school Back to School Night Turns to Day
First Ceremony of the Year
Back to School Day took place at the Saratoga campus on Sat, Sept. 13. Holding the event over the weekend reduced the number of schedule conflicts during the day, making it easier for parents to attend. Parents picked up their children’s schedules, met with advisors and visited teachers in their classrooms. Several student helpers were on hand to assist the visiting parents.
The first ceremony of the year, Matriculation, an event rooted in the Middle Ages to welcome new students to school, took place in the now-traditional quad on a sunny, still morning in late August. The new upper school students promised to uphold the values and mission of The Harker School, upperclassmen welcomed their new schoolmates with speeches and skits, while administrators and instructors added their thoughts or looked on, as the new group was joined to Harker’s history. Butch Keller, US division head, gave a speech to the new ninth graders titled “What a Difference a Year Makes.” Keller told the group, “To know where you are going…it is often wise to know a bit about those who have gone before you.” He then read evocative comments from a number of senior essays written by the Class of 2008. Head of School Christopher Nikoloff also welcomed the new class; his speech can be found on page 3 of this issue. Classical vocal ensemble Cantilena opened the musical year, adding atmosphere to the solemn moment. The new US students added their signatures to the matriculation book and took the Harker oath. To the class of 2012, we say, “Welcome!”
Pam Dickinson
UPPER
Student volunteers for the day were: freshman Farrah Gulzar, sophomores Akshay Aggarwal, Rishi Bhatia, Anshul Jain and Aditya Parige; juniors Alison Axelrad, Kacie Kaneyuki and Jacqueline Son; and seniors Barrett Glasauer, Winny Huang and David Kastelman.
Exchange Students from Afar
Emily Chow - all photos
Please welcome two exchange students to the Saratoga campus and the Harker community. Eden Dorrington, from our sister school Saint Stephen’s College on the Gold Coast in Australia, is staying with the Pellissiers, and Maike Greve, from Germany, is staying with the Polzins. When you see them on campus, please be sure to give them a warm welcome!
Say “Hi” to a New Student!
Gr. 10: Lena Fitzpatrick, Andrew Liang, Alexandria Lozano, Sean Martin, Puneet Sidhu Gr. 11: Eden Dorrington, Ariel Fishman, Maike Greve, Otelia (Sammi) Werthen.
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Masako Onakado
Gr. 9: Ashima Agrawal, Saira Ahuja, Sameena Balram, Simrun Bhagat, Proteek Biswas, Rohan Bopardikar, Crystal Chen, Sally Chen, Tina Crnko, Nicole Dalal, Govinda Dasu, Zachary Ellenberg, Eric Henshall, Melody Huang, Max Isenberg, Tariq Jahshan, Sachin Jain, Vikrum Jain, Emily Jones, Leo Kheyn-Kheyfets, Aranshi Kumar, Michelle Lo, Maxwell Maynard, Shilpa Nataraj, Maya Nelson, Tanya Piskun, Sankalp Raju, Madhuri Rao, Pavitra Rengarajan, Rohit Sanbhadti, Angela Singh, Sona Sulakian, Samantha Walker
Kerry Enzensperger
Please extend a warm welcome to our new students!
Sophomores took a day to bond when the class split to visit a pair of ropes courses. They learned trust and confidence during the outing as they relied on teammates to help them complete the course successfully. Harker News — October 08