This story originally appeared in the fall/winter 2017 issue of Harker Magazine.
While Harker’s academics may garner the most attention from students and parents, the school has significantly bolstered its after-school offerings in the past few years. The lower and middle school BEST (Bucknall Enrichment and Supervision Team and Blackford Enrichment and Supervision Team, respectively) programs have become an integral part of the school’s mission.
What eventually became the BEST program has existed at Harker in one form or another for nearly three decades. “[Howard] Nichols wanted to do just a little extra after-school program for those students who couldn’t get picked up right after school,” recalled Kim Cali, Harker’s lower school BEST director and the program’s founder. When Cali started working at Harker in 1987, she and four staff members formed what was then known as the recreation department.
The recreation Department was very different from the program that exists today. “We had maybe four or five activities when I first started, and now we have 25 activities just at the lower school,” said Cali. She said she began speaking with former head of school Chris Nikoloff as early as 2003 about restructuring and rebranding the growing department.
“We were still running the program with the assumption that we could do it with a director and five or six staff, and it was just too much for me to handle,” she remembered. Recognizing her dedication, Nikoloff asked her to put together a proposal.
Cali’s vision was to see the recreation department transformed from an assortment of after-school activities into an expansive program where students could explore a wide variety of interests. “I’ve always wanted children to be given the opportunity to explore different things,” she said, “so that by the time they get to fourth or fifth grade or by middle school, they really know where their true passion lies besides the classroom.”
Today, BEST caters to anexpansive array of interests, thanks largely to outside vendors who specialize in specific areas and methods of instruction. Activities included in tuition and available to all children until 6 p.m. include Legos, basketball and a host of other unstructured activities, and many children take advantage of those free hours. Both the lower and middle BEST programs also include dropin activities where students can experiment with art, computers and sports at their leisure. Learning workshops allow students to delve into more specific areas, such as web design, robotics and storytelling. Individual and group instruction are offered in a diverse selection of specialty classes, including martial arts, music, cooking, foreign languages and more.
BEST has been very popular among lower school families eager to enrich their children’s education. “We always have waitlists, especially at the beginning of the school year,” Cali said. “Parents are very eager to get their children into as many activities as possible.”
Performing arts classes, such as dance and instrumental music, are perennial favorites, as are STEM classes, such as engineering and robotics, according to Cali. The lower school’s BEST program is a big hit with parents, for whom it is a one-stop spot for extracurricular activities without the inconvenience of having to take their children to another location, she added.
“I’ve had a lot of parents over the course of the years that I’ve been here … who have said, ‘It was between Harker and such and such a school, and it was the extracurricular program that sold me,’” Cali said.
Jenny Cu Tully ’92, whose children, Kira, grade 2, and Brandon, grade 4, are both enrolled in BEST classes, said, “They both love staying after school, and it is so hard to get them to leave the campus. I think that speaks volumes about how much fun they are having in the BEST program.”
Tully said the program’s flexibility is a key feature. “I love that my kids can try a new activity each quarter to find their passion, or stick with the same ones if they know what they love already,” she said.
In addition to deepening their education, students at the middle school also use the BEST program as a way to relax. Activity Avenue, where many students meet after school, offers simple social activities, such as watching movies, playing board games or making crafts. Upon starting as middle school BEST director in 2008, Lorena Martinez introduced Fun Fridays, a weekly event similar in atmosphere to a carnival, with outdoor activities and music at the middle school campus amphitheater.
“The students work so hard, they study so hard,” Martinez said, “that I wanted them to know that at the end of the week, they could relax, they could have fun.”
Many popular activities at the lower school BEST program are already found in the middle school’s curriculum and extracurricular offerings, including athletics and performing arts. Martinez therefore designed the middle school BEST program to contain some less structured activities, and be a place for students to cut loose in a friendly environment.
Martinez also created the teen center, where the middle school’s older students socialize and de-stress. In addition, Martinez said, it has provided another way for teachers to get to know more about their students by participating in activities with them in a no-pressure environment.
“I enjoy their Fun Fridays, as they work extremely hard the whole week to make it fun for the middle schoolers,” said Saumi Mehta, grade 8. “I really think that the BEST program has made me enjoy Harker more and made me less stressed out because of the fun things that they put on for us.”
Middle school BEST staffers also have been keen to listen to student feedback, which Martinez said has been very useful in keeping the program robust and interesting to students. Martinez also advises the middle school’s student government, and has used submissions to their suggestion box to open up discussions about more activities.
“I kind of work with them to also get the heartbeat of what’s going on,” she said.
Much of BEST’s success as a program is owed to its dedicated staff, who Cali calls “the front line to the school,” because they are frequently the first and last people to interact with the students over the course of the day. In addition to running after-school programs, BEST staffers – many of them college-aged and seeking careers in education – also supervise during recess and other outdoor activities. Annie Kallbrier, a 10-year veteran of the BEST program who is now the kindergarten coordinator and a classroom aide, said that “engaging with students outside the classroom gives you a unique understanding of the personality and interests of each student. Watching them explore nature, and helping them to navigate through new social situations every day, is hugely gratifying for me.”
In addition to supervising and helping during various activities, BEST staff members also act as educators. “We seek to help students develop into people of good character as they grow. On the playground, BEST staff are able to teach students how to communicate and problem-solve with their peers,” said Kallbrier. “We hope that we can help every child discover that they are capable, creative and kind in character.”
Cali is highly appreciative of the BEST staff’s ability to work with children, as they must find a balance between the structure of the classroom and the level of freedom that BEST offers. “I think one of our bigger challenges is … sometimes [kids] just want some freedom to play,” she said. “But also, I find that some children like to be directed.
“We look at ourselves as social teachers,” Cali said. “We might not be in a classroom, but we really do have a huge responsibility to these children in helping them develop as good citizens and helping them learn how to work through conflicts and make good choices.”
