March has been very good for a pair of athletic Harker alumnae! Ashley Del Alto ’13 is currently the starting left fielder for the Briar Cliff University Chargers and last week was named the GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports softball player-of-the-week. The Chargers went 4-0 on the week, thanks in large part to Del Alto, who went 8-15 with seven RBIs in the four victories. Del Alto is currently leading Briar Cliff with a .338 batting average.
A little closer to home, Izzy Connell ’13 has been tearing up the track and the record books at Pepperdine University. This past weekend, Connell broke her own school records in the women’s 100m (12.13 seconds) and 200m (24.96 seconds), placing fifth and sixth, respectively, at the Bruins Legends Invitational held at UCLA. She also holds the school record in the 400m. Go, Harker alumni!
Amit Mukherjee ’06, a senior associate at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), was included in Forbes magazine’s prestigious “30 Under 30” list of young movers and shakers in the venture capital category for 2016.
Mukherjee has worked at NEA since 2012, overseeing more than $500 million of invested capital. A leading source for reliable business news and financial information, Forbes is well known for its annual lists and rankings. The “30 Under 30” list prides itself on predicting the brightest and most ambitious young adults to watch in the coming year.
“I had been a finalist for ’30 under 30′ the year before, and was then not selected,” he said. “Winning the award after not being selected the year before was a great lesson that sometimes things go my way and other times they don’t, and my long-term outlook would vary little regardless.”
Napa Valley Register – Jan. 2, 2016: Harker alumnus Will Jarvis MS ’97 is featured in article about Jarvis Estate winery, which he runs with his father in the Napa Valley.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2015 Harker Quarterly. Access the full issue, including class notes, at Harker’s issuu.com page: http://issuu.com/theharkerschool/docs/harker_quarterly_winter_2015.
A brief hiatus in San Jose afforded Stephanie Guo ’09 precious time to pause for reflection, after spending nearly a year working as a human rights advocate in the Philippines, helping to combat child sex trafficking and global slavery.
In mid-September, the alumna and class agent returned to the U.S. from Manila, where she had been volunteering with International Justice Mission (IJM), the largest international human rights organization of its kind. She was preparing to head abroad again, to start a new life as a graduate student at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Still battling jet lag, she made room in her hectic schedule for a visit to Harker’s upper school. On a beautiful fall day, over a long lunch at the Edge’s French patio, she chatted with Harker Quarterly, reflecting back on her work in IJM’s Manila field office.
“I had the privilege of working in the National Communications, Mobilization and Advocacy Department as the government relations and advocacy intern,” said Guo, explaining that IJM is based in Washington, D.C., with field offices all over the world.
“IJM is dedicated to proving that justice for the poor is possible. In my office, our casework was focused on child sex trafficking, a global slavery epidemic fueled by poverty and exploitation. Manila is one of three offices in the Philippines dedicated to this work, and is also one of IJM’s oldest offices, and has accomplished so much in the past 14 years,” she reported.
Guo’s position normally requires a one-year commitment, although she had to leave the internship a couple months short due to her prior graduate school commitment. During her time with IJM, she had a variety of responsibilities. Many of her projects included advocacy work and facilitating government partnerships to improve post-rescue victim recovery and legal processes.
The overall mission of IJM, said Guo, is to combat everyday violence, an injustice that ensures that the poor stay
poor. This violence looks different in various contexts, she explained. “For the poor widow in Africa, this could manifest in land grabbing. For the impoverished father in India, this could look like bonded labor,” she said.
In response to the massive problem of global poverty, and motivated by the biblical call to love the poor, IJM has staffed its eld offices with interdisciplinary teams of lawyers, social workers, law enforcement professionals and community mobilizers, all experts in their respective fields and passionate about the cause. The ultimate goal is to leave the communities they serve with a trans- formed justice system, better equipped to do their own advocacy work.
Guo said that she had friends who had worked with IJM in the past and knew it was something she wanted to pursue in between finishing college and going on to graduate school. She was one of the youngest interns in her office.
