This article originally appeared in the winter 2011 Harker Quarterly.
1893
Manzanita Hall, founded by Frank Cramer at the urging of Stanford University’s first president, David Starr Jordan, is established in a private home at Waverly Street and University Avenue in Palo Alto.
1902
In September 1902, Catherine Harker, also encouraged by David Starr Jordon, opens The Thoburn School, a boarding school for young ladies. The preparatory school for girls is located at Kingsley and Bryant streets in Palo Alto. Initially a high school, The Thoburn School enrolls 80 students in its first year and graduates seven.
In the second year, the school’s name was changed to the Harker-Hughes School when Elizabeth Hughes came in as principal. Hughes stayed only one year.
1904
The Harker-Hughes School comes to be known simply as Miss Harker’s School in honor of Catherine Harker, whose scholarly achievements begin a tradition of academic excellence. Initially a high school, a lower school for girls age 5-14 is added between 1903 and 1921. The high school program is eliminated in the 1950s.
1907
Miss Harker’s School relocates to a 6.25-acre pasture at Harriet and Greenwood avenues in Palo Alto. The same year, Catherine’s sister, Sara Harker, joins the school as a silent business partner. Sara later becomes active in the school’s management.
1919
Colonel Richard P. Kelly, Dr. Greenville C. Emery, Katherine Monroe and Nellie P. Hansen purchase Manzanita Hall and launch the Palo Alto Military Academy (PAMA). At PAMA, in the second academic year, the high school is eliminated and grades 1-8 are taught. High school won’t return to either school until 1998.
Nellie Hanson spends 32 years operating the school’s summer camp, Camp El Dorado, at Alpine Lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
1938
Catherine Harker dies suddenly, leaving the school’s management to her sister, Sara Harker.
1950
Major Donald L. Nichols, a 1926 graduate of Palo Alto Military Academy, purchases the school and takes over as superintendent when Col. Richard Kelly retires after 30 years of leading the school. Nichols brings along Lawrence Torcellini from San Rafael Military Academy as commandant of cadets.
1955
Alice Williams, a teacher at the school, is appointed principal of the Harker Day School, as it is reorganized to be a coeducational day school. Williams is influential in setting the philosophy and direction of the school in keeping with Sara Harker’s vision. Williams continues as principal when PAMA and Harker Day School merge and move to the new campus in San Jose.
1959
Major Donald L. Nichols purchases Harker Day School, located across the street from PAMA. He is simultaneously superintendent at PAMA and president of Harker Day School.
1965
Howard Nichols, son of Major Donald L. Nichols and a 1956 graduate of PAMA, joins PAMA’s staff as assistant commandant, P.E. teacher, athletic director and junior high school coach.
1972
PAMA and Harker Day School merge and become Harker Academy. The new school moves to the Mother Butler High School property in San Jose, now the upper school Saratoga campus. The new property is purchased with a significant personal investment from the Nichols family, and their commitment ensures the future of Harker Academy.
1976
The dedication of the Donald L. Nichols Sports Complex, with swimming, pool, tennis courts and athletic field, is held in May.
1979
Harker Grade 8 students take the first trip to Yosemite Institute.
Principal Alice Williams retires after 29 years of service.
The optional military program is phased out and extracurricular offerings are greatly expanded. Grade 9 is dropped and Harker Academy becomes a K-8 school.
1993
Nearly 100 years after Frank Cramer opened Manzanita Hall, Harker Academy is renamed The Harker School.
Headmaster Howard Nichols is named president of The Harker School and principal Diana Nichols is appointed as head of school.
Dobbins Hall opens in September on the Saratoga campus. The building includes 12 classrooms and two science labs.
1998
The Bucknall campus is purchased in January and opens in September with kindergarten through grade 3. The new Harker upper school opens on the Saratoga campus and admits the first grade 9 students. Adding one class per year, subsequent years brought grades 10, 11 and 12 to the upper school.
2000
Shah Hall opens in September for grades 7-8. The building includes nine classroom and three science labs
2002
The boarding program closes at the end of the academic year. The Harker Academy dorms were home to our boarding students for 30 years. With the opening of the upper school, the building was partially remodeled and named Manzanita Hall, where students now gather to dine.
