Spring break was an opportune time for The Harker School Orchestra, which traveled to Chicago to perform at the Chicago International Music Festival. Earlier this year, the orchestra was chosen to premiere a new piece by composer Jeremy Van Buskirk. The piece, titled “… such as I am you will be,” was one of three performed by the orchestra at the festival, along with Arturo Marquez’s “Danzon No. 2” and the fourth movement of “Symphony No. 5” by Dmitri Shostacovich.
The orchestra’s performance won a Gold Award and high praise from Deborah Gibbs, president and CEO of World Projects, the production company behind the festival, who declared The Harker Orchestra was the best high school orchestra she had ever heard. Chris Florio, upper school music teacher and director of the orchestra, was similarly enthused. “We have been preparing all year long for this event and I could not be more proud of how our students performed,” he said.
“The whole orchestra prepared by rehearsing every day in class since January, and as concertmaster, I feel very proud to lead and be part of such a hard-working and talented group,” said violinist Helen Wu, grade 11. “Every day without fail, regardless of whatever else we have going on, we always came together during first period to work and refine our music.”
Sahithya Prakash, grade 12, who plays bassoon, noticed changes in the orchestra’s practices as the concert neared. “As we got closer to our performance, our focus and intensity kept rising,” she said. “I felt really exhausted after each practice because I had put my 100% into playing, and I felt that the entire orchestra did too.”
Although Van Buskirk did not have a hand in selecting the orchestra that played his piece he was “extremely grateful they were chosen.” Premiering a new piece, he said, is a unique challenge for both the composer and an orchestra. “It’s a challenge to bring a new piece of art into the world for the first time,” he said. “As a composer, I can not do it by myself. I need willing and enthusiastic performers. Chris Florio and The Harker School Orchestra did an amazing job.”
While writing and refining his piece, Van Buskirk sent unfinished versions of it to the orchestra, who recorded their renditions and sent them back. He and Florio then discussed how the piece could be written to best fit the orchestra. “The students work hard and they are very musical,” Van Buskirk said. “It’s rare for a composer to have this level of access to a orchestra while writing a new piece. They met the challenge head on.”
Wu felt honored to premiere “…such as I am you will be,” calling it “remarkable musically and ideologically. Dr. Van Buskirk was a pleasure to work with, very involved in the creation of his piece and enthusiastic about rehearsing with us.”
For Prakash, being selected to premiere the piece served as validation for the positive feedback the orchestra receives from its director. “Mr. Florio keeps emphasizing how special the Harker Orchestra is and how talented we all are,” said Prakash, “and I think being chosen to premiere this piece made me realize that we really are a talented group of individuals.”
Harker alumnus and current member of the third-ranked Stanford golf team, Maverick McNealy ’13, joined his parents Scott and Susan McNealy at the annual Harker Golf Classic. The event, held April 14 at the Stanford University Golf Course, raised $28,000 for Harker’s General Endowment Fund.
Harker was extremely fortunate to be able to host the 2014 Golf Classic at Stanford, as there is a long waitlist of organizations wishing to host their golf outings at the coveted course, which is consistently rated one of the finest university courses in the world.
First-place winners were Greg Lawson, Meurig Morgan and Allen Beede. Second-place winners were Scott and Susan McNealy, and Andrea and Chris Umdenstock. Longest drive went to Erik Verbeek (men) and Susan McNealy (women). Closest to pin was achieved by Evan Barth (men) and Dorothy Scarpace (women).
After the final round, golfers were joined by spouses and guests at the McNealy’s home for a fabulous wine reception. Participating wineries were Corvalle and Left Bend, as well as distributor Joseph George Fine Wines.
The Stanford golf course, designed in 1930 by renowned golf course architects William Bell and George C. Thomas, is located in the foothills above the Stanford University campus. In 2009 Stanford was rated the nation’s third-best college course by golf coaches.
