Harker sent a contingent of upper school skiers to Squaw Valley Ski area in mid-January on a day trip, led by Kerry Enzensperger, student activities coordinator. The 29 students spent the day in the snow, enjoying themselves so much they lobbied Enzensperger to make it an overnight trip next year.
Tags: Featured StoryThe Harker School, a member of the Common Ground coalition of schools, will host the next Common Ground Speaker Series event with special guest Edward “Ned” Hallowell, M.D., on Wed., Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. The event will take place in the Nichols Hall atrium at the upper school campus at 500 Saratoga Ave. in San Jose. In a presentation titled “Crazy Busy: Overstretched, Overbooked and About to Snap,” Hallowell will discuss the difference between “good” busy and “crazy” busy.
An expert on anxiety, relationships and attention deficit disorders, Hallowell is the founder and director of The Hallowell Centers for Cognitive and Emotional Health, located in Massachusetts. He has authored or co-authored more than 18 books, including “Crazy Busy,” “The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness,” and the national best-seller “Driven to Distraction.”
Parents of students enrolled in Common Ground member schools may attend free of charge. Non-members may attend for a $20 admission fee.
Common Ground is a coalition of Bay Area schools that organizes events featuring experts in various fields to enhance parent education. Hosting of these events is rotated among the various schools throughout the year.
Tags: Featured Story, Harker Speaker SeriesThe Harker English Language Institute (ELI) will host the its first informational session of 2011 on Jan. 29 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Harker’s upper school campus, located at 500 Saratoga Ave. in San Jose. This event will offer families the opportunity to learn more about the ELI summer program, meet its directors and have their questions answered. Those interested in attending can RSVP for the event at the reception RSVP page.
ELI has earned an international reputation as one of the finest summer programs for students aged 6-16 who wish to improve their English speaking and writing skills. Students from all over the world attend each year, and many enroll in Harker’s program as preparation for applying to American boarding schools and international schools.
Trademarks of Harker’s ELI program includes multilevel, customized scheduling and small class sizes. Areas of study offered include vocabulary, reading comprehension, grammar, writing and composition, study skills and oral presentation. Upon completion of the program, international students receive a Harker English Language Proficiency Certificate and a comprehensive evaluation that can assist them when applying to American boarding schools, day schools or English international schools. ELI also offers a boarding school preparation program that includes guidance counseling, SSAT and TOEFL preparation, interviewing/oral presentation and personal essay writing.
To learn more about Harker’s English Language Institute, visit the website at harker.org/ELI, e-mail eli@harker.org or call 408.553.0524.
Tags: Featured StoryThis article originally appeared in the spring 2011 Harker Quarterly.
Harker has implemented a new streamlined alumni admission process this year to ease admission for the children and grandchildren of Harker alumni.
In the announcement, Diana Nichols, chairman of Harker’s Board of Trustees and former head of school, said that whether students attended Manzanita Hall, Harker Day School, Palo Alto Military Academy, Harker Academy or The Harker School, there is much that alumni from all of the schools share. “Even though time has passed, the core values and principles of the school haven’t changed,” she said. “We have a history together of shared common values.”
In addition to the core values that have remained throughout the school’s history, Nichols also cited the safe environment, caring community, great teachers and improved facilities as “wonderful reasons” for alumni to send their children to Harker. “You are Harker family, and we’d love to have your children – or grandchildren – attending Harker and carrying on the traditions.”
The features of the alumni admission process include waiving the application fee; giving qualified alumni children (who pass testing and meet behavioral standards) top consideration in the application process; providing alumni children with priority equal to current students for financial aid; and offering a 10 percent discount to alumni children for Harker’s summer programs.
Nichols came to Harker Academy in 1973 to chair the science department and teach biology. In 1979 she was named assistant principal, and was principal from 1984-91. From 1992 until her retirement in 2005, Nichols was Harker’s head of school. She was named a Harker Board of Trustees lifetime trustee in 2005 and became the Board’s chair in 2010, and she is passionate about bringing our legacy children into the fold. “We hope to see you on our campuses soon – for a visit or to pick up your child or grandchild from school!” she said.
Harker alumni should contact Nan Nielsen, director of admission, at nann@harker.org or 408.249.2510 and request a special private alumni tour. For the summer discount, alumni should contact Kelly Espinosa, summer programs director, at kellye@harker.org.
Harker alumni who have not registered with the school’s alumni office can do so by contacting their class agent or e-mailing Christina Yan, alumni director, at christinay@harker.org.
Tags: Featured StoryHarker just received results from the National Classical Etymology online exam that students in grades 9-10 took in November. Harker students earned 20 medals: 13 gold, five silver and two bronze! The exam consisted of Latin and Greek derived words that students had to define in English based on their root meanings.
Gold Medalists: Erik Anderson, Cobi Ashkenazi, Jonathan Cho, Nik Datuashvili , Simon Orr, Christopher Sund, Ashvin Swaminathan, Apurva Tandon, all grade 10; Sarika Bajaj, Kevin Duraiswamy, Connie Li, Sreyas Misra, Brian Tuan, all grade 9. Silver medals were won by Daphne Millard, grade 10 and freshmen Tiffany Chu, Helena Huang, Saachi Jain and Urvi Gupta. Bronze medals were won by Andy Wang and Nikhil Dilip, both grade 9.
