This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Come June, the upper school campus will be filled with students in grades 6-12 who are participating in Harker’s Summer Institute (SI), a unique program open to both Harker students and those from other schools.
The Summer Institute has two tracks, one designed for middle schoolers and another for high school students. Participants typically combine a morning academic program with afternoon activities, allowing them to earn credits and learn new skills, yet still enjoy summertime fun.
The academic portion of the day offers rigorous for-credit courses such as algebra, economics and programming, as well as non-credit opportunities for enrichment and growth including creative writing, Web design, debate and robotics. A driver’s education course is available for students ages 15 and up.
For middle schoolers (grades 6-8), SI’s afternoon activity program includes many specialty classes and recreational activities; students in grade 9 are also invited to sign up for the afternoon activities. Specialty classes include backyard games, volleyball boot camp and cooking. Other classes include art, jewelry-making, magic, improv, dance, tech, junior lifeguard, chess and circus arts. There also will be off-campus field trips every couple of weeks to sites such as The Tech Museum and Capitola.
Keith Hirota will reprise his role as SI middle school director and Evan Barth, upper school dean of studies, has enthusiastically taken on the role of SI principal for the upper school students.
Barth – who joined Harker in fall 2000 and has been a class dean and served on the Honor Council – said he is looking forward to working with SI’s older students this summer. In his present capacity as the dean of studies, he meets with each incoming student to create an academic plan for high school.
Both Hirota and Barth agreed that the variety of choices and flexibility of the SI program allows students to design their own perfect schedule, taking into consideration individual academic needs and personal interests.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
In just a few short months, The Harker School will become a one-stop-shop for summer programs for K-12 students, both locally and from around the globe. Enrollment is already on the rise for Harker’s rich and varied summer offerings, which once again will include a camp for young children, an institute for middle school- and high school-aged students, a program for foreign students to learn English, a large and varied sports camp and a swim school. New this year is a special VIP tour for the foreign students. Below is a preview of all that Harker Summer will offer.
Summer Camp+ will feature a fun circus theme called “Under the Big Top.” The popular K-6 camp will include a wide variety of circus-related activities, guests and special events.
Held on the lower school campus, Summer Camp+ provides morning learning experiences followed by age-appropriate afternoon electives. Students in grades 1-6 will have the option of enrolling in two different academic morning programs called Core Focus and Learning Opportunities in Literature (LOL).
Core Focus is a more traditional learning environment with language arts, math and academic electives for each grade level. LOL features academic courses designed around a literary theme. This year LOL will focus on the work of beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss. Both programs feature the same afternoon options, including arts and crafts, dance, water play, wall climbing, archery and array of other field sports.
The program offers something for everyone, according to Joe Chung, program director of Summer Camp+ and elementary computer science teacher. On-site happenings often include a patriotic games bash, a water carnival, a sleepover for older campers, a presentation for parents and a birthday celebration for camp mascot “Ray.” Campers also partake in numerous field trips, including bowling, miniature golf, the Oakland Zoo and Coyote Point.
Last year enrollment for camps and other summer programs skyrocketed to a record-breaking 2,740 participants across all campuses.
“We were thrilled and delighted at the incredible turnout for Harker summer last year … and are already seeing a jump in enrollment for this year!” enthused Kelly Espinosa, longtime director of summer programs.
The Harker School has offered extensive summer programs for more than 50 years. The Summer Camp+ program is accredited nationally by the American Camping Association.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
After a season that included a beatboxing flautist and possibly the most experimental performance in the short history of the Harker Concert Series, Austin’s Miró Quartet had a tough pair of acts to follow. They were more than up to the task.
The bouncing staccato of Haydn’s “The Lark” went right along with the mood in the auditorium: airy and light, with Daniel Ching’s violin fluttering in and whistling like the titular bird on its favorite perch. Invoking a pastoral serenity, the quartet took flight through the first movement’s quick tempos, as each member exchanged flurries of notes. They maintained this feeling through the slower, more harmonically focused second movement, with Ching’s melodies again appearing front and center, albeit in the shadow of cellist Joshua Gindele’s yawning basslines; violinist William Fedkenheuer and violist John Largess were the perfect complement to the outer voices. With amazing dexterity, they launched into the finale, handling the challenging passages with finesse and exuberance, ending the exhilarating piece to huge applause.
Elizabeth Dwyer, who was attending her third Harker Concert Series event, said, “I love it. I can’t believe the precision.” Miró Quartet being from Austin was a point of interest for Dwyer, who said she had considered visiting the city for its vibrant arts scene.
“I think it’s fabulous,” said attendee Raiida Thompson, who said she enjoys live music. The social atmosphere of the event, she said, was “very impressive. I was not expecting this.”
Surely no strangers to audiences with high expectations, Miró Quartet wisely chose to include Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” as the closing piece. Though occupying a somewhat ironic position as a crowd-pleaser in the chamber music canon (it essentially outlines Schubert’s stages of grief as he neared his own death), it was nonetheless a welcome, if familiar, treat for an audience that had just been taken through Dutilleux’s disorienting nighttime odyssey.
