“Enlight’ning,” an art and literary magazine published each spring at the middle school, is in the running for the much-lauded Gold Crown Award, given by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA).
The publication, which showcases artwork, poetry and prose created entirely by middle school students, is one of only three such magazines nationwide to be short-listed for the award.
“While Enlight’ning has won several gold and silver medals from CSPA during its 12 years of publication, we have only won the Gold Crown Award once, in 2008,” reported Sabina Grogan, middle school expository writing instructor.
“I’m truly so honored and humbled to have been a part of this talented team to create such an amazing magazine,” said Carissa Chen, who was the lead editor of the magazine, which was published in spring 2013 and which she worked on last year as an eighth grader.
In addition to The Harker School, the two other middle school magazine Gold Crown Award finalists are the Kealing Middle School in Texas and Pierce Middle School in Michigan.
Finalists will be presented with either a Gold or Silver Crown Award during the 90th annual convention held in March at Columbia University in New York City. Remaining awards will be mailed out at the beginning of April.
The CSPA is an international student press association uniting student journalists and faculty advisors at schools and colleges through educational conferences, idea exchanges and award programs. The organization has been owned and operated by Columbia University since 1925.
Welcome back, Eagles fans! With 2014 kicking off, Harker’s sports teams are back in action. Let’s check the results from the first week of the new year!
Wrestling
Freshman Davis Howard went 3-1 with three pins to place fifth in the Cupertino Tournament last weekend. Senior Darian Edvalson went 3-1 with two pins and finished as the consolation champion. On Thursday, the wrestlers headed to Milpitas High.
Soccer
Over the break, the boys played twice, tying Lynbrook 2-2 and falling to Mills 2-1. Juniors Nikhil Kishore and Jeremiah Anderson each scored against Lynbrook, while senior Jeff Hanke’s penalty kick was the lone Harker goal against Mills.
The junior varsity boys were in action as well, defeating Mills 3-2 on goals by sophomore Zeyad El-Arabaty, sophomore Ryan Fernandes and junior Eric Roxlo. Both boys teams opened league play this week on the road against Sacred Heart.
The girls began their league play this week as well, hosting Eastside College Prep on Tuesday and traveling to play Mercy on Thursday. Their record entering league play stood at 3-1.
Basketball
The varsity boys basketball team is now 7-3 overall entering league play after going 3-2 over the holiday break. In a victory against Terra Nova, senior Wei Wei Buchsteiner netted 23 points and senior Will Deng added 19 more. The boys host rival Sacred Heart tonight.
The junior varsity boys are on fire, going 5-1 during a busy winter break!
The varsity girls went 1-2 over the break and now own a record of 4-5 overall. The highlight of the holiday was a 39-30 win against Wallenberg. Freshman Jordan Thompson led the team with 17 points, while senior Regina Chen added 13. The girls travel to Mercy and Notre Dame this week.
Senior Alicia Clark was awarded Harker’s Community Service Spotlight Award at a recent Monday morning school meeting. At the gathering, she received a $200 check from the Harker Upper School Community Service Program, which she in turn donated to the Ronald McDonald House in Palo Alto.
The Community Service Spotlight Awards are sponsored by Harker’s outreach department and take place several times during the school year. They were created to celebrate and honor the outstanding community service completed by upper school students.
In her acceptance speech at the meeting, Clark explained that she began doing community service in grade 7 when she joined the National Charity League (NCL), a mother/daughter organization that helps less fortunate community members. Since then she has completed more than 500 volunteer hours with more than 15 organizations.
“Today, I have been asked to tell my story and talk a little bit about why I love community service,” said Clark in he speech. “I joined NCL to be a more active member of my community even though at the age of 12 I never could have known exactly what that meant. My first experience was making flower pens and cookies to put in a gift basket for Meals on Wheels. I grew up feeling very lucky and thankful for everything I had. I can’t imagine not having everything that my parents have worked so hard to give me. So, I just want to help others feel as lucky as I have always felt.”
Clark went onto say that community service can be a great opportunity to spend time with friends and family while also helping others in need. “You get to see for a moment how the world is so much bigger than you and how you have the ability to help your fellow humans. I can’t imagine my life without all of the organizations I have volunteered with and I really encourage those of you who have not had the opportunity to get involved in the community to start now,” she concluded.
