OCTOBER 2005 (VOL. 12, NO. 1)
M O N T H L Y
inside Historic opening of new MS Campus! See pgs. 10 & 11 for recap
Pledge Week Oct. 2-7 See pg. 4 for details
harker.org Redesigned Web site launches Sept. 30! See Editor’s Note, pg. 2
events
55th Annual Family & Alumni Picnic
Sun., Oct. 16
10 a.m. - 4 p.m. US Campus See pg. 5
Sat., Oct. 8 - Football Fri., Oct. 15 - Volleyball See pg. 17 Harker News — October 05
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
Students Unite to Support Katrina Relief Efforts The devastation of Hurricane Katrina to our nation’s gulf coast has prompted responses from the entire Harker community. Each campus is uniting to show their support for the displaced survivors, with gestures of goodwill and fundraising. At the Lower School, students participated in “Support on a Stick,” selling juice bars after school
to raise money. On Thursdays throughout September, students, faculty and staff could buy juice bars for whatever amount of money they deemed appropriate. The first day of sales yielded an amazing $838.42! The tables were staffed by students in grades 3-5 and the student council actively worked on publicity. In addition, during homeroom on Fri., Sept. 9, each
student made a badge consisting of red, white and blue ribbon and a thoughtful message such as “we care” or “Help the hurricane victims,”in an effort “to promote schoolwide awareness of our responsibility to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina,” said Kelly Espinosa, LS dean of non-academics. Continued on pg. 7
Costa Rica Trip Introduces Students to Field Research During the summer of 2005, US science teachers Anita Chetty and Dr. Gary Blickenstaff started a new program designed to provide Harker students with first-hand experience at performing university-level field research and data analysis. The teachers took two two-week trips to the island of Costa Rica with a total of 19 Harker students during July and August. The Harker groups, comprised of students in upper-level biology classes, had the unique opportunity to conduct their own research assignments with graduate and undergraduate researchers at each of three different renowned research facilities. The first of the three locations was the Monte Verde Institute, which sits amidst a “cloud forest” (named this due to the actual formation of clouds at the altitude) 6,000 feet above sea level in the Andes mountains. The Monte Verde Institute has long-established partnerships with esteemed universities in the U.S., including Smith College and all of the University of California schools. At Monte Verde, the Harker students broke into small groups and selected research topics. They were then assigned a resident graduate student who served as the adviser for their project. The goal of the project was to produce a universitylevel research paper, based on two days of data collecting followed by data analysis, statistical treatment, and concluding with a project presentation.
The final products were impressive to the students’ own Harker teachers and the residents of Monte Verde. “The presentations were very much like a normal scientific seminar,” said Chetty. Chetty added that, when she made a preliminary visit to Monte Verde in February, the administration was wary about inviting high school students to conduct complicated research. “They didn’t think that highly of it, but by the end, they told us that our students were extraordinary,” said Chetty. “Our students were picking up the material two- to three-times faster than the UC undergrads. The graduate advisers repeatedly thanked our students for their tremendous focus and dedication.” “Working with the grad students was a humbling experience,” added Carissa Chu, Gr. 12. “They put in so much work, and it’s amazing the amount of energy they have to have.” The second research facility was the La Selva Biological Station, situated in Costa Rica’s central lowlands (still 1,000 feet in elevation). At La Selva, Harker
students participated in research sponsored by the Organization for Tropical Studies (OTS), a nonprofit consortium consisting of 63 universities in the U.S., Latin America and Australia. Almost three-quarters of the area of the La Selva Station is under primary rain forest, allowing the students to Continued on pg. 15
photos provided by Anita Chetty
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