In early November the middle school participated in its first Wellness Day of the school year, featuring a special bell schedule to allow time for yoga and meditation activities. Prior to the event, students and faculty had been instructed to wear comfortable clothes and bring a water bottle, yoga mat and towel to school that day. Wellness activities occur across all four campuses to help students keep stress down and practice healthy activities.
Whenever Logan Bhamidipaty, grade 9, has some spare time, he puts it to good use by volunteering at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, the largest food bank in the country. He has racked up well over 270 hours of community service at the food bank and raised $2,500 for the organization during September’s Hunger Action Month, a nationwide campaign to promote hunger awareness.
According to representatives at the food bank, the Bay Area has one of the highest national statistics of residents facing hunger. To help raise funds for the food bank, Bhamidipaty undertook such activities as pet sitting, recycling, and asking friends and family members for donations.
“Even after coming to the food bank for over a year and a half, I am still amazed that one box of food or even one pound of rice can feed a family. Facts like these really motivated me to come back. By the end of the day, even if I only made a small difference, I still know that I made someone’s day a little better,” said Bhamidipaty.
In November, local television reporter Spencer Christian interviewed Bhamidipaty about his contribution as part of a “Give Where You Live: ABC-7 Thanksgiving Food Drive” campaign to support Bay Area food banks. ABC-7 reported that Bhamidipaty’s donation resulted in 7,500 meals for residents in San Francisco and Marin counties.
Paul Ash, executive director of the SF-Marin Food Bank, called Bhamidipaty an outstanding volunteer and a wonderful example of how a young person’s determination can make a big difference in the world.
“His donations of time and money have helped thousands of families receive the food they need. There are opportunities all around us to give back, and Logan’s actions are a great example of that. The food bank believes that together we can end hunger, and Logan embodies that spirit,” noted Ash.
On the morning of Dec. 12, lower school students welcomed the holiday season by gathering for a beloved annual outing – the Lower School Skating Social. The event was held at Downtown Ice, a seasonal outdoor rink across the street from San Jose’s Plaza de Cesar Chavez. After the skate party ended, many families wandered over to the plaza to enjoy the festive Christmas in the Park exhibits and decorated Christmas trees, and to get a quick bite to eat at one of the food stalls. Among the displays was the Little Harker School House, where students were able to see what an old-time schoolhouse was like. There was also a tree decorated by Harker’s grade 2 Girl Scout troop. A great time was had by all!
In early December, middle school families were treated to a special after-school teen panel discussion on social media and the digital age with a representative from Common Sense Media.
Harker hosted the panel, which was held in the campus’ multipurpose room, for a handful of independent schools in the South Bay, explained Scott Kley Contini, the middle school’s director of learning, innovation and design.
“This panel took the form of a live discussion of social media and teen use with a representative from Common Sense Media and the seventh and eighth grade students from the participating schools,” recalled Kley Contini. He noted that parents of students from the participating schools, as well as Harker’s entire middle school faculty, were also invited to attend.
“This was a great opportunity to catch a glimpse of the real digital lives of our students,” said Kley Contini.
The holidays will be a little brighter for a many underprivileged local families, thanks to the lower school’s annual toy drive. A grade 4 community service project, the effort began on Dec. 7 and ended on Dec.17. This year’s donations, totaling over 400 items, will be going to St. Justin’s Community Ministry and Sacred Heart Community Services.
“St. Justin’s Community Ministry is currently serving thousands of families and individuals each month at its location in Santa Clara, providing food, clothing and the basic essentials families need to survive. Each Christmas season, St. Justin’s, in conjunction with Sacred Heart Community Services, provides deserving families the opportunity to ‘shop’ and select the perfect toys for their children and family,” explained Ken Allen, lower school dean of students.
A group of students assisted Harker faculty in the counting and loading of the toys, as well as with their ultimate delivery to St. Justin’s. There they had the unique opportunity to meet with the director of the outreach program.
Although the effort was primarily a fourth grade service project, all lower school families were invited to participate. Children were asked to bring new, unwrapped toys to school, which were then deposited inside the fence located in the gymnasium lobby until they were delivered.
“We are grateful for your continued and generous support of the service projects on our campus!” said Allen in a letter to lower school parents thanking them for their donations.
Harker winter sports are in full form as basketball, soccer and wrestling all get off to a quick start before league action begins.
Boys Basketball
Looking to score two tournament championships in a row, the boys basketball team opened the Lynbrook Tournament with a 60-46 victory over Summit Shasta with Roy Yuan, grade 9, leading Harker with 22 points. Jadan McDermott, grade 10, pitched in 12 points and 11 rebounds. However, the Eagles fell 52-45 to host Lynbrook in the second round. Elijah Edgehill, grade 12, had 15 points and nine rebounds in the loss. But Harker would bounce back for a 62-54 win over Homestead in the consolation bracket. Yuan led the way with 19 points and Edgehill added 15 points. The boys team is now 5-1 on the season and travels to Monta Vista this Saturday at 12:30 p.m. to face off with the Matadors.
