Homecoming Festivities Defy Rain: Game a Thriller
Timeline Foldout Displays Harker’s History at a Glance 2012 Fashion Show a Great Chance to “Celebrate!” Thousands Attend Events at Harker Each Year W I N T E R 2 011
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Harker QUARTERLY
Shooting a Homecoming parade shouldn’t be too difficult. But when shooting one that’s titled “Panoply of Chaos: The Poorly Planned and Ill-Conceived Cavalcade of Non-Sense and Disorder!” your planning is limited. You make sure your shutter speed is fast enough, put yourself as close as possible to the action and see what happens. As the parade passed by, I shot anything and everything as fast as I could, but felt that I was always a second too late. Luckily, towards the end, the seniors stopped to fire their “cannon,” and I caught this student mid-yell with confetti falling in front of his face. Often in photography, the best shots come not from planning or technical skill but from being in the right place at the right time and being ready. If you take the emotion in this photo and multiply it many times, you can understand the energy that the students put into representing their classes at spirit events. It’s good to enjoy some controlled chaos once in a while, especially when you go to Harker! I know from experience. —Liat Noten ‘05
W I N T E R 2 0 11 / V o l u m e 3 · N u m b er 2 Pam Dickinson Director William Cracraft Editor Catherine Snider Sara Kendall Copy Editors Kyle Cavallaro Photo Editor
Ashley Batz Robert Boucher, parent Steven M. Boyle ‘06 Emily Chow ‘08 Zach Jones Sara Kendall Devin Nguyen, grade 12 Liat Noten ‘05 Catherine Snider Contributors Liat Noten ‘05 Distribution Blue Heron Design Group Rebecca McCartney Triple J Design Design
AboutHarker
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From its early beginnings in 1893 — when Stanford University leaders assisted in its establishment — to its reputation today as a leading preparatory school with students attending prestigious universities worldwide, Harker’s mission has remained constant: to create an environment that promotes academic excellence, inspires intellectual curiosity, expects personal accountability and forever instills a genuine passion for learning. Whether striving for academic achievement, raising funds for global concerns, performing on stage or scoring a goal, Harker students encourage and support one another and celebrate each other’s efforts and successes, at Harker and beyond. Harker is a dynamic, supportive, fun and nurturing community where kids and their families make friends for life.
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The Harker School is a K-12 independent, coed, college-prep school. K-Grade 5: 4300 Bucknall Rd., San Jose, CA 95130 Grade 6-8: 3800 Blackford Ave., San Jose, CA 95117 Grade 9-12: 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129
Harker ‘08 Alumna Named Rhodes Scholar Finalist
Kind, dedicated and passionate about her sport, her nomination meant she had to miss her senior night to participate in the final Rhodes scholar interviews in San Francisco. While Schmidt wasn’t one of the two Rhodes scholars ultimately chosen out of the Bay Area’s 15 finalists, her nomination was an exemplary achievement. Rhodes scholars are chosen “not only for their outstanding scholarly achievements, but for their character, commitment to others and to the common good, and for their potential for leadership in whatever domains their careers may lead.” Since the inception of the upper school, this is the second Harker student nominated into this prestigious program: Varun Sivaram MS ’03 was named a Rhodes scholar in 2010. More alumni news – including a new spot for the announcement of alumni awards such as this – can be found on page 42.
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Photo by William Cracraft
Tanya Schmidt ‘08 was recently named a 2011 Rhodes scholar finalist. Schmidt was a star volleyball player (and all around wonderful person) at Harker, and was the first Harker student athlete to sign with a college, joining Santa Clara University’s volleyball team. The announcement about her Rhodes nomination on Santa Clara’s website says it all: “To say Schmidt is special is an understatement. Her competitive, but compassionate demeanor on and off the court contributes to her one-ofa-kind personality.” Read the full story here: http://bit.ly/tvfVEM.
Published four times a year, the Harker Quarterly showcases some of the top news, leading programs, inspiring people and visionary plans of the greater Harker community. Produced by the Harker Office of Communication 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129 communications@harker.org · 408.345.9273
Next Edition: March 2012
Harker News Online (HNO) was launched in April 2009 and reports timely news on the activities, programs and accomplishments of The Harker School and its students, faculty and alumni. You can subscribe to HNO via RSS feeds or a daily digest email alert. Visit http://news.harker.org/.
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inside Students Host World-Class Speakers at TEDx Event Homecoming Brings Out the Whole Community Fashion Show is Ready to Celebrate! Hat-Happy Picnic Amuses All on Balmy Day Harker Joins Challenge Success Program Harker Timeline: We’ve Come a Long Way On-Campus Events Enrich the Student Experience
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Students Intern at Auditions for Broadway Revival of “Annie”
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21 departments
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Headlines ......................................................4 Milestones ...................................................11 Eagle Sports Report ...................................15 Global Education ........................................21 Performing Arts ......................................... 34 Greater Good ............................................. 38 Alumni .........................................................41 Looking Ahead .......................................... 48
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Headlines
By Christopher Nikoloff Head of School
The Parenting Paradox
Honoring Individuality
L
ike so much else in life, there is a paradox at the heart of education and parenting. On the one hand we are supposed to love children for who they are, and on the other hand we are supposed to hold them up to ideals so that they become
something other than they are. This is not unlike a related paradox in education: if children, as they learn, understand new knowledge only as it relates to prior knowledge, how can they ever really learn anything new? To understand a child, says Jiddu Krishnamurti in his “Education and the Significance of Life,” you cannot look at him through “the screen of an ideal.” Krishnamurti means, I believe, that if you see a child through the screen of an ideal you see the ideal but not the child. Also, you and the child will not be in direct relationship. You will be relating to your image or ideal – one of your own projections – not the child himself. We all hold our children up to ideals. One of the insidious ways we do this is through comparing. What grade did your child get on that assignment? What level is he in? How many APs has he signed up for? How much volunteering has he done lately? “Humility is not comparing,” a former boss used to say to me. Before becoming a parent, I imagined all sorts of ideals I would hold in front of my children. Then came the reality of a human being. We were out to dinner with a family a few weeks ago and, while waiting for the food to arrive, my oldest son and his friend colored together. His friend colored
Photo by Kyle Cavallaro
within the lines a little more precisely than my son did. A lot more precisely. I think his choice of
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color was more textured too. I couldn’t help comparing. I even considered getting a coloring tutor. Love children as they are or hold them up to ideals? Both? Are both possible? Parents and educators are anxious about the future. In “That Used to Be Us,” Thomas Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum
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Headlines while Reaching for Ideals outline four major challenges to the United States that we have been slow to address over the past 20 years. They are globalization, the IT revolution, national and local debt, and energy. All of these pressures and others make parents and educators nervous. Our children will have to “compete,” won’t they?
“
When I was a child, I remember adults warning us about “the real world” as if the current world we were living in was “unreal.” Now we are fond of saying that children will have to “compete.” I wonder about the idea of educating and raising an army of little competitors. Why? Well, to maintain or increase our standard of living. To buy more
We all want our children to be successful and happy, but defining success has beguiled thinkers from Lao Tzu to Aristotle to Emerson to Deepak Chopra.
”
toasters. We all want our children to be successful and happy, but defining success has beguiled thinkers from Lao Tzu to Aristotle to Emerson to Deepak Chopra. So how to resolve the paradoxes at the heart of education and parenting? Paradoxes are, by definition, irresolvable. William Empson said that, “Life involves maintaining oneself between contradictions that cannot be solved by analysis.” Zeno, an ancient Greek philosopher, discovered a paradox that should keep us from walking out the door. He said that we can never get from point A to point B because there will always be a new midpoint between us and our destination that we first have to cross. However, we do manage to get out the door every day, and children manage to grow into wonderful young men and women despite educational paradoxes, comparisons and ideals. My son didn’t color as well as his friend, but he did play out a terrible thunderstorm with his crayons. Just like flowers reaching for the sun and yet remaining firmly planted where they are, children find their way, and that is an ideal in itself.
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working for him twice,” he joked. The first such lesson was, “Experts are clueless.” “If there’s anything that Apple has proven,” he said, “it’s that experts are often wrong.” He encouraged the audience to “learn to ignore experts. “This may be contrary to what you’ve been taught, but experts usually define things within established limits, and I think you should break those limits,” he said. Other lessons he learned from Jobs included the value of design, realizing that photos by Devin Nguyen, grade 12
customers often don’t know what they need, and the concept that changing one’s mind is a sign of intelligence. The conference was kicked off by Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Energy, who observed that the United States is “no longer number one in much of anything,” a far cry from when the U.S. “took over”
TEDx Harker School Brings Inspirational Speakers to All-Student Audience
opportunity for America to once again be a leading innovator, he said, “and the opportunity is to correct it.” After identifying the various ways in which the world uses energy, Surace said there a number of things American businesses can now reinvent. “Whether it’s motors or or the way we operate buildings or all the
lmost 200 high school
Kawasaki helped bring developers to
supply side dynamics, we get to reinvent
students visited Nichols
Apple’s Macintosh platform. During
today, and this, in fact, is what America
Hall on Oct. 22 for the
his introduction, he asked how many
has always done best,” he said.
first ever, independently
members of the audience used Macs.
organized TEDx Harker School event,
Upon seeing the vast majority of the
put together by Neeraj Baid and Neel
attendees raise their hands, he grinned
Bhoopalam, both grade 11. Headlined
and remarked, “I love to see that.”
by keynote speaker Guy Kawasaki, the event featured five top entrepreneurs, each offering unique perspectives and advice to the young audience. As chief evangelist at Apple in the 1980s, 6
Rising carbon dioxide levels present an
pumps or washing machines or lighting
By Zach Jones
A
the industrial revolution in the 1850s.
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Karl Mehta, founder and CEO of PlaySpan, a micropayment company acquired by Visa in March, talked about what he called the “building blocks of entrepreneurship,”
With Steve Jobs still in headlines due to his
covering key principles that helped him in
recent passing, Kawasaki’s presentation
his business ventures. “Wealth creation is not
focused on key lessons he learned from the
just about money,” he said, but also about
late celebrity businessman and inventor.
giving back to the people who enabled them
“I’m one of the few people who survived
to become entrepreneurs in the first place.
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Mehta is currently a board member of
revenue by 2020, which would create a
Another dynamic speaker was Rahim
Simpa Networks, which seeks to make
worldwide GDP of $1 trillion and create 10
Fazal, who sold his first company during
energy available to people in poor
million jobs. “We have entrepreneurs from
his senior year of high school. He was
and remote areas by allowing them to
all over the world, at all different stages of
spurred into entrepreneurship, funnily
purchase credits for clean energy with an
their lives and careers doing one million
enough, after being fired from McDonald’s
affordable “pay-as-you-go” model.
by one million right now,” she said. Those
for working “too slow.” “I might be the only
who wish to take part in the initiative can
entrepreneur who’s ever been fired from
gain access to lectures, case studies and
McDonald’s,” he joked. He went on to start
coaching via the website http://1m1m.
an online business with his friend, which
sramanamitra.com.
resulted in him cutting several classes and
When founding a company, Mehta said, one of the most important steps is “to hire people who are smarter than you.” Forming an effective team means being able to find
who has built three companies since
“If there’s anything that Apple has proven, it’s that experts are often wrong.”
