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.
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.
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.
On Wednesday, Rohan Chandra, grade 12, was presented with an award for being a distinguished finalist by The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards, which annually recognizes and honors young people nationwide who have volunteered to help their communities.
Chandra created earthquake preparedness kits for the senior citizens of his Fremont neighborhood, creating safety guides in a variety of languages, including English, Spanish, Farsi, Hindi and Mandarin. “We live in one of the most ethnically diverse areas of the world, so I wanted to do something to cater to different cultures,” Chandra said. With the help of dozens of volunteers, Chandra raised more than $12,000 to make the project possible.
The award came with a letter from the office of President Barack Obama, thanking Chandra for his efforts and congratulating him on being recognized. He will also receive an engraved bronze medallion in the near future.
Chandra expressed thanks to his family, friends and the Harker community, particularly Kerry Enzensperger, director of upper school community service, who assisted him in discovering this unique opportunity.
“It’s definitely really nice to be recognized,” Chandra said. “I’m just really grateful for it.”
The 13th annual Howard and Diana Nichols Invitational debate tournament took place at the upper school campus Sept. 28-30, bringing in 208 students from 28 schools in California, Arizona and Washington. Because Harker qualified for the Tournament of Champions, Harker students were not permitted to participate in the main tournament, but Harker students did participate in the novice and tournament experience workshops. Nikhil Bopardikar and Anish Velagapudi, both grade 9, were in the top 20 in the novice division.
Harker students were instrumental in ensuring that the tournament and the novice workshop were run smoothly. “Student leaders organized and did the majority of teaching at the workshop. They also oversaw the timely management of the varsity tournament and managed our student workers. Our parents hosted visiting students in their homes, served meals and judged debates,” said Carol Green, chair of Harker’s communication studies department.
One student from Foothill High School commented the tournament was “extremely well run. Not only was the judging pool outstanding, but I really felt like The Harker School cared. The students were all around helping directing us, while there was a help desk and delicious food. Adding on to that, the rooms in which we debated were really nice also.”
When the San Jose police department reached out for support of its annual National Night Out crime and drug prevention event, The Harker School gladly accepted.
Held at the Starbird Park in San Jose on Aug. 7, National Night Out was an opportunity to participate with many other neighborhoods across the country in celebration of the nationwide effort sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch and co-sponsored locally by the police.
This year marked the 29th anniversary of the program, with more than 37 million people across the country participating.
Mike Bassoni, Harker’s facility manager, reported that the school once again provided 500 hot dogs, chips and condiments for the evening event, which began around 6 p.m. Bassoni and other Harker volunteers were on hand helping to distribute food and drinks as well as provide logistical support.
National Night Out is designed to not only heighten crime and drug prevention awareness but to generate support for, and participation in, local anticrime efforts. It also works to strengthen neighborhood spirit and police/community partnerships while sending a message to criminals that cities are united in fighting back.
According to the San Jose police department participating neighborhoods were asked to turn on outside lights, lock their doors and spend the evening outside with neighbors and police. Moreover, neighborhoods used the event as a launching board to plan further programming such as disaster preparedness, setting neighborhood goals or watches, organizing food or clothing drives and planning to beautify a common area with a cleanup day.
During the National Night Out event itself there were some police officers present, army recruiters, representatives from the San Jose Earthquakes and the Starbird Community Center – and, of course, Bassoni and his Harker crew!
For the last four years, Jaap Bongers, Harker’s upper school art department instructor and chair, has used the summer break as a unique opportunity to personally donate items to needy children in the Republic of Zambia, a landlocked country in Southern Africa.
“I have been going there every summer and one time I even went during the Christmas break,” said Bongers, explaining that, in preparation for the annual sojourn, he uses the school year to collect toys, children’s clothes and children’s books (many of which have been donated by Harker students) for the Zambian children.
Come summer, he fills a big plastic storage box with the donated items which he takes with him to Zambia. There, he donates the toys, books and clothes to the neediest children he encounters.
“I do this while traveling to very remote villages where there are still wonderful ages-old original culture. Initiation rituals, traditional dances by masked actors and healing ceremonies by witch doctors can still be found although it is getting harder and harder to locate them.”
After handing out and emptying the storage box of donated toys, Bongers then re-fills it with ancient traditional artifacts he discovers and buys on his travels. “I note down their use, meaning and age. I have found objects and heard about customs that were not yet known. Once I return to Harker I use this information, the items and the pictures for my Study of Visual Art class,” he said, noting that his house is filling up with an impressive collection of ancient traditional African art.
A particularly interesting find this year was an old food box from the Lozi tribe, which Zambian women use to present food to their husbands. In addition to discovering such treasures, Bongers also enjoyed such cultural experiences as buying an ancient artifact from a witch doctor, watching a traditional masked dance at night in Kaoma, and meeting Makishi dancers near Mongu in the Western Province.
The remote villages that Bongers visits are reminiscent of the hunter-gatherers and migrating tribes who inhabited the country for thousands of years before Zambia was claimed and occupied by the British as protectorate of Northern Rhodesia towards the end of the 19th century. In 1964, the protectorate gained independence with the new name of Zambia, derived from the Zambezi River which flows through the country.
