Reprinted from the Harker Quarterly March 2010 issue
Lower and Middle School Basketball: Coached by Greg Lawson, the Gr. 8 varsity A team improved defensively over the season, but had difficulty scoring. The team finished the season 3-7, with wins against Pinewood, Crystal Springs and Woodside Priory. The seventh-graders had much more depth than Gr. 8, with enough players to field three teams. The Gr. 7 varsity B1 team finished league play 7-0, making them league champs! The Gr. 7 varsity B2 team finished 3-4, and the Gr. 7 varsity B3 team finished 1-6. The Gr. 6 boys junior varsity A team overcame the setback of injured players through good student leadership, finishing strong in league play. Coach Walid Fahmy said, “Look out for these boys as they move on to seventh grade!” The boys ended the season 2-7. Coach Mousa Katwan credits the camaraderie of the Gr. 5 JV B1 team for a strong finish. “Strong play down low from Alex Mo gave us an advantage on offense, while the strength and heart of Nicolas Bean on defense stopped opposing teams’ efforts. Overall the boys learned a lot and grew together while having fun,” Katwan said. The team ended the season with a 4-5 record. Coaches Tobias Wade and David Ramos both enjoyed the season with the Gr. 5 B2 team. Wade reported, “Our boys practiced and played hard, and it was a learning experience for them.” Everyone improved throughout the season and the team ended with a 2-7 record. The Gr. 4 JV C team had only two days of practice before the team’s first game but, reported coach and lower school P.E. teacher Jim McGovern, “The boys jelled quickly and worked on playing an exciting fast-break style of basketball.” Although their season record was 3-5, the boys came close to flipping those numbers as two losses were only by one point each. McGovern added,“I look forward to the continued effort and love for the game by this group of players.” The girls Gr. 4-5 basketball team had a fantastic season. The JV B1 team, which finished one game shy of a perfect season before tournament play, led the charge. The JV B2 team truly enjoyed the spirit of competition and the fun they had with their teammates. Finally, the JV team also enjoyed spirited contests and the thrill of victory following exciting back-to-back wins.
Soccer: The junior varsity B boys soccer team had a fantastic season, with exciting victories against Crystal Springs, Pinewood and St. Joseph’s Sacred Heart. At press time, the team was 4-1 in league and second place in the standings. The team was led by Nikolas Weisbloom, Kedar Gupta and Joseph Krackeler, all Gr. 5. The intramural boys Gr. 4-5 soccer team learned a lot about their sport and had a lot of fun with their teammates and coach Jim McGovern. The team was led by Nirban Bhatia, Rohit Shah and Shaya Zarkesh, all Gr. 4. Girls varsity A soccer had an exciting season, coach Chrissy Chang reported. “We faced many tough opponents but were still able to put the ball in the back of the net, and every player contributed to our awesome soccer season.” The team had individuals who played outstanding offense and defense, and they ended the season 2-5. Coach Justin “Sully” Sullivan was impressed with the vast improvement of the girls Gr. 7 varsity B team, which showed in their strong finishes of their final four games. They won two of the four and nearly earned a draw in another. Excellent goaltending was an important part of the team’s improvement, and Sullivan complimented several players for their particularly strong play and excellent hustle. The season ended 2-5, and with several players returning, next year’s soccer season looks to be an exciting one. Despite the 1-5 record of the Gr. 6 JV A team, coach Cyrus Merrill was impressed with the strength and growth of his team. “The ladies played even with a number of the teams in the league and surprised many of them with early goals and strong play,” he said. The girls enjoyed practicing next to the upper school girls soccer team at Blackford this season. The Gr. 5 JV B team finished 5-0-1 to take the league championship, making it back-to-back league championships for the Gr. 5 girls softball and soccer teams this year. Coach Casey Henderson credited fearless goalkeeping and added, “The girls demonstrated a wide variety of skills and enthusiasm during the season.”