The encore was a selection from Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, ending with an also-unfinished violin line that seemed to delight Ching to no end, leaving him smiling as the final note hung in the air along with all the possibilities of what may have come after.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
The Harker Speaker Series brought renowned Shojin cuisine master Toshio Tanahashi to Nichols Hall on Feb. 20 to share his wisdom on the Zen Buddhism-inspired cooking philosophy. Brought to monasteries in Kyoto from China in the seventh and eighth centuries, principles of Shojin cooking were further codified by the writings of Dogen Zenji. The form greatly matured by the 13th century.
Tanahashi trained as a Shojin chef and opened the acclaimed Shojin restaurant Gesshinkyo in 1992, and went on to oversee food preparation for the Japanese TV series “The Real Thing.” He has been featured in Vogue Japan, The New York Times and other publications.
A purely vegetarian cuisine, food made in the Shojin tradition uses authentic ingredients cultivated locally and without the use of industrial methods. Ingredients include vegetables, fruits, sesame seeds, nuts, fermented foods and other organic elements.
Shojin adherents hold these ingredients and the methods used to craft them into Shojin foods in high regard. As Tanahashi began solemnly grinding sesame seeds with a mortar and pestle at the foot of the stage, he kindly asked the members of the audience to close their eyes and breathe deeply. This practice, he later said, could take up to two hours.
Tanahashi discussed how he communes with his ingredients, studying the vegetables to see what he believes are the “many messages” they are telling him. He uses this, he said, to decide what to make with them.
One example of the reverence for the ingredients used in Shojin cooking is the vinegar he prefers, which takes six months or longer to ferment. By contrast, the fermentation process for store-bought vinegar takes a mere eight hours.
Tanahashi invited attendees to grind sesame seeds the Shojin way. Trying to use proper mortal and pestle technique, audience members traded off slowly grinding the seeds into a paste. As they worked, Tanahashi instructed them to keep their backs straight, shoulders relaxed and eyes closed. “It’s not just finishing the job,” he said, “It’s the process, the journey.”
After volunteers ground the sesame seeds, Tanahashi added salt, vinegar, sugar, ginger and sake. “I’m sorry, but I do not measure,” he joked as he added and mixed ingredients. The audience did not seem to mind, as they exuberantly consumed the resultant paste as it was passed around the room with a variety of vegetables.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
After hitting the ground running in the fall, the business and entrepreneurship department and DECA chapter have hardly stopped to take a breath. The B.E. department is launching a slate of ambitious programs in the spring and the DECA chapter has been traveling and competing as conference season comes into its own.
The B.E. department is set to launch CareerConnect in the spring. The program will unify three separate pillars under one umbrella – mentorship, professionalism and panels – with the goal of preparing Harker students to excel in the workplace.
The first of the three pillars of CareerConnect is the mentorship program that will pair more than 100 sophomores and juniors with mentors in their desired fields to receive career advice. Over the course of the school year, they will meet with these mentors multiple times to learn about their mentors’ career paths and how they can begin shaping their own.
The second of the three pillars, professionalism, involves attending and networking at exclusive conferences and events in various venues across the valley, including the Stanford Venture Lab and Computer History Museum. This will also include the hosting of a series of professional workshops where students will learn interview tips, networking skills and how to construct engaging resumes and LinkedIn profiles to help them jump to the top of the stack when applying for positions. Sarah Bean, grade 11, says, “Contacting and confirming the … speakers on our fast-approaching deadline has been the most challenging aspect [of starting the program].”
Addressing the final pillar of CareerConnect is the career panel series that kicked off in March. The series will bring professionals from the law, medical, business, computer science and engineering disciplines to Harker to present on their fields and entertain students’ questions as they decide which fields to pursue. Bean says she and the other five students coordinating the CareerConnect program are “working hard to assure our career panel month is a success.”
The B.E. department sent nine students and department chair Juston Glass to the Stanford Venture Lab in January to hear from five entrepreneurs under the age of 30 who are running successful companies. Chirag Aswani, grade 11, said, “I was able to get … strong insight on the process of starting … a company, including the risks. Out of all the events I [have] attended [this year], the Stanford event is by far the best.” Before and after the panel and Q&A, the students were given time to network and meet with other aspiring entrepreneurs at the event.
The Harker DECA chapter, which started the year with community outreach and exciting new programs, has continued its rapid pace as the year is hitting its halfway point. The Stock Market Game, run by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA), has concluded with impressive results. Three student teams finished in the top 25 in the nation. The game included a friendly competition between students and faculty teams which, as Glass relates, the students “dominated.” The combined virtual earnings of all three of these teams approached nearly $100,000 in three months.
SIFMA also hosts the national essay competition InvestWrite. Thousands of students analyzed an investment opportunity and submitted portfolio allocation plans for short- and long-term returns. Manthra Panchapakesan, grade 11, was ranked first in the state of California and third in the country for grades 9-12.
