Middle school Latin teacher Lisa Masoni has been named ACE / ACCG Teacher of the Year. The Ancient Coins for Education and Ancient Coin Collectors Guild organizations join forces to encourage Latin studies at the middle and high school levels.
“We have been so impressed by the way you have obviously inspired your students in the study of Roman coins and history,” said Souzana Steverding, director of ACE, in her award letter to Masoni. “When we see how your students … have really been working so hard, devoting obviously a lot of time and energy to researching such varied niches in Roman history as Gallienus, the early adoptive emperors and beliefs in the ancient world, then we know what a fine teacher these students are lucky to have. A huge thank you for your devotion and hard work and the inspiration which you pass to your students,” the letter concluded.
Masoni received a certificate and a commemorative ancient coin, minted in the first century A.D., with the award.
Every year, Harker honors employees whose valuable contributions have spanned five years or more. Five-year recipients are presented with a gold “H” pin, and for every five years of service thereafter a diamond is inset into the pin. This year, 58 employees were recognized. We thank them for their immeasurable contributions to student learning and overall Harker life.
Receiving their five-year pins were Miguel Aguilar, Alanna Andrus, Mark Brada, Enni Chen, Jennifer Cowgill, Christine Collins, Randall Dukes, Carlos Rojas Esquivel, Christopher Florio, Irene Gary, Melinda Gonzales (Advancement), Maria Guadalupe Gonzalez, Carol Green, Shelby Guarino, Shaun Kelly Jahshan, Lori Kohan, Sergio Landeros, Eric Leonard, Kevin Lum Lung, Carlos Madrigal, Gary Mallare, Daniel Molin, Alberto Molina, Jesus Mora, Ernestine Porter, Aarthi Ragupathy, Kimberly Sandoval, Naomi Schatz, Eileen Schick, Preeti Sharan and Clif Wilcox.
Those with 10 years of service were Nina Anand, Evan Barth, Judi Beil, Bob Benge, Jeremiah Brewer, Jeffrey Draper, Danny Dunn, Antoinette Gathy, Dan Hughes, Jessie Lara, Marissa Lucketti, Bradley Stoll, Jeff Sutton, Tomas Thompson, Fred Triefenbach, Kevin Williamson, Felicia Wiltz and Brian Wimsett.
The 15-year service pin was awarded to Diann Chung, Kathy Clark and Laura Lang-Ree. Twenty-year pins were given to Pete Anderson, Pam Gelineau, Gail Palmer and Theresa (Smitty) Smith. Finally, Ruth Tebo celebrated 25 years and Dottie Hickey, retiring this year, gave Harker 36 years of service.
Upper school English teacher Alexandra Mattraw was named one of eight finalists in the 2009 Nightboat Books Poetry Prize competition for her book of poetry, “honest as any treeless place.” Nightboat will be posting her biography, photo and one of her poems on their website soon. “Being a finalist is kind of a big deal for me because I’ve been working on this book for six years and this is another step towards publishing,” Mattraw said. Her chapbook, “Projection,” essentially a chapter of her book, was published by Achiote Press, Berkeley, in April. Mattraw also did poetry readings in San Francisco at Dog Eared Books and Wild West Side in May and is writing a poetry review to be published in Word for/Word, an online journal which has published several of her poems.
Long-serving activities director Chris Daren said goodbye to that role in favor of one as a full-time faculty member teaching journalism. Daren has been running the upper school journalism program of four classes per year for seven years now; as it expanded under his direction, he found he could no longer do justice to both programs.
Daren started with Harker 14 years ago, spending the first two years as a coach, study skills teacher and substitute. He transitioned to the upper school when it opened and has now been advising the yearbook for 12 and the newspaper for seven years, along with a decade as activities director.
In his several roles, Daren has led scores of student trips, near and far. One of the more memorable events during his early tenure was watching Howard and Diana Nichols lead 150-plus students around San Francisco, from dinner to a play to the first spring formal dance, in the second year of the upper school. Daren has particularly enjoyed watching students throughout the years as they grew from quiet and reserved to spirited and boisterous members of their classes.
