On Sat., March 24, Harker will host the seventh annual conference for Silicon Valley Computer-Using Educators (SVCUE), titled “T3: Teach Through Technology.” The conference will contain a variety of presenters and workshops designed to help teachers integrate technology to enhance the classroom experience.
As many as 200 teachers and administrators have attended previous conferences. Last year, Michael Schmidt, middle school computer science teacher, showed off Scratch, a new open-source programming language for children and teenagers, and Paul Vallerga, a teacher and designer in Harker’s performing arts department, demonstrated Google SketchUp, a free 3-D modeling tool, for student art projects, demonstrations and more.
This year, demonstrations will include how to use Google apps to reduce email clutter, the benefits of utilizing iPads as teaching tools, strategies to involve disengaged students and using video to enhance instruction. Vendors exhibiting at the event include Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Industry Initiatives for Science and Math Education, Krause Center for Innovation and more.
A program with a full list of presentations and exhibitors is available for download at the SVCUE event page. Attendees can register at the registration page on the Harker website.
It’s not exactly business as usual in the main office lobby at Harker’s upper school campus. Sure, there are phones ringing, copy machines whirring, visitors popping in asking questions, the sound of papers rustling. And yet, despite these typical happenings, there’s something very different about the place: it is doubling as an art gallery for the middle school’s impressive visual arts program, presenting select student work created during the school year.
Each spring, all of Harker’s campuses hold art shows to give students a venue for the works they have completed thus far, but the Saratoga exhibit includes specially selected works. The exhibit kicked off with an opening reception this month and will run until April 6. On April 23 the main middle school art exhibit will open on the middle school campus, where it will run until May 15, with an opening reception held there on April 24.
In the Saratoga exhibit, colorful paintings and ceramics, from figurines to wire sculptures and mobiles, filled the outer walls on all sides of the room, giving a lovely, transformative ambience to the office setting.
On display from sixth graders were assorted plates and bowls with tempting fake food such as pie, French fries, vegetables and fruit. One particularly cheery plate radiated with painted-on yellow smiley faces. Grade 7-8 ceramics included a section of sea animals titled “Formed by the Sea.” They also had a table at the show containing glass fusion and casting, comprising sculptures illuminated by lights revealing the intricacy of the work.
Softball is off to a terrific start! Harker is 3-2 overall, and the two losses were to teams that play in higher-ranked leagues. Harker plays in the Foothill Division of the West Bay Athletic League (WBAL), which is a “C” league. Monte Vista is in an “A” league, and Yuerba Buena, Gunderson, Menlo-Atherton and Lincoln are in “B” leagues, so the Harker softball team has actually been “fighting above our weight” and doing just fine.
Last year the squad made it to the Central Coast Sectional (CCS) tournament. The rules are that the top two finishers in the Foothill division are automatically in, and the first place finisher in the Skyline division of the WBAL plays the third place finisher in Foothill — last year, that was Harker. The team finished in third in Foothill and had to play and win one extra game to make it into the tournament. Hopes are running high for this year.
Many girls have been coming out to play, and their skills are developing quickly. This can only happen with parental support for their regular attendance at practice, good nutrition and adequate sleep. The coaches also appreciate the planning families are doing to help the team go.
The game on March 14 was a perfect end-of-preseason match as almost every player was able to get into the game (skill development), there was great camaraderie in the dugout (having fun), and Harker won! The coaches look forward to seeing continued support from the Harker community throughout the softball season.
Boys varsity tennis went 2-0 last week with their wins over King’s Academy and Crystal Springs. Jason Chu, grade 9, played in his first singles match and beat his King’s Academy opponent in straight sets. Boys varsity tennis is now 2-1 (2-0 league) and hosted rival Sacred Heart Prep on March 14.
Boys golf is now 2-0 and atop the league in the early part of the season with wins over Pinewood and King’s Academy. Maverick McNealy, grade 11, posted a 36 and Shrish Dwivedi, grade 9, showed a 37 against King’s at Los Lagos.
Baseball went 2-1 last week with a tough 5-7 loss to Lynbrook but came back strong with a rousing 11-3 victory over Priory and a dominating 15-3 win over Trinity Christian. Noah Levy, grade 12, went three for four against Lynbrook with a home run and two RBIs. Against Priory, Drew Goldstein, grade 11, had two hits, an RBI and two stolen bases. Versus Trinity, Jacob Hoffman, grade 11, went three for four with a double and two stolen bases. The boys are now 3-2 as they travel to Sequoia, Capuchino and Fremont this week.
