The varsity A team finished second place in the WBAL at 7-1, making them 14-1 over the past two seasons! Key players were Michelle Pagnon, Mercedes Chien and Nithya Vemireddy, all Gr. 8.
The varsity B team ended the season 9-1, taking second place in league. Key players were Jordan Peetz, Gr. 7, Saachi Jain, Gr. 8 and Savi Joshi, Gr. 7.
The varsity B2 team finished 7-3 in league, tying for second place. Christina Wong, Gr. 8, Leeza Kuo, Gr. 7 and Pooja Chirala, Gr. 8, were all key players.
The junior varsity A team, Gr. 6, went undefeated for the second year in a row, accumulating a record of 15-0 over the past two seasons. Coach Vonda Reid reported that the team’s outstanding ball control and tough serving helped them with this impressive record, including their easy defeat of Pinewood in their last match to win the league championship. The girls finished in first place in the WBAL at 6-0. Thanks to some great passing from the back row, Alex Dellar put up good sets and Doreene Kang, Shannon Richardson and Lauren Speckman were able to take some solid swings at the net to give the team an aggressive front row attack. Coach Reid continued, “They were a fun and hard-working group and one of the most talented sixth grade teams that I have coached here at Harker.”
The JV B6 team ended 5-2, which placed them second in league.
The JV B1 team finished in first place in the WBAL at 7-1! This is the third league championship for the Gr. 5 girls this year, having also won the league in softball and soccer; they missed the basketball league championship by one basket. Key players were Stefanie Ting, Joelle Anderson and Chetana Kalidindi.
The JV B2 girls ended the season 0-7 in league. They showed vast improvement in their skills throughout the season with fifth grader Tara Parimi’s excellent serving skills scoring many points and Surabhi Rao, Gr. 5, being the most improved of the team. Coach Casey Henderson enjoyed working with the team, reporting that the girls have been very positive and fun to practice with.
The intramural volleyball team, Gr. 4, learned important skills that were built on throughout the season. Coach Tobias Wade reported, “We practiced our serving techniques with games like ‘dead fish’ and contests against the fifth grade teams.” The girls worked hard on their footwork bumping and setting and made great strides in their skills. Wade added, “I am proud of the effort they put forth. The girls will be great assets to future Harker volleyball teams.
Boys Volleyball
The varsity A team was 5-1, playing an out-of-league schedule. Key players were Andrew Zhu, Kevin Moss and Jithin Vellian, all Gr. 8.
The varsity B boys ended the season 6-0 playing an out-of-league schedule.
The junior varsity A team finished 3-2, also playing an out-of-league schedule. Key players were Kurt Schwartz, Spencer Powers and Connor Powers, all Gr. 6.
Baseball
The junior varsity A team finished at 1-5 in league. Key players were Trevor Lee, Suraj Jagadeesh and Kevin Wang, all Gr. 6.
The JV B team ended the season 0-5 in league. Despite the season record, the boys had some close battles with St. Joe’s and the Harker Gr. 6 team. Nicolas Bean, Gr. 5, led the team with his athleticism, leadership and knowledge of the game. Other key players included Andrew Gu and Alex Youn, both Gr. 5. Overall, reports coach Walid Fahmy, “The season was a great success with the boys learning how to work together and really understanding the team concept.”
The Gr. 4 intramural baseball team began the season with a couple of students with Little League experience. The team moved forward from that point and progressively learned the rules, the art of hitting, proper fielding techniques and base running. The season finished with many spirited games where the players put their individual skills to the test while helping their team compete. Coaches Tomas Thompson and Jim McGovern commended the sportsmanship and strong play of Nirban Bhatia, Will Holaday, Sunny Jayam, Michael Kwan, Brando Pakel, Aadith Srinivasan, Vince Vu and Maxwell Woehrmann.
