For the past few weeks, the lower school – under the leadership of the grade 1 students – has been collecting toys, collars, kitty litter, food, blankets and monetary donations for the animals at the Humane Society of Silicon Valley.
On March 21, the first graders helped carry the donations, which had been stored in the Bucknall gym, out to a car for delivery to the Humane Society.
“We had a lot of donated items. Some of the first graders did extra chores at home to earn money to donate. The total monetary contribution to the animal shelter was $486.86,” reported Rita Stone, grade 1 teacher.
Right before the service project began, the first graders took a field trip to the 80-year-old nonprofit animal shelter. There they enjoyed a tour of the facility and learned what the organization does, as well as how best to care for their own pets.
Although the upper school soccer teams lost this year’s Kicks Against Cancer games to Menlo High School, the real winner was Camp Okizu. The nonprofit organization allows children with cancer to “just be a kid for a week” through camp experiences they otherwise would not be able to have.
The seventh-annual soccer match took place on Feb. 5, with the junior varsity boys, varsity girls, and varsity boys playing against their respective Menlo High School teams. The junior varsity boys lost 0-2, the varsity girls lost 0-3 and the varsity boys lost 1-4.
Sparsh Chauhan, grade 10, scored the only goal for Harker during the last game of the night. After the junior varsity boys finished their game, the varsity girls team presented a check for $1,500 to four visiting Camp Okizu families.
Grade 11 student Maile Chung, who helped organize the event, said, “Every year we host these games in order to raise money and awareness for cancer. All the proceeds that we gain are donated to families in order for them to send their child to Camp Okizu.”
Camp Okizu offers a free weeklong summer camp that gives cancer patients and their families a sense of normalcy and stability. To help raise money for the camp, Kicks Against Cancer onlookers had the opportunity to buy T-shirts and wristbands, make monetary donations and purchase yummy treats at a bake sale.
During halftime of the last game, spectators were given a chance to play “Butts Up” with some faculty members lined up on the goal line. Cheerleaders, meanwhile, performed a special routine.
The Florio String Quartet was formed by a group of upper school students (seniors Jason Lee, Luke Wu and Kevin Kim, and junior Cuebeom Choi) in hopes of reaching out with music and serving the less-privileged “with the joys of pop and classical music.”
In August the quartet hosted a fundraising concert benefiting Lucile Packard, featuring classical pieces by Haydn as well as contemporary favorites by artists such as Coldplay and The Rolling Stones.
“The members of the Florio Quartet care as much about sharing their music with the community as they do about the music itself. As a teacher this makes me very proud,” said upper school music teacher and the group’s namesake, Chris Florio, in the Lucile Packard blog post.
In lieu of an entry fee, The Florio String Quartet collected donations, raising more than $2,000 for patients and their families.
Having her letter to the editor on the importance of making higher education accessible for all published in the San Jose Mercury News gave grade 8 student Mahika Halepete a heightened appreciation for the power of the written word.
Halepete wrote the letter in response to an assignment in Cyrus Merrill’s grade 8 U.S. History class. “This was a part of an activity where students identify modern 2016 issues (human trafficking, gender inequality, education reform, etc.) that reflect the same issues they researched in 1850 (slavery, women’s suffrage, education reform, temperance),” Merrill explained. “They then write a letter to the editor of any paper(s) they want, as well as convert it into a letter to their state legislator, since many of these are actually state issues. They have to make connections from the past to the present in both letters.”
Halepete said she was surprised to learn that her letter got picked up by the local newspaper. “To be honest, I didn’t even consider the possibility of being published. I was incredibly excited, since I never expected this to happen!” She added that she does not believe many students are fully aware of the startling reality of how few people have the opportunity to attend college.
“We should never take for granted the blessings we have, especially our ability to pursue an education. I hope that by writing, I can help others become aware of how lucky we are,” she said.
In addition to having her letter to the editor published, Halepete won first place in the district for an essay on “What Freedom Means To Me” in the Patriot’s Pen essay competition. Sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the annual contest attracts more than 125,000 student entries in grades 6-8.
Feeling fortunate for educational opportunities is also what prompted Halepete to write in the essay that “freedom means more than a red, white and blue flag waving in the breeze as fireworks fill the sky and the National Anthem is sung.”
She said after attending a talk by Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai, she thought about how much her education really meant to her. “Around the world, over 60 million young girls are denied their education because of financial and societal barriers. Families, especially in developing countries, don’t believe that their daughters have potential. If the finances are tight and a choice must be made, it is the male sibling who gets to go to school. Often times, governments encourage discrimination against young girls, simply because of their gender,” she noted.