One of her most memorable experiences was accompanying rescued girls saved from traffickers to shelters, assisting as they were set up with private social workers. “Having other girls present who had previously been rescued and successfully completed our program there to help out was really a game changer in getting these young girls to open up,” she recalled.
After graduate school, Guo hopes that her career will include working toward securing basic human rights. She credits Harker’s emphasis on global education and outreach for opening the door to her present interest in advocacy work.
“Harker was one of the first venues through which I began to realize my passion for seeking global justice and I would be thrilled if more students would consider pursuing careers in this field,” she said.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2015 Harker Quarterly.
1992
Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, recently ran into Ravi Kapur and his mother. Ravi shared that he just got married and owns TV stations in San Jose, Chicago and North Dakota. Ravi also offered to serve as an alumni mentor to a current Harker student.
Toku Chen had a baby. Please see the Celebrations section for details.
1995
Lisa Kai Klosterman is an orthodontist living with her family in Austin, Texas. Lisa is one of six Kai children who graduated from Harker. Following Harker, she went on to Exeter for high school, Santa Clara University for undergraduate, University of Pacific Dental School in San Francisco, and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles for orthodontic residency. She is married to Kelby Klosterman, and they have a son, Theodore (Theo), born Oct. 7, 2013, and a daughter, Camille, born Aug. 26 of this year.
1996
Frank Lee got married. Please see the Celebrations section for details.
2002
Samana Khan had a baby! Please see the Celebrations section for details.
Jerry Chi is changing jobs from Google to Supercell, the developer behind the game Clash of Clans. He’ll be doing marketing analysis and strategy work covering the Asian Pacific region. Still based in Tokyo, Jerry will be visiting the San Francisco office every few months.
Sean Gabriel (MS ’98) recently returned to the Bay Area after having spent much of 2015 abroad in Accra, Ghana, working with an organization called MEST, a combination tech entrepreneurship school and startup incubator in the region that has recently expanded into Kenya and Nigeria. During Sean’s stay in Accra, he came on board the incubator team as a tech fellow, mentoring resident startups. Sean has written about the experience at http://meltwater.org/scrum-tips-from-west-african-incubator-mest/.
2003
Peter Noonan got married. Please see the Celebrations section for details.
2004
Alfred See completed his undergraduate studies and medical school at Johns Hopkins, and is currently in neurosurgery residency at Harvard, with four years to go. Alfred is interviewing for fellowship spots in 2019-20. He is in touch with classmates Geetanjali Vajapey, Maggie Chen, Joycelin Tsai and Stephanie Chun. After med school he ran a marathon with Wesley Wu, followed by a cross-country drive. Alfred stopped by the alumni office to visit and says he has fond memories of cross country, his classmates and teachers. Alfred has also stepped up to be an alumni mentor for students interested in neurosurgery, and last fall visited Anita Chetty’s grade 12 Human Anatomy and Physiology class to lead a workshop, using the school’s anatomy table to illustrate two recent stroke cases he had worked on.
Emma Hawley is volunteering at the upper school, leading relaxation sessions as part of Harker’s wellness program. Emma spent a year living at an ashram in India and is now back in the Bay Area and delighted to be sharing her meditative skills. The weekly class is open to all upper school students.
2005
Greg Kastelman has served as director of concert booking and business development for Cadenza Artists. There he is responsible for directing agency-wide booking initiatives, talent scouting, developing strategic partnerships, initiating new programs for revenue generation developing and initiating branding and promotional strategies.
2006
Amanda Polzin got married. Please see the Celebrations section for details.
Steve Boyle designed and directed a show called “Matthew Briar and the Age of Resurrection.” The epic, immersive show played on Oct.16-18 at History San Jose, a park full of historical buildings including an old hotel, bank, firehouse, a gorgeous light tower and old homes. Steve is a graduate of Harker’s Conservatory program and has produced several other productions recently. For this unique experience, he divided the park up into three smaller mini-immersive zones: a 1907 World’s Fair, the 1920s, and a Depression-era camp. The production had a very successful run. A fun side note, shared Steve, is that “Aseem Shukla ’07 was in the show!”
