This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Girls Volleyball
Varsity A (grades 7-8), coached by Stephanie Coleman and Diana Melen- dez, went 7-2 overall and took third place in the WBAL. MVP: Lauren Napier, grade 8; Eagle Award: Melissa Kwan, grade 8; Coaches Award: Megan Cardosi and Kristen LeBlanc, both grade 8.
Varsity B (grades 7-8), coached by Therese Wunnenberg, went 5-2 overall and took second place in the WBAL. MVP Allison Cartee, grade 7; Eagle Award: Laura Wu, grade 7; Coaches Award: Catherine Wang, grade 7.
Varsity B2 (grades 7-8), coached by Candace Silva-Martin, went 6-0 and were league champs in the WBAL! MVP: Uttara Saha, grade 8; Eagle Award: Danya Zhang, grade 8; Coaches Award: Nicole Selvaggio, grade 7.
Junior Varsity A (grade 6), coached by Vonda Reid, went 6-1 overall and took second place in the WBAL. Eagle Award: Grace Hajjar, Anna Gert and Emily Cheng.
Junior Varsity B6 (grade 6), coached by Alyssa Glascott, went 6-1 overall and were league champs in the WBAL! MVP: Michelle Kwan; Eagle Award: Rashmi Iyer; Coaches Award: Annabelle Ju.
Baseball
Varsity A (grades 7-8), coached by Jeff Paul, Matt Arensberg and Carl Yaffe, went 1-4-1 overall and took fifth place in the WBAL. MVP: Chris Smith, grade 8; Eagle Award: Zach Hoffman, grade 7; Coaches Award: Tanay Kamat, grade 8.
Junior Varsity A (grades 6-7), coached by Dan Pringle, Gustavo Cordova and Joe Newman, went 1-5-1 overall and took sixth place in the WBAL. MVP: Logan Frank, grade 7; Eagle Award: Jack Dawson, grade 7 and Asmit Kumar, grade 6; Coaches Award: Henry Cuningham, grade 6 and Trevor Thompson, grade 7.
Boys Volleyball
Varsity A (grades 7-8), coached by Pete Anderson, went 8-1 overall and were league champs of the ADAL – their second league championship in a row! MVP: Derek Jones, grade 8 and Chris Gong, grade 7; Eagle Award: Jeffrey Kwan, grade 6.
Junior Varsity A (grades 6-7), coached by Travis Jones, went 5-4 overall and took second place in the ADAL. MVP: Rahul Goyal, grade 7; Eagle Award: Henry Wiese, grade 6; Coaches Award: Neal Sidhu, grade 6.
Tennis
Varsity A (grades 6-8), coached by John Fruttero and JP Fruttero, went 7-0 and were league champs of the WBAL! They also went 5-0 and were league champs of the MTP! They finished 15-1 overall, winning the WBAL tournament and taking second place in the MTP tournament. MVP: Brandon Mo, grade 8, Neil Ramaswamy, grade 7 and Joshua Valluru, grade 6; Eagle Award: Neil Bai and David Wen, both grade 8; Coaches Award: Elizabeth Schick, grade 8.
Varsity B (grades 6-8), coached by John Fruttero and JP Fruttero. All matches were exhibition matches and, therefore, were not scored. MVP: Jerry Chen, grade 8; Eagle Award: Alex Wang, grade 8.
Water Polo
Varsity B (grades 6-8), coached by Ted Ujifusa and Peter Blume, went 6-0 and were league champs of the WBAL, becoming the first Harker middle school water polo team to win a league title! MVP: Emma Brezoczky, grade 8; Eagle Award: Bobby Bloomquist, grade 7; Coaches Award: Cassandra Ruedy and Alicia Xu, both grade 6.
Golf
Middle School (grades 6-8), coached by Ie-Chen Cheng, shot a 180 (top five golfers’ scores) and were league champs of the WBAL spring golf tournament! This is the middle school golf team’s fifth WBAL league title in a row in the last three years (they play fall and spring each year)!
