Winged Post Volume 19, Issue 1

WINGED POST WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 6, 2017 | THE HARKER UPPER SCHOOL STUDENT NEWSPAPER, VOL. 19, NO. 1

Varsity girls’ volleyball inaugurates athletic center in opening ceremony

WHAT’S INSIDE?

Summer politics recap 2 Charlottesville protests 8-9 Gym opening 14

Club fair to take place next week in Atrium nerine uyanik Humans of Harker asst. videographer and feature photographer

Club Fair will be held during long lunch on Wednesday, Sept. 13, in the Nichols Atrium.

“I think our clubs are really learning how to market themselves and to reach out to students who are interested in the same things as they are,” said Director of Upper School Clubs Eric Kallbrier.

ROSE GUAN

New Head of School Yager begins first year

vijay bharadwaj

nicole chen, rose guan & nerine uyanik

Brian Yager joined The Harker School this year as its new Head of School this year, following former Head of School Christopher Nikoloff’s resignation and acceptance at a position of The American School in Switzerland.

Prior to joining Harker, Yager served as Head of School at the Keystone School in San Antonio, Texas for seven years.

He was also previously employed at schools in California and Idaho and completed his undergraduate education at Stanford University and he later attended Harvard University for his master’s degree in education.

During the past summer, Yager spent his time acclimating to the Harker community by visiting all four campus and getting to know the administrative staff.

“Over the summer, I tried to get to know people with whom I’ll be working,” Yager said. “I’ve been trying to absorb as much of the culture and the layout of the facility. I’ve been in every building so far. It’s been pretty impressive to see the degree of activity that’s going on. [There was] great work by the staff on the summer program.”

Continued on page 3.

Fall break to take place this month maya kumar managing editor

The first fall break day will take place on Friday Sept.

29. This is the first of two fall brakes, the second of which is Monday Oct. 30.

Fall play callbacks to happen tomorrow maya kumar

managing editor

Auditions for this year’s fall play, William Shakespeake’s “The Comedy of Errors,” took place yesterday and today after school in Patil Room 51.

Callbacks will be announced tomorrow morning and will take place from 3:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

In light of Hurricane Harvey in Houston, Draper plans to make the show a fundraiser for Harvey’s victims.

The play will run from Oct. 26 through Oct. 28.

ALL PHOTOS NICOLE CHEN

news editor

GYM JAM (TOP) Varsity girls’ volleyball plays first sporting event to occur in the gym on ahjdsk. (MIDDLE) Mike Bassoni, Facilities Manager, shows people around the new athletic center. Cheerleaders welcome people to the opening event on Aug. 18. The opening ceremony

featured numerous speakers, a demonstration of the gym and a self-guided tour around the facility.

14, we just feel so small in there compared to the big gym, and I think it’s going to be a while to get used to it, but I think we’re Aquila executive features editor, Wingspan sr. staff writer and design- really going to live up to what er & Humans of Harker asst. it is.” videographer and After opening remarks feature photographer from Chair of the Board of Trustees Diane Nichols and The upper school’s new Head of School Brian Yager, a athletic center held its opening ribbon-cutting ceremony was ceremony to showcase its facilheld with the Board of Trustees, ities and features to the Harker student-athletes and a group of community on Aug. 18.

Harker’s staff outside the buildThe opening ceremony ing. featured numerous speakers, a Attendees entered the gym, demonstration of the gym with where Nichols introduced key the varsity girls volleyball team individuals specific to the projand a self-guided tour around ect. Athletic director Dan Molin the facility with student-athexpressed his optimism for the letes stationed in each room. future of not only the athletics “The work we’ve been dodepartment but the entire Harking now finally matches the er community. kind of gym we’re in,” varsity “The time for imagining girls volleyball member Tiffahow much better we can be is ny Shou (12), who was at the finally here,” Molin said at the opening, said. ceremony.

The volleyball team has practiced and held scrimmages Continued on page 14. in the new gym. “Our team of

Texas recovering in aftermath of Harvey’s devastation

Record-breaking flooding continues in Texas and Louisiana, in wake of hurricane nicole chen & rose guan Aquila features editor & Wingspan designer and sr. writer

Tropical storm Hurricane Harvey is currently causing severe flooding and water damage in southeastern Texas and nearby areas, including Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The hurricane developed from a tropical wave near the Caribbean Islands on Aug. 17 and rapidly intensified into a Category 4 storm after moving northwest past Barbados.

It hit Rockport, Texas, at peak strength around 10 p.m. CST last Friday. National Weather Service announced on Tuesday night that Harvey will reach Texas-Louisiana state line around 12 a.m. CST. As of Wednesday night, Texas officials estimate at least 31 casualties as a result of the storm. The first was reported in Rockport after a city resident died in a house fire caused by the hurricane. After sending strong winds of over 130 mph through Rockport and moving further inland, Harvey devolved into a Category 1 storm by late Saturday morning.

“There was no evacuation, but I did hear of some dorms or commons being flooded with some water leaking in and a fire

alarm going off because of electrical problems. They just [had] to evacuate us to a servery, a kind of cafeteria we have, or to another college or something, but mostly the college is fine,” Rice University freshman Vienna Wang (‘17) said. “I think Rice is built as a quite stable university; we’re built on higher ground and our buildings are strong. Mostly, there is just flooding water from

weeks, the National Weather Service has been warning the public of the dangers and impacts of Hurricane Harvey.

“This event is unprecedented & all impacts are unknown & beyond anything experienced.

Follow orders from officials to ensure safety. #Harvey,” the NWS tweeted on Sunday.

Search and rescue efforts began Sunday when military

“You drive around afterward and you see what was left. You’ve got roofs that were ripped off.You’ve got people sifting through what’s left of their lives.”

WES RAPAPORT CAPITOL CORRESPONDENT AT NEXSTAR AUSTIN BUREAU the doors, so we just have to mop that up and stuff.”

According to city officials, around 5,500 individuals are currently situated at shelters in Houston. However, many more may be displaced from their homes as heavy rains and flooding continue to impact the metropolitan Houston area of more than 6.5 million people. While some areas are currently receiving around 20 inches of rain, Houston can expect to see 50 or more in the coming days.

Throughout the last two

vehicles and helicopters began rushing in to help local police locate hurricane victims. At least two Bay Area rescue teams were also dispatched to Texas after receiving calls for help in the area on Sunday morning. On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced that around 12,000 National Guard members would be deployed at the area.

To aid victims of Hurricane Harvey, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner established a relief fund at the Greater Houston Community Foundation. GoFundMe,

the Salvation Army and the Red Cross have also been contributing to relief efforts by creating a charities hub page, providing food and water to those affected and accepting blood donations. Cash donations are preferable for organizations, such as Central Texas Food Bank, to purchase most beneficial disaster relief aids. As Upper School theater teacher Jeffrey Draper announced during last Tuesday’s school meeting, the performing arts department is currently considering setting up ticket sales for the Fall Play as a school charity for Hurricane Harvey.

“You drive around afterward and you see what was left. . . you’ve got roofs that were ripped off. You’ve got people sifting through what’s left of their lives,” Wes Rapaport, a Capitol Correspondent at the Nexstar Austin Bureau, said. “What we didn’t see was people who had given up.”

Harvey is the first major, or Category 3 and higher, hurricane to reach and continue over United States land since Wilma in 2005, a Category 5 storm that heavily impacted Florida. Less than a decade ago Texas was hit

by Hurricane Ike in 2008, another Category 4 storm that also heavily impacted southeastern Texas.

2

NEWS

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Construction continues Performing arts center to finish in 2018 reporter

Construction of the new gymnasium has concluded as the school year begins this fall, while construction of the new performing arts center will continue into January.

The theater will be finished in late January and open for use in February.

“There’s what’s called a soft opening,” Bassoni said. “There’s going to be a Cantilena and chorus presentation in late February, and then there’s going to be a grand ribbon cutting and stage performance in early March of 2018.”

Besides the actual theater itself, the building will include three voice rooms, an acting room, a 2,500 square foot orchestra classroom, several soundproof practice rooms, a temperature-controlled closet for the new concert grand piano and a scene shop with carpentry and metal-working tools for creating set pieces.

“The classroom spaces, I think, are going to be offering us room to sort of spread out. We’re tucked into old dorm rooms, basically right now,” upper school theater teacher Jeffrey Draper said. “Now that we’re getting a real, honest-to-goodness theater, I think that even we are going to be surprised by what we get.”

Much like a professional theater, the new theater will feature

an individual projector, a control booth and lighting catwalks that will not only be used by Harker’s paid theater technicians but can also be manned by students. A 20-position fly tower, which is a system of cables and pulleys along the depth of the stage, will be used to change theater backdrops during performances.

“There’s going to be a Cantilena and chorus presentation in late February and then there’s going to be a grand ribbon cutting and stage performance in early March of 2018.”

KATHY FANG

nina gee

PERFORMING ARTS Construction on the performing art center will continue until late January. The official opening is set to be in early March of 2018.

MIKE BASSONI FACILTY DIRECTOR “We’ll have a fly tower, which has 20 pulley positions, where we can change the backdrop of the stage with canvases that are going to be 30 feet wide and 20 feet high,” Bassoni said. “Between scenes, you’ll be able to run these canvases up and down to change the scenery. These pulleys and cables are strong enough that you could fly in a huge piece of set. You could have a covered wagon drop

mer who’s writing kind of an electronic story of the history of Harker and the types of activities at Harker, but it’s software, so we can shut that program off and a Harker student, or multiple Harker students, could write their own software, and we could load it in and that could be projected on the screen,” Bassoni said.

This school year’s spring musical, 42nd Street, will be the first major event held in the theater.

There will be no parking opportunities for the first semester of this school year. However, the completion of the theater in the second semester will allow for seniors and a few juniors to park on campus.

down out of the ceiling if you were doing a Western theme.”

One feature included that isn’t typical of a high school theater is the hydraulic orchestra pit, which can be moved to four different elevations.

“You can park the floor of the orchestra pit on any of the four elevations,” said architect Bill Bondy. “Three of them are useful – the lowest will be where you’ll put the orchestra- and if you don’t have an orchestra, you can move the floor up to the stage level.”

The theater lobby will house a 15 feet by 35 feet digital display screen, which also allows programs made by students to be displayed.

“It’s a form of visual arts and, initially, there’s a program-

FAST FACTS • Construction of the theater will be completed by January of 2018.

• Theater facilities will include an orchestra classroom, soundproof practice rooms and a scene shop.

• This year’s musical, 42nd Street, will be the first major event held in the theater.

ASB aims to revitalize initiatives in 2018 the new gym and theater that we’ll have next year.”

ASB aims to bring back events like the Hoscars talent show, which could not be held last year due to insufficient performance space, because construction of the upper school’s new performing arts building is planned to finish in January.

“There are a lot of student council projects that we would love to bring back for the upcoming year, specifically events such as Hoscars and Valentine’s Grams that have traditionally been really popular in the years that we’ve done it in the past,” ASB President Jimmy Lin (12) said. “A lot of our efforts will be toward tailoring these events to

“There are a lot of student council projects that we would love to bring back for the upcoming year, specifically events such as Hoscars and Valentine’s grams.”

JIMMY LIN ASB PRESIDENT

Jimmy will work with his fellow ASB members—vice president Neil Ramaswamy (11), secretary Katherine Zhang (11) and treasurer Megan Huynh (12)—to implement their ideas and oversee ASB’s and the class councils’ projects.

“Jimmy’s job on the council is kind of to oversee all the projects that we’re working on,” Katherine said. “I’ll be working really closely with him in terms of student council, organizing the meetings, and also with making sure the meetings go smoothly.

We’ve both had experience with Valentine’s Grams and Hoscars, and thinking about bringing one or both back is definitely on the forefront of our minds.”

Students can attend student

LAB WORK Artificial intelligence club will host workshops to teach members with hands-on activities.

KEYNOTE Similar to philosophy club, the club plans to have outside speakers discuss veteran affairs.

JENNA SADHU

POW introduces creative writing in the forms of poetry and literature to elementary students in Boys and Girls Clubs of Silicon Valley by holding workshops.

“I was influenced to help create POW by my own passion for writing. Typically, creative

writing is not emphasized in a school environment, and I wanted to help change this,” club officer Lily Wancewicz (11) said.

“With POW workshops, students get an opportunity to be exposed to different writing strategies and styles.”

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CLUB

KATHERINE ZHANG

IT’S LIT POW plans to hold workshops for elementary students.

The Artificial Intelligence (AI) Club explores STEM topics, including math, computer science, and biology, while training machines on data. The club will host a series of workshops and have experienced club members teach new members about AI through hands-on activities and

lectures. “[Artificial Intelligence] is an intersection of many different areas: computer science, biology, math, and many more. I think it’s really interesting because it involves many different facets of science,” club founder Cynthia Chen (10) said.

The Students Partner with Veterans Club plans to raise awareness about the obstacles veterans face in society and present Harker students with role models. The club plans on having speakers, assemblies, discussions and events involving veteran associations.

“Growing up in the Silicon Valley, I think it’s easy to become absorbed in the bubble of wealth that we live in and forget about the suffering that happens every day and all around us,” Club creator Annie Ma (10) said. “Even right outside the gates of Harker there are veterans begging for food and money on the street.”

