Amy Jin ’18 has been named a 2018 Davidson Fellow Laureate in the technology category for her project on deep learning to help track surgical instruments using video. The application will help surgeons to improve surgical care by automatically assessing operative skill, “given that approximately half of all surgical complications are avoidable, many of which are attributed to poor individual and team performance,” according to the summary on the institute’s webpage. The summary continues: “Evaluating operative performance requires expert supervision and is a manual process that is time-consuming and subjective. Thus, Amy leveraged region-based convolutional neural networks to facilitate operative skill assessment, extracting visual assessment metrics such as tool usage timelines, motion heat maps, and tool trajectory maps. her summary notes.”
Davidson Scholarships are awarded to young scholars; each must be 18 or younger to receive the grant. Categories include science, technology, engineering, mathematics, music, literature, philosophy and Outside the Box. Projects must contribute a work recognized by experts in the field as an outstanding accomplishment that has the potential to benefit society.
The 2018 Davidson Fellows were honored at a reception in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 28. Rajiv Movva ’18 also received a Davidson Scholarship; read about his project in Harker News.
Rajiv Movva ’18 was named a Davidson Fellow by the Davidson Institute for Talent Development to develop his project “SNPpet: Deep Learning the Human Epigenome Reveals Regulatory Sequence Patterns and Genomic Mechanisms of Disease.” Only 20 students are so honored nationwide each year. Movva is off to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall. Check out the great article about the honor and Movva’s plans and read his official biography on the Davidson Institute web page.
The article notes, “Movva built a computer model that can use a particular DNA sequence as input to predict gene expression level as output, which sheds light on the poorly understood ‘dark genome.’ In practice, Movva’s model could bring clinical meaning to large patient-specific DNA sequence datasets that are currently hard to decode. This advanced timeframe can allow patients to make lifestyle changes or be treated far in advance, when the disease has little potential to have severe consequence. Movva’s model can also give researchers a clearer picture of disease by flagging genes that are abnormally regulated, prioritizing better targets for drugs and other treatments that remain to be discovered.”
Davidson Scholarships are awarded to young scholars—each must be 18 or younger to receive the grant. Categories include science, technology, engineering, mathematics, music, literature, philosophy and Outside the Box. Projects must contribute a work recognized as an outstanding accomplishment by experts in the field that has the potential to benefit society.
Movva will receive a $10,000 grant to assist him with his research. The 2018 Davidson Fellows will be honored at a reception in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 28. Amy Jin ’18 also received a Davidson Fellowship; read about it in Harker News
Alumnus ’09 heads up DoorDash sustainability initiative in SF
David Kastelman ’09 has co-authored an article on DoorDash’s sustainability initiative! https://blog.doordash.com/introducing-project-dash-bbc61ac0cb8c
Kastelman is business operations manager for DoorDash’s San Francisco operation and is a member of the Aquilones, a group of Harker students who attended the G8 conference in Wismar, Germany, who were featured in a retrospective in the summer 2018 issue of Harker Magazine (page 48) https://issuu.com/theharkerschool/docs/harker_magazine_summer_2018
Graduate joins conservative political advocacy group in Washington, D.C.
Tyler Koteskey ‘11 began working for Americans for Prosperity, founded by brothers David and Charles Koch.
“Americans for Prosperity works to recruit, educate and mobilize citizens nationwide to support policies advancing a free and open society of mutual benefit,” Koteskey said. “I’m joining AFP’s headquarters policy team as an analyst focused primarily on foreign policy and criminal justice reform, where I’ll help translate the organization’s broader vision into practical policy stances that advance it. I’ve enjoyed politics since my time at Harker and it’s fulfilling to go into an office every morning to advance what I believe in.”
The organization was founded in 2004 and is a libertarian/conservative political advocacy group, according to Wikipedia. “As the Koch brothers’ primary political advocacy group, it is one of the most influential American conservative organizations,” the website notes.
Sonia Rastogi ’05 forges ahead with UNICEF work
Sonia Rastogi ’05 was noted in a post by the Taipei American School. She works for UNICEF supporting communities, especially women and girls, affected by crises, here is her bio from their website https://lnkd.in/e4_8KEs
“Sonia Rastogi serves as the GBV Guidelines Information Management Specialist. She is a gender-based violence and public health practitioner with expertise implementing and coordinating GBV, WASH, Education, Livelihoods and Youth programming in complex emergency settings. Most recently, Sonia served as the Head of Office in Bentiu, South Sudan with Mercy Corps. She is committed to developing evidence-based, accountable and intersectional programs and policies for people most affected by crisis. Prior to working in the humanitarian sector, Sonia advocated for policies and programs at the U.S. local, state and national level for women and girls living with HIV. She holds a Master in Public Health from Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.”
Very nice post by the Taipei American School https://www.tas.edu.tw/fs/pages/news?post=sonia-rastogi-visits-tas-in-september-20180810
Such a pleasure to see another alumna working for the greater good!