Tennis
Varsity A tennis finished in a three-way tie for first place in the WBAL with a record of 7-1. They also participated in the MTP league where they ended 5-1. The team qualified for the playoffs in both leagues! Key players were Katia Mironova, Gr. 8, Kilian Burke, Gr. 8, Srivinay Irrinki, Gr. 7, Andy Wang, Gr. 8 and Andrew Jin, Gr. 7.
Water Polo
Both boys and girls water polo teams showed improvement all season. The boys had some very close games against some very good teams, with top players being Charles Manchester, Gr. 8 and Eric Holt, Gr. 7.
Key water polo players on the girls team were Anna Levine, Gr. 8, Lea Daran, Gr. 8, Sadhika Malladi, Gr. 6 and Emma Malysz, Gr. 7.
Priya Bhikha, ’10, whose recycled designs were featured in the 2009 Harker Fashion Show, “Outside the Box: Chic and Unique,” is bringing a special show spotlighting her designs to Harker’s Saratoga gym Aug. 13, 9:30 a.m. -11 a.m. Bhikha’s new collection of Indian clothes will include sarees–some of which will be for sale–salwaar kameezes and churidars.
“I really liked her collection at the Fashion Show, so this should be interesting,” said Christina Yan, director of alumni relations.
Bhikha is inviting potential clients and many members of the Harker community, including all alumni, to this showcase of her talent. Check the Harker Alumni Facebook page for details.
[Update] Riya Chandra has been named a top 10 national finalist in the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge! She traveled to New York in early October to participate in live science challenges and though she did not win, received a $1,ooo consolation prize.
[Posted Aug. 4 2010]
Incoming student Riya Chandra, who will start Gr. 6 this fall, was recently named a state semifinalist in this year’s Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist challenge. Chandra received a $250 cash prize and a special plaque to honor her achievement. In addition, the budding scientist’s work was featured in a story in the Tri-City Voice newspaper which serves cities in southern Alameda County. The top 10 national finalists, who will travel to the finals in New York City in October, are set to be announced this month. Founded in 1999, the competition accepts video presentations on various topics from students in grades 5 through 8 located throughout the country. Chandra’s project discussed germs and disease prevention.
Tags: In the News, Science, topscience
Harker’s big yellow buses don’t sit idle in the summertime–there are eager campers in color-coded T-shirts headed to destinations near and far.
The planetarium, ice skating, aviation and tech museums, boating, wildlife centers and beaches: Every age group has its own field trips and each camper attends one every two weeks. Children signed up for all eight weeks experience four unique adventures.
Harker’s field trips help set it apart from other summer camps, but the difference is not just in where the kids go and what they do there. Also important is who accompanies them and how.
Shepherding a couple dozen or more children through an off-campus experience doesn’t seem a suitable job for the faint of heart. But it’s not as hard as you might think, says Vanessa Bullman, Harker’s calm, competent and unflappable program director. The campers wear their identical camp T-shirts on field trip days, she says, “and we always bring plenty of staff. At Harker, it’s always ‘safety first.’”
“We do this all the time,” adds Kelly Espinosa, director of summer programs, “and we train our staff very well.” In fact, it’s not uncommon for children from other camps to approach Harker counselors on a field trip because they are very visible and accessible, she says. “They are the ones out there doing the activity with the kids.”
Staff members are deployed strategically by the program planners, who expertly assess each location. As an example, Espinosa says, “We noticed that one venue has a door to the outside in a place that is not usually monitored. So we put a staff member there for the entire time we are there.”
Of course, the kids don’t know about all the planning and training that precedes an off-campus adventure. For them, the experience starts with getting on the bus. Here, as in other areas, Harker has a clear built-in advantage. “Parents like that we use our own buses for field trips, with our regular Harker bus drivers,” says Espinosa. “The kids get to know the drivers as part of the staff.”
And when they get off the bus, the campers should find an experience that is stimulating and a little bit different. “We try to offer field trips that are really fun, and either new to most kids or something they don’t get to do very often,” says Bullman.
