Last week, upper school students headed to San Francisco for a field trip organized by English teachers Charles Shuttleworth and Jen Siraganian. At the legendary City Lights bookstore, the students received a tour courtesy of event programmer Peter Maravelis. Students also visited The Beat Museum, dedicated to the work of Beat Generation authors such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady. There they were given a tour by Jerry Cimino, who co-founded the museum with his wife, Estelle. Students in Shuttleworth’s class on Kerouac and the Beat Generation also met with Dennis McNally, author of the Kerouac biography “Desolate Angel.” Meanwhile, students in Siraganian’s “Art of Poetry and Fiction” class visited with the directors of the Litquake Foundation, which organizes Litquake, a yearly 10-day literary festival that spans much of San Francisco.
“I knew that many values we have today (gender equality, environmental awareness, etc.) spread during the hippie movement and originated from the Beat movement, but I didn’t truly understand to what extent the cultural shifts of the mid-1900s influenced our society until we talked to Mr. McNally,” said Sophia Angus, grade 12.
“I was fascinated by City Lights bookstore and its dedication to its origins,” said senior Katrina Liu. “In the tours, the guides at both the museum and the bookstore emphasized the Beats’ contributions to the counterculture and hippie movements of the ’60s, and City Lights bookstore has faithfully remained true to their roots. For example, the basement level of the store is filled with books primarily concerned with global and local social and political issues, helping to raise awareness and expand readers’ world views.”
Last week, upper school students headed to San Francisco for a field trip organized by English teachers Charles Shuttleworth and Jen Siraganian. At the legendary City Lights bookstore, the students received a tour courtesy of event programmer Peter Maravelis. Students also visited The Beat Museum, dedicated to the work of Beat Generation authors such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady. There they were given a tour by Jerry Cimino, who co-founded the museum with his wife, Estelle. Students in Shuttleworth’s class on Kerouac and the Beat Generation also met with Dennis McNally, author of the Kerouac biography “Desolate Angel.” Meanwhile, students in Siraganian’s “Art of Poetry and Fiction” class visited with the directors of the Litquake Foundation, which organizes Litquake, a yearly 10-day literary festival that spans much of San Francisco.
“I knew that many values we have today (gender equality, environmental awareness, etc.) spread during the hippie movement and originated from the Beat movement, but I didn’t truly understand to what extent the cultural shifts of the mid-1900s influenced our society until we talked to Mr. McNally,” said Sophia Angus, grade 12.
“I was fascinated by City Lights bookstore and its dedication to its origins,” said senior Katrina Liu. “In the tours, the guides at both the museum and the bookstore emphasized the Beats’ contributions to the counterculture and hippie movements of the ’60s, and City Lights bookstore has faithfully remained true to their roots. For example, the basement level of the store is filled with books primarily concerned with global and local social and political issues, helping to raise awareness and expand readers’ world views.”
Last week, upper school students headed to San Francisco for a field trip organized by English teachers Charles Shuttleworth and Jen Siraganian. At the legendary City Lights bookstore, the students received a tour courtesy of event programmer Peter Maravelis. Students also visited The Beat Museum, dedicated to the work of Beat Generation authors such as Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady. There they were given a tour by Jerry Cimino, who co-founded the museum with his wife, Estelle. Students in Shuttleworth’s class on Kerouac and the Beat Generation also met with Dennis McNally, author of the Kerouac biography “Desolate Angel.” Meanwhile, students in Siraganian’s “Art of Poetry and Fiction” class visited with the directors of the Litquake Foundation, which organizes Litquake, a yearly 10-day literary festival that spans much of San Francisco.
“I knew that many values we have today (gender equality, environmental awareness, etc.) spread during the hippie movement and originated from the Beat movement, but I didn’t truly understand to what extent the cultural shifts of the mid-1900s influenced our society until we talked to Mr. McNally,” said Sophia Angus, grade 12.
“I was fascinated by City Lights bookstore and its dedication to its origins,” said senior Katrina Liu. “In the tours, the guides at both the museum and the bookstore emphasized the Beats’ contributions to the counterculture and hippie movements of the ’60s, and City Lights bookstore has faithfully remained true to their roots. For example, the basement level of the store is filled with books primarily concerned with global and local social and political issues, helping to raise awareness and expand readers’ world views.”
