Two more Harker graduates, Arthi Kumar and April Luo, have been awarded National Merit College-Sponsored Scholarships. Kumar received her scholarship from Vanderbilt University and Luo received hers from the University of Southern California. These scholarships will provide between $500 and $2,000 each year for up to four years at the undergraduate level.
[Updated: Jan. 3, 2012]
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NSMC) recently announced the winners for 2011, and 17 Harker seniors were named winners in this year’s contest. Samir Asthana, Hassaan Ebrahim, Victoria Liang and Zachary Mank all received college-sponsored scholarships from the University of Southern California, while Roshni Bhatnagar was awarded a college-sponsored scholarship from Northwestern University. These scholarships are awarded by officials representing colleges or universities that students have indicated is their first choice.
Harker students who have been awarded National Merit $2,500 scholarships are Justine Liu, Kevin Tran, Kiran Vodrahalli, Susan Tu, Nikhil Parthasarathy, Richard Chiou, Shreya Nathan, Benjamin Tien, Josephine Chen, Jerry Sun, Jason Young, Olivia Zhu and Nilesh Murali.
Jason Young received a Nelson F. Peterson Scholarship sponsored by by Hoffman-La Rouche, which will provide $2,500 per year for four years.
More than 1.5 million high school students participate in the National Merit Scholarship Program every year by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). Of these, about 8,400 – less than one percent – become winners.
This summer, Harker debuted two brand new music programs to enhance their music offerings. The two new classes, Music Creativity and Improvisation Workshop and Summer Music Workshop, sought to improve students’ technical abilities as well as nurture their creative processes.
The Creativity and Improvisation Workshop was taught by Leslie Hart. The workshop was targeted at students who were beginning to refine their musical abilities, grades 3 to 5, in order to broaden the horizon of their musical development. The workshops were composed of daily, three-hour intensive sessions at the lower school campus in the mornings (8:30-11:30) for two weeks, from June 20 to July 1.
The workshop trained students in a number of essential music skills, including: learning repertoire by ear in different tonalities; learning common music forms by ear; performing, reading and composing rhythm and tonal patterns as well as progressions; improvising in many tonalities, meters and styles; transcribing and analyzing improvisations; and composing and arranging pieces in a structure set by the instructor. After learning and practicing these challenging skills, the students performed a concert for their parents at the end of each week.
The second new program offered this summer was the Summer Music Workshop. This workshop, which ran until July 15, was offered to students in grades 2-6 and, according to Kelly Espinosa, the Harker summer programs director, presented the students an “opportunity to explore music-making and understanding, through exposure to music theory and composition, ear training and singing as well as working in ensembles and full orchestras.” The workshop was taught by instructors Louis Hoffman and Toni Woodruff.
This workshop emphasized key skills for any aspiring musician, such as: developing strong warmup and practice techniques; studying music theory and composition, with a final joint composition to be performed at the end of the camp; ear training and group singing. Additionally, all students played together in groups to develop their abilities to work within an orchestra. Children also composed an original piece and performed it at the concert.
An open rehearsal was conducted at the end of the first week to see the students’ ongoing progress, with another concert performed at the end of the second week.
In 1980, Harker hired Ken Barber to work at its summer school and camps; little did the school know that it would be adding a member to the team who would become a stalwart of the summer school for 30 years. Barber started interacting with Harker that summer in order to secure an opponent for the girls softball team he coached at Quimby Oak Middle School, where he is currently the assistant principal. After adding the games to their summer schedules, Barber started working at Harker during the summer, which turned out to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
At Harker, Barber has been teaching the morning academics for years as well as helping to run and supervise the numerous summer camp activities. “One of my favorite memories,” Barber relates, “is sleeping (or trying to) on the Saratoga field during the overnight activity with the Eagles, while listening to the freeway traffic go by and then having the sprinkler system go off in the middle of the night.”
Over the years, Barber has seen the Harker summer camps evolve with the school, seeing students come, learn and go on to succeed. One of the best things about working at the summer camp, according to Barber, is “watching students go through the summer camp program and eventually return as CITs [Counselors in Training], counselors and teachers.”