Theresa Smith and Karriem Stinson would like to thank all who have supported the Harker middle school sports program over the 2013-14 school year. GO EAGLES!
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
What a spring for Harker sports! Harker’s hard-working athletes excelled on the field this spring, with amazing streaks, playoff competition and some jaw-dropping results! On the academic front, Harker had 10 – count ’em, 10! – top five varsity spring 2014 CCS scholastic championship teams. Those 10 teams had the highest collective grade-point average of all teams competing in their sport. Harker’s teams finished in the top five for every spring sport in which we field a team, an amazing accomplishment. Together, the athletic and academic accomplishments are a strong testament to Harker’s ability to foster highly competitive athletes and great minds!
What a spring for Harker sports! Harker’s hard-working athletes excelled on the field this spring, with amazing streaks, playoff competition and some jaw-dropping results! On the academic front, Harker had 10 – count ’em, 10! – top five varsity spring 2014 CCS scholastic championship teams. Those 10 teams had the highest collective grade-point average of all teams competing in their sport. Harker’s teams finished in the top five for every spring sport in which we field a team, an amazing accomplishment. Together, the athletic and academic accomplishments are a strong testament to Harker’s ability to foster highly competitive athletes and great minds!
Golf The boys varsity golfers had a historic run this year, finishing third in the CCS regional tournament and sixth in their first-ever appearance in the CCS championships, ahead of league-rival Sacred Heart Prep! The future of Harker golf looks exceptionally bright as well, as the entire boys team will return next year, and the middle school golf team won its fifth consecutive WBAL tournament! Golfer Shrish Dwivedi, grade 11, was among the athletes who best exemplified the combination of athletic and academic achievement. After becoming co-league MVP, Dwivedi traveled to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to compete in the Future Collegians World Tour (FCWT) Championship, where he brought home a top three finish trophy in an international field of about 140 players, was named to the FCWT All-Academic Team and was awarded the First Team All-FCWT Award, becoming the only male to receive both academic and athletic honors.
Track and Field The track and field team competed in the league finals on May 17, where freshman phenom Niki Iyer became the new league champion in both the 1,600m and 3,200m runs! Meanwhile, senior Wei Wei Buchsteiner became the league champion in the high jump, setting a new Harker record of 5’9” – a foot better than the previous record. At the junior varsity championships, freshman Davis Dunaway won four events, while freshman Misha Ivkov placed in the top six in four events en route to the JV boys winning the team championship! These performances catapulted Harker’s athletes into the CCS preliminaries, where Iyer finished second and set a new Harker record.
In late-breaking news, Iyer placed fifth overall in the CCS 3,200m run, breaking her own week-old school record with a time of 10:51.14!
Swimming The swim team qualified for all CCS relays and sent a solid half of its swimmers and divers to the championships!
In a late-breaking update we are glad to report junior Aaron Huang made CCS finals, placing 14th in the 200 IM and 12th in the 100 breaststroke; senior Kimberly Ma placed 14th in the 500 freestyle and junior Stacey Chao placed 35th out of 51 1-meter divers.
Volleyball The boys went 20-14 this season, reaching the CCS quarterfinals after crushing Sobrato in their first-round matchup in straight sets. The team averaged 10 kills and 11.7 digs per set on the year, while also racking up 121 aces and 157 total blocks in its 34 games. Senior Andrew Zhu led the team in kills per set with 3.7, while junior Matt Ho led the team in kill percentage (59.7 percent) among players who played more than 50 sets. Zhu also led the team with 33 aces and an ace percentage of 13.2. Senior Will Deng led the team with 48 blocks.
The future of Harker volleyball looks bright as well, as the middle school squad won 53 of 54 games over the past three years, including winning the last 35 straight!
Baseball It was a rebuilding year for the team as the young squad faced off against varsity competition and finished 3-22 overall and 0-12 in league. As a whole, the team hit .248 with an excellent .355 on base percentage but a less-than-optimal .318 slugging percentage. In 25 games, the team scored 112 runs and hit 32 doubles, four triples and two homers. The speedsters also stole 62 bases, and were only thrown out three times all year! Pitching will be a key area of improvement for the team next year, as it finished with a 9.09 earned run average in 156 1/3 innings pitched.