DECA
DECA students engaged in a different kind of competition this year when they took part in the Virtual Business Challenge. The challenge required students to pick one of four business categories (sports, restaurants, retail or personal finance) and run a virtual business in that industry. Once the students picked their industry, they were challenged to run their virtual business over the course of a simulated year, with the goal of maximizing their profits. Competing in the restaurant category, David Zhu and Peter Wu, both grade 9, placed first in the Western region and third in the nation. When asked about the event, Zhu said, “Restaurant appealed to me most since it was more small-scaled and feasible.” When asked if he was considering translating his talents into becoming a young restaurateur, he replied, “[It] is always a possibility, but I believe the simulation gave me a preview on running all sorts of businesses.”
The chapter continued its busy year when Glass and 90 students made the trek to Anaheim to attend the California DECA conference. Along with nearly 2,000 other students, the Harker chapter competed in 35 events over the course of three
long days. Of the 35 events in which Harker students competed, 32 competitors finished in the top 10 and 13 resulted in top four finishes, thereby qualifying for the international conference competition. These accomplishments proved strong enough to make Harker No. 1 among all schools in California with enrollment under 2,000, fourth overall, out of 70 schools that participate in California DECA.
While the chapter as a whole performed extremely well, chapter president Monica Thukral, grade 12, was singled out as California DECA’s student of the year from more than 4,500 members. While her achievements as a part of DECA are numerous, she says she is “most proud of how I have contributed to the chapter’s growth at Harker and within Silicon Valley,” and that “DECA has made me a much more confident and responsible person.”
The DECA organization as a whole challenged each individual chapter to grow by completing campaigns across multiple categories: DECA promotion, community service, global entrepreneurship week and recruiting. Glass said he was “extremely proud” of the DECA chapter for being the only chapter in California to complete all four campaigns and receive recognition from the international DECA organization.
While the winter has not brought California enough rain, it has brought more than enough conferences, activities and new programs to keep the students of the business and entrepreneurship department and DECA chapter busy. This trend will continue to the end of the year and through the summer as monthly podcasts continue, CareerConnect kicks off, Harker hosts the TEDx conference and sponsors a Wharton/ Harker summer business program, and the DECA chapter continues to travel and compete at the international conference.
Ninja Innovation and Start Up Culture Conference Outlines Strategies
In mid-February, seven business and entrepreneurship department students traveled to the Ninja Innovation and Startup Culture Conference at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View to hear Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, discuss his book “Ninja Innovation: The Ten Killer Strategies of the World’s Most Successful Businesses.”
The evening began with refreshments, where students networked with business professionals.
During the program, Robert Scoble, a tech evangelist, moderated the discussion with Shapiro, who spoke about his experiences with the Consumer Electronics Show and in the business world, focusing on disruption, determination, discipline and passion. Shapiro shared his knowledge and described key emerging trends that are helping direct startup “ninja innovation” in this competitive landscape.
“Gary was great, very casual. He was very open about his opinions and not as political in his words as you might expect,” noted Glenn Reddy, grade 11.
“The Computer History Museum is a great location and, thanks to the Silicon Valley Bank, there was a huge spread of food for all attendees,” added Reddy. “It was great to see Harker’s B.E. students in action; I saw students controlling conversations with various executives around the room. Harker students left an impression at the event and made a great showing.”
This report provided by Shannon Hong, grade 10, director of PR for Harker DECA
Students Attend ‘Dress for Success’ Presentation by Men’s Wearhouse
As February wrapped up, business-oriented student groups brought representatives from Men’s Wearhouse to the upper school to discuss how students should dress in professional environments.
“The presentation was informational, entertaining and useful, because I now know what to wear to an interview,” said Kevina Xiao, grade 10.
Sponsored by Harker DECA, Career Connect, and the business and entrepreneurship department, more than 60 students attended, receiving valuable tips and guidelines to follow when dressing for job interviews and other formal events. They also learned how to tie ties and other necessary wardrobe skills.
“It helped me decide what to wear for interviews and how a simple blazer can be used for various events,” said Chirag Aswani, grade 11.
The Men’s Wearhouse representatives not only instructed the attending students how to dress well but also gave advice on how to network and converse in formal settings. In addition, they talked about other valuable life skills that would help students to become more professionally responsible.
This report provided by Sophia Luo, grade 10, intern to director of PR for Harker DECA
UPDATE: Videos of the keynote speakers, breakout sessions and the panel discussion from this year’s Research Symposium are now available on YouTube.
Science enthusiasts from across the Harker community gathered at the upper school campus on March 29 for this year’s Harker Research Symposium. In the nearly 10 years since its founding, the research symposium has provided lovers of scientific research with an eventful day in which students, parents, faculty and staff meet to share their enthusiasm, see the results of student research and hear from notable members of the scientific community.
