The National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP),a nonprofit organization that honors the scholastic achievements of high school juniors, has announced the nation’s semifinalists in the 2010 competition from those students who took the PSAT in 2008.
More than 1.5 million juniors in nearly 22,000 U.S. high schools took the PSAT; semifinalists represent less than one percent of those who took the exam. Most high schools boast only a few, if any, students who earn this prestigious recognition. Congratulations to Harker’s 50 semifinalists (29 percent of the class), now seniors:
Namrata Anand, Brandon Araki, Patrick Campbell, Victor Chen, Virginia Chen, Jeanette Chin, Da-Yoon Chung, Alexander Creasman, Samir Datta, Stefan Eckhardt, Nathaniel Edwards, Thomas Enzminger, Ryan Fan, Andy Fang, James Feng, Alex Fotland, Michael Gendotti, Alex Han, Kelsey Hilbrich, Christine Hsu, Eugene Huang, Sonya Huang, Noriko Ishisoko, Vishesh Jain, Carissa Jansen, Curran Kaushik, Sohini Khan, Yash Khandwala, Tiffany Kyi, Ruozi Li, Daisy Lin, Andrea Lincoln, Connie Lu, Rachel Luo, Christina Ma, Anjali Menon, Arjun Mody, Arthi Padmanabhan, Adam Perelman, Govind Raghunath, Mark Roh, Srikrishna Seeni, Rashmi Sharma, Haran Sivakumar, Elaine Song, Jeffrey Tan, Sarah Teplitsky, Margaret Woods, Kevin Zhang, Andrew Zhou
Most of these semifinalists who continue their academic excellence into their senior year, and who are endorsed by their principals and earn high scores on their SATs, will advance to the finalist round, where they have opportunities to win one of three types of merit scholarships: $2,500 National Merit-sponsored scholarships awarded by state, approximately 1,000 scholarships sponsored by corporations and business organizations, and some 4,700 scholarships awarded by about 200 colleges and universities to students matriculating at those schools.
Five representatives from Singapore’s Ministry of Education and two representatives from the National University of Singapore came to The Harker Upper School on Sept. 15 to learn more about Harker’s computer science curriculum.
The visitors hope to generate interest in computer science programs in Singapore’s students, and wanted to learn how high schools in the United States were implementing computer science programs. They were led to Harker due to its recognition by the College Board as having one of the top computer science curricula in its size range (300-799 students) and by its development of University of California-approved courses. Their trip also included visits to Stanford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Carnegie Mellon.
The day began with a meeting between Barnabas Tan, curriculum planning officer for the Singapore Ministry of Education, and Eric Nelson, computer science department chair. During the meeting, Nelson shared and discussed information about the various aspects of the program.
Following the discussion, they headed to Nichols Hall to observe Susan King’s AP Computer Science class, in order gain a better understanding of what goes on in the classroom from day to day. They then received a tour of the Saratoga campus’ facilities courtesy of Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs.
The group then headed back to Nichols Hall to observe a programming class taught by Richard Page, who then accompanied Tan to lunch, which they enjoyed with the rest of Harker’s computer science faculty.
The representatives mentioned that they were impressed with the caliber of Harker’s programs and with the many interdisciplinary connections within its computer science curriculum. “They expressed interest in our focus on algorithmic thinking, a common theme they found among their university visits,” Gargano said.
Harker’s annual Family and Alumni Picnic, which takes place Sun., Oct. 11, is right around the corner, but the fun started a month in advance. The Picnic Kick-off event at the lower school on Sept. 10 offered a preview of what was to come at the October extravaganza, which has been a Harker tradition for nearly 60 years.
Students gathered around a make-believe campfire and enjoyed marshmallows at the assembly, in keeping with the theme for this year’s event, “Picnic in the Pines.” The picnic promises to be a fun-filled adventure into the great outdoors, as Harker’s middle school campus will be transformed into a vast wilderness, complete with game booths, themed activities and a variety of entertainment staged by students, faculty and staff.
