Harker Quarterly Summer 2014

Alumna Finishes Up Stint at White House

Class of 2014 Steps Out in Style Harker Ramps Up Its Green Game with Wet/Dry Recycling s U M M E R 2 014

Lower School Library is After-School Magnet Boys Basketball Team First: Trip to League Championship V o l ume 5 · N um b er 4

Cover Photo Amira Valliani ’06 recently wrapped up her duties as senior adviser to the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications at the White House, where she worked on a range of foreign policy, press and public diplomacy issues.

Of her photo with President Obama, she said: “It was taken in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, before a town hall with young people from across Southeast Asia as a part of the launch of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), which I coordinated. My boss introduced me to the president backstage before the event started and told him I put the initiative together.”

That day was actually Valliani’s last day on the job. “So the president and I chatted for a few minutes about the initiative and my plans for after the White House,” she added.

Her plans include attending graduate school at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government this fall. For more news of Valliani, please go to the alumni section and view her 2006 class note on page 60.

This cover photo was used with permission from the White House Photo Office. And, by the way, this marks our first HQ cover featuring a Harker alumnus/a, although not our first student to have a one-on-one photo op with a sitting president.

In 2007, Kavitha Narra ’08 was part of the Harker team that attended the G8 conferences as the U.S. J8 (Junior 8) UNICEF contingent. Team members met with President Bush and this photo is courtesy of Getty Images.

About Harker From its early beginnings in 1893 — when Stanford University leaders assisted in its establishment — to its reputation today as a leading preparatory school with graduates 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.

S U M M E R 2 014 / V olume 5 · N umber 3 Pam Dickinson Director William Cracraft Editor Catherine Snider Jenn Maragoni Copy Editors Kyle Cavallaro Photo Editor

Stefan Armijo Robert Boucher Steven Boyle ‘06 Debbie Cohen Ellen DeBiase Nicole DeVelbiss Melinda Gonzales Edward Hejtmanek ‘06 John Ho Zach Jones Jacqueline Orrell Catherine Snider Casey Valentine Contributors Blue Heron Design Group Rebecca McCartney Triple J Design Design Diamond Quality Printing Printing

Harker News (HN) 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 HN via RSS feeds or a daily digest email alert. Visit http://news.harker.org/.

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Communication Awards

Preschool: 4525 Union Ave., San Jose, CA 95124

We’re pleased to announce that Harker earned five national awards – a platinum, two golds and two honorable mentions – this year in the prestigious Marcom Awards, which celebrate great marketing and communication. There are thousands of entries and, periodically, we send in a few of our own. The Harker Quarterly earned the Platinum Award (category: Magazine/Educational Institution). Our new preschool earned golds for both its website (category: Website/Education Institution) and its overall launch (category: Marketing/Promo Campaign/Product Launch), as well as an honorable mention for its ad campaign (category: Ads/Advertising Campaign). Finally, the school earned an honorable mention for the gala’s “Mission: Possible” invitation (category: Web Video/Event), which was created for us by John Keller and Olaf Kracht.

Grades 6-8: 3800 Blackford Ave., San Jose, CA 95117

K-Grade 5: 4300 Bucknall Rd., San Jose, CA 95130

Grades 9-12: 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129 Published four times a year, 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: SEPTEMBER 2014 2

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inside

38 SUMMER 2014

features

Class of 2014 Steps Out!

8

Harvest Festival 2.0 Brings Even More Fun 12

Leap Forward Taken in Recycling

and Green Efforts

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12

Lower School Library Provides Students with State-of-the-Art Space 28 Sports Features: Basketball Triumphs &

Pitching Family 38

departments

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14 Milestones 19 Performing Arts 20 Preschool

Business & 54 26 Entrepreneurship

14 Debate 31

34 Advancement 42 Global Education 47 Visual Arts 48 Greater Good 52 Alumni News and Class Notes 54 47 Looking Ahead 62 Eagle Report

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Headlines

By Christopher Nikoloff Head of School

Popular Disney Song Can Teach Us Lessons for Life

G

ood morning. I would like to welcome members of the board of trustees, administration, faculty, staff, parents, friends and family, alumni, and the true guests of honor, the graduating Class of 2014. I have the privilege of saying a few words of farewell to our graduates each year. Like most graduation speeches, my talk takes the form of advice, like “Dare to Singletask” or “Love Like a Labrador.” Since my talk is the only remaining formality standing

between you and your diplomas, I will continue the tradition of confining my remarks to one page of single-space, size twelve font. I am so confident that I can achieve this goal that I have even spelled out the number twelve. But I will make no promises about the size of my margins.

“

All of the weaker, less desirable parts of yourself, those parts that you hide to conform, can be sources of power, of your unique expression in the world.

”

Today I turn for inspiration to the award-winning song “Let It Go” from the Disney movie “Frozen.” I know, I know, by now we all are tired of the song. My boys howl from the back seat when I play the song in the car, let down my hair, and belt out its chorus. I can do it here if you would like. But Rolling Stone Magazine calls “Let It Go” a “bona fide anthem that’s Disney’s single-biggest and best song in a generation.” Also, this year’s Oscar win for best song brings one of the writers of “Let it Go,” Robert Lopez, what the magazine calls “a rare EGOT (wins for Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony).” (By the way, EGOT is an unfortunate acronym; why not the more stylish TOGE or pithy GOET?) The song is sung powerfully by Idina Menzel, or, as John Travolta mispronounced her name at the 2014 Oscars, “Adele Dazeem.” In case you didn’t know, there is now a widget that will “Travoltify” your name for free. For instance, my name Travoltified is Catherine Nicheems.

“Travoltify,” unlike “selfie” and “derp,” hasn’t made it into the Oxford English Dictionary.

If it does, however, it will have the unique classification of being a proper name that is also a transitive verb with only one possible direct object: another proper name. Spooky. Nonetheless, Menzel’s glorious voice makes the song so meaningful and memorable that even 2-year-olds know the words. I know you do, too.

The song and the movie have had their share of controversies. The biggest controversy is the transformation of Elsa into a slender, elegantly gowned ice diva at the moment of her liberation during this song. I will not address these controversies, but I will add one of my own: why is the male hero, an ice harvester named Kristoff, so good looking and oafishly charming?

Why aren’t there any movies with stuffy administrators, like, say, heads of schools, as the heroes? Instead of Kristoff the hero could be named, well, Chris Nikoloff. I could swoop into a life or death situation, devise some policy, form a committee and save the day.

In any case, the song’s message is to, well, “let it go.” What exactly are you letting go? On one level, the song can be taken to suggest letting go of inhibitions, the past, caring what others think, or even fears. This is not unlike Buddha’s third noble truth. Buddha’s second noble truth is that we suffer because we desire, or “cling” to be exact. His third truth recommends letting go of desire, or clinging, a process called nirvana, which literally means to blow out, or “whew” as translated by

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Headlines Alan Watts. Buddha’s students would point out that this puts them into the paradoxical bind of desiring not to desire. Luckily there is a way out of that trap, but that is for another graduation. In any case, some of these interpretations have gotten the song into trouble, but I think there is a more precise message anyway.

For those of you who have taken psychology, you may be familiar with Carl Jung’s concept of the shadow, the unconscious part of yourself that you dare not recognize but that you eventually must integrate to become whole. Elsa’s secret power that turns everything into ice is her shadow, the part of herself that she hides to conform to society’s expectations. She sings “Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know.” Your 2014 baccalaureate student speaker, Efrey Noten, captured this sentiment with a quote from David Wallace: “Everybody is identical in their secret unspoken belief that way deep down they are different from everyone else.” It is Elsa’s shadow that she accepts, after years of concealing, and lets go. When she lets her shadow go, she builds a marvelous ice castle in the mountains; her shadow is finally liberated, as is her hair when she lets it down.

Acceptance and liberation aren’t enough, however; Elsa still has to integrate her shadow. Not until she allows herself to love her sister, and her complete self, does she fully integrate her shadow and use her powers for good, like creating ice skating rinks for her adoring subjects. Also, because shadow material contains all of your so-called imperfections, integrating your shadow means dropping perfectionism, too. Elsa sings, “That perfect girl is gone.” I know that good is the enemy of great, but perfect can be the enemy of good enough, and believe me, there will be plenty of times in your life when good enough will have to be, well, good enough.

In closing, all of the weaker, less desirable parts of yourself, those parts that you hide to conform, can be sources of power, of your unique expression in the world. They are the metaphorical frogs that transform into princes, or the dragons that fight for you instead of breathing fire at you. In the movie “Shrek,” remember how helpful Dragon becomes once she discovers love with Donkey? So my advice to you today is to let it go, with the “it” being that author of the Tao Te Ching, said the following: “When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.” You have spent 18 years becoming what you are and if you dare to let it go, you will discover just how wonderful who you are really is. Thank you.

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

part of yourself that no one, not even you, acknowledges. Lao Tzu, the great

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PROMOTIONS

Grade 8 Promotion Ceremony Heralds Students’ Coming Transition to Upper School By Debbie Cohen Finally, members of the grade 8 class received their promotion certificates from Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and Ellis, who made some warm closing remarks. A special happening, not listed in the program, followed as the eighth graders surprised teachers with their own special “thank-you” slideshow, which they had secretly created earlier. The slideshow included numerous memorable moments shot by the students throughout the school year.

In early June a promotion ceremony was held for Harker’s grade 8 class, marking the end of students’ middle school years.

Kicking off the touching ceremony, Cindy Ellis, middle school head, welcomed the eighth graders and congratulated them on reaching this important milestone and beginning a new stage in their academic lives.

Julie Pinzás, middle school Spanish teacher and Class of 2018 advisory dean, gave a moving farewell address to the soon-to-be upper school students, encouraging them to welcome the many opportunities that await them over the next four years.

A welcome address to the Class of 2018 was delivered by rising senior Sarah Bean, who will be next year’s upper school ASB president.

The ceremony concluded, as in years past, with the singing of “The Harker School Song,” followed by a recessional

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

Next up was a beautiful performance of the song “Home” by the middle school vocal groups Harmonics and Vivace.

and well-attended reception held in the amphitheater.

Grade 5 Students Receive Warm Send-Off in Touching Promotion Ceremony By Debbie Cohen middle school ASB president Kelsey Wu, grade 7, gave a special welcome speech to the students who will be starting middle school in the fall.

Kristin Giammona, elementary division head, gave a heartwarming closing speech.

Emotions ran bittersweet on the afternoon of June 4, when members of the Class of 2021 officially ended their journey as lower school students during the grade 5 promotion ceremony, held in the lower school gymnasium.

The grade 4-6 dance group Dance Fusion, led by Gail Palmer, delighted audience members with an exciting performance called “We Danced All Night.” Then, a special slideshow recapping the entire school year was shown, with narration by Cathy Hsieh, lower school science teacher. Excited students then walked up to receive their promotion certificates.

The ceremony opened with a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance by grade 5 class president Ashley Gauba, and continued with Chris Nikoloff, head of

Kellie Binney-Smart, lower school choral music teacher, led the newly promoted students in singing songs (including “The Harker School Song”) before incoming

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

school, greeting the students, parents and faculty in attendance. He congratulated the students on reaching this important next step in their academic careers.

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BACCALAUREATE

Seniors Wish Juniors Luck in the Coming Year at Baccalaureate Ceremony By Zach Jones

D

ays before the 2014 graduation ceremony, the classes of 2014 and 2015 gathered at the upper school quad for this year’s baccalaureate ceremony. This traditional event bid the seniors a bittersweet farewell and welcomed grade 11 students into their upcoming roles as Harker seniors.

After an introduction by Upper School Head Butch Keller, Anthony Silk, upper school math teacher and this year’s faculty speaker, took his spot at the podium.

newfound enthusiasm for helping people with his love for mathematics.

It was then that his best friend advised him to become a teacher, which led him to Harker.

“Remember, when you can’t see your future, find someone who can,” he said.

Silk asked the students in the audience to close their eyes and envision what success looks like for them and how they might achieve it.

First on Silk’s list of steps was learning how to take risks. He recalled a story in which he tried skydiving for the first time during college, an experience that forced him out of his comfort zone but helped him learn a valuable lesson. “Taking a risk doesn’t mean doing something risky, something you’re completely unprepared for. It means doing something where the outcome is unknown. But that’s OK.” Silk also discussed failure, and why it isn’t actually failing. After losing a job that he had mentioned in an earlier anecdote, he ended up working on a cruise ship, which he enjoyed because it gave him the opportunity to be out at sea and working with people. His next challenge was to find something that combined this

Photos by Stefan Armijo

Next up was Efrey Noten, grade 12, this year’s student baccalaureate speaker.

Noten’s speech emphasized a quality that he felt many people forget after leaving college and entering the work force: compassion.

Referencing a graduation speech given by author David Foster Wallace, he retold a parable about two young fish who encounter another, older fish, who greets them and asks how the water is. One of the younger fish then looks at the other and asks, “What the hell is water?”

“Mr. Wallace clarified by saying that the fish story shows us that the stuff most obvious and common to us is the stuff we have the most trouble perceiving or conceptualizing,” Noten said, adding that graduates would find themselves getting up every day to work a challenging job, come home tired, eat and retire to bed. “The so-called rat race I’ve just described often causes us to react to minor inconveniences with irrational, internalized rage,” Noten said.

“I just ask that if you find yourself repeating the same ceremony day in and day out, that you become actively aware and compassionate of the people around you,” he said. “Do not let yourself forget, as the two young fish did, what water is.”

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GRADUATION

Dynamic Speaker and Beautiful Day Shine on 2014

Graduates

By Catherine Snider

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

Photo by Stefan Armijo

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

ith words of advice about grace, friendship and handling fear, the Class of 2014 took their first steps down the path of their futures on May 24 at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga.

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A picture-perfect day was the backdrop for Harker’s 13th upper school graduation.

In front of a stage filled with the board of trustees, administration and faculty, Butch Keller, upper school head, started the ceremony with a few words about this year’s graduating class: “You have had the opportunity to lead through good times … and adversity … and you did so with grace.” He then introduced Kevin Duraiswamy ’14, the class valedictorian.

In his speech, Duraiswamy chose to focus on friendship. While each graduate has different interests and different paths ahead, and while Harker has provided a

GRADUATION

He related his own story: millionaire startup CEO by his senior year in high school, then rejected by all seven colleges to which he applied. An ego check, a stint at community college, and some hustling to meet academics who could help him resulted in

Chris Nikoloff, head of school, gave his traditional final address to the class, this year drawing on a cultural phenomenon for inspiration: the Disney movie “Frozen” and its ubiquitous hit song, “Let It Go.” Exploring what the “it” should be, Nikoloff advised the students to let go of the shadows that

Photo by Stefan Armijo

The keynote speaker was Rahim Fazal, technology entrepreneur, founder of Involver and executive at Oracle, whose comedic timing, youthful energy and inspiring story resonated perfectly with the soon-to-be graduates. After gently teasing the class about the resort-like nature of the campus, he introduced his topic: “There are many paths to success.” Urging the students that following the conservative path was the way to future regrets, he said, “One thing that will rob you of your full potential” is fear … “the fear that makes you forget there are many paths to life.”

Even as his investors at Involver ousted him as CEO for lack of leadership, he stayed long enough to find and train a replacement and turn the company around. He says now of the reasons for his removal, “Fear of failure kept me from asking for help.” The lessons he learned were to be kinder to himself, take care of his health, nurture deep relationships and ask for help when he needs it. “Mistakes are life’s way of telling you that you’re trying hard enough,” he said, echoing a common Harker refrain that it’s the process that matters more than the product.

Victor Adler, the dean of the Class of 2014, had the privilege of reading the names of the seniors as they stepped forward to receive their diplomas and take a final bow in front of the supportive families and teachers who guided them through their Harker years. In the final beloved tradition of the day, the seniors processed through a gauntlet of those teachers and passed into the day as proud Harker alumni.

Photo by Stefan Armijo

Duraiswamy’s speech segued beautifully into this year’s song sung by the 2014 Graduation Chorus: “We Are One” by Brian Tate, conducted by upper school music teacher Susan Nace. The lyrics perfectly complemented the valedictory address about standing together and forging lasting bonds.

conspire to hold them back. (To read the full text, please see Headlines, page 4.)

a place as the youngest-ever MBA student without a university degree at Canada’s top management school. “Had I been in fear of rejection,” he cautioned, “in search for that one ‘yes’ after ‘no,’ after ‘no,’ after ‘no,’ I wouldn’t be here today.” It is creativity, which he defined as taking anything other than a predictable, safe path, that leads to all successes. “Put your ego aside and unleash your creativity.”

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

different set of skills for each, “Harker has given us each other.” Through class time spent working together, extracurriculars spent triumphing and failing together, and time spent just hanging out as kids, “our friends are the ones who keep us human,” he said. “In each other,” he concluded, “we have companions to last a lifetime.”

“ What could you achieve if you had no fear?”

– Rahim Fazal, graduation speaker

Photo by Stefan Armijo

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TRADITIONS

Special Luncheon Provides Senior Moms and Dads with Opportunity for Shared Reflection By Debbie Cohen

In mid-May, grade 9-11 parents hosted current senior parents at the traditional Senior Moms and Dads Luncheon.

The potluck lunch in the upper school’s gym was made possible by Harker’s upper school parent planning committee.

One of the most heartwarming moments at the luncheon is when senior parents are invited to share some thoughts about their time as part of the Harker community with fellow parents.

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

The day was marked by meaningful speeches, elegantly set tables, beautiful photo collages and delicious food.

