In late March, a number of Harker families began making face shields to help local hospitals deal with a projected surge of COVID-19 patients. Having heard that 3D-printed face shields had become popular, Harker parent Mary Yang (Andrew Pangborn, grade 4) reached out to her friend, Jian Chen (Kevin, grade 5, and Julie, grade 4), who owns a 3D printer, and asked if he could produce some masks for her and her co-workers at Kaiser Permanente in Santa Clara. The family of Emma Lee, grade 5, and Anna Lee, grade 8, also joined the effort, and the group ended up printing and assembling 100 masks. “The doctors and nurses at Kaiser loved them,” reported Yang.
Harker parent Natalia Abrikosova (Alex and Hannah Micchelli, both grade 3), a doctor at the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, has been working to combat coronavirus by performing tests at the foundation’s urgent care center, often while people remain in their cars, which is safer if a person does not need to be hospitalized. “We also have a Respiratory Clinic from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. where we see and test patients who meet testing criteria for coronavirus in a parking lot on the first floor of our building,” said Abrikosova.
In March, Harker aided medical workers’ fight against the COVID-19 pandemic by donating 500 N95 masks to the foundation. The masks have been used by the staff to protect themselves while testing people for the virus. “It’s not a pleasant test and most people cough and/or sneeze during or after,” said Debra Nott, Harker’s director of health services. “It’s a dangerous job and I’m happy we are able to help them be safer as they do it.”
Nanoseed, a student-run organization that offers low-interest loans and grants to students and entrepreneurs in rural China, will hold its second benefit concert at the Rothschild Performing Arts Center on March 13 at 7 p.m. All proceeds will go toward loans and student scholarships.
The event will feature a wide variety of student performers, including piano performances by sophomore Yejin Song, sophomore Spencer Cha and junior Audrey Liu, as well as violinist Sophia Horng, grade 11, and guitarist Wilson Zhang, grade 11. Student a cappella group Signature also will be making an appearance, and dance acts will include a ballet performance by Arely Sun, grade 10, a duet by seniors Anna Miner and Emiko Armstrong, and a group comprising Miner and Armstrong as well as seniors Chloe Chen, Vance Hirota, Ethan Hu and Kai-Ming Ang. Performers from other Bay Area schools are also set to appear. The performances and speeches will reflect the theme of this year’s concert, “Give to Grow.”
Tickets are available for $15 for students and $25 for adults. A $5 discount is being offered with the promo code “EarlyBird” until March 1.
Yesterday, the lower school held its annual pajama assembly to commemorate the end of another successful pajama and book drive. Every year, third graders coordinate the collection of pajamas and books to be donated to the Pajama Program, which then delivers the items to children living in shelters and temporary housing. The drive was established in 2007 when Rishi Narain ’16, then in the third grade, was inspired by seeing the Pajama Program promoted by Oprah Winfrey. This year’s drive collected 213 pairs of pajamas and 377 books.
Students celebrated by wearing their pajamas to school and gathering in the gym with their favorite books. Third graders in attendance were joined by their grade 10 Eagle Buddies, who also brought books to share with their younger friends. After some appreciative words from the Pajama Program’s Bay Area chapter president, Pallie Zambrano, upper school division head Butch Keller took his place on the stage to read a pair of children’s books to the audience.
Last Friday, middle school students made special pouches for Australian wildlife orphaned in the bushfires that have been ravaging the country. Students used cut-out patterns to sew the pouches, which were sent to the Oakland Zoo to be delivered to Australia. “The middle school’s Student Leadership Council did a presentation on the Australian fires at a school meeting, and [Assistant Head of School] Patricia Lai Burrows asked me to talk as I had just returned from Australia,” said math teacher Margaret Huntley, who is originally from Australia. “We were brainstorming about what we could do in response and I had seen this in the news.”
Fabric for the pouches was donated by the faculty, and some students have continued cutting fabric for more pouches, which Huntley hopes to send very soon.
Students filled Nichols Hall earlier today for this year’s Service Fair, where student-run organizations, as well as representatives of local and national organizations, answered questions about the many community service opportunities available. Mainstays including Harker’s Key Club and National Honor Society were present, as were organizations such as MusiCodes, which utilizes the arts as a means to teach and foster interest in computer science among local youth.
