In early November, 126 grade 5 students (accompanied by 10 Harker faculty members) headed off for the annual three-day class trip to the Marin Headlands.
“Scientific study of various ecosystems and an 8-mile round trip hike that resulted in amazing views were among the highlights of the trip,” recalled Kristin Giammona, elementary division head, noting that the contingent spent two nights in a former army barracks at Fort Cronkhite.
“The fifth graders enjoyed breakfasts and dinners together in the dining hall and lunch out on the trails. On our last night, students and teachers participated in campfire skits and singing to culminate the experience. Some of the students were able to see a sea lion being released back into the ocean after a two-month stay at the Marine Mammal Center due to an injury caused by a net,” added Giammona.
The Marin Headlands has been called one of the most unique areas in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Along with its historical attractions, the area also boasts varied hiking trails, a dog-friendly beach, and astonishing views of the coast and San Francisco.
In early December the lower school’s entire grade 3 class enjoyed a very special visit from Harker alumnus John Owens ‘85, who last year made the news when he was appointed to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor in room 110, the third graders, who will soon be studying about the government at the local, state and federal levels, were enthralled by Judge Owen’s informative and entertaining talk about serving on the nation’s largest appeals court, which shapes federal law from districts in California and eight other Western states.
But long before he became a judge, Owens got his start at Harker in 1979, when he transferred from an East Bay public school as a grade 3 student himself. Many of the students at his talk were surprised to learn that his own third grade teacher was none other than Sarah Leonard, the lower school’s primary division head, who began her career at Harker as a lower school teacher.
“To this day I have vivid memories of John as one of my own former students. He is a role model in regards to what can happen when a strong work ethic and a determined, can-do attitude are at play,” recalled Leonard.
Owens noted how lucky they were to be attending the lower school. He then gave them a behind-the-scenes look at being a judge – a job he explained he is able to keep for life, should he so choose.
After his talk, he allowed plenty of time for questions and answers. Students asked such questions as, “What if the government picks a bad jury?” (answer: there might be a new trial) and “What if someone found innocent is actually guilty?” (answer: they cannot be tried again). The kids also had many questions about lie detectors.
“It was awesome! I learned a lot about being a judge and the government and how everything works,” said student Sohum Arora.
His mom, Shubhangi Kapatkar, said she was grateful to Harker for giving the third graders the opportunity to receive a visit from Judge Owens. “Sohum was so excited to tell me all about it, he just kept talking about him until he went to sleep. He seemed to be really pumped up seeing a real judge in his real life. … He never usually tells me about what happens in school, so this was a special day for him.”
Indeed, life for Owens, a former lawyer, has changed significantly ever since President Barack Obama nominated him to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals. Drawing a map of the states for the students on the whiteboard, Owens explained that judges on the 9th Circuit review the decisions of federal trial courts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and certain islands in the Pacific.
Owens has served as a law clerk for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that Owens was a federal prosecutor and served as chief of the criminal division in the San Diego U.S. attorney’s office. At the age of 19, he worked in the publicity department of the Golden State Warriors basketball team. He and his wife, Marjorie, have two daughters and live in San Diego.
While working with Ginsberg in 1998, Owens helped set up a visit to the Supreme Court for a group of grade 8 Harker students who were in Washington, D.C., on their class trip. “Justice Ginsburg addressed the students in the courtroom, and answered their questions. I was very proud of my fellow Harker Eagles that day,” he recalled.
Of his time at Harker, he stressed that the school remains “the most significant professional and personal influence on me.” Harker, he said, provided him with the study skills necessary to succeed in school, and more important, the ethics and values to succeed in life. Owens started out as a Harker student in 1979, graduated from grade 8 in 1985, and worked as a summer camp counselor/coach at the school from 1985 until 1991. Today, he remains active with the school as a member of Harker’s distinguished board of fellows.
When asked to offer parting words of wisdom to the students, Owens stressed how important it is to be kind to others and that reaching goals takes really hard work. “So,” he advised, “work hard at whatever it is you want to do.”
“It was heartwarming to see the connection he was able to make with the children. Almost effortlessly, he was able to establish and maintain a lively but meaningful rapport with them. With the perfect mix of knowledge, humor and crowd management skills, he left the children with a memorable experience that I hope they carry with them for a long time to come,” noted Leonard.
Last weekend, grade 5 student Rahul Mulpuri and his team won the Project Award at the First Lego League (FLL) Northern California qualifying tournament held at Intel headquarters. The award recognizes innovative solutions, research and presentation skills. His team was one of 16 that participated in the tournament. His teammates hailed from Pinewood, Khan Lab and Stratford. “It was an amazing collaboration between these kids from different schools working together towards a common goal with great team spirit,” said Rohini Malpuri, Rahul’s mother.
Lorenzo Martinelli, grade 5, was recently named Pacific Swimming’s 2015 Outstanding Short Course Swimmer in the age 10 and under category. Pacific Swimming comprises 120 swim clubs and 16,000 swimmers, making it the third largest of USA Swimming’s 59 regional associations. Martinelli was selected from among thousands of male swimmers in his age group.
