Yesterday, the Harker Green Team hosted a talk by environmental educator Keshet Miller, who spoke to students about consumption and waste disposal, and how they affect the lives of people in vulnerable parts of the world.
Miller has led educational trips to places such as Indonesia, where communities that rely on fishing are increasingly dealing with waste from other countries disrupting their way of life. As waste makes fish populations sick or less edible, communities are forced to find alternative food sources.
Much of the blame for the creation of waste, Miller said, rested on large companies that generate profits through consumption. To fuel consumption, companies frequently create products that are meant to fail and be replaced, a principal commonly known as planned obsolescence. People are further motivated to consume by a society that places a high value on one’s ability to purchase many products.
She also touched on the limits of personal habits and lifestyles in making a more sustainable society, noting that major policy changes, community monitoring, economic change and education are all crucial to ensure the continued habitability of the planet.
This week and next week, 16 members of The Harker Orchestra will be working with Kronos Quartet – which will perform Feb. 28 at the Patil Theater – as part of its 50 for the Future program. The students will head to San Francisco this week to begin working on a piece commissioned by Kronos for the purpose of helping young musicians develop their skills for contemporary music. Their work will continue next week when Kronos Quartet visits Harker to give a special master class.
Students participating in the program are: Rachel Broweleit, Hanoom Lee, Arushi Nety, Amla Rashingkar, Jackie Yang and Jeffrey Yang, all grade 12; Sophia Horng and Maria Vazhaeparambil, both grade 11; Lucas Chen, Alex Hu, Thresia Vazhaeparambi, Austin Wang, April Zhang and Tina Zhong, all grade 10; and Sawyer Lai and Cassie May, both grade 9.
The boys basketball team dropped to 7-16 on the season as it fell to Woodside Priory 28-63 and Menlo 52-65. In the loss to Priory, Jack Connors, grade 12, led the Eagles with 10 points. Later in the week against Menlo, Connors once again led all Harker scorers, this time with 14 points. The boys finish up their season on Tuesday as they travel to The King’s Academy.
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team fell to Notre Dame San Jose 39-54 in its sole game last week, bringing the season record to 11-12. The Eagles finish up the regular season on Tuesday with a trip to Castilleja.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team had the week off, but will play the biggest game of the season at Davis Field on Wednesday as it hosts Mercy Burlingame. The winner will earn a spot in the CCS playoffs, which start on Saturday.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team fell to first place Sacred Heart Prep 0-3 before tying Menlo 1-1 last week. The 12-3-3 Eagles currently sit in third place in the WBAL and finish up the regular season on Wednesday at The King’s Academy.
SPRING
The spring season has arrived! Here are the starting dates and locations for your Harker Eagles:
Boys Golf
Boys golf takes on Pinewood on Tuesday and Crystal Springs Uplands and Sacred Heart Prep in a tri-match on Friday.
Baseball
Baseball opens up at home against Overfelt on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Boys Tennis
Boys tennis hosts The King’s Academy on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Lacrosse
Lacrosse hosts Willow Glen on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
Boys Volleyball
Boys volleyball opens on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at Wilcox.
Swim
The swim team opens at the Spring Kickoff at Palo Alto High on Friday, Feb. 28.
Track and Field
The track and field team travels to Bellarmine on Saturday, Feb. 29, for the Bellarmine Invitational.
Softball
Softball travels to Gunn High on Tuesday, March 3 to kick off the season.
Last month, Harker hosted a Common Sense Media panel comprising nine grade 8 students, who spoke to parents about how they spend their time online, particularly with social media. The panel – which included Harker students Om Tandon, Sarah Westgate and Callie Yuan, as well as three students from Hillbrook School and three from Fischer Middle School – gave the visiting parents more insight into students’ digital lives.
Common Sense Media is an organization that provides educational resources on safe technology use for children. Harker is recognized as a Common Sense premier school, and the organization’s curriculum has been adapted by a number of Harker teachers.
