Eight grade 7 students in the advisory of Cindy Ellis, middle school head, are collecting shoes for those in need. The shoe drive, which began on Nov. 17 and will run until Dec. 9, aims to collect gently used shoes for donation to Soles4Souls, a nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting poverty worldwide.
Prior to launching the shoe drive – their first service project of the year – Ellis and her advisory created fliers. “We will be collecting shoes to be processed and delivered to people around the world who don’t have any. Children can’t go to school without shoes and adults can’t go to work barefoot. Disease is rampant where people can’t protect their feet,” she said.
Ellis urged the entire Harker community to look in their closets to “find those gently used shoes that just don’t fit anymore or were never worn. We have collection tubs in the front and back loading zones as well as a collection box in the front office. Soles4Souls is the destination for your shoe stash. All sizes and styles are welcome!” she said.
Founded in 2006, Soles4Souls’ mission is to collect new and used shoes and clothing from individuals, schools, faith-based institutions, civic organizations and corporate partners, then distribute them via both direct donations to people in need and by provisioning qualified micro-enterprise programs designed to create jobs in poor and disadvantaged communities.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) was the real winner of a students versus faculty/staff basketball game held during a long lunch on Nov.12 in the upper school gym.
The Hoops & Scoops charity basketball game was jointly sponsored by the Harker Disability Awareness Group and the Harker DECA chapter. During the game, members of the two student clubs scooped and served up delicious ice cream sundaes to onlookers. One scoop cost $2, while three scoops went for $5.Proceeds from the event, which totaled $405, benefited the MDA.
“We chose to support the MDA because they are DECA’s largest charitable partner,” said Juston Glass, director of Harker’s business and entrepreneurship program. “Students won, 72-59. But the real winner was MDA.”
The MDA is the world’s leading nonprofit health organization sponsoring research into the causes and effective treatments for neuromuscular diseases. MDA research grants currently support more than 250 projects worldwide.
Prior to the event, upper school students, faculty and staff were invited to sign up for basketball teams that were divided by grade levels. With 10 players per grade, freshman played the first quarter, sophomores played the second, juniors played the third and seniors played fourth.
“We wanted an activity that would involve the whole school and have it be interactive and fun. Having a friendly basketball competition seemed like a great way to do that. Being that it was a physical activity, we were able to truly embrace the MDA’s mission of ‘make a muscle; make a difference.’ We hope it to be the start of an annual tradition,” Glass said.
In mid-November, Harker’s WiSTEM (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Club held a Diabetes Awareness Week on the upper school campus. The goal was to raise awareness about diabetes and the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle.
WiSTEM’s mission is to foster female students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, to provide role models and mentors in those fields, and to educate the community about gender issues in the sciences.
Under the direction of advisor Anita Chetty, upper school biology teacher and science department chair, the club sponsors guest lecturers, holds technical workshops for the Harker community led by female scientists, and creates a network of female mentors – including Harker alumni –working in STEM fields.
Adele Li, a grade 11 student and WiSTEM member who helped plan Diabetes Awareness Week, reported that the effort was a success. During the week, representatives from the American Diabetes Association were on hand to talk to students about diabetes; Bay Club instructors led a kickboxing class and a Bollywood hip-hop class during lunch; and faculty members led tai-chi and yoga classes.
“We also sold KIND bars, Hint water and Enlightened ice cream bars (yes, healthy ice cream!) during lunch and after school to fundraise for the American Diabetes Association. Additionally, we had a diabetes-friendly option for lunch every single day of the week,” said Li.
The WiSTEM Club also made posters with infographics highlighting diabetes facts, such as that one in 10 Americans has diabetes and 208,000 American children and teenagers have diabetes (with that number growing). Every 17 seconds, someone in the United States is diagnosed with diabetes, according to Diabetes.org.
In other upper school outreach news, in early to mid-December, holiday gifts for children and families in need were collected and delivered by the outreach department to causes including Adopt-a-Family, the Family Giving Tree and Sunday Friends.
In mid-November, the middle school’s Wildlife SOS club sold handmade greeting cards for $1 each to raise money for Wildlife SOS, an organization that works to protect wildlife in India.
In addition to cards, the group sold a few handmade key chains for 50 cents and $1 each. Although the club did not supply envelopes for the cards, it plans to make them available in the future if there is enough interest.
Wildlife SOS (http://www.wildlifesos.org/) was established in 1995 by a small group of people inspired to start a movement and make lasting change to protect and conserve India’s natural heritage, forests and wildlife wealth.
Each year, the upper school Lead and Read program brings Student Council and Honor Council officers to the lower school campus to read stories to the grade 1 classes. The event takes place about eight times a year, most recently on Oct. 16.
The program was started by Gautam Krishnamurthi ’11 when he was a senior. His mother, Deepa Iyengar, continues to come a few times a year to read to the first graders in Cindy Proctor’s homeroom.
“Deepa came last week with the family dog, Scannon (bought at the Harker Fashion Show). The students loved having them both visit!” shared Proctor.
A group of Harker upper school students signed on to volunteer with The Tutoring Network (TTN), a Stanford-based nonprofit organization that offers free after-school tutoring at local elementary schools.