Upper School Basketball: The varsity boys basketball team had a strong season that included a historic win against Sacred Heart Prep in Prep’s gym. They ended the regular season with a remarkable 20-4 overall record and 12-2 league record, securing second place in the league. In CCS play, the boys played Stevenson at the Blackford gym after securing the sixth seed but lost to Santa Cruz 56-44 in the CCS quarterfinals. The JV boys ended their season as WBAL champions! The team had a 20-2 overall record and was 11-1 in league. Girls basketball ended their season with an overtime loss to playoff-bound King’s Academy and a loss at Mercy-Burlingame over the break. The girls were competitive in every game this season and were actually one non-league win away from qualifying for CCS. They ended the season 7-14.
Boys soccer had a great season, coming close to making it to CCS. They faced Menlo School in the league finals where they lost 2-1, just missing CCS qualification. For a squad that started as many as eight freshmen per game, it was a remarkable season, and ended 8-8-2 overall.
Girls soccer ended their season with a loss to Mercy-San Francisco 2-1. This committed group of young ladies ended the season 2-5-3 in league play, was competitive in every match and showed improvement throughout the season.
Wrestling: Although wrestling meets are team events, individuals, rather than teams, proceed to league championships and CCS finals. This year three wrestlers made it to CCS finals and one, Santosh Swaminathan, Gr. 11, made Harker history by taking fifth place in the 103-pound weight class, the first Harker to medal at CCS.
Reprinted from the Harker Quarterly March 2010 issue
The response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti tops the list of Harker’s recent outreach efforts. Students, teachers and parents joined forces at all three campuses to fund ongoing efforts to provide food, medical supplies and shelter to the victims of the January temblor in Port au Prince, the tiny country’s densely populated capitol.
The Bucknall Student Council and the Gr. 4-5 Spirit and Service Club helped organize a hot chocolate and donuthole drive in January, earning over $3,000. Several lower school teachers and staff donated funds to offset the costs of food and drink to further enhance profit margin. “Our student body truly outdid itself with its generosity and concern displayed throughout our fundraising effort,” said Kristin Giammona, elementary division head Gr. 4-5. “It is heartwarming to witness and be a part of such an outpouring of care and monetary support.”
Similarly, middle school students participated in Coin Wars, a friendly grade-level competition to make a difference. The organizers asked students to donate pennies and nickels for Haitian relief. The class with the largest number of one- and five-cent coins in their collection earned the most points. The effort, won by the class of 2015, raised a total of $3,100 in ten days.
Blood Drive Although they planned their fundraising and blood drive months in advance, members of the upper school Red Cross Club adapted their efforts to benefit Haitian relief. The annual blood drive collected over 80 donations from eligible students, faculty, staff and parents. While donations will likely be used locally, the collection helps offset blood donations elsewhere that will be sent to Port au Prince.
In another Red Cross effort, students emptied their pockets of change in a competition to slime the class dean and class presidents at the weekly school meeting, prompting generous contributions. The mounting piles of coin attracted daily attention in Manzanita Hall, and playful challenges by the deans and presidents to stuff the jars of their competitors added spice to the contest.
In the end, the sophomores were victorious, resulting in class dean Matt Harley and class president Revanth Kosaraju suffering a sliming worth $1,137. In total, the slime contest earned $1,983, an amount complemented by bake sales and pretzel-grams which earned $274 for a total of $2,267.
“We thought that it would be great to offer the Harker community an opportunity to assist Red Cross Haiti relief efforts during our week,” said Red Cross Club president Alex Han, Gr. 12. “We put our best efforts into raising awareness for the cause and making our fundraisers original and exciting, whether through selling handmade pretzel-grams or having a dean and class president get slimed.”
Harker parents joined in Haiti relief efforts as well. Siobhan Due, mother of Kai Due, K, and a stylist at Faux Hair Salon, donated several haircuts to earn funds on behalf of earthquake victims. Due and her colleagues raised $305 for the effort.
Other Harker outreach efforts included:
Acterra In late February 18 upper school students spent half a day removing non-native plants from the Arastradero Preserve as part of a project by Acterra, an environmental nonprofit in Palo Alto. “The weather held and everyone enjoyed working together; we got a lot done,” said Kerry Enzensperger, director of upper school community service.
