The inaugural John Near Scholar Grant cycle is complete and the first three reports, on military insubordination during the Vietnam War, U.S.-China relations between 1972-1986 and the impact of the Gettysburg campaign on the Civil War, have been filed in the John Near Resource Center for public access.
Olivia Zhu, Justine Liu and Tyler Koteskey, all graduating this year, were celebrated by mentors, administrators, parents and history department members and by Near’s wife, Pam Dickinson, director of the Office of Communication.
The gathering filled the Near Center in Shah Hall and the recipients summed up their experiences researching their papers and thanked mentors and others who assisted their endeavors. The center, adjacent to Near’s former classroom, 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, the first of its kind at Harker, includes the funding of grants to students or teachers each year for research on history projects of their choice along with access for the entire campus for history-related databases. Near’s parents, Jim and Pat Near, established the endowment based on his wishes prior to his passing.
When Zhu started her project last year, “The UCMJ and Insubordination: Suitability of Military Judicial Responses during the Vietnam War,” she just knew she wanted it to be about insubordination. “I work on the Honor Council here at school and maybe that’s where my interest in rules and rule breaking came from,” Zhu said. “I decided, ultimately, to settle on insubordination during the Vietnam War and how the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) addressed insubordination among soldiers.
“Essentially, I explored the origins of the code of law, tracked its development and attempted to analyze its efficacy; additionally, I looked at some specific incidents and individuals (like Howard Levy, Bruce Petersen and the Presidio Mutiny) in the context of larger trends.
“As I learned more about my topic, I started figuring out why it appealed to me so much in the first place. Insubordination is something that’s very hard to perfectly define or understand, especially in the context of such a controversial role, and I was really interested in the clash between law and disobedience. I liked seeing why people tried to test the UCMJ and whether their actions were justified or not – there’s a bit of a blurry line there.
“I really enjoyed this entire research process – it’s been so much fun. I think the most important part of this grant was coming to realize that all my teachers helped me so much. For example Ms. [Julie] Wheeler and Mr. [Ray] Fowler lent me DVDs, Ms. [Carol] Zink and Dr. Erin Redfern [of the English department] lent me their own books to use, and the librarians were always so warm and so accommodating – it was just very much a community effort going into this paper,” she said.
Zhu, who will attend Harvard University, found that resources at hand were plentiful and travel to Vietnam was beyond the scope of her work. “I considered going to the Presidio but very little of the military infrastructure or records remain there,” Zhu said. “I watched a documentary with several interviews done there, so had a feel for the inside of the Presidio.”
Zhu said she probably would have not done the research without having been awarded the grant. “This is something where you are sitting in class and you think, ‘Oh, this is cool,’” Zhu said, “but without the grant there is not that impetus to pursue it and there is not the support system there. When you write the paper the most important thing is having an advisor.”
Zhu’s advice to future Near scholars: “I would suggest trying to get more access to primary sources. Also, don’t be afraid of library fines – the renewal cycle can take a week and it is way more efficient to pay the fines!”
Wheeler mentored Zhu throughout the research. “I had Olivia last year as a student and to get to work with her this year was such a pleasure,” she said. “This is quite a topic. Every time you peel back a layer you get 18 fascinating things that are tied together. Olivia managed to wade through the legalese and make it understandable.”
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 in class. In mentor Ramsay Westgate’s AP U.S. History class, Liu found the text devoted only two lines to Nixon’s 1972 ground-breaking visit to China. Meanwhile, for another 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. I used some of the 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. What was great was that some of the documents had only really been declassified in July 2010, so that was pretty exciting. It was a really amazing opportunity and my first time ever being in close contact with documents of such historical importance.
“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 and the guidance of my mentors.” she said.
Liu will also attend Harvard in the fall and had a few words of advice, as well, for future Near scholars. “I would recommend they do their research the summer beforehand so they can figure out when a good time is to plan the trip. You have to have your entire bibliography done, you have to know where your paper is going – you have to have that outline structured for it to be a really productive trip. I outlined where I wanted my paper to go with questions I wanted to answer so I could track down exactly which archives, which boxes, of the thousands that are in the library, that I wanted to look at.”
Westgate was appreciative of the depth Liu went to in her researches. “The opportunity to explore such an important topic that is not only so relevant to our community and to our government but to go beneath the rhetoric and go to a deeper level was just phenomenal,” he said. “Every time I mentioned one or two things, I felt as if she came back with three or four answers, and that is just a testament to her, her tremendous work ethic and her intellectual curiosity.”
Koteskey’s project, “High Water Mark: Discussing the Impacts of National Power on Confederate Military Strategy through the Lens of the Gettysburg Campaign,” has been in development since the second grade when he was photographed wearing the uniform of a Union officer, said Koteskey, tongue-in-cheek. His paper 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,” he 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 over the summer where he stayed with a family friend who is a Gettysburg battlefield guide for the Army War College.
