This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Sandy Padgett, longtime member of the upper school faculty and founding director of Harker’s college counseling program, tragically passed away on April 22. In May she was honored in a special memorial event held in the upper school quad.
During the ceremony many of the moving comments received from her former students were shared. Her invaluable contributions to Harker, and to the lives of so many, were recalled.
“This has been a sad and tragic loss for the community. We continue to provide support to our students and staff, and we hope the outpouring from our community about Sandy’s impact in their lives is a comfort to her family,” said Chris Nikoloff, Harker’s head of school.
Harker community members were devastated when they learned that Padgett was killed in a domestic incident in her Redwood City home. School counselors, as well as grief counselors from The Centre for Living with Dying, assisted the administration in breaking the news to the faculty and students.
Padgett had an illustrious career guiding students. Before joining Harker in 1998, she taught AP English at San Carlos High School; was a counselor at Palo Alto High School; was a career placement counselor at Occidental College; and was a college counselor at the American School in London, the Westridge School in Pasadena and the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks.
In lieu of flowers, Padgett’s family has requested that donations be sent to The Sandy Padgett Memorial Endowed Scholarship Fund, established in her memory. Checks can be mailed to the Sandy Padgett Memorial Fund, Harker Advancement, 500 Saratoga Avenue, San Jose, CA 95129. Please note “Sandy Padgett Memorial Fund” in the check’s memo line.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
In May, 27 grade 6 students spent a week in Japan for the annual trip to Harker’s sister school, during which they explored the country and its rich culture in addition to visiting with their friends from Tamagawa Gakuen in Tokyo.
After arriving in Japan on May 9, the group checked into the Oiso Prince Hotel in Kanagawa, famous for its wonderful view overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Activities for their first full day included a visit to the Tsurugaoka Hachimangu Shinto shrine, the Hasedera Temple and the Great Buddha of Kamakura, followed by a trek to the island of Enoshima for shopping and play time.
The next day, the students had plenty of fun meeting their buddies and enjoying the welcome party that awaited them at the school. “Let’s just say we had no problem with your children waking up early and getting to breakfast by 7 o’clock because they were so excited for their homestays,” said elementary school head and trip chaperone Kristin Giammona in an email to parents during the trip.
Harker students were treated to a special performance by Tamagawa’s orchestra and taiko drumming groups. After the performances, the Harker students presented speeches to their Tamagawa friends, who were very appreciative.
On their last day at Tamagawa, they attended an assembly at the lower school campus, where they enjoyed another student vocal performance and sat in on two class sessions. Then they returned to the middle school for a potluck and field games. “It was great fun with the sun shining and a light breeze to keep us cool,” Giammona said. The students and parents said their tearful goodbyes at the farewell assembly, where the Harker students received special gifts before leaving to enjoy the rest of their journey.
On their final full day in Japan, the students headed to Itsukushima Island, famous for its torii gate situated in the water at Itsukushima Shrine. At a visit to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, the students hung 1,000 origami cranes in the hopes of being granted a wish, as is promised by an ancient Japanese legend. A bit of fun at the Iwatayama Monkey Park concluded this year’s sojourn.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
In April, lower school social studies teacher Heidi Gough’s grade 3 students participated in an exchange of art projects with grade 4 students at St. Stephen’s College in Australia. “The purpose of our exchange with the fourth graders at St. Stephen’s was for the students on both ends to see the similarities in curriculum, but the differences in what that brings to the table,” Gough said.
The St. Stephen’s students sent drawings of Australian native wildlife with accompanying handwritten paragraphs providing information on the animals drawn. In return, the Harker students created and sent back collages featuring various California Native American tribes, such as the Mojave and Chumash; each collage depicted a typical day in the lives of the people of each tribe.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
In March, Harker grade 1-2 students participated in a mascot exchange with the Bayan Gardens School in Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Harker students received a stuffed camel from Bayan Gardens, whose students received stuffed eagles in return. Students from both schools then sent back photos and videos of the mascots as they went on adventures with the students.
In April, Lela Tuhtan’s grade 4 language arts students received their own gift from Bayan Gardens: a series of essays written by Bayan Gardens students about artists whose work they had researched, along with a picture of one of their own works that they drew to accompany their essays. The Harker students later returned the favor by sending similar projects to their friends in Saudi Arabia.
Music lovers packed the Bucknall Theater on May 9 for a special performance by many of Harker’s youngest musicians, as several instrumental groups took the stage at the Spring Music Concert.
The show started fittingly enough with a performance of “The Harker School Song” by the Bucknall Choir, lower school orchestra and lower school string ensemble, led respectively by Kellie Binney-Smart, Jennifer Sandusky, Louis Hoffman and Toni Woodruff.
