The Harker School

On Apr. 17, Harker hosted the Startup World Cup National Youth Qualifier, the only youth-exclusive regional of the global competition. High school founders pitched to VCs, with SchoolAce winning. Harker juniors placed third with Fika Matcha.

Congratulations to Tina Jin for earning the Thermo Fisher Scientific ASCEND Award, the top honor at the Junior Innovators Challenge! #harkerschool

Yesterday morning, sixth graders met their buddies from Tamagawa Academy in person for the first time! After a warm greeting from Harker students, the guests from Tokyo enjoyed chatting and playing games.

The hard work of the young talents in this year's Conservatory Intensive and Conservatory Presents programs was on full display during Friday night's showcase at the Patil Theater! Thanks to everyone who attended and showed their support!

On Tuesday, grade 5 students celebrated taking an important next step in their academic careers and were welcomed to the middle school at the grade 5 promotion ceremony. And yesterday, eighth graders were honored for completing their studies at the middle school division and moving on to the upper school next year. Congratulations!

The 2024 graduation ceremony was a wonderful tribute and sendoff to the Class of 2024. Thank you to all the families and friends who joined us today, and may the best be yet to come for this amazing group of graduates!

Late last month, middle school language students embarked on a series of fun and educational field trips! First, French students visited the Left Bank restaurant at Santana Row for an authentic French luncheon. Meanwhile, Japanese students enjoyed lunch at Leichi before heading to Hakone Gardens to see a Japanese tea ceremony, and Spanish students partook of Oaxacan cuisine at San Jose's El Mezcal restaurant!

Lower school families gathered yesterday for Family Math Night, where they had a great time socializing and bonding over a series of fun math-based activities!

On Apr. 24, middle and upper school orchestras will perform at this year's Spring Orchestra Concert at the Patil Theater! Tickets are free and can be acquired through the Harker Parent Portal. Separate tickets will be required for admission to each concert. The middle school concert takes place at 5:30 p.m., and the upper school concert will start at 7:30 p.m.

Spring Spirit Week ended in grand fashion with today's spirit rally! Each class performed amazing, elaborate dance routines to the raucous cheers of their fellow students and took part in a series of contests, including hilarious relays, the scream-off (won by the Class of 2025 with a volume of 120.3 decibels) and a song recognition game that had each class sing lyrics for their dean, who then had to name the artist and title as well as sing the next line; the seniors ended up with the most points. The event also featured special appearances by Kinetic Krew and the Harker cheer squad!

During last week's Eagle Buddies activities, the juniors visited their grade 4 friends at the lower school for games, crafts and conversation!

Animals of America visited the lower school yesterday for the annual wildlife assembly, where students marveled at an impressive variety of wild animals!

Over the weekend, hundreds of students from around the Bay Area visited the middle school campus for the 2024 Harker Math Invitational, in which students solved math problems in both individual and team competitions! This year's event featured 405 students from 20 schools (including Harker), the most participation in its history.

Congratulations to senior Michelle Wei for her outstanding achievement, clinching 3rd place in the @Society4Science Regeneron STS!

Premiering March 21, the 2024 upper school spring musical, "The Wedding Singer," will take audiences back to the 1980s in this timeless romantic comedy based on the hit 1998 film! Tickets are available through the Harker portal.

More Harker students are traveling abroad this week, as 21 Harker upper school students are visiting France for an immersive experience with the country's language and culture. While in Normandy, the students visited Granville for Carnival Day, then trekked to the island of Mont-Saint-Michel. They also celebrated Mardi Gras at Harker's sister school, Saint-Denis International School, in Loches and visited the famous Chenonceau Castle!

This week's featured Honors Directed Portfolio artists are seniors Ruby Johnson, Julie Shi and Brittany Tsui Monday's reception drew a crowd to the second floor of the Rothschild Performing Arts Center to celebrate the artists and view their works.

Dozens of upper school students and faculty headed to the Nichols Hall atrium on Monday to donate blood for the Stanford Blood Center! A total of 35 units were collected, five more than the goal of 30, and the drive attracted 31 first-time donors.

Yesterday, Harker received a visit from the New York-based Caili O'Doherty Trio! The group -- pianist Caili O'Doherty, singer Tahira Clayton and drummer Cory Cox -- performed at the middle school during the school meeting and at lunchtime, where eighth grader Michael Petrov and music teacher David Hart sat in with the band. Later, they visited the upper school and conducted a special workshop with the upper school jazz band.