Students on all three campuses are once again spreading holiday cheer this year through the sale of Snowman ‘Grams. At $1 apiece, the ‘grams are delivered with a small bag of candy and an optional note. The artwork on this year’s Snowman ‘Grams was created by Gr. 4 students Ashna Chandra, Dolan Dworak, Raveena Panja, Jenna Sadhu and Sumati Wadhwa. ” The main purpose is to give the children an opportunity to send a nice thought to their friends and teachers during the holidays,” said Joe Connolly, K-5 dean of students.
[Update] Stanford researchers were on campus today running a trial experiment in anticipation of a full scale study in January. This is their second visit to the campus; there was an earlier trial run in November. Harker is the only school participating in the study, said Kate Schafer, biology teacher, who is working with the Stanford researchers to effect the data collection.
Today, researchers hung motes around the necks of 100 students and teachers to help plan for the full-scale data collection in mid-January. Prior to the final event, letters will be sent to parents explaining the process, and the lead investigator, along with others involved in the experiment, will address the students in assembly. The day before the event, students will be briefed on the next day’s activity. The actual data collection for the study will be made on January 14.
Nov. 16, 2009
Come January, the upper school will be participating in a groundbreaking Stanford study on the way viruses are spread by human interaction. By outfitting all members of the Saratoga campus with motes, a device measuring human interaction, researchers hope to gain insight into the way viruses are spread among individuals. The National Science Foundation provided funding for new technology developed for the study.
Recently, a trial run was done on campus with the motes on a small number of students. However, there were some inconsistencies with the technology and as a result several of the researchers have been back to work out the kinks. Another test is scheduled to run around mid-December.
Prior to the final experiment, the Stanford professors will explain the nature of the research in an assembly. One interesting aspect is that the research is being conducted by professors of sociology, biology, computer science and statistics, giving our students insight into the interdisciplinary nature of much major research. Ultimately, the professors will submit results for publishing in major publications.
[Update] Stanford researchers were on campus today running a trial experiment in anticipation of a full scale study in January. This is their second visit to the campus; there was an earlier trial run in November. Harker is the only school participating in the study, said Kate Schafer, biology teacher, who is working with the Stanford researchers to effect the data collection.
Today, researchers hung motes around the necks of 100 students and teachers to help plan for the full-scale data collection in mid-January. Prior to the final event, letters will be sent to parents explaining the process, and the lead investigator, along with others involved in the experiment, will address the students in assembly. The day before the event, students will be briefed on the next day’s activity. The actual data collection for the study will be made on January 14.
Nov. 16, 2009
Come January, the upper school will be participating in a groundbreaking Stanford study on the way viruses are spread by human interaction. By outfitting all members of the Saratoga campus with motes, a device measuring human interaction, researchers hope to gain insight into the way viruses are spread among individuals. The National Science Foundation provided funding for new technology developed for the study.
Recently, a trial run was done on campus with the motes on a small number of students. However, there were some inconsistencies with the technology and as a result several of the researchers have been back to work out the kinks. Another test is scheduled to run around mid-December.
Prior to the final experiment, the Stanford professors will explain the nature of the research in an assembly. One interesting aspect is that the research is being conducted by professors of sociology, biology, computer science and statistics, giving our students insight into the interdisciplinary nature of much major research. Ultimately, the professors will submit results for publishing in major publications.
The middle school open house on Dec. 6 gave prospective families a look into middle school student life and was an opportunity to meet and greet with Harker faculty, staff and students. Guests were greeted by staff from admissions and BEST, as well as parent volunteers. Student presentations were given by Arjun Goyal, Jithin Vellian and Shazdeh Hussain, all Gr. 8,and the Gr. 7-8 singing and dancing group Harmonics performed a pair of songs before heading off on their holiday tour. Guests were then invited to tour the campus, meeting various Harker faculty and learning more about the academic programs and extracurricular activities available to students. Student ambassadors representing various departments were on hand, assisting and guiding the visitors as they explored the Blackford campus and learned more about the Harker experience.
