Senior Venkat Sankar and Arohee Bhoja, grade 8, had excellent runs at this summer’s National Junior Classical League Convention at Indiana University.
Sankar reached the top 10 in no fewer than 11 events. He took second place in Greek Derivatives IV; third place in Ancient Geography IV, Classical Art IV and Roman Life IV; fourth place in Greek Life and Literature IV, Latin Vocabulary IV and Reading Comprehension IV; sixth place in Boys Dramatic Interpretation, Sight Latin Poetry and Maps, Drawn 11-2; and ninth place in Latin Derivatives IV.
Meanwhile, Bhoja took fourth place in Sight Latin Girls II, and ninth in Latin Vocabulary II and Reading Comprehension II, and helped the team representing California reach ninth place in Intermediate Certamen.
Sankar and Bhoja also helped the California delegation win the spirit competition.
Congratulations to Maile Chung, grade 12, who is a finalist for a Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) Triple-Impact Competitor Scholarship. Chung is one of 20 Bay Area high school student athletes vying for a scholarship, out of 3,200 applicants.
PCA awards scholarships of up to $2,000 based on essays in which applicants explain how they have met the standards of personal mastery, leadership and honoring the game, as defined by PCA founder Jim Thompson in his book, “Elevating Your Game.” Winners will be selected and announced at a local awards ceremony in the fall or winter.
Chung, who earned a WBAL honorable mention in girls soccer as a junior, is also a talented musician and a member of school leadership. Good luck, Maile!
Updated: The latest video!
Early in the morning on Saturday, Aug. 20, a construction crew at Harker’s upper school campus pumped concrete into the footings of what will be the theater at the new performing arts center.
“We actually pumped approximately 1 million pounds of concrete over the course of about five hours,” said Mike Bassoni, Harker’s facilities director. The pour was carried out by a truck with a 136-foot boom that stretched nearly the entire length of the construction site.
One of the footings will act as support for the theater’s fly tower, which houses the system of ropes, pulleys, counterweights and other apparatus that stage crews use to lift and move various theater components such as lights, curtains, scenery and, occasionally, actors. Due to the size of the fly tower’s walls (which will be 75-feet tall upon completion), its footing is the largest of the two buildings. The remaining theater footings have been dug, and steel rebar has been applied, in preparation for another concrete pour on Sept. 9.
“We’re also working very quickly on the footings in the basement of the gymnasium. Those will be ready for pouring later in September,” Bassoni said. “We’re on track to keep these buildings ready for opening in 2017, and we’re very excited about the progress.”
Earlier in the month, lower and middle school families who donated to the capital campaign gathered for a pair of ice cream socials that took place in view of the construction site. Harker News will continue to post updates about the construction progress and related events every month, so stay tuned!
Beginning in June 2016 Harker launched two new state-of-the art building projects on the upper school campus, the result of a $45M capital campaign. The 33,000 square-foot athletic center, opening August 2017, features a 12,000 sq.-ft. gym, athletic training room with advanced hydrotherapy unit, and spacious team rooms. The Rothschild Performing Arts Center, opening spring of 2018, features a 450-seat theater with fly loft and hydraulic orchestra pit, a state of the art scene shop, vocal, instrumental, theater/musical theater classrooms and dressing rooms. For more information visit the news and video links below or contact communications@harker.org
Each summer, Harker’s business and entrepreneurship department holds a Wharton SOAR (Strategy, Operations, Action, Research) Camp. This year, students learned the basics of working on a team, and starting and operating a business, through a simulation focused on the needs and challenges of a box-selling company.
In this exercise, camp members assigned roles and delegated tasks to each other in order to increase the bottom line and win every “month” (every hour, in the simulation). Students incorporated marketing strategies into their business, with each team creating an advertisement skit to perform for the group.
Next came the car simulation, in which campers strengthened their teamwork skills, and learned about manufacturing and the complex operations of running a business in the automotive industry. The students were then judged on the appearance and functionality of their cars, and learned the effects of supply and demand.
Students also traveled to San Francisco, where they took an in-depth tour of the startup incubator Runway, located in the Twitter headquarters building. Campers explored futuristic inventions, like virtual reality equipment, biometric scanners and advanced hydration technologies, among others. Afterward, the group headed to the San Francisco Federal Reserve, where students learned about monetary policy, the history of the Fed, and the effects of economics on daily life. Campers also were allowed to visit the “cash” (a play on the word cache), where they saw the management and destruction of hundreds of millions of dollars worth of worn-out U.S. currency.
Keller was nominated for the award by Harker journalism teacher Ellen Austin, who told the JEA that Keller was the first administrator she felt was worthy of nominating in her 16 years as a school journalism adviser.
“With him in the principal’s chair, my students have produced stories about sex trafficking, presidential elections, feminism, sexism in tech sectors and in math classes, LGBTQ issues and equity, and more,” Austin told JEA. “Butch has not balked at nor tried to suppress any of these stories. If anything, he has just encouraged my students (and me) to ensure that our work is careful and accurate.”
The JEA and National Scholastic Press Association will honor Keller at their Fall National High School Journalism Convention, to be held Nov. 12 in Indianapolis.