Shonak Gosh, Gr. 1, said he enjoyed touring the Hiller Aviation Museum this summer with his group, the Owls (Gr. 1-2). Besides seeing the exhibits and making an airplane in a workshop, his favorite aspect of the trip was “getting to turn on the radio in an airplane.”
The staff consistently incorporates new field trips while keeping and refining favorites for each age group. Since most campers attend the same camp session (A or B) each year, the trips are rotated annually. At the end of the two-year cycle, the campers have moved into the next age group–and on to different field trips.
A perennial favorite with the kindergartners is Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont. There they can see a variety of farm animals and a working garden, and learn about such activities as grinding corn and making rope.
Kelle Sloan, program director, says that the students really enjoy just walking around experiencing such a different environment. She adds, though, that the biggest highlight in the past has been a ride on a historic 1885 North Pacific Coast Railroad flatcar pulled by draft horses.
At the other end of the age spectrum, the Eagles (Gr. 5-8) enjoy temperature extremes. One week they go ice skating, and another they head to the beach in Santa Cruz (lifeguards in tow) for an afternoon filled with games, water play and a sandcastle-building contest.
Meanwhile, the Condors (Gr. 3-4) traveled recently to Natural Bridges State Park. There, the campers divided into groups and embarked on a docent-led nature walk. Alexandra Janssen, Gr. 4, said that her group received an impromptu visit from a painted lady butterfly and “we got to see this really cool, mossy lake. It was all greenish on top because of duckweed.” Alexandra loves the field trips her group takes. “I like that they are really fun and educational, but they are not too educational because they still have the fun in them,” she says.
Some like it HOTTS: The Harker/Oakwood Tennis Training System, geared toward high-level players, is the perfect next step for students with good fundamentals who are preparing for competitive play.
HOTTS and tennis camp are both offered in Harker’s tennis program. The camp, which began in 2002, focuses on skills for beginning and intermediate players. In 2004, HOTTS was founded as an additional offering. Both operate at the Oakwood tennis courts located less than a block from Blackford. With the two programs, Harker is able to offer a summer tennis experience to players of all skill levels that is both challenging and fun.
The Camp
The goal of tennis camp is to give athletes a strong foundation in the fundamentals of the game. Each camp runs every weekday for one week. Students begin the day learning skills and follow up with games and competitions that emphasize the techniques they’ve learned.
Craig Pasqua, tennis program director, explains that the first day of camp is spent talking about backhand and forehand, and showing participants how to stroke the ball. “They use low compression balls–softer tennis balls that are much more forgiving, allowing beginning and intermediate players to play a competitive game while working on skills,” he says.
HOTTS
The HOTTS program is for more advanced students, and this year there were around 30 students each week, elementary through high school. They filled all five courts and had the advantage of a wide range of competitors and plenty of court time.
Because HOTTS is aimed at higher-level players, a typical day involves complex drills and games, following a weekly cycle of instruction and drills three days and competitions on Thursday (boys) and Friday (girls). By devoting an entire day to matches with clubs from around the area, players have a chance to gain valuable competition experience “that can be hard to obtain outside of extremely competitive tournaments,” says Pasqua. “For many of the kids in the HOTTS program, this is the first time they have ever played a competitive match.”
Elizabeth Schick, Gr. 5, chose HOTTS to give her a competitive edge. “I just started playing tournaments and I’ve been playing a lot of people who have lots of experience, so I just wanted to get some more match experience,” she says. Her sentiment was seconded by Niel Movva, Gr. 8, who has been attending the HOTTS program, with his brother, for three years.
Every year the HOTTS group goes on a field trip in addition to their weekly practices. This year students attended a special daylong program at the Bank of the West Tennis Classic, a Women’s Tennis Association tournament held at Stanford. Approximately 600 students from around the Bay Area, including the Harker group, spent the day playing tennis-style games, meeting players, getting autographs and watching the matches. In addition, explains Pasqua, “students got to sit down and talk with a pro or some other tennis leader.” Last year that leader was Pasqua himself, who graduated from Stanford after playing tennis there.
