2006 October Harker News

october 2006 (VOL. 13, NO. 1)

A

M O N T H L Y

inside

N E W S L E T T E R

est. 1893 • K-12 college prep

F R O M

T H E

H A R K E R

S C H O O L

Campuses Buzzing with Back-to-School Excitement

Summer recap ................. 6

The campuses are alive with the sounds of laughter and lockers, the scent of fall and the sight of eager faces, both new and familiar. Welcome to a new school year at Harker!

Student’s one-woman band releases cd ...................... 11

Look inside for more photos from the first days of school, and read what our younger students had to say in our monthly Kid Talk – very cute!

MS eCybermission wins big in D.C. ................................ 15 LS honored by AHA ..... 13 Exciting football victory .... 18

events

56th Annual Family & Alumni Picnic Sun., Oct. 15 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

US Campus See pg. 4 for details!

Campus Upgrades: What’s New Around School?

GO EAGLES!

6th Annual Harker Homecoming Fri., Oct. 20 7 p.m.

Foothill College See pg. 19 for details!

Harker News — October 06

Every summer brings campus upgrades, new facilities and new equipment. Some changes are for all to see and others are seen only by those directly affected, but they all contribute to the bottom line: keeping The Harker School at the forefront in technology, student facilities and staff resources.

There are a number of changes in the technology arena. The most visible is the installation of 175 eMacs in classrooms and resource centers. Meanwhile, the technology department moved from the US to the MS campus. Behind the scenes, new servers were added

and various network servers were upgraded to increase network performance and stability. In addition the Internet connection speed for the school was doubled from 5Mb to 10Mb per second. Finally, the tech department spent lots of time installing a new Cisco phone system at the LS campus, which integrates the entire school’s phone systems.

The sports and P.E. facilities received a number of upgrades, starting with a new fitness center.

Located next to the main building pick-up point, the center packs a lot of punch into a modest space. The

room has free weights, a treadmill, elliptical machine, stair/climbing machine and a number of weight racks all on a padded floor. Athletic training facilities include tape and treatment tables, an icemaker and, best of all, certified athletic trainer Jaron Olson. Olson has a sports medicine degree to assist with injuries, as well as a master’s degree in exercise science and performance enhancement to help Harker athletes reach their potentials.

The facility is primarily intended to help in- and out-of-season athletes, but is open to the student body at large. Olson can help students Continued on pg. 20

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editor’s note To begin the year, I tip my hat (pretend I’m wearing one) to the dedicated core of people in the Office of Communications who put this together each month: Crystal Boyd, design and production; Mark Tantrum, photography; Cathy Snider, Jennifer Maragoni, Desiree Mitchell, copy editing; and our new writer, Bill Cracraft.

Harker is a an inspiring “beat,” and we’ll continue doing our best to keep you informed.

—Pam Dickinson, Director, Office of Communications pamd@harker.org

award Harker’s Office of Communications got a nice boost this summer, winning a Grand Award for the monthly Harker News in the 18th Annual Awards for Publications Excellence (APEX).

There were 105 grand awards given out of the thousands of entries in over 100 categories and, out of 552 newsletters submitted, Harker News won in the Non-Profit Newsletter category. Entries are judged on how they achieved overall communications effectiveness and excellence.

Judges said Harker News was, “a unique publication that shows what you can do on a ‘black and white’ budget.

Packed, packed, packed with information, written in a nicely ‘chunked’ style, in a dense layout that uses every inch of white space, but in a good way! Dozens of nicely cropped photographs in spreads and montages keep readers reading. An exceptional example of a school newsletter.”

APEX is sponsored by Writing That Works: The Business Communications Report, a newsletter and Web site for communications professionals.

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october dates

annual giving

Visit the Web calendars for the latest detailed date information for each division.

Heartfelt Thanks!

■ Sat., Oct. 7, MS MPR – Fashion Show Model Tryouts (see below) ■ Mon., Oct. 9 – Columbus Day – No classes ■ Tues., Oct. 10, 7 p.m., MS Auditorium – Common Ground Series: “Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers . . . and Humans Do” (see below) ■ Sun., Oct. 15, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., US Campus – 56th Annual Family & Alumni Picnic (see pg. 3 and Web site for details) ■ Fri., Oct. 20, 7 p.m., Foothill College – Homecoming Football Game (see pg. 19 for details)

Common Ground 2006-07 Series Harker is pleased to once again present the Common Ground Speaker Series to the Harker community. We will be hosting two of the events this year – one in October and one in February – and the first two in this year’s series are noted below.

Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers, and Humans Do! Dr. Robert Sapolsky Tues., Oct. 10, 7 p.m., Middle School Campus – Auditorium Admission: Free for Harker parents, faculty and staff (This topic will also be presented Thur., Oct. 5, 7 p.m. at Crystal Springs Uplands School in Hillsborough if you can’t make the Oct. 10 date).

Also coming up: Unconditional Parenting: Beyond Bribes and Threats, Alfie Kohn ■ Thurs., Nov. 2, 7 p.m., Woodside High School Common Ground is a coalition of Bay Area schools that have joined together to enhance parent education by providing opportunities for parents and educators to learn from experts, share ideas with other parents, and to support each other’s efforts to enrich our school communities. All Common Ground events are open and free to parents, faculty and staff of The Harker School and other member schools. Guests from non-member schools are welcome and pay $20 at the door.

Check the Harker Web site for more information or visit www.commongroundspeakerseries.org.

Fashion Show 2007 Model Tryouts ■ Sat., Oct. 7, 2006, Middle School Campus Harker K-Gr.11 students who did not model last year, all seniors, parents, faculty, staff and alumni are eligible to audition to shine on the Harker runway!* Models for the show will be selected by an independent panel of judges not affiliated with The Harker School. Tryout times vary depending on grade so visit the Harker Web site for more information about the audition process and to download registration forms. *Downbeat, BKN Dance Ensemble and US Dance Troupe members will be performing in the shows and are not eligible to audition. Parents of students selected as models will be required to provide ten hours of volunteer service in support of the show.

New! Harker’s Online Store!

Now, you can buy Harker bling online. From umbrellas to flash memory to wine glasses, you can order, pay and pick up at the school. The link is on the left side of the home page under News and Events.

The annual giving logo appearing at the end of some of our stories throughout the year indicates those activities or programs funded by Annual Giving.

in the news ■ June 2006 -- San Jose Magazine Head of School Chris Nikoloff was featured in Gossip on the Green where he humorously referenced thought control and Jack Nicholson.

■ July 2006 -- San Jose Magazine Harker’s 2005 varsity soccer goalie (and homecoming king) Naushad Godrej ’06, who was named MVP of the Private School Athletic League for 2005, was featured in the All Star section of the high school athletes.

■ July 2006 -- Book of Lists The Harker School was listed second on the list of the largest private schools in Silicon Valley ranked by total enrollment, and featured a listing of Head of School Christopher Nikoloff in the Who’s Who section.

■ June 2006 - NBC “Bay Area Today” Laura Garcia interviewed Harker’s MS eCybermission team at their first-ever national eCybermission competition, held in Wash., D.C. The piece aired June 21. See pg. 15.

■ September 2006 – Gentry Magazine 2006 alumni Yi Sun and Tara Chandra were featured in an article titled “Most Likely to Succeed.”

Harker News — October 06

harker

fund

2006-07 Annual Giving Campaign Kicks Off with Heartfelt Thanks The 2006-07 Annual Giving Campaign got off to a great start in September with our first Parent Development Council meeting.

This year we have nearly 70 parent volunteers helping us to raise money to benefit student programs, and we are very grateful for their support. We are looking forward to a successful year with this very enthusiastic and dedicated group, and we have raised our dollar goal to $1.1 million.

contacting Harker families leading up to the phone-a-thon the first week of October. Remember to make your gift or pledge before the Family and Alumni Picnic on Oct. 15, and you will be eligible to win a weekend getaway!

Students were asked to express their thanks to our supporters for all that Annual Giving provides, and we’ll share their drawings and comments in the months ahead.

We truly appreciate the generosity of our community, and the students do as well!

Melinda Gonzales Director of Annual Giving

Parent Development Council members have already been

New! Online Business Directory The Harker Online Business Directory is a new service provided free of charge to the Harker community. Listings, which are provided by Harker students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, alumni parents and event sponsors/advertisers, will remain posted for up to a year. The changeover date each year will be Sept. 1, at which time those with current listings may update/renew their listings, or event sponsors/ advertisers may renew their commitments to Harker events.

To post a listing, submit your information using the online form linked from the Division, Giving and

“Thank you so much for your help buying the P.E. equipment. Thanks to your help our bodies and muscles are getting stronger.”

—Neil Chitkara, Gr. 3

Home pages of the Harker Web site. Listings will first be verified internally by Harker staff and then will go live in five to seven business days.

This new online directory is a way to bring together the various business interests and talents of our community with Harker families who may be in need of such services.

Some businesses may also provide special offers or added benefits exclusively to Harker families. Users of the business directory will be able to search the listings by name, business category and/or Harker affiliation (parent, student, faculty, etc.). We hope you enjoy this new service!

“I have taken for granted how privileged we are at this school, but now I know that without your help, we would not be able to have such a great school.”

—Shannon O’Reilly, Gr. 7 “Your donations help our school provide an excellent visual arts program. As a student, I choose visual arts as my elective every year. With all the challenging academic classes, it is wonderful to have one course to express myself through different materials.”

—Tamara Kawadri, Gr. 8

2005-06 Annual Report Mailed Annual Report publications were mailed to the Harker community in September. We would like to thank our many donors who have made contributions of time and support in 2005-06. Your generosity is truly appreciated, and the entire

student body applauds you! Be sure to look inside the Annual Report for information on this year’s campaign and for all the ways you can help provide the Margin of Excellence for our students. Again, many thanks!

