Harker has been sending fourth graders to the Coloma Outdoor Discovery School (CODS) to learn about the California Gold Rush for more than 20 years. This year, 17 Harker faculty members attended as chaperones, while students spent several adventurous days experiencing what it was like to be a gold miner.
The annual spring sojourn to Coloma is a highlight of the school year for grade 4 students. Located on the south fork of the American River, Coloma is where gold was first discovered in 1848, leading to the California Gold Rush. Today, Coloma is a designated National Historic Landmark District and tourist attraction best known for its ghost town and Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park.
On the first day of the trip, the students had a fun time settling in and creating a Gold Rush encampment, recalled Kristin Giammona, elementary school head. “They built a shelter, washed laundry, baked cornbread and panned for gold. They finished the day with a hoedown and campfire,” she said.
On day two, the students ventured into the town of Coloma and visited the state park. There students learned about the plants and animals of the Sierra foothills. The evening was capped off by a Native American storyteller who brought native life and local lore alive for the students.
“On the last day, students talked about the 49ers of today – themselves! They learned that what they need to survive hasn’t changed very much … or has it?” said Giammona.
In mid-May, grade 7 students, on the threshold of reaching their much-anticipated “senior status” at the middle school, participated in some special activities alongside their advisors.
“We were very fortunate to have had facilitators from Synergy Learning Systems, a team and leadership development company who works with clients worldwide, here to guide and direct us all through many interesting activities,” recalled Cindy Ellis, middle school head.
Synergy Learning Systems has worked with many of Silicon Valley’s largest companies, as well as with startups, nonprofits and student groups. They use fun and challenging activities paired with thoughtful facilitation to promote learning in leadership and communication, reported Ellis.
The Harker middle school students were encouraged to participate in a series of experiential learning exercises designed to foster their understanding of many different styles of leadership and communication. During these activities, students were asked to engage fully, step outside their comfort zone to promote growth and reflect on each activity to highlight key concepts.
“One of Synergy’s core values is the mantra ‘challenge by choice.’ Though we asked all students to participate fully, they individually determined how to engage with these activities while taking care not to detract from other students’ learning,” said Ellis.
After an informative morning of activities, the students enjoyed a celebratory Mexican lunch fiesta while Ellis discussed what it would be like to become members of the middle school’s senior class. Students were then invited to relax and enjoy a movie, as well as engage in a fun “selfie” station, complete with props.
“The day was enriching and fun – just like eighth grade will be for this exceptional class!” said Ellis.
Throughout the school year, lower school students participated in an engaging global education exchange program with their peers at the Bayan Gardens School (BGS) in Saudi Arabia. As part of that effort, students in Sejal Mehta’s grade 2 class held an informal Skype session with the BGS students in April.
Prior to the Skype session, the Harker students had watched videos created by the BGS students about their culture and school, as well as read a book about BGS (also created by the Saudi Arabian students). During the Skype session, students from both schools gave tours of their classrooms and participated in a fun and informative question and answer exchange.
“The global education department looks forward to hosting more of these Skype sessions in the lower school during the coming school year!” said Jennifer Walrod, director of global education.
Each year, as a special send-off to students in grades K-3, Harker’s BEST department hosts a Kiddie Carnival. Held onsite on the last day of school, the celebration is the student’s final school-sponsored activity of the year.
The 36th annual event, which took place on June 3, was called “Down on the Farm.” Students and faculty came dressed in farm-related attire for the carnival, which included a petting zoo, snow cones, games, prizes and more.
The day ended with a noon dismissal, with teachers wishing students a fond farewell and a fabulous summer.
“It has been another incredible year … and this event was a great opportunity to show our appreciation to the students!” said Kim Cali, BEST director for the lower school, speaking on behalf of the entire BEST team.
Rosenthal Field transformed: The power shovels are piling up the last of the debris for removal as the demolition phase of building the new Harker School performing arts and athletic centers wraps up. Stay tuned for updates as interesting milestones are reached!
Beginning in June 2016 Harker launched two new state-of-the art building projects on the upper school campus, the result of a $45M capital campaign. The 33,000 square-foot athletic center, opening August 2017, features a 12,000 sq.-ft. gym, athletic training room with advanced hydrotherapy unit, and spacious team rooms. The Rothschild Performing Arts Center, opening spring of 2018, features a 450-seat theater with fly loft and hydraulic orchestra pit, a state of the art scene shop, vocal, instrumental, theater/musical theater classrooms and dressing rooms. For more information visit the news and video links below or contact communications@harker.org
Grade 2 students had the honor of creating the table centerpiece art for the recent 2016 Silicon Valley Go Red for Women Luncheon, a fundraiser benefiting the American Heart Association. The centerpieces consisted of clay hearts on long sticks, which were inserted into beautiful flower arrangements.
Go Red for Women is the American Heart Association’s national movement to end heart disease and stroke in women. Harker is an annual sponsor of the local luncheon, held this year on May 5 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose. Harker regularly donates a basket of summer goodies, which includes a coupon for $500 off a summer camp at the school, to the event.
