[Update Aug. 15, 2011)
The cast and crew of “Pippin” wrapped up their Festival Fringe experience with a workshop with the cast of the American improv troupe “Baby Wants Candy.” BWC asks for the title of a fictional show from its audience each night and improvises an hour-long musical, complete with songs, scenes, plot and choreography. Harker and another high school group were able to have a private workshop with the cast of BWC, who taught the students the tricks of the improv trade!
[Update Aug. 11, 2011]
The “Pippin” cast and crew are working all the angles at the Festival Fringe in Edinburgh, Scotland. Read all about it on the Talon news site!
Aug. 4, 2011
The award-winning cast of “Pippin” arrived in London yesterday and will be headed to Edinburgh today (this evening, United Kingdom time) for their performance at this year’s Fringe Festival. The group has already had some fun in London, attending an acting workshop at the Globe Theatre and attending a performance of “Billy Elliot the Musical.”
Derek Kameda, upper school registrar, recently joined the College Board’s Consultant Advisory Panel, which was established to “review policies, procedures and activities related to the management and support of all College Board consultants,” Kameda said.
He now serves as one of 28 College Board advanced placement coordinator consultants. At this year’s AP annual conference in San Francisco, he provided his expertise to AP coordinators, giving a workshop on how to improve the administration of AP exams and offering individual mentoring to AP coordinators at another workshop.
Prior to being invited to join this panel, Kameda had been on the board that organized the 2010 AP Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.
Alexandra Mattraw Rosenboom, an award-winning poetess and Harker English teacher, has a Harker-inspired poem included in “Black and White,” the summer 2011 exhibition of New York’s Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition. The show, which opened July 16, is in a huge Civil War-era coffee warehouse, and Rosenboom’s poem, “Inside the Construction: The Brain,” is mounted and displayed at the entrance. “The poem was inspired by notes I took during our February faculty retreat,” said Rosenboom. The guest speaker at the retreat was a neuroscientist who discussed the way we develop thoughts. “Because my poem explores how humans think in black and white before our brain processes things in color, it worked quite well with the show’s theme,” she said. The show will run on weekends until Aug. 21. In addition, Rosenboom has two poems in the latest number of American Letters & Commentary, issue 22. More information on Rosenboom and her poetry can be found at her website.
Excerpt from “Inside the Construction: The Brain” by Alexandra Mattraw Rosenboom:
“… Survival in context as the reason for memory, I mistake your finger for mine. The fire hydrant for fire. Because periphery only believes in movement, city snow ticks us through signaled streets. Power lines thicken tulle fog. Colors appear but we only see in black and white first : The perfidy of an oil blackened road ….”
Three members of the Harker community participated in the Silicon Valley Youth Classic 37th Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Football Game on July 20 at San Jose State University’s Spartan Stadium. Harker coach Karriem Stinson was named head coach of the North squad, while new graduates Rishi Bhatia and Gautam Krishnamurthi were selected to the team. The team, about 45 strong, practiced on Davis Field prior to the game and played a tough game, losing 24-13. The San Jose Mercury covered the event and included a photo of Bhatia shaking hands with Lucy Wedemeyer, widow of Charlie.
This story was originally posted online in December 2007
In a tremendous run at the championship, our girls varsity volleyball team, supported by a huge number of students, family and friends, made it to the championship match, but were shut down Saturday afternoon by Santa Fe Valley Christian of Solana, in three straight games. The team repeatedly broke school records as they progressed from Central Coast Section (CCS) playoffs, taking second place, to the Northern California (NorCal) playoff series, where they won the NorCal championship against Christian Brothers of Sacramento. The girls then played in the Division IV State Championship, December 1 at San Jose State University. It was a historical first to make it to the finals to begin with and our fans were so supportive and positive throughout the season that Harker was awarded the prestigious Steve Stearns Sportsmanship Award from the CCS for our out-of-this-world fan representation. Coach Theresa Smith said, “This season has been the most incredible experience for our players, our coaches and our school. I am proud of all of us for what we’ve accomplished.”