Harker enlists top coaches to run their tennis programs. Pasqua currently coaches both girls and boys varsity tennis at the upper school. He is supported at the camp and at HOTTS by coaches Adam Lucero and Seydou Traore, both of whom are also accomplished competitors. Lucero, who has been coaching for three years, recently graduated from UC-Santa Cruz, where he played tennis. He will join Harker as JV girls tennis coach for the 2010-11 school year. Traore, a professional player from France who is Harker’s JV boys coach, is acquainted with many of the French professional players and has even played in tournaments with internationally known Rafael Nadal.
As always with Harker’s summer sports programs, emphasis is on gaining solid skills while providing a learning-friendly environment. To that, end Coach Pasqua and his staff bring their best game!
Families looking for a two-week summer camp for grades 1-4, or for a different kind of academic experience, find it in Harker’s thematic curriculum option. Like their four-week counterparts, two-week campers study in the morning and join activities in the afternoon. But instead of focusing primarily on math and language arts in the morning, they examine a broad topic from a variety of disciplines.
In this year’s thematic program, titled Big Blue Marble, three sessions explored Africa/Asia, Australia/Antarctica and the Americas, respectively. The curriculum integrated science, history, the arts and social studies–and of course math and language arts–into a multidisciplinary study of the continents.
Veteran Harker teacher Kathleen Ferreti taught all three modules this summer. Early on in their study of Antarctica, she equipped the students with compasses, which they calibrated and learned to use before trooping outside. “If we’re going exploring like scientists, we need to be able to find our way,” she says.
During this hands-on lesson, they answered questions like: What is the eastern- or western-most part of the campus? What direction is our classroom from where we now stand? “My classroom has no walls,” says Ferreti. “My objective is to take it outside as much as I can, and to do real-life stuff.”
When they did get back inside, the students were tasked with making their own compasses by rubbing a steel needle in one direction on a magnet, attaching a cork and floating the apparatus in water. It points north!
Some of the lessons tend to integrate a lot of science, like this one did. Others lean toward culture and the arts. Among Ferreti’s many talents is taiko drumming. During the study of Asia, her taiko group paid a special visit to the class.
During the Africa module, students made hummus and fufu (sweet potato balls). They also used a spaghetti maker, not to make pasta but to press beads for African-style necklaces. They studied mummies and hieroglyphic writing, and created 3D square and triangular pyramids.
In each two-week session, students write in their travel journals, count in different languages and read fiction–some historical, some classic.
Language arts and mathematics are inseparable when it comes to reading and discussing “One Grain of Rice,” a folk tale that has taken many forms throughout Asia. It always features a peasant hero who is awarded one grain of rice, doubled each day for a month. He ultimately feeds his whole village; meanwhile, Ferreti uses a matrix to show each step, from one to more than 1 billion grains of rice.
“I really enjoy the integrated curriculum. It gives me a chance to explore things in a way I don’t have time to do during the school year,” she says, adding that students who attend Harker also seem to find it something of a break. “It’s a chance to look at things in a different way and have a lot of fun doing it.”
The thematic approach appeals to more than just Harker regulars. Third-grader Natasha Goudarzi attended Harker for the first time this summer to study the Americas. Of Ms. Ferreti she says, “She’s really nice and cheerful and we do a lot of games with her and fun stuff.”
In class, Natasha made fast friends with Hailey Horton, Gr. 3, and her sister, Caroline, Gr. 4, both of whom were also new to Harker. The class read “The Great Kapok Tree,” and the girls enjoyed creating a play in which each student took on a rainforest animal role (or three) and admonished a would-be woodcutter.
Their favorite thing, however, was a taste test of Brazilian agricultural exports, specifically chocolate and bananas. The coffee beans were not for tasting, said Caroline, “but we got to smell them.”
“And some crunched-up ones, too,” volunteered her sister. “They smell a lot like coffee.”
