On June 7, Harker hosted its ninth annual Teacher Institute, inviting teachers from schools all over the Bay Area to attend a wide variety of workshops intended to improve their teaching methods and their understanding of instructional technologies.
The event was organized by Harker’s instructional technology department and sponsored by Silicon Valley Computer-Using Educators (SVCUE). Each of the Teacher Institute’s three sessions consisted of a number of classes that visiting teachers were free to visit. In one class Diane Main, upper school instructional technology director, showed how a special educational version of the popular online game Minecraft could be used for teaching purposes. At another, teachers learned digital grading techniques from middle school English teacher Mark Gelineau. Other workshops included lower school history teacher Jared Ramsey’s class on different ways to assess history projects, a class on using Google Drive to improve creative writing classes, taught by middle school English teacher Patricia Lai Burrows, and a presentation on the use of Google Chromebooks by lower school instructional technology director Lisa Diffenderfer.
“There were so many things we are going to take back to our school,” said Julia Maynard, a language arts and social studies teacher at Parkside Middle School in San Bruno. “I have been to several tech conferences, and this was by far the most beneficial!”
“The sessions were much more informative than many tech conferences that I have been to lately,” said Kristy Simmons, a teacher at San Bruno’s Crestmoor Elementary. “The wide array of topics, the dynamic presenters, the beautiful campus and the fabulous lunch all made for an enjoyable day of learning.”
On June 7, Harker student Dolan Dworak, grade 7, and upper school science teacher Kate Schafer will head to the Alaskan coastline to take part in an expedition kickstarted by the Anchorage Museum and the Alaska SeaLife Center, which will be the subject of a Web series planned by National Geographic. Dworak and Schafer will be part of an international team of scientists and artists that will observe the effects of garbage islands on marine life. The work performed during this expedition will later be turned into an exhibition at the Anchorage Museum called GYRE, which will appear at museums throughout the United States.
Dworak, who has spent three years working with the San Francisco-based Sea Scavenger Conservancy to help clean up the earth’s oceans, will act as the expedition’s social media coordinator at the Alaska SeaLife Center, located in Seward. Schafer, who has a background in marine biology and a passion for observing the effects of human activity on ocean ecosystems, will help develop the educational portions of the GYRE exhibition with the Anchorage Museum in preparation for the exhibition’s launch in February 2014.
On March 16, Michelle Douglas, Cristina Jerney, Emily Wang, Amy Grace Wardenburg and Molly Wolfe, all grade 12, were honored by the Heritage Oaks Chapter of the National Charity League, Inc. NCL is a philanthropic organization that fosters mother-daughter relationships through community service, leadership development and cultural experiences. Over the past six years, the five seniors have logged hundreds of volunteer hours (often with their mothers) at many local organizations including the American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity – Silicon Valley, Humane Society of Silicon Valley, InnVision, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Sacred Heart Community Services.
The students have volunteered more than 2,000 hours combined, and they were honored each year with awards for working at eight or more philanthropies during the year for more than 50, 75 and 100 hours. Mothers and daughters are also honored for working more than 20 hours together. In addition to these awards, Wardenburg has received the President’s Volunteer Service Award for volunteering over 100 hours in a calendar year for all six years she has been volunteering, and Wolfe and Jerney have also each received the award in the past. Wardenburg will also be receiving the Senior Service Award, which is given to the graduating senior with the highest cumulative philanthropic hours earned during her years at National Charity League.
At least 100 locally-based hospital patients desperately in need of blood will be helped, thanks to the annual Harker Blood Drive held at the upper school campus in March.
This year’s successful drive resulted in the collection of 44 total pints, which will benefit the Blood Centers of the Pacific, a nonprofit organization that supplies blood to Northern California hospitals, doctors and patients.
The center’s current patients include a six-month-old baby girl suffering from a congenital heart defect, a 16-year-old girl fighting bone cancer, a 21-month-old baby boy with a new leukemia diagnosis and a 24-year-old man who has colon and liver cancer.
“Because whole blood can be separated into several different components, the drive can help up to 102 patients in need in the Bay Area!” reported Preeya Mehta, a senior and president of the Red Cross Club at Harker.
Thirty-nine Harker students, faculty and staff members gave blood at the drive, which was organized by the Red Cross Club, with five people donating double red cells.
According to Red Cross officials, the Harker drive averages about 50 units each year, roughly twice the amount of other community blood drives, which is good news for Bay Area hospitals currently faced with major shortages in blood. Within 72 hours, all the blood donated goes to a local hospital, and every donated unit can save up to three lives.