In late July, Harker junior Sumati Wadhwa was honored by the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS) and was offered membership to the organization. The NSHSS seeks out and recognizes high school students with exemplary records in academics, leadership and dedication to their communities. In a press release, NSHSS president James W. Lewis said the organization “aim[s] to help students like Sumati build on their academic success by connecting them with unique learning experiences and resources to help prepare them for college and meaningful careers.”
The NSHSS was founded in 2002 by Lewis and Claes Nobel, a member of the family for which the Nobel Prize is named. High-achieving high school students are offered membership into the society, which provides a variety of opportunities, including internships, scholarships and peer networks. It currently boasts more than 1 million members in 160 countries.
Upper school students kicked off the new year in style at the 2016-17 matriculation ceremony, held at the upper school campus quad on Aug. 19.
It was apparent early on that this year’s ceremony would differ from those of years past. Upper School Head Butch Keller, who at previous ceremonies often spoke of stepping out of one’s comfort zone, decided to recite this year’s speech entirely from memory while standing away from the podium. He explained to the students how fortunate they are to be enrolled at Harker, giving special recognition to the teachers who spent their summers here and abroad learning how to improve at their jobs. “You’re lucky that you have these kinds of teachers … dedicated to being the best that they can be, so that they can make you the best that you can be.”
Keller also mentioned Harker’s extensive alumni network, which many students have used to find support systems during their time at Harker, as well as after graduation. Whether working at the White House, traveling abroad or forming their own startups, Harker’s alumni are an invaluable resource, Keller said. He identified one student with a successful company that he built by reaching out to his alumni network. “He’s making it happen because he’s relying on Harker alums all over the nation,” Keller said. “So they’ve gotten to where they are because of work ethic, humility and compassion. So they’ve set the stage for you.”
The ceremony was also highlighted by a welcome speech by ASB president Sandip Nirmel, grade 12, who said to the incoming freshmen, “Welcome to the big pond. Opportunities abound, friendly upperclassmen are plentiful and senior year twinkles in the distance like a little star. How I wonder what you are.
“Now is the time to set the tone for the next four years,” he continued. “Do you want to be remembered as the most awesomest class of all time?” The freshmen replied in the affirmative, to which he responded with, “Well, may the force be with you.”
Nirmel also addressed the other classes in attendance, offering his unique brand of advice to each group of students. He greeted the senior class to uproarious applause. “If this senior year is a carrot,” he said, “let’s extract as much juice from this carrot as possible. We want to be the very best like no one ever was!”
Apart from the speeches, the ceremony also included moving performances by the Susan Nace-led upper school women’s choir group Cantilena, whose version of “This Little Light of Mine” got the crowd amped prior to Keller’s speech, and The Harker String Quartet, directed by Chris Florio, which performed a stirring version of Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters.”
To send the students off on a high note, this year’s student council officers put on their yearly “Freshman 101” skit, in which they assumed the personages of super heroes including Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, the Powerpuff Girls and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to inform students about various upper school rules and regulations.
The Class of 2020 received a warm welcome to the upper school on Aug. 18 during freshman orientation and freshman field day. Upon arriving on campus, the freshmen were cheered on by the upper school’s Link Crew, a group of students who assist incoming grade 9 students with the transition from middle school.
After meeting with their advisors, the freshmen headed to Davis Field and the adjacent Singh Aquatic Center for a series of fun team-building activities organized by APEX Adventures. In one activity, students helped a team member walk on the field using a triangular apparatus, which was propped up by ropes held by the students’ teammates. In another, students had to fill a tube of water by using their fingers to plug holes in its side.
Bay Area high school students spent much of their summer enhancing their academic careers at the upper school’s Summer Institute. Open to students enrolled in any accredited high school, the courses – taught by caring, dedicated and highly qualified teachers – enabled students to earn credit or bolster their knowledge of a subject of interest.
Courses at this year’s upper school Summer Institute were divided into two categories. For-credit classes gave students the chance to earn academic credit in a variety of subjects, including algebra, geometry, economics and programming. Small class sizes helped to ensure each student received high-quality instruction. Many of the teachers at the Summer Institute teach at Harker year-round.
Also available was a range of enrichment courses, giving students the opportunity to explore their interests or boost their knowledge in various subject areas. Enrichment courses included Pre-Calculus Boost, Creative Writers Workshop, Driver’s Education and Climate Change.
All upper school Summer Institute courses were held at Harker’s upper school campus, which offers quality facilities and a top-notch learning environment.
“I enjoyed how both my teachers and my classmates were all focused solely on the classwork that was set for each day,” said Gene Wang, a Harker sophomore who took AP Chemistry and Advanced Programming. “There were very few distractions and very little wasted class time, which led to a lot getting accomplished each day.”
“I enjoyed the labs because they were a lot of fun and reinforced the concepts we learned during the lecture,” said Christopher Leafstrand, grade 10, who also attended AP Chemistry.
Wang said he would recommend the classes to any student who hopes to get ahead. “Although these two courses are intense, there is truly a lot of material that is covered and each student that completes this course will definitely learn a lot.”