This article originally appeared in the winter 2017 issue of Harker Magazine.
Every night Sehba Ali ’90 and her family – her husband, three children and two parents – go around the dinner table and share how they helped someone or how someone helped them that day. The importance of giving back and helping others is etched in their family story. This passion can be seen well beyond the dinner table, as Ali is the CEO and superintendent of KIPP Houston Public Schools, a network of high-performing public charter schools located in educationally underserved communities.
“It’s such an honor and privilege to work with our families and KIPPsters,” she said. “I get way more than I give, and I’m definitely a better person because I get to be around these students who have such persistence and grit.”
Her path to KIPP (Knowledge is Power Program) began after she graduated from the University of California, Berkeley and decided to apply to Teach for America. She walked into the career office and saw the vision statement: “One day all children will have the opportunity to have an excellent education.”
“This really stood out and resonated with me,” she remembered. “I knew that’s exactly what I wanted to do.” So she taught in the classroom, earned her master’s degree from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Education and founded KIPP Heartwood Academy in San Jose.
When Ali was founding KIPP Heartwood Academy, she tried to incorporate the best aspects of her experience at Harker and Castilleja School. “She was a wonderful young lady who worked hard and was always positive,” said Howard Saltzman, one of Ali’s elementary school teachers. “It doesn’t surprise me that she has gone on to have such success in her career.”
Ali attended Harker from kindergarten through eighth grade and then went to Castilleja for high school. (Harker did not have its upper school yet.) “I credit Harker with setting me up for success in life with a phenomenal education and great teachers who helped me love learning,” Ali said. “I often imagine the impact that Harker students could make in the world, and I hope they challenge themselves to think about what they can do to build a better tomorrow.”
Ali said Harker truly made a difference in her family’s life. When her father lost his job and they couldn’t pay the tuition, Harker president Howard Nichols and his wife, current board chair Diana Nichols , met with her parents and worked out a plan to keep Ali and her brother at Harker. “It was incredibly pivotal for me to watch Harker step up and help our family in our moment of need,” Ali remembered. “This kindness followed by community service when I was at Castilleja truly inspired me to help all students from every background.”
And that is what she does each day when she goes to work representing 28 KIPP schools that serve about 14,500 students in Houston. College graduation among KIPPsters is nearly 50 percent compared to 10 percent of students in the communities they serve. KIPP teaches its students that both academic and character skills are necessary to thrive in college and lead choice-filled lives. KIPP students achieve their dreams by following two important rules: Work hard. Be nice. This philosophy is infused in KIPP, from the youngest student to the most hard-working superintendent.
When John Holt left his job as a communications assistant with the Houston Spurs to work for KIPP nearly a year ago, he wrote an insightful blog post titled “From the Spurs to KIPP.” He talked about a message given by Ali on his first day.
“Her words were warming to hear, especially as she closed by encouraging each of us to reach out to our families and let them know how much we love them,” he wrote. “When I walked toward my car and prepared to head home following [Ali’s] words, I took a few seconds to reflect on the overall day. No matter how I tried to view or portray it, the day’s entirety circled back to a common theme of family.”
Ali’s love of family, whether her KIPP family or her immediate family, is what leads her to work hard, be nice and make a difference.
As we were preparing our story on Sehba Ali, Hurricane Harvey caused devastating floods in the Houston area. Ali said that KIPP is providing aid directly to the 1,400-plus KIPP families impacted by the floods. Those who would like to help may donate at www.kipphouston.org/donate (“family emergency fund”). Ali partnered with Mark DiBella, the CEO of YES Prep Public Schools, and Mike Feinberg, co-founder of KIPP, to pen an editorial for the Houston Chronicle, which was published on Sept. 27, 2017: “After Harvey, we shouldn’t expect any less of our schools ” http://bit.ly/2jrmqdq
Contributor Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2017 issue of Harker Magazine.
Compiled by Kristina Alaniz, alumni director, The Harker School
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.
1990
Chris Yamashita, founder of the locally famed Brown Chicken Brown Cow in Campbell, was awarded The San Jose Mercury News’ 2017 Best Burger in the Bay title.