2007
Jake Bongers, a fourth year Ph.D. student at the University of California, Los Angeles, was featured in both a video and local newspaper article discussing his role as the consulting guest curator of an exhibition on mummies now on display at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.
Jason Martin has been playing professional baseball for the past four years. He was just traded to the Joplin Blasters in Missouri, and is working toward a master’s degree in sports psychology at Fresno State. He is also coaching baseball at Clovis West High School. Jason married Nicole Duquette in October 2014.
2008
Troy Townzen got married. Please see the Celebrations section for details.
2009
Gloria Ye has been working at Groupon, where she participated in her first hackathon, winning first place locally and placing second and third globally in two different categories as voted by Groupon’s technical panel. Her picture will be featured at Groupon’s headquarters on the honor wall just outside of the CEO’s ofice, honoring her as one of the company’s most dedicated employees.
After graduating from Harker, Dominique Dabija earned her B.S. in bioengineering and M.S. in engineering from Stanford. She spent the next year doing research on medical devices, traveling throughout Japan and Europe, and working on a scuba diving boat around the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea in Australia. She is now attending Vanderbilt Medical School, so let her know if you ever find yourself in Nashville!
In the fall issue of Harker Quarterly, Harker Conservatory graduate DJ Blickenstaff showed off his acting chops in a Subway commercial. Now he’s added another notch to his acting belt: he will be in several episodes of a series called “The Colony,” which will begin airing in January on the USA network. He is playing a character named Vasquez. He also recently filmed another commercial, this one for AT&T.
2010
Andy Fang, co-founder of the Palo Alto-based, on-demand food delivery startup DoorDash, shared the secrets to his success during a seminar hosted by the Asian American Parent Association on Oct. 15. Two days later he spoke at TEDxHarker-School, a student-run, kid-only event.
2011
Harker classmates Rani Mukherjee and Alice Loofbourrow are in school together once again, completing a one-year post-baccalaureate premedical program at Goucher College in preparation for a career in health care.
Some interesting work updates from various alumni: Shreya Nathan is working for an education startup in Buenos Aires until January. Christina Li is working for Scary Little Girls, a feminist matrifocal production/theatre company based in England. Howard Lio is having a great time working for Box in Mountain View. Ari Parige is freelancing as a filmmaker. And Daisy Mohrman had her first performance as a professional dancer with Sean Greene’s Shield Wall in Los Angeles.
The Class of 2011 will have its five-year reunion on Dec. 26! Likely topics include reminiscing about the good old days and talking about transitioning into “real” adulthood. Stay tuned for more information!
2012
Neel Salukhe, who plays football for the University of Washington Huskies, was recently interviewed for the Huskies’ athletic newsletter as well as for an article that appeared in The Seattle Times. Neel is making a name for himself at the university as both a dedicated and talented football player, and a serious and respected student of microbiology.
2013
Vladimir Feinberg has been awarded the B. Wood Legacy Sophomore Prize at Princeton University! He also received the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence while at Princeton. He is concentrating in computer science and is pursuing a certificate in statistics and machine learning; he’s also a member of the Princeton Association for Computing Machinery and plays club volleyball. This past summer Vladimir was a software engineering intern at Google.
Mav McNealy continues to make breaking golf news. Back in November the Stanford junior capped a sensational fall season by earning medalist honors for the third time in four events at the Gifford Collegiate Championship.
Back in August, former upper school history teacher Ray Fowler, who retired at the end of last year, met up with Alison Rugar at Cornell. Mr. Fowler was riding his motorcycle coast to coast, and Alison was getting ready to help out with freshmen orientation before returning to her engineering and physics studies. She is on schedule to graduate in 2017.
Upper school math teacher Victor Adler recently visited with some Harker alumni attending Princeton University. Pictured here with him are Joy Li, Vladimir Feinberg and Sonia Hashim, as well as Kiran Vodrahalli ’11, Abhinav Khanna ’12 and Avi Nayak ’14.
