Category: Schoolwide

Fresh Food and Fresh Ideas Inspire Harker’s Food Program

This article originally appeared in the spring 2011 Harker Quarterly.

While students at all schools sit at the edge of their seats waiting for the lunch bell, Harker students at all three campuses have a particularly good reason to look forward to lunchtime. Harker students dash off to a tasty and healthy lunch of hand-carved meats, salads, fruits and a variety of fresh, in- season dishes.

For 20 years, Steve Martin, executive chef,
has worked closely with a team of chefs
and interns from various culinary schools
to incorporate the freshest ingredients and healthy options into each day’s menu. After working for years in Boston for a contract food service, Martin realized that the business was more about profit than nutrition.

“At Harker, it’s about eating the best you can eat,” he said. “Howard and Diana Nichols were so caring and concerned about everything, and food was one of those things.”

With the goal of matching food quality to the quality of education in classrooms and providing a balanced diet, Martin purchases local, fresh and in-season produce and occasionally works with a nutritionist to determine what dishes to cook. Tomatoes and small vegetables from Harker’s garden also make it onto plates. “I buy the best ingredients,” he said. “I spend my budget on quality, not quantity. We buy a lot of ingredients and make things from scratch.”

On any given day, upper school students can choose
from selections in
the buffet line including a full
entrée with
meat, veggies
and rice or
potatoes; a
vegetarian entrée;
a la carte pasta; an
assortment of prepared fresh
salads, soup, rice, healthy fruit juices and low fat milk.

In the adjacent Bistro Café there is a full salad bar with a variety of dressings, a meat station with hand carved fish or meat, an array of deli salads, baskets

of bananas, apples and oranges and, at least a couple days a week, delicious cookies. Occasionally, Martin rents a smoker, and students have a selection of smoked chicken, brisket and ribs to add to their meals.

The middle school campus offers similar selections, though without quite the variety, but certain dishes are only served once a week to prevent students from always selecting pizza and fried foods as a midday meal. “First and foremost the food we serve is healthy,” Danae McLaughlin, assistant to the executive chef, said. “It is not processed food loaded with fat and sodium … and we are very creative in our use of whole grains and vegetables so the kids enjoy eating them.”

Lower school students also have similar restrictions and policies that limit pizza
to once a week. “If you take a look at the lower school menu,” McLaughlin added, “the desserts include a lot of fresh fruit.” The kindergartners sit in a designated area and are served pre-portioned food. In addition, two kitchens are staffed to offer a variety of foods including falafel, samosas, Swedish meatballs and frittatas.

Students enjoy diversity, and Martin aims to present a sampling of multicultural offerings while maintaining a healthy selection. “I don’t think the kids even realize that they are eating healthier,” Martin joked.

Junior Rohit Sanbhadti, grade 11, loves the school’s tomato and basil soup and, as a vegetarian, is surprised by the variety and choices Harker offers. “I think we’re really lucky to have food of this caliber,” he said.

Martin credits his permanent staff and
a rotating team of interns for their creative ideas and enthusiasm.
Hailing from prestigious culinary
schools including Le Cordon Bleu, California Culinary Academy in San Francisco and Martin’s alma mater, Johnson & Wales in Rhode Island, more than 100 interns have joined the Harker community for a semester to experience various facets of food services from menu planning to cold kitchen cooking to inventory control and purchasing. “We work hard to create a culture where culinary creativity and entrepreneurial spirit thrive,” Martin said.

Intern Alicia Parke Galou said her time
 at Harker has been a “great experience right from the beginning.” She discovered Harker’s internship program at a career fair at the Professional Culinary Institute in Campbell, where she met McLaughlin and Martin. “I thought it would be a great opportunity for me,” Galou said, noting she has enjoyed every moment of it. The ease with which she fell into the swing of Harker’s program allowed her to learn quickly about the important factors of cooking for more than 800 people a day.

Along with serving student lunches, Harker’s kitchens prepare even higher quality meals for a wide variety of school events, from small lunches for donors
or visiting educators to full banquets for student groups and parent gatherings, like the Senior Mothers’ Lunch held each spring prior to graduation. “Not having to contract with outside vendors allows us to control costs and provide a higher quality meal,” noted McLaughlin. “Plus, at these limited events, our staff doubles as servers, giving permanent and temporary staff valuable experience in presentation and timing.”