Parent Volunteer Signups Over 400 parents signed up to help out this year at our annual volunteer signup events during the first week of school.

Many thanks to all!

Those still interested in getting involved can contact Lisa Blickenstaff, volunteer relations director, at lisabl@harker.org.

Harker News — October 06

pledge week: oct. 2-6 Our Parent Development Council members will be contacting families during our annual phone-a-thon Pledge Week, Oct. 2-6.

Win a weekend getaway!

Families who make their pledge or gift to the Annual Giving Campaign

by Oct. 15 will be eligible to win a drawing for a wonderful weekend getaway. The drawing will be held at the end of the day at the 56th annual Family & Alumni Picnic.

Make your pledge today!

pledge by oct. 15 to win!

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picnic

down under We’re CRAZY About Picnic Donors!

If it’s October then it’s time for the “curbside crazies” to be out in Harker loading zones, collecting picnic donations from our generous families. The long-standing tradition of curbside drop-off is once again allowing parents, students, faculty and staff to show their picnic spirit while providing a convenient service for picnic donors! Each grade level (K-Gr.12) is assigned a day and a suggested donation category, and then the fun begins! Armed with colorful signs, wacky costumes and unbelievable energy, these dedicated volunteers collect items on the curb, while entertaining and enlightening morning commuters!

sUnday, oCT . 15, 2006

10 a.m. - 4 p.m. @ Saratoga campus

Picnic games and actiV ities The adventure is truly “Auss-some” with this year’s theme games and activities:

■ Catch a Croc

■ Slippery Dip

■ Dingo Dunk Tank

■ Uluru Roll

■ Kanga-Rootbeer

■ Noughts and Crosses

ring toss

■ Lovely Lollie Tree

■ ‘ave a go PLINKO

■ Aussie Flag Fling

■ Wallaby Wallop

■ Southern Cross Toss

■ Alright Vegemite!

■ Taronga Petting Zoo

■ Jackaroo Pony Rides ■ Convict Crash ■ Kookaburra Karaoke

■ Gum Tree Bounce

■ P.A.D.I. Putt Putt

■ Platypus Push

■ Coral Reef Climb

■ Chuck the Footie

. . . and much, much more!

Plus, enjoy delicious Australian eats from the Outback Steakhouse and don’t miss our special visitors from Down Under...a real kangaroo and crocodile!

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Picnic Committee 2006 - “The Boomerang Gang”

The curbside donations provide prizes for booths like the adult, child and teen wheels, the plant and wine booths and this year’s “Wonder ful Wheel of Chocolate!” These specialty booths are some of our most popular picnic attractions and rely heavily on curbside donations to make them extra special!

So “no worries” even if you’ve never donated on the curb before. Pick an item from the suggested list; load it in your car on donation day, and our curbside crazies will make it quick and easy. “Reckon” they’ll even wish you “g’day” as you drop your donation and drive away! Check out the Web site for grade level donation days and plan to go a little “crazy” in preparation for this year’s “Awesome Aussie Adventure” on October 15!

On Our Way to Terrific Ticket Sales!

Yes…we are on our way because this year the picnic raffle ticket committee has set a schoolwide goal for ticket sales. “We hope that having a goal for the students to work towards will help increase the energy and excitement around selling tickets,” says committee chair Chidori Okubu. But this is no ordinary goal. In keeping with the “Down Under” theme, the committee has decided that this year we’ll work to increase our sales by 7,436 tickets…which is the number of miles between San Francisco and Sydney, Australia! So as we sell tickets, we will be on our way to the land “Down Under”!

Harker News — October 06

To make it even more fun, students on each campus will track sales by using one of the animals from the picnic logo. For example the koala will “climb its way to the top” and the kangaroo will be “hopping to be the best!” With the goal number added to last year’s sales we are hoping to reach an all-time sales high of 49,436 tickets sold! We can do it!

Our Picnic Sponsors are Amazin’!

That’s right…these “Amazin’ Aussie Adventurers” help support the many wonderful activities, games and attractions at each and every Family Picnic. Sponsors can contribute at any dollar level from Kookaburra Callers ($250) to Crocodile Wrestlers ($5,000 and above), and each generous donation is used to make the day extra special for our students, families and friends!

Proud Picnic Sponsors can contribute at a variety of levels and many have been loyal participants for years. The Ammatuna family (Lauren, Gr. 11, John, Gr. 8) returning this year as our picnic t-shirt sponsor, has been supporting the picnic in numerous ways throughout the years. Since they opened their yogurt shop, “I Love Yogurt,” they’ve help fund the picnic t-shirts and we couldn’t be happier. Then when we went looking for a sponsor for our new picnic water bottles, the Emery family (Matt, Gr. 12, Christine, Gr. 10), owners of BaySport, rose to the challenge! They have been dedicated teen wheel sponsors for many years and were thrilled with their support of our new project…very adventurous!

Local businesses also get involved in sponsoring. This year we are happy that the Outback Steak House will be a picnic sponsor and will be providing delicious “Aussie” dishes during the event. Yum! We’re so grateful to this wonderful group that we even have a special area for them on picnic day. Though every level of sponsorship offers special perks, the “Adventurers Outpost” will be an area reserved for sponsors at the $1,500 level and above. This area will give our hard working (and playing) group a place to rest and relax during their busy picnic day. They deserve it!

But remember…anyone with an “eye for adventure” can be a picnic sponsor. Check out the picnic Web site for more information or give us a call on the picnic hotline!

—Lynette Stapleton & Kelly Espinosa, event coordinators

Student Sleepovers Are Back!

Come to the Manzanita “Opal Mines” on Picnic day to sign up for our annual Harker student sleepovers! These special nights are all-time student favorites and spaces are limited!

Bucknall PJ Party Friday, March 16, 2007 Bucknall Gym Middle School Mystery Night Friday, April 20, 2007 Kennolyn Camp, Soquel For more information and details, visit us online at www.harker.org/picnic

Harker News — October 06

5

summer

recap

As the school year winds down, the summer heats up for students, faculty and staff!

Harker’s K-8 Summer Program, US Summer Institute and English Language Institute draws students from far and wide to learn, make friends and have a ton of fun. On US trips abroad students explore new cultures, and pursue special interests (also see Global Education, pg. 10). Summer is also a time for renewal, learning and exploration for teachers who then bring even better learning experience to your students each fall.

The next four pages highlight just some of the summer activities of our students and faculty – enjoy!

US Summer Institute Harker’s 2006 Summer Institute was a great success, with almost a third more students than last year. The institute offers for-credit courses equivalent to those held during the academic year, and uses the same text and course materials. Courses are fast-paced and very demanding, and attendance is mandatory in all for-credit classes. Though open to students who attend other high schools, course credit depends on each school’s approval. This year, enrollment climbed from 282 to 372 students. New offerings this summer included Art, Graphic Arts and Video Game Production, while old favorites included Pre-AP Biology, Pre-AP Chemistry, Regular & Honors Algebra II & Geometry, Debate Camp, PSAT/SAT prep classes, Programming, Computing Across the Curriculum and Expository Writing.

English Language Institute (ELI) During the past 25 years, Harker has earned an outstanding reputation worldwide for preparing international students for American boarding schools.

This summer, 68 students came to the United States to participate in the Harker English Language Institute, many of whom are now attending some of the best boarding high schools in the country.

Families report that obtaining the Harker English Language Certificate and a complete English evaluation helps them a great deal when they apply to American boarding schools. “In a number of cases, having attended Harker and earning a high level certificate has made the difference in a child getting into a school,” said Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, who served as the chairman of the Western Boarding School Association for many years.

ELI principal Rob Regan said, “This is such a wonderful program for children from all over the world to get to know each other and learn about each others’ countries and cultures while working together to learn as much English as they can.

We care deeply

about helping these students and it is very rewarding to see our students succeed.”

For more information about Harker’s English Language Institute visit www.harker. org/eli.

First- through fourth-grade campers searched for mud treasure, slid on a mud slip and slide, posed for muddy pictures, threw mud at camp villains and decorated their counselors with mud. Meanwhile, middle school campers participated in “Save the Citizen” Day, and all campers celebrated with a Red, White and Blue Bash, water carnivals and camp overnights.

Other favorite activities included

a climbing wall, a game called “Mission Impossible” and the RC car racing. New field trips included a laser tag facility, a hike on Angel

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Island, paddling boats at Shoreline and whale watching in Monterey.

Campers visited Mrs. Grossman’s stickers factory, tasted their way through the Jelly Belly factory and jumped for joy at Pump It Up! On the academic side, new electives for LS campers included classes on architecture, scrapbook making, dinosaurs, customs of other cultures, sea creatures and language arts and math. MS academians opted to take Periscope Math classes as well as the traditional Write it Right class.

Campers enjoyed the new twoweek Project Zoom classes, including Amusement Park Physics, Out and About Art, Great Book Adventures and Kitchen Chemistry. Real summer adventurers joined Everyday Explorers class and ventured out on a Bay Area trip almost every day! They ended their fun with an overnight stay at Big Basin National Park.

For the more indoor types, Digital Dynamite classes were a blast! Campers made their own digital movies and explored graphic design in Digital Filmmaking and became first-time authors in Digital Storytelling. These classes were so popular and exciting we’re planning to add more choices for 2007!

The best thing about camp, as always, is making friends, creating summer memories, and having fun in a place where the most important goal is for everyone to have a summer filled with laughter, joy and friendship! It was indeed a super summer at Harker and we’re already

photo supplied by Jason Pergament

A K-8 Super Summer: From Mud to Math, Fun and Friendships!

planning for an amazing 2007 season. Information for summer camp is available online at www. harker.org/summer.

