On the morning of June 2, the day before school let out for the summer, grade 3 students enjoyed a special visit from Colonel Patrick Shea, a general practice physician who served in the U.S. Air Force for 18 years. He is also the younger brother of lower school chef Matt Shea.
The colonel’s visit stemmed from a Veterans Day card-making project run by third grade homeroom and language arts teacher Elise Robichaud in November. After receiving cards made by the third graders, Colonel Shea contacted his brother, Chef Shea, to express his appreciation.
Robichaud then invited the colonel to come and speak with the students before the start of the lower school’s “Freedom of Choice Day,” during which students choose from variety of class sessions for a bit of fun on the last full day of school.
“Colonel Shea shared with the children just how valuable the cards they created were to military personnel, especially when they are deployed away from home. He even brought the cards with him, read the contents, and personally thanked each child for writing them. He wanted the children to understand that their cards are very valuable and help build morale,” recalled Robichaud.
Colonel Shea also answered questions from the students about his full dress uniform and all the ribbons he was wearing. He shared where he was deployed, how he has served and how wonderful advancements in medicine have increased survival rates for those in combat.
Following his talk, the students went on scavenger hunt created by lower school math and language arts teacher Kathy Ferretti. Afterward students headed to classrooms of their choosing, where they could select from a variety of activities. They also spent time watching the Movie Makers’ latest creation, a compilation of student-made three-minute video shorts, and enjoyed an end of the year party.
“It was a fun-filled, busy day for teachers and students alike on the last day of their third grade year. Another of the many grand adventures set forth for students as they wind their way through the halls of Harker!” said Heidi Gough, grade 3 history teacher.
Grade 3 student Vyom Vidyarthi has been a chess enthusiast for some time, and now his younger sister, Omya, who started kindergarten this year, has gotten in on the action! Both siblings have been showing exceptional chess prowess.
In May, Vyom was ranked No. 80 among players ages 9 and under by the United States Chess Federation, and won second place in the Best of the West Kids Chess Championship for his age group. He also won first place in the K-3 Blitz section of the CalChess Super State Scholastic Championship.
Meanwhile, Omya was ranked No. 26 among girls ages 7 and under by the United States Chess Federation, and won first place in the Best of the West Kids Chess Championship’s kindergarten section. Omya also won third place in CalChess Super State Scholastic Championship and second place in the Little Champs Championship in April. Both Vyom and Omya will be participating the National Open Chess Tournament in Las Vegas and the World Open Chess Tournament in Philadelphia this summer.
Also competing and playing well in the Best of the West Kids Chess Championship were fellow Harker students Rohan Rajaram, K (in the kindergarten section), and Mihir Kotbagi and Aidan Okyar, both grade 2 (in the grades 1-2 section).
The Gail Palmer-directed lower school dance show, held May 27-28, was an uplifting tribute to Broadway’s “Magical Musicals.” Dances were set to famous songs from musicals and films including “The Lion King,” “School of Rock,” “Matilda” and “The Wiz,” all chosen for their positive messages and casts that feature children. The dancers from grades 1-5 – with choreography by Palmer, Kimberly Teodoro, Jessalyn Espiritu, Brittany Watts, Brianna Alday, Alexandra Venter, Rachelle Haun and Amira Townzen – dazzled the crowds with their finesse and hard work. Here are a few photos and many more are available via the Harker Parent Portal!
Middle school performers celebrated the work of Dr. Seuss during the production of “Seussical,” this year’s middle school spring musical, directed by Monica Colletti. The production stitched together characters and themes from Seuss’ most famous stories, including “Horton Hears a Who!” “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Lorax.” The plot from “Horton,” in which an elephant tries to save the tiny people of Who-ville, made up most of the story, while themes from Seuss’ other works found their way into the songs.
In addition to the sturdy work of the performers, set designer Paul Vallerga, costume designer Caela Fujii, lighting designer Spencer Doughtie and a host of others worked together to bring the world of Dr. Seuss to life, with crowd-pleasing results!
After an impressive athletic year, Harker has a chance to bring home two state titles this week.
The boys golf team finished third in NorCals last week, earning a spot to play for a state championship this Wednesday at the San Gabriel Country Club in Southern California. Niki Iyer, grade 11, won a CCS championship in the women’s 3200m last Friday and will race for a state title this weekend at Buchanan High School in Clovis.
