This article was originally published in the Winter 2017 Harker Magazine.
Since he was a little boy, Colin Dickey MS ’91 had always dreamed of becoming an architect. But while at Harker’s middle school – inspired by highly respected and beloved English teachers, including the late Sylvia Harp – he had a change of heart.
“Harker nurtured a kind of creative rigor that I appreciate – not just memorizing and repeating information but getting us to think critically and to go beyond received truths,” Dickey said. “At some point, I realized that one could easier build things out of words than out of bricks and wood.”
And so, at 12 years old, while most boys his age were playing sports or video games, he spent his after-school hours reading books and writing stories on his mother’s word processor. With the nearby labyrinth-like Winchester Mystery House – designed and built by Sarah Winchester, widow of gun magnate William Wirt Winchester, and said to be haunted by ghosts – serving as his muse, his early interest in architecture would creep its way into his latest and greatest passion.
Fast-forward 25 years. Dickey holds a Master of Fine Arts in critical studies, as well as a doctorate in comparative literature, and is an associate professor of creative writing at National University. He is the co-editor of “The Morbid Anatomy Anthology” and author of three supernatural nonfiction books, including his most recent, “Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places,” which The New York Times Book Review called “a lively assemblage and smart analysis of dozens of haunting stories … absorbing … [and] intellectually intriguing.” The book also was lauded by the Los Angeles Times, Men’s Journal, Publishers Weekly, The Seattle Times and The Wall Street Journal.
Dickey also has received positive feedback from readers.
“Some random person on the Internet told me the other day that my latest book was helping her get through a difficult time, and I was honored and humbled to have had that kind of impact,” he said.
In writing “Ghostland,” which is “not overtly pro or anti any belief in the supernatural,” Dickey said his focus was on uncovering the answers to a series of questions: “Why do certain buildings come to be seen as haunted? Is there something architecturally about these spaces that may lend them an aura of the ghostly? Why do we tell some ghost stories and not others? Is there something to be learned about the way we tell ghost stories, something that reflects deeper anxieties, hopes and fears?” While some may be skeptical or even afraid of this particular genre, the author hopes everyone will be a part of the conversation.
Between books, Dickey carves out time as a guest speaker, and is a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Review of Books and Lapham’s Quarterly. In his post at National University, he is primarily tasked with “sculpting and guiding a new generation of voices” – a privilege and a duty he takes very seriously.
“Most of my students come to me with a great deal of raw talent. My job is to act as a sounding board, giving them the space to adapt and refine those voices,” Dickey said. “One of the main pieces of advice I find myself giving is to simply write – and read. Students, even writers, don’t read as much or as widely as they should.”
For information on Dickey’s books, upcoming appearances and more, visit colindickey. com. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram @colindickey.
The boys golf team started its season with a bang as it brought home the program’s first-ever tournament win. The victory at the Joe Gambetta Tournament in Antioch was highlighted by first place medalist Victor Shin, grade 11, shooting a 1-over-par 73, edging out teammate Jaimin Bhagat, grade 9, who had the same score, but took second with a scorecard playoff. Ryan Vaughan, grade 12, tied for third with a 76. This Wednesday, the Eagles travel to Livermore to compete in the Cowboy Classic at The Golf Course at Wente Vineyards.
Basketball
The boys and girls basketball season came to end last week as both teams lost in the first round of CCS.
In a 64-51 loss to Carmel, the boys team recovered from a 23-point first quarter deficit to pull to within 6 at halftime, but the Padres pulled away in the second half to move on in the tournament. Playing in their final high school game, Justin Jia and Jordan Goheen, both grade 12, led the Eagles with solid performances. Jia led the team with 13 points and four steals, while Goheen added 11 points and team-high seven rebounds.
The girls team traveled to Santa Cruz, where it played to a tough 57-53 loss in a game that was close throughout. Jordan Thompson, grade 12, finished her illustrious high school career with a game-high 24 points.
Last week, Thompson also was recognized for her amazing career:
Daniel Reidenbach, grade 12, Eric Fang, grade 9, and Davis Howard, grade 12, competed at the CCS wrestling championship over the weekend. Howard picked up the only win for Harker with a win by fall over Half Moon Bay in his second match. Congrats on a great season, wrestlers!
