Middle school Spanish students have recently returned from Costa Rica for this summer’s Spanish language immersion trip, accompanied by Spanish teachers Julie Pinzás and Susan Moling, who sent email dispatches from the trip that can be read below.
July 29:
What an exciting day we had today! We drove about an hour and a half through the lush Costa Rican countryside to San Luis. There we spent the morning and early afternoon on a canopy tour that featured ziplining across the canopy of the rainforest through a series of 12 platforms. Midway through we went on a “Tarzan” swing and ended our tour using the “Superman” harness in which you lay face down as you ride across a breathtaking canyon for nearly a mile. As you sail along this canyon, a rustling river and waterfalls could be seen amidst the lush forest. It was a definite highlight of the trip so far!
Afterward we returned to the casitas to freshen up and rest a bit before dinner. We enjoyed more of the amazing local cuisine for dinner and then a surprise birthday cake for rising eighth grader Tanvi Singh, who is turning 13 today.
Tomorrow the children will start their clases de español at the ACCE language school.
-Susan Moling
July 30:
Yesterday morning we had our orientation at the ACCE Language School. After a warm reception, the kids all took their diagnostic tests and were placed in small groups of three to four students per teacher. As usual, they impressed the director and their Costa Rican teachers with their Spanish! During the week, students normally begin their classes at 1:30 p.m. and have two breaks before finishing their lessons at 5 p.m. They are provided with a fresh snack and drink such as small sandwiches, cheese empanadas, yucca frita and plátano frito during the first longer break. Following dinner, we had a movie night where the kids enjoyed watching Man of Steel (Hombre de Hierro) while eating palomitas (popcorn). It is such a pleasure to see how the kids have bonded as a group, playing games in their free time with each other.
Today, we set off for the nearby town of Sarchí. The town is very historic because it lies along the old Pan American highway, which connects Central and South America. Sarchí is also renowned for its colorfully painted oxcart wheels and beautifully hand-carved wood furniture and crafts. We went to the Eloy Alfaro factory, which was founded in 1920, to learn about how the wheels are made during a tour of the factory.
Then the students had a painting class where everyone got to learn the basic skills of wheel painting from a local artist, Don William. Students all got a small, white wheel to work with and everyone followed the steps toward creating a beautifully painted miniature oxcart wheel. After the painting class, everyone did some shopping in the extensive gift shop followed by a delicious buffet-style lunch on the second floor of the factory.
-Julie Pinzás
August 1:
Although yesterday morning started off with a bit of rain, it cleared up just in time for our guide, Minor, to treat us to a tour of Grecia. Our first stop was the local post office. Interestingly enough, there are no street signs in Costa Rica. Therefore addresses are more descriptive. The school’s, for example, is “50 metros al oeste de la estación de Bomberos en Grecia centro; segunda planta de Restaurante Galería.” (50 meters East of Grecia’s Downtown Fire Station; second floor of the Galería Restaurant). Our next stop was a local indoor market. Students were able sample passion fruit and other indigenous fruits. The last stop of our tour was Costa Rica’s version of Jamba Juice, Cosechas Grecia. Here students were able to sample a yummy fruit smoothie.
Part of our group then walked to the polideportivo (sports center) where they were able to enjoy some playtime in the pool. The other half of the group went to a local woman’s home where they participated in a cooking class and enjoyed a wonderful, home-cooked luncheon. Everyone helped Sra. Lavinia prepare a sumptuous arroz con pollo (chicken and rice), a traditional Costa Rican dish which features several local vegetables, special seasonings and chicken. This dish was served with fried bananas (plátanos maduros) and a refreshing cas-pineapple smoothie.
Last night, after school, we visited a private K-12 school, Centro Educativo Nuevo Milenio, where our entire group had a chance to participate in the high school’s English Day Talent Show a la “America’s Got Talent.” They all did a fantastic job and impressed our hosts with their talent and level of confidence!
Today in the morning the same two groups from yesterday switched and enjoyed the cooking class/pool activities. Then after school today, we headed off to a local indoor soccer pitch to play with Minor’s son, Christopher, and some of his classmates. Everyone got into the game and had a lot of fun playing an exciting match of soccer non-stop for an hour. To top it off, students enjoyed dinner at a local soda. A soda is a family-run restaurant, similar to a small North American diner. Sodas are a great place to find quick home cooking, usually the stick-to-your-ribs variety – think rice and beans, hamburgers and fries.