We love to hear what our alumni are doing, be it family, work or play! Send your alumni updates to news@harker.org, and don’t forget to include a photo! We’ll also include notices in the Class Notes section of Harker Magazine.
A solid contingent of foil fencers from Harker competed in the Summer National Championships in St. Louis, Mo., in late June and early July, and Ethan Choi, rising sophomore, took the gold medal in Division III Men’s Foil, an adult competition open to fencers rated D and lower, with 279 fencers, a wonderful victory! Ratings, awarded based on tournament results, run A-E, A being the best, and U for unclassified. Choi started out the event rated D-2018, but the win upped his rating to C-2018. Here is the official video of the bout.Check out the U.S Fencing Facebook post of his victory being celebrated by team members. He also finished 115th in Cadet Men’s Foil out of 258 competitors. Choi fences for the M-Team in San Francisco. Harker’s student news posted a very nice story on Choi’s win.
Kishan Sood, a rising sophomore, rated D-2018, also fenced in Division III Men’s Foil and had a great finish at 17th out of the 279 fencers. He also fenced in Cadet Men’s Foil, Junior Men’s Foil and Division II Men’s Foil (open to fencers of all ages rated C and lower), finishing 108th in Division II out of 222 entrants, a very nice finish in a tough adult event. Just prior to nationals, Sood fenced in a senior foil event at CalTech in Pasadena, earning seventh out of 29 fencers and upping his rating to the D-2018 level. He also has been named to the USA Fencing All-American Team – Honorable Mention, which requires renewing or improving one’s rating as well as good academic standing and exceptional character. Sood was also named to the USA Fencing All-Academic First Team, which requires a GPA of 3.85 or higher. Sood fences for California Fencing Academy of Campbell.
Alumna Jerrica Liao ’18, A-2015, who heads off to fence at Northwestern in the fall, and Nerine Uyanik, rising junior, B-2017, both fenced in Junior Women’s Foil finishing 92nd and 128th, respectively, out of 226 fencers. In Division 1-A Women’s Foil, Uyanik finished a remarkable 18th while Liao had a tougher time, finishing 49th out of 86 entrants, all rated A or B. In Cadet Women’s Foil (age 17 and under), Uyanik finished 73rd out of 205 entrants. Liao fences for Silicon Valley Fencing Center of Los Altos and Uyanik fences for San Francisco Fencing Club in San Francisco.
Ishani Sood, rising seventh grader, D-2018, finished a notable 19th in Y-12 Women’s Foil out of 161 entrants, took a very respectable 61st in Cadet Women’s Foil out of 205 entrants, and was 41st in Y-14 Womens Foil out of 229 entrants, marking her as an ascending star in women’s foil. Sood, like her brother, fences at California Fencing Academy.
Upper school Fencing Club advisor and Harker Summer middle school fencing coach William Cracraft, B-2018, of Harker’s Office of Communication, finished third in the Charles Selberg Veteran Foil Invitational for men and women ages 50-plus, held in Berkeley on Father’s Day, for the third year in a row, out of 17 deeply seasoned entrants including a number of national point holders. Cracraft fences for Halberstadt Fencing Club of San Francisco.
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. All photos submitted by the subject unless noted.
1965 Carol Beattie, along with Community Foundation Sonoma County leadership, accepted Harker’s donation of $10,000 at a visit at the CFSC’s headquarters in Santa Rosa. Carol posted on the foundation’s Facebook page, “I’m proud to be associated with such a forward-thinking private school and a community of parents, staff and administrators that repurposed an alumni event – helping other communities in need. Thank you.” Harker donated the money after canceling this year’s Family & Alumni Picnic because of the poor air quality resulting from the North Bay fires.
1972
Mike Breslin donated all of his Palo Alto Military Academy uniforms back to their Harker home and even sat for an on-camera interview to discuss the history of his uniforms and memories from his days spent at PAMA. The video will be showcased during Harker’s next Family & Alumni Picnic, celebrating the school’s 125-year legacy.
1990 Mark Gelineau is a current Harker English teacher, a published author, a second- generation Harker alumnus, and his son, who starts kindergarten in the fall, will be a third-generation Harker student. Mark met his wife while they were both working at Harker Summer Camp. While here Mark has been an English teacher, camp counselor, BMX course and archery instructor, dorm houseparent, recreation supervisor, maintenance crew worker, and head of the middle school’s Spirit Club. What’s next for Mark? He’s doing an author appearance at BayCon and will be teaching a writing class at Harker Summer Institute. See Mark’s Face Time profile on page 63.
2003 Julia Gitis and her husband, Max Lipschultz, welcomed a baby boy in April.
2004 Vivek Saraswat, who sang with Guys’ Gig at Harker, has kept up his singing and has formed an a cappella group called Halfway to Midnight. The seven-person group sang in the 2018 San Francisco Harmony Sweepstakes this past March.