—Kelly Espinosa, Summer Camp Director

Harker News — October 06

US Science Exploration: Costa Rica

The trip to Costa Rica this year combined cultural discovery and scientific intrigue, and brought the students closer together in the pursuit of genuine field research. At Tortuguero, we were awakened by howler monkeys, a noisy exposure to the rainforest fauna. Our days were packed with kayaking, hiking, bird watching and, a most lifechanging event – turtle tagging. The Caribbean Conservation Corporation allowed us to follow researchers into the field late at night when turtles came up onto the beach to lay eggs. Watching turtles emerge from the ocean and dig their nests was incredible enough, but we actually measured the turtles and counted eggs as they were laid!

It was such a

gift that our first lesson about field research and ecology (involved a) first-hand effort to save the lives of the dying species.

We next visited the La Selva Rainforest to learn more about tropical ecology and perform transects of the rainforest, a project that Mansi Shah would continue at Monteverde, performing her own environmental research on biodiversity. We took spectacular hikes with our tour guide, Jimmy. In one

dazzling night hike we saw glowing beetles, metamorphosing insects, bats, snakes and a gorgeous moonlit view of the river. I’m sure no one will forget the whitewater rafting the next day or the salsa dancing the following night, a perfect break before our intense research at Monteverde.

We had an amazing view at Monteverde.

Sunsets with purple clouds on one horizon and a raging thunderstorm at the opposite end of the sky; mornings watching the sun come out of the clouds, illuminating them with a golden glow and slowly lighting the mountainside.

photos supplied by Eic Nelson

Julia Havard traveled to Costa Rica this summer with 11 of her classmates, led by biology teacher Anita Chetty and physics teacher Eric Nelson. Here is a condensed version of her trip record. (All students named are seniors.)

At the Monteverde Institute, we paired with graduate students to design and implement our own research projects: collecting data, analyzing it and presenting our conclusions. Alice Chang, Tracy Chou, and Tiffany Dai waded into a river to perform tests and take samples to analyze water quality, Jessica Lee and Joanna Xu collected hun-

dreds of coffee leaves, checking for disease and deformity to study the prevalence of fungus in different coffee plants. Alex Hansen and Allison Wong went from house to house checking for the deadly Chagas beetle and researching how sanitary conditions relate to the number of beetles found. Matt Emery worked with a world-famous bat specialist analyzing the dietary habits of bats, and Adam Creasman and I had been collecting data at every site throughout the trip to learn more about the cultural and social situations of women in Costa Rica. All in all, I think I learned more at the presentations of these studies than I could have in months of schoolwork.

It was wonderful to be immersed in the rich culture of Costa Rica, speaking the language, eating the food and, in some cases, being deeply impacted by the lives of individuals. I fell in love with Costa Rica and it is a place I know I will return to. I am so grateful to Mrs. Chetty for this exciting opportunity, making each of our projects possible, no matter how difficult or obscure, and giving us the resources to become published field scientists. We will never forget what we are capable of as researchers thanks to our lifechanging visit to Costa Rica.

Talon Yearbook Staff Hone Journalism, Photo Skills in Europe

In Tunbridge Wells, England, students became quickly acquainted with English village life through a project focused on interactive journalism and street photography.

In groups, the journalists ventured through the town interviewing and photographing residents. The locals were so impressed by this journalism project, some of the interviews and photos will be put on the town’s Web site. In the evenings, students worked for hours on planning for this year’s yearbook in a comfortable, 300 year-old home, where Harker News — October 06

the Talon family cooked and worked together.

After England came Paris, and a new challenge: artistic photography. At the Louvre, they arranged a photo competition, each trying to document and capture the souls of statues by shooting them from different angles.

As in France, a photo competition was initiated in Venice. Students set out in small groups to capture

the people, the scenery and the atmosphere. An exhibit of these Venetian photographs will be held at “I Love Yogurt,” in Cupertino, in October.

The students came home with new friends, amazing memories, thousands of photos, a firmer grasp on journalism and photo skills and a fantastic “theme packet” to work off of this year. Robert Sesek, Gr. 12, exclaimed, “Europe was a blast; taking hundreds of photos in three beautiful countries while rooming and traveling with really good friends.”

—Sharon Huang, Gr. 12

Talon Staff - both photos

Eleven Harker Talon journalists, chaperoned by Chris Daren, yearbook adviser and Crystal Boyd, office of communications designer journeyed to Europe this summer to put their photographic and journalistic skills to the test.

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summer

recap

Harker Teachers Learn, Teach and Renew, Both at Home and Abroad

I attended the Stanford Summer Teaching Institute where I worked at the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute developing a Civil Rights-era curriculum for high school classrooms. I learned more about the era and Dr. King through lectures and discussions with Stanford professor Clayborne Carson, editor of Dr. King’s papers, and by sifting through mounds of primary sources. The curriculum project is ongoing and we hope to have the lesson plans available on the Web some time next year.

—MaiLien Nguyen, US History I traveled to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland this summer (see photo above). Our musical theater program was selected, along with 43 other American high schools, to perform at The Fringe in summer 2007 through the American High School Theater Festival. I was invited to check out the event, along with the other directors, and it was one of the highlights of my

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professional career. Not only did I collaborate with some of the best performing arts program directors, sharing ideas and problem solving, but I was able to see some of the finest performing groups in the world – dancers, singers, actors, comedic troupes – and learn from their artistic choices. I also was selected as the front singer for the Los Gatos/ Saratoga Big Band. I’ve been honing my vocal jazz skills throughout the summer and working with this professional group of musicians preparing for upcoming concerts.

—Laura Lang-Ree

“I discovered that the most complete Greek temples are not found in Greece, but in Sicily!”

I was an intern at the Stanford University Paytan Marine Geoscience Lab. —Tamara Kley Contini, LS Science I took summer courses online in adolescent nutrition and conceptual physics through Montana State University.

—Catherine Le, LS Science I finished my third summer as principal of the English Language Institute at Harker and further polished my teaching and administrative skills.

—Robert Regan, LS Geography I did some performing in some concerts and a festival in Italy. It was an experience because many of my rehearsals were in Italian, and I made connections with performers from other parts of the world. I performed music from Verdi’s opera “Rigoletto,” and I sang and danced in a Baroque festival.

—Jenny Cowgill, LS Perfoming Arts I was named a Founding Teacher Fellow of the Junior State of America and attended a four-day

national conference with Harker students Natasha Sarin, Gr. 12, Stephanie Benedict, Gr. 11, and Anjali Naskar, Gr. 11. In addition, I attended and presented at the inaugural Anytime Anywhere Learning Foundations 4i conference, and attended the National Educational Computing Conference and the Computer Science and Information Technology conference in San Diego with a large group of Harker staff.

Finally, I attended and presented at the Laptop Institute.

—Daniel Hudkins, Director of Instructional Technology I had a wonderful summer. My trip up the coast of California, Oregon and Washington was wonderful. We attended three concerts in Butchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, and went to Ashland’s Shakespeare Festival for talks and tours, and to attend “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “The Two Gentlemen of Verona.”

—Pat White, MS History Singing and singing and more singing! I sang Mahler’s “Symphony No. 3” at the Grand Tetons Music Festival in July and then sang and studied with Chanticleer in Sonoma in August. I will be bringing new vocalizes and exercises, as well as the newest musicological ideas on singing Latin in Renaissance music, to the campus this year.

—Susan Nace, US Performing Arts I attended the Conference on Secondary School Mathematics, Science and Technology at Exeter Academy in New Hampshire from June 25-30. The conference “explored the mathematics and science curricula of today and tomorrow with special focus on the impact of technology and its application in the classroom.”

—Scott Graham, MS Math I traveled to Italy’s Naples area and Sicily, and enjoyed visiting all the Greek and Roman sites there. Walking through the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum puts you 2,000 years back in time. I discovered that the most complete Greek temples are not

found in Greece, but in Sicily! Going up Mount Vesuvius, looking down upon those cities that were buried by the eruption in 79 AD, and climbing the Etna volcano (which still shows the traces of the 2001 eruption on the slopes, the earth being still hot in places) were also great experiences. At least I now can tell my students I’ve been there!

I also attended my third Latin camp, which will help me to use more spoken Latin in my classes next year. I traveled to Lexington for a 10-day Conventiculum Latinum at the University of Kentucky – a meeting of 60 Latinists, students, teachers and professors who love Latin and want to use it as a living language. We spent the days discussing – in Latin, all the time – texts by Latin authors, talking about pictures of paintings and explaining cartoons. We also sang songs in Latin, performed plays we wrote about the author Seneca experiencing the noises of a bathhouse, and had a dinner of Roman dishes prepared according to Roman recipes. And we did all this while speaking Latin! It was a mind-changing experience; you really start thinking in Latin after some days. Even back home I almost addressed somebody in a store in Latin, asking for something I couldn’t find.

—Trudy Stevenson, US Latin I first spent a week at Yale University in class, studying “Putin’s Russia” with a group of about 25 history teachers. Then, 18 of us, ably led by the director of Yale’s European PIER Studies Program (Professional Instructor Education Resources, a program for secondary teachers and community college teachers) traveled to Moscow, St. Petersburg and two towns on the “Golden Ring” (four hours outside of Moscow, sites of the headquarters of the first czars). We were in class in Moscow for four to six hours each day the first week, then visited museums, churches, the Kremlin, Red Square and more in the afternoons and evenings. photo supplied by Carol Zink

photo supplied by Laura Lang-Ree

My family and I (Kendra, Gr. 9 and Kevin, Gr. 5) completed our year in Chile in July. I went to Chile on a Fulbright Teaching Exchange in July 2005, and spent the year teaching English at Colegio San Ignacio de la Ssalle in Quillota, Chile, an agricultural city of about 200,000 people.

In exchange, Chilean teacher Luis Arcaya spent last academic year teaching Spanish at Harker. Both my children attended school in Quillota, completely immersed in Spanish.