In April, senior Natalie Simonian (second from left in the photo) attended the Watermark Conference for Women on a scholarship she received from the Armenian International Women’s Association – San Francisco (AIWA-SF). She was one of three students to receive the award.
At the conference, Simonian had the opportunity to attend breakout sessions by speakers including Emily Greener, co-founder of the organization I Am That Girl, who “taught me that acknowledging and ultimately embracing our inner vulnerabilities is key for allowing us to successfully pursue our own happiness,” she wrote in a blog post on AIWA-SF’s website.
She also attended a panel discussion featuring successful women in traditionally male-dominated fields and was inspired by their tales of perseverance. “Their remarkable life stories that culminated in unlikely success despite incredible adversity – both personal and patriarchal – inspired me to pursue my dreams and goals with more conviction and determination,” Simonian wrote.
Grade 8 students Kathy Fang and Amla Rashingkar received certificates of recognition from the Promising Young Writers Program, sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE).
Fang and Rashingkar were among just 122 eighth graders in the United States and Canada who received this recognition for superior writing. Papers were judged for content, purpose, audience, tone, word choice, organization, development and style.
“This contest was an opportunity for me to see if my voice in writing is eloquent enough to be heard. The results of the contest have proven the saying ‘be yourself’ to be true; by expressing my thoughts and testing my creativity, I have emerged as a winner,” said Fang.
Rashingkar added that the competition really helped push her limits as a writer. “Moreover, I now can say I am one of the top writers in the nation, and the win inspired me to keep writing,” she said.
The Promising Young Writers program represents NCTE’s commitment to early and continuing work in the development of writing. The school-based writing program was established in 1985 to stimulate and recognize students’ writing talents and to emphasize the importance of writing skills among eighth-grade students.
Students, who must be nominated for the honor by their teachers, are required to submit a best writing sample in response to a themed topic.
The Class of 2016 received a grand send-off at yesterday’s commencement exercises, held at the beautiful Mountain Winery in Saratoga. Graduates, students, parents and faculty came together one last time for a special evening of inspiring words and lifelong memories.
In her speech, valedictorian Anika Mohindra confessed that she found it “ironic that they ask the person who has presumably spent the most time holed up in a room studying to give you life advice.”
After cleverly enumerating all the possible nuggets of academic and career advice she could give, Mohindra remarked on the many talents of her classmates and how they’ve likely been reminded of those talents many times. However, she added, “Talent doesn’t breed success or, more importantly, fulfillment. Talent simply means that you have an inherent knack for doing something—a natural skill.”
It was passion, however, that truly set her classmates apart, she said: “We can be good at things—talent—but not enjoy doing them. We might not be so good at other things but still enjoy doing them. And that’s a much better place to start because if you’re truly passionate about something, you will be able to push yourself to work hard, to improve, and to attain success by our traditional standards.”
“When I think back on my Harker journey, there are definitely things I would have done differently,” she said near the end of her speech. “I would have spent more time exploring new activities, discovering my passions, and talking to more people.” Focusing on those things might have meant making sacrifices in some academic areas, “but that’s perfectly fine. That’s not what matters at the end of it all.”
Most of all, she said, “I’m going to remember the things I loved doing and the people I loved spending time with you. I hope you do too.”
Commencement speaker Priscilla Chan, co-chair of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (which seeks to promote equality in health, education, scientific research and other areas) and a former Harker teacher, recognized some of her former students among the graduates. “You guys are so tall,” she remarked, eliciting laughter. Calling for recognition for the families of the graduates, she said, “Parents, family, you have done an excellent job. This is your moment in reward for the past 18 years of parenthood. You deserve a round of applause.” The crowd gladly obliged.
Allaying the anxieties typically facing high school graduates, Chan told the class not to panic in response to questions about college and careers. “The answer isn’t necessarily the path towards a specific job or title,” she said. “The world changes too fast for that. Rather, focus yourself on the change that you want to see in the world. Take on what’s most interesting to you. Take lots of risks. Ask for help. Believe in yourself and ask others to take a bet on you.”
Toward the end of her speech, Chan presented the elementary school yearbook from the last year she taught at Harker and read a few heartwarming messages that some of her students – sitting before her now as almost-graduates – had written for her as she left Harker to begin medical school. “Good luck. I really, really hope you graduate. (You probably will.)” wrote Namitha Villian. “Too good to be forgotten,” scribbled Naomi Molin.
