Jason Berry’s family and friends nearly filled WestGate Church yesterday afternoon to say goodbye. Heartfelt memories of his childhood and early years as a teacher were shared; the loss to his family and the community was mourned. A large group, many of whom were alumni, then moved to Harker’s Saratoga campus for a reception.
Family members joined the group shortly after it started, and Chris Nikoloff as well as two of Berry’s colleagues addressed the group very briefly, followed by more memories exchanged, and more tears shed for the life cut short.
Jason Berry’s family and friends nearly filled WestGate Church yesterday afternoon to say goodbye. Heartfelt memories of his childhood and early years as a teacher were shared; the loss to his family and the community was mourned. A large group, many of whom were alumni, then moved to Harker’s Saratoga campus for a reception.
Family members joined the group shortly after it started, and Chris Nikoloff as well as two of Berry’s colleagues addressed the group very briefly, followed by more memories exchanged, and more tears shed for the life cut short.
A memorial for Jason Berry, Harker upper school coach and English teacher, will be held this Thursday, Aug. 29 at 3 p.m. at WestGate Church, 1735 Saratoga Ave., San Jose. Following the ceremony, a reception will be held at 4 p.m. on Harker’s upper school campus, 500 Saratoga Avenue, in the quad.
A shuttle is being arranged for students who wish to attend the memorial and the family is asking for everyone to wear a Harker jersey, club or class T-shirt or jersey of your favorite team. They know Mr. Berry would love casual, spirited dress, and wouldn’t want anything that felt formal or stuffy. To leave a note or read a bit of what others have to say, visit the memorial page created by his wife.
Berry, beloved English teacher and athletics coach, husband of our alumni director, MaryEllis Deacon, and son-in-law of Butch and Jane Keller, upper school division head and mathematics teacher, respectively, died suddenly on Sat., Aug. 24 of apparent heart failure.
Born in New Hampshire and highly regarded as a teacher by his students during his five-year run at Harker, Berry wrote as a critic during his time as a member of the American College Theatre Festival and was honored for Excellence in Teaching by the Clemson University PanHellenic Council.
The Harker Class of 2012 selected him as the faculty speaker for the 2012 Baccalaureate ceremony, during which he said to the soon-to-be graduates, “Be who you want to be, and if that doesn’t agree with you, then find, once again, your center, your inner voice; don’t settle for an imitation of yourself. Bend the rules, but try not to break them.”
During his high school years, Berry was a decorated All-American soccer player, skills he put to use at Harker as a head coach of the girls soccer team, leading the team to record seasons during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years.
As a New England native, Berry described himself as a “rabid” follower of the New England Patriots, Boston Red Sox, Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins sports teams.
“Jason’s life reflected his wise counsel, and he was always, authentically, himself,” said Chris Nikoloff, head of The Harker School. “He impacted many with his wisdom, wit and warmth, and will be deeply missed.”
To honor the memory of Jason Berry, and in keeping with his family’s wishes, the Jason Berry Memorial Scholarship Endowment Fund has been established at Harker. Having this special endowment fund support scholarships in perpetuity is a wonderful way to pay tribute and have this wonderful teacher’s positive impact be memorialized permanently in the school’s history. Checks can be sent to the advancement office, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129 (please include “Jason Berry Memorial Fund” in the check’s note) or made online. To make your gift online,
*Click on “Support Harker” at www.harker.org
*Select “Giving Online & Other Forms” *Select the link for “Online Giving Form” *Enter the amount of your gift and choose the Designation of “Financial Aid”; then click the “Add donation” button
*Complete the information on this second page, noting Jason Berry’s name in the “In Memory Of” section
The family has requested no flowers. Those wishing to send condolences can do so by emailing Lori Villarreal at loriv@harker.org or mailing to her attention at 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129.
Summertime fun kicked into high gear at Harker, this year, as enrollment for camps and other seasonal programming skyrocketed across all three campuses, resulting in a record-breaking number of participants.
Shortly after school let out, Harker opened its doors to the public, becoming a one-stop-summer-program-shop by extending its huge variety of offerings to K-12 students both locally and from around the globe.
According to Harker’s summer programs office, attendance at all summer happenings totaled some 2,740 participants. On the Harker summer menu were a camp for young kids, an institute for middle and high school-aged students, a program for foreigners to learn English, a large and varied sports camp, and a swim school that even adults could attend.
“We were thrilled and delighted at the incredible turnout for Harker summer this year!” enthused Kelly Espinosa, longtime director of summer programs. She noted that Harker has been providing outstanding summer programming for more than half a century.
In addition to the larger number in overall enrollment, there were exciting new happenings in both the English Language Institute (ELI) and Summer Institute (SI) programs. At the lower school ELI saw a huge jump in enrollment specific to elementary school students. Meanwhile, at the upper school, SI successfully added specialty classes to its afternoon activity program.
