Earlier this week, Michael Sikand ‘18 spoke to Michael Acheatel’s business and entrepreneurship students. Sikand, currently attending the University of Michigan, spoke about how he was first introduced to business studies in his freshman year at Harker.
“When I pulled up to Harker in freshman year … I didn’t even think [business] was something people studied or that people thought about,” he said, adding that he now views his first B.E. class with Juston Glass as “one of the greatest gifts” he has experienced in life. “What high schools are allowing you to immerse yourself in the world of B.E. in freshman year?” he asked.
During his time at Harker, Sikand got heavily involved with DECA and helped start the Harker Incubator program, the first high school program of its kind. “It exposed to me to a lot of great ideas, and I’ve always been someone who loved helping others succeed and telling other peoples’ stories and enabling other people to get excited about business,” he said.
After graduating, Sikand headed to the University of Michigan to study at the Ross School of Business, where he and fellow Harker alum Dolan Dworak ‘18 came up with an idea for a company called Pythia, which would connect college professors to companies “to do business projects with corporate data.” The company failed, as Sikand put it, because “merging academia and business is very difficult because the incentives are misaligned and we wanted to be the intermediary that did it, but we didn’t really have the funding to do it.”
Nevertheless, Sikand said the experience was valuable because it helped him build relationships with professors at Michigan. “I know professors at Michigan on a first-name basis and that just created huge dividends for me because it’s enabled to me to kind of network with the smartest and most successful people on campus,” he said.
Sikand later started a business podcast and media company, both called “Our Future.” Aimed at young professionals seeking a shorter, more entertaining business podcast, “Our Future” has grown considerably in popularity since its inception, reaching, by his estimate, thousands of people each week. His guests have included notable business leaders, entrepreneurs and other figures, including executives from the NBA and AirBNB as well as legendary entrepreneurs such as Guy Kawasaki.
Recently, Sikand has been looking into ways to expand the podcast into other media. “I realized that what I was doing went beyond audio; I wanted to create a multimedia startup that really spoke to the young professional that’s intellectually curious and wants to learn and grow in the business world,” he said. To this end, he started a newsletter to deliver weekly advice and information from top business leaders. He is currently exploring additional ways to distribute this content.
On Thursday, Harker’s Recreate Reading program welcomed author Julie Berry to discuss her latest novel, “The Lovely War.” In the book, the lives of four young people during World War I are examined from the perspective of Greek gods. Berry went into detail about the process of creating the novel, including the tremendous amount of research involved.
“Berry was inspired to write a book about World War I because there are a lot of young adult books about World War II but not a lot about World War I,” said senior Anika Fuloria. “She was also super interested in the subject matter, likening writing a book to doing a master’s degree in terms of research and dedication.”
The discussion also helped students find more ways to appreciate the book. “The reasoning behind her use of the Greek gods as the narrators helped me view the narrators differently,” said sophomore Keesha Gondipalli. “They were used to personify both love and war and create a way to tell the story both broadly and with details.”
Fuloria enjoyed Berry’s explanation of the book’s ending: “She walked us through a few drafts of her book where each one had a different ending and explained why she did choose the ending in this way,” she said. “I found it super fulfilling as a reader of the book who imagined a few possible endings as I was reading.”
From Aug. 15-16, 70 students attended Harker DECA’s seventh annual Launch event, which is designed to introduce prospective members to DECA and the Harker School’s business, economics and entrepreneurship department. Through detailed lectures, interactive activities, mock competitions, guest speakers and alumni panels, students were given an idea of what this year will look like. Due to the current circumstances, Launch was held over Zoom this year. Because this was the first virtual Launch, the officer team tried to simulate the in-person experience online.
“The Innovation Challenge allows our DECA Launch attendees to design a mini business plan for a product or service that they see a need for in the market. Along with creating an executive summary, groups present their ideas before a panel of alumni judges at the end of DECA Launch,” said Harker DECA co-chief executive officer Lisa Barooah, grade 12. “Since this year DECA Launch was held virtually, we redesigned the activities to be more engaging and more considerate of screen time. We added three icebreaker activities for group bonding and inserted 10-minute breaks into the schedule. Finally, after noticing room for improvement in the groups’ presentations at last year’s launch, our director of technology held a graphic design workshop on day two. Students presented impressive pitches in the Closing Ceremony due to these changes, which I thoroughly enjoyed.”