Zambia’s economy has been traditionally dominated by the copper mining industry, however, during the 1970s, the country began sliding into a poverty from which it has not yet recovered – which is why the donated goods Bongers collects during the school year and hands out in the summer are so appreciated.
About 60 students from grade 10 spent a day in mid-February serving the clients of InnVision, a homeless shelter in San Jose. Signups for this event started as a trickle a few weeks prior, but quickly gained momentum. With the signups came a generous flow of donations, in cash and kind, and several parents stepped up to volunteer their time and make the event memorable for the folks at InnVision.
The students sorted toys and clothes, cleaned hallways and bathrooms, did gardening and neighborhood cleanup, and came together to cook a sumptuous meal for about 50 of InnVision’s clients. Victor Adler, teacher and sophomore class dean, was there to lend a helping hand with his students.
Following a brief introduction and tour of the shelter by InnVision staff, the students were divided into groups of 10. Each group spent the rest of the day rotating from one activity to another, including weeding the garden, cutting fruits and vegetables for lunch, mopping hallways or sorting toys.
The students displayed their creativity in setting and decorating the lunch tables, then donned aprons and gloves to serve soup, garlic bread, chow mein, naan and Indian curry, a tri-tip beef entrée, followed by cake and fruit salad for dessert.
The shelter’s guests were a happy lot as they ate with relish. “The warm day meant hard work both indoors and outdoors but the sophomores did it all with a smile on their lips and a sparkle in their eyes, knowing that their efforts were making it a day to remember for those less fortunate than themselves,” said Naren Nayak (Avinash, grade 10), one of many parents who helped prepare the lunch and supervise the student activities.
The unspent portion of the donations collected for food totaled $861 and was donated to InnVision. Erika Sutton, InnVision’s volunteer coordinator, said, “Our sincere thanks to members of The Harker School’s tenth grade class who held a very productive service day at InnVision Georgia Travis Center, a daytime drop-in center for homeless and at-risk women and children.”
Students were busily involved in a variety of projects including sorting through clothing donations, planting flowers, reorganizing a class room and art room, and cleaning the center’s great room. A very special thank you goes to Nayak, who coordinated the entire effort, including engaging other parents to volunteer.
Jaynie Neveras, community relations manager for InnVision, was very appreciative. “How wonderful that these compassionate sophomore students would make time during their break to volunteer and give back to the community!” she said.
“They were able to see firsthand that due to the economy, the face of homelessness has changed forever. Even once comfortably established families are now in need. And whether the students planted flowers, sorted donations, or prepared and served up a tantalizing lunch, they truly made a difference,” said Neveras. More information about donating to or volunteering at InnVision can be found at www.innvision.org.
Kicks Against Cancer raised nearly $12,000 in January and February for Camp Okizu, a program for families affected by childhood cancer. Money was raised by selling T-shirts and wristbands, as well as through traditional donations.
On Feb. 1, the varsity boys and girls soccer teams played their evening home games wearing the purple Kicks Against Cancer T-shirts. Both teams won their games, with the girls defeating Immaculate Conception Academy 7-0 and the boys winning over Eastside College Prep with a score of 2-1.
Profits from the food sales at Carley’s Café, which nearly ran out of supply to feed the hungry attendants, were also donated to the campaign.
“I think that this event really lets Harker have a direct impact on the lives of pediatric cancer patients and their families,” said Nicole Dalal, grade 12, who organized the event and scored a goal in the girls varsity game. “I would just say that it is incredibly rewarding to know that the game of soccer can bring together our entire community and the Okizu community as well!”
Thanks to donations from Harker and care and attention from Mike Bassoni, Harker’s facility director, two San Jose youth community centers have survived deep budget cuts to continue to serve the local community.
Through his community involvement with the Blackford Neighborhood Action Coalition (NAC), Bassoni, a 31-year Harker employee, learned of the Starbird Youth Center and their dire needs. Because of deep budget cuts last year, youth centers throughout San Jose were slated for closure, including the Starbird Youth Center. Community United, a nonprofit group focused on helping at-risk youth, came forward and offered to operate the Starbird Youth Center, as well as another center on Alma St. next to the downtown San Jose DMV office.
While the City of San Jose agreed to a one-year trial of this collaboration, it removed all electronic support – computers, video games, TVs, office equipment – from the centers, leaving them sadly bereft of the resources integral to community support.
Bassoni, who knew Harker regularly disposed of outdated computers, approached the Harker technology department. “They were great!” said Bassoni. The department donated 30 Apple Mac computers and supporting software that were delivered and installed at the two centers. In addition to the electronic supplies, Harker also donated art supplies, construction and office paper, TVs on rolling carts and art room seating.
“(Bassoni’s) contributions are fantastic and enrich these youths’ lives,” wrote Donna Stewart, executive director of Community United.
Bassoni believes the key is getting many people involved. “The formula of local and broad-based efforts has been the catalyst for a successful reopening of a community resource that appeared to be headed for the scrap pile,” said Bassoni, adding, “50-80 youth find daily refuge because of the efforts of several charitable groups, including those of Harker.”