FEBRUARY 2006 (VOL. 12, NO. 5)
S P E C I A L
A L U M N I
events
R E P O R T
F R O M
T H E
H A R K E R
Alumni Gym Event Draws From Far and Wide beer keg and sodas, Theresa “Smitty” Smith got the courts ready for some alumni play time, and Phyllis Carley took her post at the yearbook table and spent her time reminiscing with alumni who enjoyed looking through the books and photos on display. Many alumni were thrilled to see Cindy Kerr, Pam Dickinson and John Near as well as two of their former teachers who no longer work at Harker, Mena Killarney Lynch and Mark Muller ’75. The staff truly had fun visiting with their former students and watching the alumni reconnect with each other with lots of hugs and screams and hollers of delight.
■ Thurs., March 2 Boston, MA: Alumni Gathering US Division Head, Richard Hartzell, and Assistant Head of School, Jennifer Gargano, will be attending the NAIS Annual Conference in Boston, and they will host a reception for alumni located in the Boston area on Thurs., March 2. For more information, check the Harker Alumni Web site or contact Terry Walsh.
■ Fri., March 3 Cruisin’ California Join the Journey! Plan to reunite with fellow classmates at the 3rd annual Harker Fashion Show. Visit the Web site for details.
■ Sat., June 3 All Alumni Reunion Day & 1st Annual Meeting of the Alumni Association The establishment of a founding group for the Harker School Alumni Association is in the initial planning stages. This group will be assisting in the determining and implementing of program bylaws, a mission statement, titles, roles and responsibilities, committee structures and awards. Their efforts will culminate at the 1st Annual Meeting of the Alumni Association. Watch for details of this new and exciting annual alumni event.
S C H O O L
Contributors to the Alumni Gym Campaign were recognized at an all-alumni event held in October giving alumni a chance to view the newly refurbished gym on our new Blackford middle school campus. The event brought together alumni spanning the years from 1969 to 1997, and many current and
former teachers and coaches were there to help out and visit with alumni. Guests were greeted by Mel McKenna, Julie Pinzas and Pete Anderson and hot dogs were grilled and ser ved by Pat Walsh and C.J. Cali. Jack Bither, Joe Rosenthal and Mel Robinson were in charge of the
The Alumni Gym Campaign is an ongoing campaign, and it is not too late to have your name added to the donor plaque. Join the Harker Alumni Gym Team by making a financial contribution, big or small, and have your name added to the plaque. The plaque will be prominently displayed at both the Saratoga and Blackford campuses. See pgs. 4 & 5 for more info
Mentors, Alumni and Juniors Explore Venture Capitalism Some of our US alumni returned to Harker to present their ventures to both a group of current students who have chosen venture capitalism as their field of interest and to the adult mentors involved in the Harker School Mentor Program. This program brings Gr. 11 students and adult mentors together in a relationship designed to assist students in making informed career and college decisions. This year alumnus Riaz Valiani ’90 is one of the adult VC mentors, and he critiqued the presentations of our young alumni. Optical Exchange was presented by Payom Pirahesh ’04 and current student Sean Turner ’06. This online site provides photographers
and artists a quality place to display and sell their work and offers buyers a place to purchase high quality images at affordable prices. For more information on this company, go to www.optx.org. Virtual Communication Expression & Lifestyle, Inc. (VCEL) was presented by Sergey Lossev ’04, Akhsar Kharebov ’02 and Andrew Rogan ’04. VCEL is an online profile community and social networking system, similar in nature to
Facebook.com. For more information on this company, go to www.vcel.net. The recent alumni presenters were thrilled to get advice from all of the adult mentors, but especially enjoyed hearing from Valiani, a fellow Harker grad!
