The Winged Post and the online Web site, talonwp.com, have won a Crown Award from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) for its excellence in writing, coverage and content. The Crown Award, the highest recognition given annually by the CSPA, recognizes student print or online media for overall excellence and only 11 schools nationwide received Gold Crown awards for their Web sites. In addition, the Winged Post student newspaper received a Silver Crown for its efforts. Journalism teacher and advisor to the two publications, Chris Daren, traveled to New York with a group of students from the publication staffs to receive the awards at Columbia University.
With guidance and support from Daren, journalism students in both yearbook and newspaper have had opportunities to cover not only schoolwide events, but also interview celebrities and attend performance premieres. In early January, reporters talked to actor Harrison Ford, Senator Diane Feinstein, Mayor Gavin Newsom and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi at the San Francisco premiere of “Extraordinary Measures,” and Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried as they promoted their new movie, “Dear John.” In February, the Winged Post spent an afternoon with the cast of “Ovo,” the new Cirque de Soleil touring show, and reviewed the group’s San Jose premiere the following day.
Both Talon and the Winged Post have received a number of silver and gold medal awards from CSPA’s annual critique. Additionally, the Winged Post received the National Scholastic Press Associations Pacemaker award for excellence in 2008.
Lower school students were greeted with another afternoon of great weather for this year’s Jump Rope for Heart event. Students in K-Gr. 5, as well as their teachers, could be seen having great fun jumping rope, high jumping onto soft mats, limboing, leaping over makeshift hurdles, crawling through obstacle courses, shooting basketball and other activities to “Celebrate Healthy Living,” the theme for this year’s event. Each grade level rotated to a different station for each activity to keep things running smoothly. Those who participated also had the option of writing a person’s name with chalk on the school blacktop and dedicating their activities to that person.
As always, donations proved to be an important part of Jump Rope for Heart, and nearly $2,400 has been raised for the American Heart Association.
The lower school and middle school girls basketball and boys soccer seasons are coming to a close, and what fantastic seasons they have been!
Girls basketball
The varsity A Gr. 8 girls basketball team finished the season at 7-3 in league play and 8-4 overall, taking third place in the league. They also were Gold Division consolation champs in the WBAL tournament. The team was led by Nithya Vemireddy, Regina Chen, Mercedes Chien and Alana Shamlou.
The varsity B Gr. 7 girls basketball team finished 3-4 in league and 5-5 overall, placing fourth in league. They put on quite a show in the WBAL tournament, finishing in second place in the Silver Division, only losing by a basket! The team was led by Diba Massihpour, Madhu Nori and Nikita Mittal.
The junior varsity A Gr. 6 girls basketball team also finished with a 3-4 record in league, taking fifth place. They finished the season with a 4-6 overall record and took fourth place in the WBAL tournament. The team was led by Shannon Richardson, Namitha Vellian and Sadhika Malladi.
The varsity B2 Gr. 7 and the junior varsity B6 Gr. 6 girls basketball teams finished a spirited season of play, learned a lot about the game of basketball and had fun with their teammates and coaches. The B2 team was led byRama Prasad, Sheridan Tobin and Laya Indukuri; the B6 team was led by Shreya Mathur, Aishu Murari and Shivali Minocha. Both teams ended the season 0-7.
The junior varsity B1 Gr. 5 girls basketball team finished 5-1 in league, 6-2 overall and took 2nd place in the league and WBAL tournament! The team was led by Joelle Anderson, Sarah Baz and Jordan Thompson.
The junior varsity B2 Gr. 5 and the junior varsity C Gr. 4 girls basketball teams also had a successful season. They learned a lot about the game of basketball, had a lot of fun and also came out with a couple of victories. The B2 team was led by Swetha Tummala, Priyanka Taneja and Rachel Cheng; they finished the season 0-6. The C team, with a 2-4 record, was led by Raveena Panja, Ania Kranz and Ashna Chandra.
Boys soccer
The varsity A Gr. 8 boys soccer team finished 1-2-3 in league. The boys played a tough league schedule and many games could have gone either way but finished in a tie. The team was led by Kevin Moss, Jeffrey Hanke and Varun Kamat.
The varsity B Gr. 7 boys soccer season finished 2-4 in league and 2-6 overall. They enjoyed victories over Priory and Crystal Springs. The team was led by Nikhil Kishore and Neil Sadhu.