“We wanted a way to combine the two, because we think it’s much easier to code and form associations with it if you introduce a musical aspect,” said junior Michelle Si, a MusiCodes co-founder. Participants in MusiCodes workshops build small pianos, which Si said is “more engaging because it’s hands-on, but also the kids really enjoy it because it’s something that they’re very familiar with.” In the past year, MusiCodes has expanded its reach to include at-risk and foster youth.
Another participating organization, New Visions of Tomorrow, founded in 2013 and run by students from several area schools, works with visually impaired youth in the area. “We do fundraising as well as enrichment activities and we work very closely with Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired,” said senior Jin Tuan, a co-president of the organization. Members of the organization have hosted art workshops and museum visits and have volunteered at local sporting events to raise funds for the Vista Center.
Last week, grade 9 students went to Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve in Morgan Hill for Freshman Service Day, working to clear and widen the preserve’s trails. The annual effort, which takes place on days when sophomores and juniors take the PSAT, helps students gain a greater appreciation for the various nature preserves in the Bay Area.
Volunteers at the preserve also taught students about various topics, including tracking wildlife, native plants and bird watching, and Harker teachers in attendance led outdoor classes on observing and appreciating nature, journaling and the environment.
Deven Parikh, grade 11, joined his mother, Dev Parikh, ACS vice president of Go to Market for Oracle, at a communication debate workshop at Oracle in late July to help sixth grade girls learn the basics of speech and debate. Parikh has been in the Harker speech and debate program for five years, and expressed a desire to teach others the skills he has gained in the program.
At the workshop, Deven Parikh presented a 20-minute lecture on public speaking. “Prior to the actual workshop, I spent ample time communicating with a representative from Apple to obtain donated Apple iPads,” he said. “Many of the children we would be working with did not have electronics at home, so by providing them with iPads, they were able to research a topic to debate. At the end of the workshop, they were able to keep the iPads.”
Parikh helped both sides prepare their arguments for a debate on the U.S. policy on immigration. “During the actual debate, I was the moderator and provided tips at the end to help them improve their public speaking and research skills,” he added.
“It was great helping out the other children who are not as lucky as we are. Going to Harker, everyone has an iPhone, AirPods and an updated MacBook, yet others are not as lucky as we are. It felt great to help the community,” he finished.
In April, the student-run nonprofit organization Nanoseed held a special benefit concert at the Rothschild Performing Arts Center. The concert featured performances by pianist Nina Zhou and trumpeter Dylan Girard of the San Francisco Symphony, and Anna Maria Mendieta, a harpist with the Sacramento Philharmonic. The concert also featured performances by Harker students Kai-Ming Ang, Charlotte Blanc, Jessica Jiang, Hanoom Lee, Anna Miner and Jeffrey Yang, all rising seniors; rising junior Audrey Liu; and rising sophomores Spencer Cha, Karolyn Cheng and Angeline Kiang.
The concert raised approximately $8,000 to help reduce poverty in rural China. Several members of Nanoseed are currently wrapping up a trip to Ningxia, an autonomous region of China, where they are providing local students and entrepreneurs with loans and grants.
NanoSeed, a student-run nonprofit organization dedicated to helping impoverished areas of rural China, will present a special benefit concert on Saturday, April 20, at the upper school’s Rothschild Performing Arts Center.
Featured performers at the event will be pianist Nina Zhou and trumpeter Dylan Girard of the San Francisco Symphony, and harpist Anna Maria Mendieta of the Sacramento Symphony. In addition to these accomplished performers, the concert will feature performances by a wide variety of students singers, instrumentalists and dancers.
NanoSeed, founded in 2014 by students at Harker and other Bay Area schools, provides low-interest loans so that students can further their education and entrepreneurs can found businesses. Proceeds from the concert will be put toward these loans to help bolster the economies of developing regions of China.
The concert will start at 7 p.m. and tickets can be purchased at http://tiny.cc/nsbc. Refreshments will be served prior to the concert. Direct donations to NanoSeed can be made at http://tiny.cc/nsdonate.