Pajama Program Gr. 3 students collected new pajamas and books for needy children in the U.S. and elsewhere. Over 330 pairs of pajamas and 677 books were collected. “All of the third graders were encouraged to participate by bringing in books or pajamas,” said Joe Connolly, dean of students K-Gr. 5. “We had two third graders present the donations to Pallie Zambrano, co-president of the Northern California Chapter of The Pajama Program.”
Save the Bay On Martin Luther King Day, an official Congressional Day of Service, Colin Goodwin, Gr. 4 English teacher, organized a group of about 30 Gr. 4-5 students and parents to work with Save the Bay, planting native trees and grasses at the Eden Landing Ecological Preserve in Hayward. “On our day of we planted something like 300 plants,” said Goodwin. “This was my first year organizing this project, and I hope to do the project again next year.”
Jeans for Teens Upper school Key Club members organized a drive for denim in January, collecting lightly-used jeans for homeless teenagers worldwide.
Toiletries Drives The class of 2011 held its annual toiletries drive, collecting hundreds of personal hygiene items for distribution at local homeless shelters. Similar efforts are mounted by the middle school advisories of history teacher Pat White, librarian Bernie Morrissey and math teacher Leah Moll on their campuses.
Afghanistan Valentines Lower school students authored and sent valentines to U.S. marines serving in Afghanistan.
Peace2Peace Members of the middle school Peace2Peace Club will transform donations of lightly used toys, electronics and games into funds for daycare in India via a garage sale over spring break. The program allows older siblings who would otherwise be forced to stay home, to attend school regularly.
Kicks for Cancer Upper school girls and boys soccer teams raised over $3,000 through T-shirt sales and donations for cancer research at their January doubleheader.
Warm Coat Drive The middle school Service Club gathered new and gently used winter coats to benefit the local organization InnVision (www.innvision.org), which helps Bay Area families and individuals who are homeless or struggling financially.
Kidango Christmas Math instructor Peggy Crisler challenged middle school advisories to provide Christmas gifts for families through Kidango, a Bay Area nonprofit child development agency.
Reprinted from the Harker Quarterly March 2010 issue
On Jan. 14, the tables turned at the upper school campus. The students, typically collecting awards at Intel and Siemens Science competitions and presenting their own research at the annual and upcoming Harker Research Symposium (see December Harker Quarterly), became the subjects for a cutting-edge research study conducted by Stanford University.
The collaboration began in the fall of 2008, when biologist and principal researcher Dr. Marcel Salathé contacted Katherine Schafer, biology and research teacher at Harker. After meeting with Schafer, Salathé knew that Harker would be a great place to run the study and that Schafer would be a great partner in the project.
“It’s … very important that everyone is excited about the research and the project,” Salathé said, “and after talking to a few teachers and students it became clear that Harker would be a very good place to do this.”
“There is no data of such detail about human contact networks at this scale, especially at schools,” Salathé said, “so the data will be the first of its kind, which is always a very exciting prospect in science.”
The data will be used to create a detailed contact network and Salathé and his team will run epidemic simulations on this established network to help advance understanding of how diseases spread through human interactions and, potentially, use the conclusions to improve epidemic control within schools.
Setting up the research took a year’s worth of preparation and two trial runs to work out kinks, but the experiment will offer new insight into the spread of viruses. For a day, students, faculty and staff wore wireless devices, called motes, around their necks, and stationary motes were mounted on the walls of most classrooms. These low-powered sensory devices logged interactions with each other through weak radio signal detection
To properly set up the research, Harker forwarded a letter from the researchers to parents explaining the project. Then, Salathé and colleagues Philip Levis, assistant professor of computer science, and James Holland Jones, assistant professor of anthropology, provided details at a schoolwide assembly the day before the data collection to stress the importance of student involvement in the research.
The study is a marriage between Stanford’s biology, anthropology and computer science departments and highlights the interdisciplinary nature of major research to Harker students. Harker is the only school participating in the study and the participation reflects the scientific spirit fostered on campus.