Attendees, who were all clad in red, enjoyed an engaging talk by keynote speaker Dr. Suzanne Steinbaum, director of Women’s Heart Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York. Dr. Steinbaum is a national spokesperson for the Go Red for Women campaign and chairperson of Go Red for Women in New York City.
Steinbaum informed the audience that heart disease and stroke cause one in three deaths among women each year – more than all cancers combined. Fortunately, 80 percent of cardiac events can be prevented with education and lifestyle changes, she noted.
Go Red For Women inspires women to make lifestyle changes, mobilize communities and shape policies to save lives. For more information about the cause: https://www.goredforwomen.org/.
Shortly before the school year came to a close, middle school math teacher Kathy Pazirandeh and her advisees delivered toiletries they had collected to LifeMoves (formerly known as InnVision Shelter Network), a local shelter for homeless women and children.
“As an advisory, we collect toiletries all through the year and make care packets and donate them to the shelter at the end of the school year. This year we made 210 care packets, which we sorted, packed and delivered,” reported Pazirandeh.
According to the LifeMoves website, the nonprofit’s recent name change captures its mission and expectation that its clients will break their cycle of homelessness. Last year, 97 percent of families and 82 percent of individuals in interim housing who completed the LifeMoves program successfully returned to stable housing and self-sufficiency, according to the site.
Three Harker eighth graders received accolades for their scientific research at the California State Science Fair, held in late May in Los Angeles. Cynthia Chen placed fourth in the environmental engineering category for her project, titled “A Novel Method to Reduce Water Consumption in Germinating Seeds.” The team of Aarzu Gupta and Maya Shukla received the Clinical Chemistry Award, which included a $150 cash prize, for their project, “A Test of the Mutagenic and Carcinogenic Potential of Nicotine-Free Electronic Cigarette Additives.” They also received a $100 second-place award from the UCLA Brain Research Institute.
Other projects by Harker students displayed at the fair were “Effects of Emotions on Test Takers” by eighth graders Vibha Arramreddy and Sejal Krishnan and “Delicious or Disgusting?: The Effects of Priming on a Taster’s Reaction and Perception of Food” by eighth graders Allison Jia and Jasmine Wiese. This year’s California State Science Fair featured projects by 941 students from 421 schools across the state.
All of these projects were first-place winners in their respective categories at the Synopsys Science and Technology Championship, which qualified them for participation at the state level. The students were also enrolled in the middle school’s research program, an after-school class taught by middle school science teachers Kristen Morgensen, Kathy Peng and Thomas Artiss. “Students make the commitment to attend a one-hour per week class on a specified day,” said Morgensen “While we teach and mentor the students in the class, the projects are all created and derived by the students themselves.” The primary goal of the class, Morgensen added, is to “foster good scientific thinking and experience the entire scientific process.”
Niki Iyer, grade 11, and the boys golf team finished off their impressive seasons last week by each placing at the state championships.
Iyer ran one of the top upsets at the California State Track Championships, where she placed third. Coming off of her CCS title run a week before, she was ranked 10th in the 3200-meter state meet run. Iyer placed 17th in last year’s state meet. She ran a 5:12 first mile, then a 5:12 for the second mile. The race took place in Clovis last Saturday in 93-degree weather at 10 p.m. Her third place finish was the best among all CCS runners at the competition.
The boys golf team made it to the state finals for the first time in Harker golf history and finished as the sixth best high school team in California! Please congratulate our boys golf team on a historic season. The team has every reason to be proud of its accomplishments and most team members will return next year, so we’ll look for more of the same! Season highlights also include the league championship, second place in CCS and third place at NorCals. Congratulations to both the boys golf team and Iyer for on a great year! Go Eagles!
Harker’s Future Problem Solving Team – ninth graders Kelly Shen, Sara Min and Tiffany Wong, and seventh grader Elaine Zhai – has advanced to the Presentation of Action Plan finals at the international competition! A celebration was in order, and with temperatures on the rise, the destination seemed obvious. “We celebrated by hitting up the Michigan State University on-campus Dairy Store for some homemade ice cream!” reported upper school debate teacher and team advisor Carol Green. The team competes in the final around on June 4. Wish them luck!
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Future Problem Solvers Taylor Lam, Kelly Shen, Sara Min and Tiffany Wong, all grade 9, are headed to internationals! In their division, the team placed first in presentation of action plan and second in global issues problem solving at the recent California Future Problem Solving championship. They will compete as California representatives at the international competition, which will be held at Michigan State University in June.
In the MAGIC competition –in which students meet their teammates for the first time on the day of competition – Evani Radiya-Dixit, grade 11, took first place in the middle/senior division, while Elaine Zhai, grade 7, took second. Earlier this semester, eighth graders Vishnu Jaisim and Jack Hansen took second and third, respectively, in the FPS scenario writing competition.