The Harker Cum Laude Society’s final speaker of the 2009-10 year was none other than upper school history teacher Ruth Meyer, who shared the story of her journey from Coventry, England, to California to attend Pacifica Graduate Institute to earn her Ph.D. in depth psychology. She said her love of history came as a result of living in an area of historical significance; her birthplace of Coventry contains a cathedral that was ruined during Hitler’s Blitzkrieg of World War II.
Meyer was later admitted to Oxford, where she studied history at Corpus Christi College. She was one of 17 female undergraduates who were the first of their gender to attend the college. Her application to pursue a Ph.D. there was turned down, which led to her fulfilling that goal in the United States. Meyer concluded by discussing the research process for completing her Ph.D. and writing her book “Clio’s Circle: Entering the Imaginal World of Historians,” which examines how dreams can affect the creative process, with a focus on historians’ dreams.
In April, Harker’s Global Empowerment and Outreach (GEO) club was visited by Lauren Roach, a representative from the Toronto-based nonprofit Free the Children. Roach updated the students on how the money they raised was being used to improve conditions in rural China. In December 2008, GEO had organized a fundraising effort that generated more than $14,000 for Free the Children.
In the village of Quanyuan, a school has been built that is attended by about 300 children, Roach said. A pig was also given to every family that had a child in the school. Roach’s presentation included a quote from Zhou Xialong, 11, who said, “My happiest memory is the first day I went to the new school.”
Elsewhere, in the village of Gufubao, money was used to purchase goats, which can be used for milk and fur, as well as trade.
New Parent Welcome and Orientations in late April gave new parents a chance to learn more about Harker and the options available for their children in the coming school year. In an interesting twist, the parents in attendance were given booklets with commonly asked questions to ask faculty and staff members at the events.
Orientations were held on each campus and each featured tables from each department with informative posters answering questions from the booklets. The new format was introduced so parents could more actively learn about the school.
The new parents were shown brief presentations that introduced them to other aspects of the school such as the online parent portal and Annual Giving, and a brief Q & A session followed each presentation to address specific questions.
As announced in the spring, the Harker Conservatory has again been invited to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in summer 2011. Originally, the group had planned to perform “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” However, that show is currently making its British premiere in London’s West End theater district, so rights to perform it in the U.K. have been restricted.
Undeterred, Laura Lang-Ree, director, and her creative staff brainstormed and have announced that “Pippin” will replace “Spelling Bee” as next year’s spring and Fringe musical.
The show, the 30th longest-running production on Broadway, is an unusual take on Pippin, son of Charlemagne, and his voyage of self-discovery. The play will be updated to modern times and given a current sensibility along the lines of the Broadway smash “American Idiot.”
Audition times have not changed, and more information is available in the Harker Parent Portal (HPP),in the back-to-school hub under Optional Programs and Forms in Encore!, the Conservatory’s newsletter.
By Casey Near ’06
Two dozen Harker alumni gathered for the second annual Northern California regional event Aug. 12 at the wine bar District in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood. Attendees ranged from recent college graduates to established professionals; the guests found common ground reminiscing about their time at Harker (whether it was four years ago or 20!). Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, spoke with the alumni about recent developments at Harker and visited with long-time friends and former students.
Vikas Bhetanabhotla, who starts Gr. 9 in the fall, won first place in the aerodynamics and hydrodynamics category at the California State Science Fair (CSSF) in May. Vikas’ project, “A Study of Magnetohydrodynamic Propulsion and Dimensionless Numbers,” earned him a medal and a $250 prize.
Vikas’ trip to the fair was assured in March at the Synopsys Championship, where he also won a first place award. He made adjustments to his projects during the time between the Synopsys event and the CSSF. At the fair Vikas was interviewed for four hours by 14 judges. His mother, Padmasri Behtanabhotla, said,“Every one of them was very appreciative of the amount of work he had done, his analysis and in-depth understanding of the subject.”
Designs by Priya Bhikha ’10 were featured in her show, 13 = B, at Harker’s Saratoga campus on a sunny Friday morning in August. Outfits included saris, salwar kameezes and churidars, modernized.