Daren will be succeeded by current community service director Kerry Enzensperger, who will add these duties to her current role under the title activities coordinator.
The activities director comes in contact with every upper school student sooner or later and, in managing the journalism program, Daren had an impact on the entire community. While advisor to the Winged Post student newspaper, Talon yearbook and TALONWP Online, the publications, and Daren himself, won a number of prestigious awards.
The Winged Post received the National Scholastic Press Associations Pacemaker award for excellence in 2008. In March 2009, Daren received a Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) Gold Key award for excellence in teaching journalism and in advising student publications at a special luncheon at Columbia University.
In August 2009, at a CSPA camp in New York, Talon staff earned top honors in the Achievement in Theme category, and numerous individual awards were earned by Talon and Winged Post staffers. Just this year, in March, the Winged Post and the site www.talonwp.com won Crown Awards; the website took a Gold Crown, the highest recognition given annually by the CSPA for excellence in writing, coverage and content, and the Winged Post student newspaper received a Silver Crown for its efforts.
Daren’s change-over was celebrated by administrators and students alike during a special ceremony during the spring spirit week rally in April.
Three Harker alumni were featured speakers at this year’s research symposium, “Technology for Life.” Jennifer Ong ’07, a junior at U.C. San Diego, is pursuing biology and communications majors. Richard Kwant ’07 is studying chemistry and physics at Harvard University, and Brian Ma ’08 is a bioengineering major at the California Institute of Technology.
Ong spoke about her new role as chief operations officer for The Triple Helix (TTH), a nonprofit, studentrun organization that publishes undergraduate articles in print and on their website. Founded by Kevin Hwang ’03, its mission, said Ong, “is to allow students the opportunity to voice ideas about the interdisciplinary nature of science, society and law.”
Speaking via teleconference from Harvard, Kwant presented his work on protein structures and interactions. He was able to create crystalline structures of the protein human carbonic anhydrase II, which provide researchers with an atomic level view of what is happening in the protein. “This research will be helpful for biology and medicine in understanding how proteins work and how human biology works,” Kwant said.
Begun as a summer research project at CalTech, Ma’s work seeks to unravel the mystery of how plants, unlike animals, can regenerate. Ma screened epigenetic-related genes to determine if they are involved in the regeneration process.
“Being the first to discover new knowledge is definitely one allure of going into the research field, whether as an undergraduate or afterwards,” said Ma.
For the full report on alumni speakers at the Harker Research Symposium, go to news.harker.org and search on “Research Alumni.”
The 2010 “Technology for Life” research symposium featured two prominent keynote speakers who have broadened their scientific backgrounds into careers with global impact.
Dr. William McClure, a partner at Napa Valley Plastic Surgery, Inc. and a graduate of U.C. San Diego’s medical school and Stanford University, focused on his volunteer work with Interplast, doing reconstructive surgery on children in developing countries.
During 25 years and 55 missions in 14 countries, McClure has repaired cleft lips and palates, burn scars and other issues. McClure said, “I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was in high school,” until a teacher with a burn scar stirred “my first interest in plastic surgery.” During residency, he had the chance to take care of children in Mexico. “Something clicked. That changed my life,” said McClure.
Dr. Christopher Gilbert is the vice president of science and technology at Keystone Dental, Inc. and is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon in materials science.
Gilbert said his father’s interest in bad science fiction, where fantastical microsurgical tools and bionic eyes were part of the stories, inspired him. Some of those medical devices such as surgical robots and ocular implants are now a reality. Gilbert said, “Medical technology has revolutionized health care since the 1960s. Discoveries improve lives; they change lives.”
Noting the interdisciplinary nature of the field, Gilbert advised, “Many of the skills you are now developing in science will serve you in the future. Many of the problem-solving skills I developed in the sciences have served me well in the business world.”