In late November, the kindergarten students (and quite a few adults) were busy on the Bucknall campus picking pomegranates from the grounds and bushes in front of the building and the swimming pool to prevent the fallen fruit from becoming an eyesore and hazard. This campus beautification is part of their service project; they also participate in tree-planting each year. Each grade at Bucknall is assigned a service project, with the Gr. 5 food drive having ended just prior to Thanksgiving; the Gr. 4 toy drive started November 30 and runs through December 17. In January, the third graders will be responsible for collecting pajamas and books for needy children.
Other service projects include Gr. 2 students decorating and delivering pumpkins to the neighbors in October, and in March, Gr. 1 students collecting food and toys for animals for the SPCA. Many of these projects have been long-running; some, like the tree-planting, beginning with the move to the Bucknall site in 1998. The pomegranate picking project is new this year.
Drop into any classroom on the middle school campus, it seems, and you are bound to see students in Gr. 6-8 all hard at work using their school-issued laptops.
This is year two for all the grades to be using laptops, said Dan Hudkins, director of instructional technology for K-Gr. 12, and everything is going quite well. “It’s a reasonably mature program and we continue to explore additional options and ways for laptops to be used as learning tools.’’
Gurutam Thockchon, Gr. 6, thinks it has been a smooth, successful launch as the sixth graders just received their laptops on Nov. 6. Students in Gr. 7-8 started the school year with theirs.
“It is better using a laptop because it is easier to write, keep track of things and not have to carry around so many papers,’’ Thockchon said as he worked on his laptop during a study hall session.
And the Gr. 6 teachers, across all curricula, have found a multitude of projects and uses, such as creating PowerPoint presentations in environmental studies; writing essays, doing research and vocabulary exercises in English classes; having access to a variety of resources on Athena (handouts, Web links, study guides), taking quizzes and tests and working on collaborative projects in history; and writing and researching speeches for the public speaking course.
In Pre-Algebra Honors, classes are doing warm-up problems and short activities; in Spanish, students record themselves speaking and take online quizzes; in music class, the students are taking notes on different musical historical periods; and in Health, students have used the laptops to visit MyPryamid.gov to learn about the new food pyramid and proper eating habits.
And this is only in the last two weeks. Angela Neff, the assistant instructional technology director for the middle school, said things have gone great so far!
Harker welcomed international speaker Patrick Kuhse to the Saratoga campus on Dec. 2 for a special talk on ethics, and how good people can be led to make unethical decisions. Kuhse, who appeared courtesy of the Honor Council, is in high demand as a speaker on ethics at businesses and universities across the country, and is an ethics fellow at the University of Florida and Suffolk University.
Kuhse used his own life story as an allegory, interweaving the autobiographical tale with examples of what he called critical thinking errors: entitlement, arrogance, rationalization and so on. A reformed criminal who spent four years in prison for his involvement in illegally benefiting from Oklahoma state funds, Kuhse began his story at Arizona State University. While studying finance, he made many friends who he said were very eager to make money and become wealthy. This “take no prisoners” attitude that he witnessed in his younger years, Kuhse said, has not changed much in the years leading up to today.
“I’m very, very heavily involved in academics. Do you think I’m seeing any shift or change from my generation to yours?” he asked the audience. “Not so much.”
Kuhse later dropped out of college and eventually found work in finance in the early 1980s. His ambition and seemingly limitless drive to succeed made him quite successful, and in the ensuing years he moved all over the country with his family in the pursuit of greater opportunities. Moving to San Diego, he became a financial adviser to professional athletes, traveling frequently to meet with clients. After mentioning to his two sons one day that he would be bringing home the Most Valuable Player of the Super Bowl, Kuhse recalled, “my boys were looking at me, like, ‘Daddy, what’s a Super Bowl?’”
His obsession with becoming rich led him to become “emotionally unavailable” to his family. “The definition of wealth for me was money,” he declared. “If I made more money, I could buy them more things.”
