Two teams of Harker students had stellar performances at this year’s Japan Bowl, held in Washington, D.C. The Japan Bowl is a competition in which students are tested on their understanding of Japanese language and culture, including topics such as history, performing arts, geography, fashion and current events.
Harker’s level III team, made up of Crystal Chen, grade 11, Shilpa Nataraj, also grade 11 and Kimberly Ma, grade 9, took second place.
Meanwhile, the level IV team of Tiffany Jang, grade 11, Victoria Liang, grade 12 and Lorraine Wong, grade 10, became the national champions at their level of competition. The team was awarded a trip to Japan, the schedule of which is yet to be determined due to circumstances stemming from the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northern part of Japan’s Honshu island last month.
This is the second time a Harker team has won a Japan Bowl championship, following a previous win in 2009.
Two teams of Harker students had stellar performances at this year’s Japan Bowl, held in Washington, D.C. The Japan Bowl is a competition in which students are tested on their understanding of Japanese language and culture, including topics such as history, performing arts, geography, fashion and current events.
Harker’s level III team, made up of Crystal Chen, grade 11, Shilpa Nataraj, also grade 11 and Kimberly Ma, grade 9, took second place.
Meanwhile, the level IV team of Tiffany Jang, grade 11, Victoria Liang, grade 12 and Lorraine Wong, grade 10, became the national champions at their level of competition. The team was awarded a trip to Japan, the schedule of which is yet to be determined due to circumstances stemming from the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northern part of Japan’s Honshu island last month.
This is the second time a Harker team has won a Japan Bowl championship, following a previous win in 2009.
Two teams of Harker students had stellar performances at this year’s Japan Bowl, held in Washington, D.C. The Japan Bowl is a competition in which students are tested on their understanding of Japanese language and culture, including topics such as history, performing arts, geography, fashion and current events.
Harker’s level III team, made up of Crystal Chen, grade 11, Shilpa Nataraj, also grade 11 and Kimberly Ma, grade 9, took second place.
Meanwhile, the level IV team of Tiffany Jang, grade 11, Victoria Liang, grade 12 and Lorraine Wong, grade 10, became the national champions at their level of competition. The team was awarded a trip to Japan, the schedule of which is yet to be determined due to circumstances stemming from the earthquake and tsunami that hit the northern part of Japan’s Honshu island last month.
This is the second time a Harker team has won a Japan Bowl championship, following a previous win in 2009.
The Harker Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) released the inaugural edition of its newsletter in early April. “The Rainbow Connection” contains a variety of interviews, personal submissions and articles related to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) community. The newsletter features members of the Harker community including current students, alumni, a faculty member and a parent, and is available in print and online.
In his inaugural letter for the newsletter, Abel Olivas, GSA adviser and upper school Spanish teacher, said the newsletter is “an extension of the GSA’s objectives: to give a voice to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered members of our community and their families and allies.” Olivas said one of the newsletter’s goals is to provide support for LGBT folks, “facilitate their creating a space for themselves as LGBT people at our school and to promote understanding and respect for all of Harker’s diversity.”
Upper school students packed the Saratoga gym in early April to attend a talk by Stanford graduate student Carissa Romero, who earlier in the year helped administer a test made up of SAT math questions to several Harker students.
The purpose of the test was to determine how a student’s mindset on intelligence could affect the outcome of an exam. During the April assembly, Romero presented eye-opening data from various studies that strongly supported the idea that intelligence can be grown, and that a high IQ is not something people simply do or do not have.
Students who believed that higher intelligence was the result of hard work and studying, for instance, were found to have better grades on exams than those who had the “fixed intelligence” mindset. These “growth mindset” students, her data showed, also highly valued effort and said they were more likely to spend more time on something when setbacks occurred. Fixed mindset students, on the other hand, were more likely to give up or spend less time when presented with setbacks.
During her presentation, Romero also showed a video TV news segment that showed children responded differently to various types of feedback. Children who were congratulated for working hard on a problem set were more likely to attempt more challenging problems, while those who were told that they were smart favored doing sets of similar problems to avoid being discouraged. In other studies, students with the growth mindset performed better on IQ tests than did those with the fixed mindset.
These and other data added more fuel to the notion that the brain is like a muscle that can be exercised to work better and more efficiently as it forms new connections between neurons. In one example, the part of the brain that specializes in spatial abilities was shown to be larger than average in London taxi drivers.