“One of the ideas [for the assembly] was to try and give a little bit of a feel for the different disciplinary perspectives and how it comes together in a single coherent project,” Jones said. Schafer also stressed the importance of reminding students to pursue multiple interests.
“One of the goals of this assembly, in addition to learning about the study, was to get the kids thinking about the fact that having lots of different talents is going to help them a lot down the line,” Schafer said. “Having knowledge of computer science and biology and all of these other things could potentially be a huge benefit for them in their careers and in their lives in general.”
Students were given the opportunity to expand their research interests by providing feedback and working closely with the researchers to determine the best possible way to extract data. Salathé’s team initially thought self-logged data would be sufficient and tested this possibility with Schafer’s research club.
The students in the club were given journals to record their interactions throughout a school day to test the method, but returns were short of the mark. “We then switched to the advanced version of motes, and quite a few students helped us test that idea,” Salathé said.
Andrea Lincoln, Gr. 12, participated in the study and coincidentally did research at Boston University last summer using wireless sensor networks (WSN) similar to the motes used in Stanford’s study. Lincoln thought the experiment served as a worthy introduction to the vast world of research.
“Given the huge percentage of Harker students who are considering research as a possible career, I believe it is valuable for us to have an introduction,” Lincoln said. “Perhaps seeing the WSN research will convince some students to look into research internships.”
Almost 800 motes were distributed across campus and roughly 6.5 million pieces of raw data were collected. Both Schafer and Salathé said the day went incredibly smoothly.
“This is in large part because we were so well prepared,” Salathé said.
The entire process was also Schafer’s chance to get involved in research again. After studying the population ecology of stomatopod crustaceans and pygmy octopuses on coral reefs in Belize for her doctoral dissertation, Schafer said the Stanford research project contrasted significantly from the type of research she did as a field biologist.
Salathé is pleased with the whole data gathering process and results should be available in April. “I think we would do it pretty much exactly the same way if we were to do it again,” he noted, giving full credit for the successful effort to Schafer.
“She was excited from the beginning and is the main reason why this Harker-Stanford collaboration has worked out so well,” he said. “It couldn’t have been done without her.”
Reprinted from the Harker Quarterly March 2010 issue
WinterSong: Bel Canto and Friends Bel Canto and fellow performers wowed the crowd with a Conservatory concert held on Jan. 22 at Nichols Hall. At WinterSong, this ensemble of Gr. 9-10 singers sang songs from a wide range of genres, including Harry Belafonte’s “Turn the World Around” and a moving rendition of Eric Whitacre’s “Five Hebrew Love Songs,” which was considered to be the group’s most ambitious work ever. They also sang a spiritual, a piece in Latin, and ‘60s staple “Bye Bye, Love.” Elodie Nguyen, Gr. 12, accompanied the group on the piano, and they were directed by Catherine Snider. Eight Conservatory Certificate candidates also performed solos at the concert, with works ranging from junior Shireen Moshkelani’s “When I Have Sung My Songs” by Ernest Charles to sophomore Alex Najibi’s rendition of Giuseppe Verdi’s “La donna e mobile.” Andrew Lee, Gr. 10, played his own four-movement Baroque-style composition on the piano and Lydia Demissachew, Gr. 11, played Johannes Brahms’ “Rhapsody, Op. 70 No. 2.” John Ammatuna, Gr. 11, was accompanied by Diane Villadsen, Gr. 11, on a song from “South Pacific”; also singing were Vrinda Goel, Gr. 11, Sebastian Herscher, Gr. 10 and Nina Sabharwal, Gr. 9.
Orchestra As Harker’s instrumental program has grown significantly in the past few years, directors Chris Florio, Louis Hoffman and Toni Woodruff split the annual winter showcase into two parts. Despite the change, both concerts, held Jan. 15, were packed and the showcase was a rousing success. The early evening show featured Woodruff’s Lower School String Ensemble, the new Lower School Jazz Ensemble led by Hoffman and Hoffman’s Lower School Orchestra.
