The National Merit Scholarship Corporation issued its final list of 2022 National Merit winners today, identifying 2022 graduates Kate Olsen, Vienna Parnell and Bodhisatta Saha as winners of college-sponsored scholarships. Congratulations to all 13 of Harker’s 2022 National Merit scholarship winners!
June 2, 2022:
Catherine He ’22 was named a winner of a National Merit Scholarship yesterday in the third round of winners in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program, becoming the 10th winner from the Class of 2022. The scholarships awarded in this round were financed by US colleges and universities and awarded by officials from the sponsor colleges to finalists who plan to attend the institution providing the scholarship. He’s scholarship was provided by the University of Southern California. The next and final round of National Merit Scholarship winners will be announced July 11.
May 11, 2022:
Today, seniors Alice Feng, Arnav Gupta, Victoria Han, Rishab Parthasarathy, Sasvath Ramachandran and William Zhao were named winners of $2,500 scholarships in the 2022 National Merit Scholarship Program. These awards were granted to finalists who, according to NMSC, possessed “the strongest combination of accomplishments, skills and potential for success in rigorous college studies.”
The next winners announcement is scheduled for June.
Apr. 27, 2022
Seniors Cady Chen, Irene Yuan and Emily Zhou were among the first round of 2022 National Merit Scholars announced today. All 1,000 winners in this round, selected from those who reached the finalist level in this year’s competition, received corporate-sponsored scholarships. All three of the Harker winners were awarded scholarships sponsored by Nvidia Corporation.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation will announce more winners over the next few months until the final list of winners is revealed in July. This story will be updated as additional Harker winners are announced.
This story originally appeared as a photo gallery in the fall/winter 2021 issue of Harker Magazine. The full story with photos is published on issuu.
Harker’s new middle school was bustling with excited students and eager educators on Aug. 24, 2021 for the first day back to school after more than a year of distance learning, and the grand opening of the new middle school campus.
“This new campus has allowed us to be intentional and design spaces that create more community and allows students, teachers and administrators to feel more connected,” said Evan Barth, middle school head. “This accomplishment reflects the passion, dedication and hard work of countless community members and supporters.”
Brian Yager, head of school, also noted that the new campus marks a milestone in Harker’s history as it now owns all of the school’s campuses, which has been part of the school’s strategic plan. “Harker’s dream has been fulfilled and now the focus is on the students and teachers, who will bring this new campus to life.”
This story originally appeared in the fall/winter 2021 issue of Harker Magazine. The original version of this story is published on issuu.
A strong school library program results in higher student achievement, including test scores and subject mastery. That’s what 30 years of research has shown – and these correlations aren’t explained away by student-teacher ratios, teacher qualifications, or demographics. These benefits are why The Harker School has such a deep commitment to its library. The Harker library program is the school’s pedagogical backbone, an integral and essential part of the entire TK-12 academic program.
Harker librarians are teachers and their subject is information literacy. Using the library’s extensive resources, librarians collaborate with teachers in every grade and in every subject, whether reading stories to first graders, showing middle schoolers how to search a database or teaching upper school students proper citation formats. They meet with individual classes and are available for drop-in meetings with individual students.
Librarians also serve as a resource for teachers. They guest lecture, they team- teach classes, and they serve as teacher consultants.
Harker librarians promote literacy: Besides author visits and book clubs, programming includes the award-winning Re-create Reading Day, the student-run Book Blog and the teacher-founded Tournament of Books. Students of all ages say they love to pick librarians’ brains, browse the stacks and curl up in one of the many comfy reading spots the three libraries provide.
“There’s no more important time to have a library,” said Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs. “Our students are bombarded with a wealth of information and they need to know how to make sense of it. The strength of the library is really with the personnel and what they bring to our program. Our librarians are true experts in information literacy.”
“Our curriculum is about enabling students to become information literate, to be critical thinkers, to form habits of mind,” said Lauri Vaughan, Harker’s award-winning published library director since 2018.
With the advent of the internet and Harker’s upper school expansion, an outstanding library program was the central goal of Sue Smith and Enid Davis, Harker’s visionary former library directors. “The women who preceded me created this quietly awesome program that ranks nationally,” said Vaughan, who has worked at Harker for 15 years. “If there was an Olympics for school libraries, I think we’d get the gold.”
