Pat Walsh, grade 5 math teacher, took about 30 students to an Oakland A’s baseball game in late April as his contribution to the 2011 Harker Family & Alumni Picnic. Everyone had a great time!
Tags: Featured StoryHarker’s musical talent shined in the recent campuswide Spring Concert, presented by the school’s music departments. Lower, middle and upper school orchestras united on stage, to the delight of friends, parents and faculty members in attendance.
Held in mid-April at the Mexican Heritage Theater in San Jose, the show featured a unique pre-concert lobby music performance by the middle school chamber ensembles. Kicking off the concert, the Lower School String Ensemble opened with “Burst,” by Brian Balmages, and “Battle of the Ancient Dragons,” by Rob Grice.
The Lower School Orchestra then performed two numbers before being joined by the Grade 6 Winds, Strings and Orchestra. Then the Grade 7-8 Orchestra took the stage, performing Johannes Brahms’ “Variations on a Theme,” and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera.”
A special treat was the K-12 combined orchestra, which played a beautiful rendition of “Hornpipe” from Handel’s “Water Music.” A brief intermission followed after which the The Harker School Orchestra showed their range of skill by performing such high-level pieces as Felix Mendelssohn’s “Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The Spring Concert was a joy to attend and skillfully directed by its respective upper, middle and lower school conductors: Chris Florio, David Hart, Louis Hoffman and Toni Woodruff.
“We had a very challenging program and the students truly stepped up their game for a wonderful performance. I was especially happy to honor such an amazing group of musicians. This class has been a huge part of the growth of the orchestra program and it was fitting that they ended with such a wonderful concert,” said Florio.
Tags: Featured StoryStudent singers from every campus gathered at San Jose’s Mexican Heritage Theater in late March for this year’s United Voices concert, which brought all of Harker’s talented vocal groups to one stage.
Middle school choirs Harmonics and Vivace kicked off the show by teaming up on a medley of the traditional Shaker song “Simple Gifts” and the famous “Canon in D” by Johann Pachelbel, directed by Dave Hart. The two groups would also perform individually later that evening. Harmonics, directed by Monica Colletti and Roxann Hagemeyer, wowed the audience with their rendition of “Time Warp” from “The Rocky Horror Show,” and Dave Hart directed Vivace, who performed the traditional “Down By the Riverside,” with musical accompaniment from guitarist Nikhil Parmar, bassist Jonathan Yiu, and drummer Rohan Desikan, all grade 8, pianist Michael Tseitlin, grade 7.
Dynamics, the grade 6 show choir directed by Roxann Hagemeyer, was the third middle school group to perform during the evening, singing Ray Henderson and Mort Dixon’s standard “Bye Bye Blackbird” and “The Frim Fram Sauce,” made famous by the Nat King Cole Trio.
The lower school was represented by the Bucknall Choir, made up of students in grades 4 and 5, who sang the Scottish folk song “Ally Bally” and the American folk song “Red River Dances.” Donna Boucher, grade 5, provided accompaniment on flute.
The first of the upper school groups to perform was Susan Nace’s group Camerata, singing 17th century composer Johannes Jeep’s “Musica, dieganz lieblich Kunst” (“Music, the most lovely art”) before switching gears to the spiritual “I Hear a Voice A-Prayin’,” by Houston Bright.
Cantilena, also directed by Nace, sang a diverse set of three songs, beginning with the stirring traditional “Hark! I Hear the Harps Eternal,” followed by the haunting “Lan Hua Hua” by Liu Zhuang and concluding with Nace’s own arrangement of the Roger Nixon piece “Carol.” The late Nixon’s granddaughter, Bridget, grade 12, sings in the ensemble.
Jennifer Cowgill directed the upper school’s choir Bel Canto, who performed the spiritual “Guide My Wayfarin’ Feet” and the Cuban folk song “Guantanamera.” Their set also included impressive solo performances by Katia Mironova, grade 10, Justin Gerard, grade 11 and Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari, grade 9.
Downbeat, the upper school’s show choir, took the stage just before the finale. Directed by Laura-Lang Ree and Catherine Snider, the well-practiced group first performed a spirituals medley, combining “Just Across That River” and “Every Time I Feel the Spirit.” Their set concluded with a rousing rendition of The Doobie Brothers’ “Listen to the Music.”
Finally, all of the evening’s singers assembled on the stage to perform “Tshotsholoza,” a South African folk song with African-style drumming provided by Vivace’s rhythm section. The performers received a much-deserved standing ovation not just for the stunning finale, but also for the musicianship they displayed throughout the evening.