Thanks to Martin and his team, Harker’s food service program is recognized as innovative and Martin believes it will only grow and expand. “The program just keeps getting better and better because that’s what Harker wants,” he said.

For more information, go to news.harker. org and search on “food,” or contact Steve Martin at stevem@harker.org.

Community Joins Hands Searching for Student Life/Work Balance

This story was first published in the Harker Quarterly Spring 2011 Edition

More than 500 parents, students and alumni attended Harker’s Jan. 8 screening of “Race to Nowhere,” a documentary film exploring stress related disorders in high-achieving American teenagers and the ironic fact that many are not prepared for college.

Head of School Christopher Nikoloff praised the film as affording an important opportunity for reflection. It also comes at a good time during Harker’s yearlong accreditation self-study.

“A lot of the issues in the movie … we have been talking about for a long time with parents and teachers,” he said. “Now that they are in the national spotlight,” he added, “it’s a great time to make sure we’re part of the dialogue.”

Indeed, more than 130 parents attended follow-up discussions in the lower, middle and upper schools. They were joined by Nikoloff and Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, as well as deans, division heads and counselors from each campus.

Nikoloff opened each discussion by highlighting where Harker is, has been, and is going with respect to some of the issues raised in the film. By way of background, he referenced the 1981 book “The Hurried Child.” “Over the last 30 years, there have been a lot of hurrying dynamics in our children’s lives,” he said. “Now there is something of a backlash. It’s important not to get caught up in either end of the pendulum swing.”

With that in mind, Harker is continually evaluating its own programs from the perspective of its core values. “Our guiding star is love of learning, or intellectual curiosity,” Nikoloff said. “So when we ask questions … our goal is always deeper learning.” He then outlined some concrete steps Harker has taken over time in accordance with this philosophy.

The steps include improving the student experience by scheduling final exams before the winter holiday break, reducing schedule conflicts between athletics and performing arts, and moving to trimesters/semesters to allow more time between assessments.

Other initiatives have deepened the scope of the upper school wellness program, established advisories for grades 6-12 and created an upper school dean of studies position to help families formulate a plan for high school. The school culture has also been moving in the direction of fewer awards ceremonies and greater restrictions on acceleration.

Going forward, Harker is exploring the possibility of becoming a Challenge Success school and, perhaps most importantly, round table discussions have been scheduled in the upper school to solicit student feedback about the “Race to Nowhere.”

Nikoloff also addressed some common questions, including the issue of homework. “We are doing a deep homework audit, and we do think we can accomplish more with a little bit less,” said Nikoloff. But he also cautioned, “You probably will not feel that tonight. It’s a reflective process that will slowly yield results.”

That sat well with parent Julie Moncton (Michael, grade 7), who said she appreciated the opportunity for parents to weigh in. “It’s nice to see that change is in the works, and yet it won’t be changing so radically that we end up with something that won’t work out,” she said.

Other questions focused on math and language arts grouping and whether it contributes to competition. Nikoloff urged parents to see grouping as part of the process of learning, not as a goal to be achieved. The idea behind grouping is to match each student with “the pace that is within his or her zone of proximal development,” he said. “That means children are being challenged without being stressed.”

Seeking Balance in Parenting

As Nikoloff opened the discussion to attendees, questions naturally evolved into lively exchanges. Parents in each division grappled with how to walk the line between encouragement and pressure and, on the flip side, how to preserve time for truly nourishing extracurriculars.

One question, in particular, hung over all the others: what will colleges think?

On this as on other points, Nikoloff urged parents not to compare their children with anyone else’s, but rather to evaluate their activities by whether they are happy and meaningfully engaged. “That will translate into getting into the college that is right for them,” he said.

His message resonated with Trish Tobin (Sheridan, grade 8; Brendan, grade 6; Ryan, grade 2), who said, “I really appreciate how much time this school invests in learning how children learn and what’s best for them as a whole — not just their academic selves.” Kindergarten parent Jennifer Hargreaves (Sydney Adler, K) agreed. She particularly valued the “variety of perspectives from parents,” she said, and the fact that “the school is leading the conversation in the best interests of our children.”

