This story was originally published in the Spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly
Debra Nott, director of nursing, hosted a meeting of the Nurses Association of Santa Clara County in the Nichols Hall rotunda on Feb. 8. Nott is president of the group, which meets thrice yearly to discuss issues relevant to school nurses and to provide continuing education. Before the meeting, the visiting nurses were treated to a campus tour. “Since all the other nurses are from public schools, you can imagine how impressed they were with our campus,” said Nott. “They kept asking me if I planned to retire any time soon!”
After the tour everyone did some networking, then sat down to enjoy a delicious buffet dinner catered by the Harker kitchen staff. “The rotunda was a beautiful venue and the catering staff did a spectacular job of setting out food that was not only delicious, but beautifully presented as well,” said Nott. During dinner, the Nurses Association heard two speakers on Autism Spectrum Disorders, a growing issue for schools. The first speaker was a young man with autism who spoke of his experience attending school and the challenges he faced. The second speaker was Dr. Pilar Bernal, whose practice deals exclusively with children and adults with autism.
RewindRevise.com, a prominent national blog on poetry and writing, interviewed Alexandra Mattraw Rosenboom, upper school English teacher, on poetry, art and the joy of teaching at Harker.
In the interview, Rosenboom said, “Poetry is everything,” adding, “Writing is that innate and inherent in my perception and the way that I live …. It is so inherent in what I have to do to be happy.” Rosenboom, who holds a B.A. in creative writing from UCLA, an M.A. in humanities from the University of Chicago and an MFA in poetry from the University of San Francisco, advised aspiring writers: “Of course, write every day.”
Rosenboom also spoke of her experience teaching at Harker. She said she loved being a teacher and felt lucky to spend her time with “brilliant and inspiring students while swimming in readings and discussions of James Joyce, Toni Morrison, Camus, Shakespeare and Dostoevsky.” She added that without Harker’s support of her passion, completing her MFA would have been much more difficult.
Rosenboom published her first chapbook, “Projection,” through Achiote Press, and is working on a new book titled “Inside the Mind’s Hotel.”
This story was originally published in the Spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly
Harker’s upper school was recently selected to be the site of a study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on how influenza and other diseases are transmitted from one person to another.
Headed by Dr. Marcel Salathé, who leads a group of researchers based at Penn State, the Harker Influenza Project was kicked off in January and is being helped by several teams of Harker students, each working on a project that will further the goal of discovering how disease spreads. On Jan. 24, March 2 and March 13, those taking part in the project wore motes (small electronic tracking devices worn around the neck) that recorded data on where they went and who they interacted with during the day. Whenever one mote wearer came within close enough proximity with another, the motes would record one another’s number, as well as that of the stationary motes that were placed in every room on campus.
Salathé previously conducted research on the upper school campus during the 2009-10 school year. His findings were published in the prestigious “Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,” and he received a $1.4 million grant from the CDC to continue his research. Because the previous project enjoyed a 95 percent participation rate, Salathé again opted to conduct research at Harker. This time, he and his team have help from several specially selected Harker juniors, who are leading the project groups.
One of the student projects, led by Michael Cheng, is the development of an application for smart phones that collects data on a person’s movements using a phone’s GPS capabilities. “Once started, the app will get a GPS reading every time the user moves a certain distance, which it will store along with a time stamp,” Cheng said. The goal of the application is to build upon the information recorded by the motes. “When the user has an Internet connection, the app will send the phone ID, name and location to the student server,” he said. The students have been helped during this project by Harker parent Somnath Banerjee (Nila, grade 10), who provided advice when the app was being planned and will be available for assistance when the students encounter a problem in testing.
Suchita Nety is heading up two teams responsible for finding out how environmental factors contribute to the spread of disease. One team, led by Ilsa Zhang, is researching how airflow can affect influenza outbreaks by examining carbon dioxide levels in rooms on campus.
“The CO2 team is gathering data using sensors which store data on CO2 levels, humidity and temperature, as well as examining air samples for microbes,” Nety said. “This data will reveal how the ventilation in a room, along with humidity and temperature, affects the number of airborne particles suspended in the air, as well as the likelihood of airborne transmission.”
Another team is examining surfaces on the upper school campuses for bacteria to gain insight on how disease can spread via contact with tables and countertops. “I really looked forward to the hands-on laboratory experience of actually swabbing the tables and visually seeing the bacteria that will be collected,” said chief researcher Andrew Luo. The team is swabbing surfaces and using Petri dishes to view the bacteria found on the various surfaces around campus.
