Last month, the lower school’s youngest students took to the Bucknall gym for a much anticipated breakfast with Santa shortly after the start of their day on Dec. 14.
Led into the gym by their teachers, the excited kindergartners met up with their parents and were treated to a delicious breakfast prepped by the kitchen staff, complete with bacon, eggs, waffles, fresh fruit, orange juice, coffee and tea.
Partway into their yummy meal, Sarah Leonard, primary school head, introduced Santa to the children as classes lined up by teacher and, one by one, walked over and sat with him to discuss their wishes for the holiday season.
The students had dressed up for the event and looked very sharp as they took turns talking to Santa before returning to their tables where their parents sat waiting. After finishing up eating, playing and socializing they were lined up by homerooms and filed neatly back into their classes to continue on with a day that had a very special start.
Vint Cerf, a celebrated computer scientist lauded as one of the “fathers of the Internet,” spoke to a special upper school assembly on Friday to share his views on where he believes the Internet is headed and the moving story of how technology granted his deaf wife the ability to hear.
Cerf came to Harker after being invited by Zina Jawadi, founder of the Disability Awareness Program, and his visit was cosponsored by the Computer Science department. Jawadi is hearing impaired and reached out to Cerf to help her fellow students understand the challenges hearing-impaired people face.
Along with Bob Kahn, Cerf began the original design work of what would eventually become the Internet in 1973. It was turned on Jan. 1, 1983, with 400 computers on the network. “There are now nearly a billion computers on the network, and those are just the ones you can see with domain names and Internet addresses and the like,” he said. Accounting for “episodically connected” computers and Internet-enabled mobile devices, the number most like climbs to two or three billion.
Now Google’s chief Internet evangelist, Cerf works to bring the Internet to more people around the globe. “I have about four billion more people to convert, so I could use help,” he joked. “If any of you are interested in getting more Internet out there, I am happy to engage your services.”
Cerf recapped the recent evolution of the Internet, including milestones such as the release of version 6 of Internet Protocol (IPv6) and the addition of non-Latin characters to domain names. “This is not a fixed design. This is a very flexible, very evolvable system,” he said. “It was designed to be that way.”
This design allows virtually anyone to invent new ways to change how the Internet works. “There’s nothing stopping any of you from designing a new set of protocols for operating right on top of the basic Internet layer for developing new applications,” Cerf said. “So don’t be shy about saying, ‘Gee, I could do a better job. I could build a better design for various parts of the Internet.’”
As the tech pioneer demonstrated, Internet capability can now be found in many day-to-day items previously not thought to be pieces of modern computing, such as picture frames that can download and display images uploaded onto a website, light bulbs that can be turned on and off remotely and a refrigerator that identifies the items it contains and (provided those items contain radio-frequency identification chips) displays recipes on a door-mounted screen.
One recent innovation that Cerf expects to proliferate in the future is sensor networks, which use small censors that are powered by AA batteries and can be used to monitor changes in environmental elements such as temperature and sound. “They can be extended to be used for security purposes, not just for environmental sensing and control,” he said. “But more important, they provide an opportunity for feedback about our use of resources and what the consequences are of resource consumption.”
A supporter of ‘Net neutrality and a believer in the openness of the Internet as a primary reason for its success, Cerf expressed his concern over the control some governments wish to exert over the Internet and the dominance of major broadband providers. “My position and the position of Google has always been to keep the Internet as open as we possibly can,” he said. “The reason the Internet has become so interesting and valuable is that it has been easy for people to put new applications up on the ‘Net. You don’t have to get permission from every Internet service provider in the world or even from the local government … to try a new application.”
Toward the end of his talk, Cerf touched on a topic of great personal importance to him. Sigrid, his wife, had been deaf for more than 50 years before receiving cochlear implants in 1996. In a particularly emotional moment, he recalled receiving a phone call from his wife after the devices were activated, speaking to her on the phone for the first time in their 30 years of marriage. “Of course, it wasn’t a very deep conversation, but it was pretty amazing,” he said. “So by the time I got home, I discovered I had a 50-year-old teenager. I couldn’t get her off the phone.”