1994, two of which she has successfully
–Guy Kawasaki, keynote speaker
people who are strong in areas where others are not. “Seldom you’ll find individuals who are well-rounded, but generally only teams are well-rounded,” he said. Following Mehta was Sramana Mitra,
sneaking out for far too many supposed bathroom breaks. The pair made local headlines after selling the business for more than $1 million. Feeling confident, he stridently ignored his parents’ advice to go to college and started another business. “I thought I was on the top of the world,” he said. “That business ended up falling flat on its face, and lost almost all of this money that I made.” He then decided to listen to his parents and acquired an MBA. Fazal’s current business is Involver, a social marketing company that helps companies leverage social networks to reach customers. Involver’s clients include Nike, Facebook and the National Football League. He recommended that entrepreneurs build a group of people around them who can answer questions and solve problems
sold. Instead of a presentation, she
for them that are outside their expertise,
opted to “have a conversation” with the
such as lawyers and accountants. Another
audience, recapping her journey as an
point close to Fazal’s heart was “getting
entrepreneur and talking about some
a life.” “If you’re not having a good time,
of the opportunities that await future
if you’re not out there doing the things
generations. “By 2020, there are going
that regular kids do, then you’re going to
to be five billion people on the Internet
completely regret it,” he said. “Make sure
… So the potential for value creation, the potential for entrepreneurship, the potential for wealth creation ahead of your generation is immense,” she said.
you’re actually doing stuff that’s fun, and During the question and answer session, Mitra
that matters.”
said that one way to help solve problems stemming from the current economic crisis
Check out @TEDxHarker and
She also talked about her “1 Million by 1
is to “empower a lot more entrepreneurs …
tedx.harker.org for videos and
Million” initiative, which aims to help one
with the skills and knowledge of how to be
photos of the event!
million entrepreneurs reach $1 million in
successful entrepreneurs.” H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY
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By Zach Jones
Tough Game, Great Party Unites Community
T
he atmosphere at Harker’s Homecoming was jubilant in defiance of intermittent rain on Nov. 11, as both the JV and varsity Eagles met Cupertino High School at Davis Field. Both contests were thrillers, each decided by a single-score deficit, with JV losing 18-15 and varsity winning 35-28. Aside from the games, the many attendees had plenty to keep them occupied. Prior to the varsity game, the Harker Jazz Band warmed up the crowd from the stands and the lower school’s junior cheer squad performed, to the delight of the audience. The Eaglets’ fly-by, a Harker Homecoming tradition, saw lower school students donning their trademark eagle costumes to perform a spirited and well-received dance routine. In a continuation of the spirit rally earlier in the day, students in grades 9 and 10 met to compete for third place in the tug of war contest, with the sophomores declared the winner.
Photos by Kyle Cavallaro
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Another special pre-game event was the singing of Harker’s school song as well as “The Star-Spangled Banner” by students representing vocal groups from all three Harker campuses.
“It’s just a great way for the K-12 community to get together and support the school.” - Chris Nikoloff, head of school
In the stands and in areas around Davis Field, the atmosphere remained festive as people from virtually every corner of the Harker community came together. Lower and middle school students met and made new friends with upper school students. Returning alumni reunited and caught up with their former teachers and reminisced about their days as Harker students. “This brings back a lot of memories of last year,” said Chris McCallaCreary ’11. “I just hope these guys cherish it while they still have it.” The upper school parking lot was active for the duration of the event, with student organizations setting up tables to sell food and souvenirs. John and Christine Davis, parents of Cole Davis ’11, brought their RV to the special alumni section, which was busy with alumni and parents chatting and enjoying the many food options available. The Eagle Buddies also had their own section, where students in that program, as well as their parents, met and socialized. “It’s just a great way for the K-12 community to get together and support the school,” said Chris Nikoloff, head of school.
Photos by Kyle Cavallaro
Following an exciting first half which left the varsity teams of Harker and Cupertino tied at 14 points, the crowd was treated to performances by the upper school cheerleaders and varsity dancers and also watched the tug of war contest between grades 11 and 12, who vied for first place. The seniors won the contest, continuing grade 12’s dominance in tug of war. Capping off the halftime festivities was the appearance of the Homecoming court, each couple riding in golf carts driven by their class H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY
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advisors. Nikoloff went out on to the field to thank the crowd for the great attendance and enthusiasm, before bestowing the title of Homecoming queen on Michelle Lo, grade 12, and naming Revanth Kosaraju, grade 12, this year’s Homecoming king. The Eagles football players, thoroughly pumped to play two more quarters, burst through a large paper sign to signify the start of the second half. For the rest of the evening, onlookers watched as the Eagles soared to a hard-fought and well-deserved win. On the following Monday, Greg Lawson, assistant head of school for student affairs, extended his thanks to all who helped make Homecoming “a rousing success. From the teams on the field, to the performers, to those working in the background on logistics; from food service, to the advancement staff, to the amazing
Check out our Homecoming video posted on YouTube — search on “Harker Homecoming 2011”!
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Photos by Kyle Cavallaro
facilities team; from the adults who volunteered or were assigned to work, to the athletic department; and finally, to those who simply attended and contributed to the wonderful spirit that could not be dampened by the rain – you have my thanks and appreciation for your contributions.”
Milestones Harker Teachers Recognized for Musical and Literary Talents; New Alumni Director Announced
Photos by Kyle Cavallaro
mentoring, participating on career panels and helping with varsity boys’ basketball. She is also a member of the Junior League of San Jose.
S.F. Symphony Music Mentor, Susan Nace By Steven M. Boyle ’06 The Harker School’s very own Susan Nace, who directs upper school groups Cantilena and Camerata, was chosen as a mentor for the San Francisco Symphony Community of Music Makers’ November choral event and workshop. According to their website, the program was launched for the San Francisco Symphony’s centennial season to “serve amateur adult musicians” and “promote active participation in music-making and life-long learning.” The Community of Music Makers consists of an amateur orchestra, an amateur chorus and a chamber music program, and features workshop events during which participants are treated to mentorship from musicians and artistic staff of the San Francisco Symphony. Nace shared in a 2009 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance for her part in the San Francisco Symphony Chorus’ live recording of a “Symphony of a Thousand,” a selection from Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major.” That same recording was also recognized for Best Classical Album and Best Engineered Classical Album awards.
Director of Alumni Relations, MaryEllis Deacon By William Cracraft Christina Yan ’93 has moved on from Harker to begin a new life as an entrepreneur. Yan resigned as director of alumni relations in November and is ramping up a natural baby foods company in San Francisco. Luckily the change-over will be seamless as the new director of alumni is MaryEllis Deacon, formerly special assistant to the executive director of advancement. Deacon, a 2008 Clemson University graduate, came to Harker from Richmond, Va., where she was actively involved with independent schools and sat on her alma mater’s alumni board. At Clemson, Deacon was an integral part of the men’s basketball department, where she formed strong working and personal relationships with community members. Since taking over the alumni position, Deacon has been bonding with Harker students and faculty through activities including attending the TEDx conference,
“The main thing I am going to focus on is building relationships with graduates and students, bringing the alumni back for various events, and making a stronger bridge from faculty to alumni,” said Deacon. “Alumni programs will continue to grow and change – such as creating an alumni event with Santa, and keeping the Easter egg hunt,” she added, “to make being an alum a valued, rewarding, fun experience.”
Remarkable Book Finalist: Alexandra Rosenboom By Sara Kendall Alexandra Rosenboom, an English teacher at the upper school, not only teaches writing but is also a writer herself. Her book, “Honest as Any Treeless Place,” was selected as a “remarkable finalist” by Fanny Howe for 1913 Press’ First Book contest. As its name suggests, the contest is for a book in any genre by a writer who has not yet had a book published. 1913 Press was established fairly recently, in 2003, but the First Book contest is already competitive. Howe noted in her email to the competitors, “It’s inane to say how many fabulous manuscripts were submitted ... yet it’s true.” Rosenboom says Howe “just chose the Walt Whitman Award winner a few months ago, so it is pretty exciting that she liked my book as well.” H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY
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F A S H I O N
S H O W
Fri., Feb. 24 San Jose Convention Center luncheon and dinner gala
By Catherine Snider arker is making plans to “Celebrate!” The ninth annual Harker Fashion Show is almost upon us, and with both tried and true favorites and new elements, the excitement is truly starting to build. The big news is the return to the wonderful San Jose Convention Center, after a detour at the Santa Clara Convention Center last year. One advantage of the San Jose space is the vast lobby, which this year will boast an extra gift wheel. Student hosts and hostesses at the site will be available to sell Wine and Gift Wheel tickets to those interested in spinning to win fabulous gift baskets, toys for kids and luscious chocolate packages, to name just a few. Adding to the lobby’s ambiance will be an upper school student chamber ensemble, and the theme of “Celebrate!” will be, well, celebrated with exhibits guests can enjoy while strolling the venue. Returning guests will be delighted to hear that the dinner dance band will once again be The Cheeseballs, and the live auction, overseen this year by Somerset Auctions, will tempt attendees with a wide variety of incredible items. As always, the runway will be the center of attention, with student, faculty, staff and parent models strutting their stuff in the latest fashion trends. Sue Prutton, fashion show coordinator, is pleased that new rules for model selections are giving students who have never done this before a better chance to join in the fun. Once lower school students have modeled in the show, they must wait three years before modeling again. Also, the upper school model rehearsal schedule was adjusted to accommodate the busy lives of Harker’s oldest students. These two changes, Prutton said, “mean that more and more students can have an opportunity to participate in this fun and important community event. And it seems that the new rules had a beneficial impact on the model tryouts since we had the highest number of participants ever!”
We invite faculty and staff members to model in the show each year, and this year is no exception! Representing all three campuses, this year’s models are: Daniel Ajerman, Antoinette Gathy, Nicholas Manjoine and Lola Muldrew from the upper school; Karina Momary and Elizabeth Saltos from the middle school; Abbey Lile-Taylor, Bettie Nelson, Jared Ramsey and Hillaray Tiopo from the lower school. Our staff models will be strutting their stuff on the runway joined by 10 intrepid parents and 70 students from the youngest kindergartners to our most sophisticated seniors. With another 70 students performing in the show this is quite the gala event! So come out and “Celebrate!” your friends, family, students, faculty and staff members!
Follow the links to “fashion show” on the Harker homepage to keep up to date on the developments. And, of course, set the date aside, brush off your tux or gown, and get ready to “Celebrate!” with Harker! 12
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Photos b
y Ashley
Batz
Night at the Emmy’s Winner This year’s live auction at the dinner gala promises to be one of our most exciting yet. Many of the packages have already been secured by Teré Aceves and her prolific procurement team, lead by Jeanette Hajjar (Grace, grade 4; Matthew, grade 5). You’re really going to want to bid on a threebedroom penthouse at the Hilton Lagoon Towers, in Waikiki. The 2,000-square-foot penthouse with ocean view accommodates up to 16 people! Imagine lush tropical gardens, waterfalls, exotic wildlife and priceless artwork. This exquisite hotel is the only true resort in Waikiki. Dine in one of more than 20 restaurants and lounges. Enjoy a full range of activities for the entire family. Located on Waikiki’s widest stretch of beach, which was recently named the third best beach in America, this impressive property is nestled on 22 oceanfront acres, offering the best Waikiki resort experience. For more information check out www.hiltonhawaiianvillage.com. This beautiful apartment is donated by Andrew and Lina Yang. The Harker Fashion Show Committee and M magazine are donating a modeling spot in 2013’s fashion show! Along with a special moment on stage, the model will be featured in an article in M magazine and will receive two seats to the show for family or friends to watch the model strut his or her stuff.
Ever dreamed about walking the red carpet at a major awards ceremony? Linda Graham and friends were able to do just that as the highest bidders on last year’s Emmy’s package. “We had sooo much fun!” said Graham. This trip had always been on her bucket list. “We met and talked with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seal and Lisa Bonet, who sat in front of us!” remarked Graham, who was Photo provid ed by in awe of all the dresses and had an amazing Linda Grah opportunity to do some serious people-watching. She and am her guests enjoyed every minute and the fun’s not over - Graham was also the winning bidder for a trip to the 54th Grammy Awards in February! We’re extremely grateful to Bob Schick and his family and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for donating such an exciting package.