-Julie Pinzás
August 2:
In the morning we awoke early to head off an immigrant neighborhood known as La Carpio, just outside of the capital city, San José, and about an hour’s drive away. This area, home to some 34,000 people, is made up of mainly immigrants from the neighboring country of Nicaragua who escaped to Costa Rica for a better life following the civil war there. As a result, most of the inhabitants of La Carpio are extremely poor. One organization, the Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation, founded by an American expatriate, Gail Nystrom, has accomplished much in nearly every facet of life for these people for some 30 years. One of them is the creation of an affordable day-care for working parents, the Guadería la Libertad.
This year, the organization is focusing on the one of the poorest sections of La Carpio. Our students thoroughly enjoyed painting the outside of the metal and concrete housing structures, bringing a bit of color, pride and sense of ownership to the inhabitants. We then trekked down to the bottom of the river to deliver invitations and hang posters for a health fair the following day. Afterwards, we went back to the Fundación Humanitaria for a simple lunch before heading back to ACCE for their Spanish classes. That evening we went to a local mall just outside of Grecia to have dinner and enjoy some window-shopping.
-Susan Moling
August 3:
Yesterday we got off to an early start for Manuel National Park, about three hours north of Grecia. We took a newly paved highway that supposedly cut the drive down by an hour. On the way we stopped and walked across a bridge to observe Central American crocodiles that live along the Tarcoles River. We were lucky enough to see three pairs of bright scarlet macaws in flight as we walked along the seismic suspension bridge.
Our next stop was the beautiful Rainmaker Park, which is a lush rainforest where we went on a 90-minute hike – this year with a downpour of rain, thanks to mother nature. They got a true sense of why it is called a rainforest! We observed many species of flora and fauna native to the rainforest. Our guide pointed out some green poison dart frogs, centipedes and different plant species, just to name a few. We walked across a system of suspension bridges spanning a total of 250 meters above the forest canopy. Six bridges extend over platforms attached to massive hardwood trees which allow visitors to explore the rainforest from a bird´s eye perspective, such as rushing waterfalls below. We ended our tour with a delicious lunch of arroz con pollo, black beans and rice. We drove on for about another hour, and then settled into our hotel which is located just outside the famed Manuel Antonio Park we will be exploring tomorrow. The kids spent the afternoon frolicking in the beach.
-Susan Moling
August 4:
Costa Rica blessed us with perfect weather today despite forecasts of a possible storm and rain all weekend for our visit to one of the country’s smallest but most spectacular national parks, Manuel Antonio. Once we entered the park, we enjoyed an easy hike through the rain forest as our guide pointed out many fascinating insects, plants and animals. Nothing compares to seeing two- and three-toed sloths and capuchin monkeys amongst the trees in person in their natural habitat.
After the brief hike, we arrived at the long-awaited beach, which looked like it was from a movie set with majestic palm trees surrounding a turquoise bay. Needless to say, the kids were in the water within minutes, enjoying themselves tremendously. After a few hours of satisfying play in the water and on the sand, we headed back to the hotel for lunch and spent the afternoon in the pool.
We enjoyed another of many scrumptious meals for dinner. The kids have definitely adapted to Costa Rican cuisine and all agree that they love the food! It was definitely a memorable weekend excursion for all.
-Julie Pinzás
August 6:
Yesterday, after our drive home from Manuel Antonio, we stopped at la Casona de Maiz, a typical Costa Rica Restaurant, for lunch. Students then dropped off their luggage at the casitas and went to afternoon classes. That evening they had fun watching “Megamente” (Megamind) in Spanish with Spanish subtitles.
This morning we went again to the organization Costa Rican Humanitarian Foundation, the immigrant neighborhood La Carpio, just outside of the capital city, San José (La Carpio, history). Today the students visited a special preschool created by this organization to prepare immigrant children for entering kindergarten in the Costa Rican school system.
Our students spent their time helping the 25 or so children, whose ages ranged from 4 to 5 years old, with their lessons. They read to the kids, helped them color, sang songs and played with them. We noticed how our group used their Spanish to communicate with the children and how sad the little ones were when we left. Warm hugs were exchanged all around. Their director complimented us on how well our students interacted with hers. She said we were her best group yet!
