The reception began with opening words by the co-directors of the programs, upper school history chair Donna Gilbert and upper school librarian Lauri Vaughn, who commended the students on their hard work and intellectual curiosity in creating this year’s papers. Joe Rosenthal, executive director of strategic initiatives, then recapped the history of the endowments and announced the Chen-Lin Family Inspiring Faculty Growth in the Humanities Endowment, a new professional development opportunity for Harker faculty.
Following an introduction by Harker advancement director Kim Lobe, each of this year’s scholars and their respective mentors spoke on the experience of creating their research projects.
2019-20 Near Scholars:
Simar Bajaj, mentored by Katy Rees, Mike Pistacchi and Meredith Cranston: “Wealthy White Men Only: Examining the American Medical Association’s Use of ‘The Flexner Report’ as Propaganda to Reform Medical Education”
Ellen Guo, mentored by Donna Gilbert and Meredith Cranston: “Bi Means of Queer: A Bisexual View of Sedgwick’s ‘Closet'”
Madison Huynh, mentored by Julie Wheeler and Amy Pelman: “Door Half-Open: Postwar American Legislation’s Failure to Support Vietnamese Assimilation”
Kalyan Narayanan, mentored by Pauline Paskali and Lauri Vaughn: “’We’ve Got to Fight the Powers That Be’: Discourse and Disobedience in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing”
2019-20 Mitra Scholars:
Prerana Acharyya, mentored by Roxana Pianko and Lauri Vaughn: “Dancing into Propaganda: Nazi Appropriation of Ausdruckstanz”
Kathy Fang, mentored by Beth Wahl and Lauri Vaughn: “’But a Woman’: Reassessing Portrayals of Women and Sex in the Restoration ‘Tempest'”
Jeffrey Fung, mentored by Byron Stevens and Meredith Cranston: “Take Up the Cross: Pagan Elements in Lactantius’ De Mortibus Persecutorum” Anya Gert, mentored by Amy Pelman, Damon Halback and Trish Ludovici: “Squatters and Their Street Art: How the Counterculture Undermined Sanctioned Artwork in Occupied West Berlin”
Each year, the Raju and Bala Vegesna Foundation’s Teacher Excellence Program at Harker launches a group of teachers on voyages of discovery. The teachers apply for and are awarded grants from the program to further their teaching skills. The program, started in 2015, has sent a score of educators to seminars, study abroad programs and other educational opportunities. Grants are awarded to individuals and to groups, and are used for entry fees and travel expenses.
“We are incredibly grateful to Raju and Bala for their commitment to teaching excellence at The Harker School,” said Kim Lobe, director of advancement. “The generosity of Raju and Bala Vegesna in allowing our teachers to pursue an opportunity they are passionate about and then share it with their students in the classroom creates an opportunity to impact student learning in a transformational way.”
The San Diego Wildlife Experience
Kristen Morgensen, middle school biology teacher, expanded her world with a weeklong visit to wildlife preserves in the San Diego area focused on conservation science and education.
“The first three days were spent at the San Diego Safari Park and the Institute for Conservation Research located within the park,” said Morgensen. “This was a three-day course offered each summer to help teachers incorporate conservation into concepts and topics that are already being taught in the classroom.
“The course was designed with five modules, and we were put through the rigors of being students for the three days. What I did in the workshop was exactly what I am able to now do in class with my students. Three of the five modules are being incorporated into the classroom this year.
“The first focused on biodiversity and specifically living in a biodiversity hotspot. A hotspot is defined as an area with high natural biodiversity and high human impact. This activity relates greatly to the Bay Area and our students, as we are impacted by higher populations and more development. The other two modules I plan to use this year are focused on genetics and the reproductive system.
“During our genetics unit, we will be studying California condor genetics and how the researchers at the institute were able to save and rebuild the California condor population. During our study of the body systems, we will be looking at the elephant populations and how they have been impacted by habitat loss due to palm plantations in Africa. By studying their hormones, researchers have been rebuilding elephant populations as well. We will also discuss the research that is more recent and related to the Northern White Rhino. This species is considered reproductively extinct as there are only two females remaining alive in the world and neither can carry a baby to term. At the workshop, we met one of the leading researchers looking at rhino feed in captivity and how it is impacting their reproductive rates by influencing their hormones as well.
“After doing the biodiversity activity earlier this year, students have told me they are more aware of their water usage and how the drought impacts native ecosystems. As grade 6 class dean, I am working with Pat Burrows, assistant middle school division head, and Janet Rohrer, assistant facilities director, as we try to save/transplant some of the native plants currently on the Union campus. This year’s grade 6 will be the first grade 8 class promoted from the Union MS campus. We will be taking a representative from each advisory over to Union to transfer native plants into pots so they can be replanted after the construction by the same group of students.
“Another tool I learned at the workshop was a method of peer review. As each group of teachers prepped a poster for presentation to the group, we were given two Post-its. We went and looked at the other groups’ posters and wrote three things – one thing we liked, one suggestion we had and one question we had based on what was written. I have used this method in my classroom and the students really appreciated seeing the feedback and being able to revise their submissions.
“The non-classroom based highlights of the trip were a few special treatments for the teachers. We had a few animal encounters with a three-banded armadillo, and a caravan Safari into the African exhibit where we fed a giraffe and a greater one-horned rhino. We also had a tour of the vet hospital located at the Safari Park as well as the Frozen Zoo. This is where they have cell lines from almost 10,000 animals representing 1,120 species for research as well as reproductive tissues from over 400 species cryogenically frozen for research as well as the hope of helping to rebuild genetically diverse populations of various endangered species.