April 29, 2011 Update: Aneesh Chopra, U.S. chief technology officer, has written an extensive blog about his visit with Daniela Lapidous and Shreya Indukuri, both grade 11. Read the blog here. April 20, 2011 Two Harker students attending Power Shift ’11 in Washington, D.C., earlier this month had the ear of 8,000 attendees, then had a private meeting with Aneesh Chopra, U.S. chief technology officer in the Obama administration. Shreya Indukuri and Daniela Lapidous, both grade 11, addressed the crowd of 8,000-plus at the conference then went on to meet with Chopra for about 30 minutes. The two students have been very active in advocating for reducing energy use through technology and other methods. A list of Harker News Online articles on their activities is at the end of this article. “The meeting [with Chopra] went really well,” said Indukuri. “He was very impressed with the opportunities for energy efficiency in schools and he wants to have Lisa Jackson, administrator of the EPA, and Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education, write a letter to schools to launch a campaign for energy benchmarking. “He loved Harker’s new energy efficiency with the smart energy system and was very supportive of our efforts to take this to other schools; we already helped students implement this project successfully in the Los Gatos – Saratoga High School District,” she added. “We also met with staff members and the director of ARPA-E, (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy),” added Lapidous. “Their director is Arun Majumdar, and they basically invest in breakthrough clean energy technologies in hopes of finding the next big thing. “We made two presentations,” said Lapidous. “The first was more of an informal conversation while the second was a formal presentation including a segment of the Alliance for Climate Education (ACE) presentation. The audience was a varying number of ARPA-E staff, who are all rather young and very nice.” Following the presentations, “Majumdar came to talk to us personally for about 30 minutes,” said Lapidous. “The post-doctoral fellow who organized the meeting for us, Karma Sawyer, said she couldn’t remember the last time she scheduled a 30-minute meeting for him – usually they are 10 minutes. He lives in the Bay Area when not working in D.C., and he knew exactly where Harker was. “Both he and Mr. Chopra said that this smart energy project was essentially a no-brainer with an obvious positive impact for schools. They both acknowledged the environmental importance but were understandably more interested in the 250 percent ROI our project turned over in about a year,” Lapidous said. “PowerShift, the meeting with Mr. Chopra, and the meeting with Mr. Majumdar were all very exciting and we are extremely inspired to work 10 times harder on SmartPowerEd and expand it to more schools in the Bay Area before the fall comes around,” she finished. http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/green-projects-featured-on-49ers-kids-program/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/energy-dashboard-goes-live/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/unicef-video-includes-activist-students-in-video/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/students-filmed-for-video-on-ace-grant-recipients/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/student-presents-at-tech-titans-conference/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/harker-trio-gangs-up-on-global-warming/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/winged-post-reports-on-teen-tech-conference/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/sophomores-report-on-l-a-climate-conference/http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/students-invited-to-climate-summit/
Update:
April 19, 2011
Swimming
Boys swimming had their first meet of the season last week, a 90-64 loss to Menlo School. Harker won six of 11 events but Menlo’s depth out-paced Harker. Kevin Khojasteh and Daryl Neubieser, both grade 11, each won two events, and Chris Ng, grade 12, won one event. Also, the 200-relay team of Khojasteh, Ng, Neubieser and Hassaan Ebrahim, grade 12, won the 200-freestyle relay. CCS qualifications were made by Khojasteh in the 200-IM and 100-breaststroke and by Neubieser in the 50-freestyle and 500-freestyle. Also, the 200-medley relay and the 200-freestyle relay teams both qualified for CCS.
April 15, 2011
Track
Early in the season, at Leland’s Quicksilver Classic, Claudia Tischler, grade 9, galloped into third place for the two-mile race (3,200), running a 12:04. At the Del Mar Classic Invitational, Tischler took first place in the girls varsity two-mile, running a 12:09. Michael Chen, grade 10, placed third in both freshman/sophomore discus and shot put, throwing 86 ft. 4 in. and 38 ft. 10 in., respectively.