What is information literacy?
Harker’s library program focuses on four areas: information literacy, pleasure reading, robust resources and curricular collaboration. The keystone is information literacy, defined on the library website as “the ability to effectively find, evaluate and use information across all media and disciplines.”
“Information literacy is the difference between absorbing what a teacher is telling you versus finding something out for yourself and translating that into your own lesson,” said senior Ann Ryan, who plans to study chemical engineering in college. “You need to be able to understand what different sources are telling you, even if you’re not going into academics after graduation.”
Information literacy takes skilled, trained professionals to teach it – “information evangelists,” Vaughan calls them. At a time when many schools are laying off librarians and turning their facilities into media centers, Harker’s program has a staff of 12, including six librarians with master’s degrees in library science. Many have education degrees and general classroom experience as well.
The library curriculum at Harker extends from transitional kindergarten through grade 12, said Meredith Cranston, campus librarian for the upper school. “We scaffold these skills in ways that are developmentally appropriate, given the age level of the students, to introduce, reinforce and master these various skills of information literacy.”
Using college-level frameworks, she said, the goal is that by the time students graduate, they are research-ready, which means they are ready to pursue independent learning in universities and colleges. “We’re always thinking, what do we want our students to know, and understand and be able to do by the time they graduate? What kind of mindset do they need for information- literate thinking?”
It starts in the lower school, where students are introduced to the importance of finding and evaluating sources, paraphrasing what the sources say and citing where they got their information. Cranston’s 6-year-old son James, grade 1, looks forward to going to the library every Friday, he said. He likes the train books.
“My favorite thing in the library is just the whole library class,” he said. “I like that I get to hear stories and then go get a book. It’s just like a map and you travel around the world in stories.”
When Cranston and the other first graders were learning about animal homes – nests, burrows, caves – Kathy Clark, campus librarian for the lower school, showed them how to find information in databases and books.
“What we want them to do is understand how to take notes, how to pull the information out of these sources,” Clark said. “We don’t say, this is a database. We say, here’s another source of information for you. And it’s always a source that we trust. We’re not sending little ones out onto the open web to try and navigate.”
The rudiments of citation begin early as well, she said. “You have to give credit where you found your information. In first grade, it’s just simply, what’s the title of the book you got some of your information from? Because you didn’t just make it up.”
These skills become increasingly sophisticated through the lower school. They are built on in middle school so that by the time a student gets to the ninth grade, they are fine-tuning their citations and taking quizzes in paraphrasing. As they progress through the upper school, students have learned that librarians are resources who can help them do deep research and produce original work.
What does it mean to be a teacher librarian?
All this wouldn’t be possible without collaboration between librarians and subject teachers.
“Our classroom teachers talk the talk when it comes to information literacy, and they walk the walk in terms of collaborating with us on inquiry-based learning projects,” said Cranston. “It’s across the curriculum. Generally it originates with a teacher saying there’s some aspect of their course that students aren’t getting. They want students to dig deeper and learn more.”
That was biology teacher Kristen Morgensen ‘93’s experience when she was getting ready to teach her eighth graders about cystic fibrosis. As a microbiologist she was excited about teaching the topic and she wanted to get her students excited too. That’s where Bernie Morrissey, campus librarian for the middle school, came in.
Morgensen had started with the idea that her students would make posters. Morrissey suggested turning the poster topic into a question: “Which topic that we’ve studied so far this year is most useful for understanding cystic fibrosis? Why?” The assignment went from a general report to making an argument for one of three possible answers: diffusion and osmosis, genetics and heredity or DNA structure and mutations.
“That’s huge, because that’s science, right?” said Morgensen. “Claim, evidence, reasoning. I got some great, great projects, because they had to argue it. I had the idea and Bernie revamped it and made it what it is.”
The students learned the same information about the disease, Morrissey noted. “But this was at a much deeper level, and I think in a more interesting way. They’re more engaged with the material. It also helps emphasize the cumulative nature of studying science, the way scientific knowledge builds on other knowledge. These kids are super lucky to have two teachers essentially planning this experience for them. That’s pretty rare.”
