Harker’s Bacteria Busters eCybermission team flew to Washington D.C. for the eCybermission finals in late June where they participated in team-building workshops, lunched with Army brass and met with eCybermission judges. The group visited various D.C. sights and made a special trip to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds research labs. Although the team did not take top honors, each member received a $3,500 savings bond (in addition to the $3,000 bond awarded for their regional finish) and a medal for participating in the finals. In addition, this year, adviser Raji Swaminathan was awarded two plaques: one for being a founding participant and the second for being a five year participant.
Gr. 4 students got an up-close look at California history on the annual trip to Coloma in April. The area is most famous for being the starting point of the California Gold Rush. When they arrived, students were divided into different groups called “towns.”
The trip started with a visit to the Coloma Outdoor Discovery School. “We pretended to be gold miners living along the American River,” said Kristin Giammona, elementary division head. As would-be miners, they fashioned their own shelters, made cornbread and gave themselves nicknames. The group ate dinner, and then enjoyed a hoedown to the sounds of the musical group Slim Pickin’s. The day ended with a campfire by the river, complete with sing-a-longs and skits.
Day two began with a hike along the Monroe Ridge, “which culminated with a spectacular view of the Coloma Valley,” Giammona said. “Along the way we learned about the Native Americans who once lived in the area, the uses of various plants along the trail and the mining history of the area. We played games along the way to break up the hike.” The group gathered around the campfire again that night, where they were joined by Kimberly Shining Star, a Native American woman who told stories and shared a number of songs.
On their final day at Coloma, each town devised ways to save energy and reduce waste. The groups then reconvened during the final meeting of the trip to share their ideas. To cap off the trip, all members of the group dipped their leather pouches (received at the beginning of the trip) into the American River, thus becoming “sourdoughs,” the nickname for prospectors during the California Gold Rush.
Students greatly savored the trip. “I liked the free time before and after breakfast and dinner because my best friends weren’t in my town,” said student Nicolas Bean. “I was able to play with them during free time, and it was like being on vacation with them.” Others, such as Sanju Navar, enjoyed playing prospector: “I liked gold panning because it was fun and interesting. I didn’t find any gold, but it was still interesting.”
Writing can be a lonely pastime. Often those scattered students who have an ink-stained bedroom corner don’t know about each other and don’t have an audience for their most imaginative words. But get a group of writers together and something different happens: collaboration, excitement, synergy. This connection of like minds can been seen at the meetings of the Harker Creative Writing Club, and it was alive in full force at the Celebration of Creative Writing that took place in the Blackford MPR in mid-May.
Standing at the microphone with a backdrop of paintings and sculptures from the recent student art exhibit, students Hannah Gorelik and Alice Tsui, both Gr. 8, read an excerpt of the novel the girls are writing in alternating chapters, a murder mystery set on a cruise ship. Also from the MS, Simon Orr, Gr. 8, with his made-for-radio voice, shared his quirky short story, “Under the Plum Tree.” This story, which was one of the two works selected to represent Harker in the California Young Writers competition, is a fable concerning a summer almost-romance between the narrator and a lovely young genius at CSI, aka “geek camp.” On an even more exotic note, Preston Yeung, Gr. 8, read a story he had completed in a mad rush at 11:37 the night before, where a space traveler is warned by tentacled, squid-like creatures about earth’s coming environmental collapse. Poets Oishi Banerjee, Gr. 7 and David Grossman, Gr. 8, rounded out the MS offerings. Banerjee read lyric poems about a garden and with a feminist theme. Grossman shared two poems recounting historic battles and a third one with a more subtle kind of conflict, where a mother has an unwanted glimpse of her son’s potential for cruelty.
Returning from the US to their old Blackford haunts were writers Bridget Nixon, Kaitlin Halloran, Nandita Krishna and Antonia Ipser, all Gr. 9 and Melanie Herscher, Gr. 11. Herscher, who is working on a screenplay, genially coerced some audience members into playing the parts in her royal romance. Nixon, displaying a facility for accents, read a dialog between two train travelers which becomes heated over the topic of women’s rights. Halloran and Krishna both read short, comic pieces. Halloran’s was full of fast-paced, witty digressions, and Krishna’s was more in her famously dry, deadpan mode, with the writer’s large, innocent-looking brown eyes suggesting no responsibility for her own sardonic words. Young dynamo Ipser founded the US’s Writing Club, which is advised by English teacher Erin Redfern, after graduating out of the similar club at the MS. Ipser, whose return to the MS provoked excited cries from several members of the audience, was unusually reticent in her turn at the mike. At the end of her too-brief offering, about a man who begins to have trouble distinguishing dreams from reality, an audience member yelled out, “More!”