Class of 2014 Matriculates College..................................................................................# ATTENDING Amherst College............................................................................................... 1 Barnard College................................................................................................ 1 Boston University............................................................................................. 2 Brown University.............................................................................................. 1 California Institute of Technology.................................................................. 3 California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo............................................................................................. 1 Carnegie Mellon University............................................................................ 9 Chapman University........................................................................................ 1 Columbia College Chicago.............................................................................. 1 Columbia University......................................................................................... 4 Cornell University............................................................................................. 4 Dartmouth College........................................................................................... 6 Duke University................................................................................................ 4 Emory University.............................................................................................. 1 George Washington University...................................................................... 2 Georgetown University.................................................................................... 2 Harvard College................................................................................................ 2 Johns Hopkins University................................................................................ 3 Loyola Marymount University........................................................................ 1 Loyola University Maryland............................................................................ 1 Massachusetts Institute of Technology......................................................... 7 New York University......................................................................................... 3 Northeastern University.................................................................................. 1 Northwestern University................................................................................. 1 Pomona College................................................................................................ 1 Princeton University......................................................................................... 2 Purdue University............................................................................................. 4 Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.................................................................... 1 Rice University.................................................................................................. 3

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College..................................................................................# ATTENDING Santa Clara University..................................................................................... 4 Stanford University........................................................................................ 13 SUNY Oswego................................................................................................... 1 Trinity University.............................................................................................. 1 Tufts University................................................................................................. 3 United States Military Academy..................................................................... 1 University of British Columbia........................................................................ 3 University of California at Berkeley............................................................. 16 University of California at Davis..................................................................... 1 University of California at Irvine.................................................................... 2 University of California at Los Angeles......................................................... 3 University of California at San Diego............................................................ 2 University of California at Santa Barbara..................................................... 2 University of California at Santa Cruz........................................................... 1 University of Chicago....................................................................................... 2 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.............................................. 11 University of Michigan..................................................................................... 1 University of Pennsylvania............................................................................. 2 University of Pittsburgh................................................................................... 1 University of Southern California................................................................ 13 University of Texas, Austin.............................................................................. 1 University of the Pacific................................................................................... 2 University of Washington................................................................................ 7 University of Wisconsin, Madison................................................................. 1 Vanderbilt University....................................................................................... 1 Washington University in St. Louis............................................................... 3 Wellesley College............................................................................................. 1 Worcester Polytechnic Institute..................................................................... 1 Yale University.................................................................................................. 2

TRADITIONS

Lifers Gather at Head of School’s Home to Celebrate Time at Harker By Zach Jones Each year, graduating seniors who have attended Harker since kindergarten – known as “lifers” – gather for a special dinner at Head of School Chris Nikoloff’s home to celebrate their lives as Harker students. Following the baccalaureate ceremony, the 25 lifers boarded a bus bound for the special event, where they reminisced by looking at their Harker application photos, enjoyed a cake emblazoned with these photos and even took photos in their original kindergarten advisory groups.

This year’s lifers are Manon Audebert, Vikas Bhetanabhotla, Kianna Bisla, Lauren Cali, Allen Cheng, Darian Edvalson, Urvi Gupta, Helena Huang, John Hughes, Saachi Jain, Zina Jawadi, Silpa Karipineni, Anna Kendall, Michael Kling, Sean Knudsen, Gaurav Kumar, Anna Levine, Kevin Mohanram, Kevin Moss, Stephan Pellissier, Ariana Shulman, Vikram Sundar, Laura Thacker, Brian Tuan and Andrew Zhu.

Photos by Nicole Hall

Grads Participate in Annual Brick Ceremony Members of the Class of 2014 and their parents gathered at Graduates’ Grove on the upper school campus in late May for the annual brick ceremony, where 49 graduates placed bricks in the walkway to commemorate their years at Harker.

Placing bricks in the grove at this year’s ceremony were: Manon Audebert, Adarsh Battu, Wei Wei Buchsteiner, Regina Chen, Raymond Cheng, Varun Cherukuri, Will Deng, Nathan Dhablania, Callie Ding, Darian Edvalson, Kevin Duraiswamy, Julia Fink, Jeffrey Hanke, Ben Huchley, John Hughes, Alexander Johnson, Divya Kalidindi, Varun Kamat, Sean Knudsen, Arjun

Photos by Stefan Armijo

This Harker tradition was started by the parents of the very first class of upper school graduates in 2002. It has since become a way for graduating students to preserve the memories of their time at Harker and provide a reminder of their legacy for future graduates.

Kumar, Gaurav Kumar, Connie Li, Kimberly Ma, Maya Madhavan, Kevin Moss, Sebi Nakos, Anisha Padwekar, Sean Pan, Stephan Pellissier, Sravan Rajathilak, Ian Richardson, Isaac Rothschild, Vikram Sundar, Brian Tuan, Leslie Tzeng, Nihal Uppugunduri, Namrata Vakkalagadda, Nithya Vemireddy, Sameer Vij, Andrew Wang, Christina Wong, Sandra Yin, Sean Youn, Justin Young, Christopher Zhang, Kenny Zhang, Albert Zhao, Ziren Zhou and Andrew Zhu.

Upper School Students Give Special Send-Off to their Graduating Friends The upper school student body gathered at the gym on May 22 to bid farewell to the Class of 2014, who graduated just days later.

Entertainment was provided by performing arts, debate, student council and athletics. The Harker Jazz Band, Downbeat and Varsity Dance Troupe performed. The inclusion of several large programs allowed students from all classes, including seniors, to enjoy a final recap of the impact they’ve had on campus.

Harker forensics students staged a hilarious mock debate about whether the Class of 2014 would be missed, with both sides citing

“research” from debate seniors as a way to work their names and the colleges they will attend into the skit.

In addition, the gathering provided the opportunity to recognize the year’s stand-out senior athletes and introduce the students who would serve on the Student Council for the upcoming school year.

History teacher Samuel Lepler was a driving force behind this new event, and according to Butch Keller, upper school head, the seniors enjoyed putting their “personal stamp” on it.

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Photo by Robert Boucher, parent

Mark your calendar for Sun., Oct. 12 to help us celebrate the fall season at Harker!

By Melinda Gonzales

T

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

he 64th annual Family & Alumni Picnic promises to be a fabulous day of fun, food and festivities for the entire Harker community. This year the event is scheduled for Oct. 12, 2014 on the middle school campus.

As we celebrate summer turning into fall at the Harvest Festival, we also will kick off the new school year by bringing Harker families, faculty and staff together.

Guests will enjoy carnival games, delicious food, rollicking entertainment at the Harker Hoedown and lots more!

Old favorites like the student performances and silent auction will return this year. Meanwhile, many additions to last year’s event were so popular that we are expanding them. For example, the Teachers’ Clubhouse will feature even more activities and more teachers; students will be able to challenge their favorite teacher to a game of Ping-Pong or basketball or just hang out. Our preschool area also will grow, as our population of youngest students has expanded.

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Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

Picnic Packages

Every year, teacher packages in the silent auction are a highlight of the family picnic. These are two examples of packages from last year’s Harvest Festival to give you a taste of what’s in store for this year!

Stellar Waitstaff

Of course, this wonderful event would not be possible without the dedication of our parent and faculty committees, who work tirelessly to create a fun and memorable day for all. We are so grateful for the time, creativity and hard work they put in!

Make sure to mark your calendar for Sun., Oct. 12 to help us celebrate the fall season at Harker! If you have questions about the event or would like to volunteer, please contact Danae McLaughlin, Harker’s director of special events, at danae.mclaughlin@harker.org.

Moveable Murals Art came to life with a picnic package called Moveable Murals, sponsored by middle school teachers Elizabeth Saltos (art) and Raji Swaminathan (science). A water theme was chosen and the two groups created 4’ x 8’ canvas murals to be displayed on the middle school campus during the winter months. Callie Meyer and Angelique Lara, both grade 4, created a painting of the Little Mermaid, and Sophia Angus, Elise Mayer and Taylor Vaughan, all grade 7, titled their work “Whales.”

Photos by Raji Swaminathan

New this year for ages 5 (45 pounds) and up is the thrilling Witches’ Flight, a 220-foot long zip line ride through the Harvest Festival.

Riders will be able to take in the sights and sounds of the festival from 30-feet up!

It was a beautiful spring day on April 23, 2014, for the seventh annual Stellar Waitstaff Luncheon. For this family picnic silent auction package, seven middle school students enjoyed a wonderful lunch, with freshly made guacamole and chips, pesto crepes, chicken parmagiana and angel hair pasta, white- and dark chocolate-covered strawberries (in the shape of swans), strawberry smoothies and an ice cream trolley so they could make their own sundaes!

How could that be topped? By a celebrity waitstaff! The meal was ably served by Chris Nikoloff, head of school; Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs; and Cindy Ellis, middle school head. Enjoying the festive lunch were guests Kobe Howard, grade 7, and Haley Keller, Gracean Linthacum-Janker, Mallory Millard, Makenzie Tomihiro, Eleanor Xiao and Randy Zhao, all grade 8. This popular package will again be available at this fall’s picnic!

Contacts: Danae McLaughlin, Director of Special Events danae.mclaughlin@harker.org 408.345.9625 Teré Aceves, Director of Preschool & Lower School Volunteers tere.aceves@harker.org 408.345.9622 Jen Hargreaves, Director of Middle & Upper School Volunteers jennifer.hargreaves@harker.org 408.345.9626

Photos by Raji Swaminathan

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Harker Preschoolers are on the Move in Fun Music and Movement S

By Debbie Cohen

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n a bright Wednesday morning in May, a group of 3 year olds from the Acorn Cottage gathered excitedly in Harker Preschool’s music room. Their teacher, Mara Beckerman (aka Ms. Mara) welcomed them to this, her first class of the day.

After the youngsters took their seats on brightly colored mats arranged in a circle, Beckerman said, “Listen closely and tell me what you think you hear!” Then she hid behind a desk and used a musical instrument to produce an odd noise, which the children said sounded like water or rain.

Coming out from behind the desk, Beckerman showed the children where the sound was coming from: an instrument, made from a cactus plant, called a rainstick. Partially filled with small pebbles, beans and nails, the stick is believed to have been invented by the Aztecs in the hope that playing it would bring about rainstorms.

The rainstick is just one of many unique instruments the preschoolers were introduced to in music class. Each week, Harker preschoolers of all ages attend interactive music and movement specialty classes, taught by Beckerman, who for the past 25 years has worked with pre-K to adults and children with special needs, in both private and public schools.

went off to make their very own musical Satisfied with their egg creations, both instrument called a shaker egg. Each child Dhillon-Patel and Vidyarthi returned to their was given various materials, including very mats and sang songs with their peers while fine yellow fish tank gravel, tapping their shakers from one knee to medium size black lentil the other, keeping a steady beat beans and larger red with the music. Beckerman fish tank gravel. explained that “this simple Each created a movement of crossing the different sound. The midline of one’s body is children, having so important for a child been sensitized to develop.” to “listening,” After the Acorn experimented to Cottage students create a unique ended their music shaker by choosing and movement session, – Poster displayed on a wall a combination of the in the music room at Beckerman quickly Harker Preschool three materials. rearranged the room to Beckerman explained that welcome her next class, the a shaker egg is a modern hand transitional kindergarten (TK) group. percussion instrument from Latin America that “It’s time for music. It’s time to sing along!” makes a rhythmic sound when shaken. It is sang Beckerman while playing the guitar similar to a maraca without a handle. When as they settled into their spots on the floor. she told the children they got to take the Beckerman introduced a new song, called eggs home, to keep and show their parents, “Sobonana Kusasa,” which was an especially delighted shouts of “yay!” filled the classroom. big hit. “The words are from the Zulu people Student Ishaan Dhillon-Patel said he had in South Africa meaning ‘goodbye till we meet never made a shaker egg before. “Mine is again,’” she said, noting that the children going to be the weirdest of all!” he said with really enjoy learning songs in different a huge grin as he carefully filled his egg with languages. the tiny pebbles.

TK student Zachary Davidson said he liked the Sitting across from him, classmate Omya song. “It made me feel quiet,” he said.

Vidyarthi proudly held up her purple egg, noting that purple is her favorite color. “Mine is so loud!” she exclaimed, giving it a shake.

“It takes a village to make music.

It takes music to make a village.”

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

Following the rainstick exercise, the children

s s a l pecialty C

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Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

“The new ‘Sobonana Kusasa’ song was nice because I felt calm and sleepy,” added Vera Sorotokin.

Meanwhile, classmate Rishi Kutty’s favorite song was “Hey Dum Diddley Dum.” “I sing it at home ’cause I love it so much,” he said.

For William Wu, the best part about music class was the movement aspect. “I liked the running, galloping and jumping movements, holding hands and swaying,” he reported.

“These may seem like simple movements, but children of this age are still learning to move their bodies,” said Beckerman.

In addition to singing and having fun moving around, the TK students took turns playing a range of musical instruments set up at various stations. Together they made a beautiful orchestra of sounds using xylophones, temple blocks with mallets and wooden frog guiros (an instrument with a serrated surface that produces sound when it is scraped).

Back in February it rained and preschool classes of all ages learned about worms.

Students got to look and hold them, as well as sing songs and get on the floor and do a worm dance. During the same month, Beckerman helped organize a successful schoolwide Chinese New Year parade. The children learned the traditional song “Guong Xi” with new lyrics (by Beckerman) that told the traditional story of the Chinese New Year and the monster Nian. During the parade, the students played instruments and wore homemade masks, as well as traditional lion and dragon costumes loaned by a Harker parent.

“I feel like I am where I always really wanted to be – a teacher,” said Beckerman, adding that through teaching comes the ability to help make the world a better place.

Most recently, the music and movement specialty class, along with Harker’s middle school, hosted the inaugural “Music LIVE for Three to FIVE!,” at which the preschool welcomed the middle school’s chamber ensembles.

Under the tutelage of David Hart, the show was led by student performers playing instruments such as the French horn, tuba, alto saxophone, guitar, bass guitar, flute violin and harp.

The music and movement class is one of three specialty classes offered at Harker Preschool. The others are the STEM lab and art studio.

According to Andrea Hart, director of Harker Preschool, all of the specialty classes are broken up by ages.

With the belief that physical development is as important to the young child as any other area of learning, Beckerman uses music and movement experiences to help children gain strength, coordination, agility and a positive relationship with their bodies. “Through dance, games, songs, rolling, sliding, jumping, marching and more, they enjoy and appreciate movement in many forms,” she said.

An Off-Broadway actor for many

years, Beckerman transitioned from musicals to her own one-woman show as a storyteller/ musician, traveling the country and conducting workshops in acting and storytelling. For the past 10 years, her focus has been on music and movement for pre-kindergarten through elementary grades.

The specialty classes are rich with activities and educational materials in each particular subject area, which offer a balance between child-directed exploratory learning and teacher-directed activities. But, said Hart, the specialists make these classes meaningful for each child.

“Mara is a great example of an early childhood professional who is an expert in her subject and has a passion for teaching young children. You can see this every day in her classes; she is deeply interested in knowing and guiding each individual child,” Hart said.

Look for further articles on specialty classes at Harker Preschool in future issues of Harker Quarterly.

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NEW PROGRAM and Other Initiatives Further Harker’s Ongoing Environmental Mission

By Zach Jones

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n April, Harker instituted a new schoolwide program that separates waste into “wet” and “dry” categories. The initiative coincides with a system rolled out by the city of San Jose and Republic Services, which manages waste for commercial users in the area.

trays. “Dry” waste includes drink containers, clean paper and cardboard, and noncompostable food containers.

In addition to compliance with the city of San Jose and Republic Services, this initiative will help “divert as much of our trash toward recycling as possible,” said Diana Moss, upper school Spanish teacher and a member of Harker’s Green Committee. Making this a schoolwide effort will help ensure that students graduating from one campus to the next will be familiar with Harker’s trash procedures, she added.

Labeled cans have popped up on every campus, along with signs indicating what kinds of waste go in each can. “Wet” waste includes food waste and used paper goods, such as napkins, tissues and paper food

Photos by Jonathan Brusco

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“This contributes in a significant way to our green efforts,” said Kate Schafer, upper school science teacher and Green Committee member. “First, we’re making it possible for Republic Services to do their job of diverting material from the landfill, but it also gives us the possibility of assessing our production of waste and reducing it in the future through various efforts such as on-site composting, reduction in use of non-recyclable containers, etc.”

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It may also have some financial benefits in the longer term. “Going forward, Harker could actually reduce its output from the campus by separating our white paper from compostable paper, and we could actually start giving that to a different vendor,” said committee member and upper school science teacher Jeff Sutton. “We can start composting. If we get good at it, we could take our own food waste and compost it into compost soil and then, ultimately, save money because we won’t need as many pickups per week.”

students took quizzes about the wet and dry classifications during their advisories.

Upper school students were informed of the new procedures at the April 14 morning school meeting with a special video and presentation. A bulletin board display in the lunch area, featuring amusing photos of costumed students, also reminds everyone of the proper way to dispose of their trash.

So far, Schafer says, the roll out has been “a big success. Across as many campuses as we are and as many trash cans as we have, [when you] try to change a system, there’s a lot of components to it, there’s a lot of facilities-level changes that need to be made, a lot of education. I think the education part of it is ongoing and will continue to be.”

“On the whole, the community has really gotten behind our efforts,” said Green Committee member Margaret Huntley, a

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

The labeled cans were set up during spring break in classrooms and strategic spots on each campus. Green Committee members have been working to get the word out. Lower school students were informed about the rollout during educational assemblies, and on April 22 – celebrated around the world as Earth Day – faculty and staff wore green and blue to show their support of the wet/ dry program. Meanwhile, middle school

middle school math teacher. “People are pleased to have the opportunity to divert waste from landfill, particularly through the new composting collection. In particular, many of the students returning from exchange trips to Japan and China better understand the importance of protecting our resources and environment.”

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donated to environmental programs.

At the preschool, much of the kitchen’s food waste has been converted into food for worms and rabbits at the campus’ farm area.

In addition, “The facilities crew has diligently saved all of the schoolyard green waste in a compost pile, which has been rotting nicely all year,” Stone said. “We used that compost together with compost created by our worm colony in our garden beds.”

Photo by Jonathan Brusco

“The faculty and staff have been extremely cooperative and open to the new program,” said Robyn Stone, committee member and preschool STEM specialist. “They have asked great questions and come up with systems and strategies for wet/dry reclamation in their own classrooms and offices.” Preschool students have even discovered one additional benefit of the program: “Our preschoolers enjoy sorting out their lunch and snack items into ‘green’ and ‘blue’ bins,” Stone added.

Harker’s dedication to introducing the wet/ dry system effectively and on such a large scale has already received recognition from Republic Services, which gave Harker a recycling award in May. “We’ve had really a lot of positive feedback from Republic Services,” said Schafer. “They’re just so impressed with how serious we are about wanting to do this correctly.”

The wet/dry program is just one piece of the Green Committee’s – and the school’s – continued dedication to making Harker as environmentally responsible as possible. The lower and middle schools began adopting the upper school’s policy of eliminating the use of paper cups among students, faculty and staff. “We removed

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all paper cups from grades 4 and 5. They need to bring their own water bottles or use the water fountains,” said lower school art teacher Gerry-louise Robinson, another committee member. “After-school time has removed [paper] cups too.”

In addition to improved waste management, Sutton cited other improvements such as using more efficient light bulbs, and reducing the amount of printed material by putting information online and increasing electronic communications.

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

Educating the community on the importance of adhering to the new program has been and remains a priority. “We see this new system as a journey, not something with a hard deadline,” said Huntley.

Perhaps the biggest recent step, however, was the Green Committee’s application to get Harker certified as a Green Business by the Bay Area Green Business Program.

Getting certified was originally part of a longer-term plan, but the committee made the decision to apply after it realized how much progress it had made. “At the beginning of the year, we said we wanted to apply some time in the next three years,” said Schafer. “It turned out that we were a lot closer than we realized and there’s a lot of momentum right now to make change and a lot of people are really on board with trying to accomplish this.”

Paper cup usage at the middle school also has been “greatly reduced,” Huntley said, and the hope is that it will be eliminated on campus in the near future.