Emma (Hawley) Ivaturi has been enjoying her role in editorial and design for the international monthly Heartfulness Magazine. Feel free to reach out to her if you think a project or article you’re working on would be relevant to the publication at emma.ivaturi@heartfulness.org. When she’s not volunteering as a Heartfulness meditation trainer at schools and corporations, she’s enjoying time with her son, Rohan, who came into the world last May.
Maya Hey has successfully defended her proposal and is now a doctoral candidate in the department of communication studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Her dissertation project will be about food and fermentation, using feminist theories to better understand discriminating tastes and practices. She recently received the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, one of the most prestigious academic awards conferred by the Canadian government.
2006-2007 This year’s selection of Forbes 30 Under 30 list included three Harker alumni: Meghana Dhar ’06, Siddharth Sattish ’06 and Chadwick Manning ’07. Catch the full story at news.harker.org.
2008 Rangita Raghavan says, “After completing three years of medical school, I took a year off to work as a medical producer for season 9 of “The Dr. Oz Show.” I was able to bring my knowledge of medicine to the world of writing and producing. It was a rewarding job because I learned firsthand how to produce a daily talk show, made tougher when you embed medical content in it. My job entailed working with the segment producers to write show scripts that convey complex medical concepts to the audience in an accurate and compelling way. This included the development of demonstrations and animations, along with their talking points, that helped visualize these concepts. We also orchestrated lab testing and experiments and would brief Dr. Oz and medical experts on all show days about show content.” Rangita is heading back to USC to finish her medical degree but was lucky enough to cap off her TV experience by witnessing the show’s Emmy win for Best Informative Talk Show.
March was an exciting month for Tiffany Liou. She finished her contract at the CBS station in Oklahoma City, got married and moved to Dallas to be a news reporter at the ABC affiliate, WFAA. “I’m loving every minute of my journalism career and am so grateful to be working in a top five television market!”
Jami (Woolsey) Johnson and her husband, Neil, welcomed their first child on April 27. His name is Ryland Ellis Johnson and he was 7 lbs. 10 oz. and 20 inches long.
Sabena Suri co-founded BOXFOX, an LA-based e-commerce gifting company, in November 2014 (shopBOXFOX.com). While working in brand strategy, she identified the need for a comprehensive gifting service that lets both consumers and corporations send elevated, personalized gift boxes for any occasion. She currently serves as BOXFOX’s COO and holds a B.A. in public relations from the University of Southern California.
2010 Mahum Jamal completed her first feature film, “A Good Dream,” which was released on iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay and most other non-subscription video-on-demand platforms in May. The film had a successful festival run, winning 17 international film festival awards. “A Good Dream” is a psychological thriller art film about a girl in her 20s who is trying to find herself in New York. She is haunted by a presence and has trouble distinguishing fiction from reality, falling deeper into a world of her perceptions. For mature audiences.
Kelsey Chung graduated from Pratt Institute with a master’s with distinction in the history of art and design with a museum studies certificate. She is interning at the South Street Seaport Museum in the collections department. “If anyone is still in New York or is planning on visiting, let me know! I’m happy to hang out and visit museums with people.” Also, Kelsey and Isaac Ball ’08 were married on Dec. 29!
2011
Ashtyn Ka and Jerry Sun became engaged in May after dating since their junior year of high school. Ashtyn, a recent NYU law graduate, and Jerry, a trader at Susquehanna International Group, live in New York and plan to have their wedding in September 2019.
2012
Zach Ellenberg proposed to his girlfriend of three-and-a-half years, Ruth Ferguson, and she said, “Yes!” Zach and Ruth met while attending the University of Washington.
2013-2014-2015
Suchita Netty ’13 and Angela Ma ’14 were awarded 2018 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. Read more about this wonderful story at news.harker.org.
Urvi Gupta ’14 writes, “I had the wonderful opportunity to co-direct Disrupt Diabetes (disruptdiabetes2018.com), a multi-stakeholder design challenge created to put patients in the driver’s seat of innovation. For nine weeks, 12 patients partnered with students and designers to uncover unmet needs and conduct user research; on May 20, teams met in person at the Stanford School of Medicine and were joined by medical experts and thought leaders to generate impactful and viable solutions for their need areas. The day was filled with genuine conversation, respect for each other’s perspectives and creative solutions, and a strong community of Disruptors was built through shared vulnerability and passion.”
David Lindars ’13, Shikhar Dixit ’15, Neel Bhoopalam ’13 and Simar Mangat ’13 came back home to help celebrate the grand opening of our new athletic facility.
Teacher Gabrielle Stahl joined Leeza Kuo ’15 and her mother, Jade, for dinner. Leeza is in an eight-year veterinary program at Purdue and is currently studying abroad in Australia. “Leeza has learned to have a balanced life and I rarely see such a happy child. We had a wonderful evening,” Stahl reported.