The show moved from group to group, demonstrating a wide range of material and versatility. The Bucknall Choir returned to sing several pieces, including an Irish folk song, a Schubert art song and a fun calypso number called “Shake the Papaya Down.”
Hoffman directed the Lower School Jazz Band, who appeared onstage multiple times, performing such tunes as “Tenor Madness” by Sonny Rollins and Charlie Parker’s “Now’s the Time.”
The first-year strings group performed “Can-Can” by Jacques Offenbach and the traditional song “Lightly Row,” while the first-year winds performed folk songs from the Australian, French and Czech peoples.
A special portion of the show was dedicated to student composers Paul Kratter, grade 4, and Jun Lin, grade 5. Kratter performed his piece, “The Crazy Dude,” on tenor saxophone, while Lin, a violinist, performed his piece, titled “Fight of the Fish,” with his mother, Sieun, on cello.
Lower school performing arts teacher Danny Dunn acted as technical director to make sure both the performers and the audience enjoyed a smooth run of the show.
On June 7, Harker hosted its ninth annual Teacher Institute, inviting teachers from schools all over the Bay Area to attend a wide variety of workshops intended to improve their teaching methods and their understanding of instructional technologies.
The event was organized by Harker’s instructional technology department and sponsored by Silicon Valley Computer-Using Educators (SVCUE). Each of the Teacher Institute’s three sessions consisted of a number of classes that visiting teachers were free to visit. In one class Diane Main, upper school instructional technology director, showed how a special educational version of the popular online game Minecraft could be used for teaching purposes. At another, teachers learned digital grading techniques from middle school English teacher Mark Gelineau. Other workshops included lower school history teacher Jared Ramsey’s class on different ways to assess history projects, a class on using Google Drive to improve creative writing classes, taught by middle school English teacher Patricia Lai Burrows, and a presentation on the use of Google Chromebooks by lower school instructional technology director Lisa Diffenderfer.
“There were so many things we are going to take back to our school,” said Julia Maynard, a language arts and social studies teacher at Parkside Middle School in San Bruno. “I have been to several tech conferences, and this was by far the most beneficial!”
“The sessions were much more informative than many tech conferences that I have been to lately,” said Kristy Simmons, a teacher at San Bruno’s Crestmoor Elementary. “The wide array of topics, the dynamic presenters, the beautiful campus and the fabulous lunch all made for an enjoyable day of learning.”
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
In May the upper school’s gym was transformed into an elegantly set, festive luncheon honoring the parents of this year’s graduating class, featuring speeches, photo collages and delicious food.
This annual event has grown substantially over the years, from its 2004 rootsas a simple moms’ potluck lunch; as of last year dads are also included. Tables displayed colorful photo montages and quotes from the seniors on what they used to think they wanted to be when they grew up.
Admiring the collages was participant Kari Wolff, mother of senior Drew Goldstein. Wolff said her son had been attending Harker since seventh grade and soon will be heading off to Duke University. Thanks to Harker, however, she said she has little concern about how well prepared he is for the rigors of university life, because, “Harker is as good as college!”
She added that when her son arrived at Harker in middle school he quickly connected with peers who are sure to remain friends for life.
Following the luncheon, all the moms and dads in attendance received a memento of the emotional occasion which kicked off graduation week celebrations. Wolff said the event would have been more bittersweet had it not been for the fact that she has another son (Arthur, grade 9) at the upper school, giving her “a few more years of being a Harker parent.”
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
The upper school campus’ Graduates’ Grove bristled with activity on Ma23 as a record 51 members of the Class of 2013 had bricks placed in the walkway at this year’s brick ceremony.
The tradition stretches back to 2002 when parents of the very first high school class came up with the idea of laying bricks printed with the students’ names and graduation years in the walkway at Graduates’ Grove.
“I think it’s a great tradition,” said Nirmal Baid, father of graduate Neeraj Baid. “The students are leaving their legacy. And they’re kind of leaving a motivation behind for future students and their parents to contribute to Harker because this is building their future.” Baid said he’ll place another brick when daughter, Nilisha, grade 4, graduates.
Sita Arimilli said that the brick will preserve the memory of her son Kiran’s time at Harker. “It will always be here,” she said. “That feels amazing.” She, too, will honor her daughter Shalini, grade 9, upon her graduation.