STUDENT PARTNERS WITH VETERANS CLUB TARA PARIMI (‘17)

NICOLE CHEN

LEARNING ALLY AUDIOBOOK CLUB WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Auditions for this year’s spring musical, 42nd Street, were announced to the Upper School students by way of email by performing arts director Laura Lang-Ree on Aug. 1.

“I was looking for a very epic musical that just spoke to traditional Broadway,” LangRee said. “I think we’re all going to be so excited and impressed by the new theater that it just needed something that spoke to the history of musical theater.”

One of musical theater’s most classic tales, tap musical 42nd Street tellsis a tap musical telling the story of Peggy Sawyer, who goes to New York in hopes of achieving her dreams of becoming a Broadway star.

“It’s a very fun show and the songs are super cool,” Anika Banga (12), who plans to audition for the musical, said.

“Another thing that’s different about this musical is that it’s

my said. “We genuinely value their ideas and their proposals, and we’d definitely encourage them not to view the council as some sort of secret society working behind their backs but rather a group of people that genuinely works on their behalf.”

POWER OF WORDS CLUB (POW)

asst. features editor

CHEERLEADING Dilara Ezer (11) and Charlotte “Charley” Huang (12) dance in the spring musical. Due to the intensive tap dancing involved in this year’s musical, 42nd Street, auditions will be held in September.

a tap musical, so it’ll be fun to learn how to tap and see how that combines in with the rest of the show.”

Marie Stinnett, a dance instructor and former Broadway dancer, will be the show’s tap master, and will assist in choreographing the dances.

“She worked with Frank Sinatra and she worked on the Broadway stage and [with] Tommy Tune and these classic famous, famous people,” LangRee said. “So, she’s seen things from all regards: as a performer, as a director [and], as a choreographer. She’s one of the most meticulous choreographers I’ve ever met.”

This year, auditions for the musical will take place in September, rather than November, in order to allow the actors more time for additional vocal and tap training.

Auditions will be held during lunch Sept. 18 through Sept. 20, and dance auditions will be held Sept. 21 in Nichols.

council meetings, which are held in Main 4 on Mondays after school from 3:35-4:20 p.m.

“I’d like to see more work being done in encouraging students to attend our meetings [and] to bring about their own initiatives and proposals,” Jim-

gloria zhang

Musical to take place in new performing arts center

reporter

STUDENT COUNCIL ASB student council poses in front of the matriculation. The council plans to bring back events such as Hoscars.

Prospective clubs for 2018

Audition dates, workshop announced for 42nd Street spring musical

nina gee

ROSE GUAN

rose guan

Wingspan designer and sr. writer

AUDIOBOOKS Partnered with Learning Ally, the club plans to make audio books for the visually impaired.

Working with the organization Learning Ally, which makes audio books for visually-impaired readers, Learning Ally Audiobook Club focuses on quality controlling the books.

“Club members will choose any book they like from a selection and use audiobook software

to listen along and catch any errors made. If enough people are interested, we hope to allow members to review at home and record audiobooks at a studio.”

Club creator Kyle Li (10) said, “volunteers will be eligible for volunteering hours from the Learning Ally organization.”

3

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Part six of a fang seven part series on American politics without offering a replacement. eric

Senator Mccain’s unexpected no vote was what killed ultimately killed the bill in a 51-49 vote.

Dr. Anthony Scott Arend, a professor of government and foreign service at Georgetown

& maya kumar

global editor & managing editor

HEALTHCARE Despite President Trump’s campaign promise to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, otherwise known as Obamacare, the GOP push to repeal the act has been effectively killed in the senate by a decisive 51 - 49 vote with Republican senators John Mccain, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins saying no to the repeal. House Republicans first passed their replacement plan for Obamacare on May 4.

The Senate Republicans then introduced their version of the bill June 22 and a revised version July 13. On July 26, the Senate rejected both a partial repeal of Obamacare with a two-year delay and also the so-called “skinny” repeal option which would roll back parts of Obamacare

“With the Affordable Care Act having been in place now for a number of years, most individuals realize that there are factors in the Affordable Care Act that are good.”

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

RUSSIA INVESTIGATION This past summer, several new details regarding the ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign’s potential collusion with Russia became public.

The first major disclosure regarding the investigation this summer occurred on July 8, when news came out that Donald Trump Jr met with Natalia Veselnitskaya, a Kremlin connected Russian Lawyer.

According to Trump Jr., Veselnitskaya claimed to have potentially harmful information about Hillary Clinton, but the discussion largely focused around the topic of adoption from Russia.

On July 26, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) raided former head of Trump campaign Paul Manafort’s home in Alexandria, VA. With a warrant, the FBI came in the early hours of the morning to take documents regarding Manafort’s finances and historical involvement with Russia.

On August 3, special counsel Robert Mueller impaneled a Grand Jury regarding the investigation. Grand juries have the power to level criminal charges.

Donald Trump withdraws from the Paris Climate Agreement.

JUNE 8 Former FBI director James Comey testified in Congress.

JULY 26 President Trump tweets plans to bar transgenders from themilitary.

AUG. 8 President Trump threatened North Korea with “fire and fury like the world has never seen.”

AUG. 12 WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

ANTHONY SCOTT AREND PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT AND FOREIGN SERVICE AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

STAFF CHANGES Since President Trump took office, there have been dozens of cases in which White House staff members have either resigned or have been fired. First, Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, resigns reportedly due to his disagreement with the president’s decision to appoint Anthony Scaramucci as the White House Communications director. Only one week later, Reince Priebus, the former White House chief of staff, was unexpectedly replaced by John Kelly. After only a week on the job, Anthony Scaramucci was fired after publicly feuding with former chief of staff Reince Prie-

JUNE 1

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

SAHANA SRINIVASAN

What You Missed

bus and prompting former press secretary Sean Spicer to resign in protest. The most recent case of staff change was this Sunday in which Sebastian Gorka was forced out of office according to two white house officials.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Capitol Hill:

University believes that the only way a GOP health care bill will pass will be through bipartisan cooperation to fix Obamacare and to not repeal it completely.

“With the Affordable Care Act having been in place now for a number of years, most individuals realize that there are factors in the Affordable Care Act that are good.

Despite concerns about problems with the Affordable Care Act, a simple repeal would not be something most of the country would want, and as a consequence, the only way there will be a new health bill is if there really is cooperation in a bipartisan fashion that looks more like a fix of the Affordable Care Act, rather than a completely new bill.”

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

NEWS

Protesters and counterprotesters clash in Charlottesville over the removal of Confederate monuments.

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

AUG. 21 President Trump makes a speech outlining his plan to end the war in Afghanistan.

ERIC FANG

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

AUG. 29

DACA PROTESTS Protestors gather in Hing Hay Park, Seattle to protest in favor of keeping the DACA program and protecting illegal immigrants from deportation. Texas attorney general Ken Paxton along with attorney generals and a governor from nine other states gave president Trump an ultimatum to terminate the DACA program, a program that protects illegal immigrants that came to the United States when they were 16 or younger from deportation, before Sept. 5.

President Trump visits Texas during the rescue efforts of Tropical storm Harvey flooding.

CAMERON ZELL

Time for new beginnings vijay bharadwaj

HEAD OF SCHOOL Brian Yager reads a past copy of the Winged Post. Yager joins The Harker School as the new Head of School starting this year.

Continued from front page Yager plans to further accustom himself to the school and attend several community events like homecoming and the family picnic.

“I’m really looking forward to getting a sense of the pace and the traditions of the school and participating as much as I can in everything,” Yager said.

“I already got scheduled into my calendar each week set visit times to each campus. Similarly, within each campus, I love to walk around and get to know what’s going on. People will see me around a fair amount and hopefully I’ll get a good sense of the pace of life.”

Yager believes that the new facilities, including the gym and performing arts theater, should

VIJAY BHARADWAJ

news editor

promote learning environment.

“All of our facilities should help us meet our mission,” Yager said. “Certainly the gym is the place where there is a lot of spirit. Our mission isn’t to have shiny buildings necessarily. It has implicit benefits for the school. The new facilities elevate our levels of inspiration for the endeavors that happen there. It’s our obligation to optimize the educational benefits of those facilities, but I’m super excited about it.”

Regarding his role of Head of School, Yager defined his role going beyond operating as the CEO of the institution. He greatly values the significance of the school meeting its goals and mission.

“If I think about it more deeply, the role of the Head of School is to optimize the degree to which we collectively meet our mission and goals in both the short and the long term,” Yager said. “But that itself is super complex and nuanced. It’s very important for me to understand who we are and to help us identify where we want to go. I want to work with the great administrative team to help us all succeed collectively.”

Yager believes in the importance of having a collective vision for the future of The Harker School, in order to have a plan and clear sense of direction.

“It’s important for me as the Head of School to have some thoughts about our future,” Yag-

er said. “It’s important to know and to have a roadmap and a plan of things that we are trying to accomplish. I may need to be the keeper of the vision, but it would be inappropriate for me to say my vision of the place, because ultimately it’s our vision for the place.”

“It’s very important for me to understand who we are and to help us collectively identify where we want to go.”

BRIAN YAGER HEAD OF SCHOOL Yager went on to describe parts of the multifaceted vision for the school. He recognized that a successful school is one that meets its mission.

“One part would be to continue the excellent educational things that are happening that reflect a successful meeting of our mission,” Yager said. “It’s not just an opportunity, but an obligation for our school, that has the most incredible resources, great students, teachers who are phenomenal. Part of the vision is that we have to recognize that our work and the impact has to be long term. That’s what all educators should strive for students to say.”

KATHY FANG

Yager steps into role as new Head of School

CLASS TRIPS (TOP) Reiya Das (10) crosses the Incomplete Bridge, a series of wooden planks strapped between two trees. (RIGHT) Olivia Esparza (11), Matthew Hajjar (11) and Haris Hosseini (11) paddle down the South Fork American River.

Sophomores and juniors embark on grade trips to kick off academic year helen yang asst. Aquila STEM editor

Sophomores and juniors attended their respective class trips on Aug. 24. The sophomores went on a ropes course trip while the juniors went rafting.

Sophomore advisories broke into four separate groups and participated in activities at several different ropes course sites: Apex, Chaminade, Koinonia and Walden West. After arriving at the ropes courses, students began the day playing team building activities and learning about the safety precautions before climbing the obstacles.

Students climbed many different obstacles that tested both their teamwork and courage.

The Giant’s Ladder is a huge ladder with different obstacles on each rung, and can only be successfully climbed in pairs. Other obstacles like the tightrope challenged the students’ balance and patience.

“This trip really helped with class bonding because obviously

you have to cooperate with your climbing partner, and you have to trust the belaying team to make sure you don’t come crashing down in the trees,” Ellen Guo (10) said.

Junior advisories travelled to Angels Camp, a city just east of Sacramento, on four different buses that left in the morning.

Students ate lunch upon arrival and and then listened to a safety talk by one of the rafting guides from O.A.R.S., the rafting company overseeing the trip.

Groups of seven to nine paddled with O.A.R.S. guides along the South Fork American River through class two and class three rapids, like the Captain’s Hook and the Devil’s Cesspool.

At certain parts in the river, students had the option to swim.

The rafts were towed to shore by a jet ski after passing the final rapid, where participants ate dinner. Juniors and their advisors returned to Blackford on four separate buses and arrived in the evening. Next year, the rising sophomores and juniors will participate in the same activities before the start of school on Orientation Day.

4

NEWS

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Students attend 9-day Swiss exchange program jin tuan reporter

Twelve Harker students travelled to Switzerland in June for the second part of the biennial Swiss exchange program after their buddies visited California months ago.

During their nine-day stay, students attended classes with their hosts at the College de Gambach in Fribourg, a secondary school, visited multiple parts of Switzerland and travelled to natural landmarks such as Blau-

ibourg, the hosts took the Harker students home. The next day, teachers and hosts joined the buddies on a visit to Bern. The second to last day was reserved for a day with the host families, and the last day saw hosts sending buddies off at the airport in the early afternoon.

Students who attended the trip to Switzerland considered it a valuable opportunity to hone their languages skills and experience a different culture.

“After taking French for

day that I went to school with [my buddy], we would end up going somewhere in the after noon, either to a voluteer placeor to meet with some friends, whereas when she came over here, I was like, ‘Sorry, I have to do tons and tons of homework.’”

Along with scheduled educational events, students had time to explore Switzerland on their own accord, taking trains into different towns and visiting their buddies’ friends.

“We spent a whole day on the lake by [my buddy’s] house,” said Annabelle Ju (10). ”During the weekends, everyone took trains and went with their buddies to whatever they had scheduled.”

According to the written responses of students looking back on this experience, these weekend trips that were not scheduled by the schools allowed some students to experience more freedom than usual.

“I think some students explored a different type of life there. They were being independent -- with their parties, they could just take a train to go to a different town, so I think for a lot of younger Harker students, it was quite an interesting experience of being more independent and free,” French teacher Galina Tchourilova said.

Many buddies were sure that they would stay in contact, even after the hugging and tearful goodbyes. Some students also assured each other that they would both be welcome in their homes in the years to come.

“I think for a lot of Harker students, it was quite an interesting experience of being more independent and free.”

GALINA TCHOURILOVA TRIP CHAPERONE AND FRENCH TEACHER see and other sites such as CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research) and a chocolate factory.

