2003 April Harker News

APRIL 2003 (VOL. 9, NO. 7)

M O N T H L Y

N E W S L E T T E R

TICKETS: Students & Seniors $5 Adults $10 Reserved Seating $12 (the best 100 seats per show) For ticket info, contact bobb@harker.org or 408.345.9226

top stories

T H E

H A R K E R

S C H O O L

Wonderful Picnic of Oz! Sunday, April 27 • 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

US Conservatory Spring Musical

Thurs. - Sat., April 17, 18, 19 8 p.m. Saratoga Gym

F R O M

more at the Emerald City Silent Auction (auction catalogs will arrive mid-April), spend Dorothy Dollars in the Tornado Town General Store (a new addition this year) and let the Wonderful Wizard of Wine stock your cellars.

Mark Tantrum

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est. 1893 • K-12 college prep

Follow the Yellow Brick road to the Annual Family & Alumni Picnic and spend a day of magical fun with teachers, students, staff, parents, alumni, grandparents and friends as we gather to celebrate the 52nd anniversar y of this family event.

Activities for Bucknall-age kids will include tons of games and

activities including pony rides, prizewinning game booths and the Oz Petting Zoo, while our Saratoga students will get a kick out of the Wicked Witch Whack, the Lions & Tigers & Bears Game, karaoke and dunking their favorite teacher in the dunking booth. Grown-ups, you can shop for trips, jewels, teacher packages, school specials and

Turn the page for volunteer opportunities available throughout the month of April, and purchase lots of raffle tickets to help your student, and their class, win great prizes and increase your chance to win the $10,000 GRAND PRIZE drawing or one of the other fabulous prizes. New this year! US students can win $1,000 for their class fund for every 3,000 tickets they sell, and the MS class selling the most tickets will win a party for the entire class!

During picnic time, there’s no place like Harker and we thank our dedicated, creative and generous parent volunteers for making it so.

Circle Sun., April 27 on your calendar for a magical family trip to Oz – see you there!

Bucknall Destination ImagiNation team qualifies for state finals ........ 5

Middle School Over one third receive exceptional CML math scores ............... 10

Upper School FBLA students qualify for state competition ........................ 11

important dates Mon., Mar. 31 - Fri., Apr. 4 Spring Break. No classes.

Mon., Apr. 7 All classes resume

Fri., Apr. 11 MS Dance, Bucknall gym 7:30-10:30 p.m.

Sun., Apr. 27 Harker's Family & Alumni Picnic 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Harker JETS Teams Earn First Place…Again!

Both the varsity and junior varsity Harker JETS teams (Junior Engineering Technical Society) took first place again this year in their division March 1 at the Bay Area TEAMS competition (Test of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics and Science) held at Stanford University. Harker’s varsity team scored 74 points compared to the second place team score of 61 points, and the junior varsity team, with 66 points, outscored the second place team by 20 points.

The rigorous TEAMS exam is given in two 90-minute parts, and the questions posed represent college freshman-level engineering coursework.

This year’s national rankings will be announced later in April, so watch for an update in the next newsletter or go to http://www.jets.org/ for more information. We’re extremely

proud of our JETS teams. Congratulations to these fine students and to JETS advisor Judy James.

VARSITY TEAM MEMBERS Seniors: Brian Biskeborn, Julia Gitis, Charles Hung, Ranjitha Kumar and Tiffany Yun; Junior:

Sanby Lee; Sophomores: Alan Malek and Justin Wu. JUNIOR VARSITY TEAM MEMBERS Sophomores: Jerry Hong, Mason Liang, Pia Pal, Greg Perkins, Alex Segal and Joel Wright; Freshman: Yi Sun. (See team photos, pg. 13)

EDITOR’S NOTE: In this month’s issue there are lots of parent-organized events, the largest one being the annual Harker picnic coming up April 27, which you won’t want to miss! Also on April 12 is the 4th Annual Harker Golf Tourney, started and organized by parent Nancy Hartsoch. Plus there are three NEW events noted in this issue: the Harker Cookbook, Senior Moms Tribute and an all-Harker fashion show.

Thanks to our parents for their ideas, energy and support of Harker.

Go parents!

—Pam Dickinson, Director, Office of Communications (pamd@harker.org) Remember to check the Parent Home Page for detailed calendars and additional updates between editions of the Harker News!

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calendar

VOLUNTEER

Upcoming Events: Mark Your Calendars!

April Volunteer Needs

Register for most upcoming events on the Parent Home Page

The Wonderful Picnic of Oz!

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Sat., April 12, 11 a.m., Sunol Valley: 4th Annual Harker Golf Tourney Harker golfers are practicing their swings and still registering for this great annual event. There are twosomes still looking to grow to foursomes, and even the most casual of golfers is eligible to play. Register as an individual, or bring your own twosome or foursome— students, moms, dads, grandparents, alumni and friends are welcome! Per player entry fee of $120 for this scramble format tourney includes green fees, cart, refreshments and prizes.

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Tues., Apr. 15: Recipe Deadline Extended Just a reminder that US parent volunteers are putting together the first-ever Harker Cookbook to benefit our Speech and Debate program, and they want your recipes! Go to the Parent Home Page for the Harker Cookbook link and you can find info and forms! There are recipe collection boxes (cleverly disguised as table settings) in the main lobbies on both campuses, so submit your favorite recipes today! For more info contact mariawt@hotmail.com.

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Thurs.-Sat., April 17-April 19, 8 p.m., Saratoga Gym: US Spring Musical, “Into the Woods” A fractured fairy tale by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim promises to be a delightful evening of entertainment. See front page for ticket details.

This show is not appropriate for small children.

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Thurs., April 24, 7 p.m., Bucknall Gym: Spring Orchestra & MS Choir Concert For more information contact laural@harker.org.

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Fri., Apr. 25, 7:30 p.m., Le Petit Trianon, San Jose: Senior Showcase Enjoy final performances by this year's Conservatory graduates. For more information contact laural@harker.org.

■ Most school mornings from March 27-April 25 Spirited Curbside Crazies willing to dress up and have fun are needed in all the loading zones each morning during the weeks leading up to the Picnic to accept Picnic donations and deliveries.

Contact Melody Moyer at joyberk@aol.com.

■ Week of April 21 – days and evenings Volunteers are needed for pre-event setup, and most tasks require a minimum of “technical” skills. The Saratoga gym will be “Picnic Central” during this week, and volunteers are invited to stop in and help paint decorations, rejuvenate old games, wrap baked goods, count tickets, sort nametags, etc. To assist with pre-event setup or with cleanup after the Picnic, contact Candy Carr at candycarr@pacbell.net.

■ When the phone rings - Just say “yes!”

Homeroom booth coordinators are recruiting hourly volunteers to work in their homeroom booths on the day of the Picnic, so when you’re contacted by one of these volunteers, please say “yes!” Volunteer for just an hour (longer if you like!) to help your child’s homeroom teacher take tickets, help with a game or activity or distribute prizes. Working in one of the booths is a great way to become better acquainted with students, teachers, staff and fellow parents.

■ Room parents will be helping their homeroom teachers and students get into the Picnic spirit by decorating homeroom doors, putting together Ozinspired costumes for Bucknall Picnic festivities and planning parties at the conclusion of our Picnic Spirit week on both campuses, so help out if you can!

—Volunteer opportunities and updates regarding parent events are provided by Nancy Reiley, community relations director. For more information, contact the parent noted in each activity or contact Reiley at nancyr@harker.org or 408.345.0108.

New for Spring 2004!

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Sun., Apr. 27, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Saratoga Campus: 52rd Annual Family & Alumni Picnic

Plans are underway

See Harker Web site for more information and watch your mail for updates.

To volunteer, see info under Volunteer Needs (at right).

fundraising event next

for a new schoolwide year featuring a student fashion show

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Tues., April 29, 6:45 p.m., Bucknall Gym: Annual Speech & Debate Awards Night Students must wear tournament attire. All Harker families are welcome.

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Mon., May 19, 11:30 a.m., Edge Patio: Senior Moms Tribute Luncheon Gr. 9, 10 and 11 moms will host a potluck lunch in recognition of their Gr. 12 “sisters” in what they hope will become an annual tradition.

Gr. 9-11 moms are sought to help plan the menu and organize the potluck contributions. Gr. 12 moms, let us know if you’ll be attending so we know how many “honorees” we have. Register on the Parent Home Page.

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and entertainment.

Parent organizers Christine Davis, Marcia Riedel and Ellen Harris are seeking volunteers to help with this new event.

To get involved in this new and exciting event, email mriedel@netmagic.net

K-8 Summer Camp Dates: Session I: June 23-July 25 Session II: July 28-August 15 Favorite offerings filling up fast—register today!

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recap USMom’s Happy Hour Held Feb. 28

Special Benefactors’ Advisory Forum

Summer Camp Faire Hosted Feb. 27 Harker once again hosted the annual Summer Camp Faire, a Bay Area-wide event held in conjunction with the American Camping Association (ACA). Over 40 camps representing both resident and day programs for students of all ages were represented in booths that filled the Bucknall gym. The event, which is open to families from throughout the Bay Area, provides parents the opportunity to go to one event and learn about the variety of options offered to children during the summer.