By the end of the 1980s, Kuhse’s business was thriving, with offices located throughout the country. “I had the American dream,” he said. It was around this time that he received a call from a friend in Oklahoma, who planned to manage the campaign for a friend who was running for state treasurer. If her friend won, she would have a job in the treasurer’s office. Kuhse’s friend offered to send him money to invest on behalf of the state of Oklahoma, in exchange for kickbacks. Though illegal, the deal had the potential to create opportunities in the future.
“How do you know linguistically you’re sliding into an entitlement mode? When you change your ‘wants’ to ‘needs,’” he cautioned the audience. Changing wants into needs enables people to rationalize their misdeeds, making them seem less harmful than they actually are. “When we start to need something instead of want it, we’re starting to steel our minds and prepare ourselves to do things we wouldn’t otherwise do.”
Kuhse’s friend wound up getting the job at the treasurer’s office, and they began making deals. Nearly two years later, Kuhse was up $6 million. Then a bitter, recently fired employee complained to the FBI about the practices of Kuhse’s associate. The FBI came calling, and Kuhse was even featured in a report on ABC News. Faced with jail time, Kuhse uprooted his family and fled with them to Costa Rica.
“The next day, my boys woke up in a country they’d never heard of, a language they didn’t speak and a school where they didn’t know [anybody],” he said. “Who are the real victims of our unethical behavior? All of our loved ones are impacted by everything we do.”
It turned out that Costa Rica wasn’t far enough. After seven months, armed Interpol agents kicked down Kuhse’s door. He ran out the back. “I thought, ‘Kill me now? I win. You didn’t put me in prison,’” Kuhse recollected with bitter humor. “That’s how messed up I was.”
He remained on the run from authorities for four years. Fed up, Kuhse’s then-wife moved back to San Diego with their two sons. While watching his family depart, Kuhse finally decided to turn himself in. “It was time to stop, time to quit being a victim, time to take accountability,” he said.
After spending a month in a Costa Rican prison, Kuhse was extradited to the U.S. to serve the rest of his prison term. He called the prison visiting room “the most depressing place on earth. All these little kids want their daddies to go home with them.” He added, “It’s not the inmate that does the time, it’s the family.”
His children were so depressed, Kuhse said, they even told others that he had died. “This is their way of handling it, and this is what happened to me because my vision of wealth was not what my parents taught me. It was money,” he said.
Kuhse earned his college degree while serving his term, and was released in 2001. He got a job as a truck driver and began giving talks as part of his community service obligations. It was during this time that he decided to begin his speaking career. After Kuhse’s community service hours were completed, he received a call from his probation officer, who wanted to know which box to check to indicate the job Kuhse would be taking. The officer got quite a laugh when Kuhse said he planned to become a motivational speaker.
On Dec. 4, middle school students presented gifts to representatives from Kidango, a nonprofit, child development organization based in the Bay Area. The organization brought five large vehicles, which were filled to capacity with the donations. According to faculty co-coordinator Peggy Crisler, this number is up from two carloads last year. In November, a representative from Kidango spoke at an assembly about what it means to give and the benefits of taking part in charity giving. Harker students were given cards that underprivileged kids had filled out with requests for items for Christmas.
[Update II] Olivia Zhu, Gr. 11, selected by UNICEF USA to participate in the first-ever Children’s Climate Forum (CCF), has finished her work in Copenhagen. Zhu has been blogging about her experiences at www.environmentaleagles.blogspot.com. Here is an excerpt from her last entry, Saturday, Dec. 5:
“Becca mentioned that we had a Q+A session yesterday. Something interesting that I noticed was that the vast majority of questions asked by the youth delegates from all over the world were about the US inaction in the realm of climate change. Why would such a powerful country not change its policies? Why was its president only staying for the beginning? As an American, it was hard for me to hear these questions—precisely because they were the same ones that I was thinking. In fact, Josh even admitted that he was embarrassed that his country hadn’t committed to solid action. ”
[Update 12/02/09] Olivia Zhu, Gr. 11, selected by UNICEF USA to participate in the first-ever Children’s Climate Forum (CCF), is now in Copenhagen, Denmark and reporting on her work there. It may be Europe, but it is not a vacation! Follow her blog at www.environmentaleagles.blogspot.com. Here’s an excerpt from day one:
“Throughout lunch and the plenary sessions of the afternoon, we were able to socialize with and meet many more delegates. I got to talk to Jesús, of Spain, about our shared love of Spanish food. With the group of Chinese delegates, I broke out my stilted Mandarin. Haitian delegate Coralie worked with Fergal, of Ireland, and me on finalizing our subsection of the Urbanization group’s presentation. There were so many amazing people that we met throughout the day and so many different countries represented! I’m so excited to go back tomorrow and meet even more.