Sigrid Cerf also learned how to enhance the experience of watching movies on an airplane by routing the audio directly into the speech processor and using optical detectors that are supported at certain movie theaters. She also uses strategically placed FM transmitters that allow her to hear audio from almost anywhere in a room. “Her favorite trick is to leave the FM transmitter at the dinner table when she goes to the powder room, and then she listens to the conversation,” Cerf said, eliciting laughter from the audience. “So we have to warn all of our guests that there are no secrets.” Read the Winged Post/Talon story here
In the latest effort to reduce morning traffic in the area around the upper school campus, Harker has introduced an early-morning breakfast to encourage students and faculty to arrive at school before morning rush hour. The program requires participants to arrive by 7:45 a.m. to enjoy the meal, which includes a menu of breakfast favorites such as omelettes, hash browns, oatmeal, bagels, toast, fruit and yogurt. Siblings of upper school students who attend the middle and lower schools are also welcome to enjoy breakfast before boarding the shuttle to their respective campuses. Read the Winged Post story here: goo.gl/4Ixin!
Over the weekend, the First Lego League (FLL) robotics team made up of grade 7 students Aria Coalson, Maya Kumar, Mona Lee, Anooshree Sengupta and Jessica Susai took home the championship trophy at the FLL NorCal Championship, in addition to winning first place in the Robot Performance category. The team, known as “Raining Sunshine,” qualified for the tournament on Nov. 11 after earning top honors in Robot Performance at a FLL qualifier, racking up a staggering 475 points, 100 points more than the runner-up team. In addition, the team was awarded the second-place Champion’s Award for their exceptional teamwork, research and robot design.
“G3ARZ,” another robotics team with Harker seventh graders Shaya Zarkesh, Rajiv Movva and Derek Kuo, also performed admirably at a Nov. 18 FLL qualifier, earning the first place Champion’s Award in a field of 16 teams for their excellent performance in the Project, Robot Design, Core Values and Robot Performance categories. FLL competition teams are parent-organized and supported. We look forward to the girls contributing to the upper school robotics program when they get to the Saratoga campus!
More than 200 students from the graduating classes of 2009-12 returned to Harker’s upper school campus during their winter break for the informal annual alumni event Home for the Holidays.
The college-aged alumni were joined by more than 30 faculty and staff members for the Jan. 2 gathering held in the Nichols Hall atrium, which was decorated with balloons in school colors and bouquets of flowers in “Harker Alumni” tumblers.
More than two dozen of the alumni present at the event were “K-Lifers,” having attended Harker from kindergarten through the upper school. They were especially enjoying reconnecting with old friends during the gathering. Others noted how well Harker had prepared them for the academic rigors of university life.
MaryEllis Deacon, director of alumni relations, said she was pleased to see how welcome alumni had been made to feel on their visit, which began with faculty and staff greeting them as they arrived on campus. Before gathering in the atrium later in the day, many alumni sat in on classes, played sports on Davis Field and ate lunch in the Edge with old friends.
Seeing the Edge again reminded Cindy Tay ’12, a current student at Duke University, of special times spent simply hanging out, including “one lazy afternoon, talking and eating tangerines with friends in the bistro.”
“We want our alumni to know they are always welcome here, and to keep in touch. We hope Harker will continue to be a part of their extended family … a community to return to, and a home away from home,” said Deacon.
Harker athletes are rebounding, wrestling and running the legs off their opponents as the winter athletic season comes into its own!
Basketball Girls basketball lost for only the second time this year in a tough game against 10th-ranked Menlo last Friday. Daniza Rodriguez, grade 12, scored 12 points, and Nithya Vemireddy, grade 11, added another 12 points with six rebounds. In their league opener Tuesday against King’s Academy they won 66-49. Rodriguez scored 24 points; Priscilla Auyeung, grade 12, 19; and Vemireddy added 14. The girls travel to ICA today, Thursday, to build on their 11-2 record.