“I am so excited to receive this award! Swimming is my passion and I love to win. It is fun to be recognized for winning!” he said.
Martinelli was honored at the 2015 PacSwim Awards banquet, which took place on Oct. 10 at the Embassy Suites Milpitas-Silicon Valley. Attending swimmers, their families and coaches enjoyed dinner, awards and a special visit from three-time Olympic swimming champion Natalie Coughlin.
Hearty congratulations to Natasha Rajaram, grade 4, who in mid-October won the “Little Mo” National Tennis Championship for girls age 9! The “Little Mo” tournaments are fun and provide good competition for tennis players age 8-12. Rajaram worked her way through sectionals and regionals to qualify for the championship, held in Austin, Texas. She also was one of just a few girls to be nominated for the sportsmanship award, although she did not win it.
“There are usually about four or five girls nominated for the award,” said Carol Weyman, a spokesperson for the event. “Just to be nominated is a great honor.”
Grade 2 students recently had a great time painting and hand delivering some 100 colorful pumpkins to residents living near the lower school campus. They created the festive pumpkins on Oct. 23, then delivered them to the school’s immediate neighbors the following week.
The annual outreach and community service project is an expression of gratitude to the residents for being such good neighbors.
The painting took place in the lower school’s art room. The delivery entailed walking around the school’s neighborhood, leaving pumpkins and handwritten cards on porches or into the hands of the appreciative residents if they were home.
A spooktacular time was had by all at this year’s lower school Halloween parade, which featured superheroes, ghosts, goblins, witches, fairy princesses and more! To the delight of onlookers, each grade level circled the parade’s pathway a couple of times.
Several hundred parents attended the 18th annual event, which was held on the afternoon of Oct. 30 and sponsored by Harker’s BEST staff. There were chairs set up, as well as plenty of standing room, along the route. Students could opt to wear their costumes to school or bring them along to put on before the parade, but most wore their costumes all day.
This is always an exciting day for the students, staff and parents– last year the parade had to be moved indoors due to rain, but this year the sun shone brightly as students in grades K-5 showed off their Halloween finest.
For many years, educator-storyteller Jim Cogan has made special appearances as a guest speaker at the lower school, enthralling audiences with his engaging tales of courage and compassion. In early October, he returned to campus to share his stories during two assemblies.
Students in grades K-3 heard Cogan speak during his first morning appearance, which was immediately followed by a talk for grades 4-5. Both groups were delighted by his folktales.
Cogan is nationally recognized for his ability to combine storytelling with history and literacy education. He has worked with the National Storytelling Congress, the American Library Association, the National Council of Social Studies, the National Park Service and a variety of educational organizations.
Over the summer, grade 4 student Nathan Liu’s basketball team, Spartans, won the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) South Regional Championship. More than 100 teams competed at the event, held in Santa Cruz. The Spartans went on to win the 2015 AAU Summer Tournament Champion in San Carlos. Prior to that, Liu was voted by his National Junior Basketball League (NJB) teammates and coaches to be the NJB West San Jose All-Star candidate.
“Winning or losing is not the key point, the most important is to stay in the game and keep playing!” said Liu.
Over Labor Day weekend, grade 9 chess enthusiast Shaunak Maruvada took second place in the expert section (U2200) at the CalChess State Championship. Facing formidable competition, Maruvada was undefeated in his section and finished in second place, missing two games to celebrate his birthday on Sept. 7.
In mid-August, Nathan Liu, grade 4, and Tiffany Zhao, grade 9, traveled to Germany to play piano at the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival.
During a public concert held in the town hall, Liu and Zhao had the opportunity to play a duet (a Brahms waltz), in addition to doing solo performances. Liu had the distinction of being the youngest music player invited to the festival.
While in Germany, both Liu and Zhao learned from many of the world’s top musicians, and spent time at a historic music school located in a medieval castle.
“I learned how to cooperate with other musicians, as well as train my ear to listen to other people and play accordingly. My piano teacher asked me play a duet with Nathan there. It was also a great experience to mentor a younger musician,” Zhao said.
“It was a great experience,” said Liu. “One of the cool things is I made some good friends. I was really glad that Tiffany was there, so she could accompany me. I was amazed that everybody in the town was very into music and the posters of the festival were everywhere. I learned a lot from the more experienced musicians. Overall, it was an unforgettable two weeks!” he added.
Once again Harker’s English Language Institute (ELI) attracted an increasing number of students from all over the world seeking top-level English instruction. Held during the summer on both the lower and upper school campuses, the program was open to international students in the elementary division (ages 6-11) and secondary division (ages 12-16).
Many of the ELI participants signed up for the program in preparation for admission to American boarding schools and English-speaking schools worldwide. Small classes, a nurturing environment and experienced teachers helped foreign students develop speaking, reading and writing skills to ensure their readiness. This year ELI included a brand new offering for students who are very intent on staying in the United States and attending school by further supporting them with additional services such as standardized testing, multi-level diagnostic assessments and academic consultations.
A unique aspect of ELI is that students had opportunities to interact with Harker’s regular summer program participants. This allowed them to make new friends and practice their English with native speakers.