Early Saturday morning, students joined the Zoom call and viewed a slideshow of images from past conferences while the operations team took attendance. Then, sophomore Rohan Gorti as well as CEO of the 2019-20 school year, Phil Han ‘20, spoke about their past experiences with Harker DECA.
The officers held an icebreaker game for the attendees to get to know their innovation challenge teammates and the officers. Junior Melody Luo, director of writtens, introduced the students to the weekend’s main activity, the Innovation Challenge, before students went into breakout rooms with their teams and assigned officers. With the guidance of an upperclassman mentor, attendees brainstormed product ideas on virtual whiteboards and started working on their executive summaries.
“Despite the unprecedented online format, this year’s Launch was just as memorable, if not more so, as past events, with students embracing each part of the experience with brimming enthusiasm,” Luo said. “As they learned the ins and outs of roleplays with their mentors and collaborated together on their very first executive summary, there was an emerging sense of community that DECA is so known for. Launch is always special to the DECA officer team because it’s our first opportunity to bond with the new members and share with them the thrilling aspects of the competitive season.”
Next, the attendees bonded with their Innovation Challenge teams through an at-home Scavenger Hunt, in which they were asked to complete a DECA Bingo and pitch a random item for 30 seconds, along with other various activities. Through this exercise, students formed a stronger bond with their mentors and teammates. Attendees were then introduced to the several sectors of DECA events through the Cluster Presentations.
The last day of Launch, Juston Glass, business and entrepreneurship teacher and DECA chapter advisor, presented on all of Harker’s business and entrepreneurship programs. Next, sophomore Anika Muddu, director of roleplays, hosted a presentation introducing the attendees to roleplays before senior Bryan Zhang, VP of competitions, hosted a Kahoot! game covering the Business Administration Core exam topics. Afterward, Catherine He, grade 11, director of technology, hosted a graphic design workshop, which further prepared attendees for their Innovation Challenge presentations. Attendees then went back to their breakout session to work on the Innovation Challenge.
The Roleplay Tournament was a key part of Launch and took place on Sunday afternoon. Mentors were assigned to small groups and explained the process and guidelines of a roleplay. Subsequently, students were paired up with judges to present their roleplays.
“Launch was a fun and exciting way to learn more about DECA. I enjoyed with my team on the innovation challenge and competing in the roleplay and I look forward to participating in these events during the school year,” said Olivia Xu, grade 9.
Attendees were given extra time after the Roleplay Tournament for practicing their Innovation Challenge presentations before the parents joined the session for the Alumni Panel and the Closing Ceremony. The students and parents were given the opportunity to ask five alumni – Vignesh Panchanatham ’18, Enya Lu ’19, Lucas Wang ’17, Shania Wang ’19 and Savi Joshi ’15 – questions about how DECA has impacted their high school and college paths, as well as career choices. Afterward, teams pitched their Innovation Challenge ideas to the judges, who graded them on, presentation, innovation and teamwork. Attendees and parents watched a Launch recap video while the judges worked on scoring the teams. Closing speeches from Glass and the CEOs and the award ceremony concluded the weekend.
“Despite it being online, I really enjoyed the DECA launch this year and I can’t wait to attend conferences!” said attendee Sonya Apsey, grade 9.
Harker DECA is excited to welcome all new and returning members and is looking forward to starting the next school year with an exceptional group of future leaders.
“While the event was unprecedented in its delivery format, both the participants and our DECA officer team were very open, receptive and excited to dive right into the program. Students were able to meet new friends, prepare for the upcoming DECA year and finished the weekend with amazing business ideas and pitches. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds for our Harker DECA chapter. Go Eagles!” said Glass.
Students that won awards are as follows (all winners are in grade 9):
In June and July, Bay Area high school students in grades 9 and 10 bolstered their writing skills at Harker’s Creative Writing Workshop. Working remotely with upper school English teacher Chris Hurshman, students explored various literary concepts and styles and how to apply them to their own writing.
Students studied various forms of writing, including short stories, poems and screenplays, and used them as models for their own compositions. “Students read and discussed representative models and were encouraged to write in imitation of them using a variety of prompts,” said Hurshman. After completing their drafts, students reviewed one another’s work and received feedback from their classmates as well as Hurshman.
When writing and offering feedback, students were given guidelines on what to use in their works and in discussions. “For example, they might be asked to return to a draft of a short story and to expand on the methods of characterization they’ve used,” said Hurshman. “They might be challenged to draw a character entirely through dialogue, for example, or to flesh out the telling details of that character’s appearance and environment.”