Dodging Trouble in the Teen Years

Discussion at the upper school event focused heavily on the specifics of right now, with many parents wanting to know warning signs of stress to watch for in their teens. Among the recommendations offered by Nikoloff and upper school counselors Lori Kohan and Chris Colletti were to find some unscheduled time with children in which to gauge their stress levels and to take notice of an extreme response to a bad grade.

At school, teachers and advisors make sure to work as a team to solicit one another’s observations if something seems amiss, the counselors said, and parents should always feel free to contact them with concerns as well.

At all three forums, parents were encouraged to communicate their own values, for example by asking kids more questions about the “process” of learning than about their grades. Padmaja Indukuri found that seeing the film with her daughter Laya (grade 8) propelled their communication in precisely that direction. “I was asking questions, but I didn’t know how she was feeling,” she said. “She is telling me now, so I understand.”

Casey Near ’06 offered valuable perspective based on her own experience. The Harker students who thrive are “the ones who really take the Harker message to heart – that it’s about the process, and it’s about the ability to think critically,” she said. “So it’s the parents’ role to make sure that’s the focus – and not that test, that quiz or that homework assignment.”

Advancement: Grandparents’ Day: An Annual Treat for Kids and Their Special Guests

This article was originally published in the Harker Quarterly Spring  2011 Edition

Grandparents’ Day, a special day for students and grandparents alike, is coming to the lower school campus on May 6, from 2:30 p.m. The day is themed International Grandparents’ Day to highlight Harker’s wonderfully diverse community, and showcase a day in the life of a student at Harker.

When guests arrive they will be welcomed by Chris Nikoloff, head of school, enjoy hearty appetizers and be treated to a remarkable student performance. Grandparents will join their grandchildren in a tour of the campus, which will include a classroom visit, book sale, photo opportunity and art show.

In keeping with the global theme, guests will receive a passport-like invitation and a boarding pass as they arrive, and student artwork will mark the journey through campus. Previous Grandparents’ Days have drawn about 400 guests and the same number is expected this year.

“Our guests will travel through the world of Harker and learn about our programs and our community,” said Teré Aceves, director of K-8 volunteer programs. “They will also have a chance to teach our students about their native countries and how we are all connected, though separated by distance.”

Greater Good: Students Show Philanthropic Spirit through the Holidays and Year-Round

This article was originally published in the Harker Quarterly Spring  2011 Edition

If the holiday spirit is any indicator, the Harker community understands the value of giving back. With an array of service oriented clubs across all three campuses and additional holiday drives, parents and faculty worked together to instill the importance of philanthropy in students from K-12.

With Operation: Gratitude in October, when students donated almost 1,000 pounds of candy to U.S. troops, and the grade 5 food drive in November, which amounted to 328 bags of groceries and $3,200 delivered to St. Justin’s Community Ministry, the lower school has found a multitude of ways to give back to the surrounding community. In mid-December grade 4 held its annual toy drive for Sacred Heart Community Services, an organization that assists families in becoming financially self sufficient. Nearly 1,000 toys were collected during the holiday season, and students who helped with delivering the toys in mid-December also had a chance to tour the facilities and learn more about the SCHS commitment to eradicate poverty. Students and parents came together once again in January to collect sleepwear and books for The Pajama Program, a not-for-profit that provides new pajamas and books to children in need (see page 42).

The middle school also organized a food drive in November and collected more than 250 pounds of canned and dry food items for Second Harvest Food Bank. Along with the 680 pounds of food the upper school collected through a friendly class competition, the food drive amounted to an unprecedented schoolwide charity effort.

Steven Hewitt, middle school Service Club advisor, also helped students organize a coat drive, collecting more than 175 used coats for InnVision, which distributes the collected wear to people in need of warm clothing during the winter. More than 20 middle school advisories participated in other gift-giving efforts. Fifteen advisories played Santa, purchasing special Christmas gifts and wrapping them with handmade cards for 123 preschool children at the Kidango Child Center. Another six provided gifts to children and mentally challenged adults who wrote wish lists through the Family Giving Tree.