-Julie Pinzás
August 9:
Sadly we are sending you our last report from picturesque Costa Rica!
Yesterday we had another leisurely breakfast at 8:30 a.m. We then headed off to a dance studio to learn some typical Latin dances. The whole class was taught in Spanish! Our instructor, Carlos, taught us how to do the bachata, cumbia, salsa and merengue. He was impressed on how enthusiastic our students were and their level of understanding and dancing skills. Everyone had a lot of fun!
In the evening our group played another indoor soccer match with local Costa Rican youth. Needless to say, it was an even more exciting match for they scored lots of goals!
Today we set off for downtown Grecia for the “cazapistas” (scavenger hunt). This activity was developed by one of our wonderful local contacts here, Amy Paschal. Students were divided up into groups of three to four and then had to follow the steps on their individualized scavenger hunts in both Spanish and English. The design of the activity was really ingenious – some of the tasks involved students having to find out information from local townspeople; and for others they had to ask someone to take a photo of their group in front of a particular landmark. Everyone did a great job completing their cazapistas.
Tonight we had a lovely farewell barbecue party in the “Rancho” at the casitas where we have enjoyed these past two glorious weeks here in Costa Rica. There was a sumptuous vegetable and rice dish, barbecued meats, black beans and homemade salsa and chips. After eating, some of the teachers from the school presented each student with a beautiful group photo as a memento of their time here.
Everyone is sad to leave tomorrow but eager to get home and tell you all about their amazing experiences. ¡Pura vida!
Harker’s basketball camp knitted together drills, five-on-fives and skills games to best engage students. The camp had two sessions per day: a morning session for boys in grades 6-9 and an afternoon coed session for grades 4-8, and was run by Harker varsity basketball coach Mark Collins, who spent 10 years in Denmark as a professional player and six years as the director of the Golden State Warriors camp.
Each session at camp started with footwork drills, “just to get the blood pumping,” Collins said. Students then went to different stations for different skills, including passing, ball-handling, shooting and defense. “We do a lot of break-down drills so that we get specific with the type of drill that we want the kids to learn,” said Collins.
Students play five-on-five games to apply the skills and principles learned in the drills. Each session also featured fun games to liven up the atmosphere. In one of these games, a student’s name was randomly drawn from an envelope, and from a different envelope another slip of paper was drawn with an activity written on it. “This particular game is really fun for the kids, because it could be anything from ‘make a shot with your eyes closed’ to ‘make a shot backwards,’” Collins said.
At the end of each day, students were given a homework question so that their minds would be engaged when camp started the next day.
Collins said the main goal of the camp was to equip students with the skills they can practice at home and elsewhere in order to continue improving after camp is over. “You’re not going to get so much better in a week-long camp,” he said. “But if they carry these skills to their homes and to their other teams and to their free plan and other recreational centers and do these skills, they will get better.”
Harker’s new wrestling camp, run by long-time, popular Harker coach Karriem Stinson, gave students in grades 6-12 a solid foundation for their future endeavors in the sport.
“We try to show everyone the same moves and we’re trying to keep it basic … because we think basic wins,” said Stinson, who is also the middle and lower schools’ assistant athletic director.
A typical day at the camp focused first on basic techniques and positioning, then wrestlers moved on to situational drills emphasizing escapes, stand-ups and breakdowns. The final portion of the day allowed the students to practice the skills they’d learned with their classmates.
Each day, Stinson said, the students are encouraged to determine three goals that they had met and three other goals that required more work to complete.
In addition, the camp also incorporated the TRX suspension training system for greater fitness and endurance. “We’re trying to incorporate nutrition, mental, physical and mold it all together,” said Stinson.
During the camp, Stinson was joined by Prospect High School wrestling coach Shawn Henebry, who has twice been a U.S. Open freestyle champion.
“We’re allowing the kids to get a good solid foundation in a short period of time,” Henebry said. “And I also think we have a good ratio of coaches to [student] wrestlers.”
What also made the Harker camp unique in Henebry’s view was that more experienced students helped the newer wrestlers learn more advanced techniques, thereby “also helping themselves learn the move by teaching the move.”
Serena Olmos, a senior at Lincoln High School, said she enjoyed the camp because it helped students with focusing on their weaknesses as wrestlers, “and not just focusing on what you’re good at.” She also enjoyed how the coaches made it a priority to help all of the students improve. “They don’t just push you off to the side and focus on one person,” she said.
