Regina Chen, grade 10, finished in the top eight in the Cadet Women’s Sabre at the North American Cup (NAC) held in Richmond, Va., one of four Cadet point events held annually. Cadet events are for those under age 17. There were 91 competitors in the event, making her top eight accomplishment all the more impressive. Chen also had a great finish over the summer, tying for third place at the Summer National Fencing Championships. Chen is now ranked 20th in the U.S. in Cadet Women’s Sabre with only two events under her belt, as she just began fencing in the Cadet bracket.
Michael Amick, grade 11, was honored for his athletic prowess at the fourth annual Soccer Silicon Valley Community Foundation (SSVCF) dinner in mid-October as the 2011 David Kucera award recipient. Kucera passed away from natural causes in college and the De Anza Force and SSVCF established the David Kucera award to honor a student athlete who embodies Kucera’s philosophy and competitive spirit. They noted Amick is a 4.0 junior at The Harker School, who, according to the award, consistently demonstrates: the ability to be a significant contributor to his soccer team both on and off the field; leadership of his peers on and off the field; excellence in his academic areas of study; commitment and involvement to community service; and always shows respect for those around him.
The Harker School’s annual Global Empowerment and Outreach (GEO) Week, put on by the GEO Club, ended in late October. Thanks to candygram, wrist bands and sports bags sales, as well as pledges taken for vows of silence, the club will be donating just under $6,000 to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI). GAVI distributes vaccines to impoverished nations, helping to save the lives of children and break the poverty cycle.
GEO had so many candygram orders that “we had to make almost 200 more, I think,” said Cherry Xie, grade 12, the club’s public relations officer.
Xie also says a great number of people participated in the vow of silence, which was her personal favorite part of the week. “People got very competitive about the amount of money they could raise and it basically turned into a huge competition between me and two other people to see who could raise the most.” Pledges were given to those participating in the 24-hour vow of silence, and the three competitive students, “each ended up getting pledges from 60 or more people,” said Xie.
But the vows of silence didn’t stop with the students. Teachers also took the pledge challenge, including Bradley Stoll, a mathematics teacher on the upper school campus who teaches Xie’s calculus class.
Xie called thought it was “very bold” of him to do. “I really admire how he was willing to root for the cause even though it made teaching for him very difficult,” she says.
To illustrate just how quickly disease spreads, the club also put on a game where they had to “infect” each other with stickers, and see how many people had become “infected” by the end of the day.
The end of the event provided a natural time for reflection, as well as a time to consider what other ways there are to help. “I hope everyone realizes that there are many ways to help people in Third World countries, and that many aspects of their lives they don’t usually take time to appreciate are in fact life-or-death matters for others, specifically vaccinations and immunizations,” said Xie. “I also hope that people who did take the vow of silence reflect on how much of a difference they made by themselves, just by giving up something as simple as speech for a while, and that if we all support each other in fighting for a cause, we can achieve a lot.”
Harker is proud to celebrate nearly a century of excellence in performing arts. “The Princess,” adapted from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem of the same name, was performed by the juniors and seniors of Miss Harker’s School for Girls in 1907 and is the earliest play program held in the archives. It’s clear that performing arts was an essential part of the girls’ education from the school’s inception. The 1928 school catalog notes that the goal of oral and dramatic arts expression is to, “develop self-control and emotional mastery, adaptability, initiative and poise, and to furnish an incentive for the establishment of beautiful speech as a medium of human intercourse.”
Annual spring performances included “Women – Ancient and Modern” (A Farce in Three Acts) in 1911, “Prunella” in 1919, “Rhoecus” in 1920 and “The Arrow Maker” in 1921. During the 1930s and 40s, the school produced one Shakespearean play each year, including “Much Ado About Nothing” (1929), “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1930), “The Comedy of Errors” (1932) and “As you Like It” (1934). Additionally, French language students were required to perform a play in French each year. Throughout the year, all the young women of Miss Harker’s School were expected to participate in a number of one-act plays to “improve their speech and [to experience] the power of expression.” As the school expanded to include younger students, they also performed in various holiday programs and fairy tale adaptations, foreshadowing the annual Ogre Awards of today. In 1944, for a performance of “Osiris, King of the Dead,” the third and fourth grade students each made their own costumes!