Softball The softball team also is in the midst of a rebuilding year, going 1-15 and 0-8 in league. Overall, the team hit .238 with a .352 on base percentage and .298 slugging percentage for a total .650 on base plus slugging. The team also scored 90 runs with the help of 15 doubles, three triples and a homer. On the mound, the team finished with an 8.52 earned run average in 92 innings pitched.
Lacrosse The girls finished in second place in league this year with a 5-3 record, ending the year by avenging an earlier loss to Sacred Heart Prep with a 13-7 trumping.
Tennis Big news in middle school tennis! Harker’s varsity A team, comprising students in grades 6-8, went 20-0 this year and swept both the public and private league championships! That makes this the first time the team has ever gone undefeated and the first time it has won both titles. Winning, however, is not new to these players; the team is 36-2 over the past two years and has won three of the last four division titles!
In late June, a 3-D art piece created by recent graduate Manon Audebert was chosen to be featured at the 2014-15 AP Studio Art Exhibit. Audebert’s work, a visual representation of tension showing pieces of cloth being pulled in multiple directions, was among the 30 pieces selected from nearly 49,000 portfolios submitted for entry into the exhibit. Pieces for the exhibition are chosen by experienced high school and college art instructors, who select work that exemplifies the high standards and hard work of students in the AP program.
The 2014-15 AP Studio Art Exhibit begins July 9 at the AP Annual Conference, which takes place in Philadelphia from July 9-13. It will then head to Princeton, N.J., to be displayed at the conference center at the Educational Testing Service. For the remainder of the year and into 2015, the exhibit will be shown at various locations throughout the country, providing inspiration to students and information to teachers in search of professional development opportunities. The remaining locations for the exhibit will be announced later this year.
“I was completely shocked and honored to be selected,” said Audebert. “It was a great validation of all the work that I put in during the year.” She credited upper school art teacher Jaap Bongers as a crucial source of guidance: “He pushed me throughout the year to improve my designs and stay on track.” Audebert plans to attend Pomona College in the fall.
In late June, a 3-D art piece created by recent graduate Manon Audebert was chosen to be featured at the 2014-15 AP Studio Art Exhibit. Audebert’s work, a visual representation of tension showing pieces of cloth being pulled in multiple directions, was among the 30 pieces selected from nearly 49,000 portfolios submitted for entry into the exhibit. Pieces for the exhibition are chosen by experienced high school and college art instructors, who select work that exemplifies the high standards and hard work of students in the AP program.
The 2014-15 AP Studio Art Exhibit begins July 9 at the AP Annual Conference, which takes place in Philadelphia from July 9-13. It will then head to Princeton, N.J., to be displayed at the conference center at the Educational Testing Service. For the remainder of the year and into 2015, the exhibit will be shown at various locations throughout the country, providing inspiration to students and information to teachers in search of professional development opportunities. The remaining locations for the exhibit will be announced later this year.
“I was completely shocked and honored to be selected,” said Audebert. “It was a great validation of all the work that I put in during the year.” She credited upper school art teacher Jaap Bongers as a crucial source of guidance: “He pushed me throughout the year to improve my designs and stay on track.” Audebert plans to attend Pomona College in the fall.
In late June, a 3-D art piece created by recent graduate Manon Audebert was chosen to be featured at the 2014-15 AP Studio Art Exhibit. Audebert’s work, a visual representation of tension showing pieces of cloth being pulled in multiple directions, was among the 30 pieces selected from nearly 49,000 portfolios submitted for entry into the exhibit. Pieces for the exhibition are chosen by experienced high school and college art instructors, who select work that exemplifies the high standards and hard work of students in the AP program.
The 2014-15 AP Studio Art Exhibit begins July 9 at the AP Annual Conference, which takes place in Philadelphia from July 9-13. It will then head to Princeton, N.J., to be displayed at the conference center at the Educational Testing Service. For the remainder of the year and into 2015, the exhibit will be shown at various locations throughout the country, providing inspiration to students and information to teachers in search of professional development opportunities. The remaining locations for the exhibit will be announced later this year.