Last month, 29 students headed to Ashland, Ore., for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. This annual trip, established in 2009, gives students with a love of literature and theater the chance to enhance their understanding not just of Shakespeare but also the elements of storytelling.
On the trip the students saw productions of Shakespeare’s “Henry V” and “Romeo and Juliet,” as well as an adaptation of the Jane Austen novel “Sense and Sensibility.” In addition, they saw “Snow in Midsummer,” an update of the Chinese play “The Injustice to Dou Yi That Moved Heaven and Earth,” by 14th century playwright Guan Hanqing.
“’Snow in Midsummer’ was in the middle of its U.S. premiere run, and I was blown away by the story, tech and characters,” said senior Ellie Lang-Ree, who has been attending the trip since grade 9. “I’d never experienced the horror genre in the medium of theater, and the diverse cast combined with a story for all was absolutely incredible.”
Senior Hannah Lak, another four-year attendee, said she was greatly impressed with the “high-quality acting and the amazing set design” in “Henry V.”
“As for ‘Snow in Midsummer,’ it was incredible to see an all-Asian cast turn a classical Chinese drama into a modern ghost story on stage,” she said.
During the trip, the students also took part in a workshop in which they explored character archetypes and how they are used by actors to create characters and performances that audiences can relate to. “We talked about how many types of characters embody an archetype, be it the fighter, the ruler, the fool, or the innocent or even multiple archetypes,” said Mathew Mammen, grade 12. “We went on to discuss how archetypes can be connected to symbols, genres and settings as well as characters.”
Following the discussions about various archetypes, students “played games to outline the stereotypes associated with each, using famous theatrical, political and film examples,” said Lang-Ree. “We then broke into groups and worked on the physicalization of these characters using suggestive images and words to create a story and mood.”
The annual Ogre Awards, held yesterday at the Bucknall gym, saw 88 second graders in costume as literary archetypes from various cultures. In the months leading up to the show, students had been reading and discussing stories from many different countries, including Indonesia, Ecuador and Russia. Each year the Ogre Awards celebrate these stories by giving awards in a number of categories to the students’ favorite characters.
This year’s version of the long-running Harker tradition told the story of folktale characters leaping from the pages of an open book and discovering what it would be like to exist in other characters’ stories. The show also recognized longtime delivery driver Rick Samble for his nearly 20 years of service to the Harker libraries, and featured a guest appearance by Head of School Brian Yager, who played the part of Melvil Dewey, inventor of the Dewey Decimal System!
Earlier this week, several Harker students were named national medalists in the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Jacqueline He, grade 12, earned a gold medal for “Mollusk Threnody,” her entry in the poetry category. Junior Annabelle Perng was awarded a silver medal for her flash fiction piece, “Name Tag,” and Katherine Zhang, also grade 11, received a silver medal in the journalism category for her article, titled “Trump’s Proposed Budget Cuts Throw the Future of Research into Question.”
At the middle school level, eighth grader Michelle Liu was awarded two gold medals for her submissions in the drawing and illustration category, “The Feast of Harvest” and “Leisure Time.”
As national medalists, these students are invited to attend the national events this summer in New York City. Gold medalists are invited to the national ceremony at Carnegie Hall.
Congratulations to these students for receiving this remarkable recognition!
Numerous middle school students were recently recognized in the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Each year the contest, which began in 1923, presents regional and national awards to students in grades 7 to 12 in a variety of literary and artistic categories. All students recognized will have their work showcased at local events, and Gold Key recipients will have their work evaluated to determine who will be named national medalists and honored at a special ceremony in New York City.
Students who received recognition in literary categories are:
Brian Chen, grade 7: Honorable mention (poetry)
Catherine He, grade 8: Honorable mention (personal essay and memoir)
In late January, 63 upper school students received recognition in the 2018 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Since 1923, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards have recognized the work of middle and high school students in the visual and literary arts. Past awardees include Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath and Topaz Winters.
