Each year, a small number of students apply for and are selected to receive research grants from two endowments, the John Near Excellence in History Education Endowment Fund, established in 2009, and the Mitra Family Endowment for the Humanities, established in 2011. The endowments provide funding each year for eight or nine seniors to pursue topics of their choice in depth. To date, 28 Near scholars and 19 Mitra scholars have completed papers on subjects ranging from a study of the Gettysburg campaign during the Civil War (2011) to the influence of punk music on the overthrow of the Soviet regime in Poland (2017), with many interesting titles in between.
The scholars, along with their mentors and parents, gather each spring at a reception on campus to celebrate the end of the long, sometimes trying, but always enlightening, journey. The student papers are a collaborative effort driven by the student, with the help of one or two history department mentors and an upper school librarian mentor. The mentors help students negotiate the highways and byways of in-depth research and compile the research into a coherent paper. At the reception, each scholar says a few words about their effort and then a mentor speaks to the journey he or she helped facilitate. What emerges is that the learning is great and the bonds of scholarship are strong.
“Tonight, we celebrate passion, persistence and partnership,” said Donna Gilbert, history department chair, as she opened the reception in late April. The mentors were there to “correct, guide and confront, not just cheerlead,” she said. Mentors questioned researchers’ presumptions, advised them to change direction, rewrite, reexamine, reorganize and narrow their focus, she added.
Susan Smith, Harker library director, noted this year’s scholars used 315 sources, appended 896 end notes and wrote 380 pages in their researches. “We celebrate the hundreds of hours of research that led you to scholarly analysis of literature, oral histories, journals, maps, images, technical papers and interviews. We celebrate all that you learned in the process of thinking deeply,” she said.
“We celebrate the bumps in the road that caused you to question, rethink, organize and question, again. That’s how you build new knowledge. Mostly, we celebrate your love of learning. There is no trophy to win or prize to take home, except what you learned along the way,” Smith finished.
Each scholar spoke for several minutes, touching on how deeply grateful they are for the support of their parents in the grueling effort to produce a great paper, as well as for the foundation of support from their library and history department mentors.
All scholars had poignant memories of how mentors and parents helped them through rough spots. All papers are listed below.
“Honestly, you have given me, and all of us, the chance to explore interests that I don’t think many of us knew we even had,” said Aditya Dhar. “The Near/Mitra program offers us unparalleled opportunities to learn more, not only about the rich history of different issues, but also about the broader research process.”
Dhar’s history department mentor, Katy Rees, noted “The real value of the Near/Mitra program is it can give students the opportunity to engage in authentic and independent research at a level that is impossible in the classroom.”
Andrew Rule found a true home in the research program. “I believe deeply in reading and in storytelling. I kind of would like to say I’m going to devote my entire life to storytelling, but in some ways, I’ve already started,” he said. “The idea is that myth is cyclical, that its ending is another beginning, and the ending of this paper is another beginning for me. I have a long, long way to go with Native American literature before I’m done, so thank you for this beginning.”
Rule’s history department mentor, Mark Janda, noted Rule “argues for the validity and the beauty of oral traditions [and] illustrates in his research the growing endless joy derived from literature when we understand the historical context that informs the writer or the speaker of that literature.”
Each scholar and mentor who spoke added to the sense that true scholarship had resulted from the efforts of the students. Each expressed passion for his or her topic and recognized the valuable skills he or she had gained in researching and writing the paper.
Soham Khan spoke for all the scholars when he said, “I’d like to acknowledge the Near/Mitra Endowments for empowering us to conduct high level research in the humanities. After all, the purpose of genuine scholastic inquiry is to examine the complexity of human experience, and I’m so grateful to have been offered this opportunity to explore my passion in a supportive space that affirmed my aspirations.”
The 2017-18 Near Scholars, all seniors, next year, will be Amy Jin, Matthew Lee, Andrew Semenza, Isabella Spradlin and Derek Yen. Mitra grant scholars are Nirban Bhatia, Emily Chen, Jacqueline He, Alan Jiang and Serena Lu. Best of luck to all these scholars as they begin their journey!
Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, closed the event noting not only the hard work and wonderful scholarship on display, but the tremendous poise scholars displayed in presenting their papers. “Many years ago, when we talked with John Near about this concept,” said Rosenthal, “he really had a vision to continue to help the school in a way where students can really study and be very serious about researching topics that are of interest to them in the area of history, and the Mitra endowment followed that lead.”
“The idea was not only to help the students, but also to have deep involvement from the faculty. Sue [Smith] and Donna [Gilbert] have put together a program that is really, absolutely, what John had in mind when he conceived of this program. He would be very, very proud of what we are doing now, that’s for sure.”
