Anne West, grade 12, is featured in a front-page article in the Oct. 1 edition of The Wall Street Journal that chronicles her mission to analyze her family’s genome. John, Anne’s father, had the family’s genome sequenced last year after being diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism in 2003. However, the resulting mass of raw data presented the Wests with the problem of compiling the information into something they could interpret.
Nathan Pearson, director of research for Knome, Inc., a personal genomics company, is quoted in the Journal piece as saying, “If you got an auctioneer to read out loud someone’s genome at six letters every second, it would take 34 years to finish.”
Using her family’s computer, Anne West decided to take on the monumental task of boiling down the data, a job typically reserved for large teams of scientists with highly advanced degrees. West, who has had a passion for biology since grade 5, has been using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to decipher the data.
According to the Journal, the work is daunting but rewarding. West spent six months decoding just one of 20,000 genes, but her work has led to some big opportunities, such as her summer stint in the laboratory of Harvard and MIT scientist George Church. In April, she was a speaker at the Genomes, Environments, Traits (GET) Conference in Boston, where she received business cards from scientists in the field. She is also working with researchers in Seattle on a paper that is partly based on the Wests’ genome, and in September traveled to a genomics conference in Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y., where she appeared as a panelist.
West thanked her science teachers at Harker, saying they played a large part in fostering the love of biology that has led her to this point. She credited Catherine Le, grade 5 science teacher, for sparking her initial decision to pursue biology; Scott Kley Contini, middle school science teacher, for his “rigorous course”; and Gary Blickenstaff, upper school biology teacher, who assisted her with the project and helped with her presentations at the Personal Genomes Conference and the GET Conference. “I’ve worked hard and of my own motivation, but it was never in isolation nor without help,” she said.
San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 28 – Raghav Sehtia, grade 10, in the “School Scene or Honors” section for his two-year appointment to the San Jose Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee.
The New York Times, Sept. 5 – Alexander Wang MS ’98 is mentioned in a story about the rise of Asian-American fashion designers.
San Jose Mercury News, Sept. 4 – The box score of Harker’s 14-6 win over San Jose appears in the “High School Football Roundup.”
Along with the robust offerings in the Harker/Oakwood Tennis Training System (HOTTS), coach Craig Pasqua is now offering the Quickstart Junior Team Tennis League for ages 6-10. The league is open to the public.
“We started this program to meet the needs of the new player who wants to have fun!” said Pasqua. “QuickStart Tennis fundamentally differs from traditional tennis. In the traditional tennis teaching mode, students are taught how to play tennis. In QST, participants play to learn tennis. They do this by using smaller court dimensions, slower bouncing balls and shorter rackets,” he said.
“For the longest of times, tennis has been taught on regulation-sized, 78-foot courts,” Pasqua added. “To a youngster, that distance seems like a football field! QST uses 36- and 60-foot courts and slower-paced balls to size the game down to a 6-year-old’s level. With the equipment changes, youngsters find the sport less challenging and are able to rally longer and have more fun!” he said.
The first six-week session starts Oct. 2. The group will meet Saturdays from 1-2 p.m. at the Oakwood Tennis Center on Saratoga Avenue. Students will be split by age into two groups, then divided further into teams. Matches will consist of a half-hour team tennis format. The first 10 sign-ups will receive a free racket and beginner rackets will be available for purchase. Registration is open now, with an open house Sat., Sept. 25. See the Tennis page of the Harker website for full details or contact Pasqua at craigp@harker.org or 408.590.7347.
[Update] Riya Chandra has been named a top 10 national finalist in the Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge! She traveled to New York in early October to participate in live science challenges and though she did not win, received a $1,ooo consolation prize.
[Posted Aug. 4 2010]
Incoming student Riya Chandra, who will start Gr. 6 this fall, was recently named a state semifinalist in this year’s Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist challenge. Chandra received a $250 cash prize and a special plaque to honor her achievement. In addition, the budding scientist’s work was featured in a story in the Tri-City Voice newspaper which serves cities in southern Alameda County. The top 10 national finalists, who will travel to the finals in New York City in October, are set to be announced this month. Founded in 1999, the competition accepts video presentations on various topics from students in grades 5 through 8 located throughout the country. Chandra’s project discussed germs and disease prevention.
Tags: In the News, Science, topscience
Harker Summer Camp brings students from all over the San Jose area for learning and fun–often both at the same time.
The summer academic program differs from its school-year counterpart in a number of ways. For one thing, “It’s just more relaxed,” says Summer Academic Principal Diann Chung. “It’s still education, but it has a different vibe.” One reason may be that the day starts a bit later, at 8:30, and the academic schedule ends at 11:30 to make way for afternoon activities.
Offered for children entering kindergarten through grade 8, the curriculum is not just school-year redux. Chung, who chairs the regular K-1 academic team, works closely with the other department chairs to make sure the summer curriculum is compatible with that for the school year, and not redundant. “We try to make sure they are seeing and doing something different,” she says.
