Harker lost a member of its community last Saturday when history teacher, basketball coach and mentor extraordinaire John Near succumbed to a four-year battle with cancer. Below are the details for the planned memorial service. A full biography of John’s life will follow here soon.
A memorial will be held at Nichols Hall on the Saratoga campus of The Harker School on October 10 at 1:30 p.m. The Harker School is at 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, 95129. Please RSVP to johnnearmemorial@gmail.com so appropriate parking, seats and refreshments may be prepared. In keeping with John’s wishes and style, this event is casual. Please wear your sports jerseys, Harker T-shirts, etc.!
At John’s request, in lieu of flowers donations may be made to any one of these:
The John Near Excellence in History Education Endowment Fund
Harker School Advancement Office; 3800 Blackford Ave; SJ 95117; checks to The Harker School, memo line “John Near Endowment Fund.”
The classes of 2011 and 2012 each took a day off in September for a special trip that emphasized the importance of working together to accomplish goals and meet challenges. The first trip on Sept. 14 took two groups of sophomores on an adventure to ropes courses in Santa Cruz and La Honda, where they conquered a series of obstacles and in the process learned how to utilize teamwork and rely on one another.
The following Monday, separate groups of juniors ventured out into the water on trips of their own, going kayaking at Elkhorn Slough and Monterey Bay, and sailing in Santa Cruz. In addition to the valuable lessons learned about trust and teamwork, the trips allowed the students to get closer to nature and appreciate the beauty of the California outdoors.
Congratulations to juniors Olivia Zhu and Josephine Chen, who both took honors in the 2009 Anthem Essay Contest, administered by the Ayn Rand Institute. Zhu was one of the third place finishers in the competition and was awarded a cash prize of $200. Chen was a semifinalist and earned $30.
The annual contest requires students to write an essay on a topic regarding Ayn Rand’s novelette “Anthem,” first published in 1938.
The homerooms of Gr. 1 teachers Mary Holaday and Rita Stone combined for their third annual Friendship Gathering. With stellar support from the many parents attending, students made decorative flowering pencils Holaday will take to students in Japan, during her upcoming exchange trip to our sister school in Tamagawa. Many Harker first graders remember their video “meetings” with Tamagawa students during kindergarten, so the idea that these gifts would end up with the children seen from a distance made the project extra special.
Besides helping little hands, parents had the opportunity to connect with other adults and plans were made for other gatherings and celebrations. No gathering would be complete without a tasty treat, so the students enjoyed cookies and juice. They also heard two funny stories turned into meaningful lessons about friendship. Both Holaday and Stone hope to keep this tradition going as a great start to the year, combining students, crafts and parents.
Students in Raji Swaminathan’s Gr. 7 science class used computer software to perform an experiment on static and kinetic friction on Sept. 21. “Students used a Vernier dual range force sensor and LoggerPro software to study and graph static and kinetic friction acting when a wooden block with a one-kilogram mass is pulled,” Swaminathan said. “They learn that a static friction force acting in the opposite direction increases to match their pulling force.” Static friction is what holds an object in place, such as a wooden block on a ramp, while kinetic friction occurs when two objects move against one another, such as a sled moving downhill.
“Furthermore, there is a maximum static friction force possible for two given surfaces in contact and they see that when they overcome that max static friction, the block starts moving,” Swaminathan said. “The graph that they plot helps them to see that the kinetic friction is smaller than the max static friction.” Their experiments also showed them that when the applied force on the block is equal to the opposing friction force, it moves at a constant velocity, and the block will accelerate if the applied force is greater than the opposing friction force.
Soren Bennick Productions will stage their internationally-recognized presentation on bullying, called “The Power of One,” on Oct. 2. The highly- recommended group will present at two assemblies, K-Gr. 3 and Gr. 4-5. Using role-playing, the group demonstrates bullying techniques and what students can do to combat them. The group also provides teacher aid posters and Power of One Pledge posters for children to sign. “I hope to create an atmosphere that will stay with the children throughout the rest of the year,” said Joe Connolly, dean of students K-Gr. 5.
