Mar. 15, 2011
[Update] KQED radio featured a short interview on their California Report this moring with Nikhil Parthasarathy, grade 12, as he and classmate Rohan Mahajan await the judges’ final decision in the Intel Science Talent Search contest in Washington D.C.. Harker is the only school this year with two finalists in the contest.
The extensive article, lauding the strengths of Harker’s science program, is by veteran reporter Lisa M. Krieger, who made several visits to the campus in February and March to spend time with students and teachers. Longtime Mercury News photographer Patrick Tehan captured the photos for the piece. One impetus for the story was the January announcement from Intel that The Harker School was the only school in the country earning two finalist spots at their annual Intel Science Talent Search in Washington, D.C. Winners are announced March 15, 2011.
The story is inspiring comments from educators, alumni, current students, parents and others passionate about education.
The San Jose Mercury ran a great story about Harker and its science program, saying,
“With 20 Intel semifinalists and four finalists in six years, and many other prestigious science titles already to its credit, Harker is fast becoming the “it” school for aspiring researchers, a springboard to a life of inquiry”
On March 12, the Harker Speakers Series brought revered photojournalist Rick Smolan to Nichols Hall to discuss the increasing scarcity of clean drinking water around the world. His work as a photojournalist has appeared in publications such as Time and National Geographic , and he created the A Day in the Life series of photobooks.
Smolan was “completely stunned at how interesting and troubling and in some ways inspiring the water problem is.” The difficulty, Smolan found, was world wide. “It isn’t a problem; it’s a whole series of interrelated problems, and depending on where you are in the world, it’s a different problem.” Smolan then began working with Blue Planet Run, a water advocacy group, to create a photo book of the same name. The photojournalist and, now, writer, seeks to change the perception the clean water crisis was only affecting the populations of poorer countries. Humans are now consuming water four times more quickly than nature is able to replenish it, and “Blue Planet Run features photos from Africa, where villagers must travel long distances to obtain gallons of filthy water, to West Virginia, where one family must deal with tap water so contaminated it runs blood red. For the full story on this wonderful speaker’s visit to Harker, see the Harker Speaker Series page.
The upper school dance production, a yearly celebration of dance with choreography by upper school dance teachers and students, was presented in late January. This year’s production, “Be-A-Muse(d),” was designed by artistic director Laura Rae as an investigation of inspiration and creative processes in the natural world.
“Be-A-Muse(d)”heavily showcased technology to tell its story, with twin projector screens flanking the Blackford stage, reflecting a series of breathtaking panoramas and metropolitan vignettes.
This year’s production drew its music from a panoply of popular, classical, cultural and expressive sources, making room for contemporary bands like Muse and Temper Trap alongside a Hans Zimmer soundtrack, Charles Lingus’ jazz and Niña Pastori’s flamenco.
Student dancers wore shimmering, futuristic outfits that reflected the stage lights, and one memorable moment featured a musical number composed entirely from the startup sounds of a Windows computer.
The production reached its apex in the rendition of the heartbreaking song “This Bitter Earth.” There, dancers in dusty, brown, wrinkled costumes – like decaying leaves in autumn – danced a dipping, worn-down ode, an illustration of the death required for seasonal rebirth.
“Be-A-(Muse)d”was choreographed by teachers Laura Rae, Karl Kuehn, Amalia Vasconi and Adrian Bermudez, along with students Carmen Das-Grande, Katie Forsberg, Nidhi Gandhi, Amiritha Minisandram, Daisy Mohrman, Naomi So, Kenny Wong, Erica Woolsey, all grade 12; Sarika Asthana, Sonya Chalaka, Sarah Howells, Margaret Krackeler, all grade 11; and Tiphaine Delepine, Michaela Kastelman, Molly Wolfe, all grade 10.
The 2011 Winter Concert on Jan. 14 brought together groups from all three campuses for a special two-part show at the Blackford Theater. With eight groups performing, the concert provided a well-rounded view of the talents of Harker’s many instrumentalists.
The Lower School String Ensemble, directed by Toni Woodruff, began the show with their versions of “Sword Dance” by Bob Phillips and “Bach Country Fiddles.” The Lower School Orchestra and Lower School Jazz Ensemble, both directed by Louis Hoffman, then followed, performing a number of popular pieces, including the orchestra’s performance of Strauss’ “Radetzky March” and the jazz ensemble’s rendition of Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music.”
Directed by David Hart, who also directed the Grade 6 Orchestra and the Grade 7-8 Orchestra, the Middle School Jazz Band played well-known tunes such as “The Saints Go Marching In” and Billy Strayhorn’s “Take the ‘A’ Train.” The Grade 6 Orchestra’s set included the Shaker hymn “Simple Gifts” and a rousing performance of the famous “James Bond Theme” by Monty Norman. Grades 7 and 8 played “Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity” from Holst’s “The Planets” and concluded with “New World, Mvt. I” from Dvorák’s “Symphony No. 9.”
