Harker swept both “Best Of” titles at the Test of Engineering, Aptitude, Math & Science (TEAMS) competition at Stanford on Saturday . More than 60 Harker upper school students, freshman through seniors, participated in the annual event. Nationally, more than 14,000 high school students, working in groups of four to eight, spent the day solving problems on real-world engineering issues such as air transportation, bridge design and rehabilitation, flood analysis, solar-powered vehicles, food preservation and more. The competition, broken into two 90-minutes parts, consisted of objective multiple-choice questions related to various engineering situations followed by students describing and defending their solutions from Part I.
Part I answers are scored on competition day and are used to determine local and state standings, as well as eligibility for national scoring. Based on Part I results, Harker swept the two top spots: Best in California grades 9/10 division (20 teams competed) and Best in California grades 11/12 division (34 teams competed). Part II responses are scored at TEAMS for national ranking, which comes out in May.
“Congratulations to all participants!” said Tony Silk, Harker’s TEAMS advisor. The division 9/10 Best in California team, all sophomores, comprisedStephanie Chen, Albert Chu, Jennifer Dai, Chris Fu, Rahul Sridhar, Vikram Sundar, Claudia Tischler and Andy Wang.
The division 11/12 Best in California team, all seniors, comprised Lucy Cheng, Alexander Hsu, Revanth Kosaraju, Ramya Rangan (captain), Pavitra Rengarajan, Katie Siegel, Ananth Subramaniam and Patrick Yang.
Half a hundred happy K-2 students took a field trip in mid-March to Pump it Up, a warehouse filled with jump houses, obstacle courses and slides. The event was the reward for the students who sold at least 100 raffle tickets for the Harker Family & Alumni Picnic. Kim Coulter, director of the Bucknall Enrichment and Supervision Team (BEST), said, “The children had a great afternoon playing. They enjoyed going through the obstacle courses and racing some of their favorite BEST staff.” Students Aaditya Gulati and Emma Gurleroglu, both grade 2, sold the most raffle tickets this year.
In March, Dr. Alan Nelson of the nonprofit organization KidLead, which teaches leadership skills to students ages 10-13, spoke at Nichols Hall to parents about how to foster leadership in their children. Harker has been running its own KidLead program since the fall of 2010, and since then at least 70 Harker students have completed at least one KidLead module.
Nelson discussed how parents could identify a child’s knack for leadership, pointing out such traits as the tendency to set goals and good communication skills. Some ways that parents can help children with these qualities grow into leaders include providing activities at home that place the children in leadership roles and by finding people to mentor them. Unfortunately, he said, many parents may end up stifling their children by being overprotective or assuming that only adults are fit to lead.
Students Katelyn Bui and Alexander Young, both grade 5, were honored at the beginning of the seminar with a certificate for being the first two Harker students to graduate from the program. “KidLead piqued my interest when I heard the idea from my mom one day,” Bui said. “I decided to give it a try, and I loved it.”
Participating in KidLead, she said, helped her learn more about herself: “Small opportunities lead to bigger opportunities, which gave me a chance to work with different teammates to overcome challenges and have trust in others, which made me see things in me that I never knew I had.”
It also helped her with cognitive abilities, “like focusing on the task at hand while being under pressure.”
Bui was excited and surprised to receive the award. “I was really stoked when Mr. Connolly announced that Alexander and I were the first ones in Harker history to complete all KidLead modules,” she said. “It was actually not about completing all the modules, but the experience that came along with it.”
A group of 20 Harker middle school students attended the local Spring Forensics Tournament at Santa Clara University, held earlier this month. Many of them were competing for their very first time in the event, which predominantly consisted of high school students. The Harker contestants held their own, winning a number of awards, as noted below:
Divya Rajasekharan, grade 7: Rajasekharan took first place in Humorous Interpretation. She has received many awards for this piece; a 10-minute memorized number titled “Beauty is a Beast,” about a spoiled princess. She also received first place in Dramatic Interpretation for a 10-minute memorized piece, titled “The Shape of a Girl,” about bullying.