Indulaxmi Seeni’s team is comparing data recorded by motes to the information received through surveys done by the mote wearers. “Our goal is to determine by how much the two differ and to find a way to interpret the data most accurately,” Seeni said. Her team will be looking at the data from several different angles, such as whether or not longer interactions are remembered more accurately and whether participants better remember people they see more often. The team will be collecting data from surveys during March and comparing it with the data sets received from the motes.
The final student research team will confirm the findings of Salathé’s previous project, “namely, to support the map of flu transmission he’d created using motes with actual evidence,” said lead investigator Victoria Lin. Participants have the option of volunteering to have their nasal areas and throats swabbed if they report a temperature of 100 or higher. These samples are sent to researchers at Stanford and the University of Pittsburgh for genome sequencing. This will confirm if the same flu virus is spreading or if a new one has been introduced. “We’re also assessing the accuracy of tests known as rapid diagnostics tests, which can give a positive or negative for presence of the flu within 10 minutes, often less,” Lin said.
Dr. Vicki Barclay, one of the Penn State researchers, was glad to see so many students wearing motes. “It’s good to see that we have so many people participating again,” she said.
Lin, meanwhile, was glad her team was able to gather enough interest in being swabbed. “People have been more receptive than I’d anticipated, given that there’s something of a gross factor with the swabbing,” she said. “We have more than 100 volunteers, which is definitely more than I’d expected, and [student council] and the project team have been great about helping pique interest in the project.”
This story was originally published in the Spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly
The Gerald Clayton Trio played to one of the largest Harker Concert Series audiences to date on Jan. 20, a fine night for an indoor show, given the rainy weather. Middle school music teacher Dave Hart introduced Clayton, 27, a three-time Grammy award nominee who has worked with greats such as Roy Hargrove, Lewis Nash and Clark Terry.
Joining him on drums was Justin Brown, a graduate of the Dave Brubeck Institute and Juilliard, attending both on full scholarships. On bass was Matt Brewer, a professional performer since the age of 12 and a highly in- demand sideman, according to Clayton.
Appearing the very portrait of concentration, Clayton put hand to keys, performing a dissonant improvisation before segueing nicely into a slow and soft rendition of the standard “It Could Happen to You.” Brown used his brushes to great effect, adding an ethereal touch to his steady, nuanced technique. Both he and Brewer contributed the first of many tasteful solos that evening, while Clayton’s increasingly dexterous playing brought the song to an exciting finish.
Clayton followed up with “Major Hope,” an original composition that began with rapid staccato chords in shifting times, gradually swelling into an upbeat display of musicianship, featuring Clayton’s fluid improvisational skills and Brown’s exacting touch.
“It was beyond my expectations,” Bill Fraser, a longtime jazz listener, said of the show. “Particularly the couple of ballads they played …. It’s just rare when a jazz trio settles down in that mood and gets it.”
Roger Kim ’07, who studied music at the University of California, Berkeley, was also impressed with the show. “I see a lot of jazz, and this definitely was a unique experience,” he said, mentioning that the Clayton concert was among the best he’d seen.
This story was originally published in the Spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly
The Harker Concert Series is in its second year, yet has already established itself as a must-see event for lovers of classical and jazz repertoire. Pianist Adam Golka sold out Nichols Hall auditorium on Feb. 4 as the third installment of this year’s series, following Opera San Jose and the Gerald Clayton Trio.
Texan Golka is only 24 years old and has had a grueling concertizing schedule for some time. Winner of several major international piano competitions, including the Shanghai International Piano Competition in 2003 and the Gilmore Young Artist Award in 2008, Golka added Harker to his list of impressive collaborations, which include Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.
The second star of the show was the piano, a seven-foot-eight-inch Bechstein, generously leant for the evening by Piedmont Piano Company. Golka’s program showed off not only his own technical mastery, but the warmth of this wonderful instrument.
Fittingly for the Bechstein’s rich and dramatic sonority, Golka played a program of Romantic music, with a Beethoven sonata, three intermezzi by Brahms and Liszt’s famous “Mephisto Waltz” in the first half of the concert. After intermission, Golka was a tour de force, playing what is generally considered by pianists to be Beethoven’s most difficult piece, the “Hammerklavier” sonata. Each movement of this 45-minute piece showcased a different strength of both Golka and the Bechstein, with furious staccato passages, flowing, almost post-Romantic interludes and Bach-inspired fugal passages.
Golka met with audience members in the atrium after the performance.
This story was originally published in the Spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly
Lawyer and author Joel Bakan appeared at Harker’s upper school campus on Jan. 22 to discuss the topic of his latest book, “Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children.” The book details the many increasingly insidious ways in which children are targeted by marketers, especially with the advent of the Internet and social media.