Florio’s Gr. 6 and Gr. 7-8 orchestras closed the concert with Brahms, Fauré and Tchaikovsky compositions. The second show included Florio’s Jazz Band, featuring front singer Francesca Nagle, Gr. 11, singing smooth tunes and impressive solos from sax player Aadithya Prakash, Gr. 12 and trombonist Benjamin Tien, Gr. 11. The Harker Orchestra also performed all four movements of Tchaikovsky’s “Symphony No. 1,” a Smetana overture and the humorous “Hungarian Dance” of Brahms.
Dance Production: Percussion Pathways Harker dancers hit the stage Jan. 29 and 30 in Percussion Pathways, this year’s theme for the ever-popular annual upper school dance production. Choreographers selected percussion-heavy music and were challenged by director Laura Rae to create dances that allowed them to “move to their own drummers.”
Student choreographers worked with Harker dance teachers Rae and Karl Kuehn, and dancers Heidi Landgraf, Adrian Bermudez and Sasha Stepanenko ’06 to create a three-part show, taking the audience through Harker school life into an exploration of larger themes about belonging, suffering and mystery. Some students, including Johnny Lau, Gr. 12 and Malika Mehrotra, Gr. 11, also had the opportunity to choreograph their own dances for the show, putting out toe-tappers and crowd-movers to “Break It Down” by Manu Dibango and “Shadowplay” by The Killers.
Dance Jamz Electrifies Audiences Dance Jamz, the annual middle school dance show, energized audiences in early March, as nearly 150 dancers from all middle school grade levels performed several dance styles. The show ran March 4-6, first showcasing the students’ talents for Gr. 5, then entertaining their middle school classmates and finally performing for friends and family.
Directed by middle school dance teacher Gail Palmer, with co-direction by dance teachers Amalia Vasconi and Karl Kuehn, the show highlighted swing, contemporary modern, musical theater and hip-hop, with elements of Bollywood and Latin. The dynamic lighting by middle school performing arts teacher Paul Vallerga brought more flair to each performance, including a dramatic shot of silhouetted hiphop dancers. Students and parents alike were thrilled to see the talented young dancers perform their hearts out onstage!
Conservatory Classic The second annual Conservatory Classic, “An Evening with Past, Present and Future Harker Stars,” brought together the Harker community at the end of winter break, with proceeds going towards the performing arts program. Vocal and musical theater alumni Kartik Venkatraman ’09, Stephanie Kim ’08, Siobhan Stevenson ’07 and many others returned to campus to perform collaborative pieces with current students.
Graduated Guys’ Gig members joined the current crew in song. A string octet, an alumni jazz combo and solos from students were also performed to highlight Harker’s performing arts in preparation for Phase 4 of the school’s master site plan – a new performing and visual arts center. For more information on Harker’s performing arts programs, e-mail K-Gr. 12 department chair Laura Lang-Ree at laural@harker.org.
Reprinted from the Harker Quarterly March 2010 issue
The seventh annual Harker Fashion Show in February was another glamorous spectacle that put on fantastic display the many parts of the greater whole that is Harker. Titled “Outside the Box: Chic and Unique,” this year’s sold-out event was a celebration of Harker’s uniqueness as a school, creatively highlighting the various academic programs and activities in which its students are involved.
Funds raised by the event are put toward scholarships for qualified students needing financial aid and to the Capital
Campaign, which provides students with the ideal facilities to maximize their Harker experience. The final total of funds raised by the fashion show will be announced on Harker News Online in April.
Each portion of the runway show was themed after a different department or program, including performing arts, science, athletics and community service. Students, parents, faculty and staff strutted down the runway dressed in ensembles from fashion sponsors Macy’s and Eli Thomas for Men. A special segment of the show featured Earth-friendly fashions by Priya Bhikha, Gr. 12, who assembled short and long gowns using recyclable materials such as duct tape, candy wrappers and water bottle labels.
Some amusing surprises were in store as well, such as the opening routine by a professional circus performer who handled a large metal cube and twirled his way effortlessly through a series of complex and visually striking maneuvers. Later, the robotics team wheeled out one of their creations onto the runway during a highly entertaining sequence. Not to be outdone, the Harker forensics team put on a humorous mock debate to decide whether Harker was more “chic” or “unique.”