Mark Tantrum

Mark Tantrum

At the annual Benefactors’ Advisory Forum held on March 11, parents who are members of Harker's Benefactors’ Circle, and the administration, discussed current school issues and news, as well as plans for the future.

Energetic and talented student entertainers from Harmonics, Orchestra and Dance were shining stars who helped make the evening very special. The administration extends sincere thanks to the generous Benefactors’ Circle members for their continued commitment and support.

US moms wanted to have fun—and did—at their first Friday evening social at ElTorito’s in Cupertino at the end of February. About 30 Harker moms dropped in at the end of their busy days for appetizers, beverages and casual visiting.

Several tables lingered over spurof-the-moment dinner in the true spirit of a “mom’s night out!”

Rumor has it that this group will plan more events like this, so stay tuned!

Organized each year by Kelly Espinosa, Harker’s summer camp director, the event was attended by approximately 250 families. “As usual, many parents came by the Harker table to ask questions and register for our terrific programs,” she said. “Harker has a great reputation for quality programs, staff and facilities.” Espinosa added that if Harker families haven’t signed up yet, they should do so quickly since programs are filling fast. Contact the summer offices for more information, or go to the Harker Web site. K-8 programs: cindig@harker.org. Gr. 912 programs: jadab@harker.org.

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This year’s second volunteer recognition event was a breakfast held on Mar. 14 in Saratoga’s Faculty Dining Room for almost 80 parent volunteers. Honorees included members of the Parent Volunteer Leadership Councils, grade level coordinators, room parents, volunteer scorekeepers for our athletic games, volunteers who have driven students to and from offcampus mentoring sessions and those who have provided hard work and technical advice to some of Harker’s clubs and student groups. Again, many thanks to all! A third and final recognition event for this year is scheduled for the end of May when we look forward to thanking Picnic volunteers, library helpers, parents who have supported our Performing Arts productions and other volunteers who have provided such invaluable assistance.

Multicultural Club Hosts International Dance

■ US Latin teacher John Hawley has gotten “hooked on Improv!” Hawley started taking classes last summer to help in planning the US Coffee Houses and enjoyed the classes so much he has now completed Levels 1, 2, & 3 classes in improv at Comedy Sportz.

■ Kelly Espinosa, summer camp director, was recently awarded the national 2003 Camp Director of the Year award from Camp Counselors USA (CCUSA). Bill Harwood, president of CCUSA, said that out of 900 eligible directors, Espinosa was the most deserving of this award. “Her outstanding effor ts as a host to our international participants, as well as her achievement in providing a culturally sensitive atmosphere for all members of the camp community at Harker, are Kelly Espinosa, flanked by international exemplar y.” CCUSA is a worldstaff members Mark Tantrum and wide organization that places Vanessa Bullman, wins Camp Director of young people from all over the the Year award. world as counselors in summer camps, providing them an opportunity to impact American youth while learning new cultures and lifestyles.

Live music was provided by Harker parent Sherwari Dixit (Nirjhar Mundkur, Gr. 4) and her band, and student trainers were on hand to teach attendees the three East Indian dances called Garba, Raas and Bhangra. “It was SO much fun to see kids, teens, parents and teachers all dancing and having fun together!” said Diana Moss, US Spanish teacher and advisor for the club.

The Swagat restaurant of Milpitas, owned by parent Jayarama Komati (Meghana Komati, Gr.11), provided food for the evening. Many thanks to the Multicultural Club for organizing such a festive event for the entire Harker community to enjoy, to the parents who so generously gave of their time, talent and food, and to the Harker community for supporting this fun event!

Teachers Present Topics at CAIS Conference While Harker students enjoyed a day off on March 10, teachers were attending the California Association of Independent Schools (CAIS) conference in Menlo Park where 39 Harker faculty members made 28 presentations, sharing their ideas and expertise with approximately 1,000 teachers from independent schools throughout Northern California and Minnesota.

Topics included “Form and Idea with iMovie,” “Bioinformatics in Teaching Evolution—The Mitochondrial Clock,” “Identifying and Eliminating Gender Inequities in Technology,” “Paint Stick Algebra” and a roundtable discussion on languages led by Harker's foreign language teachers. Diana Nichols, head of school, said, “This level of professional leadership in the field of education is a credit to our outstanding faculty and a testimony to the quality of programs we offer our students.” These biannual conferences are also an opportunity for Harker teachers to come away with new solutions and ideas to further improve and develop teaching methods and programs for our students.

■ Harker photo intern Mark Tantrum received an honorable mention in the 2003 J. Wendell and Ruth T. Howe Golden Lens Awards competition for this photo (at right) of campers in Harker’s Summer Kindercamp program about to enter a tunnel on the train at the San Francisco Zoo. Congratulations, Mark!

■ LS music teacher Sarah Lougheed is designing costumes for a short film, “Spring Time Dreams,” a project that involves about 25 actors of all ages in period costumes that is being produced in cooperation with San Jose State University’s Dept. of Television, Radio, Film and Theatre. “Costume design is intensive work,” said Lougheed. “There is a lot of research involved, especially in a period piece like this film.” Lougheed has worked on two feature films in the past two years, designed costumes for an MTV video and designed costumes and makeup for Citylights Theatre, Palo Alto Players, Marin Theatre Company and other theatres around the Bay Area.

Longheed noted that alumnus Andrea Nott, ’96, has a lead roll in the film.

■ Howard Nichols, president, recently announced that Kelly Espinosa has been appointed Dean of Non-Academic Affairs (K-6) effective April 1, 2003.

With this added responsibility Espinosa will become a member of the senior administrative team. “Ms. Espinosa brings a vast amount of experience working with children and a seemingly endless source of energy and caring for children and The Harker School,” said Nichols. “She has been an incredibly hardworking and dedicated Harker staff member for the past 25 years.”

Espinosa will continue to manage all aspects of the Summer Programs while assuming additional responsibilities with kindergarten through sixth grade students on the Bucknall campus. Her duties will include nonacademic programs such as recreation, clubs and activities, spirit, service and character development programs. In addition, Ms Espinosa will have general oversight of Bucknall campus safety and security, traffic, parking and loading zone procedures, emergency preparedness, field trips and nonacademic student discipline. Her office will remain in the Summer Programs Office on the Bucknall campus. Congratulations, Kelly!

Mark Tantrum

Harker’s Multicultural Club hosted a dance for the Harker community in the Bucknall gym in March that was attended by over 150 students and parents. Hem Navangul commented that many of the participants were clad in majestic and colorful Indian silk costumes and, “…tremendous energy and joy was on display.”

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■ US biology teacher Maria Diaz has received an Award of Excellence bestowed on her by the Outstanding Teacher Recognition Program of UC San Diego. The award states, “In recognition of your significant achievements as a teacher and your dedication to education.” Former student Reeti Desai, ’02, recommended Diaz for the award.

Chris Daren

Mark Tantrum

Volunteer Thank-You Breakfast

STAFF

Mark Tantrum

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Destination Imagination Team Qualifies for State Finals!

Harker’s Destination ImagiNation® coordinator, Kate Shanahan, reported that Harker’s teams once again did very well in this year’s regional tournament held March 8 in San Jose. Over 560 students participated in the Region-11

Jeff Gatline

■ Language arts teacher Jeff Gatlin reported that Gr. 4 students who are reading the novel “Journey to Topaz” by Yoshiko Uchida recently had a special speaker during one of their class periods. Roy Matsuzaki, board member and guide for the

Japanese American Resource Center and Museum in downtown San Jose, spoke about his experiences in, and leading up to his time in a Japanese internment camp during WW II. He brought along the suitcase he had as a child that still had a tag attached with his family’s internment camp number. He also showed a short video about what life was like inside the camps and answered students’ question at the end of his presentation. “They were so interested that not one of them asked to go to the bathroom,” laughed Gatlin. Many thanks to former Harker employee Denise Hayashi who is a relative of Matsuzaki’s and helped arrange his visit to Harker.

Harker teams have been preparing for months for this competition that helps students develop their problem-solving skills, as well as their quick decision-making skills in solving “instant challenges” at the event. Harker’s four teams competed in different creative challenges. Super-6, a Gr. 5 team,

■ Gr. 1 students in Linda Alexander’s language arts class recently pretended to be scientists who each had discovered a new dinosaur, and they then wrote stories called “A Dinosaur Named After Me.” Students wrote descriptions of their dinosaurs on dinosaur-shaped paper, drew pictures and made individual dinosaur-shaped books. Alexander typed each story on special paper decorated with dinosaurs and had a book printed for each child to take home. A copy of the book was laminated and spiral-bound and has been added to Alexander’s collection of 25 other books written by previous first graders. “Students really love to read the books they’ve written as well as the books written by previous first graders,” said Alexander.

created a live video game, complete with a battery-operated chef who moved by remote control.