“When they leave this camp we want them to have life skills, lessons that they took away,” Stinson said. “Mentally, they’ve become a lot stronger.”
Summertime fun kicked into high gear at Harker, this year, as enrollment for camps and other seasonal programming skyrocketed across all three campuses, resulting in a record-breaking number of participants.
Shortly after school let out, Harker opened its doors to the public, becoming a one-stop-summer-program-shop by extending its huge variety of offerings to K-12 students both locally and from around the globe.
According to Harker’s summer programs office, attendance at all summer happenings totaled some 2,740 participants. On the Harker summer menu were a camp for young kids, an institute for middle and high school-aged students, a program for foreigners to learn English, a large and varied sports camp, and a swim school that even adults could attend.
“We were thrilled and delighted at the incredible turnout for Harker summer this year!” enthused Kelly Espinosa, longtime director of summer programs. She noted that Harker has been providing outstanding summer programming for more than half a century.
In addition to the larger number in overall enrollment, there were exciting new happenings in both the English Language Institute (ELI) and Summer Institute (SI) programs. At the lower school ELI saw a huge jump in enrollment specific to elementary school students. Meanwhile, at the upper school, SI successfully added specialty classes to its afternoon activity program.
“Harker summer had everything a camp consumer could want,” said Espinosa, adding that she was also pleased to see how many non-Harker students chose to spend their summer at the school.
Below is an overview of the record-breaking Harker Summer 2013:
Summer Camp+ Wows K-6 at the Lower School
It truly was “the summer of wow!” over at the lower school’s Summer Camp+ program, where 763 children in K-6 enjoyed a wide array of summertime activities designed to delight and amaze them.
According to Joe Chung, program director of Camp+, Harker’s youngest students were happily occupied with such on site highlights as a patriotic games bash, water carnival, sleepover for older campers, presentation for parents, and birthday celebration for camp mascot “Ray.” Campers also partook in numerous offsite field trips, from local outings for bowling and miniature golf to farther trips out to the Oakland Zoo and Coyote Point.
Students had the choice of enrolling in either CoreFocus or LOL (Learning Opportunities in Literature) for the academic portion of the day. Core Focus was a three- or four-week math and language-arts-focused program. LOL was a two-week integrated curriculum centered around a literary theme. Both programs left room for the optional added afternoon activity program.
Afternoon activities were grouped by ages and weeks, with kindergartners attending kindercamp. First and second graders were in the owls group, third and fourth graders were called condors, and fifth and sixth graders were referred to as eagles. The first session of camp included such weekly themes as wow, whamo, wipe out, and work out. The second session featured weeks called wisdom of wizards, waiting on winter and wonders of wildlife.
“This was my third time at Camp+, and I really recommend it!” enthused grade 3 student Alexis Nishimura. To her, the best part about camp was “hanging out with friends,” followed by “all the fun activities and outings.”
Summer Institute Offers Individualized Programs for Students, Grades 6-12
From backyard games held on the upper school field to volleyball boot camp and a cooking corner in the gym and kitchen, Summer Institute (SI) students this year enjoyed brand new specialty class period offerings.
Open to both Harker students and the general public in grades 6-12, the institute got underway mid-June and ran until early August. SI had two separate tracks, one designed for middle schoolers and another geared towards high school students. SI participants typically combined a morning academic program with afternoon activities, allowing them to earn credits and learn new skills with plenty of time leftover for summertime fun.
The unique specialty classes were made available via SI’s afternoon activity program where many middle school students (and some high school freshmen) signed up for courses which changed weekly and included off-campus field trips. Rotating course options included art, cooking, outdoor games, volleyball, jewelry making, magic, improv, dance, tech, junior lifeguard, chess and circus arts.
Proudly displaying a plate she had been working on in ceramics class, Anjali Ravella, a soon-to-be grade 6 student at the new Summit Denali charter school in Santa Clara, said it was her favorite special activity so far. A first-time participant to SI, she noted that she also enjoyed learning from podcasts in her earlier academic class on “super study skills.”
The institute’s academic portion offered rigorous for-credit courses such as algebra, economics and programming, as well as non-credit opportunities for enrichment and growth like creative writing, Web design, debate and robotics. A driver’s education course was available for students aged 15 and up.