Lisa Liu, grade 8: Liu competed in several different speech events and was a finalist in each. She competed in Dramatic Interpretation and was qualified to go to the final round. Her piece was a 10-minute topic about illness and family. She also was a finalist in impromptu speaking for which she was given a topic and just two minutes to prepare before speaking for five minutes on the subject. She also received second place in Varsity Humorous Interpretation with her piece, titled “Wayside School is Falling Down.”
Carissa Chen, grade 7: Chen competed in Dramatic Interpretation for the first time and advanced to the final round.
Adele Li, grade 8: Li competed in the varsity division with a topic questioning whether or not targeted killings by the government are justified. She advanced to the Sweet 16 level.
Shivali Minocha and Jasmine Liu, grade 8: Both eighth graders competed in the public forum with the topic “State Mandated Childhood Vaccines” and were undefeated in the preliminary rounds, winning all five. They were the top candidates going into the elimination rounds and made it to the quarterfinals. Liu, in this, her first debate competition, was individually recognized as being the 10th best speaker in the tournament.
Students from grade 1 were treated to a special presentation on March 30, watching handlers guide a group of dogs through a canine agility course, complete with tunnels, jumps and other obstacles. The students had just read the story “Officer Buckle and Gloria” in their language arts classes. The story, about a police dog named Gloria who goes to schools with Officer Buckle as he is giving safety presentations, was a great lead-in to the agility dog presentation, which teacher Rita Stone arranged as an extension of the literature. “All of the students were so impressed [with the presentation],” said Stone. “They just loved it and they learned a lot.”
This year’s annual Harker Cancer Walk was a huge success, bringing in $7,700 in one day alone, with donations still being received at Harker News Online press time. Middle school students, faculty and Harker family members went the extra mile – both literally and figuratively – in an effort to raise money for Camp Okizu.
The camp provides fun activities and quality care for young cancer patients, enabling them to enjoy such outdoor childhood pastimes as swimming, boating, archery and a ropes course, in addition to social events.
“Even Mother Nature got with the program!” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head, who organized the event with middle school computer science teacher Michael Schmidt. Schmidt began organizing the Cancer Walk in 2007 following the passing of his mother due to cancer in 2006.
Along with the welcome warm weather, Ellis was pleased with the large amount of T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wrist bands which were sold, supplementing the direct donations.
Thanking the Harker community for once again stepping up to the plate, Schmidt said, “It was a beautiful day filled with sunshine, giving and inspiration.”
“Michael deserves a special word of gratitude; he is the driving force behind this event. Fortunately, he has picked up some special helpers along the way. This walk signifies the wonderful heart and spirit of the entire community, including faculty, staff, parents and students,” said Ellis.
Donations are still being accepted at this time. Checks or cash can be brought to the Blackford campus front office. Checks can be made out to either Camp Okizu or Harker.
Raghav Sehtia, grade 12, has been honored with the prestigious Blue Diamond Award from the Second Harvest Food Bank. The award was handed to Sehtia from Kathy Jackson, CEO of Second Harvest, during the food bank’s recent 21st annual recognition event held at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts.
This award is the food bank’s highest level of award, and is normally given to corporations and organizations. Sehtia stood out as an exception in receiving this award as an individual. Previously, Sehtia was recognized for his efforts to fight hunger by being named a 2011 Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Regional Honoree. He also received the Platinum Award last spring from the Second Harvest Food Bank for his work in organizing food drives for the past four years.
“Using birthday money along with the proceeds of bake sales held during the school year and at assorted school breaks, Raghav raised nearly $3200 for Second Harvest Food Bank over the past year. I was delighted to present him with a Blue Diamond Award at our recent Freedom From Hunger awards. Raghav’s determination to support the hungry in our community is truly inspiring,” said Jackson.
“I want to convey my heartfelt thanks to the whole Harker community in motivating and inspiring Raghav in one way or the other,” said Arvind Sehtia, his father.
Sehtia has called volunteering a passion of his. To read more articles about his volunteer efforts with the Second Harvest Food Bank and other organizations, click on the links below:
Last month the lower, middle and upper school jazz bands united to present an Evening of Jazz. Held at the Blackford Theater, the event was led by Louis Hoffman, Dave Hart and Chris Florio, the directors of the jazz bands for each campus.
