The Harker Middle School sponsored six robotics teams this year, five of which entered competitions in the last few weeks. The teams, ranging from three to five competitors, are coached by middle school teacher Michael Schmidt. The first two teams to compete placed sixth and seventh out of 24, and one of them received the award for most well-rounded team in addition to an invitation to compete in the second of three rounds.
On Nov.14 three additional teams competed, placing fifth, 10th and 12th with overall scores that were even higher than the first group’s. Both the fifth and 10th place teams advanced to the next round and the 10th place team was awarded first place for teamwork. These students have shown a high level of commitment given that practices and competitions are on Saturdays. Watch for more from these teams as the next round of competitions is Dec. 19 and the championship will be held on Jan 16. Good luck, robotics teams!
Running a half marathon is daunting at any age, but that did not stop Rahul Balakrishnan, Gr. 7, who ran a half marathon in Lodi this May. Balakrishnan was the youngest person running the in the third annual Kaiser Permanente Avenue of the Vines Half Marathon & 5K. He finished the race at 2:11:05, placing 184 out of the 495 runners who participated, and finished fifth in his age group. Soon after, Balakrishnan began training for the San Francisco Marathon in July and broke his own record, running it in 1:58:25. His time placed him 32 out of 81 in his age group and 1,574 out of the 8,043 participants who ran the race.
In November, Harker seventh graders made a special “make-up” trip to Japan that was originally scheduled to take place last May, but which was canceled due to fears caused by the H1N1 “swine flu” pandemic. “The kids waited nearly 500 days from the time they first applied for this trip in fifth grade to actually going in seventh grade!” said Jennifer Abraham, director of global education.
Chaperones during the trip were Abraham, middle school teacher Vandana Kadam, lower school teachers Eric Leonard, Mary Holaday and Grace Wallace and upper school teacher Adam Nelson.
Upon their arrival in Tokyo, the group stayed in a hotel, and the next morning went to Harker’s sister school, Tamagawa Gakuen, where they received a warm welcome. “We were greeted by a group of cheering kids, happy to see their Harker buddies after nearly a year apart, and their families,” Abraham reported. “Our kids did a great job with their Japanese speeches at the welcome.”
Since the group arrived in Japan during a three-day weekend, they went sightseeing around Tokyo, climbed the Tokyo tower, went shopping and visited Mt. Fuji. “Tuesday was our one and only day at the school,” Abraham said. Morning was spent in classes, and in the afternoon the kids took a tour of the beautiful, wooded, 130-acre Tamagawa campus. Kids collected Japanese maple leaves, which they used to make imprints onto special paper they made into cards. They also attended a calligraphy class where the students wrote their names and other symbols.
“Wednesday we all met up again at the Yokohama Arena to spend the day together sightseeing at the Yokohama Museum and Sankei-en Japanese garden,” recalled Abraham. The students got the chance to see a Japanese green tea ceremony. That evening, the students spent time with their host families and chaperones at a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. The next day, they had the wonderful opportunity to witness Tamagawa’s 80th anniversary celebration at the Yokohama Arena. Performances were by students in Tamgawa’s first through graduate grade levels. Advancement director Joe Rosenthal and his wife, Blanca, traveled from the U.S. to witness this special occasion. The spectacular show was watched by more than 12,000 people.
Thursday night – through many tears from Harker kids, their Tamagawa buddies and the host families – the students said their good-byes. Friday, the group set off by bullet train to Kyoto. “The weather was beautiful, trees bright yellow,” Abraham said. “We visited Kinkakuji (Golden Pavilion), where we were met by a man who had attended Tamagawa from grades K-12. He had close ties to the GP so gave us a special tour not available to regular tourists.”
On Saturday, everyone took another bullet train to Hiroshima, and took a ferry out to the Itsukushima shrine, a Shinto landmark. “When the tide is in, the main gate of the shrine appears to be floating on the water,” Abraham recalled. “We arrived when the tide was out so were able to walk right out to the base of the gate.” Later, at the Peace Memorial Museum, the travelers had a moment of silence before entering the museum in honor of those who were killed by the atomic bomb. The museum contained many vivid displays of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. When asked what she thought of the museum, Agata Sorotokin said, “It makes me want to make the world a more peaceful place.”
In the morning of their last day in Japan, the students visited Himeji Castle, situated on top of a high hill. Some last-minute shopping was done before everyone set off for the airport for their flight home.
In October, Rita Stone’s Gr. 1 social studies class celebrated Diwali, an important holiday in Hindu, Sikh and Jainist cultures. In the countries where it is celebrated, such as India, Diwali is a five-day celebration that culminates in a “festival of lights,” during which people light candles and special clay lanterns called diyas.
The students in Stone’s class celebrated the holiday by enjoying Indian desserts and decorating electric diyas that were brought in by parent volunteers. Stone organized the celebration and engaged the parents to help out because she felt it was important to “become involved in other cultures.” Staging a holiday celebration, she said, was a good way to make sure the students learn from the experience because they will remember the craft activities and ethnic foods. “It really has a lot of meaning for them,” she said.
Upper and lower school students recently collaborated on a project to help students become more environmentally conscious. Last year the upper school Key Club placed stickers on all upper school towel dispensers in an effort to improve conservation and promote responsible use of paper towels. This year they proposed expanding this program to the lower and middle schools as well and this fall, Key Club members met with members of the lower school Service Club to complete the project.