The Nichols Hall atrium was once again the epicenter of activity for the event, with exhibitors from companies such as Google, NVidia and the South Asian Heart Center providing information to passersby and holding tech demos. SeaLife Aquarium Maintenance, stationed in front of the atrium’s aquarium, gave attendees the opportunity to observe and touch starfish and other forms of aquatic life. Tesla Motors also had a presence, giving people a chance to test drive one of their award-winning electric cars. Over at the rotunda, Brian Tuan, grade 12, demonstrated a 3-D printer to a steady stream of onlookers as it constructed such objects as a toy car and a plastic model of Batman’s head.
Nichols Hall auditorium and classrooms hosted formal talks by Harker students known as breakout sessions, where students gave detailed presentations on their research projects. Some of these, such as senior Vikas Bhetanabhotla’s project on the identification of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxys and Zareen Choudhury’s investigation of the chemical makeup of stars, earned recognition in prestigious contests such as the Siemens Competition and Intel Science Talent Search. At the gym, middle and upper school students had poster presentations set up showing the results of research they had performed. Students were on hand to answer questions about their research projects, impressing those in attendance with both the depth of the research and their presentation skills.
Morning keynote speaker Claire Max, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at University of California, Santa Cruz, shared her work on adaptive optics with a capacity crowd in the auditorium. Using informative photos and videos, Max showed how turbulence in space can obscure telescopes’ view of the stars. Adaptive optics corrects this distortion using mirrors and laser technology. This technology, she explained, can be used to enhance images of planets and find out where black holes ended up as galaxies collided. It has also been used to enhance images of the human eye, which she demonstrated with close-up videos of blood cells traveling through capillaries.
Two alumni were featured as speakers at this year’s symposium. The first, Ilya Sukhar ’03, shared some of the lessons he learned (including some misconceptions he had during his years as a Harker student) in entrepreneurship as the founder and CEO of Parse, which was acquired by Facebook in 2013. Parse, which still operates independently, enables developers to more easily create mobile apps for multiple platforms. Nikhil Parthasarathy ’11, speaking during a special lunchtime event at Manzanita Hall, discussed his current exploits as an undergraduate at Stanford University, which included exciting work in artificial intelligence. He addressed Harker’s current students, telling them they may end up taking many paths, arriving somewhere they might not have anticipated.
Khan Academy founder Salman Khan was the star of the afternoon, packing both the auditorium and the gym, where all of the keynote addresses were simulcast. Khan talked about how what began as a hobby in 2004 – tutoring his cousin in math – turned into one of the world’s most popular online learning resources, used by more than six million unique visitors each month. During the extended question-and-answer session, Khan was kind enough to move from Nichols Hall to the gym for those who were unable to view his talk in person.
The day ended with a panel discussion featuring upper school science department chair Anita Chetty, science teacher Chris Spenner, Harker parent Manish Gupta (Aarzu, grade 6; Anika, grade 12), junior Jason Chu and seniors Bhetanabhotla, Stephanie Chen, Choudhury, Anika Gupta, Sreyas Misra and Vikram Sundar. The panel discussed the various options offered by Harker’s research program and included student testimonials on their experiences conducting research at Harker.
This spring saw an amazing number of important outreach efforts at both Harker’s lower and upper schools. At the lower school, grade 1 students broke a new record raising funds for animals living at the Humane Society. Additionally, a number of grade 5 girls took it upon themselves to help sew items for local charities, and a grade 5 boy started a foundation providing sick children with comforting toys. Meanwhile, happenings at the upper school included a freshman serving as a featured speaker for an organization that seeks to eradicate child labor; a senior receiving an award for her advocacy work on behalf of the hearing impaired; and two juniors working to improve the lives of women in poverty. Read on for a more detailed overview of all of these outreach efforts, each one significant in its own right.
Grade 1 Students Raise Money, Create and Collect Items for Shelter Animals
Grade 1 students at the lower school recently completed their annual community service project for the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. The entire first grade student body worked to improve the lives of the shelter’s displaced rabbits, dogs and cats by collecting monetary donations as well as buying needed supplies and making toys for distribution to the animals.
“It was pretty sweet to get Ziplock bags filled with dollar bills and coins. Every bit made a difference … We also collected over 50 bags of food, toys, rabbit hay, treats, collars, leashes, blankets, sheets and towels. We also raised over $1,250. A new record!” reported Cindy Proctor, a grade 1 homeroom teacher who helped oversee the project.
To learn as much as possible about the Humane Society – an 80-year-old independent, nonprofit animal shelter – the children toured the nearby Silicon Valley facility. Following the fun and informative outing, the students decorated a bulletin board with photos of themselves and their animal friends. They also made pet blankets and toys for donation.
Parents played a role as well, as the children were encouraged to earn extra money for the Humane Society at home by doing small jobs around the house.
“The animals will be really happy because they will feel special when they receive all their gifts,” observed grade 1 student Angelina Burrows, who said she spent time cleaning her room to help raise money for the shelter effort.