“I was completely shocked and honored to be selected,” said Audebert. “It was a great validation of all the work that I put in during the year.” She credited upper school art teacher Jaap Bongers as a crucial source of guidance: “He pushed me throughout the year to improve my designs and stay on track.” Audebert plans to attend Pomona College in the fall.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Harker has robust debate programs in the middle and upper schools – and it was a successful year for both!
Middle School by Karina Momary
Growth and Competitive Success
The middle school speech and debate program has seen tremendous growth in the past five years. In 2010, the competitive debate team had fewer than 15 students and participated in only one type of debate. This year, 120 students competed in four styles of debate and 10 speech events.
Team members are dedicated, with students attending lunchtime workshops, after-school practices and weekend competitions. All of this hard work has yielded notable competitive success. The team has been awarded an Overall School of Excellence Award by the National Speech & Debate Association for the past two years.
This prestigious award is given to the top four speech and debate programs nationwide. In addition, the team has won five national championships and numerous regional awards. Several students, including eighth graders Serena Lu and Alan Hughes, have been recognized as undefeated during debates, and speech and debate students in all grades have brought home first, second and third place finishes.
Community
While competitive success is valued, the speech and debate team also builds a strong sense of community. The program hosts numerous team-building events for students and families. For example, the Forensics Family Dinner offered speech and debate families a chance to share a meal and build lasting connections. The team also hosted a speech and debate showcase in May, giving families and students an opportunity to hear from some of the talented team members and providing extra practice to those attending the California Middle School Speech & Debate State Tournament and the National Speech & Debate Association Middle School Nationals.
Preparation for state and national competitions has allowed the students to share the work they have honed over the year with an even larger audience.
Upper School Buddies
This year, relationships were forged as upper school buddies helped middle school team members prepare for competitions. Together, the buddy teams have edited cases, watched videos and shared useful feedback – and the result has been tremendous growth for Harker’s younger debaters. This student interaction also will help ease the transition for middle school students as they move on to the upper school. Upper school buddies have provided middle schoolers with personal coaches and a cheering squad for each tournament.
As the teams prepare for summer trips, they are all excited to share their debating skills with the rest of the country.
Karina Momary is a middle school debate teacher.
Upper School
by Jenny Heidt
Harker’s upper school teams took home national titles this year in Lincoln- Douglas, public forum and congressional debate. Individual events and policy debate students also did very well, and several qualified to compete at nationals. In fact, Harker had more students qualified to compete at the elite Tournament of Champions than any other school in the country.
The team has a long history of winning top awards, but what set this year apart was the breadth of success across all of the forensic events. The upper school team has about 165 students competing in five main events: policy debate, public forum debate, individual events, congressional debate and Lincoln-Douglas debate. The team competes at tournaments throughout the state and nation.
Policy Debate
At various policy debate tournaments, our students advocated for lifting the embargo against Cuba, better enforcing money-laundering laws with Mexican authorities and assisting with a reforestation project in Mexico. Other teams proposed entering into a treaty regarding oil with Venezuela, giving more humanitarian aid to Cuba and improving our border infrastructure. Next year, they will debate the development and exploration of the oceans.
Several policy debaters are considering debate in college, including our most successful pair of Arya Kaul and Ayush Midha, both grade 11. The duo made it to the final round of the elite University of Southern California Round Robin and qualified for nationals. Anika Jain, Aditi Maheshwari, Emmie Malyugina, Rahul Shukla, Molly Wancewicz, Vienna Wang and Ray Xu, all grade 9; Panny Shan, grade 10; and Nitya Mani, grade 11, also brought home trophies.
Policy debaters compete in pairs, argue about the details of public policy and have one resolution for the entire year. This year’s topic was about increasing economic engagement with Mexico, Venezuela or Cuba. Debaters have to innovate and learn about a wide variety of possible public policies to stay current with the topic. Judges tend to be highly trained in argumentation and are looking for students to maximize the number of logical points made during their speeches. As a result, the rate of delivery is very rapid and there is a premium on strategic thinking and research skills.