Concerned about the “increasingly brazen” tactics marketers use to target children, Bakan interviewed several leading marketers for the book and found them to be candid about their goals, proclaiming that their mission is “to uncover and then manipulate kids’ emotional hot buttons and desires” in order to sell their products.
Bakan also talked about how pharmaceutical companies have marketed more and more toward children in the last 30 years. “What I do think is happening is that there is a trend of overmedication,” which he partially attributed to those companies’ marketing tactics.
Fortunately, in recent years key laws have been passed that make it easier for consumers to know the risks in using prescribed pharmaceuticals. One law passed just this year requires pharmaceutical companies to disclose any payments they have made to doctors greater than $10, so that patients can find out if a doctor’s prescription of a certain drug is suspect.
“Being a good parent today requires more, as if it isn’t enough, than making good choices as individual parents,” he said. “I think we also have to work to change the conditions under which we and other parents are making those choices, and we also have to become active in demanding public measures that protect children from harm.”
This story was originally published in the Spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly
Fashions may trend, but celebrating special moments with friends, family and as a community will never go out of style.
More than 1,000 guests who attended The Harker School’s recent fashion show had the rare opportunity both to unite for a good cause and catch a glimpse of the latest in runway fashion trends. The hottest looks by top designers were seen walking a catwalk not in Paris, Milan or even New York – but on a stage much closer to home.
Held at the bustling downtown San Jose Convention Center, the fashion show wowed its audience, living up to its nine-year-old reputation as a fun, profitable fundraiser. Appreciative guests filled both lunch and dinner gatherings, which were open to the public. The theme of the event, which raised funds and awareness for the school, was Celebrate! … K through Life! Money raised will go a long way towards aiding Harker’s scholarship and other funds.
The theme was carried through in celebrations of inner and outer beauty, illustrated with moving videos and breathtaking runway fashions. The videos shared the stories of the students themselves and the bonds they had formed with their close-knit community of teachers and peers. Fashions representing a range of top designers were expertly modeled by both students, teachers and parents alike.
Even before the doors officially opened, guests were entertained by perusing the variety of auction items on display outside the main ballroom. This year’s live auction included temptations such as a one-week stay at a luxury Costa Rican estate, a private dinner with the head of school, and a food and wine pairing party for 12 people.
Also on hand to provide ambience and drum up pre-show excitement were student chamber ensembles, playing in the outside hall. Some attendees spilled out to the adjoining patio to catch up with friends from the Harker community and enjoy the glorious weather. Others had their pictures taken with various props at a photo booth, run by volunteer students Crystal Chen and Mark Taboada, called “Celebrate Your Inner Fashionista.”
“We are first-time volunteers,” said the duo, both seniors, noting that they have the ambitious goal of wanting to attend every school event at least once before graduating.
Standing nearby was Rohan Arora, grade 4, who came out in support of his sister Riya, grade 2 and one of the fashion show’s models. Clad in a smart suit and tie to show his support of both the school and his sister, he said it is his first year attending, but now he wants to come every year.
Once invited inside, guests couldn’t help but admire the beautifully decorated ballroom, complete with floral centerpieces held in place by a bow-tied box designed to look like a present. In further keeping with the theme of celebrating special occasions was a box of toy noisemakers so the audience could cheer on the models.
As guests were taking their seats, the Harker Jazz Band, directed by Chris Florio, played. Then Varsity Dance Troupe took to the stage in a choreographed, energetic opener to formally open the show, performing in black pants, gold tops and black sequined jackets, their hair held up in sophisticated twists.
Chris Nikoloff, head of school, welcomed guests, noting that he had just enjoyed a personal celebration of his own – the birth of his third child. He later introduced Revanth Kosaraju, grade 12, the upper school’s student body president. Nikoloff joked that he might as well “hand over my keys to the office to Revanth,” calling Kosaraju an all-around amazing school representative. Taking the microphone, Kosaraju then thanked the fashion show donors, reading a moving quote from a student who wouldn’t otherwise have been able to attend Harker, had he not benefited from a financial aid scholarship.
The music and visuals which accompanied the models were all the brainchild of Laura Lang-Ree, the show’s director and chair of the performing arts department. The music was a mix of top-pop hits matching each themed model session. Clothes were graciously provided by designers Ken Chen, Eli Thomas for Men, Tommy Bahama, Old Navy, Oakley, Spazio and more. The Chen segment was especially exciting, as the couture designer dressed Harker’s models in some of the clothes he had just shown in New York at the premiere of his fall 2012 collection.
