Long-time Harker teacher John Near was honored Aug. 20 at the school’s opening faculty dinner, where he was told the top history department award would be named for him and that he had received a prestigious service award.
Donna Gilbert, history and social science department chair, said, “The history department, to honor John Near and his lifelong passion for history and politics, his unparalleled devotion to his students, and the lasting impact that he has had on so many Harker students for 30-plus years, will now call our senior award the John Near Excellence in History Award. This is the top award given out each May to one deserving senior. The award will thusforth read: The senior who has earned the John Near Excellence in History award is one who embodies those remarkable qualities of John Near: a love of learning and an abiding passion for the drama and mystery of the human story.”
Near was further honored with the annual Harker Alumni Association’s Phyllis Carley Award, given each spring to an individual who has devoted time and energy, and made significant contributions, towards advancing The Harker School’s programs.
“The Phyllis Carley Service Award is meant to honor outstanding service to the school, and I can think of no worthier recipient than John Near,” said Head of School Chris Nikoloff. “John is a teacher’s teacher who puts students and education first. His service to the school flows from his unswerving commitment to excellence in history education and his uncanny ability to hook students onto the subject of history.”
Christina Yan ’93, spoke movingly on how being treated like an adult by Near made a such a difference in her life. “That was the magic of being in your classroom. You accepted our adolescence, and used that understanding to help us see more of the world in its contexts and complications. Life is never one-sided; history is always a matter of perspective. You respected our desire to be treated as adults and you taught us how to engage in the adult world by entertaining all matter of questions with a tone of seriousness. You never let us feel that you’d dumbed something down for us, and you allowed us to partake in your wry and dry humor.
“For myself, I thank you for helping me find appreciation and understanding for all the complexities of human social interaction – be they between friends or nations. Thank you for teaching me to reflect and see myself for who I actually am, and be proud. And on behalf of all of your students over the years, thank you for your dedication to helping the teenage mind and heart grow in so many ways.”
Fellow history teacher Ramsay Westgate attended the dinner and said, “John is someone for whom my respect and admiration professionally and personally knows no bounds. It was an honor and a privilege to be in attendance and to be able to celebrate how much John means to our community. The opportunity to work with him and get to know him the past five years has been invaluable and something that I treasure. ”
Harker announced today the appointment of alumna Christina Yan MS ’93 to the position of director of alumni relations. She will begin work on Sept. 8.
Yan attended Castilleja School after her years at Harker and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. She went on to study electrical engineering at Columbia University and sociology at Hunter College, CUNY, where she earned her B.A. summa cum laude and phi beta kappa.
Yan’s interest in education and children’s issues was influenced by her work at the public policy organization Citizens Committee for Children of New York. There, she helped train a diverse group of teen and adult volunteers to lobby legislators at the city and state level. Yan most recently spent several years in the development office at San Francisco University High School, where her duties included coordinating the school’s annual silent auction and monitoring the progress of the school’s numerous fundraising efforts. “She is thrilled to be joining Harker’s advancement team, and is very excited to help continue to build the alumni program,” said Melinda Gonzalez, director of development.
In her role at Harker, Yan will work closely with faculty and staff to connect with and engage the school’s alumni community. Yan was also present at the opening dinner in Aug. 20, where she presented veteran AP U.S. History teacher John Near with the Phyllis Carley Service Award. “As a Harker alumna, Christina brings terrific energy and creative ideas to our team,” Gonzalez said. “Please welcome Christina back to Harker in her new role!”
This summer, students from various South Bay schools attended the Harker Forensics Institute (HFI), a special debate camp for students preparing for fall debate competitions.
“HFI is a two-week intensive study course where students self-select a debate area to work in,” said Carol Green, US debate teacher. “They came from throughout the region as this was the first year HFI had been opened to the Silicon Valley community.”
Students ranged from eighth graders to incoming seniors and from novice to varsity in experience levels. They received top-level instruction from some of the best coaches in the nation and region. The coaching staff included Green and fellow US debate teacher Steve Clemmons, as well Doug Dennis from Saint Francis High School in Mountain View, Paul Pinza from Westmont High School in Campbell and Sean Mumper from Presentation High School in San Jose.