2017
Alexis Gauba, now attending the University of California, Berkeley, is part of a team that will explore in-depth research on blockchain protocols specifically focusing on alternative consensus. She also held a women’s conference on the subject back in April of this year. Read more about Alexis and her team at news.harker.org.
Reunions: 5, 10 and 15 Year The classes of 2002, 2007 and 2012 held their fifth, 10th and 15th class reunionswith plenty of festivities and catching up. The Class of 2002’s 15-year celebration marked a special milestone as they hold the distinct honor of being the upper school’s first graduating class.
Keller Alumni Tour
The 2018 Keller Tour hit two states this spring.First were visits with students from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pa., and then a trip to Southern California that covered
Claremont McKenna College, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, Pomona College, Scripps College and the University of Redlands. The tour wrapped up at a school a bit closer to home, visiting with alumni currently attending Santa Clara University.
Steven Liu MS ’85, one of the leading American corporate lawyers in Beijing, recently passed away at the age of 46. He lived in Beijing with his wife and two sons, both of whom attended Harker’s Summer English Language Institute. A memorial service was held on May 25.
Mr. Liu’s ties to Harker remained strong throughout his life: he started at Harker in elementary school, graduated from the middle school, and remained in close touch with his classmates, teachers and coaches. His cousin Vincent Chang also attended Harker at the same time.
After Harker, Mr. Liu attended Bellarmine College Prep in San Jose for high school, University of California, Berkeley, for college, and the University of Pennsylvania for law school. With a powerful intellect, great writing and leadership skills, and the ability to speak fluent Mandarin, it was little surprise that Mr. Liu’s career led to Beijing, where he enjoyed tremendous success.
He opened the Beijing office of the prestigious law firm Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, and was named co-head of their China practice. The firm posted a note immediately after Mr. Liu’s passing in his company biography: “It is with great sadness that we share the passing in May 2018 of our friend and colleague Steve Liu. We and all who knew him will miss his warmth, generosity, humility and thoughtful insight.”
One of Mr. Liu’s closest friends at Harker was school trustee and federal judge John Owens. “Steve was the first kid to befriend me on the playground at Harker, for which I will be eternally grateful,” said Owens. “I was the new guy at school and didn’t know anyone, but Steve made me feel at home. Over the years, he was a great, great friend. He was always supportive, but also would challenge and push you when you needed to be challenged and pushed. In so many ways, he helped me succeed at Harker and beyond.”
Joe Rosenthal, Harker’s executive director of strategic initiatives, who has been working at Harker for the past 37 years, remembers Mr. Liu with great admiration. “[Retired teachers] Pat Walsh and Howard Saltzman and I were invited by Steve to have a few beers with him at Harry’s Hoffbrau, just a few months ago,” said Rosenthal. “That is the kind of guy he was, inviting his former teachers to get together with him decades after he graduated. We all had such a good time remembering Steve’s elementary school days. Steve was not only a very good student but a really fun person to be around; he was very involved in activities and with friends. He had a way of helping bring those around him up while still having a good time in the process.”
Mr. Liu’s other love was the Golden State Warriors, and Mr. Liu and his father, Allen, cheered them on in Oakland and over the internet once Mr. Liu moved to Beijing. He often complained that being a Warriors fan was a curse, but the team’s recent success changed his outlook.
To honor Mr. Liu’s memory, The Steven Liu Memorial Endowment Fund has been established at Harker. Classmates, teachers and friends have contributed to this fund, which will provide support to Harker students every year in perpetuity. Those who wish to contribute and be recognized as donors to The Steven Liu Memorial Fund may do so via check or online. Checks can be sent to the advancement office, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129. Please include “Steven Liu Memorial Fund” on the memo line. If you would prefer to donate online, please visit Harker’s online giving page: www.harker.org/onlinegiving, select “Make an Annual Giving Gift,” enter the amount of your gift and on the “this gift is in memory of” line, type “Steven Liu.” If you have any questions, please contact Tiki Tse, director of donor relations, at tiki.tse@harker.org.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2018 issue of Harker Magazine.
Noël Duan ’09 is a fashionista entrepreneur who has succeeded because she isn’t afraid to fail. When she was a student at Harker, she tried to start a fashion club for two years, but no one came to her meetings. “I remember thinking, ‘I don’t care if no one is interested in fashion – I am!’” said Duan, who pursues her passions with vigor.
“I decided to start a teen fashion blog to meet other people who were as passionately nerdy about fashion as me!” Her blog, Miss Couturable, gained traction. Teen Vogue wrote about it and raved, “From filling us in on the trials and tribulations of college applications to dishing on the latest runway trends, Miss Couturable is truly a daily delight!”
While the blog gave her a forum to discuss ideas, it was an internship at Seventeen magazine before her senior year at Harker that opened her eyes to the publishing world and East Coast culture.
