In Memoriam: Alex Anderson ’95
Alex Anderson passed away on May 26, at the age of 38. Alex was a Harker boarding student for six years (grades 3-8). “Alex’s general enthusiasm and his natural ability to so comfortably interact with such a diverse group of friends was truly a special skill,” said Joe Rosenthal, who was the boarding director at that time. “Alex had a magnetic personality, set a very good example of how to treat one another, and was well-liked by hundreds of his peers who boarded at Harker from all over the world.” He is survived by many loving family members and friends, including his sister, Ashely Anderson ’91 (pictured with Alex), and his fiancée, Sarah Branam. He touched many lives and will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
Alex was assaulted in Denver and died from his injuries. In lieu of flowers, Alex’s loved ones ask that donations be made to their GoFundMe page, which will be used to increase his Crime Stoppers reward, as well as medical and memorial expenses: http://gf.me/u/x4sdzw. You can share memories and condolences with the family here: https://horancares.com/obits/alex-anderson/
1980 Byron DeLear, host of the podcast “Intention,” interviewed fellow Harker Academy graduate Tiffany Tate (who now goes by Tate Orick). In the podcast’s third episode, they cover everything from their shared history at Harker (including Byron’s father, who attended Palo Alto Military Academy) to the episode’s main topic, “Job Loss, A Hammered Economy, and the New Abnormal.” Byron attended Harker for grades 4-6 from 1975-1978. Check out the podcast at https://www.buzzsprout.com/963421/3374647
1982 Renee Conrad recently changed firms and is now working as an attorney at Gilfix & La Poll Associates in Palo Alto doing estate planning and trust administration.
1989 Justin Pogue is working as a real estate consultant and an author in San Jose, and he’s completed his first book, “Rental Secrets.” By teaching renters how landlords think, he’s helping them negotiate better while improving our national housing conversation. The book is not just for renters; landlords, realtors and lenders can benefit as well. Justin is in negotiations with a few colleges to speak on their campuses in the near future. Mayor Sam Liccardo took great interest in Justin’s book at one of his North San Jose development round table meetings; he even purchased a copy!
1993 Joe Sabeh has a successful track record of 20 years in the real estate industry and averages $50 million to $75 million a year in sales. He had the highest sale in the city of Fremont’s history in 2018, and more than 60 percent of his business comes from referrals from past clients. Joe learned the value of service and hard work from his late father, Joseph Sabeh, also an outstanding top producer in the real estate industry. His favorite part of the job is helping people accomplish their goals, whether it’s selling for the highest price or finding their dream home. Joe also gives back to the community by donating to and SAVE, nonprofits committed to supporting survivors of domestic violence.
2004 Jennifer Lin and her husband, Steve Waite, welcomed son Hudson Lin Waite on April 17. Congratulations!
2005 Kim Wong is the latest Life in the Arts recipient, awarded by Harker’s performing arts department. Kim’s love of the arts began at age 8 when she attended a Shakespeare camp, and she later fell in love with acting. After Harker, where she was Lifer and a musical theater certificate graduate, she headed East to study at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Since receiving her drama degree from NYU, Kim has amassed stage and television credits. She has had recurring and guest starring roles on HBO, NBC, CBS, The CW and Netflix, including “Law & Order: SVU,” “Blue Bloods,” and “FBI: Most Wanted.”
Fun fact: Kim has performed in 31 Shakespeare productions, spanning 18 plays and 66+ different roles!
Khadija Zanotto, store manager of family-owned and operated Zanotto’s Family Markets, was featured in a San Jose Mercury News article titled “Standing in harm’s way – essential workers on the front lines of COVID-19.” Read the entire story: https://bayareane.ws/2xU9Gac
In mid-March, Zanotto’s began designating exclusive shopping hours for seniors, to better support the local elderly population, a practice that larger chain stores would quickly adopt. Khadija shared the story on her Facebook page: “In this time of need, our family is committed to our community. Thankful to the many news channels that helped us spread the word and inspire bigger stores to do the same. Proud to pioneer this in our area.” See more: https://cbsloc.al/3540cWj
2006 Jaya Pareek married Vipul Chhajer on Sept. 7, 2019, at Bear Flag Farm in Winters. Many Harker friends attended, including classmates Naeha Bhambhra, Akshay Bhatia, Tara Chandra, Meghana Dhar, Mina Lee, Amulya Mandava, Amit Mukherjee, Aalok Patel, Swasti Sarna and Priya Takiar. Friends from other classes were Vivek Patel ’02, Rishi Bhatia ’11 and Sahil Takiar ’09. The ceremony was officiated by Jaya’s brother, Ravi Pareek ’08.