“The final component of my trip was a day spent behind-the-scenes at SeaWorld. It was interesting hearing of the conservation efforts of a for-profit organization compared to the non-profit zoo. I found it fascinating how little they publicize the efforts they have made like working with the governments in South America to preserve the penguin and turtle breeding areas by regulating the collection of guano for fertilizer.
“This truly was an amazing experience that I would not have without the Vegesna grant. I am looking at many things in my life differently after this experience and carrying what I learned professionally into my personal life as well,” Morgensen finished.
Institute for Social Emotional Learning
A group of teachers from the middle school availed themselves of a Vegesna grant to attend the summer 2019 Institute for Social and Emotional Learning (IFSEL) held at Nueva School in San Mateo in early June. Attending the conference were Patricia Burrows, assistant middle school division head; Mark Gelineau, English teacher; Sharmila Misra, computer science teacher; Kathy Pazirandeh, math teacher; Samantha Salfen, physical education teacher (Salfen had and individual journey, as well; see below); and Ramsay Westgate, history teacher. The group attended the intensive conference for four days, taking workshops, discussing ideas, and learning ways to incorporate social-emotional learning into the Harker middle school community. “It was an absolutely incredible experience,” noted Burrows.
“The selection of this activity came about from the evolution of the middle school advisory program and a growing need we are noticing in our students,” she added. “Last year, the grade level advisory deans and I attended a conference by the IFSEL and came back with not only wonderful ideas to implement, but a sense of direction to help steer both our faculty and students.
“Our educational environment here at Harker is rigorously academic, and while that is one of our greatest strengths, when divested from character, empathy, and a general awareness of the complexities of social and emotional interaction, can also be one of our greatest challenges with our students,” said Burrows. “This conference and the knowledge gained from it was a tremendous step towards helping to ensure we are preparing our students in all facets of their growth and education.”
National Association of Independent Schools Diversity Leadership Institute
Bernie Morrissey, middle school librarian, used his grant to attend the National Association of Independent Schools Diversity Leadership Institute at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va. “This intensive, residential experience brings together independent school faculty from across the country to explore topics related to ability, bias, racial equity, gender identity, socio-economic status and more,” said Morrissey.
Sessions are taught by faculty from schools around the country, including heads of school, directors of diversity and other leaders within the NAIS community. Working from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. most days in both plenary sessions and smaller groups, attendees enhance professional competencies, build credibility, foster innovation, and plan strategically for building and sustaining school communities that maximize the potential of students and adults alike, according to the institute.
“This opportunity can help me make our school a safer, more supportive and inclusive environment for all students, teachers and families,” Morrissey noted. “As a librarian working with teachers in all departments, I have the unique ability to impact a large number of classes and students, and I hope to use the learning from this conference to benefit all of these constituencies in the Harker community.
“One of the first steps, which Pat Burrows and I have already discussed, is expanding the windows and mirrors reading program beyond just grade 6, maybe to summer reading, Drop Everything and Read (DEAR) days or other occasions. This experience may also enhance my collection development practices and information literacy integrations.”
The Paideia Institute for Humanistic Study
Scott Paterson, Latin teacher, participated in Caesar in Gaul, a two-week program last summer for AP Latin teachers organized and run by The Paideia Institute for Humanistic Study.
“This program combines in-class seminars with visits to various important ancient Roman sites in modern France,” said Paterson. “Classes were taught by Dr. Luca Grillo, assistant professor of classics at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and Dr. Christopher Krebs, associate professor of classics at Stanford University.” As co-editors, they recently released “The Cambridge Companion to The Writings of Julius Caesar,” said Paterson.
“Classes focused on Caesar as a man of letters, rather than as military man or politician, and included examinations of Caesar’s literary style, his contribution to the standardization of Latin grammar, the genre and themes of his ‘Commentarii de Bello Gallico,’ and possible approaches to the analysis of his literary works,” said Paterson.
“Site visits were led by Paideia staff and generally included some Latin readings that were relevant to the place. Places we visited included Bibracte, the Pont du Gard, and Alesia, the location of the final showdown between Caesar and Vercingetorix, the leader of the unified Gallic resistance to Roman occupation,” he noted.
“Participating in this program was a truly wonderful experience for me,” said Paterson. “Because the study of Caesar had to a large degree fallen out of fashion by the 20th century, I had never formally studied Caesar – indeed, had scarcely even read any Caesar before the College Board changed the AP Latin syllabus to include one semester of Caesar beginning in the 2012-13 academic year.
“The College Board’s decision resulted in much surprise and not a little consternation throughout the Latin teaching community,” Paterson said. “Publishers rushed to provide new texts and commentaries, and Caesar scholarship in universities flourished. My experience with Caesar in Gaul was a terrific chance to engage with the latest Caesarian scholarship and to develop a better appreciation for and understanding of Caesar’s literary achievements, and I have returned to the classroom with renewed enthusiasm.”
Asia Pacific Physical Education Conference
P.E. teacher Samantha Salfen and lower school P.E. teacher Walid Fahmay attended the Asia Pacific Physical Education Conference in November in Hong Kong to enhance their gym and field expertise. The trip gave them the opportunity to learn from the leading global innovators in the physical education field, noted Salfen. “I had the opportunity to learn new practices in physical education while creating friendships to broaden the Harker physical education network,” she added.