For the full report on keynote speakers at the Harker Research Symposium, go to news.harker.org and search on “Research.”
Nichols Hall on the Saratoga campus hummed with energy on April 10, as Harker’s fifth annual research symposium, “Technology for Life,” got underway. Begun in 2005 by upper school biology teacher and science department chair Anita Chetty, the student-led event is modeled after professional symposia which encourage the sharing of ideas in a noncompetitive setting.
More than 300 people and 69 student presenters attended the increasingly popular event. “Each year sets a new standard and because of the nature of our community, we simply use that standard to grow from,” said Chetty. Three alumni also presented their current university research, and two keynote speakers linked science backgrounds to careers.
The day included breakout sessions led by 19 upper school students and poster presentations by another 16 students. Anjali Menon, Gr. 12, formally presented her work with IBM’s Almaden facility, on using computers to replace human subjects in simulating the action of drug molecules. Her mother, Indira Somanathan, is enthusiastic about Harker’s research program. “Here you have your own facilities and technology. I’m really happy with Nichols Hall,” she said.
Amy Zhou, sponsor coordinator for the symposium and mother of Jason Young, Gr. 11, thinks Nichols Hall plays a big part in the excitement middle school students have for science. “The level of science is getting better and better every year,” she said. “The teachers are encouraging and give you time to work in the lab, and the research class allows you to learn more skills like writing and presentation.” Young presented his work with epigenetic regulation of gene expression, which he will continue at the University of California, San Diego, this summer.
The upper school Chemistry Club presented demonstrations, and at a “Harker Hospital” workshop, middle school students, under the guidance of upper school students, ran EKGs, took blood pressure readings and analyzed simulated blood samples. “This was a great opportunity for us not only to showcase some of our sophisticated data acquisition tools, but for our upper school students to mentor and inspire younger Harker students,” said Chetty.
Divya Kalidindi and Namita Ravi, both Gr. 8, were two of 34 middle school students on hand to discuss their poster presentations. Studying the effect of caffeine on the regeneration of body parts in planaria, they found that caffeine could halve the time required for planaria to grow a new head. Looking forward to working in Nichols Hall next year, Kalidindi said, “The center seems more professional. It is going to be really fun.” Ravi added, “The topics are really good here.”
Inspired by his study of respiration to research the effect of phosphate on algae blooms in aquatic ecosystems, Josh Batra, Gr. 8, said, “It was fun to see my experiment in action.” Batra is looking forward to more exposure to biology and physics in the upper school.
Event sponsors offered hands-on technology demonstrations and career advice for students and parents. Brendon Yu, Gr. 8, stood in line to try out Autosuture, by Covidien Surgical. Taking a turn at the hand instruments for suturing, Yu said, “This helps you get inside the body and sew delicate arteries. It requires a lot of practice.”
The day closed with a workshop titled “Research Internships, Technical Writing and Research Competitions,” led by a panel of seniors. “These articulate and talented students gave such an informative talk that parents wanted to hear it again,” Chetty said. “The prospect of approaching a university researcher can be daunting. Seeing that their Harker peers have been successful in doing so is highly encouraging,” said Chetty. “Presentations such as this one continue to assist in moving forward the mandate of the symposium, which is that it is a student-led research conference for students.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2010 Harker Quarterly.
Nichols Hall on the Saratoga campus hummed with energy on April 10, as Harker’s fifth annual research symposium, “Technology for Life,” got underway. Begun in 2005 by upper school biology teacher and science department chair Anita Chetty, the student-led event is modeled after professional symposia which encourage the sharing of ideas in a noncompetitive setting.
More than 300 people and 69 student presenters attended the increasingly popular event. “Each year sets a new standard and because of the nature of our community, we simply use that standard to grow from,” said Chetty. Three alumni also presented their current university research, and two keynote speakers linked science backgrounds to careers.
