To celebrate the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, lower school students participated in a fun spirit assembly in mid-March. Students wearing green were rewarded during the homeroom “green with envy” contest, in which the homeroom with the most students in green earned spirit points. During the assembly, the students grooved to an Irish jig freeze dance, maneuvered their way through a hula hoop pass, and played “Captain of the Ship” – Irish style.
The teachers got into the fun, too, as they participated in a four corners trivia challenge. The fun continued throughout the school as students hunted for shamrocks around the playground and inside the gym building hallways and lobbies, and turned them in to their homeroom teachers for additional spirit points.
After the assembly, the Eagle Buddies from grades 4 and 11 broke off into groups and enjoyed lunch, conversation and play out on the lower school campus’ playground area.
Wajahat Ali ’94, winner of the Harker Distinguished Alumna award in 2010-11, will sit on a panel for the Commonwealth Club program titled “Paranoid Politics: Islamaphobia, McCarthyism and the Yellow Peril” in Los Gatos tomorrow.
Panel members include Larry Gerston, political science professor at San Jose State University and Channel 11 political analyst, and Congressman Mike Honda. Ali is a playwright, attorney and co-author of “Fear Inc, The Roots of the Islamaphobia Network in America,” and has been interviewed on NPR. The event is Tues., April 3, at the Jewish Community Center auditorium, 14855 Oka Rd. in Los Gatos. The program starts at 7 p.m. and is free to the public. The panel will cover three periods in U.S. history: World War I, the era of McCarthyism and post 9-11, when groups faced persecution in politics and the media. Panel members will share their personal perspectives and reflect on the historic lessons learned. Contact the Commonwealth Club for tickets .415.597.6705.
Girls lacrosse went 2-1 last week starting with a close 17-15 loss to Bella Vista Tuesday. The girls then traveled to Santa Catalina Thursday to earn a 19-9 win and marked the first time ever defeating the Cougars! The girls opened league play Friday with a 17-11 victory over rival Notre Dame-San Jose.
Big shout out to the boys basketball and football team members who came to support lacrosse. Scorers were: Asia Howard, grade 12 (one); Michelle Douglas, grade 11 (three); Hannah Bollar, grade 9 (four); Tiphaine Delepine, grade 11 (four), Wendy Shwe, grade 11 (five). Christine Lee, grade 10, had 16 saves in goal. The girls host tough league opponent Mercy-Burlingame Friday, so please come out and support them! This is Andrew Irvine’s first year as head coach. He has four years of experience working under former head coach Dawn Clark. Jason Berry is his assistant coach.
Swimming
Our swimmers opened the league portion of their season with some outstanding results. The girls team defeated Menlo 141-57 and Mercy-Burlingame 132-60. The girls earned first place finishes in all events
The girls 200-medley relay of Katie Siegel, grade 12, Lucy Cheng, grade 12, Kimberly Ma, grade 10, and Amie Chien, grade 11, won and qualified for CCS.
The girls 200-free relay of Tiffany Wong, Rachelle Koch, Amie Chien, all grade 12, and Manon Audebert, grade 10, won and qualified for CCS. The girls 400-free relay of Siegel, Cheng, Ma and Audebert won and qualified for CCS.
Audebert won the 200 free; Ma won the 200 individual medley and the 400 free, qualifying for CCS in both. Chien won the 100 free, Wong won the 50 free, Siegel won the 100 fly and the 100 back, and qualified for CCS in both. Cheng won the 100 breast and qualified for CCS in that and the 200 IM. Honorable mentions include Koch and Keri Clifford, grade 11.
The girls swam again March 28 so watch for results including first place finishes from Audebert, Ma, Siegel and Koch, and the relays featuring Chien, Cheng and Tiffany Wong. Coming soon!
Final score, boys: Menlo 108, Harker 92
The 200-medley relay of Kevin Khojasteh, grade 12, Aaron Huang, grade 9, Craig Neubieser, grade 9, and Daryl Neubieser, grade 12, won and qualified for CCS. The 200-free relay of Khojasteh, Huang and both Neubiesers won and qualified for CCS.
Khojasteh won the 200 individual medley and the 100 back and qualified for CCS in both, Daryl Neubieser won the 50 free and the 100 free and qualified for CCS in both, Huang won the 100 breast and qualified for CCS; Honorable mentions include Craig Neubieser and Austin Lai.
Baseball
After losing to Monta Vista earlier in the week, our baseball team bounced back with a 18-0 win against North Valley Baptist to improve to 4-4. Noah Levy, grade 12, was 2 for 4 with a triple and three RBIs.
March 28, in the league opener against King’s Academy, with bases loaded, two outs, a 4-4 tie in extra innings, junior Drew Goldstein drove in the winning run with a line-drive single to win the game 5-4. Kevin Cali, grade 11, pitched eight strong innings with seven strikeouts. Nate Hoffman, grade 12, went 3 for 5 with two RBIs. Jacob Hoffman (no relation), grade 11, went 3 for 6 batting including a double. The boys are 5-4, 1-0 in league and travel to Menlo March 30.
Boys Tennis
Boys Tennis lost to Monta Vista and Menlo last week before coming back and defeating Priory 7-0 on Thursday, making them 3-3 overall, 3-2 in league play. This week things turned around with their second victory over Priroy, 5-2, on Priory’s home courts. Sachin Jain, grade 12, played #1 singles and won a close tiebreaker in the third set. Number one doubles team of Chris Chang, grade 11, and Jason Chu, grade 9,had an easy victory, 6-1, 6-0 and set the tone for the match. Harker is now tied for second place in the WBAL (with SHP) and our overall record is 5-4. They travel to King’s Academy, March 29.