In February, the middle school’s Green Club began a program to recycle Capri Sun drink containers by using a service called TerraCycle, which collects and recycles materials that are difficult to recycle. The money generated from this effort was

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Although the committee had not yet heard from the California Green Business Program at press time, Schafer pointed out that the decision to apply was itself an indicator of just how far Harker has come in its green efforts thus far. “It may indeed take us another two years to have checked off all those boxes. We’ll have to see, but it’s a huge step,” she said.

Milestones

By Zach Jones

Journalism Teacher Receives Highest Honor from Columbia Scholastic Press Association

Martin Walsh, college counselor, flew to Beijing in May for a global education conference, during which he gave a presentation on the correlation between project-based learning and college admissions. He was invited to present by University of Oregon education professor Yong Zhao. During his presentation, Walsh discussed student involvement in robotics, Harker’s research program, Intel Science Talent Search finalists and semifinalists, the class Student-Directed Showcase, the journalism program and other facets of Harker’s programs that produce wellrounded students.

Stoll expressed gratitude at being nominated and said he was honored by Wong’s sentiments. “Lorraine’s nomination will be a constant reminder to me that I need to see and treat each student as an individual and not compartmentalize them by their grades, that I need to be compassionate, that sometimes I need to be their teacher, [and] sometimes I need to be their friend.”

Art Teacher’s Latest Work Featured in Oakland Gallery “ImmersionVapor,” the latest work from upper school art teacher Joshua Martinez, was featured at Oakland’s Backstock Gallery through June 16.

Using photographs as its medium, the exhibition invoked the feelings of being overcome and surrounded, with the obscuring nature of fog being a central element.

The exhibit also explored the nature of memory and how original sensory experiences fade with time.

Photos provided by Joshua Martinez

Computer Science Teacher Active in Outreach Abigail Joseph, middle school computer science teacher, has been very busy! In midMay, she attended the Making Possibilities Workshop, held at Intel’s headquarters in Santa Clara. The event was geared toward helping public educators and those working with low-income youth, and covered various formal and informal approaches to teaching on a variety of topics. She also spent several weeks working with Harker students for this year’s Technovation Challenge, a competition for young women in technology.

organization dedicated to fostering coding skills in young women of color.

Joseph teamed up with Black Girls Code to deliver mobile app development workshops for nearly 200 middle and high school students. She also worked with a company called Hidden Level Games to hold a game jam workshop.

Joseph also traveled to Nashville in March for the national conference of the National Society of Black Engineers. There, she worked with the Bay Area, New York and Memphis chapters of Black Girls Code, an

That same month, she headed to southern Texas to train a team of Latina middle school girls to develop an app idea that was a winner in this year’s Verizon App Innovation Challenge.

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Photo provided by Abigail Joseph

College Counselor Presents on ProjectBased Learning at Beijing Conference

Bradley Stoll, mathematics department chair, received an Inspirational Teacher Award from MIT in late March.

Lorraine Wong ’13 nominated Stoll for the award, saying, “I am immensely grateful that you believed in me in math, and more importantly, in life, and that you are not afraid to share your belief that being a kind human is more important than getting the best grades in a class.”

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

In March, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) recognized upper school journalism teacher Ellen Austin with a Gold Key Award for excellence in journalism at the CSPA conference, held at Columbia University in New York City. The Gold Key, which dates back to 1929, is the CSPA’s highest honor. “The joy in watching a developing young journalist find his or her voice and being a part of helping him or her find a stance in the world is an incredible experience,” said Austin upon receiving the award.

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

Photo provided by Mark Murray

Math Chair Receives Inspirational Teacher Award from MIT

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PerformingArts

By Zach Jones

Nostalgic, Hilarious “Wedding Singer” Takes Audiences Back to the ’80s

Neon, stone-washed denim and gallons of hairspray made a temporary comeback during the Harker Conservatory’s spring musical, “The Wedding Singer,” which played at the Blackford Theater in late April.

Mid-‘80s New Jersey was the setting for this lovable romantic comedy, directed by Laura Lang-Ree. Happy-go-lucky wedding singer Robbie (Ian

Richardson, grade 12) goes from ecstatic to crestfallen when his longtime girlfriend Linda (Caroline Howells, grade 11) unceremoniously dumps him at the altar with a note. The resulting comedy drew plenty of laughs, as well as “oohs” and “ahhs” for the Katie O’Bryonchoreographed musical sequences, not to mention “awws” for its heartfelt emotional center.

Set against the ostentatious backdrop of the 1980s, “The Wedding Singer” employed many nods to the culture of

the decade. The musical’s score, fittingly filled with touches of synth pop and new wave, was wonderfully played by The Wedding Singer band, directed by Catherine Snider.

Photos by Jacqueline Ramseyer

All performing arts stories have been edited to fit. Please go to Harker News at news.harker.org and search for the event to read the full story!

As with every major performing arts production, the student crew proved invaluable.

Lower School Dance Concert Tunes into TV Classics This year’s lower school dance concert, titled “T.V. Time!” had students moving to the music of classic television shows from multiple eras. Songs were suggested by lower school faculty and staff, and the chosen songs were choreographed by our great faculty dance team!

Students danced to songs from iconic shows such as “Hawaii Five-O,” “The Simpsons, “Friends” and

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“Modern Family,” with each routine paying homage to the settings and characters from each show. Technical director Danny Dunn provided voice-overs and slideshow images relevant to the shows to which the production paid tribute.

PerformingArts Spring Music Concert Features Lower School Talents

The concert also featured several stand-out solo performances from Harker students, including Maya Franz, grade 5, who performed the Dave Brubeck staple “Take Five,” and original compositions by Theodore Kratter, grade 1, Angeline Kiang, grade 4, and Paul Kratter and Anika Fuloria, both grade 5.

Photos by John Ho

Numerous lower school musical groups performed at this year’s Spring Music Concert, held May 8 at the Bucknall Theater.

Spanning many genres and time periods, the concert featured notable performances from the Lower School Orchestra, Lower School Jazz Ensemble, Bucknall Choir and more, with a special appearance by the Guitar Group, which performed a classical guitar piece by Ferdinando Carulli, then skipped ahead a few centuries to play Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”

Harker Singers Come Together at United Voices

Dazzling performances by the middle school groups followed, with highlights including Dynamics’ rendition of Kirby Shaw’s “Happiness Is …,” led by Mary Ellen Agnew-Place; a performance of Duke Ellington and Don George’s “Hit Me With a Hot Note” by the grades 7-8 show choir Harmonics, directed by Agnew-

Place and Monica Colletti; and Vivace’s version of the Phillip Phillips hit “Home,” directed by Dave Hart.

Meanwhile, upper school introductory choir Bel Canto, directed by Jennifer Sandusky, delighted the audience with a medley of Brazilian folk songs and the Susan Nace-directed intermediate vocal ensemble Camerata sang “Dirait-on” from “Les Chansons de Roses.” Female vocal group Cantilena, also directed by Nace, displayed its multicultural talents with versions of Debussy’s “Nuits d’étoiles” and “Dravidian Dithyramb” by Victor Paranjoti. Soon after, Downbeat, codirected by Sandusky and Laura Lang-Ree, showed up to bring the house down, concluding with the Jason Mraz hit “I’m Yours/Over the Rainbow.”

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

Harker singers from the lower, middle and upper schools gathered at San Jose’s Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater on April 1 for this year’s United Voices concert. Kellie Binney-Smart led the Bucknall Choir in the night’s opening performance of W.B. Yeats’ “The Sally Gardens,” set to music by Benjamin Britten, before moving on to Bret McKenzie’s “Life’s a Happy Song” from “The Muppets.”

As has become tradition, the show ended with all of the night’s singers assembled onstage for a special closing number, singing “O Sifuni Mungu” by David Maddux.

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PerformingArts Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

Kindergarten Shows Delight Morning Audiences In early May, the kindergarten classes of Katie Florio, Kimberly Sandoval, Michelle Anderson and Katherine Chi each performed a special show for morning audiences titled “The Bear Went Over the Mountain.”

Inspired by the popular children’s song of the same name, the show featured kindergarten students dressed up as

different animals, each helping their friend Da Bear in his journey over the mountain. The show was directed by music teacher Carena Montany and choreographed by dance teacher Gail Palmer. With each class putting on a separate show, every student got to sing, dance and help carry forward the bear’s efforts to climb the mountain with its friends’ help.

The cuteness factor, with all the little ones dressed in furry animal costumes, was

Upper School Singers Featured at Annual Concert Upper school vocal groups came together for In Concert on May 2.

Jennifer Sandusky directed Bel Canto in a diverse set including “Tres Cantos Nativos Dos Indios Krao,” a song that combines melodies sung by South American natives.

smiles and laughter to the show with pre-intermission picker-uppers.

The girls choir Cantilena, directed

by Susan Nace, sang selections from Europe, including “Dancing Song” by Hungarian composer Zoltán Kodály.

Show choir Downbeat, co-directed by Sandusky and Laura Lang-Ree, came out of the gate with a rousing version of “Something’s Coming” from “West Side Story.” They were joined by Bel Canto for the final song of the evening, Carly Simon’s “Let the River Run.”

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Camerata, also directed by Nace, opened the second half of the show, finishing with Greg Gilpin’s “Keep on Walkin’ Down that Heavenly Road.”

PerformingArts

Disney’s Aladdin Comes to Life in Middle School Musical The middle school performing arts department turned to the works of Walt Disney for this year’s spring musical, bringing the classic animated film “Aladdin” to the stage at the Blackford Theater. The musical followed the plot of the beloved 1992 film, in which the street urchin for which the movie is named (played

by Sahil Kapur, grade 8) comes into the possession of a magic lamp containing a Genie (Sameep Mangat, grade 8) who will grant him three wishes. This prompts a series of exciting and hilarious adventures, with Aladdin trying to undo the machinations of the evil vizier Jafar (Akhil Arun, grade 8) while love blooms between Aladdin and the sultan’s daughter, Princess Jasmine (Vanessa Tyagi, grade 8).

Photos by Casey Valentine

As in the film, the stage production contained many elaborate musical numbers, which were choreographed

by Natalie Quilici. Meanwhile, vocal director Mary Ellen Agnew-Place and music director Lane Sanders presided over the fantastic music from the band and the cast. The film’s Arabian setting was rendered wonderfully by set designer Paul Vallerga, with lighting designed by Natti PierceThomson. As always, student crew members were a crucial part of the operation, helping to ensure that the production ran smoothly at all times.

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PerformingArts Orchestra Wins Gold Award at Chicago International Music Festival

The orchestra’s performance earned high praise from Deborah Gibbs, president and CEO of World Projects, the production company behind the festival, who declared The Harker School Orchestra was the best high school orchestra she had ever heard. Chris Florio, upper school music teacher and director of the orchestra, was similarly enthused. “We have been preparing all year long for this event and I could not be more proud of how our students performed,” he said.

Photo by Mike Bassoni

Spring break was especially memorable for The Harker School Orchestra, which traveled to Chicago to perform at the Chicago International Music Festival – and came home with a Gold Award. Earlier this year, the orchestra was chosen to premiere a new piece by composer Jeremy Van Buskirk. The piece, titled “… such as I am you will be,” was one of three performed by the orchestra at the festival, along with Arturo Marquez’s “Danzon No. 2” and the fourth movement of “Symphony No. 5” by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Middle School Dancers Dazzle at Dance Jamz

Photos by Maria Gong, parent

The annual middle school dance show, Dance Jamz, shook the Blackford Theater March 14-15. Directed by Gail Palmer and assistant directors Rachelle Haun and Kimberley Teodoro (who were also the costumers), the show had students performing exhilarating and complex routines to hitmakers including Lady Gaga, Imagine Dragons, One Republic and Ludacris. Kento Vo, Jasmine Villarreal and Ernie Sierra also choreographed.

The veteran team of technical director Paul Vallerga, sound engineer Brian Larsen and lighting designer Natti Pierce-Thomson were indispensable, as always.

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PerformingArts

Performing Artists Graduate from Conservatory at Senior Showcase

By Catherine Snider Amid the festivities leading up to graduation, seniors active in the performing arts have a pregraduation of sorts: they graduate from the Harker Conservatory’s certificate program, signaling their successful completion of a fouryear course in dance, technical theater, theater, vocal or instrumental music, or musical theater.

Seniors performed selections from their portfolios to a packed house at the Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater in San Jose.

Acts ranged from a Shakespearean monologue, divided into two parts performed toward the beginning and end of the show, to a clarinet sonata during

which the instrument was slowly dismantled section by section, leaving the player with only a mouthpiece.

Dance graduates performed and musical theater students enacted moments from Broadway shows.

Vocalists, a harpist playing a traditional Chinese instrument, and classical and jazz instrumentalists rounded out the eclectic evening, overseen by a technical theater graduate.

Photos by John Ho

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Business & Entrepreneurship

By Edward Hejtmanek ’06

DECA and B.E. Cross Finish Line at Breakneck Pace as part of its Team Business/Wharton School of Business program, intended to help students learn how businesses are actually run. Juston Glass, B.E. chair, said he has received “handson certification [to teach] students to not just learn theory but [the] actual practice” of how to run a business.

T

Photo provided by Juston Glass

he year started at a sprint and ended with a bang for DECA and the new business and entrepreneurship department (B.E.) – and all of the participants earned a well-deserved summer break. B.E. finished a historic first year with record sign-ups for the upcoming school year, while DECA finished with its best-ever International Career Development Conference (ICDC).

DECA is an international organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. The DECA chapter’s trip to the ICDC in Atlanta yielded excellent results, with three top five finishes across various competitions and two more in the top 20, making it Harker’s best performance at the competition.

Attendee Raymond Xu, grade 9, said, “DECA ICDC topped off this year as a showcase of our abilities, and we not only represented Harker but all

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“Because of the way the simulation is structured, we are encouraged to analyze, innovate and ask questions that are important to running a business.”

— Adarsh Battu, grade 12

of California as well.” Harker’s DECA chapter, which sent a record 24 students to the conference, plans to build on this momentum at future international DECA events.

The DECA chapter also is running an ongoing set of interactive simulations

Students have responded very positively to the program. Adarsh Battu, grade 12, said, “Because of the way the simulation is structured, we are encouraged to analyze, innovate and ask questions that are important to running a business,” and that the simulation has “taught me a lot more than I initially expected.”

Meanwhile, the DECA chapter is engaged in a social media contest to pick the theme for a conference it will host in August. It will introduce newcomers to the various components of DECA while helping them develop good relationships with the officers whose DECA careers they hope to emulate.

The B.E. department also has kept busy. This year, it began overseeing Harker’s TEDx series; these talks aim to spread ideas and spark conversation on a variety of topics, such as technology and education.

This year, Harker’s TEDx talks surpassed all previous attendance and performance metrics, with speakers from prestigious companies including David Girouard, founder and CEO of Upstart, a rapidly growing lending company.

Business & Entrepreneurship managed the logistics of the B.E. podcast series as its director of operations, said, “I have been exposed to the life stories and experiences of successful business professionals of the Bay Area.” Luo and fellow students look forward to the continuation of the series.

Photos provided by Juston Glass

The B.E. department has made great strides in its first year at Harker. Like runners after a marathon, the DECA chapter and B.E. programs have crossed the finish line and earned their recovery period. But their breather won’t last long as Glass is expecting increased interest from the student body and explosive program growth next year.

Meanwhile, the B.E. department’s Career Connect program worked to “connect students with their futures.”

Extending an existing mentorship program, Career Connect pairs eager students with mentors and experts in the fields of medicine, business, law, computer science and engineering.

Riya Chandra, grade 9, said, “The panels have been so inspiring to listen to and have even opened up my thoughts for considering other fields that I was not interested in before.”

The program plans to continue pairing mentors and mentees in the coming school year.

series, in which host Glenn Reddy, grade 11, interviews local business leaders about their experiences. Most recently, he interviewed Adam Draper, co-founder and CEO of Boost VC.

In addition, B.E. oversees a podcast

Sophia Luo, grade 10, who has

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Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

Provides Students with State-of-the-Art Learning and Research Space By Debbie Cohen “No student on the Bucknall campus should ever go home to an empty nightstand!”

– Kathy Clark, lower school librarian

Every day is “library day” at Harker’s lower school campus, where daily checkouts have skyrocketed to an all-time high.

When Harker’s lower school relocated from the upper school campus to the Bucknall campus in 1998, library development had been identified as a top priority during many in-depth long-range planning sessions. Improvements to the newly purchased lower school campus included the conversion of the multipurpose room into a library, which then benefited greatly from the school’s annual giving campaign for the purchase of books.

“No student on the Bucknall campus should ever go home to an empty nightstand!” enthused Kathy Clark, lower school librarian, 28

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Her son (Daniel Clark ’10) currently works with Harker’s tech and theater departments.

He worked on sound and lighting, as well as acted as a microphone handler, during the recent library-sponsored Ogre Awards, which is a beloved annual production and part of the library’s grade 2 curriculum of comparative folklore.

To help keep up with increased circulation, the lower school library’s staff of three is aided by a dedicated group of 18 parent volunteers, many of whom have stayed on even after their children moved on to middle school.

“Without the volunteers, we couldn’t do it.

They are the heart and soul of the library,” said Moureen Lennon, a library assistant who also works as the library’s volunteer coordinator. “It’s a huge commitment and

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Photo provided by Katrina Nye

Today, a wealth of materials are available in the library, from DVDs and videos to books on tape and downloadable titles for e-readers. There are also professional and parenting resources, graphic novels, fiction and non-fiction books – more than 19,000 items in all.

A past presenter at the Harker Teachers Institute, California Association of Independent Schools and Internet Librarian and International Society for Technology in Education, Clark is also a member of several library associations as well as a former Harker parent.

ensures that students can check out in a timely manner. All new volunteers are trained on where library items are located and how to reshelve the books,” she added.

Photo by Mark Tantrum

From its humble beginnings as a place used primarily for storytelling in Harker’s former K-8 program, the Bucknall library has evolved into a bookworm’s paradise and 21st century research space for K-5 students.

who has been working at Harker for the past 19 years. “There are a total of 1,200 items in circulation as of right now,” she reported, adding that several hundred books could be checked out on any given day.

Along with expanding the library’s collection, Clark helps students navigate the use Photos courte of 21st century sy of the Hark er Archives technology tools for research. Yet, cautions Clark, even though students can research online nowadays, it’s more important than ever to learn basic information skills. To that end, teaching them how to find, evaluate and use information for research, both online and in print, is a primary focus. television and the movies, Clark said that many folktales heavily influenced popular “I can still remember a time when we children’s movies. “I tell the kids, I don’t used to ask the students if they had do Disney … I have the originals!” she Internet access at home. Now it’s a given. said, referring to the impressive collection But the question is what’s the best way to of international folk and fairytale books search for information online,” explained available in the library.