Jaya attended Santa Clara University. Vipul went to the University of Michigan and then Harvard University for business school. They live in San Francisco and both work at tech startups.
2009 Back in November, the Class of ‘09 held its 10th reunion at the Coterie Winery in downtown San Jose. More than 65 alumni and Harker faculty and staff gathered for wine tasting, charcuterie platters and warm conversation filled with memories and laughs.
In March, Sabrina Paseman founded the nonprofit Fix the Mask (http://www.fixthemask.com), which has developed a do-it-yourself method for constructing a surgical mask brace using rubber bands. The pandemic has caused a surge in demand for N95 surgical masks, leading to a shortage that has put medical workers at risk of infection, as the surgical masks currently in use do not attach to wearers’ faces tightly enough. The surgical mask brace developed by Fix the Mask significantly improves the efficacy of surgical masks and lowers the risk of infection. The company has posted a how-to video on its website.
And more recently, some ‘09 friends didn’t let the quarantine stop them from getting together on a Zoom meetup for a “Brady Bunch” style photo op! Shown from left to right, top to bottom are: Sean Mandell, Stephanie Guo, Barrett Glasauer, Brian Chao, Evan Maynard, David Kastelman, Jennifer Huang (friend of ’09), Daniel Tien and Alex Achkinazi.
2010 Mark-Phillip Pebworth and his wife, Hanna, are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Elliott Ames Pebworth, on June 8, 2019. He was 7 lbs., 13 oz., and 21 inches long. He’s now nearly a year old and growing well! Mother and baby have been safe through this crazy COVID-19 season.
2012 After graduating from Columbia School of Social Work in 2018, Kristi Sun obtained her licensed master social worker degree and started working with formerly homeless low-income seniors at the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, which provides permanent long-term housing in New York City. In February 2020, she was promoted to senior social worker and now runs her own building, using Mandarin, English and Spanish to communicate with her wide range of international residents. Kristi is currently the youngest supervisor in the agency, working directly with the director of clinical services, and she loves her job. She credits Harker Spanish teachers Sra. Rozanes, Sra. Pinzás and Sra. Grande for igniting her interest in Spanish, and Ms. Horan for her AP Psychology course; these classes were the building blocks that led to her current career.
2014 Mary Liu was awarded a Schwarzman Scholarship. The program is “designed to prepare its graduates to build stronger relationships between China and a rapidly changing world and to address the most pressing challenges of the 21st century,” according to its website. Mary’s bio notes she is a Gilman Scholar, studied applied mathematics at Columbia University and dedicated a year in service to rural communities in China and Thailand, where she volunteered as a community organizer, teacher and website developer. Mary is passionate about increasing economic opportunity in rural communities. https://www.schwarzmanscholars.org/
Vikram Sundar was recently named a Hertz Foundation Fellow, offering full funding for his Ph.D. at MIT starting in the fall. Vikram is currently an AI resident at Google, and has degrees from Harvard (math, physics) and the University of Cambridge (chemistry). The official press release is here: https://bit.ly/2ZCZVJ2
2016 Shannon Hong started a quarantine diary in April (https://medium.com/quarantine-diaries) to give members of the Harker community a space to share their experiences while living through the COVID-19 pandemic. Originating as a shared document between friends to bring each other closer during a time of separation, it has been expanded to include Harker students, faculty, staff and alumni. “It is valuable to write down that which we do, think and experience during these times,” said Shannon. “We decided that this project was one that we wanted to share with other people, to partake at least a little in each other’s lives.”
2017 Molly Wancewicz earned two recognitions for her writing and research this year. In fall 2019, her paper “Environmental Law and Agents of Profit Throughout History” was published in the Texas Undergraduate Law Review (volume 8, issue 1). Then, in spring 2020, she won second place (and $300) in Rice University’s Fondren Undergraduate Research Awards for her paper, “Organized Labor and Faction in the United States, 1930s and 1940s.” Molly will be presenting her research to the board of Fondren Library next month.