At WBAL 2, at the end of March, Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 10, took first place in both the one-mile and the two-mile, running a 5:52 and 12:48, respectively. Tyler Yeats, grade 10, took second in a photo finish two-mile running an 11:33.88, missing first place by .04 seconds. Isabelle Connell, grade 10, ran the 400-meter in 1:00.25, taking second place. Puneet Sidhu, grade 12, triple jumped her way into second place at 28 ft. 10 in. Matthew Giammona, grade 10, threw the discus 95 ft. 3.5 in. placing second; his classmate Chen threw the shot put 38 ft. 5.5 in., taking third in that event.
Prior to that, at the St. Francis Invitational, Connell placed third in the JV 400-meter, breaking one minute with a lightning fast 59.80, and setting a personal record!
Tennis
Harker defeated Mission Trail Athletic League leader Carmel High (13-5) this week at Blackford. Despite losing our No. 2 singles player, Derek Tzeng, grade 11, to illness, the team was forced to ‘play up’ and the singles players played out of position. Singles players Karthik Dhore, grade 12, Chris Chang, grade 10 and Justin Yang, grade 10, were all victorious. Equally impressive were Harker’s doubles teams, who all won in straight sets, particularly No. 2 doubles Nikhil Narayen and Sachin Jain, both grade 11 (6-2, 6-0), and No. 3 team of Simar Mangat and Nikhil Panu, both grade 10, (6-1, 6-1). With the victory, Harker’s overall record stands at 9-3.
Earlier week, the boys tennis team turned things around to beat Sacred Heart Prep (SHP) at their second meeting by the same score by which SHP had defeated them in March. This time, things were different as Harker had all three of its top singles players in the match. Only second and third doubles lost, both in close third set tiebreakers. With the win, Harker improves to an overall record of 8-3 and is 7-2 in the WBAL, tied with SHP. However, we hold the tiebreaker advantage over SHP by virtue of a slim 17-15 overall set advantage.
Softball
The softball team had five wins in a row between mid-March and early April, before losing a close one this week, 4-3 to Notre Dame-San Jose. Victoria Liang, grade 12, was two for four batting and Alison Rugar, grade 10, pitched 10 strikeouts. The loss puts them in a tie for first place in league at 3-1. In early April the girls defeated King’s Academy 4-2. Rugar pitched 16 strikeouts to seal the victory. A few days prior, for the first time ever, our softball team defeated rival Castilleja 8-3; Rugar pitched 10 strikeouts and went two for three batting with a triple, double and three RBIs. Hits were also recorded from Liang, Tracey Chan, Aileen Wen, all seniors; Ashley Del Alto, grade 10; and Nithya Vemireddy, grade 9.
Baseball
Baseball lost a close one in mid-April to Woodside 2-1. Amir Mortazavi, grade 12, pitched six solid innings in the loss. A few days before, the team had a dramatic come-from-behind victory against league foe Crystal Springs. Nate Hoffman, grade 11, had a clutch bases loaded double with two outs and a 3-2 count to lead a five-run sixth inning for the 8-7 victory. In early April the team lost to Capuchino 10-4, despite a triple and a run scored by Greg Cox, grade 12.
Golf
After four straight wins early in the season, boys golf broke rhythm when the rains hit, and in early April lost to SHP 214-221, though Maverick McNealy, grade 10, earned medalist honors shooting a 37. The boys are now 4-3 in league. In an earlier match against Menlo, freshman Vik Bhagat was Harker’s low man, shooting a 39.
Volleyball
Boys volleyball went 6-0 on April 9, the second day of the Bellarmine Tournament, earning the Bronze Division Championship by defeating Serra, Leland and Valley Christian to seal the title. The week before, the team defeated King’s Academy behind 22 kills from Jacob Chappell, grade 12. Classmate Zach Mank contributed with nine blocks. At the Watsonville Tournament, the team was named silver division champs; the boys lost to Pajaro Valley before defeating Palma, Watsonville and San Benito.
Lacrosse
The girls lacrosse team’s skills are building, said coach Andrew Irvine. They beat Woodside 18-13, though the game was forfeited in the end. Woodside was short players so had to forfeit, but the teams played a 10-on-10 game (instead of the 12 players per side required) for fun. Michelle Douglas, grade 10, had 10 goals; Sam Hoffman, grade 10, had one; Jessica Son, grade 10, had one, and since she normally plays defense, scoring a goal was a rare treat; Julia Fink, grade 9, had four goals, one of which was an amazing quick stick shot; and Tiphaine Delepine, grade 10, had two goals.