The HFI also received help from 2009 graduates Raghav Aggarwal, Kaavya Gowda and Pratusha Erraballi, who served as assistant teachers in their respective fields and led lectures and lab sessions during the two weeks.
There were 41 students enrolled in the program divided among four events: Public Forum, Congressional Debate, Policy and Lincoln-Douglas.
“HFI gives students an extra edge during the competitive season because it allows them to focus for two weeks on their debate event,” Green said. “From specialized lectures to personalized feedback and coaching, students get the opportunity to try out different techniques in research and delivery that they may not get during the school year.”
However, HFI is also an opportunity for students to explore speech and debate even if they don’t plan to compete. “A number of students don’t have time during the school year to take a speech class but want to learn the research methods and argumentation techniques that forensics teaches,” said Green. Additionally, this allows students who may have communication apprehension the opportunity to explore public speaking in a more nurturing environment.
Because forensics is a collaborative event and one that is strengthened by the level of competition, it is important for students to get as many opportunities to improve themselves and their peers. “At HFI, we made sure our focus was practicum and education,” Green noted. While other forensics institutes spend a fair amount of time with the instructors watching the students do research and write cases, HFI is structured for students to take that work home with them and to do more hands-on learning in the classroom. Students brought their research and cases each day for critiques and feedback, but the goal was to keep the students learning throughout the eight-hour days.
“One of the reasons to open up HFI to the outside community was the hope of creating a larger sense of local community,” Green said. “There are a number of forensics institutes in the country, but very few are operated by high schools and for high schools.” By keeping numbers small and focusing on local students, the HFI organizers hoped to provide a camp that costs less than the for-profit institutes that exist while offering students a highly educational forensics experience.
This year, HFI had students from Harker, Presentation, St. Francis, Lynbrook, Saratoga and Palo Alto high schools. “While we hope to open up a few more spaces next year, our goal will still be to offer a personalized experience that prepares students for the competitive year but also for life,” Green said.
On Aug. 25 over 350 students, parents, alumni and faculty gathered for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony of the science and technology building, Nichols Hall.
Preceding the ribbon-cutting, science teachers shared their favorite aspects of the building including the new collaborative space, robotics room, special projects room and, in the atrium, a large-screen monitor displaying energy savings from the solar array on the green roof.
Anita Chetty, US science department chair, noted, “As Harker teachers, we get to play everyday. We get to think. We get to create. And now in this incredible facility, we get to do it as anyone would dream of doing.”
Lon Allan, chairman of Harker’s Board of Trustees, recognized the contributions of lifetime trustees Howard and Diana Nichols for their “extraordinary vision, dedication and leadership at The Harker School for more than four decades,” by announcing the Board’s unanimous decision to name the new building Nichols Hall.
MS history teacher Patricia White admired the building, pointing out the beautiful aesthetics. “I think we really needed the space for students and this brings us up to being a world-class prep school,” White said. She thinks that the LEED certification will “put us on the map as a very progressive school. We’re known for our science. We’re known for our math…We are putting our priorities in the right order and we are actually fulfilling what we preach.”
After the Nichols’ cut the ribbon, attendees poured into the new building, exploring the new classrooms and teaching space. “I wish I was a high school student right now,” Anshu Das ’05 said, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked at the Foucault pendulum in the rotunda. “I think it is starting to set a standard. Any building made from here on out only has to be better than the last.” Neil Shah ’08 added, “I have never seen anything of such caliber. It certainly changes the way you look not only at this campus, but of course at science and technology.”
Howard Nichols addressed the guests and discussed the 20-year planning process and the hard work of all who were involved in the project. “Our vision has always been to build the best school in the world,” he said. “I don’t know if anyone can claim that distinction but we certainly know we are one of the best, and we are only going to get better.” Diana Nichols added, “It pleases me to think that, in this building, the next generation of scientists will start forming ideas that will fuel the future.