Inaugural upper school graduation.
2005
Howard and Diana Nichols retire at the end of the academic year in June and Christopher Nikoloff, the associate head, is appointed as head of school.
2007
Davis Field, the first of two major athletic facilities to be completed, opens at the Saratoga campus in September.
2008
Saratoga’s new swimming complex, the Singh Aquatic Center, opens in January.
Nichols Hall, Harker’s LEED certified, 52,000-square-foot science and technology building, opens on the Saratoga campus in August.
Former Harker president Howard Nichols dies in December, aged 68.
2010
The new upper school library opens in August. The 3,803-square- foot facility features an eBeam-equipped classroom, expanded study areas and greater wireless connectivity.
Harker is proud to celebrate nearly a century of excellence in performing arts. “The Princess,” adapted from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem of the same name, was performed by the juniors and seniors of Miss Harker’s School for Girls in 1907 and is the earliest play program held in the archives. It’s clear that performing arts was an essential part of the girls’ education from the school’s inception. The 1928 school catalog notes that the goal of oral and dramatic arts expression is to, “develop self-control and emotional mastery, adaptability, initiative and poise, and to furnish an incentive for the establishment of beautiful speech as a medium of human intercourse.”
Annual spring performances included “Women – Ancient and Modern” (A Farce in Three Acts) in 1911, “Prunella” in 1919, “Rhoecus” in 1920 and “The Arrow Maker” in 1921. During the 1930s and 40s, the school produced one Shakespearean play each year, including “Much Ado About Nothing” (1929), “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (1930), “The Comedy of Errors” (1932) and “As you Like It” (1934). Additionally, French language students were required to perform a play in French each year. Throughout the year, all the young women of Miss Harker’s School were expected to participate in a number of one-act plays to “improve their speech and [to experience] the power of expression.” As the school expanded to include younger students, they also performed in various holiday programs and fairy tale adaptations, foreshadowing the annual Ogre Awards of today. In 1944, for a performance of “Osiris, King of the Dead,” the third and fourth grade students each made their own costumes!
In the 1950s, principal Alice Williams wrote many of the plays and skits herself, and the summer program always included a drama workshop for the primary through junior high students. In 1978-79 the student newspaper, The Eagle Examiner, reported that the Drama Club presented “Scaredy Cat” and “Good Manners and Bad Manners.” Then, in 1981, The Harker Academy hosted the first Junior High School Drama Festival, which was conceived and coordinated by drama teacher Erskine Morgan. Competing against Crittendon, Castilleja and Aptos Junior High, Harker won Best Play for “The Rockabilly Nowhere Man.” Morgan also produced the first musical of this new era, “Let George Do It,” with musical direction from Betsy Dods Walsh in 1981, and the Harker spring musical tradition was born. The’ 80s and early’ 90s included such musicals as “Oliver,”co-directed by drama teacher Gina Russ and music teacher Betsy Walsh in 1982; “Annie,” co-directed by Laura Guido (Rae) with Mary Claire Martin and Andrew Willyoung in 1987; “Anne of Green Gables,” co-directed by Crystal Isola and Willyoung in 1988; and “West Side Story,” directed by Donna Morse in 1993.
Laura Lang-Ree joined Harker in 1995 as performing arts department chair to teach acting and public speaking. “In those days we produced about 20 performances each year,” she said. “We now have a staff of 15 performing arts professionals and produce over 50 performances, which include the instrumental programs, Harmonics and Conservatory. In addition to quantity, the quality of productions over the last nine years has been impressive. ‘Pippin’ featured wild pyrotechnics, and ‘You Can’t Take it with You’ was our first full-length straight dramatic performance.” (That play was produced again this last fall.) Lang-Ree also credits the technical theater program, which includes sets, lights, sound and costumes and is led by Brian Larsen, for much of our success. Lang-Ree says, “We are what we are because of Howard and Diana Nichols’ love for, and belief in, the performing arts, which allows me to hire the very best teachers and develop some of the best K-12 arts programs in the country.” Harker received special acclaim in 2002 when the spring musical cast won first place in the American Musical Theater High School honors competition for “Oklahoma!”
