Morning Loading Zone Safety
Observed over the course of three mornings, students and parents were doing the right thing as they negotiated the loading zones on the Saratoga, Bucknall and Blackford campuses.
Student Life Glimpsed at Back-to-School Events
September’s series of Back-to-School events provided parents with a first-hand look at the daily lives of Harker students. All three campuses had displays available so that parents could learn more about various departments and student organizations. Parents also got to visit their children’s classrooms and meet their teachers for a quick peek at their everyday scholastic experiences.
2009_09 SW Back to School Events SLIDESHOW – Images by The Harker School
50 Seniors Named Nat’l Merit Semifinalists
The National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP), a nonprofit organization that honors the scholastic achievements of high school juniors, has announced the nation’s semifinalists in the 2010 competition from those students who took the PSAT in 2008.
More than 1.5 million juniors in nearly 22,000 U.S. high schools took the PSAT; semifinalists represent less than one percent of those who took the exam. Most high schools boast only a few, if any, students who earn this prestigious recognition. Congratulations to Harker’s 50 semifinalists (29 percent of the class), now seniors:
Namrata Anand, Brandon Araki, Patrick Campbell, Victor Chen, Virginia Chen, Jeanette Chin, Da-Yoon Chung, Alexander Creasman, Samir Datta, Stefan Eckhardt, Nathaniel Edwards, Thomas Enzminger, Ryan Fan, Andy Fang, James Feng, Alex Fotland, Michael Gendotti, Alex Han, Kelsey Hilbrich, Christine Hsu, Eugene Huang, Sonya Huang, Noriko Ishisoko, Vishesh Jain, Carissa Jansen, Curran Kaushik, Sohini Khan, Yash Khandwala, Tiffany Kyi, Ruozi Li, Daisy Lin, Andrea Lincoln, Connie Lu, Rachel Luo, Christina Ma, Anjali Menon, Arjun Mody, Arthi Padmanabhan, Adam Perelman, Govind Raghunath, Mark Roh, Srikrishna Seeni, Rashmi Sharma, Haran Sivakumar, Elaine Song, Jeffrey Tan, Sarah Teplitsky, Margaret Woods, Kevin Zhang, Andrew Zhou
Most of these semifinalists who continue their academic excellence into their senior year, and who are endorsed by their principals and earn high scores on their SATs, will advance to the finalist round, where they have opportunities to win one of three types of merit scholarships: $2,500 National Merit-sponsored scholarships awarded by state, approximately 1,000 scholarships sponsored by corporations and business organizations, and some 4,700 scholarships awarded by about 200 colleges and universities to students matriculating at those schools.
Tags: Featured Story, topacademicsSingapore Education Reps Visit Harker
Five representatives from Singapore’s Ministry of Education and two representatives from the National University of Singapore came to The Harker Upper School on Sept. 15 to learn more about Harker’s computer science curriculum.
The visitors hope to generate interest in computer science programs in Singapore’s students, and wanted to learn how high schools in the United States were implementing computer science programs. They were led to Harker due to its recognition by the College Board as having one of the top computer science curricula in its size range (300-799 students) and by its development of University of California-approved courses. Their trip also included visits to Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon.
The day began with a meeting between Barnabas Tan, curriculum planning officer for the Singapore Ministry of Education, and Eric Nelson, computer science department chair. During the meeting, Nelson shared and discussed information about the various aspects of the program.
Following the discussion, they headed to Nichols Hall to observe Susan King’s AP Computer Science class, in order gain a better understanding of what goes on in the classroom from day to day. They then received a tour of the Saratoga campus’ facilities courtesy of Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs.
The group then headed back to Nichols Hall to observe a programming class taught by Richard Page, who then accompanied Tan to lunch, which they enjoyed with the rest of Harker’s computer science faculty.
The representatives mentioned that they were impressed with the caliber of Harker’s programs and with the many interdisciplinary connections within its computer science curriculum. “They expressed interest in our focus on algorithmic thinking, a common theme they found among their university visits,” Gargano said.
Tags: Featured Story, ScienceOpening Day Win on the Gridiron
Cheered on by family, friends and fellow students, the Harker varsity football team started off the season with a 21-7 win against the San Jose High Academy Bulldogs at San Jose on Sept. 11. Bogdan Botcharov, Gr. 12, scored on runs from the 21-yard and 5-yard lines in the first quarter to take an early 14-0 lead. San Jose scored the Bulldogs’ lone touchdown before the end of the first half but Rishi Bhatia, Gr. 11, kept the Bulldogs deep in their own territory with pinpoint kickoffs until the third quarter. Bhatia then booted a 50-yard punt that came to rest on the San Jose 10-yard line. Two plays later, Cole Davis, Gr. 12, scooped up a fumble from his linebacker position and returned it for the game’s final score. Davis was Harker’s standout on defense with 18 tackles. Jose Costa, Gr. 12, kicked three extra points for the Eagles. The Harker squad is preparing for their next game on Fri., Sept. 18, at Yerba Buena in San Jose. For the schedule of varsity football games, see http://www.harker.org/page.cfm?p=250
Prior to the varsity game, the JV team lost a hard-fought contest against San Jose High Academy 12-6. JV coach Geoff Lundie is very optimistic about next week’s away game against Yerba Buena.