Halepete is passionate about human rights and social justice issues, often using her writing skills to advocate for her beliefs. Last year, she wrote and sang an original song called “Walked Away” after leading a student assembly on social justice and researching undocumented immigrant families separated by deportation. Her song was inspired by those stories.
She also set up a jewelry business on Etsy, an online marketplace for handmade goods, to raise money for World Vision, a humanitarian organization that works with communities worldwide to fight poverty and injustice. Halepete, who wrote the marketing copy on her site, was a finalist in a teen entrepreneur competition organized by Girls Life Magazine/Nickelodeon and was featured in the October/November 2015 issue.
“My life’s goal is to change the lives of other people for the better. I do believe that writing is a very powerful tool, and, if utilized properly, can make a significant difference in the world,” she said.
Each year around Thanksgiving, the middle school kicks off the holiday season with its canned food drive. With the “season of giving” now behind us, Lorena Martinez, BEST director for the middle school, reflected on the success of this year’s drive, which was hosted by the Service Club in conjunction with Second Harvest Food Bank.
“Last year, millions of Americans lived in homes without enough food to eat, some of them in our own backyard,” reported Martinez, noting that canned and non-perishable food items were collected in containers located in advisory rooms throughout the Blackford campus.
At the start of the drive, Martinez had told the students, “if we collect 5,000 cans, approximately 10 cans per student, Mr. Hathaway and I will dress up as turkeys before Thanksgiving break!” Although they didn’t meet the 5,000-can challenge, students felt great about helping those less fortunate during the holidays.
“It’s wonderful to be able to have fun while helping out those less fortunate. … Together we can make a difference in someone’s life,” noted Martinez.
In other news, middle school students also are collecting toiletries and assembling packets to take to a local women’s and children’s shelter. This project will continue throughout the school year.
Thanks to a recent lower school dress drive, the holiday season was made a little brighter for at-risk and underprivileged youth at the Starbird Youth Center in San Jose. The items collected became part of a larger donation of more than 500 gifts that were handed out to clients of the center.
“There were about seven bags of boys and girls party clothing donated,” recalled Tere Aceves, Harker’s director of event fundraising. Last month the lower school hosted a holiday cookie decorating event, at which parents were asked to bring in gently used children’s dress clothing for the drive. About 60 parents heeded the call for such items.
Harker parent Erin Vokey (Miles, grade 1) is the youth activities supervisor at the Starbird Youth Center and is in charge of the center’s day-to-day activities, as well as its literacy programs.
“We are an after-school program that works with at-risk and under-privileged youth. We help them by providing food, homework help and a safe place to go after school. We also do a program called The Good Choices, which is a basic moral guide that teaches them what are the right choices to make to lead a better life,” she said.
At the time of the dress drive, the center also had partnered with the Family Giving Tree to distribute gifts to clients and their families for its annual Christmas event, Vokey explained. “We set up a room where children picked out clothing from the holiday dress drive. This is the second year we have had the dresses there and it was a huge success. Fellow Harker parent Julie Carr (Aiden Harshman, grade 1) and her family volunteered to hand out all of the dresses to the youth in our community. It was an extremely heartwarming event,” recalled Vokey.
Another Harker parent, Stephanie Black (Chloe, grade 1), is the program director at the Starbird Youth Center. “Without her none of this would have been possible,” added Vokey.
Carr and her son (Aiden Harshman, grade 1) agreed that it was wonderful to see the joy in the kids’ faces when they got a beautiful dress, jacket or new shirt. “Stephanie, Erin and the entire staff at the center made it so easy for us to come in and volunteer. We are very grateful for the work they do and proud that we got to represent Harker’s philanthropy,” said Carr.
Carr noted that a fun, unexpected perk of being at the event was meeting the woman who does the voice of Bart Simpson, Nancy Cartwright, who was there to donate a pinball machine for the kids. “It was a Simpsons-themed machine and the kids loved it!” said Carr.
“There’s nothing more inspiring than seeing kids learn how to make good choices in life,” said Cartwright, noting that one of the reasons she wanted to achieve success in her own work was so she would have the means to help others.
Of his experience volunteering, Carr’s son, Aiden, reported that it was “really cool.” He said that there were lots of games to play with at the center and that he enjoyed seeing the kids get toys. “It made me feel good in my heart.”
The middle school Wildlife SOS club, made up of students in grades 6 and 7, painted watercolor cards and made origami toys during club time, then sold them to parents during the parent-teacher conference. The cards and toys sold out in under an hour, and the group raised about $77 for Wildlife SOS, an organization that rescues and cares for abused elephants and other animals. Club members are continuing to make the popular watercolor cards and also will be making origami spinning tops, which they plan to sell at the next parent-teacher conference in the spring. Go Wildlife SOS!