The Harker School is known for its unique student and teacher exchange programs with educational institutions around the world. But Harker’s rich global education doesn’t stop in between such visits. Throughout the school year, middle school students keep connected virtually with their foreign pals via interactive video conferences and online forums.
In grade 6, video conferences between students and their same-age buddies from Harker’s sister school in Tokyo, Tamagawa Academy K-12 & University, help build excitement for future visits. And in grades 7 and 8, two separate online forums fuel dynamic conversations between Harker students and their peers in both Kazakhstan and China. Below HNO takes a look at how Harker keeps globally connected through video conferencing in grade 6 and online forums in the older middle school grades:
Grade 6 Video Conferences
In mid-December, grade 6 students enjoyed connecting with their buddies from Tamagawa Academy during a series of interactive, game show-style videoconferences, held on the middle school campus.
“After emailing each other this past semester in their computer science class, students came face-to-face with their email buddies in a Family Feud-style game show!” reported Jennifer Walrod, director of Harker’s global education program.
“Questions (ranging from discovering favorite desserts to best after-school activities) were generated by students with a focus on interests of middle school students,” said Walrod, explaining that half of the grade 6 students participated in the conferences, with the remaining half slated for next semester.
“Designing an educational yet fun game was a very interesting task. I also had fun at the video conference talking to the Tamagawa students and playing Family Feud,” said grade 6 student Sejal Krishnan.
The video conferences set the stage for the grade 6 trip to Japan in the spring.
Grade 7 Online Poetry Forum
Last year grade 7 students in Mark Gelineau’s English class launched an online poetry forum with a school in Kazakhstan. Using the forum, Harker seventh graders connected with peers from the Nazarbayev Intellectual School (NIS) in Kazakhstan to discuss selected poetic works.
Gelineau created the forum in conjunction with Harker alumna Lauren Gutstein, who works at the NIS school in Astana, one of seven state-funded selective schools for middle and high school age students spread throughout major cities in Kazakhstan.
Through their online postings, students from both Harker and NIS share insights and observations about posted poems. Using the forum, more than 100 students recently read and discussed both an American and a Kazakh poem about winter.
Grade 8 Online World Issues Forum
Where we live and how it affects our perspective on global issues was the topic of a recent grade 8 World Issues Forum with the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS) in Shanghai. Other topics covered have included personal choices and the global ecosystem; global perspectives; issues preventing access to the global community; and leadership in today’s society.
“This is not new as we’ve been doing it for numerous years. However, it has really strengthened over the past couple years and the forum now gets hundreds of posts throughout the semester,” Walrod said.
In fact, the middle school’s annual trip to China was originally based around the grade 8 computer science class’ global issues forum. Last year the trip also incorporated the grade 7 historical component of learning about ancient China. Including seventh graders on the China trip was such a success that it will be repeated again this year.
“I really enjoyed participating in the forum with the students from WFLMS. By talking to them, I learned totally different perspectives on some things that I had never even heard before. I also learned a lot about the cultures of China. Now, I have left the class with a greater knowledge of the world than I had before,” said Megan Huynh, grade 8.
“It is indeed exciting and interesting to communicate with people from the other side of the world and the discussions are supposed to be diverse and offering an insight on both sides’ point of view,” agreed Nastya Grebin, also grade 8.
“Adding the online forum discussions to my computer science curriculum has provided a great opportunity for students to combine their technical knowledge to global issues related to the world they live in. The student’s forum discussions have been compulsory to their studies of systems that are the basis for their computer science final project applications,” noted Abigail Jospeh, Harker’s middle school computer science instructor.