Kendra helped out as an aide in the English classes and Kevin enjoyed pick-up soccer games. To my delight, both returned fluent in the language and with expanded cultural outlooks. Luis and I had the chance to meet in Chile when he returned home after his year here.

We compared respective experiences and presented to the next group of U.S./Chilean Fulbrighters, who were beginning their experience in August. During the year, my family traveled to the Lakes Region of southern Chile, Argentina and Colombia.

—Diana Moss, US Spanish

Harker News — October 06

“In St. Petersburg we visited many museums including the famous Hermitage as well as Dostoevsky’s home, the Czar’s summer palace...”

Back home, from Aug. 7-11, I attended a five-day workshop called “Schools Attuned,” at the Children’s Health Council in Palo Alto. The workshop is based on the work of Mel Levine, author of “A Mind at a Time,” “The Myth of Laziness” and other books about how children learn and what gets in their way. I am very fired up about using many of the ideas in my teaching this year.

—Carol Zink, US Many Harker teachers and staff devoted their considerable talent and energy to Harker by also working in

one of our summer programs, including the K-Gr. 8 Summer Camp, the US Summer Institute, the English Language Institute (ELI), or chaperoning one of our US student trips. We thank them all!

Faculty Administrators: Nancy Curran, kindercamp director; Diann Chung, K-Gr. 4 principal; Cindy Proctor, K-Gr. 4 principal; Kelly Sloan, K-Gr. 4 program director; Joe Chung, K-Gr. 4 program director; Bill Bost, Gr. 5-8 principal; Chrissy Chang, Gr. 5-8 program director; Walid Fahmy, Jr. staff director; Melanie Robinson, aquatics director; Bradley Stoll, Summer Institute principal; Robert Regan, ELI administrator.

Faculty: Pilar Aguero, Gary Blickenstaff, Matt Brandstetter, Patricia Burrows, Andrew Chen, Anita Chetty, Robb Cutler, Chris Daren, Dave Feinberg, Jeannette Fernandez, J. Gaston, Jeff Gatlin, Karen Glovka, Alistair Grant, Carol Green, Lisa Diffenderfer, Keith Hirota, Mary Holaday, Doug Knight, Brian Larsen, Eric Leonard, Colleen Lindsay, Nicolas Manjoine, Jim McGovern, Eric Nelson, Jason Pergament, Kim Sandoval, Eileen Schick, Elise Schwartz, Jeff Sutton, Flo Turkenkopf, Pat Walsh, Le Nguyen, Diane Plauck, Mike Smith, Fred Triefenbach, Pete Anderson, Enni Chen, Lorna Claerbout, Kathy Ferretti, Stephanie Woolsey.

Summer Tech Grants for Faculty Technology grants galore were awarded to Harker faculty for summer learning: Tim Culbertson (MS computer science) – Plant Growth Modeling for the Sixth Grade Student

Pauline Paskali (US English) – Questing the Web for Literature John Hanlon (US English) – Video Integration for Context in Literature

Michael Schmidt (MS computer science) – Animation and Cross-Curricular Projects for the Sixth Grade Student

Jennifer Cowgill, Danny Dunn, Chris Florio, Roxann Hagemeyer, Brian Larsen, Susan Nace, Cathy Snider, Paul Vallerga (LS, MS, US performing arts) – Workshop on using Digital Music Tools

Cyrus Merrill (MS history) – Developing and Implementing Interactive Unit Guides

J. Gaston (US art) – Converting Harker’s Art Slides to a Digital Resource

Evan Barth (US math) – Computer Aided Design as a Teaching Tool in Introduction to Engineering

These grants, supported by Annual Giving, provide faculty and administrators with new tools to help students learn more effectively. Watch for features on some of these projects in coming editions!

Stephanie Woolsey (LS math) – Annotating Online Math Resources for Teachers Harker News — October 06

US Science Exploration: Galapagos Nine students and two chaperones traveled to the Galapagos Islands this summer under the science department aegis. The group stopped first in Ecuador, to experience the culture and stand on the equator, then flew to the Galapagos Islands, 600 miles off the coast. They lived on boats, snorkeling and exploring the well-known spectacular flora and fauna. While there, two members of the group had a most interesting life experience – they were bitten by a sea lion! Joshua Pinzás, Gr. 11, tells the story: “Dr. Blickenstaff (Gary, biology teacher) and I were snorkeling back to the beach after looking for sea turtles when a pack of sea lions swarmed around, investigating us. Surprisingly, none of us were afraid and we swam on as though they weren’t there. Eventually, they all fell back except one six-foot playful female.

“Finally, she began to swim close behind us and that’s when the fireworks started. Dr. B inadvertently

kicked her in the face, stunning her for a few seconds. We were a little apprehensive when she disappeared, so we picked up the pace.

Suddenly, from underneath, the offended sea lion, fast as lightening, rose and bit Dr. B in the chest. In retrospect, it was really funny and she, like a dog, was being aggressively playful. photos supplied by Gary Blikenstaff

We traveled by night train to St. Petersburg. In St. Petersburg we visited many museums including the famous Hermitage as well as Dostoevsky’s home, the Czar’s summer palace and the cemetery outside of the city in which the 800,000 casualties of the 900-day Siege of Leningrad are buried.

“Surprised, Dr. B batted her away.

Then, all of a sudden, my muscles tightened as I saw a brown blur bursting from the murkiness, mouth agape, heading towards me. Instinctively I sucked my stomach in, but she adjusted her course and hit my midsection. An electrifying bolt of energy shot through my body. A moment later, we were out of the water walking towards the rest of the group, surveying our superficial bites. We both had learned a lesson about who truly dominates in their natural element. As we walked, out of the corner of my eye, I saw our attacker waddle onto the beach to complete her reclamation of sea lion territory.”

Along with our correspondent, Joshua Pinzás, Harker sophomores D.J. Blickenstaff, Emma Blickenstaff, Dominique Dabija, Jenna Glasa and Kevin Xu, juniors Kelvin Ho, Kyu Bok Lee and Alex Underwood, and chapererones Blickenstaff and physics teacher Flo Turkenkopf were on this trip.

Harker Hosts Mathematica Institute Harker hosted its first Mathematica Institute, with 10 attendees from various parts of the country.

Mathematica is a software environment that allows users to explore, analyze, research, compute and present data, all using precise mathematics and mathematical language. “Many of our students do studies in the field of biology. They may have a set of data that they want to analyze. Maybe they did some sort of experiment and they’re looking to find some statistical significance. Mathematica could be used to help them examine

their data, provide a mathematical model and do an analysis,” said Bradley Stoll, US math department chair. Adults from Las Vegas and Oakland, as well as one from Cupertino-based Apple Computer Inc., joined Harker faculty Gabriele Stahl, Troy Thiele, Melinda Gaul, Victor Adler, Mark Brado, Dan Hudkins and Michael Murphy. Harry Calkins from Wolfram, makers of Mathematica software, was the instructor. Next year could be even more diverse, as an application has been received from Niger!

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schoolwide

news

Welcome New Faculty & Staff A warm Harker welcome to these new faculty and staff!

■ Lower School Campus Shelby Matlock, Katie Molin – English; Jocelyn Brody, Colin Goodwin, Stacy Kourlis – language arts; Natalie Philpot, Jared Ramsey – history; Louis Hoffman – music; Tamara Kley Contini – science; Cynthia Cantrell – security officer; Sharon Arias, Tristan Perks – recreation assistant; Stephanie Burgi – recreation staff ■ Middle School Campus Peggy Crisler, Michael Murphy, Roma Rajpal – math; Elizabeth Saltos – art; Jared Ramsey – history; Scott Contini – science; Angela Neff – assistant director of technology; Melinda Gonzales – counselor; Ben Gombery – library clerk; Gayle Calkins – administra-

tive assistant; Cynthia Cantrell – security officer; Alba Molina, Santina Moran-Seaborne, Melissalynn Perkins, Joanne Vadeboncoeur, Seth Wellard, Michael Wu – recreation staff ■ Upper School Campus Victor Adler, Jeannette Fernandez, Melinda Seaver, Troy Thiele – math; Matthew Harley, Kate Schafer – biology; Alexander Merton – debate; Lauri Vaughan – librarian; Cynthia Cantrell – security officer; Jaron Olson – athletic trainer; Russell Baba, Roger Baylon, Brendan Boland, Luis Dominguez, Kandace Lopez, Geoffrey Lundie, Donald Mason, Deron Thorp, Robert Zylstra – athletic coaches; Bill Cracraft – office of communications; Arica Prunty – kitchen intern

JCL Web Site Wins Honors The Harker School Junior Classical League (JCL) Web site won second place in the National JCL Web site contest this past spring.

This contest allows technologicallyminded members to submit state

chapter, local chapter and individual Web sites for consideration. The Harker JCL Web site placed in the local chapter division. Webmaster Richard Kwant, Gr, 12, said he used FrontPage to make the site.

“The navigation bar is Flash and the photo galleries and graphics were made with Photoshop.

There’s also a JavaScript calendar system that automatically displays upcoming events and the time until the event,” he added. Be sure to visit the site at http://web.harker. org/jcl!

staff update Same Face – New Place Several familiar faces are in new positions this year. Congratulations to the following teachers and staff in their new jobs!

■ On the Lower School campus, Tammy Coia takes on Gr. 3 language arts, Jason Pergament adds Gr. 4-5 science, and Robb Regan takes over Pergament’s Gr. 5 geography classes. Amalia Vasconi will teach K-Gr. 6 dance, Catherine Le will teach Gr. 5 science, and Michelle Anderson will be a part-time kindergarten teacher.

■ At the Middle School, English teacher Stacie Newman is now the chair for the MS English department, and Rebecca Williams picks up Newman’s expository writing courses. Lorna Clarebout is now the science department chair. Vandana Kadam is the new math department chair. Dance teacher Kristin Maurer comes over from Bucknall to teach MS dance. Danielle Lawrence is now assistant director of admissions.

