Four of six Harker teams advanced to the California Creativity State Finals for their stellar efforts at a Destination Imagination regional tournament on March 7 at Independence High School in San Jose.
The advancing Harker LS teams were the “Spirits of Wisdom” (Eliot Gruzman, Kevin Ke, Elina Sendonaris, Michael Moncton, all Gr. 5 and Kavya Seth, Gr. 4), the cleverly named Gr. 3 “Starbucks Lovers” (Neeraj Sharma, Rishi Iyer, Matthew Lee, Kalen Frieberg and Michael Kwan) and the Gr. 3 “Creative Kings” (Rajiv Movva, Derek Yen and Rahul Bhethanabotla). Representing the MS at the state finals was the Gr. 6 team “Veni! Vidi! Vici!” comprising Sahiti Avula, Maya Nandakumar and Neha Sunil.
Other teams competing at the March 7 event were the Gr. 3 “Fascinating Foxes” (Meena Gudapati, Aliesa Bahri, Vivian Huang, Catherine Lee, Sanjana Avula, Jerrica Liao and Makenzie Tomihiro) and the even more cleverly named “Flaming Tootsie Rolls from the Planet Pluto” (Maxwell Woehrmann, Albert Drewke, Kevin Xu, Sid Chari, Adrian Chu, Derek Kuo). Although these teams did not make the state finals, all students involved performed admirably.
Each team was given a challenge that required teamwork and creative thinking. These challenges required extensive planning in advance of the competition and each dealt with a different topic, such as theater arts, design and construction.
The librarians at Harker are striving to make the summer reading activity more fun and more flexible. We believe that leisure reading is one of life’s most engaging, relaxing and educational experiences.
Here is a list of changes in the summer reading program in Gr. 1-12:
In Gr. 1-8, students will still be required to read three books during the summer. Depending on the grade they are entering, there will be between zero to two specific titles they must read. The remaining books must be selected from the booklist for their grade.
In order to earn a reading pin, students must read five books this summer.
The five must include any required titles plus additional titles from the recommended book lists. This is a reduction of books required for a pin in the past. Please note that we are not reducing our standards. We wish to include more children in the pursuit of reading books for pleasure.
To provide a wider selection of books, the booklists will list authors, not titles. In the younger grades, these authors will be tied to names of series, as so many of the early readers are published in this manner. Students may read as many titles from one series as they like. In the older grades, authors will be associated with genres, such as fantasy and mystery. This will guide them towards books they enjoy. Students may read any book written by the author on their list. Parents might want to guide their children in selecting a title for his or her reading level, as authors write for different audiences.
In Gr. 9-12, the librarians have designed a program called ReCreate Reading. In addition to the reading required by the English department, a student’s leisure book can be the same title that will be discussed by several students or one that will be discussed in a multi-title group. Advisors will lead the discussions. Preparation for this program is in full swing and is generating a lot of excitement. More information will be on our Web site in early May.
I know I’ll be ordering more reading pins this summer and I shall be delighted
to do so.
Enid Davis, Library Director
P.S. Check out our new database BookBrowse for your leisure reading needs!
There is nothing like a hat to bring out the sunny side of a child – or adult! The annual Hat Parade took place in April, giving all a chance to wear their finest headgear!
On March 23, Harker had several winners at the 27th annual Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer Spanish Poetry Contest, held at Eastside College Preparatory High School in East Palo Alto. First place winners were Kirsten Herr, Gr. 9, for the Spanish 3 category and Rashmi Sharma, Gr. 11, for Spanish 4. Taking second place in Spanish 5 was senior Shubha Guha, with freshman Sharanya Haran earning the number two spot in Spanish 2. Lauren Pinzás, Gr. 9, finished third in the Native Speaker category, and fellow ninth grader Nicole Dalal took third in the Spanish 1 category.
Students were required to memorize and present a dramatic interpretation of a poem of approximately 25 lines in Spanish. Their Spanish teachers Isabel García, Diana Moss and Abel Olivas accompanied Them to the event, and outstanding presentations were given by all participants. ¡Felicidades!
The Gr. 8 trek to China was once again a gratifying and memorable experience for all involved.
After arriving in Shanghai, students had the opportunity to explore the city, see the sights, sample local eateries and of course, shop. On Monday morning, the students went to Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School (SWFLMS), whose own students treated them to a singing of their national anthem and school song. Harker students then got to learn about Chinese opera and play various instruments in the school’s Chinese music class.