The modeling sessions moved effortlessly from young children who would have looked adorable even without the added benefit of gorgeous clothes, to adults who ruled the runway for the segment “A Job Well Done.” Props this year for the students were fun and playful, including skateboards, scooters and jump ropes. Adult props included briefcases, cell phones and Starbucks coffee cups. As if that weren’t enough excitement, Dance Fusion and Downbeat provided memorable musical numbers in between modeling segments.
For the grand finale, festive, multicolored confetti was shot high above the stage and everyone walked down the catwalk one last time, driving home the fact that this year’s fashion show – while honoring celebrations – was truly a grand celebration in and of itself.
In closing, Sue Prutton, fashion show liaison and upper school volunteer director, urged attendees to cherish memories of both their personal, family and communal school celebrations.
Net proceeds from Celebrate!, which are still being totaled at press time, go to provide financial assistance to students who would otherwise be unable to benefit from a Harker education, fund the construction of the new gym and performing arts center, and support the mission to purchase a third campus.
This story was originally published in the Spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly
Dancing Through Life
On two nights in late January, the Harker Conservatory presented Dancing Through Life: Celebrating the Past and Looking to the Future. This year’s upper school dance production honored the past and present, showcasing classic hits and contemporary favorites while participants look towards futures as dancers and performing artists.
Both performances were held at the Blackford Theater.
The 86 cast members worked very hard to produce a beautiful, lively show. The evening, like the event’s name suggests, was split into two parts, with “Celebrating the Past” performances before intermission and “Looking to the Future” performances after it.
The directors, Karl Kuehn and Amalia De La Rosa, wrote in their program notes that the inspiration for the show’s name was Harker’s motto, “K through Life,” which “plays an integral role in our dance community, [which produces] lifelong learners and dancers who will carry this experience beyond the walls of the dance room and with them as they journey through life.”
Lower School Winter Concert
In early December, The Harker School’s lower school music students gathered for their annual concert. The concert featured five groups total: the choir, orchestra, jazz band and two preparatory ensembles. Technically, practice for the concert began on the first day of class. Class and practice are one and the same, and the concert allows students to showcase the broad range of styles they’ve learned by singing and playing various pieces.
Closer to the concert date, students selected what they wanted to play. The wonderfully varied program was capped off by a unique, energetic song choice. As the finale for the event, the students chose the theme song to the popular game Angry Birds. The students wore Angry Birds hats, and the piece was conducted with a slingshot.
Middle and Upper School Winter Concert
In mid-January, The Harker School had its 2012 Winter Concert at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose. The show featured the middle school orchestras and jazz band for the first part of the evening, with the upper school orchestra and jazz band following right after. Middle school wind and string ensembles started the evening. The Grade 6 Orchestra took the stage next, and they were followed by the chamber ensemble performances. Then it was grades 7 and 8 students’ turn to shine, which they certainly did through various jazz band pieces as well as through the orchestra’s three selections.
The upper school started off their portion of the evening with their jazz band, and after a short intermission, the upper school orchestra took the stage. They closed out an enjoyable evening with four pieces.
WinterSong Delights
At the end of January, the upper school Conservatory had its annual WinterSong concert. This performance features Bel Canto, a group known for the many musical genres it explores. Several of these were featured at the show, including musical theater, pop and classical, the last of which was particularly rich this year due to two special guests: Cantilena, Harker’s “all-classical-all-the-time” women’s ensemble and Camerata, a mixed classical, choral chamber ensemble, who perform essential works in various languages. Each group performed one piece at WinterSong this year. In addition to collaborating with soloists, Bel Canto also joined forces with a few talented instrumentalists. This year’s event, which was overseen by Jennifer Cowgill, Bel Canto’s director, included students from every upper school grade level.
Grade 5 Takes on the Rockin’ Musical “School Daze”
At the end of January, the entire grade 5 class at The Harker School presented “School Daze: Scenes and Songs from a Rockin’ School Day.”
The musical starts in an “Average Family Kitchen” and takes the audience through the beginning of the day (a scene featuring a song called “I’m in a Daze”) and then through a variety of classes, such as history, English, math, P.E. and choir. Each of the song and dance performances accompanying the scenes had its own unique spin on an aspect of a school day, with song titles such as “I Love My Locker” and “Cafeteria Confusion.” One of the big highlights of the play – which proved to be a delight throughout – was that the students portrayed Harker teachers in any scene a teacher was called for.
There were three showings of the musical, including a special performance for the rest of the lower school.