2015
At the 62nd National Junior Classical League Convention, held at Trinity University in Texas, Maya Nandakumar received the Jessie Chambers NJCL Scholarship. A current Harker student, Elisabeth Siegel, grade 12, was part of a multischool advanced competitive Certamen team that took third place. The achievement earned them nice mentions in Nuntius Californiensis, the official newsletter of the California Junior Classical League. Congrats to both women!
This article originally appeared in the winter 2015 Harker Quarterly.
1965
We are saddened to announce that retired Harker employee and alumnus Dan Gelineau passed away in his home recently. Memorial services were held in November.
1979
Louis Lai came by for lunch with Harker alumni and advancement staff to talk about old times and current happenings. Louis lives in the East Bay and has fond memories of more than 10 years spent at Harker as both a student and camp counselor.
1984
Karri (Sakai) Baker, Kristin (Marlow) Quintin and Elise (Tremba) Robichaud reconnected during a Halloween party held at the Willow Glen home of current Harker parents Fabio Marino and Robin Feinman-Marino (Sofia Marino, grade 3). A spooktacular time was had by all!
Kristin also reconnected with Matthew Douglas. “While traveling to England on a business trip this past September, we were able to schedule a day to visit in his hometown, Farmham.
His wife and daughter prepared the most lovely lunch and then we all went out sightseeing,” she shared. “Matt and I connected on Facebook through the alumni site. I was excited to reach out to him. After 31 years, we were able to not just chat on Facebook but to have a wonderful face-to-face visit with my husband and his family. Priceless!”
1985
Last year in Harker Quarterly we ran a feature story about Judge John Owens’ appointment to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the nation’s largest appeals court, which shapes federal law from districts in California and eight other Western states. On Dec. 2, he returned to Harker’s lower school to visit with the third graders to talk about his life as a judge.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2015 Harker Quarterly.
During his recent appearance as a guest speaker at Harker’s upper school, Al-Jazeera America’s “The Stream” co-host Wajahat Ali MS ’94 reflected on his time at Harker and engaged the packed audience with stories about his work and life as a Muslim-American.
Born to Pakistani immigrant parents, Ali attended Harker from 1986 to 1994. He joked to an enthusiastic, receptive crowd about having lentil stains on his shirt, only speaking Urdu until the age of 5, and being “born and raised in ‘Fremont-istan,’ California.”
The alumnus also spoke fondly about a favorite lower school teacher, Sue Peterson, whom he credits with helping to push him toward becoming the professional playwright, journalist and public speaker he is today.
“She had asked us to write a one-page story. I ended up writing 10 pages. She told me it was a great story and had me recite it in front of the entire class, and then again at a talent show for older students,” recalled Ali, during the assembly held on the morning of Sept. 19 in the upper school gym. “That was the first time I realized I had power in my voice, because I shared my story.”
Ali visited Harker at the request of senior Shay Lari-Hosain, editor-in-chief of Wingspan, the upper school’s long-form magazine. Lari-Hosain, who introduced Ali at the assembly, had previously interviewed him for a Wingspan story about issues that Muslim-Americans face. That article got picked up by a leading English-language newspaper in Pakistan. Following the introduction, Ali took the podium, discussing not only his days at Harker, but his time as a student at the University of California, Berkeley, and how that led to publishing his play “The Domestic Crusaders” in New York. The play, which centers around a Muslim-American family coming together and dealing with their problems, was the first thing Ali had published. It broke box office records at Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York and received the 2011 Otto René Castillo Award for Political Theatre.
After a stint as a freelance correspondent at news organizations including CNN and the Wall Street Journal, Ali went on to become a co-host at Al-Jazeera, despite various struggles, even briefly being homeless and living in a shelter at the age of 30.
Before that, as a young college student, he experienced his first real taste of bigotry after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in 2001. Then a senior at UC Berkeley and the head of the university’s Muslim Student Association, he recalled how, in the post-9/11 climate, he was forced to become a “professional Muslim,” constantly defending his role of student leader and activist.