“I expanded my knowledge in gymnastics, while also learning the best teaching practices of health education, integrating movement in the classroom and how a healthy physical education program can combat the challenges facing young people in our countries,” she said. “The most interesting thing I received from the conference was from the keynote speaker who opened the conference by speaking on what the end (the purpose/outcome) of physical education should be: to improve its longevity and purpose. He went on to talk about the research of what physical education should look like and how we as physical educators can embody these practices in the ever-changing environments today.
“That speech inspired me to look deeper at my own practices, and to look for different ways I can implement these practices not only in my class but also schoolwide,” said Salfen. “My goal is to create an environment where ‘soft skills’ of physical education are transferable to other subject matters and real-life applications. These ‘soft skills’ include teamwork, communication, problem solving, intrapersonal skills, conflict resolution and leadership.
“Starting in the month of December, I will be kicking off by implementing the activities learned in the pre-conference gymnastics session into my own grade 8 girls class of tumbling. I would also like to start working closely with a classroom teacher in trying to implement the sports education model in the classroom, which involves the ‘soft skills,’ allowing students to see and apply these applications in physical education, the classroom and in the outside world,” Salfen noted.
Fahmy noted the pair attended various workshops on P.E. and health. “Each workshop was geared towards improving the P.E./health teacher and their skills in that specific area (i.e. health, invasion games, nutrition, etc.),” he said. “I was also networking with other educators from all around the globe, bouncing ideas off each other. We learned about the different cultures and health needs for each. It truly was an amazing time learning and networking.”
Fahmy added that one of the highlights was just going overseas. “The more adventurous the destination, the more learning and often times the more enjoyment.” He and Salfen attended and networked during all of the sessions, and “it was well worth it,” he noted.
Fahmy brought home the useful values of tolerance, adaptation and preparation. “The idea of mindfulness and using meditation during our health class was great,” he said. “This will bring tolerance into the classroom. Adaption is strictly for me, we need to understand we are not raising robots, but each of us is an individual and therefore we must adapt accordingly in our teaching methods. Preparation – if we are prepared for the day, then nothing can stop our success and progression.”
During the conference, Fahmy said he was reminded about the importance of “being the sunshine” in the room. “Students feed off of our energy. Whether they admit it or not, students look up to their teachers and hold them in high regard. That really reminded me to continue to be a positive role model. I want to always demonstrate confidence and leadership, let the students see that in me and watch it catch on with them.
“I am going to double down on being a good role model!” said Fahmy. “This is someone who is always positive, calm and confident in themselves. You don’t want someone who is down or tries to bring you down. Everyone likes a person who is happy with their achievements, but continues to strive for bigger and better objectives! I really felt passionate about wanting to make things better, for both myself and my students!”
Alan Alda Center for Science Communication
Andrew Irvine, upper school chemistry teacher, attended a workshop in New York City in June to learn about science communication through the Alan Alda Center for Science Communication, affiliated with Stony Brook University. Better known as an actor, Alan Alda has devoted himself to helping scientists and doctors learn and improve their communication skills about technical ideas to the general public using acting and improv games. “I spent two days with Ph.D. scientists from a wide variety of specialties,” said Irvine, “working with communication specialists and acting coaches to learn how to erode barriers and build connections with an audience so that our messages were clear and easy to digest.
“On day one, our focus was building a message to be delivered in 60 seconds or less without using technical jargon. On day two, we focused on how to craft our story about science to better connect and engage with our audience. I’m excited to share some of these activities with my colleagues to help improve their message, delivery and connection with their audience during my workshop at the 2020 faculty retreat. The conference has helped me not just in the classroom, but in my engagement with my friends and family in personal life. I look forward to sharing my experience with the community,” he finished.
This year’s collection of papers written by John Near and Mitra Family endowment scholars have some fascinating titles. Each year, the scholars are honored at a reception in the Nichols Hall auditorium, celebrating the completion of their intensive research and writing projects.
At the reception, each student talked about the journey to self-knowledge that comes from writing such a complex paper. Each was generous in acknowledging the program’s value to their growth and in praising the mentors who helped them succeed. Each scholar had vivid memories of the road to completing their paper.
2018-19 Near Scholars:
Logan Bhamidipaty, mentored by Byron Stevens and Lauri Vaughan: “Plain Language: Henry George, Denis Kearney, and the Anti-Chinese Movement in Nineteenth-Century California”
Prameela Kottapalli, mentored by Mark Janda and Sue Smith: “Deliberately Unafraid: Audre Lorde as a Pioneer of Intersectional Feminism”
Leon Lu, mentored by Carol Green, Susan Nace and Meredith Cranston: “Soul of the Jazz Resistance: Charles Mingus and the Civil Rights Movement”
Kelsey Wu, mentored by Kelly Horan and Sue Smith: “The Loneliness Disease: Challenges of First-Generation Chinese-American Parents of Autistic Children”
2018-19 Mitra Scholars:
Nikhil Dharmaraj, mentored by Clifford Hull and Meredith Cranston: “The Evolution of Evolution: Lucretius’ De Rerum Natura and Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species”
Ryan Guan, mentored by Ruth Meyer and Meredith Cranston: “The Rattle of the Bones: Reading T. S. Eliot’s ‘The Waste Land’ as a Response to World War I”
Haris Hosseini, mentored by Andrea Milius, Josh Martinez and Sue Smith: “Unveiled: The Appropriation of Afghan Women in the War on Terror”
Katherine Tian, mentored by Damon Halback, Chris Spenner and Lauri Vaughan: “Does God Play Dice? Understanding the Role of Uncertainty at the Intersection of Antirealist Philosophy and Quantum Mechanics”
Each year, a number of Harker teachers apply for and are awarded grants to further their teaching skills thanks to the Raju and Bala Vegesna Foundation’s Teacher Excellence Program at Harker. The program, launched in 2015, has sent a score of educators to seminars, study abroad programs and other educational opportunities. Grants are awarded to individuals and to groups, and are used for entry fees and travel expenses.
