FEBRUARY 2002 (VOL. 8, NO. 10)
M O N T H L Y
N E W S L E T T E R
F R O M
ACADEMIC
T H E
H A R K E R
S C H O O L
trip
California History Comes Alive on San Juan Bautista Outing
Tsuyoshi Oyama’s recent visit to Harker taught all of us something special about the characters of friendship. Story on pg. 3
On Jan. 14, the 4th graders and over twenty chaperones trekked to Mission San Juan Bautista for a day of California history. They learned about Native American life prior to the Spanish influence, the Mission system and the Mexican Era. Students toured the grounds with chaperones and had a forty minute lecture from a historian. Walking on the real El Camino Real, standing a few feet from the San Andreas Fault and watching roosters prance around town were just some of the highlights. Unfortunately, the sun never burned through the fog, so many groups popped into the local cafe and had hot chocolate to warm up! A special thanks to the numerous parent volunteers who made the trip possible. Mr. Hirota deserves special recognition for scouting out the grounds prior to the trip and leading informative chaperone meetings. —Ms. Kristin Giammona, Gr. 4 & 5 Social Studies
Kristin Giammona
A
BUCKNALL CAMPUS
EVENT
news
■ The Harker School will benefit from the sale of a shark at the SharkByte Art Auction on March 2nd, thanks to the creative genius of one of Harker’s ar t teachers and the support of our Harker families! SharkByte Ar t is an outdoor art exhibit that premiered last summer with the installation of 100 colorful shark sculptures commissioned by area sponsors, each of whom designated a local nonprofit organization to benefit from the eventual sale of the shark. The exhibit, which continues through February, is designed to raise money for local charities and nonprofit organizations in a fun, creative way, and on March 2nd the entire collection will be sold at a special evening auction (see insert in this month’s mailing for details).
US Art Teacher Jaap Bongers was commissioned by Harker parents Gary and Suzanne Mathers of the Community Insurance Agency to create “SHarker,” pictured here, and currently on display at the corner of Post and Lightston near Waves Smokehouse in downtown San Jose. The Mathers designated The Harker School as the beneficiary, and 70% of the proceeds from the sale of our shark at this March 2nd event will go to Harker. Fiberglass sharks were provided to each artist participating in this event. All of the artists then personalized their sharks with their own creative vision. Art teacher Jaap Bongers explained his journey of choosing a theme and creating his stunning shark: “I wanted to do continued on pg. 3