After a historic season, Harker’s girls softball team picked up another honor this season when they had a player named to the San Jose Mercury News’ all-star roster. Alison Rugar, a sophomore, was named to the roster for her outstanding performance this year as a pitcher. She pitched 10 strikeouts against Notre Dame and consistently brought energy and enthusiasm for the game to the team.
Harker softball has been recognized for team and individual excellence and this season took its performances to new heights – it qualified for the Central Coast Section softball tournament for the first time in its history. We congratulate Rugar and the team on their accomplishments, and are looking forward to watching them capitalize on this momentum next season.
Harker journalism students started their summer off with an exciting and eye-opening trek to Europe to learn and write about the continent’s rich culture and history. The first stop on their trip was the Icelandic capital, Reykjavik, where they searched out stories and took a tour of the new Harpa concert hall, whose artistic director agreed to be interviewed by the students. From there, they went to relax at the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa.
Next on the agenda was an interview with Katrin Juliusdottir, Iceland’s minister of tourism, energy and industry, followed by a day of fun and sightseeing traveling along the Golden Circle, a popular tourist route in the south of Iceland. Among the many breathtaking sights were Skogarfoss Falls, the Solheimajokull glacier and a still-sunny sky at 11:48 p.m.
The group then traveled to England, where they stayed at the Old Rectory in Tattingstone, Suffolk, to complete their assignments from Iceland and begin work for fall journalism activities. On June 18, they went to Ipswich to find more stories. Back in Tattingstone, the students were visited by veteran Associated Press photographer Harry Hamburg, who shared his vast knowledge and many amusing anecdotes with the group.
After a productive time in England, the students boarded a train bound via the Channel Tunnel for Paris, then took the overnight train to Venice. After enjoying some food and sightseeing, the students went on another story search in Venice’s San Marco area. The remainder of their time in Venice was spent sightseeing and working on their assignments, as well as enjoying a special dinner at a 700-year-old restaurant.
On June 25, everyone gathered on a train to return to Paris, enjoying lunch during a brief stop in Milan. During their stay in the City of Lights, the students visited the famous Louvre and toured the Seine river and Notre Dame Cathedral. They also stopped by the Eiffel Tower, where they enjoyed authentic French crepes.
On June 28, after their excursion through Paris, the group hopped a train back to England, this time to London. While in the English capital, they interviewed Member of Parliament Yasmin Quresh of the Labor Party, who gave the students a tour of Parliament and answered questions about her job. The group even got to see the House of Commons and House of Lords in session.
The students arrived home safely on June 30. Articles and photos chronicling their journey through Europe are posted at www.talonwp.com.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2011 Harker Quarterly.
Good morning to all our guests: members of the Board of Trustees, administration, faculty and staff, alumni, families, friends, and to our true guests of honor, the graduating class of 2011. I currently hold the privilege of making a few remarks of farewell at graduation. This address is the last requirement standing between you and your diploma. Knowing this, and aware of the fact that you outnumber me, I will continue the tradition of confining my remarks to one page of single-spaced, size twelve font. I will continue to refrain, however, from making any promises about the size of the margins.
In this address I typically try to give one final piece of advice, such as “Dare to singletask” or “Be like Curious George.” By now, you have spent the last 13 years or more of your life cultivating your mind. You have been seeking the right answers to questions, memorizing facts, deepening understanding, mastering processes.
Now that you have reached the milestone of high school graduation largely by cultivating your mind, it may be tempting to think that the mind is central to your success and happiness in the future. And, of course, the mind is very important. Equally important, however, is the ability to go beyond your mind, to “lose your mind,” so to speak. So my advice to you today is, “Dare to lose your mind.”
Of course, I need to immediately qualify this statement. By “lose your mind” I do not mean “go crazy,” though going crazy is called for sometimes, like at football games or family reunions. I also do not mean to sound anti-academic. I am speaking more as a recovering academic. The mind is a terrible thing to waste,
but as a schoolmate of mine used to say, the mind can also be a terrible thing. Of course he used to say that to get out of doing homework. But John Milton, 17th century British poet, agreed. In Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” Satan says, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” Paradise was lost, remember, when Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge.