Boys volleyball lost to Mitty and Willow Glen last week, but came back Friday to defeat Harbor High 3-1. Andrew Zhu, grade 10, had 22 kills and Dwight Payne, grade 12, contributed 35 digs in the Willow Glen match. The boys (2-2) open league play this week as they host a tough Homestead High squad at Blackford.
Softball lost to Monta Vista last week despite 11 stikeouts by Alison Rugar, grade 11. The girls are now 2-1 and play three games this week, hosting Notre Dame Friday in the league opener.
Girls lacrosse lost to Bella Vista of Sacramento Friday. Christine Lee, grade 10, had 17 saves in goal, Michelle Douglas, grade 11, had five goals and Hannah Bollar, grade 9, added two goals.
Last week, the lower school held its annual Jump Rope for Heart event, which saw the students take to the fields and blacktop to jump rope, shoot hoops and enjoy other activities to celebrate their efforts to raise money for the American Heart Association.
The students had been collecting donations since January and had raised nearly $600 as of the day of the event. In addition to jumping rope, students also had the option of doing high jumps over a rope onto a mat, bouncing on a trampoline, running through an obstacle course and also dedicating a paper heart to someone to be posted on the “heart wall,” a tradition at every Jump Rope for Heart event. One of the students’ favorite activities was the “Tidal Wave,” which had the students run under a rope then quickly run back without getting the rope caught on their feet.
Donations are still being collected through March 30. Those interested in donating can contact lower school physical education teacher and Jump Rope for Heart coordinator Jim McGovern at JimM@harker.org.
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but Harker’s top artistic talent went the extra mile, by showcasing written statements alongside original artwork at the recent AP Studio Art Exhibition.
Featuring unique works in various media, the exhibition was held during a long lunch in the light-filled Nichols Hall atrium. The professionally-styled show was open to both students and faculty who strolled the hall admiring projects ranging from photography to sculptures and drawings.
AP Studio Art is a high-level class for talented artists, mostly seniors, interested in both 3-D art, taught by Jaap Bongers, and 2-D art, taught by Pilar Aguero-Esparza.
Commenting on the work of his student’s, Bongers, who is also chair of the art department, said he had been fortunate to follow many of the exhibitors’ evolving styles over the course of several years, having had them in various previous art courses.
Many of the students at the annual show were not artists themselves. However, after attending, they said they had a new appreciation for the artistic friends they’d come out to support.
“Some of my friends do art; I’ll probably take it next year,” said Eric Swenson, grade 11, who especially enjoyed reading the artists’ personal statements and seeing what inspired them.
Each of the student artists chose a theme that recurred throughout their works and wrote statements explaining their inspiration for the exhibition. These artist statements were prominently displayed next to their pieces.
In her statement about her cat sketches, artist Iris Xia, grade 11, wrote that her concentration involved the objectification of feelings. By illustrating cats placed into typical household tools and later luxury items, she said she sought to demonstrate how degrading people could be when they exploit innocent animals for their own benefit.
Meanwhile, senior Karen Wang’s whimsical, colorful paintings focused on the idea of freedom and escape. “What is freedom and how do I communicate my perception of it?” she questioned in her artist statement.
One thing that all of the exhibiting artists seemed to agree on was the joy they personally took in having the freedom to create their own themes, rather than following a more standard project based on a class assignment.
Explaining that process, exhibiting artist Tariq Jahshan, grade 12, stood in front of his 3-D sculpture display, and allowed that most of his ideas start out as a very basic abstract form. Then he “just kind of goes with it” until it becomes more conscious. “At that point, what’s going to come out takes over and I’ll then follow that.”
Jahshan’s work, and all the exhibiting artists’ pieces, will continue to be on display in Nichols Hall for Harker students, parents and faculty alike to enjoy until March 23.
This past fall, Harker students Neeraj Baid and Neel Bhoopalam, both grade 11, successfully founded and launched TEDx, an innovative program focusing on fostering youth entrepreneurship.
The students independently designed TEDx, created in “the spirit of ideas worth spreading,” and introduced it via a conference they organized themselves at Harker’s Nichols Hall. The community-wide event attracted nearly 200 high school students interested in entrepreneurship, from both the South Bay and greater San Francisco Bay Area. They came to listen to and interact with successful Silicon Valley entrepreneurs.
Most recently, over the winter break, the forward-thinking team of Baid and Bhoopalam got invited by Chuck Reed, San Jose’s mayor, and council member Rose Herrera (who also heads the city’s economic development committee) to speak about TEDx at a city council meeting.
During the meeting, Herrera praised the boys’ work founding the program and promoting teenage entrepreneurship in San Jose and beyond. Speaking on behalf of Bhoopalam, Baid updated council members about their cause and vision of uniting important business leaders with local youth to ignite passion and leadership early on.