1996
Sam Lepler, middle school graduate and current Harker upper school teacher, received the Teacher of the Year award from the California Association of School Economics Teachers (CASET). Read more on this story in our student publication, Harker Aquila: https://harkeraquila.com/38875/news/economics-teacher-samuel-lepler-receives-california-teacher-of-the-year-award-from-caset/
2002
The upper school’s inaugural graduating class celebrated its 15-year reunion in style at the Anchor Brewing Distillery in San Francisco. In attendance were Isabella Liu, Paul Picazo, Heather Browning, Vijay Nayak, Tiffany Duong, Ben Hu, Sameep Lad, Akhsar Kharebov and Joe Rosenthal , executive director of advancement.
2003
Kari [Saltzman] Snell and her husband, Jason, welcomed twins, Dextor and Maddox Snell. They join big sister Kiora.
Deepa Mathew and her husband, Nishant Goyal, welcomed their first child, Kian Mathew Goyal, born Aug. 22, 2017.
Vivek Saraswat was married to Neha Vyas in August at the Vintners Inn in Sonoma County. They met at the Stanford Graduate School of Business where they bonded over their mutual love of singing, and received their MBAs in 2014. They are now living in San Francisco and working at tech startups.
2005
On Nov. 11, Shikha Mittal married Jameel Khalfan, almost exactly six years after the day they met. They were introduced by Shikha’s Harker classmate Suhaas Prasad at the birthday party of yet another Harker classmate – and Shikha’s best friend – Ruchi Jhaveri. Jameel proposed to Shikha in an elaborate treasure hunt that started in San Francisco and ended in Los Angeles, atop the SLS Hotel’s rooftop pool, the venue of their six-month anniversary. The wedding occurred in Palm Springs and started with a Coachella/Burning Man-themed sangeet. Pictured standing left to right are Karun Amar, Jhaveri, Khalfan, Mittal, Arjun Naskar, Arjun’s date; on the ground are Prasad and Bharat Reddy.
After playing Cordelia in “King Lear” at The Guthrie earlier this year, Kimberley Wong is currently working at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, where she just closed a successful run of “Hamlet” in her dream role, Ophelia. She is about to open their Christmas production, “Miss Bennet: Christmas at
Pemberley.” She was also seen this fall on HBO’s “The Deuce” as a recurring character, a bartender named Suzi.
Alan Malek and Yuanyuan Pao ‘07 were married March 25 at the Cornerstone Sonoma, an event venue at the junction of Napa and Sonoma counties.
2006
Meghana Dhar was included on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. Meghana is responsible for opening 700 stores for B8ta by 2018. The company launches brick and mortar stores for trendy tech products and provides them with customer engagement and interaction data.
2007
Jenny Ma and Andrew Fandrianto were married on July 7, 2017 in Oahu, Hawaii. “We’ve been best friends since middle school and would often spend most of our lunches and after-school hours playing handball.” In attendance were (all Class of 2007 unless otherwise noted) Alex Fandrianto ’08, Anthony Fandrianto ’11, Michael Ma ’14, Alex Wu, Jay Han, Michael Chaykin, Alexander Hansen and Tiffany Lin.
Jessica Dickinson Goodman has been accepted as a Fellow with the New Leaders Council for 2018, a program that trains and supports the next generation of progressive leaders. ”My application focused on my experiences working in government as a scheduler for now-U.S. Senator Kamala D. Harris and staffing the chair of the Washington State Appropriations Committee during a constitutional budget crisis; my international work supporting women’s empowerment, including teaching classes to bridge the digital divide in Sierra Leone, the West Bank and Gaza; and my commitment to resisting the many ways the current administration is attacking the social fabric of our country, specifically fighting back against their initiatives targeting DACA recipients, giving succor to white supremacists and wrecking the ACA.” See our profile on Jessica on page 32.
David Linder and his wife, Dena, were married in downtown Chicago surrounded by family and friends. His passion for web analytics and e-commerce led him to a new role as product manager of Yield Optimization at Prodege LLC.