After the event, the advancement department gave special thanks to the day’s presenting sponsors: Sarvajna and Seema Dwivedi, Shi An Liu and Ping Xu, Ram and Indira Reddy and Wayin. Further sponsorship was provided by Big Valley Ford Lincoln for donating a car for the hole-in-one contest. Golfsmith provided the longest-drive contest prizes and Golftec provided swing analysis sessions to the second-place winners. Additionally, C. Denise Brodersen, CFP, Wealth Advisor with UBS Financial Services, was a hole sponsor and Harry and Lovelee Singh sponsored a cart.
At the end of the day, beyond enjoying a good game of golf, all the participants left secure in the knowledge they had helped raise funds for Harker’s General Endowment, which will help benefit generations of students to come.
This report provided by Jenny Heidt The Harker Forensics team had a record-setting weekend at the National Debate Coaches Association Championship at Weber State University April 11-14. The speech and debate team won national championships in three out of the four events at the tournament! Eight students went home with titles in three categories: Lincoln-Douglas, Public Forum and Congress. Pranav Reddy, grade 11, won first place in Lincoln-Douglas debate; Misha Tseitlin, grade 9, placed first in Congressional debate; and Jasmine Liu, grade 10, and Kevin Duraiswamy, Arjun Kumar, Stephanie Lu, Sreyas Misra, and Sebi Nakos, all grade 12, were co-champions in Public Forum debate.
“We’ve had different parts of the program win a title before, but we’ve never had this much overall strength all at once,” said Jenny Heidt, debate coach.
Nakos added, “I don’t think it was as much of an individual effort as much as it was a team effort. As a team everyone put in their part and did their part and everyone put the work they needed to do well as a team.”
More than 300 students from states throughout the nation participated in the tournament. Harker sent 26 upper school students to compete. To qualify for the national tournament, students had to do well at various debate tournaments throughout the invitational season.
Debaters grapple with very complicated issues of public policy and philosophy. The Public Forum and Lincoln-Douglas topics were about potential conflicts between economic development and environmental protection in poorer nations. The Congressional debaters covered a wide range of issues, including assistance to the Ukraine in maintaining its independence from Russia and whether or not various groups or nations ought to be removed from the U.S. State Department list of terrorist organizations. Coach Greg Achten said, “It is not possible to achieve the level of success in an activity as challenging as debate without a tremendous amount of hard work. Succeeding in debate not only requires incredible intellectual acumen, it also requires a very strong work ethic.”
This year’s debate team set a new precedent for the future success of the school’s speech and debate program. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s the single most successful weekend in the history of Harker speech and debate,” Heidt said. Coach Carol Green summed it up nicely by saying, “We are really proud of all of the students and the work they have done in addition to the successes they achieved.”
The team has several more important tournaments coming up at the end of the 2013-2014 season, including travel to Kentucky, Illinois, Kansas and Texas.
The latest installment of TEDxHarkerSchool was held March 22 at the upper school campus. Launched in fall 2011, the student-organized series of events gives high school students interested in entrepreneurship the chance to hear inspiring speakers and meet with mentors from many different fields.
Organizers put together another impressive lineup of speakers for this year’s event. Among them was Harker student Arjun Mehta, grade 12, who has received much attention for his most recent endeavor, a conferencing app known as Stoodle, which already boasts thousands of users since its launch in December 2012. With the assistance of his father, Karl, Mehta’s previous business idea grew into PlaySpan, which sold for $200 million.
Mehta detailed what he believed were key steps for young entrepreneurs. He advised students to look for “pain points” in their everyday lives, seeking solutions to problems they regularly encounter. In response to the differences he noticed between Harker and his previous school, Mehta founded Stoodle to help give students at other schools a chance to collaborate and share their knowledge with one another. Mehta also encouraged future entrepreneurs to work in familiar spaces. Because Mehta was a high school student, he and his Stoodle collaborators were treated as “experts in the room” when meeting with older, more experienced entrepreneurs.
Mehta also offered advice on how to reconcile the busy life of a young entrepreneur with the obligations of a high school student. He cited a “willingness to be misunderstood” due to not having as much time for friends and extracurricular activities.