■ At the Upper School, math teacher Bradley Stoll was named math department chair. Shaun Jahshan has added the new Chinese language course to her teaching schedule. Counselor Chris Colletti is now the department chair for K-Gr. 12 counseling.

Other Staff News ■ In other news, the security department has undergone several changes. Officer Harold Jordan, a familiar face on the Lower School campus, resigned to pursue a career in the teaching profession. He will maintain part-time status and be on call when his schedule permits. New security officers Cynthia Cantrell and Xavier Boyd come to Harker with a background in various security settings. Emily Manigo, one of the friendly faces in the guard booth at the entrance to the Saratoga campus, has been promoted to security supervisor.

■ Director of Global Education Bill Bost welcomes Gayle Calkins as the new administrative assistant for the Middle School counseling and global education departments.

■ MS science teacher Daniel Sommer and his wife, Katy, welcomed William Asher Sommer to the world on July 22.

Congratulations, Dad! ■ US physics teacher Dan Matthews was elected to the Santa Clara Science and Engineering Fair Association Board of Directors. This board, affiliated with the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, oversees all the science fair applications in Santa Clara County.

To and Fro: Global Education Students Come and Go Over Summer NOTE: International Programs has changed its name to Global Education to better reflect that Harker’s work with schools around the world is first and foremost educational, and dealing with subject matter directly related to classroom work.

Many schools offer students travel opportunities that are sight-seeing adventures, while Harker programs - whether travel is included or not are always based on the exchange of ideas.

Harker Global Education programs had an active summer! Andrea Thomas, Gr. 10, and Catherine Ho ’06 spent four weeks at Tamagawa

10

Academy this summer. The girls had hosted Tamagawa students this past winter and stayed with their visitors’ families in Japan.

This is the second year of the exchange program and applications for the next round of exchanges will be accepted in October.

Katarina Kertysova from Slovakia is spending her senior year at Harker, staying with the Kathy and Steven Polzin family. The Polzins have two graduates, Amanda ‘06 and Tommy ‘04, and a daughter, Shanna, who is a freshman. “Kate” has settled in to Harker life and is looking forward to making new friends and learning as much as she can about life in the

United States.

A trip to Switzerland in June by nine Harker seniors and two recent graduates was a great success.

Chaperones Nicholas Manjoine and Alistair Grant rode herd on Adam Semanko ‘06, Anton Sepetov, Anjali Gill, Juliana Daniil, Chanelle Bertiz-Kasik, Dylan Syrett, Christina Nixon, Lauren Harries ’06 and Rahul Reddy during their two-week stay in homes in Fribourg.

Students attended classes at our sister school, College de Gambach, as part of their French immersion program.

The information meeting for this year’s exchange will be held on Thurs., Sept. 28 at 6:30 p.m. in the

FDR at the US campus. Students enrolled in French classes and their parents are encouraged to attend.

US French teachers will have applications beginning on Oct. 2 with deadline for applications being Fri., Oct. 13.

Ruby Tang, the exchange teacher from the Shanghai World Foreign Language Middle School has arrived at Harker for a three-month stay. Tang will be visiting classrooms to share here experiences as well as learn from Harker students and faculty. If parents would like to invite Tang for an evening or weekend outing or just to hang out at home, please contact Bill Bost at billb@harker.org.

Harker News — October 06

place by writing and performing a brief song and dance skit as their sales pitch to convince judges to adopt their plan of action.

Vakkalagadda and Anand joined Vikram Nathan, Nikhil Raghuram, Chris Berglund and Sachin Rangarajan, all also currently Gr. 10, to garner sixth place. Although only a small number of schools manage to earn repeat trips to the world finals, four Harker competitors reached the final round at the world finals for the second year in a row! Our

photo supplied by Cyrus Merrill

Harker students took first and second places in individual competition and fourth and sixth places in team problem solving at the Future Problem Solving World Finals held in Colorado this June. Harker, the only school with two teams, competed in the middle division (Gr. 7-9), against teams from 41 states as well as Australia, Korea, Singapore, China, Malaysia, New Zealand and other countries. Both teams finished well into the top half in the written analysis of their action plan/solution.

Current Gr. 10 students Chetan Vakkalagadda and Ananya Anand came in first and second place, respectively, competing as individuals assigned to work with competitors from other teams on the contestwide topic Redistribution of Wealth.

Current Gr. 9 students Namrata Anand, Andy Fang, Alex Han, Tamara Kawadri, Andrew Zhou and Olivia Zhu, Gr. 8, finished in fourth

students were each awarded medals and earned a sizable trophy for the school.

The school was so successful that the director of FPS in California wants to train our students to be evaluators and judges to help score written submissions by elementary school teams for the state finals, which will be hosted by Harker at the MS campus in April 2007.

Tribute to the Heroes of 9/11 Each year, in memory of the brave men and women sacrificed in New York in the collapse of the World Trade Center buildings, especially members of the NYFD, Harker students honor our local firefighters by bringing them a goodie basket filled with baked treats. This year, the basket was delivered to Station 14 along with a large banner painted by the children and signed by students and faculty thanking the firefighters for their service to our community.

Vaness Bullman

In addition, Harker MS students joined faculty and staff in a special assembly, and US students took time for a moment of silence in remembrance of those killed in the attacks and for those fighting at home and abroad to avoid further terrorist attacks, both in the U.S. and in the rest of the world.

Harker News — October 06

Q&A This new feature will run periodically, presenting a profile or Q & A with a Harker student, faculty or staff member, or volunteer of note.

Millions of teen-agers are hooked on the wildly popular “Harry Potter” book series. But Harker senior Molly Newman literally sings its praises.

Newman, who has been playing the guitar for about four years, began writing and performing original music based on the “Harry Potter” series last December. A handful of other bands also focus on this genre of music, dubbed wizard rock.

Newman’s one-woman-band is called “Roonil Wazlib,” which comes from character Ronald Weasley’s struggles with a spellchecker quill that malfunctioned in one of the books, rendering his name Roonil Wazlib.

In July, “Roonil Wazlib” opened for wizard rockers “Harry and the Potters” and “Draco and the Malfoys” at an event at the Milpitas library. That same month, “Roonil Wazlib” released a CD titled “Muggle Knitting Patterns.”

We spoke with Newman about her music.

Have you always been a “Harry Potter” fan?

I remember my mom reading the first book aloud to me and my sisters, and I received the second book for my 10th birthday. I have been obsessed ever since!

Q

How did you become interested in writing and performing music inspired by the “Harry Potter” series?

I have been a fan of “Harry and the Potters” for about two years.

When I discovered in December 2005 that there were other bands that wrote about

Q

photos supplied by Stacie Newman

FPS Students Attend Worlds

“Harry Potter,” I got hooked on the music and decided to write a song of my own.

How would you describe the style of your music?

First and foremost, it is wizard rock. Past that, I would say it is fairly mellow acoustic rock, but my eclectic taste results in the occasional glockenspiel solo or an electric guitar power chord riff.

Q

How do you come up with new songs?

I listen to the books on tape quite often.

This keeps the content fresh on my mind, but I don’t do it for that reason; I just like to listen to them. When I try to write a new song, I first brainstorm ideas: What characters or plot lines in the series make particularly good subjects for songs? Sometimes I will compose the guitar part first and then think of a situation from the books that fits the feel of the music. The only song that just came to me — that I composed in one sitting, essentially — was my first song, “Ode to Lav-Lav.”

Q

Q

What do your friends think of your unique hobby?

Well, my friends who like “Harry Potter” think it’s cool and sing my songs at school, which is a little scary. My friends who aren’t really into “Harry Potter” think I’m completely insane, and I quite agree.

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LOWER

school

A warm welcome to our new LS students!

Kindergarten: Viren Abhyankar, Julia Amick, Jarrett Anderson, Zacker Baz, Logan Bhamidipaty, Priya Bhanot, Alycia Cary, Andrew Chang, Timothy Chang, Nicole Chen, Sahil Chiruvolu, Matthew Cirimele, Benjamin Cumpston, Ashley Devlin, Kayla Dominguez, Aryana Far, Brian Faun, Natalia Feinberg, Keili FitzGerald, Jeffrey Flewelling, Srija Gadiraju, Rose Gatlin, Maya Gollamudi, Christopher Gong, Lilia Gonzales, Sum Yue Guan, Karan Gupta, Matthew Hajjar, Jennifer Hayashi, D. Casey Hayden, Ashli Jain, Hasan Jamal, Alexandra Janssen, Justin Jones, Deana Kajmakovic, Anzu Kinoshita, Prameela Kottapalli, Aneesha Kumar, Anusha Kuppahally, Taylor

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Lam, Ellie Lang-Ree, Eric Lei, Elijah Linder, Katrina Liu, Rebecca Mak, Nisha Malley, Pumpkin Mayer, Jai Mehra, Devanshi Mehta, Charles Molin, Rohit Mullappalli, Sonal Muthal, Claudia Opris, Arthur Oung, Ayush Pancholy, Jason Peetz, Dominique Petrie, Sasha Pikiner, Charles Pun, Shriya Rana, Sakura Regan, Nicole Selvaggio, Kaushik Shivakumar, Andrew Skrobak, Trevor Thompson, Katherine Tian, Jason Ting, Makenzie Tomihiro, Rini Vasan, Taylor Vaughan, Anna Wang, Timothy Wang, James Warmke, Alyssa Whitman, Tiffany Wong, Elizabeth Yang, Samantha Yanovsky, Carolyn Yatco, Alexander Young, Heidi Zhang, Katherine Zhang