Librarians also serve as co-teachers with subject teachers. Amy Pelman, upper school librarian, plays a prominent role in English teacher Brigid Miller’s popular Graphic Narrative class. Her contributions include a lecture on the history of the form and an introduction to the class research project.
“I couldn’t teach this class without her,” Miller said. “Amy is ridiculously well-read in general, and when it comes to graphic novels, she’s read everything. Plus she’s really happy when she gets to talk about this form and that passion spreads to the students.”
What are electronic resources and digital archives?
Whether finding a book to read or doing research, Harker students have 24/7 access to college-level online resources, including e-books, audiobooks and some 90 subscription databases – a searchable online collection providing access to scholarly journals, newspapers, images, movies and more. By the 10th grade, Harker students are proficient in navigating these resources, as well as NoodleTools, which they’ve been using since the fourth grade. NoodleTools is an online research management platform with three different levels that helps students build citations, take notes and organize their sources.
The electronic collection is maintained by Qi Huang, electronic resources librarian, who is also deeply involved with the Harker Digital Archives. Harker’s physical archives, an unusual collection for a school, go back 125 years. The school began digitizing it about five years ago. Nearly 16,000 pages have been scanned so far and they include yearbooks, newsletters, brochures and flyers. The earliest item in the digital archive so far is a 1924 student newspaper called The Jolly Cadet.
Recently launched, the site can be viewed online by the Harker community. Vaughan is already getting queries from teachers who want to use the archives for their classes, such as reviewing the newspapers over the years to see how students felt about different topics.
“We’re excited to make available anything that can bring to life a sense of what it was like to be a member of the Harker community during any particular time period,” she said, noting that the archives, both digital and physical, figured prominently during Harker’s 125th anniversary celebration in 2018-19. “We have a long and rich history with interesting and fascinating people.” The school also manages a separate photo archive with historic photos dating back to 1893, to which the community also has access.
Three-way collaboration: Teachers, librarians and students
These electronic resources are endowed in part by the Near/Mitra research program, which is a key way that Harker librarians work with upper school students. Every spring, eight to 10 juniors are selected from 40 to 50 applicants – about a quarter of the following year’s senior class – to pursue a non-credit, year-long research project. Near scholars explore United States history while Mitra scholars research humanities topics. Each student is matched with at least two mentors: a subject area specialist and an information specialist.
A visit from librarians to her junior year English class inspired Ellen Guo ’20 to write a Near scholar paper she titled “Bi Means of Queer: A Bisexual View of Sedgwick’s ‘Closet.’”
The librarians had taught the class about critical theory. The assignment was to select one and use it to analyze “The Scarlet Letter.” Guo chose the lens of queer theory.
“I got super interested in queer theory and I started looking at the literature,” she said. “My research project evolved into a theoretical angle about HIV/ AIDS and its impact on our understanding of bisexuality and homophobia.”
During the process, she met several times a month with her mentors, Cranston and upper school history teacher Donna Gilbert, who in 2009 stewarded the original Near scholars program with Sue Smith. “Ms. Gilbert helped me out with parsing through the historical context of the stuff I was researching,” Guo said. “And if there were sources that I needed that weren’t easily accessible, Ms. Cranston was great about providing them.”
Now a sophomore at Columbia University, Guo is on an engineering track but she’s still drawn to theory. “Perhaps more important than the actual content of the theory were the skills, specifically from Near/Mitra, that I developed,” she said. “As somebody who’s always considered herself a STEM person, being able to think in a way that’s very different from how I usually think is one of the greatest things that I took from Near/Mitra.”
Working with these students is incredibly rewarding, Cranston said. “Every year I think this is just such a wonderful and rich and unique experience, and nothing could ever top this. And then the next year again, it is special and rich and unique.”
As is the entire library program. Every 17-year-old today is a creator of information, said Vaughan. That means they have tremendous power – and tremendous responsibility.
“It’s about being part of the information community on every level, whether we’re talking about journalism, sharing a good book that you’ve read, writing an academic paper, publishing a book or being interviewed on television. How do you professionally, ethically, intelligently and creatively participate in the exchange of ideas and information? That’s how we want to empower our students.”
This story originally appeared in the fall/winter 2021 issue of Harker Magazine. The original version of this story is published on issuu.