A San Jose Sharks Experience
The Wolfe family (Andrew, Roni and Molly, grade 11) have always been big Sharks fans, so when they had the opportunity to bid on premiere seats and a ride on the Zamboni, they jumped at it. As winning bidders they grabbed their teal shirts and went to watch the action-packed San Jose Sharks take on the Minnesota Wild. They cheered their team on from their club-level seats, and Molly was the lucky person who got to take to the ice and hop on the Zamboni for a spin around the rink. An action packed evening was had by all and they’re looking forward to this year’s auction to see what adventures await. Many thanks to Pooja and Gary Gauba for this exciting donation. vided by
Photo pro
fe
Roni Wol
We also have a one week stay for six, in a suite at one of the luxury five-star Grand Mayan Resorts in Mexico. From adventure to culture, relaxation to sport, the Grand Mayan resorts have whatever you seek in a vacation. You can select from Los Cabos, Puerta Vallarta, Acapulco or Riviera Maya for a vacation designed for families and friends to truly enjoy. For more information you can go to www. thegrandmayan.com. The vacation has been kindly donated by the Mehran/Karkhanechi family. H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY Photos by Ashley Batz
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• Volunteering: Loretta Nierat – loretta.nierat@hp.com • Sponsorships: Joe Rosenthal – joer@harker.org; Lucy Li - xianglilucy@gmail.com • Program Advertising: Shu Jin – shujin_us@yahoo.com
This year we are moving our volunteer sign-ups for the fashion show to a new, online system that should make the process easier than ever. Any Harker parent, family or staff member can sign up for a specific task and time slot so it’s easy to see what will work for you. You’ll receive reminders and be able to change or delete your selection right up to two days before the event. Just go to www.harker.org to find the sign-up area on the fashion show Web page.
• Live and Online Auction: Jeanette Hajjar – jbhajjar@ yahoo.com • Reservations: fsreserve@harker.org
This can’t-miss event is on Fri., Feb. 24 at the San Jose Convention Center. Ticket sales will be online starting on Jan. 4 at 10 a.m. You and your friends may want to start organizing your tables so you can all sit together for the fun. Reserve early (fsreserve@harker.org) to get the best tables! Ticket prices are $85/lunch and $175/dinner.
Visit the Harker website for details and YouTube for videos of last year’s show!
LHC Couture · Spazio · Ella · Rajat Bahri & Kavita Tankha Davis Family · Guo Li Zhang & Lucy Li · Huican Zhu & Hong Wei Keller Family · Marcia & Chris Riedel - Hunter Labs Michel Susai & Sudha Michel · Krish & Nina Panu · Rector Motor Car Company Cybil & Mike Armstrong, TICO Construction The Gurleroglu Family & MG Insurance Agency Heritage Bank of Commerce IN-KIND SPONSORS Blue Heron Design Group* · Diamond Quality Printing* · Williams Party Rentals
Photos by Ashley Batz
*nine-year sponsors 14
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By Sara Kendall
EagleReport
Winter Athletes’ Hard Work Shows in Solid Results Across the Board Golf
When the team defeated Notre Dame 222-286 at Los Lagos in mid-October, junior Patricia Huang earned medalist honors with a one over par 35. Sophomore Kristine Lin, who had a spectacular season, had a solid match at Notre Dame as well, ending with a 37. The team ended the season battling out two games with Menlo, losing the first match, but defeating them in the second, finishing the season the way they started it: with a win. Huang and Lin qualified for and performed well at the CCS
The cross country team had a strong season, with runners placing high in every meet. Over the course of the season, several names continued to pop up: Corey Gonzales, grade 9, and Tyler Yeats and Ragini Bhattacharya, both grade 11. In the first meet alone, Gonzales took fifth overall, Yeats took 14th, and in the girls’ division, Bhattacharya took ninth. These three runners competed in the league finals at Crystal Springs and qualified for CCS. Gonzales beat out every other freshman in division IV, and placed 23rd out of 103. Yeats also had a strong match, placing 44th. In the girls race, Bhattacharya placed 16th out of 80, just two slots away from making the state qualifications.
They proved to be fighters, though! As Molin said, “The light rain didn’t dampen our Homecoming atmosphere as the varsity football team defeated Cupertino 35-28 in front of a raucous home crowd on Davis Field.” They ended their season with cheers and an exciting win, with Quash going 12 for 15 passing, including two touchdown passes to Deng.
Football photos by Robert Boucher, parent
Golf photos by Robert Boucher, parent
Cross Country
Photo by Ashley Batz
tournament in Carmel. The girls placed 81st and 44th, respectively, out of 114 golfers.
The Harker School’s girls golf team started off the season with a win, then pingponged back and forth between wins and losses for the duration of the season.
Football Football had a rough welcome into their new league, losing their first game to what Dan Molin, athletic director, called, “a hungry Gunn High School team,” 476. The sole Harker touchdown came on a pass from quarterback Spenser Quash, grade 11, to receiver Robert Deng, grade 11. Quash and Deng continued to make highlights, even as the team suffered a string of losses. By the end of October, the team had dropped to 2-7 overall.
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EagleReport Tennis Girls tennis had an outstanding season that started not only with a hot win streak, but with the team walking away from the Santa Catalina Tournament Invitational as the champions. They suffered their first defeat of the season against perennial state power Menlo at the end of September. Jenny Chen, grade 11, made highlights all season long in number one singles, even, as Molin described it, “crush[ing] last year’s league MVP 6-1, 6-2.” By mid-October, the girls were 8-2 overall, 4-2 in league, and suffered only two more losses. They qualified for the CCS tournament with their 12-4 season record, losing in the second round to Sacred Heart.
Volleyball Girls volleyball stayed on a hot streak for weeks, not suffering their first league loss until mid-October, defeating the then-undefeated Woodside Priory before finally losing to King’s Academy. The loss dropped them to a first-place league tie at 6-1 overall for league play. The team had strong leaders in seniors Aura Dave and Alisha Mayor, the latter of whom frequently had kills in the double digits. They went on to win another three games in a row following their first loss. Girls volleyball qualified for the CCS tournament based on their 17-7 record and second place league finish, where they lost to Harbor High School in Santa Cruz in the first round. All photos by Kyle Cavallaro
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Sports Photo by Kyle Cavallaro
Water Polo
Photo by Robert Boucher, parent
Lower and Middle School Fall Sports The school year started off with boys flag football, girls softball, swimming and cross country, and all of our teams battled through a very tough WBAL schedule. “We are so proud of all our fall athletes for their hard work and dedication. We also appreciate the efforts of the parents who supported the teams and coaches so spectacularly throughout the fall season!” said Teresa “Smitty” Smith, grade 4-8 athletic director.
Harker’s water polo season was a nail-biter, with the boys losing by just one goal multiple times, and the girls making Harker history for most wins in a season with 14.
Flag Football
The boys team performed particularly well in tournaments, starting the season off as the champions of the Sequoia High School Varsity Boys Water Polo Tournament. After a string of close games, they racked up a win at the South Valley Polo-Fest, and went on to take second place in the Homestead Varsity Boys Water Polo Tournament. Boys water polo ended with a fourth place league tournament finish after beating Fremont in the first round before losing to Lynbrook and Wilcox.
The grade 7 V B football team finished 4-2 in league and 11-31 overall. They also finished as the Tri-Champions of the WBAL!
The grade 8 V A football team finished 2-5 in league and 4-9 overall.
The grade 6 JV A team finished 0-3-2 in league and 0-4-2 overall, while the grade 5 JV B team finished 3-3-2 in league.
Follow Harker sports at Harker News Online at http://news.harker.org.
Photos by Alisha Garcia
Photo by Kyle Cavallaro
After a rough start to the season, the girls water polo team turned it around in late September by defeating Lynbrook High, and then winning all three of their games in the Wahine Classic. They went on to have a string of wins that included three of their five games at the Western States Varsity Girls Water Polo Tournament. The girls’ season came to a close after what Molin called “a thrilling league tournament at the Singh Aquatic Center.” After going into overtime with number one seed Santa Clara, the team was finally defeated by the Bruins 12-11.
Swimming
The grade 6-8 swim team ended their season with the WBAL meet. The grade 6-8 boys team took second place in the meet, and the grade 6-8 girls team took fifth place.
Softball
The grade 6-8 V A softball team finished 3-3 in league and 6-3-1 overall, and the grade 4-5 JV B softball team finished 3-4 in league.
Cross Country
The grade 6-8 cross country team ended their season with the WBAL meet, where Harker’s team finished with four top 10 placers. The grade 7-8 boys team took third place in the meet and the grade 7-8 girls team finished in second place. H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY
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arker F milies all ogether on unday enj
ying abulous riends By Kelly Espinosa and Lynette Stapleton
Photo by Renee Rashid, Parent
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This event has always been about the Harker “family” and we are so grateful to all who gave of their time and talents to help make it a super HATTASTIC day! W I N T E R 2 0 11
ed by Joe Ro Photo provid
“Bringing our entire community together for a funfilled family day is truly the goal of our event,” said picnic coordinator Lynette Stapleton. “All the creativity and hard work by our committee heads, faculty and staff, students and countless parent volunteers really shines through when picnic Sunday finally arrives!”
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t was a picture-perfect Sunday as more than 3,000 parents, students, faculty and friends gathered on the middle school campus to celebrate our 61st annual Family & Alumni Picnic! Though the picnic is one of Harker’s oldest events, the annual themes create anticipation and wonder each and every year, and the whole community looks forward to a magical day. This year our whimsical festival was “filled to the brim” with bonnets, berets, derbies, dusters, panamas, pith helmets and, of course, plenty of smiles, laughter and a bunch of good old-fashioned fun!
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Alumni
HATS OFF to OUR…
Parents
Staff Performers
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Tip Your Hat to Our Top Sellers! We are so proud of all our students, parents, faculty and staff who sold tickets and helped raise funds for the school. The whole Harker community deserves a big “thank you” for selling more than 42,000 tickets! Ticket selling is a wonderful way for everyone to participate in our fundraising efforts, because all sales, big and small, add to the total. From families who sell only the 30 sent in the mail, to our top sellers who put in extraordinary effort and sell thousands of tickets, participation is the key to our success. Our lower school top seller, Emma Gurleroglu, grade 2, is a shining example of extra ticket-selling effort. Gurleroglu and her dad stood in front of Starbucks regularly during the weeks leading up to the picnic and, according to her dad, she learned many lessons while selling tickets. “She was shy when we first started,” said Mustafa Gurleroglu. “She wouldn’t approach people at first, but after watching me do it a few times her confidence grew and she really got good at it! Every weekend she wanted to go sell tickets; it was amazing! I was so pleased to see her coming out of her shell and feeling good about helping the school. What a great opportunity for us both!” It was a clean sweep in the lower school with all the top sellers coming
from grade 2. Congratulations to second place seller Callie Mayer (1,620 tickets sold) and third place seller Aaditya Gulati (1,520 tickets sold). Great job! Lower school students received their trophies and prize money at the recent Homecoming assembly. In the middle school a new record was set as top ticket seller Shannon Richardson (1,391 tickets sold) and number two seller Darius Yohannan (520 tickets sold) led grade 8 to an unprecedented three-peat! The Class of 2016 has earned the trophy all three years of middle school, which has never happened before. Coincidentally, Richardson and Yohannan are in the same “house” as well, so this year Scientia took the top honors. Richardson has been a powerhouse seller all three years of middle school, and her enthusiastic attitude and hard work has set a high standard for her classmates to match in the future. Congratulations to our top sellers as well as to all our families and friends who sold and bought tickets this year!