The writers and several members of the audience agreed that more is needed, and not just from Ipser. All who participated hope to make these readings an annual or even semiannual event. As anyone who attended could tell, Harker has some startlingly accomplished young writers. The writing club, however, is for raw work and students do not need to have any special experience with writing to join. Club members share their latest creations at meetings to gain comments from each other, and also respond to writing prompts designed to take their thoughts in new directions. If a writer has a fresh story or poem and wants to hear what others think right away, he or she can post it on the club’s Athena page for responses. In the past, some members who could not attend the meeting times have participated solely through Athena.
The Creative Writing Club needs new voices. The club is, to quote author Anne Dillard, for the lucky ones “who wish to build castles with words… to create a place where imagination can wander.” Does that sound like you?
A new club on the MS campus, the Research Club, provides a conduit for budding researchers to refine their technique to prepare for large and small venue presentations, but the club wouldn’t be much help without the mentors that make it go.
Club advisors Lorna Claerbout, Ilona Davies and Scott Kley Contini worked hard all through the year to help students ramp up to a new level of research and presentation. The science research club in the MS is Claerbout’s “brain child,” noted Raji Swaminathan, science teacher. “She conceived the idea last year and put it all together and the rest of the department worked with her on that. The amount of time and energy she has devoted to organizing this club on a weekly basis, organizing the Synopsys competitors, and getting the kids ready for the symposium is really huge.”
Harker has encouraged an advancing atmosphere of research since Anita Chetty, US science department chair, was brought to Harker by Diana Nichols in 2001. Chetty started the Harker Research Symposium (HRS) in 2005, but her encouragement of young researchers goes way back: one of the 2009 HRS keynote speakers was Nimet Maherali, whose research career began in her Canadian high school when Chetty, then the AP Biology instructor at her school, “saw something in me that I didn’t see,” said Maherali.
Maherali’s path led to the University of Calgary and Harvard University, where she is a Ph.D. candidate in the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cancer. In her speech, “Cellular Alchemy and the Making of a Research Scientist,” Maherali said that research begins with a question and hers was, “Can any cell become any other cell?” Her results, featured in Time magazine and Discovery Channel’s “Top 10 Science Moments of 2007,” may eliminate the need for embryonic stem cells in research and someday lead to therapies for diseases such as Parkinson’s or Lou Gehrig’s (ALS).
Now, via the MS Research Club, the process of developing good research habits has already paid off. Club member Jackie Wang, Gr. 8, earned a silver medal at the California State Science Fair (see full article, pg. 30). “Ms. Claerbout and Mr. Contini were really encouraging in helping me learn deadlines for applying to science fairs, brainstorm ideas for my experiment, know what steps I needed to prepare my application, and understand how to present the project,” said Wang. “The Synopsys Science Fair was lots of fun and the California State Science Fair was a great experience. Being able to participate in the science fairs made the hours spent in the lab nights and weekends all worthwhile. Having the chance to present my research in the beautiful new science building at the Harker Research Symposium was such a thrill. I would definitely encourage others interested in science research to join the club,” she said.
Chetty was generous with her praise of Harker for supporting the symposium as the pinnacle of the internal Harker research effort. She thanked everyone from workers who set up the rooms to administrators who saw her vision for the symposium as a real presentation venue. “The 2009 symposium was dedicated to Howard Nichols,” said Chetty, “and I want to acknowledge his work, and Diana Nichols’, in making the science center a reality. In addition, and in particular, I want to recognize all students out there who have asked a science question.”
Naomi Schatz, US psychology teacher, flew to Australia in May as part of Harker’s teacher exchange program. Throughout the summer, she will be sharing her experiences overseas. Watch Harker News Online this summer for further adventures!
May 31: Greetings from Down Under….
“It has been a great weekend here in Aussie land! On Friday, I was a special guest-judge at a ‘Dilemmas’ competition where students had to speak off of the top of their heads about current political issues. Pretty fun, relatively speaking. After the event, the whole student body sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to me, and presented me with a special Saint Stephen’s College rugby shirt… and I love it!
“Friday night I went out with Jaime Dorrington, head of school at SSC, and a few other colleagues I met last summer on the leadership retreat, to a nice dinner and blues festival down on the coast at Broadbeach. Saturday, we went for a picnic and a lovely hike with Jaime and his family up into the mountains in an area called Spring Brook and visited an awesome waterfall, called Purling Brook Falls. Sunday I went for a walk with Eden [former exchange student], who has very fond memories of his time at Harker!
“This week, I’m planning to present to students on stress/anxiety and testing as they have exams in the upper school. Also hoping to do some sport psychology lessons with their athletes, which should be fun! Jaime is keen on me presenting on some team-building and leadership issues as well, so working on that. I’m very excited! Well, that’s it for now!”
In June US Spanish teacher Diana Moss, K-Gr. 5 dean of students Joe Connolly and several students headed to Switzerland to visit with the students from College de Gambach in Fribourg, who visited Harker during the spring semester, and to brush up on their French language skills. Not to mention immerse themselves in the country’s vast culture and beauty.