The show also had exciting performances by Dance Fusion, a Gr. 4-6 group directed by Gail Palmer; the upper school’s Downbeat, co-directed by Catherine Snider and Lang-Ree; and pre-show entertainment from Chris Florio’s Jazz Band and Laura Rae’s Varsity Dance Troupe. The show featured a total of 85 student performers.
The fashion show took place in two phases, a luncheon and a dinner event. The evening portion of the show featured dancing and the ever-popular live auction, which sold everything from a helicopter ride above Silicon Valley to a night at the Emmy awards to an American Kennel Club-certified black Labrador puppy. Dennis Baldwin Interiors, Concierge Du Cuisine, Chelsea Court Designs, Omesha Eternal Elegance, Inc. and Miller Design Company designed this year’s showcases, which were won in drawings at the luncheon and evening shows.
“I feel complete,” said fashion show co-chair Christine Davis, whose son, Cole, graduates this year. This year’s fashion show, witnessed by nearly 1,300 people, was her last as a co-chair. “It’s bittersweet, but it’s mostly sweet,” she later added.
Davis partnered with co-chair Marcia Riedel (Randall, Gr. 9; Hunter, Gr. 6) and a team of liaisons led by Sue Prutton, director of upper school volunteer programs, to put together the massive event. Davis and Riedel founded the fashion show more than seven years ago, when they first came up with the idea during a game of tennis. Since then, it has evolved into one of the school’s two largest fundraisers (the Family & Alumni Picnic is the other).
The impressive design and execution of the show was largely the work of K-Gr. 12 performing arts director Laura Lang-Ree, who directed nearly every detail of the show as it happened, including video screen slides, skits, and lighting and musical cues. Meanwhile, producer Beverly Zeiss brought the fashion aspect to life, directing clothes choices, choreographing the models and handling backstage management.
“The fashion show has always been a tremendous fundraising event for the school, but in addition to that it gives us an opportunity to show the world what we can do,” Prutton said. “Our emphasis on telling the Harker story in the past three fashion shows has proven to be incredibly popular.”
Students who participated as models said the fashion show presented an opportunity to get involved in a fun and exciting way. “I just like hanging out with my friends and doing this,” said model Danielle Buis, Gr. 12. “It was just cool to see how we come together as a community.”
Veronica Hsieh, Gr. 12, also served as a model in her freshman year and said she enjoyed being a part of the show “because the entire school’s involved. It’s fun to all be part of the Harker community, to see all ages.”
Nearly 200 students took an active and highly important role in this year’s event, modeling on the runway, greeting attendees, acting as hosts and hostesses and performing in one of the performing arts groups.
After the show, Riedel reflected on how the event had grown since its inception. “I really enjoyed the way that having this event has just brought Harker so much more outside of the Harker community,” she said. “I have people walking up to me and saying, ‘I wish I knew about Harker before this so my kids could go there,’ or, ‘This is where my kids are going to go to school.’”
This year, 92 committee members, all of them parents, came together to make sure the fashion show lived up to the reputation that it has established. Whether they are securing sponsors, selling tickets or decorating the interiors, parent involvement has always been a crucial part of ensuring the event meets an increasingly high standard. Each
aspect of the fashion show had a different parent committee chair to manage the many parts of the event that make it such a memorable experience. Committee chairs were: Sangeeta Balram, Noela Nakos, Heather Wardenburg, Debbie Buss, Mary Malysz, Minoo Gupta, Michelle Maxey, Lana Kipnis, Leslie Nielsen, Debbie Hutchings, Ingrid Semenza, Maria Lu, Sathya Thyagaraj, Tina Najibi, Barb Chappell, Ram Duraiswamy, Susan Ellenberg, Lalitha Kumar, Shankari Sundar, Naren Nayak, Barbara Drummer, Shyamoli Banerjee, Archana Sathaye, Mariko Creasman and Betsy Lindars.