Arnav Tandon: “Cross-Cultural Camaraderie: Tracing the Roots of Cicero’s Philosophy on Friendship to Aristotelian Ideas”
Maya Valluru: “Listen, This One’s for You: The Influence of Punk Music in the 1989 Overthrow of the Soviet Communist Regime in Poland”
Raymond Xu: “Saving Health Aid from Death’s Door: Analyzing Fraud in the The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Through the Principle-Agent Problem in Nigeria”
Tiffany Zhu: “Putting the Realism in Socialist Realism: Gorky’s ‘Mother’ as a Bridge between Soviet and Chernyshevskian Aesthetics”
Near Endowment Papers
Aditya Dhar: “Constitutional Conundrums and Measuring Minimalism: Analyzing the Incorporation of Restraint and Avoidance Canons in the Roberts Court’s Decision in Citizens United v. FEC”
Soham Khan: “Truth is a Pathless Land: Examining the Influence of Theosophy on Jiddu Krishnamurti’s Philosophy”
Sarisha Kurup: “Art in the Era of AIDS: A Look at the Emergence of ‘AIDS Art’ in 1980s and 90s New York City as a Result of AIDS Activism”
Andrew Rule: “Sunrise, Sunrise: Repurposing the Native American Oral Tradition in the Literature of the Activist 1970s”
Molly Wancewicz: “Crossing the Line: Angelina Grimké’s and Sojourner Truth’s Motivations as Representative of the Interaction Between the Women’s Suffrage and Abolition Movements”
Read more about the Near and Mitra Endowments at Harker News
Parents, both those new to Harker and those new to a campus, have the opportunity to meet each other at revamped new parent meetings. The outings are relaxed, offering information as well as plenty of time to socialize!
The athletic center is rapidly coming together! With exterior walls and roof nearly complete, serious work has started inside. The gym floor itself will be the subject of another construction update when it goes in, but in the meantime, there are a dozen workers upholstering interior spaces.
There is still a huge opening in the east wall to allow material like the pallets of sheet rock and flooring to be loaded into the gym, and heavy equipment to be removed as it is finished with, but in just a couple of weeks the building will be sealed and final interior appointments installed. At this point, everything not affected by the weather is being bolted, glued or welded into place.
The locker rooms, coaches’ area and workout rooms are forests of light gauge metal studs waiting for drywall, which can’t go in quite yet – the building has to be “dried in” (watertight) first so, in case of rain, the drywall does not get damp. The building will be dried in by early April and, at that point, “tenant improvements” will begin in earnest. Interior walls will have acoustical insulation installed and drywall will be hung, taped and painted.
But all wall coverings are not created equal! While the normal interior drywall that will cover 95 percent of the non-gym area walls will be smooth and must be kept dry, there are two other kinds of wall covering used.
Regular drywall will be used for offices, locker rooms and other auxiliary rooms but, for the playing area itself, special acoustical paneling that “looks like it has ramen on it,” will cover the drywall, said Matt McKinley, senior project engineer. These Tectum panels will keep the noise under control during the exciting games.
The third wall covering, called DensGlass, is used only in limited interior areas, specifically, the basement, where utility rooms had to be drywalled prior to drying in so heavy junction boxes and other electrical equipment could be installed while exterior walls were still open. This special drywall resists moisture without being entirely waterproof, so is okay to hang prior to drying in – the rooms stay dry even if it is raining outside and there is high humidity due to the building being partially open to the elements.
Special reinforcing will be run behind drywall to allow for the mounting of fixtures. For the bleacher area, blocks of wood 6 inches by 8 inches will be anchored in the north wall, and the bleachers will bolt to the blocks. Light-gauge sheet metal will be installed behind drywall in other areas of the building to support fixtures mounted to the wall.
Flooring
With the exception of the playing floor, most of the athletic center will have polished concrete floors. Polished concrete keeps costs down and makes for a long-lasting, easy-to-maintain surface. Coaches’ offices will have linoleum flooring or carpet, while all locker rooms and other wet rooms, like the hydro-therapy room, will have ceramic tile; all good, solid, durable floor coverings. Stairways are of cast concrete, with some having a rubber coating for safety.
One of the less glamorous finishing jobs is making sure pipe, conduits and ducts all line up and don’t run into each other. Devcon, using the architect’s plans, worked up a three-dimensional digital model using computer-assisted design software. The model helps the construction company manage each set of utilities and scan for problem areas. This process is called building information modeling (BIM).