“As a ‘professional Muslim,’ you have to be a walking Wikipedia article … an instant expert on Islam, Qur’an, Shari’a, Hamas, hummus, Fatah, fatwas, Iran [and] Salman Khan,” he said, jokingly, but nonetheless making a serious point.
Throughout his address, he stressed the importance of being true to yourself, and not being pressured by the standard Silicon Valley “checklist” of success (what he called the “Holy Trinity”) to become a lawyer, doctor or engineer.
“Blow up the checklist. … Be the most authentic version of yourself,” he advised the students in attendance. “If you fall, hope you have the courage to raise your hand out and have faith that someone will pick you up, and once you guys make it, which you will, my request for you is to reach out across the aisle and help that dude who might be seen as a problem.”
Ali received a standing ovation after concluding his talk by stressing the far-reaching importance of storytelling among minorities, especially youth. His own future plans include continuing to tell his stories with a possible book project in the works.
“I loved how Wajahat Ali was able to connect with the students. His stories were funny, relatable, and carried a deeper message. I have never in my seven years at Harker seen so many students walk out of an assembly smiling and inspired. I was surprised that he spoke more about his life story than discrimination per se, but I think that it carried his message effectively,” observed Michael Zhao, grade 12.
Lari-Hosain said he was thrilled that Ali’s visit was such a success and still generating continued conversation among upper school students and faculty alike. (To read a story about Lari-Hosain’s outreach work in Pakistan: https://staging.news.harker.org/grade-12-student-spends-summers-performing-outreach-work-in-pakistan/.)
“He was an inspiring figure,” said Elisabeth Siegel, grade 12, “navigating through hurdles and setbacks left and right. He gave the audience a much-needed perspective, especially in the current political climate of the world, of what life was like growing up Muslim in America, a religious minority group that went from being the object of ignorance of a majority of Americans pre-2001 to the religious minority considered by a good portion of Americans to be a demographic threat.”
After the assembly Ali participated in an informal question and answer session with about 40 students in the journalism room. He then took part in a diversity discussion in math teacher Lola Muldrew’s classroom.
“Allow yourself the space to fail. Make up your own checklist,” Ali reiterated during those subsequent discussions.
In early December the lower school’s entire grade 3 class enjoyed a very special visit from Harker alumnus John Owens ‘85, who last year made the news when he was appointed to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor in room 110, the third graders, who will soon be studying about the government at the local, state and federal levels, were enthralled by Judge Owen’s informative and entertaining talk about serving on the nation’s largest appeals court, which shapes federal law from districts in California and eight other Western states.
But long before he became a judge, Owens got his start at Harker in 1979, when he transferred from an East Bay public school as a grade 3 student himself. Many of the students at his talk were surprised to learn that his own third grade teacher was none other than Sarah Leonard, the lower school’s primary division head, who began her career at Harker as a lower school teacher.
“To this day I have vivid memories of John as one of my own former students. He is a role model in regards to what can happen when a strong work ethic and a determined, can-do attitude are at play,” recalled Leonard.
Owens noted how lucky they were to be attending the lower school. He then gave them a behind-the-scenes look at being a judge – a job he explained he is able to keep for life, should he so choose.
After his talk, he allowed plenty of time for questions and answers. Students asked such questions as, “What if the government picks a bad jury?” (answer: there might be a new trial) and “What if someone found innocent is actually guilty?” (answer: they cannot be tried again). The kids also had many questions about lie detectors.
“It was awesome! I learned a lot about being a judge and the government and how everything works,” said student Sohum Arora.
His mom, Shubhangi Kapatkar, said she was grateful to Harker for giving the third graders the opportunity to receive a visit from Judge Owens. “Sohum was so excited to tell me all about it, he just kept talking about him until he went to sleep. He seemed to be really pumped up seeing a real judge in his real life. … He never usually tells me about what happens in school, so this was a special day for him.”