“The generosity of Raju and Bala Vegesna in allowing our teachers to pursue an opportunity they are passionate about and then share it with their students in the classroom creates an opportunity to impact student learning in a transformational way,” said Kim Lobe, director of advancement. “We are incredibly grateful to Raju and Bala for their commitment to teaching excellence at The Harker School.”
“The Raju and Bala Vegesna Foundation Teacher Excellence Program allows our faculty to ‘dream big’ and take their ideas about how the academic experience for the students can be further enhanced, and make those ideas a reality,” said Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs.
“The foundation reflects, for me, many of the best elements of Harker,” she continued. “It allows our teachers to continue to grow and stretch, modeling the lifelong learning that is such an important part of our mission. It also reflects how much our faculty truly care about our students as people; teachers take their summers and much of their personal time to enhance the learning experiences because they feel an immense responsibility to leverage the students’ impact through intellectual pursuits and experiences, which is facilitated by this program.”
Gargano added that Harker prides itself in having teachers who are experts in their subjects, noting as an example, teacher Charles Shuttleworth’s project on the Beat Generation. “He took the grant seriously and sought out to be and accomplished the task of being a true Kerouac scholar and someone who is seen, from the wider community, as a Kerouac expert.”
The Projects
Rebecca Williams
Rebecca Williams, middle school English teacher, attended the Mariposa Foundation Volunteer Institute in the Dominican Republic to educate and empower girls to create sustainable solutions to end generational poverty. She traveled to Cabarate in the Dominican Republic to teach a course on the Holocaust at the Mariposa Foundation, and supported Princeton Fellows there, as the organization used the curriculum she created.
“I spent my time working with girls, volunteering at the center and meeting with the founder,” said Williams. “I wanted to work with the Mariposa Foundation because I knew they were doing great work empowering young women despite some of the community norms and values. In the Dominican Republic, most women have children by the age of 18, and they are often objectified. Strong, smart, powerful women certainly is not the norm, yet at this center, they were creating exactly that.
“I wanted to learn how this center is able to empower the girls with a message that was different than what they received at home. I believe that at Harker, we often are messaging our students with a perspective that is not always shared with the family. We message balance and well-roundedness when, often, the families’ top priority is academic achievement.”
Williams was heartened by the advances in building empowerment that she saw in her group. “The message was everywhere: what they read, what they were taught and in the art around the building,” said Williams. “They even had a #iamnotyourmamacita campaign. There was purpose and commitment to teaching these girls that they were in charge of themselves.”
Aside from the payoff for women in the program, Williams has brought that empowerment to her classroom. “At the middle school, we have launched the #beyondmygrades campaign,” she said. “We are planning activities in advisory, we are hosting a LID day to showcase student work done beyond the classroom, we are hosting a talent show. Most important, as a school we are branding this hashtag and actively working to create programing around it. We have formed a committee of seven people: an administrator, two counselors and four teachers.
“Students are … excited to celebrate,” Williams added. “They recognize that the message from school is different than home. It is our goal to loop parents in on this process as well. Working with the Princeton Fellows was a wonderful reminder of the power of young, educated people. I am inspired to continue working with Harker students as I know that they are the future.”
The Character Group
Kate Shanahan, Heather Russell, Andi Bo and Mike Delfino, all lower school teachers, along with Mary Holaday, lower school dean of students, used Vegesna grants to attend the 2018 National Forum on Character in Washington, D.C.
They attended various seminars and classes and were inspired to introduce a number of initiatives to the lower school community.
Knowing strong character has been at the core of Harker’s history and mission, “the team was reminded how influential and effective teachers can be when living out and purposefully communicating character,” noted Russell. “After attending a pivotal session at the conference, the team guided the lower school staff in the ‘I Stand’ staff experience where they worked to identify qualities faculty members each bring to the community and the importance of teachers leading students by example.”
Following various team-building exercises, Shanahan, Russell, Bo and Holaday introduced Character Connections. Weekly emails sent to staff reinforce a character focus, highlighting and celebrating positive character examples inside and outside of Harker, and offer discussion questions to engage the whole campus in a shared focus for the week. “The weekly reminders give the lower school community a sense of unity in purpose, a common language for focusing on character, and build enthusiasm by honoring the many efforts students and teachers are doing to show character in action” Russell noted.
Also, the group joined The Great Kindness Challenge, a weeklong nationwide effort to promote kinder communities. Efforts on the lower school campus included compliment cards, daily challenges to show respect and kindness, and activities prepared and shared with staff to use in classrooms.
“The regular focus on and application of Harker’s tenets have brought a sense of community and positivity at the lower school,” said Russell. “Several staff members commented, noting Harker does not only preach it, but we emphasize it and teach it throughout the day in all subjects and grade levels.” Another told her, “I would like to thank the character education team for all that you have been doing for this program. It’s been very helpful to me not only as a teacher but also on a personal level. I feel the entire Harker community can only continue to benefit from this program as it develops.”