Baseball
The baseball team opened its season with a 28-0 victory over Yerba Buena last week. Logan Frank, grade 10, had three hits and drove in two runs to lead the offense. Dominic Cea, grade 11, Zach Hoffman, grade 10, and Anthony Meissner, grade 10, each drove in three runs. This week the Eagles travel to Del Mar on Thursday and host O’Connell on Saturday.
Softball
The softball team kicked off its 2017 season with a 13-3 victory over Del Mar. Kristin LeBlanc, grade 11, and Cameron Zell, grade 10, led the Eagles with three hits each. LeBlanc, Mahi Gurram, grade 10, Grace Park, grade 12, Marti Sutton, grade 12, and Lily Wancewicz, grade 10, each drove in two runs. This Thursday, the Eagles host Terra Nova at Blackford.
Boys Tennis
The boys tennis team gets its season going this Tuesday versus Sacred Heart Prep before traveling to Clovis this weekend for the California Tennis Classic.
Lacrosse
The lacrosse team officially opens its 2017 season this Wednesday as it hosts Newark on Davis Field, followed by home games versus Los Altos on Thursday and the York School on Friday.
Swim
Harker swimming opened its season at the Palo Alto Invitational. Vivian Wang, grade 11, won the 200 IM and broke the school record in the 100 breaststroke while qualifying for CCS in both events. Ethan Hu, grade 9, broke the school record in the 200 free and also qualified for CCS in the 200 free, 100 fly, and 100 backstroke. On March 18 the swim team travels to Sacred Heart Prep to compete at the Small School Invitational.
Track and Field
The track and field season gets started this Saturday at the Willow Glen Invite.
Boys Volleyball
It will be a busy week for the boys volleyball team as it travels to Monterey High on Tuesday, before hosting Oak Grove on Wednesday and Cupertino for its opening league match on Friday.
Alumni Track
Izzy Connell ’13 lowered her own Pepperdine school record in the 400-meter run last week as she took second place during the three-team meet with her Waves, host Westmont and UC Santa Barbara. Connell also holds the Pepperdine school records in the 100m, 200m, 4×400 relay, as well as indoor records in the 60m, 200m and 4×400 relay. Check out the full story: http://www.pepperdinewaves.com/sports/c-track/recaps/021817aaa.html
Judge John Owens MS ’85, who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit and is a member of Harker’s board of trustees, visited the lower school yesterday to speak to third graders at the request of teacher Heidi Gough. Owens discussed his career, told entertaining anecdotes about cases he worked on and took questions from the students. Interestingly, Sarah Leonard, primary division head, was Owens’ teacher while he attended Harker.
Formerly a partner at Munger, Tolles & Olsen LLP, Owens’ practice focused on representing individuals and corporations in government investigations, and conducting internal investigations into allegations of corporate misconduct, according to the firm’s website. Prior to joining Munger Tolles in 2012, he was a federal prosecutor for 11 years. Owens graduated first in his class from Stanford Law School in 1996. He served as a law clerk to Judge John Clifford Wallace, former chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Andrew Shvarts ’03 has published his first book! “Royal Bastards,” for teens and young adults, is the story of a castle lord’s disenfranchised “natural” children who are drawn into castle intrigue. Only they can warn the king in time to prevent civil war.
Shvarts has been writing for young adult (YA) audiences for about a decade in his role as a writer/designer at Pixelberry Studios. “I’ve been exploring branching out into fiction for a while,” he said. “Royal Bastards is actually the third YA novel I’ve written and shopped around.
“The genesis for it was actually a combination of two ideas I’d had for a while: a young adult ‘Game of Thrones,’ and a story about teens on the run from their criminal parents. I realized that these two ideas actually combined really well, and the book wrote itself from there!”
Royal Bastards is the first of a planned trilogy, Shvarts said, noting he is three-quarters done with the second book.