Grade 9 students had the option to either participate in Activity Program (AP) or join the older high school students who had no organized afternoon activity program but enjoyed free drop-in access to the library, pool, art room, Ping-Pong table, basketball courts and study spaces. For all grades, an on-site prepared lunch was included.
According to Keith Hirota, summer middle school director, a total of 920 middle and upper school students were enrolled in this summer’s overall SI program, of which 550 participants were non-Harker students.
Ten-year-old Richard Hsieh is non-Harker student who met his new Harker pal Nakul Bajaj, age 11, in SI. Although the two took different morning academic tracks, they said they enjoyed hanging out together for many of the afternoon activities – and now hope to continue their newfound friendship during the regular school year.
English Language Institute Attracts Participants, Aged 6-16, From Across the Globe
Summer at Harker brought with it its own special international flavor, as students at both the lower and upper schools got to meet and interact with peers from all over the world.
Thanks to the school’s renowned English Language Institute (ELI) program, more than 100 international students – from elementary through high school – come to Harker to increase their chances of admission to primarily English speaking educational institutions.
According to Anthony Wood, ELI director, this year’s program saw a notable increase in enrollment at the beginner level, requiring a total of four classes, with at least 55 youngsters enrolled in the primary division. Older students (middle and high school aged) attended ELI on the Saratoga campus.
At the lower school program, 9-year-old ELI student Helen Kozak recalled that going on a recent field trip to the beach at Santa Cruz reminded her of being back home in Ukraine, where she lives near the sea. “I like the ocean very much,” she said in remarkably good English, adding “I swim all day long.” In addition to swimming, her favorite things about ELI were archery, circus arts and computer lab. “I like it all,” said Kozak, who has been to the United States several times but never before in the ELI program.
“My favorite thing about ELI was recess … which we are in right now!” added 11-year-old Aaron Guo of China. The first time ELI participant said that his second favorite activity was basketball. He also liked all the “fun outings” to places like the Golden Gate Bridge and tide pools at the ocean.
At the Saratoga campus older ELI students worked on special projects tailored to their needs, including SAT preparation. They were assisted by mentors (called buddies or conversation partners) who are Harker juniors, seniors or recent graduates. At the end of their time at Harker, ELI students, upon full completion of either a three- or seven-week course, received a certificate and recommendation from their teachers.
On field trip days ELI students of all ages could be seen sporting green Harker T-shirts as they headed out for cultural adventures to diverse Bay Area tourist attractions. Upon their return, their travel experiences were strategically incorporated into their learning curriculum.
Sports Camps Cater to All Skill Levels of Students, Aged 9-16
The middle and upper school campuses set the scene for Harker’s wide variety of on-site, first-rate sports camps, where 518 athletes learned a new sport or worked on improving skills in a sport they had already taken up. This year Harker offered softball, basketball, football, soccer, TRX (suspension body training), wrestling, volleyball and water polo camps.
Wrestling camp was new to this year’s summer sports program. Designed to motivate the novice wrestler and challenge the more advanced, the camp was open to students in grades 6-12. Serena Olmos, a senior at Lincoln High School, said she enjoyed the new camp offering because it helped students focus on their weakness as wrestlers, “and not just on what you’re good at.”
It was just last year that water polo was added to the sports camp choices. All of Harker’s summer sports camps are designed to be a positive, skill-focused environment where highly experienced coaches provide training in a well-structured, character driven atmosphere. Young athletes were encouraged to improve skills, develop teamwork and, most of all, have fun!
Swim School Offers Beginner to Advanced Lessons for Participants, Ages 3-Adult
The Harker Swim School provided both children and adults the opportunity to learn, refine and extend their swimming abilities in a noncompetitive, positive environment. Held at the upper school’s beautiful Singh Aquatic Center, it offered swim lessons for all skill levels, as well as a junior swim team for students in grades 2-8. The swim school is not part of Harker’s regular sports camp programming (for example, the water polo camp is not taught through the swim school).
For more information on Harker’s varied summer offerings visit summer.harker.org.
Venkat Sankar, rising ninth grader, is a one of only 15 global finalists in the 2013 Google Science Fair competition! The Google Science Fair is a prestigious global competition for students aged 13-18, and thousands of students from more than 120 countries participate.