Keep your eyes peeled for Barber around campus, as he would love to be a Harker substitute teacher after he retires from public education at the end of the 2011-12 school year, finishing an impressive 37-year career in public education. If you’re lucky, you might be able to get him to tell you “where some of the skeletons are buried,” but be sure to keep the secret, because, as Barber worries, “Miss Kelly [Espinosa] might kill me if I spilled the beans.”
The Harker Summer Camp for students in grades 1-6 is both academically stimulating and tons of fun! In the morning, students grouped by age study language arts, math and an elective of their choice. The first session, June 20 through July 15, is in full swing and students are finding the work fun and interesting.
Classes don’t have homework and the second half of the day is pure fun. Students participate in group activities including arts and crafts, circus arts, slip and slide and relay races. In addition, students get a chance to spend time in the swimming pool both during group time and during Special Interest time, from 3:30 to 5 p.m., if desired. Students can play with friends outside their group and participate in crafts, games and more.
Christopher Smith, who will be going into grade 6 at Harker in the fall, has the usual morning regimen of Learning Opportunities in Literature (LOL), math and Truth or Folklore for an elective, and will take Go Green for his elective the last two weeks of his four-week session.
For him, the best thing about coming to Harker is “just the environment and the teachers, all the nice people you meet. My favorite part of the day is when we get together with the other classes and play games — it’s a rivalry, and swimming is fun because they teach you how to play water polo.”
Ilana Josephson, age 10 and going into grade 5, said she likes Harker camps because, “It is kind of fun meeting new people and not being bored at home,” and loves the swimming component because “it’s really hot!”
Brooklyn Cicero, who attends Harker during the school year and will be in grade 2, also likes the swimming. “I like friendship recess,” where groups of dfferent ages mix to play games, she added.
Field trips are a nice diversion for campers and include a variety of outings. Harker’s own transportation director organizes the bus, group leaders, counselors and camp directors lead and supervise. “Yesterday we went to LazerQuest,” said Smith. “That was so much fun.”
Fellow camper Sebastian Casellas also enjoyed the laser tag trip and looks forward to the other outings during his session. “In the third week, I think we have having an overnight here,” he noted, “and in the last week we are going to an ice rink.”
Casellas is in his fifth year at Harker Summer Camp. “This is actually my favorite camp here. In the morning I take LOL then math or Truth or Folklore.” In the afternoon, he enjoys the recreational activities. “I like hanging out with all my friends that I meet every day, I like going to the game room, I like swimming, I like playing on the playground,” said Casellas. And he clearly enjoys the overall experience! “The counselors are the nicest people on earth — they are really nice to me, they are really inviting and all the kids here are super-nice and they just speak to me really well — they are really nice to me,” he said.
This summer, middle and high school students are seizing the opportunity to gain school credit and enhance their overall educational experience by attending classes at Harker’s Summer Institute, which runs through Aug. 12. Classes at this year’s program are being offered in three categories: for-credit, upper school enrichment and middle school enrichment.
For-credit courses provide students an opportunity to earn academic credit through a variety of rigorous courses in math, arts and technology. The small class sizes ensure that students will receive the right amount of individual attention. Students enrolled in middle and upper school enrichment classes are taking advantage of programs that foster their interests. Classes in these programs include everything from pre-calculus to robotics to musical improvisation, all taught by dedicated, skillful and experience instructors.
J Gaston, who teaches graphic arts and photography, thinks students benefit both from the small class sizes and the longer class sessions. “The four-hour classes give the opportunity to get in-depth with projects and take the time that the process of art and design really requires,” he said. “We do end up getting more done, simply because the students can complete the projects without having to start and stop.”
Joshua Beavin, a Harker student who will start grade 12 in the fall, is enrolled in Gaston’s photography class and enjoys the time he is allowed to focus on the subject matter. “I think the summer’s a really good time to take these classes, especially because most of them require several hours to really focus on your work,” he said.