For the many students attending Harker’s summer programs, facilities are a huge draw, adding luster to the already-fine programs. From those used during the school year to those arranged just for summer, these amenities tend to be far superior to “most school or public facilities where students can go to camps” says Kelly Espinosa, summer program director.
On the Bucknall campus, students enjoy the use of a large pool with locker rooms, a huge gym that can also be used as a performance venue, fully equipped, up-to-date computer labs, and art rooms with a full range of tools and supplies, including a ceramics kiln for firing pieces. All of these facilities are air conditioned, an added bonus seen in very few other day camps.
In addition to these spaces, several others are converted from their school year roles to special summer-only uses. These include an inline skating rink on the blacktop and an archery range on the field. Two classrooms are transformed into a wood shop and a game room, respectively. In the game room students have the opportunity to play board games as well as ping pong and foosball.
At the Saratoga campus, students get to take advantage of the relatively new sports facilities in addition to up-to-date classrooms. Dobbins Field and the state-of-the-art Singh Aquatic Center are both utilized by summer programs and are huge draws for the sports camps.
Ultimately, the amenities are just one of the things that help make Harker a great place for kids to spend their summers. The staff, as well as the excellent curriculum practiced in and out of the classroom, complement these facilities and altogether create a fun-filled summer!
Harker Summer Camp brings students from all over the San Jose area for learning and fun–often both at the same time.
The summer academic program differs from its school-year counterpart in a number of ways. For one thing, “It’s just more relaxed,” says Summer Academic Principal Diann Chung. “It’s still education, but it has a different vibe.” One reason may be that the day starts a bit later, at 8:30, and the academic schedule ends at 11:30 to make way for afternoon activities.
Offered for children entering kindergarten through grade 8, the curriculum is not just school-year redux. Chung, who chairs the regular K-1 academic team, works closely with the other department chairs to make sure the summer curriculum is compatible with that for the school year, and not redundant. “We try to make sure they are seeing and doing something different,” she says.
It can’t be easy to meet the academic needs of students with a wide variety of baseline skills in only four weeks, but that is what happens. The key, says Chung, is “differentiated instruction.”
Operating under this principle, teachers adapt the curriculum to the individual student’s level. Within the classroom, the children work in small groups, with each group offered a slightly different take on the lesson. With the help of an aide, the teacher makes sure that every student is challenged, but not too much.
There are fewer subjects to study, too. The morning consists of one class period each of math and language arts, and one 45-minute elective. Everyone is conscious of the fact that it’s summertime, so teachers have a great deal of latitude with which to incorporate games, crafts and activities into the curriculum.
Teacher Alice Cooley makes sure to read a silly story to her first-graders every day. “They think it’s great to hear me get my tongue twisted” while reading “Fox in Sox,” she says.
In math, she uses a lot of manipulatives, objects students handle to help them learn. For example, she noticed that the kids knew the value of individual coins, but had trouble combining them. So she put together a little bag of faux coins for each child. “We’re working with things they are missing, but doing it in a fun way,” she says. “It’s hands-on learning.”
Elective topics run the gamut from math to language arts, science, technology and the arts. During each four-week session, students select two from such intriguing choices as Hopscotch Math, Kitchen Chemistry and Jump Write In.
On a recent day, third- and fourth-graders from the Enviro-Kids class were running across the field with their homemade dust collectors for a study of air pollution. Later they would be using computers to learn more about the Gulf Coast oil spill and writing about experiments with different ways to clean up oil.
Grade 1 parent Trupti Kapadia likes the balance of choices that the four-week program offers. “There is some pre-designed curriculum, some electives that offer parents a choice on what extra academic emphasis to give their kids, and then the 3:30-5:00 Special Interest Hour, where the kids get to make their own choices,” she says.
She enrolled her twins, Nikki and Kaden, in KinderCamp last year to help them adjust to Harker. Now first graders, they are enjoying camp just as much. In fact, says Kapadia, “As the first session was ending, they checked in with me to make sure they were signed up for the second session.”