Whenever Logan Bhamidipaty, grade 9, has some spare time, he puts it to good use by volunteering at the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank, the largest food bank in the country. He has racked up well over 270 hours of community service at the food bank and raised $2,500 for the organization during September’s Hunger Action Month, a nationwide campaign to promote hunger awareness.
According to representatives at the food bank, the Bay Area has one of the highest national statistics of residents facing hunger. To help raise funds for the food bank, Bhamidipaty undertook such activities as pet sitting, recycling, and asking friends and family members for donations.
“Even after coming to the food bank for over a year and a half, I am still amazed that one box of food or even one pound of rice can feed a family. Facts like these really motivated me to come back. By the end of the day, even if I only made a small difference, I still know that I made someone’s day a little better,” said Bhamidipaty.
In November, local television reporter Spencer Christian interviewed Bhamidipaty about his contribution as part of a “Give Where You Live: ABC-7 Thanksgiving Food Drive” campaign to support Bay Area food banks. ABC-7 reported that Bhamidipaty’s donation resulted in 7,500 meals for residents in San Francisco and Marin counties.
Paul Ash, executive director of the SF-Marin Food Bank, called Bhamidipaty an outstanding volunteer and a wonderful example of how a young person’s determination can make a big difference in the world.
“His donations of time and money have helped thousands of families receive the food they need. There are opportunities all around us to give back, and Logan’s actions are a great example of that. The food bank believes that together we can end hunger, and Logan embodies that spirit,” noted Ash.
The holidays will be a little brighter for a many underprivileged local families, thanks to the lower school’s annual toy drive. A grade 4 community service project, the effort began on Dec. 7 and ended on Dec.17. This year’s donations, totaling over 400 items, will be going to St. Justin’s Community Ministry and Sacred Heart Community Services.
“St. Justin’s Community Ministry is currently serving thousands of families and individuals each month at its location in Santa Clara, providing food, clothing and the basic essentials families need to survive. Each Christmas season, St. Justin’s, in conjunction with Sacred Heart Community Services, provides deserving families the opportunity to ‘shop’ and select the perfect toys for their children and family,” explained Ken Allen, lower school dean of students.
A group of students assisted Harker faculty in the counting and loading of the toys, as well as with their ultimate delivery to St. Justin’s. There they had the unique opportunity to meet with the director of the outreach program.
Although the effort was primarily a fourth grade service project, all lower school families were invited to participate. Children were asked to bring new, unwrapped toys to school, which were then deposited inside the fence located in the gymnasium lobby until they were delivered.
“We are grateful for your continued and generous support of the service projects on our campus!” said Allen in a letter to lower school parents thanking them for their donations.
Several Harker students have been spending their free time teaching children at various locations in the San Jose area. Seniors Arun Shriram and Natalie Simonian, co-presidents of the Harker Science for Youth club, give monthly presentations at the West Valley Branch Library, the Rose Garden Branch Library and Grant Elementary School. “We teach various topics in science with several fun, hands-on activities that kids can participate in,” Shriram said. “Our activities include physics, chemistry, astronomy, rainforests, oceans, human anatomy, nutrition, psychology and others.”
Shriram said his experience teaching kids at California Academy of Sciences and The Tech Museum helped him realize how much he enjoys teaching science to younger students. “I realized that I loved teaching my favorite subjects to children and simplifying it for them,” he said. “Afterward, I became excited to teach kids.”
Another class, titled Kidz Kode, is taught by juniors Kedar Gupta, Varun Baldwa and Parth Pendurkar and specializes in Java programming. “The three of us manage two classes right now — one at the West Valley Library, with 20 kids, and another at the Bascom Library, with 14,” said Gupta. “We’ve already completed a Kidz Kode session, so that’s about 50 children total.”
The three Harker students first became interested in teaching while taking computer science classes at school and finding out that they all wished they’d started coding sooner. “We wanted to create a way for kids to get their feet wet in the field, and that’s how we came up with the idea for Kidz Kode,” Gupta said.
The students who teach the classes said they have found the experience of teaching to be highly rewarding. “The most enjoyable part of educating kids is the glows of joy that I notice when children understand something or relate new material to previous experiences,” said Shriram. “That means that I’ve inspired someone else to possibly choose a life of science or at least be interested in a subject they previously never knew about.”
Gupta said he enjoys seeing the progress students make after attending the Kidz Kode sessions. “Watching a child grow from not knowing how to open files all the way to writing complete Java programs is an awesome feeling, since we know that we as teachers led them on that path,” he said.