In the 1950s, principal Alice Williams wrote many of the plays and skits herself, and the summer program always included a drama workshop for the primary through junior high students. In 1978-79 the student newspaper, The Eagle Examiner, reported that the Drama Club presented “Scaredy Cat” and “Good Manners and Bad Manners.” Then, in 1981, The Harker Academy hosted the first Junior High School Drama Festival, which was conceived and coordinated by drama teacher Erskine Morgan. Competing against Crittendon, Castilleja and Aptos Junior High, Harker won Best Play for “The Rockabilly Nowhere Man.” Morgan also produced the first musical of this new era, “Let George Do It,” with musical direction from Betsy Dods Walsh in 1981, and the Harker spring musical tradition was born. The’ 80s and early’ 90s included such musicals as “Oliver,”co-directed by drama teacher Gina Russ and music teacher Betsy Walsh in 1982; “Annie,” co-directed by Laura Guido (Rae) with Mary Claire Martin and Andrew Willyoung in 1987; “Anne of Green Gables,” co-directed by Crystal Isola and Willyoung in 1988; and “West Side Story,” directed by Donna Morse in 1993.
Laura Lang-Ree joined Harker in 1995 as performing arts department chair to teach acting and public speaking. “In those days we produced about 20 performances each year,” she said. “We now have a staff of 15 performing arts professionals and produce over 50 performances, which include the instrumental programs, Harmonics and Conservatory. In addition to quantity, the quality of productions over the last nine years has been impressive. ‘Pippin’ featured wild pyrotechnics, and ‘You Can’t Take it with You’ was our first full-length straight dramatic performance.” (That play was produced again this last fall.) Lang-Ree also credits the technical theater program, which includes sets, lights, sound and costumes and is led by Brian Larsen, for much of our success. Lang-Ree says, “We are what we are because of Howard and Diana Nichols’ love for, and belief in, the performing arts, which allows me to hire the very best teachers and develop some of the best K-12 arts programs in the country.” Harker received special acclaim in 2002 when the spring musical cast won first place in the American Musical Theater High School honors competition for “Oklahoma!”
When asked about her personal favorite, Lang-Ree quickly cited “Into the Woods,” which has been produced both at the upper and middle schools. “I love it when I can find a musical that is very acting intense and has some kind of message and meaning in the dialogue that I can help the actors uncover.” However, what Lang-Ree says she enjoys most is the growth of a student or a cast as a whole – something the audience never gets to see. “Each year there is always that student, or several students, who blow me away with what they’ve accomplished,” Lang-Ree reflects. “The confidence that I witness being developed through performing arts is awesome.”
This story originally appeared in Harker News in May, 2004
by Sue Smith, Harker Archivist
From the Harker School’s earliest beginnings, dance has played an important role. The 1903 catalog features dance instruction, offered to the girls for $20 per term. By the ’20s, dance became part of the curriculum, and one period a week was devoted to natural [interpretive] dancing and folk dancing. The dance curriculum was expanded to include clogging in the ’30s, which was thought to increase flexibility and a sense of rhythm. In the ’40s, creative, interpretive and social dancing were recognized as integral to the curriculum.
As the Miss Harker School expanded to include K-12 in the 50s, dance was introduced into the primary school curriculum. Kindergarteners practiced folk dancing every day, and additional dance instruction was available after school. Intermediate students learned interpretive dance, and the upper school students were exposed to a variety of dance traditions. Through the merger of the Palo Alto Military Academy with the Harker Day School in the early 1960s, dance was always part of the summer programs and of their annual Maypole celebrations. In the early days of Harker Academy, spring musicals provided the main venue for dance performances. However, when dance teacher Laura Rae came to Harker in 1982, the dance program really began to flourish! Laura’s earliest memories are of the spring musicals, in which all 7th and 8th graders participated, and each P.E. class selected dancers for specific routines. Rae recalls, “My first year, the musical was the ‘Wizard of Oz,’ and I choreographed the leads as well as the large group numbers. At the same time, I started making up little routines for students to perform at the awards assemblies. The first dance routine was ‘Shake It Up’ by the Cars.” So impressive was the performance that dance performances soon became part of every school assembly, as well as the annual Holiday Show and Spring Musical.