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Students GRAND PRIZE WINNERS! First Prize: $10,000 Thu Ka Sold by Kendall Ka, grade 7 Second Prize: Las Vegas Trip Susan Husher Sold by Max Maynard, grade 12 Third Prize: iPad 2 Rob Knudsen Sold by Nancy Tomlitz Fourth Prize: Cruiser Bike Annie Du Sold by Clarissa Wang, grade 5 Fifth Prize: Xbox 360 w/Kinnect 250GB Veronica Rodriguez Sold by Sofia Fernandez, grade 3
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The Ultimate Paintball Challenge was one such item, offered by lower school teacher Tobias Wade and friends. On a chilly day in November, the winning bidders met their teachers at Santa Clara Paintball on Monterey Road for a half-day of ultimate paintball fun and pizza. Teacher packages are designed to connect our students and faculty in activities outside the classroom, and this paintball day could become the poster child for that concept. “I think we had more fun than the kids,” said grade 5 teacher Jared Ramsey, “and they had a blast!” Middle school teacher Keith Hirota echoed the sentiment: “It was so much fun and the kids were awesome!’
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See more photos at News & Photos in the parent portal and check out the “Hats Off Harker” picnic video on YouTube.
by Kyle
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Wade reported that the group had such a good time that they all decided to do it again in the spring. “It’s for sure going to be a yearly tradition,” said Wade. Eric Kallbrier, BEST staff member and summer program director, suggested they do it the same weekend each year and call it Paints-giving, or the annual Turkey Shoot. Either way, the goal was met; kids and teachers stretched their relationships outside the classroom, bonding in a way that can’t happen on campus, all while raising money for the school. That’s a win-win in our book! Big thanks to Wade, Ramsey, Hirota, Kallbrier and Colin Goodwin for giving up a Saturday morning to support the school – and to the 27 families who sent their kids on this ultimate paintball adventure!
A record number of Harker alumni gathered on picnic Sunday to renew old friendships, celebrate their time at Harker, and just have fun!
Cavallaro
The “Go Mad Hattery” at this year’s picnic was the place to be to bid on fabulous and zany auction items and teacher packages. Teacher packages are traditionally the biggest draw and this year was no exception. Our generous faculty and staff offered a multitude of adventures and experiences for students of all ages.
Nothing Old Hat about our Alumni!
Many arrived early to check in and visit, enjoy our student show, try out the many games and attractions, and simply marvel at how much the Family & Alumni Picnic has grown over the years.
Photos by Kyle
FUN-RAISING at its Best!
Along with their families, they gathered at noon in our shady grove and lunched on a variety of treats, including the picnic’s legendary sausage sandwiches, which have been a Harker tradition since the 1980s. Voicing his stamp of approval was Tony Morici, a true original Sausage King of Harker, and his ever-talented wife, Becky Morici, a picnic and auction superstar in her own right. The food was delicious, thanks to the grilling efforts of Harker alumnus Jeremy Pomer ’91. The highlight of the gathering was a special presentation by the Alumni Association honoring our beloved Diana Nichols, former head of school and current chair of the board of trustees. Nichols was presented with a commemorative book, “Twenty Years of Art at The Harker School,” compiled by Margaret Peterson, former art teacher and long-time department chair. Nichols expressed her gratitude and appreciation and extended a special welcome to the children of our alumni. The legacy continues!
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PICNIC SPONSORS ARE THE TOPS! We would like to extend a special thank you to our loyal picnic sponsors, who continue to support our favorite family event year after year. The generosity of our Harker families, friends and alumni is so greatly appreciated. From the Gurleroglu family sponsoring our picnic T-shirts to Round Table Pizza offering support since 1985, we thank you so much for enabling us to create a fantastic day of fun with “tip top” activities for all ages! STATELY STETSONS Ken Azebu / Communicart Graphics & Printing Curriki.org Gary and Pooja Gauba The Gurleroglu Family / MG Insurance Ram and Indira Reddy Sandeep and Priya Vij The Wardenburg Family / Merrill Lynch FANCY FEDORAS The Chao Family Event Décor The Stapleton Family DASHING DERBIES The Hardaway Martin Family Aditya and Shalini Jain The Sabeh Family / Executive Homes Realty Fermi and Aida Wang
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BEAUTIFUL BONNETS Cupertino Bakery Chiwen Lu and Leagong Chen Shahram S. Gholami, M.D.
Luping Zhu and Haishan Gong Lihan Cai and Zhuang Huang Interior Plant Design The Nikoloff Family The Reidel Family Round Table Pizza Santa Teresa Dental Center Mei and Carl Liu The A. Thomas Family Catherine Wong and Family TEENIE BEANIES Cybil and Mike Armstrong Balloonatics Friends of Harker The Ma Family Jit and Illa Patel TT and Lakshmi Ramgopal Zulfikar and Suma Ramzan Chester Rivera Round Table Pizza Benjamin and Joanna Wang MANY THANKS!
GlobalEducation By Zach Jones
Harker Music Teacher Finds Japanese Students a Joy to Work With
“We were able to communicate with music and it provided a way for us to have a great collaborative experience.” –Dave Hart, middle school music teacher
He also taught instrumental music in various capacities, giving individual lessons to brass students and holding group lessons with the middle school and high school wind ensembles and orchestra. “The instrumental program at Tamagawa is something you have to see to believe,” Hart said. “Brass students arrive at school 45 minutes early each morning to practice individually and the groups all perform at a very high level. It was a joy working with them!” Hart was very impressed with the value placed on music education at Tamagawa. “I was struck by how much Tamagawa valued musicianship and singing for all students,” he
said. “Not only did this seem like an important area of music they wanted their students to focus on, they valued it as an aspect of who they were as students and teachers at Tamagawa.” For instance, when Hart first visited Tamagawa’s middle school, he was treated to the students singing the school song in four-part harmony at the school meeting. After he was introduced, another song was sung to welcome him to the school. “It was quite moving,” he said. Before leaving, he was treated to another performance of the school song, which “brought me to tears.” Hart noticed that students at Tamagawa and Harker enjoy many of the same interests in music. “The orchestra was even performing the same piece that my orchestra performed last year. It was an arrangement of the music from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ Both of our orchestras just love the music from that movie,” he said. He also said that
students at both schools have strong desires to learn music and perform in groups outside school. Tamagawa’s faculty and staff were very friendly and helpful, and though the language barrier sometimes made communication difficult, “we were able to communicate with music and it provided a way for us to have a great
Photos provided by Dave Hart
In October, middle school music teacher Dave Hart spent 17 days in Japan as this year’s exchange teacher to Tamagawa Gakuen in Tokyo. Hart spent much of his time teaching general music, which is a requirement at Tamagawa. “I taught at least one class for each grade, 5-12, and then taught additional classes to the seventh and eighth graders,” he said. “The classes I taught focused on teaching a tune and using that tune to help lead toward creative improvisation both individually and as a group.”
collaborative experience,” Hart said. He and other music teachers worked on different ways to sing Handel’s “Messiah,” and also teamed up to improve a jazz section of an original piece that was being performed by the high school’s wind ensemble. The trip wasn’t all work, however. Hart visited Kyoto, seeing the many temples and museums in Japan’s former capital. “They also took me to Tokyo to see the Tokyo Tower, the zoo and a famous temple,” Hart recalled. A highlight was Hart’s visit to the Yamaha Music Store in Ginza. “This is not your typical music store. It has about eight stories and each floor has specific musical instruments,” he said. While there, he tried some new trumpets at a performance hall located on the building’s top floor. “I will never forget playing in that hall!” Hart exclaimed. “It was a blast!”
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GlobalEducation
Teacher Visits from China for Yearly Exchange “[Harker students] know a lot about China and Chinese, which made me so happy and excited.” –Katie Qiqing, Shanghai World
Foreign Language Middle School
Shanghai’s World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS) teacher Katie Qiqing visited Harker in late September and early October as this year’s exchange teacher from China. During the first week of her stay, Qiqing, who teaches grade 7 English at WFLMS, observed several classes, including Karina Momary’s middle school debate class, an upper school class on Shakespeare’s comedies taught by Marc Hufnagl and grade 4 advanced core English with Nancy Tomlitz. Qiqing noted that students at Harker are encouraged to use their creativity and “to ask different kinds of questions related to the topic. And, moreover, their curiosity is greatly appreciated.”
As is customary for exchange teachers, Qiqing also taught several classes during her stay. At the upper school, she taught four different levels of Mandarin, while at the middle school she taught Mandarin, Chinese culture, Chinese school life and the history of Shanghai. At the lower school, she taught a class on Chinese culture. During the first weekend in October, Qiqing visited the famous Monterey Bay Aquarium and went sightseeing around San Francisco.
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Photo provided by Jennifer Walrod
“The teachers here are quite nice and hospitable,” she said. “To tell the truth, they are much busier than I thought.” She added that Harker’s students are “well-behaved,” and that some students demonstrated exceptional skill with the Chinese language. “They know a lot about China and Chinese, which made me so happy and excited,” she concluded.
GlobalEducation Tamagawa Students Meet Harker Buddies, Observe Classes in Annual Visit
The following day, the Tamagawa buddies observed classes and went on a scavenger hunt with their Harker friends. In the evening, the students all enjoyed a special dinner at Nichols Hall at the upper school campus, where they saw a dance performance and
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Photos by Kyle Cavallaro
The anticipated meeting between several grade 6 students and their buddies from Tokyo’s Tamagawa Gakuen took place on Oct. 18, when Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s global education director, picked up the Tamagawa students from the San Francisco airport and took them to Half Moon Bay. There, they enjoyed lunch on the beach with their Harker buddies, whom they met in person for the first time.
watched a show by well-known Bay Area magician Jay Alexander. Other activities for the rest of the week included a trip to Crissy Field in San Francisco, a visit to the lower school for an origami project and a Halloween art project during a special assembly. After spending the weekend with their Harker buddies, the Tamagawa students took a separate bus to Yosemite, where they met again later that week for one last time before the Harker students head to Japan in the spring.
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Challenge
Success
Program By William Cracraft
Photo by Mark Tantrum
T
he Harker School has a long history of promoting the morals and character of its students, encouraging discovery of unique talents and passions and giving students opportunities to figure out who they are, and what they love. Recently, Harker added another dimension to its commitment to the whole student when the school was accepted as a Challenge Success partner.
The Challenge Success team will attend the spring conference at Stanford to assess progress at that point and plan for the future to achieve Harker’s goals to best help students help themselves. If you would like more information, you can visit www. challengesuccess.org. You can also read more about the Harker team in Harker News Online; search on “Challenge Success.” Team members are Gargano; Cindy Ellis, middle school head; Melinda Gonzales, academic counselor; Rebecca Williams, middle school English teacher; Mala Raghavan, upper school chemistry teacher; Helena Jerney, parent (Cristina, grade 11 and John Nicolas, grade 8); Jenny Chen, grade 11 student; Photo by Mark Tantrum and Darian Edvalson, grade 10 student. Photo by Devin Nguyen, grade 12
“Partnering with Challenge Success is a good match for Harker. Their mission is to improve student well-being and engagement with learning, so the work we are doing at Challenge Success is a reflection of our philosophy, in many ways,” added Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for student affairs. As a first step, Harker sent a team of administrators, faculty, parents and students to a weekend conference in early October. They attended workshops and met with Harker’s Challenge Success coach, Erika Fur. “Erika is really a facilitator and helped us identify and clearly articulate our own goal,” said Gargano. “In general, our goal is to promote educational excellence and intellectual curiosity while honoring who our students are and their needs at every stage of development. We will meet with Erika in January so we can flesh out the goal and discuss potential action items. Later, we will discuss any steps we need to take to ensure we meet our goal.” 24
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Science photo by Ashley Batz; laptop photo by Mark Tantrum
Sponsored by Stanford University’s School of Education, Challenge Success “challenges the conventional, high pressure and narrow path to success and offers practical alternatives to pursue a broader definition of success,” said Butch Keller, upper school head.