The in-depth research required for success teaches policy debaters skills that go far beyond the debate rounds. Midha says that policy debate “has been incredibly valuable not only because it has facilitated my research, critical thinking and advocacy skills, but also because the activity has improved my efficiency, time management and organization.” Chandini Thakur, grade 10, agreed, adding, “I’ve learned several methods of research, organization and analysis that I can apply to my other classes.”
Public Forum Debate
“Debate teaches you some of the most important skills in life,” said Sorjo Banerjee, grade 10, public forum team member. “Research, public speaking and critical thinking are all required to become adept at debate. Debate is an amazing extracurricular where you grow as an individual and compete with friends.”
Public forum debate is focused on persuading a general audience. Students need to make logical arguments, but focus on public speaking. Their topics change every two months and cover a wide variety of areas. One of the topics this year asked them to weigh the value of single-sex education, while another was about economic development in India.
Vamsi Gadiraju, grade 11, added that he “enjoyed getting to meet and befriend people from all over the country” and from as far away as China.
Some of the most successful public forum students included Jasmine Liu, grade 10 and Kevin Duraiswamy, Arjun Kumar, Stephanie Lu, Sreyas Misra and Sebi Nakos, all grade 12. Misra and Nakos closed out the National Debate Coaches Association Championship Tournament. Duraiswamy, along with Aadyot Bhatnagar, Nikhil Kishore and Avik Wadhwa, grade 11, and Shreyas Parthasarathy and Jithin Vellian, grade 12, also closed out a tournament, winning a three-way championship at James Logan High School. Finally, Maneesha Panja, grade 12, and Nakos were the champions of the College Prep School Round Robin.
Individual Events
Harker will have three students competing at the National Speech & Debate Association Championship in June: Rohith Kuditipudi and Madhu Nori, both grade 11, and Kenny Zhang, grade 12. Continuing on the theme of strong success across the events, Harker set a new record by qualifying five students to compete at the state tournament in individual events. Kuditipudi; Lisa Liu, grade 10; Steven Wang, grade 11; Andy Wang, grade 12; and Zhang performed very well at the state tournament, with four of them advancing to semifinals.
Students in individual events compete in categories such as original oratory, extemporaneous speaking or dramatic interpretation of literature. Unlike the other debate events, there is not an element of refutation and so students strive to perfect their presentation and are largely judged based on their public speaking skills.
Sarah de Vegvar, grade 9, said that when she was in middle school, she never dreamed she would enter into speech competitions, but that the experience has given her a “chance to improve [her] public speaking skills and become more well-rounded.”
Congressional Debate
“My favorite aspect of (congressional) debate is learning how to deal with competitors in a group setting,” said Sandip Nirmel, grade 9. “This is especially important in congressional debate, where politics play a large role in deciding who gets to speak the most and who gets the most influence in the chamber. Learning people skills is really important for me because I know that they are relevant in the real world,” he added.
Students in congressional debate propose and debate various pieces of mock legislation. They need to be well-versed in current events and excellent public speakers to be successful. Captain Saachi Jain, grade 12, was a fantastic team leader and was especially helpful in coordinating the many research assignments that are needed for the students to be ready to give speeches about a wide variety of domestic and international topics.
Her leadership helped Aditya Dhar and Misha Tseitlin, both grade 9, qualify for nationals. Tseitlin was also first at the National Debate Coaches Association Championship. It is unusual for freshmen to do so well at the varsity level and it speaks to the talent of these students and the quality of the program.
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Srikar Pyda, grade 12, and Pranav Reddy, grade 11, had particularly successful years in Lincoln-Douglas competitions. Both young men qualified for nationals. Reddy also took home first place at the National Debate Coaches Association Championship and won titles at several invitationals. There is no one official ranking system for season-long performance, but it is safe to say that Reddy was one of the top five debaters in the country and that Pyda was not far behind him.