It can’t be easy to meet the academic needs of students with a wide variety of baseline skills in only four weeks, but that is what happens. The key, says Chung, is “differentiated instruction.”
Operating under this principle, teachers adapt the curriculum to the individual student’s level. Within the classroom, the children work in small groups, with each group offered a slightly different take on the lesson. With the help of an aide, the teacher makes sure that every student is challenged, but not too much.
There are fewer subjects to study, too. The morning consists of one class period each of math and language arts, and one 45-minute elective. Everyone is conscious of the fact that it’s summertime, so teachers have a great deal of latitude with which to incorporate games, crafts and activities into the curriculum.
Teacher Alice Cooley makes sure to read a silly story to her first-graders every day. “They think it’s great to hear me get my tongue twisted” while reading “Fox in Sox,” she says.
In math, she uses a lot of manipulatives, objects students handle to help them learn. For example, she noticed that the kids knew the value of individual coins, but had trouble combining them. So she put together a little bag of faux coins for each child. “We’re working with things they are missing, but doing it in a fun way,” she says. “It’s hands-on learning.”
Elective topics run the gamut from math to language arts, science, technology and the arts. During each four-week session, students select two from such intriguing choices as Hopscotch Math, Kitchen Chemistry and Jump Write In.
On a recent day, third- and fourth-graders from the Enviro-Kids class were running across the field with their homemade dust collectors for a study of air pollution. Later they would be using computers to learn more about the Gulf Coast oil spill and writing about experiments with different ways to clean up oil.
Grade 1 parent Trupti Kapadia likes the balance of choices that the four-week program offers. “There is some pre-designed curriculum, some electives that offer parents a choice on what extra academic emphasis to give their kids, and then the 3:30-5:00 Special Interest Hour, where the kids get to make their own choices,” she says.
She enrolled her twins, Nikki and Kaden, in KinderCamp last year to help them adjust to Harker. Now first graders, they are enjoying camp just as much. In fact, says Kapadia, “As the first session was ending, they checked in with me to make sure they were signed up for the second session.”
India Abroad, August 13, 2010: Gr. 8 debate students Adarsh Battu, Arjun Kumar,Claudia Tischler and ShilpaYarlgadda are featured in a story about their success at the National Middle School Forensics tournament in Des Moines, IA.
As summer rolls on, Harker continues to appear in news outlets nationwide. Stay tuned throughout the month for more updates!
Investors.com — July 1, 2010: Harker is mentioned as one of three U.S. high schools where “it’s cool to be smart,” and is identified as a top school in the “STEM” subjects: science, technology, engineering and math. The story also mentions Harker’s quality facilities, knowledgeable, attentive faculty and the numerous awards acquired during the 2009-10 school year. Chris Nikoloff, head of school, was interviewed for the story and said, “There really isn’t any limit to how far a student can pursue a passion.”
San Jose Mercury News — July 19, 2010: The newspaper has printed a brief story about the middle school debate students reaching the finals of the National Middle School Forensics Tournament in Des Moines, Iowa. The tournament featured more than 450 students from 20 states.
Harker’s own all-girl pop band, the Pizookies, has been hard at it, wrapping up their summer before heading off to college. The six girls, five grads and one current student, have been performing at a variety of venues and donating the proceeds to the American Cancer Society. Their latest triumph was an all-ages CD-release show at The Venue in San Jose. The Pizookie sound was described in the San Jose Mercury News as “quirky, big-hearted folk-pop with touches of glockenspiel, violin and saxophone.” Read all about the effort these generous young women are making at their Web Site, http://www.thepizookies.com/
Bay Area Parent – June 2010: Recent upper school graduate Colby Rapson and kindergartner Ravi Lal appear on the cover of this month’s issue, now available on newsstands throughout the area.
California Coast Parent, Santa Clara County and San Mateo County Edition – Summer 2010: Harker is featured in an extensive story on the school and its various programs.
San Jose Mercury News – June 6, 2010: Auto insurance company Progressive took out a full-page ad in this edition of the newspaper to congratulate Harker on being named a finalist in the DASH+ competition.
San Jose Mercury News– May 21, 2010: Alumnus Jason Martin ’07 was mentioned in an article about the San Jose State baseball team. At the time the story appeared, Martin had a .375 batting average, a team best and a remarkable feat considering he broke his hand last fall.
San Jose Mercury News – May 19, 2010: The following graduates were mentioned for making commitments to play sports at the following colleges: Greg Plauck (Santa Clara University baseball), Cole Davis (Stanford swimming), Arthi Padmanabhan (Pomona-Pitzer tennis), Amy Rorabaugh (Lake Forest College volleyball), Colby Rapson (UC Berkeley crew), Ryan Cali (University of Redlands basketball), Michael Clifford (UC Davis volleyball), Kelly Chen (Claremont-McKenna tennis) and Vivian Wong (Carnegie-Mellon swimming).