Terry Walsh
A
est. 1893 • K-12 college prep
ALUMNI
update
Apple Doesn’t Fall Too Far: Alumni Working at Harker
Elise Tremba Schwartz
Lars Shaw ’95 Full-time recreation leader & after-school teacher, Digital Arts & Movie Making
To some of our alumni, Harker is not only the school they attended, it was or is now, also their place of employment. Summer is the peak time for alumni employees as the summer program is always looking to hire dedicated, enthusiastic alumni, but many alumni continue on with jobs in the fall. This school year alumni are filling positions as teachers, administrators, recreation staff, coaches and various other positions on our campuses. Harker’s reputation as a great school community can be substantiated by the constant flow of alumni returning to work at the school and this involvement is traced back to Howard Nichols ’56. Nichols worked part time at the school during his college years at Stanford and returned as a full-time employee in 1965 after completing his militar y ser vice. This year we have 17 alumni working at Harker and two alumni who are are volunteering as adult mentors for the Gr. 11 Mentor Program.
Kelle Sloan ’93 LS recreation director & US JV girls volleyball coach Nik Stojanovich ’85 US varsity football coach Vicki Viso ’92 US assistant varsity volleyball coach
Harker Mentors
Loren Due Mike Saltzman
Mark Gellineau
Shyam Panchal ’89 Biotechnology - Guidant Riaz Valiani ’90 Venture Capitalist - Global Asset Capital
Eric Leonard
Vicki Viso, Kelle Sloan & Jason Reid
Harker Employees Loren Due ’85 US - PE & Capoeira instructor
Terry Walsh
Carson Carattini ’97 LS after-school sports coach
Danielle Lawrence
Michellle Floyd ’95 Part time recreation leader Mark Gelineau ’90 MS English teacher Kristin Scarpace Giammona ’81 Elementary division head Shannon Hickey ’95 Part-time recreation leader
Kelle Sloan & Shannon Hickey
Danielle Lawrence ’95 Assistant to assistant director of admissions
Kristin Scarpace Giammona
Eric Leonard ’94 LS aid
Grace Sabeh
Michael Leonard US’04 US assistant varsity volleyball coach
Michael Leonard (left), Vicki Viso (3rd from left)
Jason Reid ’94 US JV girls & varsity boys volleyball coach
Michelle Floyd Carson Carattini
Grace Sabeh ’95 Kindergarten teacher
Elise Tremba Schwartz ’84 Gr. 3 teacher
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Terry Walsh
Michael Saltzman ’94 Coach & substitute teacher
Lars Shaw Harker News — February 06, Alumni Supplement
“Many alumni have returned to Harker as faculty, working alongside their former teachers. And some of our longtime teachers are now teaching children of alumni. In the case of Kristen Scarpace Giammona, both of these apply.
Ting Twins Excel on the Football Field and in the Classroom Ryan and Brandon Ting are earning kudos on the gridiron at the University of Southern California. But the identical twins, who hail from Woodside and attended middle school at Harker, also are excelling in the classroom. Now juniors at USC, Ryan and Brandon are both American studies and ethnicity majors. Ryan boasts the team-best 3.90 GPA, while Brandon maintains an impressive 3.76 GPA. In addition, Ryan recently was selected for the Academic All-America Football Team by ESPN The Magazine, which annually honors the nation’s top student-athletes.
Giammona started Harker in 1972 as a kindergarten student, graduated from Gr. 8 in 1981 and returned to Harker in 1992 as a Gr. 5 teacher. As a Harker employee her coworkers were many of her former teachers or administrators, including John Near, Pat Walsh, Carol Parris, Howard Nichols and Dan Gelineau.
Reunion of ’76 in Planning Stage graduated from our MS in 2001, then attended James Logan High School in Union City.
Both photos supplied by Cindy Cotrell-De Angelo
Sports is in the Ting twins’ blood.
Their older brother, Rich, was a quarterback at Yale. Their father is a well-known orthopedic surgeon who served as team physician for the San Francisco 49ers and now serves as team physician for the San Jose Sharks. Their mother, Marilyn Koyama Ting, is their biggest cheerleader. Supplied by Ting family
Now Giammona, who took over as LS elementar y division director last year, is super vising her former teacher, Walsh. The stor y truly has come full circle!”