The impact of the pandemic and the political and social upheavals of the past two yearshave prompted reflection and action by individuals and institutions alike. Harker is no exception, and the entire community has been involved in various ways in Harker’s self-reflection, assessment, and commitment to continue being the best school it can be for the students and the world.
An important component of this reflection was partnering with the National Association of Independent Schools in spring 2021 to conduct an “Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism (AIM)” to gauge and improve the inclusiveness of our school community for all members. Greg Lawson, then assistant head of school for student affairs, spearheaded the survey with the help of a faculty and staff committee of seven. The survey was offered in English, Spanish and Chinese to students, parents, faculty, staff and alumni. “It was important to get feedback from all our constituents to have the best data possible,” Lawson noted. “We were very pleased with the level of participation and extremely grateful for the valuable feedback our community took the time to share with us.” The results were analyzed by the administration and shared with the community. According to Brian Yager, head of school, the survey results indicated two key areas of suggested growth: 1. for multiculturalism to be integrated more intentionally into the curriculum; 2. for faculty and administrators to continue enhancing our capacity to bring out the best in our students in working with, understanding and embracing their roles as citizens of a diverse school and world. “While Harker has considered each of these areas a priority for many years, we are exploring further avenues to achieve success in these areas,” he said.
The survey feedback revealed high marks for the school’s respect for diversity shown by students, administrators, faculty and staff, and confidence in the school’s commitment to fostering an environment “where all members … feel included and affirmed.” Yager found this heartening but asserted that this work is never done. “Being an inclusive and safe space for students and staff alike will always continue to be a top priority for the school.”
Inclusive Curriculum and Programs
While Harker evaluates the curriculum routinely to ensure it meets the needs of students in an ever-changing landscape, the events of the past 18 months led the school to a deeper analysis. This included reviewing how we teach the history and works of marginalized people, particularly in the English and history curriculum. “The works we have taught to students have evolved over time,” explained Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs. “Teachers in our English departments have also taken time to review the titles and works we teach; while we are making some title changes, we are also looking at how we are teaching all of the works. Teachers are discussing as a department how to best leverage the opportunities we do have in each work to further our DEI mission and understandings.”
At the lower school, diversity co-coordinators Kathy Clark, campus librarian, and Andi Bo, grade 3 English teacher, have provided resources to teachers on a variety of topics, which are then integrated into classroom instruction.
“I was an adult before I saw myself reflected in a book,” said Clark, who is Chinese-American. “Knowing that and understanding that dynamic, we need to reflect who our kids are, so finding materials that are of their culture, characters that reflect who they are and give other people insight into who they are – that’s always been very important to me.” Clark and Bo also have worked with the administration to expand perspectives in areas such as the English curriculum. “We’re trying to freshen up the curriculum and make sure there is enhanced diversity within that,” said Clark.
Other departments, such as history, have made similar inroads. “Our teachers are consciously ensuring that diversity, equity and inclusion are finding a place in the classrooms,” said history chair Mark Janda, who also serves on the school’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee. “It’s not just happening by accident. There is a conscious effort to make sure that the curriculum reflects all our students.” American history classes, as an example, have increased their survey of the women’s liberation and LGBTQ+ rights movements. The civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s and its links to the Black Lives Matter movement has also become a staple in required U.S. history courses. Classes on the Holocaust, social justice and social psychology also have been added to the curriculum.
The middle school began holding a series of assemblies called “Windows and Mirrors” last year. “We wanted to provide students a window through which to see cultures other than their own, and a mirror for those who belong to those cultures,” explained Patricia Lai Burrows, assistant middle school division head. The first of these assemblies was held in September 2020, during which Andy Lulka spoke via Zoom on the experiences of living in Jewish communities in Mexico and Canada. Other assemblies welcomed poet Jonathan Rodriguez, Hawaiian cultural camp director Kawika Shook, Kwanzaa storyteller Diane Ferlatte, and director/activist Gabrielle Gorman. “It’s been a meaningful and eye-opening series that has led to a deeper understanding of life experiences different from our own,” Burrows added.
