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THE HARKER SCHOOL
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THE UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE HARKER SCHOOL
500 SARATOGA AVENUE, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA 95129
N OV.
THANKSGIVING 22 - 26 BREAK
22 - 23
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2021
EVERYTHING FEELS DIFFERENT
NEXT WEEK
N OV.
VOL. 23 NO.3
Students, faculty reflect on collective well-being since return to campus MAR. 12, 2020
VIRTUAL PARENT TEACHER STUDENT CONFERENCES
ESHA GOHIL
NOV. 12, 2021
PROVIDED BY SARA WAN
TAKEN FROM BOYS WATER POLO INSTAGRAM
Boys water polo, girls tennis teams win CCS championships
SWEET VICTORY The varsity boys water polo team and varsity girls tennis team pose together.
The upper school began weekly COVID-19 testing for students in the instrumental music programs on Oct. 19 in addition to testing unvaccinated students and indoor athletes since the start of the school year. The nurse’s office has administered 4,351 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests to high school students since August, according to upper school nurse Jennifer Olson. Sophomores underwent mass testing on Oct. 15 after a 10th grader tested positive for COVID-19. Students identified as close contact cases for a freshman who tested positive the week of Oct. 25 also received tests. As the flu season approaches, Olson advises students to “get vaccinated, wear your mask indoors, wash your hands, and stay home and rest if you are sick.”
More than three months into the school year, students continue to feel the lasting effects of the gap in on-campus education left by remote learning. In a survey sent out to the Harker upper school with 182 responses, Harker Journalism found that 57.7 percent of students report feeling more tired this year in comparison to last year based on well-being factors that have been affecting the upper school community such as sleep, time, workload and motivation. 60.3 percent of students reported having missed lunch to study or work so far this year, and 28.4 percent of students students skip lunch at least once a week. The upper school has attempted to reinstate the same daily schedule used prior to the pandemic and remote learning. In the 2020-21 school year, the upper school provided a day of office hour block periods without academic classes once a month, which no longer exists this year during in-person school. Now, students and faculty also face the added commute
time, either to and from school or to extracurricular activities, resulting in less time overall during the day. “I think sometimes we all forget that there were all of those pockets of time that we were using that we don’t have anymore,”upper school counselor Rosalyn Schreiman said. “We’ve all had to relook at our time management and our calendars and schedules and rethink what’s realistic.” Students have also shouldered an increased amount of schoolwork, continuing to feel the effects of the added burden since the start of the school year. Freshmen, especially, have faced difficulties adjusting to the upper school’s 85-minute block periods, in comparison to the middle school’s shorter 45 minute classes. “There’s a lot more workload,” Varun Thydar (9) said. “Classes being much longer isn’t very good, because you’re kind of used to a 45-minute attention span. It’s a lot harder to focus during the entire [85 minutes].” Seniors like Vinay Sundarsanam (12) find it difficult to balance college applications with regular schoolwork and in-
creased social activities, with additional commute times and lessened sleep stacking on top of additional responsibilities. Pressure levels have increased overall, creating an extra burden on students. “Last year was online, and you can tell that the classes were a little bit easier than they were usually,” Vinay said. “This year, of course, there’s college applications and the stress of leaving the school at the end of the year, so I think the stress is a lot higher.” The increased pressures and exhaustion felt by both students and teachers call for a need to step back and reflect on the irreversible impact left by the pandemic, necessitating larger changes in the structuring of daily life at the upper school to help adapt back to campus. “I think everybody is a little less resilient and more easily triggered,” middle school counselor Melinda Gonzales said. “Take it easy on yourself, and allow for time to slow down. Take your foot off the gas pedal.” Read more about our adjustments back to campus life in the editorial on page 12.
A LOOK AHEAD
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NOV. 20
TEDx Harker School
Speaker talks, booths, and more! Visit tedx.harker.org for tickets.
ALYSA SULEIMAN
desiree luo & kinnera mulam
alysa suleiman & michelle liu
LUCY GE
SAFETY AS PRIORITY Orchestra member Alex Zhong (9) receives a COVID-19 test.
EMILY TAN
Upper school students undergo COVID-19 testing
19 MONTHS LATER Campus stood empty after the shift to remote learning in March 2020 due to the pandemic closure. Now, as students and teachers adjust to the return three months into the current school year, the Harker community brings life back onto campus.
PROVIDED BY ANDREA THIA
The varsity boys water polo team made Harker history with its victory over Archbishop Mitty 9-5 on Saturday, bringing home the program’s first CCS championship title. The varsity girls tennis team defeated league rival Menlo 6-1 on Saturday, winning CCS for the second year in a row. Continued on Sports page 17.
ESHA GOHIL
vishnu kannan
DEC. 07
Santana Row Tree Lighting
Harker Dance Company, Kinetic Krew and Downbeat perform from 6-7 p.m.
DEC. 10
Big Assembly Day (BAD)
Harker’s beloved holiday show returns to Patil Theater this year. DESIGN BY MICHELLE LIU