The after-school dance program began in 1983 with 50 students of various grade levels and skills. Dancers performed in a recital at the end of the school year. In the early years Dan Gelineau worked on sound, Mike Bassoni on lights, and Jack Bither was master of ceremonies. Within three years, the program grew to include 150 students who participated in the after-school program, parent/child dances and a faculty routine with a mother/faculty dance. By the late ’80s, Harker Academy dancers had developed a solid base of skills. Parents helped build sets and costumes were ordered through professional catalogs. Dance became a hit at Harker!
By now Rae was teaching dance full-time, and the dance program now included a required course in the K-8th grade P.E. program, the annual spring musical (required for MS students) and an after-school elective for performance in the dance show. Dance was taught in a small room which had an open dance deck attached (these rooms now function as Laura Lang-Ree’s room/Mr. Micek’s computer room). Rae remembers “first position feet” painted on the floor, flowers and a heater on the dance deck, and being part of the life of the boarding students. She remembers, “Many of the boarders danced in the program, since we were just downstairs. This opened the doors to ethnic dances and boys entering the program.” Student participation after school increased and Rae began to contract with outside choreographers to assist with the dance numbers. The annual show began to have standard routines that included jazz, ballet/lyrical, modern and a new style known as hip-hop. “At this point, I was still working with a phonograph and those big CDs known as vinyl records,” Rae laughed. “By the late ’80s I couldn’t keep up with the demand of student interest.” So the dance program further expanded in the 1990s as Gail Palmer came aboard. Rae and Palmer became a team that made the program what it is today.
Rae said the program has flourished as a result of the creativity and support of many, and she feels a special indebtedness to Howard and Diana Nichols: “I am amazed that the dance program has become such an integral part of the Harker community. Howard and Diana have always been advocates of the performing arts. To be able to work with wonderful, bright students, hire outside choreographers and collaborate with the Performing Arts staff has been a dream come true.”
The tradition continues as we celebrated our 21st annual dance production, “Let’s Show ‘Em,” this year. Lucky indeed are the Harker dancers, who as part of their legacy have created lifelong memories for all and experienced the thrill of performing at Harker!
As we celebrate the success of The Harker School’s recent, first-ever fashion show fundraising event reported in this issue, we also celebrate the many other parent fundraisers in Harker’s long history of parent fundraising!
Through the 1970s, along with the annual Family Picnic, the Harker Father’s and Mother’s Clubs sponsored spaghetti dinners, holiday dances, boutiques and candy and bake sales to support the costs of building the Sports and Recreation Center. The spaghetti dinners were completely prepared and served by parents, organized by Marty and Dorothy Scarpace, parents of Marty (’76) and Kristen Giammona (’81), and Earl and Margarita Parsons, parents of Jon (’76).
The evening included a raffle with prizes such as a 10-speed bike, Sony battery operated TV and signed footballs and basketballs. Live entertainment was provided by Dan Gelineau, then dean of students, on accordion and Jeff Haugaard, former boarding director, on banjo. Through the combined efforts of our wonderful parents, these fundraising projects helped provide our students with a first-class facility.
The Harker Academy’s Gala Spring Auction began in April 1984 with elaborate, fun items and adventures that were put up for bid by an auctioneer. How much would you offer to ride “shotgun” with the county sheriff for a day? How about a 1949 Dodge Coronet Coupe or a private plane ride to The Nut Tree in Vacaville for lunch? Or perhaps you’d prefer to bid on a 1986 49’ers football signed by Joe Montana and Bill Walsh. These were only some of the wonderfully creative items offered at the 1980s Harker Academy Auctions. With themes like New York, New York (1986) and Juke Box Saturday Night (1987), the staff who worked the events usually dressed for the theme of the evening, and these first-class events brought the entire Harker community together for a great cause.