During one exercise, students workshopped a poem in class by examining its structure, themes and other features and sharing what they noticed. They then continued to critique each other’s work in small groups.
Hurshman said the students enjoyed having a place to have conversations about writing and develop their skills. “Most students don’t have much experience thinking about literature and creativity from an authorly perspective,” he said. “I think they enjoy seeing the many elements that go into producing a beautiful bit of writing and pushing themselves to achieve that goal.”
This story originally appeared in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Harker Magazine.
“We need 100% compliance on this one,” Debra Nott wrote to lower school teachers in late January, imploring them to place hand sanitizer in their classrooms. Harker’s health services director had been receiving emails from concerned families regarding the new coronavirus that had just begun spreading in U.S. cities. “The coronavirus is like a big wave,” she cautioned. “We either ride ahead of it, choosing our path, or it will tumble us around out of control.”
Harker administration had started tracking the spread of the coronavirus earlier that month, and with news that COVID-19 was spreading, talks of what to do in the event of a closure were becoming more common. “When the talk of possible school closure came up, I had no idea of how we were going to continue with our classes,” said middle school math chair Vandana Kadam. “I also did not think it would happen so soon after the initial [faculty] discussions on the closures.”
In February a protocol was put in place for the school to close if a member of the community tested positive for COVID-19. It was enacted on March 12, when it was learned that a parent of a non-teaching staff member had tested positive. Days later, with COVID-19 cases rapidly increasing in California, Santa Clara County issued a shelter-in-place order to begin March 17. Students, faculty and staff began readying themselves for a shift to remote learning. “As we had been preparing for the transition both emotionally and logistically, I found that my feelings were a mix of disappointment that we could not continue in our in-person mode, but confidence in our ability to optimize the experience for ourselves and our students,” said Brian Yager, head of school.
School was originally scheduled to reopen in April, but as the situation surrounding the pandemic developed, the question became how to effectively continue classes for the remainder of the year. Cases were increasing exponentially across the world, and shelter-in-place orders were being extended as the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus in the U.S. – and concerns – grew.
“When I realized I would not be able to go to school for a while, I was devastated that I would not be able to see my friends, the campus and Harker staff,” said Elie Ahluwalia, grade 6.
Reports that schools may shut down for much longer than originally anticipated worried fourth grader Aarya Vaidya, but she was heartened by how the community adapted. “What surprised me the most was how everyone dealt with it, how everyone was ready and how the Harker community helped everyone,” she said.
Going Remote
With a long history of delivering assignments and homework online, the transition to fully remote learning was relatively smooth. As closure loomed, teachers were briefed on how to conduct classes online via Zoom, a video conferencing platform that saw a massive surge in popularity. “The basic instruction about online teaching that was given just before school closed helped us get started,” Kadam said. After that, we were able to contact the [Learning, Innovation and Design] team and the administration for any clarifications.”
Preparation for the transition also became a community effort. “A friend and I started a document to compile Zoom links and other advice before the school closure in case we needed to transition to remote learning,” said eighth grader Kabir Ramzan. “The Harker community responded with overwhelming support, and when the school declared that we would be transitioning to remote learning, hundreds of students added links, answered questions and suggested what people could do when they were bored.”
Teachers quickly became savvy with Zoom sessions as the new default classroom, and though these online meetings were no replacement for in-person instruction, the limitations didn’t prevent teachers from turning their virtual classrooms into dynamic spaces. Working from home allowed lower school science teacher Shital Ashar to give a lesson on seed anatomy by making a salad from her kitchen, an activity her students happily also performed. Upper school dance teacher Rachelle Haun’s students enthusiastically recorded themselves dancing at home with stuffed animals or while doing chores. Preschool teacher Amanda Crook snail-mailed her students a likeness of herself she made using the website Bitmoji. She later received photos and videos of the parachutes and amusement park rides students had made for the miniature version of their teacher.
“I am so touched and impressed how quickly teachers and the entire school regrouped and ensured that our kids continue to receive top quality education,” said Alina Gicqueau, mother of Benjamin, grade 11, and Paulina, grade 9. “I am so grateful for our teachers’ and administration’s dedication and exemplary professionalism and helping us with maintaining normalcy and regular cadence of our children’s lives.”