Grade 1: Joshua Broweleit, Harrison Buss, Jesse Del Alto, Alan Hughes, Sameep Mangat, Raveena Panja, Kevin Xu, Derek Yen Grade 2: Varun Baldwa, Sarah Baz, Matthew Cheng, Priyanka Chilukuri, Anahita Far, Isabel Lai, Albert Pun, Niyal Sanghi, Lindsey Trinh, Alex Youn Grade 3: Shalini Arimilli, Jacqueline Chen, Gillian Chu, Ayla Ekici, Selin Ekici, Alexa Frieberg, Alexander Guest, Srivarsha Gulukota, Alec Kiang, Ryan Lee, Helen Li, Arjun Narayan, Michael Quezada, Elina Sendonaris, Panny Shan, Caroline Skrobak, Anish Velagapudi, Helen Xie

Grade 4: Hannah Baz, Aadyot Bhatnagar, Lekha Chirala, Nikita Jain, Savi Joshi, Albert Lin, Archana Podury, Pranav Reddy, Madelyn Wang, Claudia Yeung Grade 5: Sarika Bajaj, Samir Baz, Suraj Chandrasekhar, Regina Chen, Pooja Chirala, Daniel Chiu, Shenel Ekici, Kevin Gao, Michelle Gorshteyn, Ruchi Jain, Neil Khemani, Marino Kinoshita, Kiran Kothuri, Angela Ma, Yekaterina Mironova, Arman Mortazavi, Srikar Pyda, Jess Rhodes, Nicholas Samoray, Claudia Tischler, Dora Tzeng, Clark Wu, Albert Zhao, Isabella Zuccarino

Harker News — October 06

LS Receives AHA Award Harker was honored by the American Heart Association this summer at a gathering in June as the top fundraising school in their ‘Education and Community Programs’ division for the Bay Area. Harker K-Gr. 5 students raised $11,453.21 through a series of jump rope-related activities. The school received a plaque for outstanding achievement in support of the American Heart Association’s efforts in cardiovascular science for the Education and Community Programs 2005-2006.

Orientations Kick Off the Year LS parents and children gathered for a back-to-school welcome from Head of School Christopher Nikoloff, Primary School Head Sarah Leonard and Elementary School Head Kristin Giammona. The first week orientations acquainted K-Gr. 2 children with their homerooms and teachers, while third through fifth graders got locker assignments and compared schedules with friends. Parents attended the initial assemblies—kindergarteners met separately—to learn about their children’s activities and meet teachers, then, as children met in their new homerooms, parents moved on to gather details on after-school sports, recreation activities and parking and traffic regulations.

kudos

Gr. 5: Score of 30 – Pranav Sharma, Wendy Shwe, Ashvin Swaminathan, Wilbur Yang; score of 29 – Paulomi Bhattacharya, Jenny Chen, Tara Rezvani, Vikram Sundar, Lorraine Wong, Tyler Yeats, Michael Yu; score of 28 – Erik Andersen, Connie Cheng, Michael Cheng, Aneesh Chona, David Cutler, Nik Datuashvili, Baris Demirlioglu, Rahul Desirazu, Shiva Empranthiri, Vladimir Feinberg, Caroline Lai, Joy Li, Simar Mangat, Svetlana Petrova, Piyush Prasad, Pooja Shah, Eric Swenson, Daniel Wang, Jacqueline Wang, Joseph Wang, Molly Wolfe Harker News — October 06

Chandler Nelson, Gr. 3, in her third year at Harker, says her first week has been fun and her favorite class is music.

“

We’ve learned how to sing the Harker Anthem and some other melodies.

”

Robbie Underwood, Gr. 3, said his first week has been memorable. His favorite class is science.

“

One day we played with chemicals. Sodium, acid, that kind of stuff.

”

Apurna Yellabragada, Gr. 3, likes art and music and, in her first week,

“

there was one surprise. There was already one Mr. Hoffman, and, then, another one came who was a music teacher.

”

Miranda Larsen, Gr. 1, laughed about a new way her teacher is helping them be safe in the classroom.

Math Update The Harker Mathematics League competition for Gr. 4-5, held June 2, highlighted the great job our students and teachers do. Teachers Pat Walsh (Gr. 5), Diane Plauck (Gr.4-5) and Eileen Schick (Gr. 4) led the competition. Four Gr. 5 students scored the maximum of 30 points and dozens of students scored 28 or above. A complete list follows:

kid talk Kids really DO say the cutest things. Each month, we’ll share the thoughts of our youngest community members on a variety of topics, both weighty and whimsical – enjoy!

“

Miss Chung has something special, and she calls them chair tickets. If someone does something like not push in their chair or they are rocking in their chair, she gives them a chair ticket.

”

Harker Students Compete in Annual Triathalon

Maya Jeyndran, Gr. 3, said,

“

My favorite class would be math. I love math. I don’t know why, I just like it. One reason, because I sit with a really good friend. The first week is mostly review. We learned a little bit about California — not in math — in California Histor y.

Harker had a strong contingent at the Silicon Valley Kids Triathlon, held in June. The competition took place in Cupertino and featured five categories of kids from age 6 to 15. More than a dozen Harker kids ran, biked and swam their way towards fitness, supported by friends and parents. At press time, the following Harker participants were confirmed: Jeremy Binkley, Paris Grabeel, Caroline Howells, Cristina Jerney, Megan Grabeel, Eva Bruketa, Izabella Kipnis, Michelle Stack, Lucas Bruketa, Brendan Tobin, Katherine Woodruff, John Nicolas Jerney, Sasha Kipnis, Barbara Camara, Julie Grabeel

Shivali Minocha, Gr. 3, said her favorite classes are math and art.

■ At the end of last year Harker students Tayro (J.T.) Cho and Caroline Lai, both Gr. 5, received the honor of scoring the highest points in the Junior Division (ages 9 to 12) for Tap and Jazz respectively at the the regional dance competition of the Kids Artistic Revue, held in Alameda. In addition, both of them won the titles of this competitive event and took home the trophies for Mr. and Miss Junior Dance.

It is fun coming back to school. Usually the first week of third grade is kind of fun because you get the experience of walking alone and using textbooks and a binder.

”

“

”

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middle

school kudos ■ Seventh grader and Latin aficionado Ramya Rangan is so stimulated by her Latin classes that she spontaneously wrote an article on Latin for the Aug. 26 Evergreen Times, a community newspaper for the Evergreen Valley neighborhood in San Jose. In the article, she lauds the value of learning this so-called dead language, stating “Latin will help you more than any other language can … and will provide you with a better understanding of the world around you.” Further, she noted, Latin “sentence structure places no strict word ordering and a single letter can dramatically alter the meaning of a sentence. Its rich word morphology makes learning other languages a snap.” Rangan won the Combined Beginner Latin Student award at the California JCL convention in 2006 and is clearly on the road to magna res (great things)!

■ Harker student Olivia Zhu, Gr. 8, was named the 2006 Growing Up Asian in America regional winner for her insightful essay, “Fences.” The publication is published by the Asian Pacific Fund, the largest program in the nation celebrating Asian heritage.

Students Beautify Campus

Welcome to our new MS students!

Grade 6: Kiran Arimilli, Niharika Bedekar, Lori Berenberg, Nisha Bhikha, Deniz Celik, Greyson Contag, Sylvie Dobrota, Sean Fernandes, Jennifer Guarino, Akarsha Gulukota, Michaela Kastelman, Sierra Lincoln, Canaan Linder, Ramakrishnan Menon, Daphne Millard, Swetha Rajavel, Kyle Roter, Alan Soetikno, Hansa Srinivasan, Shannon Su, Shreya Vemuri, Justin Yang Grade 7: Sarika Asthana, Matthew Carpenter, Neda Ghaffarian, Farrah Gulzar, Nandini Gupta, Sharanya Haran, Shreya Indukuri, Antonia Ipser, Tiffany Jang, Muralikrishna Joshi, Isha Kawatra, Nandita Krishna, Jun Hee Lee, Eva Leung, Vivian Li, Antong Liu, Grant Napier, Avinash Patel, Ishika Peravali, Kristi Sun, Cindy Tay, Derek Tzeng, Partha Vora Grade 8: Trisha Basu, Lorraine Kim, Ruchika Podury, Ramamahesh Seeni, Timothy Weng

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Grade 6 students created a special section in Blackford’s friendship garden and along the walkway to welcome incoming sixth graders and send off outgoing eighth graders. The students planted over 250 annuals including sweet alyssum, marigolds, petunias and verbenas, in informal and geometric patterns.

Harker provided the plants and tools, though many of the kids just dug in with their bare hands. MS Division Head Cindy Kerr gave the kids a thorough lesson on planting, from how to remove plants from the flats, how deep to space and plant them, to how to “tickle” the roots of plants to encourage them to take root once planted. The flowers should be in full bloom, so be sure to check them out!

Harker News — October 06

eCybermission Team Has Exciting Week in Capitol International Trade Center to set up for their presentations. Monday, the team presented their project to a panel of five judges. Tuesday, all teams went to the Aberdeen Proving Grounds (a military weapons testing facility) and the Edgewood Army Research Laboratory.

The Harker School sent the first team ever from California to Washington, D.C., this June to compete in the fourth annual eCybermission national competition. eCybermission is a Web-based science, math and technology competition for teams in grades 6-9, sponsored by the U.S. Army.

Teams propose a solution to a real problem in their community and compete for regional and national awards.