Future efforts from this grant may include applying as a National School of Character. Following guidelines and principles recommended, the team surveyed staff regarding the effectiveness and improvement of the character program. “A Character Committee composed of caring teachers and staff was formed, and the committee will help define Harker’s lower school character curriculum scope and sequence, as well as implement new ideas to encourage positive character,” said Russell. “Currently, efforts are focused on the lower school program by introducing initiatives, sending out the weekly character connections, and refining the character curriculum. Future efforts may involve collaboration across campuses to reinforce the importance of the character education continuum. By giving character center stage, it has communicated a powerful message of how critical social-emotional skills are for a Harker students’ early years and beyond.”
Ann Smitherman
Ann Smitherman, lower school English teacher, attended the Teachers’ College Reading and Writing Institute (TCRWP) in New York for two weeks.
Smitherman noted the impetus that drove her to apply for the grant. “I teach P1 (‘core’) students in grades four and five,” she said. “These are our students whose academic development most closely matches their physical development. I’m interested in meeting these students exactly where they are intellectually, while also accelerating their learning in reading and writing – knowing that growth in these two areas will help them grow in all academic areas.
“I’ve been on a quest the last few years to find an approach that will help me help my students to develop these core strengths. I found out about the TCRWP while at a conference with one of their staff development experts. It sounded like exactly what I was looking for: research-tested lessons that were presented in a sequence proven to enhance long-term adoption of skills. But the cost of the summer classes and two weeks in New York City were going to exhaust my professional development budget for years to come. Thank goodness for the generosity of the Vegesna Foundation!
“My time at TCRWP reinforced my belief that research matters when designing an approach for student learning. It also reminded me that reading and writing are not mysterious gifts that you’re either born with or not. Reading and writing are acquirable skills, and all students can become deep, reflective and insightful readers of complicated texts and creators of thoughtful, meaningful, readable writing.”
Smitherman brought her new skills right into the classroom. “This fall I used the TCRWP approach in a narrative writing unit with my fourth and fifth grade students,” she said. “They were enthusiastic and responsive to the approach, writing more than they ever had before, and creating interesting personal narratives and complex realistic fiction pieces. Just as important as the work they created, students began to recognize the techniques we were using in class were also used by ‘real’ writers in the texts we were reading. They really could write like Natalie Babbitt and Katherine Paterson! I’ve also honed my conferencing skills, making my one-on-one coaching of students more effective and efficient.”
The ultimate result? “Students fell in love with writing, checking the daily agenda on the board and cheering when ‘writing workshop’ appeared,” Smitherman noted. “They also continue to use skills taught in the fall, both in reading and in writing. Perhaps the most important transference I’ve seen is that students are planning their work before they begin writing. This is tremendous growth for our students at this developmental stage.”
The program was an eye-opener for her own learning, as well. “While I think I’ve grown a great deal as a teacher since trying the TCRWP approach – more efficient, more direct, more succinct in lessons – what I’ve really learned is how much more I need to learn,” she noted. “It’s both daunting and inspiring!”
Other teachers have joined with her to use the methods espoused in the program. “I’m so happy to be continuing that learning process with some colleagues who have agreed to continue to pilot this approach with me this year: Larissa Weaver, Heather Russell, Mariel Nicolary, Eric Leonard and Katie Molin,” said Smitherman. “They are such a smart and inspiring group who are wholly committed to their students.”
Smriti Koodanjeri
Smriti Koodanjeri, upper school chemistry teacher, attended the Academic Life Coaching Program over a six-month period, after which she was certified as an associate life coach.
“The program involved weekly two-hour classes with a master coach via Zoom, submission of coaching recordings every six weeks, meeting with coach for the critiquing of the recording, a midterm and a final exam,” Koodanjeri said. “All this took 24 weeks and I received a certificate in the mail stating I am an associate life coach.”
Having finished life coaching 1.0, Koodanjeri is now working on 2.0, which also will run for six months. When she completes that program, she will be a certified professional academic life coach.
When asked what motivated her to become a life coach, Koodanjeri said, “to enhance my teaching ability and understand the student motivation. If I am successful in guiding the student both in class and overall as a whole student, I would consider myself a better teacher. So, to be a better teacher was my motivation.”
The most interesting thing she learned was, “there is a lot more to learn about teaching and interacting with young adults.” And that goaded her to work out a program to help students.
“I am designing activities which help student learn better and be more organized,” she noted. “I frequently encourage students to plan better and make goals (these emails go out at least twice a year). I run time management workshops on B- and D-schedule days at the upper school from 1-1:30 p.m., open to all upper school students. I work with counselors and the academic dean helping and guiding students who seem to need the service. Counselors and academic deans are kept in the loop with all the students with which I am working.” Reactions by both students and their parents has been positive, “particularly parents of the students,” she added.
The entire experience helped her grow as a teacher. “I learned to view each child as a bundle of possibilities,” Koodanjeri said. “I learned the difference between an open- and close-ended question, I learned that all of us can grow and improve by taking specific steps in the right direction. Learning is lifelong and we should continue to want to seek knowledge. Because of this course not only are my students are getting a better experience but so am I!”
Charles Shuttleworth
With his grant, upper school English teacher Charles Shuttleworth has delved further into the world of the Beat Generation, including primary research and interacting with influential Beat figures. He has constructed a special learning plan, titled the “Jack Kerouac Experience,” that is enriching his students’ understanding and appreciation of Beat literature and Kerouac’s writing in particular. As a bonus, Shuttleworth has become immersed in the work of Beat poets and may end up editing a new volume of unknown works by Kerouac, so students get to hear about that process.