“Harker summer had everything a camp consumer could want,” said Espinosa, adding that she was also pleased to see how many non-Harker students chose to spend their summer at the school.
Below is an overview of the record-breaking Harker Summer 2013:
Summer Camp+ Wows K-6 at the Lower School
It truly was “the summer of wow!” over at the lower school’s Summer Camp+ program, where 763 children in K-6 enjoyed a wide array of summertime activities designed to delight and amaze them.
According to Joe Chung, program director of Camp+, Harker’s youngest students were happily occupied with such on site highlights as a patriotic games bash, water carnival, sleepover for older campers, presentation for parents, and birthday celebration for camp mascot “Ray.” Campers also partook in numerous offsite field trips, from local outings for bowling and miniature golf to farther trips out to the Oakland Zoo and Coyote Point.
Students had the choice of enrolling in either CoreFocus or LOL (Learning Opportunities in Literature) for the academic portion of the day. Core Focus was a three- or four-week math and language-arts-focused program. LOL was a two-week integrated curriculum centered around a literary theme. Both programs left room for the optional added afternoon activity program.
Afternoon activities were grouped by ages and weeks, with kindergartners attending kindercamp. First and second graders were in the owls group, third and fourth graders were called condors, and fifth and sixth graders were referred to as eagles. The first session of camp included such weekly themes as wow, whamo, wipe out, and work out. The second session featured weeks called wisdom of wizards, waiting on winter and wonders of wildlife.
“This was my third time at Camp+, and I really recommend it!” enthused grade 3 student Alexis Nishimura. To her, the best part about camp was “hanging out with friends,” followed by “all the fun activities and outings.”
Summer Institute Offers Individualized Programs for Students, Grades 6-12
From backyard games held on the upper school field to volleyball boot camp and a cooking corner in the gym and kitchen, Summer Institute (SI) students this year enjoyed brand new specialty class period offerings.
Open to both Harker students and the general public in grades 6-12, the institute got underway mid-June and ran until early August. SI had two separate tracks, one designed for middle schoolers and another geared towards high school students. SI participants typically combined a morning academic program with afternoon activities, allowing them to earn credits and learn new skills with plenty of time leftover for summertime fun.
The unique specialty classes were made available via SI’s afternoon activity program where many middle school students (and some high school freshmen) signed up for courses which changed weekly and included off-campus field trips. Rotating course options included art, cooking, outdoor games, volleyball, jewelry making, magic, improv, dance, tech, junior lifeguard, chess and circus arts.
Proudly displaying a plate she had been working on in ceramics class, Anjali Ravella, a soon-to-be grade 6 student at the new Summit Denali charter school in Santa Clara, said it was her favorite special activity so far. A first-time participant to SI, she noted that she also enjoyed learning from podcasts in her earlier academic class on “super study skills.”
The institute’s academic portion offered rigorous for-credit courses such as algebra, economics and programming, as well as non-credit opportunities for enrichment and growth like creative writing, Web design, debate and robotics. A driver’s education course was available for students aged 15 and up.
Grade 9 students had the option to either participate in Activity Program (AP) or join the older high school students who had no organized afternoon activity program but enjoyed free drop-in access to the library, pool, art room, Ping-Pong table, basketball courts and study spaces. For all grades, an on-site prepared lunch was included.
According to Keith Hirota, summer middle school director, a total of 920 middle and upper school students were enrolled in this summer’s overall SI program, of which 550 participants were non-Harker students.
Ten-year-old Richard Hsieh is non-Harker student who met his new Harker pal Nakul Bajaj, age 11, in SI. Although the two took different morning academic tracks, they said they enjoyed hanging out together for many of the afternoon activities – and now hope to continue their newfound friendship during the regular school year.
English Language Institute Attracts Participants, Aged 6-16, From Across the Globe
Summer at Harker brought with it its own special international flavor, as students at both the lower and upper schools got to meet and interact with peers from all over the world.
Thanks to the school’s renowned English Language Institute (ELI) program, more than 100 international students – from elementary through high school – come to Harker to increase their chances of admission to primarily English speaking educational institutions.
According to Anthony Wood, ELI director, this year’s program saw a notable increase in enrollment at the beginner level, requiring a total of four classes, with at least 55 youngsters enrolled in the primary division. Older students (middle and high school aged) attended ELI on the Saratoga campus.
At the lower school program, 9-year-old ELI student Helen Kozak recalled that going on a recent field trip to the beach at Santa Cruz reminded her of being back home in Ukraine, where she lives near the sea. “I like the ocean very much,” she said in remarkably good English, adding “I swim all day long.” In addition to swimming, her favorite things about ELI were archery, circus arts and computer lab. “I like it all,” said Kozak, who has been to the United States several times but never before in the ELI program.