Kicking off the evening, The Harker School Jazz Band performed “Two Seconds to Midnight” by composer Alan Baylock and “Harker Swing” by David Len Allen, arranged by Harker music aide Paul Woodruff.
Those numbers were followed by the Lower School Jazz Ensemble’s rendition of John Coltrane’s “Equinox” and Herbie Hancock’s “Watermelon Man.” Then, the Middle School Jazz Band performed the more traditional numbers “Motherless Child” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
Following a brief intermission and further performances by all three ensembles came the combined finale, “Work Song” by Nat Adderley. Running the gamut from rousing, upbeat swing numbers to slow, soulful ballads, Evening of Jazz showcased the breadth of Harker student talent and entertained and delighted its audience.
Staff for the show included Brian Larsen, production manager, and Paul Vallerga, technical director. The Harker performing arts department noted its gratitude to contributors to the school’s annual campaign, which helps make programs such as this possible.
The regional Science Bowl held at the NASA AMES Research Center in March was won by Harker’s team of Rishabh Chandra, Jonathan Ma and Michael Zhao, all grade 8, and Aneesh Samineni and David Zhu, both grade 7. This team will be headed to Washington, D.C., in late April to compete at the national competition. “The students have worked extremely hard to earn this title and deserve every bit of this success,” said Vandana Kadam, middle school mathematics department chair.
Upper school students Matthew Huang, grade 9, Stephanie Chen, grade 10 and Christopher Fu, also grade 10, coached the middle school students in preparation for the competition, visiting the middle school campus on Fridays after school. “They have put in an enormous amount of time, effort and energy into training the team and taking them to the top spot,” Kadam said. “They deserve the kudos along with the participants.”
Question: What award show features eye-catching, creatively designed outfits worn by beautiful people delivering riveting speeches? (Hint … it’s not the Academy Awards …)
The answer: Harker’s very own Ogre Awards!
Captivating its audience, and giving other awards shows a run for their money in cuteness factor alone, was the lower school’s 16th annual Ogre Awards. Written and directed by beloved librarian Enid Davis, the production, held last month, starred 88 grade 2 students and their teachers (otherwise known as the Ogre Academy).
Outside the day was dismal and gray, yet the atmosphere inside the Bucknall gym where the ceremony took place was light and cheery. Purple and fuchsia curtains flanked the stage, which was decorated with gold and white balloons. An eager anticipation filled the room as guests piled in, with students taking their seats on one reserved side of the room and parents and other audience members the other.
The youngsters portrayed characters and creatures from the folklore of cultures worldwide, which they had learned with Davis. Although the Ogre Awards are a high point of the second grade year, it was a bittersweet event as Davis is retiring after some 18 years of service at the close of this school year.
All but one of the awards are bestowed upon fairy tale characters, with a special award going to a real person. The 2012 special Ogre Award went to Carol Sosnowski, who works in Harker’s shipping and receiving and copy center.
“Ms. Sosnowski was chosen because of the excellent service she gives to the library and to the entire school,” said Davis. “She types every title of every book that the Bucknall library orders into a database. And we order lots of books!”
Accepting her award, Sosnowski said it was an unexpected honor, and marveled at the dedicated team both on hand and behind the scenes, comprising volunteer faculty and parents helping out with technical direction, music, costumes, videography and choreography.
Folk and fairy tales featured in this year’s award ceremony came from such well known, endearing stories as Russia’s “Bony Legs,” (Baba Yzaga), China’s “Two of Everything,” England’s “Lazy Jack” and West Africa’s “Anansi’s Hat-Shaking Dance.”
Adding to the event was a special guest appearance by Brian Larsen, Harker’s production manager, appearing as the giant from “Jack and the Beanstalk.” Towards the end of the show, the favorite story award went to the Russian folktale “Bony Legs.” Baba Yzaga, who elicited many laughs throughout the ceremony with her wonderfully witchy attitude, accepted the award on behalf of this story.
Concluding the event, Davis expressed how much she has enjoyed serving as librarian and running the Ogre Awards, and said that, despite her absence following retirement, the show – as the old saying goes – will go on!