When asked about her personal favorite, Lang-Ree quickly cited “Into the Woods,” which has been produced both at the upper and middle schools. “I love it when I can find a musical that is very acting intense and has some kind of message and meaning in the dialogue that I can help the actors uncover.” However, what Lang-Ree says she enjoys most is the growth of a student or a cast as a whole – something the audience never gets to see. “Each year there is always that student, or several students, who blow me away with what they’ve accomplished,” Lang-Ree reflects. “The confidence that I witness being developed through performing arts is awesome.”
This story originally appeared in Harker News in May, 2004
by Sue Smith, Harker Archivist
From the Harker School’s earliest beginnings, dance has played an important role. The 1903 catalog features dance instruction, offered to the girls for $20 per term. By the ’20s, dance became part of the curriculum, and one period a week was devoted to natural [interpretive] dancing and folk dancing. The dance curriculum was expanded to include clogging in the ’30s, which was thought to increase flexibility and a sense of rhythm. In the ’40s, creative, interpretive and social dancing were recognized as integral to the curriculum.
As the Miss Harker School expanded to include K-12 in the 50s, dance was introduced into the primary school curriculum. Kindergarteners practiced folk dancing every day, and additional dance instruction was available after school. Intermediate students learned interpretive dance, and the upper school students were exposed to a variety of dance traditions. Through the merger of the Palo Alto Military Academy with the Harker Day School in the early 1960s, dance was always part of the summer programs and of their annual Maypole celebrations. In the early days of Harker Academy, spring musicals provided the main venue for dance performances. However, when dance teacher Laura Rae came to Harker in 1982, the dance program really began to flourish! Laura’s earliest memories are of the spring musicals, in which all 7th and 8th graders participated, and each P.E. class selected dancers for specific routines. Rae recalls, “My first year, the musical was the ‘Wizard of Oz,’ and I choreographed the leads as well as the large group numbers. At the same time, I started making up little routines for students to perform at the awards assemblies. The first dance routine was ‘Shake It Up’ by the Cars.” So impressive was the performance that dance performances soon became part of every school assembly, as well as the annual Holiday Show and Spring Musical.
The after-school dance program began in 1983 with 50 students of various grade levels and skills. Dancers performed in a recital at the end of the school year. In the early years Dan Gelineau worked on sound, Mike Bassoni on lights, and Jack Bither was master of ceremonies. Within three years, the program grew to include 150 students who participated in the after-school program, parent/child dances and a faculty routine with a mother/faculty dance. By the late ’80s, Harker Academy dancers had developed a solid base of skills. Parents helped build sets and costumes were ordered through professional catalogs. Dance became a hit at Harker!
By now Rae was teaching dance full-time, and the dance program now included a required course in the K-8th grade P.E. program, the annual spring musical (required for MS students) and an after-school elective for performance in the dance show. Dance was taught in a small room which had an open dance deck attached (these rooms now function as Laura Lang-Ree’s room/Mr. Micek’s computer room). Rae remembers “first position feet” painted on the floor, flowers and a heater on the dance deck, and being part of the life of the boarding students. She remembers, “Many of the boarders danced in the program, since we were just downstairs. This opened the doors to ethnic dances and boys entering the program.” Student participation after school increased and Rae began to contract with outside choreographers to assist with the dance numbers. The annual show began to have standard routines that included jazz, ballet/lyrical, modern and a new style known as hip-hop. “At this point, I was still working with a phonograph and those big CDs known as vinyl records,” Rae laughed. “By the late ’80s I couldn’t keep up with the demand of student interest.” So the dance program further expanded in the 1990s as Gail Palmer came aboard. Rae and Palmer became a team that made the program what it is today.
Rae said the program has flourished as a result of the creativity and support of many, and she feels a special indebtedness to Howard and Diana Nichols: “I am amazed that the dance program has become such an integral part of the Harker community. Howard and Diana have always been advocates of the performing arts. To be able to work with wonderful, bright students, hire outside choreographers and collaborate with the Performing Arts staff has been a dream come true.”
