Ben Tien, grade 12, is working towards becoming the next YouTube/Internet sensation with some great music videos he and family members have been posting. His videos have over 1 million views and he has 5,400+ subscribers. Tien is a member of the Upper School Jazz Band, a member of the 2010 homecoming court and, obviously, loves the limelight. Check out one of his latest efforts, a sweet rendition of Colbie Caillat’s “I Do.” In this outing, Tien draws in brother Josh, grade 10; sister Sarah, grade 6; and their mom, Joyce, and adds piquant comments in pop ups. Just plain fun!
Grade 8 students Matthew Huang, Neil Movva and Andrew Zhang; grade 7 student Jonathan Ma; and Aneesh Samineni, grade 6, placed second in the regional Science Bowl competition, held March 12 at the NASA Ames Research Center. The Science Bowl is a national competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and features teams of middle school students answering very difficult questions about a variety of sciences in a quiz bowl environment. The team was well coached by Joseph Chu, an alumnus of Lynbrook High School, who trained the students on Fridays after school.
After qualifying in the initial round robin faceoffs, the Harker team headed on to the elimination rounds, where they lost a very close and intense game in the 11th round against San Ramon’s Gale Ranch, who defeated Harker in the round robins and also took second place nationally in last year’s Science Bowl. “Even the moderator, judges and scorekeepers were spellbound at the end of round 11,” said Vandana Kadam, faculty coordinator at the Science Bowl event and middle school Mathematics Department chair.
During a flurry of math contests in February and March, Harker students have been performing admirably. On Feb. 12, Harker participated in the Santa Clara chapter of the MathCounts competition, said to be the most competitive chapter in the country, a notion supported by the 13-way tie for first place. Cindy Liu and Matthew Huang, both grade 8, both scored 45 out of a possible 46 points and finished 15th and 16th, respectively. David Lin, grade 8, received a score of 44 and placed 20th in a four-way tie. Andrew Zhang, grade 8 and Allison Wang, grade 7, had 43 points and placed 24th and 27th, respectively.
In the team competition, Harker’s team, made up of Huang, Liu, Zhang and Celine Liang, grade 7, took third place in the competition, earning a spot in the state competition on March 19 at Stanford University. Lin will participate in the individual competition because of his performance at the Santa Clara chapter.
On Feb. 14, middle school students took either the American Mathematics Competition’s AMC 10 A or AMC 12 A tests, and took the AMC 10 A or AMC 12 B tests on Feb. 24. In this contest, meant for high school sophomores and seniors, abovementioned students Huang, Liang, Lin, Liu and Wang, as well as Suzy Lou and Sriram Somasundaram, both grade 8; David Zhu, grade 6; and Jessica Zhu, grade 7, performed well enough to compete in the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME).
Several students scored high in the California Math League (CAML) contest, which was administered Feb. 22. Out of a possible 35 points, David Zhu earned a perfect score, while classmates Peter Wu and Kai-Siang Ang scored 34 and 33, respectively. Grade 6 students James He, Neymika Jain and Steven Cao all scored 29.
Seventh graders Wang and Michael Zhao had perfect scores, and classmates Jessica Zhu, Anthony Luo and Jonathan Dai had 34. Jonathan Ma, Celine Liang and Vineet Kosaraju earned 33 points and Rishabh Chandra finished with 32 points.
In grade 8, Cindy Liu and Andrew Jin had 35 points. Andrew Zhang and Aadyot Bhatnagar both earned 34. Scoring 33 points were David Lin, Steven Wang, Suzy Lou and Pranav Reddy. Nikhil Kishore, Helen Wu and Samyukta Yagati all had 32 points.
Harker hosted the 10th annual Diana Nichols Harker Math Invitational in which Harker students also excelled. This was the first contest to also feature international competitors from the World Foreign Language Middle School in China and Viveka School of Excellence in India. Results are contained in the full report of the event.
A new global education project is launching at Harker.