On Thursday, upper school students, faculty and staff took part in the Challenge Day program, an energetic all-day program in which participants are led through a series of learning experiences, including games and small group discussions. The activities are designed to empower school community members to improve self-esteem, discourage peer pressure while encouraging peer support, and end the acceptance of identity-based bullying, racism and harassment. While topics of discussion were often serious, there was plenty of time set aside for joy and laughter, such as when participants were instructed to cheer with excitement at the mention of playing a game. Moments like these were designed to help students and adults meet as equals outside of the usual hierarchy of school communities.
Challenge Day was founded in 1987 to provide social-emotional learning workshops to school communities. In the years since, Challenge Day programs have been held in more than 2,200 schools in the United States, Canada and Europe. The program has received coverage from Oprah Winfrey and Tom Brokaw and was featured in the MTV series “If You Really Knew Me.”
Yesterday, the lower school held its annual pajama assembly to commemorate the end of another successful pajama and book drive. Every year, third graders coordinate the collection of pajamas and books to be donated to the Pajama Program, which then delivers the items to children living in shelters and temporary housing. The drive was established in 2007 when Rishi Narain ’16, then in the third grade, was inspired by seeing the Pajama Program promoted by Oprah Winfrey. This year’s drive collected 213 pairs of pajamas and 377 books.
Students celebrated by wearing their pajamas to school and gathering in the gym with their favorite books. Third graders in attendance were joined by their grade 10 Eagle Buddies, who also brought books to share with their younger friends. After some appreciative words from the Pajama Program’s Bay Area chapter president, Pallie Zambrano, upper school division head Butch Keller took his place on the stage to read a pair of children’s books to the audience.
The 2020 upper school dance production, “Remixed & Reimagined,” took place Friday and Saturday, featuring 185 dancers performing routines based on alternate versions of songs by popular artists including Usher, Nicki Minaj, John Mayer and Demi Lovato. Several of the routines in the show were created by this year’s choreography class graduates, seniors Kai-Ming Ang and Anna Miner, and juniors Zoe Kister and Kristin Tong.
Last week, the annual grade 5 show brought together a cast of 132 for a humorous, musical retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s classic short story, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” The show featured singing, dancing and instrumental numbers, and many of the performers also took on additional responsibilities, such as working on the tech crew, costume assistance and set photography to help make the production a success.
Harker has designated Feb. 14 as the inaugural Alumni Day of Giving, and one generous lower school family has committed to match gifts up to $1 million.
A strong endowment fund is a hallmark of a school’s financial stability, responsibility and viability, and all gifts made to the school by alumni go to Harker’s endowment fund. For this Feb. 14 Alumni Day of Giving, the school has set a goal of 200 gifts, of any size, from alumni. And one family, Louise and Fouad ElNaggar (Osiris, grade 2; Apollonia, grade 1), is so deeply committed to increasing Harker’s endowment that they have pledged to match each of those 200 gifts – no matter the amount – with $5,000 of their own, to contribute a total of $1 million to Harker’s endowment.
The school is working with GiveCampus to help promote the Alumni Giving Day and #LoveHarker campaign. Founded by a former Facebook engineer, GiveCampus is a platform that, as its website puts it, makes “philanthropy more social, more interactive and more fun … to bring people together in support of the schools, causes and initiatives that they care about.”
“It’s more about participation than the size of the gift,” said Kimberly Lobe, director of advancement. “By contributing to and growing the school’s endowment, alumni are enabling Harker to create even more of an academic advantage through program expansion, scholarships, staff positions, research, facility maintenance, equipment and supplies. They are ensuring that generations to come have the same outstanding experience that they did.”
All Harker alumni will receive a link on Feb. 13 that will point them to the Alumni Day of Giving page at GiveCampus, and the giving page will include ways to share with, text and email classmates of each donor in order to encourage participation. Questions may be addressed to Kristina Alaniz, director of alumni relations, at alumni@harker.org.
Last month, two Harker students were recognized in a New Year’s greeting card contest held by the Japan Information and Cultural Center at the office of the Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco. Third grader Momo Matsui-Disini received the Judges’ Award in the elementary division and sixth grader Jaden Chyan earned the Creative Award in the middle and high school division. These and the other New Year’s cards (“nengajo”) submitted for the contest – more than 540 in all – will be viewable through Feb. 20 at the Japan Information and Cultural Center at 275 Battery St., Suite 2100, in San Francisco.