“My host in Pennsylvania, Captain Bill Tyson, was instrumental in showing me around battlefields, helping to arrange interviews and providing valuable historical insight, which really complemented the guidance of my faculty advisor, Mr. Fowler.”
“What I think was most valuable to me in this project was going to Pennsylvania last summer to do the research,” Koteskey said. “It was a really different experience than I would have had getting information from books. 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 is a published author on the Civil War who really 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. He also gave me a tour of the Institute and its Civil War resources, and I got to go into a special library that’s normally restricted to the public.”
“It was really a rewarding experience,” Koteskey said of the entire project. “Mr. Fowler was extremely helpful because not only did we have just a ton of fun talking about civil wars, what-ifs and the ultimate outcome of the confederacy, but he really helped me focus my topic. All in all, it was a great experience and I want to thank the endowment fund for the opportunity.” Koteskey will attend UCLA in the fall and plans to major in political science, which “draws a lot on historical foundations,” so feeding his appetite for history.
Koteskey’s passion for the Civil War led him to enter and be named a finalist in the History Channel’s National Civil War Student Challenge, one of only 30 out of the thousands who took the challenge. The final test was the weekend of April 30-May 1 and final results will be announced by mid-May.
Koteskey’s words of advice to the next John Near scholars? “Have fun with your topic. Pick something you are interested in, that you really love, that you can picture yourself slaving over.”
“I really enjoyed working with Tyler,” said Fowler. “His passion and enthusiasm are easy to see and he picked a really challenging topic. He went to all the great extremes he described to set up his premise and argue that convincingly.”
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.”
Among Harker graduates, it’s not unusual to find students who enter college with a pretty clear idea of their future careers. What is a bit more unusual are the ones who plan to pursue a career in the performing arts. This year the Conservatory graduated seven seniors who are committed to such a path.
“Making this decision requires total focus, commitment and a ton of work and passion,” said Laura Lang-Ree, K-12 performing arts department chair. Students cannot just let their high school resumes speak for them; most colleges require live auditions from those applying to elite, professional programs. Conservatory teachers add their two cents to counselor and teacher recommendations and often play an active role in helping the students gather materials, create first-round demo videos, and prepare for live auditions. Arts schools look for raw talent combined with potential for growth, driving ambition, good grades and the ability to collaborate creatively and personally. Harker wishes the best to the following students as they dare to pursue their chosen paths.
After criss-crossing the country for nine live auditions in only a couple of weeks, Michelle Holt has chosen to study vocal performance at The Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Daniel Cho, recently seen showing his talents as Leading Player in “Pippin,” will attend Swarthmore College, where he will be majoring in performing arts education and possibly minoring in music or dance.
Adi Parige, who created such wonderful videos for this year’s fashion show, will pursue his dream of being a film director at the Rochester School of Film in New York.
Nirjhar Mundkur is combining his two passions, planning to take advantage of a crossover program between Cal Tech and Occidental in engineering and vocal performance.
Daisy Mohrman was one of 30 accepted out of 300 auditionees for a dance program at Chapman University in Orange, Calif.
Several thousand students applied to the B.A. program in theater performance at Wagner College in New York. Of those, 300 were invited to audition, and John Ammatuna was one of only 25 accepted.
Clara Blickenstaff will be double majoring in theater and business at the University of Redlands, where she received a theater scholarship.
Another highly competitive program is the Clive Davis School of Recorded Music at the Tisch School at New York University. Their website explains that the school “provides professional business and artistic training toward a B.F.A. degree for aspiring creative entrepreneurs in the music industry.” Christina Li was required to create a press package showcasing her performance, writing and business skills and was one of 30 to be accepted out of 300 applicants.
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.”
Those interested in helping the Mitras’ effort can contribute online at www.harker.org/onlinegiving, send a check to Harker Advancement Office, 3800 Blackford Ave., San Jose, CA 95117, or drop off a check at any campus front office.
“The Mitra family’s endowment offer, and every matching give from others, will benefit our students every year, for years and years to come,” said Melinda Gonzales, director of development.
Harker’s Conservatory graduates shone on the Blackford stage on April 22 during Harker’s 10th annual Senior Showcase. Featuring 33 performers from every discipline – theater, musical theater, technical theater, vocal music, instrumental music and dance – it was the largest showcase in the Conservatory’s history.
The fast-paced two-and-a-half hour show included everything from high-energy dance numbers to stirring dramatic scenes to inspiring instrumental and vocal pieces. Splendid piano accompaniment was provided by Melissa Lin. Production values were high as usual, with Conservatory candidates Michael Prutton and Araby Martin handling sound and lights, respectively, as their part of the showcase. Lead-off performer John Ammatuna demonstrated the great use of tech by descending from the ceiling on a swing for his infectiously upbeat performance of “Footloose,” from the film of the same name.