Another Harker student, Anisha Padwekar, who will be in grade 10 in the fall, is enrolled in Graphic Arts and AP Chemistry. She enjoys the small class sizes, and Summer Institute also allows her to experiment with other academic areas that she may be interested in exploring further in her later high school career. “I was planning on taking AP Studio Art in my senior year,” she said, “but I wasn’t sure what type of art I wanted to do.”
In addition to the academic courses, this year the Summer Institute also offers an after-class activity program, wherein students can remain on campus for a wide variety activities, including studying, swimming, crafts, games and more. Students can choose which weeks to sign up for the program to make sure that it meets their class schedules.
Harker’s English Language Institute (ELI), known internationally for its top-level English instruction, kicked off in late June. Bringing students from China, South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam and Turkey, ELI provides international students with English skills they will be using at American boarding schools and English international schools.
As in previous years, ELI continues to offer the customized scheduling that has become a hallmark of the program. Students can also enroll in a special boarding school prep program for students looking to apply to boarding schools.
Areas of study offered by ELI include vocabulary building, study skills, reading comprehension, grammar, writing and composition and oral presentation. Students also enjoy after-class activities such games, sports and swimming.
Anthony Wood, ELI director, says that Harker’s worldwide reputation as a top-tier school also helps to set ELI apart. “Personally, I think the prestige of the school ensures that most students come with the highest degree of self-efficacy and passion to learn,” he said. “We also value ourselves on our long history of success in teaching English as a Second Language. Remember, Harker had a boarding school for over 20 years, and this lineage has helped shape the program’s philosophy and curriculum in foreign language learning.”
The program has added new teachers this year “who will provide added professionalism and expertise to our faculty,” said Wood. “We’ve also hired more college graduates who are seeking a teaching profession.” The new staff members will support the students both inside and outside the classroom. The ELI curriculum is also being redesigned to make sure it matches proficiency levels and maximizes its effectiveness.
Learning is far from the only item on the agenda, however. Students will also get to see the many sights California has to offer, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park, the Exploratorium, the San Jose Tech Museum and an Oakland A’s baseball game.
Connie Yang, a student from Shanghai who was born in San Francisco, will start grade 8 in the fall in China and is planning to attend high school in the U.S., and enjoys the ELI program because its teachers make the classes “fun and interesting.”
Another student from China, Christine Guo of Shenzhen, attends Santa Clara’s Sierra School and enjoys the environment offered by Harker’s campus. “There’s a swimming pool, a big field and it’s clean,” said Guo, who will start grade 10 in the fall. She also likes the flexibility offered by the program, recalling how she was able to easily request a transfer from the intermediate to advanced class, which she enjoys more due to the challenge it offers. “I still need to improve my English, even though I’m in a regular high school now, so I think this program will help me,” she said.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2011 Harker Quarterly.
Rachel (Bendis) Shekhtman ‘94 graduated from the University of Oregon in 2000 with a B.S. in economics. After a short stint as a financial advisor in Illinois, she emigrated to Israel where she has been working as a business consultant, business writer and coach for U.S. clients. This year she has begun organizing a wilderness therapy program in Israel for troubled teens called BaMidbar.
Q: When you were at Harker, did you dream of doing what you do now?
A: My dreams in junior high school were not focused on a specific career or lifestyle. There were three main themes in my dreams for the future: I wanted to help others, I had a deep connection with nature and I had a strong need to be loved. I am happy to know that these three drives are all fed to- day by my career and my personal life.
Q: What do you find most exciting about your career or current project?
A: I am passionate about both my career and my current project (which is a volunteer operation for me), and I love that they both involve helping people. Right now the wilderness therapy program is most exciting for me because it will be filling a real need here in Israel and because I believe deeply in the approach. I find it rewarding to know I have an impact on the lives of others.
Q: What personal traits make you successful at what you‘re doing?
A: Compassion, intuition, creativity and an ability to quickly analyze a situation.
Q: What in your life so far took you the longest time to learn?