Grade 5 students got a preview of life as a middle schooler during Step-Up Day on Nov.19. That day, the eager fifth graders were given a tour of the middle school campus. While there, they were introduced to the faculty and staff, and learned about the various academic and extracurricular activities they will experience next year. The students also were treated to a special vocal performance by Dynamics, the grade 6 choir. Middle school mentors acted as hosts and hostesses to each grade 5 homeroom by leading the students on tours and answering questions about middle school. “Each year, the fifth graders revel in the new campus and expanded options, especially in the lunch line! This ‘taste’ of middle school sets the stage for the many decisions students will be making in the near future, such as elective and language options, and, most importantly, laptop platform for the one-to-one laptop program,” said Cindy Ellis, head of the middle school. Last month, in preparation for Step-Up Day, the grade 5 students were treated to a special visit by the middle school mentors, 6-8 graders who volunteer to help make the transition to middle school as smooth as possible. They also enjoyed a visit from middle school art instructor, Elizabeth Saltos, who spent the day with the students at lower school campus. “While there, she engaged with the students, doing some projects and generally ‘advertising’ for art in the middle school,” explained Gerry-louise Robinson, Harker’s lower school art instructor.
In the fall, Sidhart Krishnamurthi, grade 11, launched a fundraiser for The Khaled Hosseini Foundation, which raised more than $2,000 to help build a refugee shelter for a family living in Afghanistan.
He shared his fundraising success story by writing an article that was published in the foundation’s newsletter and is still showing on the foundation’s blog. In the article, Krishnamurthi said that he got the idea to do the fundraiser in April 2012 after reading the novel “The Kite Runner” by author Khaled Hosseini.
“The plight of the people in Afghanistan as described in the novel really touched me, and I wanted to somehow support the cause of rebuilding futures for families torn by war, poverty and unimaginable living conditions. This led me to the back cover, where I saw a link to The Khaled Hosseini Foundation website. On visiting the site, I got more information on various ongoing efforts to help the refugees,” wrote Krishnamurthi.
He then explained that he set a fundraising goal of $2,000 – enough to build a shelter for a refugee family of six. With assistance from the foundation, he was able to make a plan to accomplish the mission through fundraising efforts at Harker.
To attain his goal, he launched a “Family and Friends Campaign,” wherein he emailed various people (including members of the Harker community) about the foundation and urged them to donate a minimum of $25, which would help him achieve his goal. In turn, they received a signed copy of either “The Kite Runner” or “A Thousand Splendid Suns” (both by Hosseini) and a goodie-bag. This generated enough interest and money to build a shelter for a homeless family in Afghanistan.
To help purchase the books, Krishnamurthi’s parents generously donated funds and he also raised money through a club called Interact, a youth rotary club. He assembled the goodie-bags with candy and bookmarks handmade by Afghan women in refugee camps in Pakistan (provided by the foundation). His book sales then attracted the attention of the administrators at Harker, facilitating a visit from Hosseini to speak about his books and the foundation.
“Through this experience, I have learned that my life is privileged compared to most people in the world. It really changed me by helping and supporting families facing dire living situations. It also made me realize that people are genuinely kind-natured and willing to help others in difficult situations,” Krishnamurthi said.
If it wasn’t already obvious from the promotional copy on their website, PROJECT Trio’s version of Charles Mingus’ “Fables of Faubus,” their set opener at the second Harker Concert Series event of the season, drove the point home. For them, chamber music is the province of the classicists with season tickets to the local symphony, the vinyl hunters keeping brick-and-mortar record stores afloat, the knit cap-wearing cafe denizens, the college-aged millennials combing the depths of Bandcamp well into the night and every type of enthusiast in between.
They reach for the most improbable of goals: To be adventurous, true to themselves and inclusive all at the same time. And they have a ton of fun doing it.
Best known for the percussive “beatbox flute” style of Greg Pattillo, whose videos have been viewed tens of millions of times, PROJECT Trio is as lively as any jazz combo. With their constant swaying, stomping and an eclectic range of influences, it would be easy for a new listener to call them one, were it not for their self-billing as a chamber music group. Their rendition of “Faubus,” led by Pattillo’s flute and anchored by the heavy warbling of double bassist Peter Seymour and cellist Eric Stephenson, even recalls the hip-hop pedigree referenced in Pattillo’s technique, which they carried into a playful revision of that familiar theme from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony.
As can be expected, their bag of tricks is full of neat surprises, such as their half-classical, half-bluegrass interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s “Nutcracker” and the serpentine melodies of “Raga Raja,” an original piece inspired by Indian classical music, punctuated by Stephenson’s slinky portamentos. On “Slowberry Jam,” another original, Stephenson switched to finger style, whipping his bowing hand across the strings of his cello like a flamenco guitarist.
