On April 11, Kumi Matsui’s Japanese language students embarked on a field trip to Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, where they put their Japanese skills into practice and learned more about Japanese culture.
The first stop on the trip was a local Japanese eatery called Tomi Sushi. “The staff of this restaurant usually speaks native Japanese and they serve authentic Japanese dishes,” said Matsui. “The students had the opportunity to order dishes only in Japanese.”
Upon reaching Hakone Gardens, the students took an opportunity to learn more about Japanese culture by participating in a tea ceremony, after which they enjoyed a walk through the famously lush gardens, stopping for a moment at a pond to feed fish and turtles.
Ashvin Swaminathan ’13 was just awarded a Soros Fellowship for New Americans.
The Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans honors the contributions of immigrants and children of immigrants to the United States. Each year, the program provides funding for graduate studies for 30 immigrants and children of immigrants “who are poised to make significant contributions to U.S. society, culture or their academic field,” according to the website, which goes on to note that each fellow receives up to $90,000 in financial support over two years.
Swaminathan, a senior at Harvard, is graduating in May with degrees in mathematics and physics. In the fall, he will start his graduate studies in mathematics at Princeton. Other awardees include a jazz trumpeter at The Juilliard School, a printmaker at Yale and a philosophy major at Columbia. Swaminathan was valedictorian for his graduating class at Harker and earned a number of distinctions while still in high school, including being named a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search (now the Regeneron Science Talent Search) and a John Near Scholar Endowment recipient. Amazing work, Ashvin! Best wishes for a continued great career! The photo is from the 2013 Near-Mitra Endowment reception.
The annual grade 2 production of the Ogre Awards took place in late March at the Bucknall Theater, where this year’s cast traveled “Around the World in 80 Pages.” Students portrayed characters from stories originating from places including Hawaii, Ghana, Russia and Vietnam.
During the preceding months, the students heard stories from various cultures (told by lower school librarian Kathy Clark) and had lengthy discussions about each story’s characters and the different archetypes they represented. They later voted on which characters would win awards in various categories. Students then played these characters in the Ogre Awards show, where they were presented with the awards.
The theme for the show was based on the classic Jules Verne novel “Around the World in 80 Days,” and rose out of an amusing wager between Clark and fellow lower school librarian Judy Atterholt.
“Ms. Atterholt and I bet on the fastest way to get around the world in stories: through nonfiction like atlases and geography textbooks, or through fiction and folklore,” said Clark.
Lower school technical theater teacher Danny Dunn provided considerable help by tracking down variations of “It’s a Small World (After All)” that were based on musical traditions from the cultures represented in the show.
As has become tradition in the 20-plus-year history of the Ogre Awards, a special Ogre Award was bestowed upon a Harker staff member for his or her support of Harker’s libraries. This year’s recipient was none other than Dan Hudkins, director of information technology service and support. “Mr. Hudkins has always been a library advocate, even before he was a founding member of the school’s Information Literacy Committee,” Clark said.
Diana Nichols, chair of Harker’s Board of Trustees, announced Wednesday that Brian Yager was elected as the new head of the school, filling the vacancy of current head, Chris Nikoloff, who accepted a position as headmaster of The American School in Switzerland. Yager will start July 1.
Nikoloff has served as Harker’s head of school for 11 years, after six years as middle school head and assistant head. “I have been deeply honored to steward this truly one-of-a-kind institution at a critical time in its impressive history,” said Nikoloff. “While I know that this is the right move for my family at this time, and I am excited by the new challenges and opportunities ahead of me, I remain a steadfast champion of Harker’s mission.”
Of Nikoloff, Nichols stated, “He has been a well-respected leader and a personal friend, and he has worked hard to guide the school over the last 11 years. The school is flourishing, and we wish him the very best.”
Harker’s search for a new head began last year and, with the help of a national search firm, included surveys to parents and alumni, and on-campus interviews with all potential candidates. The board was pleased to find such a well-suited and highly qualified candidate in Yager, and unanimously elected him to the position of permanent head.
“We were very fortunate to find Mr. Yager,” Nichols said. “He has been in education for 26 years and he has experience working with students in pre-K though 12, thus bringing that full range of grade level experience to us.”
Nichols went on to note that Yager has held many educational positions, serving as a teacher, department chair and head of upper school. For more than 15 years, he worked in various capacities for the Cate School in Carpinteria, including director of residential life, annual fund director, lacrosse, water polo and soccer coach, and founder of the summer program. For the last seven years, he has been the head of school at the Keystone School in San Antonio, Texas, a well-respected school of about 500 students. “His educational vision aligns with Harker’s, and he has a personality that will fit in very well with our community,” she added.
Yager and his wife, Megan, have three children, one of whom will be joining Harker next year as a sophomore.
Yager has a master’s degree in education from Harvard University, with emphases in administration and planning, and technology in education. He was a Klingenstein Summer Fellow (https://www.profellow.com/fellowship/klingenstein-summer-institute/) at Columbia University and graduated from Stanford with a B.A. in quantitative economics and a B.S. with honors and distinction in applied earth sciences.