Photo by Mark Tantrum
By Zach Jones
SpeakerSeries
Harker Speaker Series Brings to Campus
Outer Space T “You have standards to set your own in your wo standards rk. The that you s et are rea for you an lly d b a s e d on what can do and you wh –Dr. Gregory aCht you want to do.” amitoff, as tronaut
Photos by Kyle Cavallaro
he Harker Speaker Series has had a big-picture focus so far – the biggest, in fact. With two speakers talking about outer space, Harker students have had a chance to see the universe of opportunities out there.
On Sept. 26, decorated astronaut Dr. Gregory Chamitoff kicked off the 2011-12 season of the series. His appearance was spurred by his visit to his alma mater, Blackford High School, now the site of Harker’s middle school campus. He reminisced about the pranks he and his friends would organize, including one where they built a flying saucer. For this project, Chamitoff wrote to NASA to ask how to make it fly. To his delight, a NASA engineer wrote back. “I still have this letter from a long time ago,” he said. This inspired him to pursue his dream of being an astronaut. Chamitoff’s most recent mission was as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle “Endeavour” on its final voyage earlier this year. In 2008, he spent six months aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as a flight engineer and science officer. “You have to set your own standards in your work,” Chamitoff said of fulfilling your dreams. “The standards that you set are really for you and based on what you can do and what you want to do,” he said.
Watch these presentations on Youtube! Search on “Harker Speaker Series Chamitoff/Tarter.” Also, check the Harker website for upcoming events in the Harker Speaker Series.
Right on the heels of Chamitoff’s appearance, Harker hosted another space-themed talk by Dr. Jill Tarter, director of research at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Mountain View. Tarter’s research formed the basis for Jodie Foster’s character in the popular science fiction film “Contact.” She jumped right into her presentation, titled “Citizen Science and the Search for E.T.” She explained that she and her team use radio telescopes to search for evidence of extraterrestrial (ET) intelligence. Her current project is being the self-described “chief cheerleader” of setiQuest, an effort to engage the open community in SETI’s mission. “At my ripe old age, I’m trying to learn how to do my business in a different way,” she said. “Not all smart people who are interested and passionate about SETI actually work for the SETI Institute, and they can help us to improve the search.” Tarter then moved on to the greater topic of SETI research. “There are answers to questions about what is, what ought to be, who are we, why are we, and of course, who else might be out there,” she began. “Along that journey, we’ve discovered that our universe is vast, that our sun is one of 400 billion stars in the Milky Way Galaxy.” SETI research hasn’t set out to prove the assumed existence of sentient extraterrestrial life. “We just note the probability, given the size and the uniformity of the universe we find ourselves in,” she said. Tarter summarized how the SETI Institute has been trying to build a worldwide community to assist in its research. Their primary audience is college students. One way they have engaged this audience is to publish their code as open source so that it can be improved. To involve the community beyond universities, the SETI Institute is working on a “citizen science” application that hopefully will enable people to find what SETI researchers may have missed by “allowing humans to do what they do best, which is pattern recognition,” Tarter said. H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY
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Harkerhistory
Looking Back at 119 Years of Harker History
Shah Hall opens in September for grades 7-8. The building includes nine classrooms and three science labs.
Howard and Diana Nichols retire at the end of the academic year in June and Christopher Nikoloff, the associate head, is appointed as head of school.
n Dobbins Hall opens in September on the Saratoga campus. The building includes 12 classrooms and two science labs.
To learn more about Harker history visit online at
www.harker.org/history 26
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The new upper school library opens in August. The 3,803-squarefoot facility features an eBeam-equipped classroom, expanded study areas and greater wireless connectivity.
n Saratoga’s new swimming complex, the Singh Aquatic Center, opens in January. n Nichols Hall, Harker’s LEED certified, 52,000-square-foot science and technology building, opens on the Saratoga campus in August. n Former Harker president Howard Nichols dies in December, aged 68.
2011
2010
2007
n Inaugural upper school graduation.
Davis Field, the first of two major athletic facilities to be completed, opens at the Saratoga campus in September.
2008
n Headmaster Howard Nichols is named president of The Harker School and principal Diana Nichols is appointed as head of school.
n The boarding program closes at the end of the academic year. The Harker Academy dorms were home to our boarding students for 30 years. With the opening of the upper school, the building was partially remodeled and named Manzanita Hall, where students now gather to dine.
2005
n Nearly 100 years after Frank Cramer opened Manzanita Hall, Harker Academy is renamed The Harker School.
2002
1979
n The dedication of the Donald L. Nichols Sports Complex, with swimming, pool, tennis courts and athletic field, is held in May.
1998
1959
1972
Howard Nichols, son of Major Donald L. Nichols and a 1956 graduate of PAMA, joins PAMA’s staff as assistant commandant, P.E. teacher, athletic director and junior high school coach.
n The optional military program is phased out and extracurricular offerings are greatly expanded. Grade 9 is dropped and Harker Academy becomes a K-8 school.
The Bucknall campus is purchased in January and opens in September with kindergarten through grade 3. The new Harker upper school opens on the Saratoga campus and admits the first grade 9 students. Adding one class per year, subsequent years brought grades 10, 11 and 12 to the upper school.
2000
Alice Williams, a teacher at the school, is appointed principal of the Harker Day School, as it is reorganized to be a coeducational day school. Williams is influential in setting the philosophy and direction of the school in keeping with Sara Harker’s vision. Williams continues as principal when PAMA and Harker Day School merge and move to the new campus in San Jose.
n Principal Alice Williams retires after 29 years of service.
1993
Catherine Harker dies suddenly, leaving the school’s management to her sister, Sara Harker.
Mother Butler High School property in San Jose, now the upper school Saratoga campus. The new property is purchased with a significant personal investment from the Nichols family, and their commitment ensures the future of Harker Academy.
Harker begins its 119th academic year.
n Harker Grade 8 students take the first trip to Yosemite Institute.
1976
n In the second year, the school’s name was changed to the Harker-Hughes School when Elizabeth Hughes came in as principal. Hughes stayed only one year.
Major Donald L. Nichols, a 1926 graduate of Palo Alto Military Academy, purchases the school and takes over as superintendent when Col. Richard Kelly retires after 30 years of leading the school. Nichols brings along Lawrence Torcellini from San Rafael Military Academy as commandant of cadets.
Major Donald L. Nichols purchases Harker Day School, located across the street from PAMA. He is simultaneously superintendent at PAMA and president of Harker Day School.
1965
Miss Harker’s School relocates to a 6.25-acre pasture at Harriet and Greenwood avenues in Palo Alto. The same year, Catherine’s sister, Sara Harker, joins the school as a silent business partner. Sara later becomes active in the school’s management.
1950
n Nellie Hanson spends 32 years operating the school’s summer camp, Camp El Dorado, at Alpine Lake in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California.
PAMA and Harker Day School merge and become Harker Academy. The new school moves to the
1955
n In September 1902, Catherine Harker, also encouraged by David Starr Jordon, opens The Thoburn School, a boarding school for young ladies. The preparatory school for girls is located at Kingsley and Bryant streets in Palo Alto. Initially a high school, The Thoburn School enrolls 80 students in its first year and graduates seven.
n Colonel Richard P. Kelly, Dr. Greenville C. Emery, Katherine Monroe and Nellie P. Hansen purchase Manzanita Hall and launch the Palo Alto Military Academy (PAMA). At PAMA, in the second academic year, the high school is eliminated and grades 1-8 are taught. High school won’t return to either school until 1998.
1938
honor of Catherine Harker, whose scholarly achievements begin a tradition of academic excellence. Initially a high school, a lower school for girls age 5-14 is added between 1903 and 1921. The high school program is eliminated in the 1950s.
1907
1904
Manzanita Hall, founded by Frank Cramer at the urging of Stanford University’s first president, David Starr Jordan, is established in a private home at Waverly Street and University Avenue in Palo Alto.
1902
1893
The Harker-Hughes School comes to be known simply as Miss Harker’s School in
1919
By Terry Sweeney Walsh
THE HARKER FAMILY & ALUMNI PICNIC
Harker Campus Seminars, Conferences, Speakers and Concerts Draw Thousands By Steven M. Boyle ’06 and William Cracraft
H
arker, like most schools, hosts visitors at athletic events, student-run events like Junior States of America, performances of all types and debate and math invitationals. But as the school has matured, bringing people to the campus has taken on a new dimension. A dozen years after the upper school came into being, Harker now hosts a myriad of events each year in addition to its student events, which bring to its Silicon Valley campuses visitors not only drawn from Harker families, Photo by Ashley Ba but local and global intellectuals and art-seekers. The tz growth in visitors has been bolstered by a thriving academic environment across three campuses and the addition of the auditorium in Nichols Hall, which provides an acoustically appropriate space for small gatherings. As the upper school found its groove, students began going off campus, representing Harker around the country, and, eventually, the globe. Administrators knew the value of bringing the world to Harker, too, and the doors were open to a variety of visitors from outside the Harker community of students, alumni, parents and relatives. The Harker Invitational Debate Tournament, the first Harker-sponsored event to draw upper school students from other schools, started in 1999 and continues to this day. By its fifth year, the event drew teams from 20 schools from California, Oregon and Nevada. Another early event is the middle school’s Harker Math Invitational, which started in 2001.
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Photo by Kyle Cavallaro
Photo by Ashley Batz
The upper school performing arts events have always drawn crowds; in the fall of 2001, as the student body grew in size and maturity,
the upper school play, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” drew an estimated 1,000 audience members, and the following May more than 1,300 attended “Oklahoma!” Though audiences were no doubt mostly Harker community members, the shows have always been open to the public, and there were plenty of seats for friends, neighbors, and Shakespeare and musical aficionados. Through the early 2000s, plays, concerts and dance productions involved more students, bringing more visitors to the campuses. Athletic events also grew in size and number as the upper school athletic program began to flower, and the debate tourney, now renamed the Howard and Diana Nichols Invitational Debate Tournament, and math invitational continued to draw middle school participants. In 2004, events took on a new dimension and Harker began to bring people to campus to strengthen the school’s bonds with the greater community, inform parents and expose students to ever more sophisticated events. To that end, Harker joined Common Ground, a coalition of Bay Area schools working together to provide parent education to their communities. As a member school, Harker began hosting speakers and, for the first time, parents from other schools began coming to campus regularly, other than for athletic events. In 2006, a Common Ground speaker at Harker drew 231 parents; 153 were from other schools, a full two-thirds of the audience. In 2005, a wider variety of visitors started coming to Harker. The Junior State of America (JSA) club hosted a “Pizza and Politics” event to watch a presidential debate and more than 80
students and faculty, including JSA students from Independence High, San Jose High Academy and Monte Vista, attended and participated in the debate. Capping off 2005, audiences were treated to Harker’s new performing arts venue in the middle school’s “cafetorium,” renamed the Blackford Theater by the performing arts department. The refurbished space is the primary performance venue for the school, with tons of parking, easy access through gates to the venue and a raised sound and light booth. Each year thousands attend events at the space, and the temporary digs have served a valuable function in keeping the performing arts department housed while funds are raised for the much-needed new performing arts center on the Saratoga campus.
Photo by Ky
le Cava
In April 2006, a bright star, the Harker Research Symposium, appeared in the constellation of visitor-friendly events. Organized by Anita Chetty, science department chair, and the WiSTEM student organization (Women in Science Technology, Electronics and Mathematics), the symposium features talks llaro
le Cavallaro
Photo by Ky Photo by
Ashley B
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by Siemens/Intel competitors and finalists; video conferences with Harker alumni at research labs across the United States; and workshops on technical writing, research internships and research competitions. The event has grown year by year and Chetty has been extremely successful in drawing progressively more highprofile speakers, who in turn draw avid adult listeners to the event. The 2011 symposium, themed “A Call to Innovation,” drew 500 visitors, a 50 percent increase over 2010, and there were standingroom only audiences for world class keynote speakers Scott McNealy, co-founder and former CEO and chairman of the board of Sun Microsystems (and a Harker parent), and Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering at Facebook. While science marched on, performing arts added new shows open to the public. The first all-jazz concert was held early in 2007 and in 2010 groups from all three campuses were participating. Upper school plays drew packed houses for their
Photo by John Ho
single-weekend performance runs and two musicals were selected to travel to the prestigious Festival Fringe in Scotland in the summers of 2007 and 2011. In May 2007, ground was broken for a new science and technology building, Nichols Hall, including an auditorium with 192 stepped seats, a perfect venue for medium-sized audiences for lectures, small concerts and meetings. At the other end of the campus, at the start of the 2007-08 school year, Davis Field opened. This emerald of a football field has it all, from a top notch artificial surface to ensure year-round games, to lights and seating for more than 500 spectators. Over this past summer seating was augmented,
The growth in visitors has been bolstered by a thriving academic environment across three campuses and the addition of the auditorium in Nichols Hall ...