Lincoln-Douglas students debate as individuals and their topics change every two months. The topics tend to be philosophical and ask students to weigh competing values. For instance, one of the spring topics asked how poorer nations should prioritize economic development when it poses a threat to the environment.
Natalie Simonian, grade 10, summed up her first year of Lincoln-Douglas debate by saying that she had “a lot of fun going to tournaments” and making “many new friends and getting closer to some of the old ones thanks to debate.”
Summer Plans
Many students are looking forward to a major tournament this June in Kansas City. Harker also has students participating in summer debate workshops that last between one and seven weeks. It has been a great season and the teams look forward to preparing for the next one!
Jenny Heidt is an upper school debate teacher.
Late-breaking news!
The middle school speech and debate program made history in late May at the first California Middle School Speech & Debate State Tournament! Harker emerged with two state championships – a single and a team – and numerous top five finishes. The students spent countless hours preparing and their hard work definitely paid off.
Sagar Rao, grade 8, was named the 2014 Lincoln-Douglas debate California state champion.
Megan Huynh and Aliesa Bahri, both grade 8, and Maddie Huynh and Avi Gulati, both grade 6, were named 2014 policy debate California state co-champions. In Lincoln-Douglas, Serena Lu, grade 8, took third place and was recognized as the top speaker in her division. Alan Hughes, grade 8, was a quarterfinalist and recognized as the third speaker in his division.
In Policy, Maddie Huynh was recognized as the top speaker in her division. Sonya Verma, grade 7, was recognized as the second speaker in her division.
In Dramatic Interpretation, Nikki Solanki, grade 6, was a finalist and Gulati won fourth place.
In Original Oratory, Millie Lin, grade 8, took fourth place and Riya Gupta, grade 7, took third place.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Every day is “library day” at Harker’s lower school campus, where daily checkouts have skyrocketed to an all-time high.
From its humble beginnings as a place used primarily for storytelling in Harker’s former K-8 program, the Bucknall library has evolved into a bookworm’s paradise and 21st century research space for K-5 students.
When Harker’s lower school relocated from the upper school campus to the Bucknall campus in 1998, library development had been identified as a top priority during many in-depth long-range planning sessions. Improvements to the newly purchased lower school campus included the conversion of the multipurpose room into a library, which then benefited greatly from the school’s annual giving campaign for the purchase of books.
Today, a wealth of materials are available in the library, from DVDs and videos to books on tape and downloadable titles for e-readers. There are also professional and parenting resources, graphic novels, fiction and non-fiction books – more than 19,000 items in all.
“No student on the Bucknall campus should ever go home to an empty nightstand!” enthused Kathy Clark, lower school librarian, who has been working at Harker for the past 19 years. “There are a total of 1,200 items in circulation as of right now,” she reported, adding that several hundred books could be checked out on any given day.
A past presenter at the Harker Teachers Institute, California Association of Independent Schools and Internet Librarian and International Society for Technology in Education, Clark is also a member of several library associations as well as a former Harker parent.
Her son (Daniel Clark ’10) currently works with Harker’s tech and theater departments. He worked on sound and lighting, as well as acted as a microphone handler, during the recent library-sponsored Ogre Awards, which is a beloved annual production and part of the library’s grade 2 curriculum of comparative folklore.
To help keep up with increased circulation, the lower school library’s staff of three is aided by a dedicated group of 18 parent volunteers, many of whom have stayed on even after their children moved on to middle school.
“Without the volunteers, we couldn’t do it. They are the heart and soul of the library,” said Moureen Lennon, a library assistant who also works as the library’s volunteer coordinator. “It’s a huge commitment and ensures that students can check out in a timely manner. All new volunteers are trained on where library items are located and how to reshelve the books,” she added.
Along with expanding the library’s collection, Clark helps students navigate the use of 21st century technology tools for research. Yet, cautions Clark, even though students can research online nowadays, it’s more important than ever to learn basic information skills. To that end, teaching them how to find, evaluate and use information for research, both online and in print, is a primary focus.