The Harker buddies began their trip in Fribourg, taking classes with their Switzerland hosts and going on a tour of the city. Before their departure to Gruyères to visit a castle and have some lunch, the buddies visited a chocolate factory, which was considered by many students to be a highlight of the trip. The next stop was Geneva, where students held a lakeside barbecue by Cern Meyrin.

After their return back to Fr-

about five to six years, I wanted more of a cultural experience with it, so I felt like going to Switzerland, which is an entirely different culture from what we’ve been learning so far, would be a really great opportunity,” senior Linus Li said.

Some Harker students were surprised by the more relaxed lifestyle and view of school in Switzerland.

“Mostly, I feel like we were really into their lifestyle because it was a lot more relaxed than ours,” senior Joanna Lin said.

“Overall, they have much less homework than we do. Every

Headlines from around the world eric fang

asst. news editor

Himalayan border dispute Tensions between the two large countries of India and China are high after the Chinese military pushed to build a road in the Doklam plateau, a disputed area claimed by Bhutan, a close ally of India.

Terror attacks across Spain A driver rammed their van into a large crowd gathered at Spain’s historic Las Ramblas street, a famous tourist attraction, and killed at least 13, injuring hundreds in Barcelona.

The driver escaped on foot and a manhunt is underway.

Yemeni airstrike Dozens of people were killed in an airstrike that hit a hotel just North of the city of Sanaa, the Yemeni capital Aug. 23. Al-Masirah TV, a network run by Houthi rebels, say the airstrike was targeting the rebels and blames a Saudi-led coalition.

North Korean Missile Tests The United Nations has unanimously condemned North Korea after it launched three medium range ballistic missile one of which flew over the country of Japan last week.

Citizens were ordered to take cover and the missile landed several hundred miles out in the Pacific Ocean.

Mudslide in Sierra Leone

KATHY FANG

A mudslide hit residents living on the outskirts of the Sierra Leone capital of Freetown, burying hundreds of people on August 14th after heavy rain hit the slopes of nearby mount Sugarloaf.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY GALINA TCHOURILOVA

EXCHANGE TRIP (TOP LEFT) Students and their buddies walked to lunch on the streets of Bern, the Swiss capital. (TOP RIGHT) Aryana Far (11) walks toward a traditonal reastaurant in Gruyeres, a town known for its cheese. (BOTTOM) Exchange students and chaperones pose for a picture in the airport as part of a program with the College de Gambach, a secondary school in the city of Fribourg. They were chaperoned by teachers Galina Tchourilova and Sejal Mehta.

GLORIA ZHANG

Egyptian funding cut The Trump administration cut nearly $100 million dollars worth of military and economic assistance and withheld $195 million dollars of aid from Egypt until it can improve their human rights records, according to the State Department.

Flooding in Mumbai At least five people have been killed after persistent heavy rains hit the Indian city of Mumbai. Amost 12 inches of rain has fallen on some parts of the city causing the roads and many houses to flood.

The economic crisis has been exacerbated by the current administration’s institution of a constituent assembly, reminiscent of the Supreme Court’s move to overtake the opposition-controlled National Assembly. Protestors complain of political corruption and government mismanagement. anvi banga & gloria zhang copy editor & asst. features

The Venezuelan government’s corruption and worsening economic conditions have incited many protests this year and since the start of Hugo Chavez’s rule in 2012.

During Chavez’s presidency, the government went over their budget and was completely dependent on oil revenues. Venezuela now has $10 billion in reserves, compared to the $30 billion in 2011.

Since 2006, Venezuela’s oil output has dropped by almost 1 million barrels a day, according to the International Energy Agency.

Plummeting oil prices caused Venezuela’s economy to crash, resulting in high inflation,

a lack of basic necessities and an increased crime rate.

“The basic problem in Venezuela is the same problems that affects humans all around the world, and it involves two things. One is greed and the other is power,” said Jeffrey Sheehan, former International Relations associate dean at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. “In the case of Venezuela, what kicked it off is petroleum. Before petroleum, Venezuela was a pretty obscure country, and when they discovered oil, suddenly it became wealthier. As often happens when oil is discovered in a country, only a very small percent of the population benefits from it, and that’s part of the power and greed.”

Chavez continued to prom-

WIKIMEDIACOMMONS

Government corruption in Venezuela leads to social unrest, protests VENEZUELA Medics and doctors protested on the streets of Venezuela last May. Protests erupted in Venezuela since the start of Hugo Chavez’s presidency due to an increase in poverty and government corruption.

ise impoverished citizens wealth.

Soon, shortages of food and water prompted Venezuelan citizens to respond with protests. “[Venezuelans] are protesting because they have no food, or money, and because they are living in extreme poverty with no work prospects. They are protesting because they want a government that works, and is not corrupt” Karina Tate, a Venezuelan citizen, said. “They want a country where they can work and better themselves and have money to eat and to live.”

Currently living in the U.S., Tate departed from her home country 20 years before the rule of Chavez.

“It wasn’t anywhere as bad as it is now. When I lived there I thought it was the most beautiful country in the world. Its beaches,

mountains, little quaint towns.”

Tate said. “I blame Chavez and the current government for making Venezuela what it is today.

‘When tyranny becomes law, rebellion is a right.’ Simon Bolivar.”

Citizens stood on the streets of Venezuela’s capital, Caracas, in mid-July, reacting to a delegate election proposed by current president Nicolas Maduro in order to rewrite the Venezuelan Constitution.

“On July 16, millions of Venezuelans overwhelmingly expressed – in a loud and clear voice – their rejection of a National Constituent Assembly designed to weaken democracy in Venezuela,” U.S. Department of State spokesperson Heather Hauret said in a press release.

“Nearly 234 years to the day after the birth of Simon Bolivar,

who fought for the freedom of the people of Venezuela, President Nicolas Maduro has cast aside the voices and aspirations of the Venezuelan people.”

Protesting government corruption, a group dressed in military uniform attempted to attack an army base near the city of Valencia on Aug. 6.

Five days later, President Trump mentioned potential United States’ military intervention in Venezuela.

“Most recently, I saw what appeared an effort to overthrow the government through a group of the military who were opposed to the president and tried to organize what seemed to be a coup d’etat.” Sheehan said.

VOLUME 19• ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Art. It’s the soft rustle of a curtain as it opens to reveal an elaborate set; it’s the scratch of a pencil as it creates words out of imagination; it’s the glide of a paintbrush as it colorfully sweeps over a blank canvas. It can be poignant or irreverent, heart touching or cynical.

But for some, it can also be powerful, a way to uproot the status quo.

OF THE PEOPLE prameela kottapalli features editor

From Theodore Gricault’s “Raft of the Medusa” to Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica”, art has challenged norms and addressesd sociopolitical issues for centuries. “Artistic activism” refers to a creative approach to advocacy and resistance, and many modern-day creators have drawn upon this form of expression to convey their ideas and opinions to the world.

“Art is always very tied to its time–it reacts to what’s happening,” Jaap Bongers, visual arts department chair, said. “Politically motivated artists–poets, playwrights, sculptors, singers– come in action in times of conflict and societal stress to create awareness, to fight propaganda with counter-propaganda.”

Florida-based maker and videographer Alessandra Mondolfi designs props for protesters to carry and wear during rallies and marches. Props like Mondolfi’s have been utilized extensively by activists to verbalize their convictions in resistance cam-

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creativeRESISTAN C

E

THE ART OF ACTIVISM Shafi, who is a writer and illustrator, creates positive affirmations art. “A lot of marginalized people who experience these things–sexual violence, racism, addiction–don’t find themselves repesented in the discource that surrounds these subjects,” Shafi said.

paigns across the country, from #BlackLivesMatter demonstrations to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Photos of marchers carrying signs printed with slogans have been circulated across media platforms, giving a face to the grass-roots movement.

“We as artists have the skills to create those visuals for the media to pick up, for our cause to be broadcast further,” Mondolfi said. “Historically, art has led social change.”

Other creators use the more traditional form of visual art as a medium of expression. Using their skills with everything from a paintbrush to graphic design tools, these artists convey potent messages and share important stories through their dynamic illustrations. Visual art and social activism have been intertwined for generations–artists ranging from Pablo Picasso to Andy Warhol to Banksy all shaped visual culture through their sociopolitical activism– but the rise of social media platforms enables creative minds such as writer-illustrator Hana Shafi to reach larger audiences.

Shafi, who is known in the art world as “The Frizz Kid”, combines poetic language with visuals to create both reactionary artwork that addresses sociopolitical issues and positive affirmations art that kindles solidarity and provides viewers with a sense of comfort and support.

“Half of it is creating aware-

“People look at the arts as something you do in your free time, but it’s an incredibly powerful weapon.”

BPRAMEELA K

FEATURES

JAAP BONGERS VISUAL ARTS DEPARTMENT CHAIR ness, but it’s also in support of diverse communities. I hope they gain a sense of healing by feeling included in art–knowing that they’re not alone,” Shafi said.

Literature has also served as a means of addressing critical issues throughout history. Authors like Olaudah Equiano who highlighted the injustices of the slave trade, political commentators like Lucy Stone who advocated for women’s suffrage and twentieth century activists like Audre Lorde who drew attention to the civil rights and feminist movements through literature– all these artists and more transcended the barriers of tradition through artistic narratives composed of political language.

Today, literary activists pursue their own paths of creative advocacy as their historic predecessors did. Many writers and artists have joined modern-day resistance movements–appearing at events such as the National Women’s March and the March for Science–and the art world has experienced a resurgence in activist writing–most significantly.

“People are so often ‘othered’, and literature can help break that down,” literary activist and author Lynn Melnick said.

“People are looking to anything

for answers, for explanation, for hope. Literature offers that hope, that outrage, that new vision for what the future could be.” While artists have been creating work that transcends sociopolitical boundaries for centuries, the rise of the internet and the pervasiveness of social media today contributes to the spread of activist knowledge and ideas.

“Before the internet and social media, people couldn’t communicate as well and marginalized groups were not included–people just weren’t aware,” Melnick said.

This change has been spearheaded by the artists who, by expressing political convictions and telling the stories of marginalized communities, have build a movement fueled by the power of creative thought.

“People look at the arts as something you do in your free time, as the act of producing pretty stuff–but it’s not just that,” Bongers said. “It’s an incredibly powerful weapon.”

Shuttleworth completes summer charity ride across US, raising $5595 for MS

(ABOVE) The group presents a check of $10,000 to a MS organization in Virginia. Proceeds raised from the trip support those affected by MS.

kathy fang & nina gee photo editor & reporter

After two months of biking through lush farmlands dotted with livestock and llamas, arid canyons dotted with wildlife and forested mountain ranges, upper school English teacher Charles Shuttleworth has finally returned from his transamerica bike trip, raising a total of $5,595 for multiple sclerosis (MS) charity.

Spanning 3,785 miles from Yorktown, Virginia, to San Francisco, the trip, one of many organized by Bike the US for MS, fundraises for MS research. According to the National Library of Medicine, MS is a chronic disease that targets the central ner-

vous system and disrupts communication between the brain and the body. Symptoms vary from numbness to paralysis or loss of vision.

“The MS charity is an important one to me because a close member of my family has had MS for 30 years, and I know what she’s gone through,” Shuttleworth said. “There’s really been a lot of MS research over the years, and if the drugs they have now were available then, she might have had a very different life.”

The group ranged from recent college graduates to retirees, along with four ride leaders and a support team, which followed the bikers along the way and carried their supplies. Some of the riders were completely

new to biking, whereas other riders, like Shuttleworth, had biked across the country before with other organizations such as the American Lung Association.

“Everyone in the group was of totally different age ranges, different experience levels, and we helped each other out,” rider Gabriella Giacona said.

The riders stayed at various buildings and campsites along the way, ranging from a firehouse to areas designated for cross-country bikers.

“A typical day for me was getting up at 5:30, getting on the road by about 6, finding breakfast so that by about quarter of 7 I was riding,” Shuttleworth said. “My idea was to get the riding done because in the afternoon it gets hotter, the wind gets stronger and there is a chance of thunderstorms.”

Along the way, the group participated in various volunteer and community service activities, such as doing yard work for a woman diagnosed with MS. “People who have MS [are] very physically limited, and so we were able to do some things for them that they weren’t able to do themselves,” Shuttleworth said. “We could clean the yard, and we were doing weeding and cleaning of outdoor patio furniture. Nothing too big, but it was really appreciated, and I think

we all came away with pretty good feelings about that.”

According to their website, Bike the US for MS has raised a total of $420,596 this year between five different routes, with the TransAmerica trip raising $105,531. Mr. Shuttleworth himself has raised $5,595 through online donations contributed on his behalf. Some of the money goes to support the riders, and the rest goes to help fund MS research and families affected by MS. “I think it’s really worthwhile doing charity work, doing community service work, and I think the important thing there is to find some community service work that suits you,” Shuttleworth said. “This was sort of perfect for me because I was doing something I love and at the same time it really was a positive contribution.”

To donate to multiple sclerosis research, scan the QR code:

“People who have MS [are] vey physically limited, and so we were able to do some things fo them. Nothing too big, but it was really appreciated, and we all came away with pretty good feelings about that. I think it’s really worthwhile doing charity work, and I think the important thing is to find community service work that suits you.”

