
Two other important programs bring educators from around the Bay Area and beyond to Harker. Each year in late winter, Harker hosts the Silicon Valley Computer-Using Educators conference on the upper school campus. More than 200 teachers and administrators from all over Silicon Valley attended the conference in February 2010. In addition, each summer for the last five years, Harker’s technology department hosts teachers from around the Bay Area at the Harker Teacher Institute to hear speakers and attend workshops on classroom technology and other topics.
Harker librarians brought a stack of colleagues to Harker when they hosted a meeting of the Bay Area Independent School Librarians (BAISL) in 2010 on the Blackford campus. About 80 librarians, from Marin to Monterey, met in, of course, the library and in the multipurpose room.
Another unique event brought dozens of young Broadway hopefuls to Harker when the Broadway revival of “Annie” held its West Coast auditions at Blackford. For the full “Annie” story see page 36.
This year brought another first – a TEDx conference at Harker. This was the first student-organized and promoted conference and it was a resounding success, with speakers of world class caliber. For the full TEDx story, see page 6.
The launching of the Harker Speaker Series and the Harker Concert Series, combined with a focused performing arts program, events like the Harker Debate Invitational, the Harker Research Symposium and the Harker Math Invitational, have transformed Harker into a nexus for important ideas, events and gatherings, drawing more visitors and community members in 2010-11 than ever before. The benefit is that through these events, Harker families meet people who write, sing, play, travel in space, go to war zones, help the poor, develop new industries and entertain – truly illustrating Harker’s mission to raise global citizens and engage our local community.
Full reports on each of our events can be found at Harker News Online. Visit the News & Events tab at www.harker.org for upcoming Harker Speaker Series and Harker Concert Series events.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2011 Harker Quarterly.
1893
Manzanita Hall, founded by Frank Cramer at the urging of Stanford University’s first president, David Starr Jordan, is established in a private home at Waverly Street and University Avenue in Palo Alto.
1902
In September 1902, Catherine Harker, also encouraged by David Starr Jordon, opens The Thoburn School, a boarding school for young ladies. The preparatory school for girls is located at Kingsley and Bryant streets in Palo Alto. Initially a high school, The Thoburn School enrolls 80 students in its first year and graduates seven.
In the second year, the school’s name was changed to the Harker-Hughes School when Elizabeth Hughes came in as principal. Hughes stayed only one year.
1904
The Harker-Hughes School comes to be known simply as Miss Harker’s School in honor of Catherine Harker, whose scholarly achievements begin a tradition of academic excellence. Initially a high school, a lower school for girls age 5-14 is added between 1903 and 1921. The high school program is eliminated in the 1950s.
1907
Miss Harker’s School relocates to a 6.25-acre pasture at Harriet and Greenwood avenues in Palo Alto. The same year, Catherine’s sister, Sara Harker, joins the school as a silent business partner. Sara later becomes active in the school’s management.
1919
Colonel Richard P. Kelly, Dr. Greenville C. Emery, Katherine Monroe and Nellie P. Hansen purchase Manzanita Hall and launch the Palo Alto Military Academy (PAMA). At PAMA, in the second academic year, the high school is eliminated and grades 1-8 are taught. High school won’t return to either school until 1998.
Nellie Hanson spends 32 years operating the school’s summer camp, Camp El Dorado, at Alpine Lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
1938
Catherine Harker dies suddenly, leaving the school’s management to her sister, Sara Harker.
1950
Major Donald L. Nichols, a 1926 graduate of Palo Alto Military Academy, purchases the school and takes over as superintendent when Col. Richard Kelly retires after 30 years of leading the school. Nichols brings along Lawrence Torcellini from San Rafael Military Academy as commandant of cadets.
1955
Alice Williams, a teacher at the school, is appointed principal of the Harker Day School, as it is reorganized to be a coeducational day school. Williams is influential in setting the philosophy and direction of the school in keeping with Sara Harker’s vision. Williams continues as principal when PAMA and Harker Day School merge and move to the new campus in San Jose.
1959
Major Donald L. Nichols purchases Harker Day School, located across the street from PAMA. He is simultaneously superintendent at PAMA and president of Harker Day School.