Downbeat’s Annual Holiday Tour
Downbeat, the upper school’s show choir, brought holiday cheer to the Bay Area in December. They were featured performers at the holiday boutique at Filoli Gardens and gathered an impressive crowd beneath the giant Christmas tree at Pier 39. They also caroled through the halls of the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital children’s oncology ward and sang for both independent seniors and those in assisted living at The Forum in Los Altos. The group closed the evening with a show in the lounge of the San Jose Fairmont Hotel, with family, friends, teachers and administrators cheering them on.
Conservatory Classic
Harker Conservatory alumni reunited in late December for the fourth Alumni Conservatory Classic, held in the Nichols Hall auditorium, featuring alumni from as far back as 2004.
Instrumental talent on display included several violinists, a cellist and a guitarist. Among the many vocal performers onstage during the evening was a duet from a pair of 2011 graduates, followed by many other soloists, including more of the recent ’11 grads as well as graduates from 2007. One solo performance featured dance accompaniment while others were performed in foreign languages, including a stunning piece in French.
Soloists weren’t the only ones to get in on the act, though. A large group of former Cantilena singers from many different graduating classes took the stage that evening, and Guys’ Gig alumni closed the show with arranged versions of popular songs.
Student-Directed Showcase
In January, three seniors made their directorial debuts at this year’s Student-Directed Showcase. Each chose a play to direct and produce, learning a great deal in the process.
From auditioning actors to arranging sets to technical planning, directors gained a wealth of hands-on experience during the class, which many apply for but few get to take. This year’s productions were “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead,” “Voices in Conflict” and “How to Succeed in High School Without Really Trying.”
London New Year’s Eve Performance by The Harker Orchestra
The Harker Orchestra, the upper school’s largest musical ensemble, directed by Chris Florio, performed in London during the city’s New Year celebration. The 76 musicians performed at the famous Cadogan Hall and received a very enthusiastic response. “The audience’s spontaneous reaction was one of the highlights of my musical life because it was so genuine,” said Florio. “They had to stand up right away. I’ve never experienced that as a conductor.”
The students also had the opportunity to march in the London New Year’s Day parade, carrying the flags of the countries participating in this year’s summer Olympic games, which will take place in London.
Baby Wants Candy Brings Tons of Energy to Unique Improv Sessions
Laughter rang through Saratoga and Blackford campuses in early February when Harker was visited by Baby Wants Candy, a musical comedy improvisational troupe who led workshops and performed at a sold-out event.
Baby Wants Candy has permanent troupes in New York and Chicago; at any given time they may have 40-50 performers in groups that tour, including to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where their relationship with Harker began. The troupe performed at an upper school assembly on Feb. 3 and spent both lunchtimes answering questions from Conservatory students at a “Life in the Arts” workshop.
On Friday and Saturday afternoons, Harker students were put through their improv paces in five hours of workshops. They spent Friday breaking down the elements of improv and listening to a fabulous primer on this difficult art form. Saturday they were joined by more of the cast, and the lessons continued, eventually preparing the students for participation in the BWC show on Saturday night.
The first half of the show allowed the Harker workshop students to spread their improv wings and test out all they had learned in the past days. BWC cast members led the students through all manner of improv games, all based on suggestions from the audience.
Then the BWC cast performed. An audience member suggested the title “Presidents on Jeopardy,” and a fully choreographed, plotted and staged musical unfolded, replete with topical political references, hilarious rhymes, and the Jeopardy theme song woven throughout several of the musical numbers.
This story was originally published in the Spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly
Lower School
Before the lower school went on winter break to celebrate the holiday season, grade 4 students organized their annual toy drive, collecting, counting and loading 809 toys. Student council members helped deliver the items to San Jose-based Sacred Heart Community Services (SHCS) and received a tour of the facilities that serve more than 18,000 families a month. “The volunteers at SHCS were thrilled with the donation,” Joe Connolly, K-5 dean of students, wrote in an email. “Your donations went a long way towards helping them reach their goal of making sure that every child has a toy to enjoy.” Before Christmas weekend, Sacred Heart put 16,000 gifts on display, where 5,000 parents with children in need picked out toys to bring home for Christmas.
On Dec. 27, grade 3 families helped organize clothing donations, sort bread and prepare food items for SHCS. Organized by Heather Wardenburg (Amy, grade 11; Ricky, grade 3) and Stephanie Woolsey, grade 3 teacher and alumni mother, this holiday volunteer opportunity aligned with Woolsey’s desire to build community within the school while giving back to the larger community. Woolsey had volunteered with SHCS previously and found that it was “one of the few organizations that can use younger kids.” Kristin Tong, grade 3, spent her day bagging pears, apples and potatoes and enjoyed spending time with her friends outside, where “we got to help people.”