BIKE THE US FOR MS

PROVIDED BY CHARLES SHUTTLEWOTH

In this repeating features segment, the Winged Post profiles an upper school faculty member.

This issue, English teacher Charles Shuttleworth discusses his cycling trip across America.

CHARLES SHUTTLEWORTH ENGLISH TEACHER AND AVID CYCLIST

FEATURES

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VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

FROM PACKAGE TO PLATTER Behind the scenes of kitchen staff

90,000 meals a month. 18 staff members. 9 lunch options daily. 25 meals prepared weekly for the Stand Up for Kids program. Each kitchen staff day starts as early as 7 a.m. and ends by 3 p.m. Approximately 1,000 mouths to feed daily.

COOKIN’ TIME The kitchen staff serves and prepares platters of food beyond the Chef’s Grill window. The staff produces 90,000 meals a month.

FALAFEL FUN Prep cook Christine prepares falafel balls for the lunchtime sandwich bar. The kitchen staff consists of 18 members.

everything’s in its place, everything has a place, so it is being organized––that’s the most important thing,” Executive Chef Stephen Martin said. “We base all our production on being or ganized and using fresh ingredients and batch cooking.”

Producing approximately 90,000 meals a month for school lunches, staff meals, and catering, the kitchen staff is the powering factor behind the Harker community, making sure that fresh, nutritious food is provided to faculty and students every day.

“It’s rather relaxed because we have everything prepared, we have a set time, we know how many students are here so we always do the same amount,” Daniel Arenas, a former kitchen intern, said.

Head chef Stephen Martin offers the other members of the

New faculty join upper school neil bai & mahika halepete Aquila copy editor & lifestyle editor

The upper school welcomes new faculty into the school community.

PROVIDED BY CARMELA TEJADA

Carmela Tejada: Spanish Carmela Tejada was born in Lima, Peru and joined the language department to teach level 3 and level 4 Spanish. Tejada received a graduate degree at Stanford and worked there before hearing about Harker. She wanted to join Harker because of its good location and strong academic reputation.

“I have heard many things about you guys, very driven but also very kind, [which is] more important than academics. I am eager to, hopefully, have the opportunity to do some volunteer work with students, elementary school students and see if we can do that,” she said. “Kindness is part of our values, I am excited about that and also about working with the other Spanish teachers. This is a very strong team.”

Scott Odekirk will be teaching Introduction to Debate, Intermediate Speech, Intermediate Congressional Debate, Competitive Speech and Competitive Debate this year. Odekirk used to teach at Copper Hills High School in Salt Lake City before coming to Harker. Before that, he coached college debate for ten years mainly at Idaho State University. He also competed in debate

events during his high school and college years. Outside of school, Odekirk spends most of his time taking care of his daughter, but when he has free time, he either golfs or watches NBA basketball and is huge Utah Jazz fan. “[Harker] is a great place to be a teacher,” Odekirk said. “For a teacher, this place is wonderful. The amount of support, resources, school philosophy, everything is just fantastic for a teacher, but I think the thing I was most excited about… is to dig in with the students.”

Agnes Pommier will be teaching French 1, French 3 and French 3 Honors this year. Madame Pommier previously taught at Fremont Union High School and Homestead High School. She was born in France and first pursued a business degree, working 11 years in finance for companies such as Louis

Vuitton before switching careers.

“I want [my students] to be confident and patient with themselves that they can really reach the next level of proficiency in their speaking skills, because learning a foreign language is not as easy as a math or science subject,” she said. “I want to tell them to… also be open to the cultures of French countries, not all France but Quebec and West Africa, Northern Africa, exploring the French-speaking world.”

Additional faculty:

Triya Seshadri will join the upper school faculty as a part time economics teacher. Jonah Alves will join the counselling office team.

HARKER DIRECTORY

Scott Odekirk: Speech and Debate

PROVIDED BY AGNES POMMIER

Agnes Pommier: French

kitchen staff the opportunity to participate in creating the unique array of recipes and menus.

“A lot of times, we don’t have standardized recipes, we’ll have some Chef Steve recipes that have been here forever and we have people who have been here for a long time, so we created a unique style of creating recipes and menus,” Martin said.

The chefs work through the morning to prepare for the lunchtime rush, cooking the different foods and setting up tables. As the clock ticks closer to lunchtime, the chefs then make sure that the daily pizza is delivered and the pasta is ready. They finish preparations at about a half hour before lunch starts.

After lunch, the kitchen staff initiates their ritual clean up, closing each food station one by one. They rinse the dishes, sweep the floor, wipe down the

tables and countertops and start preparations for the next day.

The chefs decide whether they can repurpose any of the leftover ingredients the next day and dispose of any other leftovers.

Once a month, the chefs prepare a meal for 20 children and 5 staff members as part of a program called Stand Up for Kids, an organization which offers aid to homeless teenagers.

“We prepare a dinner for them once a month, and, if we have any leftover foods from various caterings, we call them and supply their facility for the

Want to watch the kitchen staff in action?

Visit www.harkeraquila. com for multimedia!

The beauty of school

Senior reflects on back-to-school blues krishna bheda senior columnist

My light brown curls bounced and my light-up sneakers flashed as I strutted into the room, past the bright neon “Welcome to Kindergarten” sign. With my my mom’s hand in mine, I quickly scanned the room, soon to fling my arms around my mother’s waist because I had spotted an empty chair and was excited to sit down. After offering her smile, I ran and plopped myself down on a tiny blue chair that sat barely ten inches off the ground. I then started talking to a girl. After only meeting her for the first time, in a matter of moments, we were best friends, or as good of a friends as a four old can be with a girl she has just met.

It is now fall of 2017 and I am going to be a senior.

I still love the first week of school. I am not going to lie— school is tough. After a full day of school and a two hour musical practice, going home to four hours of homework is not the most appealing idea. Even though I dread homework and often feel jaded after a long day, I still love high school because I have found the joy in waking up every morning and looking forward to all that I do.

To me, it’s the little moments that make school exciting. I still love the first week of school not only because I get to hug my friends for the first time in months and really catch up, but also because the smell of sharpened pencils and brand new books motivates me to learn. I also love getting to reinvent myself. As teenagers, we are still trying to figure out who

we are. Personally, I know that I am always changing and coming back to school each year gives me the opportunity to be who I want to be for the year. I get to make new impressions on people I haven’t seen in three months and on teachers who don’t know me.

Sure, last year you got in a fight with your friend, and your favorite teacher gave you detention, or the girl you liked didn’t go with you to homecoming– but now, it’s a new year and a fresh start, and that is the beauty of back to school.

I look forward to the apprehension and excitement of finding out that my best friend is in my Statistics class or being excited to make a new friend, as I always have ween.

As a seventeen-year-old, sometimes it is harder to walk up to people I don’t know and be best friends with them in a matter of minutes; however, just as I did when I was five, I have found the little things that make me enjoy coming back to school.

PROVIDED BY MONISHA BHEDA

videographers

A chef adds salt to the tub of steak-cut fries and begins shoveling the thickly-cut slices into small paper containers. 16 of the 18 busy members of the upper school kitchen staff hustle around the kitchen, delicately but efficiently placing plates of

steaming salmon in neat rows on the shiny counter as they await the mob of hungry students to rush into Manzanita Hall.

The kitchen staff value preparation and understand its importance especially in the culinary world.

“The most important thing in culinary terms is called mise en place [and] it means [that]

ALL PHOTOS NERINE UNAYIK

ashley jiang & nerine uyanik

LIFESTYLE

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VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

prameela kottapalli features editor

Amanda Marmor’s photography career began in an unconventional way. Like many artists of the profession, she had always enjoyed it as a hobby, but it wasn’t until she was locked in a building with dozens of college students that she truly discovered her passion for telling people’s stories through the lens of her camera.

At the time, Marmor was an undergraduate majoring in journalism at San Francisco State University. She and her fellow reporters were covering a demonstration led by students protesting a tuition-inflating administrative decree, and at one point during the rally, the protesters occupied a building. As the in-house reporter, Marmor decided to take it upon herself to document what was happening.

“I was the only journalist inside with them,” Marmor said. “ I was locked in the building for hours, and everybody was relying on me to report this story. I knew I was in the right field, because I wasn’t scared of any of these things; I was there to photograph and tell the story.”

Marmor’s days of serving as a university reporter taught her how to stay calm while photographing high-energy situations. In the following years, she moved to New York City and took her love for photography to greater heights through her career as a freelance photojournalist.

Her visuals have been published across prominent media platforms, including CNN, The Huffington Post, NPR and the hip-hop news magazine XXL, and she features her work in various group art exhibitions across New York. Marmor also often utilizes social media to expand her artistic influence. She runs two Tumblr blogs–one dedicated to all types of street photography and one intended specifically for political photojournalism–and frequently uploads pictures to both.

While Marmor shoots everything from political demonstrations to community events, a recurring theme in all of her work is human nature. As a street photographer, Marmor’s

A PHOTOJOURNALIST?

PICTURE PERFECT Amanda Marmor photographs a woman participating in a cultural celebration in the heart of New York. As a street photographer, Amanda’s main subjects–and her favorite subjects–are the people of New York City.

ALL PHOTOS AMANDA MARMOR

“I was the only journalist inside with them. I was locked in the building for hours, and everybody was relying on me to report this story.”

AMANDA MARMOR PHOTOJOURNALIST photography focuses on the ordinary individual.

“I like to think of street photography as being a historian’s partner, capturing a visual representation of what’s happening right now,” Marmor said.

“It could be anything as small as somebody crossing the street or somebody walking their dog, or as big as capturing the vocal resistance of what’s happening in the country.”

The most significant aspect of photography to Marmor is portraying reality. In visually representing the truth of the moment, Marmor aims to depict the world as it is.

“I hope to convey how people are actually feeling right now, how people’s raw emotions are right now- the anger, the sadness, the happiness on their face,” Marmor said. “Words are

incredibly important, but without a visual aid, people’s emotions can get lost.”

Much of Marmor’s subject matter centers around daily interactions between individuals, but the face-to-face interactions she has with the people she photographs–particularly in an environment as richly diverse as New York City–hold special meaning to her.

“I get to learn about different people, their cultures, their ideas. They let you into sensitive areas of their life, and they really open up to you,” Marmor said.

“As soon as someone gets comfortable with a camera in front of their face, they let you see who they really are. That’s my favorite part of it all.”

To read more about the life of world-class photojournalists, visit www.harkeraquila.com.

Summer TV and movie recap sahana srinivasan

New seasons, series and movies hit screens

editor-in-chief

NEW YORK, NEW FACES (TOP) Amanda Marmor photographs a performer at a private concert. (BOTTOM) A young girl stares down New York’s “Fearless Girl” statue. Marmor’s favorite part of being a photographer is the connections she forms with her subjects.

Talk Around Campus

First day of school traditions jenna sadhu

WIKIIMEDIA COMMONS

aquila broadcast editor

WIKIIMEDIA COMMONS

SHADOWHUNTERS

WIKIIMEDIA COMMONS

THE BOLD TYPE

WONDER WOMAN

Based on Cassandra Clare’s book series, Shadowhunters depicts a world of angels and demons, vampires and werewolves, magicians and fairies, and the part-human, part-angel Shadowhunters that attempt to keep a fantastical world in order and separate from the rest of society.

The show had a lot to prove in its first season in 2016, following an unsuccessful film adaptation of the books in 2013.

With the plot often falling

back on a kidnapping gimmick and the stakes of the main characters’ quests lacking the amount of gravitas necessary, the show falls relatively flat. This show provides no great acting moments or scenes, often feeling like everyone is trying too earnestly. Nevertheless, it has just enough action and drama that it was quite easy to binge and to entertain, although source of great reflection it is not.

This show came recommended by significant internet hype about its abundance of feminism and focus on female friendships. Inspired by Cosmopolitan magazine and its former editor-in-chief, the show focuses on three twenty-something women working in the magazine, and admittedly does portray a diversity of characters and perspectives.

The show’s no-holds-barred, frank discussion of oft-over-

looked topics like breast cancer gene testing, menstruation and all facets of sexuality is refreshing, and the healthy and supportive friendship between the three main characters binds the show together. It’s unique in today’s TV landscape and all the better for it.

If you’re looking for feminism, for representation, or for light, frank fun, this is the show for you, but a binge-worthy drama it is not, nor does it try to be.

Wonder Woman was a whole lot of firsts in the superhero film industry: first directed by a woman, first in 10 years and first female solo film in the Marvel and DC franchises.

It also had a markedly different pace and type of storytelling than most 21st century superhero films. Diana’s combination of innocence, heroic aspirations, conviction and inherent desire to do good for humanity makes the movie a breath of fresh air.

Although the ending escalates into a generic (and admittedly disappointing) superhero ending, Diana stays the same character she was before, one who can just as easily praise ice cream vendors as a she can defeat her enemies and one who unashamedly values love as a triumphant asset. Her complexity is admirable and her transformation into Wonder Woman proves a thrill to watch.

Q: Do you have any yearly traditions for the first day of school?

“I always take a picture with my brother for the first day of school, and my mom puts the picture in a timeline in one photo book.”

- Abha Patkar (12) “In the morning I go to Starbucks with my friends from other schools. Since I moved schools, we decided to do it so I could still keep in touch with them.”

