The Harker School is a member of Common Ground, a coalition of Bay Area schools working together to provide parent education to their communities. The coalition provides opportunities for parents to learn from experts in the fields of education and parenting, to share ideas with other parents, and to support each other’s efforts to enrich our school communities. Shawn Achor spoke to Common Ground audiences in November at three Bay Area schools, Hillbrook, Nueva School and School of the Sacred Heart-Atherton. This report was provided courtesy of the Common Ground Speaker Series.
Shawn Achor, a leading expert on human potential, spoke at three standing-room-only events for the Common Ground Speaker Series in November 2010. Achor, author of “The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work,” spent more than a decade at Harvard University where he won numerous distinguished teaching awards. He first captured international acclaim for helping design and teach Harvard’s legendary psychology course on the science of happiness. Achor now directs Good Think, Inc., a consulting firm that utilizes the latest research to help organizations capitalize on “the happiness advantage.” More information about Achor may be found at www.shawnachor.com.
On rethinking happiness and success: Most of us were taught a broken formula as children. We were told that if we worked hard enough and willingly postponed happiness, then one day our sacrifices would pay off and we would be successful enough to finally experience happiness. But recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology and neuroscience indicate that this formula is actually backward – happiness fuels success, not the other way around. When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative and productive.
On America’s unhappiness epidemic: In today’s hard-driving and materialistic culture, too many Americans operate on the “if only” principle of happiness that continually recalibrates our standards of success. We believe we will be happy if only we manage to get good grades, then if only we get into a good school, then if only we land a good job or make more money or marry well. Working as a freshman proctor at Harvard, Achor noticed that many students (and their parents) assumed that getting into an elite school would guarantee happiness. Yet, within weeks the glow of acceptance waned and many freshmen became dissatisfied. They isolated themselves from their peers and loved ones in the pursuit of even higher achievement. A campus survey found that four out of five Harvard students experienced at least one period of debilitating depression as an undergraduate, a pattern consistent on many other competitive college campuses.
On the power of positive psychology: Working with his mentor, Dr. Ben Tal Sharar, Achor helped create Harvard’s first course in positive psychology in 2006. Almost 1,000 students showed up on the first day and the class quickly became the school’s most popular course. “We began to realize that these students were there because they were hungry. They were starving to be happier, not some time in the future, but in the present. And they were there because despite all the advantages they enjoyed, they still felt unfulfilled ….” Achor conducted an empirical study of 1,600 Harvard undergraduates, concentrating on the “positive outliers,” individuals who scored above the curve in terms of performance, achievement, productivity, energy or resilience. His findings led him to formulate a practical guide to achieve what he calls the “happiness advantage.”
On “The Happiness Advantage”: Recent breakthroughs in neuroscience prove that “positive” brains have a biological advantage over brains that are neutral or negative. Furthermore, we can train ourselves to become happier and more productive by repeating positive behaviors that affect the brain’s neuroplasticity. Research indicates that it takes a minimum of 21 days of consistent practice for a behavior to become ingrained. Achor recommends the following exercises to dramatically change our cognitive function:
* Make gratitude a life habit: Each day jot down three specific things that you are grateful for and fully explain why each is important to you.
* Keep a gratitude journal: Concentrate on meaningful experiences and write down as many positive details as you can remember. Research has proven that keeping a journal for six weeks can create new positive neural tracts, decrease stress and even reduce the need for medication.
* Exercise: It improves motivation, reduces stress and increases feelings of mastery and engagement. Exercise has been proven to increase one’s IQ for two hours after the activity ends.
* Meditate: In a hectic world of multitasking and information overload, meditation trains our brain to do one thing at a time. Even a few simple moments of daily focus can have enormous benefits, such as taking your hands off the computer keyboard for two minutes each day and breathing deeply.
* Perform conscious acts of kindness: Altruism has been proven to decrease stress and significantly enhance mental health. Achor makes it a practice to start his day by praising someone in a short e-mail. He says community service projects help families develop greater happiness and achieve more success. On happier students: According to Achor’s research, the happiest and most successful college students feel grateful for their opportunities and therefore are more open to growth. Those who focus on negatives (e.g., homework, deadlines) perform less well and often develop health issues. To be happy and successful, he says, young people need to believe that their actions matter. They need a strong support network and a mindset that views stress as an exciting challenge, not a threat. Research has shown that 90 percent of long term human happiness is related to how we choose to interpret our experiences.