While putting up the stickers, the students shared some of their experiences and ideas for future projects. In addition to providing a valuable environmental service to the lower school, this project also gave younger students a chance to see what kinds of activities await them when they get to the upper school. Look for collaboration across grade levels to continue, as the Key Club has invited Service Club members to join them at several CVS pharmacies this holiday season in an effort to raise money for Second Harvest Food Bank.
The Bucknall campus welcomed potential new families to their Open House on Nov. 15, where families got a well-rounded look into the lives of Harker students, and explored the options available to their children while meeting and chatting with Harker faculty and staff. Student speakers at the event were Edward Tischler, Irene Bashar, Joyce Huang, Aditya Dhar, Amrita Singh, Michael Auld, Venkat Sankar and Nikhil Manglik, all Gr. 5.As always, student guides were at the ready, helping the visitors find their way so that the event ran smoothly.
Parents interested in learning more about Harker’s kindergarten offerings can attend one of four Cookies and Kindergarten tours scheduled for Jan. 8, 12, 21 and 26. A tour of the lower school campus will be conducted on each date, and parents will also have a chance to get a look at an ongoing class and chat with the admission office. Reservations are required for Cookies and Kindergarten tours. Please call 408-871-4662 or e-mail admissionK5@harker.org to make a reservation.
Fall sports have concluded at the upper school, with some historic firsts. The boys water polo team won its first ever CCS Scholastic Championship, with Michael Clifford, Gr. 12, awarded the Co-Most Valuable Player for the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League. The football team qualified for playoffs for the first time in school history; although the boys lost the game on a rainy, muddy field, it was a great end to the season. In addition, Kelsey Hilbrich, Gr. 12, made it to the state championships in cross country once again, placing 25th out of all Division IV girls in the State of California (all 188 of them)! She improved her time from last year by 41 seconds.
Clifford scored two goals in a losing effort as his Division II team recently lost to the Division I All-Stars 12-11 in the annual high school all-star water polo game. He was selected by the coaches after the game to represent the CCS in a game against the NCS all-stars. Since there were only eight players from each division selected from all the seniors in CCS this is a huge accomplishment.
Finally, two senior boys have announced that they will pursue their athletic careers at the Division 1 collegiate level. Cole Davis has been accepted to Stanford University to swim competitively and Greg Plauck will attend Santa Clara University to play baseball. This is a tremendous reward for their years of hard work and dedication.
In winter sports, the girls basketball team has started off their season 2-1, defeating Pescadero and Geyserville in the Pescadero Tournament but falling to The Bay School in the finals. Priscilla Auyeung, Gr. 9, made the all-tournament team and Roshni Bhatnagar, Gr. 11, averaged 10 points and seven rebounds in the tournament.
Boys basketball won their season opener at Anzar 71-33 behind 13 points from Plauck and 12 from Ryan Cali, Gr. 12.
In other basketball news, Vikrum Jain, Gr. 10, made the all-tournament team at the recent JV boys basketball tournament at San Lorenzo Valley.
Boys soccer lost to Valley Christian but defeated Mills 4-3. Jose Costa, Gr. 12, scored twice with Michael Amick, Gr. 9 and Stefan Eckhardt, Gr. 12, scoring one each.
Girls soccer lost to Fremont and Sacred Heart Cathedral, with Esther Belogolovsky, Gr. 12, scoring against Fremont.
As the winter season has just started, look for much more sports news to come!
Gr. 8 students have earned the unique privilege of free dress in shoes for exemplary behavior as a whole. Starting after the winter holiday break, all eighth graders may wear their choice of shoes on any day of the week, including Monday, usually formal uniform day.
Lana Morrison, middle school dean of students, and Cindy Ellis, middle school head, met with students to make the announcement. “We have witnessed them act positively towards their peers, faculty and staff as an overall class of young men and women,” said Morrison. “Given this enthusiastic and energetic bunch of eighth grade students, we are excited to see what they will accomplish in semester two.”
The only limitation to the free shoe policy is “no flip-flops allowed,” noted Morrison, and “we do ask they keep at least one pair of black shoes for our annual award program at the end of the year. This special privilege begins officially on January 4. It’s time to celebrate!”
In November, two teams made up of Harker faculty and staff competed at the Junior League of San Jose’s second annual trivia challenge at Club Auto Sport. Upper school performing arts teacher Brian Larsen, middle school English department chair Stacie Newman, upper school math teacher Anthony Silk and middle school Latin teacher Lisa Masoni formed the “Harker Eagle Eggheads,” while upper school music teacher Cathy Snider, upper school history teacher Carol Zink, upper school chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine and facility manager Mike Bassoni competed under the moniker “Harkerpedia.”
The Harker Eagle Eggheads went on to place third in the event and took home a $500 prize!
In December, staff from Harker’s Office of Alumni Relations, with the help of several parents of recent graduates, put together and sent care packages to the Class of 2009. It was the second time in as many years that the activity was organized.
In addition to providing alumni with a nice surprise during finals, the care package program also offers the parents of alumni the chance to reunite and catch up.
The care packages contained such items as the most recent edition of the student newspaper “The Winged Post,” a card from the alumni relations department containing information about upcoming events, messages from the faculty, snacks and assorted Harker-branded items such as pens and keychains.