“I can still remember a time when we used to ask the students if they had Internet access at home. Now it’s a given. But the question is what’s the best way to search for information online,” explained Clark, adding, “Google is not always the best choice.”
However, Clark stressed that the lower school library offers information in a variety of formats which provide lots of developmental options for students. In addition to the library’s extensive print collections, all Harker students have 24/7 access to more than 90 outstanding subscription databases and thousands of fiction and non-fiction titles through eBook subscription services managed by the libraries.
No matter how they prefer to read books, all lower school students enjoy weekly visits to the library, either for formal classes or free-reading periods. In the primary grades, classes are taught a story-based curriculum, using teaching techniques such as acting, listening and stimulating the imagination. Noting that books were the precursor to television and the movies, Clark said that many folktales heavily influenced popular children’s movies. “I tell the kids, I don’t do Disney … I have the originals!” she said, referring to the impressive collection of international folk and fairytale books available in the library.
Although grade 5 students do not attend formal weekly classes, Clark sees them regularly as she collaborates with their subject teachers to teach important research skills through engaging projects and assignments. Additionally, grade 5 students are encouraged to simply read for pleasure through a library program called the Fifth Grade Reads Project.
“In grade 5, we noticed a drop off in interest (and time) for reading due to increased homework and extracurricular activities. We launched the program to help fight that reading drop-off,” said Lennon, who came up with the idea for the project, in which students are regularly introduced to various authors and their works, but are then free to choose and check out anything they want. They are also given free-reading time in the library.
Another important element of the lower school library is its ongoing collaboration with teachers across subjects and grades to enrich lessons with information literacy skills.
For example, a group of grade 5 students – Emma-Leigh Stoll, Nilisha Baid, Ryan Tobin and Srinath Somasundaram – were recently in the library videotaping a scene for their “Famous Americans Project,” a special cross-disciplinary assignment between their computer and social studies classes. The project relies heavily on library research to ultimately create original short historic films depicting the lives of selected high-profile individuals.
With a gray wig and other props, the group was creating a film about Susan B. Anthony, an American social reformer who played a pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement. The team agreed that the best thing about the project was how much it mirrored the real working world as a truly collaborative experience. The students said they relied heavily on the library’s resources to write their historical script.
Another exciting collaborative effort, new this year, is a grade 4 endeavor utilizing both the library and math lab, which formed from a career project developed as part of the fourth grade curriculum.
“This year we were lucky to embark on collaboration with elementary math teacher Eileen Schick for fourth grade,” reported lower school librarian Katrina Nye. “Students worked on a career project, creating a basic household budget and getting hands-on experience using their online research skills. Every class learned the basics of Web evaluation, gaining an understanding of different sources of information, and using them appropriately in a real-life context.”
Earlier in the school year, fourth graders worked on a country research project in a collaborative effort between the librarian and language arts teacher. Meanwhile, working in small groups, grade 3 students researched the care and habitat of zoo animals. They then created a “virtual zoo” using online project pages for their library class. (To view those results go to: http://library.harker.org/zoo.)
In addition to an array of year-round programs and projects, every spring the lower school library hosts a popular annual book fair, which coincides with Grandparents’ Day. Held in the Bucknall library, the sale includes a wide variety of books. The proceeds support the purchase of additional library materials, but, said Clark, the greatest benefit to the school is the wonderful sense of community the book fairs inspire.
According to Harker’s library director, Sue Smith, information literacy is the cornerstone of the library program schoolwide. “Students enjoy rich collections of print and eBooks selected to support their interests and passions. We promote reading through book clubs, book talks, author visits, special displays and summer reading programs,” she said.
Reflecting back on her own library lessons, grade 4 student Zeel Thakkar said, “I would use library skills in my career … when I read through work-related information and pick out the information I need to solve a problem.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
The year started at a sprint and ended with a bang for DECA and the new business and entrepreneurship department (B.E.) – and all of the participants earned a well-deserved summer break. B.E. finished a historic first year with record sign-ups for the upcoming school year, while DECA finished with its best-ever International Career Development Conference (ICDC).