Therefore, optimism is an essential life skill to teach our children. On happier parenting: The small positive changes we make in our lives ripple out to others. When parents consciously choose to be positive, they empower their families to greater success. Studies have consistently shown that “our belief in another person’s potential brings that potential to life. The expectations that we have of our children, our spouse, whether or not it is voiced, can make that expectation a reality.”
On Dec. 22, Katherine Zhu, grade 5, placed third in the girls’ 10-year-old division at the U.S. Kids Golf Tournament in Maui, Hawaii. She shot 80-85-78, for a total of 243 shots.
Nikash Shankar, grade 8, proved his skating prowess in Fresno at the 2010 Southwest Pacific Regional Skating Competition held from June 22-29. Shankar won first place in freestyle skating, first and third place in two of the figure skating events, and third place in the dance event. Based on his exemplary performance, he will advance to compete with other skaters from Western states in the regional competition in 2011. Meanwhile, Shankar is training to participate in state events to qualify for the National Figure Skating Championship.
Budding comedian and Harker senior Julian Wise debuted at the Rooster T. Feathers Comedy Club in Sunnyvale this summer. He provided the opening act to physicist Norm Goldblatt’s “Science Laughs” and The Tonight Show’s Don McMillan. During the summer, Wise competed in San Jose ComedySportz’s “Left Coast Tournament,” and traveled to the ComedySportz in Los Angeles, where he won the “Comeback Kid” award.
Jerrica Liao, grade 5, is quickly becoming fantastic with a foil. In an Oct. 23 San Francisco Regional Youth Circuit competition, Liao won first place in the girls foil Y12 division, and placed third in Y10 girls foil. Two weeks later, Liao travelled to Phoenix, Ariz., to compete in the Bernie Stein Memorial: Super Youth Circuit (SYC) competition, where she placed second in girls foil in the Y10 division and eighth in Y12. Since SYC is a National Point event, Liao is now ranked fifth in the U.S. in Y10 girls foil and 32nd in the U.S. in Y12 girls foil. Liao has been a member of the California Fencing Academy for three years, and is currently a member of its national team. To watch the quick-handed Harker student in action, click here.
Vikram Vasan, grade 7, made a strong showing at the second annual Golden State Open Chess Tournament in Concord, Calif., over the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend Jan. 14-17. Vasan (rating 1525) finished second out of players from California, Washington and Utah in the under 1,600 section, which included competition against adults. For his victory, Vasan claimed a monetary award of $750.
Longtime fencer Isaac Madan, grade 12, has qualified to fence in the World Cup in Madrid, Spain, in February and the Senior Grand Prix in Venice, Italy, in March. “These tournaments play a role in Olympic qualification,” said Madan, who fences for India’s senior and junior national teams. “I’ll be attending the Senior Grand Prix for sure; I’m still deciding on the World Cup. The qualification path is based on Indian national standing, which is basically tabulated by performance in various international competitions,” he said. Madan and another long-time Harker fencer, senior Ambrish Amaranathan, plan to represent Harker at the All-State Foil Championship in April, held annually in San Francisco.
Jan 31, 2011
[Update] Nine Harker upper school students qualified the last weekend in January for the NCFL Grand National Tournament in Washington D.C. in May.
Closing out the final round of Public Forum debate, sophomores Aneesh Chona and Anuj Sharma along with juniors Frederic Enea and Aakash Jagadeesh were named co-champions of the qualifying event. Freshmen Maneesha Panja and Neil Khemani were named second alternates and juniors Shival Dasu and Jay Reddy earned the third alternate spot after finishing the tournament as quarterfinalists. Harker also swept the speaker awards in Public Forum with Jagadeesh placing first, Chona placed second, Khemani placed third, Enea was fourth and Sharma was fifth.
In Lincoln-Douglas debate, junior Sankalp Raju went undefeated in preliminary rounds and earned a qualifying spot as a semifinalist at the tournament.