The next day, students observed lessons and picked up a few more phrases to add to their Mandarin repertoire. They also got to view some fabulous artifacts and works of art at the Shanghai Museum, and some even made attempts to barter with the locals!
Tuesday’s real treat, however, was an acrobatic show that wowed those in attendance. “From hoops and trapeze to trampolines and motorcycles it was definitely a feast for the eyes!” said Jennifer Abraham, global education director.
The following day, the Harker group got to watch the SWFLMS students do their morning exercises. “It was quite a sight to see with hundreds of kids quickly, yet quietly, exiting the school and lining up on the sports field,” Abraham said.
More class observations followed, with some Harker students sitting in on an English class session. “The kids have commented on several differences between our two schools,” Abraham noted. “The two things that apparently stand out the most are that the teachers change classrooms, and not the students, and that they have a full 10 minutes between classes.”
Later that day, some students learned how to sing in Chinese during one of the language classes. “Surprisingly,” Abraham said, “the boys really got into singing!”
On Thursday, the group visited Zhujiajiao, an ancient water town famous for its boat-filled canals and centuries-old bridges built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. During their stay, the students bought fish to let free in the river along with a wish, and took a boat ride through the town’s canals.
Friday kicked off with a visit to the Wahaha bottled drinks factory. From there, it was off to the Six Harmonies Pagoda, originally constructed more than 1,000 years ago. “The kids raced to the top of the pagoda where they were able to take pictures of the West Lake below,” Abraham said. The group continued to a tea plantation to sample and buy various types of tea, in addition to learning about the process of making tea leaves. After a quick visit to the Chinese Medicine Museum, the tired group headed home.
To celebrate their final day with the Shanghai students, the SWFLMS threw a farewell party that included singing, dancing, heartfelt speeches and poetry.
The group began the following week in Beijing, with a visit to the famous Temple of Heaven. “Walking to the Temple was very entertaining!” Abraham reported. “We stopped to watch people dancing, with a few of our students giving it a try. We followed a long corridor passing older people playing cards, talking and generally just enjoying themselves.”
Afterward, the group visited a family living in Beijing’s “hutongs,” narrow streets and alleys lined with courtyard homes. “We all packed into their living room and, through a translator, spent the next half hour asking all sorts of questions,” Abraham recalled. “The kids had great questions ranging from the one-child policy to experiencing the Cultural Revolution to Chinese perception of Americans. The man was very honest and interesting to talk to.”
As they left the hutongs on rickshaws, the drivers decided to have a little fun and race one another. “It was a sight to see, with 12 rickshaws racing through the very narrow alleys,” said Abraham. “We all had a good laugh and lots of fun.”
The next two days yielded more amazing sights. Students visited the Great Wall of China and took in the fabulous views offered by the ancient fortification. They then took toboggans to the foot of the mountain, where they picked up some souvenirs before heading back to the city. The following day included a visit to Tiananmen Square and the Chinese imperial palace, also known as the Forbidden City.
The group wound up their trip to Beijing with a brief visit to the Summer Palace before returning to prepare for the trip home.
The two weeks LS computer science teacher Joe Chung was at Tamagawa School flew by. “In that short amount of time, I had the opportunity to teach one of my courses from Harker as well as time to observe some of the Tamagawa teachers teach their classes,” he said.
“My lesson was to teach an application called Stagecast Creator. It is a student-friendly application that helps students to learn pre-programming skills along with the ability to problem-solve. It also reinforces the students to do their best illustrating their characters,” explained Chung. “Speaking of characters, I first had the students open MS Word to write a story. Students had a choice to be creative and develop any type of story they wanted. To help them start, I gave an example of ‘Once upon a time….’ The story helps the students get a sense of ownership, which can foster the enjoyment of learning since it is their own and not given to them by a teacher. Once the story is developed, students begin to program it in Stagecast and see it in action.
“The majority of the students I taught were attentive and interested in doing their best on this project. Students who were motivated and excited by the potential of what can be created from this application worked through break time. It is rewarding for a teacher to observe students who are willing to learn and make the best effort possible. A few students were able to go beyond what I explained in class, and I was able to share more ideas, possibilities and changes that could be made to their work. Since the Stagecast used was the demo version, it had limitations, so students were restricted with design and rules. But once again, the motivated students found ways to manipulate the limitations to go beyond my instructions. Overall, I had a rewarding experience sharing with students what I teach back home.”