Another Gr. 5 team called Cirque de Di placed third for their play about a wild circus. Our other two teams built wooden structures made from balsa wood that had to withstand hundreds of pounds. The Gr. 6 team, Connectors of the Soul, placed third in the middle school competition, and our combined Gr. 3/4 team, The Harker Connectors, placed first and will travel to Clovis in April to compete in the DI State Finals!

Many thanks to the Harker parents who served as DI team managers: Loyd Case, Liz Melbourne, Viji Dilip, Radhika Padmanabhan, Saradha Srinivasan and Anoo Nathan. And congratulations to all

yellow bricks, flying monkeys in the loading zone and teachers dressed like characters from Oz! ■ Computer science teacher Joe Chung reported that students in Gr. 4 recently used a multicultural theme to research their culture and heritage and create a slide presentation using a program called Hyperstudio. “Hyperstudio is a presentation program similar to PowerPoint, but kid friendly,” said Chung. He explained that the students displayed their cultures in graphic format in Hyperstudio with the paragraph format displayed in MS Word. The students also added links through Hyperstudio to various Web sites related to their culture.

■ The Gr. 5 S-Club (Spirit Club) continues to sponsor spirit events, which recently have included sleigh races, shoe kicks, three-legged races and a pudding eating contest.

“Our last event was a blast and ended with lots of “pudding faces,” laughed teacher Jason Oncay. He reported that Kate Shanahan’s homeroom has a strong lead and has retained the Spirit Stick for three events.

■ Nancy Curran’s kindergarten class celebrated Dr. Seuss’ 99th birthday with a party! The students ate green eggs and ham, heard Dr. Seuss stories, made “Cat in the Hat” hats, created “Red Fish, Blue Fish” art projects and played Seuss-related games.

Both the Gr. 5 and Gr. 6 spirit clubs are also gearing up for the family picnic with one activity each week in April before the picnic.

Look for a trivia contest, a hunt for

■ All Gr. 1 students recently saw the stage production of one of their favorite books, “Miss Nelson is Missing,” at the Sunnyvale Theatre.

“This theatre always puts on

Trish Tobin

Anoo Nathan

event, which is the largest in the state and serves the counties of Monterey, San Benito, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz.

the teams for participating and working together: Connectors of the Soul - Elizabeth Case, Callie Medin, Alyssa Donovan, Ian Davis, Vivek Maheshwari and Lizzie Cutler; Cirque - Joanna Melbourne, Jacquie Scharre, Monisha Dilip, Tim Healy, Alex Creasman, Claire Bredenoord and Ketul Patel; Super-6 - Arthi Padmanabhan, Amiti Uttarwar, Arjun Bhargava, Gautam Srinivasan, Priyanka Hardikar and Shanna Polzin; Harker Connectors - Harish Raja, Abhilasha Belani, Shreya Nathan, Ajit Punj and Aditya Sastry.

Good luck in Clovis, Harker Connectors!

wonder ful shows for students, and this one was no exception,” said Cindy Proctor, Gr. 1 teacher. “The students thought it was very funny and especially enjoyed the singing and dancing,” she added.

■ Several SJSU student teachers recently observed class time with Harker PE teacher Tomas Thompson to gain insights regarding physical education curriculum in elementary grades. As part of a class assignment in their program at SJSU, they observed the class and took notes regarding the implementation of Children Moving, a curriculum designed by Dr. George Graham at Virginia Tech.

Melanie McKenna, asst. chair of the P.E. dept., explained that this is the first year Harker has been involved in this partnership with SJSU. ■ Gr. 1 students in Diann Chung’s and Cindy Proctor’s language arts classes enjoyed a Tall Tale party to culminate their study of Tall Tales. Davy Crockett coonskin caps and Johnny Appleseed cooking pot hats were among the favorite attire along with Continued on Pg. 6

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■ Thanks to the creativity of parents Trish Tobin, Kim KrugerAlonzo and Rekha Nandakumar and their generous gift of time, the kindergarteners in Nancy Curran’s classroom have been enjoying a magical journey to Oz in preparation for this year’s picnic. An Emerald City was created, and there are Wizard of Oz games, dress-up clothes, coloring activities and toys.

Many thanks to our parents!

Mark Tantrum

■ “The 9th annual 5th Grade Lip Sync Show was another rousing success,” said teacher Pat Walsh, who said he started the event eight years ago to do something fun and get the kids enthusiastic during the winter doldrums. “It started as a homeroom event,” he explained.

“But when Casey Near and her group of Divas took it to a whole new level back in 1999, it became

a grade level production.” Walsh also recalled that one of his favorite per formances was when Brett Granum and Darren Lee did an encore presentation, coming back as 8th graders to do their inspiring rendition of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” (from the “Lion King”). “It was great for my fifth graders seeing big 8th graders getting down and

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This year’s show was MC’d by Arthi Padmanabhan and Nikita Agrawal who crafted clever introductions for all of the numbers. This year’s per formers were Tara Hansen, Alison Axelrad, Scott Mohanram, Vikram Nilakantan, Brian Dawkins, Brea Borlas, Mira Chaykin, Meera Venkatesh, Joanna Melbourne, Claire Bredenoord, Kacie Kaneyuki, Khadija Zanotto, Jasmine Salinas, Jacquie Scharre, Allison Chen, Danielle Buis, Valerie Motro, Marissa Gale, Bennett Jones, Madeline Lucus, Madeline Clark, Taryn Spiller, Kendra Moss and teachers Kristin Giamonna, David Qua, Kate Shanahan and Pat Walsh. Songs titles included “Sk8er Boi,” “Mamma Mia,” “I Can Love You Better” and “I Got You Babe,” and also included a spirited adaptation of “YMCA” by the Village People. Could it be that Mr. Qua financed his college tuition by dancing in clubs? “No way!” laughed Walsh of teacher David Qua’s performance. The highlight of the show was “My Heart Will Go On,” a solo performed by the talented Supna Saxena. All per formers received a special valentine Pez for their efforts, and teachers completed the show with a bubble-blowing contest.

■ The Bucknall recreation program began offering a chess program last year taught by Success Chess School for K-6 students, and some Harker students are already winning in competitions! So far this year chess team members have attended the MPJCDS Swiss Sectional Scholastic Chess tournament where close to 200 K12 students participated. In the Gr. 2/3 division, Daryl Neubieser, Gr. 3, won 1st place; Albert Wu, Gr. 3, tied for 4th; and Brynmor Saunders and Ananth Subramanian, both Gr. 3, earned trophies. In other divisions Aaron Lin, Gr. 6, tied for 4th and Brian Chao, Gr. 6, earned a trophy. Also, students participated in the CEA National Grade Level Chess Championship. Rahul Desirazu, Gr. 2, won 3rd place in a field of 29 participants. The Harker School team of Gr. 2 students Rahul Desirazu and Ravi Tadinada won

3rd place in the overall team competition for the 2nd grade level.

Students with little or no knowledge of chess are welcome to join the Chess Club, while the Chess Team is for students who know how to

play and are able to compete in required tournaments. Over 90 students currently participate, and both groups meet on Mondays and Tuesdays. Special thanks to the Success Chess School coaches, Chris Torres, Neal Peters, Joshua Eads and Lori Stevens and to parent volunteer Mark Neubieser who run these successful programs.

This is the first year Harker will be able to field a full team at the CalChess State Scholastic Championships on April 12-13 in Santa Clara. “Harker is looking to be a strong contender!,” said Neubieser.

Cooperation is Cool at Bucknall Bucknall students were welcomed back after the winter break to a new program called SPLAT (Students Playing & Learning All Together) whose purpose is to remind students of the importance of being caring and respectful to each other on the playground and in the classroom. Recreation staff wore new bright green SPLAT t-shirts and clever reminder signs were posted around the campus, with phrases such as “Cooperation is Cool,” “Respect Rocks,” “Kindness is King” and “Harker kids are #1.” SPLAT is also painted on the blacktop, and new green and red lines have been painted on handball and foursquare courts to help with the new game rules. Staff, faculty and students practiced the new game rules and worked on being respectful during playtime. “Everyone was really spirited and we all had a great time,” said Kelly Espinosa, summer camp director and SPLAT coordinator. Espinosa also introduced the first Please and Thank-You Fest where the importance of using those two words was emphasized all around the campus. A special free dress day was also held, and students were allowed to wear their SPLAT shirts and dress in crazy clothes. We’re proud of our Bucknall students for their renewed emphasis on students playing and learning all together – go SPLAT! Mark Tantrum

Nancy Curran

dressing as the characters Paul Bunyan, Mike Fink, Sally Ann and Librar y Lil! Procter said, “Students enjoyed sitting around a pretend campfire and sharing their own tall tales!”

being silly,” he said.

Terry Walsh

Continued from Pg. 5

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Mark Tantrum

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Bucknall Students Enjoy Recent Field Trips

them to get up close and personal with starfish, sea slugs and bat rays,” said teacher Sabrina Criscione. Overall the students, teachers and many parent volunteers had a great day.