The lower school also continued to work with the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) at Stanford University to brighten the walls and corridors of the hospital. This collaboration stemmed from a discussion between students and Eric Hoffman, lower school art department chair. Freshman Matthew Ho, then grade 5, suggested LPCH as a potential partner and, in spring 2009, about 50 pieces of student art marked the beginning of a long-term relationship. In December, an art curation and interior design team visited the lower school campus to select a new collection for rotation.
The students showcased their work in the conference room and the team selected grade 4’s spread of ceramic desserts and about 45 pieces of flatwork to display in LPCH’s clinic.
At the end of January, the lower school held a special assembly in celebration of this year’s successful pajama collection and book drive. Dressed in pajamas for the occasion, upper school sophomores visited their grade 3 counterparts as part of the Eagle Buddies program and spent the duration of the assembly catching up, reading and celebrating the 425 pairs of pajamas and 475 books that were donated to families in need. Pallie Zambrano, co-president of the Northern California chapter of the Pajama Program, picked up the donations and congratulated the students, informing them that Harker has donated more than 1,800 pairs of pajamas in the last five years.
Middle School
The middle school’s Service Club held its annual used coat drive, which was once again a great success, according to club advisor Steven Hewitt. The club collected more than 200 coats for InnVision, an organization dedicated to keeping the Bay Area’s homeless warm during the winter months. “The middle school Service Club’s annual donation of coats to InnVision has been a tradition for nearly 10 years now, and in that time we have donated close to, if not more than, 2,000 winter coats,” Hewitt said. “I’m exceedingly proud of the students in the club who gave their time and effort to the drive.”
Seven grade 6 advisories joined together in February to send 110 Valentine’s Day cards to deployed military personnel around the world. These cards, filled with heartfelt messages, comments, jokes and words of encouragement, were shipped in care packages through the nonprofit A Million Thanks. Some advisories continued their efforts through March, making thank you cards to be delivered later this year.
Upper School
The upper school also helped with gift giving this past holiday season, donating toys and items to Family Supportive Housing, Scott Lane Elementary and Sacred Heart Community Service. Kerry Enzensperger, community service coordinator, recognized seniors Farrah Gulzar, Asia Howard, Dylan Qian and Michael Wu; juniors Michael Chen, Ashley Del Alto, Andre Tran and Daniel Wang; and freshman Katy Sanchez for their help in delivering the gifts to the three organizations.
On Jan. 28, upper school students joined Save the Bay in their restoration efforts, “Planting for Penguins.” More than 20 students spent the day at the Faber Tract in East Palo Alto weeding invasive mustard plants and planting different species of native plants in an effort to revitalize the marsh area. The students were pleasantly surprised to find that the lower school had also organized an outing for the same day and both worked alongside each other on the stretch by the levee. Interested in saving endangered species, Justin Gerard, grade 10, spent a portion of the day planting gum plants, which will eventually grow large enough for birds to use as shelter from predators. “I really liked this work because the progress was evident as we looked at the hundreds of plants that our group managed to root into the soil,” Gerard said.
The upper school also continued efforts on-site, hosting a Kicks Against Cancer pizza party for families and organizing an “Ai Support Japan” week (“ai” means “love” in Japanese). Japan Club reached out to Japanese National Honor Society (JNHS) advisor Masako Onakado about hosting a fundraiser this year and Onakado found a fitting cause and organization in Japan. Worried that people were forgetting about the devastation and difficulties Japan continues to face, Onakado made contact with a nonprofit organization helping coordinate efforts to fundraise for the Onagawa Kogakkan School and others. The school, in Onogawa, Miyagi, where the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck, helps provide classes and self-study areas to elementary and middle school students, many of whom are still living in temporary housing.
“There are many students who were really concerned about Japan and have wanted to do something for the country,” Onakado said, recalling the 2,700 paper cranes students folded after the earthquake hit Japan, “so I wanted us to take action and communicate with the Harker community that Japan needs long-term support.”
During the week, the JNHS and Japan Club sold tote bags with buttons designed by students, wristbands, candy, hot chocolate and Japanese tea, raising more than $1,500 for Onagawa Kougakkan students.
To learn more about Harker’s community service efforts, visit news.harker.org and search “service.”
This article originally appeared in the spring 2012 Harker Quarterly.
Harker’s athletic department is making a concerted effort to make available the best sport-specific training possible to lower and middle school athletes. The integrated program will enhance player skills, introduce them to varsity coaches and training techniques and should result in higher caliber teams for Harker.
Solid Staff
The integration has become possible with the careful expansion of the athletic staff. Dan Molin, athletic director, joined Harker in 2005 and recognized the benefit of harnessing Harker’s potential for an integrated athletic program. “We’d like our younger athletes to see themselves contributing someday to the upper school program,” he said. “They see the wonderful student and coach role models in the upper school and want to emulate them.”