A: Unfortunately, I am still on the way to learning personal organization. There actually is such a thing as “natural consequences.” Most rules are simply there to protect us from having to suffer natural consequences and to try to isolate the impact of a person‘s behavior to that person. Sounds pretty simple, but it didn‘t come “naturally” to me.
Q: What‘s on the top of your personal and professional “lists” right now?
A: Personally: 1) ensuring my husband and each of my four children get the individualized attention and love they need; and 2) preserving and feeding my individual identity by continuing to learn, to build and maintain friendships, and to have fun. Professionally: launching the BaMidbar: wilderness therapy project (http:// www.bamidbar.org.il) while continuing to provide my clients quality service.
Q: Tell us something surprising about yourself.
A: I made a choice a number of years ago to live my life according to the ancient laws and customs of my Jewish heritage, in the land of the Jewish people, Israel. I have four kids ages 2 through 8, and we‘re expecting a foster child in the near future. On an entirely different note, my first year in university I was a theater major, and I interned at a professional theater. I also was two quarter credits short of a minor in archaeology when I graduated from university.
Q: What advice do you have for current Harker students?
A: Almost every rule has a reason. Every person has feelings: your words and actions can hurt them terribly or give them true joy. Your choices can and do make a big impact on your future and the future of others.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2011 Harker Quarterly.
On June 4, Harker welcomed back its graduates of all ages at the annual All Alumni Day. Despite considerable rain, Harker alumni arrived at Nichols Hall, built after most of the attendees had left Harker, to reminisce, catch up and honor two distinguished alumni.
For the first hour, alumni and teachers met and caught up on the developments in their lives after Harker. Many of the younger alumni found the event very helpful for discussing their current careers and networking. Dan Hudkins, the K-12 director of instructional technology, said, “It’s wonderful to see where our alumni go with the knowledge that we give them here.”
After the preliminary period of mingling and munching on the food provided by the Harker kitchen staff, the attendees moved into the auditorium to see Harriet Skapinsky and Colin Dickey ’91 receive their awards. During the evening’s introductions, Christina Yan ’93, director of alumni relations, gave Chris Nikoloff, head of school, a check for over $18,500 on behalf of the alumni who donated to Harker this school year.
Nikoloff then introduced Skapinsky, the event’s first honoree, who received the Phyllis Carley Award. Skapinsky dedicated her Harker career to the English as a Second Language (ESL) program in the 1980s and 1990s. Nikoloff the introduced Skapinsky, saying, “She was a second mother to her students at their home away from home.” Many of her former students were ecstatic to be able to submit short video clips thanking her for teaching them and allowing them to succeed; these video clips were edited together and shown to the audience. It was clear from Skapinsky’s reaction that she remembered her former students and couldn’t be more proud of their successes.
The day’s second honoree, Colin Dickey ’91, was honored with the Distinguished Alumni Award for his work exploring grave robbing; his book on the subject is “Cranioklepty: Grave Robbing and the Search for Genius.” In his short address, Dickey fondly recalled his time at Harker, saying, “Of all the institutions I’ve participated in, Harker has the biggest place in my heart.”
In the end, despite the pervasive precipitation, the event was a success, reuniting teachers and alumni alike. For more information about alumni events, email the Office of Alumni Relations at alumni@harker.org.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2011 Harker Quarterly.
In its first year, the Harker Eagle Buddies program has thus far proven to be a runaway success. Established as a way to build a long-lasting relationship between the students at the upper and lower school campuses, the Eagle Buddies program pairs grade 3 students with one or two buddies in grade 10, with whom they will maintain contact until the Class of 2013 graduates from the upper school and the grade 3 students graduate to the middle school.
The program was started by Butch Keller, upper school head, who was inspired by the wonderful experiences his own children had in a similar program.
The sophomores began communicating with their buddies in the fall by sending cards to the lower school campus to introduce themselves and invite their buddies to talk about things they enjoyed. The buddies from both campuses first met face-to-face in October, with the sophomores being greeted enthusiastically by the third graders. After the initial meeting, Sarah Leonard, primary division head, said she was impressed with how well the third graders and sophomores hit it off. “For most, it was instantaneous,” she said. “The buddies clicked, and new friendships were born.”