2009
Kevin Kim has had an eclectic mix of career opportunities since graduating from Cornell University. In 2016, Kevin transitioned into software engineering to work in the field of custom data analytics development and visualization. After living and working for four years in Washington, D.C., Kevin decided to chase the love of his life to New York City when she started law school at Columbia. They got engaged this past October in New York.
Chef Iso Pastry (chefiso.com), created by Justin Iso, is a website all about pastry art. It recently won Editor’s Choice for best baking and sweets out of 30,000 nominations in Saveur Magazine’s 2017 annual Blog Awards. Justin launched the website in 2015 to showcase the art and science of haute pâtisserie.
2011
Brianna Tran got engaged to Chris Miller in September on top of Half Dome in Yosemite National Park. The 14-mile, 4,800-foot hike took them 12 hours, but it was well worth it! They met at a rock climbing gym, have been together for more than three years, and plan to marry on Sept. 29, 2018.
2012
After completing a Fulbright teaching assistantship in Poland, Bridget Nixon is piloting a children’s choir at a new private school in Warsaw. She is very happy to be singing again, and is looking forward to coordinating the school’s Christmas production.
2013
Katherine Woodruff graduated from Pacific University in Oregon with B.S. in environmental biology, and is now attending the University of Exeter in England to receive her master’s degree in animal behavior. She is currently enjoying the English culture while learning further research skills in her field, and plans to pursue a Ph.D. following completion of the course. She is also teaching a judo class on the weekends, an activity that she has enjoyed since early childhood.
Multi-Class Meet-Ups
The first alumni basketball game in the new athletic facility took place on Nov. 25. Parents, friends and fans reunited in the stands to cheer on 35 players from the classes of 2006-17. This year’s recipient of the Alumni Basketball Championship trophy was Team Evens.
Team Odds: Coach Butch Keller, Lucas Motro ’07, Howard Lio ’11, Nirjhar Mundkur ’11, Nilesh Murali ’11, Zach Mank ’11, Gautam Krishnamurthi ’11, Nikhil Panu ’13, Kevin Cali ’13, Kevin Susai ’13, Spenser Quash ’13, Nick Nguyen ’15, Justin Yen ’15, Nathan Dalal ’15, Rohith Kuditipudi ’15, Ashin Mehta ’15, Dylan Patel ’15 and Jordan Goheen ’17.
Team Evens: Coach Alfredo Alves, Bernie Lee ’06, Charlie Fang ’08, Alan Wong ’08, Andy Fang ’10, Kevin Fu ’10, Ryan Fan ’10, Rohan Chopra ’10, Lung-Ying Yu ’10, Stephen Hughes ’12, Sean Pan ’14, Wei Wei Buchsteiner ’14, Nick Navarro ’14, John Hughes ’14, Huck Vaughan ’14, Dhanush Madabusi ’16, Raghav Jain ’16, Rohan Jiro Desikan ’16 and Evan Lohn ’16.
Glenn Reddy ’15, Adarsh Battu ’14, Haley Tran ’17 and Lucas Wang’17 video conferenced in as guest panelists in Juston Glass’ DECA class. The alumni talked about their experiences in DECA and how the networking skills they acquired here at Harker have helped them in their current lives as college students.
Nikhil Panu ’13, Sean Pan ’14, Sheridan Tobin ’15 and Haley Tran ’17 came back to Harker as guest speakers for a senior class L.I.F.E. assembly. They covered such topics as the pitfalls they encountered as they entered college, things they have learned about the college process and things they wish they had known as seniors at Harker. Read more on this story at: https://staging.news.harker.org/seniors-learn-about-college-life-from-harker-alumni-at-assembly/.
And for more college insights from alumni, see Sophomores Speak, this issue.
Last week, the girls soccer team opened its season with a 0-2 loss to Independence and a 0-3 loss to Half Moon Bay. This week, the Eagles travel to North Monterey County High on Wednesday before hosting O’Connell High on Friday.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team opened its season with a bang as it defeated Mills 7-0. Later in the week, the Eagles played to a 1-1 tie with Wilcox. This week, the boys host Saratoga on Wednesday and travel to Leigh on Friday.