Current picnic coordinator and board member Lynette Stapleton was a parent at Harker when the first Gala Spring Auction was held in 1984. Tony and Becky Morici, parents of David Hare (’82), Tony (’89) and Alexia (’90), made Italian food, and the Harker staff were waiters in the gym. Stapleton laughed, “I remember the Morici kitchen lined with over a dozen pans of pasta.” The Parent Guild assembled hundreds of items, and each classroom made homeroom packages that were themed for both a silent and live auction.
“Each year the gala became grander until it finally moved off campus in 1986,” said Kelly Espinosa, current K-6 dean of non-academic affairs and then recreation director at Harker. The annual auctions have continued to the present as part of a long tradition of having fun and raising money for the school. Proceeds go to a specific project each year. They’ve included the Scholarship fund in 1984, the Fine Arts Program in 1986 and the Computer Science facility in 1987 and 1988. The auctions were sometimes held as a stand-alone event or coupled with a wine tasting, as in 1985, and they eventually became an important part of the annual Family Picnic celebrations in 1989.
This year we once again made history with another “first” for Harker, as we enjoyed our first fashion show featuring our very special Passion Showcases and live auction – sure to become another Harker tradition!
Over a weekend in mid-October, The Harker School hosted the Eagle Open for Congressional Debate, its second forensics tournament of the year, inviting debate teams from schools across the country to compete at the upper school campus. Though smaller than the Nichols Invitational in September, the tournament nevertheless kept 25 classrooms busy, in addition to the Edge, the Bistro and Nichols Hall auditorium.
In early November, The Harker School’s grade 4 students boarded a bus to the Sunnyvale Theater, where they saw “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” The students usually attend a play this time of year, and as Nancy Tomlitz, a grade 4 English teacher, says, “Legends are a part of short stories in literature that we study during trimester one, so [the play] fits in perfectly with our curriculum.” One parent chaperon per homeroom accompanied the students and teachers, and the students returned from their performing arts experience just in time for lunch. “Overall, it was a great experience,” said Tomlitz. “This production was quite interesting, chock-full of humor and masterfully musical!”
In late October, the Harker Conservatory’s fall play, “You Can’t Take it With You,” showcased from a Thursday to a Saturday in the Blackford Theater, attracting full-house seating and generating lots of laughs.
“You Can’t Take it With You,” by George Kaufman and Moss Hart, was originally performed in 1936, and centers around the eccentric Sycamore family – all of whom have hobbies they love (though are often terrible at), and who live by the philosophy, “Don’t do anything you aren’t going to enjoy doing.” In the play, Alice Sycamore (Cecilia Lang-Ree, grade 11), the most “normal” member of the family, gets engaged to the equally normal Tony Kirby (Kovid Puria, grade 12), vice-president of Kirby and Co. When Tony’s parents come over to meet the family, chaos and hilarity ensue.
The process of getting the show from page to stage started when director Jeff Draper chose the famous piece. “I take many things into account when selecting a play,” Draper said. “I need a show that has many roles for the large number of students we serve with the Harker Conservatory. I also need challenges for the actors, and especially for the female students. Most plays are written by men, for male directors, and for a largely male cast. I like plays that tell stories about women and girls, or at least stories that appeal to them. And I look for a genre or style that will complement those done by the student directors and Laura Lang-Ree’s musical each spring. Because many students perform in all three productions, I like to provide new styles to learn about.”
Once Draper had decided on “You Can’t Take it With You,” it came time to cast. When Tina Crnko, grade 12, auditioned, Draper made the call to change the central character of Grandpa to Grandma. According to Draper, “Tina showed up and proved that she was the one who had the gravitas to convey the important themes of the play. She effortlessly created a grounded, wise and well-constructed character capable of owning the important role. And the story seemed more ‘balanced’ for a contemporary re-telling of the play because of the switch.”
