event
recap
“Yes, Your Teen Is Crazy” Speaker “informative and entertaining” An impressive 231 parents flocked to Harker’s MS campus in February for the latest in the Common Ground Speaker Series, and the first of these events hosted by Harker this year. The series is sponsored by a coalition of Bay Area schools that have joined together to provide parent education to their communities. Speakers give parents the opportunity to take advantage of their expertise in the fields of education and parenting, to share ideas with other parents, and to support each other’s efforts to enrich our school communities. Dr. Michael J. Bradley presented a talk titled, “Yes, Your Teen is Crazy,” and won rave reviews from those in attendance. Of the 231
situations.” She added with a smile, “I am a much mellower mom today.”
present, a whopping 153 were Harker parents, with other parents attending from other member schools, such as Hillbrook,
“It was wonderful and very informative” said Reeta Gupta (Ankur, Gr. 12).
Old Orchard, Castilleja, Menlo and Nueva. Vidya Lakshmi, (Siddarth Chari, Gr. K and Vikram Chari, Gr. 3), Harker’s parent liaison for the Common Ground series, said of Bradley’s talk, “Even as a mom with kids aged nine and six, I thought there was a lot of useful information that I could use today, such as extracting information from them and dealing with heated
“There are a lot of things about teeenagers we don’t know, and the scientific infomation he presented about how the brain behaves helped me understand. They (teenagers) are not crazy,” she laughed. “There’s a meaning behind it.” Assistant Head of School for Academics Jennifer Gargano was also impressed with Bradley’s
presentation. “He was informative and entertaining, a difficult balance to find in a speaker. His advice was compelling, and was supported by data, research and his own personal experiences. His humorous and relevant stories about the challenges he is experiencing with his own ‘unique’ teenage son quickly captivated the audience,” Gargano said. Many parents bought Bradley’s book and signed up for his e-newsletter. If you would like to do the same, check out his Web site at www.yesyourteeniscrazy.com. See pg. 2 for dates of future parent education events. Information about the Common Ground Speakers Series is available on Harker’s Web site in the Academic Counseling section.
Alumna Visits from Washington
Cookies & Kindergarten Tours
Harker alumna Leslie Kitz (’91), who is responsible for marketing and communications for the newly formed Cedar River Academy in Washington state, recently brought her schools’ founders, Roger and Peggy Franklin, for a visit with Harker administrators and staff to learn more about the inner workings of a world-class private school as they develop their new academy. During their day at Harker’s LS and US campuses, Kitz and the Franklins met with Pam Gelineau, LS admissions director, Pam Dickinson, director of communications, Terry Walsh, alumni director, Nan Nielsen, director of admissions, Heather Blair, academic dean, and Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academics. “The opportunity to get an insight into operations at an institution such as The Harker School is invaluable to us,” Kitz said in a follow-up letter. We look forward to continued communication with Kitz as she and the Franklins develop their academy.
In January Harker hosted three “Cookies and Kindergarten Tours” for prospective parents interested in enrolling their children at Harker. Over 90 people attended the events, which included a campus tour, classroom visits, a Q & A session with admissions staff and warm cookies in the library. “They loved being able to see our wonderful teachers and students in action,” said Pam Gelineau, LS admissions director.
Annual MS Students vs. Faculty Basketball Game a Blast For All The MS recently enjoyed the first game in the new Alumni Gym between the A1 boys basketball team and the MS faculty. More than 15 MS faculty and rec staff participated in the event, which is a long-time Harker tradition. The A1 boys won the game 49-46 when Rohan Shah, Gr. 8, buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer! MS students stormed onto the court in celebration after Shah’s dramatic game-winner. MS science teacher Simon Keilty was hilarious in his old-school headbands and goggles, and the faculty who did not play led the cheers with pom-poms. Halftime festivities included a 3point shooting contest for a free dress pass, which was won by Saagar Sarin, Gr. 6. Gr. 4-8 Athletic Director Theresa Smith said, “The gym was packed with frenzied fans, and they were treated to an unbelievable game!”
Harker News — March 06
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