The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) was the real winner of a students versus faculty/staff basketball game held during a long lunch on Nov.12 in the upper school gym.
The Hoops & Scoops charity basketball game was jointly sponsored by the Harker Disability Awareness Group and the Harker DECA chapter. During the game, members of the two student clubs scooped and served up delicious ice cream sundaes to onlookers. One scoop cost $2, while three scoops went for $5.Proceeds from the event, which totaled $405, benefited the MDA.
“We chose to support the MDA because they are DECA’s largest charitable partner,” said Juston Glass, director of Harker’s business and entrepreneurship program. “Students won, 72-59. But the real winner was MDA.”
The MDA is the world’s leading nonprofit health organization sponsoring research into the causes and effective treatments for neuromuscular diseases. MDA research grants currently support more than 250 projects worldwide.
Prior to the event, upper school students, faculty and staff were invited to sign up for basketball teams that were divided by grade levels. With 10 players per grade, freshman played the first quarter, sophomores played the second, juniors played the third and seniors played fourth.
“We wanted an activity that would involve the whole school and have it be interactive and fun. Having a friendly basketball competition seemed like a great way to do that. Being that it was a physical activity, we were able to truly embrace the MDA’s mission of ‘make a muscle; make a difference.’ We hope it to be the start of an annual tradition,” Glass said.
In mid-November, the middle school’s Wildlife SOS club sold handmade greeting cards for $1 each to raise money for Wildlife SOS, an organization that works to protect wildlife in India.
In addition to cards, the group sold a few handmade key chains for 50 cents and $1 each. Although the club did not supply envelopes for the cards, it plans to make them available in the future if there is enough interest.
Wildlife SOS (http://www.wildlifesos.org/) was established in 1995 by a small group of people inspired to start a movement and make lasting change to protect and conserve India’s natural heritage, forests and wildlife wealth.
Fourth grader Amiya Chokhawala was awarded high honors by Johns Hopkins University for being among the highest-scoring participants in its 2014 international Talent Search! The award, bestowed by the university’s Center for Talented Youth, is based on a test that measures verbal and mathematical reasoning ability. Sima Shah, Amiya’s mother, noted, “This is a result of strong community work between Harker and family.”
In 2009 Liza Turchinsky, then in grade 3, now grade 9, was recognized by the center.
Grade 2 students recently painted and delivered colorful pumpkins to residents living near the lower school campus in an effort to thank them for being such good neighbors. The pumpkins were created on Oct. 24 and delivered the following week.
The pumpkin painting and delivery is an annual outreach and community service project for Harker’s lower school students. Last year the painting was moved to the art room, where it will remain. Students painted in the art room during their health education classes with members of the BEST staff on hand to assist in the effort, according to lower school art teacher Gerry-louise Robinson.
Robinson said the second graders enjoyed walking around their school’s neighborhood, leaving pumpkins and cards on porches – bringing about both the spirit of Halloween and the spirit of giving.
The Eaglebots, a VEX Robotics team comprising Harker students, is off to a strong start with this year’s VEX Skyrise challenge. The team – Andrew Chang, Christopher Gong, Rithvik Panchapakesan and Kaushik Shivakumar, all grade 8 –competed in the Dougherty Valley High School VEX Robotics Tournament on Oct. 25 and the South Bay VRC Middle School Tournament on Nov. 8. The Eaglebots made it to the finals in both competitions, finishing second. There were 70-plus teams between the two tournaments. At the South Bay VRC Middle School Tournament, the Eaglebots received the Robot Programming Skills Award and the Excellence Award, qualifying the team for several upcoming VEX Robotics State Championships tournaments in early 2015.
The Excellence Award is the highest award presented in the VEX Robotics Competition. The recipient is a team that exemplifies overall excellence in building a well-rounded VEX robotics program. This team excels in many areas and is a shining example of dedication, devotion, hard work and teamwork. As a strong contender in numerous award categories, this team deserves to be recognized for building a quality robot and a team committed to quality in everything that they do.
Halloween took on new meaning this year for grade 8 students in Cyrus Merrill’s history class, who donated care packages filled with thank you letters and candy to American troops stationed around the world, including in Afghanistan.
Last year when Merrill and his students launched the project, they were thrilled to receive responses from some of the soldiers, who expressed their appreciation for the packages and also included an official certificate from troops serving in Afghanistan’s Combined Joint Task Force-10, Regional Command-East and the 10th Mountain Division. The students also received personal notes from a few other soldiers stationed elsewhere.
“The thank you from troops in Afghanistan came as a result of this simple act, which was one of several citizenship activities and charity projects blended into my course,” reported Merrill. The letter from the soldiers in Afghanistan also included an explanation of the goals and accomplishments of that particular military unit.
This year, the care packages once again included nut-free candy sealed in Ziploc bags, packaged along with a “thank you for serving” letter addressed to “Any American Soldier.” There were no stickers, construction paper or glitter allowed (apparently due to problems with soldiers’ ability to view them through night vision goggles), just simple notes and drawings.
“The packages were sent to U.S. troops stationed around the globe. The candy served as either treats for soldiers or for them to hand out to children living around where they are stationed,” said Merrill.
Students had written the letters that went along with the Halloween care packages during their advisory periods and in Merrill’s history class. In the notes, students were instructed to offer a “tiny slice of life back home.”