For their part, students also adapted well to the remote learning environment, organizing all manner of community events, which often leveraged the Zoom platform in clever ways. “With the help of so many dedicated leaders, my friends, and the administration, we’ve been able to pull off virtual elections, talent shows, movie nights, a mask drive, a check-in newspaper, Zoom background contests, a virtual road trip and so much more,” said senior Avi Gulati, who served as upper school Associated Student Body president during the 2019-20 school year.Seizing on the internet trend of people posting the backgrounds they used in Zoom meetings, the upper school held its own Zoom background contest. Students even devised a way to move the twice-a-year Quadchella music festival to Zoom, playing recorded student performances for attendees. The remote format also had unexpected benefits, allowing for a greater diversity of talents to be showcased, including cooking and clothing design.
“While being in quarantine has its limitations, it also forces us to think outside of the box with regards to having fun,” said Rani Sheth, grade 12. “I’ve had Netflix parties, danced to a Zumba video, and FaceTimed while doing workouts with my friends. It’s nowhere close to the norm, but looking back on it 10 years from now, those are memories that I will cherish.“
Ahluwalia and her friends even devised a way of meeting in-person, organizingwhat she called “trunk playdates,” during which they meet at a friend’s house and converse with one another from their parents’ cars. And in the lower school, beloved events such as the talent show and art show shifted online
To Yager, the community’s response was impressive but far from shocking. “Nothing surprised me,” he said. “I knew feature that the adults and students were ready and prepared to optimize the transition, and that we would approach the change with a determined attitude and professional approach befitting the Harker community.”
Leaning In, Reaching Out
The community was spurred to action outside of school as well, as service efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic ramped up dramatically. There was a massive outpouring of support for medical workers, as families sent large caches of medical supplies to local hospitals and also produced homemade masks and 3D-printed face shields. Harker parent Virag Saksena (Riva, grade 12, and Anya, grade 8) even went so far as to convert his single-malt whisky distillery into a producer of hand sanitizer, which required getting approval from the Food and Drug Administration, itself a difficult task.
Initiatives also were kicked off to help those affected by the pandemic. Recognizing the risk of displacement faced by many South Bay families, the upper school’s Associated Student Body and Student Council organized a schoolwide donation drive that won praise from San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo and raised more than $11,000. Larissa Tyagi, grade 12, organized a blood drive to offset the American Red Cross’ massive blood shortage. The Student Council also joined the Medical Club and Key Club to deliver 640 homemade masks to the local homeless population through LifeMoves, a Bay Area-based organization that offers shelter, food and other services to people facing homelessness. (For more stories on those contributing to the relief effort, visit Harker News and search “outreach.”)
Bittersweet Endings
There remained, however, a sense of loss due to the cancellation of many yearly activities, including the particularly busy spring performing arts lineup and the end-of-year activities the senior class had been anticipating for years.
“When school closed, my initial reaction was disappointment that I wouldn’t beable to partake in so many activities – trips, get-togethers, ceremonies,” said Sheth. “As a second-semester senior, I was looking forward to spending time with my friends and relishing my last bit of time at the upper school campus.”
The Class of 2020 sadly did not get to experience its graduation exercises, but staples such as baccalaureate and the Senior Showcase went on, with videos created from submissions participants created at home, and launched for viewing at the time the events would have taken place. A heartfelt video, “Lights On for 2020,” was produced to help provide a fitting send-off to a class that thrived under the most extraordinary of circumstances. Other divisions also moved their traditions online, such as the middle school’s Student LID Vision Day, during which students gave talks on homemade inventions, performed music and showed off a virtual rendition of the middle school campus made in Minecraft. Lower school traditions such as the grade 5 promotion ceremony were compiled from individual recordings and released online, as was the grades 4 and 5 talent show.
“COVID-19 tried to stop so many students from celebrating and commemorating aspects of the high school experience, but in the end, it couldn’t,” said Gulati.
“We have a community of individuals whose primary goals are to make sure our students’ need and desire for shortand long-term intellectual growth and general well-being do not go unmet,” said Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs. “I knew we would rise to the occasion to achieve these goals.”
As the coronavirus situation evolves, Yager has remained similarly confidentabout the community’s ability to adapt. “While the uncertainty of what we will be required and allowed to do as a school in the coming year makes it difficult to predict just how school will be modified next year, one thing is certain,” he said. “The Harker community of staff, students and parents will meet the challenge and exceed expectations.”