Tags: Featured Story, Performing ArtsThe Conservatory’s spring musical, “The Drowsy Chaperone,” a self-styled “Musical Within a Comedy,” fused modern and vaudevillian musical theater styles to create a uniquely entertaining experience. The show gave the students the chance to explore both new and more familiar theatrical genres. Director Laura Lang-Ree, musical director Catherine Snider and choreographer Katie O’Bryon guided the 43 students in the cast in learning the various performance styles.
The production follows the Man in Chair (Tristan Killeen, grade 12), a shut-in and Broadway enthusiast who unearths and listens to a recording of a fictional 1928 musical known as “The Drowsy Chaperone.” After getting approval from the audience to guide them through the show, he puts the record on his player and the musical comes to life in his living room.
The plot of the show within the show takes place on the wedding day of oil tycoon Robert Martin (Neel Salukhe, grade 12) and famed Broadway actress Janet Van De Graff (Noel Witcosky, grade 12), who has pledged to quit show business to devote all her time to married life.
This doesn’t sit well with the boss of the two gangsters (Ian Richardson and Kevin Moss, both grade 10) who have infiltrated the wedding disguised as pastry chefs in order to protect their boss’ investment in the musical “Feldzieg’s Follies,” of which Van De Graff is the star. So begins a screwball comedy with rousing musical numbers and periodic bittersweet insights into the life of the Man in Chair which give the show the substance that made it so popular with Broadway audiences when it debuted in 2006.
Stalwart set designer Paul Vallerga brought his trademark creativity to production, creating a versatile set that was easily changed to suit a variety of locales, and which included a large airplane and a Murphy bed. Clever props made their way into the show as well, courtesy of prop designer Joan Sommerfield. Natti Pierce-Thomson again handled the lighting design, splendidly capturing the musical’s many moods.
Tags: Featured Story, Performing ArtsThe Conservatory’s spring musical, “The Drowsy Chaperone,” a self-styled “Musical Within a Comedy,” fused modern and vaudevillian musical theater styles to create a uniquely entertaining experience. The show gave the students the chance to explore both new and more familiar theatrical genres. Director Laura Lang-Ree, musical director Catherine Snider and choreographer Katie O’Bryon guided the 43 students in the cast in learning the various performance styles.
The production follows the Man in Chair (Tristan Killeen, grade 12), a shut-in and Broadway enthusiast who unearths and listens to a recording of a fictional 1928 musical known as “The Drowsy Chaperone.” After getting approval from the audience to guide them through the show, he puts the record on his player and the musical comes to life in his living room.
The plot of the show within the show takes place on the wedding day of oil tycoon Robert Martin (Neel Salukhe, grade 12) and famed Broadway actress Janet Van De Graff (Noel Witcosky, grade 12), who has pledged to quit show business to devote all her time to married life.
This doesn’t sit well with the boss of the two gangsters (Ian Richardson and Kevin Moss, both grade 10) who have infiltrated the wedding disguised as pastry chefs in order to protect their boss’ investment in the musical “Feldzieg’s Follies,” of which Van De Graff is the star. So begins a screwball comedy with rousing musical numbers and periodic bittersweet insights into the life of the Man in Chair which give the show the substance that made it so popular with Broadway audiences when it debuted in 2006.
Stalwart set designer Paul Vallerga brought his trademark creativity to production, creating a versatile set that was easily changed to suit a variety of locales, and which included a large airplane and a Murphy bed. Clever props made their way into the show as well, courtesy of prop designer Joan Sommerfield. Natti Pierce-Thomson again handled the lighting design, splendidly capturing the musical’s many moods.
Tags: Featured Story, Performing ArtsBackpacks weren’t the only thing recently being toted around the Blackford campus. As part of their health education curriculum, the grade 8 class carried five-pound flour sack “babies” for an entire week. The students were responsible for ensuring the safety of their sack babies, earning points for science as well as health education. The project, while fun, was taken seriously, complete with day care centers set up for students participating in after-school activities. Students were responsible for their babies during the school day, and lost points due to any abuse or neglect.
The seventh annual Harker Research Symposium, April 28, will feature renowned entrepreneur and founding CEO of Sun Microsystems Vinod Khosla as its morning keynote speaker. The symposium, running from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., will once again bring Harker students and alumni together at the upper school campus to share their love of scientific research.
The afternoon keynote address will be delivered by two speakers: Dr. Atul Butte, chief of the division of systems medicine and associate professor of pediatrics, medicine and, by courtesy, computer science, at Stanford University and Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital; and John West, Harker parent and CEO of genome analysis company Personalis. Butte was one of four Stanford faculty members who orchestrated a collaboration between the university and Personalis to sequence the DNA of the West family (Anne ’11, Paul, grade 12).
Harker alumnus Jacob Bongers ’07 will also make a special appearance to discuss his experiences conducting and publishing research as an undergraduate student in archaeology at the University of Southern California.