1965
Howard Nichols, son of Major Donald L. Nichols and a 1956 graduate of PAMA, joins PAMA’s staff as assistant commandant, P.E. teacher, athletic director and junior high school coach.
1972
PAMA and Harker Day School merge and become Harker Academy. The new school moves to the Mother Butler High School property in San Jose, now the upper school Saratoga campus. The new property is purchased with a significant personal investment from the Nichols family, and their commitment ensures the future of Harker Academy.
1976
The dedication of the Donald L. Nichols Sports Complex, with swimming, pool, tennis courts and athletic field, is held in May.
1979
Harker Grade 8 students take the first trip to Yosemite Institute.
Principal Alice Williams retires after 29 years of service.
The optional military program is phased out and extracurricular offerings are greatly expanded. Grade 9 is dropped and Harker Academy becomes a K-8 school.
1993
Nearly 100 years after Frank Cramer opened Manzanita Hall, Harker Academy is renamed The Harker School.
Headmaster Howard Nichols is named president of The Harker School and principal Diana Nichols is appointed as head of school.
Dobbins Hall opens in September on the Saratoga campus. The building includes 12 classrooms and two science labs.
1998
The Bucknall campus is purchased in January and opens in September with kindergarten through grade 3. The new Harker upper school opens on the Saratoga campus and admits the first grade 9 students. Adding one class per year, subsequent years brought grades 10, 11 and 12 to the upper school.
2000
Shah Hall opens in September for grades 7-8. The building includes nine classroom and three science labs
2002
The boarding program closes at the end of the academic year. The Harker Academy dorms were home to our boarding students for 30 years. With the opening of the upper school, the building was partially remodeled and named Manzanita Hall, where students now gather to dine.
Inaugural upper school graduation.
2005
Howard and Diana Nichols retire at the end of the academic year in June and Christopher Nikoloff, the associate head, is appointed as head of school.
2007
Davis Field, the first of two major athletic facilities to be completed, opens at the Saratoga campus in September.
2008
Saratoga’s new swimming complex, the Singh Aquatic Center, opens in January.
Nichols Hall, Harker’s LEED certified, 52,000-square-foot science and technology building, opens on the Saratoga campus in August.
Former Harker president Howard Nichols dies in December, aged 68.
2010
The new upper school library opens in August. The 3,803-square- foot facility features an eBeam-equipped classroom, expanded study areas and greater wireless connectivity.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2011 Harker Quarterly.
The Harker School has a long history of promoting the morals and character of its students, encouraging discovery of unique talents and passions and giving students opportunities to figure out who they are, and what they love. Recently, Harker added another dimension to its commitment to the whole student when the school was accepted as a Challenge Success partner.
Sponsored by Stanford University’s School of Education, Challenge Success “challenges the conventional, high pressure and narrow path to success and offers practical alternatives to pursue a broader definition of success,” said Butch Keller, upper school head.
“Partnering with Challenge Success is a good match for Harker. Their mission is to improve student well-being and engagement with learn ing, so the work we are doing at Challenge Success is a reflection of our philosophy, in many ways,” added Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for student affairs.
As a first step, Harker sent a team of administrators, faculty, parents and students to a weekend conference in early October. They attended workshops and met with Harker’s Challenge Success coach, Erika Fur.
“Erika is really a facilitator and helped us identify and clearly articulate our own goal,” said Gargano. “In general, our goal is to promote educational excellence and intellectual curiosity while honoring who our students are and their needs at every stage of development. We will meet with Erika in January so we can flesh out the goal and discuss potential action items. Later, we will discuss any steps we need to take to ensure we meet our goal.”
The Challenge Success team will attend the spring conference at Stanford to assess progress at that point and plan for the future to achieve Harker’s goals to best help students help themselves. If you would like more information, you can visit www. challengesuccess.org. You can also read more about the Harker team in Harker News Online; search on “Challenge Success.”
Team members are Gargano; Cindy Ellis, middle school head; Melinda Gonzales, academic counselor; Rebecca Williams, middle school English teacher; Mala Raghavan, upper school chemistry teacher; Helena Jerney, parent (Cristina, grade 11 and John Nicolas, grade 8); Jenny Chen, grade 11 student; and Darian Edvalson, grade 10 student.