Spirit Week, that rite of spring and the bridge between spring break and Memorial Day, arrived after a week of wet weather, and students were ready to show their spirit! Each day had a special free dress-up theme as well as an activity for the advisories or Houses to compete in. The overall winning advisory – not available at press time – received an extra-abundant Black Ford (this is a custom-painted pedal car stuffed with goodies that resides in the winning advisory’s homeroom). Monday was sports day (no lacrosse sticks allowed), Tuesday was clashing clothes and crazy hair day, Wednesday was pajama day, Thursday was dress for the decade and Friday was rock star day. In keeping with the rock star theme, Friday culminated with a magnificent lip sync contest that got the whole school laughing!
Cultures from all over the world were represented at the Multicultural Assembly on April 10. The assembly was a coordinated effort among GEO advisors Ramsay Westgate, Mai Lien Nguyen, Carol Zink and Kevin Lum Lung, as well as Natasha Jeswani, Gr. 12, and Niti Shahi, Gr. 11, the assembly’s main student organizers.
All around the Saratoga gym, booths were set up representing several countries from each continent. Many of the booths contained informational displays and samples of native foods.
Students spent about 20 minutes learning about the various nations and enjoying their native treats, before a series of per formances got underway. Seniors Mai Nguyen and Amaresh Shukla served as emcees, providing amusing banter between acts.
Up first were juniors Jackie Ho and Melinda Wang, who sang, danced and rapped in their native language of Chinese. Next, US math teacher Gabriele Stahl wowed the assembly crowd by tango dancing with a professional dance partner. Continuing the European excursion was the Cantilena choir group, led by US music teacher Susan Nace on piano. Their French song, “Ouvre ton coeur,” was very well-received.
Nidhi Gandhi, Gr. 10, then offered a glimpse of her culture by per forming a classical Indian dance with crowd-pleasing grace and precision. It was then time for a brief trek to Germany, as US biology teacher Matthew Harley sang a tune in German, driven by a very familiar melody from Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”
Another Chinese song and dance number was up next, this time from singers Susan Wang, Gr. 12, and juniors Katrina Kao and Roslyn Li. Dancers Christine Yu, Gr. 12 and Adrienne Wong, Gr. 11, provided some splendid visual enhancement, while sophomore James Du accompanied the per formance on piano.
Although Harker’s student body houses many talents, several in attendance at the assembly were no doubt surprised to learn that the school even has its own Celtic harpist in Catherine Stiles, Gr. 10, who per formed an otherworldly tune.
Vrinda Goel, Gr. 10, then offered a show of her splendid vocal prowess by singing an aria from Mozart’s “Requiem” in Latin, her voice traveling clearly and elegantly throughout the gym.
To bring things to a rousing finish, Nguyen and the varsity dancers per formed an exciting, well-choreographed and coordinated routine to a pair of upbeat Korean pop songs.
On Feb. 25, 35 MS students took the American Mathematics Competitions AMC-10B test. Some also participated in the AMC-10A contest held on Feb. 10. Sierra Lincoln, Pranav Sharma, Ashvin Swaminathan and Wilbur Yang, all Gr. 8, and Vikram Sundar and Alex Pei, both Gr. 7, each scored 120 or higher and were invited to take the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME) which was held on March 17. Results of the AIME were not available at Harker News press time.
Angela Gu, Gr. 6, and seventh graders Travis Chen, Rahul Sridhar and Nathan Wong also had very high scores but missed the AIME qualification score by very few points.
MS students also participated in the annual Santa Clara Valley Math Association contest on March 21. Students were competing with high schoolers in the area for the Algebra 1, Algebra 2 and Geometry contests. The team comprising Deniz Celik, Gr. 8 and Pei placed fourth in the Leap Frog contest. Wong placed fifth in the Algebra 2 contest and Chen placed twelfth in Geometry. Allison Wong, Gr. 5, placed 10th in the Algebra 1 contest. Harker MS placed third overall in this competition.
US biology teacher Anita Chetty’s students had the opportunity to do some bona fide field work in late March, as they traveled to the San Francisco Zoo to see various species of wildlife and examine how they adapted to their surroundings. The students also went to the Windy Hill Open Space Preserve to retrieve plant life and bug specimens, which they then took back to the laboratory to examine and identify.
At the lab, the students used power ful microscopes to examine their findings. The microscopes also have built-in digital cameras that allowed the students to take high-resolution photos of the specimens and examine them on their laptops.