The day included breakout sessions led by 19 upper school students and poster presentations by another 16 students. Anjali Menon, Gr. 12, formally presented her work with IBM’s Almaden facility, on using computers to replace human subjects in simulating the action of drug molecules. Her mother, Indira Somanathan, is enthusiastic about Harker’s research program. “Here you have your own facilities and technology. I’m really happy with Nichols Hall,” she said.
Amy Zhou, sponsor coordinator for the symposium and mother of Jason Young, Gr. 11, thinks Nichols Hall plays a big part in the excitement middle school students have for science. “The level of science is getting better and better every year,” she said. “The teachers are encouraging and give you time to work in the lab, and the research class allows you to learn more skills like writing and presentation.” Young presented his work with epigenetic regulation of gene expression, which he will continue at the University of California, San Diego, this summer.
The upper school Chemistry Club presented demonstrations, and at a “Harker Hospital” workshop, middle school students, under the guidance of upper school students, ran EKGs, took blood pressure readings and analyzed simulated blood samples. “This was a great opportunity for us not only to showcase some of our sophisticated data acquisition tools, but for our upper school students to mentor and inspire younger Harker students,” said Chetty.
Divya Kalidindi and Namita Ravi, both Gr. 8, were two of 34 middle school students on hand to discuss their poster presentations. Studying the effect of caffeine on the regeneration of body parts in planaria, they found that caffeine could halve the time required for planaria to grow a new head. Looking forward to working
in Nichols Hall next year, Kalidindi said, “The center seems more professional. It is going to be really fun.” Ravi added, “The topics are really good here.”
Inspired by his study of respiration to research the effect of phosphate on algae blooms in aquatic ecosystems, Josh Batra, Gr. 8, said, “It was fun to see my experiment in action.” Batra is looking forward to more exposure to biology and physics in the upper school.
Event sponsors offered hands-on technology demonstrations and career advice for students and parents. Brendon Yu, Gr. 8, stood in line to try out Autosuture, by Covidien Surgical. Taking a turn at the hand instruments for suturing, Yu said, “This helps you get inside the body and sew delicate arteries. It requires a lot of practice.”
The day closed with a workshop titled “Research Internships, Technical Writing and Research Competitions,” led by a panel of seniors. “These articulate and talented students gave such an informative talk that parents wanted to hear it again,” Chetty said.
“The prospect of approaching a university researcher can be daunting. Seeing that their Harker peers have been successful in doing so is highly encouraging,” said Chetty. “Presentations such as this one continue to assist in moving forward the mandate of the symposium, which is that it is a student-led research conference for students.”
Keynote Speakers Inspire with Advice, Careers
The 2010 “Technology for Life” research symposium featured two prominent keynote speakers who have broadened their scientific backgrounds into careers with global impact.
Dr. William McClure, a partner at Napa Valley Plastic Surgery, Inc. and a graduate of U.C. San Diego’s medical school and Stanford University, focused on his volunteer work with Interplast, doing reconstructive surgery on children in developing countries.
During 25 years and 55 missions in 14 countries, McClure has repaired cleft lips and palates, burn scars and other issues. McClure said, “I had no idea what I wanted to do when I was in high school,” until a teacher with a burn scar stirred “my first interest in plastic surgery.” During residency, he had the chance to take care of children in Mexico. “Something clicked. That changed my life,” said McClure.
Dr. Christopher Gilbert is the vice president of science and technology at Keystone Dental, Inc. and is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon in materials science.
Gilbert said his father’s interest in bad science fiction, where fantastical microsurgical tools and bionic eyes were part of the stories, inspired him. Some of those medical devices such as surgical robots and ocular implants are now a reality. Gilbert said, “Medical technology has revolutionized health care since the 1960s. Discoveries improve lives; they change lives.”
Noting the interdisciplinary nature of the field, Gilbert advised, “Many of the skills you are now developing in science will serve you in the future. Many of the problem-solving skills I developed in the sciences have served me well in the business world.”
For the full report on keynote speakers at the Harker Research Symposium, go to news.harker.org and search on “Research.”