Congratulations to Michael Amick ’13, who was selected in the second round (32nd overall) of the MLS draft by the Portland Timbers. Amick played college soccer at UCLA, where he was a three-time team captain, first team All-Pac 12 selection in his sophomore year, honorable mention All-Pac 12 selection in his junior and senior years, Pac 12 All-Academic first team selection in his junior and senior year, and Pac 12 men’s soccer Scholar Athlete of the Year in his senior year. “When I finally heard my name, it was a huge relief and a very exciting moment to walk on stage, taking the next step to pursue my soccer career,” said Amick. See the moment when Amick was selected: http://www.timbers.com/post/2017/01/13/2017-mls-superdraft-defender-michael-amick-s-draft-day-podium-speech
Girls Basketball
The girls basketball team dropped a close 37-35 game against Castilleja last week. Jordan Thompson, grade 12, led the Eagles with 18 points in the loss. Later in the week, the Eagles bounced back with a 60-33 win over Mercy Burlingame. Thompson again scored 18 points, with Selin Sayiner, grade 11, adding 11 points. The Eagles have most of the week off until they host The Kings Academy on Friday.
Boys Basketball
The boys basketball team picked up a 66-50 win over Crystal Springs Uplands last week, with Eric Jeong, grade 11, leading the way with 17 points. The victory also marked the 600th win in the impressive career of coach Butch Keller. However, later in the week, the Eagles fell to Eastside College Prep 51-44. Gene Wang, grade 10, led Harker with 11 points. Next up for the boys are home games versus The Kings’ Academy on Tuesday and Menlo on Friday.
Boys Soccer
The boys soccer team dropped two matches last week, a 2-1 loss to Crystal Springs Uplands and a 4-0 loss to Sacred Heart Prep. This week, the Eagles host Menlo on Friday and Eastside College Prep on Friday.
Girls Soccer
The girls soccer team was defeated 8-0 by Woodside Priory last week, but looks to rebound with three matches this week. The Eagles travel to Castilleja on Tuesday and Mercy Burlingame on Thursday, before hosting Eastside College Prep on Friday.
US Wrestling
The Eagles wrestling team opened its league season with a 45-36 loss to Los Altos last week. Alan Hughes, grade 11, Eric Fang, grade 9, and Davis Howard, grade 12, all picked up wins by pin. This past weekend, the Eagles competed at the Los Gatos Wildcat Invitational with Fang finishing third in the 195-pound division, Devin Keller, grade 9, finishing fourth in the 136-pound division and Kobe Howard, grade 10, finishing seventh in the 132-pound division. The Eagles host their first match of the year this Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at Blackford against Saratoga High.
MS Wrestling
Congrats to Dezi Johnsen, grade 7, who took first in the grade 6-8 boys 142-pound division at the prestigious New Year’s Bash middle school wrestling tournament in Clovis this past weekend.
Congratulations to cross country and track coach Scott Chisam on being named a starter at this year’s state track meet. Chisam is a member of the CCS Starters Association and was nominated to join starters from other CIF sections at the finals in June.
Izzy Connell ’13 continues her stellar collegiate career at Pepperdine University as she set two school records in the first meet of the women’s indoor track season. At Northern Arizona’s Friday Night Duals last Friday, Connell broke her own school record in the 60-meter sprint, placing sixth in the event. She also placed sixth and broke the school record in the 400. Connell also holds the school records in the 100, 200, 400, 4×400 and the indoor 200.
Harker teacher and Green Team member Diana Moss and her son Kevin Moss ’14, along with sisters Anika Banga, grade 11, and Anvi Banga, grade 9, and their dad, Gaurav, helped pick up some seriously nasty stuff by the roadway over the break. As part of a large group effort that included students from other schools, the Harker team cleaned up the Southwest Expressway-Meridian Avenue interchange, filling 12 bags in just over two hours, according to the Adopt-A-Highway organizer. Go Harker Green Team!
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
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.
Please join us in congratulating the following alumni:
Jerome Keene ’96 married Briana Parra last spring. His sister, Rachel Keene ’00, was a bridesmaid, andSteve Blomquist ’96 was a groomsman.
Nicole Lindars ’10 got married on June 4. Her husband is Harker middle school teacher Chris Caruso, who began teaching grade 6 Latin and grade 7 history last year.
Class agent Andrea Miles ’96 and her husband,Gary, had their first baby, Soren Jeffrey Miles, on Dec. 24, 2015.