Shuttleworth’s class, “Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation,” grew from his belief, “that Jack Kerouac is the American writer who has had the most influence on literature and culture since World War II,” he said. “I applied for the grant to deepen my knowledge of his prolific output, and in particular his experience as a fire lookout in Washington State, which was pivotal in his life and career.”
Shuttleworth first taught a course on Kerouac and the Beat Generation in 1994 at the Horace Mann School in New York, which Kerouac attended. “That year there was also a major conference on Kerouac at NYU, and I researched and wrote a paper on Kerouac’s Horace Mann experience, interviewing more than 30 of Kerouac’s former classmates,” Shuttleworth said. “I then presented my findings at the conference, gaining all of my students free admission to the three-day event featuring nearly all the Beat writers still alive then: Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Hunter Thompson, Ed Sanders, etc. My work was used as a source in Steve Turner’s book on Kerouac, titled ‘Angelheaded Hipster.'” When he changed jobs, Shuttleworth was unable to continue his elective course until he came to Harker. “Teaching such electives was a major factor in my decision to come here,” he said.
Following the Vegesna grant, Shuttleworth made a number of trips to New York City to conduct research within the New York Public Library’s Berg Collection, which houses the vast majority of Jack Kerouac’s draft manuscripts, journals, correspondence, etc., he said. “I also climbed Desolation Peak in the North Cascades National Park, where Kerouac served as a fire lookout in the summer of 1956, an experience which constitutes the climax of his novel ‘The Dharma Bums’ and part 1 of his novel ‘Desolation Angels,’” he added. And I traveled as an invited speaker to Lowell, Mass., to attend the Lowell Celebrates Kerouac Festival, where I participated in a roundtable discussion of Kerouac’s life and work.”
Shuttleworth noted he uncovered a number of important unpublished documents that shed new light on Kerouac, and particularly on his experience on Desolation Peak. “Virtually all the biographies skim over this experience, stating that during his 63 days alone on the mountaintop, he was merely bored while performing his duties as a lookout,” said Shuttleworth.
“In fact, Kerouac wrote in excess of 90,000 words, keeping a fascinating journal of his day-to-day thoughts as well as writing several substantive manuscripts, all of which are virtually unknown even to scholars; and one in particular that I unearthed from the archives (it wasn’t properly identified and very likely never had been read by anyone) constitutes a major find,” he noted. “I’ve written two essays detailing my findings, and throughout the past year, I’ve been in close contact with Jim Sampas, the executor of Jack Kerouac’s literary estate. Jim has applauded my work, and the likely result is a book which he has called on me to edit consisting of all the writing Kerouac produced that summer. He’s also planning to produce a documentary film on the subject and has called on me to be a scholarly interviewee.”
Shuttleworth did some wonderful research and brought the process right into his classroom. “My experience allowed me to share my findings with my students, which included photographs of handwritten documents, transcriptions I made of unpublished material – unfinished novels, journal entries, etc., and also photos of photos, [such as] the Kerouac family photographs that are part of the Berg Collection’s archives,” he noted. “Most notably we read in class an unpublished manuscript that I transcribed entitled ‘The Long Night of Life’ that served as an excellent introduction to Kerouac’s writing.”
In addition, the class took a field trip to San Francisco and toured City Lights Bookstore and the Beat Museum. “Students heard both from Jerry Cimino, the museum’s founder, and Dennis McNally, who spoke with them for a full 90 minutes,” said Shuttleworth. “McNally is the author of ‘Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation and America,’ an excellent biography that puts Kerouac’s life and work in a historical context. My course begins with the reading of that book, so students were able to meet the author, and it was really great.”
“Another major outcome benefiting the school next year is the connection I made with David Amram, a legendary musician and composer who worked with Kerouac and has collaborated with musical luminaries ranging from Leonard Bernstein, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie to Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis. As a result, Mr. Amram is scheduled to spend a week next year at Harker as an artist-in-residence, culminating in an event as part of the Harker Speaker Series where Harker students will perform some of his musical compositions.
Further, in late-breaking news, an article Shuttleworth has written based on his Vegesna research, titled “Imaginary Reasons of Dust,” will be published in the next issue of Beat Scene magazine, coming out in late May, he said. “The article reveals a little-known rift in the friendship between Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg – significant because their artistic relationship was central and so pivotal to the Beat movement,” Shuttleworth added. “The article’s title is a phrase from Kerouac in a letter to Ginsberg, apologizing for his frequent flare-ups and vowing eternal brotherhood on a day when the mercurial Kerouac was in a better mood.”
As for Shuttleworth’s overall experience with the grant, “The experience has been the richest and most gratifying in my intellectual life,” he said. “I’ve been reading and studying Kerouac in particular for more than 30 years, but through this experience my knowledge has reached new heights. I think my students gain a lot by having a teacher with such a high level of expertise and seeing my passion for the subject.”
Tiffany Zhu ’17, now at Stanford, had her Mitra Family Endowment for the Humanities paper, written while at Harker, published in the spring 2018 issue of the Stanford Undergraduate Research Journal. The paper is titled “Putting the Realism in Socialist Realism: Gorky’s Mother as a Bridge between Soviet and Chernyshevskian Literary Aesthetics.”
Zhu has continued to pursue her interest in Russia and took a three-week seminar in St. Petersburg. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see much about (Maxim) Gorky (he was mostly based in Moscow, it turns out),” Zhu said, “but we did get to look at Soviet architecture, which we learned had as complicated a relationship with the state as Soviet literature.
“Right now, I’m taking an upper-division colloquium on Russian revolutionaries from the 18th century to the present day, and one of our readings talked about Chernyshevsky’s ‘What is to be Done?’ I feel that my Mitra research prepared me to understand Chernyshevsky and his context when the time came.”