The junior varsity A1 Gr. 6 boys soccer team had a remarkable season! They went 3-1-1 in league and were 4-1-2 overall, taking second place in the WBAL. They were led by Nathaniel Stearns, Nick LaBruna and Calvin Kocienda.
The junior varsity B boys soccer team also had a fantastic season, with exciting victories against Crystal Springs, Pinewood and St. Joseph’s Sacred Heart. At press time, the team was 4-1 in league and in second place in the standings. The team was led byNikolas Weisbloom, Kedar Gupta and Joseph Krackeler.
The intramural boys Gr. 4-5 soccer team also learned a lot about soccer and had a lot of fun with their teammates and coach Jim McGovern. The team was led by Nirban Bhatia, Rohit Shah and Shaya Zarkesh.
The junior varsity A2 Gr. 6 boys soccer team had an impressive season despite their record of 0-5-1, since they were playing all of the other schools’ top teams. The team was led by Kurt Schwartz, Rohan Daran, Justan Su, Nikita Kosolobov and Kevin Hu.
From March 29 through April 2, students in kindergarten through Gr. 8 will have an opportunity to improve their tennis skills during Harker’s 2010 K-Gr. 8 Spring Break Tennis Camp. The camp is available to all K-Gr. 8 students, from beginners to advanced players. Instructors during the program will be Seydou Traore, International Tennis Federation World ranked junior, Rachel Gast, Mission College Head Women’s Tennis Coach and Craig Pasqua, United States Professional Tennis Association/Professional Tennis Registry Tennis Professional, as well as members of the Harker varsity tennis team.
The camp will take place at Oakwood Tennis Center at 700 Saratoga Ave. in San Jose. Students may be dropped off no earlier than 8:15 a.m. and can be picked up no later than 11:45 a.m. Payment is received on the first day of the camp. A form (available to download below) will need to be filled out and brought with the student on the first day of camp. The completed form can also be e-mailed to craigp@harker.org or faxed to 408.984.2325.
Please download the flier for more information and to register for the camp. For any questions, please contact Craig Pasqua by calling 408.590.7347 or send an e-mail to craigp@harker.org.
Don Chamberlin, a retired IBM fellow and scientist visited Raji Swaminathan’s middle school science classes on March 11 for the third time in as many years. Chamberlin, who holds a Ph.D. from Stanford in electrical engineering, talked to the students about engineering as a career choice and the importance of studying math and science. Chamberlin is a staunch proponent of getting more women interested in engineering careers.
Students discussed several “cool” and “not cool” things about engineering, and did an activity where they estimated how many plastic balls could into Swaminathan’s classroom “to a great degree of precision using various estimation techniques.” Finally, Chamberlin shared with the class a five-minute movie clip made by his colleague John Cohn, who is also an IBM fellow. Titled “Engineering Paradise,” it uses rap music to send an inspiring message to students to study math and science and become engineers.
Upper school students attended a special assembly on March 5 for a talk on abuse and abuse prevention by Dr. Tanya Krautter, a Los Gatos-based psychologist and adjunct clinical faculty member of the psychiatry department at the Stanford School of Medicine.
Krautter also talked about the recent trend of “sexting,” or the practice of sending sexually explicit photos or videos via cell phones.
She opened her talk with a brief definition of abuse and its variants. “Abuse is actually when there’s one person in a relationship using a pattern of behavior to control the other person,” she said. “Abuse is an intentional act. It’s not accident. It didn’t happen just because.”
Abuse, she said, can be found in many forms, emotional or verbal abuse being the most common. “This can happen from all kinds of people,” she stressed, including friends, family, teachers and coaches. Emotional abuse can also be more than just insults or belittlement. Someone threatening to injure or kill themselves is also exhibiting abusive behavior. “They’re doing something to get you to do something for them, like not breaking up with them, and that’s a control issue,” she said. Such threats are nonetheless taken “very seriously,” and those who make them are urged to seek counseling.
Other kinds of abuse include physical and sexual. “Really important to remember with physical abuse is that it doesn’t necessarily have to be that there’s an actual incident that occurred. It can be the threat of physically abusing you,” she said.
“Many people who are being abused don’t see themselves as victims,” Krautter noted. “And abusers don’t usually see themselves as abusers.”