“Although I do identify with Indian culture, a large part of who I am is American,” said Bhikha. “I’ve added elements of Indian fashion to a more modern take of the ’50s. I love the feminine silhouettes of the mid-20th century.”
Bhikha’s 13 designs, mostly suited for young women, included an elegant red sari with detailed gold patterns and a polished yellow churidar with gold embroidery that would turn heads in any setting. Another notable outfit was a more traditional lovely gray sari with beautiful sequin work.
Bhikha, whose recycled designs were featured in the 2009 Harker Fashion Show, “Outside the Box: Chic and Unique,” also had a number of items for sale. Following the runway portion of the show, many of the 50-plus attendees browsed the items on display. Sales were good, said Bhikha, who already has a special order for an outfit for an acquaintance attending an Indian wedding later this year.
Bhikha is set on a career in fashion and is in the process of developing her website, www.beemusing.tumblr.com. Her challenges in putting the Harker show together included coordinating the accessories for each outfit and matching them to her models. “I’m really happy with my models,” she said. “I thought it went well.”
Harker junior Margaret Krackeler signed up for a summer course to get it out of the way and discovered she liked it.
“The teachers are really fun and I’m there with my friends,” she said during the final week. As a bonus, she will enter AP Biology in the fall, skipping the otherwise-required year of Honors Biology.
Summer Institute Principal Chris Florio says that most students enroll as a result of academic planning: either to knock off a required course or to get ahead in a subject area of interest. Many classes are in core subjects, but enrichment courses are also offered in art, forensics and even driver’s education.
Honors Geometry teacher Misael Fisico revealed how he captures students’ attention as they face the prospect of four-plus hours of geometry daily. “I know my students are into computers,” he says, “so there are always computer activities in my class, especially for the first two weeks. Then, I let them do the thinking once I’ve bombarded them with the fun stuff!”
Computer science teacher Susan King noted that even though many students take programming to complete academic requirements, “it isn’t all that rare for kids to find out they like it and go on to take the AP course as a result.” Like Fisico, King works hard to make her instruction and classwork relevant and fun.
“I try not to be the sage on the stage,” she says, “but to have the kids be very active–not only programming on their computers, but also writing on the white boards and working in teams of two.”
It’s not all fun and games, for sure, but the lighter moments help: King and her teaching assistant, Partha Vora, a junior at Harker this fall, put on a version of “The Dating Game” in the Advanced Programming class to illustrate the operation of data structures.
Data structures can represent many, many data points, explains King, “or just three pieces of information, like Bachelors One, Two and Three.” In the game, “the bachelorette could question the bachelors but she had to use the correct index,” she says. “If she rejected one, she removed that bachelor from the database, using all the appropriate concepts.”
Junior Prag Batra got to the crux of the matter: “It’s kind of frustrating when it’s not working, and you have to spend all this time debugging. But thinking of the idea and trying to come up with the logic is kind of fun,” he says.
The backbone of any good summer camp program is its counselors. Harker works hard to keep a steady stream of these individuals coming up through the ranks via its counselor in training (CIT) program. Such programs are routine for many summer camp organizations; Harker includes training for all staff under age 18, known as junior staff. The junior staff positions and training are offered to students who have finished at least their freshman year in high school.
These under-18 students start out as CITs and undergo five weeks of rigorous training, a week before the start of camp and four during. Halfway through the camp, freshmen CITs are designated C1 (sophomores are automatically C1s, even if they have not taken the training), the first rung on the ladder to becoming an adult staff member.
Those returning for their second summer are C2; third years are C3; students 18 or older, prior to college, are designated as junior coaches. Those with a year of college or more are adult staff.
Before the start of camp, new staffers learn about the programs, campus and directors, and are paired with adult staffers to learn specific duties. Over the first four weeks of camp, new staffers train two days per week.
Tobias Wade, the program director in charge of junior staff training, says that the goal of the classes is to “get them exposed to a lot of different things and get them thinking about what they would do if they were an adult staff member.”
About 90 percent of students involved in the CIT program come from Harker’s upper school. Rohit Agarwal, Gr. 10, a Harker student who worked this past summer as a CIT, likes switching activity groups every week as it gives him a good perspective on the camp as a whole. He appreciates the opportunity to “learn about different leadership styles and how to become a better leader,” he says.