“Noël was always driven by an organic and true love for ideas, the human story and the arts,” said Donna Gilbert, chair of the upper school’s history and social sciences department. “She applied herself with creativity and intellectual passion to every project and was always a deep and courageous thinker fully invested in her studies.”
It was this courage and her experience in New York that led her to Columbia University, where she studied sociocultural anthropology and art history. “I went to Columbia thinking I wanted something more,” remembered Duan. “I was in the middle of the publishing world and that’s when I decided I was going to become a writer.”
Within her first week, she met fellow student Jina Lim and they realized that Columbia didn’t have a fashion magazine – so they launched one. Hoot magazine, which covers fashion, art and culture in New York City, was founded in 2009 by “a group of fashion-obsessed students.”
The magazine is still going strong with a print publication, an active blog and an Instagram account that shows off student style at Columbia. Duan thrived at Columbia, but upon graduating, realized she wasn’t done with her academic pursuits. She was passionate about women’s rights and ecofeminism, so she decided to pursue a master’s degree in women’s studies at the University of Oxford, where she interned at British Vogue while writing her dissertation.
After she graduated from Oxford, Duan moved back to New York City, where she met makeup legend Bobbi Brown. “She hired me on the spot to be her assistant editor as Yahoo! was launching their beauty section,” Duan remembers. “I got to work with Bobbi and her amazing team and learned not just about physical beauty but understanding and unpacking that beauty is about identity and so much more.”
Today she describes herself as “writer, reader, editor, researcher, rider.” She lives in New York and San Francisco and was a culture/lifestyle writer at Quartz, a digital business publication owned by Atlantic Media. When she’s not behind a computer, she’s raising a puppy, fostering more puppies (20 at last count!) and enjoys getting out of the city to ride horses – a hobby she picked up at Oxford. Her love of animals led her to launch Argos & Artemis, a literary magazine about dogs. She chose to do it in 2018, the year of the dog, and plans to publish hard copies and launch an online edition before the year ends.
The literary contributors to the magazine include New Yorker staff writers, Guggenheim fellows and New York Times bestselling authors – all united by their love for dogs. And if that’s not enough, she’s also working on a novel about adolescence in pre-2008 recession Silicon Valley.
“I’m drafting a novel to stay humble,” Duan said with a confident smile and the spirit of an entrepreneur who has big plans.
Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2018 issue of Harker Magazine.
When Kevin Saxon ’10 walked onto Harker’s upper school campus as a freshman, he didn’t know what his passion was – but by his junior year, he had found his happy place in the art department.
“His passion for art was completely evident when he was in the upper school art program,” said Pilar Agüero-Esparza, visual arts teacher. “He was a soft-spoken and thoughtful student who had tremendous patience and perseverance to see his projects to fruition.”
Saxon’s path to the art department was gradual, unfolding over the course of a few years. “I did fine on my academic subjects, but I didn’t push myself there,” reflected Saxon in his forthright manner. “But I would totally wake up when it was time for art class and definitely found my groove there.”
But “art” is a broad term and Saxon felt he found his creative side a little late, so he wasn’t entirely sure what direction his newfound passion would take him. When he was applying to college, he hedged his bets and applied mostly to traditional universities and a few art schools, including the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design.
“I was totally blown away when I got into RISD – it was my stretch school!” said Saxon. “I never would have even thought about art school if it wasn’t for Ms. Agüero-Esparza and Mr. [Jaap] Bongers,” chair of the visual arts department at Harker.
He decided to study architecture, because he thought it was more practical and could provide a better career path. But after his freshman year and an internship in architecture, he realized it wasn’t for him.
“I could tell that it was a painful realization for him as he had invested a lot of thought and hopes on becoming an architect but it wasn’t working out as he had imagined,” said Agüero- Esparza, who was so proud of Saxon for not giving up despite the disappointment he was facing.
Saxon stepped back from architecture, cleared his head and found himself drawn to furniture design. “I like working with my hands and think of myself as more of a designer than an artist,” said Saxon, who appreciated the small, tight-knit feel of the furniture design industry.
“I enjoy taking an idea, going through the process of figuring it out and executing to the end.” This ability to take a project from concept to completion is how Saxon became an exhibit fabricator at the Children’s Discovery Museum in San Jose.
“Kevin brings a wealth of talent and knowledge and has been an amazing asset ever since he joined CDM last summer,” said Rich Turner, the museum’s director of exhibits and facilities. “Kevin, a talented artist and engineer, brings a fantastic background stemming from Harker and the Rhode Island School of Design, where he excelled at furniture design.”
Saxon hit the ground running when he started his new job, because CDM was nearly doubling the museum’s exhibit space with an outdoor expansion that included Bill’s Backyard: Bridge to Nature. Bill’s Backyard inspires children to spend time outside climbing, building, digging and getting dirty while exploring the natural elements. This was a perfect project for Saxon, since he loves the outdoors and enjoys hiking, camping and traveling.