- Meona Khetrapal (9)

“I try to start a new fashion trend but it never works out.”

- Victor Shin (12)

“I try and talk to as many new people as I can.”

- Isabella Spradlin (12)

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FIRST AMENDMENT

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

“CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF; OR ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH, OR OF THE PRESS; OR THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE, AND TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES.” - THE FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE U.S CONSTITUTION

Alt-right protests follow removal of Confederate statues rose guan

Wingspan designer and sr. writer

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Nationwide controversy emerged surrounding the extent and limitations of the First Amendment after a white supremacist “Unite the Right” protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12.

While white supremacists held rallies in Charlottesville in May and July, the August demonstrations — both in Charlottesville and later throughout the nation — were larger-scale, with the exception of a few where the number of counter-protesters dwarfed that of the protestors.

The stated purpose of the Charlottesville rally was to protest the June renaming of Emancipation Park from Lee Park and the planned removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee from the park, where it has stood since 1924.

Violence at the rally began when protesters marched through the University of Virginia campus chanting white supremacist slogans on Aug. 11; when they met counter-protesters, several on both sides sustained minor injuries.

On the planned rally date the next day, white nationalists, some holding Confederate flags or anti-Semitic posters, again clashed with counter-demonstrators in Emancipation Park. Chaos and attacks including chemical sprays

caused the city to declare a state of emergency due to the unrest.

The protest resulted in three deaths and 35 injuries. A man, later charged and identified as James Alex Fields Jr., drove through a crowd of counter-demonstrators on Aug. 12, injuring 19 and killing one, and a state police helicopter crash resulted in the deaths of two law enforcement officers later in the day.

Five protesters assembled for the rally were caught on video committing aggravated assault against a black man, DeAndre Harris. On Aug. 25, Daniel P. Borden was charged with malicious wounding in connection to the assault, and a wanted poster was issued for Alex Michael Ramos.

Since the events in Charlottesville, numerous protests and counter-protests had been organized around the country in cities including Boston, Seattle and New York City.

On Aug. 25, the Friday before two right-wing rallies in San Francisco and Berkeley were intended to take place, organizers cancelled, following pushback from locals.

The organizer of the San Francisco rally stated that he does not support white nationalism and the rally was intended for free speech.

However, both rallies received pushback from locals after the violence at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville.

(COUNTER)PROTESTS (TOP) Protestors and police come into contact at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville on Aug. 12. (BOTTOM) Counter-protestors stand with posters outside the White House in Washington D.C. on Aug. 13 in the aftermath of the Charlottesville rally’s violence.

First Amendment Timeline

1969

The Supreme Court ruled it is unconstitutional for the state board to require students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in public school. The justices established that students in public schools did still retain their constitutional rights.

1943

The extent of First Amendment protections in schools has often been a subject of court cases tha venture as high as the Supreme Court.Most cases relate to students’ rights to expression when in a school environment.

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District

West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

The Supreme Court set the precedent of constitutional protection of nondisruptive symbolic speech. The case was prompted by public schools in Des Moines, Iowa, that suspended five students who wore black armbands to school as symbolic protests of the Vietnam War.

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FIRST AMENDMENT VOLUME 19 ISSUE 1 • SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

THE FIRST AMENDMENT GUARANTEES FIVE FREEDOMS: RELIGION, SPEECH, THE PRESS, PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY AND PETITION. RECENT ALTRIGHT PROTESTS, THE REMOVAL OF CONFEDERATE STATUES IN THE SOUTH AND INCREASINGLY TENSE POLITICAL DISCOURSE HAVE ALL INVOLVED AT LEAST ONE THROUGH VIOLATION, SUPPORT OR CRITICISM.

Protests spur free speech debate Experts weigh in on First Amendment protections nicole chen & rose guan

KAITLIN HSU

Aquila features editor & Wingspan designer and sr. writer

1988

1982

MICHAEL MCCONNELL DIRECTOR OF CONSTITUTIONAL LAW CENTER, STANFORD LAW SCHOOL The First Amendment also does not give protections to “fighting words”: speech that can lead to rioting or injury. “[The First Amendment] has exceptions for fighting words, which [are] words that is just intended to basically aggravate someone and incite violence,” said Lata Nott, executive director at the Newseum Institute’s First Amendment Center. “Although there are a lot of private organizations and platforms that ban hate speech from their platform, the First Amendment does not ban or outlaw hate speech.”

Cancellation of controversial speakers’ events across the nation due to worries about injury has led to uneasiness over what officials can consider a potential safety risk. “[Officials] can’t deny you a permit based on what your group stands for, but [they] can deny someone a permit for rational nondiscriminatory reasons,” Nott said. “What some people argue is that you can deny someone a permit if you think it’s go-

Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier

The Supreme Court held in a split opinion, 4-4-1, that the First Amendment restricts the ability of school district officials to remove or censor school library books, from the libraries or from class curriculums, because of disagreements with the books’ content.

ing to be too much of a safety risk, and that’s something that people argue when it comes to controversial speakers and controversial groups. The problem with that is that you can take that pretty far, and we can see that if you use that reasoning, you would deny every controversial speaker a permit.”

Charlottesville government officials tried to relocate the August demonstrations’ permit to the larger McIntire Park, citing safety and organization issues, but rally organizers sued the city and obtained an emergency injunction on Aug. 11 allowing the protest to continue.

“There are restrictions that can be put on speech. The most commonly seen in the case of demonstration is whether or not the speech is going to incite a riot, incite unlawful conduct or cause physical harm,” Kotler said. “The only way that speech could have been shut down was if the authorities would have said that the speech was going

“What [Unite the Right protestors] are allowed to do is to meet and say what they’re saying. They have no constitutional right to be carrying shields and clubs and carrying weapons. They have no constitutional right to attack other people.”

Administrators attempted to remove two articles, one about divorce and one about teen pregnancy, from a student newspaper.

The Supreme Court ruled that administrators could censor public school student newspapers not previously established as forums for free expression. expression than the previous

to give rise to rioting or unlawful conduct or cause physical harm.”

The rally has also led to questions about the ethical role business leaders should take in politics.

Companies with web hosting services such as GoDaddy and Google discontinued the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer, one of the organizers of the rally, after the website published a derogatory article on Heather Heyer, the car crash victim.

Many believe that the Charlottesville rally and events like it will continue to spur discussion about the First Amendment and the extent of free speech at protests.

“These issues, they always come up when it comes to free speech,” Nott said. “It’s always the most awful speech that makes the news—the kind that goes to the Supreme Court, the kind we have to decide on— because that’s how we decide something: by the boundaries.”

Morse v. Frederick The Supreme Court ruled that the First Amendment did not protect a public school student’s right to display a sign referencing marijuana near but not inside the school, deciding that the school could legally restrict speech encouraging illegal durg use.

2007

Island Trees School District v. Pico.

People walk through your town to campaign against the renaming of a local park… while chanting white supremacist slogans, carrying weapons and waving signs attacking Jews.

Is this free speech? Are their actions protected by law? And what do you do?

Questions like these emerged along with nationwide controversy surrounding the extent and limitations of the First Amendment after a white supremacist “Unite the Right” protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 11 and Aug. 12.

While hate speech has been discussed before in context of the First Amendment’s protection, the events in Charlottesville brought it to the national eye.

“There’s no category ‘hate speech’ that falls outside the protection of the First Amendment. There are types of speech which might be colloquially described as hate speech that are unprotected,” said Michael McConnell, director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School. “Those categories are speech which is immediate incitement to violence, speech that is a direct threat to another person and a few other categories.”

The protest resulted in three deaths and 35 injuries. A mandrove through a crowd of counter-demonstrators on Aug. 12, injuring 19 and killing one, Heather Heyer, and a state police helicopter crash resulted in the deaths of two law enforcement officers later in the day.

Other attendees of the rally were also charged with assault.

Since the events in Charlottesville, numerous protests and counter-protests have been organized around the country in cities including Boston, Seattle, New York City and Berkeley, although rallies in San Francisco and Berkeley were later cancelled by their organizers.

President Donald Trump attributed inciting the violence to “many sides”, leading to criticism from many over his seeming equation of the protesters and counter-protesters. Trump recanted in a statement condemning racism, and later defended his original position.

“We play this game in the United States of moral equivalency: both sides are bad, both sides have merit,” said Jonathan

Kotler, an attorney and associate professor of journalism at the University of Southern California. “It’s wrong here because some things are worse than others. Some things have no redeeming value. Hate speech has no redeeming value. You have people up there protesting hatred; other people were there for the purpose of inciting hatred: not the same thing, not morally equivalent.”

Protesteros for and against the rally carried weapons, including sticks and firearms.

While Virginia state law allows open carry, the First Amendment does not protect violent assembly because it only limits laws affecting “the right of the people peaceably to assemble.”

“What they’re allowed to do is to meet and say what they’re saying,” McConnell said. “They have no constitutional right to be carrying shields and clubs and carrying weapons. They have no constitutional right to attack other people.”

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OPINION Editors-in-Chief Kaitlin Hsu Sahana Srinivasan

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

“Abridging the freedom of speech...”

Maintaining and cherishing First Amendment rights in Charlottesville’s wake

Managing Editor Maya Kumar News Editor Vijay Bharadwaj Features Editor Prameela Kottapalli Opinion Editor Derek Yen STEM Editor Katherine Zhang

Global Editor Eric Fang

Copy Editor Anvi Banga Anjay Saklecha Photo Editor Kathy Fang Adviser Ellen Austin, MJE Aquila Editor-in-Chief Meena Gudapati Sports Managing Editor Megan Cardosi Humans of Harker Managing Editor Melissa Kwan Wingspan Designer Rose Guan Aquila Staff

Neil Bai Krishna Bheda Nicole Chen Jenna Sadhu

Alex Wang Tiffany Wong Helen Yang Gloria Zhang

Humans of Harker Staff Ashley Jiang Nerine Uyanik Reporters

Zoe Sanders Alex Chen Arushi Saxene Karina Chen Kushal Shah Kaidi Dai Saloni Shah Michael Eng Arya Tandon Nina Gee Jin Tuan Farah Hosseini Anmol Velagapudi Vivian Jin Irina Malyugina Daniel Wang Jessie Wang Anika Rajamani Varsha Rammohan Aria Wong Anya Weaver Aditya Roy Sara Yen Aditya Singhvi Annamma Vazhaeparambil

Visit The Winged Post Online at www.harkeraquila.com Follow us on social media with the handle /harkeraquila

The Winged Post is published every four to six weeks except during vacations by the Journalism: Newspaper Concentration and Advanced Journalism: Newspaper Concentration courses at The Harker Upper School, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129.

The Winged Post staff will publish features, editorials, news, sports and STEM articles in an unbiased and professional manner and serve as a public forum for the students of The Harker School. Editorials represent the official opinions of The Winged Post. Opinions and letters represent the personal viewpoints of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Winged Post.

All content decisions are made by student editors, and the content of The Winged Post in no way reflects the official policy of The Harker School.

The opinions expressed in this publication reflect those of the student writers and not the Harker board, administration, faculty or adviser.

Letters to the Editor may be submitted to Manzanita 70 or emailed to wingedpost2017@ harker.org and must be signed, legible and concise. The staff reserves the right to edit letters to conform to Post style. Baseless accusations, insults, libelous statements, obscenities and letters that call for a disruption of the school day will not be considered for publication. Letters sent to The Winged Post will be published at the discretion of the editorial staff.

The Winged Post is the official student newspaper of The Harker School and is distributed free of cost to students.

2016-2017 Silver Crown-winning publication 2015-2016 Gold Crown-winning publication 2014-2015 Silver Crown-winning publication 2013-2014 Silver Crown-winning publication 2012-2013 Silver Crown-winning publication 2010-2011 Gold Crown-winning publication 2009-2010 Silver Crown-winning publication

FREE* SPEECH In the wake of the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, some have proposed making hate speech exempt from First Amendment protections. But what makes free speech valuable is the sheer diversity of opinions it fosters—even if some opinions are offensive.

EDITORIAL: THE OFFICIAL OPINION OF THE WINGED POST A white supremacist rally, “Unite the Right,” assembled to protest the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in a public park on Aug. 11-12 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Unite the Right demonstrators chanted anti-Semitic slogans, displayed Nazi and Confederate iconography and sported rifles, bludgeons, shields and armor. Counterprotesters came to oppose; in the violence that ensued, one of the white supremacists drove a car into a crowd of counterprotesters, killing one and injuring at least 19 others.

In the wake of Charlottesville, the nation has come to confront and ponder the removal of Confederate monuments, the continued and emboldened presence of white supremacist thought, and at the root of it all, the extent of First Amendment protections.

The Winged Post unequivo-

cally supports the current state of First Amendment rights, opposes any selective curtailment of free speech and condemns the Unite the Right rally’s efforts in undermining the free exercise thereof.

In its current form, the First Amendment affords broad but specific protections to free speech, but does not protect “fighting words” or the incitement of “imminent lawless action.”

DEFINITION

fighting words (pl. n): words that “by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace” Each of these proscribed categories has an incredibly narrow definition — the Supreme Court has never found reason to invoke fighting words clauses in any of the hate speech cases it has considered since 1942. But the actions of Unite the Right rallygoers are incendiary enough to constitute “fighting words,” a level which mere hate speech rarely achieves. The combined meaning of chanting Nazi slogans, displaying Nazi and Con-

federate insignias and brandishing weapons together can reasonably be considered to incite an immediate breach of the peace.