Their father, Arthur Ting, says Harker laid a strong foundation for Ryan and Brandon. He says his sons remember their years at Harker very fondly. “Harker was really fun for them. It really prepared them for high school,” he says, adding that his sons breezed through high school, in large part due to the academic training they received at Harker.
Harker News — February 06, Alumni Supplement
“(Brandon and I are) always competing with each other. But sometimes we push each other too hard,” Ryan said in his USC player profile. “We have the same aspirations. It’s crazy how we’ve been on the same page all our lives.”
A few years before they became USC Trojans, the Ting twins were proud Harker Eagles. They
The story continued in 1993 when Giammona taught Matthew Walsh ’97, the son of her former teacher Pat Walsh. Then, in 2000, her son Matthew Giammona ’13 entered Harker, followed by daughter Mia Giamonna ’17 in 2004. And this year Matt is being taught by - you guessed it! - his mom’s former teacher Pat Walsh! Matt is also being coached by his mom’s former student Carson Carattini ’97.
Cindy Cotrell-DeAngelo ’76 and Tommy Moala ’76 reunited at the Harker Family & Alumni Picnic in October and are interested in planning a 30-year reunion for the class of ’76. Log on to www.harkeralumni.org to view more of Cotrell-DeAngelo’s photos from 1976 and to contact her or Moala.
And in high school they both played baseball, basketball and track, in addition to football.
Courtesy USC Athletic Department
Kristin Scarpace Giammona ’81
On the football field Ryan and Brandon play the same position – backup free safety. The brothers also have black belts in karate.
“I’m not only proud of (my sons) as athletes and students, I’m proud of them as individuals. … I’m proud of them for the kind of people that they are and that they represent the Asian culture perhaps in a good way,” she said in a recent article in AsianWeek magazine. Both in the classroom and on the field, the Ting twins remain focused and driven to succeed. “Our work ethic came from watching those athletes our dad operated on work hard every day to get healthy,” Brandon said in his USC player profile.
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ALUMNI
gym Class of ’95 Reunion Follows Gym Event
Alumni MS Gym Campaign Donors
by bringing notes he had exchanged with classmates and read them out loud to the group. Annie Kim, who lives in New York City, traveled the farthest to attend the reunion. “It was so great to finally see everyone and learn what they are up to these days. It was a great success and I look forward to the next one. I had an awesome time,” said Bowman.
Alumni Varsity Starting Team ($3000 - $5,000) ANONYMOUS
A Team ($1000 - $2,999) Hooman Asbaghi ’80 Vijay Lakireddy ’83 Dana Lurie ’82
The Class of ‘95 held their 10-year reunion on Saturday, Oct. 15, using the Alumni Gym Event as the initial meeting spot and then regrouping to continue their reunion at Britan-
A2 Team ($500 - $999) Jack & Paula Bither Doug & Linda Emory Shelly Orlando Hicks ’78 Jeff Lee ’92 Jeffery & Susan Lee Kathryn Lee ’04 Robert Mack ’69 Isabel Orlando Louis Orlando ’80 Jason Reid ’94 Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Sakai
B Team
from many other class years and had the opportunity to look through yearbooks, photos and other Harker memorabilia. The entire group then headed downtown to meet up with other classmates at Britannia Arms and continued reminiscing about their days at Harker. The group took over the outside patio area with most of the group staying for several hours. Danielle Lawrence and Lisa Bowman spent months exchanging emails and searching for classmates to prepare for the event, and both were pleased with the turnout. Taylor Keil added to the fun
Along with the two organizers and Keil and Kim, the following alumni made it to the reunion: Jaclyn Erwin, Ryan Ettare, Michelle Floyd, Jessica Gaffney, Seth Gimlan, Shannon Hickey, Aaron Holquin, Lisa Kai, Lily Kang, Jimmy Le, Nicolette Pogue, Nina Sachdev, Girtish Singh, Lars Shaw, June-na Shibata, Michael Wang, Tiffany Wong, Michael Wu and Kathi Zee.