“I am grateful and impressed with the efforts of our middle school community,” Hewitt wrote in an e-mail to parents and students. “Harker has always been a leader in the South Bay when it comes to charitable and fundraising efforts, and this year has been no different.”

Efforts came from all sides in the upper school, with Diana Moss, senior class dean, organizing a toiletries drive and the soccer team holding the annual Kicks Against Cancer event. On Jan. 12, Harker’s upper school boys and girls soccer teams raised nearly $8,000 in this year’s annual Kicks Against Cancer event at Davis Field. Funds were raised by selling tickets (which came with a commemorative T-shirt) and bracelets during lunch on the days leading up to the event, as well as from a special fund for faculty and staff. Michael Anthony’s Salon in Saratoga contributed too, by donating proceeds from all transactions made on a certain day. Both boys and girls varsity soccer teams had a game on Jan. 12, and during the halftimes of both games, several teachers and coaches volunteered to be human targets in the classic game of “Butts Up,” which required they bravely bend over in front of the goal while audience members took turns aiming penalty kicks at them. The goal for this year’s fundraiser was to send four child cancer survivors to Camp Okizu, a camp that specializes in activities and care for young cancer patients and survivors and their families.

In addition to the November food drive, the upper school helped others this holiday season through various organizations including Sunday Friends, an organization committed to helping families break out of the cycle of poverty, and EHC LifeBuilder’s Shelter Elves project, which connects sponsors with families and children who have written holiday wish lists.

Upon returning from the holiday break, Harker’s WiSTEM organization (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) led a weeklong effort to raise awareness about the disparity between female and male education rates in the developing world.

Throughout the first week of the new year, WiSTEM members emphasized that giving a girl an education leads tobetter health and lifestyles for her entire family. Since female education rates are the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa,the club raised funds for CAMFED, an organization that transfers donations to Africa to send children to school. To accomplish their goal, WiSTEM members sold goods at almost every opportunity, including after school and at lunch.

Two weeks later the Global Empowerment and Outreach Club (GEO) held a fundraising week, with events throughout the week to raise awareness about universal primary education, one of the United Nation’s eight Millennium Development Goals. Working with Room to Read, a nonprofit dedicated to helping underprivileged children around the world, GEO raised more than $1,600 towards the $8,000 that will fund construction of two libraries in India and Vietnam.

GEO brainstormed creative and educational ways to raise awareness and raise funds, including a challenge for students to go a day without electronics. The club also hosted Dress for Success, a daylong event in which students dropped change into 27 jars labeled with teachers’ photographs. The teacher with the most votes, or most change, would then wear a middle school uniform. All of the students’ efforts that week helped raise more than 15 percent of the club’s goal.

No matter the age or cause, Harker students find ways to give back to the community. With the help of community service advisors and faculty members, the three campuses find organizations and programs to work with, producing, from year to year, outstanding results and exceptional attitudes towards service.
For more information, visit news.harker.org and search “service.”

Annual Pajama Drive Anything But Sleepy

Four years ago, Rishi Narain, now grade 7, sat down to watch the “Oprah” show. The show’s guest that day was Genevieve Piturro, founder of the Pajama Program, a nonprofit dedicated to delivering warm sleepwear and nurturing books to children in need. Seeing thousands of pajamas and books donated to children who never had them inspired Narain to bring the program to Harker, where he organized the lower school’s first annual pajama drive.

Four years later, the event is bigger than ever.

The January assembly was a raucous affair. In addition to all the lower school students, there were also “big people in the audience,” as Joe Connolly, lower school dean, put it in his introduction to the event. The “big people” were sophomores, who had come as part of the Eagle Buddies program.

Eagle Buddies, still in its first year, was an initiative suggested by Butch Keller, upper school head, in an effort to bridge the campus divide. Third and tenth graders are matched together, and according to Carol Zink, upper school history teacher, the third graders get fun, older role models, “while the sophomores get a chance to lighten up and be kids for a little bit.”

The buddies stay together for three years, until the sophomores graduate and the third graders matriculate into middle school. “It’s been going more smoothly than I could ever imagine,” said Keller. “I couldn’t be more pleased with what we’re accomplishing.”

After Connolly’s introduction, Pallie Zambrano, co-president of the Pajama Program’s Northern and Central California chapter, expressed thanks to the Harker students, reminding them that each donated pair of pajamas would change the life of a child in need.