The Harker Gr. 8 team, the Silver Fireflies, was composed of Namrata Anand, Victor Chen, Jeanette Chin and Connie Lu, all of whom matriculated to the US this fall. The team placed first in the Southwest Pacific region, which includes Hawaii, California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Oklahoma, qualifying them for the trip to Washington, D.C. Their project, “Earthquake Safety in Schools,” revolved around a Web site they built providing information about safety procedures and earthquake preparedness as well as things to do before, during and after an earthquake. The URL is www.freewebs.com/earthquakesafetyinschools.

petition, each student received a $3,000 savings bond and a cer tificate. Following that win, the students were inter viewed by Laura Garcia of NBC, for ‘Bay Area Today,’ which aired June 21. Harker also won second place in the regional competition. The Golden Flamingos, Katherine Harris, Nalini Jain, Carissa Jansen and Jane Thomas, also all currently Gr. 9, presented on “Controlling Hypertension and Cholesterol” and also won $3,000 savings bonds, but did not travel to Washington.

only the first place winner was announced. A Florida team presenting on hurricane-proof roofs won the national Gr. 8 award. However, each Harker team member will receive a $3,500 savings bond for their national results, and each received a beautiful medal for participation. The savings bonds will be presented to the students at an assembly at Harker in the fall.

The students have now received $6,500, each, in savings bonds.

In Washington, the team had a full schedule starting with an orientation meeting Sat., June 17, the day they arrived. Sunday, they attended a luncheon hosted by General Benjamin Griffin and went to the

Wednesday, students had media interviews with their local television stations, visited various memorials and attended the Twilight Tattoo, a military pageant. Thursday, the teams visited the Pentagon and Senate office building where students met one of Senator Diane Feinstein’s staff. The group then went to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and, that evening, attended the eCybermission awards banquet, hosted by Secretary of the Army Francis J. Harvey. The secretary, who is from Los Gatos, stopped by the table to chat with Harker students and said he was impressed with the work our team had done. The banquet featured a taped message from Bill Gates urging students to continue their work in math and science, and a performance by the U.S. Army Chorus. The exhausted team flew home the next day, full of the sights and sounds of our nation’s capitol.

For winning the regional com-

The Silver Fireflies did not win the national competition, but advisor Vandana Kadam said she thought the team placed second, though

Hindi Now Offered

Faculty, Student Council Alert Parents to Traffic Needs

In an effort to continue building the After-School Recreation Program, Lana Morrison, MS recreation director, announced that Hindi is being offered as a new Harker Specialty Class during Qtr. 1.

In a fresh attempt to help traffic flow, MS student council and faculty members handed out fliers on campus traffic safety issues to parents as they dropped off students on Sept.

11. “Having more of us involved will make a statement to the parents that we are all in this together,” said MS Dean of Students Jack Bither.

Students will learn to read and write Hindi alphabets, simple words, and master pronunciation.

Other Specialty and Learning Workshop classes this quarter include Capoeira, Dance, Comprendo – Spanish Skills Strengthener, Babysitting Safety, Chess Club, Team Creative Cooking, Creepy Cuisine, Junior Manners Cotillion and Tee it Up! For more information, e-mail lanam@harker.org.

Harker News — October 06

“Blackford students and parents were greeted by a dozen or more teachers, administrators and student council members.

Each car was given a flier with specific directions on Blackford traffic and parking,” Bither added.

Most important, drivers must enter and exit the first gate they approach.

That is, Gate A from the Saratoga side of Blackford and Gate B from the Boynton side of Blackford. This will reduce congestion and cross

traffic, benefiting everyone.

Several parents expressed appreciation for the effort to reduce the number of fellow parents “doing their own thing,” so to speak. Now, everyone has been apprised of the expectations and will hopefully adhere to the policies in place, Bither said.

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upper

school

Matriculation Kicks Off Year The school year got off to its traditional start on Aug. 28 with Matriculation, a ceremony at Villa Montalvo formally welcoming the class of 2010.

After opening remarks by Head of School Chris Nikoloff, the vocal group Cantilena, directed by Susan Nace, set the mood with a madrigal. Head of Upper School Richard Hartzell welcomed the new students and senior Rupon Bose, president of the associated student body, added his own welcome on behalf of the returning classes. Senior Adam Creasman, student body vice president, led the faculty and students through the Matriculation Oath, which commits the students to leading an academic, respectful life at Harker and beyond. While being entertained by Freshmen 101 skits, the class of 2010 signed their names into the Matriculation book, marking their official entry into The Harker Upper School. After some final words from Nikoloff, the students returned to campus to meet their advisers, play games and start their new lives at the Upper School.

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Welcome New US Students!

Gr. 9: Jaylyn Babitch, Priya Bhikha, Guadalupe Briseno, Arjun Chandra, Kelly Chen, Thomas Enzminger, Alexander Fotland, Michael Gendotti, Kelsey Hilbrich, Harry Kim, Tiffany Kyi, Won Hee Lee, Andrea Lincoln, Rachel Luo, Lianna Luong, Christina Ma, Anjali Menon, David Mihai, Michelle Moss, Aadithya Prakash, Monique Rousseau, Anita Satish, Trusha Shah, Rashmi Sharma, Darren Syu, Margaret Woods Gr. 10: Shelby Drabman, Michael Hong, Aileen Kim, Ketan Ramakrishnan, Akhila Sure Gr. 11: Senan Ebrahim, Sudha Gollapudi, Lauren Ill, Rohit Nalamasu, Pauline Nguyen Gr. 12: Katarina Kertysova (exchange student), Maya Ziv

Harker News — October 06

Update Debate

Organization Tackles World Issues

For the first time since the US opened and the forensics program began eight years ago, Harker qualified and sent its first competitors to the 55th annual National Catholic Forensic League (NCFL) Grand National Tournament, hosted by the Chicago Catholic Forensic League. Held in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, over 2,000 participants from across the nation participated in various forensic events. The NCFL is one of three national forensic tournaments (the other two are the Tournament of Champions and National Forensic League nationals). Harker students competed in Lincoln-Douglas debate with 194 other varsity debaters. Five rounds of competition cut the field to the top 32 students, with Harker’s Siddarth Satish ‘06, seeded third. He won his next match, then lost in the octafinals. Fellow student Alisha Tolani ’06 put in a great win/loss record but missed making the top 32 just by a few points. Congratulations to all of our students for making Harker’s inaugural appearance at the NCFL Grand National Tournament notably successful!

The Harker World Awareness Committee (WAC), led by president VyVy Trinh, Gr. 12, raised $14,000 in the spring for Oxfam America’s water/ hygiene efforts in Darfur as well as Relief International’s efforts to bring livestock to refugees displaced by genocide in Darfur, Sudan.

WAC aims to create awareness on global issues within the student body, engaging Harker students and the surrounding community in global philanthropy and political advocacy of a wide range of global development issues.

Next up is a campaign to pass a schoolwide sweatshop-free purchasing policy to build demand for corporate accountability in the garment industry around the world. WAC brings guest speaker Chie Abad, who spent six years working in a sweatshop, to Harker in September, to raise awareness on the subject. Watch the next edition for a recap.

The group will also have activities around World Hunger Day (Oct. 16), World AIDS Day (Dec. 2) and is mobilizing for Global Awareness Month in March, 2007. See Kudos for related news item.

Conservatory Kick Off

Students gather around the Japanese Anime Club’s table at the annual Club Fair, held in the gym on Sept. 13.

Students were able to learn about the nearly 40 club offerings, including language clubs, debate, a food club, Key club, book clubs, robotics, math, chess and spirit. Club representatives both manned tables and roamed the gym, trying to attract potential members with music, baked goodies, fliers, slide shows and even laptops playing video presentations.

The annual Conservatory Kick-Off party brought exciting news to the US’s performing artists. Laura Lang-Ree, chair of the department, announced that the spring musical will indeed be traveling to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival next August, with the Broadway smash hit “Urinetown.” This wonderful show with a most unprepossessing title actually made its debut at the Fringe in 1999, and has been a favorite at community theaters and high schools since it won three Tony awards (of 10 nominations) in 2002.

The Kick-Off also introduced parents to the Conservatory’s Certificate program. For more information see the Conservatory page on the Harker Web site.

kudos

In addition, Sun was awarded a Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship. He received $1,500 to be used for college-related Harker News — October 06

expenses. The scholarship program recognizes exceptionally able high school seniors who show promise of continued excellence in postsecondary education. The scholarship is renewable for up to four years as long as Sun maintains full-time enrollment and satisfactory academic progress.

This year, 1,200 outstanding California high school graduates received Robert C. Byrd Honors scholarships. photo supplied by Misael Fisico

■ Class of 2006 graduate Yi Sun recently was named a 2006 Davidson Fellow by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development. Sun, who is now attending Harvard University, earned a $25,000 college scholarship for his mathematical project, titled “On the Expected Winding Number of a Random Walk on the Unit Lattice.” The Davidson Fellows Scholarship Program recognizes exceptional students and aims to help them fulfill their potential. This year’s Davidson Fellows will be honored for their achievements at a reception sponsored by U.S. Sens. Harry Reid and Charles Grassley at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 27.

Sun also earned a silver medal in the International Mathematical Olympiad, held in Slovenia in July.

The IMO is the world championship mathematics competition for high school students.

■ Last year we reported that six of our graduating seniors had been awarded scholarships by the National Merit Scholarship Corportaion (NMSC) and their fellow corporate and college sponsors. Another

round of winners was announced in July, and includes Irine Tyutereva ‘06, who won a scholarship sponsored by the University of Southern California.

■ Samir Datta, Gr. 9, a Growing Up Asian in America third-place winner in 2003, was highlighted in a compilation of winners published in 2005. Datta had written a poem, “Asian Roots on American Soil,” and was interviewed for the reprinting.

■ VyVy Trinh, Gr. 12, received a special prize, including a $500 cash award, from Mount Holyoke College through their Take the Lead program. Trinh attended the college’s leadership program in Fall 2005, and her work to ameliorate the impact of hunger and violence in Darfur was recognized in May as one of the top three projects resulting from the program.