The Harker students reported that they were honored for the opportunity to speak at the city council and encouraged by the enthusiasm generated by their first event, which headlined keynote speaker Guy Kawasaki and featured five top entrepreneurs, each offering unique perspectives and advice to the young audience.
Harker News Online looks forward to continued updates and announcements about TEDx happenings in the future.
Nicholas Manjoine has just accepted a reappointment to the 2012-13 AP French Language Development Committee. As part of his duties he will help implement testing for the AP French Language and Culture examination.
Before joining Harker in 1998 as a founding member of the faculty’s upper school where he delights in teaching a wide spectrum of French courses (from French I to AP language and advanced seminars), Manjoine held teaching posts at the secondary and university levels.
He also has taught in the English and history departments, teaching electives such as Great Novels, Speculative Fiction and Ethics. He has further served both as a reader and table leader for the AP French Literature and Language courses. A repeat recipient of National Endowment for the Humanities summer grants, Manjoine participated in month-long seminars focusing on “The Paris of Balzac, Baudelaire and Zola,” held in Paris in 2003, and “Modern French Theater” in Avignon during that city’s theater festival in 2009.
Committed to developing students’ linguistic and cultural experiences, Manjoine regularly leads students on study abroad trips such as the exchange program with Harker’s sister school in Fribourg, Switzerland, the Collège de Gambach.
When not teaching, Manjoine’s passion for lifelong learning lead him to pursue a second M.A. in liberal arts at Stanford University, which he will complete this year.
Harker’s summer Tennis Camp is a great opportunity for tennis enthusiasts aged 7-14 (entering grades 2-8 in fall 2012) to improve their knowledge and skills. For competitive tennis players aged 6-18, the Harker Oakwood Tennis Training System (HOTTS) will have team practices and interclub matches, in addition to instruction on advance techniques, strategy, footwork and sports psychology.
Both programs will incorporate physical training, on-court instruction, technique practice and practice with both instructors and ball machines. “For the past two years, we have been using the Spanish developmental foundation used by the renowned Sanchez Casal Academy for our aspiring players,” says Harker tennis couach Craigh Pasqua, certified by the United States Professional Tennis Association. “This foundation emphasizes a different way to address the ball and includes techniques to mitigate the high levels of repetitive stress placed on one’s body by using today’s angular strokes.” Emilio Sanchez, who developed the technique and has helped develop top players such as Rafael Nadal and Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, personally introduced Pasqua to the method.
New to this year’s program is the Quickstart League. Geared toward players under 10, the league will hold regular afternoon practices and offers participants the opportunity to play on smaller courts with smaller nets. Students will also attend the Bank of the West Classic tennis competition at Stanford University. “During our annual visit, our campers have the opportunity to meet many of the players and participate in a special program for junior players,” Pasqua said.
In addition to coaching, Pasqua also directs Standing Tall Tennis, a nonprofit organization that specializes in helping at-risk youths on Indian reservations through tennis instruction. For his years of community service, he was recently recognized by the Northern California chapter of the United States Tennis Association, who honored him with a “Trailblazer” award for his years of service.
The Tennis Camp and HOTTS both take place at the Oakwood Tennis Center in San Jose, located at 700 Saratoga Ave. Both programs run from June 25 through Aug. 10, 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. More information and registration are available on the Harker Summer Camp Tennis web pages.
Students in grades 4 through 8 of all skill levels will find something to enjoy in Harker’s summer volleyball program. Participants will work on individual skills such as passing, setting, hitting and serving. Visits from Stanford University and Santa Clara University will present a unique opportunity for students to receive top-level instruction and advice.
Coaches Dan Molin and Theresa “Smitty” Smith bring a combined 40 years of volleyball experience to the program. Molin, once named to Volleyball Magazine’s “Fab 50” list, has been recognized by the American Volleyball Coaches Association as a 200-win coach. A member of the 1990 U.S. Amateur Olympic Volleyball team, Smith’s many accolades include being chosen the Positive Coaching Alliance’s Double Goal Coach of the year in 2007. “The entire coaching staff have years of experience coaching volleyball and have a firm grasp of the fundamentals,” said Molin. “They will notice a marked improvement in all of their volleyball skills.”
Skills that students will work on include passing, setting, hitting and serving. They will run drills that help to build individual skills as well as teamwork. Students will also have the chance to hear advice from and practice with college-level coaches.
The Harker summer volleyball program will be held July 16-20, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. each day at Harker’s middle school campus. Each student will receive a volleyball and a camp t-shirt. For more information and to register, please visit http://summer.harker.org/page.cfm?p=2381.