Christopher Park ’97 and his wife, Kwi Young Sung, welcomed baby Hadley into their family.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
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.
1982
Jana Bartley and her husband, Milt, adopted their 3-year-old grandson, Jayce, in May. 1984
Former classmates Kristin (Marlow) Quintin and Elise (Tremba) Robichaud had a great time catching up over lunch in downtown Campbell.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly
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.
1993
Kristen (Nielsen) Morgensen works at Harker’s middle school as a grade 8 biology teacher. Recently, her students presentedhands-on ecology activities to their younger pals at Harker Preschool (for the full story, see page 14). Kristen is also a current preschool parent (3-year-old Teagan).
1994
Jason Reid stopped by the upper school to catch up with Joe Rosenthal, Harker’s executive director of advancement. Jason said he has known Mr. Rosenthal since he was 5 years old. He also reported that his brother, AJ ’04, recently had his first baby, a boy named Evan.
1996
Jerome Keene got married. Please see the Celebrations section for details. Andrea Miles had a baby. Please see the Celebrations section for details. Sheila Collins and her husband, Mike, are enjoying spending time with their 10-month-old twins, Alex and Theo.
1997
Congrats to Will Jarvis of Jarvis Estate Winery in Napa, who was recently promoted from vice president to president of his family’s winemaking business.
2004
Kudos to Vivek Saraswat, whose group Halfway to Midnight won the 2016 Bay Area Harmony Sweepstakes Regional A Cappella Festival!
2006
Roshni Mehra wrote in with some exciting updates. She is now the external relations donor stewardship and communications manager at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She also recently got married and, prior to that, went to Cabo with some fellow Harker ’06 girls for her bachelorette party. For her honeymoon this summer, she’ll be traveling to Italy, Greece and Croatia!
2007
Lower school English teacher Kate Shanahan recently met up with VyVy Trinh. VyVy is currently attending the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with plans to go on to medical school. “VyVy was in my class the second year I taught at Harker. She loved to learn, was excited about literature, and always had a big smile on her face! Her enthusiasm for life was so contagious. I realized that year that Harker was such a special place, and that if all my students had a little bit of VyVy in them, that I would stay here quite a long time. It’s been 18 years now,” shared Kate.
2008
Tiffany Liou spent the last two years in Iowa and Illinois working as a reporter. In March, she moved to Oklahoma City and is now a news reporter at the CBS affiliate KWTV News 9. “It’s been a whirlwind moving from one state to another, but for me it’s the best way to travel the United States while following my dream. For those who don’t know the TV industry, Oklahoma City is a step up in market size from my last job. I’m slowly moving my way up and hopefully back to the Bay Area one day. I would love nothing more than to be a reporter in my home state. Truly, this career change is the best decision I’ve made for my life,” she said. Check out Harker News for a previous story about Tiffany: https://staging.news.harker.org/alumna-passionate-about-career-as-broadcastjournalist/.
2009
Sanaz Oskouy shared that she just graduated from Duke University School of Law and is looking forward to the next Class of 2009 reunion.
2010
Nicole Lindars got married. Please see the Celebrations section for details. Alexander Miller just graduated from Cal Poly in computer science.
Kelsey Chung is entering grad school at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Kelsey is pursuing her master’s in art history. She will be moving to New York this summer, and would like to connect with any alumni living in the area.
Mark-Phillip Pebworth won the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship.
2011
In May, Swetha Repakula joined IBM as a member of its open source cloud team. Here she is featured in an IBM blog about her current work: https://www.cloudfoundry.org/welcome-tothe-ibm-dojo/.
Harker upper school math teachers Gabriele Stahl and Anthony Silk recently went to Napa Valley to visit Mike Patland, who had invited them up for a private tour of his family’s estate and vineyard. “It was a fantastic afternoon. Mike is such a fine young man. I had him in calculus. To see him again was really special. He is now managing and growing the family wine business,” recalled Ms. Stahl.
Michael Prutton just finished his master’s in medical device and diagnostic engineering at the University of Southern California.
Michelle Markiewicz was part of a student team from the University of California, San Diego’s department of urban studies and planning who came up with a winning formula for redoing a nearby commercial property. She and her team were featured in an article in the April issue of the San Diego Metro Magazine, highlighting their accomplishments.