Not surprisingly, BEST has provided a path to a teaching career for many current and former Harker teachers. “Many of my staff also are aiding in the classroom now,” said Cali, who estimated that more than half of BEST staff members go on to become teachers. “My passion and one of my goals has been to help young adults become teachers, and they’re getting all the experience that they need right here while they’re going to college.” Overall, BEST leaders at both the lower and middle school campuses hope to provide experiences and opportunities that the students will continue to remember as they further their education. Cali sees BEST as not just an area for students to play and learn, but also as a place that offers a sense of community for students who hail from many different parts of the Bay Area. “I always refer to our department as the ‘neighborhood’ for the children,” she said. “We come from all different areas. Some people come from Pacifica, Los Altos Hills, Fremont, wherever. And a lot of children are here for a good part of their day, so this becomes their neighborhood.”
Martinez, meanwhile, hopes that middle school students will continue to view BEST as a source of fun and socialization as important to the Harker experience as the education they receive in the classroom. “I just want the kids to have a good experience here at Harker,” said Martinez. “And I know they’re having a great experience with education, that’s a given. So I just want to make it come full circle. Outside the classroom, it should be just as amazing as it is inside.”
“As a Harker alum myself, some of my best friends, memories and skills were made after school,” said Tully. “The wide range of options is amazing, and I wish I could sign myself up for many of them!”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2017 issue of Harker Magazine.
Upper School Art Teacher’s Work Appears in Two Exhibits
In April, Pilar Agüero-Esparza’s work was featured in the ICONIC: Black Panther exhibit in Los Angeles, which showcased art inspired by the Black Panther Party. Later that same month, she was a featured artist in the stARTup Art Fair in San Francisco.
Preschool STEM Specialist Named Consulting Editor
In January Robyn Stone was named a consulting editor for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), which specializes in promoting the learning of children 8 years old and younger. In this role, Stone will help ensure the quality of NAEYC publications, which include books and the “Young Children” magazine.
Science Teacher Featured on Website
Upper school teacher Chris Spenner was recognized as the featured teacher in May by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The AAAS website published a brief Q&A with Spenner, who shared his reasons for becoming a teacher, the accomplishments he’s most proud of and his love for astrophotography.
Upper School English Teacher Published in Anthology
In February, upper school teacher Jennifer Siraganian was among 50 poets to be published in the annual “Best New Poets” anthology. Siraganian’s poem, “Monroe, Washington,” was selected from 2,000 nominations for publication in the book, which is available through Amazon.
Spanish Teacher Presents at Language Conference
In early March, upper school teacher Isabel Garcia presented on the classroom use of short films at the Southwest Conference on Language Teaching, held in Oklahoma. The workshop explained how short films can help students understand orally transmitted messages as well as use variations of a language’s structure both inside and outside the classroom. “ It was a great opportunity to present and share with fellow foreign language teachers my understanding of task-based learning,” Garcia said.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2017 issue of Harker Magazine.
Pat Walsh is a legend at Harker. The lower school math teacher has been at Harker since 1976, first as a summer camp coach, then dorm houseparent, and is retiring this year. He’s done it all, including driving a bus, coaching sports and organizing Harker’s Thanksgiving food drive for most of his career here. Students who went through his classroom remember him forever, and it’s clear from his interview that the passion he has for teaching, for his family, for volunteer work (and, oh yes, his obsession for the San Francisco Giants) is why his students love him so dearly. Walsh’s wife, Terry, whom he calls “the rock of our family,” worked at Harker for 35 years, and their three sons, Matt, Danny and Kevin, all attended Harker through grade 8.
What is something one of your parents said that you will never forget?
My mother was a teacher, and she told me a teacher’s No. 1 job is to be an advocate for all of their students. And in order to be an advocate, one has to focus on a kid’s good qualities … and every kid has plenty of good qualities.
What was one of your funniest classroom moments?
It’s embarrassing. Years ago while teaching third grade, I let my room mom, Melody Moyer, talk me into wearing a cupid outfit for the Halloween party. The kids were absolutely howling when they saw me. Now on Valentine’s Day, we play “Pin the Diaper on the Cupid.” It gets pretty silly, and they love it.
What is the one thing in the world you would fix if you could wave a magic wand?
Childhood poverty and lack of opportunity. It breaks my heart. This is something I emphasize with my kids, too. I believe that those of us who have been blessed with abundance have a duty to give back to those who are less fortunate.
Where in the world are you the happiest?
Family gatherings. I love to lay low and watch my sons talking with my friends and their other relatives. I learn a lot about them just by watching. All three of them are good men and interesting people.
What’s one of the favorite things you do in the classroom?
One of the things all of my students comment on when I see them years later is the “letter.” Each year I have taught, I have my kids write a letter to themselves. The first part of the letter is a summary of their year in grade 5. For the second part of the letter, I ask them to look into the future and predict how they think their lives will change over the course of the next three years. I mail these out the week they are wrapping up eighth grade.
This story originally appeared in the winter 2016 Harker Magazine.
By Jared Scott Tesler
Since he was a little boy, Colin Dickey MS ’91 had always dreamed of becoming an architect. But while at Harker’s middle school – inspired by highly respected and beloved English teachers, including the late Sylvia Harp – he had a change of heart.
“Harker nurtured a kind of creative rigor that I appreciate – not just memorizing and repeating information but getting us to think critically and to go beyond received truths,” Dickey said. “At some point, I realized that one could easier build things out of words than out of bricks and wood.”
And so, at 12 years old, while most boys his age were playing sports or video games, he spent his after-school hours reading books and writing stories on his mother’s word processor. With the nearby labyrinth-like Winchester Mystery House – designed and built by Sarah Winchester, widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester, and said to be haunted by ghosts – serving as his muse, his early interest in architecture would creep its way into his latest and greatest passion.