Swimming
This week, girls swimming continued their dominating season in the WBAL with a 136-28 win over Menlo School. Harker won all eleven events, including one-two-three finishes in seven of the eleven events. Individual event winners were Jessica Khojasteh, grade 12 (two events); Rachelle Koch, Katie Siegel and Lucy Cheng, grade 11; Amie Chien, grade 10; and Manon Audebert and Kimberly Ma, grade 9. Audebert, Harker’s newest CCS qualifier, made the cut for the 200-meter freestyle by .08 of a second. Harker is now 4-0.
In late March, the girls swimming won their third straight meet at Castilleja, 121-49, winning 10 of 11 events. Double event winners were Khojasteh and Audebert. Other winners were Cheng, Siegel and Ma, as well as all three relays. Harker had one-two-three finishes in both the 500-free and the 100-breaststroke, and one-two finishes in both free relays.
This article was originally published in the Harker Quarterly Spring 2011 Edition
Harker managed to reach two milestones in January when Intel announced that seven Harker seniors — Roshni Bhatnagar, Josephine Chen, Benjamin Chen, Rohan Mahajan, Nikhil Parthasarathy, Susan Tu and Jason Young — were named Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists, a California record. Two weeks later Harker became the only school in the nation to have two finalists, Mahajan and Parthasarathy. At press time both were preparing to travel to Washington, D.C., to compete against 38 other high school students in the final round.
October brought the announcement that Jacqueline Wang, grade 10, had been named a regional finalist in the 2010 Siemens competition. Regional semifinalists from Harker were Bhatnagar, Mahajan, Parthasarathy and Supraja Swamy, grade 12.
Students teamed up with mentors to complete the projects they had submitted for the contests. The mentors used their experience and expertise to provide guidance to the students as they conducted their research, while also fostering their intellectual curiosity. “I worked very closely with my mentors to complete the project,” said Parthasarathy, who worked with University of California, Santa Cruz mentors Sandra Faber, professor of astronomy, and Kamson Lai, a postdoctoral scholar in the astronomy and astrophysics department. His project dealt with the structure of distant galaxies. “When I first arrived at Santa Cruz, they gave me a lot of help to understand the necessary background information and also introduced me to many of the tools astronomers use to analyze galaxies.”
“Although only a high school student, I was given the freedom and the resources to pursue any topic that interested me and to contribute my thoughts and ideas during lab meetings and discussions,” said Chen, who studied the effects the compound celastrol has on reducing asthmatic symptoms. “Supported by the guidance of the entire lab, I dared to venture further, performing experiments no one else in the lab was familiar with.”
Working on the projects with mentors in labs also provides insight to the students on the kinds of research and experiments they will be doing at the college level. “The work that Nikhil did is comparable to what we would give a beginning graduate student,” said Faber. “He picked things up remarkably fast, and it was a pleasure working with him.”
Students also get to experience the thrill of making discoveries that could have a significant real-world impact. “Realizing the impact our findings could have on emotion regulation research was a seminal moment for me,” said Bhatnagar, whose project on how the insula, a small part of the brain, changes its size according to how people manage negative emotions earned her a semifinalist ranking in both the Intel and Siemens competitions. “This study was really exploratory. There were very few similar studies to compare with.”
These recent successes bolster Harker’s already impressive track record in these and other science competitions. Mahajan and Parthasarathy became the third and fourth Intel finalists from Harker since the school began participating five years ago, and Wang is the second consecutive regional finalist from Harker in the Siemens competition.
“One of the things that we emphasize at Harker is pushing yourself to reach your potential. It’s just another bar [students] set for themselves,” said Anita Chetty, science department chair. “I just want to offer as many opportunities as I can, and it’s up to the students themselves to decide if they what to participate.”
“The education I got at Harker was invaluable in preparing me for my research,” Parthasarathy said. “Because of the interdisciplinary nature of astrophysics, this project really combined the knowledge I got at Harker in areas such as math, physics and computer science.”
Chetty pointed out that several other departments in addition to science also contribute greatly to Harker’s success in science competitions. At the first January assembly to announce Harker’s Intel semifinalists, teachers from the science department who read the students’ projects and offered guidance in the submission process, noted how much the writing of the projects had improved.