During the Q&A session that followed his talk, Mehta demonstrated his 30-second elevator pitch to the audience. He added that he plans to continue working on Stoodle while in college and keep it free to all.
A morning break allowed students to converse with the speakers and mentors in attendance. Students also got the chance to sit down with various entrepreneurs during lunch, gaining knowledge and sharing ideas.
“I find the mentor luncheon to be the most unique aspect of TEDxHarkerSchool, as it gives attendees an opportunity to interact with professionals on a more personal level,” said Glenn Reddy, grade 11, who helped organize and run the event.
New this year, various companies showed their products in the Nichols Hall atrium. This year’s exhibitors were GoPro, Master Images, Stoodle, Fuhu and Lighting for Literacy. “The attendees jumped at the chance to check out the booths in the atrium, and they were one of the most popular parts of the day,” Reddy said.
Antoine Delcayre, a grade 10 student at Branham High School who also attended last year’s TEDxHarker event, found the speakers helpful and “really enjoyed the knowledge they shared.”
Fellow Branham student Saumya Bhatia, grade 10, said attending TEDxHarker the previous year helped inspire her and her friends to start a DECA chapter at their school. She particularly enjoyed the talk from Stanford University lecturer Rashmi Menon, who said that it was good for people to admit to needing help. “I think that’s really important because I feel like a lot of times I don’t admit to not knowing things and I sort of want to be the expert in everything,” Bhatia said. “But I feel like she really clarified that it’s OK to ask for help and that in the end it’s for your own benefit.”
One of the more popular afternoon speakers was Dr. Ronda Beaman, chief creative officer at PEAK Learning and clinical professor at Cal Poly’s Orfalea College of Business. Known for her infectious speaking style and stage presence, Beaman started her talk by leading the audience in the Hokey Pokey. Beaman told the audience about the importance of neoteny, which is the ability for people to keep their “childlike qualities” – such as curiosity, creativity and an inclination toward experimentation – through their adult lives. The “neotenous mind” is what allows for the creative entrepreneurship that leads to exciting ideas such as phones that converse with their owners, and microfinance organizations such as Kiva, she said.
“Most of us are right-answered, brown-desked, tested right out of our original selves,” she said, lamenting the loss of creativity that occurs as children grow up. Beaman suggested that to help themselves retain the adventurousness of childhood, students could carry around a picture of their much younger selves as a reminder of the qualities they had at that age. She also suggested carrying around a crayon to smell, which greatly amused the audience. “The scent brings you back to kindergarten, before you knew ‘no,’ before you were told to sit down, before you were told to be quiet,” she said. “It just takes you back to possibility and color, and I hope you colored outside the lines.”
UPDATE: Videos of the keynote speakers, breakout sessions and the panel discussion from this year’s Research Symposium are now available on YouTube.
Science enthusiasts from across the Harker community gathered at the upper school campus on March 29 for this year’s Harker Research Symposium. In the nearly 10 years since its founding, the research symposium has provided lovers of scientific research with an eventful day in which students, parents, faculty and staff meet to share their enthusiasm, see the results of student research and hear from notable members of the scientific community.
The Nichols Hall atrium was once again the epicenter of activity for the event, with exhibitors from companies such as Google, NVidia and the South Asian Heart Center providing information to passersby and holding tech demos. SeaLife Aquarium Maintenance, stationed in front of the atrium’s aquarium, gave attendees the opportunity to observe and touch starfish and other forms of aquatic life. Tesla Motors also had a presence, giving people a chance to test drive one of their award-winning electric cars. Over at the rotunda, Brian Tuan, grade 12, demonstrated a 3-D printer to a steady stream of onlookers as it constructed such objects as a toy car and a plastic model of Batman’s head.