Fast-forward 25 years. Dickey holds a Master of Fine Arts in critical studies, as well as a doctorate in comparative literature, and is an associate professor of creative writing at National University. He is the co-editor of “The Morbid Anatomy Anthology” and author of three supernatural nonfiction books, including his most recent, “Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places,” which The New York Times Book Review called “a lively assemblage and smart analysis of dozens of haunting stories … absorbing … [and] intellectually intriguing.” The book also was lauded by the Los Angeles Times, Men’s Journal, Publishers Weekly, The Seattle Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Dickey also has received positive feedback from readers.
“Some random person on the Internet told me the other day that my latest book was helping her get through a difficult time, and I was honored and humbled to have had that kind of impact,” he said.
In writing “Ghostland,” which is “not overtly pro or anti any belief in the supernatural,” Dickey said his focus was on uncovering the answers to a series of questions: “Why do certain buildings come to be seen as haunted? Is there something architecturally about these spaces that may lend them an aura of the ghostly? Why do we tell some ghost stories and not others? Is there something to be learned about the way we tell ghost stories, something that reflects deeper anxieties, hopes and fears?” While some may be skeptical or even afraid of this particular genre, the author hopes everyone will be a part of the conversation.
Between books, Dickey carves out time as a guest speaker, and is a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books and Lapham’s Quarterly. In his post at National University, he is primarily tasked with “sculpting and guiding a new generation of voices” – a privilege and a duty he takes very seriously.
“Most of my students come to me with a great deal of raw talent. My job is to act as a sounding board, giving them the space to adapt and refine those voices,” Dickey said. “One of the main pieces of advice I find myself giving is to simply write – and read. Students, even writers, don’t read as much or as widely as they should.”
For information on Dickey’s books, upcoming appearances and more, visit colindickey. com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @colindickey.
This story originally appeared in the winter 2016 Harker Magazine.
When Maheen Kaleem ’03 went to Harker’s head of school to advocate on behalf of a fellow student who was in trouble, she didn’t have any idea that her life’s work would be standing up for people who need a voice.
Her road from Harker, where she started in kindergarten, to staff attorney at Rights4Girls makes sense in retrospect, but she didn’t have a clear vision at every step of the journey.
“I loved my time at Harker,” said Kaleem, from her Washington, D.C., office. “It was an excellent education, but you also felt cared for by your teachers who created a sense of family.”
“Maheen Kaleem is an extraordinary person,” said Diana Nichols, a Harker teacher during Kaleem’s time and now chair of Harker’s board of trustees. “While at Harker, she displayed that very special combination of talent in both academic areas and extracurriculars. Maheen has always had a strong sense of responsibility and was always willing to go the extra mile to make positive changes in the school.”
Kaleem was focused on school but also engaged in performing arts and debate. She grappled with which career path to take: the arts or human rights and social justice.
It was a pivotal moment when Harker’s college counselor suggested she look at Georgetown University (see college counseling article on page 10). Kaleem fell in love with the university on paper and when she walked on campus, she just knew that it was the right school for her. At the time, she knew she was passionate about human rights, although she didn’t know exactly where that passion would lead.
During her undergraduate years at Georgetown, Kaleem was a policy intern at Campaign for Youth Justice. “As an intern, I learned how to bring global human rights issues to kids locally and got very involved in the conversation,” she said. “Harker gave me the confidence to try new things and the initiative to take advantage of every opportunity.”
That confidence and initiative has carried her a long way. After graduating from Georgetown with a B.S. in international politics and human rights, Kaleem was at a turning point. She considered joining the Peace Corps, working abroad or heading back to the Bay Area.
Kaleem became an advocate for the Sexually Abused and Commercially Exploited Youth/Safe Place
Alternative in Oakland. This job opened her eyes in an astonishing way and she said she connected with the children on a very real level.
“You see a kid who is system-involved and you see all these issues, and it feels hard right away,” she remembered. “But at the end of the day, children are children, and you’re just talking to another person. It’s important to remember your responsibility as a human and always have respect.”
Institutional lack of respect for those she was helping and frustration with the legal system would launch Kaleem toward law school. While working in Oakland at a lengthy restitution hearing, she raised her hand and said, “Your Honor, this just feels wrong. This feels unjust.” He looked at her and said, “Well that’s not the law. If you have a problem with it, go to law school,” she recalled. “I said, fine. I’m going to law school then,” she said. Soon, she was back at Georgetown – in law school.
After gaining her legal degree, Kaleem became a Stoneleigh Foundation Emerging Leader Fellow with the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, where she worked to address the needs of greater Philadelphia’s most vulnerable youth through policy analysis, research and advocacy.
After Stoneleigh, she went to work for Rights4Girls, a human rights organization working to end sex trafficking and gender-based violence in the United States.
She also co-founded Pennsylvania Lawyers for Youth, a nonprofit that works to effect meaningful, community-responsive changes in the Pennsylvania juvenile justice system through direct service and policy initiatives.
Kaleem is young, passionate and working to the change the world, but she also shows wisdom beyond her years. “If I’ve learned anything, it’s always to stand in your truth,” she said.
“Maheen has been an inspiration in her passionate pursuit of justice for young women,” said Chris Nikoloff, head of school. “She’s making a difference in the world, and we couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Performing Arts Director Cast in Local Production of ‘The Music Man’
In mid-October, K-12 director of performing arts Laura Lang-Ree was a cast member in Lyric Theatre’s production of “The Music Man.” She played Alma Hix, one of the four gossipy Pick-a-Little Ladies. “I have been missing creating a character from scratch,” said Lang-Ree, who spent several years as a singer with the Los Gatos/Saratoga Big Band. “It was time to go back to my musical theater roots.”
Sports Coaches Lend Expertise to Goals for Girls
This summer Theresa Smith, lower and middle school athletic director, and Brighid Wood, assistant to the athletic directors, helped host the Goals for Girls soccer clinic at Santa Clara University. Smith and Wood were joined by former U.S. Women’s National Team players Cindy Parlow Cone and Brandi Chastain, as well as Rebecca Crabb, a two-time national champion at the University of North Carolina. In 2007, Cone started Goals for Girls, which “connects girls from different countries and backgrounds with their peers around the world in a forum that addresses social and health challenges through cultural exchange and soccer,” stated Wood.