The Unite the Right protesters explicitly overstepped their First Amendment protections by instigating a breach of the peace and deliberately acting to inhibit others’ exercise of free speech through intimidation and violence. By arriving at the rally brandishing arms and intimidating counterprotesters, they inhibited detractors’ ability to willingly exercise their rights to free speech and assembly; and by engaging in violence, they forfeited their right to “peaceably” assemble.

But the violence and words of the Unite the Right protest should not be taken as cause to outlaw hate speech, as some commentators have proposed.

While well-intentioned, we oppose any such qualifications.

The virtue and strength of free speech come on account of its broad nature, and any abridgments would have fearful consequence.

Specifically, to enact a ban on hate speech would require a legal justification and vest the government with an un-

precedented power. With newly formed precedent and the semblance of popular sanction, an administration could extend further bans on free speech of a less morally justified nature. We ought fear vesting the Trump administration with these unilateral censorship powers: bans could be enacted on discussing Climate Change, LGBT rights or sex education, each with the very real justification that their discussion is legitimately offensive to many Americans.

Speech ought not be outlawed merely for being offensive, and the violence of Charlottesville in no way denotes a need to rescale First Amendment rights.

If anything, the popular backlash to the Unite the Right protesters manifested in counterprotests, popular condemnation and continued opposition all serve as evidence of the health and proper function of First Amendment rights. The current system allows for thoughts to be articulated — and if opposed, articulately challenged.

We uphold the extent of First Amendment rights and condemn the Unite the Right movement that prevented and perverted its exercise.

Conviction highlights legal system gaps in suicide cases katherine zhang STEM editor

In the last few years, a bevy of new technology and methods of communication have completely changed the way people communicate. It’s now much easier to share your life with others and foster new relationships online. On the other side, though, it has become much easier to influence others — especially to influence them negatively.

The last decade has seen a multitude of cases involving self-harm and suicide caused, at least in part, by the influence of social media and digital harassment. Many of these cases have been difficult to navigate: using a series of flat, two-dimensional texts or messages to discern the motives of a three-dimensional person can easily lead to incorrect or unsubstantiated conclusions. Moreover, court judges are still trying to adapt suicide cases to the strict right-and-wrong approach of codified law, struggling to pin the blame on one party or the other.

At what point does a verbal threat or message become a criminal offense?

This struggle came to light with the case of Michelle Carter, a 20-year-old woman who urged her boyfriend, Conrad Roy III, to commit suicide over text message. The underlying question that Massachusetts judge Lawrence Moniz had to answer was whether Carter’s actions were a crime.

Moniz’s verdict that Carter was guilty of involuntary manslaughter made waves across the country. A number of questions specific to the case have been raised — had Roy not committed suicide, would Carter have still been charged with a criminal offense? At what point does a verbal threat or message become a criminal offense?

Moreover, this case could set a precedent for future cases concerning suicide. The verdict essentially states that encouraging others to commit suicide can be punished as a crime, although Massachusetts has no law banning assisted suicide and the first amendment protects hate speech. It does not, however, protect “true threats,” the definition of which is loose but encompasses any speech that places the victim in fear of bodily harm or death. In general, verbal threats or messages become felonies or misdemeanors if they present clear and plausible threats to the victim’s mental or physical health or safety.

However, Carter’s encouragement of suicide doesn’t seem to fit clearly into the types of speech that are addressed in the laws we have now. They are not threats, and labeling them as manslaughter also seems extreme because it is impossible to discover how much Carter’s words impacted Roy and whether they ultimately caused his suicide.

Of course, few cases are so black and white that a verdict won’t be questioned. But the case should signal to legal experts who have been watching its proceedings that its murkiness and lack of clear legal guidance mean that we need a better way to tackle cases like this one. As tense as the discussion

around the case is, we can do much better than skirt around it and forget it once the fervor dies down. Instead, we should tackle the questions raised by this case.

We may find that suicide simply doesn’t fit into the legal system we have now because an issue so connected to human emotion is difficult to evaluate with codified law and a set of lawyers, judges and jurors who have little insight into the minds of the victim those involved. But whatever the result, this case only reinforces the fact that more thinking needs to be done about how cases like this should be judged.

FAST FACTS Supreme court cases about assisted suicide

Washington v. Glucksberg (1997) Upheld the constitutionality of a Washington statute preventing assisting a suicide; that the Due Process Clause does not protect the right to assistance in commiting suicide

Vacco v. Quill (1997)

Upheld the constitutionality of a New York ban on physician-assisted suicide; distinguished refusing treatment and assisting a suicide; argued that there is no constitutional right to die

Gonzales v. Oregon (2006)

Held that the Controlled Substances Act does not proscribe physicians from prescribing regulated drugs for use in physician-assisted suicide Source: supreme.justia.com

DEREK YEN

Lifestyle Editor Mahika Halepete

ROSE GUAN

Asst. STEM Editor Neal Sidhu

Editors’ Note: Represent and serve kaitlin hsu & sahana srinivasan editors-in-chief

Welcome to Volume 19 of the Winged Post! We, as your new editors-in-chief, look forward to continuing our publication’s tradition of journalistic ethics and excellence in coverage and to implementing changes to better represent and serve our community.

This year, issues of the Winged Post will have a single section of 16 pages, but our mission as a publication remains to cover all events and topics important to our community, both local and international, in an unbiased and holistic manner.

Furthermore, the global news section is returning after a two-year hiatus so that we can better represent important international events while localizing them to Harker’s interests.

We also encourage community members to submit pitches for our Heart of Harker opinion column about what they believe represents Harker, or what matters to them as a Harker student, faculty or staff member.

The Winged Post also accepts letters to the editor, in which readers can respond to or comment on any of our publication’s articles and be published in a subsequent issue. To submit a Heart of Harker pitch or a letter to the editor, please email wingedpost2018@gmail.com With only six more issues to go, we anticipate a year of informative discussion and community engagement with you, the readers.

OPINION

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VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Dialectic: Confederate Monuments

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In our recurring Dialectics, two authors with contrasting viewpoints will discuss an issue of prominence in the local or broader community. We hope to use these multiple views to provoke deeper thought among the student body and help readers explore new perspectives.

To some, Confederate monuments are memorials to a proud heritage and remembrance of historical fact; to others, a symbol of continued racism and oppression, and the dilution of the grim realities of slavery.

Columnist Krishna Bheda and Global Editor Eric Fang weigh these issues.

Winged Post: While some Confederate monuments were

43 Con-

federate monuments were created in 1911, during the Jim Crow era — the most ever dedicated in one year

dedicated during or soon after the Civil War, the majority were erected later. Should a distinction be made in how monuments are treated based on date of creation?

Though some All things creatstatues may have ini- ed should be cared tially been erected for. Regardless of for different purposes how old the monuin the past, what ments are, or what matters the most is what they they mean, they should be prerepresent in the present day. I am served because they do represent aware of a number of said stat- slavery and supremacists and ues being mass constructed to people need reminders of our justify the racist Jim Crow laws past; however again, they should which the civil rights movement be reminded of that in different sought to end. Because of this, settings, not in everyday life. these statues should be placed in museums to be learned from.

WP: Some people believe that Confederate monuments

The most Confederate monuments ever dedicated during the Civil War/Reconstruction era was 6 in

1866

represent their history and heritage — how should this be considered in dealing with the monuments?

The statues unThese statues doubtedly represent remind future genAmerican history and erations of past misheritage and that it takes and hurt and is right for the Amer- what to avoid in the ican people to learn and un- future. However, these statues derstand what the Confederate should be relocated to museums. leaders depicted by the statues If they are out on our streets, it did in their lifetimes. However, I is telling generations now that do not believe it is right for the white supremacy and slavery is people to revere and honor those what America stands for. Some that fought against the United make an argument that these States that we know today and statues represent southern pride, ultimately lost in the form of however that southern pride was statues in public parks. from the 1860s. The south can find new forms of pride.

eric fang & krishna bheda global editor & columnist

WP: How do you believe that the existence of Confederate monuments has contributed to the continued presence of white supremacist/nationalist attitudes?

Some may feel The Confederacy inspired when they stood for treachery see statues of peo- and inhumanity, and ple that fought for those statues repreracist groups such as sent that. By having the Confederacy because they them on streets, white supremamay think that today’s society cy has only been promoted. Most not only remembers racists after of our nation is united and not death but also secretly reveres racist, however there are still arthem through memorialized stat- eas that are heavily racist. The ues in public parks.buted signifi- murder in Charlottesville was an cantly to the numbers of white example and a cause of violence; supremacists, but I do think that thus only reinforcing the idea removing the statues will be a that these monuments are not step in the right direction. promoting anything healthy.

WP: How do you think removing Confederate monuments

would affect American white supremacy or nationalism?

Removing ConRemoving these federate statues will monuments will do little to sway those make a statement of that already identify unity and equality in as white nationalists, America, as well as but that over time there will be peace. It would show our citizens a decline in white nationalists that America does not stand with as people will no longer be able supremacists and, like the statto see Confederates, who fought ues, they need to go. Yes, once to keep slavery, depicted in such this is done, there will be more awe-inspiring statues in the pub- protests, and it is possible there lic. Instead, they can see these will be more violence, but makstatues in museums where they ing that statement nationwide is can be properly educated about the first step to creating a better what the people shown in the and safer America. statues did.

A Confederate monument was most recently dedicated in

2014

At least

700

Confederate monuments are on public property across America Source: Southern Poverty Law Center’s “Whose Heritage?” study

eart of Harker: the dawns and dusks In this repeating guest column, we encourage all writers from around the community to share their memorable experiences while at the Upper School.

Please email all column ideas to wingedpost2018@gmail.com.

praveen batra guest writer

It’s a special time to be at Harker: the year before the school’s 125th and the first with a new head of school and two new buildings. And it’s a special year for me as well—I am the youngest in my family and the last of three to attend Harker, and this will be my last year. I am therefore confronted by both beginnings and endings.

I have many memories of standing in the dark plaza outside the Mexican Heritage Theater after attending an orchestra concert or singing in

United Voices, struggling to coordinate with my parents to arrange transport home. I’ve seen a play performed in the round at Blackford and sung in the intimate venue of Nichols Auditorium. So when the curtain rises for the first time on the new theater stage, I will be aware that even as a new age begins, some of my memories will cease to be part of the Harker experience as it is and will instead become snapshots of the Harker experience as it was.

These memories will not be the first, nor the last, to become a part of history. Harker has seen changes to its name and nature over its many decades, and continual transformation even in

the short time since my eldest brother set foot on campus. He witnessed the institution of the laptop program at the middle school for the first time, the opening of Nichols Hall and the Singh Aquatic Center and the storied senior prank in which the Harker Homework Management System, or HHMS, was hacked. which is now only a memory.

The changes didn’t stop when I joined Harker. If anything, they accelerated. I witnessed the rise of PCR and Schoology, and I observed the disappearance of the eagle from the Winged Post and of parking from the Saratoga campus (the latter hopefully being temporary, the former like-

ly permanent). And, of course, I saw the opening of the gym.

For all the changes to the school that I have witnessed, the most substantial shift in my own life will occur at one of Harker’s most traditional ceremonies, graduation. I suspect that I have been to too many Harker graduations; my own will be the sixth that I attend, and by now I know the venue, format, and even opening music well.

The implications of a graduation as a time of beginning and ending are clear enough, so instead of articulating them I will add one last reflection. I’ve heard five graduation speeches delivered by our former Head

of School, Christopher Nikoloff.

I’ve learned from him to “see like a baby,” “love like a Labrador,” “let it go,” “get philosophical” and “sing in the lifeboats.”

But for my own graduation, I will hear the words of our new head of school, Brian Yager. In one sense this is an ending to the speeches I am accustomed to.

But in another sense, of course, it is a beginning.

Praveen Batra is a senior. In his free time, he enjoys playing ragtime music on piano and obsessing over the latest Apple products.

kathy fang photo editor

Chemistry homework, check. English essay, check. Destress and relax—not quite.

In the bustling whirlwind of academic commitments and extracurriculars, a to-do list seems indispensable. A survey conducted by LinkedIn found that 63 percent of professionals use to-do lists. How else are you supposed to remember to finish that history project and study for the math test next week? Not only does a list remind you of unfinished assignments, it also wards off any temptation to procrastinate, and at the end of a long day, the feeling of checking something off a list is satisfying beyond words.

However, the very perks and benefits of a to-do list can also be agents of stress. A study conducted by psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik demonstrated that we are 90 percent more likely to dwell over the tasks we have not completed than we are over the tasks we have, leading to persistent feelings of unfulfillment and anxiety. Seeing a list of all the unfinished tasks in front of us only intensifies those feelings.

There is also value in unstructured thoughts and spontaneity, which a to-do list cannot provide. While spur of the moment impulses appear to be a hindrance to productivity, some of the greatest discoveries and works of art were products of time spent in leisure.

That is not to say that to-do lists are not conducive to pro-

ductivity. Without them, it would be too easy to forget to finish that history project and study for the math test next week. But as Zeigarnik’s research suggests, overreliance on to-do lists can lead to stress. The secret to effective time-management lies in the delicate balance in between.