■ Arkajit Dey, Gr. 12, was a finalist in the Ayn Rand Fountainhead Essay Contest for 11th and 12th graders. Out of over 6,000 submissions, there were only 45 finalists,

with top awards for a first place, five second places and 10 third places. Finalists received a $100 cash prize. Sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute, judges looked for clear, articulate and logically organized essays with an outstanding grasp of the philosophic and psychological meaning of Rand’s book “The Fountainhead.” Students selected from among three essay topics. Dey’s topic was: “Explain the similarities and differences between the characters of Dominique Francon, Steven Mallory and Gail Wynand. How does each’s view of life and its possibilities differ from Howard Roark’s? How does this issue relate to the theme of the novel?”

Dey said he will re-enter the contest next year, but choose a different question. “Now that I’ve read ‘The Fountainhead’ once already, I’ll hopefully be able to start my essay earlier,” he said.

The institute (www.aynrand.org) also has a contest for ninth and 10th graders.

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SPORTS

briefs

hospitality. St. Francis will do the same for our team next season.

Rudy Mui, parent

Eight Harker students are playing Pop Warner football this year. Teams are fielded by various cities in the area and there are several Harker students participating in the Campbell program this year. At the Junior Midget level (ages 10-13) we have Rishi Sharma and Arun Kanhene; at the Pee Wee level (ages 9-12) Spencer Jordan, Gerry Glausaur and Kevin Cali and at the Junior Pee Wee level (ages 8-11) Brian Bither, Jackie Jordan and Curran Shah are hitting the gridiron. The Campbell Wolverines have been working hard since Aug. 1, and each of the teams at each level won their season openers against Salinas teams.

Rudy Mui, parent

■ LS Sports Harker LS fall sports include flag football and volleyball teams. Both teams started practice Sept. 5. The flag football team plays intramural games Oct. 12 and 17, and the volleyball team played Valley Christian Sept. 20 and will play them again Oct. 5.

The Gr. 7 team is led by Stephen Hughes and Grant Napier and the Gr. 6 team is led by Andy Perez, Kevin Cali, Spencer Quash and David Lindars.

Girls softball, with 15 girls out for the team, began practicing on Sept.

5 and had two games in September.

Details to come in the November Harker News!

■ MS Sports MS sports are off and running—literally! Cross country had its first meet Sept. 13 at Cupertino Junior High School, with almost 50 runners from Gr. 6-8.

Flag football season started practice in early September and the Gr. 6 and Gr. 8 players played their first games Sept. 19. The second annual Harker Tournament was held on Sept. 23 with both the Gr. 7 and Gr. 8 teams participating. Each squad has between 20 and 25 boys. The Gr. 8 team is led by Spencer Jordan, Tim Lin, Kevin Kai and Kenny Wong.

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■ US Sports Our congratulations to our Harker football team for their tremendous effort and win (41 - 0) on Saturday against Sierra Christian High School. The Eagles played Overfelt High School Sept 15, St. Francis Central Coast Catholic Sept. 22 and California School of the Deaf Sept.

28, but results were unknown at press time.

At press time many of our other teams were participating in matches, so watch for the results in coming issues: our cross country team ran in the Firebird Invitational at Fremont High School Sept. 14; girls water polo competed against Monta Vista High School at Monta Vista on Sept. 12; boys water polo played an away match against Homestead High School on Sept. 14; girls JV and varsity tennis teams officially began their season with play Sept. 13, with varsity having eight matches in September, and JV having seven.

The girls golf team has been practicing hard and began their season with a match on Sept.

14 at Silver Creek Valley Country Club against Notre Dame High School, followed by two other matches in September.

The volleyball team played in the Milpitas Spikefest tournament, finishing in the bronze division, with exceptional play by Shirley Galbiati and Eileen Wu, both Gr. 10. At press time, the team is 0-3 in regular season play.

Last but not least, soccer activity has ramped up with eight games in September. The team has compiled a 2-5 record, beating San Francisco Christian and St. Lawrence, losing to Urban School, Crystal Springs, Gateway, Valley Christian and Kings. The team had five more games in September, so watch the November Harker News for those results.

GO EAGLES!

Our girls volleyball team hosted a match against St. Francis High School from Mountain View Sept. 8., and, despite losing (St. Francis is ranked #2 in the CCS league) provided a fabulous BBQ for all players, coaches and fans. Harker head coach, Theresa Smith, received a very nice e-mail from St. Francis expressing their appreciation for Harker’s Harker News — October 06

GO HA

6TH ANNUAL HOMECOMING!

RK

ER!

Homecoming Football Game Friday Oct. 20, 7 p.m. Foothill College Homecoming King and Queen crowned at half time HOMECOMING WILL INCLUDE: ■ Grand Finale! K-Gr. 8 students will go out with a bang as the football game marks the conclusion of spirit week for the LS and MS! ■ Football “Kickoff”! Watch as our gridiron giants kickoff a week of fabulous US activities.

■ Harker Eaglettes! Harker’s tiniest cheer squad is never short on school spirit!

■ Junior Cheerleaders! The small but sassy Bucknall spirit squad will display their Harker pride!

■ Faculty Cheerleaders! The grownups get in on the act for this hilarious Harker tradition.

■ Star Spangled Banner & Harker Anthem! US vocalists will dazzle the Harker faithful with help from the Bucknall and Blackford singers!

■ Alumni! It just wouldn’t be homecoming without some of Harker’s living history in attendance!

■ Old Customs! The Homecoming Court will be introduced at the varsity football game!

■ Homecoming Dance! US students tripping the light fantastic at 8:30 p.m. in the Saratoga Gym, Saturday, Oct. 21.

■ US Class Tableaux! Wacky class displays created by each US grade level based on this year’s theme of Heroes and Villiains will be on display at the Family Picnic “Down Under,” Sunday, Oct. 15.

■ Visit Web site for details and directions

GO EAGLES!

Photos by staff, parents and students

■ Great snacks and goodies! A wide selection of your favorite foods and munchies to put you in a festive mood!

Harker News — October 06

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back

page

Continued from pg. 1 tailor their workouts to enhance specific athletic endeavors and to avoid injuries common to a particular sport.

The varsity football and other teams will be changing in the new secure and private locker room on the US campus. The refurbished room is located in the pool house and features 32 big, open-front field-green lockers with grill partitions so that equipment can dry out between practices. The locker rooms will be used in the fall by the football team, in the winter by the girls soccer team and in the spring by the girls lacrosse and swimming teams.

Other sports-related improvements include converting the LS pool heater to solar, adding a new water polo shot clock, buying new golf bags for the US girls golf team and purchasing a new full-size van (Chrysler Sprinter) for sports team transportation.

Underfoot and overhead, the LS campus blacktop was resealed over the summer, a prosaic but critical upkeep item. In addition, a new awning was installed for the kindergarten classrooms.

At the US, the facilities crew beautified the area outside the counseling office, making a lovely space for students to relax or do homework.

The technology department helped out by making the area WiFi accessible.

Harker is in the early stages of design development of the new Science and Technology building, working with architect and Harker design teacher, David Takamoto. Harker has retained XL Construction as the general contractor on this project. XL and its design/engineering team will work closely with Takamoto and Harker’s science and technology teachers to develop the final engineered drawings that will be submitted to the City of San Jose in January 2007 for the permit process. The design review process takes about 120 days. At that juncture, a building permit is issued for construction to begin. Construction should begin around the second week of June 2007, with plans to complete the building by July 1, 2008 and have it ready for the start of school in August 2008.

Thanks to facilites manager Mike Bassoni for keeping the campuses beautiful, safe and functional!

Thank You Sponsors!

Save the Date for . . .

Friday, Feb. 23, 2007 SAN JOSE CONVENTION CENTER 11 a.m. Luncheon and Fashion Show 5 p.m. Dinner Gala with Fashion Show, Live Auction and Dancing Mark your calendars for Harker’s fourth annual fashion show fundraising event! Dine on fabulous cuisine, enjoy the amazing talents of the Harker performing arts groups, and be dazzled by our own Harker students, parents, faculty, staff and alumni as they model fabulous designs from our fashion partner, !

Proceeds from CinéFest benefit the Harker Scholarship Fund, professional training and continued education for faculty, and the new Science and Technology Center at the upper school campus – so when you support CinéFest, you support the school!

You Can Be a Part of This Shining Event!

A hearty thanks to those who have already signed on as sponsors for this year’s event. There’s still time to join as a sponsor, but hurry – to be included in the printed invitation, you must sign up by October 25!

Join us at our October 4 meeting at the Blackford MPR starting at 8 a.m., or visit the CinéFest Web site for more information: http://faculty.harker.org/adm/fashionshow

US Bank

Committee Info Sponsorships ■ Program Advertising ■ Showcase Donation Drawing ■ and more!

■

Sathaye Family Foundation ■ San Jose Magazine

■

Banerjee Chopra Family ■ Communicart Graphics and Printing Connell Family ■ Davis Family ■ Morgan Stanley ■ XL Construction Brooks Family ■ Cho Family ■ Jackson Family Stevens Creek BMW ■ Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP

The Harker News is published nine times per year by the Harker Office of Communications. Current and archived issues are also available on the Division Home Pages on the Harker Web site at www.harker.org.

Editor: Pam Dickinson; Lead Writer: Bill Cracraft; Copy Editors: Catherine Snider, Jennifer Maragoni; Production: Crystal Boyd, Blue Heron Design Group; Photos: Mark Tantrum, unless noted; Contributors: Jaja Hsuan, Laura van den Dries; Printing: Carol Sosnowski; Mailing Coordinator: Desiree Mitchell.

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The Harker School is a K-12 independent, co-ed, college-prep school.

Grades K-5: 4600 Bucknall Rd., San Jose CA 95130 Grades 6-8: 3800 Blackford Ave., San Jose CA 95117 Grades 9-12: 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose CA 95129

Harker believes that all persons are entitled to equal employment opportunity and does not discriminate against its employees or applicants because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), national origin, ancestry, age (over 40), marital status, political affiliations, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, or any other basis protected by state or federal laws, local law or ordinance.

Harker News — October 06