Anitra Sudderth

■ Gr. 3 classes enjoyed a beautiful day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium recently as part of the marine science curriculum they began studying in January. “The students particularly liked the touch tank and tide pool displays that allowed

CAMPUS

■ Gr. 4 students spent a recent

Julie Norton

weather, the classes enjoyed a garden burrito made fresh from the garden that contained all five parts of a plant,” said teacher Anitra Sudderth. They also visited the farm animals and practiced composting, and during the long hike Sudderth said the students ate miner’s lettuce, enjoyed a solo walk and dined among the trees.

Kathy Ferretti

■ Gr. 2 students recently visited Hidden Villa, 1600 acres of farm and wilderness preserve in the Los Altos Hills. “In addition to beautiful

morning at Deer Hollow Farm participating in an outdoor education program where students reconstructed an Ohlone village and were engaged in various hands-on activities. Two favorite activities of the Harker students were grinding acorns and the “Spear and Hoop” game played by Ohlone boys to teach them how to hunt.

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Engineers Visit Harker Classrooms on Both Campuses

Raji Swaminathan

Lockheed Martin, visited MS science teacher Raji Swaminathan’s Gr. 8 science classes. Since his visit took place shortly after the space shuttle tragedy, Shurman brought materials for the students to look at, such as aluminum, tungsten, titanium and sample shuttle tile, talked about the shuttle reentry and per formed several demonstrations with the students. Swaminathan said that in one demonstration he heated a block of Al and set up a thermo-

Mark Tantrum

On the Saratoga campus, Roger Shurman, an engineer from

period students experienced how sound can be turned into light and how lasers work with engineer Geoff Burr.

Second and fourth period students were visited by Erika Flint and Harker parent Diane Reese (Greg and Phillip Perkins).

They became “Superhuman” computers as they wrote their own code to get through a maze of student desks. Seventh and eighth period students worked cooperatively on a building activity presented by engineer Kate Langdon in which they received points for building structures to meet requirements of height, strength and placement. “The children enjoyed the creativity of the activity, as well as the competition,” said Woolsey. “It was an informative and exciting

couple to take readings on either side of it. The students took readings and saw a drastic difference in temperature. Shurman explained that it was because the experimental setup was not ideal.

One side of the thermocouple was measuring the flame heat and not the actual Al surface, while the other side of the thermocouple was measuring the temperature on the upper side of the Al block. “He wanted the students to understand that mistakes in experimental setups help us think what could go wrong in an experiment and make us better engineers,” said Swaminathan.

Art Nakashima from Lockheed Martin visited US math teacher Steve Earth's 2nd and 7th period classes and gave a Powerpoint presentation that included the topics of “What an Engineer Does,” “Who Should Become Engineers” and “What Subjects are Important.” His presentation also included a talk about how math and engineering are used in putting up satellites.

At Bucknall, several IBM engineers specializing in optics, computer engineering and software engineering visited Gr. 3 math students in Stephanie Woolsey’s classes. First

Mark Tantrum

Harker students experienced a unique introduction to technical careers during the annual National Discover “E” Engineering Outreach Program during Feb. and Mar. when engineers from local corporations visit classrooms and discuss careers in engineering.

day, and we are thankful to IBM for allowing their engineers to come and visit us.”

Pat Walsh arranged to have two IBM engineers visit his classes: Dianne Reese (noted above) and Eric Butler, a Harker alumni from the class of 1981 and a former student of Walsh’s. They gave the students a hands-on demo of what is actually taking place when they use their computers to access information on the Internet. They also set up a wireless station in the room and had the students communicate with “Mission Control” using audio, video and text messages. This all occurred while Butler was talking to the children about the technology of wireless communication and its advantages as it relates to bandwidth. “The day was a rousing success and I am hoping to expand the program next year,” said Walsh.

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PERFORMING

arts Time for Applause!

Over 150 students, crew and faculty were involved in this year’s “Take Your Time” production, performed in two evening shows in March, as well as two daytime performances for students in Gr. 412. The performances, sets, costumes and lighting were outstanding, and we applaud artistic director Laura Rae and our dancers, crew and faculty for another memorable show. In addition to Rae, special thanks to the these other faculty members and professionals involved in this year’s production: Brian E. Larsen, Gail Palmer, Wendy Huber, Natti Pierce-Thomson and Soto Hoffman.

This year was particularly special since it marked the 20th anniversary of Harker's dance program, so the show finale included a backdrop of slides from dance productions over the past 20 years. Diana Nichols, head of school, reflected on the history of the dance program: “Twenty years ago there was no dance program at Harker,” she said.

“Laura Rae built the program from nothing to the successful dance program we have today.

We thank her for the many wonder ful experiences and joyous memories she has provided for our children and for us over the years.”

Mark Your Calendars!

Mark Tantrum and Chris Daren

■ Wed., May 7 and Thurs., May 8 at 9:30 a.m. the kindergarten students will take the Bucknall stage with their Fabulous Fractured Fairytales! Students will per form well-known stories with a twist.

“Spiderella,” “The Brementown Rappers” and “Goldilocks and the Three Bullfrogs” are some titles you can expect to see on stage.

Already heavy into rehearsals, students’ creativity is being unleashed as we are discovering the twists and surprises of these madcap plays. Featured dancers and choral singing contribute to these Kindergarten Follies. See you at the show!

—Sarah Lougheed, Performing Arts Teacher and Show Director

8

COMMUNITY

Monica MacKinnon, Harmonics director, and Susan Nace, asst.

Harmonics director, held auditions in March.

HARMONICS MEMBERS: Taylor Alexander, Lauren Ammatuna, Debanshi Bheda, Alix Briggs, Matt Emery, Max Gektin, Marvin Ho, David Kuo, Kriti Lodha, Molly Newman, Joshua Pinzás, Vani Pyda, Max Rohrer, Natasha Sarin, Aseem Shukla, Varun Sivaram, Hayley Steele, Siobhan Stevenson, Sarah Syrett and Elyse Trinh.

ADDITIONAL MS CAST: Ariel Gaknoki, Ayushi Gummadi, Cassie Kerkhoff, Shibani Mehta, Elissa Patel, Ranjita Raghavan, Nitasha Ranganath, Tara Sahdev, Brittany Schieron, Sabena Suri and Nina Vyedina.

■ K-6 Jump for Heart Raises over $12,000. In the lower school, the annual Jump Rope for Heart event raised $12,769.25 this year as the entire campus participated in this huge annual Bucknall fundraiser for the American Heart Association.

Congratulations and kudos to the Bucknall campus for your extraordinar y financial commitment to this worthwhile cause!

The highlight of the event was the presentation of awards in the form of badges to decorate each chapter’s Key Club Banner, and the lieutenant governor presented Harker’s chapter with the Most Improved Club patch. “Our club won for having the most service hours and members in our Division,” said Anjana Sundaram, Harker’s Key Club president. “I am so honored to be the president for such a hardworking club!” And we are honored and proud to have such an outstanding Key Club at Harker— congratulations!

■ EHC Sends Thanks to Harker.

Community Outreach Director for Emergency Housing Consortium (EHC), Ginny Pfluger, sent a letter of thanks to Harker US students and faculty. She wrote, “I continue to receive comments from the case managers about the nice gifts, how happy the clients were and how

Other recent community service projects: • 25 Harker US student volunteers, and several faculty members, sor ted clothes and packed food at the Sacred Heart Community Center.

• Rita Stone’s Gr. 1 homeroom students are collecting gently read books, sorting them by age groups, making bookmarks, and writing letters about their favorite books and stories to then donate to homeless shelters. This project will continue until the end of the school year.

Jaja Hsuan

■ The MS musical “The Boyfriend,” slated for performances May 16 and 17, is a rollicking spoof of the 1920s and was the show that rocketed Julie Andrews to stardom!

You won't want to miss this stylish show full of great performances by our talented MS students.

March was an exciting month for the Gr. 1-6 after-school dancers as they began learning their routines for the annual Bucknall Dance Concert. Gail Palmer, dance instructor and director of the show, said the students are now eagerly waiting to be clad in the “Fad or Fashion” that they will be representing in the show. While 200 dancers are working on their steps, other Bucknall students have started submitting artwork to be considered for the program cover.

Palmer also said that the entire campus had a fun, musical treat at lunch recently when they listened to three songs and then voted on the one they wanted to be used as the finale song. “It was great to see and hear the students’ enthusiasm for the music!” Palmer laughed.

This is a not-to-be-missed event, so mark your calendar now to attend one—or both—of these great shows!

generous the donors (you!) were.

The director of Our House, the youth shelter in downtown San Jose, was especially grateful and expresses that to me each time I see her. She said the quality of the gifts was unlike any received in previous years. The families in the emergency shelter who were adopted were in awe of what Santa brought them.” Our students should feel very proud of themselves for making the holidays brighter for these families, and we congratulate the EHC for the invaluable services they provide to the community.

■ Harker Key Club Wins Most Improved Award. Harker’s US Key Club hosted its first Divisional Council Meeting (DCM) recently.

Held in the Bucknall gym, the event was attended by more than 280 students from 16 area schools in Divisions 12 West and 12 East.

