The annual Pajama Day assembly on Jan. 17 was special for the Eagle Buddies of grades 3 and 10, who met at the lower school gym and shared some of their favorite books with one another. It was also a special day for Rishi Narain, grade 10, who started Harker’s pajama program while he was a student at the lower school. The program collects and distributes pajamas, books and other goods to underprivileged children all around the world.
Per Eagle Buddies tradition, Butch Keller, upper school head, donned a robe, took his seat at a rocking chair located on the stage and read a story to the audience. This year’s story, fittingly enough, was “Pajama Day” by Lynn Plourde. After the reading, the third graders and their sophomore buddies chatted and read to each other from the books they had brought. They later headed to the lawn for a special pizza lunch. “It’s good to have a friend that you know you can trust,” said Brooke Baker, grade 3, who added that she looks forward to having more fun with her Eagle Buddies in the upcoming months.
Kevin Kim, grade 10, said being involved in the Eagle Buddies program is “really fun. It’s good to meet little kids and have fun with them.” The Eagle Buddies program was started during the 2010-11 school year as a means of establishing a bond between the students of the lower and upper schools. The program matches up grade 3 students with grade 10 students, who then meet periodically until the sophomores graduate and the third graders move on to the middle school.
Candy Land was the theme of a recent Fun Friday Program sponsored by the middle school’s BEST (Blackford Enrichment & Supervision Team). During the event, students had a blast becoming live pieces in a game of Candy Land, held outside on the field. To play, they had to spin a wheel and physically move from spot to spot to see who would reach the end first. Winners received a round of applause – as well as a yummy bag of popcorn.
“It was off the wall awesome!” reported BJ Hathaway, assistant director of BEST.
Harker’s upper school soccer teams competed last week in the annual Kicks Against Cancer games, putting up big numbers in the fundraising tally and on the scoreboard as both the boys and the girls trounced their opponents 6-0. The boys’ blowout came against Pinewood, led by 2 goals from sophomore Oisin Coveney, a penalty kick goal from senior goalie Samir Chaudhry, and scores by seniors Isaac Rothschild and Jeff Hanke, and sophomore Omar Hamade. The girls’ victory came against Summit Prep after freshman Joelle Anderson scored an amazing four goals. Junior Safia Khouja and senior Julia Fink added scores as well to extend the girls’ undefeated streak in league. The girls are now 6-0-1 in league play and 8-1-1 overall. On Tuesday, the girls go up against ECP, then play their senior day on Friday against Mercy San Francisco. The boys, meanwhile, who are 4-2 in league and 7-3-1 overall, host ECP on Wednesday and then play rival Sacred Heart on Friday.
Basketball
The varsity boys took Menlo to overtime on Friday before finally falling 72-65. After the loss, their record still stands at 5-2 in league and 10-6 overall. In the loss, junior Eric Holt had a double-double, netting 11 points and snagging 10 rebounds. Junior Nic Nguyen led the team with 15 points, with senior Will Deng close behind with 14.
The junior varsity boys, meanwhile, pulled out an amazing 44-43 victory over Menlo, with sophomore Rohan Desikan accounting for nearly half the scoring after putting up 19 points. The boys all travel to Priory on Tuesday, then return home to host Crystal Springs on Friday.
The girls played first place Castilleja last week and held tough throughout the first half before slipping in the second and finally falling 46-23. The girls will host ICA on Wednesday, and then hold their senior night on Friday against Crystal Springs.
Wrestling
On Thursday, freshman Philip Kendall won a match against an opponent from Lynbrook High.
Registration for Harker’s summer programs is now open! For students of all ages, whether they’re interested in academics, sports or just want to enjoy some fun in the sun, much excitement is in store for Harker Summer Camp students in 2014.
For those looking to gain high school credit during the summer, learn a new skill or simply enrich their summer experience, Harker’s Summer Institute offers a wide variety of classes to students in grades 6-12. Courses are offered in many disciplines, including math, computer programming, creative writing, performing arts and many more. The Summer Institute’s custom scheduling gives students the ability to create schedules suitable to their academic growth, and afternoon activity programs are available to both middle and high school students.