2018 Amy Jin, currently attending Harvard, is now a team member for the Crown Education Challenge (https://www.crowneducationchallenge.org/), an international contest for K-12 students that contains tracks in art, STEM and writing. Founded during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent wave of worldwide school closures, the contest hopes to inspire students to continue their learning, become active in global issues and foster hope in troubled times.
Katherine Zhu was named the University of California, Berkeley’s women’s golf MVP. The award is given to the player with the lowest stroke average after the completion of the spring season. The player must have played in 75 percent of the season’s tournaments. Katherine’s stroke average was 73.5. Congratulations!
2019 Kelsey Wu’s Near/Mitra paper was published in a Harvard journal. The report of Kelsey’s achievement was one of the most-read Harker News stories. Check out more on page 4.
Jarrett Anderson was recently named AVCA D3 Northeast Region Newcomer of the Year and NVA/AVCA D3 First-Team All-American. Jarrett plays volleyball at Springfield College in Massachusetts.
This story originally appeared in the Spring/Summer 2020 issue of Harker Magazine.
By Vikki Bowes-Mok
Alex Iftimie ’03 arrived at Harker in seventh grade and was excited to be in Silicon Valley at a school with plenty of technology offerings. He loved to take computers apart and rebuild them, and he used his rudimentary coding skills to help middle school teachers create their first classroom websites in the late ’90s.
He imagined getting his MBA and working at a tech company, but that all changed when he discovered debate in ninth grade.
“Debate opened my mind to policy issues, got my competitive juices flowing and gave me confidence that I could succeed academically,” remembered Iftimie. “It set me on a different path and also allowed me to practice English.”
English was Iftimie’s third language. He was born in Romania and lived there until he was 6, when the revolution prompted his family to leave. After that, he spent six years in Canada, speaking French before his family moved to Silicon Valley when he was 12.
“Alex is an extraordinary human being whose participation in debate was noted not only by sheer excellence but also by his humility and regard for others,” said Matthew Brandstetter, Iftimie’s debate coach who is now a speech and debate coach at Milton Academy in Massachusetts. “Alex was a debate coach’s dream student, and his continued success in life is no surprise.”
After high school, Iftimie decided to parlay his passion for debate into a law degree. He attended the University of Southern California, where he studied international relations and global business, knowing that he would go on to law school. While at USC, he was captain of the Trojan debate team and advanced to the quarterfinal round at the prestigious National Debate Tournament College Nationals.
After graduating from USC, Iftimie took a year away from school to work on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
“Having come from communist Romania, I was always interested in this neat idea that you could participate in your government and that candidates won elections through the force of their ideas,” remembered Iftimie. “Obama was an inspirational leader who captured for me the virtue of government and public service.”
Iftimie’s focus on public service prompted him to study law at Yale Law School and spend his summers at government internships in Washington, D.C. When he graduated, he clerked for an appellate court judge and then took a job with the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
“The best part about working for the Department of Justice was the sense of mission and purpose. I had the privilege to work with committed civil servants and to pursue justice every day,” said Iftimie.
As he pursued a career in law, Iftimie’s background and interest in technology allowed him to find his niche. “A key part of my success in the government went back to the fact that I understood technology.”
This foundation allowed him to work on hard legal issues at the intersection of technology and national security law, such as intelligence collection reforms, terrorists’ use of the internet and investigations of nation-state sponsored cyberattacks.
After nearly six years at the National Security Division, he served as a prosecutor in the National Security and Cybercrime units in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he brought charges against those involved in Russian efforts to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections.
Although he remains committed to public service, he recently moved to the private sector to broaden his legal experience, and to use his government background to advise clients on complex cybersecurity and national security issues. He started with Morrison & Foerster in Washington, D.C., and just relocated to San Francisco with his new wife, Melissa Antal.
As a middle schooler who enjoyed tinkering with computers and participating in debate, Iftimie didn’t know where his path would lead. But he has successfully forged a career that combines his passions for technology and law.
“Alex was one student who really opened my eyes to what is possible. He could absorb and learn new ideas and concepts at a rate that was absolutely breathtaking,” said Rand Harrington, Iftimie’s physics teacher at Harker who is now head of school at Kent Denver School. “Alex was the epitome of what I had always envisioned as the ideal student — a fierce intellect, highly motivated and intensely curious.”
Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective.
