DECember 2004 (VOL. 11, NO. 3)
est. 1893 • K-12 college prep
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M O N T H L Y
inside Student government in all divisions fosters leadership and responsibility ............... 8 Harker musicians to tour Europe in February ............ 20 Three annual grade level trips provide unique learning experiences ........ 10, 16 & 17
online NEW on the Parent Home Page: ■ We now post photos from each edition of The Harker News in our online photo albums. Also see photos of recent academic trips! ■ New link - great info: Academic Counseling Department
events FASHION SHOW Fri., Feb. 4
■ Tickets on Sale Now! ■ Models Announced! See pages 6 & 7 inside
N E W S L E T T E R
F R O M
T H E
H A R K E R
S C H O O L
National Conference Invites TWO Harker Students! Two Harker students – juniors Samantha Fang and Amira Valliani – were among only 41 students nationwide invited to attend a special weekend conference at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts from Sept. 30 to Oct. 3. The national Take the Lead Program is designed for idealistic, actionoriented young women who want to make a difference in the world. “It was absolutely amazing to be among such inspired and brilliant girls,” said Valliani. Activities during the long weekend included highly interactive workshops in areas such as team-building, publicity and public speaking, mentoring from former Take the Lead participants and leadership building exercises. Prior to arriving at the conference each participant was asked to choose an issue that is particularly meaningful to her, and then they turned those issues into “action projects,” with the help of their leadership mentors, over the weekend. Both Harker girls have goals of using their action projects to improve the levels of awareness and involvement in the election process. Fang seeks to build more community awareness of urban development projects in her hometown of Sunnyvale in a way that could be emulated throughout the country. “I’d also like to create a Web site that provides better voter access,” she said. Valliani hopes to use her project to search for ways to combat voter apathy in the United States. Both Fang and Valliani said that the activities from the Take the Lead program left them with tremendous skills for the future. “One of the best workshops I went to was on community organizing. It was done
by an absolutely vivid woman who has been organizing movements since the 60s, and by the end of it everyone was charged and ready to make a difference,” said Valliani. However, Valliani confessed, “I had the most fun when I was able to just to hang out or talk to all the girls there.” Similarly, Fang said, “The part of the weekend that was the most fun was the sleepover. I got to meet individuals that were so creative, and energetic and imaginative.” Nationwide, more than 700 young women were nominated by their counselors, teachers and other adult mentors to attend this annual conference. Regarding the selection of two Harker students for the program, one of the program’s organizers, Mount Holyoke’s Dr.
Patricia VandenBerg, said, “[Harker] should be very proud. There is enormous competition to get into the program.”
“Harker should be very proud. There is enormous competition to get into the program.” The proactive approach used at the Take the Lead program seems to have made an impact on the Harker students. “I think the two things that I brought home with me and really hope to keep are the inspiration I felt and the amazing network I built,” said Valliani. Fang concurred when she said, “The workshops taught me a lot, like how to mobilize people for change, use personal networks, raise money; all the basics for grass root social change.” Photo by Nick Gassmann
Tamagawa’s 10th Anniversary Visit Harker hosted our 10th group of visitors from the Tamagawa School in October (see full story and photos on pages 12 and 13). To honor this year's special visit, LS art teacher Eric Hoffman collaborated with Bill Bost, international programs director, on an art communication graphic design contest to create two logos for the front and back of a t-shirt for this year’s 10th anniversar y Tamagawa
visit, with guidelines to design something that represented 10 years of friendship between the two schools. “We added a bit of competition to the project by offering prizes for the winners,” said Hoffman. Over 130 entries were submitted and lucky winners were 6th graders Karen Wong and Jasmine Nee. Their designs were on the tshirts, the program at the welcome luncheon and banners hung in the gym. The winners each won a $50 Maido art supply gift certificate and Bost will ser ve the girls the lunch of their choice at a later date.