A central component of every Harker Research Symposium is the chance for students to present their research to industry professionals, parents and fellow students. Dozens of talks will be given by Harker upper school students, and more than 30 poster sessions by middle and upper school students will be on display at various points throughout the day. Harker alumni will also deliver talks via video conference from research labs all over the country.
As with last year’s symposium, this year several exhibitors will be offering interactive displays for the hundreds of annual attendees. This year’s exhibitors at posting time include Autodesk, East Bay Cardiovascular Surgeons, Ericsson, Genophen, Hewlett-Packard, Hunter Laboratories, Microsoft, NVIDIA, Rector Motors, Symmetricom and Twin Creeks Technologies.
The Harker Research Symposium is open to all members of the Harker community. Additional information, including a schedule, is available at http://www.harker.org/symposium. For more information on student presentations, contact Harker science department chair Anita Chetty at anitac@harker.org. For exhibitor information, contact symposium@harker.org.
Tags: Featured Story, Research Symposium, ScienceMiddle school students brought home a slew of first and seconds from the 2012 Glendale Middle School Warm-up Speech and Debate Competition tournament hosted by Glendale Community College. This is the first year the event has been held and there were more than 100 entries. Harker students usually participate in high school-level tournaments and were very excited to attend one of the few middle school tournaments of the year, held at Glendale College.
The Harker contingent, 36-strong, brought home many awards and was in the final round of every style of debate. Four teams advanced to the elimination rounds of public forum debate. Students in that debate had been preparing for six weeks prior to the tournament doing research on childhood vaccines and discussing whether state-mandated administration of childhood vaccinations is justified.
Neeraj Agarwal and Michael Kwan, both grade 6, were double-octofinalists. Joyce Huang, grade 7, and Shivali Minocha, grade 8, made it to the sweet-16 level in the public forum debate. Sophia Luo and Panny Shan, both grade 8, were both congressional debate finalists, as well as making it to the semifinals in public forum debate. Alexander Lam and Aditya Dhar, both grade 7, made it to the finals, where they received second place in that category.
The middle school team also saw six students advance to the elimination rounds of the Lincoln-Douglas debate. Students had been preparing for this topic for the past two months. Students in this category examined whether targeted killing is a morally permissible foreign policy tool. Ray Xu and Manan Shah, both grade 7, were in the sweet-16 level of this debate. Abhinav Keteni, grade 8, and Steven Cao, grade 7, were quarterfinalists in Lincoln-Douglas. Karen Qi, grade 8, advanced to the semifinals. Sagar Rao, grade 6, made it to the final round and received second place.
Dhar received first place in the congressional debate, where he has had continued success throughout the competitive season. Moreover, Dhar is one of the few middle school students to ever earn a bid to the high school national Tournament of Champions.
Harker walked away with five of the top six awards given at the tournament. Emaad Raghib, grade 7, received second place. Misha Tseitlin, grade 7, received fourth place. Cao received fifth place. Prithvi Gudapati, grade 8, received sixth place in the congressional debate, which was his first debate tournament.
Harker continued its success in the speech events. Divya Rajasekharan, grade 7, won first place for her piece on the effects of bullying. She has presented this piece at two other tournaments and has also won first place at both of them. She received fifth place for her piece titled “Beauty is a Beast.”
Sana Aladin, grade 7, debuted a humorous piece about the perils of being a flight attendant and won third place. She was also given the opportunity by the flight attendants during the trip to present her piece, “Safety Shuffle,” over the intercom on the plane.
Carissa Chen, grade 7, won first place for the speech she wrote about the benefits of gossip. She has been practicing this speech for the entire year. She also won fifth place in dramatic interpretation for her Amy Tan piece about playing the piano.
Lisa Liu, grade 8, has brought home many accolades from each tournament she attends. This tournament was no different. She scored first place in the impromptu category, second place in humorous interpretation and third place in dramatic interpretation.
Sixth graders Serena Lu and Liza Turchinsky both tried new events at this tournament and won fifth and sixth place, respectively. They participated in extemporaneous speaking where they answered current events questions and analyzed different media sources for the judge.
Rishab Gargeya, grade 7, placed fifth in impromptu speaking. In the final round he was given a selection of three colors. He had two minutes to prepare his speech and then was asked to speak on those colors for five minutes.
Raghib received fourth place in impromptu speaking, while Arjun Subramaniam, grade 7, received sixth place in storytelling. For that piece, Raghib retold children’s stories for the judges. Finally, Xu, grade received third place in extemporaneous speaking.
In other news, Shan and Cao were further selected to attend the Junior Varsity Nationals. Held at Woodward Academy in Atlanta, Ga., the tournament was for teams in their second year of policy debate.