B Team, cont. ($100 - $499) Elizabeth Robertson ’82 Joe Rosenthal Karri Sakai ’84 Kevin Sakai ’86 Howard Saltzman Kari Saltzman ’03 Michael Saltzman ’94 Debora & Lars Shaw Joseph Sofaer ’02 Tomas Thompson Andrew Sun ’94 Ben Sun ’92 Mike Sun ’87 Marla Vallone Danny Walsh ’99 Kevin Walsh ’01 Matt Walsh ’97 Pat & Terry Walsh Richard Warmke Earl Williams ’94 Earl & Rae Williams Ed Williams ’02 Elizabeth Williams ’92 Jonathan Yuan MS ’03
Alumni Team Player
($100 - $499) Keil Albert ’82 Paul Aliason ’80 Pete & Michelle Anderson Michael Archer ’76 Greg Argendeli ’80 Jeannette Bhatia Piyush Bhatia ’87 C. J. & Laura Cali Celia DeBenedetti ’80 Jennifer Gargano Megan Garvey ’98 Tom Garvey ’95 Wayan Garvey ’92 Dan Gelineau ’65 Pam Gelineau Amy Golod ’94 Steven Golod ’98 Cindy Kerr Jana Kofman ’82 Miyeko Yoneda Kohlmann ’85 Kristin Gruden Maley ’84 Amanda Mathias ’92 John McKenna MS ’05 Melanie & John McKenna Stephen H. Meyer ’70 Raj Misra ’05 Mike Mortensen ’91 Nan Nielsen Nathan Nishiguchi ’94 Nicki Noonan ’92 Peter Noonan ’92 Stacy Noonan ’92
Alumni MS Gym Campaign Donors
($5 - $99)
nia Arms in downtown San Jose. Most of the ’95 alumni took advantage of the duo event by attending the Gym Event first where they visited with former teachers, coaches and alumni
R.S.V.P. Alumni Gym Event Here are a few of the many responses we received from those unable to attend the event: I had so many great memories being part of the Harker athletic program. It taught me so many valuable lessons in life: competitive spirit, perseverance, teamwork and patience. I still remember having those butterflies in my stomach before a big game against Hillbrook or Eagan (Apostles was never any good!). —Ashis Roy ’93* Unfortunately, I’ll be in Paris on my honeymoon. —Sarah Martin ’89 Thanks for the invite, Mr. Walsh! I’d love to see the new gym and perhaps finally get payment in the form of a hotdog for that game Murphy and I won so many years ago. Unfortunately, I live in New York City these days, so it would be more than a short drive to get there. Hope you all have fun, and say hi to Mr. Saltzman, Bither, & Rosenthal for me! —Tommy Kondo ’87 Congratulations on the new gym. I hope everyone has a great time at the event. —Jonathan Lee ’88 Unfortunately, I am stuck in grad school - but best wishes for the day! Many memories of volleyball and basketball games in the old gym! —Kirsten Nielsen ’93
Thanks for inviting me! I remember many MANY fun & rewarding hours practicing volleyball serves & digs! “Find the wall, then the ball!” I’m here in O’Fallon, MO, now & won’t be out to CA for awhile. Congratulations! —Cheryl Held ’84 I will be out of town for a tournament or wouldn’t miss it. Thanks and Good Luck!!!!! —Rosie Nijmeh Habib ’82 I’m in NYC and won’t be able to attend in person, but I’ll be there in spirit. Congratulations on the new gym! —Christina Yan ’93* Sorry to miss this great event but I’m in Chicago. Congratulations on the new gym!!! —Will Redfield ’87
I would have loved to have been there... but will be at a conference in LA. Hope it’s a great event. —Ashley Anderson ’91 So wish I could be there but I live in Colorado. Hopefully, I will be at the next event. —Kristen Gruden Maley ’84* I’m sorry to miss it! —Sehba Zhumkhawala ’90 I am in dental school in Boston, and won’t be in CA... sounds like a fun time though. —Jenn Hill ’90
Have fun and enjoy your success! I’m in St. Louis, Missouri. —Brian Cherrick ’82