Harker’s signature summer sports camps will return better than ever. As always, the sports camps will emphasize positive, skill-based instruction in a wide variety of sports from Harker’s staff of experienced, caring coaches, many of whom are Harker coaches during the academic year. This year, the popular water polo camp will now be two weeks long, expanding on the fundamentals-based instruction that made it a success in previous years. The wrestling camp, now in its second year, will receive a visit by Anthony Robles, winner of the 2010-11 NCAA championship in the 125-pound weight class and author of “Unstoppable: From Underdog to Undefeated: How I Became a Champion.” Robles made waves in the wrestling world for winning the NCAA championship despite a birth defect that left him with only one leg. Watch for articles with details on each sports camp to appear over the next few weeks.
The Camp+ program will once again provide an exciting learning experience to students in kindergarten through grade 6. Camp+ has morning academics in math, language arts and electives, followed by afternoon activities that will be tailored to each student. The theme of this year’s Camp+ will be “Under the Big Top,” and will feature a wide variety of circus-themed activities, guests and special events. Students in grades 1-6 will have the option of enrolling in the Learning Opportunities in Literature (LOL) program, which features academic courses designed around a literary theme, which this year will be the work of the legendary and beloved children’s author Dr. Seuss. Afternoons are devoted to fun, with many options, including computer time, wall climbing, archery and more field sports available.
Harker’s long-running and highly successful English Language Institute has earned a worldwide reputation for providing overseas students with a proven English language education that prepares them for applications to top American and international schools and grants them valuable communication skills that will be useful in their future careers. This year, ELI is adding a new “Very Interesting Places” (VIP) tour, which will take place at the end of the program’s academic session. This tour will take students around Silicon Valley and the Bay Area to visit theme parks, museums, company campuses and more, capped off with a trip to Yosemite at the end of the week. ELI students have plenty of outside time in the afternoons, too!
For adults and children looking to improve their swimming ability, the Harker Summer Swim School offers several learning opportunities for swimmers of nearly any age, with instruction designed for ten different skill levels. The school is held at the beautiful Singh Aquatic Center and private and group lessons are available to swimmers aged 5-18, with private lessons available to adults and children aged 3-4. Students in grades 3-8 may participate in a Junior Swim Team program that emphasizes building skills for competitive swimming, working on skills such as stroke technique and endurance.
The summer office has permanently relocated to Harker’s preschool campus at 4525 Union Ave. in San Jose. The summer programs will take place on Harker’s lower, middle and upper school campuses. Harker summer 2014 is set to be a fun, exciting and enlightening experience for students. Parents are encouraged to register early as programs will be filled on a first-come, first-serve basis!
The Huffington Post reported that Harker’s SAT scores rank it as No. 2 in the country. The online story states, “A website that analyzes and reviews K-12 schools and colleges in the U.S., Niche.com, collected data to find which 25 high schools throughout the entire country produce the highest SAT and ACT scores. The information is based on self-reported scores from 75,834 test-takers at 909 schools from 2012-2014. In order to be considered in the findings, a school had to have at least 100 students submit their scores.” Here’s a link to the findings: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/23/schools-highest-sat-scores_n_4654077.html?utm_hp_ref=education&ir=Education Go academic Eagles!
Darshan Chahal, grade 6, participated in the World Futsal Cup in Barcelona from Dec 28-30. Chahal plays futsal (indoor soccer) for the San Jose Legends Futsal Club. His futsal club won the USA Futsal National Championship in North Carolina in July, earning it the right to represent the United States in Barcelona. In addition to participating in the tournament, Chahal enjoyed touring the soccer stadiums of the world famous Real Madrid FC (Estadio Santiago Bernabeu) and FC Barcelona (Camp Nou). He also spent a night at the Ciudad del Futbol (Soccer City), a sports complex build for the Royal Spanish Football Federation, where the Spanish national soccer team stays and practices prior to international tournaments. Submitted by Harker parent Karen Singh
Twin boys Drake and Dominick Piscione, grade 3, have been acting and modeling since they were 5 years old. Most recently, they were thrilled to share the spotlight with a select group of children featured in a “MythBusters” spinoff television show, which just aired on the Discovery Channel. Co-hosted by MythBusters stars Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, the one-hour special was called “Dangerous Toys.” In the show, Hyneman and Savage mined the children’s imaginations for ideas on how to build such kid-inspired “toys” as a 25-foot couch fort and explosive robot armies. In other news, Drake recently filmed a pilot for the A&E network for a show called “Restless Souls,” which will air in the spring.