Raffle tickets for the picnic’s grand drawing are currently being sold by lower and middle school students to their families and friends. Students receive a wide variety of prizes for selling tickets, including free dress passes and tickets to Great America. On the day of the picnic, the grand drawing will be held to see who wins the $10,000 prize. Other prizes include a hand-held GPS system, a 21-speed mountain bike and a trip to Las Vegas.
Tickets are sold for $8 when purchased in advance and $12 the day of the picnic. They can be purchased in advance at one of the Back-to-School events or ordered online. See the picnic overview page for more information on how to buy tickets.
On Sept. 11 Gr. 1 students received a visit by a few officers from the San Jose Police Department’s K-9 unit. The officers explained how the dogs are trained for their role in law enforcement and explained how they can pick up a person’s scent and alert officers to their presence. For example, if the dogs discover someone in a tree, they will circle the trunk and bark to let police officers know the location of their target.
The kids also got to pet the well-behaved, friendly German shepherds, which are trained in Germany for 18 months and then shipped to the U.S. Because of this, the dogs receive their instructions in German and Czech, rather than English.
Harker announced today the appointment of alumna Christina Yan MS ’93 to the position of director of alumni relations. She will begin work on Sept. 8.
Yan attended Castilleja School after her years at Harker and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. She went on to study electrical engineering at Columbia University and sociology at Hunter College, CUNY, where she earned her B.A. summa cum laude and phi beta kappa.
Yan’s interest in education and children’s issues was influenced by her work at the public policy organization Citizens Committee for Children of New York. There, she helped train a diverse group of teen and adult volunteers to lobby legislators at the city and state level. Yan most recently spent several years in the development office at San Francisco University High School, where her duties included coordinating the school’s annual silent auction and monitoring the progress of the school’s numerous fundraising efforts. “She is thrilled to be joining Harker’s advancement team, and is very excited to help continue to build the alumni program,” said Melinda Gonzalez, director of development.
In her role at Harker, Yan will work closely with faculty and staff to connect with and engage the school’s alumni community. Yan was also present at the opening dinner in Aug. 20, where she presented veteran AP U.S. History teacher John Near with the Phyllis Carley Service Award. “As a Harker alumna, Christina brings terrific energy and creative ideas to our team,” Gonzalez said. “Please welcome Christina back to Harker in her new role!”
In late July, 10 US students along with US science department chair Anita Chetty embarked on an eye-opening journey to scenic Costa Rica. Accompanied by US physics teacher Chris Spenner, the group spent approximately two weeks performing research, conservation work and keeping tabs on the country’s wildlife.
Students on the trip were Amy Rorabaugh, Noriko Ishisoko, Miriam Lee, Adrienne Wong, Tiffany Kyi, Erica Hansen, Carina Fernandes, Alex Creasman, Brittany Chu and Melanie Herscher, all currently Gr. 12.
After arriving in Costa Rica with five large tubs of research equipment, the team embarked on a lengthy bus and boat trek to Tortuguero National Park the following day. On Sunday morning, the students performed a beach clean-up to prepare for tagging sea turtles for the Caribbean Conservation League that evening.
Creasman nearly became “the first Harker student whose turtle built a nest and for all intents and purposes, was on target to deposit eggs,” Chetty said. Just as Creasman was about to start counting, however, the turtle had a change of heart and decided not to lay eggs after all!
A highlight of the trip to Tortuguero was the opportunity to work with Costa Rican school children in educating the locals about electricity use and carbon load. “The local people tend to leave their lights on throughout the night as a safety and security measure,” Chetty said. “Our students worked with local school children to create posters advertising the advantages of using compact fluorescent light bulbs instead of regular incandescent bulbs. They then walked through the town distributing bulbs that we purchased in San Jose. The local shopkeepers were very enthusiastic about putting up the posters in their shops and the people were very grateful to receive the bulbs, which are very expensive in Costa Rica.” Chetty added, “This was a great chance to practice Spanish as well.”