Alumni Impress Symposium Attendees with Current Research
Three Harker alumni were featured speakers at this year’s research symposium, “Technology for Life.” Jennifer Ong ’07, a junior at U.C. San Diego, is pursuing biology and communications majors. Richard Kwant ’07 is studying chemistry and physics at Harvard University, and Brian Ma ’08 is a bioengineering major at the California Institute of Technology.
Ong spoke about her new role as chief operations officer for The Triple Helix (TTH), a nonprofit, student- run organization that publishes undergraduate articles in print and on their website. Founded by Kevin Hwang ’03, its mission, said Ong, “is to allow students the opportunity to voice ideas about the interdisciplinary nature of science, society and law.”
Speaking via teleconference from Harvard, Kwant presented his work on protein structures and interactions. He was able to create crystalline structures of the protein human carbonic anhydrase II, which provide researchers with an atomic level view of what is happening in the protein. “This research will be helpful for biology and medicine in understanding how proteins work and how human biology works,” Kwant said.
Begun as a summer research project at CalTech, Ma’s work seeks to unravel the mystery of how plants, unlike animals, can regenerate. Ma screened epigenetic-related genes to determine if they are involved in the regeneration process.
“Being the first to discover new knowledge is definitely one allure of going into the research field, whether as an undergraduate or afterwards,” said Ma.
For the full report on alumni speakers at the Harker Research Symposium, go to news.harker.org and search on “Research Alumni.”
In April several students enjoyed a special night at the home of Head of School Chris Nikoloff for “American Idol” night, as part of a picnic silent auction package. Siobhan Cox, Gr. 9, won this event at the Auction Under the Stars at this year’s Family & Alumni Picnic. She turned the occasion into a celebration of her birthday, inviting friends Tiphaine Delepine, Molly Ellenberg, Michaela Kastelman, Rachel Yanovsky and Emily Wang, all Gr. 9.
Cox and friends enjoyed a specially-cooked Chinese dinner of lettuce wraps, won tons, pot stickers and chicken prepared by Harker’s own chefs and served by Nikoloff, helped by his son, Alexander, age 3 [Ed.: He’s now 4!]. The birthday cake was made of ice cream, Cox’s favorite, and this one had Oreos as well.
After dinner and birthday cake the girls had a hilarious time with Nikoloff watching “American Idol” and arguing about who was the best singer. Cox and her parents were impressed with Nikoloff’s refusal to let anyone help with serving and clearing the table, and with the gift boxes each girl was sent home with containing “leftovers” (in reality an iTunes gift card). Be on the lookout at next year’s picnic for your chance to enjoy some quality time with our head of school!
So much has changed over the six decades the picnic has been held! It began in Palo Alto in the 1950s, and even then dedication made the difference. “Picnic” at Harker has a meaning all its own. It’s not just a picnic … it’s so much more!
The first family picnic was held at the Palo Alto Military Academy in 1951 on a sunny Sunday in October. The school kitchen provided lunch, and activities included a tug-of-war, the ever-popular (and often messy) family egg toss, awards ceremony and military parade. In the 1960s “Alumni Day Exercises” included the Presentation of the Colors, a bugle competition, physical exercises and the colorful bicycle drill, led by Cadet Captain Dan Gelineau (middle school teacher Mark Gelineau’s father).
In 1972, Palo Alto Academy and Harker Day School became Harker Academy and moved to Saratoga Avenue. Picnic tradition continued under headmaster Howard Nichols and the Dads’ Club, and the first Saratoga picnic was on what is now Davis Field. In 1975, the Dads’ Club, under the leadership of Harker dads Marty Scarpace (father of elementary school head Kristin Giammona), Bob Sparkman and Wally Briefs, decided to use the picnic to fund a swimming pool. Scarpace purchased pool blueprints, Sparkman added carnival games to the picnic and Briefs built the Plinko game himself – and it is still used today. The pool was built the very next year. In 1978, the Sparkman family donated a trip for two to Hawaii and the family picnic raffle was born.