In this case, the balance lies in how much you trust yourself to remember everything that you need to do. Try to avoid looking through the list after you make it, then see how many of the tasks you complete by yourself by making a “done” list at the end of the day. Not only will you develop time-management skills, you will also avoid the stress and anxiety that comes with overusing a to-do list, and eventually, you might find time to check off “de-stress and relax.”

KATHY FANG

Productivity: to-do list, or not to-do list?

STEM

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VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Exposed permafrost thaws due to higher temperatures.

GLOBAL

CO MM ON S

RESET

WIK

IME DIA

Part 15 of an ongoing series

TIP OF THE ICEBERG Temperatures likely to reach Paris accord limits

FAST FACTS

2016 was the second-hottest year on record.

NG ER INE ZH A KA TH

MO CO M IME DIA WIK

also looked to an estimated temperature rise of two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels as the point of no return and acknowledged that limiting temperature rise to 1.5 degrees would be ideal.

Many scientists feel that the most viable method for curbing global temperature increases is a combination of switching to

to 1.5 degrees could avert a complete melting of the arcetic and help preserve the Amazon rainforest and Siberian tundra.

reporter & Aquila asst. STEM editor

PHOTOS PROVIDED BY ROXANA YANG

Floes, which are likely to melt. Arctic ice is declining at a rate of 13.3% per decade.

Limiting temperature increase

nina gee & helen yang

TEAMS TEAM (TOP) Sophomores Vani Monhindra, Sachin Shah, Cynthia Chen, Allison Jia, Jacqueline “Jackie” Yang, Emily Liu and Eileen Li pose with their trophy. (LEFT) Teams work on the contest at the national conference. Over 1200 people attended this year’s national competition.

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hotter environment, while crops in places with a lot of hunger — Africa, India, Central America — are hurt.”

On the other hand, a 1.5-degree temperature increase could avert a complete melting of the Arctic, which is almost certain to occur with a two-degree increase. Currently, the melting of permafrost, a layer of frozen plants and organic matter, also poses problems as the organic material will release carbon dioxide into the air.

Limiting the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees could also preserve ecosystems such as the Amazon rain forest, the coral reefs and the Siberian tundra.

It could also prevent complete inundation of low-lying land by rising sea levels.

With the signing of the Paris climate accord, country leaders

With two degrees of warming, areas in Asia and areas near the Persian Gulf are projected to become uninhabitable without air conditioning.

Sophomores succeed at national TEAMS competition in Orlando

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This year marked a change in attitudes towards climate change - no longer is it an issue of the future. As evidenced by the urgency of the Paris climate accord, leaders and legislators have followed scientists and activists in tackling the threat of climate change. The questions that remain concern how much warming Earth can stand before certain areas become uninhabitable.

This past year has been marked by climbing temperatures, rapid consumption of fossil fuels and increasing reports of extreme weather events like droughts and floods. 2016 was the second hottest year on record. Areas such as Louisiana faced catastrophic floods, while the Californian drought raged on. These conditions are only projected to worsen if people do not work to curb carbon dioxide emissions.

“If we do nothing to fight climate change, in twenty years we’ll see a lot more of drought and floods,” said Dawn King, a lecturer at the Institute at Brown University for Environment and Society. “These changes might not happen in every geographical area... but low-lying island regions like Miami and New Orleans are going to be impacted.”

At some point in the near future, the Earth will reach a tipping point at which catastrophic climate events will force humans to greatly adjust their ways of living in order to survive.

This idea is based on the concept of equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS), a measurement of how global temperatures will respond to a doubling of carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere that offers a way of estimating how much global temperatures will change over

a certain amount of time. In last September’s report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that the current ECS is a temperature increase of anywhere from 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.

Determining a concrete value for ECS is difficult due to the amount of factors that affect the progression of climate change and global warming. For example, feedback mechanisms like clouds, which can both cool by blocking out sunlight and warm by absorbing heat energy from space, may either help or harm the planet.

What many scientists do agree on is that regardless of the ECS value, a temperature increase of two degrees Celsius will result in sea level rise, melting of the ice caps, extreme weather events and decreased viability of agriculture, among other issues that encompass all spheres of civilization, from economy to environment.

According to a 2016 study

by Nature, with two degrees of warming, areas of Southwest Asia and areas near the Persian Gulf are projected to become uninhabitable without air conditioning. Food crops would also be significantly less viable at two degrees as compared to 1.5 degrees.

“Cropping frequency may change with longer frost-free periods and warmer weather on average increasing the number of crops that can be grown in certain areas, but in other cases making certain regions hostile to non-irrigated crop production,” said Christopher Seifert, a PhD student at the Stanford Center on Food Security and the Environment. “Overall, food crops in already food secure areas like Canada, Russia, and the Northern Europe may benefit from a

IME DIA

STEM editor

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katherine zhang

Carbon is released into the atmosphere as permafrost thaws.

A team of Harker sophomores won several awards in the national TEAMS competition this June in Orlando, Florida.

TEAMS, which stands for Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science, is a national competition for middle and high schoolers consisting of three main components: Written Essay, Prepared Presentation, and Problem Solving. This year, the teams focused on the theme, “Engineering the Environment.”

50 teams competed against Harker in the freshman/sophomore division, with the national competition drawing more than 1,200 people.

The Harker team, composed of captain Jackie Yang (10), Allison Jia (10), Cynthia Chen (10), Eileen Li (10), Emily Liu (10), Sachin Shah (10), Vani Mohindra (10) and Kyle Li (10), who only participated in the state competition, placed second in California. Only 0.6 points away

from first place, the team qualified for the national round.

“The problem solving part at nationals is an engineering part and a math part, and obviously Harker has a bunch of great math students,” team captain Jackie Yang (10) said. “Actually, for the problem solving part we did a lot of practice engineering things during the school year.”

At nationals, the Harker team placed first in Problem Solving, fourth in the Best in Nation overall, and eighth in Prepared Presentation.

“I think it was a bit of luck,” Cynthia Chen (10), a member of the team, said, “but we also were pretty prepared. We did practice multiple choice from previous years and we also did sample engineering challenges.”

Teams wrote in-depth essays based on research conducted on the topic released, and presented it. At nationals, the teams were allotted 90 minutes to complete 25 college level math questions and to construct the most efficient air debris filter possible using designated materials. Each team was given space

forms of renewable energy and extracting carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

A two-degree temperature increase will result in sea level rise, melting of the ice caps and extreme weather events.

to work on, and both the math questions and the design challenge were done simultaneously.

Team members split up tasks in order to finish both parts of the contest in the time allotted.

Teams qualified for the national competition through a state-level competition. This year, several Harker teams competed in a regional competition was held at the Harker upper school on Feb. 25. High-scoring teams from across the state then had the option to compete in the national competition.

The regional competition consisted of an 80-question multiple choice round, a pre-written essay and a design challenge.

During the challenge, contestants had to design a robotic arm that could pick up a water bottle from a distance.

The 2018 state-level TEAMS competition will take place between Feb. 12 and Mar. 18, and will explore topics such as light pollution, solar power, and global health. The national competition will also be held next June.

STEM

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VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

Summer research brings new opportunities anika rajamani & katherine zhang reporter & STEM editor

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STUDENT SCIENTISTS (TOP) Arindam Ghosh (12) conducts daily lab work at his laboratory. (LEFT) Rahul Bhetanabotla (12) presents his work members of SIP. (RIGHT) Maxwell Woehrmann (12) tests his research with his partner, senior Katherine “Kate” Chow (not pictured).

news editor & copy editor

Students partook in various research projects over the past summer, working in internship programs and participating in research.

“I worked on finding driver mutations for the alternative lengthening of telomerase pathways in cancer cells,” Rahul Bhethanabotla (12), who took part in the UC Santa Cruz Summer Internship Program (SIP), said. “I thought the research that I did was interesting. It was definitely informative ... but most of all I think it was very useful in actually helping people fight cancer.”

Some students found their summer internships through

emailing professors at various labs, asking to work under their mentorship for the summer “I looked up the certain area of research I was interested in at local universities like San Jose State, Stanford, and UCSF,” Eric Jeong (12) said. “I looked at each professor’s individual research and wrote about how each professor’s research interested me. Ultimately Stanford’s program impressed me the most, and I was happy I chose that university.”

Some students had remarkable research experiences that defied their initial expectations.

Joanna Lin (12), who also par-

ticipated at SIP, worked on the relationship with brassica plants and pierid butterflies and their categories.

“It definitely was a surprise for me because I’m used to being in class where our teacher preps all of our experiments and our labs,” Joanna said. “Here, we had to come up with our own protocol and experiment with it and troubleshoot it. Our reagents didn’t always work the way we wanted to, so we had to do a lot of troubleshooting, and sometimes we would spend a whole morning getting almost nothing done because of the trial and error.”

Junior Kelsey Wu participated in an internship at Stanford University to help create strength-based assessments for individuals with autism. She, too, had a unique opportunity through her research.

“My research experience was really rewarding,” Kelsey said. “I learned technical skills that I could have never learned in the classroom. For example, because of my interest in psychiatry and human behavior, I founded a choir for individuals with autism in 2014 and have been working with the choir ever since.”

Students who participated in different research curriculums this past summer gave advice to future participants.

“Whenever you are curious about a question, just ask your mentor,” Arindam Ghosh (12) said. “That will help you immensely during paper writing.”

“Definitely don’t get too frustrated when things don’t work out the way you want it to,” Joanna said. “There’s always ways to get results. There’s a quote by Thomas Edison that says ‘I haven’t failed. I’ve just found 1,000 other ways that won’t work.’ Just keep working on things until they work out.”

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Research reports for the 2017 Siemens Competition are due on Sept. 19. Semifinalists will be announced on Oct. 17 and regional finalists will be announced the following day.

There will be a Technical Writing workshop on August 31st for people writing papers for the Siemens and Regeneron competitions.

Research Trips

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Harker’s Human Ecology students spent 10 days in UC Davis, followed by 10 days in Alaska, researching the effects of ocean acidification on marine ecosystems and learning about the issue of sustainable farming.

Upper school students also travelled to Costa Rica and learned about conservation efforts and the impact of biodiversity.

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Permafrost Melting

TECH TALK

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The View from The Shard in London recently unveiled two virtual reality experiences, introducing this technology to entertainment.

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Solar eclipse sweeps across America tiffany wong aquila news editor

A technology firm in the US has designed a drone which has the ability to aim and fire at targets in mid-air.

Boeing announced that the company is projected to test fly the first pilotless plane. It will first be tested in a cockpit simulator.

Many accidental leaks have revealed some of the new features of Apple’s new iPhone 8.

Two minutes of awe were all that observers were hoping for when they tuned in to the skies on Aug. 21 to witness the Great American Eclipse, the first total solar eclipse visible in the contiguous United States since 1979.

Individuals within the eclipse’s path of totality, defined as the shadow of the Moon cast upon the surface of the Earth during a solar eclipse, were able to observe a total eclipse that day. The path of totality for this year’s eclipse stretched from the northwestern to the southeastern United States, with the first instance of totality in Oregon beginning at around 10:17 a.m. PST and the last in South Carolina beginning at around 11:42 a.m. PST. Observatories and museums nationwide hosted viewing parties for this year’s total solar eclipse.

In the Bay Area, Oakland’s Chabot Space and Science Center, Mountain View’s NASA Ames Research Center and San Francisco’s California Academy of Sciences were some of the venues that invited the public to watch the eclipse. Many organizations also offered and distributed eclipse glasses locally in efforts to promote safe eclipse viewing practices.

“Regular sunglasses, depending on the pair of sunglasses and whether they’re polarized or not, only block around 20 to 80 percent of the light that’s going through them. Eclipse glasses are made for eclipses and block about 99.9999 percent of that light,” Dr. Cameron Hummels, California Institute of Technology postdoctoral scholar in astronomy, said. “The sun is extremely hot—about five to six thousand degrees Kelvin—and it’s pumping out lots and lots of photons. Those photons can very quickly overwhelm the retina in your eye and start to do damage.”

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon either partially or fully obscures the sun and its light while passing between the Earth and the sun. Although solar eclipses only happen during new moon and the moon falls into its new moon phase around once every 29.5 days, the unique elliptical shape of the Moon’s orbit around the Earth, among other factors, prevents us from being able to witness a solar eclipse every month.

“The orbit of the moon is tilted to the plane of the Earth’s orbit around the sun. As a result, most of the time the moon either passes above the sun or below the sun at new moon,” Griffith Observatory astronomical observer Anthony

IK TOTAL ECLIPSE (LEFT) Eclipse tents at W an eclipse event in Oregon. Residents Permafrost in Alaska and and visitors alike gathered to see a other areas near the poles is total eclipse. (RIGHT) The eclipse, as viewed from California. California was currently melting. Researchers monitoring the melting say not in the eclipse’s path of totality.

Crook said. “It’s only about roughly once every six months that it crosses the plane of the Earth’s shadow at new or full moon. You can have more than two eclipses a year, but they’re roughly spaced out by six months.”

Eclipse season designates the period of time during which the moon and the sun are both at either of two lunar nodes, or points where the moon’s orbit around the Earth meets the Earth’s orbit around the sun.