Najibi (Alexander, Gr. 10; Mary, Gr. 6) has been involved with the fashion show since its founding and served as model coordinator for this year’s event. She said the schoolwide nature of the fashion show makes it a great event for parents to network. “When my kids were in lower school and middle school, I met upper school parents, and I got hints on what kinds of clubs to join, what kinds of things to do, that I would not have gotten had I not volunteered for the fashion show,” she said.
Following the fashion show, Chris Nikoloff, head of school, thanked all involved for their months of hard work: “Sitting in the audience, as the Harker story unfolded before us throughout the evening, I was overcome with gratitude for the unique community we all share and help create.”
Harker middle school students recently participated in the National Latin and National Myth Exams. More than 150,000 students in 14 countries took the National Latin Exam. Of these, more than 50 were from Harker. They did particularly well, with 51 receiving awards, including 16 gold medals and five perfect papers. In high school, the students will have the opportunity to win scholarships if they continue to do well on the exams.
On the National Myth Exam 24 Harker students received medals. This included two perfect scores received by Allison Wang, Gr. 6 and Oishi Banerjee, Gr. 8. Eight students earned silver while 14 received bronze.
Three Harker alumni were featured speakers at the April 10 research symposium, “Technology for Life,” in Nichols Hall. Jennifer Ong ‘07, a junior at the University of California, San Diego, is pursuing biology and communications majors. She also volunteers with The Triple Helix. Richard Kwant ’07 is studying chemistry and physics at Harvard University. 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). Founded by Harker graduate Kevin Hwang ’03, The Triple Helix is a nonprofit, student-run organization that publishes undergraduate articles in print and electronically. “Our mission,” said Ong, “is to allow students the opportunity to voice ideas about the interdisciplinary nature of science, society and law.”
TTH currently has 27 chapters and 800 student writers at colleges across the globe. Chapters publish more than 30,000 printed journals annually and the website gets hits from 16 countries. During her visit, Ong announced that Harker will be the founding school for the establishment of TTH in high schools, and encouraged students to become involved. “Writing for TTH teaches skills like research, writing and critical thinking that you can apply in real life,” she said. “Our style of writing is not an academic style. It is ultimately to open up a forum that the general public can become interested in.”
TTH also partners with the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and sometimes can open doors for its writers. “Our outgoing CEO, Julia Piper, got an internship at UC Davis through an article in TTH,” said Ong. “That has been happening more frequently, and we want to institutionalize it.”
Speaking via teleconference, Richard Kwant presented his work at the Harvard Whitesides Lab, on protein structures and interactions. Using the effective but difficult process of crystallization, he was able to create crystalline structures of the protein human carbonic anhydrase II. These structures 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.
He also told the students, “When I came to college I can’t say I really liked proteins. As a freshman I wanted some experience working in a lab. Do as many things as you possibly can. Get exposure to many subjects, and if you see something you are interested in, go with it.”
Begun as a summer research project at CalTech, Ma’s work seeks to unravel the mystery of how plants, unlike animals, can regenerate. Specifically, Ma screened epigenetic-related genes – those that do not change the basic DNA sequence – to determine if they are involved in the regeneration process.
Working with 48 mutant lines of seeds, he found at least six epigenetic-related genes that are likely to be involved in the process. Further research will be required to determine the exact pathways of interactions.
With a bit of serendipity, Ma has combined his experience in engineering and producing radio-controlled cars with a long-held interest in biology. “I find that I enjoy the theoretical and practical challenges of biological engineering,” he said. Ma thinks his lab research has given him a rewarding taste of life after college.
“You just want results, and that I was able to get results from my project was very rewarding, because it actually is new knowledge, and you get to be the one to find out first,” he said. “That’s definitely one allure of going into the research field, whether as an undergraduate or afterward.”
Reprinted from the Winged Post, the Harker upper school student news website
Posted: March 23, 2010 at 4:48 pm – Online Exclusive
by: Shilpa Nataraj – The Winged Post
Illustrating her musical journey and providing techniques for audition preparation, Nancy Kim, professional cellist and middle school 1996 alumna, conducted a music workshop March 19 in the orchestra room.
“I thought Nancy’s workshop was great. She provided the performing students with great musical advice on their excerpts and gave the other students really wonderful advice about a career in music,” Orchestra and Jazz Band conductor Christopher Florio said.