What followed casting was six weeks of rehearsals, during which time sets were built and costumes made or ordered. Paul Vallerga, technical director at the middle school, created the set design of the Sycamore’s living room, including stairs that convincingly disappeared to the unseen upper floor of the house and doors to the kitchen and basement (the latter of which had to convincingly light up for several fireworks scenes). Natti Pierce-Thomson designed the lights, and as Draper says, “they add so much believability and beauty to the show.” Caela Fujii designed the costumes and provided the props. “Those she couldn’t find,” Draper says, “she bought or built herself. She is a miracle worker and I love working with her!”
Tristan Killeen, grade 12, who played Mr. De Pinna, an ice man who stopped by the Sycamore home eight years ago and never left, said one rehearsal stands out more to him than any other. “One rehearsal, we talked as a cast about the message of the play, and almost everyone in the cast seemed to have a profound moment of introspection in which they learned something about how this play related to their own lives and the lives of those around them,” Killeen says.
“I looked forward to every rehearsal for this play, as they were really what brought the cast together to share the message that this play had to offer,” said Puria, the “normal” fiancé. “In every rehearsal, I learned something new about Tony Kirby, and I am grateful that I had the chance to play the role. It is the creation of the character that makes theater fascinating, and every rehearsal added a new dynamic to the role. I loved every moment in the process of this production.”
Draper worked hard to keep rehearsals interesting. “To keep the comedy fun and see it grow, we played games with the show in rehearsal. One game is called ‘Funny, Smelly, Popular,’ and each actor picks a character they will find hilarious, another that is endowed with extreme body odor, and a third that is very cute, beautiful, etc. They act the show as usual, but with this additional layer adding humor and fun to the blocking, line readings, entrances and actions. We also played tag one time, and it really kept the stage movements very interesting,” he says.
Then it was show time.
The cast hit the stage on opening night with tons of energy. Between Mr. Sycamore (Govi Dasu, grade 12) and Mr. Di Pinna blowing up fireworks in the basement, Alice’s sister Essie (Lydia Werthen, grade 11), dancing across the room, Grandma collected and grounded in the center of the room, and the entire family’s predictable clash with the Kirbys, there was never a dull, stale or boring moment. The cast balanced the play’s laugh-out-loud humor with the underlying message to hold onto the things that truly matter to produce a lively performance with a resonating message.
One of the funniest moments in the play comes when Penny Sycamore – mother of Alice and Essie, and played by Namrata Vakkalagadda, grade 10 – suggests the Sycamores and the Kirbys play a game where she says one word, and everyone must write down the first word that comes to mind. She reads the Kirby’s answers out loud at the game’s end, and discovers that Mrs. Kirby’s responses are quite telling about her relationship with her husband.
Crnko says this was actually her favorite moment in the play, calling it a cast victory. “Mr. Draper challenged us to get a 30-second laugh from the Friday night audience on the moment. We successfully reached 23 seconds on Thursday night, 31 seconds on Friday night, and 35 seconds on Saturday night. We were all over the moon,” says Crnko.
The play’s message of letting go of the things you can’t take with you resonated with audience and cast alike.
“Do what you love to do,” Puria says of the play’s overall message. “The argument between Grandma and Mr. Kirby (Alex Najibi, grade 12) at the end of the play really conveys this message to the audience. Mr. Kirby works long hours and makes loads of money, but he is not truly happy with himself (or his indigestion). The play says, through the character of Mr. Kirby, that finding one’s passion should be the goal of life.”
“A great joy of mine in the past few days is hearing from those who came to the show about how it not only had them laughing and lifted their spirits, but also caused them to reflect in the same way that the cast did,” says Killeen.