Launched in 2008, TTN’s goal is to provide meaningful service experiences for high schoolers. For the second year in a row, Harker volunteers have tutored students at the Empire Gardens Elementary School in San Jose.
Called the Harker School-Empire Gardens Partnership, this year’s group comprises a board led by site co-directors Sadhika Malladi, grade 11, and Vienna Wang, grade 10. Joining them as board members are fellow Harker students Edward Sheu, Kristen Ko and Madison Tomihiro, all grade 11, and Allison Kiang, grade 12.
Malladi said she became interested in TTN in eighth grade, when she decided that all of her extra time should be put to good use doing community service. She went on to found the (now discontinued) Blackford Elementary School TTN site and is currently focused on growing the Empire Gardens site. In addition to serving as site co-director, Malladi helps to oversee board operations.
Wang said she began working with TTN because her sister had previously volunteered with the program. When she first joined TTN, she especially enjoyed teaching children math and watching them have fun while learning.
The commitment for the Harker TTN volunteers is two days per week, with the program running until June. The goal of improving the basic math skills of students in grades 2-5. The curriculum covered by tutors is set up by TTN volunteers and school staff.
Grade 2 students recently painted and delivered colorful pumpkins to residents living near the lower school campus in an effort to thank them for being such good neighbors. The pumpkins were created on Oct. 24 and delivered the following week.
The pumpkin painting and delivery is an annual outreach and community service project for Harker’s lower school students. Last year the painting was moved to the art room, where it will remain. Students painted in the art room during their health education classes with members of the BEST staff on hand to assist in the effort, according to lower school art teacher Gerry-louise Robinson.
Robinson said the second graders enjoyed walking around their school’s neighborhood, leaving pumpkins and cards on porches – bringing about both the spirit of Halloween and the spirit of giving.
Halloween took on new meaning this year for grade 8 students in Cyrus Merrill’s history class, who donated care packages filled with thank you letters and candy to American troops stationed around the world, including in Afghanistan.
Last year when Merrill and his students launched the project, they were thrilled to receive responses from some of the soldiers, who expressed their appreciation for the packages and also included an official certificate from troops serving in Afghanistan’s Combined Joint Task Force-10, Regional Command-East and the 10th Mountain Division. The students also received personal notes from a few other soldiers stationed elsewhere.
“The thank you from troops in Afghanistan came as a result of this simple act, which was one of several citizenship activities and charity projects blended into my course,” reported Merrill. The letter from the soldiers in Afghanistan also included an explanation of the goals and accomplishments of that particular military unit.
This year, the care packages once again included nut-free candy sealed in Ziploc bags, packaged along with a “thank you for serving” letter addressed to “Any American Soldier.” There were no stickers, construction paper or glitter allowed (apparently due to problems with soldiers’ ability to view them through night vision goggles), just simple notes and drawings.
“The packages were sent to U.S. troops stationed around the globe. The candy served as either treats for soldiers or for them to hand out to children living around where they are stationed,” said Merrill.
Students had written the letters that went along with the Halloween care packages during their advisory periods and in Merrill’s history class. In the notes, students were instructed to offer a “tiny slice of life back home.”
“The students had fun writing about things like what they did on vacations, happenings in their families, descriptions of their pets, what they like to eat, favorite movies … anything Americana-ish,” Merrill elaborated.
The timing of the note writing also made it possible for students to reflect on and inform the soldiers about their recent Grade 8 Trip to Washington, D.C., and their often newfound passion and interest in the American government.
Each year, in addition to the Halloween care package project, Merrill’s history students write letters to their national representatives in Washington, D.C., about reform issues, expressing concerns over such topics as mental health, alcohol related topics, and the treatment and protection of women. Such efforts are part of Merrill’s hands-on philosophy of “making history and not just studying it.”
The middle school’s annual canned food drive began in early October and will run until mid-November. This year’s drive is being hosted by The Service Club in conjunction with Second Harvest Food Bank. At least 40 receptacles have been placed around the school for students and teachers to donate nonperishable food items.
“It’s a fun and good cause,” said Lorena Martinez, BEST director for the middle school, who is spearheading the project.
Martinez reported that if the students bring in 5,000 cans (10 per student), she and BJ Hathaway, assistant director of the Blackford campus’ BEST program, will dress up as turkeys after the drive’s conclusion. To date, nearly 800 cans have been collected.
“It is a house challenge. Whichever house wins gets 100 spirit points. Beneficium is in the lead as of now,” she said.
Stepping up to help those in need during the holiday season – and year round – is especially important now, as some 15.8 million children under 18 live in households where they are unable to consistently access enough nutritious food necessary for a healthy life, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Two Harker students were featured in the San Jose Mercury News in early October for extracurricular projects they completed with friends from other schools. Leo Yu, grade 12, worked with friends from Leland High School and Monta Vista High School to create a 3-D printed prosthetic hand that can be attached to a human arm and hopefully will be used to improve the life of a child in need. Vineet Kosaraju, grade 11, and a friend at Monta Vista established their own nonprofit called Math and Coding to help students as young as 8 foster their interests in math and programming. Since founding Math and Coding in the spring, the students have traveled around the country to show it to various libraries. In December 2015, another article appeared on Kosajaru’s good works in the Los Altos Town Crier!