Girls Basketball
Last week, the girls basketball team traveled to the Pescadero Tournament, where it went 2-1. In their opening matchup with host Pescadero, the Eagles defeated the Vikings 73-22 behind 20 points from Satchi Thockchom, grade 12. The Eagles lost a close 48-50 matchup with Alma Heights Christian in the second round, with Akhila Ramgiri, grade 11, scoring 22 points. In their final game, the girls defeated Point Arena 60-45, with Ramgiri leading the way again with 17 points. This Wednesday, the Eagles travel to the Santa Clara Tournament to take on Edison High.
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team opened up the regular season with a 2-1 showing at the James Lick Tournament last week. In the opening game, the Eagles were defeated by Wilcox 72-56, with Eric Jeong, grade 12, leading the offense with 14 points. Richard Wang, grade 11, led the team with 11 points as the Eagles defeated Hill 53-42 in their second game. Finally, the Eagles defeated host James Lick 78-56 on Saturday night. This Thursday, the boys play North Monterey County in the opening round of the Lynbrook Winter Classic
Fall Season All-League
The Harker Eagles had a great fall season and were well represented in the WBAL All-League teams. For cross country, Anna Weirich, grade 9, was awarded first team honors, with Lilia Gonzales, grade 11, and Ryan Adolf, grade 11, receiving honorable mentions. The girls golf team made a huge impact on the All-League teams as Katherine Zhu, grade 12, Katelyn Vo, grade 10, and Natalie Vo, grade 9, were all named to the first team; Olivia Guo, grade 9, was given second team honors; and Alisa Su, grade 12, Larissa Tyagi, grade 10, and Vanessa Tyagi, grade 12, each earned honorable mentions.
In girls tennis, Gina Partridge, grade 10, and Santu Tirumala, grade 9, were named to the first team, with Rachel Broweleit, grade 10, and Srivani Vegesna, grade 10, earning second team honors, and Kathleen Cheng, grade 12, receiving an honorable mention.
The girls volleyball team had two seniors earn All-League honors with Lauren Napier, grade 12, receiving a second team nod and Isabella Spradlin, grade 12, landing an honorable mention.
In the pool, Meghana Karinthi, grade 12, and Abigail Wisdom, grade 11, each earned a first team honors and Claudia Opris, grade 11, earned an honorable mention in girls water polo. On the boys side, Aadith Srinivasan, grade 12, received a first team honor, while Bobby Bloomquist, grade 11, made the second team and Matthew Hajjar, grade 11, was an honorable mention.
Alumni
Congratulations to Joelle Anderson ’17 on being named to the All-West Region second team after an impressive freshman year with a Pepperdine soccer team that finished the season ranked No. 12 in the country. Check out the full story here:
For more on this subject, check out the winter issue of Harker Magazine coming to mailboxes at the end of December. In the article, Sophomores Speak, the Class of 2016 weighs in on some of the pitfalls, challenges and fun of that first year in college.
At yesterday’s LIFE (Living with Intent, Focus and Enthusiasm) assembly, seniors had the opportunity to hear from Harker alumni about their college experiences, and what to expect and look forward to once they reach college. Nikhil Panu ’13, a recent graduate of Johns Hopkins University, was joined by three additional alumni who spoke to the students via Skype: Haley Tran ’17, currently at Stanford; Sheridan Tobin ’15, now in her third year at the University of Michigan; and Sean Pan ’14, studying at the University of Washington.
Speaking on the idea of getting into the “college of your dreams,” Panu related the story of how he seemed all set to enter MIT upon graduating from Harker before things fell through. Initially disappointed, he eventually ended up at Johns Hopkins, which he found was very receptive to his dream of playing college basketball. “It was really cool to be wanted,” he said. Furthermore, he later found out that MIT might not have been a great fit for him anyway, saying, “You’ll find your ways to make things work.”
Tobin chose Michigan because it matched up with her desire to find a college that offered opportunities to explore many interests. Pan said he did not consider UW a primary option when searching for colleges, but later found out it was the better fit for his goals.
On the topic of adjusting to college life, Tran said, “A big part of adjusting to college is the scheduling,” noting that college students have more autonomy and choices about how to spend their time, which they may find difficult at first. The lessons students learned at Harker on how to schedule time effectively, she said, could prove very useful to them.