Then came the 1980s. Picnic attractions changed and none was more exciting than skydivers landing in the picnic field after lunch! Briefs, chair in the early 80s, even rallied the Mothers’ Club by speaking at the annual Mothers’ Dinner, actually dressed as a mother! Enter the incomparable Morici family, with volunteer extraordinaire Becky and Sausage Sandwich King Tony (who inherited the job from Scarpace) and the picnic was on its way to new heights. In 1985, as a Harker parent at that time, I became chair of the family picnic and in 1986 teamed up with then recreation director Kelly Espinosa (now director of summer programs).
Over the years the team and many wonderful volunteers, staff and students have made picnic history.
While the ’80s saw the addition of memorable themes, more games, more entertainment and more fun, the ’90s proved to be a decade of growth and change for the school as well as the picnic. In 1991, a new kindergarten complex was built and in 1993, we honored the school’s 100th birthday with a Centennial Celebration picnic, featuring a turn-of the- century schoolhouse, an aerial banner across the sky and a giant birthday cake. In 1994, Dobbins Hall was completed with beautiful glass doors that opened out to a perfect patio stage for student performances, so the family picnic was reborn on spacious Rosenthal Field (adjacent to Nichols Hall).
In the midst of all the changes, a dynamic group of fantastic parent volunteers kept the picnic fresh. The great Dan Zanotto graciously accepted the title of Sausage Sandwich King from Tony Morici, and “reigned” through the ‘90s. Yet, the search was on for someone to fill in for Harker super-moms Maryanne Wilson, Jorja Smith, Sue French and Shirley Mortenson, who were retiring from picnic central as their children were graduating. Along came the dynamic duo, Nancy Claunch and Melody Moyer, two talented, funloving, hard-working Harker moms. With the help of their friends Sherry and Louis Ammatuna, Sharon and Harris Meyers, Ken Azebu and Dede Ogami, Amanda Lundie, Ni Denari, Fred and Candy Carr, Fumiko Kimura, Chidori Okubo, Alice Schwartz, Judy Stapleton, Smita and Nayana Patel, the Kawahara family, Linda Sabeh, Robyn Peetz, Kathy and Steve Polzin and many more, the picnic thrived as never before!
The “Curbside Crazies” reigned supreme, especially in 1998 when the picnic became a springtime event. With many weeks available to promote the Harker Goes Hollywood picnic, accepting donations on the curb in elaborate costumes while giving Oscar-worthy performances became the order of the day. “My Fair Lady” Week and “Titanic” Week were legendary! Even Howard and Diana Nichols made a grand entrance at the volunteer breakfast dressed as a movie director and starlet. Then, at the picnic, the Santa Clara Aquamaids provided entrancing synchronized swim performances. Super supporters John and Christine Davis arrived on the scene with kindergartner Cole (who graduated this May), decked out in their NASCAR gear, as they set up their 14- foot spaceship Messenger II along with a selection of NASCAR racecars. What a team! Family picnic organizers promoted the 1999 spring event with a parade, rallies, elaborate door decorating, and spirit, spirit, spirit! The picnic was bigger than ever!
The new millennium arrived with a splash, literally, with FantaSEA 2000. With two days to go, it had been raining off and on most of the week and organizers made the call to move the event indoors for the first time. It came to be known as “Plan B” and the whole crew worked around the clock to move everything into the gym, hallways, classrooms, the library – wherever there as space. When all was said and done, Harker families and friends came in droves to enjoy a fabulous day “at sea.”
Fast forward to 2010! In the coming months, we’ll be sharing more picnic stories, including moving the family picnic back to the fall in 2003 (two picnics in one year) and finally heading to our new home at the Blackford campus. We all love this special day at Harker; whether it’s indoors or out, rain or shine, in the spring or in the fall, it’s a time for us to come together each year and appreciate how lucky we all are to be a part of the Harker family.
Partially compiled from the Harker Archives (parent Debbie Dawkins, contributor)