Crnko believes that, “In an age when we’re each wrapped up in our own ambitions, overrun by all that needs to be accomplished, and blinded by successes and failures, this show reveals what still remains deeply human about each of us: the need to feel connected.” She goes on to say that, “Grandma Vanderhof, the character I was lucky enough to play, understands what many of us often forget. Grandma knows that the true purpose of life is to be happy, and that monetary success or nominal importance are only superficial means by which many attempt to reach happiness. Mrs. Vanderhof sees that family and connection to those you love makes life worth living.”
She quoted a line from the play – “It’s only a handful of the lucky ones who can look back [at life] and say they even came close [to happiness]” – that perhaps best implies the resonating message at the heart of this comedy: be one of the lucky ones.
Harker Conservatory candidates and other performing arts students had an intense weekend in late October, first attending a college workshop in the afternoon and later a workshop held by a pair of casting professionals on Friday and then putting the new information to use at a Broadway casting call held on Harker’s Blackford campus on Sunday.
Lisa Schwebke ’04 was the catalyst for bringing the events to Harker. As a Harker Conservatory certificate graduate, Schwebke knows Harker has a robust performing arts program and the space to host a professional casting call, so she put her former employer in touch with department chair Laura Lang-Ree about hosting the casting call.
Lang-Ree cleared the way for hosting the Sunday event, and brought Schwebke in to host a Friday afternoon discussion in Nichols Hall with students in Cantilena, an upper school choral group, and the Advanced Scene Study, Choreography and Study of Dance classes.
Friday Afternoon
Schwebke, perched on the edge of the stage, spoke about the satisfaction she has gotten from her job after realizing she didn’t have to be on stage to be in show business, and how she actually likes the casting side better than performing. Schwebke, who lives in New York and attended New York University’s Steinhardt School, interned and apprenticed at Bernard Telsey Casting, but then went on to work as a talent agent with the Gersh Agency.
She noted the training she received while getting her Conservatory certificate has helped her virtually every day of her career. “The discipline and foundation in the arts I learned [at Harker] comes into play every single day of my life,” she said. “I don’t think I would have gotten that training anywhere else.”
Harker’s combination of academics and performing arts training have stood Schwebke in good stead, also. “What I do now involves math, which I never, ever thought I would do as a professional, and, in college, I stuck with [non-performing arts classes] because of Harker – they taught me how to balance academics and performing.”
In her current job as an assistant talent agent, Schwebke represents those seeking roles on stage, “figuring out where our various actors fit, whether it is film or TV or theater, then, consulting with those hiring to fill their needs,” she said. Her best advice for current Conservatory candidates is to “be open to all the possibilities. I really didn’t understand that there were options other than to be an actor, and I’m having so much more fun doing what I am doing now than I ever did when I was acting. I loved [acting], but to help other actors and to use different parts of my brain that I maybe wasn’t using on that track is such a treat.” Her immediate plans are to stay put at the talent agency, but “I’ll see what comes up. I’m not saying no, anymore!”
Friday evening, Schwebke and Telsey casting director Rachel Hoffman teamed up for a Conservatory-sponsored workshop, “How Broadway Casting is Done.” They discussed the difference between a talent agent and a casting director, gave tips to the students about following different courses in colleges, and answered the students’ various questions about “the biz.” Twenty-five Conservatory candidates attended the workshop.
“It was great,” said Lang-Ree of the audition workshop. “It was a unique look at the business of casting; not only could my students gain information about casting and understand it in a whole different way, but they got to show their stuff as well. I had a couple students prepare their work to show it to Rachel for feedback. That was very informative not only for the students who were brave enough to do that but for the students watching. You learn so much by observation in the arts,” she said.
Sunday
Then, on the big day, Sunday, 30 Conservatory candidates in two shifts helped manage the flow of tiny hopefuls to and from the audition rooms, as Hoffman and two of her New York colleagues finished up a yearlong search for the next cast of “Annie,” being revived on Broadway next year.
Gathering in the Blackford campus’ outdoor eating area, the morning shift of 15 interns were instructed on how to help those auditioning to fill out the proper releases, where the prospective Annies and orphans would go first, and where to take them when they moved to the second round or were through for the day.