Her classmate, Stefan Maxim, said he did “a bunch” of extra jobs to help raise money as well, including watering the garden, washing the car and “even washing the house!”
“I want to express our gratitude for the support of the entire Bucknall campus. This grade 1 donation drive was a huge success!” enthused Proctor.
Grade 5 Student Honored for Philanthropic Work at Children’s Hospital
Bryan Zhang, grade 5, recently received a certificate from the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in recognition of his philanthropic efforts there providing young patients with comforting toys.
“This hospital means a lot to me, and the patients there deserve the service and toys. I am delighted to be helping the Lucile Packard’s Children Hospital,” said Zhang.
Four years ago, when the Los Altos resident was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia, his nurses brought him a stuffed teddy bear, which he found very reassuring. Upon returning home, Zhang began thinking about all the other sick children at the hospital and wondering whether they also received such gifts to help ease their hospital stays.
He had a lot of souvenirs from countries he had visited while traveling with his parents and decided to donate them to children at the hospital – an idea he shared with the staff at the hospital. They were very receptive to the suggestion. Soon after, Zhang’s parents helped him carry his vision even further by forming the nonprofit World Toys for Children Foundation, whose mission is to “support Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital with donations that educate, inspire imagination and comfort sick children.”
Now, thanks to Zhang and his parents, many sick children at the hospital will benefit from the cheering effect that new toys can bring to young patients.
Grade 5 Students Spend Presidents’ Break Volunteering for Sew for Love Program
Five fifth grade girls shared the joy of volunteering during a fun community service project called Sew for Love, an event consisting of sewing needed items for local charities.
Nilisha Baid had heard about the opportunity via her Girl Scouts group. She had met the Sew for Love organizer at other Girl Scout events and been wanting to volunteer herself. So she decided to ask some of her classmates to join her at this year’s 12th annual Sew For Love, which was held on a weekend over the Presidents’ Week break.
There, she and some of her friends (fellow grade 5 students: Ankita Kundu, Advika Phadnis, Pramiti Sankar and Arushi Saxena) joined other volunteers who were working in shifts on projects together.
Whether busy at the sewing machine, scissors cutting, hand sewing or threading, Sew for Love volunteers were able to combine their efforts to produce some 871 items in just two days. Completed items included child and adult quilts, pet beds, tote and drawstring bags, fleece hats, bean bag chairs, and small “Pocket Love Bears.”
Reflecting back upon their volunteer work, Baid and her Harker pals agreed it was a very rewarding experience to learn to assemble and sew a variety of items for a worthy cause. And, as an added bonus since the event, all the girls have now signed up to be Girl Scouts together, where they are sure to continue to enjoy further shared communal outreach efforts.
Grade 11 Students Work to Help Empower Impoverished Women and Children
When grade 11 student Ashwini Iyer was in seventh grade she went off to Tanzania, Africa, with her father and a school teacher to help orphans there learn math and English. It was that firsthand experience, she said, that planted the seeds for her current volunteer efforts striving to empower poverty stricken women and children from around the globe.
“Ever since then, I have been trying to find ways to give back and help those who are not as fortunate without having to travel too far,” said Iyer, who is the founder and president of Harker’s Rising International Club. The club is one of several local chapters of an international nonprofit by the same name whose mission to help end world poverty
On March 30, Iyer, with the help of schoolmate and club vice president Roshni Pankhaniya, grade 11, hosted a home-based fundraising event attended by about 60 Harker students and parents, as well as neighbors and family friends. All proceeds from the house party, which totaled $4,226 (with more donations expected to flow in from people who could not attend but wanted to donate) went directly to the Rising organization.
In addition to selling arts and crafts made by women locally and in developing nations, they hosted several guest speakers including Rising’s CEO Carmel Jud and Saratoga city council candidate Pragati Grover. Jud and Grover discussed the topic of women empowerment and the importance of teaching impoverished women around the world how to run their own sustainable micro-enterprises.
Iyer originally met Jud at the Khaled Hosseini Harker Speaker Series event held at the upper school last year, which she was covering for journalism. “As we talked, I explained my experiences, and how much I wanted to give back to my community, and she told me to contact her to see if I could get involved in her organization,” recalled Iyer.
Iyer then began her volunteer work with Rising International by working with Jud and two students from other high schools to organize a successful large scale fundraiser at the AMC 14 theaters in Saratoga, as well as their own private home parties.
“Sometimes it’s easy to get overwhelmed with grades and college applications, but we have to remember that many of these women and children would give anything for these worries. Since we are so blessed, I believe that it is our duty to help them and share all that we have,” said Iyer.
“Growing up in Silicon Valley we are in a relatively sheltered environment and I find it really important for all of us to realize that the world isn’t as perfect as it seems. I saw Rising as a wonderful way to bring attention to the cause,” added Pankhaniya.