Two performers brought their siblings on stage to duet with them: Francesca Nagle’s brother, Nico, grade 10, joined her on guitar while she sang and played banjo on “Wake Up Everybody” by John Whitehead, Gene McFadden and Victor Carstarphen; and Warren Kwong had his sister, Audrey, a Conservatory graduate in 2007, play violin for his virtuoso viola/violin duet. Other performances featured multiple graduates, including Pierre Gerard and Amal Asghar acting a scene from Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” and the final dance performance of Anisha Agarwal and Malika Mehrotra, which featured an impressive ensemble of no fewer than 14 dancers.
The night’s masters of ceremony were Tina Crnko and Cole Manaster, both grade 11, who introduced every performer and kept the crowd warm between performances with humorous banter.
At the end of the show, the featured performers were presented with their plaques from the Conservatory advisors, signifying their graduation from the elite program.
This year’s Harker Conservatory graduates are:
Anisha Agarwal (Dance), John Ammatuna (Musical Theater), Amal Asghar (Theater), Samir Asthana (Theater), Clara Blickenstaff (Musical Theater), Daniel Cho (Musical Theater), Jennifer Dai (Instrumental Music), Carmen Das-Grande (Dance), Lydia Demissachew (Instrumental Music), Mallika Dhaliwal (Vocal Music), Katharine Forsberg (Dance), Pierre Gerard (Theater), Nidhi Gandhi (Instrumental Music), Vrinda Goel (Vocal Music), Michelle Holt (Vocal Music), Warren Kwong (Instrumental Music), Christina Li (Vocal Music), Araby S. H. Martin (Technical Theater), Malika Mehrotra (Dance), Daisy Mohrman (Dance), Shireen Moshkelani (Vocal Music), Nirjhar Mundkur (Musical Theater), Francesca Nagle (Instrumental Music), Aditya Parige (Theater), Michael Prutton (Technical Theater), Ava Rezvani (Instrumental Music), James Seifert (Musical Theater), Naomi So (Dance), Catherine Stiles (Instrumental Music), Allika Walvekar (Musical Theater), Michelle Vu (Dance), Jason Young (Instrumental Music) and Olivia Zhu (Dance).
Their Harker faculty advisors are:
Laura Lang-Ree (Musical Theater), Jeffrey Draper (Theater), Brian Larsen (Technical Theater), Catherine Snider (Vocal Music), Susan Nace (Vocal Music), Chris Florio (Instrumental Music) and Laura Rae (Dance).
The upper school brought Spirit Week to a rousing finish on Friday with the much-anticipated spirit rally held at Davis Field. As always, the hilariously entertaining skits from each upper school class were the primary draw.
Following a performance by the junior varsity dance squad (who performed a dazzling routine to the themes from “Pokemon” and “Kim Possible”), grade 9 students took the field with their spin on “Winnie the Pooh,” featuring a dance number that paid tribute to a number of Michael Jackson hits.
All four classes then participated in a game of “Human Etch-A-Sketch,” in which groups of students created scenes such as a school bus, tea party and merry-go-round. The seniors, having the most experience in spirit events, won the game.
Grade 10 then took the field for their own skit, which was nonetheless entertaining despite some unfortunate technical difficulties.
For their skit, several grade 11 students dressed up as the cast of Scooby Doo, who piled into their “Mystery Machine” van to solve another case. The Harker cheerleaders followed, performing an energetic and complex series of moves, ending with a human pyramid.
This year’s relay event had students running while using hula hoops and trying to snag donuts with their hands behind their backs. Not surprisingly, the relay ended with each one of the class deans receiving a pie to the face.
The seniors took the field for the final skit of the rally, in which they played characters from “The Magic School Bus,” with Andrew Irvine, chemistry teacher, playing the part of Ms. Frizzle and taking the students on a journey to observe Harker’s amazing senior class.
The rally ended with the student-favorite scream-off, which was won by the juniors. As a joke, the class of 2011 decided to merely pantomime the act of screaming while staying completely silent. After the upper school classes had their turns, the Eagle Buddies gave a spirited scream of their own to bring the rally to a close.
The portents of rain weren’t enough to keep students, parents, faculty and staff from once again swarming the Blackford campus on April 13 for this year’s Cancer Walk. The cause raised more than $7,300 for Camp Okizu, which provides fun outdoor activities to cancer-stricken youths.
Money was raised through donations and sales of T-shirts, water bottles, baked goods and more. Some of the money was raised in advance through T-shirt sales.
Flags honoring cancer victims and survivors were staked along the walking path, which had a steady stream of pedestrians for the duration of the event. Attendees enjoyed the carnival-like atmosphere, enjoying cotton candy and blowing bubbles, as well as singing along to the music selection played by Mark Gelineau, middle school English teacher.