Unfortunately, I am living in Bahrain at present and thus can’t make it. I’ll be sorry to miss it. Best regards. —Laila Danesh ’87
Thanks for the invite, but I live in Tennessee now and don’t make it out to CA much anymore. Good luck with the event! —Shannon Poindexter ’82
Wish I could be there but I live in AZ now. Was not much of an athlete but had fun watching! —Risha Zertuche Brown ’93
Wish I could go, but I will be in Chicago that weekend! —Libby Werba ’95
Thanks for the invite! I’m unfortunately out of state. I’m in Boston right now at Harvard Business School getting my MBA, but hope to be returning to CA in the next few years. Have fun at the Gym Bash. I wish I could be there. —Ravi Belani ’90
Aww - I’m going to be in NY that weekend, have fun! —Meera Garg ’95 I can’t make it from San Diego but have a wonderful time. Until the next one.... —Klara Gallusz ’82
*Contributors to Alumni Gym Campaign
Chrissy Chang Cindy Cottrell DeAngelo ’76 Genia Shaw Curran ’92 Chris Daren Pam Dickinson Loren Due ’85 Jeff Haugaard Karen Hauser MS ’04 Quan Pham Howard ’78 Bill Ippolito Julie Amerian Johnson ’92 Joycelyn A. Jones ’97 Lynn Lakia ’97 Danielle Lawrence ’95 Jefferson Lin ’00 Tina Johnson Murray ’82 John Near Jeffrey Niederauer ’93 Sue Rigler Palmer Shyam Panchal ’89 Carol Parris Reena Patton ’88 Adhir Ravipati ’05 Ashis Roy ’93 Elise Tremba Schwartz ’84 Lars Shaw ’95 Akhilish (Akhi) Sista ’91 Alexandra Stanek ’03 Steven Stanek ’97 Christina W. Yan ’93 Philip Zeyliger ’96
notes
Supplied by Jana Kofman
’82
’85
Terry Walsh
HA Keil Albert and Elizabeth Robertson recently went out to dinner with their former teacher Pat Walsh. Walsh made it a double alumni event by choosing to meet at
Kyoto Palace in the Pruneyard where Chris Yamashita ’90 is the manager.
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photos to run in the notes and was happy that Will responded. HA Dawn Sylvester Reid received her BS in biology and a minor in chemistry from CSUS and now lives outside Sacramento with her husband and son. She is expecting a daughter in February. “I was looking through some of the old pictures from Harker’s sports teams and laughing at my hair from the volleyball pictures - what was I thinking? I hope everyone’s doing well and I’d love to hear from anyone and everyone,” said Sylvester Reid.
’90
HA Ravi Belani corresponded with Jack Bither via e-mail and reported that he is currently working on his MBA at Harvard Business School and hopes to return to California in the next few years. Supplied by Penny Martin
and deployed to Iraq in August. “What a summer it was,” wrote Kofman. She should be home in late February or early March.
HA Penny Martin reconnected with her former teacher Pat Walsh
HA Will Redfield is currently living with his wife, Elsbeth, in Chicago. The alumni office loves to get
via e-mail and Walsh passed on this information. Mar tin graduated from Rutgers University and is currently a software engineer, living in Chandler, AZ, with her husband and son. Mar tin has stayed connected with Elizabeth McGuire, her best friend since 5th grade.
program enjoys hearing about alumni involvement in the community!
’87
HA Heather Taher graduated from Tulane School of Medicine in 2005 with a degree in medicine and a masters in public health. She is currently in Chicago completing her residency in emergency medicine. “Harker was a wonderful place for me for nine years and gave me the roots needed to succeed,” said Taher.