The alumni also shared some of the spontaneous things they’ve done so far during their college years. Panu went on a number of road trips and also started a company called Squadz, which he described as “Airbnb for sports and recreation.” He came up with the idea while on a flight from San Francisco to Baltimore. Before his junior year at UW, Pan went on a road trip that hit Montana, Salt Lake City, Tahoe and the Bay Area.
Seniors also were advised on campus safety practices, including making sure that friends stay aware of one another’s status and whereabouts, using apps such as Uber for transportation, and making use of campus support lines and other resources.
Students in attendance also were encouraged to use college as a way to seek out new interests. Panu mentioned the variety of electives that colleges offer, and Tobin mentioned that her goals for college changed after she had spent time exploring opportunities. “What I thought I wanted to do when I was applying was different from what I did,” she said. “Even if you think you know what you want to do, take things because you think they’re interesting.”
Watch for our feature article, Sophomores Speak: That First Year of College, in the upcoming issue of Harker Magazine. It will arrive in mailboxes in late December.
The Harker football team continued its historic season by defeating Lindhurst High 34-6 on Friday. The 8-0 Eagles were led by 181 rushing yards and two touchdowns from Aaron Smith, grade 11; 255 yards passing and three TDs from Nate Kelly, grade 12; and fine defensive games by James Pauli, grade 12, who racked up 11 tackles and two sacks, and Jadan McDermott, grade 12, with 10 tackles and three sacks. The Eagles finish off the regular season at TAK Stadium in Fremont against Irvington High this Friday.
Cross Country
The cross country team competed at the second WBAL meet last week at Baylands Park and showed great improvement. Most runners improved at least 30 seconds over their season-best marks. Ryan Adolf, grade 11, led the varsity boys, cutting a minute off his time from the first WBAL meet. Anna Weirich, grade 9, placed sixth in the varsity girls race, running her personal best by 30 seconds. The runners now prepare for the WBAL finals, to be held on Nov. 3 at Crystal Springs Cross Country Park.
Girls Tennis
The girls tennis team picked up its third and fourth straight wins last week as it defeated Pinewood 7-0 on Senior Day and Castilleja 5-2 later in the week. This week, the girls take on Castilleja on Monday, Sacred Heart Prep on Tuesday and Menlo on Thursday.
Girls Golf
Last week, the girls golf team knocked off Sacred Heart Prep on Senior Day 262-186, with Katherine Zhu, grade 12, taking the top spot by shooting a 33. Later in the week, the Eagles defeated Notre Dame Belmont, Mercy Burlingmae and The King’s Academy in a quad match. Zhu earned medalist honors again as she shot a 35. Right behind her was Katelyn Vo, grade 10, who shot a 37. It’s a big week for the Eagles as they finish the regular season against Castilleja and Sacred Heart Prep on Monday before taking on the entire WBAL in the league championships on Wednesday.
Boys Water Polo
The boys water polo team picked up a 9-8 win over Mona Vista last week, before falling to Los Altos 2-17 and Los Gatos 10-15. This week, the boys will compete in the SCVAL Tournament at Lynbrook.
Girls Water Polo
Last week, the girls water pol team lost to Wilcox 6-4 before defeating Santa Clara 6-5 later in the week. In the win over Santa Clara, Abigail Wisdom, grade 11, led the Eagles with five goals. This week, the Eagles compete in the SCVAL Tournament at Fremont High.
Volleyball
Last week, the girls volleyball team defeated Mercy Burlingame in three games, led by 16 kills from Lauren Napier, grade 12. Later in the week, the Eagles fell to ND Belmont in three games, with Isabella Spradlin, grade 12, leading the Eagles with 10 kills. The Eagles finish up the regular season this week as they host Mercy SF on Senior Night on Tuesday, before traveling to Menlo on Friday.
Alumni
Joelle Anderson ’17 continues to play well as she scored three goals last week to help move Pepperdine into the No. 10 spot in the national rankings.
Not to be outdone by his little sister, Jeremiah Anderson ’15 earned Golden State Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the second week in a row.