When the rain finally did start to pour, Michael Schmidt, middle school computer science teacher and founder of the Cancer Walk, had just begun his yearly dance to conclude the event as The Isley Brothers’ “This Old Heart of Mine” rang across the field. Other attendees joined him before the rain became too heavy to bear.
“Dancing in the rain with the students and all my friends at Harker will make this one of the most memorable Cancer Walks,” Schmidt said.
Donations in the form of cash or check (made out to Camp Okizu or The Harker School) are still being accepted and can be brought to the front office of the Blackford campus.
Emily Chow ’08, a student at Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, has been awarded an Eric Lund Global Reporting and Research grant to study the effects of connectivity in the Virtual Village in Arabianranta, a section of Helsinki, Finland. The award is given to projects conducted on underreported areas. The goal of the grant is to enable a Medill student to conduct a study of his or her choice and attempt to publish the resultant report.
The Virtual Village is a community that values hyperconnectivity through technology. This means that the citizens have constant access to the Internet and are using applications, like live check in applications that report a user’s location, to increase their connection to one another. Chow went to study the community and see what the social effects of this connectivity were.
Along the way, Chow and her research partner traveled to the Aalto University Design Factory and collaborated with students from the Laurea University of Applied Sciences as they worked with senior citizens; the goal was to improve their standards of living from their own homes by using e-welfare packages which provided entertainment and health services virtually. Chow says, “Innovation in technology and product engineering is simply a way of life in Helsinki.”
Aneesh Chopra, U.S. chief technology officer, has written an extensive blog about his visit with Daniela Lapidous and Shreya Indukuri, both grade 11. Read the blog here. Read our story on their visit, too!
Innovation took top billing at Nichols Hall on Sat., April 23, as the doors opened to the sixth annual Harker Research Symposium featuring the yearlong scientific endeavors of 79 middle and upper school students. Themed “A Call to Innovation,” the day merged students and their families with leading technology companies and executives, in the sort of synergy that created Silicon Valley. Anita Chetty, science department chair and symposium director, estimated there were about 500 visitors, up 50 percent over last year.
Chetty recalled how relatively slow and limited the communication of information was in the “dark ages” of card catalogs – when a laptop was not yet even a dream. Today, Chetty noted, “When our students begin their research, they stand on a mountain of readily accessible information, not only mining it but also building upon it.”
Collaboration between students, universities and businesses was evident in breakout sessions on the summer internship work of upper school students such as Michelle Deng, grade 11, who worked at the University of California, Santa Cruz, on a faster method to calculate the metallicities of stars, as an indicator of origin. “I’ve always been partial to science,” said Deng. “Some of it is the culture at Harker. It is a pretty big leader in science.” Topics at the sessions ranged from the use of algorithms to predict protein structure, to an anaerobic method of hydrogen generation.
Harker welcomed back Jessie Li ’07, Nikhil Deshmukh ’04 and Jennifer Ong ’07, who demonstrated how research impacts the world. Li spoke about her work at MIT to develop a video annotation tool that has applications in face detection and robotic navigation. Deshmukh presented his work at Princeton University in retinal image processing and ultimately a better understanding of the brain. Ong encouraged students to publish their research in the international, student-led forum, “The Triple Helix.”
The relationship of innovative research to application was epitomized by keynote speakers Scott McNealy, co-founder and former CEO and chairman of the board of Sun Microsystems, and Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering at Facebook. Both men spoke of the importance of creative thinking and risk-taking in developing an idea into a company. Sponsored by WiSTEM, Kari Lee, senior engineering manager at Facebook, talked about how to position oneself to take advantage of opportunities.
Corporate exhibitors at this event were Barnes & Noble (Nook), eBay, Ericcson, Google/YouTube, InSync software, Inc., Kno, Inc., Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Technology Center, Menteon Learning, Meru Networks, Motorola Mobility, nVIDIA and Symmetricom. Watch for the a complete roundup of symposium events and speakers in the Summer Harker Quarterly mailing in June 2011.
In Chris Spenner’s Research Methods Class, upper school students are learning about research methods by researching, planning and conducting their own studies. Spenner’s emphasis in the class has been the teaching of “proper scientific practices” that have included the study of experimental design and statistics.
The projects that the students are currently working on range from human subject studies, such as the effects of caffeine on short term memory, to the hot topic of alternative energy, with a study being conducted on solar panel efficiency. These studies are currently ongoing and represent the culmination of a semester’s worth of effort; about 80 percent of class time is devoted to it. The students have to collect the data for their studies, analyze their results and compose a formal report.
For more information on the research methods course, contact Chris Spenner at ChrisS@harker.org and for more information about Harker students’ research, search “research” at news.harker.org.