Nichols Hall auditorium and classrooms hosted formal talks by Harker students known as breakout sessions, where students gave detailed presentations on their research projects. Some of these, such as senior Vikas Bhetanabhotla’s project on the identification of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxys and Zareen Choudhury’s investigation of the chemical makeup of stars, earned recognition in prestigious contests such as the Siemens Competition and Intel Science Talent Search. At the gym, middle and upper school students had poster presentations set up showing the results of research they had performed. Students were on hand to answer questions about their research projects, impressing those in attendance with both the depth of the research and their presentation skills.
Morning keynote speaker Claire Max, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at University of California, Santa Cruz, shared her work on adaptive optics with a capacity crowd in the auditorium. Using informative photos and videos, Max showed how turbulence in space can obscure telescopes’ view of the stars. Adaptive optics corrects this distortion using mirrors and laser technology. This technology, she explained, can be used to enhance images of planets and find out where black holes ended up as galaxies collided. It has also been used to enhance images of the human eye, which she demonstrated with close-up videos of blood cells traveling through capillaries.
Two alumni were featured as speakers at this year’s symposium. The first, Ilya Sukhar ’03, shared some of the lessons he learned (including some misconceptions he had during his years as a Harker student) in entrepreneurship as the founder and CEO of Parse, which was acquired by Facebook in 2013. Parse, which still operates independently, enables developers to more easily create mobile apps for multiple platforms. Nikhil Parthasarathy ’11, speaking during a special lunchtime event at Manzanita Hall, discussed his current exploits as an undergraduate at Stanford University, which included exciting work in artificial intelligence. He addressed Harker’s current students, telling them they may end up taking many paths, arriving somewhere they might not have anticipated.
Khan Academy founder Salman Khan was the star of the afternoon, packing both the auditorium and the gym, where all of the keynote addresses were simulcast. Khan talked about how what began as a hobby in 2004 – tutoring his cousin in math – turned into one of the world’s most popular online learning resources, used by more than six million unique visitors each month. During the extended question-and-answer session, Khan was kind enough to move from Nichols Hall to the gym for those who were unable to view his talk in person.
The day ended with a panel discussion featuring upper school science department chair Anita Chetty, science teacher Chris Spenner, Harker parent Manish Gupta (Aarzu, grade 6; Anika, grade 12), junior Jason Chu and seniors Bhetanabhotla, Stephanie Chen, Choudhury, Anika Gupta, Sreyas Misra and Vikram Sundar. The panel discussed the various options offered by Harker’s research program and included student testimonials on their experiences conducting research at Harker.
This report submitted by Vandana Kadam, Harker math teacher. Kadam coached the state championship team and will coach them for the national competition. This is her fourth competition; in 2011, she led the California team to the national championship.
Harker’s team is the 2014 state MathCounts champion, a repeat of 2008 and 2011 victories for Harker.
Last Saturday, Harker’s MathCounts team was represented at the state MathCounts competition by Jimmy Lin, Rajiv Movva, Shaya Zarkesh, all grade 8, and Katherine Tian, grade 7. In addition to the Harker team members, Jerry Chen, grade 8, went in as an independent competitor. Everyone performed exceptionally well.
Movva placed second among the top 10 individuals and will represent California in the national competition to be held May 8-10 in Orlando, Fla. Zarkesh placed 14th and Lin was ranked 23rd (just two points behind Zarkesh).
It was a tough competition, with Cupertino, Redwood and Miller schools also fielding extremely strong teams. Harker beat defending state champion William Hopkins School from Fremont, and also passed champions Miller and Redwood to clinch the No. 1 spot. The point separation between the top four teams was small so it was a nail-biting finish for Harker, giving it the flavor of March Madness! Harker had the best performance of all the teams in the entire state.
The top four teams were all from the Santa Clara chapter, with three more teams from this chapter among the top 10 teams in the Northern California competition.
The top 175 students (34 teams, including all chapter champions, and 39 top independents) from 14 different chapters from Northern California participated in the competition at Stanford.
A similar number of students from 12 different chapters from Southern California participated in the same contest held on March 15 at University of California, Irvine. The top 10 students were recognized at each of these venues. Four top students from these 300-plus students (both venues) were chosen to be part of the California team to go to the national MathCounts competition in Orlando.