“Class of 2016,” said Chan, choking back tears, “you are too good to be forgotten.”
The final speaker of the event was Head of School Chris Nikoloff, who in his typically humorous and engaging fashion, promised to keep his speech to “one page of single-spaced size 12 font. I will continue, however, to make no promises about the size of my margins.”
Nikoloff encouraged the graduates to “drop any concept you have about who you should be in the future,” and to make plans and set goals, “but just don’t get too attached to them. Use them, but do not let them use you.”
He delved into what he called the “take and make” model of life. “By ‘take,’ I mean accept, and by ‘accept’ I do not mean resignation. I mean a more active acceptance, the way a Warriors teammate accepts a pass from Steph Curry,” he said. “I promised my boys I would sneak in a Warriors reference.”
To illustrate this concept, he asked the adults in attendance to raise their hands if their lives had gone the way they imagined they would when they were 18 years old. When, inevitably, no hands were raised, he told the graduates to look around. “Your life will take unexpected, unplanned, unnecessary, unfruitful and even unpleasant turns, and there is no way you can know where you will be or what you will be doing,” he continued. “This is a good thing. Start with being born; you didn’t know what would happen, did you?
“In philosophical terms, making your life is an existential point of view. Taking your life is a fatalistic point of view,” Nikoloff said. “I say both viewpoints are true. You make your life, but only after it is handed to you.”
Nikoloff went on to explain that the students’ contributions to the world will be revealed to them as they continue their journey through life. “You are taking and making your life as you go, and who knows what ripples throughout eternity you will create?” he said.
Following Nikoloff’s speech, the graduates walked to the stage one by one to receive their diplomas, greeted by joyous applause when each name was announced.
After the last name had been announced, the graduates flipped the tassels on their caps to commemorate their accomplishments and all at once threw their caps in the air, chanting: “Twen-ty-six-teen! Twen-ty-six-teen!” The ceremony officially ended with released doves rising to the sky to symbolize the graduates’ trek into the wide world beyond high school. See Harker’s Facebook page for more photos and a short video clip!
Nearly three dozen seniors in the Harker Conservatory’s certificate program gave their final performances of the year and received their certificates at the 15th annual Senior Showcase, held May 13 at Foothill College’s Smithwick Theatre. Each graduate of the Conservatory had spent their four years at the upper school focusing on one of seven disciplines in the performing arts: dance, vocal music, musical theater, theater, instrumental music, instrumental composition or technical theater. Watch the video!
Graduating seniors honored at the event were:
Dance: Sharanya Balaji, Helena Dworak, Emily Pan, Ankita Sharma and Allison Wang.
Vocal music: Madhu Karra, Sahana Narayanan, Gurutam Thockchom and Helen Woodruff.
Musical theater: Rishabh Chandra, Mary Najibi, Rachel Renteria, Kaushik Sankar and Namitha Vellian.
Theater: Janet Lee, Naomi Molin, Melina Nakos and M.C. Smitherman.
Instrumental music: Victoria Ding, Andrew Kim, Kevin Min Hwan Kim, Jason Lee, Selin Ozcelik, Kristen Park, Nikhil Parmar, Elina Sendornaris, Daphne Yang and Jessica Zhu.
Instrumental composition: Jonathan Ta and Alice Wu.
Technical theater: Zarek Drozda, Aishu Murari, Chandler Nelson and Shilpa Repakula.
Heartiest congratulations to all the Conservatory Certificate Graduates of 2016!
Harker sent a number of budding scientists to the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, held May 8-13 in Phoenix, and four came home with significant awards.
Jonathan Ma, grade 12, an Intel Science Talent Search finalist this year, received a First Award of $1,500 from the American Statistical Association at Intel ISEF for his project, “Genomics-Based Cancer Drug Response Prediction Through the Adaptive Elastic Net.”
Amy Dunphy, grade 10, was awarded $1,200 by the China Association for Science and Technology for her project, “Preventing Urushiol (Poison Oak) Induced Dermatitis by Deactivating the Allergen.”
The team of Rishab Gargeya and Manan Ajay Shah, both grade 11, won a Third Award of $1,000 for their project, “Automated Diagnosis of Diabetic Retinopathy Severity in Color Fundus Images Using a Novel Synthesis of Biological and Data Driven Approaches.”