DECA is an international organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. The DECA chapter’s trip to the ICDC in Atlanta yielded excellent results, with three top five finishes across various competitions and two more in the top 20, making it Harker’s best performance at the competition. Attendee Raymond Xu, grade 9, said, “DECA ICDC topped off this year as a showcase of our abilities, and we not only represented Harker but all of California as well.” Harker’s DECA chapter, which sent a record 24 students to the conference, plans to build on this momentum at future international DECA events.
The DECA chapter also is running an ongoing set of interactive simulations as part of its Team Business/Wharton School of Business program, intended to help students learn how businesses are actually run. Juston Glass, B.E. chair, said he has received “hands-on certification [to teach] students to not just learn theory but [the] actual practice” of how to run a business.
Students have responded very positively to the program. Adarsh Battu, grade 12, said, “Because of the way the simulation is structured, we are encouraged to analyze, innovate and ask questions that are important to running a business,” and that the simulation has “taught me a lot more than I initially expected.”
Meanwhile, the DECA chapter is engaged in a social media contest to pick the theme for a conference it will host in August. It will introduce newcomers to the various components of DECA while helping them develop good relationships with the officers whose DECA careers they hope to emulate.
The B.E. department also has kept busy. This year, it began overseeing Harker’s TEDx series; these talks aim to spread ideas and spark conversation on a variety of topics, such as technology and education.
This year, Harker’s TEDx talks surpassed all previous attendance and performance metrics, with speakers from prestigious companies including David Girouard, founder and CEO of Upstart, a rapidly growing lending company.
Meanwhile, the B.E. department’s Career Connect program worked to “connect students with their futures.” Extending an existing mentorship program, Career Connect pairs eager students with mentors and experts in the fields of medicine, business, law, computer science and engineering. Riya Chandra, grade 9, said, “The panels have been so inspiring to listen to and have even opened up my thoughts for considering other fields that I was not interested in before.” The program plans to continue pairing mentors and mentees in the coming school year.
In addition, B.E. oversees a podcast series, in which host Glenn Reddy, grade 11, interviews local business leaders about their experiences. Most recently, he interviewed Adam Draper, co-founder and CEO of Boost VC.
Sophia Luo, grade 10, who has managed the logistics of the B.E. podcast series as its director of operations, said, “I have been exposed to the life stories and experiences of successful business professionals of the Bay Area.” Luo and fellow students look forward to the continuation of the series.
The B.E. department has made great strides in its first year at Harker. Like runners after a marathon, the DECA chapter and B.E. programs have crossed the finish line and earned their recovery period. But their breather won’t last long as Glass is expecting increased interest from the student body and explosive program growth next year.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Amid the festivities leading up to graduation, seniors active in the performing arts have a pregraduation of sorts: they graduate from the Harker Conservatory’s certificate program, signaling their successful completion of a fouryear course in dance, technical theater, theater, vocal or instrumental music, or musical theater.
Seniors performed selections from their portfolios to a packed house at the Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater in San Jose.
Acts ranged from a Shakespearean monologue, divided into two parts performed toward the beginning and end of the show, to a clarinet sonata during which the instrument was slowly dismantled section by section, leaving the player with only a mouthpiece. Dance graduates performed and musical theater students enacted moments from Broadway shows. Vocalists, a harpist playing a traditional Chinese instrument, and classical and jazz instrumentalists rounded out the eclectic evening, overseen by a technical theater graduate.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
The annual middle school dance show, Dance Jamz, shook the Blackford Theater March 14-15. Directed by Gail Palmer and assistant directors Rachelle Haun and Kimberley Teodoro (who were also the costumers), the show had students performing exhilarating and complex routines to hitmakers including Lady Gaga, Imagine Dragons, One Republic and Ludacris. Kento Vo, Jasmine Villarreal and Ernie Sierra also choreographed. The veteran team of technical director Paul Vallerga, sound engineer Brian Larsen and lighting designer Natti Pierce-Thomson were indispensable, as always.