Harker grade 4 and 5 students will be corresponding and exchanging cultural items with Ethiopian students at the Andinet International School (AIS) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
The idea came from Jennifer Abraham, Harker’s director of global education, who worked at AIS from 2004-05, when the school had only pre-K to fourth grade students. The school now boasts all twelve grades and is opening a college. Though most students are Ethiopian, it is also an international draw, with students hailing from countries all over Africa, Japan and the U.K.
Abraham said she thought the pen pal project would be a fun way for the students to learn about each other and dispel any misconceptions they have about each other’s countries.
Lower school social studies teacher Tobias Wade said that in addition to student-written letters, the Ethiopian schoolchildren will be receiving copies of Harker students’ “cultural cookbooks,” as well as a CD showing our students on the playground. The cookbooks come from a project completed earlier in the year in which students brought in their favorite recipe from their cultural background.
Harker News Online will update this story when the response from Ethiopia arrives.
Though she had more than a hundred thousand dollars in student loans, Ilana Eydus ’03 chose to bypass the traditional law firm path after law school and took a job with the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley.
After graduating from Santa Clara Law School, Eydus joined a business litigation firm, but after several months she took a major salary cut to join JCRC. The Harker graduate told Jewish Community News she understood the weight of her loans, but she had reevaluated her goals in life. “I realized the potential of Jewish advocacy and decided to get involved,” said Eydus. “I want to enter a sector where I will be motivated and proud of my work.”
Eydus’ focus at JCRC is on preventing and alleviating hunger for children of all faiths and backgrounds. She uses skills learned in law school to draft resolutions, write letters to editors and analyze federal initiatives related to hunger. She does on-the-ground work as well, going into communities to sign needy residents up for food stamps.
Andrea Lincoln – MIT Student
Andrea Lincoln ’10 won the Best Paper Award at the 23 rd International Conference on Computers and Their Applications in Industry and Engineering (CAINE-2010). The paper’s title is “Fault Tolerance of Nodes Failures in a Stochastic Localization Algorithm for Wireless Sensor Networks.” Lincoln’s research, which was done as part of the Harker Research Program, also won her the 2010 Wireless Communications Alliance Special Award. Margaret Wood – Santa Clara University Student
Margaret (Maggie) Wood ’10 was awarded one of just 18 National Latin Exam Committee scholarships nationwide.
Tanya Schmidt – Santa Clara University Volleyball Player
Tanya Schmidt ’08was named to the West Conference all-conference first team. According to Santa Clara’s athletics department, Schmidt led her team in hitting at .338. She knocked down 2.24 kpg and collected .75 bpg, second best on the team. Schmidt scored double-digit kills in 10 matches and hit .400 or better 12 times during the season.
Schmidt was also named to the ESPN.com CoSIDA All-American All-District team, carrying a 3.965 GPA in English.
On March 11, Harker teachers headed to the Head Royce School in Oakland to participate in the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) Northern Regional Meeting. Faculty and staff took the day to learn and share with other schools in an effort to continuously improve the quality of service offered at Harker. Below is a sampling of some of the talks given by Harker instructors.
Upper school mathematics teachers Troy Thiele and Mary Mortlock presented “Teens Drive Badly? You Should Check Out Their Parents!” Their talk described how a real issue with driver behaviors at Harker led to a hands-on learning experience for its statistics students, who were able to use all aspects of the statistical problem-solving process while helping make their school community a safer place.
Middle school performing arts lead teacher Monica Colletti presented “Meeting ‘Em Where They’re At: Video Technology to Enhance Student Presentations.” Colletti showed how using the most recent technology in her acting class not only produced more effective presentations, but also enhanced creativity and resulted in more dedicated performers.
Lower school teachers Heidi Gough, Katherine Hammond and Lisa Diffenderfer presented “Learning Management Systems for Primary School Students,” in which they showed the educational possibilities offered by online learning management tools like OpenClassroom and Moodle.
Harker librarians Meredith Cranston, Kathy Clark, Bernie Morrissey and Lauri Vaughan presented “Creating a Community of Readers at Your School.” The group shared its success in creating three unique summer reading programs K-12 at Harker.