All four of these toppers came from Northern California and, as hard as it is to believe, three of these students are from our Santa Clara chapter. There was a tie for first place with four students scoring 43 out of 46 points. (Rankings were then determined based on which problems they had missed, giving more weight to harder problems.) Movva was one of the students who scored 43. Joining Movva in representing California at the national competition will be students from Cupertino Middle School, Raymond J. Fisher Middle School in Los Gatos and Harvest Park Middle School in Pleasanton.
Saturday’s success is highly encouraging. Most of these students have been with the MathCounts program for two years and the title of California state champions is well deserved for each one of them. This is an incredible achievement for the students and for the school.
Please congratulate them on their accomplishment, and thank you all for your support.
Meilan Steimle, grade 9, has been awarded a silver medal in this year’s Scholastic Art and Writing Awards for her short story, “Colorblind.” As a national medalist, Steimle is now eligible to attend the national awards ceremony at New York City’s Carnegie Hall in June. Congratulations!
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Earlier this month, 21 Harker upper school students received the news that they had been named regional winners in this year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. These awards have recognized and rewarded the creativity and vision of American students since 1923, and are now widely regarded as among the most prestigious awards for creative teenagers. Past winners in this contest include legendary figures such as Andy Warhol, Sylvia Plath, Truman Capote and Joyce Carol Oates.
“Our writing program fosters close critical reading coupled with synthesis thinking,” said Marc Hufnagl, upper school English department chair. “There are many opportunities here that encourage creative inquiries into literature, but with an understanding of the qualities of written expression and a facility with the mechanics that renders articulate writing.”
Kacey Fang, grade 11, who received two Gold Key Awards, the highest regional honor, said the program has done much to help her develop her talents. “I’m so grateful for their encouragement and for the support they showed in reading the writing that I shared with them,” she said. “They’ve helped me realize more about myself and my writing, and I feel more open about sharing my work now.”
Essential to the upper school writing program’s success has been finding unconventional ways to bolster the creative faculties of its students. “We offer students the opportunity to express their insight and creativity in ways that transcend the analytic essay,” said Pauline Paskali, upper school English teacher. “Students take reflective nature walks, create poems, story boards, short stories, movies, collages, parodies, electronic art, etc., as means of interpreting and experiencing the world through language.”
Paskali added that a strong humanities education helps students enhance their outlook on the world by enabling them to view it from a wide range of perspectives. “To become innovators and creators, our students need to observe their surroundings with a fresh set of eyes,” she said.
Some students, such as senior Zina Jawadi, who earned an Honorable Mention in the Personal Essay/Memoir category, found inspiration for their work in personal experiences. Diagnosed with hearing loss at just 3 years old, Jawadi drew from the eight years she spent in speech therapy and the cultural perspectives on disability that she encountered growing up as a child of Arabic background. “In my essay, I narrate my experience with Khattiyya, which means “poor thing” in Arabic, and how Khattiyya has ironically motivated me to change society’s perceptions of people with disabilities,” she said. “Eradicating social perceptions of Khattiyya has since been one of my advocacy motives.”
Students also find that what they learn in the writing program has benefits in other academic disciplines. “Because of the writing skills I developed at Harker, I have been asked to write articles on behalf of the nonprofit organization I am involved with,” said Jawadi. “Additionally, the writing techniques I developed from Harker’s humanities program contributed to my success in public speaking.” Jawadi was national Original Oratory finalist in last year’s National Catholic Forensics League tournament.
Fang said that in addition to boosting her appreciation for literature, her English classes also have helped her “analyze, think creatively and discuss constructively with peers, all skills that I think aid me in other classes and that I hope will last me a long ways into the future.”