Zina Jawadi, grade 12, received Harker’s Community Service Spotlight Award at a recent Monday morning school meeting. At the gathering she was given a $200 check from the upper school community service program, which she in turn donated to the Hearing Loss Association of America’s (HLAA) Walk4Hearing event to help promote awareness about children with hearing loss.
The community service spotlight awards are given several times during the school year. They were created to celebrate and honor outstanding community service by upper school students.
In her acceptance speech at the meeting, Jawadi explained that HLAA is the largest national nonprofit support and advocacy organization serving people with hearing loss, with 200 chapters and tens of thousands of members.
A couple years ago Jawadi, who herself has hearing loss, became the youngest board member of any HLAA board nationwide. Shortly after, she was nominated and unanimously elected HLAA-CA secretary. And, she was recently voted HLAA-CA vice president. Among her work for the cause, Jawadi has organized and spearheaded youth events, conventions and fundraisers. She also has been asked to serve as a guest speaker on behalf of the organization.
Previously, between her freshman and sophomore years, she launched a used hearing aid collection in the Bay Area on behalf of the Starkey Hearing Foundation, an effort which she has continued by signing up 29 audiologists and hearing aid dispensers, and collecting more than 600 hearing aids for needy people with hearing loss.
During her speech, Jawadi noted that she used to be inspired to do community service because of her hearing loss. However, she said her source of inspiration has since changed as she is simply grateful to be able to serve people with disabilities, who she believes face more socioeconomic and educational barriers than all other minorities combined.
“Zina was selected to receive our community outreach award because of her passion for community service,” said Kerry Enzensperger, director of community service and activity director.
“She has turned in over 500 hours of community service but continues to volunteer without turning in hours because she so loves what she does! In fact, if she did turn in her hours she would be over 1,000 hours of community service,” said Enzensperger.
Grade 9 Student Presents Alongside Celebrities at Free the Children’s WE Day
Harker freshman Arjun Subramaniam recently joined celebrities and prominent activists in addressing an audience of more than 16,000 children from various California schools gathered at the Oakland Arena for an event called WE Day.
The event, held on March 26, was sponsored by an organization called Free the Children, which works to eradicate child labor in developing nations. After being introduced by actress Selena Gomez, Subramaniam took to the stage to speak about his work with the nonprofit organization. He then presented a short segment, telecast live, on the story of a young child laborer called Iqbal Masih.
Masih’s story had originally inspired the founding of Free the Children by a man named Craig Kielburger back in 1995. Kielburger was only 12 years old when he gathered 11 school friends to begin fighting child labor, laying the seeds for the organization.
Today, Free the Children is an international charity and educational partner that believes “in a world where all children are free to achieve their fullest potential as agents of change.” The organization works domestically to educate, engage and empower youth to become active local and global citizens.
Subramaniam said he first got involved with Free the Children after reading an article about child labor and being upset to learn that kids his own age and younger were being forced to work up to 15 hours a day and denied an education.
“While perusing the Web for organizations that were targeting this issue, I came across Free the Children, and their mission shared many parallels with my interests and passion,” recalled Subramaniam, noting that, by chance, the organization’s only office in the United States was just a few minutes away from his house.
Last year Subramaniam brought a Free the Children representative to speak at the middle school. Shortly after, he and a couple of friends set up a fundraiser on campus to help raise money for the cause.
“I have also talked to leading figures in the child labor movement in India, including Kailash Satyarthi, whose organization has rescued hundreds of thousands of child laborers and successfully petitioned the Indian government to change its child labor laws,” he said.
Speaking at the recent We Day was a transformative experience for Subramaniam. “Everyone there has inspired me to keep being part of the fight to eradicate child labor,” he said.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Few days go by that Harker’s grade 4-5 students aren’t using Google Chromebooks in their classrooms. From accessing comprehensive online Spanish textbooks and vocabulary programs to showcasing multimedia history and English projects, Chromebooks are revolutionizing the way the fourth and fifth graders learn.
Handed out at the beginning of the school year to grade 5 students (and stored in class for grade 4 students), the Chromebooks have become second nature to both students and their teachers. The versatile devices are being used to do research, write essays, receive assignments, maintain calendars and more.
Some students enjoy being able to communicate with one another directly by creating electronic walls enabling them to “pin” constructive feedback on each other’s presentations. Others enjoy working in a more collaborative environment, as they do when they complete projects in shared documents and presentations. And teachers can now comment directly on students’ soft-copy assignments, follow up on corrections in real time and interact via online commenting.
“A Chromebook is an amazing device … Internet, email and Google Drive! It’s something to make you crazy with delight,” enthused grade 5 student Arohee Bhoja.
Though conceding that the “pop-ups and amazing learning software” can, at times, be distracting, Bhoja said, when it comes to Chromebooks, the good cancels out the bad. “When you have all the letters of the alphabet at your fingertips, and all the learning sites you can ever imagine, it’s impossible to criticize.”