Parents gathered at all three campuses during the first week of school for the annual Volunteer Sign-Up Breakfasts. Guests had coffee, pastries and fruit while signing up to volunteer at various Harker fundraising events, such as the Family and Alumni Picnic and the fashion show. Parents also had the opportunity to sign up for volunteer work with various academic departments, including athletics, science, robotics, debate and global education, as well as the library and bookstore.
“It’s just a way for parents to talk to people who represent those different departments,” said Danielle Wood-Hammond, assistant to the executive director of advancement. The upper school breakfast on Aug. 25, she said, was useful for parents because “people think that there are not a lot of volunteering opportunities at the upper school level.”
The Blackford gym filled with students, parents and coaches from Gr. 6-12 on Aug. 26 to meet, mingle and obtain information on sports programs and each other. Although fall practices are already under way for upper school athletes and middle school students will soon begin practices, all Harker athletes from Gr. 6-12 had an opportunity to meet their coaches, regardless of season. Gr. 6 boys Zachary Clausen, Nathaniel Stearns, Connor Powers and Spencer Powers were all excited for soccer to start, and were particularly looking forward to “beating St. Joseph’s again!” Explaining their passion, Stearns said, “Last year, we tied them 3-3 and beat them once.” This year, in addition to soccer, Clausen will play flag football and “maybe basketball.” Stearns will also play flag football, basketball and possibly baseball. Both Powers boys also plan on playing tennis.
Athletes Shireen Moshkelani and Ava Rezvani, both Gr. 11, put their names on the soccer sign-up sheet “with an asterisk saying we’re going to play when we’re seniors.” Anticipating a busy junior year, both volleyball players say they are “being good Harker students and planning our futures.” Priya Sadhev, also Gr. 11, plans on playing both soccer and varsity water polo this year, sports she has played for the past two years. She is thinking about playing water polo in college.
“I really like the dynamics of the sport, how you can foul people really hard under water,” Sadhev explained. In soccer, the closeness of the team is a plus. “I just like the team, how we all just really try hard together.”
Amy Rorabaugh, Gr. 12, is also an enthusiastic soccer player who will play both soccer and volleyball this year, as she has the past three years. She says the volleyball team is looking good this year, and “I think it’s going to be a fun season!”
After meeting coaches and catching up with each other, students and parents then met with the appropriate athletic director. Theresa Smith, Gr. 4-8 athletic director, and Dan Molin, US athletic director, each met with the athletes and parents from their divisions and presented an overview of the yearly sports offerings as well as other information regarding sports participation and safety issues. Following their presentations, there was a short college recruiting presentation by Rick Wire, a nationally-known speaker from Dynamite Sports. Let the seasons begin!
In one of the most enjoyable opening-of-school events, new parents gathered at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club to meet each other and the administrators who will guide their children’s growth. Hosted for the second year by Sally Anderson, alumni parent and trustee, the event drew over 150 parents of students in all grades.
While enjoying the food, wine and ambiance of the country club, guests were treated to video clips of students’ accomplishments in recent years, including news clips of winners of Intel and J8 awards, top athletes, and classroom and extracurricular activities like Destination Imagination teamwork and Jump Rope 4 Heart activities. Alumna Casey Near ’06 spoke feelingly on what her time at Harker has meant to her, both while at Harker and as a college student.
Harker administrators attending included Chris Nikoloff, head of school, JoeRosenthal, executive director of advancement, Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, Greg Lawson, assistant head of school for student affairs and Nan Nielsen, admission director.
This summer, several Harker teachers headed back to campus to participate in Harker’s Tech Grant program, which helps teachers learn new skills that will help them be more effective and well-rounded in the classroom.
Each project has the teachers learn or utilize a piece of technology that will bring a new dimension to their teaching methods. Gr. 1 language arts teacher Cindy Proctor, for example, developed a method for course management using software called OpenClassroom. “I used OpenClassroom to create interactive forums and online assignments for Language Arts and Social Studies,” Proctor said. “While in the past there was not a system that was simple or safe enough to implement, OpenClassroom will give my young students new access to a wide range of activities and information in a safe, legal manner.”
OpenClassroom allows Proctor to provide links to materials such as PowerPoint presentations, online videos and educational games. “OpenClassroom allows me to make several resources available to my students that they can access independently,” she said. “I’ll also be able to assess my students’ understanding of the material through the use of online forums, quizzes and assignments.”