This story originally appeared in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Harker Magazine.
Juggling competitive sports and rigorous academics isn’t easy, but alumni athletes say the payoff is well worth it. Not only do players improve their game – with some going on to compete in college and beyond – they also build relationships and develop skills that last a lifetime.
Balancing academics and sports “took a lot of hard work and dedication from a young age, and pushed my physical and mental limits to the extreme at times,” said Rohit Shah ’18, who played soccer at Harker and is now a midfielder on the team at Macalester College. “Nonetheless, I feel like it was worth it in terms of what I gained personally.”
Shah said playing soccer at Harker not only prepared him to take to the field in college, it prepared him for life by instilling confidence, mental toughness and resilience. Especially during his junior and senior years, he said he learned to focus on the things he could control, such as working hard and having fun, and let go of things he couldn’t control, such as results or what people thought of him.
“I realized I couldn’t change the outcomes, only my attitude,” he said, adding that he is grateful his coaches pushed him as both a soccer player and a person.
The ultimate goal of Harker athletics is that players have a positive experience and can apply lessons learned during the season to other areas of their lives, emphasized Dan Molin, upper school athletic director. “We want [players] to graduate with a greater sense of teamwork, leadership, sacrifice, kindness and respect while doing so in a competitive environment,” he said. “The lessons learned in athletics, whether they realize or not, will carry with them in life.”
Fun and friendship
One of the most rewarding aspects of sports is the camaraderie among players. Being part of a team gives students a chance to nurture friendships outside of the classroom with peers who share a passion for the same activity and are working toward the same goals. At Harker, coaches emphasize the value of building relationships, supporting each other and having fun together.
“One valuable lesson I learned over the years was that it is not all about winning and scoring goals,” said Joelle Anderson ’17, who played soccer for three years and basketball for a year during high school and is now a midfielder/forward on the soccer team at Pepperdine University. “I will forever remember the friendshipsI formed on the team and the memories I made, not only on the field, but more importantly off the field.” Anderson isn’t the only one in her family playing collegiate sports. Her brother, Jarrett ‘19, is on the volleyball team at Springfield College.
Golfer Katherine Zhu ’18, who now plays for the University of California, Berkeley, echoes that sentiment. “My favorite part of high school golf was being able to meet new people and the new relationships that were formed due to it,” she said, adding that she has very fond memories of her time on Harker’s golf team. “In every event, [coach Ie-Chen Cheng] taught us how to have fun while competing at a respectable and competitive level.”
Harker coaches also emphasize the importance of being positive role models for their teammates and classmates. “If you are a good teammate, the character and values you need are always up front,” said Butch Keller, upper school division head and longtime basketball coach, adding that a team motto is “the man beside you is more important than the man in the mirror.”
Sports also can bridge the gap between upperclassmen and lowerclassmen, since players in different grades often compete side by side. Water polo player Matthew Hajjar ’19 said he misses his Harker teammates, “from the seniors I played with as a freshman to the freshmen on the team when I was a senior.
“By the time I was a senior and a leader on the team, the most rewarding thing I could do was help a younger player learn and get better, whether it was teaching a couple of moves as the hole set (center forward) or reassessing a game after we played,” said Hajjar, who is now on the water polo team at Caltech.
Likewise, Zhu said she learned it’smore important to be the best teammate than the best player on the team. As a member of Harker’s golf team, she said she developed more compassion and sympathy for others, which has served her well in other aspects of her life. “Golf is an innately individual sport,” she explained. “Harker golf taught me how to be both a team player and a leader.”
For many, sports also ease the transition to college, giving freshmen a built-in sense of community. Since water polo is a fall sport, Hajjar arrived on Caltech’s campus a month and a half early to begin practicing, which enabled him to acclimate and make friends before classes started. Jadan McDermott ’18, who played both football and basketball at Harker, had a similar experience at Tufts University, where he is now a defensive lineman on the football team.
“One of the hardest things about starting college is being forced to make new friends and being separated from your old life. Being on the football team immediately gives you 75 people that you interact with every day and share experiences with,” he said, adding that he runs into teammates on campus all the time. “Having something like that in college has more value than can be put into words.”
But players aren’t the only ones who benefit from athletics. Team sports also help foster school spirit among the greater Harker community. Students get especially pumped up for big games, such as Harker’s Homecoming football game. In the weeks leading up to the game, anticipation builds among the entire Harker community, with spirit days, a rally and a pre-game tailgate party, among other activities.