Boys Volleyball
Boys volleyball lost to Lynbrook and Mountain View last week to drop to 5-7 overall, 1-3 in league. Andrew Zhu, grade 10, had 19 kills in the loss to Lynbrook and Zach Ellenberg, grade 12, added 12 kills. They host to Lowell and Monta Vista this week.
Always the crowd pleaser, Dance Jamz, the middle school’s annual spring dance show, again left audiences wanting more.
Sponsored by the performing arts department and held at the Blackford Theater for a four-show run, the recent show featured 169 dancers (20 more than last year) from all middle school grade levels.
Dance Jamz 2012 encompassed a series of elaborate routines, covered varied dance styles and included more male performers than ever before. There was even an grade 8 boys-only number.
The student dancers performed a total of three shows, first showcasing their talents for grade 5, then entertaining their middle school classmates and finally performing for friends and family.
Middle school dance teacher Gail Palmer, who directed the show, said she was excited about watching Harker’s middle school program grow. With more students taking classes and becoming technically skilled dancers, she hopes her students continue to follow their passion for dance well into high school and beyond.
She noted that Dance Jamz would not be possible without the tireless effort of countless volunteers who ensure it runs smoothly, as well as those who give to Harker’s annual campaign, which funds the program.
From the first energetic piece, “This Place About to Blow,” to the final number, “Fame,” Dance Jamz entertained and delighted audience members with its stunning variety of dance styles, music and costumes.
Kicks Against Cancer raised nearly $12,000 in January and February for Camp Okizu, a program for families affected by childhood cancer. Money was raised by selling T-shirts and wristbands, as well as through traditional donations.
On Feb. 1, the varsity boys and girls soccer teams played their evening home games wearing the purple Kicks Against Cancer T-shirts. Both teams won their games, with the girls defeating Immaculate Conception Academy 7-0 and the boys winning over Eastside College Prep with a score of 2-1.
Profits from the food sales at Carley’s Café, which nearly ran out of supply to feed the hungry attendants, were also donated to the campaign.
“I think that this event really lets Harker have a direct impact on the lives of pediatric cancer patients and their families,” said Nicole Dalal, grade 12, who organized the event and scored a goal in the girls varsity game. “I would just say that it is incredibly rewarding to know that the game of soccer can bring together our entire community and the Okizu community as well!”
In January, upper school art teacher Jaap Bongers took his students to the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University. The students admired and analyzed several of the museum’s many fascinating pieces, including its famous collection of sculptures by French artist Auguste Rodin.
Three Harker middle school social studies teachers recently returned from the 51st annual conference of the California Council for the Social Studies, held in Orange County.
The teachers – Jonathan Brusco, Keith Hirota and Cyrus Merril – were among conference attendees who annually come together as a group, from across the state and beyond, to share insights and ideas, collaborate and inspire one another in efforts to support and sustain a strong history/social studies education program for students.
“The best teachers are always trying to come up with new, innovative ways to engage their students and this convention is a means for them to share their great ideas with other educators,” said history teacher Brusco.
“This was my second year attending the convention and each year I brought back something innovative to implement in my classroom. This time I learned about a new method, called the four worlds, for students to do analysis of social studies topics. I’ve already begun utilizing it in my classroom.”
For more than 50 years, the conference’s mission has remained consistent: to prepare and equip the next generation with the necessary skills, understanding and dispositions to maintain a democratic republic.
This year’s theme was Social Studies to the Core! The theme explored how common core standards can be used as a tool to advance critical thinking through analytical reading and writing exercises with social studies content.
Keynote speakers and scholars included Holocaust survivor, author and Medal of Freedom recipient Gerda Weissmann Klein; “Enrique’s Journey” author Sonia Nazario; English Language Learning expert Margarita Jimenez-Silva; National Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools executive director Ted McConnell; and California Court of Appeals Justice Judith McConnell.
Sessions and workshops made up the bulk of the conference with programming delivered by K-12 teaching colleagues and other educators. An added bonus was an exhibit hall, complete with vendors on hand to hook up conference attendees with the latest instructional materials for use in the social studies classroom.
Social events included an appetizer reception where guests networked with colleagues and friends, an awards dinner and a breakfast with a legislative advocate. Next year’s conference will be held in San Francisco.
Innovation News Daily, March 26, 2012 – The Harker InvenTeam’s innovative energy solution receives coverage on the website.
BusinessWire, March 20, 2012 – A press release from Applied Materials, Inc. mentions Harker as a third place winner in this year’s Clean Tech competition. The Harker team is made up of grade 11 students Maya Sathaye, Shelby Rorabaugh and Lorraine Wong.
Senior Xinyi “Cherry” Xie has won a National Gold Medal and a National American Visions Award from the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers for her painting, “Balcony.” Xie was profiled along with four other Harker regional winners in the spring 2012 Harker Quarterly (page 23). Xie has been invited to Carnegie Hall for the awards ceremony at the end of May and her work will be included in the scholastics exhibition in New York City at Parsons the New School of Design. Be sure to read about all five of these award-winning artists and writers in the online Harker Quarterly!
Harker’s student journalism news website, TalonWP.com, has been awarded the prestigious Gold Crown Award for digital news from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA). According to the CSPA, this year 1,351 printed magazines, newspapers and yearbooks and 182 digital publications bycurrent CSPA members were eligible to enter the competition. Online news media were judged at Columbia University by the Board of Crown Judges in February 2012. Publications were judged on writing/editing, design, content, concept, photography, art and graphics. Only 13 digital news publications received the Gold Crown Award, which has been presented annually since 1983.
This year’s award is only the latest in the past several years of recognition for Harker’s journalism program, which is directed by Chris Daren. TalonWP.com won a Silver Crown in 2011 and a Gold Crown in 2010. The Winged Post won a Silver Crown in 2010 as well. Read more about the Harker journalism program in the current issue of Harker Quarterly.