Indeed, life for Owens, a former lawyer, has changed significantly ever since President Barack Obama nominated him to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals. Drawing a map of the states for the students on the whiteboard, Owens explained that judges on the 9th Circuit review the decisions of federal trial courts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and certain islands in the Pacific.
Owens has served as a law clerk for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that Owens was a federal prosecutor and served as chief of the criminal division in the San Diego U.S. attorney’s office. At the age of 19, he worked in the publicity department of the Golden State Warriors basketball team. He and his wife, Marjorie, have two daughters and live in San Diego.
While working with Ginsberg in 1998, Owens helped set up a visit to the Supreme Court for a group of grade 8 Harker students who were in Washington, D.C., on their class trip. “Justice Ginsburg addressed the students in the courtroom, and answered their questions. I was very proud of my fellow Harker Eagles that day,” he recalled.
Of his time at Harker, he stressed that the school remains “the most significant professional and personal influence on me.” Harker, he said, provided him with the study skills necessary to succeed in school, and more important, the ethics and values to succeed in life. Owens started out as a Harker student in 1979, graduated from grade 8 in 1985, and worked as a summer camp counselor/coach at the school from 1985 until 1991. Today, he remains active with the school as a member of Harker’s distinguished board of fellows.
When asked to offer parting words of wisdom to the students, Owens stressed how important it is to be kind to others and that reaching goals takes really hard work. “So,” he advised, “work hard at whatever it is you want to do.”
“It was heartwarming to see the connection he was able to make with the children. Almost effortlessly, he was able to establish and maintain a lively but meaningful rapport with them. With the perfect mix of knowledge, humor and crowd management skills, he left the children with a memorable experience that I hope they carry with them for a long time to come,” noted Leonard.
A Harker alum and student received nice mentions in Nuntius Californiensis, the official newsletter of the California Junior Classical League, regarding results at the 62nd National Junior Classical League Convention, held at Trinity University in Texas: Maya Nandakumar ’15 received the Jessie Chambers NJCL Scholarship, and Elisabeth Siegel, grade 12, was part of a multi-school advanced competitive Certamen team that took third place. Congrats to both women! Read on: http://cajcl.org/uploads/fall2015nuntius.pdf
This article originally appeared in the fall 2015 Harker Quarterly.
1992
Sasha Nikki Noonan ’92 had a beautiful wedding in gorgeous Sayulita, Mexico, back in May. Here she is pictured with Harker friends Liz Williams (matron of honor), Stacey Noonan (maid of honor and twin sister) and Amanda Bonomi (bridesmaid).
1995
Upper school Latin instructor John Hawley shared that he teamed up with Tom Garvey to play the World Series of Certamen (classical quiz bowl) at the National Junior Classical League Convention at Trinity University. Tom teaches Latin at The Meadows School in Las Vegas.
2002
In the summer issue of Harker Quarterly, we noted that Alexander Wang MS ’98 had been named as one of top 100 influential people by Time magazine. Madonna seems to agree, as she recently featured him in a video!
2005
Erika Gudmundson will take over as the new spokeswoman for the Clinton Foundation after the Clinton Global Initiative next month! To read more about it: http://nyti.ms/1hEKSVy.
2006
Tara Chandra (stage name Tara Priya) made Time Out London’s list of five rising musical acts to follow! Of Tara the publication says, “San Franciscan Tara Priya makes a mix of jazz, soul, and ’90s hip-hop. Her chilled vocals are made for sunny weekends and lazy evenings. Watching her charm London crowds with a beautiful voice is bliss.”
Bernie Lee dropped by the alumni relations office for lunch and a campus visit over the summer. He is working for DuPont Industrial Biosciences in Palo Alto. Bernie stepped up to serve as an alumni mentor to current seniors interested in working in his field. He still enjoys playing basketball, and spending time with old Harker friends, including former classmate Wilson Haung.