After two days of turtle tagging and egg counting (Chu was the record holder at 92 eggs counted), students headed back to the hotel to begin research projects in the conference-room-turned-research-lab. “The objective of the trip was to immerse students in field research so they could experience first-hand the excitement of discovery with the challenges of conducting research in the wilderness,” Chetty said. “Unlike a controlled laboratory setting, the field presents many unpredictable variables such as sudden weather changes, bugs and just simply the unpredictability of animal behavior.”
It was a great opportunity for the young scientists to display their problem-solving and troubleshooting skills. Ishisoko discovered a long PVC pipe in a remote hardware store and used it to connect to her microphone. The long pipe allowed her to record frog calls at a safe distance so that the frog behavior was not affected by her presence.
Spenner’s skills in computer programming came in handy when he helped Chu and Creasman predict the behavior of leaf cutter ants. A program he created predicted how long it would take a disturbed leaf cutter ant to reorient itself back to its original path. Chu and Creasman then conducted studies to determine how long it actually took the ants to find their old path and compared it to the predicted value.
Lee and Kyi spent many hours collecting ants that gathered around flowering plants. Their prediction was that ants were unlikely pollinators of plants. Carrying their digital microscopes all over Costa Rica, Kyi and Lee collected and stained ants and the pollen that collected on their bodies, taking digital images to show that pollen that collects on ants does not germinate.
Hansen examined soils in banana and coffee plantations to determine whether the overuse of fertilizers might be impacting the nitrate levels in water that leeches out of the soils. She was fortunate to culminate her research in Monteverde under the mentorship of a soil scientist. Herscher reconstructed hummingbird feeders trying to examine how the presence of feeders affects those birds’ social behavior, while Wong examined butterfly diversity in forests and plantations. Rorabaugh and Fernandes conducted a water quality assessment using digital monitoring equipment.
At Monteverde Institute (MVI), the students worked many hours refining and writing up their research findings. They presented their findings at the institute and are expected to present at Harker’s own research symposium in March. “The mentors at MVI became so attached to our students that the director of the program shed tears as we were leaving,” Chetty said. “She ordinarily works with UC students and told me that she had never met such talented and motivated students.”
The next stage of the trip took place back at the MVI, where the students continued their work alongside research assistants. They did more field work, examining Costa Rica’s abundance of varied wildlife, although the elements nearly stymied their efforts. “It rained hard last night and we are waiting for things to dry up so they can observe their leaf cutter ants,” Chetty wrote in one of her frequent updates back to Harker. Students caught some notable lectures, one given by Dr. Alan Pounds, whose papers in the journal “Nature” have shed light upon the relationship between climate change and the extinction of the golden toad. They also attended a talk by world-renowned bat specialist Dr. Richard LaVal.
Days of field work, research, observation and preparation at last culminated toward the end of the trip when the students presented their results at the Monteverde Institute.
At various points during the trip, the student researchers also managed to get away for some fun, spending some time whitewater rafting, swimming and even salsa dancing. They also went zipline riding and visited a cacao plantation, where they learned how the “drink of the gods” was made for the Mayan kings. “Grinding roasted cocoa beans and making hot chocolate and chocolate bars was a highlight,” Chetty said.
Chetty said next year’s trip to Costa Rica will occur over the same time period. She explained that there will be some changes made to the itinerary and that a new collaboration with the University of Georgia will expand the research component of the trip.
Alumnus Will Jarvis’ Harker-nurtured wine has won a gold medal in the Beverage Testing Institute 2009 World Wine Championships for his Cabernet Franc, “Will Jarvis’ Science Project 2007.” Jarvis developed the prototype for his wine in a science experiment in Gr. 8 while at Harker.” Read the full story of Jarvis’ experiment and development of the wine! “We didn’t know what to expect when we tried Will’s original Science Project blend a few years ago,” said Will’s father William Jarvis, president of JARVIS. “The outcome was sensational, though, and our winemaker, Dimitri Tchelistcheff, agreed. So it was from Will’s original experiment that this new wine was born.” The wine, which earned the Gold Medal & Cellar Selection awards Aug. 19, is one of four JARVIS wins at the tasting. Several of the wines, including “Science Project,” have been prizes for Harker fundraisers.