“The students had fun writing about things like what they did on vacations, happenings in their families, descriptions of their pets, what they like to eat, favorite movies … anything Americana-ish,” Merrill elaborated.
The timing of the note writing also made it possible for students to reflect on and inform the soldiers about their recent Grade 8 Trip to Washington, D.C., and their often newfound passion and interest in the American government.
Each year, in addition to the Halloween care package project, Merrill’s history students write letters to their national representatives in Washington, D.C., about reform issues, expressing concerns over such topics as mental health, alcohol related topics, and the treatment and protection of women. Such efforts are part of Merrill’s hands-on philosophy of “making history and not just studying it.”
Senior Mariam Sulakian was recently honored with a Harker Community Service Spotlight Award. During a Monday morning campus meeting in early November, she received a $200 check from The Harker Upper School Community Service Program.
Sulakian donated the award money to a nonprofit organization she volunteers with, which provides medical services, food and social support for elderly Armenian residents living on their own in the Stepanakert area. The cause, known as Hanganak NGO, is funded by the Armenian Women’s Welfare Association (A.W.W.A.).
The Community Service Spotlight Awards, sponsored by Harker’s outreach department, occur several times throughout the school year. They were created to celebrate the outstanding community service completed by upper school students. Sulakian is the first of three students who will be honored this school year; the others have not yet been named.
In her acceptance speech, Sulakian explained that she began doing community service somewhat reluctantly in middle school at the urging of her sister. “Eventually she annoyed me so much that I just gave in,” she conceded.
Since “giving in” to volunteer work, Sulakian has gone on to become a passionate advocate of volunteerism. In fact, she has completed more than 1,000 hours of community service in her high school years alone. Yet, she believes that community service is “not about the hours or just something I do to pass the time. It’s about making myself part of other people.”
Throughout the past four years, Sulakian has embraced numerous volunteer activities, including tutoring children in her church, participating in benefit concerts and modeling in fashion shows for various causes. However, her most memorable volunteer moments have come from her volunteer work with the A.W.W.A., she said.
For many years, Sulakian, who speaks Armenian, has traveled to the country and volunteered for Hanganak NGO during the summer. She accompanied and talked to elderly Armenian patients on doctor visits, helped measure their blood pressure, packed up bags of food and medication, and assisted with other activities.
“The word charity can be somewhat misleading since it assumes that one person benefits in a one-way transaction. On the contrary, it is a mutually beneficial exchange. Nourish others physically, and they will nourish you spiritually,” she surmised.
Concluding her talk, Sulakian stressed that community service is what makes her proud to be herself and to be a part of others’ lives. “It in essence keeps me loving, stitching together the broken parts of myself as I help bandage those of others,” she said.
Harker hosted the 15th annual Howard and Diana Nichols Invitational Debate Tournament on the last weekend of September. A total of 380 students from 26 California schools participated in the tournament, which was run primarily by Harker debate students. In addition to various debate competitions, the event included several workshops taught by Harker debate captains.
“These workshops were dreamed up by Harker captains years ago and have become something we are known for as our successful older students teach Harker and outside students who are new to debate,” said Harker debate teacher Carol Green.
The weekend also included a special novice public forum tournament for debaters in grades 6-8, in which 35 middle school students participated.
Harker debate students continued their successful year at a debate tournament held at the University of the Pacific in Stockton last weekend. Andrew Tierno, grade 10, took second place in open dramatic interpretation, while Lisa Liu, grade 11, earned third place in open humorous interpretation.
Meanwhile, the team of David Jin, grade 11, and Alex Lam, grade 10, as well as the team of freshmen Derek Kuo and Justin Xie, each finished in the top eight of open public forum debate.
Earlier in the month, at the St. Mark’s School in Dallas, policy debaters Ayush Midha, grade 12, and Panny Shan, grade 11, reached the semifinal round, finishing third out of 76 teams. Midha was named 14th speaker in the tournament and, on the invitation of a group of debate coaches, gave a special speech at St. Mark’s. These results qualified Midha and Shan for the Tournament of Champions. Additionally, Karen Qi, grade 11, reached the double-octofinal in Lincoln-Douglas debate.
At a Lincoln-Douglas debate event held at Presentation High School, Pranav Reddy, grade 12, was named the first-place speaker in the round robin and invitational events, in addition to reaching the semifinal round of the invitational and qualifying for the Tournament of Champions. Qi reached the quarterfinals of the invitational, placing her one step closer to qualifying for the Tournament of Champions.
There was plenty of Halloween spirit in the air at the lower school gym on Oct. 31, where even a rainy afternoon couldn’t stop K-5 students from parading around in an array of clever costumes.
This year, the 17th annual Bucknall Halloween Parade was moved indoors, but the rain didn’t keep away the usual cast of characters, including superheroes, ghosts, goblins, witches and fairy princesses. To the delight of parents and other onlookers, each grade level had the opportunity to showcase their characters as a group.
The event was sponsored by Harker’s BEST staff. Students could opt to wear their costume to school or bring it with them to put on before the parade, but most wore their costumes all day.
“Rain didn’t keep us from having a Halloween parade. We were able to make this less-than-ideal parade weather a huge success!” recalled Kim Cali, director of the lower school’s BEST program.