MSN.com Sept. 23: An Alexander Wang ’88 creation was listed in “The Wearable” section of the slide show, “New Styles for Spring: New York Fashion Week Previews 2010.” The garment featured was an off-the-shoulder dress with a draped neckline.
Mercury News, Sept. 17: Namrata Anand, Gr. 12 and her mother, middle school teacher Nina Anand, were mentioned in this article as taking classes in traditional southern Indian melodies.
Mercury News, Sept 16: Boys Highlight Reel mentioned Cole Davis, Gr.12, as making 19 tackles and returning a fumble for a touchdown in the Eagles’ win over San Jose Academy. Read the full articles in Harker News [Online] and in the Mercury News.
Mercury News, Sept 16: Alumna and member of Harker’s 2007 championship volleyball team Candace Silva-Martin ’09 was noted for being named Atlantic 10 Conference’s Co-Defensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week. Read the full articles in Harker News [Online] and in the Mercury News.
New York Times, Sept. 14: Designer and Harker alumnus Alexander Wang ’88 had a photo and mention in the Fashion Review.
New York Times, Sept. 9: Middle school alumnus Wajahat Ali ’94 has written a play being produced in New York that was reviewed by the Times.
San Jose Business Journal, Sept 4: Harker is listed as the number one school in Silicon Valley as ranked by enrollment.
Mercury News, Aug. 19: Under Honors and Accolades, Ramya Rangan, Gr. 10, was noted as having won a bronze medal at the China Girls Mathematical Olympiad.
On Sept. 21, Harker received three visitors from the Ching Shin Elementary and Middle School in Taiwan. The purpose of their trip to the United States was to learn more about the curricula and philosophy of other successful schools, and their goal in visiting Harker was to learn more about its K-Gr. 8 English curriculum and the BEST program.
The guests arrived in the morning and met with Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, at the upper school campus, where they discussed the K- Gr. 8 English curriculum. Following the meeting, they met with Stacie Newman, middle school English department chair, for a tour of the Blackford campus and further discussion of Harker’s English curriculum.
After having lunch with Cindy Ellis, MS division head, the group went to the lower school campus to meet with Kim Coulter, director of the Bucknall Enrichment and Supervision Team (BEST) to learn more about the after-school activities available to LS students. While there, they took the opportunity to talk about the LS curriculum with Sarah Leonard, primary division head, and Kristin Giammona, elementary division head.
According to Gargano, the visitors were very impressed with the demeanor and kindness of Harker’s students, faculty and staff. “They said that all of our students are so sweet and the division heads and managers they met on all campuses were very kind and generous,” Gargano said. “They said they left the best school for last.”
College counselor Kevin Lum Lung just returned from a counselor fly-in program at the University of Southern California, where he met with Harker alumni following his meetings. Pictured are (L-R) Ranjita Raghavan ’08, Anjali Naskar ’08, Audrey Kwong ’07 (kneeling), Rose Kirby ’06, Shilpa Rajgopal ’08, Lum Lung, Kevin Hou ’09 (kneeling), Jason Lee ’07, Amaresh Shukla ’09 and Anu Ramachandran ’09.
Plenty of people write to the President, his wife and children, but one Harker Gr. 1 class is writing to Bo, the first dog. Students in Rita Stone’s Gr. 1 homeroom combined current events, social studies, creative writing and character development into letters to the newest resident of the White House.
“Before we wrote, I made sure the students knew who our president is, where he and his family live,” said Stone. “Then, talking about such a famous four-footed member of the first family really captured their interest,” she added. “I used the interest to work in a lesson on correctly writing a letter, and, wow, did the class get into it!”
In their letters, many of the students wanted to know Bo’s favorite food or toy. Julia wanted to know what kind of tricks he could do, Sofia wrote that Bo is cool and Nilisha asked him how he likes living in the White House. They were all impressed that he got to ride aboard Air Force One! The students also thought it was great that the President himself takes a turn at walking, and cleaning up after, Bo.
“Pictures decorated the cards,” said Stone. “We are going to mail them to the White House. I don’t know if there will be an answer on Bo’s behalf, but we had fun with the project, anyway.”