Eight-year-old Ivy Zhao, from China, said she previously had attended Harker’s Camp+, but this was her first time participating in the ELI program. “I liked making new friends as well as seeing old ones that I had made before at Camp+,” she recalled.
Lucas Jia, a 9-year-old first-time ELI participant, also from China, said he enjoyed Harker so much that he wished he could attend the school year-round. “Here is very fun!” he said, noting that hanging out with his friends at the lower school pool was one of his favorite activities. He also enjoyed recess time on the playground, making friendship bracelets and playing games in the gym.
“We had a very motivated and excited group of young learners,” enthused longtime ELI lower school instructor Karen Glovka, who this summer taught students in grades 3-5. (During the regular school year, Glovka teaches Spanish to Harker students in grades 4-5.)
“They worked hard to use English as much as possible, and they loved the many activities offered to them. Our teachers were also motivated and excited, working with academic levels from kindergarten through fourth grade. The T.A.s were equally incredible, providing classroom academic support and working alongside camp staff during enrichment activities. I think we could call ELI ‘extreme, limitless, instruction’ (in English, of course!),” she reported.
New to the program last year was a weeklong “Very Interesting Places” (VIP) tour. This option, available to all ELI students, proved so successful that it was offered again this year at the conclusion of ELI’s regular five-week academic session. According to ELI director Anthony Wood, the VIP tour was born from widespread interest from ELI participants in having more excursions to enhance their American social and cultural experiences.
During the VIP trip, students followed a specialized course of study to continue developing reading, writing and speaking competency while visiting university campuses, Silicon Valley businesses, places of interest and treasured landmarks. The tour was capped off with an overnight trip to the scenic California coast.
ELI initially began as a year-round boarding school program and evolved into the current summer program, which launched in 2004. For the past few summers, ELI has steadily grown in attendance, especially in the primary division.
International students come to Harker accompanied by a parent or local guardian and stay in nearby apartments or with area family and friends. Each ELI session is kicked off by a welcome orientation, and at the end of each session students participate in a touching closing ceremony.
“We keep growing and enjoying each summer!” said Glovka.
For students who attended this year’s Summer Camp+, the summer was filled with engaging morning lessons and fun afternoon seafaring adventures. Themed “Camp on the 7 Seas,” the program provided educational and activity packed sessions for students in grades K-5. The very popular program, held on the lower school campus, attracts nearly 800 campers each summer.
Camp+ students in grades 1-5 have several morning program options, including the traditional academic offerings Core Focus and Learning Opportunities in Literature (LOL). Campers in grades 2-5 also had the option of art or music. An artist’s studio was led by Harker’s lower school art instructor Gerry-louise Robinson, while orchestra, rock band and songwriting workshops were led by Louis Hoffman, lower school music teacher.
New this year were extended teaching blocks during the academic portion of the day, explained Patricia Lai Burrows, who served as a Camp+ principal alongside Diann Chung. “This year’s schedule allowed for deeper and more meaningful learning,” recalled Lai Burrows.
Following the morning session, many campers stayed on for a partial or full-day activity program, which included a wide range of group and individual activities such as arts and crafts, dance, water play, wall climbing, archery and field sports.
Among those participating in the afternoon program was first-time Camp+ participant Kaleb Goldin. The rising grade 3 Harker student stood on the lower school field, waiting in line for his turn to participate in the rock wall climbing activity.
“I’m looking forward to it!” he said, as a camp counselor helped him prepare for his climb. After he had finished, he gave the thumbs up sign, declaring “That was great!”
The afternoon sessions included a variety of activities for campers of all ages, who were grouped according to their grades: kindergarteners attended kindercamp, first graders were called “owls,” second and third graders were” condors,” while fourth and fifth graders were “eagles.” Afternoon activities also were divided by themes, such as Mediterranean, Indian Ocean, Artic, Bon Voyage, Pacific, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic.
The groups enjoyed many fun outings. For example, the kindercampers enjoyed parfaits at a neighborhood park; the owls went on a field trip to the Children’s Discovery Museum; the condors went bowling and to the Oakland Zoo; and the eagles spent an afternoon at Laser Quest and had a sleepover in the gym. Campers of all ages had a blast celebrating camp mascot Ray’s Deep Sea Birthday Party and a salt water pool carnival!
The Summer Camp+ program traditionally kicks off and ends with Color Clash, a fun event held in the lower school’s gymnasium. Groups of campers on yellow, red, green and blue teams participate in an array of silly games cheered on by captains (aka camp counselors) wearing color-coordinated outfits that run the gamut from superheroes to hula skirts and fun hats.
At the end of each session, there was an informative showcase for parents. The “Super Summer Showcase” allowed parents to spend some time exploring their child’s classroom and learn more about the exciting activities in the afternoon program. As part of the showcase, art work from students enrolled in the artist’s studio was on display.
The exhibit had a playful feel, with a colorful array of chalk pastels of flowers, sunsets and snails. The children also made windmills and American flags, among other seasonal artwork – reflective of both summer fun and another great year at Camp+!
The Harker School has offered extensive summer programs for more than 50 years. The Summer Camp+ program is nationally accredited by the American Camping Association.