Fourteen years ago, when Kim was in school, an orchestral program didn’t even exist. Kim agreed to visit the upper school partly out of curiosity, after Florio assured that she would see “how much the community here has grown and how the music programs have become something really wonderful.”
Kim is a tenured member of the Monterey Symphony and a member of several other acclaimed Northern Californian orchestras. She also teaches her discipline, the cello, to Bay Area students.
“I just love seeing when someone who’s working on a piece is very close to having a certain interpretation of it, and I really like facilitating its direction,” Kim said. “I enjoy seeing young performers improve and grow.”
Melody Huang, Gr. 10, Sonya Huang, Gr. 12 and Audrey Kwong ’07 each prepared one or two orchestral excerpts to render “mock auditions” for Kim to critique. Her comments included the importance of “relishing even the little notes,” the color of sound, clarity and maintaining a steady pulse throughout the piece.
“[Kim] mostly emphasized my [musical expression] and pointed out the spots I could change to better fit it or make it more understandable,” Melody Huang said. “I think [her advice] really gave me a clearer sense of the structure of the excerpt.”
After the mock auditions, Kim discussed her journey and then shared a portion of a documentary on the Philadelphia Orchestra. The film, according to Kim, portrays “a wonderful reflection of what orchestra musicians go through and what they think and feel about the music that they play.”
Initially, Kim aspired to graduate from Oberlin College in Ohio as purely an English major. After also enrolling in music classes in her second year, though, an inspirational teacher aided her in becoming more involved in the intricacies of the cello. For her master’s in orchestral performance, Kim attended the Manhattan School of Music in New York, an inspirational place completely enveloped in the arts, she recalled.
“I’m a case study [for the people whom] the music bug doesn’t bite till later on,” she said.
In retrospect, Kim believes that carving one’s future early proves beneficial. She recommends that aspiring musicians build a score library and gain familiarity with as many excerpts as possible for auditions. She adds that it is essential to hear feedback from friends, peers and instructors. It is also important to self-critique by watching taped practices or by other means.
Kim started her mastery of the cello at age 10 (after a lack of success with the violin and Suzuki-method piano) and felt a connection with this four-stringed instrument. However, she was compelled to catch up to the level of her peers in her studio class, so she practiced as much as three to four hours a day.
For aspiring music majors such as Maddy Rao, Gr. 10, Kim’s journey is inspiring. She said, “For a lot of us, parents put pressure, saying, ‘There’s too much competition, so you’re never going to be good.’ But, it’s wonderful to see [instructors like Kim] who give you hope that if you really, really want to pursue music, you definitely can.”
Harker debaters made the final round of the National Debate Coaches Association Championships the weekend of April 17-18 in Washington, D.C. Justine Liu, Gr. 11 and Akshay Jagadeesh, Gr. 10, lost in the final round in Public Forum Debate in a 2-1 decision. Ziad Jawadi, Gr. 11 and Aakash Jagadeesh, Gr. 10, were semifinalists.
The prior weekend, Harker debaters flew to New York to compete in the Westchester Classic tournament, where freshmen Anuj Sharma and Aneesh Chona won the final round of Varsity Public Forum Debate to earn the tournament title. Senior Kelsey Hilbrich and sophomore Frederic Enea lost in the quarterfinal round, and Hilbrich was named top speaker of the tournament.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a nonprofit organization that honors the scholastic achievements of high school students, has begun to announce the winners in the 55th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. Congratulations to Sarah Teplitsky, Gr. 12, who was awarded a scholarship by Lockheed Martin.
In September, Harker News Online posted the names of the 50 Harker students who were semifinalists in this competition, based on the scores they earned on their 2008 PSATs. Corporate-sponsored scholarship winners are the first group to be selected from the nation’s semifinalists who have advanced to the finals. National Merit-sponsored and college-sponsored scholarships will be announced in May and July.
Approximately 1,000 high school seniors have won corporate-sponsored National Merit scholarships financed by about 200 companies, foundations and other business organizations, according to the NMSC website.