HS Ashis Roy reconnected with Pat Walsh via e-mail. Roy told him that he is engaged and will be married next
’93
Supplied by Ashis Roy
HA Jana Kofman is a major in the U.S. Marine Corp and currently stationed in Iraq. Kofman was married last June, promoted to Major in July
HA David Wang reconnected via e-mail with an update on his days since Harker. Wang graduated from Seton Hall University with a degree in corporate finance. After college he worked in various industries in the U.S. and Asia Pacific that included starting a real estate investment company, working as a pension portfolio manager on Wall Street and in 1999 pursuing his childhood dream of becoming an airline pilot. Wang earned a masters degree in aviation management and aeronautical science in addition to the FAA commercial pilot’s license. In 2001 he returned to Taiwan flying for EVA Airways as First Officer on the Boeing 767-200, -300 wide-body jets. While in Taiwan he reconnected with his long-lost friend and schoolmate Leo Shih ‘84 and after his services with EVA Air, he became business partners with Shih. They are currently in the government consulting and defense trade business together.
’84
year and Walsh encouraged him to send in a current photo. HS Scott Chang attended Pepperdine and received his BA in marketing from Whittier College. He is currently living in Los Angeles and working as a national sales manager at LG, a Korean company. Chang thanks Harker for giving him valuable memories, education and lifelong friends. He has stayed connected with several alumni, including Joon Park ‘93, who works for KIA, a Korean car manufacturer; his cousin, Shawn (Sang) Chang ‘92, who was recently married; and Eddy Hyun ‘94 and Jordan Suh ‘94, who are both in the music industry. HS Young Bae Lee visited campus in October with his bride Jie and friend Sung-Hoon Kim ’96. The
’92
Terry Walsh
HA Chris Bonelli checked the new alumni Web site and it brought back lots of memories for him. He sends a “hello” to Mike Pons, David Haines, Wendy Aliason and Donna Cook.
’77
Supplied by Will Redfield
CLASS
HA Jennifer Cu, an account manager at Yahoo, spent three days in Houston in September to assist victims of Hurricane Katrina. She volunteered her time and expertise at the Astrodome to help evacuees get online and connect with missing family and friends. The alumni
group toured Manzanita Hall, Lee and Kim’s former dormitor y and they were surprised by all the changes to the campus. The timing was right and several of their former dorm parents were available to join them for dinner. The evening was spent reminiscing with Pam Dickinson, Lee Trotter and Crystal Boyd about their days in the dorms.
Harker News — February 06, Alumni Supplement
HS Marissa Nebenzahl connected with Jack Bither who passed on an update that Nebenzahl is currently attending law school at the University of San Diego.
from UCLA with a major in Italian with special fields French, and a minor in Spanish and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society. She currently lives and works in Istanbul, Turkey.
’94
HS Amanda Posner was recently in contact with Jack Bither and he sent an update on her. Posner is currently in grad school at the University of Chicago working on masters in both social work and public policy. She is also involved in the local Indie music scene, playing bass in a band. HS Katie Chou, currently a lieutenant in the U.S. Marine stationed in Hawaii, enjoyed taking part in the small local town of Waimanalo’s Christmas parade. The president of the local Corvette Club, a former Marine, provided a car for Chou to ride in along the parade route. “During the parade, we threw out candy to the kids, and it was hilarious because they just loved it,” said Chou.