The middle school Summer Institute’s Poets and Playwrights class offered students in grades 6-8 fun and engaging ways to learn about the many aspects of creating poetry and plays. Poetry was the focus of the first week of class, as students studied the work of Langston Hughes, Robert Frost, Emily Dickinson and other famous poets. Students learned about different literary devices through fun exercises such as “puzzle poems,” where students read a poem and use what they’ve learned to determine what the poem is describing.
During week two, students learned the elements of playwriting by examining aspects of drama, reading and performing scenes and working together to write a scene. Samples from plays such as “Our Town” and “The Glass Menagerie” were used as examples of structure, and students then wrote scenes and acts for longer plays that they had the option of continuing to write once the class was over.
This summer, middle schoolers with a passion for scientific research enrolled in the Summer Science Research Society (SSRS), a class in which the students do individual research on topics of their interest and report on their findings. On the final day of the class, students present the results of their research to their classmates and parents. “This is an interest-based, student-driven project and I’m there to facilitate and guide them through the whole process,” said middle school science teacher Kathy Peng, who runs the SSRS.
Students begin by picking a topic and doing background research. They then design experiments to test their hypotheses. Rising eighth grader Abigail Samuel’s project involved using principles of chemistry to bake cookies, including testing how letting dough rest for different periods of time altered texture and flavor. Caden Ruan, a rising seventh grader, designed and built a small-scale version of a machine that picks up plastic waste in the ocean. Rising sixth grader Evan Yuan investigated a new way of making a plant-based hamburger.
Another important element of the class is learning how to present data. Students document the process with graphs and images, and present their research at a virtual symposium, explaining their research methods and conclusions.
Many upper school teachers are incorporating a variety of methods to manage the amount of screen time their students are having each day due to the shift to remote learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. With students both attending classes and doing homework on laptops and other devices, educators are concerned about the amount of time students are spending in front of screens. “I am alarmed at the extent of screen time and lack of physical movement,” said upper school chemistry teacher Smriti Koodanjeri, who has been going on short walks with her daughter, Anya.
Sharing Koodanjeri’s concerns, business and entrepreneurship teacher Michael Acheatel included 15 minutes of light exercise into his Zoom classes. “I am also keeping my screen time-based assignments as light as possible,” he said. He’s also worked with business & entrepreneurship teacher Juston Glass and athletics coach Loren Powers to organize online exercise periods, to which all students are invited. Upper school history teacher Carol Green suggested including slides in presentations that remind students to take stretch breaks. Last week, she and fellow history teacher Julie Wheeler “unintentionally added a lot of movement to our class” by giving students the option to submit their assignment as a video made on the video sharing service TikTok. “The TikTok format gets the students moving!” Green said.
“Honestly, my biggest suggestion would be to cut down the amount of material we are trying to cover,” said upper school English teacher Tia Barth. ” I’m trying to give only about 80 minutes of work with class time and homework combined. Everything we teach and do is important, but we’re going to have to prioritize and scale back to make this approach sustainable.”
While understanding teachers’ concerns, upper school LID director Diane Main cautioned that screen time shouldn’t be altogether avoided. “Are they passive consumers of content, or are they interacting and creating? The more we can have them doing the latter, and for shorter stretches rather than an hour or more at a time, the better it is likely to be for them,” she said.
The ongoing school closure, which began last week as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, has dramatically changed the day-to-day lives of Harker students and faculty, but the community is still finding ways to continue both instruction and socializing by switching to platforms such as Zoom. Yesterday, the advisory of Office of Communication Director Pam Dickinson and Performing Arts Chair Laura Lang-Ree met via Zoom, and The Harker School Jazz Band decided to try taking its practice online. Upper School Admission Director Jennifer Hargreaves’ advisory posed for a photo during its Zoom meeting, and juniors Nilisha Baid, Anoushka Buch, Ruya Ozveren and Sabrina Takemoto took the opportunity for an online hangout during today’s lunch.
Business and entrepreneurship teacher Juston Glass’ students studied demographics for a marketing project and did a case study on how to market Apple products to previous generations. “The teams had great ideas utilizing the marketing mix strategy, also known as the four P’s: product, place, price and promotion,” Glass said. “And we are enjoying being able to remote learn and collaborate despite the circumstances.” During some extra break time in upper school science teacher Chris Spenner’s class on research on methods, the students were treated to an impromptu jazz performance by sophomore saxophonist Aaron Tran. “It was a poignant moment of community and support in strange times,” said Spenner, who was understandably “too entranced by the performance” to capture it in a video.