Bhoja’s classmate Sarah Raymond agreed. “I think that using the Chromebook has changed how we learn in the classroom for the better. It’s also a lot easier to collaborate with our peers on a Google Doc. At home we can still be working with our classmates even if we are not together. It is also more convenient for checking the homework calendar. Plus, it’s easily portable so we can bring it from class to class,” she said.
Most recently, a new wireless network called MercuryFast was implemented for the grade 5 students to connect their Chromebooks to the internet. But, despite the name, the fifth graders won’t have a faster connection than anyone else on campus. Instead wireless traffic is being split on two separate channels to increase speed and stability for everyone at the lower school.
Fifth graders are particularly familiar with Chromebook online applications such as Membean, a vocabulary learning tool that helps students understand and remember words; Movenote, an app that synchronizes video of the students with their docs or presentations; and Google Docs, which allow users to create and edit documents online while collaborating with other users.
At the lower school, a pilot program using Google Chromebooks began a couple years ago with a small group of students. The Chromebooks were then deemed so well-suited to Harker’s educational mission that it led to their now-standard issuing for grades 4-5. (There are also 50 Chromebooks available in the grade 3 classrooms, which are shared by students.)
“Each of our 129 fifth graders has a Chromebook that they use almost daily at school and can take home as well. And each of our 120 fourth graders has a Chromebook which stays at school and is housed on carts in their classrooms,” reported Lisa Diffenderfer, the lower school’s assistant director of instructional technology.
Chromebooks run on Google’s popular browser, are affordably priced and primarily intended for Internet use. Chromebooks also have great security features, which allow the school to enforce an Internet filter when the students are using the devices at home.
Over the past two years, some lower school teachers received funds from Harker’s technology grant program to find ways to get the most out of using Chromebooks in the classroom. Today, students in grades 4-5 are becoming adept at using the devices to learn and practice course material as well as showcase their newly found knowledge and skills.
Other fun-yet-practical ways Harker’s fourth and fifth graders have used Google apps include making notes about how to create Colonial-themed board games, tracking data from gummy bear experiments, creating a student tech help site, viewing rehearsal schedules for performing arts productions, and tracking nutrition and fitness information, according to Diffenderfer.
The use of Chromebooks in grade 4-5 was made possible as part of a $100,000 grant, which provided both Chromebooks and iPads for use in the lower school classrooms. The gift from the Paramitas Foundation was endorsed by parents Winston Chen and Phyllis Huang (Karina, grade 5; Nicole, grade 7), who are passionate about helping teachers use technology in meaningful ways to enhance learning.
“On any given day I can walk around the fourth and fifth grade classrooms and find students on their Chromebooks engaged in their learning,” said Diffenderfer, adding that the future for Chromebook use at the lower school looks bright, based on the students’ demonstrated level of comfort and success using the resourceful devices.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Imagine if children struggling to make sense out of confusing emotions could simply reach into a box and pull out the appropriate tools to help them better navigate social and academic situations. At Harker’s lower school, students are learning to do just that, thanks to an innovative new curriculum called The Toolbox Project.
The award-winning program, involving all students and staff at the Bucknall campus, is designed to empower children with specific tools that will help guide them in managing their own lives – both at school and in the community at large.
“The tools help you when you are mad because you can calm down and work out problems with your friends,” said grade 1 student Maya Baker, an enthusiastic supporter of the project. Giving an example of the “garbage can tool,” she explained that if your mind is too focused on a problem, you can use the tool to simply “throw it away.” On the other hand, she added, being shown the “listening tool” means to start listening to what someone is saying.
“As a teacher, I appreciate that The Toolbox Project provides the children with effective ways to handle a variety of situations. It validates their feelings and gives them a common language to solve problems. Using the tools comes naturally to the students, and they are eager to put them to use!” noted Baker’s teacher, Cindy Proctor.
At the heart of the ongoing program are 12 tools, practiced both in and out of the classroom: breathing, quiet/safe place, listening, empathy, personal space, using our words, garbage can, taking time, please and thank you, apology and forgiveness, patience and courage.
The project was implemented at the lower school at the start of the school year.
The tools were introduced one at a time, as part of a weekly lesson. During each lesson, students were given a picture of an icon representing that week’s tool, which were then cut out and added to the children’s individual cardboard toolboxes.
Toolbox lessons, which continue throughout the year, are taught during character development sessions. These sessions are typically held in the students’ homerooms for K-2, but can take place in other settings for the older students depending on grade level scheduling. They often include role- playing, fun projects, class discussions and references to literary stories. They are also reinforced with home/connection letters and activities.
In the fall about 140 parents enthusiastically attended an informational kickoff presentation about The Toolbox Project. That event was held in the lower school’s gym and hosted by Chuck Fisher, director of programs at Dovetail Learning Inc., which runs the program.
“What impressed me most about Harker was the depth of interest adults had for using these tools in their own self-regulation practices,” Fisher recalled. “As adults, there is nothing more powerful than modeling to children how we use these tools to be the kind of teacher or parent we most want to be.”