Krautter spent a large portion of her appearance talking about sexting, which she believes needs to be discussed with high school students far more often. “I think there’s a huge lack of education in our school systems around what the ramifications of sexting really are, “ she said.
Many students are not aware that creating and sending these sexually explicit photos and videos qualifies as production and distribution of child pornography, which has serious legal implications. Krautter related the story of one student who is currently awaiting sentencing in juvenile hall for sending hundreds of sexually explicit videos of minors.
Toward the end of the talk, Krautter said the biggest reason abuse occurs is because it works. “Unless victims know how to stop the abuse – walk away, assert themselves, let the person know, ‘this is not OK with me’ – then the abuse will continue to occur,” she said.
Following her talk, Krautter took some time to answer questions from students. She answered a question from one student about how laws related to abuse are changing, noting that people are now able to report instances of verbal abuse to Child Protective Services. Responding to a question about how young people should respond to partners threatening to harm or kill themselves, Krautter said the best course of action is to remind the person that they do not want the individual to hurt themselves, and to help them find someone they can talk to.
Alumni Relations’ first regional association event in late February brought together local Harker alumni in the rustic atmosphere of San Francisco’s The District wine bar. Amongst brick walls and exposed wooden beams, alumni, faculty and administrators reminisced with each other about their times at Harker.
Regional associations reconnect Harker alumni in a given area – at least ten alumni live within two blocks of The District – adding strength and richness to the Harker alumni network. The Harker alumni office links alumni through class years, geographical regions and affinity groups.
Bob Torcellini, a 1966 graduate of the Palo Alto Military Academy, Harker’s predecessor, reminisced about his time at the Academy: “There was a lot of camaraderie among the students because everyone was so strict.” Torcellini came to the alumni event armed with an old photo album hoping to find classmates John and Matt Brooks to show them a picture from a past alumni event where a banner had displayed their father’s name. Out of his teachers, Torcellini remembers Eugene Renaghan and English teacher Trevor Morgan. Of his friends, he remembers Dwight Haldan, Robin Beaty, Dean Riskas and Eric Lane.
Though Harker has changed, Torcellini embraces the differences. “It’s good that it’s evolved away from the military and pushed the academics and actually flourished in that. I’m proud that it’s evolved and survived,” he added.
Tala Banatao ’93 lives in San Francisco and runs a successful children’s clothing line. One of her friends is Christina Yan ’93, Harker’s current director of alumni relations. Banatao said, “It’s rare that so many kids remember and have such fond memories [of high school]. Harker was instrumental in laying the foundation for us in school and really contributed to a lot of our successes.” She remembers several faculty members from her days at Harker including history teacher John Near, who passed away last fall, former coach and dean of students Jack Bither, former history teacher and volleyball coach Howard Saltzman, current math teacher Pat Walsh, and current K-Gr. 8 athletic director Theresa Smith.
Finding that history teacher and Coca-Cola fanatic John Zetterquist is still at Harker, Eric Wu ’97 recalled Zettterquist “plunging [his] hand into an ice-cold cooler for Cokes” during class.
Longtime Harker student Maheen Kaleem ’03 says she “spent more time at Harker than anywhere else in [her] life.” Some of her memorable moments are “every dance production and every moment with [dance teacher Laura Rae], and staying until 11 o’clock at night making decorations for spirit rallies the next day.” She expressed her admiration of Laura Lang-Ree, performing arts department chair, whom she described as a “second mother.”
Coming to alumni events is an exciting experience for Kaleem, who has spent time visiting Harker in the past. “I affiliate Harker so much with my childhood that I think it’s nice to be grown up and see how people have evolved,” Kaleem said. “Seeing them as adults is really cool.”
To enrich networks in other areas, upcoming alumni relations activity will include a March event in Manhattan, an April event in Southern California and gatherings in areas such as Washington, D.C., and the Midwest next year. Visit www.facebook.com/HarkerAlumniAssociation for exact details on events in your area, or contact Christina Yan, director of alumni relations, at christinay@harker.org.
The seventh annual Harker Fashion Show in February was another glamorous spectacle that put on fantastic display the many parts of the greater whole that is Harker. Titled “Outside the Box: Chic and Unique,” this year’s sold-out event was a celebration of Harker’s uniqueness as a school, creatively highlighting the various academic programs and activities in which its students are involved.