They later met again at a special tailgate party held before the Harker Homecoming Game, where the parents of the grade 3 and grade 10 buddies had a chance to meet and chat with one another while their children watched the game. Liam Bakar got to watch his buddy, Robert Deng, play in the junior varsity game. The two hung out together after the game was finished, and Bakar said Deng was “very nice, and I like a lot of the things that he likes.”
In November the third graders were overjoyed to receive turkey handprint cards from their grade 10 buddies for Thanksgiving. “It was very well- received,” said Carol Zink, upper school history teacher and an Eagle Buddies coordinator. “They’re thrilled whenever they get anything from the big kids.”
Later, in January, the sophomores visited the lower school campus to participate in its annual Pajama Drive, started in 2007 by student Rishi Narain, now grade 7. During the special assembly, Keller, donning a bathrobe and leaning back in a rocking chair, read the story “We Are Going On A Bear Hunt” to the students in attendance. The buddies also enjoyed reading stories of their own to one another. Zink said the event was fun for students from both grades: the third graders got to spend quality time with upper school role models, and the sophomores had the opportunity to “lighten up and be kids for a little bit.”
To celebrate Valentine’s Day, the smaller buddies sent valentines to their big friends. The following month the favor was returned when the big kids sent St. Patrick’s Day cards to their buddies at the lower school.
Months later, the buddies celebrated Earth Day with each other by planting a tree at the upper school campus. The buddies helped dig a suitable hole for a London Plains tree which was donated by the Modern Woodmen of America and planted next to Rosenthal Field.
Later that month, the lower schoolers once again visited the Saratoga campus to participate in the upper school’s spirit rally. They enjoyed watching their sophomore friends perform a hilarious skit and also took part in the annual scream-off, where each class tried to out-yell the others. After the rally, the buddies enjoyed pizza and friendly conversation on the turf at Davis Field.
“One of the most fun things about this for me,” Zink said, “is that our high school kids get to be little kids for an hour here or there during the year.”
These activities are planned to be continued next year, when the current grade 2 and grade 9 classes move up to grade 3 and grade 10, respectively.
When this year’s buddies reach grade 4 and grade 11 at the beginning of next year, the two classes will exchange letters again to get caught up and reminisce about their summer activities. Some kind of activity for the buddies at the Family & Alumni Picnic is also planned. Toward the end of the fall 2011 semester, the two classes will team up for the Harker Toy Drive, which is the grade 4 students’ annual service project, and they will also make special holiday candy boxes for Scott Lane Elementary. The rising juniors will also visit Bucknall for a St. Patrick’s Day party, and their grade 4 buddies will likely visit Saratoga on Wednesday during the upper school’s spirit week for a special field day.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2011 Harker Quarterly.
The inaugural John Near Scholar Grant cycle is complete, and the first three reports were filed this spring for public access in the John Near Resource Center. Four new Near Grant winners were named in May, and a new endowment has been established by the Mitra family; the first grant winner from that endowment has also been named.
Harker parents Samir and Sundari Mitra (Shivani, grade 10) have established The Mitra Family Endowment for the Humanities, which will match gifts for the Annual Giving Campaign up to a total of $100,000.
“The subject matters taught under humanities such as history, languages, communications and philosophy are critical skills and knowledge that develop well-rounded Harker students,” said Samir Mitra. “Humanities is the bedrock of a superior education and will enable our students to stand out as recognized contributors in their future professions.”
“The Mitra family’s endowment offer, and every matching gift from others, will benefit our students every year, for years and years to come,” said Melinda Gonzales, director of development.
Justine Liu, Tyler Koteskey and Olivia Zhu, all 2011 graduates, were celebrated in the Near Center in Shah Hall by mentors, administrators, parents, history department members, Samir and Sundari Mitra and by Near’s wife, Pam Dickinson, director of the Office of Communication. The center reflects the late teacher’s love of American history. Near taught at Harker’s middle and upper schools for 31 years prior to his passing in 2009, and his legacy includes many hundreds of students left with a love of learning and history.