Surbhi Sarna ’03 was named the recipient of the 2017 Distinguished Alumni Award by Harker’s Office of Alumni Relations and was honored at Homecoming halftime Sept. 23 on Davis Field.
The Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes a prominent alumna/alumnus who exemplifies the very best of Harker, whose contributions have led to extraordinary advances that benefit the greater good, who gives back to his or her community and to Harker, and who inspires others by his or her professional leadership and commitment.
Sarna has dedicated her career to using STEM research to improve health care for women. Her personal medical challenges in her early teen years left her determined to create better conditions in the field of female health.
She studied molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and worked as a clinical scientist at the Stanford University School of Medicine. After graduating from Berkeley in 2007, she worked as an engineer for medical-device companies Abbott Vascular and BioCardia. In 2009, only six years out of Harker, she founded venture-backed nVision Medical, a company dedicated to developing technology to help gynecologists more quickly detect ovarian cancer. Following a successful clinical trial, the company received FDA approval for its device in November 2015.
Sarna has been a keynote speaker at Harker’s annual Research Symposium and has been featured in numerous publications including Forbes magazine’s prestigious “30 Under 30” list of young movers and shakers in the fields of science and health care. Congratulations, Surbhi Sarna, and thank you!
Last week, upper school technical theater teacher Brian Larsen and his Re-Create Reading group enjoyed a visit from Harker alumnus Andrew Shvarts ’03, who discussed his latest work, “The Royal Bastards.”
“Andrew was a great speaker. We discussed themes within the book, character development, the business of getting published as an author and what may lie ahead in his series,” Larsen said. “The kids definitely enjoyed the book and shared their favorite characters and parts of the story.”
Gargeya is one of only 20 students nationwide to recieve the award; he will use it toward his education at Stanford University. Gargeya earned several awards for the development while at Harker, including a first prize in the RRI physical science and engineering category at the 2016 Synopsys Championships. He was a semifinalist in the 2016 Siemens Competition and a regional finalist in the international Google Science Fair 2016. Here is an article about that accomplishment from the Merc: http://www.mercurynews.com/2016/08/10/saratoga-harker-senior-a-google-science-fair-finalist/)
In his official bio, Gargeya had some nice things to say about his time at Harker:
“Rishab attributes his time at The Harker School for having given him an amazing opportunity to push himself in a highly academic environment. Rishab has been fortunate to have worked with many intellectually driven people throughout his high school career, including his science teacher Mr. Chris Spenner, who has been very influential in shaping his research.”
Read Gargeya’s full bio here: http://www.davidsongifted.org/Fellows-Scholarship/2017-Davidson-Fellows/Rishab-Gargeya
Most eyes may have been on Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry during last weekend’s Ellie Mae Classic golf tournament, but Harker community members likely noticed another familiar name among the many competitors: recent graduate Colt McNealy.
McNealy, who will begin studies at Stanford in the fall, qualified for the event in late June at a Junior Tour of Northern California tournament, sneaking past three other players who were in contention for the spot. One of them was JTNC Player of the Year Thomas Hutchison.
The Ellie Mae Classic, held at TPC Stonebrae in Hayward, is a charity event that features professional and amateur golfers as well as star athletes from other sports. Colt’s brother, Maverick ’13, competed at last year’s Ellie Mae Classic but was unable to attend this year, as he was competing at the The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in England.
Most eyes may have been on Golden State Warriors guard Steph Curry during last weekend’s Ellie Mae Classic golf tournament, but Harker community members likely noticed another familiar name among the many competitors: recent graduate Colt McNealy.
McNealy, who will begin studies at Stanford in the fall, qualified for the event in late June at a Junior Tour of Northern California tournament, sneaking past three other players who were in contention for the spot. One of them was JTNC Player of the Year Thomas Hutchison.
The Ellie Mae Classic, held at TPC Stonebrae in Hayward, is a charity event that features professional and amateur golfers as well as star athletes from other sports. Colt’s brother, Maverick ’13, competed at last year’s Ellie Mae Classic but was unable to attend this year, as he was competing at the The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in England.