Clark, adding, “Google is not always the However, Clark stressed that the lower school library offers information in a variety of formats which provide lots of developmental options for students. In addition to the library’s extensive print collections, all Harker students have 24/7 access to more than 90 outstanding subscription databases and thousands of fiction and non-fiction titles through eBook subscription services managed by the libraries.

No matter how they prefer to read books, all lower school students enjoy weekly visits to the library, either for formal classes or free-reading periods. In the primary grades, classes are taught a story-based curriculum, using teaching techniques such as acting, listening and stimulating the imagination.

Noting that books were the precursor to

For example, a group of grade 5 students – Emma-Leigh Stoll, Nilisha Baid, Ryan Tobin and Srinath Somasundaram – were recently in the library videotaping a scene for their “Famous Americans Project,” a special cross-disciplinary assignment between their computer and social studies classes. The project relies heavily on library research to ultimately create original short historic films depicting the lives of selected high-profile individuals.

Although grade 5 students do not attend formal weekly classes, Clark sees them regularly as she collaborates with their subject teachers to teach important research skills through engaging projects and assignments. Additionally, grade 5 students are encouraged to simply read for pleasure through a library program called the Fifth Grade Reads Project.

“In grade 5, we noticed a drop off in interest (and time) for reading due to increased homework and extracurricular activities. We launched the program to help fight that reading drop-off,” said Lennon, who came up with the idea for the project, in which students are regularly introduced to various authors and their works, but are then free to choose and check out anything they want. They are also given freereading time in the library.

Another important element of the lower

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

best choice.”

school library is its ongoing collaboration with teachers across subjects and grades to enrich lessons with information literacy skills.

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In addition to an array of year-round programs and projects, every spring the lower school library hosts a popular annual book fair, which coincides with Grandparents’ Day. Held in the s Archive e Harker tesy of th Bucknall library, Photo cour the sale includes a wide variety of books.

The proceeds support the purchase of additional library materials, but, said Clark, the greatest benefit to the school is the wonderful sense of community the book With a gray wig and other props, the fairs inspire. group was creating a film about Susan B. Anthony, an American social reformer who played a pivotal role in the women’s suffrage movement. The team agreed that the best thing about the project was how much it mirrored the real working world as a truly collaborative experience. The students said they relied heavily on the library’s resources to write their historical script.

“We promote reading through book clubs, book talks, author visits, special displays and summer reading programs.”

– Sue Smith, Library Director

Earlier in the school year, fourth graders worked on a country research project in a collaborative effort between the librarian and language arts teacher. Meanwhile, working in small groups, grade 3 students researched the care and habitat of zoo animals. They then created a “virtual zoo” using online project pages for their library class. (To view those results go to: http:// library.harker.org/zoo.)

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According to Harker’s library director, Sue Smith, information literacy is the cornerstone of the library program schoolwide. “Students enjoy rich collections of print and eBooks selected to support their interests and passions. We promote reading through book clubs, book talks, author visits, special displays and summer reading programs,” she said.

Reflecting back on her own library lessons, grade 4 student Zeel Thakkar said, “I would use library skills in my career … when I read through work-related information and pick out the information I need to solve a problem.”

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Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

“This year we were lucky to embark on collaboration with elementary math teacher Eileen Schick for fourth grade,” reported lower school librarian Katrina Nye. “Students worked on a career project, creating a basic household budget and getting hands-on experience using their online research skills. Every class learned the basics of Web evaluation, gaining an understanding of different sources of information, and using them appropriately in a real-life context.”

Photo by Devin Nguyen ‘12

Another exciting collaborative effort, new this year, is a grade 4 endeavor utilizing both the library and math lab, which formed from a career project developed as part of the fourth grade curriculum.

Debate Harker Debate Teams Score in All Categories Harker has robust debate programs in the middle and upper schools – and it was a successful year for both!

The middle school speech and debate program made history in late May at the first California Middle School Speech & Debate State Tournament! Harker emerged with two state championships - a single and a team - and numerous top five finishes. The students spent countless hours preparing and their hard work definitely paid off.

Sagar Rao, grade 8, was named the 2014 Lincoln-Douglas debate California state champion.

Megan Huynh and Aliesa Bahri, both grade 8, and Maddie Huynh and Avi Gulati, both grade 6, were named 2014 policy debate California state co-champions. In Lincoln-Douglas, Serena Lu, grade 8, took third place and was recognized as the top speaker in her division. Alan Hughes, grade 8, was a quarterfinalist and recognized as the third speaker in his division.

In Policy, Maddie Huynh was recognized as the top speaker in her division. Sonya Verma, grade 7, was recognized as the second speaker in her division.

In Dramatic Interpretation, Nikki Solanki, grade 6, was a finalist and Gulati won fourth place.

In Original Oratory, Millie Lin, grade 8, took fourth place and Riya Gupta, grade 7, took third place.

Congratulations to all!

Middle School

By Karina Momary

Growth and Competitive Success The middle school speech and debate program has seen tremendous growth in the past five years. In 2010, the competitive debate team had fewer than 15 students and participated in only one type of debate. This year, 120 students competed in four styles of debate and 10 speech events.

Team members are dedicated, with students attending lunchtime workshops, after-school practices and weekend competitions. All of this hard work has yielded notable competitive success. The team has been awarded an Overall School of Excellence Award by the National Speech & Debate Association for the past two years.

This prestigious award is given to the top four speech and debate programs nationwide. In addition, the team has won five national championships and numerous regional awards. Several students, including eighth graders Serena Lu and Alan Hughes, have been recognized as undefeated during debates, and speech and debate students in all grades have brought home first, second and third place finishes.

Community

members and providing extra practice to those attending the California Middle School Speech & Debate State Tournament and the National Speech & Debate Association Middle School Nationals.

Preparation for state and national competitions has allowed the students to share the work they have honed over the year with an even larger audience.

Upper School Buddies This year, relationships were forged as upper school buddies helped middle school team members prepare for competitions. Together, the buddy teams have edited cases, watched videos and shared useful feedback – and the result has been tremendous growth for Harker’s younger debaters. This student interaction also will help ease the transition for middle school students as they move on to the upper school. Upper school buddies have provided middle schoolers with personal coaches and a cheering squad for each tournament.

As the teams prepare for summer trips, they are all excited to share their debating skills with the rest of the country.

Karina Momary is a middle school debate teacher.

While competitive success is valued, the speech and debate team also builds a strong sense of community. The program hosts numerous team-building events for students and families. For example, the Forensics Family Dinner offered speech and debate families a chance to share a meal and build lasting connections. The team also hosted a speech and debate showcase in May, giving families and students an opportunity to hear from some of the talented team

Photos provided by Karina Momary

Latebreaking news!

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Debate

Photo provided by Carol Green

Upper School

By Jenny Heidt Harker’s upper school teams took home national titles this year in LincolnDouglas, public forum and congressional debate. Individual events and policy debate students also did very well, and several qualified to compete at nationals. In fact, Harker had more students qualified to compete at the elite Tournament of Champions than any other school in the country.

The team has a long history of winning top awards, but what set this year apart was the breadth of success across all of the forensic events. The upper school team has about 165 students competing in five main events: policy debate, public forum debate, individual events, congressional debate and Lincoln-Douglas debate. The team competes at tournaments throughout the state and nation.

Policy Debate At various policy debate tournaments, our students advocated for lifting the embargo against Cuba, better enforcing money-laundering laws with Mexican authorities and assisting with a reforestation project in Mexico. Other teams proposed entering into a treaty regarding oil with Venezuela, giving more humanitarian aid to Cuba and improving our border infrastructure.

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Several policy debaters are considering debate in college, including our most successful pair of Arya Kaul and Ayush Midha, both grade 11. The duo made it to the final round of the elite University of Southern California Round Robin and qualified for nationals. Anika Jain, Aditi Maheshwari, Emmie Malyugina, Rahul Shukla, Molly Wancewicz, Vienna Wang and Ray Xu, all grade 9; Panny Shan, grade 10; and Nitya Mani, grade 11, also brought home trophies.

Policy debaters compete in pairs, argue about the details of public policy and have one resolution for the entire year.

This year’s topic was about increasing economic engagement with Mexico, Venezuela or Cuba.

Debaters have to innovate and learn about a wide variety of possible public policies to stay current with the topic.

Judges tend to be highly trained in argumentation and are looking for students to maximize the number of logical points made during their speeches.

As a result, the rate of delivery is very rapid and there is a premium on strategic thinking and research skills.

The in-depth research required for success teaches policy debaters skills that go far beyond the debate rounds.

Midha says that policy debate “has been incredibly valuable not only because it has facilitated my research, critical thinking and advocacy skills, but also because the activity has improved my efficiency, time management and organization.” Chandini Thakur, grade 10, agreed, adding, “I’ve learned several methods of research, organization and analysis that I can apply to my other classes.”

Public Forum Debate “Debate teaches you some of the most important skills in life,” said Sorjo Banerjee, grade 10, public forum team member. “Research, public speaking and critical thinking are all required to become adept at debate. Debate is an amazing extracurricular where you grow as an individual and compete with friends.”

Public forum debate is focused on persuading a general audience. Students need to make logical arguments, but focus on public speaking. Their topics change every two months and cover a

Photo provided by Jenny Heidt

Next year, they will debate the development and exploration of the oceans.

wide variety of areas. One of the topics this year asked them to weigh the value of single-sex education, while another was about economic development in India.

Vamsi Gadiraju, grade 11, added that he “enjoyed getting to meet and befriend people from all over the country” and from as far away as China.

Some of the most successful public forum students included Jasmine Liu, grade 10 and Kevin Duraiswamy, Arjun Kumar, Stephanie Lu, Sreyas Misra and Sebi Nakos, all grade 12. Misra and Nakos closed out the National Debate Coaches Association Championship Tournament. Duraiswamy, along with Aadyot Bhatnagar, Nikhil Kishore and Avik Wadhwa, grade 11, and Shreyas Parthasarathy and Jithin Vellian, grade 12, also closed out a tournament, winning a three-way championship at James Logan High

Debate Individual Events Harker will have three students competing at the National Speech & Debate Association Championship in June: Rohith Kuditipudi and Madhu Nori, both grade 11, and Kenny Zhang, grade 12. Continuing on the theme of strong success across the events, Harker set a new record by qualifying five students to compete at the state tournament in individual events.

Kuditipudi; Lisa Liu, grade 10; Steven Wang, grade 11; Andy Wang, grade

Policy debate “has been incredibly valuable not only because it has facilitated my research, critical thinking and advocacy skills, but also because the activity has improved my efficiency, time management and organization.”

– Ayush Midha, grade 11 12; and Zhang performed very well at the state tournament, with four of them advancing to semifinals.

Students in individual events compete in categories such as original oratory, extemporaneous speaking or dramatic interpretation of literature. Unlike the other debate events, there is not an element of refutation and so students strive to perfect their presentation and are largely judged based on their public speaking skills.

dents and the quality of the program.

Lincoln-Douglas Debate

Photos provided by Jenny Heidt

School. Finally, Maneesha Panja, grade 12, and Nakos were the champions of the College Prep School Round Robin.

Sarah de Vegvar, grade 9, said that when she was in middle school, she never dreamed she would enter into speech competitions, but that the experience has given her a “chance to improve [her] public speaking skills and become more well-rounded.”

Congressional Debate “My favorite aspect of (congressional) debate is learning how to deal with competitors in a group setting,” said Sandip Nirmel, grade 9. “This is especially important in congressional debate, where politics play a large role in deciding who gets to speak the most and who gets the most influence in the chamber.

Learning people skills is really important for me because I know that they are relevant in the real world,” he added.

Students in congressional debate propose and debate various pieces of mock legislation. They need to be well-versed in current events and excellent public speakers to be successful. Captain Saachi Jain, grade 12, was a fantastic team leader and was especially helpful in coordinating the many research assignments that are needed for the students to be ready to give speeches about a wide variety of domestic and international topics.

Her leadership helped Aditya Dhar and Misha Tseitlin, both grade 9, qualify for nationals. Tseitlin was also first at the National Debate Coaches Association Championship. It is unusual for freshmen to do so well at the varsity level and it speaks to the talent of these stu-

Srikar Pyda, grade 12, and Pranav Reddy, grade 11, had particularly successful years in Lincoln-Douglas competitions. Both young men qualified for nationals. Reddy also took home first place at the National Debate Coaches Association Championship and won titles at several invitationals. There is no one official ranking system for season-long performance, but it is safe to say that Reddy was one of the top five debaters in the country and that Pyda was not far behind him.

Lincoln-Douglas students debate as individuals and their topics change every two months. The topics tend to be philosophical and ask students to weigh competing values. For instance, one of the spring topics asked how poorer nations should prioritize economic development when it poses a threat to the environment.

Natalie Simonian, grade 10, summed up her first year of Lincoln-Douglas debate by saying that she had “a lot of fun going to tournaments” and making “many new friends and getting closer to some of the old ones thanks to debate.”

Summer Plans Many students are looking forward to a major tournament this June in Kansas City. Harker also has students participating in summer debate workshops that last between one and seven weeks. It has been a great season and the teams look forward to preparing for the next one!

Jenny Heidt is an upper school debate teacher.

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EagleReport

By Steve Boyle ’06

Upper School

Athletes Have Solid League Finishes, Set Harker Records and Take Academic Honors

W

hat a spring for Harker sports!

Harker’s hard-working athletes excelled on the field this spring, with amazing streaks, playoff competition and some jaw-dropping results! On the academic front, Harker had 10 – count ’em, 10! – top five varsity spring 2014 CCS scholastic championship teams. Those 10 teams had the highest collective grade-point average of all teams competing in their sport. Harker’s teams finished in the top five for every spring sport in which we field a team, an amazing accomplishment. Together, the athletic and academic accomplishments are a strong testament to Harker’s ability to foster highly competitive athletes and great minds!

Golf The boys varsity golfers had a historic run this year, finishing third in the CCS regional tournament and sixth in their first-ever appearance in the CCS championships, ahead of league-rival Sacred Heart Prep! The future of Harker golf looks exceptionally bright as well, as the entire boys team will return next year, and the middle school golf team won its fifth consecutive WBAL tournament!

Golfer Shrish Dwivedi, grade 11, was among the athletes who best exemplified the combination of athletic and academic achievement. After becoming co-league MVP, Dwivedi traveled to Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., to compete in the Future Collegians World Tour (FCWT) Championship, where he brought home a top three finish trophy in an international field of about 140 players, was named to the FCWT AllAcademic Team and was awarded the First Team All-FCWT Award, becoming the only male to receive both academic and athletic honors.

Photos by Stefan Armijo

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Track and Field The track and field team competed in the league finals on May 17, where freshman phenom Niki Iyer became the new league champion in both the 1,600m and 3,200m runs! Meanwhile, senior Wei Wei Buchsteiner became the league champion in the high jump, setting a new Harker record of 5’9”– a foot better than the previous record.

At the junior varsity championships, freshman Davis Dunaway won four events, while freshman Misha Ivkov placed in the top six in four events en route to the JV boys winning the team championship! These performances catapulted Harker’s athletes into

the CCS preliminaries, where Iyer finished second and set a new Harker record.

In late-breaking news, Iyer placed fifth overall in the CCS 3,200m run, breaking her own week-old school record with a time of 10:51.14!

Swimming The swim team qualified for all CCS relays and sent a solid half of its swimmers and divers to the championships!

In a late-breaking update we are glad to report junior Aaron Huang made CCS finals, placing 14th in the 200 IM and 12th in the 100 breaststroke; senior Kimberly Ma placed 14th in the 500 freestyle and junior Stacey Chao placed 35th out of 51 1-meter divers.

Photos by Stefan Armijo

EagleReport

Volleyball The boys went 20-14 this season, reaching the CCS quarterfinals after crushing Sobrato in their first-round matchup in straight sets. The team averaged 10 kills and 11.7 digs per set on the year, while also racking up 121 aces and 157 total blocks in its 34 games. Senior Andrew Zhu led the team in kills per set with 3.7, while junior Matt Ho led the team in kill percentage (59.7 percent) among players who played more than 50 sets. Zhu also led the team with 33 aces and an ace percentage of 13.2. Senior Will Deng led the team with 48 blocks.

The future of Harker volleyball looks bright as well, as the middle school squad won 53 of 54 games over the past three years, including winning the last 35 straight!

Baseball It was a rebuilding year for the team as the young squad faced off against varsity competition and finished 3-22 overall and 0-12 in league. As a whole, the team hit .248 with an excellent .355 on base percentage but a less-than-optimal .318 slugging percentage. In 25 games, the team

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EagleReport Tennis

scored 112 runs and hit 32 doubles, four triples and two homers. The speedsters also stole 62 bases, and were only thrown out three times all year! Pitching will be a key area of improvement for the team next year, as it finished with a 9.09 earned run average in 156 1/3 innings pitched.

Lacrosse

Photos by Stefan Armijo

Softball The softball team also is in the midst of a rebuilding year, going 1-15 and 0-8 in league. Overall, the team hit .238 with a .352 on base percentage and .298 slugging percentage for a total .650 on base plus slugging.

The team also scored 90 runs with the help of 15 doubles, three triples and a homer. On the mound, the team finished with an 8.52 earned run average in 92 innings pitched.Â

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Big news in middle school tennis!

Harker’s varsity A team, comprising students in grades 6-8, went 20-0 this year and swept both the public and private league championships! That makes this the first time the team has ever gone undefeated and the first time it has won both titles. Winning, however, is not new to these players; the team is 36-2 over the past two years and has won three of the last four division titles!

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The girls finished in second place in league this year with a 5-3 record, ending the year by avenging an earlier loss to Sacred Heart Prep with a 13-7 trumping.

EagleReport Middle School & Lower School

By Theresa Smith

Girls Volleyball

Baseball

Tennis

Varsity A (grades 7-8), coached by Stephanie Coleman and Diana Melendez, went 7-2 overall and took third place in the WBAL. MVP: Lauren Napier, grade 8; Eagle Award: Melissa Kwan, grade 8; Coaches Award: Megan Cardosi and Kristen LeBlanc, both grade 8.

Varsity A (grades 7-8), coached by Jeff Paul, Matt Arensberg and Carl Yaffe, went 1-4-1 overall and took fifth place in the WBAL. MVP: Chris Smith, grade 8; Eagle Award: Zach Hoffman, grade 7; Coaches Award: Tanay Kamat, grade 8.

Varsity B (grades 7-8), coached by Therese Wunnenberg, went 5-2 overall and took second place in the WBAL. MVP Allison Cartee, grade 7; Eagle Award: Laura Wu, grade 7; Coaches Award: Catherine Wang, grade 7.