Nathan Liu, grade 2, made a number of very important chess wins at the recent CalChess State Grade Level Championship, held in mid-January at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Burlinghame. Among his awards was an individual trophy for “super performance.” He also joined the Bay Area Chess team and won second place for a team trophy. Liu learned how to play chess in an after-school club at Harker just last year and fell in love with it.
In other chess news, Shafieen Ibrahim, grade 7, recently tied for fifth place in the Golden Gate Open Chess Tournament held in Concord. The weekend event was sponsored by the Continental Chess Association.
Last week, Harker’s soccer teams were all undefeated! That’s right, the boys varsity, girls varsity and boys junior varsity teams went a combined 6-0!
The girls doubled up Castilleja 6-3 and then beat Crystal Springs for the first time ever by the score of 3-1 to remain undefeated in league with three wins and zero losses. The girls own a 7-1 record overall. Against Castilleja, freshman Joelle Anderson’s hat trick accounted for half of Harker’s goals. Senior Alicia Clark had 15 saves en route to holding Crystal Springs to just one goal, including a clutch save on a penalty kick. Earlier this week, the girls hosted Mercy-Burlingame and tied them 2-2. Today, the girls host Summit Prep in the Kicks Against Cancer Game.
The varsity boys beat both Priory and Crystal Springs last week. They are now in second place in league with a 3-1 record and are 6-2-1 overall. Junior Omar Hamade scored a hat trick to lead Harker to a 4-2 win over Priory, then scored again, along with senior Arun Goyal, junior Jeremiah Anderson and junior Nikhil Kishore, in Harker’s 5-2 victory over Crystal Springs. Today, they host Pinewood in the Kicks Against Cancer Game.
The junior varsity boys beat both Priory and KIPP-San Jose last week, avenging their earlier defeat at the hands of KIPP-San Jose when freshman Parth Pendurkar scored in the final minute of play to break a 0-0 tie and give Harker a dramatic victory.
Over at Blackford, Harker’s middle school soccer teams wrapped up their seasons. The varsity B girls of grades 7 and 8 finished undefeated in league with a 5-0-1 record, winning their league championship! Grade 6’s junior varsity A girls soccer team finished 0-6-1 in league, finishing in eighth, and grade 5’s JV B girls finished 2-4 in league for a second-place finish.
Wrestling
The boys won four matches and dropped only one against the Homestead Mustangs last Thursday, but because they lacked enough wrestlers to fill all weight classes, the contest goes down in the standings as a 27-36 loss. Senior Vincent Lin won at 128 lbs, junior Annirudh Ankola won by pin at 154 lbs, freshman Danny Reidenbach won by pin at 160 lbs, freshman Davis Howard won by pin at heavyweight and senior Ravi Bhandia fought hard in a loss at 138 lbs.
Basketball
Boys basketball beat both Crystal Springs and ECP last week, bumping their record up to 9-5 overall and 2-2 in league. Senior Wei Wei Buchsteiner scored 27 and Will Deng added 14 in the boys’ dominant 71-37 trouncing of Crystal Springs. Earlier this week, they added a victory against King’s Academy. Today, the boys host Menlo.
The girls lost to ICA 44-40, then defeated Crystal Springs 44-28. Senior Nithya Vemireddy led the team, scoring 18 points against Crystal Springs and 20 against ICA. The girls host Castilleja today.