“I feel complete,” said fashion show co-chair Christine Davis, whose son, Cole, graduates this year. This year’s fashion show, witnessed by nearly 1,300 people, was her last as a co-chair. “It’s bittersweet, but it’s mostly sweet,” she later added.
Davis partnered with co-chair Marcia Riedel (Randall, Gr. 9; Hunter, Gr. 6) and a team of liaisons led by Sue Prutton, director of upper school volunteer programs, to put together the massive event. Davis and Riedel founded the fashion show more than seven years ago, when they first came up with the idea during a game of tennis. Since then, it has evolved into one of the school’s largest and most elaborate fundraisers.
The impressive design and execution of the show was largely the work of K-Gr. 12 performing arts director Laura Lang-Ree, who directed nearly every detail of the show as it happened, including video screen slides, skits, lighting and musical cues. Meanwhile, producer Beverly Zeiss and her team directed fashion choices, model choreography and backstage management.
“The fashion show has always been a tremendous fundraising event for the school, but in addition to that it gives us an opportunity to show the world what we can do,” Prutton said. “Our emphasis on telling the Harker story in the past three fashion shows has proven to be incredibly popular.”
Funds raised by the event are put toward scholarships for qualified students needing financial aid and to the Capital Campaign, which provides students with the ideal facilities to maximize their Harker experience. The final total of funds raised by the fashion show will be announced on Harker News Online in late March.
Each portion of the runway show was themed after a different department or program, including performing arts, science, athletics and community service. A total of 92 students, parents, faculty and staff strutted down the runway dressed in ensembles from fashion sponsors Macy’s and Eli Thomas. A special segment of the show featured Earth-friendly fashions by Priya Bhikha, Gr. 12, who assembled short and long gowns using recyclable materials such as duct tape, candy wrappers and water bottle labels.
[quote]Some amusing surprises were in store as well, such as the opening routine by a professional circus performer who handled a large metal cube and twirled his way effortlessly through a series of complex and visually striking maneuvers. Later, the robotics team wheeled out one of their creations onto the runway during a highly entertaining sequence. Not to be outdone, the Harker forensics team put on mock debate to decide whether Harker was more “chic” or “unique.”
The show also had exciting performances by the Varsity Dance Troupe, directed by Laura Rae, Dance Fusion, a Gr. 4-6 group directed by Gail Palmer, and the upper school’s Downbeat, co-directed by Catherine Snider and Lang-Ree. Meanwhile, the Harker Jazz Band and Chamber Ensemble, directed by Chris Florio, treated the attendees to some pre-show entertainment, bringing the total number of performers to 85.
The fashion show took place in two phases, a luncheon during the middle of the day and a dinner event in the evening. The evening portion of the show featured dancing and the ever-popular live auction, which sold everything from a helicopter ride above Silicon Valley to a night at the Emmy awards to an American Kennel Club-certified black Labrador puppy. Dennis Baldwin Interiors, Concierge Du Cuisine, Chelsea Court Designs, Omesha Eternal Elegance, Inc. and Miller Design Company designed this year’s showcases, which were won in drawings at the luncheon and evening shows.
Students who participated as models said the fashion show presented an opportunity to get involved in a fun and exciting way.
“I just like hanging out with my friends and doing this,” said model Danielle Buis, Gr. 12. “It was just cool to see how we come together as a community.”
Veronica Hsieh, Gr. 12, also served as a model in her freshman year and said she enjoyed being a part of the show “because the entire school’s involved. It’s fun to all be part of the Harker community, to see all ages.”
Nearly 200 students took an active and highly important role in this year’s event, modeling on the runway, greeting attendees, acting as hosts and hostesses and performing in one of the performing arts groups.
After the show, Riedel reflected on how the event had grown since its inception. “I really enjoyed the way that having this event has just brought Harker so much more outside of the Harker community,” she said. “I have people walking up to me and saying, ‘I wish I knew about Harker before this so my kids could go there,’ or, ‘This is where my kids are going to go to school.’”