“We believe the entire community will be impressed with Mr. Yager, and delighted at what he will bring to the Harker community,” Nichols added.
Last week, 150 dancers lit up the stage at the Blackford Theater for the middle school performing arts department’s annual Dance Jamz production. Directed by Gail Palmer, who also acted as a choreographer along with Kimberley Teodoro, Kento Vo, Jessalyn Espiritu, Alexandra Venter, Rachelle Haun and Brianna Alday, the show featured 18 routines performed to songs by Ciara, Imagine Dragons, David Guetta and The Black Eyed Peas. Check out the accompanying photos for a look at the excitement!
The annual Jump Rope for Heart event took place at the lower school campus in early March, as students jumped rope and participated in other activities to raise money for the American Heart Association.
Students collected donations in the weeks leading up to the event, during which they jumped rope in the gym and shot hoops at the basketball court. These and other activities are meant to commemorate those suffering from heart problems, as well as bring awareness to healthy lifestyle habits.
This year’s drive raised more than $13,000 for the American Heart Association, surpassing last year’s amount by more than $3,000. Since 2000, the effort has raised nearly $180,000.
Prompted by the idea of a compassionate lower school student, the campus acknowledged World Down Syndrome Day today by learning about Down syndrome and having Crazy Sock Day, “which aligns with what is being done on a larger scale, nationwide and worldwide,” said Ken Allen, lower school dean of students. On World Down Syndrome Day, people are encouraged to wear crazy socks to signify the extra chromosome that people with Down syndrome carry. Under a microscope, pairs of chromosomes look a lot like pairs of colorful socks!
“Eye-catching, brightly colored patterned socks or … socks that simply rock were the menu for the day – in the words of the student who initiated the idea,” Allen added.
UPDATE Mar. 27, 2017
Harker’s robotics team took their game to Sacramento over the past weekend and, again, made the finals. This year, for the first time, the team made the semifinals in both regionals in which it competes. The team has had a banner year, notes advisor Eric Nelson. “Our last two games were too close to call until the final official tally. It has been a great season!” he said.
Mar. 21, 2017
Harker Robotics made school history in mid-March when, for the first time, it finished in the top eight of the seeding rounds of the Central Valley Robotics Regional Competition. The robotics team ranked seventh out of 47 entries at the end of the event, held in Madera. This ranking gave Harker the choice of alliance partners for the quarterfinals. During the quarterfinals, Harker’s alliance had the highest score for the entire tournament, moving it on to the semifinals. “Alas,” noted team advisor Eric Nelson, “we lost our two semifinal games. It was an excellent competition where the students really lived up to their abilities.”
Harker’s upper school robotics program, nearly 60 strong including 11 girls, is run like a startup, with each year’s team starting with a budget, the equipment already on hand and a timetable set by the competition rules. Each year, the team has to build a robot to accomplish tasks defined by the competition for that season. This means each year the team must reconfigure the robot’s abilities, learn to manage the machine in competitions and stay within the designated budget.
The big difference this year is Harker has hired a robotics coach to help students manage the complex processes needed to both function as a startup and provide a useful product for the competitions.
“We hired Martin Baynes to teach two robotics courses and to work with the students at the engineering level during the build season,” Nelson said. “In prior years the technical oversight was done when people were available, and it was spread around between me and some parent volunteers. With Martin providing dedicated faculty oversight, we have continuity and consistency. This year was the best overall performance I have seen since I came here in 2003. I fully expect to see a similar, and most likely better, level of performance this week at UC Davis.”
The Harker Alumni Association held a special Harker Family & Alumni Dinner on the Bund in Shanghai in March to celebrate the 35 years Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, has been working at Harker. The crowd, about 75 strong, enjoyed an evening cruise, during which the Alumni Association awarded Rosenthal the Phyllis Carley Award, presented each spring to an individual who has devoted time and energy, and made significant contributions, toward advancing The Harker School’s programs. Former boarding students and alumni gathered to celebrate the award and the contributions Rosenthal has made over his many years at Harker.
Harker Preschool held an Amazing Art Show opening reception and presentation last week. Alexandria Kerekez, preschool visual arts specialist, showed off the children’s artwork and discussed the process and techniques strengthened through the various projects.
Some of the projects reflect a collaborative effort over an extended period of time. For example, the Acorn children (ages 4 and 5) collaborated over the past two months to construct a grand scale “passenger airplane” complete with detailed renderings of the travelers. Their peers in the Clover cottage (also ages 4 and 5) elected to focus their efforts on weaving. Over the last two months, the students beautified the campus with colorful woven works installed on the fences and also fashioned one-of-a-kind woven works from repurposed textiles.
Meanwhile, the 3-year-olds have been studying the fundamentals of ceramics. Efforts with techniques like “slab” and “coil” involve a wealth of important skills like 3-D design and vocabulary acquisition. Their unique sculptures are currently on display and demonstrate the children’s patience and perseverance with a new technical, multiple-step process.
The current gallery showcase will be on display until the end of April and the next and final gallery show will be linked with Harker’s annual Grandparents’ Day event in May.