Upper School LID Director Named to CUE Board of Directors
This summer Diane Main, upper school director of learning, innovation and design, was named to the board of directors of Computer Using Educators. Founded in 1978, CUE is a nonprofit organization that seeks to inspire students via the use of technology in the classroom. The organization holds conferences each year where teachers can attend a wide variety of workshops designed to help them develop innovative teaching methods.
Science Department Chair Speaks at Anatomage Conference
In July Anita Chetty, upper school science chair, spoke at a users group meeting hosted by Anatomage, a 3-D medical imaging technology company. Its products include the Anatomage Table, which is currently being used by Harker science students.
Science Teacher Named to Woods Hole President’s Council
In late October, upper school science teacher Kate Schafer was invited to be a member of the President’s Council at the Woods Hole Research Center. The center, which helps develop policies to combat climate change, formed the council to advise its president and staff on strategy and management.
Upper School Head and Journalism Teacher Honored
Butch Keller, upper school division head, and Ellen Austin, upper school journalism teacher, were both honored at the Fall National High School Journalism Convention in Indianapolis on Nov. 12. Keller was selected by The Journalism Education Association as its administrator of the year, an honor presented annually to school administrators who demonstrate outstanding support of school journalism programs. Austin was named one of this year’s Pioneer Award winners by the National Scholastic Press Association. Considered the NSPA’s highest honor awarded to journalism educators, the Pioneer Award recognizes “individuals who make substantial contributions to high school publications and journalism programs outside of their primary employment,” according to the NSPA website. To read more, search “journalism” at news.harker.org.
This story originally appeared in the winter 2016 Harker Magazine.
The 2018-19 school year will mark the 125th anniversary of Harker’s founding, and we’re so excited to look back at our history. It seems appropriate to start at the beginning; enjoy this primer of Harker’s roots!
The union of two schools, the Palo Alto Military Academy and The Harker Day School, formed what is today The Harker School. Although these schools began independently, David Starr Jordan, the first president of Stanford University, inspired both.
In 1893 President Jordan, concerned for the university’s need for superior incoming students, encouraged Frank Cramer, a pioneer educator and civic leader, to begin Manzanita Hall, a college preparatory school for boys. The program was dedicated to the premise that the successful future citizen and student of higher education is one who has a broad foundation not only in his classroom pursuits, but also in nonacademic areas. The development of high moral character and leadership qualities was emphasized.
Catherine Harker, a Vassar graduate and a professor of Greek and Latin at Mills College, recognized the need for a girls’ preparatory school near Stanford and founded Miss Harker’s School in 1902, which also emphasized superior scholarship, character and leadership.
In 1919 Cramer’s original school, Manzanita Hall, became Palo Alto Military Academy (PAMA), a school for boys of elementary age under the direction of Richard P. Kelly. In 1955 Miss Harker’s School was reorganized to become a coeducational day school and brochures indicate that the name of the school was changed to The Harker Day School during the reorganization. Donald L. Nichols assumed leadership of PAMA in 1950 and The Harker Day School in 1959, merged the two schools under the name Harker Academy and moved to the present location at 500 Saratoga Ave. in San Jose in 1972. Howard E. Nichols assumed leadership of the school in 1973, dropping the military program and expanding academics and other program offerings.
In 1992, the school name was changed to The Harker School to more clearly reflect the character and diversity of the school. Howard Nichols was named president and Diana Nichols was named head of school. To fill the growing need for exceptional non-religious high school education in the Bay Area, Howard and Diana Nichols planned and implemented the founding of the upper school and Harker expanded in 1998 to begin including grades 9-12. Fully enrolled since its inception, the upper school quickly earned a reputation for excellence. In 2002, Harker graduated the first class of seniors, and graduates continue matriculating to prestigious universities throughout the world. Christopher Nikoloff assumed leadership of the school in 2005 following Nichols’ retirement at the end of the 2004-05 school year.
Today The Harker School still retains the consistent core philosophy of the original schools, and has become a world-renowned academic institution that is eager to continue making a difference in the world.
This story was originally published in the Summer 2017 edition of Harker Magazine.
Early 20th century French painter Henri Matisse, who left an indelible mark on modern art, once said, “It would be a mistake to ascribe this creative power to an inborn talent. In art, the genius creator is not just a gifted being but a person who has succeeded in arranging for their appointed end, a complex of activities, of which the work is the outcome. The artist begins with a vision – a creative operation requiring an effort. Creativity takes courage.”
These sentiments are seamlessly woven into the fabric of Harker’s progressive visual arts curricula. “A student’s effort is paramount in grading their progress in whatever course they take with me,” explained Pilar Agüero-Esparza, upper school visual arts teacher, who received the William Hyde and Susan Benteen Irwin Scholarship for proven excellence in the arts during her undergraduate days at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She went on to earn her master’s degree in spatial art from San Jose State University.
“I do not believe that only students who already have an aptitude for the visual arts – either through innate characteristics or due to prior experience with classes – can do well and get A’s,” Agüero-Esparza said. “I believe that anyone can learn to draw by studying the mechanics, learning techniques and, inevitably, practicing. This is where effort and an open attitude to learn is what becoming a great artist is all about.”
At Harker, the visual arts take the form of yearlong required courses, single-semester electives, Advanced Placement and honors classes, after-school activities and summer programs – all of which are designed to foster creativity, self-expression, imagination, critical thinking, problem-solving, confidence, open-mindedness, curiosity, risk-taking and time management.
Through art, students of all ages learn how to view and interpret the world around them – and find out more about themselves along the way. As with academic and extracurricular offerings in acting, dance and choreography, directing, instrumental music, musical theater, technical theater and vocal music, instruction covers not only artmaking but also art history, theory, criticism and appreciation.