HS Joely Pritzker had a fun alumni reunion in Chile with her former Spanish teacher, Diana Moss. Pritzker is
’99
Supplied by Katie Chou
HS Karan Suri recently reconnected via e-mail with his former teacher, Pat Walsh and Walsh passed along some information about Suri. He received both his BA and masters from Cornell and spent two years in New York as an investment banker. He has recently relocated to Los Angeles and is working for a private investment company. “It’s tremendous how much of the Harker experience I remember to this day and how much I cherish it. I even remember the time you invited students to your home for dinner. It’s scary how I remember those days like it was yesterday,” wrote Suri! HS Yasemin Denari reconnected with Jack Bither via e-mail and he sent an update to the alumni office. Denari graduated magna cum laude
’96
Supplied by Diana Moss
’95
studying Spanish literature abroad at the University of Playa Anch, and Moss is spending the 2005’06 school year teaching in Chile as a Fulbright Scholar at Colegio San Ignacio de la Salle. Pritzger’s father and former Harker admissions director Glen Pritzger was surfing the Harker Web site and noticed Moss was in a town near his daughter. Joely was alerted and she set off by bus for Quillota, asked around town to find Moss and surprised Moss by showing up at her school. Priztker was a former baby-sitter for the Moss children Kendra and Kevin and was thrilled to see them too. HS Ankit Desai attended Santa Clara University until 2004 when he transferred into UCLA. He is currently studying computer science and engineering and plans to graduate in the fall of 2006. “Some memories include Latin with Mr. Hawley, calculus with Miss Mason and math with Mr. Fisico,” said Desai.
’02
HS Proud parents of Meghan Desale reported that Desale has been named as a Distinguished Sophomore at Boston
’04
Harker News — February 06, Alumni Supplement
University for her demonstrated achievements during the freshman year. She is enrolled in the 7year Undergraduate and Medical School Program at BU and spent the summer of ’05 in Peru on an International Program award studying Advanced Spanish Literature and Civilization in two established universities in Lima and Ayacucho. In addition, while in Peru, Desale worked as an intern in the hospital managed by the Peruvian Government Health Department. Congratulations Meghan! HS Alan Liu is featured in a new book for prospective students at Princeton University. The book, “Defining Diversity,’ includes profiles of some Princeton University students. The “Online News @ Princeton” referenced Liu in their promotion and the book includes his photos, his bio and comments by Liu about his experiences at Princeton. Liu’s academic focus is molecular biology and obtaining a certificate in finance. He is involved at Princeton as the events chair of the Pre-Business Society and as a
peer tutor in macro-economics and multivariable calculus. He plays sprint football and enjoys rock climbing. To view the book, go to http://www.princeton.edu/pr/pub/ diversity/ HS Parents of Karan Lodha were pleased to report that their son has been awarded The Detur Book Prize by Harvard College at Harvard University. The Detur Book Prize, one of the oldest prizes at Harvard, is intended to honor and congratulate sophomores on the high GPAs earned their first year at the College. The prize consists of a book chosen by each recipient, for pleasure, not a textbook, and intended to be a book that will have lasting meaning to the recipient.
HISTORICAL LEGEND MN Manzanita Hall 1893-1919 MH Miss Harker School 1904-1959 PA
Palo Alto Military Academy 1919-1972
HD Harker Day School 1959-1972 HA Harker Academy 1973-1992 HS The Harker School 1993-Present The chosen books are embossed with the Harvard and Detur seals, and a bookplate is placed inside the cover. Lodha chose the book “Greats of the Game” by Ray Robinson and Christopher Jennison. The book will be presented to him at a reception next semester in Februar y or March. Congratulations, Karan! An update on Alfred See was sent in to the alumni office by his mom. She repor ted that her son is majoring in chemical and bimolecular engineering at Johns Hopkins University and, as a representation of his outstanding academic achievement, was recently nominated and inducted into The National Society of Collegiate Scholars. He was also placed on the Johns Hopkins Dean’s Honor list for the academic year of 2004 and in addition is the winner of the IBM Thomas J. Watson Memorial Scholarship, a 4-year scholarship. Congratulations, Alfred!