Moe Zoyari of San Francisco, who had seen Pattillo’s videos prior to attending and plays the flute himself, called the concert “awesome” and was so excited about it that he made a last-minute attempt get his friends to attend as well, “telling them that, if you can come, just come over right now.”
“I had no idea who they were or what to expect,” said Ann Gazenbeek from Los Altos, “so I just came with an open mind and I’m very pleasantly surprised.”
After the customary intermission, the trio introduced their unsurprisingly non-traditional take on Prokofiev’s “Peter and the Wolf,” relocating the action to a neighborhood in Brooklyn and providing their own amusing narration and unique musical signatures. Though long, the group’s keen sense of dynamics kept things fresh, and the tune didn’t overstay its welcome.
PROJECT later shifted several decades forward to pay tribute to perhaps one of the first rock bands to make classical instruments cool (to the extent that progressive rock was ever considered cool), performing what Pattillo called “The PROJECT Trio version of Jethro Tull’s version of J.S. Bach’s version of ‘Bouree,’” during which the flautist stood on one leg as a shout out to Tull’s Ian Anderson.
The show’s ender, appropriately titled “The Random Roads Suite,” was a sweeping summary of the band’s approach, starting with the busy and sophisticated “The Puzzle” before slowing the tempo and slightly darkening the mood for the contemplative “Adagio,” highlighted by delicate trade offs between Seymour and Stephenson. So as not to leave the crowd on a somber note, they finished with the Latin-flavored “Pelea De Gallos,” as Seymour and Stephenson again took the spotlight as the two combative chickens mentioned in the title, succeeding in bringing up both the tempo and the mood.
In mid-November, grade 3 students headed to the East Bay to visit the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA).
The OMCA opened its doors more than 40 years ago, bringing together art, history and natural sciences under one roof. The museum’s collection now comprises more than 1.8 million objects, including works of art, historical artifacts, natural specimens and photographs.
Following an engaging morning tour, the students, who were accompanied by teacher Kathy Ferretti, enjoyed a relaxing lunch on the museum lawn before heading back to school.
At the core of Silicon Valley startups is the idea of rapid expansion. This rapid-growth philosophy has been taken to heart by Harker’s new business and entrepreneurship (BE) department. The department is already flourishing with business classes, a podcast series, stewardship of Harker’s TedX program and its thriving DECA chapter. Harker’s chapter is one of 3,500 DECA organizations that educate young leaders and entrepreneurs on marketing, finance, hospitality and management. (Formerly Distributive Education Clubs of America, the organization adopted the acronym as its full name when it became an international body.)
November was DECA month; chapters around the world promoted the club and prepared members for competition season. Harker’s DECA chapter was no exception, as students kicked off the school year at a fever pitch. One of their primary goals is maximizing the chapter’s visibility on campus. The chapter has gone from six members in 2009 to125 in 2012 and is looking to continue that impressive growth streak.
Chapter vice president Ariana Shulman, grade 12, says, “I am looking forward to seeing the underclassmen get excited and involved in the DECA chapter this year.” To publicize the chapter, DECA has organized numerous events, the first of which was an ice cream social to kick off DECA month. On Nov. 1, students flocked to the event to enjoy sundaes and learn about the chapter. Shannon Hong, grade 10, public relations officer for freshmen and juniors, said, “It was a great way to let over 200 students have fun while getting to know DECA.”
The chapter is using more than just frozen treats to inform the community about its activities. DECA participated in Harker’s student club fair, showcasing its events and highlighting what the students would learn over the course of the school year. The chapter even held its own competitive events fair to discuss its upcoming competitions and events.
DECA is making sure to keep parents informed about what their students are up to through frequent press releases and events, including a Nov. 9 DECA parents night. More than 150 parents attended the event in the Nichols Hall atrium, where they learned about the chapter’s upcoming competitive schedule. Club president Monica Thukral, grade 12, said the parents visited event-specific booths to learn “how they could be involved as parents and what their students would be doing at each event.”