Additionally, in an effort coordinated by our newly formed Student Diversity Committee, representatives from the Muwekma Ohlone tribe visited the upper school campus in May for the unveiling of a monument that signified Harker’s formal recognition of the land it rests on as the ancestral home of the Thámien Ohlone-speaking people, the Muwekma Ohlone’s direct ancestors. Additional land acknowledgement assemblies were held on Harker’s middle and lower school campuses in October. Gargano noted, “Our history department chairs are creating a scope and sequence of how and when we teach about the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, as well, to ensure a well-articulated progression of topics and discussions as it relates to this community.”
Diversity on Campus
The AIM survey recommendation to diversify faculty and administrators at Harker is one the school will continue to take to heart. “We search nationwide for the best teaching candidates for each position at Harker,” said Gargano. “We also work to ensure that each new teacher enhances and enriches our community, and we recognize that having a diverse teaching body contributes to that.”
Providing the Harker experience to as broad a group of students as possible has been a priority for the school for years, according to Danielle Holquin, K-12 admission director. “In addition to various outreach efforts over the years, the new Alumni Scholarship Endowment funded by Andy Fang ’10 bolsters need-based financial aid to students who qualify for admission,” she said. “Our goal is always to bring the best group of learners to our school given our mission and our program,” added Yager. “We believe there are diverse students out there who would benefit from our program – and bring benefit to it – and our goal continues to be to find them.”
Diversity Training and Awareness
Harker has had a long history of diversity education, particularly in faculty training. The annual faculty retreat, organized by Gargano, has had diversity education as a key component as far back as 2012, when Jayasri Ghosh spoke on the ways culture affects interactions between teachers and students. Other initiatives include the addition of DEI-related works into the faculty summer reading lists, started in 2014; and since 2017 Harker has hosted a yearly event featuring Rodney Glasgow, Ed.D., a noted speaker and facilitator on DEI issues and head of school at Sandy Spring Friends School in Sandy Spring, Md. “We understand the import of discussing these topics,” said Gargano. “Each day as a faculty we have a great impact on the types of adults and future citizens our students become. We do not take this responsibility lightly.”
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
The school’s DEI Committee was formed in 2013 with just under a dozen members. It has now grown to 70 faculty and staff who represent all divisions and support the DEI coordinators, who are Janda, Rebecca Williams, Tyeshia Brown and Karriem Stinson, and the division by Andy Fang ’10 bolsters need-based financial aid to students who qualify for admission,” she said. “Our goal is always to bring the best group of learners to our school given our mission and our program,” added Yager. “We believe there are diverse students out there who would benefit from our program – and bring benefit to it – and our goal continues to be to find them.”
Diversity Training and Awareness
Harker has had a long history of diversity education, particularly in faculty training. The annual faculty retreat, organized by Gargano, has had diversity education as a key component as far back as 2012, when Jayasri Ghosh spoke on the ways culture affects interactions between teachers and students. Other initiatives include the addition of DEI-related works into the faculty summer reading lists, started in 2014; and since 2017 Harker has hosted a yearly event featuring Rodney Glasgow, Ed.D., a noted speaker and facilitator on DEI issues and head of school at Sandy Spring Friends School in Sandy Spring, Md. “We understand the import of discussing these topics,” said Gargano. “Each day as a faculty we have a great impact on the types of adults and future citizens our students become. We do not take this responsibility lightly.”
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
The school’s DEI Committee was formed in 2013 with just under a dozen members. It has now grown to 70 faculty and staff who represent all divisions and support the DEI coordinators, who are Janda, Rebecca Williams, Tyeshia Brown and Karriem Stinson, and the division leadership teams of Bo and Clark (lower school); Bernie Morrissey and Abigail Joseph (middle school); and Susanne Salhab and Eric Johnson (upper school). DEI Committee members have regularly attended the National Association of Independent Schools’ People of Color Conference (PoCC) to gather and share ideas about DEI work and ways that schools can implement them. Joseph, the middle school learning, innovation and design director, remembered being the only faculty member to attend PoCC in 2011, her first year at Harker. The following year, she was joined by Burrows, Janda and middle school English department chair Arabelle Chow, who all traveled to Washington, D.C., for the conference. “That outing to D.C. sparked interest in finding ways to help the school embrace and grapple with the challenging work of bringing DEI into the forefront of the work that we do,” said Joseph. Now, six students and between six and 10 faculty and staff attend the conference each year. Stinson, the lower and middle school’s assistant athletic director and a DEI coordinator, has attended PoCC since 2014. “It’s so powerful to see people that look like you and that are in the same situation as you,” he said.