“Every week, we received support from our classmates and teachers in preparation for our games,” recalled McDermott. “There was no better feeling than going down the hallways and getting a ‘good luck today!’ or remarks of that nature. Playing in front of friends and family embodies a big aspect of what makes sports fun.”
In March, Harker’s boys soccer team won the section championships for the first time in school history, as did both the boys and girls volleyball teams last year – creating lasting memories for both players and the Harker community.
“The school pride and spirit was unlike anything we’ve seen,” recalled Molin. “It’s not just about the teams succeeding and competing at a high level. I place a lot of value in what that brings to the school community in the form of spirit, pride and fun.”
Training for life
High school is a challenging time for many students as they begin to discover who they are and what matters to them. Sports reinforce the idea that by doing things well, one will be rewarded, said former Harker head football coach Michael Tirabassi.“These lessons can be expanded to life lessons on interpersonal relationships, leadership, etc.,” he said. “In general, I think high school sports can help athletes define their principles, which they will carry with them the rest of their lives.”
Alumni athletes agree that playing sports at Harker was a great training ground for life, helping them develop valuable skills, including time management, stress management and professionalism. Balancing demanding academic and sports schedules forces athletes to set priorities and manage their time effectively.
“My days were pretty packed because I wanted to excel in both [academics and golf ],” said Zhu, explaining that since she spent two to three hours a day practicing with the golf team, she had to use free periods to finish homework. “Efficiency is key!”
As a student athlete, you cut out unnecessary activities and “find new ways to create time for work,” added McDermott. “Whether it’s working while you are waiting to get picked up after practice or doing worksheets before conditioning, it’s essential to use any spare time for getting your work done.”
Harker students who succeed both on and off the field are “masters at managing their time,” said Keller. “When they go to college, they are prepared to face the real life pressures of prioritization.” In setting priorities, athletes also learn to make sacrifices. Through this process, Anderson said she became a better soccer player and a better person.
“There were a lot of sacrifices I had to make, with my social life specifically, in order to keep up in school and continue to excel in soccer, but it paid off in the end,” she said. “All the sacrifices I made during high school felt worth it in the long run because of the amazing opportunities it gave me to take my soccer career to the college level.”
Anderson said she is grateful that her Harker coaches pushed her to be the best version of herself both on and off the field. She has found a similarly supportive environment at Pepperdine, where the coaches often remind players that they are trying to develop “women of character,” not just stellar athletes or a game-winning team.
Tirabassi said he and his fellow coaches urged players to “live their lives motivated by the impact they can make” on others, including their family, community, teammates and friends. The more effort players put into positively impacting those around them, the more successful they will be in sports and in life, he said.
“Many sports teams have negative connotations with their behavior or demeanor,” McDermott explained. “Coach Tirabassi had our team challenge those misconceptions. He helped the players understand that being a student athlete means excellence on and off the field.”
Likewise, Zhu said golf coach Cheng instilled the importance of being professional, “and enforced it everywhere, whether it was at country clubs or even on snack runs!”
Pushing the limits
Many athletes dream of playing their sport in college, but not all have the required discipline. Keller said he is proud of Harker athletes who made this dream come true. Their dedication pays dividends both on and off the field.
“Being an athlete anywhere, not only Harker, is one of the avenues by which young people are able to build resilience,” said Keller. “In the middle of a game or practice, you have to accept the events and adjust in the moment. These are real life experiences.”
Those often challenging experiences also strengthen the team. “We faced the same adversity whether it be extremely hot days, excessive conditioning or even a tough loss,” McDermott recalled. Those experiences formed an “unbreakable bond” among teammates, he added.
As a water polo player at Harker, “the biggest takeaways were perseverance and dedication,” Hajjar said. While some people pressured him to quit the team to focus on his schoolwork, he was determined to manage both well, adding that his life is more balanced and organized during the water polo season. He said water polo gives him the opportunity to de-stress and focus on something other than school.
“When I get out of the pool, I’m refreshed and ready to tackle my studies with a clear and improved mindset,” he said. “I rarely waste time, and since I’m working out, I make sure to get enough sleep and stay healthy.”\
Even those who ultimately leave competitive sports say the experience made them stronger and more confident.