You too have partaken of the Tree of Knowledge, and you probably have had some late nights of homework when you felt paradise was lost. Knowledge has a way of concealing from us what we do not know. Who really knows what the smallest particle is? Whether or not Pluto is a planet? The great Irish writer Samuel Beckett asked, “Who knows what the ostrich sees in the sand?” Jiddu Krishnamurti, an Indian educator who is no relation, as far as I know, to our own Gautam, said that “Truth is a pathless land.” He meant that truth is a living thing. Any mental projection onto reality is not truth. The map will never become the terrain.
Perhaps there is another way to say this. It is too bad that accents and emphases do not play as significant a role in English as they do in other languages. As many of you know, words in Mandarin can be spoken in one of four tones, each tone signifying something different. So perhaps I mean to say “Dare to lose your mind,” with the emphasis on “your,” versus “Dare to lose your mind,” with the emphasis on “mind.” By losing your mind, you may more clearly see someone else’s; you may more clearly see the world.
One of my favorite sermons in any religion comes from the Buddha, during which he simply holds up a flower in silence. That was the entire sermon. Apparently only one of his disciples “got it.” The Buddha could tell that this disciple “got it” by the look in his eye. The world exists independent of concepts. A tree doesn’t know that it is a tree – that is our name for it, and it is only a sound coming from our mouths. A tree just is. Krishnamurti – again, not Gautam – often challenged us to look at anything without any image or word, to truly see without the mediation of thought. What is it like to see anything without words or concepts in our head? That is why we all love music, I believe, because it bypasses the head and goes straight to the heart.
Ms. Kelly Espinosa, Harker’s director of summer programs, perhaps known to you as “Ms. Kelly” when you were on the lower school campus, has a profound question sprawled across a wall in her office. The question reads, “What if the hokey pokey really is what it’s all about?” This is an astonishing question. If the hokey pokey is really what it is all about, then why do we take ourselves so seriously? Why would we want to get lost in our minds? All we have to do is put our right foot in and take our right foot out, put it back in and shake it all about. That’s life – the cycle of engagement and disengagement. A time to reap and a time to sow.
In closing, the Harker Conservatory put on a fabulous performance of the musical “Pippin” which they will perform at the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, this summer. In the musical, Pippin, played by John Ammatuna, also lives too much in his head. He constantly roams the stage looking for the meaning of existence. He finds happiness only when he stops looking for meaning in “LIFE,” all caps, and instead finds meaning in “life,” all lower case, meaning everyday living. His grandmother, played by Allika Walvekar, gives him the advice, “Oh, it’s time to start livin’. Time to take a little from this world we’re given.” (You don’t want me singing that, by the way.) So that is my advice to you today – it is time to start living, and not always from your head. If you dare to lose your mind, you might find something grander, more beautiful and mysterious, and that might just be what has been around you all the time. Thank you.
Two more Harker graduates, Arthi Kumar and April Luo, have been awarded National Merit College-Sponsored Scholarships. Kumar received her scholarship from Vanderbilt University and Luo received hers from the University of Southern California. These scholarships will provide between $500 and $2,000 each year for up to four years at the undergraduate level.
[Updated: Jan. 3, 2012]
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NSMC) recently announced the winners for 2011, and 17 Harker seniors were named winners in this year’s contest. Samir Asthana, Hassaan Ebrahim, Victoria Liang and Zachary Mank all received college-sponsored scholarships from the University of Southern California, while Roshni Bhatnagar was awarded a college-sponsored scholarship from Northwestern University. These scholarships are awarded by officials representing colleges or universities that students have indicated is their first choice.
Harker students who have been awarded National Merit $2,500 scholarships are Justine Liu, Kevin Tran, Kiran Vodrahalli, Susan Tu, Nikhil Parthasarathy, Richard Chiou, Shreya Nathan, Benjamin Tien, Josephine Chen, Jerry Sun, Jason Young, Olivia Zhu and Nilesh Murali.