“We model all of the duct work, all of the pipes, all of the steel … everything we do to see if there are any conflicts,” said McKinley, “and run a clash detection so you can see if a pipe is running into a duct, and so on.” He pointed out where a 4-inch water pipe ran through a hole cut through an 18-inch steel support beam. Thanks to the BIM, “we knew they were going to have to bore through that steel beam to allow that pipe to pass through it.
“It used to take longer in the field,” said McKinley, when workers would discover a conflict and have to resolve it before continuing. Now the conflicts can be predicted and work carried forward quickly. “Once you have the model, everyone knows how to build it as soon as they get out here,” he said. “You still run into problems, but the 3-D modeling really helps speed the process.”
Other Points of Interest
There are some nice features coming to light as the open areas are framed in, such as the fitness room in the southeast corner (on the freeway side, near the new performing arts center), where a 12-foot by 6-foot mirror will slide to one side to allow a birdseye view of the playing floor below.
Not yet installed are all of the trappings of a state-of-the-art athletic center and, when they are installed, many pieces will be on the ceiling. Volleyball nets, basketball hoops and other P.E. equipment will be fastened to the ceiling and lowered into place for use, then lifted to clear the area for the next activity.
Decorations will include two 20-foot-square banners opposite the bleachers featuring a male and female athlete. There will be a giant eagle on the gym floor, but details are still being worked out as the design has to mesh with all the lines for the various playing courts that will be painted on the floor.
From McKinley’s point of view, things are starting to get exciting. The last 20 percent of a project takes 80 percent of the work, he noted. “We’re trying to finish up in three months,” he said. “It is always a scramble at the end, but the project team is all working hard and on track to turn the gym over this summer.”
Beginning in June 2016 Harker launched two new state-of-the art building projects on the upper school campus, the result of a $45M capital campaign. The 33,000 square-foot athletic center, opening August 2017, features a 12,000 sq.-ft. gym, athletic training room with advanced hydrotherapy unit, and spacious team rooms. The Rothschild Performing Arts Center, opening spring of 2018, features a 450-seat theater with fly loft and hydraulic orchestra pit, a state of the art scene shop, vocal, instrumental, theater/musical theater classrooms and dressing rooms. For more information visit the news and video links below or contact communications@harker.org
The Harker Alumni Association held a special Harker Family & Alumni Dinner on the Bund in Shanghai in March to celebrate the 35 years Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, has been working at Harker. The crowd, about 75 strong, enjoyed an evening cruise, during which the Alumni Association awarded Rosenthal the Phyllis Carley Award, presented each spring to an individual who has devoted time and energy, and made significant contributions, toward advancing The Harker School’s programs. Former boarding students and alumni gathered to celebrate the award and the contributions Rosenthal has made over his many years at Harker.
The powerful ironwork structure of the performing arts (PA) center is reaching for the sky – the great frame can be seen from Harker’s middle school parking lot a mile away. The athletic center is farther along: its steel structure is rapidly being covered up. Here is a little insight into how all that steel – 575 tons for the PA center and 225 for the athletic center – moves from the steel shop to being bolted into place at Harker.
Neither building is a simple box structure, and the performing arts center is especially complex, noted the Devcon Construction managers. Just to order and refine steel needs, Kyle Olugbode, the project’s field engineer, handled more than 500 requests for information (RFIs) and submittals on the various items, exchanging scores of emails with the architect on steel alone, mostly due to the complexity of the PA center design.
Along with Olugbode on “Team Devcon” are Matt McKinley, a project engineer; Barth Nelson, the on-site superintendent who runs the field and manages the overall project schedule; and Cameron Page, the project manager who works hand-in-hand with Nelson on the schedule, project budget, etc. All the managers work to get steel shop drawings approved, help deal with RFIs and building information modeling coordination, as well as the myriad other tasks necessary to build complex structures.
The path of a girder, from manufacture to mounting, is complex. About 85 percent of the steel is from the U.S., the Devcon team said, with the remaining 15 percent mostly from Korea. All the girders used in the Harker structures are from suppliers’ stock-on-hand, as opposed to specially ordered sections.
The material itself, for the wide flange beams and columns, is a carbon steel alloy called grade ASTM A992. Uncut girders are shipped first to Concord Iron Works, a local steel shop, currently featuring a lot of photos of the Harker projects on their website.
Virtually all the steel is in I-beam configuration, with some trusses (flat connector pieces). At the CIW shop, the uncut girders are shaped into a variety of configurations, including wide flange (W) beams and columns, HSS (tube) columns and truss members. Other parts are channels and angled sections.