contact The alumni office truly enjoys hearing about all alumni connections and memories. Contact us when you have things to share! terryw@harker.org 408.345.9205
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ALUMNI
visits
Alumni School Administrator Returns Harker Day School Alumni Sehba Zhumkhawala ’90 (third from left), Harker MS alumna and the principal at KIPP Heartwood Academy, visited Harker US in November with some of her school’s Gr. 6 students and teachers. KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) is a charter school in San Jose’s Alum Rock district. The school has a rigorous college-preparator y curriculum and a strong culture of achievement and support to help the students make significant academic gains and continue to excel in high school and college. In an effort to prepare the young students for high school, Zhumkhawala arranges visits to other Bay Area high schools to give students a glimpse of what lies ahead. “Of course the first place I thought about was Harker,” said Zhumkhawala! Harker admissions director and Zhumkhawala’s former Gr. 8 math teacher, Nan Nielsen, made the arrangements for the students to visit English and science classes and for the teachers to visit Spanish, math and psychology classes. “It was great to be back at Harker! The students and teachers had a great time and took away a tremendous amount. Thank you so much,” said Zhumkhawala.
Terry Walsh - both photos
Alumnus Lectures in Gr. 3 Classroom Alumnus Kevin Ormsby ’91 recently spoke about his career in the U.S. Air Force to his former teacher, Howard Saltzman and the current Gr. 3 students. Saltzman said, “He was delightful! Kevin emphasized to the students that nothing wonderful in life is achieved without hard work and he said that Harker, not his high school, prepared him best for his years at the Air Force Academy. He said that he was more challenged in 7th and 8th grade at Harker than in all four years of high school. Kevin shared fond memories with the 3rd graders and told them that D.J. Sosnowski ’91 was his best friend at Harker and still is.” Ormsby has fond memories of many teachers that he had at Harker and enjoyed being back on campus. He reconnected with a few other staff members as he and Saltzman were joined for lunch by Carol Sosnowski and Pat Walsh. Ormsby is currently stationed at Travis Air Force Base and hopes to return to the skies as a jet pilot for the U.S. Air Force. The Harker News Alumni Reports are published three times per year by the Harker Office of Communications. Current and archived issues are also available on the Harker Web site. Editor: Pam Dickinson; Asst. Editor: Sally Wing; Production: Blue Heron Design Group; Photos: Mark Tantrum, unless noted; Lead Writer: Terry Walsh, alumni programs director; Printing: Harker Copy Shop.
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Harker Day School alumnus, Steve Bitker ’65 recently visited Harker to help with identifying people in some archive photos and to look through archive memorabilia and reconnect with former Harker Day School employee and current board member Phyllis Carley. Bitker is currently the morning sports anchor at KCBS, part-time announcer for the Oakland A’s and author of the book, “The Original San Francisco Giants.” He arrived on campus in the late morning and immediately got to work looking through photos with Carley. He had no problem remembering names of former classmates and had countless stories about his days at Harker. Only his classmates could
truly appreciate some of the details of his memories, such as who had the best penmanship and the trick he organized, having all his classmates drop their pencils at the same time in class. (This trick caused Bitker to lose his citizenship in May of ’64 for the one and only time during his seven years at Harker Day.) It was fun to come across the permanent awards records for 1965, Bitker’s graduating year from Gr. 6 (Harker Day was K-6 from 1959 to 1972). He received permanent awards for Scholarship, General Honors, Citizenship and Honor Roll, and had the highest average for the year in both Scholarship and General Honors. Copies of these reports were sent home with Bitker to show to his two daughters. Bitker was interviewed by Sharon Huang ’07, a reporter for the US Winged Post newspaper, and he also got in a quick visit with Howard & Diana Nichols, who happened to be on campus that morning. In the early 60s Nichols worked part time while attending Stanford, and Bitker recalled seeing him coaching and driving the school bus. Bitker and Carley were joined for lunch by histor y committee member Enid Davis, US athletic director, Dan Molin, and Bay Area spor ts fanatic Pat Walsh. The conversation turned to spor ts during lunch as the group learned about some of Bitker’s favorite inter views, spor ts moments and career highlights. The Harker School is a K-12 independent, co-ed, college-prep school.
Grades K-5: 4300 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 — February 06, Alumni Supplement