“[The paper is] the only way of communicating what they’ve done and what they think about it,” Chetty said. “It has to be detailed enough, yet it has to be clear and you can’t ramble on.” She credited Harker’s English and history departments as well as its librarians for training the students to write high-caliber papers.
“It gets back to the standard that we set in each of our departments,” she said. “I really believe it’s important to recognize we are actually teaching the same skills, even though we may be using different disciplines.”
This article originally appeared in the spring 2011 Harker Quarterly.
Harker managed to reach two milestones in January when Intel announced that seven Harker seniors — Roshni Bhatnagar, Josephine Chen, Benjamin Chen, Rohan Mahajan, Nikhil Parthasarathy, Susan Tu and Jason Young — were named Intel Science Talent Search semifinalists, a California record. Two weeks later Harker became the only school in the nation to have two finalists, Mahajan and Parthasarathy. At press time both were preparing to travel to Washington, D.C., to compete against 38 other high school students in the final round.
October brought the announcement that Jacqueline Wang, grade 10, had been named a regional finalist in the 2010 Siemens competition. Regional semifinalists from Harker were Bhatnagar, Mahajan, Parthasarathy and Supraja Swamy, grade 12.
Students teamed up with mentors to complete the projects they had submitted for the contests. The mentors used their experience and expertise to provide guidance to the students as they conducted their research, while also fostering their intellectual curiosity. “I worked very closely with my mentors to complete the project,” said Parthasarathy, who worked with University of California, Santa Cruz mentors Sandra Faber, professor of astronomy, and Kamson Lai, a postdoctoral scholar in the astronomy and astrophysics department. His project dealt with the structure of distant galaxies. “When I first arrived at Santa Cruz, they gave me a lot of help to understand the necessary background information and also introduced me to many of the tools astronomers use to analyze galaxies.”
“Although only a high school student, I was given the freedom and the resources to pursue any topic that interested me and to contribute my thoughts and ideas during lab meetings and discussions,” said Josephine Chen, who studied the effects the compound celastrol has on reducing asthmatic symptoms. “Supported by the guidance of the entire lab, I dared to venture further, performing experi- ments no one else in the lab was familiar with.”
Working on the projects with mentors in labs also provides insight to the students on the kinds of research and experiments they will be doing at the college level. “The work that Nikhil did is comparable to what we would give a beginning graduate student,” said Faber. “He picked things up remarkably fast, and it was a pleasure working with him.”
Students also get to experience the thrill of making discoveries that could have a significant real-world impact. “Realizing the impact our findings could have on emotion regulation research was a seminal moment for me,” said Bhatnagar, whose project on how the insula, a small part of the brain, changes its size according to how people manage negative emotions earned her a semifinalist ranking in both the Intel and Siemens competitions. “This study was really exploratory. There were very few similar studies to compare with.”
These recent successes bolster Harker’s already impressive track record in these and other science competitions. Mahajan and Parthasarathy became the third and fourth Intel finalists from Harker since the school began participating five years ago, and Wang is the second consecutive regional finalist from Harker in the Siemens competition.
“One of the things that we emphasize at Harker is pushing yourself to reach your potential. It’s just another bar [students] set for themselves,” said Anita Chetty, science department chair. “I just want to offer as many opportunities as I can, and it’s up to the students themselves to decide if they what to participate.”
“The education I got at Harker was invaluable in preparing me for my research,” Parthasarathy said. “Because of the interdisciplinary nature of astrophysics, this project really combined the knowledge I got at Harker in areas such as math, physics and computer science.”
Chetty pointed out that several other departments in addition to science also contribute greatly to Harker’s success in science competitions. At the first January assembly to announce Harker’s Intel semifinalists, teachers from the science department who read the students’ projects and offered guidance in the submission process, noted how much the writing of the projects had improved.
“[The paper is] the only way of communicating what they’ve done and what they think about it,” Chetty said. “It has to be detailed enough, yet it has to be clear and you can’t ramble on.” She credited Harker’s English and history departments as well as its librarians for training the students to write high-caliber papers.
“It gets back to the standard that we set in each of our departments,” she said. “I really believe it’s important to recognize we are actually teaching the same skills, even though we may be using different disciplines.”
This article was originally published in the Harker Quarterly Spring 2011 Edition
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.