CIW preps beams to the architect’s specifications, cut and drilled with computer number controlled (CNC) machinery to 1/16-inch tolerance – the clearance for the bolt holes to match up – so each section is ready to bolt up when it leaves the shop. When a rare trimming is required, it is usually when fitting members to connections cast into the concrete foundations or retaining walls, Team Devcon noted.
The sections are then sent to Harker in primer on 40-foot trailers, and that’s when the action really gets going. Sections are off-loaded with fork trucks and staged where workers from CIW and O’Brien Steel Erectors of Stockton can hook up and swing the beams up to workers.
Anyone observing the site can’t help but marvel as girders, from a few feet long to a massive 73-foot girder in the athletic center, sway gracefully into place, guided the last few feet by steel workers. Erecting steel structures is a particular skill for crane operators, said Team Devcon. Harker’s crane workers, an operator and an oiler, are specialists from Bragg Crane & Rigging Co.
Once the girders are in the air, workers from O’Brien Steel take over. Steelworkers typically serve a four-year apprenticeship to learn how to handle the steel, then go on to train in welding if desired, said Team Devcon. For the Harker buildings, beams are bolted into place, with some receiving additional welding using flux core arc welding (FCAW) NR232. This process uses a continuous wire electrode with a flux core to create a powerful bond between sections.
If welds are concealed within the building envelope, touch-up primer is sometimes applied, but little to no corrosion occurs on inside welds. Exterior, exposed welds receive rust resistant priming, said Team Devcon.
For each building, all steel exposed to the weather is required to be hot dip galvanized. This is a zinc coating applied to the steel following fabrication and before it arrives at the site.
Wherever welds are made to the galvanized steel, the coating in the welded area must be replaced with a zinc-rich spray primer. If required by the project, galvanized steel can receive a painted finish. However, the galvanized coating can stand alone without a topcoat.
Once steel is bolted or welded into place, workers will cloak the frame in the upholstery of interior finishings. Hidden, the steel of both buildings will provide the wonderful physical structure for Harker athletes, performers and the community in general, just as Harker faculty and staff will provide the intellectual structure, to aid Harker students as they progress through the school.
Beginning in June 2016 Harker launched two new state-of-the art building projects on the upper school campus, the result of a $45M capital campaign. The 33,000 square-foot athletic center, opening August 2017, features a 12,000 sq.-ft. gym, athletic training room with advanced hydrotherapy unit, and spacious team rooms. The Rothschild Performing Arts Center, opening spring of 2018, features a 450-seat theater with fly loft and hydraulic orchestra pit, a state of the art scene shop, vocal, instrumental, theater/musical theater classrooms and dressing rooms. For more information visit the news and video links below or contact communications@harker.org
Construction on the upper school’s new gym and theater facilities continues to forge ahead. Have a look at the latest update from Harker facilities director Mike Bassoni, who shares information about the developing basement walls, plumbing, electricity and more. The video also features some up-close highlights of the construction, which Bassoni says is “moving along at a very good pace.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
The inaugural Harker Alumni Networking Luncheon attracted some 100 graduates from various class years. The event was held on April 9 during the 11th annual Harker Research Symposium at the upper school campus.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
In early May, Grandparents’ Day was held at both Harker Preschool and the lower school. On this charming day, grandparents and “grandfriends” toured the campuses and participated in activities with the special children in their lives.
A long-standing tradition at Harker, the day gives students on both the lower school and preschool campuses the opportunity to welcome grandparents or adoptive “grandparents-for-the-day” to the school for an educational and memorable visit in their honor.
On the preschool campus, the morning of exploration and play allowed teachers and specialists to provide a glimpse of all the incredible happenings at Harker Preschool. There were a variety of displays and interactive activities from the preschool’s talented staff, including the art, music and movement and STEM specialists.
At the lower school, the theme of the day was “Hawaii,” with entertainment and activities such as hula lessons, lei and other craft making, a photo booth, luau food and Hawaiian shave ice. Other highlights of the day included performances by lower school ukulele players, singers and dancers, and extended book fair hours.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
This year’s Head of School’s Circle Celebration, held in early April, was a momentous event as it recognized the generous donors who made gifts of $2,500 or more to the school in the last year.
The event allows donors to see the impact that their contributions have had on students’ educational experiences. The evening began with a champagne welcome and remarks from Chris Nikoloff, head of school.
Parents were then entertained with performances by Varsity Dance Troupe, Downbeat and Dance Fusion. Between each performance, students shared how various programs have enriched their educational journeys at Harker.
Senior Jonathan Yiu spoke about joining the basketball team, classmate Kristen Park explained how dance and orchestra gave her a newfound passion, which she is carrying on to college, and Shannon Richardson, also a senior, spoke about her volleyball experience and how it made her not only a well-rounded athlete but also a well-rounded student.