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team picked up another big victory on Friday night as it defeated Prospect High 61-37 to bring its record to 4-1 on the season. Joelle Anderson and Jordan Thompson, both grade 11, led the team with 18 points each. The Eagles host Watsonville this Friday at 5 p.m. at the Blackford campus.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team looks to pick up its first win of the season as it hosts Redwood Christian this Friday at 3 p.m. on Davis Field.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team dropped a close match to Saratoga 3-2 last Thursday at Davis Field. The team is back on the pitch this Friday as it travels to Lynbrook High School at 3:30 p.m.
Wrestling
Two members of the Harker wrestling team competed at the sixth annual Webber Lawson Memorial Wrestling Tournament this past weekend. Davis Howard, grade 11, wrestled in the 285-pound division and Diego Figueroa, grade 11, in the 160-pound division. Howard and Figueroa went a combined 1-4 in a very competitive tournament that featured six of the top 10 teams in CCS. Come out to support the Harker wrestlers as they open league action on Jan. 7 at 5:30 p.m. in the Blackford gym.
Earlier this month, Jason Kwok, grade 7, competed with the Santa Clara Swim Club at the 2015 Short Course Junior Olympic Championships.
Kwok’s relay teams did very well, ranking No. 1 for the 400 freestyle relay short course yards, No. 2 for the 200 freestyle relay short course yards and No. 3 for the 200 medley relay short course yards in the USA Swimming national age group rankings. As an individual, Kwok was ranked No. 8 in the 100 breaststroke short course yards.
Singing at Carnegie Hall
Shayla He, grade 4, sang at Carnegie Hall this past weekend! She entered the American Fine Art Festival (AFAF) Golden Voices of America 2015 International Vocal Competition and was awarded third place in both the classical category and musical theater category in the 9 to 10-year-old group, performing four songs. Her performance earned her a spot in the AFAF-organized Winner’s Concert at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall on Dec. 13 with singers ages 9 to 20-plus from all over the world. Huge congrats to Shayla!
Coming off one of the best athletic seasons in Harker history, our student-athletes were showered with end-of-the-year accolades by their leagues, the CCS and the Mercury News for their efforts in competition and in the classroom.
Breaking News
The grade 5 JVB1 boys basketball team had an impressive December! Coaches Dan Pringle and Karriem Stinson led the team to a league title and the WBAL tournament championship, finishing the season with a 9-0 overall record as Harker defeated St. Matt’s 23-16 last night in the finals of the WBAL Tournament! Congratulations on a great season!
Girls Volleyball
With another great season on the books, the girls volleyball team ended as co-league champs and CCS semifinalists. Doreene Kang, grade 12, and Rachel Cheng, grade 11, received first team recognition. Jackie Chen, grade 12, Lindsey Trinh, grade 11, and Melissa Kwan, grade 10, took home second team honors, and Shannon Richardson, grade 12, received an honorable mention.
Football
The football team had its best record in school history (8-2) and made the playoffs for only the second time in school history, but the team racked up many personal awards as well! Nate Kelly, grade 10, was named league offensive Co-MVP, and Anthony Contreras, grade 10, was named league defensive co-MVP. First team honor went to Demonte Aleem, grade 9, Johnathon Keller, grade 12, James Pauli, grade 10, and Jadan McDermott, grade 10. Receiving second team recognition was Jalen Clark, grade 10, Saketh Gurram, grade 11, Will Park, grade 11, and Trenton Thomas, grade 12.
Girls Golf
The girls golf team had one of its best seasons in school history, finishing eighth in CCS and being named CCS academic champions in their sport. Leading the way was Katherine Zhu, grade 10, who was league champ, league MVP, tied for third in CCS and tied for 12th in NorCals. Ashley Zhong, grade 12, took home a first team award, Daphne Liang, grade 12, was among the second team standouts and Vienna Wang, grade 11, received an honorable mention.
Girls Tennis
The girls varsity tennis team was a CCS quarterfinalist this year, and the doubles team of Pamela Duke, grade 9, and Elizabeth Schick, grade 10, took second in CCS doubles. League first team honors went to Duke, Schick and Liza Egorova, grade 9. Izzy Gross, grade 12, Gloria Guo, grade 10, and Riya Singh, grade 9, were on the second team, with Aliesa Bahri and Kathleen Cheng, both grade 10, receiving honorable mentions. Duke was also named to the All-Mercury News girls tennis second team.
Boys Water Polo
The boys water polo team was named CCS academic champion for team members’ stellar work in the classroom. In the pool, Edward Sheu, grade 12, was named to the league first team, as well as the CCS coaches D2 second team. Arnav Tandon and Arben Gutierrez-Bujari, both grade 11, also received first team honors, with Zeyad El-Arabaty, grade 12, named to the second team.