Susan Smith, Harker’s library director, and Donna Gilbert, history department chair, presented “Research Rules: Information Skills for the 21st Century.” The Harker faculty members shared ideas, tips and practices for teaching research in the high school history classroom.
Smith and Ramsay Westgate, history and social science teacher, presented “Teaching about International Issues: The World, Research Skills and the 21st Century,” in which they shared their experiences teaching an inquiry-based research project on international issues and public policy, a seminar-style senior elective offered at Harker.
Grade 4 mathematics teacher Eileen Schick shared examples of enriching math projects, games and online virtual resources she uses to strengthen and enhance Harker’s mathematics program in a talk called “Spice up Your Fourth through Seventh Grade Math Classes.”
Upper school Spanish teacher Diana Moss held a workshop called “¡HABRÁ POESÍA!” in which she explored ideas for incorporating poetry in Spanish classes of all levels.
Dave Hart, new to Harker’s middle school performing arts department this year, presented a talk called “Mozart to Miles: Building Context, Continuity and Creativity through Improvisation,” highlighting the importance of improvisation in music teaching and learning. Hart shared specific techniques of how to incorporate improvisation into music curricula.
Lower school physical education teachers Paula Bither and Jim McGovern presented and demonstrated fun P.E. games suitable for an entire class to participate in at the same time, in a talk called “Large Group Games in Physical Education.”
Though there were many more talks given, the above examples show the wide breadth and deep knowledge Harker instructors have to offer!
In mid-February the 19th annual U.S. Open Music Competition (USOMC) was held in Oakland. The USOMC, with over 900 participants (mostly pianists), is one of the largest music competitions in the country. Students traveled from as far as China to compete in different levels and categories. Several students from Harker participated, winning a number of accolades. Unless noted, all categories are for the piano.
Bobby Bloomquist, grade 4, third place, treasury of romantic – junior (ruby), “Waltz in A Minor, Op. 124, #4,” by Schumann; Andy Semenza, grade 5, first place, showcase piano duet & ensemble – intermediate, sketches: “Musketeers and Toreadors,” by Gavrillin. Semenza and his partner, Andy Sheng (who does not attend Harker) were selected as one of the outstanding gold medalists of 2011 at the Prize Winners’ Concert. Semenza also won first place, treasury of contemporary – pre-senior (diamond), “Prelude #24, Op. 34,” by Shostakovich. Marcus Chen, grade 5, fourth place, treasury of romantic – junior (diamond), “Andante con moto (untitled) in F Major #26, Op. 68,” by Schumann.
Jonathan Dai, grade 7, third place, showcase piano duet & ensemble – intermediate, “Slavonic Dance #2 in E Minor, Op. 72,” by Dvorak.
Helen Wu, grade 8, second place, showcase violin concerto (ruby), “Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64, third movement,” by Mendelssohn; Andrew Jin, grade 8, third place treasury of contemporary – pre-senior (diamond), “Prelude #10, Op. 34,” by Shostakovich. Billy Bloomquist, grade 8, fourth place, open solo 5B, “Sonata in G Major Hob XVI:27 Presto, third movement,” by Haydn.
Vikram Sundar, grade 9, second place, showcase piano solo – intermediate (opal), “Impromptu #1 in Ab Major, Op. 29,” by Chopin and “Sonata #2 in F Major (Allegro), Op.10,” by Beethoven. Sundar also took third place in open concerto – intermediate, “Concerto #12 K.414 in A Major (Allegro),” by Mozart. Paulomi Bhattacharya, grade 10, second place, treasury of classical – advanced, “Sonata in C, Op.13, Grave-molto allegro – first movement,” by Beethoven.
Albert Wu, grade 11, second place, showcase piano solo – senior (sapphire), “Sonata #23 in F Minor, Op. 57, first movement,” by Beethoven and “Prelude in C Major, BWV870″ by J.S. Bach. Wu also took second place in treasury of romantic – advanced (diamond), “Polonaise in Ab Major, Op.53,” by Chopin.