Junior Kayvon Solaimanpour, a member of Downbeat, explained how various programs allow students an opportunity to achieve balance between academic work and extracurricular interests.
The event showcased programs from various divisions, including the lower school’s Makerspace program, middle school’s Discovery X, the robotics program, the Near and Mitra scholar endowments, and the Vegesna Foundation Teacher Excellence Program, as well as numerous academic competitions in which students participate, including math and economics.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
In late April, the 2016 John Near and Mitra scholars were honored at a reception in the Nichols Hall auditorium. Then in May, six Harker teachers were announced as grant awardees from the Raju and Bala Vegesna Teacher Excellence Program, allowing them to pursue a variety of professional development opportunities.
Near and Mitra Endowments Established in 2009 and 2011, respectively, The John Near Excellence in History Education Endowment Fund and the Mitra Excellence in Humanities Endowment have allowed students to pursue research on a wide variety of topics.
Donna Gilbert, upper school history and social science chair, opened the Near and Mitra event by remembering beloved history teacher John Near, who passed away in 2009, saying, “He inspired in his students a love for the excitement of historical exploration, which lives on in this special program.”
Gilbert also shared her appreciation for the Mitra family, “whose vision and kindness extended the scholars program to allow students opportunities to study topics in the broader disciplines of the humanities and social sciences.”
This year’s John Near scholars were seniors Jasmine Liu (“A House Divided: Residential Segregation in Santa Clara County”), Sadhika Malladi (“Graphic Soldiers: Popular Sentiment as Reflected in Captain America and Spider-Man”), Zarek Drozda (“Learned Lessons: Financial Innovation and the Panic of 1873”) and Sahana Narayanan (“‘Bee-Boppa-Doe’: The Sounds of Musical Revolution”).
The 2016 Mitra scholars were seniors Elisabeth Siegel (“Ideology Through Subliminal Propaganda: A Critique of Portrayals of Palestine and Palestinians in Israeli and Western Online News Media during Operation Protective Edge”), Kaitlyn Gee (“Pretty in Punk: An Examination of European Female Punk Rock of the 70s and 80s Through a Feminist Lens”), Natalie Simonian (“Whispers in Russia: The Influence of the Rumors Surrounding Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on the Russian Revolution and Their Role in the German Effort to Overthrow the Tsarist Regime”) and Kavya Ramakrishnan (“The Eggleston Effect: Color Photography as Fine Art”).
These eight seniors conducted “hundreds of hours of research that led … to scholarly analysis of musical scores, journals, maps, images, song lyrics, interviews and on and on,” said library director Sue Smith. All of the scholars took the stage to share their thoughts on their research and thank their mentors for their invaluable guidance.
Malladi also thanked her parents “for almost believing me when I said I was reading comic books for research. “Being a Near scholar has been an incredible experience,” she continued. “I realized it was my responsibility to think critically about what I read.” Gee also had kind words for her mentors, upper school English teacher Ruth Meyer and Smith. “Their encouraging, patient and accommodating nature is beyond compare,” she said. She also expressed her gratitude to Harker “for providing me with 13 years of outstanding education.” A video of the entire reception is now available for viewing at https:// harker.wistia.com/medias/asuuh39xd1.
Vegesna Teacher Excellence Program
The 2016-17 awardees in the Raju and Bala Vegesna Teacher Excellence Program were also recently announced. Launched in 2015, this program awards grants to teachers seeking professional development opportunities.
It is the most recent opportunity provided by the Raju and Bala Vegesna Foundation, which has also supported the summer tech grant program and the Harker Teacher Institute. Scott Kley Contini, middle school director of learning, innovation and design, will use his grant to provide Harker teachers with a special class on design thinking, taught by a professor from Stanford University’s d.school.
Preschool science teacher Robyn Stone will work with the Lawrence Hall of Science in a series of workshops about early childhood education, titled “Physics and Engineering Design.” Galina Tchourilova, upper school French teacher, will attend a program in Vichy, France, that instructs French teachers from around the world on teaching methodologies.
Upper school history teacher Andrea Milius will travel to Greece to attend a summer session at The American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Finally, upper school science teachers Kate Schafer and Chris Spenner will head to Alaska to participate in a program at the Inian Islands Institute to learn how to improve student understanding of climate change.
To learn more about the Near and Mitra grants, visit http://library.harker.org/upperlibrary/ nearmitra. For more information on Harker’s endowment giving opportunities, visit https://www.harker.org/giving/ endowment-planned-giving.