Tags: Featured Story, In the News, topliteratureWrestling
Wrestlers competed in two tournaments in December and posted great results in both. At the Webber Lawson Tournament hosted by Fremont High School, the boys made school history with three champions in a varsity tournament. Seniors Santosh Swaminathan, Jason Mendel and Chris McCallaCreary won their divisions in the 103-, 109- and 171-pound weight classes, respectively. McCallaCreary was awarded one of the two outstanding wrestler awards at the tournament. As a whole, the team placed fourth out of 20 teams, another school record for a varsity tournament.
The next week the team traveled to the Coast Classic hosted by Scotts Valley High School. Once again the varsity team did well with three athletes placing in the top eight. Swaminathan and McCallaCreary placed second while Mendel took sixth. The boys continue their season in January [see related story] with tournaments every weekend including the prestigious Mid Cal tournament hosted by Gilroy High School, which will feature many of the state’s best wrestlers.
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team entered the Del Mar Tournament over the winter break at 6-0. The girls made the finals by defeating Del Mar and Santa Clara, but lost to a tough Leigh High School team in the championship match. Daniza Rodriguez and Priscilla Auyeung, both grade 10, were named to the all-tournament team. The girls finished up December with an impressive 8-1 record and look to play against tough competition in January.
Boys Basketball
Varsity boys basketball has been successful in preseason play, including some big tournament finishes. This included the Phoenix Cactus Jam Tournament over the holidays, which featured teams from all over the West Coast. At the Jam, the boys went 2-1 with big victories over Bolsa Grande of Southern California and St. Albert’s, a team from Canada. Unfortunately the team fell to a tough Colony High team from Alaska. At the end of the winter break the boys were 8-2 and opened league play in early January.
Girls Soccer
The Eagles traveled to the Garces Tournament, a tough tournament in Bakersfield, over the break and went 0-2-1. Apurva Gorti, grade 9, scored for the Eagles in their tie with West High School. She was assisted by Priya Sahdev, grade 12, on the goal. Indica Sur, grade 10, had 26 saves in goal over the three games at the tournament. The girls have several more games in early January.
Boys Soccer
The boys had one game over the winter break, against Pioneer High School. Though playing a man down most of the game, they made the match a close one, losing 2-1. Michael Amick, grade 10, scored the Eagles’ only goal on a penalty kick.
Go Eagles!
Tags: Featured Story, SportsThe Harker grade 6 Lego Robotics team advanced to the state championship after taking first place in the First Lego League (FLL) competition held on Dec. 4 in Daly City. Aditya Dhar, Rishab Gargeya, Manan Shah, Kayvon Solaimanpour and Peter Wu took the first place teamwork award in the qualifying tournament and second place research award in the regional tournament. Their project task was to choose a problem based on biomedical engineering, research it and present a solution. The team came up with a solution for the treatment of asthma using nanotechnology. The championship tournament is scheduled for Jan. 29 in Newark, Calif.
Tags: Featured StoryOver 500 parents, students and alumni attended Harker’s Jan. 8 screening of “The Race to Nowhere,” a documentary film exploring the physical and emotional toll stress causes on a growing number of American teenagers in high-achievement environments.
The film also highlights the ironic fact that this unprecedented level of effort has produced a high percentage of students unprepared for college and the 21st century workplace.
Public screenings of the film are the centerpiece of a national social action campaign, initiated by a Bay Area mother whose own family’s experience inspired her to seek out top experts on education and adolescent stress. The film draws significantly on the work of these experts, including Dr. Denise Clark Pope of the Stanford School of Education, who spoke at the Harker upper school several years ago.
Head of School Christopher Nikoloff introduced the film , which screened in both Nichols Hall and the Saratoga gymnasium, noting that it offers an important opportunity for reflection, and with good timing as it comes during Harker’s yearlong accreditation self-study.
“A lot of the issues in the movie … we have been talking about for a long time with parents and teachers,” he said. “Now that they are in the national spotlight,” he added, “it’s a great time to make sure we’re part of the dialogue and do what we need to do to ensure optimal learning and growth at The Harker School — but not cross the line into a ‘Race to Nowhere.’”
Nikoloff encouraged the audience to join him and the many other Harker faculty, administrators and counselors available afterward for further discussion. The Nichols Hall atrium later buzzed for over an hour with dozens of spirited conversations.
Padmaja Indukuri was pleased that seeing the film with her daughter, Laya (grade 8), seemed to open the lines of communication between them. Referencing the difficulty many parents encounter in starting a conversation, she said, “I was asking questions but I didn’t know how she was feeling. She is telling me now, so I understand.”
The discussion is only beginning. Harker parents as well as students in the middle and upper schools can attend special discussions on campus in the next few weeks. Those who missed the Harker screening and would like to see the film can visit the RTN website to find a screening in their area.
Tags: Featured StoryHarker wrestlers competed in Cupertino’s Gary Bianchi Memorial Tournament Jan. 8 and came away with two championships. Santosh Swaminathan, grade 12, placed first in the 103 pound class; classmate Chris McCallaCreary defeated a state ranked wrestler from St. Francis to win his championship. Coach Karriem Stinson called McCallaCreary’s victory “the biggest win in the program’s history.” Read more about Harker winter sports!
Tags: Featured Story, In the News, Sports, topathletics