This article was originally published in the summer 2012 Harker Quarterly.
Students Enjoy Spring Pool Party
An excited group of 13 middle school students enjoyed a pool party in mid-April at the Bucknall campus pool. The party was an auction prize won at the Harker Family & Alumni Picnic in October and also celebrated the birthday of Shannon O’Shea, grade 8; thus the students also enjoyed cake and other refreshments in addition to swimming under the warm spring sun. Teachers Keith Hirota, Julie Pinzás, Rebecca Williams and Patricia Lai Burrows donated the package and put together this fun day for the kids.
Lower School Family Picnic Raffle Winners Enjoy Fun Field Trip
Fifty happy K-2 students took a field trip in mid-March to Pump it Up, a warehouse filled with jump houses, obstacle courses and slides. The event was the reward for the students who sold at least 100 raffle tickets for the Harker Family & Alumni Picnic. Kim Coulter, director of the Bucknall Enrichment and Supervision Team (BEST), said, “The children had a great afternoon playing. They enjoyed going through the obstacle courses and racing some of their favorite BEST staff.” Top ticket sellers this year were grade 2 students Emma Gurleroglu with 2,780, Callie Mayer with 1,640 and Aaditya Gulati with 1,520.
Students Enjoy Picnic Outing in San Francisco
On Dec. 10, four lucky Harker students enjoyed a whirlwind day in San Francisco with two of their favorite teachers. The grade 5 students, Arushee Bhoja, Devanshi Mehta, Nikhil Dharmaraj and Ayush Pancholy, won the trip at the Harker Family & Alumni Picnic auction on Oct. 9, where fun and silly teacher packages are auctioned off every year.
Accompanied by teachers Pat Walsh and Kate Shanahan, the excited students rode a cable car, visited AT&T park, North Beach and Chinatown, where the fortune cookie factory was deemed “awesome.” Said Shanahan, “The kids got a special kick out of where we stopped for dessert on the way home – a famous drive-through convenience store in South San Francisco!”
Walsh was a busy chaperone – he also accompanied about 30 kids to an Oakland A’s baseball game in late April.