As students move up in the ranks, the responsibility level increases, as do expectations. CITs and C1s focus on basic training and leadership. Wade states that initially the goal is to instruct the counselors on “how to teach activities, how to treat campers and how to discipline appropriately.” For C2s and C3s, the classes concentrate on more focused areas. For example, C2s work on planning activities and learn how to teach an activity, while C3s practice writing camp blurbs and comments.
Anirudh Agarwala, Gr. 12, is a student at Monte Vista and just spent his second year working at Harker. Comparing the training class he took this summer now to those he had in his first year, he says that the “training was less hands-on and they expected more of you.” This style of instruction helps counselors develop independence and responsibility.
All junior counselors are expected to plan at least one activity for their group each week. As they advance to the C3 level they plan several activities weekly, which is a great help to the coaches they are working with.
Ultimately, the goal of CIT is to produce young adults who are excellent summer camp counselors, and, to this end, it has been a “terrific success,” Wade says.
Both boys and girls swim teams came in second in the league championships, where our swimmers set WBAL records in many events. At the CCS finals, the boys team was recognized as the CCS scholastic team champions; both boys and girls teams went on to place the highest in Harker history. The boys team placed fourth and girls placed eighth – a huge contrast to five years ago, when the teams had never scored at CCS.
Jessica Khojasteh, Gr. 11, won the 200 individual medley in 2:03:11, which is the first-ever CCS title in any sport for Harker. Khojasteh is also Harker’s female athlete of the year. The boys 200 medley relay team of Kevin Khojasteh, Gr. 10, Michael Clifford, Gr. 12, Daryl Neubieser, Gr. 10 and Cole Davis, Gr. 12, finished second at CCS with Davis also taking second in both the 50 and 100 free. Kevin Khojasteh also took second in the 100 breaststroke.
Golf
The boys golf team qualified for CCS regionals for the first time in school history as an at-large bid, where the boys placed eighth. Individually, Maverick McNealy, Gr. 9, qualified for the CCS finals by shooting a 75, once again making Harker history. McNealy shot a 73 for a top ten finish at CCS, one short of qualifying for the Nor Cal tournament. His score made him first alternate for that tournament. James Feng, Gr. 12, just missed qualifying for CCS, eagling the final hole for a 76. Yash Khandwala, Gr. 12, Jeremy Whang, Gr. 12, Ram Seeni, Gr. 11 and Kyle Roter, Gr. 9, also played very well.
Boys Volleyball
The boys volleyball team ended their regular season by defeating both King’s Academy and Saratoga. The playoff season came to a close May 13 at Mitty in the CCS quarterfinals. Despite the huge, supportive crowd cheering for Harker, the Monarchs defeated the Eagles 18-25, 22-25, 25-23, 18-25. The boys ended their season 25-10 overall with a third place finish in league.
Girls Lacrosse
Girls lacrosse defeated Woodside 13-8 on senior day to earn their fifth win of the season, which is a program record! Michelle Douglas, Gr. 9, scored five goals and Monisha Appalaraju, Gr. 11, scored three. The team ended with a 5-4 league record.
Tennis
The boys tennis season came to a close May 14 as they lost 6-1 to Bellarmine in the second round of CCS. The team finished second place in league behind Menlo.
Softball
Softball ended their season with victories over Mercy-San Francisco, 13-3 and Pinewood, 6-1. Arthi Padmanabhan and Shizuka Tiernan, both Gr. 12, were both three for four batting against Mercy. The team ended with a 4-10 league record.
Baseball
Baseball ended its season May 14 with a 9-5 loss against league champion Sacred Heart Prep. Stefan Eckhardt, Gr. 12, had two hits and Greg Plauck, Gr. 12, had two RBIs. The boys finished their season with an 11-15-1 overall record and 5-5 in league for a third place finish.
Track and Field
The boys took third out of nine teams at league finals, with three seniors qualifying for CCS. Thomas Enzminger threw for
first in the discus and second in shot put, qualifying in both events. Scott Underwood took second in the discus and qualified for CCS and Aadithya Prakash took first in the 3,200. Michael Chen, Gr. 9, also qualified in the shot put and was the only freshman to participate in this event at CCS.