During that event, Shan and Cao – who were among the few middle school students in attendance – discussed the benefits of U.S. space exploration and asteroid detection. They won three out of six rounds.
“This was far above their experience level and they were mainly competing against high school sophomores,” said Karina Momary, director of middle school forensics, noting how well the middle school students placed in both the California and Georgia tournaments.
Tags: Featured StoryStill in awe over their recent trip to China, the fifteen grade 8 participants have settled back into school – but with a new shared bond from an exciting, uplifting adventure.
The annual trip to China is a highlight and culmination of the middle school experience for these students, and something they look forward to for many years.
After arriving at the Pudong International Airport on March 29, the students were welcomed by their Chines buddies from the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS), who presented them with bouquets of flowers. From there they hopped on a bus for the short drive into the city to meet their host families.
The next morning, upon arriving at WFLMS, the Harker students were warmly greeted by the school’s teachers and students. The day began with a welcome ceremony, broadcast to the entire school, followed by a fun scavenger hunt.
The group also attended a special art class where they learned about theater masks and had the opportunity to sketch and paint masks of their own. Additionally, they attended a “wushu” class, a form of martial arts and popular Chinese sport.
After giving PowerPoint presentations on American culture to their Chinese peers, the Harker students headed off to the cafeteria to make dumpling – almost as fun as eating them! The day ended with a spectacular show called “ERA Intersection of Time,” featuring a dramatic combination of circus-like acts, acrobats and dance set to music with special effects.
Soon after, the students were excited to set out for their first field trip, to Zhujiazhou, which is a beautiful canal town outside of Shanghai. There, they walked along the canals and narrow cobblestone streets, stopping occasionally to visit museums, a Buddhist temple, and a garden filled with rock structures which invited climbing.
“At one point we stopped our wandering so the kids could purchase live fish and turtles to release into the water as a symbol of good luck and character,” recalled Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s global education director, who accompanied the students on the trip.
From there, they enjoyed sightseeing and shopping, with many students trying their hand at bargaining, and several walking away with incredible deals. The final activity of the outing was a beautiful boat ride through the canals, or what Walrod referred to as the “Venice of Shanghai.”
That evening was bittersweet as both Harker and WFLMS students gave touching goodbye speeches and performances, preparing to depart for the next phase of the trip to Beijing. The Harker students’ first adventure in Beijing consisted of a rickshaw tour of the Hutong, or ancient alleyways that once covered the city.
Next on the itinerary was a visit to the Great Wall of China. Taking a ski lift to the top of the mountain, they entered onto the wall. Many photos were taken of the renowned structure, and the students were thrilled to take a toboggan ride back down the side of the mountain.
The contingent returned to Beijing the next day and visited Tiananmen Square, site of the 1989 protests and ensuing military action. They next headed to the Forbidden City, where they were guided through several of its 980 palatial buildings.
After enjoying lunch, they went to the Silk Street, a shopping center where they could continue to improve their haggling skills with its many vendors. From there they traveled to a final outing, Summer Palace, China’s largest imperial garden, and rode a dragon boat to the palace’s pavilion.
The students arrived back home on April 7, feeling both bonded and eager to share their trip experiences with friends and family.
Tags: Featured Story, Global Education, topgeThe upper school’s gym was transformed into a festive international fair during Harker’s recent student-organized Global Empowerment Organization (GEO) multicultural assembly.
Throughout the room booths were set up representing various countries from around the globe, containing informational displays and samples of delicious native foods. Meanwhile, student performers dressed in colorful outfits, including traditional Indian and Hawaiian clothing, captivating an audience of both students and faculty.
Held during a long lunch period, the event had the casual feel of a street festival, with plenty of time for sampling tasty food, watching a lively on-stage performance and catching up with friends.
Working in the Romanian booth, Catalina Mihailive, grade 11, said she came from Romania just last year and is excited to be volunteering at the assembly. Noting that she is “having fun both in America and at Harker,” she added that she loved being able to share some of the food she grew up eating.
Meanwhile, GEO student member Shreya Vemuri, grade 11, volunteered to help lead the group’s communication and publishing efforts through the production of fliers and posters.
“The thing that’s different about this year is that the food and acts were combined … so we had to make sure to get the word out on that. And it seems to be working out really well,” she said.
Indeed, everyone appeared to enjoy the combined fair, which gave attendees the ability to simultaneously eat, socialize and watch a variety of acts unfold on stage. The show kicked off with a rousing number featuring a group of Korean dancers moving to pop beats, clad in red and black attire. That piece was followed by numerous other acts, including a set with Hawaiian dancers and lively vocal version of the song “La Bamba.”
The annual GEO assembly has always drawn an appreciative crowd. This year’s new combination of running the informational/food booths alongside the stage performances was such a success it may be repeated next year.
Tags: Featured Story, Global Education