This year, 92 committee members, all of them parents, came together to make sure the fashion show lived up to the reputation it has established. Whether they are securing sponsors, selling tickets or decorating the interiors, parent involvement is and has always been a crucial part of ensuring the event meets an increasingly high standard. Each aspect of the fashion show had a different parent committee chair to manage the many parts of the event that make it such a memorable experience. They were: Sangeeta Balram, Shyamoli Banerjee, Debbie Buss, Barb Chappell, Mariko Creasman, Barbara Drummer, Ram Duraiswamy, Susan Ellenberg, Minoo Gupta, Debbie Hutchings, Lana Kipnis, Lalitha Kumar, Betsy Lindars, Maria Lu, Mary Malysz, Michelle Maxey, Noela Nakos, Tina Najibi, Naren Nayak, Leslie Nielsen, Archana Sathaye, Ingrid Semenza, Shankari Sundar, Sathya Thyagaraj and Heather Wardenburg.
Tina Najibi (Alexander, Gr. 10; Mary, Gr. 6) has been involved with the fashion show since its founding and served as model coordinator for this year’s event. She said the schoolwide nature of the fashion show makes it a great event for parents to network. “When my kids were in lower school and middle school, I met upper school parents, and I got hints on what kinds of clubs to join, what kinds of things to do, that I would not have gotten had I not volunteered for the fashion show,” she said.
After the fashion show, Chris Nikoloff, head of school, thanked all involved for their months of hard work: “Sitting in the audience, as the Harker story unfolded before us throughout the evening, I was overcome with gratitude for the unique community we all share and help to create.”
[Update] Although the Eagles gave it their best, the varsity basketball team fell to Santa Cruz at the end of February, 56-44 in the CCS quarterfinals. Santa Cruz started off the game with a full-court press that never let up. At the end of the first quarter, we were down by seven points, but that was the closest the Eagles got. Despite the best efforts of our boys, including several impressive three-pointers from Partha Mahajani, Gr. 11, and, with 6:41 left in the game, a three-point shot from Ryan Cali, Gr. 12, that brought us to within seven points, we couldn’t catch up to the early lead that Santa Cruz held for the entire game. About 50 fans made the trip to Salinas to cheer the boys on as they ended their post-season play.
Feb. 26, 2010
In front of a loud and supportive crowd in the Blackford gym, the Eagles varsity basketball boys won their CCS game Thursday night against Stevenson, 62-46. The game started off with both teams trading baskets for a close first quarter, which got the crowd motivated to cheer even louder. By halftime, Harker was up 34-20, and the boys never looked back. With impressive play by the starting players, including seniors Ryan Cali, Greg Plauck, Rohan Shah, Lung-Ying Yu and Partha Mahajani, Gr. 11, the Eagles kept the lead in the fast-paced game. They play tomorrow at 4:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals against Santa Cruz High School at Hartnell College in Salinas. For the remainder of the tournament, our boys feel they have a chance to continue advancing. They could use your support! CCS charges for entry: $8 adults, $4 students with ID.
A win against Santa Cruz means the boys will play again Tuesday, March 2, in Salinas in the semifinals. Finals are Friday, March 5, at Santa Clara University.
Santosh Swaminathan, Gr. 11, made Harker wrestling history on Saturday as he took fifth place in the 103-pound weight class at the CCS wrestling tournament. Although other Harker wrestlers have qualified for CCS, notably Mark Roh, Gr. 12 and Chris McCallaCreary, Gr. 11, Swaminathan is the first Harker wrestler ever to medal in the section tournament. He had a 6-2 record for the tournament, with his first loss of the tournament being to the first-seeded wrestler. Winners of first through fourth places go on to the state tournament. We’ll be looking for Swaminathan to do great things next year on the mat!
The varsity boys basketball team defeated Menlo on senior night 52-45 and will be playing in the CCS playoffs this Thursday at 7 p.m. against Stevenson in the Blackford gym. They earned the sixth seed, which is their highest seeding ever! In the Menlo game, Ryan Cali, Gr. 12, scored 21 points while Rohan Shah and Lung-Ying Yu, both also Gr. 12, chipped in 12 each. The team ended the regular season with a remarkable 20-4 overall record and 12-2 league record, securing second place. If the boys win Thursday, they will travel to Hartnell College in Salinas Saturday for a quarterfinal match-up with Santa Cruz High, time TBA.
Bracket: http://www.cifccs.org/playoffs/results/09-10/Bsk%20B%20D4%2010.pdf.
The JV boys are the WBAL League champions! They also defeated Menlo 35-34 on a last second, buzzer-beating shot by freshman Kevin Cali. The team ended their season with a 20-2 overall record and 11-1 in league. Way to go, guys!