Boys basketball defeated Menlo on Friday night in front of a boisterous home crowd at Blackford to start league play at 1-0. For his play against the Knights, junior Will Deng was named player of the game. Deng racked up 16 points and nine rebounds in the win. They improved to 8-4 overall, 2-0 in league with their 58-49 win over Pinewood Tuesday. Nikhil Panu, grade 12, scored 15 points and Eric Holt, grade 10, had 11 points. The boys host Priory tomorrow night, Friday, at Blackford: 5:30 JV and 7 p.m. varsity.
Wrestling
Harker wrestling competed in the Cupertino tournament this past weekend. Ethan Ma, grade 10, went 1-1, while Vincent Lin, grade 11, went 1-2, and Daniel Wang, grade 12, went 0-2. Darian Edvalson, grade 11, went 2-2 and made it to the consolation finals, where he lost a close match for a medal, 7-5.
Soccer Girls soccer opened league play with a 4-0 win over Eastside College Prep. Sondra Leal Da Costa, grade 12, scored three goals, and Gabi Gupta, grade 10, added the other. Come watch them today in a big game v. Pinewood as they try to improve upon their 2-4 record! Boys soccer defeated ECP yesterday 3-1. Maverick McNealy, grade 12, scored twice for the Eagles and classmate Sumit Minocha scored as well. The boys improved to 3-1 overall and travel to Menlo tomorrow.
Harker hosted nearly 500 families from the greater Bay Area for an all-day forum in December designed for families of gifted children.
Operated by the Scholar Search Association, which was founded in 2009 by Patsy Kumekawa, the Educational Forums for Gifted Student Families events have now been held in dozens of cities across the country, including the one recently hosted by Harker. “We hope that we are helping kindred spirits to find one another so that they may share their experiences and ideas, support each other’s efforts and revel in the excitement of discovery and of thought,” Kumekawa explained.
Designed for families with gifted students grades 3-12, the events are free and include presentations and workshops, as well as sessions for students. Each event is structured like an educational seminar, and parents and students explore pertinent concepts of the educational process with qualified presenters who deal directly with these issues every day. “They also offer students (and parents) a chance to be engaged with kindred spirits in small interactive sessions,” Kumekawa added. “Through these discussions and sessions, one can gain considerable food for thought from people with significant expertise in their fields.”
In addition to hosting the event, Harker faculty, staff and students contributed to the event’s success. A panel on leadership, moderated by Greg Lawson, assistant head of school for student affairs, included upper school seniors Maverick McNealy, Tiphaine Delepine, Simar Mangat and Apricot Tang, as well as Harker parent P.V. Kannan (Sandhana, grade 9), discussing the definition and importance of leadership. Student workshops were presented by faculty members Karina Momary (debate) and Eileen Schick (Singapore Math), and more than a dozen student volunteers helped as guides the day of the event.
American history came alive for Harker’s eldest middle school students, who traveled to Washington, D.C., on their class trip in October.
Students on the annual grade 8 sojourn to D.C. quickly realized that it’s one thing to learn about history from text, and quite another to be able to actually journey through historical hot spots. During the trip, they acquired a new appreciation for the city, founded on July 16, 1790, and established by the Constitution of the United States to serve as the nation’s capital.
Accompanied on the trip by Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, the group’s D.C. adventure began with a smooth day of travel followed by a visit to Jamestown and Colonial Williamsburg.
Even before arriving in Jamestown, the students knew much of the background of the first permanent English settlement in North America, having learned about it in their history class. Yet, while on site, they were able to more fully understand how the early settlers prepared food and made clothes, and the types of living quarters they had.
The students then visited Colonial Williamsburg, an interpretation of a colonial American city. Highlights of their time there included visiting the capitol, the court and the governor’s palace. They also visited a variety of shops such as the wig maker and the apothecary before heading for lunch at the King’s Arm Tavern, a recreation of a restaurant once considered one of the town’s most refined establishments.