Led by K-12 visual arts department chair Jaap Bongers and K-5 assistant chair Gerry-louise Robinson, faculty members on all four campuses include both postgraduate educators and professional artists, specializing in architecture, ceramics, collage, design, drawing, filmmaking, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, stone carving and textiles.
Starting With a Blank Canvas
At Harker Preschool, whether inside cozy cottage classrooms or their very own art studio, Harker’s littlest learners precociously begin their individual journey toward self-expression, experimenting with a wide range of media and materials that put their critical thinking and fine motor skills to the test. As they engage in intentional play through a series of handson, developmentally appropriate projects in ceramics, collage, drawing, painting, weaving and wire working, they exhibit curiosity, intrinsic motivation, creative problem-solving, aesthetic valuing, sorting, counting, sequencing and much more.
“The arts foster a deeper understanding of our uniquely human existence,” said preschool visual arts specialist Alexandria Kerekez. “We can process our experiences, reinforce our knowledge, and come to know ourselves by creating and enjoying art. Children learn about the world as it is by making observations, thinking representationally and developing new skills with multiple tools. Most notably, they can come to imagine the world as it can be through open-ended art experiences that allow them to express their feelings and ideas in an environment with no wrong answers.”
At just 3, 4 and 5 years of age, when it comes to their own creations, these tiny artists are given free rein – from ideation to evaluation. Kerekez, who holds a bachelor’s degree in creative arts and a master’s degree in education and social justice, refers to her role as “the guide on the side.”
“It is important to me that the children’s ideas inspire the topics of their research and that they choose the materials for its execution. It is my role to facilitate the activities and suggest helpful techniques and proper usage of their chosen tools. They are the leaders of their own creative destinies,” said Kerekez, who is currently working on a personal project of threedimensional mixed-media sculptures soon to be installed in common areas in and around San Jose. “All student artwork is assessed by the artist who created it. During every visit to the art studio, a reflection time is carved into the schedule. This is a time for the young artists to express their ideas, explain their processes, make aesthetic evaluations and plan for future works,” Kerekez noted.
Exploring the Elements
Kindergartners and first graders, encouragingly guided by Peggy Lao, lower school visual arts teacher, are introduced gradually to the elements of art, including color, form, line, shape, space, texture and value. Before they begin to dabble in ceramics, collage, drawing and printmaking, students watch closely and listen carefully as Lao offers step-by-step demonstrations.
“I like to use a follow-the-leader type of guided teaching with the younger students,” said Lao. “I demonstrate a step, then the students do the step on their own papers. This method is good for time management, and it allows students to process and execute a step at a time, rather than having to accomplish too much in a short time,” she said. “Once they begin to work, students must learn to be flexible as they change their ideas, take the initiative to seek help and guidance, and, above all, strive to be confident with their own personal creativity by not comparing to others.”
Robinson, who leads Harker’s second through fifth grade art classes and previously taught in Australia, her native Ireland and the United Kingdom, adheres to a variety of engaging teaching styles intended for different ages and abilities, including one-on-one instruction and teacher-led direct instruction. She even creates instructional videos that students can view at home, which means more time making art at school. “I also incorporate music, books, magazines, visual aids and, of course, lots of demonstrations,” she added.
Students in Robinson’s classes are exposed to the principles of design – balance, emphasis, harmony, hierarchy, proportion, and similarity and contrast – as they study art movements and periods throughout history, conduct independent research, enjoy gradelevel field trips to local art museums and build 3-D works of art. After-school activities include workshops and open studio time, and Robinson teaches arts and crafts as part of Harker’s summer programming.
Since art is open to aesthetic interpretation, “evaluation is based not on product but on process,” Robinson said. “While we do have a guideline, observing how a student handles each step of a project from beginning to end is where the assessment will derive from.”
For middle schoolers to succeed in Elizabeth Saltos’ visual art classes, where visual learning and bigpicture, right-brain thinking is all the rage. Students must “participate in every lesson and immerse themselves in the experience, take chances, make mistakes, go beyond the predictable visual solutions, and come up with something completely unique from their previous pieces, personally empowering, expressive and connected to themselves,” Saltos said. She is also the middle school’s Art Club faculty advisor.
Saltos’ students practice and develop their conceptual, technical and visual perceptual skills as they create two- and three-dimensional works of art, including drawings, paintings, ceramics and sculpture. They continue to cultivate their own aesthetic and personal imagery, interpret style and theme, and study various artists, art movements, cultures and historical periods. After school, they can let their imaginations run wild with workshops, Art Club and open studio time.
“Visual learners use art directly to analyze, deconstruct and synthesize elements of a problem to reassemble parts of the whole into a new form,” said Saltos, who came to Harker following a quarter-century-long career focused primarily on private and public sculpture commissions, with a master’s degree in industrial arts and education from San Francisco State University. “This research model applies to all areas of life.”
To impart a genuine sense of community and connectedness in her classroom, and to temporarily silence the stress of the day, Saltos leads a simple exercise in mindfulness and centering wherein her sixth, seventh and eighth grade students take turns striking a Tibetan singing bowl with a padded mallet.
“I teach by doing, by listening, by making the classroom more of an art studio and getting out of the institutional setting, by helping the students to relax and sink into ideas and process and not race to conclusions and answers,” Saltos said. “The process is more important than the product. Often, I model making mistakes and then using the mistake as a springboard to create a new visual statement.”
Applying the Principles
In addition to compulsory courses in English, mathematics, science, history and social science, modern and classical languages, computer science and physical education, ninth grade students must fulfill a performing or visual arts requirement via a survey course in visual arts, music, dance or theater arts.
“These courses study contemporary thought and process around each discipline while linking it to historical movements,” explained Joshua Martinez, upper school media arts instructor, who holds a master’s degree in spatial art from California College of the Arts.
“There is also an Advanced Placement Art History course that provides an in-depth study of 19th and 20th century art,” he said. “The mechanics of art are taught in each discipline-specific elective course. The idea that art tells the narrative of its maker, that all marks carry symbolic properties, and that humans organize information in context with their own experiences, emotions and perceptions are essential understandings for any medium and are constant themes across media.”