Students who placed bricks at this year’s ceremony are Michael Amick, Kiran Arimilli, Priscilla Auyeung, Neeraj Baid, Pranav Bheda, Deniz Eren Celik, Rohan Chandra, Jenny Chen, Michael Hao Cheng, Siobhan Cox, Madeleine Dawson, Tiphaine Delepine, Sylvie Dobrota, John Patrick Doherty, Michelle Douglas, Molly Ellenberg, Rebecca Fang, Jasmine Gill, Drew Goldstein, Varun Gudapati, Sonia Priya Hashim, Patricia Huang, Samantha Hoffman, Jacob Hoffman, Cristina Jerney, Amanda Kalb, David Lindars, Rebecca Liu, Meera Madhavan, Simar Mangat, Maverick McNealy, Catalina Mihailide, Shivani Mitra, Nikhil Panu, Laura Pedrotti, Shelby Rorabaugh, Alison Rugar, Maya Sathaye, Pooja Shah, Arhum Siddiqui, Sonia Sidhu, Alan Soetikno, Hansa Srinivasan, Christopher Sund, Kevin Susai, Lynda Tang, Alice Tsui, Sarina Vij, Emily Wang, Amy Wardenburg, Molly Wolfe and Justin Yang.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
After the baccalaureate ceremony on May 23, the 44 “lifers” of the Class of 2013 – upper school graduates who have been Harker students since kindergarten – gathered at the home of Chris Nikoloff, head of school, where they enjoyed a special party and a Mexican dinner while reminiscing about their years together at Harker. The students chatted about major milestones such as earning their cursive licenses and also peered into their pasts by looking at the pictures from their Harker applications.
This year’s lifers are Erik Andersen, Pranav Bheda, Kevin Cali, Nicholas Chuang, Keri Clifford, Ashley Del Alto, Amanda Kalb, Laura Pedrotti, Shelby Rorabaugh, Daniel Wang, Robert Amick, Ragini Bhattacharya, Michael Chen, Jenny Chen, Amie Chien, Siobhan Cox, Tiphaine Delepine, Ria Desai, John Patrick Doherty, Michelle Douglas, Richard Fan, Matthew Giammona, Sonia Gupta, Patricia Huang, Cristina Jerney, Sartajdeep Khalon, Cecilia Lang-Ree, Sondra Leal Da Costa, David Lindars, Catherine Manea, Shivani Mitra, Payal Modi, Suchita Nety, Chloe Nielsen, Simon Orr, Anuj Sharma, Eric Swenson, Ravi Tadinada, Andre Tran, Amy Wardenburg, Molly Wolfe, Lorraine Wong, Katherine Woodruff and Rachel Yanovsky.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
The phrase “all quiet on the set” was like music to the ears of grade 5 computer science students who, for nearly a month in May, had a blast transforming their classroom into a mini movie studio. Thanks to a special cross-disciplinary project with social studies classes researching famous Americans, the fifth graders readily seized the unique opportunity to create original short films depicting the lives of the high-profile individuals they had studied.
Temporarily stepping outside their regular computer curriculum, the lower school students became immersed in the world of filmmaking as researchers, writers, actors, directors, editors and producers.
“The students are filming scenes from scripts that they wrote in conjunction with research from social studies class,” explained Joe Chung, lower school computer science teacher, during a recent visit by Harker Quarterly to his classroom, where the moviemaking action occurred.
Pointing out a group of students huddled in a corner, he said, “They are rehearsing and memorizing their lines to depict their famous people and introduce them in creative ways.” Working in small teams, student groups collaborated on various roles, creating a bevy of activity. Some busied themselves working behind a camera strategically set up in the center of the room. Others spent their time in front of the lens, acting. Still more were focused on editing their footage using iMovie (a video editing software sold by Apple Inc. for the Mac) to create four- or five-minute films. Using the application, they were able to import video and photo files from their hard drives, editing them and adding effects.
Students Mallika Vashist, Jasmine Wiese, Ishaan Chandra and Jeffrey Liu were working on a film about Madeleine Albright, the first woman to become the United States Secretary of State. Huddled around a computer, the group was immersed in the editing process. The four agreed that the best thing about the project was how much it mirrored the real working world as a truly collaborative experience.
Speaking on behalf of the team, Vashist said that not only did they “learn a ton about Madeleine Albright,” they now better understood the moviemaking process, utilizing various talents to form a completed product. “We are also having a lot of fun!” she added.
Although the majority of the film work was completed during class time, Chung also made himself available for students to work on their projects before and after school, as well as during lunch and recess.
Upon the project’s completion, Chung said he planned to arrange student screenings of the documentaries during each class period, with plenty of popcorn on hand. The films will also be made available on the student portal homework management system (athena2.harker.org) so they can proudly share their work with their parents, viewing it online together.