“I read dozens of scripts each year to find one that is a good fit for the middle school,” said Monica Colletti, a middle school performing arts teacher at The Harker School. She directs the fall play, and finding the perfect fit is a long process. “When researching this year’s show, I had heard that David Mamet, a Pulitzer prize-winning playwright, had written a play for younger audiences.”
The show ended up being this year’s hilarious, lively play. “The Revenge of the Space Pandas,” is a sci-fi spoof that centers around two kids, Binky Rudich (Akhil Arun, grade 6) and Vivian Mooster (Amrita Singh, grade 7), along with Binky’s pet sheep, Bob (Maxwell Woehrmann, grade 6). In the play, Binky invents a two-speed clock, which slows time and allows them to spin off Earth and onto the planet Goolagong, which is ruled by Georgina Topax (Chandler Nelson, grade 8) and guarded by giant space pandas.
Casting started in early September, and Colletti remembers exactly what drew her to pick the main characters. Arun had a naturally curious and innocent quality that she wanted for the character Binky. Singh, she remembers, had an attractive “high energy and youthful spirit in the auditions.” Woehrmann, who plays a very civilized, nearly human sheep, was picked nearly right away. “As soon as I saw him, I thought he would make a great Bob.”
The cast list was posted about a week later, and they jumped right into rehearsals, which presented fun challenges not just for the cast, but for the crew as well. On the planet Goolagong, people are executed by having a giant pumpkin dropped onto them. Danny Dunn, the technical director at the lower school, came in to assist the tech crew in creating a three-foot tall, four-foot wide, extremely light pumpkin.
Colletti said one thing in particular also helped everyone find his or her voice. “The kids really seemed to come into their characters as soon as we had the costumes,” she said.
With all the pieces in place, the cast put on a truly fun, high energy, out-of-this-world show that took them for rescuing a kidnapped sheep to landing in space prison. They not only got to perform it for family and friends, but also got to go to lower school, and perform it for the students there.
Colletti said she ended up having a lot of favorites with this show, but nothing could compare to the feeling of watching the closing performance. “Up to that point,” she said, “I [was] still taking notes and making suggestions to the actors. But during that last performance I ha[d] the opportunity to watch a really fun play starring the kids I’ve had the chance to get to know really well. I love[d] that.”
With the holiday season gearing up, Santana Row, a popular San Jose shopping center, had their annual tree lighting ceremony, and The Harker School was once again invited to perform for the occasion. Harker has performed at this event for the last several years, and this year they were joined by choirs from Willow Glen High School and dance teams from Lincoln High School as part of the pre-show entertainment. The schools were followed by performances by two current pop singers and the actual lighting of the tree, which was moved this year from the plaza in front of Maggiano’s to the center of the Row next to the chess board.
Harker students from the lower school through the upper school got on stage at 5:30 p.m., performing seven numbers for the crowd that gathered. Downbeat, the upper school show choir directed by Laura Lang-Ree and Catherine Snider, kicked things off with a performance of “The Joint is Jumpin’.” They also performed “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” in the middle of the show, and closed things out with a rendition of “I’ve Got the Music in Me.” High Voltage, the middle school boys dance ensemble directed by Karl Kuehn, took the second number in the show, performing to “Smooth Criminal.” Dance Fusion, a dance ensemble with students from grades 4-6 directed by Gail Palmer, followed, and chose “Working Day and Night for Christmas” as their number. The upper school JV Dance Troupe, directed by Amalia de la Rosa, was also there, and performed “Party Rockin’ in the House Tonight for Santa.” Finally, Showstoppers, the middle school girls dance ensemble directed by Rachelle Ellis, rounded out the holiday spirit with the second-to-last song of the night, a lively rendition of “Jingle Bells.”
“All our groups introduced themselves as from The Harker School, and very sweetly told what their performance group was about – nice touch,” said Lang-Ree. She also mentioned that the location and staging was well done, allowing the enormous crowd plenty of room to watch the show. Overall, she said, it was a “huge hit.”