Upper school students and faculty gathered at the Harker Athletic Center on Friday for this year’s matriculation ceremony, which formally started the 2025-26 upper school academic year. The ceremony featured a number of speeches from administrators and students, as well as performances by student vocal group Capriccio and The Harker Chamber Orchestra.
Head of school Brian Yager, the first of the morning’s speakers, spoke about lessons he reflected on while vacationing in Montana over the summer, offered words of guidance to the seniors and highlighted their roles as leaders to the students in the other classes. “This is the year in which you take your place amongst the ranks of leaders past, and in which you have the opportunity and the responsibility to lead this institution and to share your brightest qualities and your brightest light. And for you for you to help pave the way for the classes that we’ll be looking up to, especially this new group of ninth graders who will look to you for guidance and inspiration, as well as for examples of what will be expected and then in the years to come,” he said, also reminding the students of the support system available to them. “The faculty here will be your guides on the journeys ahead. It is, as you all know, an exceptional team of educators, and they will perform their own tasks to ensure that you have a uniquely meaningful educational experience.”
Upper school head Paul Barsky, welcomed each class back to school and extended a special welcome to the Class of 2029 as new students at upper school. He spoke on the importance of taking time out for reflection, which could be facilitated by some new features on campus. “One of the lovely parts of summer is having more time to simply reflect, as Mr. Yager reminded us. We have over a dozen new benches around the campus that are designed for you to reflect. To be still, to see what unfolds when you are still,” he said. He also offered the following tip for reflection: “When being still, again, don’t pull out the phone or the computer and scroll. Rather, my invitation for you is to Simply sit take in sights, the sounds and smells of this beautiful campus. Doing so, you’ll have the opportunity to care for, nurture, and protect our environment.”
Senior Luke Wu, Associated Student Body president, offered words of welcome to the Class of 2029 and some advice on how to get the most out of their four years as upper school students. “My advice for you this year is simple: Embrace your friends and embrace your class. It’s those authentic connections that you form at lunch tables and the occasional distracted study session that will give your life here meaning.” He also extolled the importance of accountability and implored his fellow students to discover what that means for each of them. “You may not have it all figured out yet, and neither do I. And that’s okay. But I argue as long as we’re even searching for what our song our purpose may be, then we’re holding ourselves accountable. And there is no truer or more beautiful example of personal accountability than that.”
Senior Elie Ahluwalia, an officer on the Student Diversity Council, spoke on the link between respect and the SDC’s mission of creating an inclusive school environment. She defined respect as “realizing that everything we do touches somebody else. Respect can be more than manners, so ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ are great, but true respect is seeing the value of someone even whether different from you, or when you disagree with something they’ve said and part of our job as SDC is to make students feel safe and seen at school, so the mutual understanding that is so conducive to our mission isn’t possible without respect,” she said. “When we listen to each other’s ideas, experiences and perspectives—even the ones that sound a little crazy or a little different a first—we build community. So as we Start the school year. I challenge you all to think about respect, not just as the value we talk about, but as something we practice”
Honor Council member Linda Zeng, a senior, began with a story about stealing an origami book at a much younger age because she wanted to learn how to make a paper crab sculpture. While the goal seemed innocent enough, the act of stealing the book “conflicted with my own morals and the values of my community. Sometimes goals conflict, and that caused me to lose my integrity.” She later returned the book and admitted to the theft, later returning home and learning how to make the sculpture via YouTube. In her speech, she stressed that maintaining integrity in the community is everyone’s responsibility. “Each one of our actions has rippling effects strengthening and weakening those around us. And each of us can contribute to what it means to have Integrity. At Harker, this is embodied through the Honor Council. Everyone, including ninth graders, has a voice in shaping standards: just speak up.”
ASB vice president Amishi Gupta, grade 12, shared her thoughts on the importance of kindness and how its effects can reverberate through a community. “Kindness is powerful because it doesn’t just stay with one person. Sure, the person who receives the act of kindness feels appreciated and respected, but it is often that those acts of kindness make the one giving it a sense of happiness and purpose too,” she said. “And it goes even further, rather exponentially. But even those who witness these acts of kindness feel inspired to pay it forward. But let’s remember this too. Kindness isn’t only something we give away. It’s also something we owe to ourselves.”
Gupta then led the recitation of the matriculation oath before Wu treated the audience to special video made for the ninth graders on how to navigate upper school life. The ninth graders were then called forward to sign the matriculation book.