By the time they reach the upper school, many students have uncovered their personal creative expression and are busy honing their individual art skills and talents for both college and career. Course offerings include an array of beginner- and advancedlevel electives as well as portfolio-building courses such as Honors Directed Portfolio and Advanced Placement Studio Art, with concentrations in drawing, two-dimensional design and three-dimensional design. Both Martinez and Agüero-Esparza provide their students with ample opportunities to get their hands dirty before they must demonstrate proper technique. As in lower and middle school, effort, engagement and risk-taking are stressed throughout the making process.
“Once you have been given the tools to externalize complex thoughts and emotions in a way that not only fulfills your base needs for expression but creates meaning in others’ minds, the world unlocks,” said Martinez. “Art creates space for students to not only expand their notions about the world but to expand their understanding of how they might share these ideas with others.”
Martinez, whose own photography has been displayed in several solo, collaborative and group exhibitions throughout the nation, further noted, “From day one, I let [students] know that this is all about them. Art is a means of showing others your way of seeing. Every demo, conversation, etc., is always with that in mind. We focus on trying something and then reflecting on the product’s ability to give voice to their feelings and philosophies.
“There is no profession that doesn’t benefit from an understanding of one’s own way of seeing,” Martinez added. “Being able to express yourself, understand how meaning is made and control, rather than consume, media is essential for all careers. More importantly, the truly vital aspects of art – a dialogue with the unknown, making visible the unseen, imagining undefined notions – are part of living a full life. This is something that most children do better than we do, but they often need it to be reflected back to them in order to create a practice around it.”
Unveiling a Masterpiece
Harker’s pièce de résistance, of course, is the continued overwhelming success of its alumni. There are those who, while at Harker, won one or more Alliance for Young Artists & Writers’ Scholastic Art & Writing Awards – an award shared with artists including designer-to-the-stars Zac Posen and pop art icon Andy Warhol. There are those who have gone on to attend some of the country’s finest art and design schools. And there are those who have turned their passion into their profession. Some have even followed in the footsteps of their favorite Harker teachers, resulting in an arts education that has truly come full circle.
“I’ve wanted to pursue a career in the arts for quite a while. I would say I probably developed a firm grasp of my aspirations in high school,” says freelance graphic designer Vladimir Sepetov ’11, who snagged a grand total of six Scholastic Art & Writing Awards during his senior year.
Sepetov majored in visual communication design at the University of Washington, scored an artists and repertoire internship with Interscope Records, and has been designing hip-hop album covers ever since – most notably, Grammy Award-winning rapper and songwriter Kendrick Lamar’s “To Pimp a Butterfly.” The best part of his job, he said, is “making my parents proud and seeing a vision come to life.”
Shelby Drabman ’09, who studied textile and fashion design at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, serves as artist-in-residence at The Hamlin School in San Francisco, where she directs an after-school art program for girls in kindergarten through fourth grade. A life-size sculpture of Sesame Street’s Oscar the Grouch – a four-month-long project completed at Harker – is a friendly fixture in her classroom.
Kevin Saxon ’10, attended Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Architecture Career Discovery Program, scholarly seminars at Spéos Photographic Institute in Paris and the Danish Institute for Study Abroad in Copenhagen, interned at Robert Edson Swain Architecture + Design, and graduated from Rhode Island School of Design’s furniture design program. After that preparation, he landed a job as a design and manufacturing engineer at Northwood Design Partners in Union City. The firm handles big-name clients including Facebook, Google, Netflix, Pinterest, Samsung, Twitter and YouTube. Named Best in Show at Harker’s 2010 Advanced Placement Studio Art Exhibition, one of Saxon’s pieces, the “+1 Chair,” was featured at the 2015 International Contemporary Furniture Fair at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.
Previously Harker’s full-time advancement associate, Kelsey Chung ’10 got her start as an art instructor at Harker Summer Camp Plus, where she taught a course on Warhol and his contemporaries as well as another on Paul Cézanne and Jackson Pollock. Chung took Advanced Placement Studio Art with Agüero-Esparza and Advanced Placement Art History with history and social science department chair Donna Gilbert. She is an alumna of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where she majored in art and design, with a concentration in studio art. Chung is currently working toward a higher degree in the history of art and design at Pratt Institute; its motto, “Be true to your work, and your work will be true to you,” fits for an artist like her.
“Since I was 5, I was always interested in art. It began with the dream of working – animating – for Disney,” said Chung. “Later, in sixth grade, I began painting, which I continued and pursued in college. Art history was a subject I never really thought about but enjoyed immensely and ultimately inspired me to go to graduate school,” she added.
New York City-based fashion designer Anna Huang ’07 is grateful for the eventual growth in the diversity of art courses at the upper school.
“The visual arts program was relatively small when I was a freshman/sophomore at Harker, and there were not a lot of students interested in pursuing careers in art and design,” recalls Huang, who began stitching and sewing clothing for her dolls as a young girl. Significant plans were in the works to expand the department while Huang was a student. “Especially on a campus dominated by excellence in STEM fields, it was significant that we had the space and resources to showcase our achievements in a different way,” she said.
That stick-to-itiveness paid off in a big way. After graduating, with distinction, from California College of the Arts, Huang would find herself designing for not one, not two, but three household names – Ralph Lauren, Cole Haan and Levi Strauss. Just as her fashions continue to grace the streets of New York City, she remains indebted to her Harker teachers for their encouragement, support, guidance, acceptance and feedback.
“They patiently worked with us to hash out artistic solutions to our creative blocks and create pieces that were relevant to our personal identities. Additionally, they always urged us to observe the world from alternative angles and draw inspiration from unexpected places,” Huang says. “Being open-minded is integral to being a good artist and designer, and I think Harker’s visual arts faculty did an outstanding job of imparting this to us.”