The tradition continues as we celebrated our 21st annual dance production, “Let’s Show ‘Em,” this year. Lucky indeed are the Harker dancers, who as part of their legacy have created lifelong memories for all and experienced the thrill of performing at Harker!
As we celebrate the success of The Harker School’s recent, first-ever fashion show fundraising event reported in this issue, we also celebrate the many other parent fundraisers in Harker’s long history of parent fundraising!
Through the 1970s, along with the annual Family Picnic, the Harker Father’s and Mother’s Clubs sponsored spaghetti dinners, holiday dances, boutiques and candy and bake sales to support the costs of building the Sports and Recreation Center. The spaghetti dinners were completely prepared and served by parents, organized by Marty and Dorothy Scarpace, parents of Marty (’76) and Kristen Giammona (’81), and Earl and Margarita Parsons, parents of Jon (’76).
The evening included a raffle with prizes such as a 10-speed bike, Sony battery operated TV and signed footballs and basketballs. Live entertainment was provided by Dan Gelineau, then dean of students, on accordion and Jeff Haugaard, former boarding director, on banjo. Through the combined efforts of our wonderful parents, these fundraising projects helped provide our students with a first-class facility.
The Harker Academy’s Gala Spring Auction began in April 1984 with elaborate, fun items and adventures that were put up for bid by an auctioneer. How much would you offer to ride “shotgun” with the county sheriff for a day? How about a 1949 Dodge Coronet Coupe or a private plane ride to The Nut Tree in Vacaville for lunch? Or perhaps you’d prefer to bid on a 1986 49’ers football signed by Joe Montana and Bill Walsh. These were only some of the wonderfully creative items offered at the 1980s Harker Academy Auctions. With themes like New York, New York (1986) and Juke Box Saturday Night (1987), the staff who worked the events usually dressed for the theme of the evening, and these first-class events brought the entire Harker community together for a great cause.
Current picnic coordinator and board member Lynette Stapleton was a parent at Harker when the first Gala Spring Auction was held in 1984. Tony and Becky Morici, parents of David Hare (’82), Tony (’89) and Alexia (’90), made Italian food, and the Harker staff were waiters in the gym. Stapleton laughed, “I remember the Morici kitchen lined with over a dozen pans of pasta.” The Parent Guild assembled hundreds of items, and each classroom made homeroom packages that were themed for both a silent and live auction.
“Each year the gala became grander until it finally moved off campus in 1986,” said Kelly Espinosa, current K-6 dean of non-academic affairs and then recreation director at Harker. The annual auctions have continued to the present as part of a long tradition of having fun and raising money for the school. Proceeds go to a specific project each year. They’ve included the Scholarship fund in 1984, the Fine Arts Program in 1986 and the Computer Science facility in 1987 and 1988. The auctions were sometimes held as a stand-alone event or coupled with a wine tasting, as in 1985, and they eventually became an important part of the annual Family Picnic celebrations in 1989.
This year we once again made history with another “first” for Harker, as we enjoyed our first fashion show featuring our very special Passion Showcases and live auction – sure to become another Harker tradition!
This story was originally printed in the March 2008 issue of Harker News.
Now in its third year, the Harker Research Symposium showcases student research projects to inspire students and give them a chance to present their hardest work in a scientific environment.
Projects on display will include those of Harker’s three Intel Science Talent Search (ISTS) semifinalists,seniors Frank Wang (“The Effect of Oxygenated Diesel Fuels on Emissions”), Thomas Roxlo (“Potential Clinical Applications of Celastrol”) and Senan Ebrahim (“Characterization and Synthesis of Silk III”).
Last year, presenters included Harker ISTS winners from the class of 2007, Adam Creasman, Carolyn Wang and Arkajit Dey, as well as other students from all three campuses. Other speakers included Harker alumni, students from Lynbrook High School and Monte Vista High School.
Symposium coordinator and science department chair Anita Chetty noted that the symposium is an opportunity for parents and middle schoolers to become familiar with the Harker research program and to find out what the student researchers really do.
In addition, the displays help budding researchers understand how to enter a research competition,what exactly a paper submitted to a competition looks like and what an oral presentation sounds like.