CAMPUS EVENTS DRAW THOUSANDS
SETI’s Center for SETI Research in Mountain View.
Photo by
trum
Mark Tan
bringing the total capacity to 780. Besides spectators, last year Davis Field shook to the tramp of the 250-person UCLA Bruin Marching Band, which has four former members on faculty at Harker. The storied band borrowed Davis Field for practice before a game with University of California, Berkeley, to the delight of students and faculty. A month after Davis Field opened, the adjacent, spacious Singh Aquatic Center was christened, providing a great competitive venue with bleachers for swimming and water polo competitions. To round out the athletic facilities, a new gym is planned on the same schedule as the performing arts center. In March of 2008, Harker added a new dimension to its activities with the Harker Speaker Series (HSS), intended to bring leaders and visionaries from a wide variety of fields to share their expertise or unique experiences with both Harker and the greater community. Using the Nichols Hall auditorium, the gymnasium, or both, Harker has brought in nearly a dozen speakers of national acclaim. “The addition of Nichols Hall – and the auditorium – provided the school with the perfect space to share even more with the K-12 community and the general public,” said Pam Dickinson, director of the Office of Communication. “We’ve always believed in fostering an inspiring and motivating community, and the expanded space gave us new opportunities to do that.” From the start, HSS benefited from a serendipitous connection. “John Jerney helped us launch the HSS, and it was his brainchild,” said Dickinson. Jerney, a writer and Harker parent (Cristina, grade 11; John Nicolas, grade 8), brought the first speaker, Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in Mountain View, to Harker for the series, and followed up with many other connections. HSS speakers in 2011 include decorated “Endeavour” astronaut Dr. Gregory Chamitoff, who spoke on achieving his lifelong dream of going into space, and Dr. Jill Tarter, director of 32
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In January 2011, ragtime pianist Bob Milne, hired by the Library of Congress to create reference recordings of famous ragtime works, came to speak and perform as part of the HSS. His visit was the seed for the Harker Concert Series (HCS), which officially started two months later with a concert by the MarcOlivia Duo, two well-traveled, Fulbright-winning violinists who played stirring European folk songs. On December 2 of this year, Opera San Jose performed, and the spring semester 2012 will see visits from the Gerald Clayton Trio, pianist Adam Golka and Afiara String Quartet, all open to the public.
Photo by
Ashley B
a
Harker now hosts a myriad of events each year in addition to its student events, which bring to its Silicon Valley campuses visitors not only drawn from Harker families, but local and global intellectuals and art-seekers.
tz Two other important programs bring educators from around the Bay Area and beyond to Harker. Each year in late winter, Harker hosts the Silicon Valley Computer-Using Educators conference on the upper school campus. More than 200 teachers and administrators from all over Silicon Valley attended the conference in February 2010. In addition, each summer for the last five years, Harker’s technology department hosts teachers from around the Bay Area at the Harker Teacher Institute to hear speakers and attend workshops on classroom technology and other topics.
Photo by John Ho
CAMPUS EVENTS DRAW THOUSANDS
Harker librarians brought a stack of colleagues to Harker when they hosted a meeting of the Bay Area Independent School Librarians (BAISL) in 2010 on the Blackford campus. About 80 librarians, from Marin to Monterey, met in, of course, the library and in the multipurpose room. Another unique event brought dozens of young Broadway hopefuls to Harker when the Broadway revival of “Annie” held its West Coast auditions at Blackford. For the full “Annie” story see page 36. This year brought another first – a TEDx conference at Harker. This was the
first student-organized and promoted conference and it was a resounding success, with speakers of world class caliber. For the full TEDx story, see page 6. The launching of the Harker Speaker Series and the Harker Concert Series, combined with a focused performing arts program, events like the Harker Debate Invitational, the Harker Research Symposium and the Photo by Harker Math Invitational, have Allison K iang, gra de 9, W transformed Harker into a nexus for important inged Po st ideas, events and gatherings, drawing more visitors and community members in 2010-11 than ever before. The benefit is that through these events, Harker families meet people who write, sing, play, travel in space, go to war zones, help the poor, develop new industries and entertain – truly illustrating Harker’s mission to raise global citizens and engage our local community. Full reports on each of our events can be found at Harker News Online. Visit the News & Events tab at www.harker.org for upcoming Harker Speaker Series and Harker Concert Series events.
ark Tantrum
Photo by M
Photo by Mark Tantrum
In 2004, events took on a new dimension and Harker began to bring people to campus to strengthen the school’s bonds with the greater community, inform parents and expose students to ever more sophisticated events.
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PerformingArts Fall Plays and Tree Lighting Performances Showcase Singing, Acting and Dancing Talents Please go to Harker News Online (news.harker.org) and search on the show name for full versions of these reviews!
The middle school fall production of David Mamet’s “Revenge of the Space Pandas, or Binky Rudich and the Two-Speed Clock,” the first children’s play by the Pulitzer Prizewinning playwright, drew big audiences on Nov. 10 and 11. Though written for younger audiences, the play nevertheless contains Mamet’s trademark quick-witted dialogue, making it an ideal choice for adults as well as children. Directed by middle school performing arts teacher Monica Colletti, this bizarre sci-fi yarn related the story of 12-year-old Binky Rudich (Akhil Arun, grade 6), a boy scientist from Waukegan, Ill., who, while trying to build a clock that can slow down time, inadvertently sends himself
By Zach Jones
and his talking sheep, Bob (Maxwell Woehrmann, grade 6), to the planet of Crestview of the Goolagong System. There, they must face off against an intergalactic dictator played by Chandler Nelson, grade 8, who drops giant pumpkins on the heads of disobedient subjects and wants nothing more than to use Bob’s wool to make a sweater.
prop, and students in technical director Danny Dunn’s middle school tech workshop constructed the deadly pumpkin. Music teacher Paul Woodruff even composed a special “Goolagong Anthem” for the play.
Middle school technical theater teacher Paul Vallerga created a colorful set design befitting a lighthearted story. His grade 7-8 technical theater class built the large guillotine
At Santana Row, It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Harker With the holiday season gearing up, Harker was again invited to perform at the Santana Row tree lighting. They joined other school choirs and professional pop singers for the lighting of the tree, which this year moved from the plaza in front of Maggiano’s to the center of the Row next to the chess board. Photos by Kyle Cavallaro
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Harker students from all three campuses hit the stage at 5:30 p.m., performing seven numbers for the crowd. Downbeat, the upper school show choir directed by Laura Lang-Ree and Catherine Snider, kicked things off with a performance of “The Joint is Jumpin’.” They also performed “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” and “I’ve Got the Music in Me.” High Voltage, the middle school boys dance ensemble directed by Karl Kuehn, took the second number in the show, performing to “Smooth Criminal.” Dance Fusion, a dance ensemble with students from grades 4-6 directed by Gail Palmer, followed, and chose “Working Day and Night for Christmas”
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By Sara Kendall
as their number. The upper school JV Dance Troupe, directed by Amalia de la Rosa, was also there, and performed “Party Rockin’ in the House Tonight for Santa.” Finally, Showstoppers, the middle school girls dance ensemble directed by Rachelle Ellis, rounded out the holiday spirit with the second-to-last song of the night, a lively rendition of “Jingle Bells.” “All our groups introduced themselves as from The Harker School, and very sweetly told what their performance group was about – nice touch,” said Lang-Ree. She also mentioned that the location and staging was well done, allowing the enormous crowd plenty of room to watch the show. Overall, she said, it was a “huge hit.”
Photo by Mariah Bush, ‘06
“Space Pandas” a Wacky, Witty Sci-Fi Treat
PerformingArts “You Can’t Take it With You” Provides Comedy With Message
By Sara Kendall
In late October, the Harker Conservatory’s fall play, “You Can’t Take it With You,” showcased from a Thursday to a Saturday in the Blackford Theater, attracting full-house crowds and generating lots of laughs. “You Can’t Take it With You,” by George Kaufman and Moss Hart, was originally performed in 1936, and centers around the eccentric Sycamore family – all of whom have hobbies they love (though are often terrible at), and who live by the philosophy, “Don’t do anything you aren’t going to enjoy doing.” In the play, Alice Sycamore (Cecilia LangRee, grade 11), the most “normal” member of the family, gets engaged to the equally normal Tony Kirby (Kovid Puria, grade 12), vice-president of Kirby and Co. When Tony’s parents come over to meet the family, chaos and hilarity ensue. The cast hit the stage on opening night with tons of energy. Between Mr. Sycamore (Govi Dasu, grade 12) and Mr. De Pinna (Tristan Killeen, grade 12) blowing up fireworks in the basement, Alice’s sister Essie (Lydia Werthen, grade 11), dancing across the room, Grandma (Tina Crnko, grade 12) collected and grounded in the center of the room, and the entire family’s predictable clash with the Kirbys, there was never a dull, stale or boring moment. The cast balanced the play’s laugh-out-loud humor with the underlying message to hold onto the things that truly matter to produce a lively performance with a resonating message.
the play – “It’s only a handful of the lucky ones who can look back [at life] and say they even came close [to happiness].” That idea perhaps best implies the resonating message at the heart of this comedy: be one of the lucky ones.
Photos by Kyle Cavallaro
The play’s message of letting go of the things you can’t take with you resonated with audience and cast alike. Crnko believes that, “In an age when we’re each wrapped up in our own ambitions, overrun by all that needs to be accomplished, and blinded by successes and failures, this show reveals what still remains deeply human about each of us: the need to feel connected.” She quoted a line from H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY
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Photos by William Cracraft
“Annie” Broadway Casting Call at Harker; Students Learn About Theater Careers By William Cracraft
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his October, a unique combination of events conspired to give performing arts students a look at a hitherto unexplored area of their craft: the Broadway casting call. It started when Laura Lang-Ree, K-12 performing arts department chair, was contacted by Lisa Schwebke ’04 about hosting a talent search she was associated with. Casting for a Broadway revival of “Annie” is underway and the West Coast casting call for the lead role and her orphan buddies needed a place to audition hopefuls. Schwebke, a musical theater graduate of the Harker Conservatory certificate program, had interned and apprenticed at casting agency Telsey + Co., which was holding the casting call, and she now works as a talent agent with the Gersh Agency, who would love to place some of their talent in the show. Lang-Ree and the Telsey representative worked out the details and the deal was done. The payoff was that Harker Conservatory certificate candidates and other performing arts students had an intense weekend in late October, attending a college casting workshop Friday afternoon, a workshop
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on casting in general that evening, and putting the new information to use at the casting call held at Blackford on Sunday. Friday Afternoon Schwebke was up to bat first. She hosted the Friday afternoon discussion in Nichols Hall with students in Cantilena, an upper school choral group, and the Advanced Scene Study, Choreography and Study of Dance classes. Schwebke, perched on the edge of the stage, spoke about the satisfaction in her non-acting job and how she actually likes the casting side better than performing. A Manhattan resident who attended New York University’s Steinhardt School, she noted the training she received while getting her Conservatory certificate has helped her virtually every day of her career. “The discipline and foundation in the arts I learned [at Harker] comes into play every single day of my life,” she said. “I don’t think I would have gotten that training anywhere else.”