The list of Harker participants was provided to us by a generous parent. Winners are not listed on the USOMC site by school and we apologize if anyone has been left off this list. If your child participated in the 2011 USOMC, please send information to news@harker.org and we will gladly add it to the article.
Renowned cellist/trombonist/composer Dana Leong came to Harker in early March to hold a workshop with upper school music students. Leong is known for hi hip-hop-jazz-electronics fusion and has received much critical acclaim and draws enthusiastic audiences worldwide.
Leong was accompanied by an MC named iLLspokiNN (sic), a member of Leon’s group Milk and Jade. “The master class involved Dana on trombone, cello and vocals (beat boxing) and his MC,” said Dave Hart, middle school music teacher, who arranged for the visit.
About 30 students participated in the master class, held in Nichols Hall. The pair started with one of Leong’s compositions. “It was impressive because the two of them made it sound like a large ensemble,” Hart said. “Dana played his trombone into a microphone that went through several sound modification devices to create different effects. He also used an electronic cello to produce another array of sound effects while iLLspokiNN rapped over the thematic melodies. They were both accompanied by drum beats that Dana created on his computer.
“What makes Dana unique as a musician is that he performs on both the cello and trombone in a wide selection of musical styles,” Hart continued. “Milk and Jade represents Dana playing a more main stream hip hop sound. He also is trained as a classical and jazz musician with a double major from Manhattan School of Music in classical cello and jazz trombone. We were very lucky to have Dana share his musicianship with the Harker students. I actually knew him throughout high school and we used to play together all the time. He has become such a great musician. He also discussed the music business with the students and shared how he manages to be a full-time musician.”
English Language Institute Receptions in Japan Canceled
Due to current events in Japan, the 2011 receptions in Tokyo and Kobe have been canceled. Our thoughts are with our Japanese friends and colleagues. The Harker School has many friends and associates in Japan from its long academic association and exchange program with the Tamagawa Gakuen school in Tokyo. Many current and former buddies of Harker students have been in contact with their U.S. friends and with Harker administrators since the earthquake and tsunami a week ago. Harker students have begun various efforts to add to the worldwide relief efforts, and the entire community sends its most fervent best wishes to all the Japanese affected by the disaster.
History was made in early March as Pat Walsh, lower school math teacher, was finally defeated after 30 years of playing spoons with students. Walsh has been hosting the card games at his home since the early 1980s and had never lost a game until this month. His wife, Terry, Harker’s archivist, was on hand for the momentous game.
“He lost this one fair and square – I witnessed the historical moment,” she said. Matt Walsh ’97 was on hand as well and noted his father usually plays against fifth graders, while this game was against eighth graders. “He couldn’t compete with these eighth graders – the girls had him right from the start of the game,” Matt Walsh said.
Pat Walsh said the game started as an icebreaker when he’d bring his homeroom students over four at a time on Friday nights. Now the game is a Harker Family and Alumni Picnic auction package.
Losing the game has always had consequences. “I used to have the kids play a prank on a neighbor of mine I am friends with,” said Walsh, “and usually at least one kid wants to lose because they are so excited about pulling off a prank.
“Now, the night usually ends with us going over to Kate Shanahan’s (Harker’s lower school English department chair) house,” he added. “We usually TP her yard, ring the doorbell and run off (known in the prank business as ding-dong ditch it or ring and run).
“This year, Kate was sick, so we TP’d her classroom instead,” Walsh added. “I set the kids up: I left the room and Sarah Leonard (primary division head) ‘caught’ them in the act. Lots of laughs!”
In addition, the students made prank phone calls to some of the Walsh’s other Harker pals, Rebecca Williams and Mike Bassoni, who were prepared for the prank calls and did their best to turn them around on the students.
Walsh publicly owned up to his loss to the four girls, Emma Malysz, Delaney Martin, Zoe Woehrman and Alyssa Amick, all grade 8, in assembly a couple weeks after the event, paying homage to the victors and presenting them with long stemmed roses.