Solar eclipses can happen anytime between two to five times a year, and a total solar eclipse is visible from Earth around once every 18 months, or around twice every three years. NASA predicts that on average, a total solar eclipse at any specified location on Earth occurs only once every 375 years.

“The Earth is rotating once a day on its axis, and often one is on the wrong side of the Earth to see the moon eclipse the sun—for example, no one in Europe, Asia or Africa [saw] this eclipse,” Columbia professor of astronomy Dr. David Helfand said. “The shadow of a total eclipse is only a few miles to maybe 100 miles wide, so any given place rarely gets the full shadow.”

For those who missed the Great American Eclipse, the next total solar eclipse will be visible to observers in Mexico and South America on July 2, 2018.

that by 2050, the frozen ground could completely thaw.

Permafrost, which consists of frozen plants and other organic matter, stores vast amounts of carbon. The melting will worsen the impacts of climate change by releasing this carbon into the air. As the organic matter thaws, the carbon will be converted to methane and carbon dioxide.

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Tropical Storm Harvey, which began as a tropical storm and strengthened into a hurricane before being re-classified into a Tropical Storm, has passed over multiple cities in Texas, where parts of the state have received over 50 inches of rainfall, and is moving over Louisiana.

Scientists attribute the unprecedented magnitude of the hurricane to the warm water in the Gulf of Mexico and a lack of wind in the upper atmosphere.

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“What I’m most excited about cannot really be quantified. What I’m talking about is school spirit. Big games will be played here with packed bleachers and a cohesive student body coming together as one. That’s what I’m excited about because those will be great memories that Harker athletes and all Harker students will carry with them forever.”

Upper school girls volleyball coach Theresa “Smitty” Smith dedicated the court to former Head of School Howard Nichols, revealing his name printed on the floor of the gym. “[The intent of the ceremony] is to celebrate the completion of the building, to celebrate Harker’s athletes of the past, present and future, to allow the entire Harker community to come and see a building that we’ve been talking about for many years,” facility director Mike Bassoni said in an interview. “It took 14 months to construct, but we’ve been talking about building a new gym for well over a decade.”

Construction on the gym began last June and continued

until this July. The gym also became accessible for fall sports’ summer practices.

“Having a gymnasium on campus, it’ll be very tangible.

You’ll notice more school spirit: people will rally around gymnasium events,” Molin said. “It’s obviously very convenient now that it’s going to be on our cam-

“The time for imagining how much better we can be is finally here. What I’m most excited about cannot really be quantified.

What I’m talking about is school spirit.”

DAN MOLIN ATHLETIC DIRECTOR pus, and it’s just going to bring about a whole new level of excitement.”

Due to the completion of the gym, cars dropping off students will now travel behind Nichols Hall, along the wall separating campus from the Junipero Ser-

ra Freeway. Students still will not be able to park on campus during first semester.

“We’ll most likely never have unlimited high school student parking,” Bassoni said.

“Second semester of this school year, the seniors will be able to come back and park, and juniors who are fortunate enough to get a spot will park.”

Beyond better facilities for athletes and performers, the construction of the new gym and performing arts center will also allow the school to move towards using property it owns, minimizing its reliance on leased property. “[The construction] allows us to ultimately move away from the leased [Blackford] campus— the lease is going to end—and onto property that the school owns, and that will ensure Harker’s presence and academic standard of excellence in the valley for another 125 years,” executive director of advancement Joe Rosenthal said. “That’s why it’s so significant, and I think that’s why we’re really trying to get across that it’s much more than a gym and a theater.”

VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

ALL PHOTOS KATHY FANG

Continued from front page.

SPORTS

GYMS GALORE (TOP) Junior Chris Gong, seniors Eric Jeong and Peter Connors, Athletic Director Dan Molin, and seniors Tiffany Shou, Isabella Spradlin, Lauren Napier, Satchi Thockchom and Megan Cardosi cut a ceremonial ribbon to celebrate the opening of the new athletic facilities. (RIGHT) Athletic Director Dan Molin speaks at the opening ceremony. (LEFT) Chair of the Board of Trustees. Diana Nicholas speak at the opening ceremony. (BOTTOM) Attendees gather with refreshments on Davis Field.

GETTING TO KNOW THE

ATHLETIC CENTER The gymnasium also features wall artwork including quotes from famous athletes, as well as a “wall of fame” noting the upper school’s athletic history and awards.

All commercial buildings in San Jose must meet LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Silver standards, but the gym will be LEED Gold certified. The gym’s windows and carpets use recycled content, and wood for its floors was sustainably harvested. Solar panels installed on the gym’s sloping roof, which faces south, will provide for around 22 percent of its energy needs.

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New Gym houses athletic equipment including hydrotherapy room and multipurpose room

TEAM ROOM The two-story facility includes four team rooms, two staff locker rooms and offices for the athletic directors and trainers. Student-atheletes have assigned lockers or cubbies, pictured here.

Court level (lower)

Girls’ Team Room

Girls’ Locker Room

Bleachers

Boys’ RR Girls’ RR Boys’ Locker Room

Athletic Court

Street level (upper)

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Street level (upper)

Training Room

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TRAINING ROOM The street level contains a training room for all student athletes. One of the key elements of the gym is its versatility: its effectiveness in catering to multiple sports and modes of training.

Multipurpose fitness room

Boys’ Team Room

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HYDROTHERAPY The facility includes two connected plunge pools at different temperatures and one hydrotherapy pool that is essentially an underwater treadmill.

MULTIPURPOSE ROOM The entry level includes multipurpose spaces as well as a danceable room for capoeira and yoga classes, which were previously held in Nichols atrium or teachers’ classrooms.

GYMS GALORE The athletic center contains a walway underground that leads to two courts, which can be used for basketlball or volleyball. The collapsible bleachers face a projection screen and can seat more than 900 peope.

SPORTS

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VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

21-25

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Fall sports begin with football, volleyball, XC

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ALL PHOTOS KATHY FANG

SPIKEFEST Lauren Napier (12) jumps up to spike the ball. The girls volleyball team lost against Branham High School in three sets, 21-25, 21-25 and 17-25.

3-3 OVERALL RECORD AS OF AUG. 31

Girls’ volleyball maya kumar & anvi banga

managing editor & copy editor

Girls’ volleyball lost their first game against Branham High School on Aug 25. On the following day, they placed 15th out of 32 teams at the Milpitas Spikefest. They had a game on Aug. 29. versus Lynbrook High School and one on Thursday versus Westmont High School.

TEAM RALLY Lauren Napier (12), Isabella Spradlin (12), Anya Gert (10) and the rest of the girls’ volleyball team rallies together in a huddle before the match against Branham High School starts. They lost in three sets, 21-25, 21-25 and 1725. SERVE IT UP Lining up with her teammates, Allison Cartee (11) prepares to deliver the ceremonious first serve in the new athletic center. Each home match began with an introduction of each player. SET IT UP Allison Cartee (11) reaches up to set the ball. She has played middle on varsity for the past two years. FIRST SERVE Karen Krause (11) crouches to pass the ball during warm-ups. To prepare for matches, the players ran through defensive drills as well as hitting lines.

Girls’ water polo

Varsity girls’ water polo had their first game yesterday at 6:15 p.m. at Singh Aquatic Center against Santa Clara High School.

“I think that with the new gym and the new space for our team to get together, we have more expectations in terms of team bonding and getting together more often with the new team rooms that they have,” coach Allie Lamb said. “There’ll be a nice space for us to go and have more technical talking and watching videos and doing that, so it definitely adds to our season.”

Football

TREADING WATER Meghana Karinthi (12) throws the ball during water polo practice. CATCH Players of the Harker football team practice drills for their first home game. RUNNING THE BALL A member of the football team runs the ball across the field in practicing a play. The football team won their away game 77-6.

The varsity football team won an away game 77-6 against James Lick High School at 7 p.m. on Aug. 25. This was their first game of the season, and the largest win margin in Harker’s football history.

Their second game, and first home game, took place on Friday at 7 p.m. on Davis Field.

Girls’ golf

Varsity girls’ golf had their first match on Aug. 29 at Los Lagos Golf Course against Notre Dame High School at 3:45 p.m., and they won 260-196.

Their second match took place on Friday at 4 p.m. against Westmont High School, also at Los Lagos Golf Course.

Junior varsity girls’ golf had their first match on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at Los Lagos Golf Course against Valley Christian Schools.

Boys’ water polo

Boys’ water polo came in third place at the Wilcox tournament. Their first home game was on Tuesday versus Los Gatos High School.

Cross country

The first cross country meet of the season was on Thursday afternoon at Gunn High School in Palo Alto.

IN THE MOMENT IN YOUR HANDS Abigail Wisdom (11) readies herself to catch the ball during practice. The varsity girls’ water polo team play their first game tomorrow at 6:15 p.m. against Santa Clara High School.

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VOLUME 19 • ISSUE 1 SEPTEMBER 6, 2017

2021: Meeting our freshmen 1

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Freshmen participate in an advisory bonding exercise with a wooden triangle on Davis Field.

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Using long plastic “chopsticks”, a freshman advisory picks up and transports various objects into buckets.

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An advisory fills a tube with water so a rubber duck can float to the top.

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Each advisory plugs the holes to prevent water from flowing out.

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Freshman class dean Jeffrey Draper speaks to the freshman class at their orientation.

Freshman attend field day

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Orientation activities introduce freshmen to advisories maya kumar & ashley jiang managing editor and reporter

The Class of 2021 began their freshman year on Aug. 24 with an orientation event, which featured interadvisory competitions and bonding activities on Davis Field.

Each advisory participated in a series of competitions which required collaboration from the entire group to complete. Oneactivity included plugging the holes in a tube in order to fill it with water.

“The activities were a lot more planned, a lot more engaging than they were in like middle school orientation,” Hari Bhimaraju (9) said. “I think that it was just a great opportunity to get to know the people in your

advisory, so you would have some friends coming in.”

For many members of the freshman class, this event was the first time meeting their new classmates. “I can see there’s a lot of balance and it’s not just academics or just extracurriculars.

It’s a really good balance, and I like that,” Rohan Varma (9) said.

“I expected today to be a team building, fun kind of day, and I feel like I got to know a bunch of new people well.”

Many incoming freshmen find the Upper School to be different from the middle school, especially with regards to the food and difficulty of classes.

“I’m super excited for the choices of electives, because I know that there’s a lot of really cool ones like photography and

filming that I’m excited to do later in the years,” Fiona Wiesner (9) said. “I’m also excited to be doing the orchestra because I know we’ll be doing a lot of traveling and stuff like that.”

The Link Crew also attended freshman orientation, in order to facilitate the activities and help freshmen get acclimated to their new environment.

“It helped [everyone] bond to each other and with their advisories because that’s the group of friends they’re going to have throughout all four years of high school,” Anooshree Sengupta (12) said. “My role is to help the with freshman introduction to high school and be an upperclassman friend they can see in the hallways and say hi to.”

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Wingspan senior staff

The annual matriculation ceremony officially began the school year, welcoming the freshman class of 2021, returning students and faculty, in the Quad on Aug. 25.

The ceremony began with opening remarks from Brian Yager, head of school, about the coming school year. Cantilena performed the traditional song “Yonder Come Day” directed by vocal music teacher Susan Nace.

Upper school head Butch Keller gave his annual matriculation address, espousing kindness, respect and integrity with three stories of triumph against adversity.

“When people think of you, do they think of any of these words?” Keller said during his speech. “I certainly hope so. One of your goals for the year should be that others think of you when they think of these words. It’s not easy, but doable if you make it a priority.”

ASB President Jimmy Lin (12) then made a speech comparing the experience of high school to a bicycle ride. Jimmy introduced this year’s student council and ASB officers, and Honor Council representative Rahul Bhethanabotla (12) introduced the student Honor Council officers.

“Learning to bike was a challenge for me, and Harker’s the place where I urge you to find what challenges you,” Jimmy said in his speech. “I urge you to acknowledge where your comfort zone is and constantly seek to broaden those horizons.”

ASB Vice President Neil Ramaswamy (11) led attendees in a recitation of the matriculation oath, and Assistant Head of School Jennifer Gargano introduced the Harker String Quartet.

The quartet, comprising violinists Amy Jin (12) and Constance Horng (11), violist Jerry Peng (11) and cellist Amy Dunphy (12), played arranged versions of Sam Smith’s “Stay With Me”

KATHY FANG

Matriculation welcomes class of 2021

and Sia’s “Chandelier” as freshmen signed the Honor Code.

Members of ASB, student council and, for the first time, Honor Council took the stage for the matriculation skit, “Freshman 101,” themed after comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL).

Performers acted out various scenes to demonstrate standards like respecting others, correctly using the Upper School’s trash

system and not cheating on tests.

Following Yager’s delivery of closing remarks and the faculty’s recessional, students attended grade-specific orientations. Students were also photographed for the yearbook and received locker assignments and time management worksheets from their advisers.

MAYWEATHER V. MCGREGOR Dolan Dworak (12), Justin Xie (12), and Rahul Bhethanabotla (12) act as Floyd Mayweather and Conor Mcgregor in “Freshman 101”. Their episode showed the importance of showing respect to members not only in the Harker community but also in day-to-day activities.

LEARN TO BIKE Jimmy Lin (12) gives his speech as ASB President.

He encouraged students to find challenges in school and other communities, offering his own anecdote with learning how to