Harker also saw success in Congressional debate where junior Muralikrishna Joshi placed second and earned a qualifying spot. Freshman Adarsh Battu placed sixth and earned the second alternate spot while freshman Srikar Pyda earned the third alternate spot.
Individual Event competitors earned spots in two events. Senior James Seifert will compete in Dramatic Performance while freshmen Andy Wang and Zina Jawadi earned spots in Original Oratory.
In early February students will compete at both the state qualifier in Public Forum debate as well as the Golden Desert TOC Qualifier in Las Vegas, Nev. Courtesy of Carol Green
Jan. 26, 2011
Last season Harker’s Public Forum program had a multiweek win streak in 2010 and is starting 2011 the same way. On Jan. 14-16, Harker sent 30 students to compete at the James Logan High School tournament in Union City, Calif., and six students to compete at the Lexington High School tournament outside of Boston, Mass.
At Logan, Saachi Jain, grade 9 and Kathir Sundarraj, grade 10, advanced to finals of Congressional Debate. In Public Forum debate, the team of Kristi Lui, grade 12 and Justine Lu, grade 10, reached octafinals (top 16), while the team of Reyhan Kader, grade 10 and Ziad Jawadi, grade 12, advanced to quarterfinals (top eight).
At Lexington, the team of Maneesha Panja and Neil Khemani, both grade 9, reached double-octafinals (top 32), while the team of Stephanie Lu and Katherine Paseman, both grade 9, rocketed all the way to the final round, thus becoming the fifth Harker Public Forum team to be fully qualified for the Tournament of Champions this May.
At the Victory Briefs tournament at UCLA on Jan. 21-24, the combined efforts of all 13 students competing under the Harker banner earned 65 sweepstakes points for the team, which earned Harker a first-place tie for school sweeps with Harvard-Westlake. Every win was counted towards this accomplishment and it couldn’t have happened without the whole team!
In Public Forum, the teams of Rohan Bopardikar/Akshay Jagadeesh and Fred Enea/Aakash Jagadeesh, all grade 11, closed out the division and were named co-champions, having defeated local rivals Saint Francis and Lynbrook on 3-0 decisions in semifinals. Anuj Sharma and Aneesh Chona, both grade 10, dropped a close 2-1 decision in quarterfinals (top eight). For the third year Harker claimed the Public Forum championship at Victory Briefs, and this is the second time the squad closed out finals. Bopardikar and Akshay Jagadeesh also took first and second speaker respectively.
In November, grade 5 students were given a fun preview of their future lives as middle school students during Step-Up Day. Students toured the Blackford campus, met with faculty and staff and learned more about the various aspects of middle school life, such as the BEST program, athletics, laptop options, foreign language classes and electives. The grade 6 choir, directed by Roxann Hagemeyer, also treated their friends to a special performance to give them a sample of what the middle school performing arts department has to offer.
Two groups of lower school students were treated to off-campus lunches with Joe Connolly, dean of students K-5, as part of picnic auction packages. In late November, Grant Smith, Elvin Chen and Avery Young, all grade 2, headed to Shangri-La, a Chinese restaurant in Los Gatos, and in early December, Kristin Ivey, Ashli Jain and Pumpkin Mayer, all grade 4, enjoyed Pizza-My-Heart.
Connolly remarked on the differences between going to lunch with a group of boys and a group of girls.
“If the diners at Shangri-La were looking for a nice quiet lunch, they picked the wrong day,” said Connolly. “Three second grade boys can make a lot of noise at lunch time, especially in a very small restaurant. Many of the customers seemed to enjoy listening to the boys’ conversations, though. There were lots of smiles and laughs as the boys talked about ‘boy things.'”
While lunch with the girls was much quieter, Connolly said everyone talked about their plans for the upcoming holidays and what they hoped to receive for Christmas. He also praised the girls’ appetites. “We ate a lot of food!” said Connolly. “Those girls could really put it away!”
Loud or quiet, it’s clear that everyone involved had a wonderful time.
Jan. 26, 2011
Intel representatives returned to Harker today to announce that Nikhil Parthasarathy and Rohan Mahajan, both grade 12, were named finalists in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search. They will travel to Washington, D.C., from March 10-15 to compete as two of the 40 finalists selected from around the country.