This story was originally published in the Summer 2017 edition of Harker Magazine
Technology is bred in the bone at Harker. Classrooms have enhanced learning hardware and software, students use a variety of technology tools in class and at home, and kindergartners through grade 12 students take challenging computer science classes.
Teachers at Harker introduce students to high-tech tools they can use in a host of settings. STEM classes and hands-on experience are part and parcel of the school’s education that extends beyond computer science labs. Starting a decade ago, Daniel Hudkins, director of information technology service and support, helped pioneer the integration of various technologies throughout Harker’s campuses. Harker has always had the attitude that the process and the product were more important than the tool, so the school avoids relying on any one hardware or software product when competitive alternatives are available, he noted.
Early Days
Harker, founded in 1893 as Manzanita Hall, opened its upper school in 1998. Long known for its science-heavy curriculum, the opening of a high school allowed Harker to continue its tradition of excellence while developing best practices as the high school grew. Both the middle and upper schools had the usual array of desktop computers for student use, but to ensure students had access to adequate tools, the school instituted a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy for the upper school in its third year, 2000-01, Hudkins said. The math department began using Mathematica for certain classes, requiring students in those classes to bring their own laptops, which laid the groundwork for more widespread BYOD plans.
“By 2002-03, it was decided to require Mathematica, and therefore laptops, for all students taking pre-calculus or above, which extended the program to many other students,” Hudkins said.
About the same time, computers were being introduced in the lower and middle schools. That use has now hardened into routine. “Apple iPads are frequently used in K-grade 2,” Hudkins said. “K-5 also have access to two Mac labs and a full class set of Mac desktops in the library.” Grades 3-5 students are provided with Chromebooks, with a 1:1 ratio of devices to students beginning in grade 4. Grade 5 students bring the devices home with them.
In middle school, students are issued schoo-lowned computers, with the choice of a Mac or PC. Students receive administrative rights during grade 7. Students are responsible for bringing the device home for homework and back to class charged up. At the end of grade 8, families can purchase the computer at a discounted rate.
The early requirements for Mathematica students to have laptops opened the door to all students being permitted to register their own laptops for use at school. By the 2004-05 school year, Hudkins said, the BYOD laptop program was required for all upper school students. With that change, all of the student-use desktops, except for journalism and graphic design, disappeared from Harker upper and middle school classrooms, though the lower school still supplies computers and one desktop resides in the middle school library.
With so much access to technology, Harker aims to ensure that all devices are used safely and appropriately by students. The school uses graduated filtering of the internet on campus to control access to the Web, with the restrictions diminishing as students get older, Hudkins said. Most of the monitoring is done by a combination of direct supervision and appropriate education for self-monitoring. “We do not ‘embed’ any monitoring programs in the devices themselves, although some parents choose to add this on their own,” he added.
One of the greatest advantages of having students bring their own devices to school, Hudkins said, is the ability to move the classroom focus to the students’ work and the students’ control instead of spending time making sure students are able to log on, reach needed software, etc. Furthermore, having students concurrently use a variety of tools to collaborate means they and their teachers spend less time on “click here” techniques and more time on learning new skills.
“As tool sets continuously evolve, students might collaborate in a Google Hangout while preparing a presentation in Microsoft PowerPoint,” Hudkins said. “Some students might be participating on an iPad.” The ultimate goal, he said, is to cultivate technology fluency – how best to find the right tool for the task or problem, how to learn how to use it and how to apply what it can do in effective, and sometimes even novel, ways.
The Other Half of the Equation: Software
The use of software has intertwined with the adoption of hardware in the classroom. Supported apps and software include Microsoft Office 365, Google G Suite and Apple’s software collection, to name just a few. A variety of operating systems, especially MacOS and Windows, are supported; at one time, a significant number of students used Linux variants.
Students at Harker can use Google Apps for Education, for example, to access Docs, Sheets, Forms, Drawings, Slides and Hangouts. “Google Docs has largely replaced Word in the [middle school] English classroom,” said Scott Kley Contini, learning, innovation and design (LID) director for grades 6-8. “The ability to collaborate live within a document has revolutionized English writing. Teachers can interact in real time with students and peer editing can happen in the moment.”
Hudkins noted that in the upper school, research writing requires more complex formatting and Microsoft Word is more frequently used.
The inclusion of technology in classrooms enhances Harker students’ education in myriad ways, Hudkins said. Via these apps and programs, students learn the rhetoric of presentation in a digital age, along with clarity of thought, synthesis of material and analytic thinking, he added.
“Each software and platform has its strengths,” Hudkins said. “iPads offer focused simplicity. Chromebooks offer easy access that is not device dependent. Laptops offer local computation and storage not relying on the availability of the cloud.”
Other software in use at Harker includes Logger Pro for digital data collection, Membean for vocabulary building, Wolfram Mathematica and Fathom for furthering math and statistics skills, and Minecraft for construction and synthesis, he said. “There is also a burgeoning list of tools used in the new Innovation Lab at the middle school,” he added.
All these apps and programs have real value, offering new approaches to understanding coursework. The Geometer’s Sketchpad software, for instance, is used heavily in geometry classes, Kley Contini said, letting students construct geometrical shapes, but the software can be used a variety of ways to understand math, “allowing students to play with mathematical equations and see visual representations of mathematical outputs.”
For higher math levels, the Mathematica program is used selectively to allow students to manipulate mathematical equations as well as begin to explore mathematical logic in a similar way to computer programming, Kley Contini said. This software is used across professional engineering, science and computer disciplines, which can include 3-D image processing and data mining. Students also can use Desmos, which lets them manipulate mathematical variables and see instant output changes. By using these tools, Kley Contini said, math becomes more real for students and helps make connections to concepts that might otherwise get lost in a series or in word problems on paper.
Computer Science in the Classroom
The momentum driving Harker’s use of hardware and software built up incrementally, driven, to a degree, by upper school computer science class development.
Back in 2003, computer science classes were only available in the upper school in the form of AP Computer Science A, AP Computer Science AB and an introductory programming course, said Eric Nelson, upper school computer science department chair.