The Harker School Jazz Band and The Harker School Orchestra, upper school groups directed by Chris Florio, closed the evening. The jazz band was joined by two special guests from Tamagawa Gakuen, Miyu Kondo on tenor saxophone and Marina Saito on baritone saxophone. They performed such tunes as “Bones For Basie” by English composer Alan Hare and the rollicking “You Can Have It” by Morgan Ames and James Foster.
After a brief intermission, the upper school orchestra concluded the concert with their performances of pieces by Verdi, Schubert and Brahms. Their performance of Saint-Saëns’ foreboding “Danse Bacchanale,” from “Samson and Dalila,” brought the show to an exhilarating close.
Upper school vocal group Bel Canto was joined by several friends for the annual WinterSong concert on Jan. 21 in the Nichols Hall auditorium. Directed by Catherine Snider, Bel Canto kicked off with “Everybody Rejoice,” from the musical “The Wiz,” followed by a version of Mozart’s “Ave Verum” and “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In” from the musical “Hair.”
The next phase of the concert featured a number of impressive solo performances by Harker Conservatory certificate candidates, including guitarist Nidhi Gandhi, grade 12, playing “Rondo, Op. 48” by Fernando Sor; Allika Walvekar, grade 12, singing the Weill/Gershwin piece “My Ship”; Catherine Stiles, grade 12, performing a Scarlatti piece on the harp; and junior Charles Levine performing an original piano piece, titled “Winter.”
For the final portion, Bel Canto once again gathered onstage, singing “Ose Shalom,” a traditional Hebrew text set to music by John Leavitt, and the traditional spiritual “Shine on Me.”
The Harker Quarterly and Harker News Online have been awarded second and third place, respectively, in the annual regional CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) contest. The competition recognizes excellence in communication, with eligibility open to any regional CASE institution, including universities and community colleges. It was the first time Harker had entered the competition.
Harker won silver in the Independent School Periodicals, Independent School magazines category for the Harker Quarterly, and bronze in the Independent School Periodicals, Independent School Web-Based or Electronic HTML Periodicals for Harker News Online.The Harker Quarterly and Harker News Online (HNO) were both launched in 2009 to replace the existing monthly internal newsletter, The Harker News, and to reach a broader audience.
Each entry was judged on quality, creativity, innovation and adherence to professional standards. There were 388 entries in this year’s competition.
“Both publications provide us with unique and expanded ways to share our exciting, diverse and newsworthy community with others,” said Pam Dickinson, Harker’s Office of Communication director. “The keepsake format of the Quarterly allows for lush features, while Harker News Online, coupled with our expanding use of social media, provide a more real time outlet for news.”
Dickinson said special kudos go to Bill Cracraft, news and information editor, for his leadership with the Quarterly and HNO content, and Nick Gassmann for the HNO design and continued improvements to that online vehicle. Other key talent contributing to the projects are Catherine Snider, publication editor; Ashley Batz, photo editor; Zach Jones, lead writer; Jenny Sandrof of Blue Heron Design; and Jaja Hsuan of Triple J Design.
Visit our homepage at www.harker.org for the digital online version of the Harker Quarterly, and http://skylark.harker.org/hno/backups/ to view the latest news in Harker News Online.
During a special March 3 assembly, grade 5 students were treated to an entertaining and thought-provoking presentation on Internet safety by six middle school students: grade 6 students Alexis Gauba and Zahra Budhwani, grade 7 students Logan Drazovich and Chandler Nelson and grade 8 students Jonathan Armer and Jai Ahuja. The presentation, titled “Pause Before You Post,” warned students to take precautions before posting content online. “This is a difficult message for adults to get across to children, yet it is crucial because whether they are using e-mail, IM, a blog or a social networking site, their actions have enormous ramifications,” said Angela Neff, middle school assistant director of technology.
The students spoke about difficult topics such as cyber-bullying in a mature, yet light-hearted, manner that captivated the fifth grade audience. “They were at once sincere, articulate, intelligent and funny,” Neff said.
The presentations were the culmination of a monthlong collaborative advisory-based digital poster and video project led by Neff. The goal of this project was to get students to think before they post online content that could be hurtful to themselves or others. Each advisory’s poster answered a question that students should ask themselves before posting, such who will see their posts, who might be hurt or embarrassed by them and what their family or teachers might think upon seeing them.
Presenters also covered real-life examples of the consequences of hurtful online posts, discussed how the project made them think differently about what they post online and urged students to tell parents or teachers about online harassment.
In addition to the presentation, laminate posters illustrating the lessons learned at the assembly were posted around the lower school campus to keep the lessons fresh in the minds of the young students.
The Harker middle and upper school forensics team, 70 strong, traveled to a Stanford University tournament in mid-February and brought home awards in nearly every event entered. In dramatic interpretation, James Seifert, grade 12, collected third place honors.
In varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate, Roshni Bhatnagar, grade 12, advanced to double-octafinals (top 32), and Chat Malladi, grade 11, earned the fourth place speaker award. Vikrum Sundar, grade 9, also posted a semifinal finish in junior varsity Lincoln-Douglas. In the world of public forum debate, the team of Kiran Arimilli and Neel Bhoopalam, both grade 10, and the team of Daryl Neubeiser and Ishan Taneja, both grade 11, reached double-octafinals (top 32) before being eliminated.
The following weekend, February 19-21, Harker had a stellar performance at the University of California, Berkeley tournament, finishing ninth out of some 210 schools from around the nation. A record 132 middle and upper school students traveled to Berkeley for the largest annual high school invitational tournament in the U.S.
Seifert again took a starring role in Harker’s performance, winning the championship in dramatic interpretation. Seifert was also the only student in the entire tournament who competed in three individual events and successfully advanced to elimination rounds in all three events, reaching octafinals (top 56) in humorous interpretation and semifinals (top 14) in original oratory.
“James’ biggest edge is all of his acting experience here at Harker,” said Jonathan Peele, director of individual events and congressional debate. “He also likes to take risks in the literature he chooses to perform – this year he’s doing ‘I am My Own Wife’ by Doug Wright – which really makes his performance stand out in competition.”
In public forum debate, two of Harker’s teams were invited to participate in a select round robin event hosted at the College Prep School in Oakland prior to the U.C. Berkeley Tournament. There, the team of Rohan Bopardikar and Akshay Jagadeesh, both grade 11, reached semifinals (top 4) while the team of Aneesh Chona and Anuj Sharma, both grade 10, were named co-champions of the tournament. In general competition at Berkeley, the team of Aakash Jagadeesh, grade 11 and Justine Liu, grade 12, reached octafinals (top 16), earning a Tournament of Champions bid. Bopardikar and Akshay Jagadeesh advanced yet again, this time falling in triple-octafinals (top 64).
In varsity Lincoln-Douglas debate, Bhatnagar reached quarterfinals (top 8) out of 380 students in the competition. For doing so, Bhatnagar received her second bid to, and is now fully qualified for, the Tournament of Champions this May. Malladi also advanced to elimination rounds in varsity Lincoln-Douglas, reaching triple-octafinals (top 64). In the junior varsity division, Raymond Xu, grade 9, concluded preliminary rounds as the undefeated top seed, proceeding on to octafinals (top 16) before being eliminated. Sachin Vadodaria, grade 9, joined Xu in JV Lincoln-Douglas elimination rounds, reaching double-octafinals (top 32) and earning the fourth-place speaker award.
In congressional debate, Murali Joshi, grade 11, Michael Tsai, grade 12 and Warren Zhang, grade 10, advanced to the semifinals (top 70), and all earned bids to the Tournament of Champions. Kathir Sundarraj, grade 10, climbed still further, reaching congressional debate finals (top 20). Jacob Hoffman, grade 10, received the gavel for best presiding officer in his preliminary chamber.
This weekend Harker takes a break from competition to play host to our friends from around the region at the Howard and Diana Nichols Invitational. Go Eagle Forensics!
A group of ninth graders spent two days in early February helping out at InnVision’s Georgia Travis Center, a shelter for homeless women and children in San Jose. Donations to the center of clothing, linen, toys, games and food must be sorted and organized before use, and over two days about 90 students spent nearly 600 hours pitching in.
Students sorted hundreds of pieces of clothing by age and gender and arranged them in the shelter’s store. They organized boxes of toys and games before shelving them, served food to the homeless and helped out in the office as well. “The work was hard, but they did it all with a smile on their faces and a glint in their eyes,” noted Naren Nayak, father of participant Avinash.
A handful of Harker parents helped supervise and arranged for lunch and snacks, but even that turned into a donation as the unspent lunch money, $131, went to InnVision as well.
“On behalf of InnVision, I would like to share our deepest gratitude for the amazing work during the Harker Service Days at GTC!” said David Tran, InnVision’s volunteer and program coordinator. “It was a definite success in terms of the amount of work that was done. I enjoyed the energy and charisma that the Harker students brought, especially their keen interest in learning more about homelessness and our agency. Overall, it was a great success and definitely a great start to a wonderful partnership between InnVision and Harker.”
Jaynie Neveras, community relations manager for the Georgia Travis Center, was equally appreciative. “We are most grateful for these days of service, as the Harker students truly did make a difference,” she said. “Their volunteer efforts in all areas, whether making over a classroom supply area, sorting donations, organizing a toy warehouse or helping with paper work for case managers, made lives better. No child should ever know homelessness – a lesson brought to life for these compassionate Harker volunteers.”
More information about donating to or volunteering at InnVision can be found at www.innvision.org.