Sankar was selected for his project “Ecology or Economy: Managing the Impact of Infrastructure Projects on Endangered Species,” and he was one of only 10 regional finalists in his age category from the Americas region. He then advanced to become one of only five global finalists in the 13-14 age category. There are only 15 finalists across all age groups. Sankar is now in the final round of the competition at the Google headquarters in Mountain View and that final evaluation will take place in September.
Sankar received guidance and advice from Harker middle school science teacher Daniel Sommer, who served as his mentor for this project.
There is a public voting process currently underway to select the winner of the Voter’s Choice Award and we’d love it if all Harker students and parents would check out the projects and vote for Sankar at https://www.googlesciencefair.com/en/2013/.
Harker’s summer water polo camp, held in late June, offered Bay Area students in grades 4-8 the chance to get a comprehensive introduction to the sport in a fun, supportive environment.
“It’s good for the kids to come out and play and it’s helping our sport grow,” said Allie Lamb, the Harker water polo coach who ran the camp with Ted Ujifusa, who also coaches at Harker. “It’s kind of a small sport, so the more kids we can get started early and young, the better it’ll be when they get into high school.”
Because most of the students at the camp were new to the sport, the camp focused on basic skills such as eggbeater kicking, moving through the water, passing and shooting. Each day of the camp showed the students a new skill to learn.
“And since the kids like to play the sport, we do a lot of scrimmaging, getting them out there,” Lamb said. “The best way to learn is by actually getting to play.”
Lamb said that by the end of the camp the students will have gained enough knowledge and experience to join a local water polo club team or high school team. “Our goal is to give them the knowledge they need now so they can go on and play either in high school or on a club team, and they’ll have some kind of background knowledge.”
“I like how the teachers are really nice to you, and they always let you do lots of fun stuff like scrimmaging and lots of fun drills that they come up with,” said Ryan Hagberg, a middle school student at St. Christopher School. “This has made me a lot more interested in playing water polo.”
The main goal of the camp, Lamb noted, was for the students in attendance to have fun learning the sport. “The most important thing that we teach the kids is that water polo is a fun sport to play and they should be having fun while they’re doing it. Of course they learn all the basics, but if they’re not having fun and we’re not making it fun, then they’re not going to want to come back and do it.”
About 120 new and returning Harker families gathered for the lower school’s inaugural Playdate in the Park in early August at the John D. Morgan Park in Campbell. The event provided a casual morning of fun and friendship, as well as an early opportunity for lower school families to gather as a community.
“It was all about meeting new families and reconnecting with old friends,” said Tere Aceves, the lower school’s director of volunteer events. “It was great to see kids playing soccer and on the playground, many of the little ones enjoyed the water facilities, and dads were playing Frisbee with students, too.”
“There were many activities to do at the park, and families also brought their favorite games and outdoor recreational equipment to share with friends,” added Mandi Corona, Harker’s events coordinator.
New students were provided with a Harker T-shirt prior to the Playdate in the Park event and were excited to have a chance to put it on for their first lower school function. Returning students proudly displayed their regular school T-shirts or ones from other fun Harker happenings, such as picnic and summer camp.
During the entire morning of what proved to be a successful first communal event of its kind, lower school staff were on hand for questions at a nearby Harker alumni tent.
Susan Smith, Harker’s library director, traveled to Chicago over the summer for an annual conference sponsored by the national American Library Association (ALA), where a book she contributed to received a special award.
Last year Smith contributed a chapter to the now published book “Growing Schools: Librarians as Professional Developers,” showcasing librarians leading professional learning in the school setting. At the recent ALA conference the book received the prestigious Best Professional Reference award.
Smith called it “very special” to have the book recognized by a committee of her peers as being such a valuable resource for librarians in schools across the country.
According to the book, school librarians are ideally qualified to lead professional development because they service the entire school network, from the students and faculty to families and the community. The “Growing Schools” book is the first such resource to directly address the potential role of the school librarian as a staff developer.
Within the book’s chapters authors like Smith relate their own professional development journeys, collectively representing experience within K-12 public and private institutions, district and regional units, and universities across the United States and Canada.
Smith explained that the 50-page chapter she contributed to was the story of Harker’s ambitious and successful information literacy program which originated under former library director Enid Davis back in 2006. Since then, Harker has become recognized as having one of the premier library-directed information literacy programs in North America.