“My favorite thing about ELI was recess … which we are in right now!” added 11-year-old Aaron Guo of China. The first time ELI participant said that his second favorite activity was basketball. He also liked all the “fun outings” to places like the Golden Gate Bridge and tide pools at the ocean.
At the Saratoga campus older ELI students worked on special projects tailored to their needs, including SAT preparation. They were assisted by mentors (called buddies or conversation partners) who are Harker juniors, seniors or recent graduates. At the end of their time at Harker, ELI students, upon full completion of either a three- or seven-week course, received a certificate and recommendation from their teachers.
On field trip days ELI students of all ages could be seen sporting green Harker T-shirts as they headed out for cultural adventures to diverse Bay Area tourist attractions. Upon their return, their travel experiences were strategically incorporated into their learning curriculum.
Sports Camps Cater to All Skill Levels of Students, Aged 9-16
The middle and upper school campuses set the scene for Harker’s wide variety of on-site, first-rate sports camps, where 518 athletes learned a new sport or worked on improving skills in a sport they had already taken up. This year Harker offered softball, basketball, football, soccer, TRX (suspension body training), wrestling, volleyball and water polo camps.
Wrestling camp was new to this year’s summer sports program. Designed to motivate the novice wrestler and challenge the more advanced, the camp was open to students in grades 6-12. Serena Olmos, a senior at Lincoln High School, said she enjoyed the new camp offering because it helped students focus on their weakness as wrestlers, “and not just on what you’re good at.”
It was just last year that water polo was added to the sports camp choices. All of Harker’s summer sports camps are designed to be a positive, skill-focused environment where highly experienced coaches provide training in a well-structured, character driven atmosphere. Young athletes were encouraged to improve skills, develop teamwork and, most of all, have fun!
Swim School Offers Beginner to Advanced Lessons for Participants, Ages 3-Adult
The Harker Swim School provided both children and adults the opportunity to learn, refine and extend their swimming abilities in a noncompetitive, positive environment. Held at the upper school’s beautiful Singh Aquatic Center, it offered swim lessons for all skill levels, as well as a junior swim team for students in grades 2-8. The swim school is not part of Harker’s regular sports camp programming (for example, the water polo camp is not taught through the swim school).
For more information on Harker’s varied summer offerings visit summer.harker.org.
Venkat Sankar, rising ninth grader, is a one of only 15 global finalists in the 2013 Google Science Fair competition! The Google Science Fair is a prestigious global competition for students aged 13-18, and thousands of students from more than 120 countries participate.
Sankar was selected for his project “Ecology or Economy: Managing the Impact of Infrastructure Projects on Endangered Species,” and he was one of only 10 regional finalists in his age category from the Americas region. He then advanced to become one of only five global finalists in the 13-14 age category. There are only 15 finalists across all age groups. Sankar is now in the final round of the competition at the Google headquarters in Mountain View and that final evaluation will take place in September.
Sankar received guidance and advice from Harker middle school science teacher Daniel Sommer, who served as his mentor for this project.
There is a public voting process currently underway to select the winner of the Voter’s Choice Award and we’d love it if all Harker students and parents would check out the projects and vote for Sankar at https://www.googlesciencefair.com/en/2013/.
In May, rising junior Andrew Jin won a second-place award in the medicine and health sciences category at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Phoenix, Ariz. His project, titled “Breast Cancer Prognosis through Gene Expression Profiling and Tumor Morphology,” also earned him a $1,500 prize. The American Statistical Association also honored Jin with a third-place special award, which included a $250 cash prize and a five-year school license for Harker for the JMP statistical software suite.
This story was submitted by Harker rising junior Cindy Liu.
On July 2, a team of eight Harker rising juniors placed first in the nation in the 9/10 division for the 2013 Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS). The competition took place during the national Technology Student Association (TSA) conference held from June 28 to July 2 in Orlando, Fla. The team members included Andrew Jin, David Lin, Cindy Liu, Steven Wang, Rachel Wu, Stanley Xie, Leo Yu and Andrew Zhang.
TEAMS is an annual science, technology, engineering and mathematics competition challenging students to work collaboratively and apply their math and science knowledge and problem-solving skills in practical, creative ways to solve real world engineering challenges. The 2013 TEAMS theme was “Engineering a Secure Cyberspace.” The first part of the competition, held locally in March, included 80 multiple choice questions and eight short essays on the theme. The team ranked number one in California in the grade 9/10 division and were invited to participate in second part of the competition at the national level. The part II test consisted of three categories: a research essay on cybersecurity, a written problem-solving exam with complex math, physics and computer science scenarios and an extemporaneous debate on one of three topics: social media, work place privacy and cloud computing. All of the students benefited from the knowledge they had accumulated in Harker classes, such as their math courses, AP Physics, AP Computer Science and the debate program.