Junior Varsity A (grades 6-7), coached by Dan Pringle, Gustavo Cordova and Joe Newman, went 1-5-1 overall and took sixth place in the WBAL. MVP: Logan Frank, grade 7; Eagle Award: Jack Dawson, grade 7 and Asmit Kumar, grade 6; Coaches Award: Henry Cuningham, grade 6 and Trevor Thompson, grade 7.

Varsity A (grades 6-8), coached by John Fruttero and JP Fruttero, went 7-0 and were league champs of the WBAL! They also went 5-0 and were league champs of the MTP! They finished 15-1 overall, winning the WBAL tournament and taking second place in the MTP tournament. MVP: Brandon Mo, grade 8, Neil Ramaswamy, grade 7 and Joshua Valluru, grade 6; Eagle Award: Neil Bai and David Wen, both grade 8; Coaches Award: Elizabeth Schick, grade 8.

Varsity B2 (grades 7-8), coached by Candace Silva-Martin, went 6-0 and were league champs in the WBAL! MVP: Uttara Saha, grade 8; Eagle Award: Danya Zhang, grade 8; Coaches Award: Nicole Selvaggio, grade 7.

Junior Varsity A (grade 6), coached

by Vonda Reid, went 6-1 overall and took second place in the WBAL. Eagle Award: Grace Hajjar, Anna Gert and Emily Cheng Junior Varsity B6 (grade 6), coached

by Alyssa Glascott, went 6-1 overall and were league champs in the WBAL! MVP: Michelle Kwan; Eagle Award: Rashmi Iyer; Coaches Award: Annabelle Ju. Junior Varsity B1 (grade 5), coached

by Laura Wolfe, went 7-0 and were league champs in the WBAL! MVP: Michelle Ning; Eagle Award: Santoshi Tirumala and Julia Yusupov; Coaches Award: Alexandra Baeckler.

Junior Varsity B2 (grade 5), coached

by Miles Brown, went 1-6 overall and took seventh place in the WBAL. MVP: Advika Phadnis, Eagle Award: Pramiti Sankar; Coaches Award: Anika Fuloria.

Intramural (grade 4), coached by Ellie Crane and Vanessa Rios, enjoyed a few months of learning the game of volleyball. Eagle Award: Anishka Raina; Coaches Award: Uma Misha.

Junior Varsity B (grade 5), coached

by Jon Cvitanich and Joe Mentillo, went 2-2-1 overall. They did not report final league standings due to the grade 5-6 crossover play. MVP: Levi Sutton, grade 5; Eagle Award: Kishan Sood, grade 5; Coaches Award: Eric Zhu, grade 5.

Intramural (grade 4), coached by Jim McGovern and Tobias Wade, enjoyed developing their baseball skills in the spring sunshine. Eagle Award: Jack Hayashi and Arnav Dani; Coaches Award: Kaden Kapadia

Boys Volleyball Varsity A (grades 7-8), coached by Pete Anderson, went 8-1 overall and were league champs of the ADAL – their second league championship in a row! MVP: Derek Jones, grade 8 and Chris Gong, grade 7; Eagle Award: Jeffrey Kwan, grade 6.

Junior Varsity A (grades 6-7), coached by Travis Jones, went 5-4 overall and took second place in the ADAL. MVP: Rahul Goyal, grade 7; Eagle Award: Henry Wiese, grade 6; Coaches Award: Neal Sidhu, grade 6.

Varsity B (grades 6-8), coached

by John Fruttero and JP Fruttero. All matches were exhibition matches and, therefore, were not scored. MVP: Jerry Chen, grade 8; Eagle Award: Alex Wang, grade 8.

Water Polo Varsity B (grades 6-8), coached by Ted Ujifusa and Peter Blume, went 6-0 and were league champs of the WBAL, becoming the first Harker middle school water polo team to win a league title!

MVP: Emma Brezoczky, grade 8; Eagle Award: Bobby Bloomquist, grade 7; Coaches Award: Cassandra Ruedy and Alicia Xu, both grade 6.

Golf Middle School (grades 6-8), coached

by Ie-Chen Cheng, shot a 180 (top five golfers’ scores) and were league champs of the WBAL spring golf tournament! This is the middle school golf team’s fifth WBAL league title in a row in the last three years (they play fall and spring each year)!

Theresa Smith and Karriem Stinson would like to thank all who have supported the Harker lower and middle school sports program over the 201314 school year.

GO EAGLES!

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h p m u i r T s Boy

in Two Upsets to Earn Harker’s First Trip To Boys League Championship

T

he 2014 Eagles varsity basketball squad made school history this winter, overcoming adversity and injuries to shock the league by becoming the first Harker boys team in any sport to reach the section finals. This is their tale.

With only three games left in the league season, Harker was staring down a potential under-.500 year. The team had lost all of its captains to injury at various points in the season and its final games were against top league teams, including two teams vying for first place. A few weeks later, the team had rewritten Harker’s record books. How did the Eagles pull it off?

Photo by Peter Doven

By Steve Boyle ’06

“Starting 2-0 with those as the two wins was very exciting,” coach Butch Keller reported months later. After a summer in which Harker had won the summer league and a fast start before the league season, Harker looked primed to go on a dynamic run.

Adversity Strikes

In the very next game, the adversity began. Harker entered the Lynbrook Tournament and drew Homestead, another top team, in the first game. They were well on their way to handily defeating Homestead, giving them three wins against three powerhouses by at least 10 points each, when captain Holt, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder, broke his thumb. Holt was to be out for six to eight weeks. In their next game, Harker was crushed by Mills. “They beat us pretty badly,” recounted Keller. “The loss of Eric threw us into a little tailspin.”

The Road Gets Tougher

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Rough Losses and Setbacks

Harker would lose to Pinewood and then to Sacred Heart Prep, starting the league H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY

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Photo by Stefan Armijo

Photo by Stefan Armijo

After the Lynbrook Tournament, Harker’s next major preseason competition was the Monta Vista Tournament. The team had so far survived the injury to Holt, rattling off a series of wins against beatable teams. Now, in the first game of the tournament, Harker would play Bellarmine, a fearsome team it had never played – and the Eagles’ toughest challenge yet. That’s when, in the final practice before the game, Harker’s all-league starting point guard of the last three years, senior captain Johnny Hughes, rolled his ankle. Bellarmine crushed Harker. The Eagles rebounded in their next game, but lost a heartbreaker in the third game of the tournament by a single point on the last play before the buzzer.

It was a rough way to end the preseason, and a tough loss line in the final tune-up before league play began. The road would only get more challenging, however; in the weekend before the very first league game – against Pinewood, the eventual champ – Hughes’ replacement, junior Nicholas Nyugen, hurt his back. Harker would enter league play down three players, including two captains.

Photo by Casey Valentine

When the season began, the Eagles looked like the championship squad it eventually would become. In scrimmages before the start of league play, the team faced off against teams it rarely plays, like powerhouses Gunn and Monta Vista. Harker ambushed Gunn 70-58, led by 16 points and eight rebounds from senior Will Deng and 15 points and seven rebounds from junior Eric Holt. Next, the team stunned Monta Vista, trumping them by 17 points on the back of Holt’s double-double, including a massive 19 rebounds. Harker was on a roll, and the whole team could feel it.

Photo by Stefan Armijo

Early Hopes

season in an early 0-2 hole. As the team adjusted to the injuries, it rallied off a few wins, then a skid of losses, including to teams it expected to beat. Slowly, Holt, Hughes and Nyugen came back from their injuries, but just as the team had learned to adjust to life without them, they now had to learn how to gel again with the newly restored lineup. “When players come back, you’ve already adjusted, and it takes another adjustment to get used to that,” said Keller.

As the season drew to a close, Harker faced a sobering prospect: a best-case scenario fourth-place finish, and a worstcase scenario sixth-place finish. “We were pretty shot,” recalls Keller. “We might end up finishing under .500 for the season.”

That was when the Eagles found themselves with three games left – against three of the top teams in the league: Woodside Priory, Sacred Heart Prep and Pinewood.

The Final Three Games

There was great news, though. For the first time all season, Harker had its whole team back. Against Woodside, the Eagles played like a team rejuvenated, leaping out to a 20-point lead at halftime. That was when injury struck again. The team’s all-league first-team center, Deng, who according to Keller, “put the team on his shoulders” during the most challenging days of the season, tore his ACL. The Eagles had their team whole for only half a game.

Harker finished off its win against Woodside, but the next game would be one of their toughest of the season as the team faced Sacred Heart Prep, a first-place team with only one loss for the year. As Keller would later recall, “nobody remembered the last time Harker beat Sacred Heart.”

Now, Harker was to play them without their center, who had started every game for the last two years and was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder.

Deng’s replacement was senior Huck Vaughan, who would go on to have the game of his life in an upset that would shake the league and make the San Jose Mercury News. Vaughan would score 23 points, more than any other player in the game, to lead Harker to a 71-65 stunner and dash

Sacred Heart’s hopes for a league title. Suddenly, something special was happening for Harker.

Going into the game, Sacred Heart was tied with Pinewood for the league lead, with each team having only lost once this season. The loss thrust Sacred Heart into second place, but if Harker beat Pinewood – which would have to be an upset as well – Sacred Heart would finish first and potentially play Pinewood for the championship. So Sacred Heart Prep traveled to watch Harker take on Pinewood, and see if maybe, just maybe, they would tie for first. Lo and behold, in the final game of the regular season, still without Deng, Harker entered the second half trailing 29-21, then roared back, outscoring Pinewood 30-16 in the second half and winning 51-45.

Harker was on a phenomenal run, and the clubhouse could feel it. “When we walked into the locker room” during this stretch, Holt recalled, “everyone had a smile on their face.”

Now, the CCS seeders had some work to do: Pinewood and Sacred Heart Prep finished tied for first, but Harker was the only team to have beaten them both, and had just laid a beating on Priory. Suddenly, from staring down the barrel of an under-.500 year, Harker had earned a first-round bye.

Big Playoff Wins

Harker’s first playoff game was against Carmel High. Despite what the coach called an “awful matchup without Will,” the team, through sheer tenacity, won the game, catapulting it into the quarterfinals. Now, the boys would travel to Santa Cruz to play Soquel in the massive Kaiser Permanente Arena, home to the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA’s Developmental League.

Though Harker was the sixth seed and Soquel was the third, it was a sure bet that Soquel would not underestimate Harker as two years ago, a seventh-seeded Harker team had knocked out a second-seeded Soquel. Soquel’s star player now, a senior, was a sophomore when that happened and was not going to take Harker lightly.

Soquel jumped out early, building up a doubledigit lead. That continued into the fourth quarter, which got off to a rough start for Harker. The coach called a timeout with just over six minutes to go and the team down a dozen points. The message was simple and stark: “You have been on an amazing run and nobody would blame you if it ended here, but I truly believe that we are the better team.” From that point on, Harker went on a 20-2 run, winning by nine. The arena went from rocking to so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Keller noted that that run, in that huge venue, was a highlight of his coaching career he will long remember.

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Next up: The semifinals against Seaside, an athletic team with two Division 1 prospects and a deep bench. And while the players might not have underestimated Harker, Seaside’s fans sure did.

Keller recalls a Seaside fan spotting two Harker fans in the stands and commending them for appearing while offering his condolences for the beating they were about to witness. “It’s so great of you to come out and support your team,” he is rumored to have said. “It’s going to be a tough afternoon. We’re probably going to score 100 points on you.” Famous last words, as the saying goes.

Indeed, Seaside jumped on Harker hard, but just as they had all season, the Eagles rebounded, hitting 10 of 10 free throws down the stretch and winning by 10. The fan was stunned. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this,” Keller recalls him lamenting.

Photo by Peter Doven

The Season Ends

Photo by Stefan Armijo

One Family, Three Pitchers

By Steve Boyle ’06

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any baseball and softball teams would be blessed to have a trio of aces. Tina Bean and Aaron Bean ’85 have given Harker that many from one family. Their three children – Sarah, Nicolas and Annalyn – are all Harker students, and all pitchers.

Photo by Stefan Armijo

The eldest is Sarah, a junior. She is also the newest to pitching – or at least to pitching again. When Harker’s softball coaches learned before the start of the season that their expected pitcher would not be able to play, they asked Sarah to step up. “It was completely unexpected that we weren’t going to have a pitcher,” Sarah said. Luckily for the team, however, the coaches knew that Sarah had pitched a bit when she was younger.

A few months before the season began, Sarah started working with the coaches, pitching semiweekly. At practices, the team would simulate pitching in a live game to get her up to speed. “The coaches had faith in me. It has been a huge responsibility, but one that I have been willing to take on because of my love of the team and of the sport,” she said. Last year, the team had the best pitcher in the league, with the most strikeouts. Replacing her would be daunting. “This year, it was such a void that needed to be filled,” Sarah said.

Sarah, her younger brother, Nicolas, grade 9, and their younger sister, Annalyn, grade 3, have grown up with the sport. “We’ve always been a big softball and baseball family,” said Sarah.

“As long as I can remember, we’ve always watched the Giants on TV, so as soon as I could start playing softball, I wanted to.” They have also grown up with tremendous encouragement from their parents. “With Dad coaching, and Mom coming to almost every game, it’s a great support base that we have,” said Nicolas. “It feels really good to have everybody out there.”

Photo by Jordan Reeder

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That game would mark the high point of Harker’s season. In their next game, despite a packed house of Eagles fans, Harker lost to Sacred Heart Prep. Harker had earned its first-ever trip to the section finals and traveled to play one last game, on the road, against the fourth-seeded team in all of Northern California, which it lost. However, the Eagles’ amazing run had rewritten

Nicolas has taken the Harker baseball team by storm. In his first year of high school, playing on the varsity team against the best players – much older players – on other teams, he had the highest batting average on the Eagles, hitting a preposterous .448, while also playing in all 25 of the team’s games and recording by far the most at-bats and plate appearances. His 39 H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY

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For his part, Holt cites veteran leadership and a deep bench as one reason Harker excelled. “This was our first year of having mostly juniors and seniors on the team,” he says. “Their leadership really helped us battle through.” He saw that firsthand after his own injury. “A lot of my teammates were pretty depressed,” he recounted, “but they got over it pretty quickly, because they realized they had the ability to step up and play through it even without me, and I thought they played really well without me.” When pressed on who stepped up in his absence, Holt gives credit to the whole team, saying that “everyone, on every single night, had the ability to play really well,” whether it was junior Sriv Irrinki nailing a number of threes on a tough shooting night for the rest of the team, or senior Wei Wei Buchsteiner’s running up of 20 points.

Harker’s tenacity was particularly exemplified by Deng, who was knocked out late in the season and worked hard with the team’s trainer to finally be able to return for the very last game

of the season, and the last of his Harker career, in the section finals. Many players off the bench had to step up from playing less than half the minutes of the game to playing nearly all of them. Throughout it all, one tough bunch of athletes weathered storm after crashing storm, stayed strong in the face of adversity and bonded to write a new page in Harker athletics history.

Photo by Casey Valentine

the rules for Harker basketball. If the team, which has many of its players returning, makes it to the section finals again, it will do so with the experience of having already been there once.

hits and 21 runs scored led the team, as did his .713 slugging percentage.

having fun out there with her friends, and that’s one of the most important parts of a sport.”

While Nicolas is the middle child, Sarah says that when it comes to athletics, he’s a model for her. “I look up to him in sports so much,” she said. Nicolas “totally gives himself to the sport.” And, “he’s the best hitter I know.”

So, will Annalyn play for Harker one day?

On the mound, Nicolas’ 29 innings pitched were fourth-most on the team, and his 31 strikeouts were second-most. That’s meant a lot to the ballclub, but nothing compared to what Sarah’s performance meant to saving the softball squad this year. She pitched 85 of the team’s 92 innings, starting 14 games. With some pitchers from the eighth grade team heading to the upper school next year, Sarah is ready to return to her favorite position: third base.

Sarah and Nicolas grew up not only rooting on for the Giants together, but also playing and working to improve together.

“We have always tried to practice together and make each other better,” she said, adding that Nicolas “always complains that we use a softball when we play catch!”

“Yeah, for sure,” said Sarah.

Sarah is a more than effective advocate for Harker’s softball team. Though Sarah has played softball all of her life, she talks about falling in love with the sport all over again because of the team at Harker. “We are the strangest group of people ever,” she said, “but we just work for some reason.”

The closeness that she has within her own family translates to her team as well. “It’s a family thing,” she volunteered, “in that everyone on the team is like family.

You get so close with the people you’re working with every day. I think that makes you appreciate them more.” For someone who knows what it is like to play the sport with the people she loves, it is a powerful sentiment and a testament to the atmosphere that the Harker coaching staff – led by Raul Rios with assistants Ray Fowler, Dan Hudkins and Rikki Martinez – has created.

“Even at this young age, she’s showing so much potential – bounds above where I was at that age.”

The Beans also have a new pitcher on “My love for softball comes from my love - Sarah Bean, grade 11, on her the way; Annalyn promises to be an asfor the people I am playing with,” said sister Annalyn, grade 3 set for Harker one day in her own right.

Sarah. Harker’s softball team has given “She is a natural athlete,” said Sarah.

Sarah a new family, and like her actual “She is crazy athletic.” Sarah stopped family, it’s full of hurlers and sluggers, by one of Annalyn’s pitching lessons having a great time together. “Having fun – that’s what it’s all and, shocked by the level of talent she saw, asked Annalyn to about for all of us,” says Nicolas. “The game is fun, and that’s promise that she would work to one day play in college. “Even why we want to go back out there.” With Sarah and Nicolas at this young age, she’s showing so much potential – bounds returning to their teams next year, and Annalyn surely on the above where I was at that age,” says Sarah. Nicolas sees someway, the future looks bright for Harker’s baseball and softball thing else in Annalyn: her spirit. “Annalyn is very hardworking teams, and for the Bean family pitchers. and just enjoys the game,” says Nicolas. “Overall, she just likes H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY

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Advancement Historic Matching Gift Challenge Launched to Support Harker Events Center By Ellen DiBiase At the annual Head of School’s Circle Celebration on May 2, Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, announced that Jeff and Marieke Rothschild (Isaac, grade 12; Jackiel, grade 10) had Photos by Kyle Cavallaro generously made a $10 million matching gift challenge. The annual celebration honors Harker’s leadership donors, who are recognized, thanked and shown the impact of their donations.

The Rothschilds will match, dollar-fordollar, all gifts to the capital campaign up to $10 million that meet the following criteria: 1) pledges must be made between April 21 and Oct. 12, 2014, and 2) pledge payments must be made in the years 2014, 2015 and/or 2016.

The challenge is meant to inspire all members of the Harker community to join in and make a gift to help build a much-needed theater and gymnasium. The matching gift challenge, if achieved, will allow the school to begin construction on the new events center a full year earlier than previ-

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ously thought possible without a gift of this magnitude.