Chetty noted that at the end of the afternoon, workshops will be run on technical writing, internships and research competitions. Workshops can be attended by freshmen, sophomores and juniors and any interested parents. See the Research Web page for details on the workshops.
“The conference is also a way for our alumni doing research at post-secondary institutions to bring that knowledge back to us,” said Chetty. Three Harker alumni will present at this year’s symposium: Ankur Gupta ’06, currently at Carnegie Mellon University, Shilpa Vadodaria ’05, now at Columbia University, and Samantha Levinson ’06, UC Santa Barbara. “Finally, we have brought a very important element of the research process into the symposium in the form of companies that show the connection between research, everyday life, the economy and career opportunities for researchers,” said Chetty. “Everyone in the Harker community is welcome. I think everyone will be amazed at the quality of these presentations and the composure shown by these young researchers!”
Symposium Keynote Speker is Founder of Award-Winning Education Program
Geoff Green is the founder and director of the Canadian-based organization Students on Ice Expeditions (www.studentsonice.com), an award-winning educational program that has taken over 800 students, teachers and scientists from around the world on expeditions to both the Arctic and the Antarctic, according to his biography. The goal of the project is to give the world’s youth a heightened understanding and respect for our planet’s global ecosystem, and the inspiration to protect it. In 2005, Green received a Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition from the U.S. Congress for his work with youth and the environment. He has lead scores of expeditions to the polar caps for a variety of organizations, including Discovery Channel, World Wildlife Fund, National Audubon and the Smithsonian Institution, and has been a guest speaker at the Royal Geographical Society in London and the Smithsonian Institution.
This story was originally posted online in November 2007.
Four Harker seniors have been named semifinalists in the Siemens Competition. Semifinalists receive a special recognition package; their names will be announced in a full-page advertisement in USA Today and be posted on the Siemens Foundation website. The Harker semifinalists and the titles of their research papers are:
Hassan Shenasa
Soliton Resonance: A Novel High Frequency Power Combining Method
Senan Ebrahim
Properties of Silk III Fibroin at the air water interface
Thomas Roxlo
Small Molecule Induction of Heat Shock Response: Cytoprotective effect and Potential Clinical Applications of Celastrol
Sushant Sundaresh
Toward Nitrogen Fixing Symbioses with Mutual Consent
Each year the Siemens Foundation, in partnership with the College Board, runs the Siemens Competition to promote excellence by encouraging students to undertake individual or team research projects. Harker seniors who conduct research during a summer internship are encouraged to write a 20-page technical paper and enter the competition at the end of September.
In the initial judging phase, entries are received and processed by the College Board. The projects are “blind read” by a national panel of scientists who have expertise related to the project being reviewed and the papers are judged solely on the merits of the written research report. From this initial judging, up to 300 outstanding projects are selected as semifinalists.
This story was originally published in the May 2008 issue of Harker News. “Going Green” was the theme of the third annual Harker Research Symposium held in March 2008 on the Saratoga campus. Over 300 attended and 50 students from the middle and upper schools gave presentations. Poster sessions covered diverse topics from new and innovative approaches for generating and saving energy, to reporting on the effects of cell phone conversations on drivers’ reaction times. Paper presentations also covered a wide range of topics including research for new cancer therapies and the effects of farming on river water quality. The sessions featured presentations by our Intel and Siemens semifinalists, the J8 team, three Harker alumni and students from Lynbrook High School in San Jose and Galt High School from Sacramento.” Sponsors were Applied Materials, Google and Hewlett-Packard. Students from San Jose State University demonstrated Phantastic Physics, and Santa Clara University sent their solar decathlon team. Of special interest was a comprehensive exhibit describing the eco-friendly building techniques used in the new science and technology building. Symposium keynote speaker Geoff Green, founder of Students on Ice, a nonprofit organization that takes groups of students from around the world on unique educational trips to the Poles, took the audience on an inspiring and unforgettable voyage to Antarctica and the Arctic, recounting his adventures with orcas and penguins, polar bears and Inuit elders. Anita Chetty, science department chair and event organizer, said the symposium exceeded her wildest hopes. She was thrilled by the sense of energy, excitement and enthusiasm that was palpably present throughout the day. “The kids were so marvelous,” she said. “They came here and do this for the sheer joy of sharing their experiences and learning from each other.”