She added a note to her Mitra mentors. “Thank you, so much, once again, for all of your encouragement and support from the very beginning. You all have inspired me to dive deeper into my passions, and I really don’t think I could be the scholar (and Russia enthusiast) I am today without the Mitra program.” Check out her paper – it’s the first one in the magazine.
Harker is pleased to announce its 2018-19 endowment awardees. Each student will receive a grant to help him or her write a research paper on a humanities subject. The scholars, all seniors, work throughout the year to define, research and write on a topic of their choosing, and papers are presented at a reception in the spring.
The 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, provide funding each year for eight or nine seniors to pursue topics of their choice in depth. Previous papers can be found on the Harker website.
The awardees are:
2019 John Near Scholars: Logan Bhamidipaty, mentored by Byron Stevens and Lauri Vaughan; Prameela Kottapalli, mentored by Mark Janda and Sue Smith; Leon Lu, mentored by Carol Green, Susan Nace and Meredith Cranston; Kelsey Wu, mentored by Kelly Horan and Sue Smith.
2019 Mitra Family Scholars: Nikhil Dharmaraj, mentored by Clifford Hull and Meredith Cranston; Rose Guan, mentored by Ruth Meyer and Meredith Cranston; Haris Hosseini, mentored by Andrea Milius, Josh Martinez and Sue Smith; Constance Horng, mentored by Roxana Pianko, Susan Nace and Lauri Vaughan; Katherine Tian, mentored by Damon Halback, Chris Spenner and Lauri Vaughan.
Steven Liu MS ’85, one of the leading American corporate lawyers in Beijing, recently passed away at the age of 46. He lived in Beijing with his wife and two sons, both of whom attended Harker’s Summer English Language Institute. A memorial service was held on May 25.
Mr. Liu’s ties to Harker remained strong throughout his life: he started at Harker in elementary school, graduated from the middle school, and remained in close touch with his classmates, teachers and coaches. His cousin Vincent Chang also attended Harker at the same time.
After Harker, Mr. Liu attended Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose for high school, University of California, Berkeley, for college, and the University of Pennsylvania for law school. With a powerful intellect, great writing and leadership skills, and the ability to speak fluent Mandarin, it was little surprise that Mr. Liu’s career led to Beijing, where he enjoyed tremendous success.
He opened the Beijing office of the prestigious law firm Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, and was named co-head of their China practice. The firm posted a note immediately after Mr. Liu’s passing in his company biography: “It is with great sadness that we share the passing in May 2018 of our friend and colleague Steve Liu. We and all who knew him will miss his warmth, generosity, humility and thoughtful insight.”
One of Mr. Liu’s closest friends at Harker was school trustee and federal judge John Owens. “Steve was the first kid to befriend me on the playground at Harker, for which I will be eternally grateful,” said Owens. “I was the new guy at school and didn’t know anyone, but Steve made me feel at home. Over the years, he was a great, great friend. He was always supportive, but also would challenge and push you when you needed to be challenged and pushed. In so many ways, he helped me succeed at Harker and beyond.”
Joe Rosenthal, Harker’s executive director of strategic initiatives, who has been working at Harker for the past 37 years, remembers Mr. Liu with great admiration. “[Retired teachers] Pat Walsh and Howard Saltzman and I were invited by Steve to have a few beers with him at Harry’s Hoffbrau, just a few months ago,” said Rosenthal. “That is the kind of guy he was, inviting his former teachers to get together with him decades after he graduated. We all had such a good time remembering Steve’s elementary school days. Steve was not only a very good student but a really fun person to be around; he was very involved in activities and with friends. He had a way of helping bring those around him up while still having a good time in the process.”
Mr. Liu’s other love was the Golden State Warriors, and Mr. Liu and his father, Allen, cheered them on in Oakland and over the internet once Mr. Liu moved to Beijing. He often complained that being a Warriors fan was a curse, but the team’s recent success changed his outlook.
To honor Mr. Liu’s memory, The Steven Liu Memorial Endowment Fund has been established at Harker. Classmates, teachers and friends have contributed to this fund, which will provide support to Harker students every year in perpetuity. Those who wish to contribute and be recognized as donors to The Steven Liu Memorial Fund may do so via check or online. Checks can be sent to the advancement office, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129. Please include “Steven Liu Memorial Fund” on the memo line. If you would prefer to donate online, please visit Harker’s online giving page: www.harker.org/onlinegiving, select “Make an Annual Giving Gift,” enter the amount of your gift and on the “this gift is in memory of” line, type “Steven Liu.” If you have any questions, please contact Tiki Tse, director of donor relations, at tiki.tse@harker.org.
Each year, John Near and Mitra Family endowment scholars are honored at a special reception in the Nichols Hall auditorium. Established in 2009 and 2011, respectively, The John Near Excellence in History Education Endowment Fund and Mitra Family Endowment for the Humanities have allowed students to pursue research on a wide variety of topics. At the reception, students, their teachers and their mentors come together for the formal presentation of the papers prior to Harker’s librarians archiving them online for posterity.
The 2018 scholars are seniors Derek Yen, Andrew Semenza, Serena Lu, Matthew Lee, Amy Jin, Alan Jiang, Jacqueline He and Emily Chen. These students traveled new paths as they defined and researched their chosen topics. The results are eight papers, each delving into a facet of history, and eight students who know more about themselves than when they started their projects one year ago.