The TSA is a national organization that supports more than 60 STEM competitions for middle and high school students nationwide. TSA membership includes more than 190,000 students in 2,000 schools spanning 48 states. In addition to the TEAMS competition, students attended ceremonies recognizing TSA development and were able to meet with participants of other TSA projects. All of the participating teams qualified for the national round by placing in the first four places in their states.
Laughing and shielding their eyes from the sun, a group of Summer Institute (SI) participants casually tossed a Frisbee to one another out on Rosenthal Field. Meanwhile, in the upper school gym, another group of students playing volleyball couldn’t help but notice the delicious aroma from the nearby kitchen where a cooking class was underway.
From backyard games held on the field to volleyball boot camp and “cooking corner” in the gym and kitchen, SI students this year are enjoying brand-new specialty class period offerings. It’s all part of Harker’s increasingly popular Summer Institute program, now up and running on the Saratoga campus.
Open to both Harker students and the general public in grades 6-12, the institute got underway on June 17 and runs until Aug. 9.
Holding a plate of freshly-made scrambled eggs in her cooking class, Romina Parimi, a grade 6 student at San Jose’s Challenger Berryessa School, called it her favorite special activity so far. As a non-Harker student and first-time participant to SI, she said she was impressed by how beautiful the upper school campus is. “The academics are good; the activities are good!” she enthused.
The unique specialty classes are available via SI’s afternoon activity program (A.P.) where many middle school-aged students like Parimi sign up for courses, which change weekly. In addition to outdoor games, volleyball and cooking, other rotating class options include art, jewelry-making, magic, improv, dance, tech, junior lifeguard, chess and circus arts.
SI has two separate tracks, one designed for middle schoolers and another geared toward upper school-aged students. All SI participants typically combine a morning academic program with afternoon activities, allowing them to earn credits and learn new skills, yet still have plenty of time left over for summertime fun.
The institute’s academic portion offers rigorous for-credit courses such as algebra, economics and programming, as well as non-credit opportunities for enrichment and growth like creative writing, Web design, debate and robotics. A driver’s education course is available for students aged 15 and up.
For middle school aged participants (grades 6-8) A.P. provides many options for specialty classes and recreational activities. Weekly sessions are divided by themes, such as superhero, western, fantasy, Harry Potter, Disney and animation. There are also off-campus field trips every couple of weeks to such hot spots as the shoreline, the Tech Museum and Capitola.
“The wide range of choices and flexibility allows each student to design a schedule around his or her own academic needs and personal interests,” explained Keith Hirota, summer middle school director.
Grade 9 students have the option to either participate in A.P. or join the older high school students who have no organized afternoon activity program but enjoy free, drop-in access to the library, pool, art room, Ping-Pong table, basketball courts and study spaces. For all grades, an on-site prepared lunch is included.
According to Hirota, a total of 920 middle and upper school students are enrolled in this summer’s overall SI program, of which 550 participants are non-Harker students. He added that an average of 80-85 students per week attend A.P., with about 50 of those individuals coming from the general public.
During the spring semester, rising seniors Kevin Zhu and Rahul Sridhar became the highest and second-highest Division II scorers in the region, respectively, in the 2013 Physics Bowl, administered by the American Association of Physics Teachers. Zhu scored 30 points, tying for the second-highest score nationally, and Sridhar scored 29 points.
As a team, Harker was the second-highest scoring school in the country with 144 points, just one point below the nation’s top-scoring school.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
In late March and early April, students Neeraj Baid, Neel Bhoopalam and Simar Mangat, all grade 12, traveled to India with Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and Jennifer Walrod, global education director, to learn about entrepreneurship there and see the cultural and natural wonders the country has to offer.
Eager to learn about India’s business and technology culture, the group visited a number of important spots throughout the country. One such spot was Gurgaon, where they met with the founder of India’s largest accelerator – a firm that supports entrepreneurial enterprises – and learned about how the dominance of the mobile phone in India will have a profound effect on how business develops in the country.
They also visited the data center of SiFy, one of the biggest Internet service providers in India, and T-Labs, an accelerator designed to assist the ventures of entrepreneurs in the Internet and mobile data fields. There they met a 16-year-old prodigy who is an entrepreneur and examined the business plans of several startups.
Not ones to let a trip to such a culturally-rich country go to waste, the Harker contingent also visited many of India’s spectacular sights, including Delhi’s Lodhi Gardens, the Agra Fort and, of course, the Taj Mahal, to name a few. They even met the maharaja of Jodhpur, who was gracious enough to give the students an audience with Indian royalty.
Toward the end of the trip, the students visited The International School Bangalore (TISB) to participate in the Idea Challenge Competition, which they ended up winning, and tour the school campus, visiting classrooms and observing the life of TISB students.
The students kept an online journal of their adventures in India, which can be found at http://indiatrip.harker.org.