Harker students won a total of seven Gold Key awards in this year’s contest. Fang won two; Connie Li, grade 12, earned one in the Poetry category; Albert Chu, grade 12, Apoorva Rangan, grade 11, and Meilan Steimle, grade 9, each won one in the Short Story category; and Suzy Lou, grade 11, won one in the Persuasive Writing category. All regional Gold Key winners are eligible for national-level awards.
Silver Keys in Poetry went to Li, Sahana Narayanan, grade 10, and Menghua Wu, grade 11. Arden Hu and Maya Nandakumar, both grade 11, won Silver Keys in Personal Essay/Memoir. Vineet Kosaraju, grade 10, won two Silver Keys in the Journalism category, in which Rangan also won. Lou and Samyukta Yagati, grade 11, each won in Persuasive Writing. Steimle won Silver Keys in Short Story and Flash Fiction. Eric Cheung, grade 11, earned one in Science Fiction/Fantasy.
Honorable mentions went to Fang, Hu, Jawadi, Kosaraju, Nandakumar, Narayanan, Rangan, Steimle, senior Stephanie Chen and juniors Juhi Gupta, Allison Kiang, Cheryl Liu, Manthra Panchapakesan, Mariam Sulakian, Samyukta Yagati and Leo Yu.
On March 14, the Harker community united for the eighth-annual Harker Cancer Walk. The symbolic effort, held on the middle school field, netted more than $12,000 for Camp Okizu, a record-breaking total.
“It was an unprecedented amount. We have never cleared the five-digit figure before, but this year we … shot past it like a rocket. That’s enough to send as many as 15 children to Camp Okizu, which makes me so delighted, I can’t keep from smiling!” enthusedMichael Schmidt, middle school computer science teacher. He had the idea for the fundraiser following the passing of his mother due to cancer.
Students, parents, faculty, staff and family members from all of Harker’s campuses walked in support of Camp Okizu, which for more than 30 years has provided peer support, respite, mentoring and recreational programs for those affected by childhood cancer.
“This very special summer camp provides the facilities of a hospital, while also providing wide open countryside and camp activities to the children and their families. It’s a place where campers can run, swim, kayak and just be a kid. It costs roughly $700 to $1,000 to send one child to this camp,” reported Schmidt.
Participants wore ribbons and music played throughout the event. To supplement direct donations, volunteers sold T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wristbands.
In a special activity following the walk, all of the advisories made gifts for camp members. Harker students diligently prepared some 150 wooden photo frame decoration kits for use by campers and their families.
“Eight years ago, we started an event at the middle school called the Harker Cancer Walk. It brought the entire campus together in the name of cancer awareness. Cancer is a disease that is vast and, in one form or another, touches nearly everyone. It can be a heart-wrenching experience when neighbors, co-workers, friends and loved ones are struck with this potentially devastating diagnosis,” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head.
Ellis explained that prior to the event, advisories had been busy decorating the “biggest Cancer Walk poster ever created.” The result of the collaborative effort – a poster that was 8 feet tall by more than 30 feet wide – hung on the gym wall from March 10-14.
“Harker was good enough to let me start this event after my mom passed away in 2006 and it has been used as a healing process for me and many others over the years. I’m honored to keep up the tradition,” said Schmidt.
Located in the Berry Creek area of the Sierra Foothills and mirroring a residential camp experience, Camp Okizu provides a safe place for young cancer patients to enjoy regular camp activities and social events. The name Okizu (oak-eye-zoo) comes from the Sioux language and means unity. For more information about the camp, go to: http://www.okizu.org/about.
On March 14, the Harker community united for the eighth-annual Harker Cancer Walk. The symbolic effort, held on the middle school field, netted more than $12,000 for Camp Okizu, a record-breaking total.
“It was an unprecedented amount. We have never cleared the five-digit figure before, but this year we … shot past it like a rocket. That’s enough to send as many as 15 children to Camp Okizu, which makes me so delighted, I can’t keep from smiling!” enthusedMichael Schmidt, middle school computer science teacher. He had the idea for the fundraiser following the passing of his mother due to cancer.