Each student spoke eloquently on the journey to self-knowledge and was effusive in praise for both the program and the mentors who helped them succeed in a grueling task while maintaining all of their regular classes. The list of papers is below. Each scholar had poignant memories of their intellectual journey.
Emily Chen, via video, spoke to the magnitude of the project and the changes that came along the way. “It was a really interesting project that started and ended in two completely different places,” she said. “I was definitely not expecting to change my thesis 60 pages into the paper, or to hold a tiny plastic ruler up to my computer screen hours before the deadline getting the widths of 40 different screen caps of movies or to produce a paper of this length. None of this was in the original game plan, but I’m really glad it turned out this way and I’m really glad to have participated in this program.”
“With a project of this size comes the invaluable support and contributions of many,” said Amy Jin, addressing her mentors. “I have learned from you the importance of not just challenging, questioning and striving to connect the pieces of historical narrative, but also of accepting any missing pieces simply because not all questions are answerable.”
“For me, at least, researching as a Near Scholar has been truly one of the most fulfilling, challenging and informative experiences of my life,” said Derek Yen. “I realize that this will … be one of the defining features of my entire education. The fact that Harker has such a well-developed and comprehensive humanities program is very, very valuable and very rare.”
Among the many positive aspect of the effort, Yen noted, is the contact with university research sources. “Besides just being able to access university archives and primary documents, being able to connect with the scholarly community by being able to speak with professors has really, for me, put into perspective the true nature of academic scholarship.”
Andrew Semenza, who was traveling, had his remarks delivered by Yen. “Despite some frustrations, the past year has been significantly bettered for me by my participation in the program. Not only did I have the opportunity to dig into something quite meaningful to me, but the research gave me a sort of an extracurricular intellectual structure through with I might think about other ideas. To me, this sharing of research (with the other scholars) is particularly important in the humanities where the intellectual currency consists of concepts and ideas, above all else.”
Jacqueline He added, “To me, Near/Mitra represents not just an academic endeavor, but also a journey of personal growth. I grew to love the atmosphere of the humanities, which is immersive and interdisciplinary and always challenging. I learned that nothing in history is ever meant to be clear cut, and that’s what makes the process so inherently enjoyable.”
Alan Jiang has attended Harker for the last two years. “Throughout the whole process, I realized that there is so much more that I have learned,” he said. “I thought that my paper was only going to be focused on psychology, but there are elements of linguistics, there are elements of biology on how the human brain interacts with the vocal mechanisms, and I am truly humbled by the vast knowledge that I was exposed to. Although my time as a Near/Mitra scholar ended, my time as a student has not; there is so much more new information, new knowledge that awaits.”
“The Near/Mitra program is near and dear to my heart,” said Serena Lu, “and I think the research we have all done demonstrates the value in learning about humanities no matter what field we go into. I have learned one very big lesson from my research: Always think critically about what you are taught, and what you teach.”
Matthew Lee thanked the entire social sciences department at Harker, where, “stopping by with a quick question evolved into a discussion on how a specific historical event came to be, how we critique and view history, and that really, really matters,” he said.
“That to me,” he added, “is the essence of social science. Learning social science enables us to view the world through a different lens, altogether – it creates better citizens, not just better workers. Beyond just the eight scholars on this stage, today, know that you have planted a blossom in every single Harker student that enables them to not only be good students in the classroom, good workers in the workplace, but also dedicated citizens in the world around them.”
The Papers
“Critical Mass: Examining the Unique Circumstances that Elevated the Newsworthiness of the Three Mile Island Accident,” by Derek Yen, Near Scholar
“River to Reservoir: Changes in Philosophies of Environmental Preservation Argumentation in Relation to 20th-Century Dam-Building,” by Andrew Semenza, Near Scholar
“Games of Truth: The Evolution of Japan’s History,” by Serena Lu, Mitra Scholar
“’There Are No Neutrals There:’ Radicalism, Progressivism, and Class Struggle in 1930s Harlan Kentucky,” by Matthew Lee, Near Scholar
“Carving Small Fish From Gold: Exploring the Genesis of Magical Realism in Latin American Literature as a Means of Resistance,” by Jacqueline He, Mitra Scholar
“Sounds as Speech Therapy: The Trials of Pronouncing a New Language,” by Alan Jiang, Mitra Scholar
“Bad Blood: Racialized Medicine and Scientific Self-Regulation in the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment,” by Amy Jin, Near Scholar
“Across Every River: French New Wave Formalism and Fifth Generation Chinese Cinema,” by Emily Chen, Mitra Scholar
Last week, seven of this year’s Near-Mitra scholars – seniors Andrew Semenza, Amy Jin, Derek Yen, Emily Chen, Nirban Bhatia and Jackie He – visited the Stanford Humanities Center, which sponsors research into human history, arts, philosophy and culture. The students received a tour of the facility and met with the Hume Humanities Honors fellows. Each year, eight Stanford seniors are selected for the year-long fellowship.
Donna Gilbert, upper school history department chair, said the trip was made “to foster and facilitate a conversation and collaboration between our two programs.” Gilbert also identified a desire to discover how the fellows and Harker’s scholars have had similar experiences during their research and use those experiences to develop “best practices” in humanities research.
The idea to have the students meet with the Hume fellows was spurred by upper school English teacher Beth Wahl, who worked at the Stanford Humanities Center for several years. “It made sense to try to connect Harker’s Near-Mitra scholars to undergraduates doing humanities research and set up a conversation about research methods, the range of projects that fall under the humanities and the value of a humanities major,” Wahl told Harker Aquila.
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