Students spent time together preparing for their annual convention held in March by creating posters, having rallies and participating in ice-breaking games.

• US students volunteered at Sunday Friends and created valentine thank-you cards with children from various shelters in the area. In addition, they helped

Carlyn Keilty

■ Fri., May 30 and Sat., May 31 are the dates to reserve for the 3rd Annual BUCKNALL DANCE CONCERT,“Fads and Fashions.”

service

with educational development by per forming flash card drills with the children. Janis Baron, volunteer director at Sunday Friends wrote,

US community service hours must be completed by April 30. The following hours are required: freshman, 10 hours; sophomores, 20 hours; and juniors, 30 hours. Here are some upcoming US community service opportunities in April.

Contact JaJa Hsuan at jajah@harker.org for details.

April 19th: Environmental Service Project (TBA).

April 26th: Earth Day Celebration at Hidden Villa.

Students will volunteer to help manage and run activities for this exciting event.

“Your Valentine-making project was a great success. The kids loved working with you, and we have mailed out the Valentines to our special Sunday Friends supporters.

Hope you’ll come join us again soon. You’ve brought joy, creativity, and fun to all of us!”

• US students visited Lytton Gardens and participated in activities with the seniors there, such as reading, sharing stories, playing games and taking walks in the garden.

• US students helped set up and proctor team/individual competitions at the annual K-8 Math Contest that Harker hosted.

• The Key Club organized a MS and US Ink Cartridge Drive, a Kiwanis Club activity to help recycle and fundraise for community activities.

Parents are encouraged to donate used printer, copy, fax, and laser ink cartridges between now and the end of the school year.

Collection boxes are located outside the main office in Dobbins Hall and next to the community service bulletin board in the main academic building.

• US students helped at RAFT (Resource Area for Teachers) by sorting supplies, preparing learning kits and helping teachers select supplies for their classrooms.

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briefs to varsity level competition, the team looks to be competitive and exciting.

Lower/Middle School

Mark Tantrum

The A1 girls’ basketball team ended their season on a winning note by winning the Hillbrook Tournament! It was a great team effort with the guards pressuring the ball on the perimeter and the post players playing tough and rebounding well. Overall, the team finished a winning season with 12 wins and 7 losses. Congratulations to the entire team for a great year!

The B1 girls’ and the B1 boys’ basketball teams made it to the championship game of the Hillbrook Tournament, but lost in the finals.

They both took 2nd place and finished the season strong.

Next up for our LS athletic program are softball and baseball. Next up for the MS athletic program are soccer, tennis, swimming and boys volleyball. Please check the middle and lower school Web site for your next sport schedules.

—Reported by Mary Kay Olks, Asst. Athletic Dir., Coach & P.E. Teacher

Upper School Spring sports are well under way in the US. With teams competing in baseball, softball, track and field, volleyball, golf, tennis and swimming, the Eagles are wrapping up preseason competition with an eye on league play.

The boys continue to compete in the Private School Athletic League (PSAL), with swimming being the newest addition to the athletic

10

Mark Tantrum

The A1 boys’ basketball team finished with a 7-12 record. They took 3rd place in the Hillbrook Tournament, losing in a great game to Hillbrook 39-36. Outstanding play by Luke Grunbaum helped to keep the game close.

offerings. The team finished second in the most recent All Comers Meet held at St. Lawrence.

Alex Loh and Rand Ahlgren, along with Boris Kheyn-Kheyfets, led the squad. The final event of the meet was the 400 Freestyle Relay, and it was the most exciting event of the meet with Kings Academy just nipping the Eagles on the final lap!

The girls’ team also finished second in the meet with Vivian Leung and Beth Low swimming strong butter fly and backstroke races. The team enters West Bay Athletic League play next week with a meet against Woodside Priory and Castilleja.

Boys’ tennis has been taking on perennial tennis powers such as Saratoga High and Bellarmine in their preseason. The strong competition should have them ready to vie for the PSAL title this spring. Led by Wesley Wu, Victor Huang and freshman Jonathan Liu, the team hosts their home matches at the Blackford HS campus.

Boys’ baseball pasted Mid Peninsula 12-6 behind the pitching of Kevin Hartsoch and the hitting of Chris Davis and Adhir Ravipati.

They opened league play on March 18 at Redwood Christian. Coach Cali’s team has some solid bats in the order and will need strong pitching performances from Hartsoch, Davis, Adi Jain and Ben Shapiro this season.

Softball will play its first ever varsity level season this spring. The team has played at the junior varsity level the past two years, and this year’s team is ready to take on their WBAL rivals. Although certain to experience growing pains in the transition

Boys’ volleyball also is completing the non-league season soon and will look to finish high in the PSAL this season. A young team, the Eagles hope to improve on their .500 record of a year ago.

The Eagle golf team will begin matches in late March with senior basketball player Ryan Graumann leading the way. High school golf is

AROUND Middle School ■ Harker MS students recently participated in the California Mathematics League, a state contest open to all public and private schools. “This contest has very hard questions--so hard that the contest officials feel it's exceptional for students to earn a score of 30/40 or 75 percent,” said Cindy Kerr, middle school math department chair. Over one third of Harker's scored middle school students received a score of 30 and above. “I've never had a percentage this high,” said Kerr.

The students receiving the top five scores comprised the team for their grade: Gr. 7 (Team score of 185)— Jay Shah, Ankur Sharma, Tonia Sun, Joseph Pei, Victor Chen and Raven Reddy. Gr. 8 (Team score of 192)—Brice Lin, Jay Han, Justin Chin, Mark Hsu and Siddarth Chandrasekhar.

very competitive in this area, and the team will be looking to upset the traditional league powers this season.

Track and field members are set to begin their season as well.

Sophomore pole vaulter John Ollila finished second in the prestigious K Bell Invitational meet in early March with a jump of 12' 6". Coach Reid is excited about the returning members of the girls’ team, and with over 45 athletes on the team, hopefully the Eagles will win with their depth. The relay teams should be fun and exciting to watch. Meets are held at Los Gatos, Bellarmine and Arroyo Grande High Schools.

—Jack Bither, US Athletic Director

saratoga Kerr added that in Gr. 8 nearly half of the students received a score of 30 or more. Congratulations to all!

Students in Gr.6 will take this test in March. Results showing how all of our Harker students fared statewide will be available in May. ■ A group of 52 students in the Advanced Spanish classes recently went to see Caron de Beaumarchais’ play, “El Barbero de Sevilla” performed by the National Theater. “Its musical setting captured the feeling of a zarzuela, the traditional Spanish operetta, quite effectively,” said Julie Pinzás, MS Spanish teacher. She added that the typical elements of Spanish literature such as romantic balconies, serenades, swords and capes, coupled with the classic themes of intrigue and revenge, helped students discover more about the customs and history of Spain, the birthplace of the Spanish language. “All who

MS teachers demonstrated Hawaiian moves they learned on the Gr. 8 trip to Hawaii that they performed at the recent Saratoga Dance Production.

Chris Daren

SPORTS

attended left with smiles on their faces,” she laughed. Students were then treated to the culinary delights of Cuban food at la Habana-Cuba.

These included the Cuban staple foods of rice, black beans and fried plantains.

Mark Tantrum

■ Students in Gr. 8 have been studying sex education in their science and P.E. classes, and the annual highlight occurred in Feb. when the students were responsible for a flour sack baby for a week. The intent of this lesson is to teach students what the responsibility of caring for a child involves.

They are required to keep a daily journal and record their feelings

Upon completion of the flour sack project the overall feeling of the students was that it would definitely be worthwhile to wait before taking on the responsibility of a baby. A student wrote, “A baby could affect my life by making me have to lose many of my dreams. I could dream of going to college and getting a great job, but having a baby could take up much of my time, not allowing me to study very much.”

■ MS science teacher Raji Swaminathan repor ted that four Harker student teams recently participated in eCYBERMISSION, a Web-based science, math and technology competition for 7th and 8th grade teams sponsored by the U.S. Amy. Student teams compete for regional and national awards while working to solve problems in their community by selecting a problem related to one of four Mission Challenges: Arts and Entertainment, Environment, Health and Safety or Sports and Recreation, and Students. Harker teams and their projects were Kriti Lodha, Divya Mandava, Paula Lauris and Kelly O’Rielly - Finger Print Technology Lockers; Michael Kang, Kenric Tam, Nick Sutardja and Eric Sum - Homeland Security; Aarathi Minisandram, Eugenia Sorotokin and Michelle Hong - Waterproof Bandages; Akshay Udiavar, Evan Sanders and Brian McCuen Asthma. We expect the results in the middle of April—good luck to all these students, and we’re very proud of your participation.

■ Educator-storyteller Jim Cogan of “Storytime” on PBS-TV shared stories with our MS students at a recent assembly. Gogan is a member of the National Storytelling Association, the author of several audiotapes and contributor to the book “Many Voices: True Tales from America’s Past.” At the assembly he told the students three stories—

Mark Tantrum

and thoughts throughout the week.