A young boy whose mother has died is told by a wizard that he can bring her back to life with a magical “Liferock,” but he will have to fight an evil villain atop Mount Everest to obtain it. There are twists and turns, but our hero triumphs over all and is reunited with his mother.
Reminiscent of a fairy tale, this short story actually sprang from the fertile mind of Young-Jae (Andrew) Chang in Write 4 Life, one of the two-week summer courses available to students in grades 5-8. The classes go all day (8:30-3:30) and offer a fun take on a single subject area.
Flexing Their Creativity
Write 4 Life Teacher Martin Walsh is thrilled to see Chang and his other students implementing Freytag’s structure for dramatic storytelling, which is one of the key concepts he tries to drive home in the class. But he is equally excited to see their creativity bubbling over.
A former teacher in international schools (Caracas, Phnom Penh) and university admissions director, Walsh is currently a college counselor at Harker’s high school. “My colleagues and I in the college counseling department think that writing your personal statement for college, being creative on that application, is a muscle,” he says, and “like any muscle, it needs to be worked out.”
His students are indeed getting a workout, and one that will serve them well. Chang, hailing from Korea, is fairly typical among his classmates. Most are international, many from Asia, and Walsh anticipates that nearly all of them plan to attend college in the United States.
When asked what he thinks of the class, Chang indicates that he really likes his teacher. Walsh is “very congenial and kind to everyone,” he says.
Walsh is, in fact, quite congenial, but since when did fifth graders use that word? The answer is since teaching assistant Diana Lai, a Harker alum and sophomore at Washington University, collected a list of common PSAT words to use in daily vocabulary games.
Students will not be tested on the words, though. Summer courses are “a lot lighter,” says Walsh, “If you get the vocabulary, great, but there are no grades and no homework.”
All the better to let the students’ ideas flow where they will. “On the board is a list of all the ways I have been killed in their stories,” says their teacher and muse, “and then there are the Walsh Aliens and Walshettes….”
Next up was a factual writing exercise in which the students were to watch video of a rocket launch and write a news story about it. No offense to the Walsh Aliens, but they were not invited.
In Robotics, another of the two-week gr. 5-8 courses, students use Legos to construct robots of all kinds.
Middle school computer science and robotics teacher Michael Schmidt models the class on his required 7th grade course. Aside from a few key concepts, much of the curriculum emerges naturally he says, “I just start them off and go where they go.”
Of course, it’s not too hard to predict where they will go. “Once they can make the robots move, the natural tendency is to make them slam into each other,” he says, “So we end up with a lot of robots just pushing against each other in the middle of the room. They think this is hilarious.”
It’s also a teachable moment in which Schmidt offers, “If this is what we are going to do, then we have to make proper bumpers and devices to flip the other person over.” Robot wars, anyone?
The next step forward comes when students get frustrated with the wires connecting their robots to the remotes they are holding. “True robots are autonomous,” Schmidt points out as he teaches them how to program the robots in advance.
Girls Rock Robot Wars
Schmidt always has a mix of boys and girls in the class, and one needn’t worry about how girls fare in the realm of robot wars. This year, “the girls were the first ones to figure out how to win consistently,” he says.
He attributes this to the fact that, while the boys tended to focus on combat apparatus, the girls “started making their robots more streamlined and protected.” The last robot moving freely is the winner, and those with too many appendages inevitably got tangled together.
At the beginning of the course’s second week, Schmidt shifted the focus from destruction to construction, mandating the students to come up with a robot that does something useful.
Products included several Lego motorized wheelchairs, robotic pets, a grocery scanner, and a vending machine–made out of Legos–that operated perfectly during the parent demonstration before slipping off the table and falling apart. With a maturity beyond his years, the builder shrugged, “That’s why vending machines aren’t built out of Legos.”