“Marieke and I looked at the Harker community, what the school has meant to our children; we know that this events center is not going to be here for their benefit, directly, but everything on this campus is here for a reason. It is here because the Harker community envisioned it and pulled together and made it happen, and this project will be no different,” Rothschild said at the event, surrounded on stage by performing arts and athletics students.

The Rothschilds had previously made a $1 million gift to the school to help with the purchase of the preschool campus. They decided to contribute again with a transformational gift, leading the fundraising effort for the events center because they recognize the impact the building will have on the entire Harker community. Structuring their matching gift challenge as they did – by matching the pledges and gifts made within the given time frame – will enable Harker to provide this much-needed facility to benefit the students and families one year sooner.

If the match is met and construction goes as planned, the Harker community will cut the ribbon on the events center in fall 2016. Current Harker families, as well as alumni and parents of alumni, will be able to enjoy games and productions in much more suitable facilities, improving the experience sig-

nificantly. The enhanced school spirit and pride invoked by the activities that will take place in this new building is one of the most anticipated benefits.

Preparing students for college and beyond by providing academic and programmatic excellence is at the heart of the Harker mission and will continue to be the central focus of the school’s whole-mission approach.

Head of School Chris Nikoloff said that the events center will have a positive impact on Harker’s century-old mission both directly, from the numerous activities and events that will take place there, and also through the ability to allow other departments to expand into spaces currently used by athletics and performing arts that will be vacated when those activities move into the new facility.

Donors who rise to the challenge and make a capital gift during the match period will be recognized as a member of the Partners’ Circle, with their name added to an inaugural plaque in the atrium of the events center. Securing the $10 million in matching gift pledges from the Harker community over the next few months is a tall order, but, as the Rothschilds said at the Head of School’s Circle Celebration, “Together

Advancement we can all make this happen. The sooner, the better.”

Many parents and faculty members already have started planning their pledges and making gifts to be matched.

Harker parents Alex Franz and Keiko Horiguchi (Kai, grade 7; Maya, grade 5; Nina, grade 3) stated, “We can see the strategic importance of the theater and gymnasium project for all of Harker, so we wanted to join the campaign to support this construction. Harker provides an exceptional setting where kids can unfold their potential and reach for the

parents and teachers alike – sharing the impact they envision the new building will have on the Harker community is also available on the website, alongside Harker’s Vision Statement, which illustrates how the construction of the events center is aligned with Harker’s overall strategic plan through 2020.

stars. The amazingly generous matching grant, which lets us double our contribution, led us to donate before the beginning of the next school year, and we wanted to support the best-case construction schedule so we just decided to make the donation right away.”

Those interested in learning more about the proposed events center can visit www.harker.org/eventscenter to review the “Case for Supporting the Events Center” booklet. A video featuring a virtual tour and several members of the Harker community – students,

Interest in making a capital pledge can be expressed by clicking the “Pledge Now” button on the events center website or by contacting Rosenthal directly at joe.rosenthal@harker.org or 408.345.9266.

Successful Golf Classic and Wine Tasting Brings a Range of Community Members Out on Beautiful Day By Debbie Cohen

First-place winners were Greg Lawson, Meurig Morgan and Allen Beede. Second-place winners were Scott and Susan McNealy, and Andrea and Chris Umdenstock. Longest drive went to Erik Verbeek (men) and Susan McNealy (women). Closest to pin was achieved by Evan Barth (men) and

Dorothy Scarpace (women).

After the final round, golfers were joined by spouses and guests at the McNealys’ home for a fabulous wine reception (son Maverick ’13 plays on Stanford’s nationally third-ranked golf team and just qualified for the U.S. Open - see alumni section). Participating wineries were Corvalle and Left Bend, as well as distributor Joseph George Fine Wines.

The Stanford golf course, designed in 1930 by renowned golf course architects William Bell and

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

Harker once again hosted the annual Harker Golf Classic at the Stanford University Golf Course, consistently rated one of the finest university courses in the world. The event, held April 14, raised $28,000 for Harker’s general endowment fund.

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Advancement Grandparents’ Day Delights at Both Preschool and Lower School

By Debbie Cohen

Golf Classic, cont.

George C. Thomas, is located in the foothills above the Stanford University campus. In 2009 it was rated the nation’s third-best college course by golf coaches.

After the event, the advancement department gave special thanks to the day’s presenting sponsors: Sarvajna and Seema Dwivedi, Shi An Liu and Ping Xu, Ram and Indira Reddy and social network company Wayin. Further sponsorship was provided by Big Valley Ford Lincoln, Golfsmith, Golftec, C. Denise Brodersen and Harry and Lovelee Singh.

At the end of the day, beyond enjoying a good game of golf, all the participants left secure in the knowledge they had helped raise funds for Harker’s general endowment, which will benefit generations of students to come.

Photos provided by Maria Gong

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

During the day, students and their special guests were treated to entertaining demonstrations by an array of circus folks, including hula-hoopers, stilt walkers, jugglers, clowns, balloon artists and face painters. The entertainers walked throughout the lower school campus, interacting with participants.

In early May, Grandparents’ Day events were held at Harker’s lower school and, for the first time, at the new Harker Preschool. On this charming day, grandparents and grandfriends visited the campuses to tour and participate in activities with the special children in their lives.

“Grandparents’ Day is already a wonderful and long-standing tradition at Harker’s lower school. Now, preschoolers on the Union campus have joined in on the fun!” enthused Andrea Hart, director of Harker Preschool.

The captivating morning of exploration and play for students and their honored guests served as an opportunity for preschool teachers and specialists to provide a glimpse of all the incredible happenings at Harker Preschool, according to Hart.

“On hand was a variety of displays and interactive activities from the preschool’s talented staff, including the art instructor, music and movement teacher and STEM specialist,” she said.

At the lower school, the event was marked by an elaborate circus theme.

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“Our goal was to entertain and also to create awareness about the abuse of circus animals. We had more than 450 visitors,” reported Teré Aceves, director of preschool-5 volunteer programs.

Advancement “The Berry Orchard is this year’s senior class gift.

It will be a beautiful orchard located in the space between Dobbins and Nichols halls, in memory of Jason. The seniors have raised most of the money to fund it, to pay for trees, a statue, a pathway, a bench,” said Melinda Gonzales, Harker’s managing director of advancement.

Through class fundraising and their senior donations, the students rallied together to raise $8,414. A donation from the graduating class also will be made to The Jason Berry Endowed Scholarship Fund.

An initial tree-planting ceremony heralding the coming of the orchard took place at the end of April, with many students participating, including Berry’s former advisees, soccer players he coached, English students he taught and members of the senior class.

According to Gonzales, Modern Woodmen of America also donated and took part in the planting of four fruit trees for the planned orchard. In past years, representatives from Modern Woodmen of America have donated trees to the upper school campus, in conjunction with Earth Day and National Tree Planting Day, as part of the group’s charter to give back to the community.

Founded in 1883, Modern Woodmen of America is a fraternal society that provides financial services and other benefits to its members, which number more than 750,000 nationwide.

Berry was an English teacher and athletics coach

at Harker. He died suddenly on Aug. 24, 2013 of a pulmonary embolism resulting from a blood clot in his leg. A memorial was held Aug. 29, and family and friends filled nearby WestGate Church to say goodbye. Heartfelt memories of his childhood and early years as a teacher were shared; the loss to his family and the community was mourned.

A large group, many of whom were alumni, then proceeded to Harker’s upper school campus for a reception. Family members joined the group shortly thereafter, and Head of School Chris Nikoloff and two of Berry’s colleagues briefly addressed the group, followed by more memories exchanged, and more tears shed for the life cut short.

Born in New Hampshire and highly regarded by students during his five-year run at Harker, Berry wrote as a critic during his time as a member of the American College Theatre Festival and was honored for excellence in teaching by the Clemson University PanHellenic Council. The Harker Class of 2012 selected him as the faculty speaker for the 2012 baccalaureate ceremony, during which he said to the soon-to-be graduates, “Be who you want to be, and if that doesn’t agree with you, then find, once again, your center, your inner voice; don’t settle for an imitation of yourself. Bend the rules, but try not to break them.”

During his high school years, Berry was a decorated All-American soccer player, an experience he later applied at Harker as a head coach of the girls’ soccer team, leading the team to record seasons during the 2011-12 and 2012-13 school years.

“Jason’s life reflected his wise counsel, and he was always, authentically, himself,” said Nikoloff.

“He impacted many with his wisdom, wit and warmth, and is deeply missed.”

“Be who you want to be, and if that doesn’t agree with you, then find, once again, your center, your inner voice; don’t settle for an imitation of yourself. Bend the rules, but try not to break them.”

– Jason Berry in his 2012 baccalaureate address

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

To honor beloved former faculty member Jason Berry, who unexpectedly passed away last summer, this year’s graduating class has dedicated their senior gift to creating an orchard in his memory.

Photo provided by Jane Keller

Senior Class Gift to Go Toward Creating Orchard in Memory of Jason Berry By Debbie Cohen

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Inspiring Activist Kakenya Ntaiya

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Featured at Harker Speaker Series

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By Zach Jones

ducation activist Kakenya Ntaiya, Ph.D., founder of the Kakenya Center for Excellence, gave an eye-opening and inspiring talk in early May as a guest of the Harker Speaker Series.

After being introduced by young activist Aliesha Bahri, grade 8, Ntaiya first took the audience back to Kenya, where she was born into one of 42 tribes, each with different languages, customs and traditions. Her tribe, the Maasai, “are very, very famous,” she said, known for the jumping dances performed by the tribe’s warriors and their red attire.

By the time she was 5, Ntaiya’s marriage had already been arranged. “They put a [necklace] on my neck, and that was always a reminder for me that I have a husband,” she said. Ntaiya attended school as a child, because she remembered that her mother had wished she could have stayed in school longer. “She would tell us, ‘ Do you see the member of parliament? I was smarter than him in class,’” she recalled.

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

At the age of 12, Ntaiya realized that her days of attending school could soon end, as she was nearing the day when she would undergo the Maasai’s female genital cutting ritual – a painful and often lifethreatening procedure – and would soon thereafter be married. “I had to come up with a way of escaping that,” she said.

Ntaiya normally would have to send her mother to inform her father of her intentions to continue school. However, fearing that her mother would be beaten for delivering bad news, she delivered the message herself as tradition forbid him from beating her. She told him she would go through with the cutting if she could be allowed to continue her education. If he refused, she would run away, bringing shame upon on him. Her father agreed.

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During high school, Ntaiya applied and was accepted to Randolph-Macon Woman’s College in Virginia. Initially, she faced resistance from the other villagers, but managed to convince them to pay for her trip overseas to begin her college career. She later learned much about the plight of girls around the world who did not have access to a good education. “I started questioning every little thing because what I was reading in books was my life,” she said.

to school and not eat until the evening, “because you can’t just run another 5 miles to go have lunch.”

Her newfound purpose led her to work at the United Nations after finishing her undergraduate degree. She also visited home on a number of occasions, often hearing “horrible stories” about the people she once knew in her village. Moved by these accounts, she decided to build a school for girls.

Qualified teachers were also very important. “We had teachers who are very, very caring,” she said, “teachers who came there, who knew that it’s a girls school and all the girls have dreams and we’re going to cultivate those dreams to become a reality.” This was crucial because girls are often neglected at school, as they are assumed to be getting married.

In May 2009, the Kakenya Center for Excellence opened in Kenya for girls in grades 4-8. It now serves 170 students in grades 1-8. The school provides uniforms, books and other materials, but it was the added importance of providing lunch that caught Ntaiya by surprise. “It had never registered in my mind that that actually made a difference,” she said. Normally, girls would only have a cup of tea in the morning, walk anywhere from 2 to 5 miles

Toward the end of her talk, Ntaiya spoke briefly about her work with Girls Learn International, which partners schools in the United States with those in other countries where girls struggle with access to education. “If you look at me, if I got the mentorship that I needed when I was 12 years old, where do you think I would be?” she asked. “If we can give these girls that mentorship, if we can mentor them … you will see a different world.”

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GlobalEducation

by Zach Jones In May 23 Harker middle school students headed to Japan to meet their Tamagawa buddies, view the country’s many signature sights and more. The students’ first stop was Harker’s sister school, Tamagawa Academy (K-12) & University in Tokyo, where they were greeted warmly by Tamagawa families and treated to performances by students.

Photos provided by Jennifer Walrod

Over the next few days, Harker students – who stayed with Tamagawa families – spent time with their bud-

Middle Schoolers Visit WFLMS Buddies, Enjoy Sightseeing Adventures on Trip to China

students were warmly welcomed at the Pudong International Airport by their pals from WFLMS, upper school dean and chaperone Kevin Williamson recalled. From there, they hopped on a bus for the short drive into the city to meet their host families. Then, they experienced a full day of school, “WFLMS style,” he said.

By Debbie Cohen

The students’ time at WFLMS ended with a touching farewell party and dinner.

China has taken on a new relevance for 20 middle school students, who in early April spent an action-packed week touring and meeting with their buddies at the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS), Harker’s sister school in Shanghai.

Upon their arrival in China, the

The tour of Beijing included a moving visit to Tiananmen Square, the Forbidden City, and the Summer Palace.

Another highlight of the trip was a visit to the Great Wall of

dies and enjoyed various on-campus activities, such as visiting classes, touring the facilities and even seeing a beehive up close.

After saying goodbye to their buddies, the Harker group boarded a bullet train to Kyoto, where they visited many of the city’s most famous landmarks. They also traveled to Miyajima Island and Peach Memorial Park.

On their final day in Japan, the students visited the Monkey Park in Gion, where they enclosed themselves in small huts to feed the monkeys.

Read the full story in Harker News at news.harker.org – search for Japan 2014.

China. After taking a ski lift to the top of the mountain, the group entered the wall. Students took many photos of the renowned structure and were thrilled to enjoy a fun toboggan ride back down the mountain.

Read the full story in Harker News at news.harker.org – search for China 2014.

Photos provided by Andy Keller

Friendly Reunions and Cultural Discoveries on Annual Japan Trip

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ART Come spring,

the entire Harker community celebrates and admires the artistic talent of our students – from the youngest child at Harker Preschool to the oldest student at the upper school. Various art shows are held each spring highlighting works as unique as their creators. This year, creativity flourished in a range of artistic media on exhibit at all four campuses. Join us in this year-end reflection, as we look back at the very best of art at Harker!

in Full Bloom

AP Art Studio Classes Exhibit Works

A

dvanced art students showcased their work at the AP Studio Art Exhibit in late February.

The show featured both 2-D and 3-D works, with each piece accompanied by a written statement summarizing the theme.

Senior Manon Audebert’s series of sculptures explored the concept of tension and how it interacts with various materials, providing a visual metaphor for the conflicts experienced in everyday life. One such piece had lengths of string and wooden sticks poking through holes of paper, which appeared coiled, as though ready to pounce or strike. Another of Audebert’s works showed strings tugging at pieces of cloth, threatening to tear them at any moment.

Elsewhere, senior Kianna Bisla’s series of photographs underscored the beauty of scenes normally taken for granted, capturing haunting images she discovered while traversing the Bay Area, including alleyways, suburban decay and creative works left on the public landscape by self-styled artists. One of her more evocative photos showed a boarded-up building, tagged by passersby and slowly succumbing to the elements, with cameras drawn in graffiti along with the message “Thank you!” as though anticipating Bisla’s arrival and offering gratitude in advance.

The AP Studio Art Exhibit is held every year to highlight the works of the high-level AP Studio Art classes taught by 3-D art teacher Jaap Bongers and 2-D art teacher Pilar AgüeroEsparza. The event was held in the spacious Nichols Hall atrium, where attendees enjoyed snacks and refreshments while viewing the artwork, enjoying an atmosphere much like a professional gallery show. Bongers’ birthday fell on the day of the exhibition, so students sang “Happy Birthday” and brought out a cake to commemorate the occasion.

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Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

By zach jones

Gallery-Style Spring Shows Held On All Four Campuses

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in Full Bloom

in Ful Bloo

By Debbie Cohen

Eclectic Middle School Art Show Opens at Upper School, Moves to Blackford Campus

arker’s middle school spring art exhibit went on display in the upper school’s main lobby gallery after an opening reception on April 3. The show, which ran until April 23, also spilled over to the Nichols Hall atrium.

Sponsored by Harker’s middle school visual arts program, the exhibit featured select works from the school year, including colorful paintings, sketches, ceramics and wire sculptures.

Students in grades 7-8 showcased clay and glass works called “African Granary Doors.”

Whimsical wire sculpture figures with accessories such as umbrellas, golf sticks and building blocks also filled the shelves. Grade 6 ceramics students displayed work done during the fall semester titled “Art Shoes,” which took the form of dinosaurs, rabbits, dragons and more. And drawings of bikes, colorful landscapes, and assorted fruits and vegetables adorned the walls.

Encased in a glass display were several sculptures that had won regional Scholastic Art Awards earlier this year. Eight Harker middle school students won the prestigious Photos by Nicole DeVelbiss

awards for their outstanding artwork. Two received the coveted gold and silver key awards, while six others were lauded with honorable mentions. All of the winners’ work was featured in the exhibit.

Meanwhile, a series of drawings called “Renaissance Self-Portraits” was on display in Nichols Hall. For this project, secondyear middle school art students were asked to do a self-portrait of what they will look like at age 50, and at the same time put themselves in the time of the Renaissance.

To accomplish this feat, they studied Rembrandt’s self-portraits and followed that period and style as closely as possible.

“Scrolling through photos of Renaissance poses and portraits, I found a picture of a man with flowing, curly hair very interesting. Incorporating my cheerful countenance into the body of a royal ancient figure was extremely difficult, but weeks of sketching self-portraits eventually paid off to help accomplish this piece,” recalled art student Darren Gu, grade 8.

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

Kaitlin Hsu, also grade 8, said that for her Renaissance portrait, she chose to draw herself as a young maiden who “probably lived the life of a servant.” Drawing this

portrait, she noted, was fun and interesting since the clothing, accessories and style at the time were very unique and distinct.

“Using various materials to finish this portrait was fun,” she added.

Also in the atrium were drawings from first-year art students, including illustrations of Audubon birds and sketches of rocking chairs. The drawings were done in the Italian artistic style of chiaroscuro, which utilizes strong contrasts between light and dark (similar effects in cinema and photography also are called chiaroscuro).

The middle school art show was unique in that it hosted its opening reception at the upper school. After a brief run there, the exhibit was relocated to the middle school multipurpose room where it joined the middle school’s end-of-the-year art exhibit. The middle school campus’ exhibit was all-inclusive, ran for about a month, and had its own opening reception.

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H

anging paper lanterns blew gently in the breeze as the lower school’s gymnasium doors swung open on April 28, kicking off the campus’ much-anticipated art show. The annual exhibition, which began that afternoon with a well-attended reception in the gym’s foyer, ran until May 21. It featured selected academic and after-school works of K-5 students.