The Toolbox Project founder Mark Collin developed the curriculum more than eight years ago when he was working as a school counselor. In his words, “The children were struggling with many personal and family challenges, in addition to the usual struggles of growing up. They had no tools to recognize and name their feelings and deal with them constructively.”
Together he and his students began to identify and tap into their own inner capacities and strengths, promoting natural resilience. Collin used the metaphor of a personal toolbox and the symbols of real tools that translated easily into the idea of inner tools. The children immediately took to it and helped him identify and name the 12 tools, which led to the creation of The Toolbox Project, a nonprofit organization whose name was later changed to Dovetail Learning, with Toolbox as the flagship curriculum program.
According to Sarah Leonard, primary school head, “Implementation of The Toolbox Project has been going quite well. Faculty and staff are fully supportive of the program and have embraced it with enthusiasm and commitment to achieve the desired results.”
Indeed, even at the lower school’s youngest level, The Toolbox Project has been a huge hit. Of his experience using the program, kindergartner Aidan Okyar said, “The patience tool is really good for you. Pretend my dad is using my soccer ball and I want it, I could just use my football instead.”
Okyar added that if he were going to make up his own tool, he would call it the “healthy tool” and it would look like a carrot. He even came up with a saying for his new make-believe tool, which would state: “I will be healthy for my life.”
“I felt that it was incredible that Aidan wanted to expand on the number tools and add more to help us with navigating our lives!” said his teacher, Katherine Chi.
As a further part of the empathy training for the kindergarten students, Troy Townzen ’08, a current member of the school’s BEST staff, helped the youngsters create a special music video to visually illustrate the concept.
“Troy and the kindergarten staff spent endless hours putting it together to help the children understand the meaning of empathy. And I really think it worked! The students are showing more empathy and kindness toward their friends. They’re even singing the chorus (from the video) out on the playground. A true success!” said Kim Cali, director of the lower school’s BEST program.
“These tools have become our common language,” said Leonard, noting that lower school students of all ages have been increasingly peppering their everyday language with references to the tools they have learned.
This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
On the parenting circuit these days there is much talk about resilience, grit and how these two characteristics contribute to success. Angela Lee Duckworth, an education researcher who studies non-IQ based competencies, has a popular TED talk on perseverance and grit. In Amy Chua’s new book, “The Triple Package,” she and her husband, Jed Rubenfeld, argue that impulse control is one of three traits that contribute to success. Paul Tough talks about grit in his acclaimed “How Children Succeed.” It seems that parents and education researchers cannot get enough of “true grit.”
But how do we teach such things as grit and perseverance? In educational research we periodically discover the secret to success and then try to figure out how to teach it. We pretend the secret to success is teachable and we react to its discovery as if we found plutonium. Can we teach grit? It is not unlike asking whether or not we can teach creativity, entrepreneurialism or thinking skills. And how new an insight is this? Would our grandparents be surprised by the notion that grit and perseverance contribute to success?
April is Ogre Awards month at Harker, when the second grade celebrates stories from around the world. Many of the ancient stories – myths, folk and fairy tales – instruct in grit and perseverance, though they never use these terms. In these stories, heroes figuratively transform their greatest weakness into their greatest strength; their fear into courage; their spiritual poverty into soulful gold. These transformations are demonstrated, not discussed, and they communicate straight to a child’s psyche, bypassing his brain. In this regard they are the opposite of algebra.
In many of the stories by the Brothers Grimm and others, for instance, a hero faces the darker elements of nature, himself or experiences a humbling ordeal. Cinderella famously spends her days sweeping the hearth; the king’s son in Iron Hans apprentices himself to the gardener; Hansel and Gretel are taken to the witch’s home; Jonah is swallowed by a whale; Odysseus travels to the underworld.
These structures persist in contemporary storytelling too. Luke Skywalker flies into the center of the Death Star. In “Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs,” Flint Lockwood, the movie’s hero, journeys to the center of a giant meatball to thwart food hurricanes. There is something in the structure of these stories that resonates with the structure of our psyches. When children tap into grit or persevere through difficulty, they are experiencing their own ordeal through which transformation happens.
There are parts of life that no amount of “helicopter parenting,” “snowplow parenting” or even “tiger mothering” can immune our children from, however well-intentioned. I think we sometimes fruitlessly try to bring our children all light and no darkness, but that is not how existence works. My father-in-law always says that we cannot walk in our children’s shoes – they will find their own way. On the search for the Holy Grail, Percival, one of King Arthur’s knights, must enter the woods where there is no path.
The newly found awareness of grit and perseverance is probably good for parenting, education and kids, though like many other fads, I hope parents and educators do not take it too far. I can see courses and assemblies on grit. Better to have kids discover their grit naturally and intrinsically. Lao Tzu said, “Mastering others is power. Mastering yourself is true strength.” It is the hope of education that each child, through grit and perseverance, finds true strength and takes the journey of a lifetime – her own.