The integration, gradually introduced where appropriate over the last few years, provides a smooth transition for student athletes as they progress towards and enter the upper school. “The main goals are to have similar skills taught at the lower and middle school programs as are taught in the upper school programs,” Molin said. “When those students come to the upper school, there is a seamless transition regarding those skills.”
Molin is a certified athletic administrator, a member of the American Volleyball Coaches Association and a lifetime member of the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association. At Harker he has led numerous athletic improvement projects, helped turn the football program around and coached the first boys athletic team to a Harker league championship.
One of his first steps was bringing a higher level of training to the varsity teams, and to that end, in 2007 Jaron Olson joined the department. Olson is a certified athletic trainer and a National Academy of Sports Medicine performance enhancement specialist.
The integration program took a long stride forward when Ron Forbes joined the athletic department in 2010. Forbes has national chops as a leader in developing winning athletic programs. He comes to Harker from Stanford University, where he was director of sports performance.
“Ron has been an outstanding addition to our athletic department,” said Molin. “He continually sets the bar to a higher standard.” In the last 15-plus years, Forbes has trained more than 60 athletes later drafted by the National Football League. He helped the University of Florida Gators to seven consecutive bowl games and helped Stanford secure its spot as one of the top teams in the NCAA’s PAC 10 division. His organizational ability and deep knowledge of sports programming give the athletic department the administrative depth to coordinate the additional program elements effectively.
Summer Sports Camps
Three programs – swimming, tennis and soccer – have long had summer camps that put athletes of all ages together, providing a de facto integrated program for each.
Swimming, a natural summer activity, benefitted from the opening of the Singh Aquatic Center at the upper school campus in 2008. This year a special competitive element, Junior Swim Team, was added for intermediate swimmers to practice competitive strokes and build endurance and fitness as part of a summer team.
The summer tennis program, directed by Harker’s tennis coach, Craig Pasqua (United States Professional Tennis Association certified), has been naturally integrated with the upper school tennis team as Pasqua trains young students during the summer, then sees them as they continue to compete and reach high school.
Competitive tennis players ages 6-18 train in the summer at Pasqua’s Harker Oakwood Tennis Training System (HOTTS), with team practices and interclub matches, in addition to instruction on advanced techniques, strategy, footwork and sports psychology. When students reach the upper school, they are fully acquainted with Pasqua’s methods and he with their strengths and weaknesses.
Harker also has long had a strong summer soccer program, drawing players from other schools and clubs, and enhancing the upper school’s soccer team, run by varsity coach Shaun Tsakiris. “My aim every year has been to create more and more of a buzz on campus about the sport,” says Tsakiris, a member of the 1997 U.S. National Team and winner of UCLA’s MVP Award in 2000. (For more on Tsakiris, see page 11.)
The Integration
Across the sports, integration has three elements. The first is a series of weekend training sessions during the season open to boys and girls in grades 4-8, run by varsity coaches. The middle school’s varsity A teams also practice with upper school teams. “I felt that it was extremely important for our lower and middle school athletes to see how we do things at the varsity level, see where we train and who we are as a coaching staff,” Tsakiris said. The soccer teams held an inaugural combined practice session in January, while girls basketball weekend training sessions for lower and middle school students started in early February. In addition, upper school track coaches will help with middle school track meets, and Molin, as boys varsity volleyball coach, plans to run training sessions with the grade 8 boys volleyball team.
The training sessions have enjoyed great attendance, with the basketball sessions attracting as many as 28 lower school and middle school athletes, said Molin.
Alfredo Alves, girls varsity basketball coach, noted the age groups mesh well. “At the workouts we have all four high school coaches and some varsity girls each week,” he said. “The varsity girls know everything we do and how we run things, so the coaches have full trust in the high school kids to teach the younger kids, and I feel like that is a key component to the workouts.”
“We were able to get the girls basketball clinics and boys soccer training sessions up and running for the third sports season of our lower and middle school calendar,” said Theresa “Smitty” Smith, the athletic director for grades 4-8. “Last season coach Butch Keller invited members of the lower and middle school boys basketball teams to sit on the bench at his upper school varsity basketball games.”
In addition, Smith said, “Wrestling coach Karriem Stinson runs middle school wrestling prior to upper school wrestling practice with a slight overlap so middle schoolers are integrated with upper schoolers. In the fall, we ran a grade 7 and 8 flag football tournament at the Saratoga campus, and the upper school football players helped out with everything from chain gang to scoring to clean up.”