The middle school basketball teams all wrapped up their seasons last week, with impressive results! Five out of eight of Harker’s boys basketball teams won their league championships!
For players in grades 7 and 8, the varsity A boys team finished in third place in league with a 5-2 league record and 6-4 overall record, then finished in fourth place in the VA Gold Division of the WBAL Tournament. The varsity B boys team went undefeated in league with a 9-0 record en route to winning the League Championship! They then went on to finish in fourth place of the VA Gold Division of the WBAL Tournament. The varsity B2 boys also won their League Championship with an undefeated 8-0 record in league and an overall record of 10-1, finishing second in the VB Gold Vision of the WBAL Tournament.
For players in grade 6, the junior varsity A boys finished in fifth place in league with a league record of 4-4 and an overall record of 5-5, finishing in third place in the JVA Silver Division of the WBAL Tournament. The junior varsity B6 boys won a Quad-League Championship with a 7-1 record in league and 8-2 record overall, then finished in second place in the JVB6 Gold Vision of the WBAl Tournament.
Grade 5’s junior varsity B1 boys went undefeated on the year, finishing 6-0 in league and 8-0 overall, winning both a League Championship and a Tournament Championship in the JVB Gold Vision of the WBAl Tournament. The junior varsity B2 boys of grade 5 finished 3-3 in league, good for a fourth place finish. Grade 4’s junior varsity C boys won their league championship with a 5-1 league record and 6-1 overall record.
Maruko Ishigami, a visiting exchange teacher from Tamagawa Academy K-12 School & University – Harker’s sister school in Tokyo, Japan – was touched by the warm welcome she received from students and faculty during her visit to Harker Jan. 7-18.
“This has been a very good experience. I am impressed by the children’s artwork here,” said Ishigami, who teaches art at Tamagawa’s elementary school and spent time observing classes at Harker’s lower, middle and upper school campuses.
She also helped teach art classes for grades 2-5, showing the second and third graders how to make traditional Japanese wood coasters and instructing the fourth and fifth graders in various painting techniques used in her country.
Grade 2 students Emi Fujimura, Shayla He and Shareen Chahal agreed that the best thing about making the wood coasters with Ishigami was “building it” from scratch, noting that the process reminded them of putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Fellow classmate Vivek Nayyar said he especially enjoyed having a “visiting teacher” come to the classroom.
“It has been a truly fantastic experience having Maruko here,” agreed Gerry-louise Robinson, Harker’s lower school art teacher. “All the students warmed quickly to Maruko’s wonderful smile and gentle approach. Both grades 2 and 3 embraced this project with enthusiasm and determination!”
Ishigami also observed ceramics classes at the middle school and sat in on graphic arts, stone carving, drawing, photography and other art courses at the upper school.
Because her English is not fluent, Ishigami was aided by several Japanese-speaking faculty members who offered to be interpreters, joining her for meals and serving as friendly faces around campus.
From the moment her plane touched down at the San Francisco International Airport, Ishigami was kept engaged and busy. In addition to spending time observing and teaching classes at Harker, other highlights of her visit included lunch with the administration, a visit to the San Jose Museum of Art, and sightseeing expeditions to Monterey Bay and San Francisco.
“I’ve really enjoyed showing Maruko around. She is very interested in everything that we do at Harker and is eager to learn all she can about our school and students. As an art teacher, she enjoyed viewing all the types of artwork our students are doing. It’s been fun seeing the students enjoying showing her their work,” noted Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s director of global education.
Tamagawa, a K-12 school and university, was founded in 1929 as an elementary education organization. Secondary education divisions were added later, and in 1947 Tamagawa University received approval for establishment as an “old system” (pre-war) university. As a comprehensive institution (gakuen), they currently provide education from kindergarten to graduate school on a single campus.
Learning how to make Native American dream catchers was one of many exciting activities students from the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS) in Shanghai, China, enjoyed during their visit to Harker in mid-January.
While patiently working on her dream catcher, WFLMS student Liza Xiao looked up for a moment to exclaim, “I’m having an awesome time visiting Harker! And my buddy is really sweet. The teachers are all kind and the classes are fun.”