Brown, assistant to the assistant head of school for student affairs and one of the DEI coordinators, has also attended. “My life is diversity work, being a Black person myself,” she said. “My kids attend Harker and helping the school understand the importance of cultural competence, cultural humility is important to me.”
Student Organizations Following the mass unrest and protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd, an upper school Student Diversity Coalition (SDC) was founded in fall 2020. Co-founders Uma Iyer, grade 12, and Natasha Yen ’21 were inspired to form the coalition after Harker hosted a group of students to attend the 2019 Student Diversity Leadership Conference, an annual nationwide conference in which students from independent schools learn how to discuss social justice topics with their peers and educators and find ways to ensure their schools are welcoming and safe for marginalized groups.
The founding of the SDC also led to the founding of affinity groups, which the DEI Committee had been building up to foryears. Recently founded affinity groups such as the Black Student Union (BSU) and Latinx Student Union provide spaces for people belonging to those groups to meet and discuss topics related to their everyday experiences or just be their authentic selves. “[The BSU] has been a good space for us to just say what we’re feeling and get advice on anything if we need help,” said SDC officer Dina Ande, grade 10. The events of 2020, she said, were a major factor in her decision to be more active in combating racism in her communities. “I finally realized that it’s important that we discuss it, and I had these emotions built up that I didn’t really want to let out … but having the opportunity to let it out felt really nice.” Last year, the BSU and SDC co-organized an online event with University of Georgia professor Bettina Love, who holds a doctorate in educational policy studies and spoke on Black history and building a new society free of oppression.
One initiative of the DEI Committee has been Challenge Day, an optional all-day program where participants are led through activities designed to encourage peer support. The Challenge Day staff led the first one at Harker in February 2020 just before the pandemic, and the SDC has now taken the lead on this annual offering, holding the most recent one in September. This year the students, staff and faculty participating became peers in this social-emotional learning program, which included ice- breaking activities that involved singing, dancing, locking arms and – in a show of collective affection that had become rare during the COVID-19 pandemic – hugging. “Challenge Day inherently furthers diversity, equity and inclusivity initiatives because the program is designed to create an inclusive space for high school students and faculty,” said Iyer. “The program addressed deep topics such as racism, homophobia, ableism, hate and mental health, which not only bring awareness to these topics, but also starts conversations.”
Harker’s Gender-Sexuality Alliance (GSA) is one of the school’s most enduring advocacy groups, founded more than 20 years ago. It has been a driving force behind many efforts to benefit the school’s LGBTQ+ community, including the introduction of gender-neutral restrooms and the practice of stating one’s pronouns. In 2019, middle school students founded their own GSA, and one of its founding members, junior Aastha Mangla, is now co-president of the upper school GSA, along with junior Aniket Singh. The GSA continues to be a key resource for LGBTQ+ students, particularly those new to Harker. “When I came here, it was a nice way to learn all the LGBTQ+ tips and tricks at Harker,” said one member of the LGBTQ+ student community, who preferred not to be named. “Like where all the best gender-neutral restrooms are, how to talk with teachers about pronouns and that kind of thing.”
They also continue to regularly reach out to the greater community on topics relevant to LGBTQ+ students, including a popular panel of upper school students who speak at other campuses. “We found that [middle school students] learn a lot through that, and that has been a really meaningful experience,” said Singh.
Both Singh and Mangla agreed that one significant area of improvement has been the practice of making sure teachers use students’ proper pronouns, instituted recently at the behest of Harker administrators. “When I was a freshman, I didn’t see a lot of teachers give that survey asking for pronouns and names and whether you wanted your pronouns to be used in front of parents, teachers, faculty, etc.,” said Mangla. “But this year all my teachers asked for pronouns, which I find really heartening. I’m honestly really proud of the direction the community’s going in, and I think we’ve made lots of improvement.