Life just got a little easier for animals at the Humane Society of Silicon Valley, thanks to the efforts of the lower school’s grade 1 community service project.
The students showed their love for the shelter’s displaced rabbits, dogs and cats by collecting monetary donations, buying needed supplies and making toys for distribution to the shelter.
“We raised about $900 (a new record) and collected more than 80 bags of toys, supplies and food for the animals,” reported the students’ homeroom teacher, Cindy Proctor, who oversaw the project.
Before beginning their donation drive on behalf of the Humane Society of Silicon Valley, the children visited the 80-year-old independent, nonprofit animal shelter. They toured the facility and learned what the organization does as well as how best to care for their own pets.
In computer class, the youngsters made posters about the project, and in other classes, they made pet blankets and toys for donation. Parents also got involved in the drive, as students were encouraged to earn money for the humane society at home by doing small jobs.
In addition to monetary donations of any amount, items for collection included animal treats, collars, litter, toys, clean blankets, sheets, towels and comforters.
“We would like to express our thanks for the tremendous support and generosity of our Harker families for participating in this project. The donations continue to come in and we are extremely grateful,” said Proctor.
Like many teens Urvi Gupta, grade 11, maintains a jam-packed schedule. An active student in Harker’s journalism program, she also plays as a starter on the school’s varsity volleyball team. After-school hours are spent practicing the violin, doing homework and hanging out with friends.
Yet Gupta also makes time to give back to her community by providing free math tutoring to K-3 kids at local libraries in San Jose using a unique program she created called OneInMath. The program teaches youngsters simple ways to add, subtract, multiply, divide and understand concepts quickly for math success.
“I designed the free volunteer-run program from the ground up, defining its purpose, goals and developing materials including 1,862 math problem sheets, teaching instructions, learning videos, program format, volunteer instructions, and the logistics of running it,” said Gupta, who teaches as well as independently manages the overall program.
She currently supervises more than 150 kids and 27 high school volunteers across three libraries using the program, which was implemented in November 2011. Now, the popular OneInMath classes – which utilize video instruction in addition to face-to-face volunteer tutoring – has both students and parents excited about learning mathematics.
Gupta said she was inspired to start tutoring math by her dad, who used to give her numerical problems every day when she was younger, which now helps her in high school math classes.
Consequently, she wished for other students to have the same opportunity she had to get a jump start on learning math. She also enjoys the good feeling that comes from volunteerism and tells teens thinking of starting or developing their own service project to “just go for it.”
“Whenever you have a new idea, there are lots of doubts and questions about whether or not it’s a good one. The best thing is to not overthink and just try it. It’s actually quite surprising how much interest people have in these types of projects. They truly appreciate your time and effort, and you feel really rewarded at the end,” she said.
Gupta was recently honored as Volunteer of the Year from the entire San Jose public library system for her dynamic math program and volunteer efforts. The top honor began with a nomination from local librarian Vidya Kilambi, who had been impressed with Gupta’s program for some time.
“Urvi’s amazing leadership and organizational skills are clearly demonstrated in the way she communicates with all the kids, teens, parents and staff at the different library locations,” said Kilambi, noting that in addition to her heavy school course load, Gupta juggles volunteer schedules, creates course content and tracks student progress.
The Global Empowerment and Outreach (GEO) student club held its annual GEO week in mid-March, raising nearly $1,000 for Pencils of Promise, an organization that works to build educational programs in poor areas of the world. Some of Pencils of Promise’s efforts include building schools, training teachers and providing supplies. The organization has already completed construction on 110 schools, and 14 are in construction with plans for at least four more.
GEO raised funds this year by selling merchandise during lunch and after school. “As a school ourselves, I thought it would be meaningful for students to be able to help out a fellow student somewhere else in the world,” said Amie Chien, grade 12, who serves as GEO president. “Given the opportunities we are blessed to have at Harker, I wanted the chance to be able to ‘pay it forward’ in a sense, passing on the chance at a good education for someone else, too.”
According to Chien, the cost to provide a year’s worth of education for a child in one of these areas is just $25. “A pair of jeans from Express is easily $25, a week’s worth of Starbucks every morning, about the same. If we were to give up a little luxury for a week, we could easily find a $25 lying around,” she said.
Updated April 11, 2013 18:02
Final donations have been recieved and this year’s Harker’s Annual Cancer Walk raised $8,105.45, over twice the amount estimated! “This will give many young cancer patients a fantastic opportunity to go to camp!” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head. “I know they will also enjoy the many decorated Frisbees from the middle school students while at camp. Thank you all for your support—it was a glorious day—as always!”