Science teacher Simon Kielty said that some students noted in their journals that using baskets to carr y their babies made the task easier, and that babysitting was not always easy to find, especially for students involved in after-school sports. Lunch was a big problem for many. Trying to balance a lunch tray and carry five pounds proved difficult. “The biggest complaint seemed to be sore arms from carrying their babies around all day,” laughed Keilty.

saratoga

MS parents attend an orientation meeting for the Gr. 7 Grand Canyon trip, which our students were on at press time. Watch for photos and recap in the May issue!

Mark Tantrum

AROUND

one scary, one true and one funny—and Kimberly Wong, Gr. 8, liked how he got into the role of the character in each story. “In the scary story he screamed so loud it scared the audience!” said Wong.

“He told interesting stories that I have never heard before,” said Swapanthi Nagulpally, Gr. 8, and Julia Price-Madison, Gr. 8, added enthusiastically, “He was SO good!”

Many thanks to Cogan for taking time out of his busy schedule to share his story-telling skills with our students.

■ The students in Gr. 8 are now observing the development of sea urchins. The weather delayed the start of the project, but the first eggs were fertilized on March 5.

The eggs and sperm were collected from adult urchins and fertilization was done in petri dishes. By observing them under the microscopes daily, the students are watching early development.

Upper School ■ On March 1 a group of 14 Harker students competed in the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) Bay Section Leadership Conference held this year at Westmoor High School in Daly City.

Approximately 375 students from 12 schools in the Bay Area participated in the conference, competing in events such as Public Speaking, Business Law, Economics and Business procedures.

Danae Romrell, faculty advisor for Harker’s FBLA, proudly reported that three Harker students earned first place slots and will go on to the state competition May 1 at the Santa Clara Westin Hotel. A special congratulations to Alfred See - 1st place in Economics; Linda Mohammadian - 1st place in Public Speaking I; Lekha Challa

- 1st place in Public Speaking II. “Harker students entered only nine different events, so we were very pleased to win first place in three of them,” said Romrell. Other Harker students participanting were: Ankoor Shah, Sarada Pyda, Tiffany Lau, Eric Lee, Audrey Leung, Ruchi Jhaveri, Esha Ranganath, Sridhar Chadalavada, Rashmi Sanbhadti, Michael Tang and Manu Srivastava. “We will also have some other students competing at the state competition in some events that begin at that level,” explained Romrell.

Congratulations to all of our FBLA students, and good luck to all in the next round!

■ DEBATE NEWS Twelve of the nation’s best teams were invited to participate in a national round-robin tournament hosted Feb. 28 by the College Preparatory School of Oakland.

Varsity debaters Catherine Kim and Alex Iftimie par ticipated and advanced to the semifinal round.

Iftimie also earned 4th place Speaker Award.

Harker debaters also gathered on the campus of UC Berkeley in February for one of the nation’s largest tournaments of the year.

Over 200 schools participated in this tournament that included 258 varsity policy debate teams, and at the end of eight preliminary rounds of competition the team of Alex Iftimie and Catherine Kim were seeded number one with a perfect 8-0 record. Four other Harker teams also had winning records after eight preliminary rounds: Payom Pirahesh & Ruchit Agrawal; Boris Kheyn-Kheyfets & Kevin Hwang; Vikram Malhi & Derek Hwang; Jerry Hong & Varoon Bhagat. Kim also earned 10th Speaker award and Iftimie earned 3rd Speaker Award out of a group of 516 debaters.

The team of Iftimie and Kim also earned its fourth leg to the TOC tournament to be held in May at the University of Kentucky (two legs are required to qualify for this tournament).

Thanks to the novice debaters who came to support our varsity teams: Rahul Jaswa, Colleen Lee, Lynn Chang, Xin Wang and Arjun Naskar.

—Matt Brandstetter, US Speech and Debate Advisor

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saratoga

Juniors Explore Careers with Mentors In Feb. students had their third and final meeting in Harker’s Mentor Program, designed to give juniors a taste of professions of interest to them. Over the eight-month program, mentors met with their student mentees three times to discuss their field of interest, share tips and anecdotes and, in some cases, take the students off-campus for some hands-on experiences. For example, graphic designer Eric Gray took students to a publishing company and software engineer Patrick See took his group to visit IBM. Rodney Rapson, an architect who works for the City of San Jose, led a group to UC Berkeley to view architectural design.

Biologist Alexandra Swafford and her mentor group visited tide pools in Santa Cruz, Ram Appalaraju showed students marketing at Hewlett Packard and Santa Clara County District Attorney, Sam Giammona, took his group for courtroom visits.

■ The Harker Robotics Team and their robot named TORK had an outstanding weekend in the FIRST Robotics regional competition in Sacramento.

During the seeding matches, TORK lost five out of the first six matches. The team’s pit crew then adjusted quickly, making several The Robotics team chose this year's picnic theme, The design modifications.

Wizard of Oz, to show their team spirit, helping them They replaced the win the Rookie All Star Trophy. wheels and replaced the gearing mechanism on one of the drive motors. As users who have no knowledge of a result, the team went on to win formal programming. Dr. Zloof, who their next four matches in a row. has published numerous papers That evening the team was honored and articles, has also chaired and as the top Rookie Team receiving served as keynote speaker at many the FIRST Rookie All Star Trophy. national and international conferences and at university conferThe following day Harker competed ences. He has received several in four more seeding matches, awards, including the prestigious beating several of the top ranked IBM Corporate Award, and was an teams. At the end of the 14 match IBM Fellow nominee before he left seeding round, Harker had earned IBM. He was also an adjunct a respectable 12th place overall professor at Columbia University out of 27 teams. During the final and the Courant Institute at NYU. rounds, Harker was the 6th overall Rand Harrington

AROUND

Jessica Liu’s mentor, pediatrician Suhani Mody, toured students through the prenatal wards at Kaiser Permanente Medical Group. “It showed me more options and choices, and I enjoyed seeing what it means to be a doctor,” Jessica said. “I want to be a doctor now.”

pick and joined the 5th place team to compete in the 3-team Alliance Rounds. TORK and the Harker Team competed valiantly and ended up losing by a single point to the Alliance Team that went on to win the championship!

Student Boris Kheyn-Kheyfets, who explored corporate law with mentor Suchitra Narayen of the Sun Microsystems Foundation, said, “It showed me the realities of law and the courtroom. There are hardships involved with winning cases… many factors make up the profession. It has helped my career path, and I am convinced more that I want to do it.”

The Harker Team is already planning additional modifications to TORK and to their competition strategies. There is little doubt that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the very competitive Silicon Valley Regional Competition on March 26 and 27.

Thank you to all of our mentors for their valuable time helping our students explore the many professional careers open to them. One day, some of these fine students may be working in your firms!

—Rand Harrington, US Physics Teacher and Robotics Club Advisor

Mark Tantrum: all mentor photos

■ Distinguished Lecture Series— Computer Science

Some of our 2002-03 mentors attended a recent thank-you lunch. A complete list of mentors and their companies was included in the Nov. issue.

12

Many thanks to Harker parent Moshe Zloof, Ph.D. (Josh Zloof ’04) who spoke to US computer science students in Jan. on The Evolution of Query-by-Example to Application-by-Example. Robb Cutler, US computer science teacher and organizer of the lecture series, explained that Query-byExample (QBE) is the first nonprocedural visual database language. Developed by Zloof at IBM in the 70s, it is aimed at end

■ US teacher Steve Earth reported that several members of the Harker Game Club participated in the Magic The Gathering Le;gions prerelease tournament recently in Palo Alto. “All had good performances,” said Earth, “particularly considering that they were playing against adults.” Participating were Sam Sherman, Gr. 9, Jeffrey Shih, Gr. 10, Chris Holmes, Gr. 10, and Grant Getzan, Gr. 11. Holmes and Getzan went undefeated. Congratulations to our gamers!

Earth also reported that several US students participated in the Junior Super Series Challenge in late Feb. In the field of over 300 students participating in this tournament, Jeffrey Shih came in first place, winning $350 worth of games, a $1,000 college scholarship and an invitation to participate in the national championship in San Diego in June, where the winner will receive over $20,000 in college scholarships. Other Harker students did very well, with Chris Holmes coming in 5th and Mason Liang barely missing the finals on tiebreakers and coming in 9th.

Congratulations to our players, and we wish Jeffrey the very best at the national championship!

AROUND

saratoga

Harker a Global Leader in Mathematica

JETS teams Take Double Honors

In the 2001-02 school year, Harker was the recipient of one It made mathematics of six Wolfram Research infinitely richer and more Mathematica Grants awarded worldwide. Harker’s Mathematica Web site is the interesting. I am very culmination of the 2-year-long project to incorporate grateful I had the Mathematica into Harker’s opportunity to work with curriculum and share our work with other students and Mathematica. teachers around the world. “We were chosen to receive the grant —Sophia Wang, Gr. 12 because of our commitment to actively engaging students in a top-quality educational experience that emphasizes the integration of technology to enhance the curriculum,” said Mason.