The announcement, made at a special lunchtime assembly, was accompanied by the news that Harker is the only school in the country with more than one finalist. Notably, California this year finally surpassed New York as the state with the highest number of finalists, with a total of 11 students. Harker had a record seven semifinalists in the contest, this year.
Parthasarathy’s project used recently gathered data to study the structures of distant galaxies and find out how similar or different they were to galaxies in the local universe. He was mentored by Dr. Sandy Faber, professor of astronomy at U.C. Santa Cruz, and Dr. Kamson Lai, a postdoctoral scholar at the U.C. Santa Cruz department of astrophysics.
Mahajan, whose project involved developing a hydrogen-producing solar cell as a source of renewable clean energy, worked with Dr. Yat Li, assistant professor of chemistry at U.C. Santa Cruz, and was mentored at Harker by Mala Raghavan, upper school chemistry teacher and, incidentally, Parthasarathy’s proud mother.
Today’s announcement followed on the heels of one two weeks ago, when a record seven Harker students were named semifinalists in the competition.
Both students will receive a cash prize of $5,000 upon their arrival in Washington, D.C., and will compete for the top prize of $100,000, as well as meet Nobel laureates and members of congress.
Harker sent a contingent of upper school skiers to Squaw Valley Ski area in mid-January on a day trip, led by Kerry Enzensperger, student activities coordinator. The 29 students spent the day in the snow, enjoying themselves so much they lobbied Enzensperger to make it an overnight trip next year.
The Harker School, a member of the Common Ground coalition of schools, will host the next Common Ground Speaker Series event with special guest Edward “Ned” Hallowell, M.D., on Wed., Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. The event will take place in the Nichols Hall atrium at the upper school campus at 500 Saratoga Ave. in San Jose. In a presentation titled “Crazy Busy: Overstretched, Overbooked and About to Snap,” Hallowell will discuss the difference between “good” busy and “crazy” busy.
An expert on anxiety, relationships and attention deficit disorders, Hallowell is the founder and director of The Hallowell Centers for Cognitive and Emotional Health, located in Massachusetts. He has authored or co-authored more than 18 books, including “Crazy Busy,” “The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness,” and the national best-seller “Driven to Distraction.”
Parents of students enrolled in Common Ground member schools may attend free of charge. Non-members may attend for a $20 admission fee.
Common Ground is a coalition of Bay Area schools that organizes events featuring experts in various fields to enhance parent education. Hosting of these events is rotated among the various schools throughout the year.
The Harker English Language Institute (ELI) will host the its first informational session of 2011 on Jan. 29 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Harker’s upper school campus, located at 500 Saratoga Ave. in San Jose. This event will offer families the opportunity to learn more about the ELI summer program, meet its directors and have their questions answered. Those interested in attending can RSVP for the event at the reception RSVP page.
ELI has earned an international reputation as one of the finest summer programs for students aged 6-16 who wish to improve their English speaking and writing skills. Students from all over the world attend each year, and many enroll in Harker’s program as preparation for applying to American boarding schools and international schools.
Trademarks of Harker’s ELI program includes multilevel, customized scheduling and small class sizes. Areas of study offered include vocabulary, reading comprehension, grammar, writing and composition, study skills and oral presentation. Upon completion of the program, international students receive a Harker English Language Proficiency Certificate and a comprehensive evaluation that can assist them when applying to American boarding schools, day schools or English international schools. ELI also offers a boarding school preparation program that includes guidance counseling, SSAT and TOEFL preparation, interviewing/oral presentation and personal essay writing.
To learn more about Harker’s English Language Institute, visit the website at harker.org/ELI, e-mail eli@harker.org or call 408.553.0524.
The Harker Research Program, which enables upper school students to pursue the wonder of science through serious, original research, is now calling for proposals from those who would like to present findings from a summer internship or school project.
The 2011 Harker Research Symposium, titled “A Call to Innovation,” to be held April 23 in Nichols Hall on the Harker upper school campus, is a salute to the computer science and technology industries. Scott McNealy, founder of Sun Microsystems and a Harker parent, will be the afternoon keynote speaker, with a morning keynote speaker to be announced. Read more about this year’s symposium. Proposal deadline is Jan. 28. Visit our web page or download the Call for Proposal flier and poster.