DECA also is participating in The Stock Market Game, a nationwide stock market competition. The SMG gives teams a virtual $100,000 to invest and measures their returns in real time. More than 130 Harker students and faculty are participating, which has led to a good-natured competition between the student and faculty participants. At press time, two student groups were ranked third and sixth in the Western region, out of approximately 1,200 teams; they are ninth and 17th nationally.
The top 25 teams in the region will present their investment strategies to fellow attendees at a conference in May. To further enhance learning, three investment speakers will visit Harker during the semester to discuss their stock market strategies and successes. On Oct. 30 Rajeev Seth kicked off the series by sharing his strategies for navigating the stock market. Seth is a leader in financial services who has worked with asset managers and hedge funds, and recently served as senior vice president at Bank of America.
Contributing to the community is a key part of DECA’s charter and, in that spirit, the chapter already has launched two efforts this year. On Nov. 6 DECA worked with the Red Cross Club to assemble 100 emergency preparedness kits during a lunch period. The kits, containing toothbrushes, hand sanitizer and other emergency essentials, were donated to those in need.
The DECA chapter also has partnered with the student council to help recycle Capri Sun containers at the end of every lunch period. Large banners on the wall of the Edge implore students not to throw the estimated 400 containers a day in the garbage, but instead recycle them to help promote a green Harker campus. Meanwhile, the business and entrepreneurship department
The BE program, which is in its infancy, has hit the ground running. Juston Glass, the department’s advisor, says the goal for the program is “to connect the students with the outside business world” and eventually “be the most comprehensive business program at the high school level.”
One of the ways the program is connecting its students with the real business world is through its podcast series. Over the course of the school year, local business leaders will be interviewed and share their knowledge with the burgeoning entrepreneurs in the program. The first guest, Satish Dharmaraj, is a partner at Redpoint Ventures and was the CEO and co-founder of Zimbra. The program’s host, Glenn Reddy, grade 11, said, “It’s been great that I’ve been able to connect at a more personal level with these entrepreneurs and the podcast will give … watchers a lot of great information.”
The BE classes also are giving students practical experience on how to run a business through the Finish Line Challenge, put on by the athletic apparel retailer. During the Finish Line Challenge, future business leaders tackle real business problems. Students are asked to help design a more interactive, and ultimately more profitable, customer experience in Finish Line stores by using market research to evaluate and give suggestions to improve the retailer’s omnichannel strategy. To give real-world perspective on their solutions, Glass arranged for two guest speakers: a store manager with five years of firsthand experience and the Northern California district manager. The store manager provided the students with insight into how new employees are trained to engage customers and gave them an inside look into store operations.
After the session, the classes broke into groups and pitched their improvement ideas to the manager. The winning groups from each period were guaranteed interviews for a seasonal job at Finish Line. Ones of the winners, Scott Song, grade 9, said, “The best part of the Finish Line visit was learning the ins and outs as a manager of a store.”
Neither the DECA chapter nor the BE program show any signs of slowing down, with investment discussions held in late November and early December and more podcasts being recorded. DECA president Thukral was particularly excited for the Harker DECA fundraising outing to the premiere of the second “Hunger Games” movie on Nov. 22, calling it “an event for the whole school and a bonding event for DECA.” The Harker community can look forward to a packed calendar full of informative and entertaining events – and hopefully more ice cream.
Grade 5 students recently went on a high-tech field trip to the Intel Museum. Located at Intel’s headquarters in Santa Clara, the museum’s exhibits showcase Intel’s products and history, as well as semiconductor technology in general.
The museum got its start in the early 1980s as an internal project to record Intel history. It opened to the public in 1992; in 1999 its size was tripled and a store was added. It is a popular destination for grade-school educational programs. Intel is especially relevant to many Harker students, who live in the area or have parents who work in the technology industry.
After the first group (out of 129 students) returned to Harker after visiting the museum, their teachers overheard them telling other students that they were going to “love the museum and that the exhibits were cool,” according to Lisa Diffenderfer, lower school assistant director of instructional technology.
Diffenderfer also reported that Stephanie Denova, Intel’s museum coordinator, wrote her a note stating how glad she was that the fifth graders had such a great visit and that “we were all impressed with your students and how well-behaved they are.”