Mina Lee is having an incredible time working as chief of staff for Xiaomi in Southeast Asia. Check out this great article about her work: http://bit.ly/1LONiLU
Lauren Harries had a busy spring and summer in collaborations with The Philadelphia Theatre Company Tribe of Fools. In the early spring, she traveled to Georgia with Tribe of Fools to compete on TruTV’s second season of “Fake Off” (they made it to the finals), and for the summer Lauren was cast in their original Fringe Festival show “Zombies … with Guns.” In the middle of all this, she also got married on June 13 to Jeff Moorhead (they met at stage combat camp), and Casey Blair was her Best Ninja (aka Maid of Honor).
Abhishek Belani MS ’02 married Sara Kendall this summer in San Francisco in a festive, two day-long celebration. Here he is shown with fellow Harker friends Naushad Godrej ’06 and Casey Near ’06 (maid of honor).
2007
Emily Isaacs graduated from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Emily is going to be practicing as a vet in Vallejo. Congratulations, Emily!
2009
Harker Conservatory graduate DJ Blickenstaff shows off his acting chops in this Subway commercial, which just started airing nationally. Check it out at http://bit.ly/1KMPwws
Upper school math teacher Gabriele Stahl had the opportunity to meet up with Ben Pibulsonggram in Bangkok. “I had a pretty amazing experience having brunch with Ben there. He was my student for several years. He works now in Bangkok and goes to N.Y. for his master’s next month,” said Ms. Stahl.
Sean Mandell told the alumni office that he has been living in San Francisco for two years and working in economic consulting. “I recently joined a nighttime soccer league where I’m teaming up with fellow ’09ers Jeff Mandell, David Kastelman, Kevin Laymoun and Barrett Glasauer,” he shared.
2013
Maverick McNealy has added yet another notch to his driver grip! He was named to the 2015 United States Walker Cup Team in early August. He is one of 10 team members who will compete in the 45th match against Great Britain and Ireland in one of the game’s most prestigious and watched golf matches. Mav was selected to the United States Palmer Cup team and received several other accolades for his golf this summer. Mav was also recently featured on the cover of Golfweek magazine’s college preview issue! Shrish Dwivedi (’15 and a Duke-bound golfer) went to Illinois to watch Maverick play at the Palmer Cup over the summer.
Michael Amick is on the “soccer Heisman” award watch list! The MAC Hermann Trophy is the most prestigious individual award in college soccer presented annually to one male and one female athlete. Read more about it: http://bit.ly/1gKvoj4
Aneesh Chona helped his sister Eesha, a Harker senior, launch a nonprofit organization called Association of Teens Against Cancer (ATAC). To read more about their work, see page 24 and http://bayareane.ws/1IN91yZ.
2015
Matthew Ho recently paid a visit to an upper school Study of Visual Arts class. He currently attends the Rhode Island School of Design.
Over the summer class agents Katy Sanchez and Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari stopped by the alumni office to roll up their sleeves and help out with some volunteer work.
Maya Nandakumar, current National Junior Classical League first vice president, presented awards for a promotional video contest at the 2015 National Junior Classical Convention at Trinity University in San Antonio. She was awarded the organization’s Jessie Chambers Scholarship, established upon the retirement of Chambers, who served for many years as Federations Chairman of the Committee on the National Junior Classical League.
Eric Holt is currently pursuing a degree in chemistry at Oberlin College. He was a four-year varsity basketball player at Harker, where he amassed 962 points and 657 rebounds over a 90-game career, among other honors. He also played four years of varsity water polo and gained first-team honors his senior season.
Leeza Kuo and Hannah Bollar so enjoyed their time and experiences together at Harker that they embarked on a unique video project. Each day of their senior year, they had a photo taken of themselves holding up the date with their fingers. The video is on their YouTube channel, Kuo Bo.
Fourteen members of the Class of 2015 received National Merit Scholarship Awards! Read all about it: http://bit.ly/1XlKU5H
Over the summer CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) hosted 11 young students who won the CERN Special Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. These winners were selected from the 1,700 high school students who participated in the competition. Among them was Nitya Mani. “Seeing the accelerators was really cool. It was great to have the chance to get so close,” she is quoted as saying in this article: http://bit.ly/1JBXwMt