After lunch, students participated in an interactive African-American music program held in a slave quarter in Colonial Williamsburg, where they were actively singing and dancing right alongside presenters.
The following day the contingent was greeted by gorgeous autumn weather, the perfect backdrop for their drive to Pamplin Park, one of America’s best-preserved battlefields. The students first went to the Civil War museum on the park grounds where they learned, via an audio guided tour, about the lives of soldiers who fought in the Civil War. Students also participated in military drills and visited the park’s recreated military encampment, experiencing elements of a common soldier’s life.
From there they visited the Martin Luther King Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. Making this visit more poignant was the fact that there were several Harker students and teachers who had family members who had fought in both the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
The day was capped off by a lively dinner at Tony Chang’s, filled with fun, delicious food, and interesting information and dialogue. A special treat was having former Harker student Amira Valliani ’06 attend as a guest speaker. Valliani is a former White House intern who currently serves as the special assistant to the deputy chief of staff at the U.S. State Department, where she works in the Office of Secretary of State. She spoke to Harker students about what she does and how the state department functions within the executive branch.
Valliani was joined by Harker classmate Amit Mukherjee ’06, who is a venture capitalist working in Washington, D.C. Mukherjee spoke of his experiences at Harker and how they led to his personal and professional development.
The following day, unusually warm and sunny, turned more solemn as the class visited the Iwo Jima U.S. Marine Corps memorials, Arlington Cemetery, Fords’ Theater and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which contains a record number of archival documents.
From there the group enjoyed a guided tour of the exterior of the White House, including seeing the tent of Concepcion Picciotto, who has been living on the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue in a peace camp in protest of nuclear arms since 1981.
“While we did not see Ms. Picciotto, we did see her delegate. On a lighter note, many of the students were also able to spot a basketball on the lawn of the White House, which they presumed was used by President Obama,” recalled Gargano.
Students later enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the Capitol Hill Club, one of the most popular locations in Washington for lawmakers, government officials and other political figures to socialize and gather. After dinner, students visited the World War II memorial, the FDR memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Lincoln Memorial, which are beautifully lit in the evenings.
The next day included a memorial visit to Ford’s Theater where students learned about what occurred on the day of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination and were able to view the balcony where he was shot.
The group ended their excursion by attending the opening night of “War Horse” at the Kennedy Center. The students were amazed by the realistic puppetry and touched by the story of a boy and his undying loyalty to his horse.
Towards the end of the trip, students visited the capitol building, touring the House of Representatives, the Library of Congress and the Supreme Court. Capping off the day – and trip – was a dinner dance cruise, where the class fully bonded as a group. The expedition ended the next day with a visit to Mount Vernon and Udvar Hazy Air and Space Annex before students headed off to the airport for their return flights home.
The grade 8 visit to Washington, D.C., was one of several weeklong middle school class trips held during the fall. Grade 6 went to the Santa Cruz Mountains and grade 7 toured national parks around the Southwest.
The semifinalists, all grade 12, are Paulomi Bhattacharya (“A Novel AAA-ATPase p97/VCP Inhibitor Lead for Multiple Myeloma by Fragment-Based Drug Design: A Computational Binding Model and NMR/SPR-Based Validation”), Deniz Celik (“Computation of the Cell Phone-Induced SAR Distribution in a 3D Multi-Layered Model of the Human Head/Brain using Finite Element Analysis”), Jenny Chen (“RNAi of Rec12 in Schizosaccharomyces pombe: The Effect of Meiotic Recombination Inhibition on Fungicide Resistance”), who performed all of her research at Harker, Andrew Luo (“The Kinematics of Andromeda’s Diffuse Ionized Gas Disk”), Payal Modi (“Understanding the Chemical Inhomogeneities in Globular Clusters: Examining M4 and M5 for Trends in Elemental Abundances”) and Ashvin Swaminathan (“Surreal Analysis: An Analogue of Real Analysis for Surreal Numbers”).