“I really like my work at CDM because there is something new every day,” Saxon said. “I’m not sure what the future holds, but I do know I’ll make the best of every situation and that I like to do things my own way.”
Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2018 issue of Harker Magazine.
By Marla Holt
It’s not surprising that many Harker graduates go onto successful careers in the performing arts, given the school’s reputation for providing outstanding opportunities for students to shine in music, dance and theater.
Students benefit from top-notch teachers and mentors, they earn certification in Harker’s heralded Conservatory certificate program and, now, they will perform in a world-class facility, the new Rothschild Performing Arts Center.
One thing these talented alumni have in common is the foundational education they received at Harker – a strong work ethic, a commitment to professional respect for all artists and the drive to pursue their dreams. Read on to learn how several graduates of Harker Conservatory’s certificate program are contributing to the performing arts world.
Daniel Cho ’11
Contemporary ballet dancer Daniel Cho just completed his last year with San Francisco’s Alonzo King LINES Ballet training program. His long days were physically strenuous, filled with ballet classes, rehearsals, workshops, courses on topics such as dance anatomy, and preparation for the school’s biannual performances.
Cho also works part time tutoring students in SAT/SSAT/ACT prep. “I love the community aspect of dance, moving my body while connecting with other people,” Cho said. In June, he will move to Cleveland for a yearlong apprenticeship with Verb Ballets, a contemporary ballet company.
“I wanted to have a professional dance career before going to graduate school in fine arts and dance,” Cho said. “My ultimate goal is to teach at the college level.”
Cho has only been formally dancing for about five years. He focused mostly on vocal performance at Harker, dancing in musical theater and dance shows “because it was fun and came naturally to me,” he said.
He had a lead role in “Pippin,” which toured at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. “That experience challenged me to think about whether I wanted to pursue the life of an artist,” he said. A Harker friend convinced him to try a dance class and he was hooked
He took his first ballet class as a sophomore at Swarthmore College, where he majored in dance and education. He caught up to his peers with a year spent refining his classical ballet technique with Coastal City Ballet’s training program in Vancouver, British Columbia.
“Harker instilled in me a strong work ethic,” he said. “I also learned the importance of respecting everyone involved in a production. As I’ve done more professional work, I’ve realized these things really matter.”
Audrey Kwong ’07
Artistic operations manager Audrey Kwong helps the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra run smoothly by managing projects such as electronic media and recording activities, tours and special events, and the orchestra’s calendar and performance contracts. She also has regular “concert duty,” coordinating with musicians and stage and house managers before signaling to start a performance to avoid delays that could interfere with the artists’ collective bargaining agreements. “If we run into overtime, it gets very expensive very fast,” said Kwong, who enjoys the logistics of orchestra management.
“I like wearing lots of hats,” Kwong said. “I also couldn’t imagine not being around music every day.” She previously worked in operations for Colorado’s Aspen Music Festival and School and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
Kwong, a classically trained violinist, first realized that orchestra management was a career possibility while studying violin performance at the University of Southern California. “I had no idea about nonprofit arts jobs until I took a class in arts administration,” she said.
She went on to earn a Master of Arts Management degree at Carnegie Mellon University. At Harker, Kwong participated in orchestra, choir and theater, and completed a conducting and score study independent project with music teacher Chris Florio, who also encouraged her to solo with the orchestra.
“Harker teaches you to approach the arts from different points of view,” said Kwong, who recalls having to clock tech hours for any theater production she was involved in, for example. “I learned that everyone has an important role to play, and that’s of value in my current job.”
Grace Hudkins ’08
Grace Hudkins never imagined she’d teach theater, let alone teach internationally, even though she’s been active in theater her whole life. At Harker, she was involved in many productions and took every theater class offered. At Mount Holyoke College, she immersed herself in theater – acting, directing and stage managing, as well as joining the executive board of the student theater organization.
“The fact that I was poised to be so involved in college was due to the preparation I received in Harker’s Conservatory program,” Hudkins said. “I had fantastic mentors in Jeff Draper, Susan Nace, Brian Larsen and Laura Lang-Ree.”
After earning a degree in psychology and education from Mount Holyoke, Hudkins planned to teach elementary school and thought theater was in her past. Her father encouraged her to look for international teaching jobs and put her in touch with Chadwick International in Songdo, South Korea. The school hired her as an elementary teaching intern, later offering her the additional role of technical theater intern. A year later, she launched Chadwick’s elementary drama program.
Today, she is the school’s theater operations and production manager, overseeing every production in the school’s two theaters, managing theater tech clubs for more than 80 students and teaching technical theater units in drama classes.
Hudkins calls her career an “incredible journey of professional growth and self discovery,” and credits her experience at Chadwick with cultivating her desire to always teach drama. “The arts put us in touch with our essential humanity,” said Hudkins, who noted that she’s reminded daily that she’s equipping students with empathy, confidence, integrity, resilience and more.