Next, Keller replaced his suit jacket with a bathrobe and reclined on a rocking chair to read “We Are Going on a Bear Hunt” to the children. All the students got involved during the audience participation part of the reading, with special zeal coming from the sophomores.

Finally, the students spent some time reading to themselves and with their buddies. Big Buddy Michaela Kastelman said she enjoyed spending time with her buddy because it brought her back to the experience of being in third grade.

Kindergartner Andrew Fox wasn’t too sure of what was going on, but he was very excited to be in his pajamas. “They’re not as tight as my uniform!” he exclaimed.

All in all, the event was a huge success, with Harker students donating 727 pairs of pajamas and 204 books, a school record for the program.

Outreach

Along with the many outreach efforts by students and faculty, Harker, as a school, reaches out to the community in a number of ways.

The Harker Speaker Series

This series has brought internationally famous speakers to our campus, including Kiva founder and CEO Matt Flannery, travel author and television personality Rick Steves and astronomer Seth Shostak from the SETI Institute (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence).

Harker Concert Series

This new program has already held two of three events planned for its first season. Washington, D.C.-based violin duo, MarcOlivia: Marc Ramirez and Olivia Hajioff appeared March 9. The Taylor Eigsti Trio: Eigsti, a Bay Area native and Grammy-nominated jazz pianist, played Nichols Hall on March 25. Areon Flutes, a Bay Area-based flute quartet, will appear May 27; see page 9 for more details.

Common Ground

Harker is a member of Common Ground, a coalition of Bay Area schools working together to provide parent education to their communities. The coalition provides opportunities for parents to learn from experts in the fields of education and parenting, and Harker supports that effort both by hosting at least one Common Ground speaker each year and by helping promote the series to Harker parents.

Research Symposium

The Harker Research Symposium is a showcase of student research projects and is highlighted each year by keynote speakers of international renown and reports by alumni on their continuing research at universities. The symposium welcomes visitors and will be held April 23 this year. More information can be found at www.harker.org.

Global Partnerships: Winter Update

This article was originally published in the Harker Quarterly Spring  2011 Edition

Chinese Middle School Visit

January and February were busy months for global education at Harker. In mid-January, the middle school welcomed 19 students from the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS) in Shanghai, China. Although their flight to San Francisco was diverted to Sacramento due to bad weather, the students and their Harker buddies were no less overjoyed to meet one another once the WFLMS students finally arrived at SFO.

The Chinese students had been working since the fall with Harker grade 8 students who were partaking in a population studies class, discussing population-related issues in online forums.

During their stay, the WFLMS students observed and attended several Harker classes, such as Monica Colletti’s drama class and Elizabeth Saltos’ art class. They also teamed up with their Harker buddies for a traditional Chinese paper cutting project.

In their free time, the students ventured out to see more of the San Jose area, visit Stanford and walk across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Sister School in Japan Sends Students and Teacher

Two high school students from Harker’s sister school Tamagawa Gakuen in Tokyo, Miyu Kondo and Marina Saito, visited the upper school in January, taking various classes and sitting in with the upper school’s jazz band and orchestra. They attended classes such as Great Novels with English teacher Alexandra Rosenboom, and a chemistry class with Andrew Irvine, and also helped out the yearbook staff.

Having studied music and practiced extensively as members of Tamagawa’s concert band, Kondo and Saito were a welcome addition to the upper school’s jazz band and orchestra. “Marina and Miyu fit in our music program really well from day one,” said Chris Florio, upper school music teacher. After learning how to adjust to the dynamics of a jazz band orchestra, they quickly became assets to both groups. “After being able to perform with both groups and rehearse many days, they really felt like permanent members of the group,” Florio said. Kondo and Saito, on tenor and baritone saxophone, respectively, performed with the Harker Jazz Band at the 2011 Winter Concert.

The greatest benefit of having the students join the jazz band and orchestra, Florio believed, “was sharing with our students how similar they are to American musicians. Despite some language barriers, we were all able to play music together with no barriers at all.” The Tamagawa students’ skill as musicians, he said, also had a positive influence on the Harker students.