April 11, 2013 9:08 Students, faculty and family members recently put on their walking shoes for the seventh annual Harker Cancer Walk. The successful schoolwide effort netted over $4,000 for Camp Okizu, with donations still flowing in after the event.
For more than 30 years Camp Okizu, located in the Berry Creek area in the Sierra Foothills, has provided peer support, respite, mentoring and recreational programs for families affected by childhood cancer.
Mirroring a residential camp experience, Okizu provides a safe place for young cancer patients to enjoy such regular childhood pastimes as swimming, boating, archery and a ropes course, in addition to social events. The name Okizu (oak-eye-zoo) comes from the Sioux language and means unity.
Uniting the entire Harker community together while raising cancer awareness, the symbolic stroll was held on the morning of March 29 on the Blackford campus field. Ribbons were worn by participants and music played for the duration of the walk. Supplementing direct donations were a large amount of T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wrist bands which were sold by volunteers.
Cindy Ellis, middle school head, reported that advisories had been busy decorating the “biggest cancer walk poster ever” for this year’s event. The result of the collaborative efforts of the entire middle school, it hung on the amphitheater wall from March 25-29 and stood eight feet high. Advisories also made small, honorary flags for those who have survived or passed away from cancer, which were then placed on the ground along the walking path.
“It is sometimes hard to explain why the Cancer Walk is so meaningful. I personally feel it is because it blossomed from the heart. How rare and wonderful it is to have the opportunity to stop, walk, share with friends and help out others. The gift, ultimately, is for Okizu and all of us!” said Ellis who helped launch the event with Michael Schmidt.
Schmidt, who teaches middle school computer science, had the idea for the walk back in 2007 following the passing of his mother due to cancer the previous year. “The weather was beautiful and I saw so many smiling faces!” he said. “I am so happy to help the children who will now be able to attend Camp Okizu as a result of all of our collective efforts. This event really shows the wonderful heart and spirit of our entire community, including faculty, staff, parents and students. You are all amazing.” Schmidt said he could never have originally predicted how much the efforts of the Cancer Walk would resonate across all three of Harker’s campuses.
“There were all too many people with a connection, and they too wanted to join in the celebration, the commemoration for someone close to them. The Cancer Walk is truly an effort of the community that I have grown to cherish at Harker,” he added. “Thank you again for our SEVENTH amazing Cancer Walk.”
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
What began as a holiday seasonal community project has evolved into a larger, new schoolwide outreach program called HarKare (Harker Cares).
HarKare launched with its first project, making ornaments to accompany classroom Christmas trees donated from the lower, middle and upper school campuses to underprivileged families.
To that end, about 40 Harker parents and children of varying ages took time out on a Sunday in December to gather for the ornament-making event.
“HarKare will create opportunities for kids and whole families to participate in all sorts of community projects going on all year, not just during the holiday season,” enthused Teré Aceves, lower school volunteer program director at Harker.
In February there were two HarKare initiatives running nearly simultaneously: a book exchange on Feb. 8 and a volunteer effort with the organization Sea Scavenger the following day.
Students at the lower school were greeted with an afternoon of great weather in early March, following a night of rain, during this year’s Jump Rope for Heart event.
By the time the K-5 youngsters got out on the blacktop of the Bucknall campus to celebrate having raised $997 for the American Heart Association, the ground was dry – and perfect for jumping rope, high jumping onto soft mats, limboing, leaping over makeshift hurdles, crawling through obstacle courses, shooting basketball and other fun activities.
Some teachers got in on the action too, as each grade level rotated to different stations for various activities, held both outside and inside the school’s gym. Unlike other times, this year’s event was run during P.E. classes, instead of as a whole school happening.
Students also had the option to take a quick break and enjoy some healthy snacks over by the lunch tables. Nearby was the “Heart Wall,” where they could attach small paper hearts adorned with special messages for loved ones or others in need.
Earlier, while encouraging his colleagues to attend the event, Jim McGovern, Harker’s assistant department chair of physical education, had said, “We encourage everyone to be involved in the fun by coming to the gym and watching the students participate in all the activities. If you have never seen kindergartners or first graders jump rope, that would be a special treat!”
He further noted that students were told that they were going to “jump, run and have fun,” all while raising money for a good cause. Donations, which were collected both online and in person, were still rolling in after the day ended.