Refreshments were served in the main gallery (the gym lobby) as exhibiting students once again demonstrated an impressive range of artistic abilities. Artwork on display included monochromatic pencil drawings, watercolor paintings, collages and ceramics.

There was an interactive feel to this year’s show, which wound its way from the lobby into the gym, up the stairs and all the way to the top-floor classrooms – even extending into the kitchens and art rooms. Parents, faculty members and students slowly meandered through the event, viewing the wonderfully artistic and often whimsical pieces, which were arranged by theme and grade level.

from the after-school art program, using watercolor and white pencil; “Worm View Winter Trees,” made by students in grade 5 using construction paper and tempura paint; and “Camouflage Winter Scene,” by grade 4 students working with colored pencils.

The colors of many other illustrations took on a decidedly playful theme, such as the charming, colorful penguins clad in scarves called “Chilly Penguins” made by kindergartners. These were made of construction paper collage. Brightly drawn fall pumpkin scenes were also a big hit with various grade levels, including kindergartners, and first and third graders.

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By Debbie Cohen

Lower School Art Show Celebrates Creative Work of Entire Campus

“The art show was a great success. We had many parents and students come by not only to find their own personal pieces, but to also view the wide selection on show. We even had a family who had gone home to get ‘dressed up’ for the event; it was very sweet,” recalled Gerry-louise Robinson, Harker’s lower school art teacher.

“The highlight for me was the vibrancy and color that was in the displays, with first grade work displayed comfortably next to fifth grade work. We also had a wonderful display highlighting the Japanese Photos by Kyle Cavallaro wood coasters which were made during a visit from Maruko, the Japanese exchange teacher from Tamagawa this year,” she continued.

Particularly unique to the show was an exhibit called “Perched Owls” from the kindergartners, which comprised glazed ceramic owls sitting in rows perched atop the branches of a tree made out of construction paper. Meanwhile, at a display table nearby, grade 4 students showcased pencil drawings titled “Monochromatic Castles” as well as sculpted versions (made out of ceramic, glaze and mixed media)

Back in the winter, Maruko Ishigami, an art teacher from Tamagawa Academy (K-12) School

& University – Harker’s sister school in Tokyo, Japan – helped teach art classes for grades 2-5, showing the second and third graders how to make traditional Japanese wood coasters and instructing the fourth and fifth graders in various painting techniques used in her country.

Grade 2 students Emi Fujimura, Shayla He and Shareen Chahal agreed that the best thing about making the wood coasters with Ishigami was “building it” from scratch, noting that the process reminded them of putting together a jigsaw puzzle. Classmate Vivek Nayyar said he especially enjoyed having a “visiting teacher” come to the classroom.

Another highlight of the art show was the collection of winter-themed illustrations, with pictures of trees drawn in black against a sky-blue backdrop, amid delicately falling white snowflakes. Among the various drawings were “Winter Trees,” 50

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simply called “Castles.”

According to Anoushka Khatri, grade 4, the best thing about the art show was “the chance it gives you to not only see your work represented, but all your friends’ work, too.”

Nathan Wang, grade 5, agreed. “Everybody has at least one thing in the art show,” he added.

Wang’s classmate, Alex Baeckler, said she had actually made an art piece that was intended to be a surprise for her dad on Father’s Day, but had to let the cat out of the bag when he happened upon it during the art show. “He was still really surprised and happy to see it … and I’m still going to give it to him after the show!” she said, smiling proudly.

“The students really demonstrated their talents and creativity. What amazing students we have!” enthused Robinson.

By zach jones

Upper School Artwork Featured, Appraised at Art Show

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he upper school art show featured student works from all parts of the upper school arts program, many of them winners in this year’s Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. The juror for this year’s show was Stephanie Metz, an accomplished Bay Area-based artist who has held exhibitions at both the San Francisco and New York branches of the Hosfelt Gallery, as well as the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art. Nephele Troullinos, grade 11, was awarded best in show for her printmaking piece “Tahoe Color,” which Metz said was “balanced and iconic, but also uses the medium and techniques of printmaking to the best advantage.”

By Debbie Cohen

First place in painting/printmaking went to Doreene Kang, grade 10, for her painting “Workroom,” which depicts a fashion designer in his studio. Winning second place in this category was Anna Kendall, grade 12, whose striking acrylic painting prompted Metz to describe it as “gestural but controlled – the colors fight and also play well together.”

Archana Podury, grade 11, won first place in drawing/mixed media for her ballpoint pen drawing, a vortex of spring-like objects fittingly titled “Coiled.” Second place went to senior Jerry Shen’s thoughtprovoking “Tree of Knowledge,” which featured a man in a suit with a box on his head upon which a tree has taken root.

In the sculpture category, Manon Audebert, grade 12, was awarded first place for a piece exploring the concept of tension by showing strings suspending a cloth by pulling it in opposite directions. Another Audebert piece, a separate study in tension showing sheets of metal bent to various degrees, took second place in this category.

Eric Wang, grade 11, was a two-time winner in ceramics: “Birdhouse,” in which a scaly green cube clasped by a mouth-like appendage won first place, and “Abstraction Exercise,” an intriguing interaction of sharp edges, colors and black, won second.

Finally, Chloe van den Dries, grade 10, and Megan Prakash, grade 12, won first and second, respectively, in the graphic arts/ digital category.

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

Junior Madelyn Wang’s moody photograph of trees and buildings taken through a window covered in condensation earned her first place in the photography category, while Melina Nakos, grade 10, took second place for her photograph of a ballerina, which Metz praised for its “lonely composition and sense of motion.”

in Full in Fullin Full in Full Bloom Bloom Bloom Bloom Harker Preschool Holds Inaugural Art Show on Grandparents’ Day T

he students at Harker Preschool used Grandparents’ Day as a special occasion to hold their very first art show. Along with works made in the art studio throughout the school year, grandparents were the first to view a collection of canvas paintings that the preschoolers completed as part of an end-of-the-year art concepts review.

Grandparents’ Day, held each May, is already a long-standing tradition at Harker’s lower school. Now, preschoolers have joined in the tradition, welcoming their grandparents, special adult friends or “adoptive” grandparents-for-the-day to visit the school for a morning of exploration and play, including a captivating stop at the art exhibit.

“Grandparents’ Day was a huge hit! The event served as an opportunity for our fabulous teachers and specialists to showcase

their work from this year and the strong bonds that they have developed with the preschoolers,” said Alexandria Kerekez, Harker Preschool’s art specialist.

Kerekez added that near the event’s gallery, which was “filled to the brim with artwork,” there was a table reserved for children to join her in sharing bead-making techniques with their grandparents.

Participants also had the opportunity to join the preschool’s music and movement teacher in a song. Meanwhile, the school’s STEM specialist opened up the farm for the children to enjoy delicious edible plants and play with snuggly bunnies.

According to Kerekez, preschoolers of all ages are regularly invited into the art studio to paint, work with clay, hone their pencil skills and learn to observe the world around them while working in a variety of media. The school’s outdoor art area al-

lows for further creative expression, where everyday things such as the sun, water and leaves can become part of a project.

Making ceramics is a favorite art activity for 4-year-old Ameera Ramzan, who, earlier in the year, had worked on making a “pinch pot.” Sounding very much like an art teacher herself, she proudly explained that to create the pot you “first roll the ball … and then you pinch it!”

Back in January and February, Kerekez hung a more informal exhibit in a room just off the preschool lobby called “The Faces of Harker Preschool.” Included in that self-portrait display were works by all of the preschool’s children – from the Pebble, Clover, Acorn and Feather cottages to the transitional kindergarten crew.

That exhibit and the Grandparents’ Day art show were so successful that Kerekez said she hopes to make them annual events.

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GreaterGood Harker Community Unites for Upper School’s Annual Blood Drive

Junior Travels to India to Perform Medical Screenings, Tests Nearly 600 Children

This year, enough donations were collected at the upper school’s annual blood drive to save up to 81 lives, according to Sabrina Sidhu, grade 11, who serves as president of Harker’s Red Cross Club, which organized the recent drive.

By Zach Jones

Harker students, faculty and staff united to give blood, which was distributed to local hospitals within the required 72 hours. According to Red Cross statistics, every donated unit can save up to three lives. Every two seconds, a patient relies on blood and platelet donors for help.

The Red Cross is the largest single supplier of blood in the United States, collecting and processing more than 40 percent of the nation’s blood supply and distributing it to some 3,000 hospitals and transfusion centers nationwide.

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To that end, Madala founded Healthy Scholars last year to raise awareness of health issues that could stymie education. In December, Madala and her team trekked to Varni, India, to perform screenings for medical problems that could be obstacles to learning. Healthy Scholars worked with organizations in India, including the Lions Club, NICE Hospital and LEAD Foundation, to offer blood pressure tests, individual medical consultations, dental exams, vision and hearing tests and more to nearly 600 schoolchildren.

That same month, Healthy Scholars kicked off a fundraising effort, raising nearly $4,000 via fundraising website Crowdrise. An additional $25,000 donation enabled Healthy Scholars to stage more screenings.

Madala is planning another trip to Varni in early June.

Stateside efforts are also on the agenda. “We also aim to hold a similar health screening camp for at-risk Native American youth in Montana,” she said.

Photo by Debbie Cohen

“By the end of the day, we had collected 27 units of blood, which went to the American Red Cross,” she said. “I’m glad that so many people were interested in donating. Unfortunately, a large portion of potential donors were turned away because their hemoglobin levels were not high enough. Regardless, I was really happy with the way that everything came together. It was heartwarming to see how excited all of the donors were to have the chance to help out someone in need.”

After being diagnosed her freshman year with hypothyroidism – a disorder in which the thyroid gland fails to produce sufficient thyroid hormone, causing fatigue, lack of focus and other symptoms – Samantha Madala, now grade 11, became determined to help prevent health problems from interfering with children’s education.

By Debbie Cohen

Grade 1 Students Raise Money, Create and Collect Items for Shelter Animals Grade 1 students recently completed their annual community service project for the Humane Society of Silicon Valley.

The class worked to improve the lives of the shelter’s displaced rabbits, dogs and cats by collecting monetary donations, as well as buying needed supplies and making toys for the animals.

“It was pretty sweet to get Ziploc bags filled with dollar bills and coins. Every bit made a difference. … We also collected over 50 bags of food, toys, rabbit hay, treats, collars, leashes, blankets, sheets and towels. We also raised over $1,250. A new record!” reported Cindy Proctor, a grade 1 homeroom teacher who helped oversee the project.

To learn as much as possible about the Humane Society – an 80-year-old independent, nonprofit animal shelter – the children toured the Silicon Valley facility. Following the fun and informative outing, the students decorated a bulletin board with photos of themselves and their animal friends. They also made pet blankets and toys for donation.

Parents played a role as well, as the children were encouraged to earn ex-

GreaterGood tra money for the Humane Society by doing small jobs around the house.

pet beds, tote and drawstring bags, fleece hats, bean bag chairs, and small “Pocket Love Bears.”

More details about the Sew For Love project can be found at http://simplylovetosew.webs.com/sewforlove.htm.

Activist Helps Empower Impoverished Women and Children Photo by Jyoti Baid, parent

Sew For Love Gets a Helping Hand Five fifth grade girls shared the joy of volunteering during a fun community service project called Sew For Love, in which they sewed needed items for local charities.

Nilisha Baid had heard about the opportunity through her Girl Scouts troop. She had met the Sew For Love organizer at Girl Scouts events and had been wanting to volunteer. So she decided to ask some of her classmates to join her at this year’s 12th annual Sew For Love, which was held on a weekend during the Presidents’ Week break.

She and classmates Ankita Kundu, Advika Phadnis, Pramiti Sankar and Arushi Saxena joined other volunteers who were working in teams on various projects.

Whether busy at the sewing machine, scissors-cutting, hand-sewing or threading, Sew For Love volunteers combined their efforts to produce 871 items in just two days. Completed items included child and adult quilts,

When junior Ashwini Iyer was in grade 7, she went to Tanzania with her father and a teacher to help orphans there learn math and English. That firsthand experience, she said, planted the seeds for her current volunteer efforts to empower povertystricken women and children from around the globe, and led to the founding of Harker’s Rising International Club.

“Ever since then, I have been trying to find ways to give back and help those who are not as fortunate, without having to travel too far,” said Iyer, founder and president of the the club, which is one of several local chapters of an international nonprofit by the same name whose mission is to help end world poverty On March 30, Iyer, with the help of schoolmate and club vice president Roshni Pankhaniya, grade 11, hosted a home-based fundraising event attended by about 60 Harker students and parents, as well as neighbors and Photo provided by Ashwini Iyer ‘11

family friends. All proceeds from the event, which totaled $4,226 (with more donations expected to flow in from people who could not attend but wanted to donate), went directly to the organization.

For more information about Rising International, go to risinginternational.org.

Celebrity Introduces Student at Free The Children Event Harker freshman Arjun Subramaniam recently joined celebrities and prominent activists in addressing an audience of more than 16,000 students from various California schools at an event called We Day. The event, held on March 26 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, was sponsored by Free The Children, a nonprofit organization that works to eradicate child labor in developing nations. After being introduced by actress Selena Gomez, Subramaniam took to the stage to speak about his work with the organization.

Free The Children is an international charity and educational partner that believes “in a world where all children are free to achieve their fullest potential as agents of change,” according to its website. The organization works domestically to educate, engage and empower youth to become active local and global citizens.

Speaking at the recent We Day was a transformative experience for Subramaniam. “Everyone there has inspired me to keep being part of the fight to eradicate child labor,” he said.

For more information about We Day and Free The Children, visit: www.freethechildren.com.

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AlumniNews

By Debbie Cohen

The Keller Tour: Five Years and Going Strong

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utch and Jane Keller can hardly believe they have reached the fiveyear milestone of the Keller Tour, an annual series of trips during which they visit with Harker alumni attending various colleges throughout the United States.

The first Keller Tour was in spring 2009 when Butch Keller, upper school head, and his wife, Jane, an upper school math teacher, headed to New York to attend a performance by The Harker School Orchestra at Lincoln Center. Several alumni living in the area heard the Kellers were in town and asked them to stop by. Soon after, requests began flooding in from other alumni to “come out and see us,” recalled Butch Keller.

Today, the tour serves as an opportunity not only to stay in touch with alumni, but also to visit with them while they are still in college, gaining invaluable feedback on how well Harker prepared them for university life.

This year’s Keller Tour officially launched last fall with a trip to visit alums at the University of California, Davis. During that visit, the Kellers were treated to a performance by the school’s dance team during halftime at a Sacramento Kings game.

Then, over the March break, the Keller Tour continued with a trip to St. Louis, Mo., to spend several days with Harker alumni at Washington University.

Butch Keller said

he enjoyed some one-on-one time with former Harker basketball player Kevin Susai ’13. Meanwhile, Jane Keller said her former advisee, Kaavya Cherukuri ’11, gave her a lovely tour of the school’s campus. A brief detour to Chicago allowed the Kellers to enjoy a performance by The Harker School Orchestra, which was playing in the Chicago Symphony’s International Music Festival.

From there, the Kellers traveled to Southern California for a three-school tour. Highlights of that trip included a dinner with some University of Southern California students near L.A. LIVE, an entertainment complex in downtown Los Angeles. That dinner was arranged by Hassaan Ebrahim ’11. Following was a get-together in Westwood with alumni attending the University of California, Los Angeles, which Butch Keller said ended with a brief, “but much enjoyed sighting of Johnny Depp.”

The tour of the Southern California schools concluded with a lunch with alumni attending the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The Kellers also were treated to a tour of the Cal Tech campus by Chat Malladi ’12.

Shortly after returning from spring break, the Kellers headed to the Stanford University campus for a baseball game at which some alums watched Butch Keller, standing on the diamond, throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the game.

The evening eller Photos provided by Jane K concluded with Stanford winning the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Keller Tour concluded with dinner with Harker alumns attending Santa Clara University, followed by dessert at the Mission Ice Creamery.

“In a year where over 100 students were visited, the common theme was appreciation for the teachers who cared enough to make a difference in and out of the classroom. Another topic discussed at almost every stop is the confidence students gained while at Harker,” reported Butch Keller, noting that many alumni said that they gained the confidence to speak to college professors or teaching assistants from the ease of working with Harker’s upper school teachers.

“Many alumni enjoy talking about their Harker years but are also excited to share stories of their college experiences. These conversations range from the struggles of being a college athlete to learning to manage time and budgets. We are continually fascinated to hear about the adventures of the varied extracurricular activities that range from club lacrosse to singing in musical groups,” said Butch Keller.

The Kellers are already looking forward to planning next year’s trip. “We love visiting with alumni on their turf. The excitement in their voices and the fun they have telling stories makes every second of the trip enjoyable,” they concurred.

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AlumniNews ALUMNI SAVE THE DATES

OCT. 3

Photos by Kyle Cavallaro

Calling all Harker alumni: Please join us on Fri., Oct. 3 for a family-friendly Homecoming tailgate party at the upper school campus, hosted by the alumni office.

OCT. 12

Record Attendance for Alumni Easter Egg Hunt The beautiful new Union campus was the site of the Harker Alumni Families Easter Egg Hunt.

Held in March, the fourth-annual event attracted an all-time high of more than 120 people.

“Attendance was awesome! Over 1,000 eggs were hidden,” enthused MaryEllis Deacon, director of alumni relations.

In the past, the egg hunt had been held at the lower school campus. New to this year’s egg hunt were age divisions for egg hunting, and arts and crafts activities. Eggs were strategically hidden throughout the grounds.

In addition to the arts and crafts tables, the day featured a fun bounce house and surprise visit by the Easter Bunny.

“A great time was had by all!” said Deacon.

Celebrate the changing of the seasons with us at the harvest-themed 64th annual Harker Family & Alumni Picnic, held on the middle school campus on Sun., Oct. 12! Reconnect and reminisce with fellow alumni at the picnic’s special alumni luncheon. The alumni relations office is providing free admission to alumni and their immediate families, and hosting a luncheon from noon-1 p.m. (immediately following the performing arts show). So come on out for some old-fashioned fun and new surprises!

DEC. 6

Santa’s Winter Wonderland, slated for Dec. 6, promises to once again bring together alumni and their families. The special annual holiday celebration is held on the lower school campus for Harker alumni, faculty, staff and their families. Children will have the opportunity to take turns sitting on Santa’s lap and having pictures taken with him, as well as have fun playing games and doing arts and crafts.

Stay tuned for more information from your class agents!

Stay Connected Connect with alumni through Facebook and LinkedIn as your new social and professional lives ramp up!

We’d love to hear from you! http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Harker-Alumni166447 (or just go to LinkedIn and search for Harker alumni) https://www.facebook.com/ HarkerAlumniAssociation (or – you guessed it! – search for Harker Alumni Association while logged in to your Facebook account) H A R K E R Q U A R T E R LY

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AlumniNews

By Debbie Cohen

Harker Alumnus Appointed Judge of 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals

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ife for John Owens ’85 has changed significantly ever since President Barack Obama nominated him to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the nation's largest appeals court, which shapes federal law from districts in California and eight other Western states.

