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![“[Volleyball has] taught me how to fall correctly, and another thing it taught is that you don’t have to be the best at something to be good at it. If you just hit the ball in a smart way, then it still scores points and you’re good at it. You could be a background player and still make a much bigger impact on the team than you would think,” Anya Gert (’20) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/AnnaGert_JinTuan_HoHPhotoEdited-600x900.jpeg)
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Upper school announces new Science of Food course
A chef serves pasta in Manzanita during long lunch. The Science of Food will be offered in the spring of 2016.
The Upper School announced that it will offer a new course called The Science of Food during spring of 2016.
Students must have completed a year of chemistry before taking this course, as it explores the science behind cooking and baking food. The course will be taught by biology teacher Dr. Kate Schafer, along with the help of executive Chef Steve Martin’s assistant, Callie Stanley.
Dr. Schafer describes what prompted her to create this course.
“To put it succinctly, a love of food,” Dr. Schafer said. “I think we all have an interest in the science of food–how food items are put together, but especially how baking and cooking transforms our food from items that look one way to items that are transformed to something totally different. I was really interested in the interdisciplinary aspects of learning about food and [I was] just amazed by all the incredible resources and interest there is in this topic at Harker.”
During the course, students will perform experiments on different types of food and research the various macronutrients and micronutrients that are needed in a healthy diet. Students will use the kitchen in the gym to perform these experiments.
“We are going to make our own sourdough starter just from flour and water and look at how the starter is transformed over time, how it gets colonized by beneficial yeast in microbes, and how the smelly, unappealing microbes get out-competed,” she said.
Freshman Tiffany Zhao mentions why she is interested in the course.
“I think that it’s really interesting–learning where food comes from and the science background behind it,” she said. “Cooking is also my hobby so it’ll be very exciting.”
Sophomore Akshaya Vemuri, who is currently taking chemistry, explains why she finds this course appealing.
“It would [be a nice course] because it is not just about learning science but about applying it to making food, so I think it’s cool,” Akshaya said. “I might [take it] if I have space, but it sounds pretty interesting.”
Junior Lucas Wang talks about how this course would help him out in his daily life.
“The new science of food course interests me a lot actually,” Lucas said. “As an athlete I’m constantly having to monitor my diet and calorie intake, so this would be a very informative course for me as well as other athletes and people who want to learn more about what their food contains and how to stay healthy.”
Students looking to enroll in this class for second semester of this year should contact Derek Kameda, the Director of Standardized Testing and Scheduling, by next Monday. For further information regarding the course, contact Dr. Schafer at [email protected].
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