Jason Young received a Nelson F. Peterson Scholarship sponsored by by Hoffman-La Rouche, which will provide $2,500 per year for four years.
More than 1.5 million high school students participate in the National Merit Scholarship Program every year by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Of these, about 8,400 – less than one percent – become winners.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2011 Harker Quarterly.
In its first year, the Harker Eagle Buddies program has thus far proven to be a runaway success. Established as a way to build a long-lasting relationship between the students at the upper and lower school campuses, the Eagle Buddies program pairs grade 3 students with one or two buddies in grade 10, with whom they will maintain contact until the Class of 2013 graduates from the upper school and the grade 3 students graduate to the middle school.
The program was started by Butch Keller, upper school head, who was inspired by the wonderful experiences his own children had in a similar program.
The sophomores began communicating with their buddies in the fall by sending cards to the lower school campus to introduce themselves and invite their buddies to talk about things they enjoyed. The buddies from both campuses first met face-to-face in October, with the sophomores being greeted enthusiastically by the third graders. After the initial meeting, Sarah Leonard, primary division head, said she was impressed with how well the third graders and sophomores hit it off. “For most, it was instantaneous,” she said. “The buddies clicked, and new friendships were born.”
They later met again at a special tailgate party held before the Harker Homecoming Game, where the parents of the grade 3 and grade 10 buddies had a chance to meet and chat with one another while their children watched the game. Liam Bakar got to watch his buddy, Robert Deng, play in the junior varsity game. The two hung out together after the game was finished, and Bakar said Deng was “very nice, and I like a lot of the things that he likes.”
In November the third graders were overjoyed to receive turkey handprint cards from their grade 10 buddies for Thanksgiving. “It was very well- received,” said Carol Zink, upper school history teacher and an Eagle Buddies coordinator. “They’re thrilled whenever they get anything from the big kids.”
Later, in January, the sophomores visited the lower school campus to participate in its annual Pajama Drive, started in 2007 by student Rishi Narain, now grade 7. During the special assembly, Keller, donning a bathrobe and leaning back in a rocking chair, read the story “We Are Going On A Bear Hunt” to the students in attendance. The buddies also enjoyed reading stories of their own to one another. Zink said the event was fun for students from both grades: the third graders got to spend quality time with upper school role models, and the sophomores had the opportunity to “lighten up and be kids for a little bit.”
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, the smaller buddies sent valentines to their big friends. The following month the favor was returned when the big kids sent St. Patrick’s Day cards to their buddies at the lower school.
Months later, the buddies celebrated Earth Day with each other by planting a tree at the upper school campus. The buddies helped dig a suitable hole for a London Plains tree which was donated by the Modern Woodmen of America and planted next to Rosenthal Field.
Later that month, the lower schoolers once again visited the Saratoga campus to participate in the upper school’s spirit rally. They enjoyed watching their sophomore friends perform a hilarious skit and also took part in the annual scream-off, where each class tried to out-yell the others. After the rally, the buddies enjoyed pizza and friendly conversation on the turf at Davis Field.
“One of the most fun things about this for me,” Zink said, “is that our high school kids get to be little kids for an hour here or there during the year.”
These activities are planned to be continued next year, when the current grade 2 and grade 9 classes move up to grade 3 and grade 10, respectively.
When this year’s buddies reach grade 4 and grade 11 at the beginning of next year, the two classes will exchange letters again to get caught up and reminisce about their summer activities. Some kind of activity for the buddies at the Family & Alumni Picnic is also planned. Toward the end of the fall 2011 semester, the two classes will team up for the Harker Toy Drive, which is the grade 4 students’ annual service project, and they will also make special holiday candy boxes for Scott Lane Elementary. The rising juniors will also visit Bucknall for a St. Patrick’s Day party, and their grade 4 buddies will likely visit Saratoga on Wednesday during the upper school’s spirit week for a special field day.