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

“Harker remains the most significant professional and personal influence on me.”

– John Owens ’85

Owens’ historic appointment as a judge was confirmed on March 31 with a vote from the U.S. Senate. On April 25 he was officially sworn in as a circuit judge during an investiture ceremony held in the jury assembly room of the Courthouse Annex in San Diego.

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Owens’ current judicial appointment filled one of the most prolonged vacancies in 9th Circuit history. Judge Stephen Trott stepped down in 2004, leaving unresolved political feuding over whether his seat should be

“Professionally, for more than 15 years, my primary concern was obtaining the best outcome for a client, either the United States or a private person or company. I really cared about the outcome of a case. Now as a judge, I no longer care who wins or loses. I only care that my decision was correct under the pertinent facts and law,” said Owens, a former partner with the Los Angeles-based law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson. “On a personal level, my life is a little less hectic now, which is nice for my wife and daughters,” he added.

Judges on the 9th Circuit review the decisions of federal trial courts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and certain islands in the Pacific. “This requires us to apply a wide variety of law (civil, criminal, immigration, administrative). After we have reviewed the decision of the trial court and heard arguments from the parties, we set out to write an opinion explaining our decision to uphold or reverse the trial court's decision. We work with law clerks (usually recent law school graduates) to help make these decisions,” explained Owens, who graduated first in his class from Stanford Law School in 1996.

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He then served as a law clerk for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that Owens was a federal prosecutor and served as chief of the criminal division in the San Diego U.S. attorney's office. At the age of 19, he worked in the publicity department of the Golden State Warriors basketball team.

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Photo provided by Joe Rosenthal

considered a California judgeship or an Idaho judgeship.

Reflecting back on his experience clerking for Ginsburg, Owens said she had an extremely high level of dedication to our justice system.

While working with her, Owens helped set up a visit to the Supreme Court for a group of grade 8 Harker students who were in Washington, D.C., on their class trip in 1998.

“Justice Ginsburg addressed the students in the courtroom, and answered their questions. I was very proud of my fellow

AlumniNews Harker Eagles that day,” he recalled.

Of his time at Harker, he said that the school remains “the most significant professional and personal influence on me.” He went on to say that Harker provided him with the study skills necessary to succeed in school, and

more important, the ethics and values to succeed in life.

Owens started out as a Harker student in 1979, graduated from grade 8 in 1985, and worked as a summer camp counselor/coach at the school from 1985 until 1991. Today, he remains active with the school in his capacity as a member of Harker’s distinguished board of fellows.

“It was the least I could do to say thanks to the school,” he said.

An advisory group to the school’s board of trustees, the

board of fellows comprises a dedicated contingent of current parents, alumni parents and alumni who meet regularly to exchange ideas on strategic planning for the school. During a spring board of fellows meeting, Owens was applauded for his recent judicial appointment.

When asked to offer words of wisdom to fellow Harker alumni about pursuing their chosen careers, Owens said he would offer two pieces of advice. “First, make sure that you enjoy your work … you will probably spend more time working than anything else in your life, so you don't want to be stuck in a miserable job. Second, there is no substitute for hard work, especially when you are in high school and college. Hard work now makes the rest of your life much easier,” he said.

Photo by Kyle Cavallaro

Albert “Chip” Zecher ‘79 Receives Distinguished Alumni Award Albert “Chip” Zecher ’79 has won this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

A Lincoln Law School faculty member since 2009 specializing in constitution law, Zecher was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1990, and was also admitted to practice before the California Supreme Court, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Courts for Northern and Southern California.

From 1990 to 1992, Zecher worked as a staff attorney with the San Francisco Superior Court, where he was assigned

employment and toxic torts.

Since 2008, Zecher has been working as corporate counsel and the director of regulatory compliance for a Silicon Valley satellite communication manufacturer, where he oversees federal regulatory and corporate governance issues, contracts and litigation. He has also served as a judge pro tem with the Photo by Kyle Cavallaro San Francisco Superior Court and to civil trial departments. Thereafter, he as a hearing officer with the San joined The Chubb Group of Insurance Francisco Assessment Appeals Board.

Companies as in-house counsel, where Additionally, he serves on Harker’s he practiced in the areas of director board of trustees and is chair of the and officer liability, premises liability, Harker Board of Fellows. construction defect, property casualty,

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AlumniNews

By Debbie Cohen

Alumni Families Help Sponsor ELI Receptions Around the World

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his past spring, current and alumni families sponsored receptions in cities around the world to get the word out about the school’s long-running and highly successful English Language Institute (ELI).

and benefits of the program. In March and April, ELI receptions took place in Russia, Turkey, China, Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

Held on both the lower and upper school campuses, ELI provides overseas students with the opportunity to learn and practice their English skills, enabling many participants to go on to attend top American and international schools.

The receptions provided an opportunity for interested families to meet both Anthony Wood, ELI director, and Joe Rosenthal, Harker’s executive director of advancement, and learn about the features

Class of 2014 T

“The ELI receptions are a wonderful way to get the word out about the quality of our program,” he said. Last summer, more than 60 students enrolled in the secondary division and a recordbreaking 55 enrolled in the primary division.

New to the program this year will be a “Very Interesting Places” (VIP) tour. The optional VIP offering, available to all ELI students (ages 6-16), will take place at the conclusion of the program’s regular five-week academic session. The tour will take students around Silicon Valley and the Bay Area to visit theme parks, museums, companies, school campuses and more. It will be capped off with an overnight trip to Yosemite.

Welcomed into Alumni Association

he Class of 2014 gathered in Nichols Hall atrium May 22 where they were welcomed into the Harker Alumni Association and reflected on their final year as Harker students. Students also received prizes for participating in the senior trip’s scavenger hunt, volleyball tournament and sandcastle-building contest.

The seniors were introduced to their class agents, who will be responsible for acting as liaisons between Harker’s alumni department and the 2014 graduates.

In preparation for college, each of the seniors received the

Photos by Stefan Armijo

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now-traditional laundry bag along with instructions on how to do their own laundry. Finally, the soon-to-be-graduates wrote special messages to friends, teachers, parents and others to be placed in a time capsule that will be opened at the Class of 2014’s 10-year reunion.

Photos provided by Joe Rosenthal

Rosenthal, who directed the school’s former elementary boarding program for 20 years, is a frequent guest lecturer to the ELI program on the topic of studying in the United States.

Submitted by Class Agents

ClassNotes

Alumni from all classes through 1997 are listed under the years they would have completed grade 8 at The Harker School, Harker Academy, Harker Day School or Palo Alto Military Academy (PAMA). For all classes after the Class of 1997, alumni are listed under the class years they would have graduated from high school, regardless of whether they completed high school studies at Harker. For unlisted classes, we invite you to email alumni@harker.org if you are interested in becoming a class agent or would like to nominate a classmate.

1966

1980

In the spring issue of Harker Quarterly, we ran a class note with Margie Harris reporting that Shirley Temple’s only son, Charles Black, was a student at Harker who graduated in 1966. However, it was brought to our attention that Charles, in fact, graduated from Harker’s predecessor, the Palo Alto Military Academy. We regret the error.

Class Agent: Greg Argendeli (slackmaster@gmail.com)

1973 Class Agent: Alan Stevens (alanclassreunion@earthlink.net)

1976 Class Agents: Joy Aliason Younes (joycyounes@yahoo.com); Cindy Cottrell DeAngelo (cldeangelo@yahoo.com)

1977 Class Agent: Mike Pons (michael.pons@gmail.com)

1978 Class Agent: Silvia Malaccorto (smalaccorto@contoural.com)

1979 Class Agent: Chip Zecher (chipzecher@hotmail.com)

in Alaska. This summer, Ryan will be interning as a strategy consultant in Los Angeles.

1984 1981 Class Agent: Kristin (Scarpace) Giammona (kristing@harker.org)

1982

Class Agents: Karri Baker (karribaker@me.com); Kristin Quintin (kquintin@intevac.com)

1994 Class Agent: Leyna Cotran (leynacotran@gmail.com)

1995

Class Agents: Tina (Johnson) Murray (tinammurray@earthlink.net); Pauline (de Vos) Aasen (thedutchfox@gmail.com); Keil Albert (kaalbert@geo-consultants.com)

1988

Jerry Chi got engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Shirei Jiyoung Hori, in February on their “1,000th-day anniversary.” Their wedding will be in Seoul, Korea, later this year. Jerry also will be shifting roles where he works at Google, from analyzing ads to analyzing Google Play/ Chrome/Android for the AsiaPacific region.

1989

Ryan Moreland (MS '98) is finishing up his first year as an MBA student at The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is also celebrating the five-year anniversary of his winery, Corvalle Napa Valley. In the past year, Ryan visited Japan, Guatemala and Belize, and embarked on a two-week leadership retreat on a glacier

Tala Banato (tala.banato@gmail.com); Kelle Sloan (kelles@harker.org)

Class Agents: Eric Xanthopoulos (eric.xanthopoulos@gmail.com); Aileen Eveleth (a_eveleth@yahoo.com)

Class Agent: Katie Wilson (mkate_wilson@yahoo.com)

1990 Class Agent: Chris Yamashita (iamtheyamo@yahoo.com)

1991 Class Agent: Ashley Anderson (anderbruin@gmail.com)

1992 Class Agent: Amanda Mathias Bonomi (amandambonomi@gmail.com)

1993 Class Agents: Joy Paterson (joypaterson@gmail.com);

Class Agent: Lisa (Bowman) Gassmann (lisagassmann@gmail.com)

1996 Class Agent: Ashley S. Franke (ashley.franke@gmail.com)

1997 Class Agents: Chelsea Gilliland (cgilliland@gmail.com); Lindsey Hochrine (lynn.laka@fireskyresort.com)

2002 Class Agents: Akhsar Kharebov (axarharebate@gmail.com); Yasmin Ali (yasminfali@gmail.com); Isabella Liu (isabella.a.liu@gmail.com)

2003 Class Agents: Julia N. Gitis (juliag@gmail.com); Maheen Kaleem (maheenkaleem@gmail.com)

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ClassNotes Class Agents: Jacinda A. Mein (mjacinda@gmail.com); Jessica C. Liu (jess.c.liu@gmail.com)

2005 Class Agent: Erika N. Gudmundson (erika.gudmundson@gmail. com)

2006 Class Agents: Meghana Dhar (meghanadhar@gmail.com); Jeffrey Le (Jeff87@gmail.com); Casey Near (caseylane@gmail.com) Amira Valliani recently wrapped up her duties as senior adviser to the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications at the White House, where she worked on a range of foreign policy, press and public diplomacy issues. Before that, she worked in the office of the Secretary of State under Hillary Clinton, where she was special assistant to the State Department's deputy chief of staff and wrote speeches for Secretary Clinton.

She recently packed up her apartment in Washington, D.C., and backpacked around Myanmar with Mina Lee and will continue traveling around Southeast Asia and Europe for the summer. She'll be attending graduate school at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government to get her MPA/MBA this

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fall and said she is excited to join the Harker-in-Boston crew! In spring, she ran in the Boston Marathon in an effort to raise money for the Aga Khan Foundation, one of the world’s largest international development organizations.

“Our team of three runners successfully raised over $60,000 … and Amanda Polzin came out to watch!” she reported.

While chaperoning the grade 8 students on an outing to Great America, Harker’s middle school Latin teacher, Lisa Masoni, ran into former student Elizabeth Cutler. “She is now teaching English and history at the Cornerstore Academy in San Francisco and was at the park chaperoning her own seventh and eighth grade students,” said Masoni.

Meghana Dhar graduated with high honors from UC Berkeley in 2010 and has been living in San Francisco since then. “I've been working in strategy and marketing and analysis, first at Visa, and now at eBay. I'm very in touch with Harker, from staying connected with the debate team, to currently living with two of my best friends from Harker High!

I will be leaving the city in the fall and attending Harvard Business School,” she said.

2008

Singer Tara Chandra recently released a limited 7" vinyl edition of a single she released last summer called “Who You Do.” We look forward to more updates on her singing career!

Akhil Mehta helped teach a class for Harker’s middle school science research program. He recently finished his master's program at UC Berkeley and is in the process of applying to medical school.

2007 Class Agents: Cassie Kerkhoff (ckerkhoff@ucsd.edu); Audrey Kwong (audmusic@gmail.com)

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Class Agents: Stephanie Syu (ssyu363@yahoo.com); Senan Ebrahim (sebrahim@fas.harvard.edu)

2009 Class Agents: Rachel Wang (rachel.serendipity@gmail.com) Stephanie Guo (stephanie.j.guo@gmail.com) Daniel Kim was awarded a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans of up to $90,000 toward the study of

Photo provided by Daniel Kim ’09

2004

medicine at Yale University.

He was one of 30 winners in a national competition that attracted more than 1,200

applicants. These awards are of special note because they honor and support young New Americans: immigrants and children of immigrants. To read more on this, please see the full story on Harker’s online news site at: http://news.harker. org/?p=22865

2010 Class Agents: Kevin Fu (kf800@yahoo.com); Adrienne Wong (adriee@gmail.com) Arthi Padmanabhan wrote in with a tennis update from Pomona College.

“We've had a really exciting year! We recently jumped to number six in the national rankings after a few frighteningly close wins during spring break. Individually, I'm captaining and playing singles and doubles for the most part.

In doubles, my partner, Mae Coyiuto, and I reached the semifinal of the ITA Regional Championship in the fall and later, The Ojai Tennis Tournament,” she reported.

2011 Class Agents: Rani Mukherjee (rani.mukherjee18@gmail.com); Hassaan Ebrahim (hassaan.e@gmail.com)

2012 Class Agents: Will Chang (12williamc@students.harker. org); David Fang (12davidf@students.harker.org)

ClassNotes stands and dad, Scott, will be caddying for him. The Open started as Harker Quarterly went to press, so we weren’t able to report on how he did, but our pride in having him there is unrelated to his score! We’ll report more in the fall issue!

Sachin Jain was recently in town and met with Harker upper school math teacher Gabriele Stahl for dinner.

2014

Photo provided by Gabriele Stahl

Provided by Maverick McNealy ‘13

Maverick McNealy ’13 qualified for the 2014 U.S Open, the first Harker grad known to do so, and he has been garnering all kinds of attention! Stories have been published in the San Francisco

Neel Salukhe was recognized by his coach for maintaining a high GPA while excelling at football at the University of Washington.

Class Agents: Kathir Sundarraj (13KathirS@alumni.harker.org); Nikhil Panu (13NikhilP@alumni.harker.org); Nicholas Chuang (13NicholasC@alumni.harker. org)

Photo by Hok Leung

2013

Chronicle, The San Francisco Examiner, the San Jose Mercury News and Golf Week. His whole family – mom Susan; Dakota, grade 10; Colt, grade 9; and Scout, grade 7 – will be in the

Class Agents: Nithya Vemireddy (nithya.vemireddy@gmail.com) Adith Rengaramchandran (adithram@gmail.com) Connie Li (connieli32@gmail.com) Congratulations to the Class of 2014 on your graduation and welcome to the Alumni Association! We look forward to hearing updates from you!

Alumni Celebrations

Drew Goldstein, Michelle Douglas and JP Doherty had a blast cheering on their hometown and new college town teams in Boston for the A’s/Red Sox series.

Photo by Pam Dickinson

P

Photo provided by Kari Wolff

alo Alto residents Heidi Wang ’08 and Neil Chao ’06 recently got engaged.

The couple decided to have some of their engagement photos taken at the upper school’s beautiful Saratoga campus in May. "We met at Harker when I was a freshman and he was a junior, and we started dating [the next year]," said Wang. This was a first for Harker, and the Office of Communication was thrilled to help coordinate the photo shoot!

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LookingAhead KEYDATES Preschool

Mon., Aug. 25 Orientation (Parents Only) Tue., Aug. 26 Little Visits (Parents with Children) Wed., Aug. 27 Classes begin Welcome Coffee

Pledge Week Oct. 5-11, 2014

Fri., Sept. 5 Volunteer Breakfast

Lower School Fri., Aug. 22 Welcome to Kindergarten Barbecue Mon., Aug. 25 (Grades 4-5) Parent/Student Orientations Tue., Aug. 26 (K-3) Parent/Student Orientations

Stay tuned for an exciting announcement about a new way to maximize the impact of your gift.

Wed., Aug. 27 121st Academic Year Begins (K-5) K-5 Welcome Coffee Fri., Aug. 29 Parent Welcome Breakfast and Volunteer Signup

Middle School

Thurs., Aug. 21 121st Academic Year Begins Fri., Aug. 22 Parent/Student Welcome Day Parent Welcome Breakfast and Volunteer Signup

Upper School Wed., Aug. 20 (Grade 9 and New to Upper School) Parent Orientation Thurs., Aug. 21 121st Academic Year Begins Student Orientation/Class Activities (Grades 9-12) Fri., Aug. 22 (Grades 9-12) Student Matriculation/Photo Day Fri., Aug. 29 Parent Welcome Barbecue and Volunteer Signup

Labor Day Holiday Mon., Sept. 1 - No Classes (Preschool-12) Visit the website for complete calendar information.

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SUMMER 2014

HOMECOMING Davis Field | Fri., Oct. 3

Save the Date!

2014

64th Annual Family & Alumni Picnic

Sun., Oct. 12, 2014 10 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

THE HARKER SCHOOL GALA

Save the Date!

Concert Series 2014-15

LookingAhead Fri., Oct. 17 8 p.m.

Frank Almond Photo by Brian McConkey

with the Lipinski ´ Stradivarius Fall Date TBD 8 p.m.

Dayna Stephens Photo provided by Dayna Stephens

Fri., March 13 8 p.m.

Afiara Quartet Photo by Emma-Lee Photography

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

Fri., Feb. 27, 2015

Nichols Hall Auditorium | Upper School Campus 500 Saratoga Avenue, San Jose

San Jose Marriott

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.

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SUMMER 2014

63

Circa 1980s

Harker Academy

Photo courtesy of the Harker Archives

S

ummer is a time for bikes, camps, parks, picnics, playing in sprinklers and blacktop basketball, and these little guys seem to be totally in the moment! Harker has a long tradition of keeping children active during the summer, and this year is no different. The Harker summer camps have a multitude of activities including rock-wall climbing, archery and a dozen other daily physical challenges for children following their morning study time.

For older kids, Harker hosts some stellar sports camps including the TRX camp (new last year), water polo, soccer and, of course, basketball. This year, basketball meant a bit more to Harker as the boys varsity team overcame significant injuries and several powerhouse teams to earn a trip to the league championship – a first for boys in Harker history. For the riveting story of that season, see page 38!

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