The John Near U.S. History Endowment, established by Near’s parents, Jim and Pat Near, was the first of its kind at Harker and funds grants to students or teachers each year for research on history projects and history-related databases for the school, as Near wished.
Liu first got interested in her topic, “The China Card versus the China Trade: Sino-American Economic Relations, 1972-1989,” covering the relationship between China and the U.S. from President Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, while reading about it in class. In a different class Liu was writing a paper on the currency devaluation in modern China and mentally began tracing the historical line between the two events, focusing on the economic aspects.
“What I was really interested in was why Nixon thought that it was in the interest of U.S. foreign policy for Kissinger to make a secret visit to China,” said Liu. “I was interested in the economic background of that decision.”
Liu, who will attend Harvard in the fall, used grant funds to go to the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, Calif. “I was able to go into the archives room to read and handle the original documents, letters and memos relating and leading up to his 1972 trip to the PRC,” she said. “I think without the grant I would not have had the incentive to go out there and really write a comprehensive paper. That was the first time I got to be that close to documents that were that important to history, so that is something that I really valued that I couldn’t have done without the grant.”
Koteskey’s project, “High Water Mark: Discussing the Impacts of National Power on Confederate Military Strategy through the Lens of the Gettysburg Campaign,” analyzes the elements of national power as they applied to the Confederate States of America in 1863.
“It was the middle of the Civil War, and a crucial moment for the South,” Koteskey said. “They could reinforce the western half of the country,” but decided to make an offensive move against the North instead to try to force a call for peace. Koteskey used his grant to travel to the Gettysburg region.
“What I think was most valuable to me in this project was going to Pennsylvania last summer to do the research,” Koteskey said. “I was able to visit Harper’s Ferry and the Antietam and Gettysburg battlefields which, apart from being really awesome for a history buff, helped me form a better appreciation of some of the geographical factors constraining Civil War generals in their campaign planning,” said Koteskey, noting that he probably wouldn’t have done the research without the grant.
“My most defining memory, though, was probably my interview with Dr. Richard J. Sommers, the senior historian at the U.S. Army Military Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle. He embraced his time with me, turning our ‘interview’ into a Socratic discussion on Civil War strategy; it completely changed my mind, and the ultimate course of my paper, on many of the preconceived notions I had about General Lee’s best strategic option in the summer of 1863.” Koteskey, who will attend UCLA in the fall, noted the whole package, winning the grant and doing the research, “was really a rewarding experience.”
Zhu’s paper, “The UCMJ and Insubordination: Suitability of Military Judicial Responses during the Vietnam War,” was perhaps an outgrowth of her work on the school’s honor council but grew to explore the history of military justice. “I decided, ultimately, to settle on insubordination during the Vietnam War and how the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) addressed insubordination among soldiers,” Zhu said.
“I really enjoyed this entire research process – it’s been so much fun,” she added. “I think the most important part of this grant was coming to realize that all my teachers helped me so much. It was just very much a community effort going into this paper.” Zhu, who will also attend Harvard in the fall, noted, “Without the grant there is not that impetus to pursue (a topic), and there is not the support system.”
Five more students will walk the path of discovery next year. Sarah Howells, grade 11, is the first Mitra Family Scholar and will join the four Near Grant recipients, Max Isenberg, Cole Manaster, Dwight Payne and Laura Yau, also all rising seniors, in pursuing a chosen historical topic they are passionate about.
“We had 11 applicants this year, and it was not an easy decision to choose from them — we were so impressed with the quality and variety of applications,” said Donna Gilbert, chair of the history and social science department.
As the ceremony wrapped up at the Near Center reception, the students received resounding applause for their presentations. “You three – and your work – perfectly embody what Mr. Near intended with this grant,” commented Dickinson. “He would be so incredibly proud of all of you.”
Read the full story of the Near Grant reception at news.harker.org. Search on “Near Grant.” Those interested in contributing to either endowment can contact Melinda Gonzales, director of development, at melindag@harker.org.