Schmidt imparts some essential take-aways while his students are having fun making fighting, singing, or vending robots. To be successful in the class, they need to learn about sequential ordering. He says, “I push the concept that programming is a big set of instructions broken down into smaller ones that they can manipulate using modifiers.” He also introduces one electrical engineering concept: that of polarity. “It just means the direction the electricity is running,” he explains, “We talk about alternating current vs. direct current.”
Of course, the students usually end up way beyond that. This summer, says Schmidt, “We started talking about subroutines and using stored memory.” Clearly, they are not just playing with Legos.
Their teacher’s enthusiasm for robotics is infectious. “The more fun I’m having the more fun they’re having,” says Schmidt, “I don’t ignore the rules, but if I’m looking at something and thinking it’s fun, then 90% of them are probably doing that, too.”
So many choices, so little time! On any given day one can find hundreds of lower and middle school students remaining on campus after the academic day ends. These students have a wide range of enrichment activities from which to choose, many provided by the staff of BEST (Bucknall/Blackford Enrichment and Supervision Team). At each campus, students can sign up for regularly scheduled enrichment classes or can drop in for a variety of activities, both physical and less active. Some classes are taught by outside instructors, some by BEST staff, and all are quite popular.
the Bucknall campus, students can choose from classes such as musical instrument instruction, Hindi, yoga, chess, cheerleading and art. One of the most popular activities is dance. In K-Gr. 5, 290 students chose dance this year, and 250 of them – all but the kindergartners – danced in the May dance show. Preethi Kandappan, Gr. 5, has been taking after-school dance since Gr. 1, and took up tap dance fourth quarter. “I like being on stage and being with my friends,” she stated. Laughing, she added, “I like everything!”
Jason Ting, Gr. 3, participates in jazz ensemble, chess and dance after school. His favorite is jazz ensemble, which is a new activity this year. In this class, he said, ”I get to interact with other students, and I like playing the trumpet.” He likes chess because, “I actually get to play with other people and get to experience new techniques.” He has taken chess and dance since first grade.
Amanda Crook, program coordinator, is a typical example of an enthusiastic BEST staff member. One of her favorite activities is the end-of-year Kiddie Carnival, held for school. “Every year planning a party for the last day of school – what could be better than that?” she asked.
Kim Coulter, Bucknall’s BEST program director, has been with Harker since 1987. The program has grown since then from one full-time director, Kelly Espinosa (now director of summer programs) and five part-time staff members to two separate programs, each with its own director, and eight full-time and 25 part-time BEST staff. Each campus has additional learning workshop teachers and outside companies that provide programs as well. In addition to leading enrichment activities, BEST staff members provide supervision before and after school as well as at recess and lunch.
Coulter, who has a B.A. degree in liberal studies with a minor in child psychology, is constantly working to find new ways to improve the BEST program, and feels that children should be provided as many different enrichment options as possible. She recently explained, “It is my hope that the children can find their passion and talents through the BEST program, allowing them success in doing what truly makes them happy.” She added, “The BEST program is like no other program you’ll find. We have amazing staff, offer a variety of activities and provide the ‘neighborhood’ to the students of The Harker School.”
Erin Clifford, Blackford’s BEST program director, has been at Harker since 2005, and holds a B.S. in kinesiology with an athletic training emphasis and a minor in sociology. She is also driven to find new programs. “The middle school students have so much energy and curiosity!” she exclaimed. “I enjoy the challenge of finding enrichment classes and activities that will peak their interest.” This includes classes such as Photoshop, Mandarin, food science and Club BEST, in which students can choose from a different daily physical or non-physical activity. “The most important part of BEST is giving the students a sense of security while having fun,” Clifford said.
The staff certainly seems to provide that. Melina “Bean” Nakos, Gr. 6, likes the drop-in and special activities offered after school. She explained, “I like when they do competitions, like when they did the competition for spirit week on making a cookie.”
Ian Richardson, Gr. 8, also enjoys Club BEST. He added, “I kind of like when the BEST staff gets all fun with us and we play the Ninja game. It’s kind of fun because they interact with us.”