Students who received Gold Keys, Silver Keys and honorable mentions will have their work featured at local events. A panel of luminaries will judge the work of Gold Key winners to determine who will receive national medals and travel to New York City for the National Ceremony.
This year’s awardees for literature are:
Emily Chen, grade 12: Three Gold Keys (critical essay, poetry, writing portfolio), two Silver Keys (poetry, short story), three honorable mentions (poetry)
Gwyneth Chen, grade 12: Silver Key (personal essay and memoir)
Aditi Ghalsasi, grade 10: Honorable mention (personal essay and memoir)
Sophia Gottfried, grade 9: Silver Key (poetry)
Rose Guan, grade 11: Silver Key (journalism)
Ellen Guo, grade 10: Gold Key (critical essay)
Aarzu Gupta, grade 10: Two honorable mentions (poetry, personal essay and memoir)
Mahika Halepete, grade 10: Two honorable mentions (journalism)
Jacqueline He, grade 12: Two Gold Keys (poetry, writing portfolio), two Silver Keys (poetry), four honorable mentions (poetry, science fiction and fantasy, two in short story)
Larissa Tyagi, grade 10: Gold Key (personal essay and memoir)
Joshua Valluru, grade 10: Gold Key (critical essay), Silver Key (critical essay) and honorable mention (personal essay and memoir)
Liana Wang, grade 12: Silver Key (poetry)
Shania Wang, grade 11: Silver Key (personal essay and memoir)
Kelsey Wu, grade 11: Two Silver Keys (critical essay)
Helen Yang, grade 11: Two Silver Keys (flash fiction)
Alexander Young, grade 11: Two honorable mentions (poetry)
Katherine Zhang, grade 11: Two Gold Keys (journalism), three Silver Keys (journalism) and three honorable mentions (flash fiction, journalism, and short story)
Tiffany Zhao, grade 11: Silver Key (personal essay and memoir) and honorable mention (critical essay)
Awardees in visual arts are:
Raymond Banke, grade 11: Two Gold Keys (design and mixed media), Silver Key (design), four honorable mentions (design, drawing and illustration and two for painting)
Anoushka Buch, grade 9: Three honorable mentions (drawing and illustration, digital art and photography)
Cynthia Chen, grade 10: Gold Key (photography), two Silver Keys (drawing and illustration, and photograph), two honorable mentions (printmaking and drawing and illustration)
Katrina Liou, grade 11: Silver Key (drawing and illustration), four honorable mentions (two for mixed media, two for drawing and illustration and one for editorial cartoon)
Raveena Panja, grade 12: Honorable mention (drawing and illustration)
Rani Sheth, grade 10: Honorable mention (drawing and illustration)
Catherine Wang, grade 11: Gold Key (drawing and illustration), two Silver Keys (drawing and illustration)
Elizabeth Yang, grade 11: Gold Key (painting)
Emma Yu, grade 12: Honorable mention (art portfolio)
Anna Wang, grade 11: one Gold Key (painting), two Silver Keys (design and painting), two honorable mentions (drawing and illustration)
Joshua Zhou, grade 10: Three honorable mentions (photography)
Last weekend, 29 upper school students made the trip to Ashland, Ore., to visit the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The long-running repertory theater, founded in 1935, is an annual destination for upper school English teacher Pauline Paskali’s students, who gain a deeper understanding of Shakespeare’s works by seeing them interpreted in a live setting by professional actors. Paskali first made the trip with four of her students in 2009.
This year, the group enjoyed performances of Shakespeare’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “Henry IV,” as well as a production of the 2014 play “Shakespeare in Love,” one of several contemporary works that OSF produces each year. Students also attended a workshop in which they learned about some of the narrative elements of Shakespeare’s plays.
Rising senior Jacqueline He and rising junior Prameela Kottapalli were recently recognized in the third annual Young Authors Writing Competition, held by the Bay Area Book Festival. He’s short story “House of God” was deemed the winner in the combined 11th/12th grade division, while Kottapali’s “Never Been Better” earned her third place in the 10th grade division. SFGate has the full story. Congratulations!