2012
Chun Man Chow was a runner up for the University of California, Berkeley’s prestigious University Medal, an honor that requires a 3.96 grade-point average and goes to a graduating senior who is seeking to make a difference in people’s lives. Chun just graduated from the university with a double major in chemical engineering and environmental engineering.
2013
In mid-March Amy Johnson spent a day visiting the upper school as part of a research assignment she is doing as a current student at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. “I was enrolled in an education class for which I had been asked to conduct a school visit. This visit helped give me hands-on experience in understanding the theories we had been discussing in class,” she explained.
Cecilia Lang-Ree was recently named Reserve National Champion in the Collegiate Cup Novice Equitation on the flat division (second place in the nation) at the 2016 Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Finals. She was at the nationals as a member of the 2016 Zone Champion Stanford Equestrian Team.
The spring sports season proved to be very good for a pair of alumnae athletes! Ashley Del Alto gained attention as the starting left fielder for the Briar Cliff University Chargers and was named a GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports softball player-of-the-week. The Chargers went 4-0 in one week, thanks in large part to Ashley, who went 8-15 with seven RBIs in four victories. She is currently leading Briar Cliff with a .338 batting average.
A little closer to home, Izzy Connell has been tearing up the track and the record books at Pepperdine University. Izzy broke her own school records in the women’s 100-meter (12.13 seconds) and 200 (24.96 seconds), placing fifth and sixth, respectively, at the Bruins Legends Invitational, held recently at the University of California, Los Angeles. She also holds the school record in the 400.
2014 Congrats to Anika Ayyar who recently launched The Sheroes Project, an interactive, online video talk show to showcase inspirational stories of women in technology. Enjoy her first episode: http://bit.ly/1VkXWkm.
2015
The cast of the Harker Conservatory’s spring musical “Bye Bye Birdie” had a nice surprise when alums Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari, Madi Lang- Ree and Caroline Howells visited a rehearsal and led the warmup routine. All three are graduates of the musical theater certificate program at the Harker Conservatory and continue to be active in the arts now that they are in college.
Fred Chang and Priscilla Pan are spending their summer expanding an award-winning journalism video project they began at Harker. Enjoy their first “In a Nutshell” project at http:// bit.ly/24i8yRh.
(Photo) These longtime buddies – all “lifers” except one who started Harker in grade 1 – reunited after the completion of their freshman year of college. From left: Sarah Bean, Sheridan Tobin, Delany Martin, Madi Lang-Ree, Zoe Woehrmann and Alyssa Amick.
2016
Congratulations to the Class of 2016 on your graduation and welcome to the Alumni Association! We look forward to hearing updates from you.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
The Class of 2016 was officially welcomed into the Harker Alumni Association during an induction luncheon held in the upper school gym on May 18.
During the event, various speakers offered words of inspiration to the graduating seniors, including Chris Nikoloff, head of school, Matthew Harley, Class of 2016 dean and upper school biology teacher, and Tony Silk, upper school math teacher. Silk was the keynote speaker, offering inspiring words about his own journey, as well as on the importance of boredom as a prelude to creativity.
“The world needs you to be creative. There are problems out there that it will be up to your generation to solve,” said Silk, urging the students to put their electronic devices away, even if just for a little while. “Be bored. Be creative,” he advised. Dan Hudkins, Harker’s director of learning, innovation and design, then gave an overview of how to use the new alumni portal, allowing graduates to staying connected with each other and with Harker.
He also spoke about the Harker soci media tools available to alumni, and the importance of networking. The seniors were introduced to their class agents, who will act as liaisons between Harker’s alumni department and the Class of 2016. And the class announced that its parting gift will be something of use (as yet to be determined) for the new gym and theater buildings.
“As a fellow graduate, I know firsthand that once you’re a Harker alum, you will always feel at home here on the Saratoga campus,” said Karri Baker ’84, director of alumni relations, noting that she would be working in tandem with the class agents to help keep all the new graduates connected to Harker.
As the event drew to a close each student received what has become a fun Harker tradition: a laundry bag along with instructions on doing one’s own laundry. They were also handed a boba tea as they exited the gym to sign yearbooks and chat with one another.