Those trying out for parts began arriving at 8:30 a.m., and many seemed used the routine of signing up, settling at the picnic tables and sitting quietly until called.
“The amphitheater is the holding room,” said Alice Tsui, grade 11 and a theater certificate candidate. Once called in, hopefuls, “go in one by one and sing to them. It is very exciting,” she added.
Interns first led those auditioning in groups of eight to the initial try-out room, helping build energy and confidence by having them skip or weave between the poles along the walkway. While waiting outside the auditioning rooms, interns read parts to cue those auditioning, high-fived those exiting and gave advice on speaking with emphasis. Since those auditioning were all children ages 7-10, each was escorted back to her parent by an intern when she left the room after trying out.
“I thought it would be a really good experience,” said Tsui, “especially because it was a real Broadway audition. I thought it would be a great chance to see what goes on beyond the walls of high school and it has been fascinating.”
“Auditions went great,” said Hoffman. “We had a lot of talented girls. It has been fun to see this community. There are a few girls I am excited about that I think will at least go into the mix to be called back later this year in New York.”
Hoffman said the company seeks one or two girls to actually play Annie, plus understudies, “and children grow, so over time, may grow out of the role,” said Hoffman, so Telsey takes note of those who may grow into the role, too.
Though show business is supposed to be a tough business to survive in, “I don’t think my job is hard!” said Hoffman. “I’m lucky that I love my job. I was one of these girls when I was little. It is fun to see their enthusiasm and to encourage their love of performing and singing; I think it is really hard to foster that and support people.”
Having the casting call at Harker has been a win-win all around, said Hoffman. “Harker has been a beautiful facility. Coming from New York, we’re usually in smaller rooms and it has been fun to be in larger spaces. And this is the first audition we have done where the waiting room is outside, with picnic tables.
“The interns have been fantastic. I think they’ve had fun and they have been great. I love that high school kids are the interns because little girls that age always look up to older girls, so they have been fantastic about being encouraging; a big part of this is to encourage self-esteem in these girls. The interns have been fantastic at that throughout the day!” said Hoffman, who also had high praise for Lang-Ree. “She was really supportive of this event and in being a host for it,” Hoffman said.
Lang-Ree was on cloud nine with all the outside expertise flowing to Conservatory candidates. “It has been an incredible opportunity to have that kind of one-on-one contact with live theater on Broadway,” she said. “It has allowed students to see the business from a very personal point of view.”
Between the Friday afternoon session, the Friday evening session and Sunday’s casting call effort, “Interns have had an opportunity to see the business from multiple sides and that is something that is really important to the Conservatory teachers,” Lang-Ree said. “While we all understand that passion and joy of performing and we all still perform ourselves, there is something about knowing that there is more to being in the arts than being the one shining star on Broadway, that there is this whole world open to them to remain in the arts their entire lives in directing, casting, stage management or even being that star on Broadway.”
Harker may get lucky a second time, this event went so well, said Lang-Ree. “This whole process was so successful from our end, and hopefully from Telsey’s. We all got along so well they may return in February for a workshop and we hope to piggy back on that. This is a home run for us and a home run for them, so we would do it again in a heartbeat.”
In late October, Lucy Cheng, grade 12, and Paulomi Bhattacharya, grade 11, were named regional finalists in this year’s Siemens competition. In addition, Harker also produced a total of six regional semifinalists: Michelle Deng, Alex Hsu, Revanth Kosaraju, Chaitanya Malladi, Ramya Rangan and Lucy Xu, all grade 12.
A total of 2,436 students from across the country participated in this year’s competition, submitting 1,541 original research projects and setting a new record. Regional finals begin this week, and the winners of the regional events will be invited to compete at the Siemens National Finals, held Dec. 3-5 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.
The Siemens Competition, administered every year by the College Board, is one of the leading competitions for high school students performing original research in science, technology in mathematics. Students, both as individual participants and as team members, compete for college scholarships ranging from $1,000 (for regional finalists) to $100,000 (for the top-placing individual or team).