Gabrielle DeMers ’03
As a freelance opera singer, soprano Gabrielle DeMers continually works to book concerts and shows while promoting herself as a specialist in her field. “My career is a series of gigs, so it’s hard to establish a routine,” she said. “I’m constantly adapting as things come my way.”
Her days are spent practicing, rehearsing or performing shows, and perfecting the language skills needed to sing in Russian, German, Latin, Italian and more. DeMers has performed frequently for Baltimore’s Young Victorian Theatre Company, including as Josephine in “H.M.S. Pinafore” and Gianetta in “The Gondoliers.”
She sang the role of Kate Pinkerton in “Madama Butterfly” with the former Lyric Opera Baltimore, now known as the Maryland Opera. DeMers is active in community outreach, performing recitals and concerts for schoolchildren and the elderly. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree at USC and a Master of Music at the University of Maryland, where she performed as Tatyana in “Eugene Onegin” and Sandrina in “La Finta Giardiniera.”
“I love the collaborative process of making music with other people,” DeMers said. “It’s satisfying to mold our ideas of what the music should say into a cohesive whole.”
At Harker, DeMers participated in show choir and musical theater, earning Conservatory certification in both music and theater. “I started to get a sense of wanting to be a professional singer while I was in high school,” she said.
While freelancing as a performing artist has its challenges, DeMers ha no regrets. “The best advice I’ve gotten is to ‘create your own opportunities,’” she said. “Get up on stage, perform, try things, make some mistakes because that’s how you learn.”
Kim Wong ’05
Actress Kim Wong has loved Shakespeare ever since attending Shakespeare Camp as an 8-year-old. The Bard was her “gateway drug into acting,” she said. As she’s pursued acting professionally, her experience with performing Shakespeare – combined with being a woman of color – has led to success in a niche market.
“There aren’t a lot of Asian female Shakespearean actresses. As theaters are diversifying casts, that has worked to my advantage,” said Wong, who earned a drama degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Wong’s recent work includes acting in multiple roles in “Henry V” with The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit, a community outreach program that performs 90-minute Shakespeare plays at the theater and at detention facilities, homeless shelters and community centers around New York City.
“We bring theater and Shakespeare in particular to communities that don’t have access to it,” she said. She also has played Helena in “All’s Well That Ends Well,” Cordelia in “King Lear” and Ophelia in “Hamlet at regional theaters around the country.
This summer, Wong will be in “Henry VI” at the National Asian American Theatre Company. While at Harker, Wong agonized over whether pursuing an acting career was practical. She eventually decided that she’d rather take the risk than live to regret that she didn’t.
Her mentors at Harker – particularly Jeff Draper – gave her opportunities to play challenging roles that helped her prepare for the college audition process. “I was cast as Gertrude in ‘Hamlet’ and I really wanted to play Ophelia, but Jeff knew that Gertrude would really push me,” she said. Wong’s experiences at Harker also taught her that the performing arts require “constant and consistent work with passion.”
D.J. Blickenstaff ’09
Actor D.J. Blickenstaff loved both baseball and theater when he entered high school at Harker, but their schedules conflicted. The acting bug had bitten him when he was a member of the Harmonics vocal group in middle school, so he decided to say goodbye to baseball and audition for the spring musical. He hasn’t looked back.
“My passion for acting began at Harker, and has just grown from there,” said Blickenstaff, who performed in many productions, including “Urinetown: The Musical” at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. “Harker’s teachers gave me a strong core on which to build.”
Blickenstaff went on to earn a B.F.A. from USC, where – while performing as Joey in “The Most Happy Fella” – he was approached by a management agency interested in representing him. “They were scoping for talent, and I got lucky,” he said. “I was able to build a really solid team of six different agents working for me in different areas of the industry.”
Blickenstaff’s first jobs included acting in NBC’s “Diversity Scene Showcase,” a one-night event spotlighting up-and-coming talent, and delivering a one-liner on “Sean Saves the World.” He currently has a recurring role on Netflix’s “Dear White People” and recently shot the pilot of a show called “#Fashionvictim,” which – if picked up – would be his first regular role in a series.
He previously appeared in multiple episodes of “Catching a Break” and “Colony” and is the author of a web series about the Hollywood business industry. When he’s not auditioning, Blickenstaff keeps busy with live theater in Los Angeles and as the voiceover announcer for USC’s public events.
“I enjoy pursuing entertainment for social change – letting art be something that drives people to make changes in their lives or the world,” Blickenstaff said. “It’s a beautiful thing to be on a set with so many people who believe in the story we’re telling.”
SIDEBAR
A Life in the Arts
Here are a few examples of the many Harker alumni working in music, dance, theater, and arts administration and education. In some cases they have other full-time jobs, which we’ve noted.