Xiao was one of 18 students visiting from Harker’s sister school in China. The students learned all about the dream catchers (a generations-old part of Native American culture) before making their own to take home as cherished souvenirs. The traditional dream catcher was intended to protect sleeping individuals from negative dreams, while letting positive ones through.
This year, there was an emphasis on deepening the Chinese students’ understanding of Native American culture, according to Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s director of global education.
Harker’s unique partnership with the school in the People’s Republic of China began in 2003 and is the first of its kind. The visiting students were accompanied by several chaperones (all teachers at WFLMS). They were welcomed to Harker and introduced at a morning meeting at the middle school before embarking on a tour of Stanford, including a visit to university’s museum to see the Native American collection.
Harker’s middle school students and their WFLMS buddies had been corresponding since the fall. Come spring, a contingent of Harker students will head to China as part of the reciprocal exchange program, which is an annual highlight of the middle school experience for many grade 7 and 8 students.
“This year, the students participated in a wide range of activities where they had the opportunity to deepen their understanding of American culture and the surrounding area. They learned all about football and tailgating, watched American movies, created their own lunch of ‘California cuisine,’ and participated in a walking tour of San Jose,” reported Walrod.
While here, the exchange students observed and attended several middle school classes, including history, art, drama and dance. They also enjoyed a scavenger hunt on the middle school campus and a field trip to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. The WFLMS students’ visit ended with a fun farewell party – and a promise to see their buddies again in the spring!
Congratulations to senior Sreyas Misra, who has been named a finalist in this year’s Intel Science Talent Search, one of eight hailing from the Bay Area. Misra’s project, “Design and Characterization of a Novel Single-headed and Hand-held PET Camera Using 511 keV Photon Collimation via Compton Scatter,” earned him a place among just 40 other students from an original pool of nearly 1,800 entrants. These students will participate in the final stage of the Intel STS in Washington, D.C. from March 6-12, where $630,000 in prizes will be awarded, including the $100,000 grand prize.
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Ten Harker seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2014 Intel Science Talent Search (STS), the second-highest number of semifinalists in the nation and just one short of Harker’s record of 11, set in 2012.
This year’s semifinalists and their projects are: Vikas Bhetanabhotla (“Identification of Satellite Galaxies around Milky Way Galactic Analogs Using Machine Learning Algorithms”), Stephanie Chen (“Globular Clusters as Tracers of Dark Matter in Virgo Cluster Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies”), Christopher Fu (“Molecular Characterization and Rapid Generation of Human Rotavirus VP6-Specific Monoclonal Antibodies”), Anika Gupta (“Novel Drug Delivery Systems Targeting Cancer Stem Cells for Next-Generation Chemotherapy”), Saachi Jain (“MicroRNA-223 Promotes Macrophage Differentiation”), Sreyas Misra (“Design and Characterization of a Novel Single-Headed and Hand-Held PET Camera Using 511 keV Photon Collimation via Compton Scatter”), Preethi Periyakoil (“A Video-Assisted, Time-Lapse Analysis of the Effects of the ELF5 Transcription Factor on the Morphology and Proliferation Kinetics of Breast Cancer Cells”), Rahul Sridhar (“Understanding the Effect of Hinge Mutations on Domain-Swapping in Antiviral Lectin Cyanovirin-N”), Vikram Sundar (“Computational Analysis of Novel Drug Opportunities Using Protein-Protein Docking”) and Albert Zhao (“Oxygen Reduction Activity of Dodecyne-Functionalized AuPd Nanoparticles”).
These 10 students are among 300 nationwide who were selected from nearly 1,800 original entrants from across the country and in overseas schools. Each semifinalist will be awarded $1,000, and in order to bolster education in science, math and engineering, every semifinalist school will receive $1,000 for each student from that school named a semifinalist.
On Jan. 22, 40 of these semifinalists will be chosen to participate in the final stage of the Intel STS in Washington, D.C., where they will share their work with both the public and the scientific community, and compete for a $100,000 grand prize.