The school year officially kicked off on Aug. 24 as the classes of 2010, ’11, ’12 and ’13 gathered outside the Saratoga gym for the annual matriculation ceremony, welcoming students back from their summer activities and preparing them for the coming school year.
Chris Nikoloff, head of school, began the ceremony by welcoming the board of trustees, administration, faculty, staff and students to the ceremony. “I am sure you will be relieved to hear that I am continuing the tradition of confining my talk to the equivalent of two pages of single-spaced, size 12 font,” he joked.
Touching on a nationwide topic in the education community, Nikoloff took the opportunity to discuss academic integrity. While acknowledging that academic dishonesty exists, he stated his confidence in the overall integrity of the Harker student body. The Harker community, he added, will continue to discuss the issue to gain a better perspective on the nature of academic integrity. “The faculty and staff, deans and administration will seek an open dialogue with you to further our common understanding of academic integrity,” he said. “We invite you to speak with any faculty or staff member about any thoughts you have on this topic.”
Butch Keller, US division head, then spoke to the students, extending a “welcome” to the class of 2013 and a “welcome back” to the returning sophomores, juniors and seniors. He shared with the students three essays written by three 2009 graduates, each from different backgrounds and having varied experiences as students. Each essay advised the new students to make the most of their time and to experience as much as they can of what Harker has to offer.
Keller also addressed academic integrity, saying that all students have a role in making sure that the “soul” of Harker stays true to the school’s promise of offering a fulfilling and enriching experience. “If the faculty is the mind of this place, then it is their responsibility to lead with integrity, and if you are the soul then it is your responsibility to follow with equal integrity and pride in earning your accomplishments the right way,” he said.
In between the speeches was a performance by last year’s student vocal group Camerata, who sang “Ah, Could My Eyes Behold Thee” by Orlando di Lasso, directed by Susan Nace, US music teacher. Their harmonious performance was met with warm applause.
Following Keller’s speech, ASB president Andy Fang, Gr. 12, introduced the 2009-10 class officers before leading all students in the recitation of the matriculation oath. The freshmen then signed the matriculation book.
More entertainment was on deck, as the student officers then put on their “Freshman 101” show, an amusing skit that introduced the class of 2013 to the various policies of the school. The story followed the familiar cast of “The Wizard of Oz” re-imagined as high school students, as they struggled with meeting the school dress code, picking a club to join and (gasp!) finding a date for the homecoming dance.
There was even a special guest appearance by Winny Huang ’09, last year’s ASB president, who played the part of a performing arts teacher auditioning the Tin Man for a role in a school production.
After the play, Nikoloff returned to the stage and wished the students well in the coming year, as they all departed to meet with their advisors and begin the year in earnest.
The Class of 2013 came together the Friday before school started, along with the Link Crew (senior mentors) and faculty advisors, for freshmen orientation day.
The program started with a general meeting followed by breakout sessions in the gym, and continued throughout the day with team-building activities on Davis Field and the Singh Aquatic Center. Welcome to the new group of Harker high schoolers!
Ramya Rangan, Gr. 10, recently earned a bronze medal at the 2009 China Girls Mathematical Olympiad (CGMO), held Aug. 12 – 16 in the city of Xiamen. Rangan was one of seven medalists on the U.S. team, four of whom were from high schools in Silicon Valley. The girls received a warm welcome upon their return home, and were interviewed by both ABC News and KTSF (Chinese).
A total of 51 teams from China, the U.S., Russia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore were present at the Olympiad. The U.S. team comprised finalists in the U.S. Mathematical Olympiad held earlier this year.
Aside from the math competition, an aerobics competition was held to promote togetherness among the CGMO competitors. Rangan and her teammates also did some sightseeing during their stay, going on a shopping excursion in Xiamen and visiting the Ocean Park Hong Kong theme park.
Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, thanked US math teacher Misael Fisico, who coached Rangan and the other Harker math students who competed in the various Olympiads throughout the year. “Your work is very much appreciated,” she said.
Fisico led the team from his native Philippines at the CGMO. “Despite the fact that I was the leader of the Philippine group, the U.S. team and the Philippine team bonded together on several occasions,” he said.