“I learned a tremendous amount from the other contributors, some of whom co-led a half-day professional development workshop with me at the ALA pre-conference in 2012,” recalled Smith.
This year’s ALA conference, which ran from June 27 to July 2, was the 137th annual event for the library association. The theme of the event – which carried an impressive lineup of guest speakers, including Khaled Hosseini, Ann Patchett, Oliver Stone, Alice Walker and Octavia Spencer – was “Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves.”
The middle school forensics program traveled to Birmingham, Ala., in June to compete at the National Junior Forensics League National Tournament. The team as a collective brought home the National School of Excellence Award that recognizes the top three speech and debate programs in the country. The team also earned the National Debate School of Excellence Award given to the top six debate programs in the country.
As individuals, the students earned many awards including two national championships. The team of Aditya Dhar and Alexander Lam, who both start grade 9 next year, debated the benefit of drone strikes in Public Forum debate and after nine tough rounds were declared the national champions.
In Congressional debate, the Harker team had the top four students in the event which is a monumental achievement. Winning his second national championship, Lam took first place. Dhar took second, rising freshmen Emaad Raghib was third and Misha Tseitlin was fourth. Rishab Gargeya, who also recently finished grade 8, was also a finalist. Last year at Nationals Dhar won first place and Lam won second place.
In Policy Debate, recent middle school graduates Raymond Xu and Rahul Shukla advanced to the final four in their discussion about transportation infrastructure. Rising eighth grader Megan Huynh and Anika Jain, a freshman next year, advanced to the top 16.
In Lincoln Douglas debate, the students discussed the desirability of an oppressive government over no government. Rising grade 8 students Serena Lu and Sagar Rao advanced to the top sixteen. Lu and Liza Turchinsky, also in grade 8 next year, were recognized as being exceptional speakers and winning the seventh place and fifth place awards in that category. Turchinsky also received second place in the continuation rounds.
Harker also had students who competed in Original Oratory, a 10-minute speech students write themselves that call the audience to action. Jain, Nikhil Dharmaraj, rising grade 8, and Carissa Chen, starting grade 9 in the fall, all advanced to the elimination rounds. Chen advanced to finals and received the fifth place award; she was also recognized for her impromptu speaking skills and advanced to the top 12 in this event.
The students had an amazing performance and the coaches are all very proud of their success. “Thank you for all of your support of middle school forensics throughout the year,” said middle school forensics teacher Karina Momary. “I know our schedule is not the easiest to accommodate but your flexibility and support is what allows the students to participate and excel. A special thank you to Jonathan Brusco. Jonathan gave topic lectures to the Public Forum and Lincoln Douglas debaters before Nationals. His insights helped the boys win the finals!”
This story was submitted by Harker rising junior Cindy Liu.
On July 2, a team of eight Harker rising juniors placed first in the nation in the 9/10 division for the 2013 Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science (TEAMS). The competition took place during the national Technology Student Association (TSA) conference held from June 28 to July 2 in Orlando, Fla. The team members included Andrew Jin, David Lin, Cindy Liu, Steven Wang, Rachel Wu, Stanley Xie, Leo Yu and Andrew Zhang.
TEAMS is an annual science, technology, engineering and mathematics competition challenging students to work collaboratively and apply their math and science knowledge and problem-solving skills in practical, creative ways to solve real world engineering challenges. The 2013 TEAMS theme was “Engineering a Secure Cyberspace.” The first part of the competition, held locally in March, included 80 multiple choice questions and eight short essays on the theme. The team ranked number one in California in the grade 9/10 division and were invited to participate in second part of the competition at the national level. The part II test consisted of three categories: a research essay on cybersecurity, a written problem-solving exam with complex math, physics and computer science scenarios and an extemporaneous debate on one of three topics: social media, work place privacy and cloud computing. All of the students benefited from the knowledge they had accumulated in Harker classes, such as their math courses, AP Physics, AP Computer Science and the debate program.
The TSA is a national organization that supports more than 60 STEM competitions for middle and high school students nationwide. TSA membership includes more than 190,000 students in 2,000 schools spanning 48 states. In addition to the TEAMS competition, students attended ceremonies recognizing TSA development and were able to meet with participants of other TSA projects. All of the participating teams qualified for the national round by placing in the first four places in their states.