There are other overlaps being added as schedules and personnel sync up. “In the fall,” Smith said, “upper school softball coach Raul Rios also coached the middle school softball team, and this spring we will have members of the upper school girls volleyball coaching staff, Alisa Vinkour and Diana Melendez, coach our middle school girls volleyball teams.”
Also this spring upper school water polo coaches Ted Ujifusa (boys) and Amelia Lamb (girls) will be coaching the middle school water polo teams.
New Programs
One of the jewels of the program is the new Harker Football School, taking place on Davis Field, March through May. The coed school is open to students from any school, grades 6-8, looking to improve their skills.
Forbes, who directs the football school, noted that the school has made the commitment to develop stronger players. “Success in producing football players who can compete on the highest level is the direct result of a consistent commitment to developing athletes who are sound in the fundamental skills of their respective positions,” he said. The athletic department is applying that maxim to as many sports as it can by presenting advanced techniques to younger players.
The second integration element is the plethora of sports camps Harker is running this summer. Along with tennis, swimming and soccer are now volleyball, football, basketball and water polo camps all run by Harker varsity coaches (see page 8 for details or visit www.harker.org).
In addition, Harker’s Summer Sports Conditioning (formerly Eagle Iron), a drop-in program that lasts most of the summer, meets daily and is managed by Olsen, Forbes and Smith.
The third element is the outreach upper school athletes do to the middle and lower school campuses, visiting to read or to help deliver core value messages along with school administrators. In addition, at the end of November, about 40 upper school athletes joined middle school students for lunch to get them excited about high school sports.
The advantages of the system are straightforward, said Molin. First, athletes will grow into their sports faster, gaining confidence and the ability to become better players – all good for the students’ personal growth. Second, the system will help Harker sports programs as coaches are better able to build on strengths and eliminate weaknesses of athletes, as well as better plan team play as skills build and are refined.
“We want there to be familiarity with the upper school program when students enter,” said Molin. “And naturally this will make our teams more competitive.”
This story was originally published in the Spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly
More than 500 students, teachers, parents, alumni and family members gathered in the Nichols Hall atrium March 10, to celebrate the life of Sharron Mittelstet. The much loved teacher, a 20-year veteran of Harker’s English department, succumbed to the debilitating effects of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease Feb. 2.
Steven Mittelstet, Mittelstet’s brother-in-law, introduced family, friends, colleagues and students who shared several reminiscences of her grace, wit, charm and perpetual enthusiasm. Steven Mittelstet read the words of Sharron’s daughter, Clare: “She was wildly, smartly funny … (and) her heart was immense.”
The event featured a performance by teacher Laura Lang-Ree who sang “Let it Be,” accompanied by colleague Catherine Snider and seniors Govi Dasu, Alex Najibi, Lauren Pinzás and Noel Witcosky. Seniors Jun Hee Lee and Devin Nguyen created a photo montage for the event, and Cantilena, directed by Susan Nace, contributed a recording of “This Little Light of Mine,” which was played at the end of the service.
Head of School Chris Nikoloff fondly recalled speaking to Mittelstet about Huck Finn. “She talked about Huck as if she knew him, as if he were one of her students,” said Nikoloff, who added Mittelstet “saw a uniqueness worth celebrating” in Huck much as she did the hundreds of students she wrote letters of recommendations for over the years.
Faculty members who also spoke included Butch Keller, upper school head, English teachers Stacie Newman, Steven Hewitt and Pauline Paskali and Spanish teacher Diana Moss. Surbhi Sarna ’03, Colby Rapson ’10 and Prag Batra, grade 12, also spoke to the large crowd. The event featured an extensive exhibit of photographs, classroom posters and letters from students. The exhibit was created by Paskali, Moss, administrative assistant Linda Brearley, teachers Chris Daren and Pilar Agüero-Esparza. Among the elements on display were the words of senior Neda Ghaffarian: “You have touched the hearts of many, and you will definitely live in mine forever.”
Sharron Mittelstet made a tremendous, positive impact on the lives of many children during her distinguished teaching career at The Harker School. In return, initiated by her husband, John Mittelstet, we are proud to provide scholarship assistance in honor of Sharron Mittelstet to motivated and talented children who would otherwise not be able to attend Harker. Families wishing to contribute to this endowed scholarship fund can make their checks payable to The Harker School in memory of Sharron Mittelstet. Contact the executive director of advancement, Joe Rosenthal, at joer@harker.org with questions. Your contribution will be invested in the associated endowed scholarship fund. Through this fund, Sharron Mittelstet will continue to positively impact Harker students in perpetuity. Those wishing to send condolences can send them to Lori Villarreal at loriv@ harker.org and they will be passed on to the family.