Computer science soon became a graduation requirement. Technology use began to spread in the lower and middle schools as administrators adapted curricula to build a foundation of computer classes to support the upper school requirements.
“In the lower school, students were learning how to work with technology using AlphaSmart word processors and a computer lab,” Nelson said. “The middle school also had computer labs where the students began to learn some of the fundamentals of programming.”
Since those early computer science initiatives, Harker has developed a full K-12 program. “The major changes occurred when I became department chair in 2008,” Nelson said. “I saw the need for a two-track program in the upper school to address the wide range of abilities and interests in our students. I worked with the department faculty to create two paths through our developing program.”
The fast track was Advanced Programming, Nelson said, which fed into AP Computer Science A with Data Structures. The slower track was Programming to AP Computer Science A to Honors Data Structures. “The content is the same, but the latter is done in four semesters rather than three,” he said.
Students who complete those courses can then take Advanced Topics offerings: AI Expert Systems, AI Neural Networks, Programming Languages and Numerical Methods, which are taught by Nelson on a four-year rotation. Computer Architecture, and Compilers and Interpreters, are taught by two other faculty members on a two-year rotation.
Courses are created and taught by faculty specializing in those fields, Nelson said. Harker also offers an introductory course called Digital World for students who really do not want to take computer science, but need to meet the graduation requirement. “The course is enriching enough where some students have moved on to programming after taking it,” he said.
The formal computer science structure in the upper school brought new requirements to the middle school, which then resulted in a reworking of their entire program, Nelson explained. The middle school introduced computer science entry requirements for their students, which, in turn, influenced changes to curriculum at the lower school.
As a result of this evolutionary process, Nelson said, Harker now offers computer science starting in the elementary school grades. “In kindergarten, the students learn the basics of algorithmic thinking using little robot bugs that get their instructions with cards that are placed on the floor,” he said.
Lisa Diffenderfer, computer science department chair and LID director for K-grade 5, said the lower school computer science department has added a plethora of opportunities for programming with robots in recent years. Grade 1 students, for example, take computer science classes three times per week in their third trimester. “Students have the opportunity to learn programming fundamentals by programming a mini robot called a Bee-Bot,” Diffenderfer said.
With its colorful, kid-friendly design, BeeBot is a tool for teaching young children problem-solving skills and estimation. Diffenderfer said students work as a team to move their Bee-Bot to specific areas on a game board, and use the related iPad app to practice using directional language and algorithmic thinking.
Students in grade 2 can work with another robot, called Dash, to learn programming fundamentals – but with visual programming to command Dash to perform specific tasks. The robot works with an app called Blockly that uses visual blocks rather than text to create code for Dash to follow.
Robots are finding their way into other curriculum areas, Diffenderfer said. For example, there are plans to have fifth grade students in an English class program a robot to retrace Bilbo’s hero’s journey after they read “The Hobbit.”
The robotics program is still growing, with changes made yearly at all levels, Nelson said. In the upper school the most recent additions are two robotics courses – one software- and one hardware-based – that sit between the programming and the AP courses (see Rise of the Machines, page 8, the story of Harker’s competitive robotics program).
These new courses serve two purposes, he said. One is to support the robotics program by giving non-AP level students a stronger background. The other is to catch those students whose enthusiasm has gotten ahead of their abilities. “In other words, if they get a C in Programming, they can still continue in computer science [via the robotics courses], even though they could not move directly into an AP course at that point,” Nelson said.
The AP computer science courses teach the students the foundations of objectoriented programming using Java with an emphasis on algorithmic thinking and good coding practices. Students learn to design and document first and then code second, which is an uphill battle even with professional programmers. “As my former colleague Richard Page was fond of saying, ‘four hours of coding can save you 10 minutes of design,’” Nelson said with a smile.
Because of Harker’s rich computer science offerings in the upper school, and the structure that goes with them, the middle and lower schools had to adapt to meet the newer entry requirements, he said. That subsequently drove new entry requirements between grades and across divisions. As a result, Harker students get early introductions to algorithmic thinking, robotics and programming.
“When combined with the science and mathematics offerings, as well as the research opportunities we have here, our students can discover early on if they have a passion for STEM and have opportunities to follow it,” Nelson said.
Contributor João-Pierre S. Ruth is based in the New York City area.
This story originally appeared in the Winter 2016 Harker Magazine.
Kate Shanahan is the K-5 English department chair. A self-described “New England girl,” Shanahan was born in Middletown, Conn., and grew up in Connecticut and New Hampshire. She lives in downtown San Jose with her husband and two sons, and the family may be growing soon with the addition of a dog! She’ll be participating in the Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School teacher exchange this year. Shanahan shares some fun insights with Harker Magazine about life, good advice and having great vision.
What are you obsessed with?
Good grammar. It’s a blessing and curse. Most days I can’t read a simple Starbucks menu without double-checking the spelling of each individual drink.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever gotten?
A college professor once told me that “good teachers leave their backpacks at the door.” It took me a while to understand the power of his statement, but now it’s clear: Don’t bring my baggage into the classroom. Leave it at the door and be present for my students.
Brag about something.
I have 20/15 vision. Once I was getting a routine eye exam, and the nurse called the doctor over just to watch me read the eye chart.
What is something that you pretend to understand when you really don’t?
When I was a kid, my family rented the movie “Wall Street.” My dad paused the movie and spent over 30 minutes explaining the stock market to my sister and me. I still don’t totally get it.
What is the biggest risk you have ever taken in your life?
I moved to California by myself at 24. I left my family and friends behind and came to work at Harker. That first year wasn’t easy, but my inspiring students and friendships with faculty made me realize that this was where I wanted to be.
Where in the world are you the happiest?
Although traveling has its perks, I am a total homebody. I love the comfort of my home and hubby, chatting with my neighbors, hearing my kids play outside, and sitting on my front porch watching the world go by.