Students who embarked on the trip were incoming sophomores Shivani Bigler, Neda Ghaffarian, Neha Kumar, Daniela Lapidous, Jay Reddy and Shreya Indukuri; incoming juniors Michael Patland, Jason Young and Michelle Vu and incoming senior Kendra Moss.
The group had plenty to do once they touched down and met with their host families, with whom they stayed for the duration of the trip. Visiting the city of Lausanne by train, the group visited the Olympic Museum to view the vast archive of Olympic memorabilia and learn more about the history of the games. Then it was off on a boat ride across Lake Geneva to the Nestle Food Museum in Vevey, where the students attended a cooking class. Nestle was founded in the city more than 140 years ago and is headquartered there to this day. Following the visit, “you would think all we’ve done here is eat!” Diana Moss exclaimed. “Fortunately, we’ve had plenty of walking too!” The next day, the group went to a cheese factory in Gruyeres, a city so famous for its cheese that the food was named after it.
All the while, the Harker and Gambach students got better acquainted as they shared more and more about one another’s cultures. “All the Harker students and Swiss students are getting along so well,” Moss reported from Switzerland during the trip. “It makes me so proud of them!” Moss was also impressed at how well the students were able to communicate with one another. “Perhaps one of the most enjoyable aspects of our trip has been watching our students interact with the Swiss students,” she said. “The Swiss are amazing linguists, moving between one language to the next with ease, but we are proud of the great efforts and growth our kids are making with their French.” While there, the group was even featured in a local newspaper covering their visit (see photo).
Before leaving, the Harker and Gambach students enjoyed a fondue party before the Harker students departed for the weekend. The whole group reunited and said their goodbyes in Zurich on Monday before majority of the Harker students flew back home. Moss and her daughter Kendra stayed behind to spend some more time exploring Europe. “It was a fabulous experience staying with a family that spoke very little English because it encouraged me to fully immerse myself in the French language,” Kendra said. “Switzerland was just as beautiful as one would imagine it to be.”
In May Harker received a visit from Sue Muir, upper school advanced level math teacher from St. Stephen’s College in Australia. A teacher for 33 years, Muir was on a sixmonth sabbatical from teaching, which all teachers at St. Stephen’s college get to do after seven years of service. She spent her first week observing all of Harker’s US math classes, and also did a lot of team teaching with US math teacher Gabriele Stahl.
“Sue and I had very fruitful conversations about the material,” Stahl said. “Whenever we started a new method we got together before and talked it through. We found out that our teaching styles were very similar. Sue came up with a few worksheets for the students.”
Added Stahl: “Sue adjusted very easily to Harker and I believe she had a lot of fun, too.”
Muir spent a day visiting Rob Regan’s Gr. 5 world geography class, where she talked to the kids about Australian culture. She also spent a day on the MS campus to observe teachers in class, and met with Vandana Kadam, math teacher, to discuss the possibility of St. Stephen’s joining the Harker Math Invitational as well as collaborating on a math exchange. “Sue was highly impressed with the advanced level of math our students do,” said Jennifer Abraham, global education director.
Updated June 25, 2009 with additional winner, Chetan Vakkalagadda.
The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) has made its first three of four announcements of scholarship winners. The first announcement presents the winners of corporate sponsorships, the second, National Meritsponsored awards, and the third, college-sponsored gifts. Watch our fall edition for more college-sponsored winners, which are announced in mid-July.
These scholars, all Gr. 12, were chosen from the finalists in the National Merit Scholarship competition, based on their PSAT scores from last year. According to NMSC, “Most of these awards are renewable for up to four years of college undergraduate study and provide annual stipends that range from $500 to $10,000 per year. Some provide a single payment between $2,500 and $5,000. Recipients can use their awards at any regionally accredited U.S. college or university of their choice.”
Congratulations to Harker’s corporate scholarship winners: Roshmi Bhattacharya – National Merit Rockwell Collins Scholarship; Sarah A. Christiano – National Merit National Distillers Distributors Foundation Scholarship; Shirley M. Galbiati – National Merit Synopsys, Inc. Scholarship.
And to our National Merit Scholarship $2,500 winners: Daniel Kim, David Kastelman, Vikram Nathan, Anu Ramachandran, Lexi Ross, Kartik Venkatraman, Susan Wang, Jeffrey Mandell, Sophia Gilman and Anand Natarajan.
A National Merit Washington University in St. Louis scholarship was awarded to Michelle Lin and Chetan Vakkalagadda (Vakkalagadda did not appear on the initial list of winners due to an omission on the list distributed to the schools by the NMSC). Diana Lai received a National Merit University of Southern California scholarship.
Students from Harker’s journalism department have embarked on a summer camp session in New York City. Journalism advisor and US student activities director Chris Daren is chronicling their adventures back East, which readers can follow via blog and Twitter. Happy trails to the students as they experience the city that never sleeps!