This story was originally published in the May 2008 issue of Harker News. “Going Green” was the theme of the third annual Harker Research Symposium held in March 2008 on the Saratoga campus. Over 300 attended and 50 students from the middle and upper schools gave presentations. Poster sessions covered diverse topics from new and innovative approaches for generating and saving energy, to reporting on the effects of cell phone conversations on drivers’ reaction times. Paper presentations also covered a wide range of topics including research for new cancer therapies and the effects of farming on river water quality. The sessions featured presentations by our Intel and Siemens semifinalists, the J8 team, three Harker alumni and students from Lynbrook High School in San Jose and Galt High School from Sacramento.” Sponsors were Applied Materials, Google and Hewlett-Packard. Students from San Jose State University demonstrated Phantastic Physics, and Santa Clara University sent their solar decathlon team. Of special interest was a comprehensive exhibit describing the eco-friendly building techniques used in the new science and technology building. Symposium keynote speaker Geoff Green, founder of Students on Ice, a nonprofit organization that takes groups of students from around the world on unique educational trips to the Poles, took the audience on an inspiring and unforgettable voyage to Antarctica and the Arctic, recounting his adventures with orcas and penguins, polar bears and Inuit elders. Anita Chetty, science department chair and event organizer, said the symposium exceeded her wildest hopes. She was thrilled by the sense of energy, excitement and enthusiasm that was palpably present throughout the day. “The kids were so marvelous,” she said. “They came here and do this for the sheer joy of sharing their experiences and learning from each other.”
This story was originally published in the May 2008 issue of Harker News. “Going Green” was the theme of the third annual Harker Research Symposium held in March 2008 on the Saratoga campus. Over 300 attended and 50 students from the middle and upper schools gave presentations. Poster sessions covered diverse topics from new and innovative approaches for generating and saving energy, to reporting on the effects of cell phone conversations on drivers’ reaction times. Paper presentations also covered a wide range of topics including research for new cancer therapies and the effects of farming on river water quality. The sessions featured presentations by our Intel and Siemens semifinalists, the J8 team, three Harker alumni and students from Lynbrook High School in San Jose and Galt High School from Sacramento.” Sponsors were Applied Materials, Google and Hewlett-Packard. Students from San Jose State University demonstrated Phantastic Physics, and Santa Clara University sent their solar decathlon team. Of special interest was a comprehensive exhibit describing the eco-friendly building techniques used in the new science and technology building. Symposium keynote speaker Geoff Green, founder of Students on Ice, a nonprofit organization that takes groups of students from around the world on unique educational trips to the Poles, took the audience on an inspiring and unforgettable voyage to Antarctica and the Arctic, recounting his adventures with orcas and penguins, polar bears and Inuit elders. Anita Chetty, science department chair and event organizer, said the symposium exceeded her wildest hopes. She was thrilled by the sense of energy, excitement and enthusiasm that was palpably present throughout the day. “The kids were so marvelous,” she said. “They came here and do this for the sheer joy of sharing their experiences and learning from each other.”
This story was originally posted online Oct. 2, 2007
This school year marks the occasion of the 10th year since Harker opened the Bucknall campus and launched the new Upper School. There will be a variety of activities and features throughout the year to celebrate, and to marvel at just how far we’ve come in 10 short years. Harker’s “Toast to 10 Years” celebration inspired teachers Diann Chung and Cindy Proctor to host a Gr. 1 activity on the 10th day of school, all based on the number 10. Activities included the Flying Gumdrops, a Bean Bag Toss, a Ring Toss, the challenge of finding 10 things wrong on a page, and a variety of math games based on the number 10. “The Gumdrop Fling was fun when it touched the ceiling!” noted student Dominique P. Other groups counted out 10 Goldfish (and ate ’em!), while nearby, students jumped rope, counting up and down by tens. Each activity had its adherents. Matthew H. “liked counting 10 Goldfish and then eating them,” while Alexandra J. said she “liked the jump rope and counting by tens.”