Focusing on the Future
According to Yager, the hiring of a diversity director is in the works, along with the continuation of the existing diversity leadership and committees at each campus. “We are grateful for the dedication of our DEI leadership and the many hands that have gotten us this far,” said Yager. “l look forward to having a director in place to coordinate our efforts and help us deepen our impact.” Harker’s DEI Committee has been compiling suggestions on this the new position, which will hopefully be filled by the start of the 2022-23 school year. “We’ve done a lot of research and pulled from other director descriptions from other schools in our area and from across the country,” said Brown.
Though Harker’s DEI work may never truly be complete, those directly involved with the work have expressed happiness with the progress made so far. Williams, a middle school English teacher and DEI coordinator, is encouraged by the buy-in for DEI initiatives demonstrated by faculty and administration. “There have been some major steps over the last couple of years that really indicate Harker standing behind this vision of creating a school that is equitable and inclusive and diverse,” she said. Another indication is the growth of Harker’s DEI Committee. “There are two leaders on each campus now,” said Stinson. “There are things now that we didn’t have two years ago. That happened really fast. It’s really cool to see that.”
In May, recent graduate Brooklyn Cicero was selected to be featured in the Global Online Academy’s 2021-22 Catalyst Exhibition Showcase. Cicero’s presentation on the unique mental health challenges faced by teens of color was one of more than 500 submitted for inclusion in the exhibition; just over 20 were published.
The Global Online Academy, of which Harker has been a member school since 2012, offers a wide variety of online learning opportunities to member schools all over the world. It holds the Catalyst Exhibition every year to highlight how GOA students use the ideas they have learned in their course work.
Alexa Gross ’17, who just graduated from Wellesley College with a double major in studio art and neuroscience, was awarded the senior prize in studio art with a series of multimedia pieces that “explore themes of intergenerational memory, relationships, and identity through a scientific lens,” her statement on the exhibition reads. Drawing on the experiences of her mother and grandmother, Gross brought together printmaking, photography and drawing, using materials such as string, used gloves and a video she filmed of herself, her mother and her grandmother discussing their lives while taking apart the gloves that were used in the exhibit.
Yesterday, the Harker team comprising rising seniors Rohan Gorti, Arin Jain and Zubin Khera was named a top five finalist in the 2022 INCubatoredu National Pitch Competition. Student teams from across the country join this contest every year by pitching their businesses to compete for funding, and finalists earn the opportunity to pitch to a board of investors. The trio’s business is TuffToy, a maker and seller of high-quality, durable dog toys, which they pitched by submitting a 10-minute video presentation. They will travel to Chicago in July for the final portion of the competition.
Last month, squash enthusiast Ivanya Sadana, grade 7, won silver at the Pro Junior Gold Squash Tournament in Seattle, which included 216 entries. Sadana currently ranks third overall among players under 13 in California. Great job!
Eighth grader Brenna Ren was recently named one of the winners in the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus’ Give ‘Em Hope Awards. This annual contest honors the work of activist Harvey Milk, who identified offering hope as one of his major life themes. Ren’s self-portrait depicted how she found hope in caring for plants during the isolation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “Personally, I found that taking care of various plants around the house gave me a purpose, especially when school work became tedious,” Ren said in a statement accompanying her piece. “After spending time around these plants, I noticed their continued determination to grow, which inspired my piece.”
Earlier today, the Harker team of recent graduates Zach Clark, Harsh Deep, Shahzeb Lakhani and Rohan Thakur won the 2022 National Economics Challenge, held in New York City, becoming the first team in school history to do so. They later defeated China in an online match to become International Economics Champions. The final round of the national competition consisted of a two-hour quiz bowl between the top four teams. The full broadcast of the Quiz Bowl, hosted by CNBC, is available on YouTube.
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May 25, 2022
Harker’s National Economics Challenge team has reached the finals! Zach Clark, Harsh Deep, Shahzeb Lakhani and Rohan Thakur will trek to New York City in June for the final stage of this year’s competition as one of the final four teams. This same team took first place in April at the California Economics Challenge. Each stage of the competition tests students’ understanding of micro- and macroeconomics as well as knowledge of current world economies. The competition started at the state level, which was followed by a national 45-question quiz. Teams that moved on to the semifinals then created a case study to determine the final four teams.