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Her best advice for current Conservatory candidates is to “be open to all the possibilities. I really didn’t understand that there were options other than to be an actor, and I’m having so much more fun doing what I am doing now than I ever did when I was acting. I loved [acting], but to help other actors and to use different parts of my brain that I maybe wasn’t using on that track is such a treat.” Friday Evening That same evening, Schwebke and Telsey casting director Rachel Hoffman teamed up for a Conservatory-sponsored workshop, “How Broadway Casting is Done.” They discussed the difference between a talent agent and a casting director, gave tips to the students about following different courses in college, and answered the students’ various questions about “the biz.” Twenty-five Conservatory candidates attended the workshop. “It was great,” said Lang-Ree of the audition workshop. “It was a unique look at the business of casting;
not only could my students gain information about casting and understand it in a whole different way, but they got to show their stuff as well. I had a couple of students prepare their work to show it to Rachel for feedback. That was very informative not only for the students who were brave enough to do that but for the students watching. You learn so much by observation in the arts,” she said. Sunday Then, Sunday, 30 Conservatory candidates in two shifts helped manage the flow of tiny hopefuls to and from the audition rooms, as Hoffman and two of her New York colleagues finished up a yearlong search for the next cast of “Annie,” being revived on Broadway next year.
Those trying out for parts began arriving at 8:30 a.m., settled at picnic tables and passed the time until called. “The amphitheater is the holding room,” said Alice Tsui, grade 11 and a theater certificate candidate. Once called in, hopefuls “go in one by one and sing to them. It is very exciting,” she added. Interns first led those auditioning in groups of eight to the initial try-out room, helping build energy and confidence by having them skip or weave between the poles along the walkway. While waiting outside the auditioning rooms, interns read parts to cue those auditioning, high-fived those exiting and gave advice on speaking with emphasis. “I thought it would be a really good experience,” said Tsui, “especially because it was a real Broadway audition. I thought it would be a great chance to see what goes on beyond the walls of high school and it has been fascinating.” “Auditions went great,” said Hoffman. “Having the casting call at Harker has been a winwin all around. Harker has been a beautiful facility. The interns have been fantastic. I think they’ve had fun and they have been great. “I love that high school kids are the interns because little girls that age always look up to older girls, so they have been fantastic about being
–Rachel Hoffman, casting director, Telsey + Co. encouraging; a big part of this is to encourage self-esteem in these girls. The interns have been fantastic at that throughout the day!” said Hoffman.
Photos by William Cracraft
Gathering in the Blackford campus’ outdoor eating area, the morning shift of 15 interns was instructed on how to help those auditioning to fill out the proper releases, where the prospective Annies and orphans would go first, and where to take them when they moved to the second round or were through for the day.
“Auditions went great. Having the casting call at Harker has been a win-win all around. Harker has been a beautiful facility. The interns have been fantastic. I think they’ve had fun and they have been great.”
Lang-Ree was on cloud nine with all the outside expertise flowing to Conservatory candidates. “It has been an incredible opportunity to have that kind of one-onone contact with live theater on Broadway,” she said. “It has allowed students to see the business from a very personal point of view.” Between the Friday afternoon session, the Friday evening session and Sunday’s casting call effort, “interns have had an opportunity to see the business from multiple sides, and that is something that is really important to the Conservatory teachers,” Lang-Ree said. “While we all understand that passion and joy of performing and we all still perform ourselves, there is something about knowing that there is more to being in the arts than being the one shining star on Broadway – that there is this whole world open to them to remain in the arts their entire lives in directing, casting, stage management or even being that star on Broadway. “This whole process was so successful from our end, and hopefully from Telsey’s. We all got along so well they may return in February for a workshop and we hope to piggy back on that. This is a home run for us and a home run for them, so we would do it again in a heartbeat,” concluded Lang-Ree. H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY
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GreaterGood
By Emily Chow ’08 and Sara Kendall
From increased involvement in lending money to entrepreneurs worldwide to collecting toiletries for the military, Harker students and staff stepped up their involvement in the community in the fall.
Upper School
Photos by Maria Gong, parent
Campus Humanitarian Efforts Include Vaccines, Animals and Microloans
The upper school’s Global Empowerment Organization (GEO) kicked off its annual awareness and fundraising week with an aim to help the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) save the lives of children in developing countries. Each year GEO chooses a cause and organization that aligns with one of the United Nations’ eight international development goals. The team chose GAVI because of an experience Katie Siegel, grade 12 and GEO’s president, had with foreign policy over the summer. After spending two weeks focusing on vaccine distribution, Siegel realized the importance of the cause: “So I thought it would be great if GEO worked with GAVI, the main nonprofit that controls international vaccine distribution.” Throughout a week in October, GEO raised both funds and awareness about concrete ways to alleviate poverty globally. Tim Nielander, formerly the general counsel for GAVI and later GAVI’s managing director of corporate services, spoke about the cause and GEO sold wristbands, sports bags and candygrams. With friends’ and families’ pledges, students and faculty undertook a 24-hour vow of silence to represent the children with diseases around the world who cannot
speak up for themselves. GEO also organized a schoolwide simulation game where students “infected” each other, spreading “disease” across the campus. The group raised just under $6,000 for GAVI. On the annual freshman community service day, the Class of 2015 went by advisory groups to various sites around the Bay Area to learn about ways to give back to the immediate community. Anthony Silk, Erin Redfern and Jane Keller joined up their advisories and spent the day with class dean Diana Moss working for EcoMagic, a Palo Altobased organization that aims to preserve the foothills and provide opportunities to learn more about ecology and the environment. By the end of the day, students carried a total of 4,000 gallons of recycled water to help water young oak trees. Other notable events included a joint effort between the Second Harvest Food Bank food drive organized by the Students for Charitable Causes (SFCC) and the Red Cross Club’s toiletries drive for Operation: Care and Comfort, an organization that encourages Americans to show support to the troops. The upper school collected a total 844 pounds, and the Class of 2015 was awarded donuts for collecting more than 300 pounds for Second Harvest. Over 230 items were collected in the toiletry drive by the Red Cross Club.
Photo by Kyle Cavallaro
Each year GEO chooses a cause and organization that aligns with one of the United Nations’ eight international development goals. 38
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GreaterGood Middle School
Lower School
History teacher Cyrus Merrill’s grade 6 advisory continued their Kiva efforts and nearly doubled the number of loans they have offered in the past, adding a Peruvian jewelry maker, a Kenyan timber salesman, an artist in the Philippines and a farmer in Tajikistan to their list of international lendees.
In mid-October, lower school students and staff members joined the Humane Society of Silicon Valley in its milelong charity walk, Walk ‘n Wag. Rita Stone, a grade 1 teacher, introduced the event to the lower school last year as an extension of the annual grade 1 community service project that raises supplies and funds for the animal shelter.
Through each round of loan selection, Merrill’s advisory weighed the various options offered through the microfinance network and carried on an extensive conversation about the programs that they thought had good ratings, fell under the budget limit and were important to fund. In the process, they also learned about bank rates and the risks of loaning internationally. To date, three of their nine loans – to two Peruvian store owners and a cereals seller from Mali – have been paid back in full and a beekeeper from Kyrgyzstan and a clothing seller from the Philippines have repaid more than 85 percent of their loans.
The middle school campus also participated in the Family Giving Tree Holiday Drive, collecting gifts and fulfilling wishes for the Family Giving Tree warehouse, which distributes these presents to local children in need. This year those who were unable to go out and buy presents in time for the deadline could sponsor children online through the virtual giving tree.
Harker’s g Gon ria participation in Ma y to b Walk ‘n Wag Pho reminded students that animal shelters always need help, and the 10 students and eight staff members who participated had a wonderful Saturday morning playing with puppies and walking through Kelley Park. Lower school students also completed their annual food drive, collecting 516 bags of food and approximately $4,605 for St. Justin’s Church in Santa Clara. The church provides food and groceries to people year-round, and the lower school’s annual drive makes Harker St. Justin’s biggest contributor, according to Pat Walsh, grade 5 math teacher. St. Justin’s accepts donations all year, so please contact Walsh if you are interested in contributing. As we round out 2011 and look ahead to 2012, the Harker community shows that the gift of giving truly never ends. Upcoming events include the lower school’s annual pajama and book drive, collection for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the kindergartners’ campus beautification efforts.
To learn more about Harker’s community service efforts, visit news.harker.org and search “service.”
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Advancement Photos by Kyle Cavallaro
Fashion Show Kicks Off With Glittering Bollywood and Bangles Evening By William Cracraft
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his kickoff to fashion show season, hosted by Rajat Bahri and Kavita Tankha, parents of Aliesa, grade 6, Jai, grade 4 and Mir, grade 2, brought guests to Los Altos on a warm, starlit Saturday evening in October.
The garden was spotted with upholstered lounges and glowing white tables and sported two bars. A half-dozen or more servers passed through the crowd of nearly 200 guests. Since the theme was Bollywood (after the Mumbai filmmaking industry’s home) and Bangles, the women, especially, were dressed in everything from full Indian evening dress – sari and wrap – to western dress accented with colorful shawls. Men mostly stuck to dress slacks and shirts, but a number wore traditional dress, as well.
“We are truly looking for any participation.”
Partiers were in full swing well into the evening and all left filled with delicious food, tasty beverages and the sense of having been to a wonderfully well-arranged event that also helped the Harker Fashion Show kick off its fundraising in style. “An event of this nature takes many hours and a tremendous amount of effort to pull together so beautifully,” said Sue Prutton, fashion show liaison. “We’re indebted to Kavita and Raj for their gracious support of the fashion show and of the school.”
Read the full story at news.harker.org, search on Bollywood.
Senior Family Giving Programs Offer Solid Options for Saying “Thanks” By Sara Kendall
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raduation is a time to look ahead and two giving programs exist for families of graduating seniors to show their appreciation for the time their children have spent at Harker, and to help provide a safe, beautiful campus and strong academic experience for students to come. The Senior Brick program was started by the parents of the first upper school graduating class in 2002. Parents who make a gift of $2,012 or more (in honor of their child’s graduating year) are invited to and honored at the Head of School’s Circle Celebration at the end 40
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of the year. Their child receives a brick inscribed with his or her name and graduating year, which the student permanently places in the walkway between Manzanita and Dobbins halls (called Graduates’ Grove). The second program is the Senior Parent Appreciation Gift. Families who make a gift that is greater than the gift they made the previous year or who participate in the Senior Brick program are part of this. The incremental amount they give goes toward the gift, which in the past has included the waterfall by Dobbins hall and the landscaping outside the library. Seniors
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–Chris Nikoloff, Head of School
Annual Giving:
Matching Sum Gift Could Reach $1,000,000 The Krishnamurthi Matching Fund has been established to encourage new and repeat participation in Harker’s annual giving program, and participation is up this year. The gift is for up to $1,000,000 in matching funds for the capital campaign. The guidelines allow for matching funds of up to 4-to-1 for pledges from families, faculty and staff. High participation rate is viewed favorably by major donors so employee giving is about participating, not the amount given. “We are truly looking for any participation,” said Chris Nikoloff, head of school. “We are trying to raise money with our faculty, not from our faculty.”
whose families participate have their names included on a plaque at the site of the gift. In recognition of this year’s graduating class being the 10th graduating class of the upper school, this year’s gift is to the school’s general endowment. This is truly a legacy gift for future generations of Harker students to come.