Students, parents, faculty, staff and family members from all of Harker’s campuses walked in support of Camp Okizu, which for more than 30 years has provided peer support, respite, mentoring and recreational programs for those affected by childhood cancer.
“This very special summer camp provides the facilities of a hospital, while also providing wide open countryside and camp activities to the children and their families. It’s a place where campers can run, swim, kayak and just be a kid. It costs roughly $700 to $1,000 to send one child to this camp,” reported Schmidt.
Participants wore ribbons and music played throughout the event. To supplement direct donations, volunteers sold T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wristbands.
In a special activity following the walk, all of the advisories made gifts for camp members. Harker students diligently prepared some 150 wooden photo frame decoration kits for use by campers and their families.
“Eight years ago, we started an event at the middle school called the Harker Cancer Walk. It brought the entire campus together in the name of cancer awareness. Cancer is a disease that is vast and, in one form or another, touches nearly everyone. It can be a heart-wrenching experience when neighbors, co-workers, friends and loved ones are struck with this potentially devastating diagnosis,” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head.
Ellis explained that prior to the event, advisories had been busy decorating the “biggest Cancer Walk poster ever created.” The result of the collaborative effort – a poster that was 8 feet tall by more than 30 feet wide – hung on the gym wall from March 10-14.
“Harker was good enough to let me start this event after my mom passed away in 2006 and it has been used as a healing process for me and many others over the years. I’m honored to keep up the tradition,” said Schmidt.
Located in the Berry Creek area of the Sierra Foothills and mirroring a residential camp experience, Camp Okizu provides a safe place for young cancer patients to enjoy regular camp activities and social events. The name Okizu (oak-eye-zoo) comes from the Sioux language and means unity. For more information about the camp, go to: http://www.okizu.org/about.
On March 14, the Harker community united for the eighth-annual Harker Cancer Walk. The symbolic effort, held on the middle school field, netted more than $12,000 for Camp Okizu, a record-breaking total.
“It was an unprecedented amount. We have never cleared the five-digit figure before, but this year we … shot past it like a rocket. That’s enough to send as many as 15 children to Camp Okizu, which makes me so delighted, I can’t keep from smiling!” enthusedMichael Schmidt, middle school computer science teacher. He had the idea for the fundraiser following the passing of his mother due to cancer.
Students, parents, faculty, staff and family members from all of Harker’s campuses walked in support of Camp Okizu, which for more than 30 years has provided peer support, respite, mentoring and recreational programs for those affected by childhood cancer.
“This very special summer camp provides the facilities of a hospital, while also providing wide open countryside and camp activities to the children and their families. It’s a place where campers can run, swim, kayak and just be a kid. It costs roughly $700 to $1,000 to send one child to this camp,” reported Schmidt.
Participants wore ribbons and music played throughout the event. To supplement direct donations, volunteers sold T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wristbands.
In a special activity following the walk, all of the advisories made gifts for camp members. Harker students diligently prepared some 150 wooden photo frame decoration kits for use by campers and their families.
“Eight years ago, we started an event at the middle school called the Harker Cancer Walk. It brought the entire campus together in the name of cancer awareness. Cancer is a disease that is vast and, in one form or another, touches nearly everyone. It can be a heart-wrenching experience when neighbors, co-workers, friends and loved ones are struck with this potentially devastating diagnosis,” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head.
Ellis explained that prior to the event, advisories had been busy decorating the “biggest Cancer Walk poster ever created.” The result of the collaborative effort – a poster that was 8 feet tall by more than 30 feet wide – hung on the gym wall from March 10-14.
“Harker was good enough to let me start this event after my mom passed away in 2006 and it has been used as a healing process for me and many others over the years. I’m honored to keep up the tradition,” said Schmidt.
Located in the Berry Creek area of the Sierra Foothills and mirroring a residential camp experience, Camp Okizu provides a safe place for young cancer patients to enjoy regular camp activities and social events. The name Okizu (oak-eye-zoo) comes from the Sioux language and means unity. For more information about the camp, go to: http://www.okizu.org/about.