A total of 26 students submitted projects for this year’s contest, each student spending countless hours doing research, writing and refining in preparation, with much help and encouragement from their mentor teachers in Harker’s science department.
“We could not be more proud that our students were recognized for the culminating efforts of their entire research process,” said Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs. “The process reflects so much of who we strive to be – our students putting forth great efforts to deeply learn about and understand a topic they are truly interested in.”
The semifinalists each received a $1,000 prize and a chance to head to Washington, D.C., for the final stages of the contest, the winner of which will receive $100,000. More information about the semifinalists will appear on Society for Science’s Facebook page in the coming weeks. The finalists will be announced Jan. 23.
Mother Nature more than cooperated during this year’s grade 7 national parks trip, bestowing warmer than average temperatures on Harker students and chaperones as they traveled to some of the country’s most scenic and historic sites.
The class journey began in late October, with students arriving in Arizona for the start of their much anticipated trip. The first stop on the agenda was Sedona, famous for its red rock formations. Students were treated to a Jeep tour, during which they learned about the area’s geology and wildlife.
“The end of day one had us all resting comfortably in the brisk high country of Flagstaff, following our plane ride into Phoenix and an afternoon spent in perfect weather in Sedona,” recalled Lana Morrison, middle school dean of students, in the first of a series of email reports written during the trip.
The next day’s adventure began with the group leaving for the Grand Canyon’s South Rim. Students participated in an organized trust walk (listening to directions while walking with eyes closed) as they headed toward the rim of the canyon.
“The general public was curious about what we were doing,” noted Morrison. “Students took off their blindfolds and shouts of ‘wow’ and ‘awesome’ were heard from beginning to end! Onlookers smiled, cheered and wished them the best of luck,” she added, elaborating that students and chaperones later hiked Bright Angel trail, participated in a program with wilderness leaders from Academic Expeditions and learned about the Navajos.
On day three a trip highlight was the Monument Valley tour, known to many as “the eighth wonder of the world.” Monument Valley has been a significant place for centuries, and houses ruins that some believe to belong to the mysterious Anasazi people who disappeared from the area hundreds of years ago. The area is also notable for the fact that it is not a national park, but rather a Navajo park.
Morrison reported that another special activity that day was in Page, Ariz., at the famous Horseshoe Bend. After a pleasant walk through the sandstone, students took part in a geological lesson with Ranger Katie from the Glen Canyon Dam. They also learned how to make art pieces by using only what nature provided.
Afterward, the group drove to Bryce Canyon, where the temperature dropped to 48 degrees. Students were told to “layer-up” because they had plans to walk to dinner (across the empty parking lot) at Ebenezer’s Ruby Inn Cowboy Dinner Show. After dinner, they boarded buses for the Bryce Canyon Lodge, where they met Ranger Kevin for an evening astronomy presentation, complete with viewing the stars of Bryce Canyon.
Day five began with students and chaperones eating breakfast and packing lunches before heading off to Bryce Canyon National Park. There the group was in awe of the world famous Hoodoos (pillars of rock formed by erosion). They hiked to the Queens Gardens, to Bryce Point and up or down Wall Street (27 sloping switchbacks). Some groups walked the Yovimpa Trail to view the Grand Staircase.
After a fabulous day of hiking, the class stopped at Ruby’s for a short shopping trip before going back to the hotel. They later walked back to Ebenezer’s for dinner and a talent show, where students performed short skits about their week of adventures at the Southwest national parks.
The trip ended with the by now close-knit contingent traveling to Zion National Park to hike the Emerald Pools, Whistling Rock and several others trails. After their hikes, the students headed to Las Vegas to catch their flight home, filled with memories of their amazing adventures.
The grade 7 visit to the national parks around the Southwest was one of several weeklong middle school class trips held during the fall. Grade 6 went to the Santa Cruz Mountains, and grade 8 traveled to Washington, D.C.