Joe Hospodor ’09
Writer for ClickHole, The Onion, Funny or Die and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency
Writer/performer, Second City Hollywood
Actor, Livingston Agency
Past writer for “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “CBS Diversity Comedy Showcase” and BuzzFeed Motion
Shanna Polzin ’10
Freelance stage manager and production manager for live events in New York City
Past production stage manager, Dance Theatre of Harlem
Managed scenic elements of 2017 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show
Managed 2018 NFL owners dinner during the Super Bowl
Past associate production manager, New York Summer Music Festival
Past stage manager for Olympic figure skating shows
Gail Nakano ’06
Chemist for a manufacturing company
Founding member, Cappella SF
Eight-year member, San Francisco Symphony Chorus
Member, a cappella vocal group Gaude
Past soloist and section leader, San Francisco’s Swedenborgian Church
Jackie Laine ’04
Strategy consultant in media/entertainment
Past TV producer
Vivek Saraswat ’04
Product manager at Docker, an enterprise tech startup in San Francisco
Member of mixed a cappella vocal group Halfway to Midnight, winner of 2016 Harmony Sweepstakes A Cappella Championship regional competition
Past vocalist and guitar player with rock bands Second Breakfast and Just in Time and acoustic quartet Capo Four
Alexandra Burgess ’04 (Mickey Selbo-Bruns at Harker)
Assistant professor of psychology, Worcester State University
Vocalist, Novi Cantori and Illuminati Ensemble
Michelle Holt ’11
Corporate sales manager at a networking company
Performing in “Carmen” with West Bay Opera and auditioning for Opera San José
Engaged with San Francisco Conservatory of Music for further education
Past section leader and staff singer, Community Church of Vero Beach, Fla.
Past on-staff artist, nonprofit Artists for a Cause
Past section leader and staff singer, University of San Francisco’s St. Ignatius Parish
Marla Holt is a freelance writer based in Minnesota.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2018 issue of Harker Magazine.
When Scott Pruitt, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator, took the stage in September, he had no idea that Daniela Lapidous ’12 was in the audience and was planning to call him out on his climate change denial.
“I couldn’t sit there while he lied (again), so I stood up and yelled and reminded him and his audience that they were betraying young peoples’ futures. ‘If you really cared about the people of Florida, Houston and the Caribbean, why are you not talking about how climate change is making storms worse? You’re talking the talk today, but you’re fighting to dismantle EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas. Pruitt is a puppet for corporate polluters! You’re betraying our futures!’” she screamed until the Secret Service pulled her out of the room.
In a blog post on Feministing.com, she explained, “I did this because my generation cannot afford to stay silent while he undermines our futures.” She attended this talk with Sunrise Movement, a self-described “army of young people” that aims to elect climate champions and get fossil fuel money out of politics.
Lapidous’ fiery determination was ignited during a presentation at Harker by the Alliance for Climate Education. Lapidous and her friend Shreya Indukuri ’12 then became focused environmental volunteers for Harker. They applied for and received a grant for the school’s gardens, green roof and smart metering systems, all of which combined to save the school about $20,000 annually.
But the pair didn’t stop there, traveling to the White House to meet with Steven Chu, then U.S. Secretary of Energy, to discuss expanding the program nationwide.
“I remember when she and Shreya came to me to ask me to sponsor them as they applied for a grant, which was a no brainer as Daniela was well-organized, well-spoken and very passionate!” said Jeff Sutton, upper school science teacher. “She is an amazing individual who has a strong will and brilliant intellect. She also has my deep respect.”
Sutton was one of Lapidous’ favorite teachers and ardent supporters. “He supported every crazy idea we came up with, including the summit our senior year,” said Lapidous with a laugh. Lapidous and Indukuri co-organized Green Teen Summit, a conference for high school students that featured keynote speaker Bill McKibben, environmental activist and cofounder of 350.org.
Her activism continued into college at Columbia University. In her freshman year, Lapidous co-founded Barnard Columbia Divest, a group that advocated for eliminating the school’s investment in, or divesting from, the fossil fuel industry. A renamed group – Columbia Divest for Climate Justice – continues work to mobilize student power on campus until the board of trustees commits to divestment. (Barnard College made a decision to divest last spring.)
Since graduating from Columbia in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and sustainable development, she has worked hard to effect change and protect Mother Earth through her work with nonprofits, startups and research institutions. She’s a coalition organizer at NY Renews, which comprises 130-plus organizations across New York that are fighting for a just transition to 100 percent renewable energy – with good jobs, protection for workers and investment into the most-impacted communities. She loves her work and encourages students to think beyond their grades.
When Lapidous looks back, she realizes her biggest impact has been speaking for the planet and fighting for environmental change, which doesn’t have anything to do with her GPA. “Try to do what you care about and see where it takes you,” she said. “I was lucky to find my passion but don’t expect to get struck by a bolt of lightning; keep trying new things and remember that passion can build over time.”
Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective.