Toward the end of the 2009-10 school year, the first recipients of the John Near Scholar Grant were announced. Students Tyler Koteskey, Justine Liu and Olivia Zhu, all grade 12, have been spending the last few months preparing for their projects and are excited to start in earnest.
With the help of mentors, the students chose a specific topic to research with the aid of the grant. Koteskey is examining how the Confederacy incorporated diplomacy, intelligence gathering, military force and economic and political powers into its strategy during the Civil War. Specifically, he will use the Gettysburg campaign as an example of how all of these factors worked in unison to create a military strategy. “The Civil War has been a fascination of mine almost as long as history itself,” he said. “I clearly remember dressing up as a Union cavalry officer for Halloween in second grade.”
Koteskey says the grant money enabled him to travel to Pennsylvania over the summer, where he interviewed professors at the U.S. Army War College and at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center. He also visited such landmarks as Antietam National Battlefield and Gettysburg National Military Park.
Liu’s project will investigate the evolving economic relationship between China and the United States, from President Richard Nixon’s visit to China in 1972 to the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. “I started exploring some of the current challenges facing U.S.-China economic ties last year in Mr. Itokazu’s AP Macroeconomics class for our final paper and for prior debate topics,” Liu said. “I became more curious about how a relationship that has such an impact on U.S. foreign policy today has only developed in the past couple of decades, especially after analyzing the Cold War relations between China and the United States in Mr. Westgate’s AP U.S. History class last year.”
Liu plans to use the grant money to visit the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif., to look further into his presidency and find out more about his 1972 visit to China.
Zhu plans to study how the military dealt with insubordination during the Vietnam War. “I’ll be analyzing how it was tested and what the response of the military was to acts of disobedience,” she said. “I think insubordination is kind of a cool topic, since there’s always been a sense of pushing the frontier and individualism throughout American history.” The Vietnam War, she added, was also an important moment in American history because of the changing public opinion on war. “It was the first time the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) was really tested, so it serves as an important setting for this theme of insubordination.”
For her project, Zhu is considering doing some research at the Presidio in San Francisco, which was once a prison for AWOL soldiers and also a site of major protests conducted by soldiers against the Vietnam War. “If I get the chance, it would also be really great to be able to interview some veterans and hear their side of the story.”
The 2011 National Merit semifinalists have been announced by the National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to commending the academic accomplishments of high school juniors throughout the country.
Students who took the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) in 2009, about 1.5 million, were automatically entered into the contest. Less than 1 percent of students who take the exam qualify to be semifinalists.
This year, Harker has 37 senior semifinalists: Samir Asthana, Roshni Bhatnagar, Benjamin Chen, Josephine Chen, Richard Chiou, Karthik Dhore, Nikunj Donde, Hassaan Ebrahim, Rachel Fang, Nidhi Gandhi, Ejaz Haque, Ashtyn Ka, Gautam Krishnamurthi, Arthi Kumar, Max Lan, Victoria Liang, Justin Liu, Alice Loofbourrow, April Luo, Isaac Madan, Zachary Mank, Nilesh Murali, Shreya Nathan, Jasmine Nee, Nikhil Parthasarathy, Dawn Queen, Jerry Sun, Benjamin Tien, Brianna Tran, Kevin Tran, Susan Tu, Kiran Vodrahalli, Julian Wise, Erica Woolsey, David Wu, Jason Young and Olivia Zhu.
In order to become finalists, students must maintain excellent academic standing throughout their high school careers, receive an endorsement from their high school’s principal and receive SAT scores that reflect their level of performance on the PSAT/NMSQT.
Winners will receive one of three types of scholarships: one of 2,500 National Merit $2,500 scholarships, one of 1,000 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards from approximately 250 corporations, or one of 4,900 college-sponsored awards financed by about 200 colleges and universities.
Pilar Aguero-Esparza, upper school art teacher, has been participating in an artist residency in Zero1’s biennial project, “Out of the Garage,” with fellow artist H. Dio Mendoza. The pair spent time with Aguero-Esparza’s father in his shoe shop in South Central Los Angeles. They then furnished their Zero1 artist’s space in San Jose with similar equipment in order to create huarache sandals – traditional, modern and artistic – and other shoes. The Zero1 space will be open through the weekend as various events put on by all the participating artists take place. Aguero-Esparza and Mendoza presented their new line of huarache footwear at a fashion show on Sept. 18, from 7-9 p.m. at Works Gallery in San Jose. Here is a profile of their work and a video of their journey to becoming shoemakers.
This year marks the beginning of the Eagles Buddies Program, which pairs one or two sophomores with a grade 3 student to foster an ongoing relationship that will continue when the Class of 2013 graduates and the lower school students move on to middle school.
During Thursday advisory, sophomores sprawled out across desks, and even the floor, with markers, crayons and colored pens to write introductions to their new young buddies. “I’m very excited to meet you. I remember when I was in third grade. I had a buddy as well. It was lots of fun. I know we’ll have fun as well,” Apricot Tang, Gr. 10, wrote to her third-grade counterpart, Annie Ma.
“My favorite activity is tennis,” Christopher Chang wrote to his buddy, Ekdatha Arramreddy. “Maybe one day you can come watch me play. What activities do you enjoy?”
“The goals for the program are to foster a K-12 sense of community, and to promote responsibility, relationships and communication,” sophomore advisor Carol Zink said. Inspired by Butch Keller’s experiences with a similar buddy program his daughters went through, faculty and advisors from both grade levels – including sophomore class dean Jeff Draper, lower school dean of students Joe Connolly and Zink – have worked together to establish events throughout the year.
Before the official kick-off on Oct. 6, when the sophomores travel to Bucknall to meet face-to-face and play games with their buddies, the students have begun writing letters to each other to introduce themselves, sharing their summer stories and favorite activities. They’re also preparing for a fun-packed year filled with events like watching the homecoming game together, participating in the lower school’s Pajama Day and attending the Spring Spirit Week rally.
Many teachers noted how enthusiastic the sophomores were. “The girls especially got into it, filling their cards with pictures and using different color markers,” history teacher Ally Montana said.
Both students and faculty alike are looking forward to forging friendships.
“I am most looking to watching the students interact during the various activities we have planned for them at each campus,” Connolly said. “I am also looking forward to watching the relationships develop and the positive benefits each student, young and old, will receive.”
Students thronged the gym in early September shopping for a club or clubs that suit their fancy. Choices range from the robust Robotics Club to cultural clubs like the Japanese Club to the Tri-sports Club(Fencing, Ultimate Frisbee, Four Square), and included offerings from the Gay Straight Alliance and the Chemistry Club. Held during a long lunch, students ate and ran, or brought a bite to eat, to the gym. Clever recuriters strewed mini candy bars on their tables and reaped email addresses of interested students. Harker has a legacy of club activism and the tables of stalwarts like GEO (Global Empowerment and Outreach) and HEART (Harker Environmental and Animal Rights Team) were staffed by those long-committed to contributing to the world.
Students Shreya Indukuri and Daniela Lapidous, both grade 11, appear in a video (beginning at 2 minutes and 12 seconds) produced by the organization Unite for Climate in collaboration with the UNICEF Education for Development network. The video covers the grant the students won to install smart meters on the lower and upper school campuses, and how the meters have been used to monitor the school’s energy usage. It tells of how the pair helped discover previously unknown sources of consumption and reduce the overall amount of energy used by the school.
Flexible and dynamic. Such are today’s students’ information needs. And, by design, the description also applies to Harker’s new upper school library. The building’s first visitors, who toured the just-finished, 3,803-square-foot facility Aug. 20, awarded the learning space rave reviews.
“I love it!” said exuberant senior Christina Li, an avid library user. Her sentiments were echoed by dozens of parents, students and teachers as they perused the library’s sunlit main reading room, stacks, soft seating areas and classroom. Some teens were drawn to the low chairs and ottomans near the magazines and newspapers. Others made a beeline to high speed browsing computers mounted at standing height at the end of each range of books. More tested the sound-dampening effects of the library’s classroom walls by opening and closing the door. Still others tried the tablet chairs that combine cushioned comfort with a purposeful laptop surface.
Allika Walvekar, grade 12, envied underclassmen. “I wish I had this for all four years instead of one. It’s beautiful!” Happily weary from a full day of orientation activities, Vikrum Sundar, grade 9, who toured the library with his parents Jagane and Shankari Sundar, confirmed he’d be making regular use of the space.
The facility’s flexibility is no accident, according to Sue Smith, library director. “The library department was invited to participate in the design from the very beginning,” said Smith. “The result is a space tailored to the needs of learners in a dynamic information world.”
Features such as a classroom equipped with eBeam technology, expanded study tables with lighting and outlets and enhanced wireless connectivity empower the teaching and learning of information literacy. Information Literacy, the ability to seek, evaluate and use information effectively, was introduced to teachers as a curricular enhancement six years ago by former library director Enid Davis. Since then, Info Lit, as it’s often called, has become a mainstay of teaching across disciplines at the upper school.
The location of the new library – central to student traffic on the upper school campus – serves as a metaphor for students’ need for the robust virtual space the library program already provides: an online catalog, over 80 subscription databases, 30,000 searchable books and a myriad of additional tools, all available to the Harker community 24/7 through the library portal.
“The new library enhances our educational program of 21st century learning beautifully,” said Smith. “The enthusiasm of our first visitors confirms that the space is a welcome addition to our community.”
Upper school students and faculty took a break from the bustle of the first week of school to reminisce over summer – summer reading, that is. For a half hour, students met in small groups with faculty members as part of ReCreate Reading, the annual summer reading program.
Over 30 groups were organized around a specific title proposed by a teacher and selected by students last spring. Available choices included Andre Agassi’s “Open,” Eoin Colfer’s “And Another Thing,” Stephen Hawking’s “A Brief History of Time,” Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”and Greg Mortensen’s “Three Cups of Tea,” among many others. Some groups, including all freshman advisories, allowed students to choose their books, precipitating rich sharing sessions.
Allika Walvekar, grade 12, had a hard time picking her group. “I especially enjoyed the variety of choices this year,” she said. Eventually she decided on a collection of Tennessee Williams plays facilitated by Jeffrey Draper, performing arts teacher.
English teacher Jason Berry, who led a discussion about the graphic novel “Road to Perdition” by Max Allan Collins agreed, saying “The breadth and depth of what is offered and the choice allowed in choosing a book signal that reading is not some dull, laborious task that must be suffered.”
A highlight of ReCreate Reading was a heavily subscribed discussion of the award winning “Columbine” by Dave Cullen. Cullen, who spent ten years gathering material for his reportage, participated in a live Skype session with over 40 readers in Nichols Hall auditorium. Enthusiastic students’ questions were delivered to history teacher and facilitator Ally Montana who queried Cullen.
“The amount of research he has done is incredible,” said Nicole Dalal, grade 11. “To talk to him about how much his work affected his emotional behavior was really incredible.”
“The interactive format of this ReCreate Reading session was extremely engaging,” said Pooja Shah, grade 10. “Being able to ask the author questions about his or her book is a great opportunity for everyone.”
Other groups enjoyed thoughtful discussions with their faculty leaders. Max Maynard, grade 11, reported his discussion leader “found thought-provoking questions that led us to study society as a whole.” That group discussed Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians,” a fantasy title described as “a sophisticated Harry Potter.”
Alice Loofbourrow, grade 12, echoed Maynard. Her group’s discussion of Max Brooks’ “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War”was facilitated by science teacher Andrew Irvine. “We had fun just talking about zombies and what we’d do in the event of a zombie attack,” she said. “We also talked about the psychological components of the book and the idea of irrational fears.”
And yes, like most teens, Harker students did complain about summer reading activities; but they generally took a different tack than what might be expected. Most oft heard about the books: “Too short!”
The Harker Cum Laude Society’s final speaker of the 2009-10 year was none other than upper school history teacher Ruth Meyer, who shared the story of her journey from Coventry, England, to California to attend Pacifica Graduate Institute to earn her Ph.D. in depth psychology. She said her love of history came as a result of living in an area of historical significance; her birthplace of Coventry contains a cathedral that was ruined during Hitler’s Blitzkrieg of World War II.
Meyer was later admitted to Oxford, where she studied history at Corpus Christi College. She was one of 17 female undergraduates who were the first of their gender to attend the college. Her application to pursue a Ph.D. there was turned down, which led to her fulfilling that goal in the United States. Meyer concluded by discussing the research process for completing her Ph.D. and writing her book “Clio’s Circle: Entering the Imaginal World of Historians,” which examines how dreams can affect the creative process, with a focus on historians’ dreams.
In April, Harker’s Global Empowerment and Outreach (GEO) club was visited by Lauren Roach, a representative from the Toronto-based nonprofit Free the Children. Roach updated the students on how the money they raised was being used to improve conditions in rural China. In December 2008, GEO had organized a fundraising effort that generated more than $14,000 for Free the Children.
In the village of Quanyuan, a school has been built that is attended by about 300 children, Roach said. A pig was also given to every family that had a child in the school. Roach’s presentation included a quote from Zhou Xialong, 11, who said, “My happiest memory is the first day I went to the new school.”
Elsewhere, in the village of Gufubao, money was used to purchase goats, which can be used for milk and fur, as well as trade.