“

Judy James

Joanne Mason, US math dept. chair, reported that Harker’s US math program’s Mathematica Web site featuring the work of many of our students is now featured on Wolfram Research’s global Web site. In addition to a news article on the site about Harker’s advanced use of Mathematica, Harker is included in a section of resources and information devoted to Wolfram’s activities in pre-college education.

Both the varsity (top) and junior varsity (right) JETS teams took first place again this year in their divisions. See cover story.

”

Harker received Mathematica 4.1 software for use in mathematics and science programs in all upper-level classes from Pre-Calculus forward, along with technical support and other resources. “Writing mathematics and writing about mathematics should be central curriculum goals, and software like Mathematica greatly facilitates this. It may be that this is the single greatest positive educational benefit of using Mathematica,” Mason explained.

Implementing Mathematica has helped to put Harker’s US math department in the national forefront. But according to Mason, “We are doing this because we feel technology like Mathematica greatly enhances students’ understanding and use of mathematics.”

Mason reports an increase in students’ interest in challenging math and mathematical research. She says that Mathematica reinforces Harker’s project-oriented curriculum and supports “learning math by doing math.” According to Mason, “Harker students are doing sophisticated and substantial projects using advanced mathematics.

Some of their work is publishable. In conjunction with the Advanced Placement curriculum, our students’ use of Mathematica in such projects is giving them a more substantial and exciting preparation for university level work than any other high school.”

“Mathematica was instrumental in helping me develop a mathematical instinct, and it allowed me to see patterns that I would never have seen without it,” said US student Sophia Wang. “It made mathematics infinitely richer and more interesting, and I am very grateful I had the opportunity to work with the Mathematica program.”

US math teachers Bradley Stoll and Misael Fisico presented their work with Mathematica and AP Calculus at the CAIS program recently, and in April Mason will attend Wolfram’s biannual Mathematica Developer Conference at their Champaign, Illinois, headquarters. Mason will also spend her summer writing a new textbook for Advanced Mathematics using Mathematica extensively.

Due to our successes with this program, an institute on using Mathematica and teaching with projects-based learning is being planned for summer 2004, attended by high school and college teachers from around the country. To see the Harker listings on the Wolfram site, go to http://www.wolfram.com/solutions/precollege/ classroom.html or visit Harker’s Mathematica site at http:// www.harker.org/mathematica/.

SENIOR

showcase

Jessica Cu ’03 Editor’s Note: In this monthly column we ask some of this year’s graduating seniors to share their summer internships, interests and college advice. Enjoy! women with AIDS to study the effect of anti-retrovirals on their infants.

Harker senior Jessica Cu is a highly accomplished pianist with a keen interest in the sciences. To explore some of her interests, she has participated in summer internships and is currently interning at the Stanford transplant immunology labs. “My job is to enter chemicals into their database so that in case of a fire or other disaster, people would know how to counteract the fires. Certain chemicals can affect the strength or duration of a fire,” she explained. Jessica added that this is her favorite internship since she is also able to observe gel electrophoresis and DNA cloning.

Her previous internship was to work on a Stanford research project sponsored by University of Zimbabwe and the University of San Francisco, entering the data of

Jessica said that the studies of evolution and viruses are among the subjects that interest her most.

“AP biology was much more interesting than I expected it to be,” she said of her experiences at Harker. “It’s more than a bunch of facts that you have to memorize.

Harker’s variety of classes offers great opportunities. If not for Harker, I probably would have had to take many of my higher math classes at a community college, and I wouldn’t have participated in math competitions.”

Jessica has not yet decided what her major will be, but she thinks it will have to do with biology and she may double major to include music.

Jessica has played piano since the age of five and has completed theory exams up to level 8 and per formance levels up to the cer tificate level through the international Royal Schools of Music. She regularly performs for the elderly, has taught piano to young children and is also involved in Harker’s Conservatory and orchestra.

Her advice? “Take advantage of every opportunity to learn as you can, because every experience will help you in one way or another.”

13

AROUND

saratoga

JCL Wins First at Annual Convention Harker’s Junior Classical League (JCL) won first place again in their division at the annual CJCL Convention, held this year at Menlo School over the Mar. 14 weekend. Students competed in the arts, athletics, academics and spirit events. “This is the third time in four years that Harker’s JCL has achieved first place in its division at the convention,” said John Hawley, US Latin teacher and JCL advisor.

In the Small Schools Division, Harker won: 1st Place Sweepstakes; 1st and 2nd Place Advanced Level Certamen (Latin “Quiz Bowl”); 1st Place MS 1 Certamen; 2nd Place - Level 3 Certamen; 3rd Place - Local Scrapbook.

Hawley added that a singular distinction was awarded to three Harker students, Brian Biskeborn, Cathy Kim and Anita Mazloom, who will each receive $1,000 CJCL scholarships when they have completed a course in Latin or Greek language in their freshman year in college. Also of note is that two Harker students received Overall recognitions, with Aarathi Minisandram and Catherine Kim both earning 1st Overall Academic and 1st Overall Combined at their levels (Aarathi MS 1 and Cathy HS Advanced). Competing in such events as Roman Daily Life, Advanced Grammar, Backstroke (yes, backstroke!), Dramatic Interpretation, Poetry and Ancient Geography, Harker students garnered the following tally of awards:

John Hawley: all Latin photos

MIDDLE SCHOOL - MS1: Daphne Gorman - one 1st, one 2nd, one 4th; Kritika Kailash - one 1st, one 3rd, one 4th; Shibani Mehta two 1sts, one 3rd, one 5th; Aarathi Minisandram - four 1sts, one 2nd, one 3rd; Eugenia Sorotokin - one 1st, one 2nd, one 5th; Ruchi Srivastava - one 1st, one 3rd.

UPPER SCHOOL ADVANCED: Brian Biskeborn - One 1st, two 2nds; Sridhar Chadalavada - One 1st, one 4th; Gabrielle DeMers - one 1st, one 3rd; Ethan Karpel - one 1st, one 2nd; Catherine Kim - six 1sts, one 2nd; Allison Kwong - one 1st, one 2nd, one 3rd, one 5th; Anita Mazloom - one 2nd, one 5th; Sheena Reddy - one 2nd, one 4th; LEVEL 1: Jonny Jenq - one 2st. LEVEL 2: Alex Hsu - one 3rd , one 5th; Shaun Mohan - one 5th; Shivani Tomar - one 1st; Roberta Wolfson - one 1st. LEVEL 3: Vivek Bansal - one 1st, one 2nd, one 5th. Daphne Karpel - one 3rd; Ivan Osokine - two 1sts, one 2nd, three 4ths; Sarada Pyda - one 1st, one 3rd; Jennifer Shangkuan one 2nd; Sean Weinstock - 2nd.

We’re proud of your performances in this challenging event and congratulate you all!

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■ Marc Leglise, Gr. 12, US Film Club president, reported that the club has four projects currently in the works that will be released before the end of the year if all goes well. Leglise was putting finishing touches on the video and DVD versions of the US fall production, “Dracula,” and hopes to have it available for ordering by the end of March. Watch the Parent Home Page for the link. Film Club projects include “Evelyn Station,” directed and produced by Boris Federov, Gr. 10; “Boosting a Car,” directed by Adrik McIlroy, Gr. 10, and produced by Matt Jones, Gr. 11; and “Bitter Taste of Blood,” directed by Aaron Miner, Gr. 12, and produced by Peter Combs, Gr. 11.

Watch the newsletter for updates!

■ MATH UPDATE Round Four—and Harker Tied for #1 in CML After the fourth round of the California Mathematics League (CML) competition the Harker US is tied for first place, along with Lynbrook High School, with each school holding a cumulative team score of 118 points. This year there are 201 schools around California that are participating, including 17 schools from Santa Clara County.

Harker has three students listed among the High Scoring Students Cumulative in the CML listings: Felix Lee, Gr. 12, 22 pts.; Ozan Demirlioglu Gr. 11, 22 pts.; and Justin Wu Gr. 10, 22 pts.

At Press Time, 22 Harker Students Qualify in Round 2 of AMC On Feb. 11, 165 Harker students took the American Math Competitions (AMC-A) and another 186 Harker students took the AMC-B on Feb. 26. According to Misael Fisico, US math teacher, “This was a major undertaking of the Harker mathematics department to have all students enrolled in a math honors class take either one of the competitions.” Fisico explained that a number of engineering universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the California Institute of Technology (CIT) have a special section in their college application forms asking students to provide their scores from this national mathematics competition. “Although it is optional, a good score in the AMC will increase the chances of an

applicant being accepted to these universities,” said Fisico. However, he added that AMC is first and foremost a math competition, and a good score will also qualify students for the next three rounds: the American Invitation Mathematics Examinations (AIME), the USA Mathematics Olympiad and the International Mathematics Olympiad.