Girls Water Polo
The girls water polo team was also well represented in the league awards as Yasemin Narin, grade 12, and Meghana Karinthi, grade 10, took home first team recognition, and Helena Dworak, grade 12, was on the second team.
Boys Cross Country
Jack Rothschild, Lev Sepetov and Connor O’Neill, all grade 12, received league honorable mentions, and the team was named CCS academic champions for their sport.
Girls Cross Country
The girls cross country team ended its season with an eighth place CCS finish as well as some huge individual accomplishments. Niki Iyer, grade 11, was league champ, league MVP, second place in CCS, fifth in state and named to theAll-Mercury News first team (http://www.mercurynews.com/sports/ci_29223827/allmercury-news-girls-cross-country:-gunn-s-gillian-meeks-is-the-runner-of-the-year). Alex Dellar, grade 12, was named to the second team, with Anika Rajamani and Lilia Gonzales, both grade 9, receiving honorable mentions.
Congratulations to all fall athletes for an amazing season. GO EAGLES!
Last week, Ameek Singh, grade 12, and Aliesa Bahri, grade 10, headed to Tampa, Fla., to attend the People of Color Conference and the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, both organized by the National Association of Independent Schools. Also in attendance were upper school art teacher Pilar Aguero-Esparza, upper school history teacher Mark Janda and kindergarten teacher Katherine Lo.
“I wanted to attend the conference to jump-start the diversity efforts at Harker and spread education about my identity,” Singh said. “I also wanted to discover my identity.”
The students participated in a number of enlightening activities that allowed them to discuss their experiences living as people of color in various parts of the country. “We participated in affinity groups, in which students of South Asian descent got together and talked about their culture, and their experiences as South Asians in different parts of the country,” Singh said. “In addition, we were in family groups where we tackled various issues about family, gender, racism and most importantly, privilege.”
Speakers at the event included Mae Carol Jemison, the first African-American woman in space, and Mahzarin Banaji, a noted Indian-American social psychologist who was key to the development of the implicit-association test, which measures how strongly a person automatically associates between two representations of objects. “Banaji presented from her extensive research on unconscious bias and discussed ways we can examine ourselves to become more discerning of our own attitudes and beliefs,” Aguero-Esparza said.
Aguero-Esparza also enjoy workshops by Rosetta Lee from the Seattle Girls’ School and Liza Talusan of The Park School in Massachusetts. “Rosetta Lee presented a session that discussed the concept of cultural competency as a new model for old school diversity in independent schools,” she said. “Liza Talusan held a session on deconstructing myths about Asian-Americans that I found very informative (and eye-opening) and applicable to my teaching.”
Toward the end of the conferences, the Harker students and teachers met to discuss how the lessons they learned could be applied at Harker. “It was exciting to hear their ideas and see their enthusiasm for what they want to bring back to school and how they want to help lead our community to engage in diversity work,” Aguero-Esparza recalled. During these discussions, Singh and Bahri mentioned that they would like to present to Harker students on their experience at the conferences and also create a club dedicated to the topic of diversity.
Harker’s Green Committee has not been letting the grass grow under its feet. Here are some of the group’s activities that are coming to fruition. But first, a special thanks to the advancement department, which pioneered using potted Christmas trees in lower school classrooms instead of cut trees. Once big enough, the organization Rent a Living Christmas Tree will plant them in city-designated areas. The 4- to 5-foot tall trees arrived Nov. 30 and will be picked up for replanting Dec. 18.
Earth Day plans across all four campuses are evolving. This year, the big upper school spirit rally and Earth Day fall on the same day, so the campus’ Green Team – led by president Akshay Battu, Karen Tu and Annie Zhou, all grade 12, and Kshithija Mulam, grade 11 – and Harker Spirit Club leaders Arben Gutierrez-Bujari, grade 11, and Layla Walker, grade 12, have joined forces to make the day momentous!
Meanwhile, the water-use reduction program is really driving down usage. Check out this graph!
Water Reduction compared to same period previous year (> 4/1/15)
Saratoga
Blackford
Bucknall
Union
May
45%
53%
68%
73%
Jun
54%
74%
75%
64%
Jul
50%
70%
52%
56%
Aug
30%
54%
42%
23%
Sep
16%
60%
40%
43%
Average to Date
39%
62%
55%
51%
Janet Rohrer, our facilities and hazmat safety coordinator, has led the development of a pest management program across the four campuses that will reduce the use of harmful pesticides and herbicides.
One of the most important, but little noticed programs, is the No Idling on Campus effort. The student-run Green Team had signs made reminding upper school drivers to turn off engines while waiting for students or at the red light; the signs will move to the lower school campus in December to expand that campaign.
The committee is happy to note that Harker kitchens are now using eggs from Glaum Egg Ranch, a local, family farm with cage-free chickens.
Finally, the dining area at the upper school’s Manzanita Hall was retiled using materials sourced from Azuliber, a company specializing in eco-friendly flooring.