Tags: SportsLibrary Department Rolls Out Questia
Last week Enid Davis, library director, formally unveiled access to Questia, a database featuring 75,000 full text books as well as millions of articles from the popular press and scholarly journals. Harker faculty and US students have been issued log-in information to establish personal accounts on Questia, providing them 24-hour access to “their own project work space that can be saved and built upon,” explained Davis.
“It’s like adding seven floors to our existing library,” observed Erin Redfern, US English instructor, during a freshman orientation session in which US librarians Sue Smith and Lauri Vaughan introduced the database.
“The interface is very intuitive and we’ve found that most students really like the navigation and the robust note-taking tools embedded in Questia,” said Vaughan, who previewed the online resource with biology classes last May.
“Questia provides an excellent complement to our existing print and electronic resources,” said Smith. “It allows us the opportunity to introduce our students to electronic books on a large scale.” Newcomers can get familiar with the various tools by exploring the excellent tour link on Questia’s front page. Access to the new resource, which features advanced content, is available to MS classes upon teacher request.
Bucknall Assembly Offers Picnic Preview
Harker’s annual Family and Alumni Picnic, which takes place Sun., Oct. 11, is right around the corner, but the fun started a month in advance. The Picnic Kick-off event at the lower school on Sept. 10 offered a preview of what was to come at the October extravaganza, which has been a Harker tradition for nearly 60 years.
Students gathered around a make-believe campfire and enjoyed marshmallows at the assembly, in keeping with the theme for this year’s event, “Picnic in the Pines.” The picnic promises to be a fun-filled adventure into the great outdoors, as Harker’s middle school campus will be transformed into a vast wilderness, complete with game booths, themed activities and a variety of entertainment staged by students, faculty and staff.
Raffle tickets for the picnic’s grand drawing are currently being sold by lower and middle school students to their families and friends. Students receive a wide variety of prizes for selling tickets, including free dress passes and tickets to Great America. On the day of the picnic, the grand drawing will be held to see who wins the $10,000 prize. Other prizes include a hand-held GPS system, a 21-speed mountain bike and a trip to Las Vegas.
Tickets are sold for $8 when purchased in advance and $12 the day of the picnic. They can be purchased in advance at one of the Back-to-School events or ordered online. See the picnic overview page for more information on how to buy tickets.
Tags: Featured StoryPolice Dogs Pay Visit to Lower School
On Sept. 11 Gr. 1 students received a visit by a few officers from the San Jose Police Department’s K-9 unit. The officers explained how the dogs are trained for their role in law enforcement and explained how they can pick up a person’s scent and alert officers to their presence. For example, if the dogs discover someone in a tree, they will circle the trunk and bark to let police officers know the location of their target.
The kids also got to pet the well-behaved, friendly German shepherds, which are trained in Germany for 18 months and then shipped to the U.S. Because of this, the dogs receive their instructions in German and Czech, rather than English.
2009_09 LS K-9 Visit SLIDESHOW – Images by The Harker School
Coming Soon: Harker Speaker Series
The Harker Speaker Series (HSS), an exciting program bringing leaders and visionaries from a variety of fields to share expertise or unique experiences with our community, will begin its third year with a pair of audience-friendly refinements: complimentary child care and a social hour. With a 7 p.m. start time for most HSS events, the child care, refreshments and social time will help families make the most of attending these very special events.
HSS guests have included Dr. Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute; Dahr Jamail, an unembedded war journalist; Tal Ben Shahar, Ph. D., Harvard professor and author; Kyle Maynard, athlete and author; and most recently Rick Smolan, acclaimed photojournalist and author.
This year’s first speaker will be announced soon, so watch the Harker e-Weekly, portal and HNO for more information. Questions can be directed to communications@harker.org.
Tags: Harker Speaker SeriesGr. 7 Pool Party Heralds Last Days of Summer
Gr. 7 students began the school year with a splash, spending an afternoon at the Saratoga campus’ Singh Aquatics Center on Aug. 31. About 50 students had some fun in the waning summer sun and enjoyed pizza, watermelon and cookies while chatting about their summer and back-to-school moments. Lifeguards on duty were Keith Hirota, MS social studies teacher; Anthony Wood, Gr. 4-5 assistant athletic director; and Michael Leonard, assistant varsity volleyball coach.