At press time, the official results of the AMC-A had been released, and the following students qualified to the AIME: Ozan Demirlioglu (school winner for AMC12), Alex TearseDolye (school winner for AMC10), Yi Sun (team member), Felix Lee (team member), Kevin Park, Peter Combs, Andrew Zhang, Charles Hung, Eric Berglund, Ethan Karpel, Lev Pisarsky, Alfred See, Edward Peng, Jigish Patel, Justin Wu, Shelton Chow, Anjali Vaidya, Amit Saxena, Alex Reid, Rishi Mandal, Elise Nguyen and Robert Li. Results of the AMC-B had not arrived at press time and will appear in the next issue.

■ Tim Woods, US biology teacher, repor ted that the Biology Club visited the Año Nuevo State Park on a sunny Sunday morning recently to view over 3,000 elephant seals. On the ranger-led hike they learned about their migratory patterns and the ecological impact of their presence at Año Nuevo and on other beaches up and down the coast of California. “We could hear their Volkswagen-like vocalizations before we could see them...adult male elephant seals scattered along the beach, weighing in at 1.52 tons each,” said Woods. “We were able to get within 25 feet of the seals at four or five points along the tour and saw numerous newborns, cute despite their enormous size.” Students attending this special trip were Max Kubota, Matt Jones, Ananda Bose, Vivek Saraswat, Vivian Leung, Prithi Trivedi, Cosme Fagundo, Vivian Nguyen, Andrew Hospodor, Munazzah Javid, Aditi Bhattacharyya, Neha Bajwa, Harsh Gandhi, Jennifer Lin, Aaron Kleinsteiber, Sarada Pyda, Alex Tearse-Doyle, Rachael Warecki and Tiffany Dell’Aquila. US teacher Jeffrey Sutton joined Woods in accompanying the group. “It was really awe inspiring to get so close to these mammoth creatures,” said Woods. “All in all, it was a wonderful trip that the Biology Club hopes to continue to take annually.”

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Alice Chi said, “The students there expressed a lot of concern for our generation; we perceived a great dichotomy between how we felt adults viewed us and how we viewed ourselves. For instance, we felt labeled as ‘lazy,’ ‘ungrateful’ or ‘rebellious,’ but as we brainstormed we described ourselves as ‘leaders,’ ‘diverse’ and ‘appreciative.” Chi said that everyone contributed, “bringing opinions from the perspectives of a Mexican, a volleyball player, a Jew, a student council leader, and so on.” When the Harker group returned to campus from the conference, they met with Kevin Williamson, dean of students, to discuss their experience and how it applied to the Harker community.

Chi stated that since Harker is such a culturally diverse school already, the group concentrated their discussion more on the idea of community building. “I realized suddenly that our administration and our student council members are more genuine than we give them credit for sometimes.

Everyone has faults and tendencies to fall into cliques and complaints, but ‘Generation Y’ encompasses a group of people with a genuine desire to bring positive change, to cure American apathy,” she said.

Congratulations to the richly diverse group of Harker students who were selected to attend this special annual forum and represent our culturally diverse Harker community.

Coming this spring… Grade 12 campaign results!

Thanks to the time and dedication of Development Council members, coupled with the support of Harker’s parent body, we are currently at 69% of our overall campaign goal of 1.25 million! We are thankful to all families that continue to increase parent par ticipation in each grade level— keep up the good work! You can still participate in the campaign by making a pledge or gift in any amount! Remember that your support enhances student oppor tunities, resources and experiences at Harker.

Double Your Contribution! Two extremely generous families have offered matching challenge grants to new Harker families and returning families who did not

participate in the 2001-2002 Annual Giving Campaign. They will match dollar-for-dollar each contribution made from now until May 31 up to a total of $28,000. In addition, Mr. and Mrs. James Lau offered to match dollar-for-dollar all pledges and gifts made during the March phonathon week, up to a total of $5,000. We are truly appreciative to these families for their generosity and hope you will help us celebrate our 110th year with 100% of YOUR par ticipation!

The Advancement Office has moved from 94 N. San Tomas Aquino Road to the Saratoga campus. Our e-mail addresses haven’t changed, but here are our new phone numbers: Jerusha Hew Len, 345.0105; Amalia Keyashian, 345.0107; Maria Nguyen, 345.0104; Kelly Parker, 345.0102. Feel free to stop by and say hello to the team!

Remember to sign up for eScrip and Schoolpop! These programs have no enrollment fee and donate a percentage of what you spend to Harker. If you show an Albertson’s Community Partners’ card when shopping there, you can also benefit Harker. For more information, contact Amalia Keyashian, director of annual giving at 408.345.0107 or amaliak@harker.org.

Once again, sincere thanks to the Harker families, Development Council members, faculty and staff, alumni, grandparents and friends who have committed to support the campaign.

— Bran-Dee Torres, Donor Relations Manager, brandeet@harker.org

Visit the Advancement Web page for more information about any of our donor programs!

Heartfelt Thanks!

“I extend my heartfelt thanks to the Harker Development Council members who volunteer their valuable time and expertise to our school. Their devotion and commitment to raising funds for our students continue to inspire parents’ participation at every grade level, and I truly value their hard work.”

Mark Tantrum: both photos

The theme this year was “Generation Y—The Search for a Definition,” and the focus was on youth, image, media, perception and misconception. “It was a wonderful experience to meet with other students who were going through the same issues when wrestling with the title ‘Generation Y,’” said Anita Gupta. “It taught me how every student CAN make a difference—and needs to—in order to help the community.”

Countdown…Only 31% More Needed to Reach Our Goal!

Mark Tantrum

■ Ten Harker US students attended the 6th annual Diversity Youth Forum sponsored by the Mountain View Chamber of Commerce at the Alza Corporation in March. Student nominations were provided by the faculty advisors of clubs involved with multicultural issues and by the class deans. Participants were Mallika Bhandarker, Anita Gupta, Stephanie Chun, Max Kubota, Leana Keyashian, Alfred See, Matt Jones, Rick Hayashi and Alice Chi.

participation

Students perform at Harker's recent Benefactor's Reception.

See Pg. 3 for story.

—Howard Nichols

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FROM

the archives ▲

Editor's Note: On the eve of our 52nd Annual Family & Alumni Picnic, we reached into the Harker archives for some snapshots to help us remember all the fun times we've had at this great event. Follow the yellow brick road to THIS year's picnic and create some wonderful memories of your own!

Bike Drill circa 1950

The family picnic has been a part of our school history since the 1950s when Palo Alto Military Academy held the annual family picnic in October at the end of the first full month of school. The Father’s Club sponsored it, and proceeds funded the cost of monthly awards and trophies.

Fried chicken was the traditional fare in the early days, and the picnic included a father-son softball game, the mothers’ 50-yard dash, an egg toss and tug-of-war. The bike drills were a memorable part of the picnic, as each cadet decorated his bicycle for the event.

▲

May Dance circa 1950

In the ’50s Miss Harker’s School had a May Festival and French Fete. The girls performed French songs, danced the Virginia Reel, and participated in a batontwirling exhibition, followed by an “aquacade” performed in the school pool.

▲ Picnic Sponge Toss 1977

▲

Picnic 1987

—Reported by Sue Smith, Harker Archivist

The Winner Is…

All photos from the Harker Archives

The 1980s brought the picnic to new heights with rides and enter tainment, and it became the major fundraiser for the school. Picnics now had an annual theme. The theme in 1985 was the Circus, in 1987 the Bicentennial, and in both 1988 and 1989 there was a Harvest theme.

In the ’60s the tradition continued at the P.A.M.A. parade grounds, and the 1968 program advertises $2.50 admission tic kets, adding, “Children under 5 and over 80 will be admitted free!” Then In the 1970s the two schools merged and moved to San Jose as Harker Academy. The Father’s Club still planned the event, and in 1975 the picnic proceeds provided a major source of funding for the pool project, completed in 1976. The raffle began in 1978, with a family donating a trip to Hawaii for two!

Karen Wong, Gr. 4, was the first to reply and correctly identify Howard Nichols in last month’s From the Archives column. Congratulations, Karen!

She has won an adorable stuffed Harker eagle!

▲ Picnic circa 1990 As the school became The Harker School in the 1990s, the picnic changed as well. The now-famous Grand Auction from the annual black-tie dinner was combined with the picnic, and the silent auction was added. In 1997-98, the picnic became a spring event.

Themes included Blast from the Past, The Beach Party, and Starship Harker.

Corrections: The Robotics article in the Feb. edition contained two errors: Vaidhi Nathan's name was mispelled, and Gregory Perkins (rather than Charles Perkins) should have been noted in the article. Our sincere apologies for these errors, though we hear Greg's dad has thoroughly enjoyed being a 10th grader for awhile.

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The Harker News is published monthly by the Harker Office of Communications. Current and archived issues are also available on the Parent Home Page on the Web site at www.harker.org.

Editor: Pam Dickinson Asst. Editor: Terry Walsh Photo Editor: Chris Daren

Design: Blue Heron Design Printing & Mailing: Communicart Mailing Coordinator: Bran-Dee Torres Photographer: Mark Tantrum

The Harker School does not discriminate in the administration of its educational policies, athletics or other school-administered programs, or in the administration of its hiring and employment practices on the basis of age, sex, race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation or non-job-related handicap.