During Kondo and Saito’s visit, Tamagawa music teacher Kazuhiko “Tsuchi” Tsuchiya arrived at Harker as this year’s teacher in the annual exchange between the two schools. “Tsuchi,” as he was referred to while at Harker, worked closely with several of Harker’s music groups at the upper and middle schools.

Dave Hart, middle school music teacher, was excited to work with Tsuchiya and was pleased to find out that Tsuchiya was equally enthusiastic. “Tsuchi was thrilled and jumped at the opportunity to work with Harker middle school students,” he said.

Hart was particularly impressed by the way Tsuchiya was able to gain a rapport with the students. “He had great pacing and made difficult sections of music fun and playable for the students. Tsuchi also found ways to bring the music to life, and make the students go beyond just playing the notes on the page in front of them.”

Tsuchiya also guest taught the middle school vocal group Vivace, teaching them “Hotaru Koi,” a traditional Japanese folk song. “He loved having the opportunity to teach the Harker students a song from his own culture,” Hart said.

At the upper school, Tsuchiya took a very active role in leading the upper school orchestra. “Tsuchi actually took over the teaching of our orchestra for the majority of his stay here,” Florio said. “He is an amazing teacher and very skilled conductor, so it was a natural fit for him.”

Tsuchiya’s experience working with Tamagawa’s elite music program was a huge benefit to the upper school music students. “Our students benefited from not only his approach, but from his background and teaching style as well,” Florio said. “Tsuchi was able to show a very clear example of how universal music really is.”

In January, a series of video conferences were held at the lower and middle schools between Harker and Tamagawa students. The first, between kindergartners at both schools, gave students the opportunity to learn about one another’s cultures. Tamagawa students showed some of the kanji symbols (Chinese characters used in Japanese language) they had been learning to the Harker students and explained what they meant. Harker students played a game where they dressed up as various professions, such as firefighter, nurse, farmer and cook, and had the Tamagawa students attempt guess who they were. Each class sang “If You’re Happy and You Know It” in the other’s native language before both classes sang in unison.

The grade 6 video conference with Tamagawa was tied in with Tim Culbertson’s environmental science class. The two groups of students played a trivia game based around environmental science, which used questions from assignments that were completed the previous semester. The video conference was the first time the Harker and Tamagawa students got to meet face to face. Harker students who are participating in the Tamagawa exchange were specifically paired up with someone other than their Tamagawa buddies, so that when they visit Japan later this year they will know two people instead of just one.

Journalism Department Shares News with World Schools

Meanwhile, the ongoing Global Journalism Project, a collaboration between Harker’s journalism department and those of high schools all over the world, continues to produce thought-provoking pieces from high school students in countries such as India and Taiwan. These articles are meant to provide insight into the lives of teenagers from other cultures. The most recent story, printed in the January edition of The Winged Post, is a story on peer pressure from a student at the Taipei American School in Taiwan.

Milestones: Alumnus Joins Board; Advancement Director Honored

This story was first published in the Harker Quarterly Spring 2011 Edition

Albert Zecher ’79 has joined Harker’s Board of Directors. Zecher graduated from The Harker Middle School and went on to earn a B.A. in history from Santa Clara University I 1986, J.D. from the University of San Francisco School of Law in 1990 and a diploma in fine arts in 2008 from Cambridge University in England. Zecher is a highly accomplished attorney with 20 years of experience in corporate governance, regulatory and civil litigation matters, both as in-house counsel and while with national law firms.

“The Harker School is thrilled with adding representation to the Board of Trustees from this important constituency in our community,” said Christopher Nikoloff, head of school. “Albert, as a Harker alumnus, brings a unique perspective on the history and the future of the school.” Harker welcomes this deeply experienced board member!

Melinda Gonzales, director of development, was honored in late February by Modern Woodsmen, a fraternal financial organization, for her professionalism and outstanding customer service. The organization, which donated trees to the Saratoga campus last year and will again this year, celebrated Gonzales at a dinner and presented her with a certificate as part of their Hometown Heroes program. Allen Phillips, regional director, and his wife, Aleda, presented the certificate to Gonzales to recognize her accomplishments and show appreciation for her contribution to the community. The organization included a donation to Harker, as well.