“Over lunch, I had an interesting conversation with Daniel of Denmark and Anand of India about the climate policies of our respective countries. We discussed President Obama’s promises and work as well as future directions of the U.S. I think this conversation really highlighted how respectful everyone has been at this conference. Despite differing views, we’re working towards a common goal while cooperating and seeing eye-to-eye after debating a variety of contentious issues.” –Olivia Zhu
Sept. 29, 2009 Olivia Zhu, Gr.11, wants to change the world and before the year is out, she’ll get her chance.
Zhu, Gr. 11, was one of four students selected by UNICEF USA to participate in the first-ever Children’s Climate Forum (CCF), to be held together with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen, Denmark, in late November and early December.
Organized by UNICEF Denmark, CCF will host teens from 40 nations in hopes of creating “a cadre of young global citizens who understand their role in finding solutions to global concerns, to advance young people’s understanding of global issues, and to provide a platform for them to discuss and advocate on these issues.”
In July, UNICEF USA notified Lauri Vaughan, US librarian, about the CCF competition. She passed the information on to the 32 students who participated in last year’s J8 competition, another UNICEF-sponsored event run parallel to the annual G8 Summit. A team of eight Harker students represented the U.S. in 2007, and in the 2008 competition two Harker teams finished in the top 10 nationally, one as second runner-up.
Two students involved with the 2008 J8 competition also took up the CCF challenge: Carissa Jansen, Gr. 12 and Rohan Bopardikar, Gr. 10, also submitted multi-essay applications despite a tight deadline.
Zhu is passionate about addressing the threatened planetary environment: “Climate change is controversial. What benefits one nation might not help another,” she says. In her application, she emphasized two interventions: incentivizing investment in sustainable energies such as solar, wind and geothermal power, and modernizing electricity grids worldwide.
If arrangements are made for CCF representatives to meet their diplomatic counterparts, as they were at J8, the San Jose junior may get the chance to pass on her ideas to the leader of the U.S. delegation, Todd Stern, special envoy for climate change who was appointed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earlier this year.
“I’m so excited for Copenhagen,” said Zhu, who is busy trying to keep up with news on climate change in preparation for her journey.
As president of Harker’s Future Problem Solving Club, community service organizer for the National Honor Society’s Harker chapter, and member of the Youth Advisory Council for her district in San Jose, Zhu has worked on big-picture issues before, proposing solutions to education problems in California and suggesting policy changes related to youth empowerment to her local council member.
“When I come back, I hope to share everything I learned at Copenhagen,” said Zhu. “It’s important to get as much information about climate change policy out there as possible, as it has a major impact now and will have an even bigger one on future generations.”
[Update] KTEH in San Jose will air the documentary “Hard Problems,” which includes an appearance by Yi Sun ’06,in 2010 on Jan. 10 at 6 p.m. the following day, Jan. 11, at 11 p.m.
Sept. 16, 2009
The documentary “Hard Problems,” which includes an appearance by Yi Sun ’06,will be shown by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley, on Sept. 30, at 5 p.m. following a reception for director George Csicsery of Zala Films.
Following the screening, there will be a panel discussion led by International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) medal winner Paul Zeitz, and panel members will include 2006 IMO team members and others.