Passages
Jacqueline Wang ’13 (Jan. 12, 1995 – Oct. 20, 2011) The Harker community experienced the heartbreaking loss of one of its students, Jacqueline Wang, a junior, in October. Jackie was a wonderful student with many friends at Harker, and is much missed by classmates, teachers and administrators. An assembly was held to share the news with the upper school students, and a team of grief counselors were on hand that day, and for the ensuing weeks, to help our students and Photo by Megan Prakash, grade 10 - TALON faculty grapple with the loss. A memorial to honor her life was held Nov. 3, with classmates, administrators and teachers in attendance, including Jackie’s teachers from her earlier years at Harker. A “tree of life” was planted in front of Shah Hall to commemorate her life, with symbolic additions representing her classmates: yellow daisies for the Class of 2015; green boxwoods for the Class of 2014; white daisies for the Class of 2013; and black lava rocks for the Class of 2012. Simar Mangat, junior class president, remembered her as being “the very essence of happiness.” Jackie’s parents shared some poignant memories, and the gathering moved inside Shah Hall for a moving slide show of photos from Jackie’s life that her parents had prepared. The Wangs expressed their joy in seeing the entire Harker community come together. “We feel that Jacqueline will live in all of our hearts and our actions.” The school continues to offer counseling and guidance to all students and faculty. Jackie’s parents have graciously offered their help and support in the school’s efforts to increase education and awareness in our community for all to better understand the signs of depression. Condolences and any communications to the family can be emailed to loriv@harker.org or sent to 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129.
By Sara Kendall
Alumni
Alumnus Gives Performing Arts Students New Way of Looking at Colleges
I
This point particularly resonated with Sean Knudsen, grade 10, who said that learning there are lots of options in the performing arts in college, even if you aren’t majoring or minoring in them, was “the most important thing I learned.”
Kastelman contacted Laura Lang-Ree, chair of the K-12 performing arts department, about coming to speak with the students.
According to Nace, the students agreed that an interactive discussion about competition and collaboration was the highlight of the event, with Kastelman arguing that, while “competition is good for continued growth, collaboration is important, too.”
n early November, Greg Kastelman ’05 returned to The Harker School to run a workshop for instrumentalists and vocalists interested in pursuing the arts in college.
Kastelman is a public relations manager and booking agent with iCadenza, a company that works with young professionals, aiming to give them a strong start and skill set in creative fields.
Twenty-five students attended the workshop, and Kastelman emphasized throughout the workshop, “You create your own opportunities. Your career is what you create.” This goes for everything from finding a job to self-promotion. Govinda Dasu, grade 12, said, “You can create your own job in the performing arts.” Kastelman talked to students about the differences between conservatories and regular universities with performing arts programs. Susan Nace, a performing arts teacher at the upper school, says he took care also to say, “You don’t have to major in performing arts to be involved in performing arts in college.”
From there, Kastelman branched into being involved in the performing arts without necessarily being a performer.
At the end of event, Lang-Ree said, “I hope that it gave our students a different way about thinking about their future lives in the arts, perhaps a new direction or a renewed commitment. The workshop got them to focus on their strengths and ambitions, and on ways of looking for a college that best suits those.” Reflecting on the workshop, Payal Modi, grade 11, said, “I gained a lot of insight into my main question: ‘What really happens when people go off to college to pursue performing arts as a career?’” H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY
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College Care Packages for Alumni By William Cracraft
Photos by Kyle Cavallarro
P
arents of recent grads gathered at the end of November to assemble college care packages for the class of 2011 - our “13th graders.” Packages contained the latest issue of the Winged Post; notes from The Harker School faculty with words of wisdom, a joke or just a few words of encouragement; a note from MaryEllis Deacon, the new director of alumni relations; a Harker logo coaster; and snacks like popcorn, Hi-Chew, granola bars, Rice Krispies treats, hot chocolate, candy canes, oatmeal and Emergen-C. Parents assembling the packages had half the fun, and the other half will be in the expressions on the faces of the young alumni when they open their packages during finals!
ALUMNI AWARDS
S
onya Huang and James Feng, both Class of 2010 and at Princeton University, each received special awards. Huang received the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence, an annual award that honors exceptional academic achievement during freshman and sophomore years. Winners are considered for the prize based on the difficulty of their courses as well as the depth to which they engage in their respective fields of study. Feng was awarded the Manfred Pyka Memorial Prize from the Princeton department of physics (Pyka was an instructor in that department). It is awarded to students who have shown the greatest progress in one of the beginning courses in physics. “We are very excited to welcome the next crop of Harker students [to Princeton] as well,” said Huang. “Seems like Harker kids are really doing a great job here. Harker really prepared us well, and I'm so grateful for my time there!”
Alumni: Did you or someone you know win an academic, athletic or other award? Let us know! 42
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Photo provided by Christine Davis, parent
Alumni
HARKER ALUMNUS
“Shining” at Stanford
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ole Davis ’10 swam for Harker during all four of his high school years, and now swims at Stanford, a valuable part of an impressive team. Davis helped the Stanford swim team win the majority of their 11 events against Centenary in Lousiana in early September. He was one on a team of four newcomers to win the 200 Neely relay, en route to the fastest times in all 11 events. Shortly after the race, Stanford noted him on their website as “one of the underclassmen who shined” at the event. Davis also won the 50free race, the same race he made the Olympic Trial cuts for over the summer. Christine Davis, Cole’s mother, who is a member of Harker’s board of trustees, spoke recently about his current success, saying, “Coach Bart Wells did an amazing job of guiding and coaching him and getting him ready for the Stanford program.” Her son is a sophomore at Stanford now, but she recalls what he said after he finished his freshman year: “Classes were easy. Swimming was hard.”
By Sara Kendall
FlashForward
Alumni Q & A Tevis Howard ’98 spent a gap year in Kenya doing malaria immunology research before attending Brown University to earn a B.Sc. in neuroscience in 2007. While a junior there, he founded KOMAZA, a social enterprise working to get rural families in Kenya out of extreme poverty. Since 2008, KOMAZA (www.komaza.org) has planted more than 650,000 income-generating trees with nearly 3,000 farmers, and is now working to grow more than 3.5 million trees with 15,000 families by 2013. Be sure to check out the videos of KOMAZA’s work when you log onto their site.
Q: What in your
life so far took you the longest time to learn?
A: It took me
Photo provided by Tevis Howard ‘98
some time to realize the need and passion for applying my efforts and leveraging my good fortunes (great education) to make dramatic and sustainable improvements in the lives of the least fortunate. There are big problems on this planet today – 1 billion people (three times the population of the U.S.) struggle for basic survival in extreme poverty on less than a dollar per day. Now I aspire to create as much positive realworld impact as possible.
Tevis Howard ‘98
Q: When you were at Harker, did
you dream of doing what you do now?
A: Never! In school I was passionate
about science. Winning the Harker seventh grade science fair encouraged me to continue science through high school and into university. My gap year in Kenya exposed me to a new set of challenges and opportunities, inspiring me to switch my focus from science to social entrepreneurship.
Q:
What personal traits make you successful at what you are doing?
A: Passion, creativity, critical
thinking, empathy, psychological resiliency and unfailing perseverance; entrepreneurship is rarely easy or straightforward.
Q:
What’s on the top of your personal and professional “lists” right now?
A: Professionally, my biggest goals
are to hire an experienced president to help me raise growth capital for scaling up. We have great traction in Kenya, but now we need to build the managerial and operational capacity to plant over 25 million trees with 100,000 farmers by 2015, becoming the largest forestry company in East Africa. Most of my current personal goals are also professional goals (like, reply to emails faster!). Once I have
more time, I’d like to invest a bit more in rekindling friendships and old hobbies – skiing in California and road trips across Africa.
Q:
Tell us something surprising about yourself.
A: Despite being prone to sunburn
and not really enjoying beaches, I’ve spent more than six years living and working in coastal, equatorial Kenya. My favorite hobby is mediocre gardening/landscaping.
Q:
What advice do you have for current Harker students?
A: Get out and see the world!
Before you do, it seems really big; once you have, you’ll realize it’s very small. Educate yourself about the major challenges and opportunities we’re facing as a planet over the next 50 years. There are a dozen or so big issues, and many will become intensely exciting and critically important. We are incredibly fortunate to be born into this hyper-accelerating era of humanity (vs. a hunter-gather 20,000 years ago). As current and recent generations of Harker students, we have more opportunity to make an impact with our lives, to build the world we want, than any previous generation of humanity. And we better get it right – if we don’t, we’ll be in for some rough waters; if we do, the future will yield unimaginable awesomeness.
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LookingAhead Coming Attractions Alumni Conservatory Classic
Dec. 29
Student Directed Showcase
Jan. 5-6
MS/US Winter Concert
Jan. 13
WinterSong
Jan. 19
Grade 5 Show
Jan. 26-27
Upper School Dance Production
Jan. 27-28
Middle School Dance Jamz
March 9-10
An Evening of Jazz
March 16
United Voices
March 22
SAVE THE DATE! THE HARKER SCHOOL FASHION SHOW
Fri., Feb. 24, 2012 Luncheon Event & Dinner Gala
Mon., March 5
Stanford University Golf Course Wine tasting at home of Scott and Susan McNealy
www.harker.org
NEW SPORTS CAMPS ADDED tickets@harker.org Contact perform@harker.org
Football • Volleyball • Soccer • Tennis Basketball • Aquatics Discovery Camp Waterpolo • Sports Performance Visit website in January for details.
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H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY
WINTER 2011
"Childhood Under Siege: How Big Business Targets Children" Joel Bakar
Author of The Corporation
Wed., Feb. 22, 2012 | 7 p.m. The Harker School 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose Admission is free! To ensure seating, reserve today at:
JA
RE
G IS O TR N PE A . 1 N TI 7, S ON 20 12
www.harker.org
K-12 LEARNING AND FUN
MORNING ACADEMICS
•
AFTERNOON ACTIVITIES
MATh • LANGUAGE ARTS • SCIENCE • ART • AND MORE!
Grades K-6
Summer Camp +
Grades 6-12
Summer Institute
OThER PROGRAMS
· Sport Camps · Swim School
· English Language Institute for International Students
summer.harker.org 408.553.0537
l
campinfo@harker.org
Concert Series 2011-12
LookingAhead Fri., Jan. 20 8 p.m.
Gerald Clayton Trio Sat., Feb. 4 8 p.m.
Adam Golka pianist
Sat., March 17 8 p.m.
The Afiara String Quartet Previous Performers:
Fri., Dec. 2 | 8 p.m.
Opera San Jose General Admission: $20
Pre-event reception one hour prior to each performance. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres and soft drinks included. Cash bar for wine and beer.
Tickets: www.harker.org/concertseries
Nichols Hall Auditorium | Upper School Campus 500 Saratoga Avenue, San Jose For more information contact communications@harker.org or call 408.345.9243.
Harker Quarterly (USPS 023-761) is published four times per year (September, December, March and June) by The Harker School, Office of Communication, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129. Periodicals Postage Paid at San Jose, CA and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Harker Quarterly, 500 Saratoga Avenue, San Jose, CA 95129.
H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY
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2007
Harker
Holiday Assembly
Holiday shows are part and parcel of Harker’s performing arts repertoire. Choirs tour retirement homes and all three campuses, and dancers and singers are onstage at Santana Row each year for their holiday tree lighting event. Singers, dancers and instrumentalists in grades 2-12 perform an annual holiday show for each campus in December. This photo is of the upper school’s Varsity Dance Troupe in the midst of a Nutcracker-inspired piece, performing at the upper school prior to the holiday break in 2007. From left to right: Shanna Polzin ‘10, Shilpa Rajgopal ‘08, Natasha Wu ‘08, Sarah Payne ‘09, Ranjita Raghavan ‘08, Carly McCallaCreary ‘09, Adrienne Wong ‘10, Stephanie Chong ‘09, Tiffany Lai ‘08
4 0 8 . 2 4 9 . 2 510 H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY
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C a l i f o r n i a O of C: 12/11 (BHDG/JJJ/RM/DQP) 5,576