Gr. 5 math teacher Pat Walsh created an area on Athena, Harker’s online learning management system, that contains a series of Web links that teachers may find especially useful. “All of the other teachers will also be able to post new links that they have found to be successful,” Walsh said. “Having them all posted on one site will make it easy for teachers to find and use the appropriate resource. “
In addition, Walsh created another page where students can post relevant educational links and have their classmates evaluate them.
MS science teacher Scott Kley-Contini became more familiar with the eBeam tool, which allows teachers to create interactive whiteboard presentations using a stylus and a projector. “The eBeam is a wonderful tool for giving PowerPoint presentations, which was my original use of the tool, however it is capable of so much more,” he said. “I wanted to create lessons where students could come to the board and interact with material.”
Kley-Contini practiced with the eBeam tool by making lessons that he will put to use in the 2009-10 school year. He also created a series of eBeam tutorial videos with help from MS Spanish teacher Julie Pinzás and Angela Neff,assistant director of instructional technology. With these, he plans to conduct eBeam training sessions for the MS science department.
MS English teacher Stacie Newman learned how to use an LCD projector for classroom demonstrations on how to edit papers and search the Internet. She also sought to increase her skills in using Athena, so that more of her course materials such as handouts, instructions and marked up drafts can be accessed by students online.
Bernie Morrissey, MS librarian, also put his time into learning more about Athena, setting out to learn more of Athena’s advanced features, “such as quizzes, questionnaires and sound recording,” he said. “Teachers often come to the other librarians and me when they have a question about Athena. Instead of having to direct them to their campus instructional technologist, I can show them the basics of some of these underutilized parts of Athena.”
In addition, Morrissey also created demonstrations of the Noodlebib note-taking software using a free program called Jing, which allows users to record the onscreen action as they use their computers. Teachers will be able to refer back to these “screencasts,” as they are called, after the initial demonstration.
Meanwhile, on the Saratoga campus, US science department chair Anita Chetty and journalism advisor Chris Daren collaborated to combine their resources into a new workbook for Chetty’s anatomy and physiology class. The class was designed to be similar to a college-level course, and the students keep the completed workbook at the end of the class to use when applying to medical schools.
Over the summer, Chetty familiarized herself with Adobe InDesign and photography concepts, and created templates for the new workbook. She also worked with Daren to engage student photographers and designers, whose work will be used to create the new workbook. For example, contributions from photographers will be used to create an image bank that will contain photos featuring student athletes and performing artists. Chetty’s students will then label the muscles being used in the stills.
These and several other Tech Grant projects will help bolster the teachers’ skill sets for the coming school year. Running for nearly 10 years, the Tech Grant program has proven to be both effective and well-liked by teachers. “It is certainly well-documented how this is a great school for students, but the Tech Grant program also reflects upon the vision Harker has to make this an amazing environment in which to work as well,” said US math teacher Troy Thiele, whose Tech Grant project involved making videos of his lectures that students could refer to in the future. “I could not thank Harker enough for continuing to offer this program. It is very much appreciated!”
Summer Orchestra campers lugging large musical instruments were a common sight around campus in June and July – and some of the instruments were almost as large as the students!
As part of the summer Music Institute, 15 students spent three hours a day practicing on their instruments. Taught by Louis Hoffman, lower school (LS) orchestra teacher; Chris Florio, middle- and upper school (MS and US) orchestra teacher; Toni Woodruff, strings specialist and after-school music teacher; and Alex Osorio, woodwind specialistand after-school music teacher, the workshop culminated in a concert in the Bucknall gym on the last day of the session.
Florio introduced the orchestra, which opened the show with “Harry Potter,” and then played “Barcarolle.” Woodruffconducted the last two pieces, “Over the Rainbow,” and “Ode to Joy,” with Osorio accompanying the orchestra on saxophone. The appreciative audience included parents and family members of the performers, campers, staff and faculty from the K-Gr. 8 academic sessions and Gr. 1-8 Zoom sessions, as well as Sarah Leonard, primary division head.