Mahi Gurram ’19 played both softball and golf at Harker. She joined the softball team her freshman year, having never played before, which she said was “one of the best decisions” she made at Harker. Her experience as a rookie and in the years that followed gave her the confidence to try crew as a freshman at Colgate University.
“Harker’s teams taught me to push myself past the limits I set for myself,” she said. “Walking on to the softball team is what inspired me to walk on to the rowing team. I thought it was worth trying out a new sport because of how much I enjoyed playing softball at Harker.”
Although she enjoyed rowing and said the workouts taught her to “dig deep” and push herself, she ultimately made the difficult decision to quit the team to focus on her pre-med studies.
“I was definitely stressed out academically, but it was a very rewarding experience,” she said. “I enjoyed my brief time on the [crew] team, because it taught me that I am capable of things I didn’t know I could do.”
Leveling up
While playing sports has many benefits, a key motivation for most players is, of course, to improve their game. Both individual players and teams at Harker have set records and earned many accolades over the years. Many Harker players have gone on to play sports in college, some earning scholarships to do so, and a few alumni have even gone pro.
For example, Jason Martin ’07 played semi-pro baseball for several years. Tanya Schmidt ’08 played pro volleyball in Europe for two years between college and graduate school. And one of Harker’s most notable alumni athletes, golfer Maverick McNealy ’13, went pro in 2017.
“We’re so proud of all of our athletes who have pursued their sport beyond high school,” Molin said. “Though it’s not the main goal of our program, we want to celebrate their achievements and let it be known that athletes at Harker can, if they work hard, continue their athletics after high school.”
While few college athletes make a career of their game, most anticipate sports will always be a part of their lives, noting the benefits of staying active on their health and well-being.
“Even if I may not be able to compete at a professional level, I hope to have golf in my life in some form because of all the happiness and joy it’s brought me thus far,” said Zhu.
Jennifer Maragoni is a freelance writer and editor based in Folsom.
This story originally appeared in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Harker Magazine.
By Vikki Bowes-Mok
Emily Chow ’08 enjoys digging into important problems with smart people – and that’s exactly what she does every day as site product director for washingtonpost.com.
“Part of what drew me to journalism and keeps me at The Washington Post is our mission to inform the world and build a better democracy,” said Chow from her office in Washington, D.C. “We have incredible reporters writing groundbreaking stories, and I enjoy figuring out how to get stories into the world in an easy and readable form.”
Chow’s role sits at the intersection of journalism, design and technology, and she appreciates the impact that good stories have on a healthy democracy. As the site product director, she works with product managers, engineers and designers to drive the strategy and direction of offerings to Washington Post readers and subscribers.
Her interest in the field was nurtured at Harker, where she was a yearbook staff member during her four years at theupper school. Chow also spent a lot of time in the dance room, usually auditioning for annual showcases.
“Emily Chow is a force of nature – inquisitive, intelligent and thorough, with a great eye for composition and detail. Journalism appeared to come very naturally to her in her time at Harker,” remembered Brian Larsen, the performing arts department’s production manager. “It was no surprise to me she pursued it as a career, and it makes sense that her skills and passion landed her with The Washington Post.”
After her Harker college counselor put Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism on her radar, Chow never looked back.
While at Northwestern, she worked with many student publications, including North by Northwestern, nuAsian and Northwestern Magazine, where she covered events, took photos and designed layouts. During college, she even interned at Harker, writing stories, taking photos and editing audio and video for the website.
“When she worked for our department, she was a star. She captured some great images and we loved having her help. The perspective of an alumna always improves what we do,” said Pam Dickinson, Office of Communication director. “We have followed her path in journalism and are so incredibly proud of her.”
In addition to student publications and working for Harker, she also worked as an intern at Sunset magazine, the Chicago Tribune and The Washington Post.
“I got my first taste of what it’s like to be an editor from Harker’s yearbook program,” Chow told Harker Quarterly magazine in the spring 2012 story “Award-Winning Journalism Program Builds Valuable Skills.” “It was the first time I had to make tough decisions, step into some big shoes and really learn how to edit critically and how to manage a group. I’ve held several editor positions [since Harker] and each experience has built on top of the Harker experience.”
Her internship at The Washington Post included working with the graphics team and the news design team.
“I learned a little bit about everything I wanted to do,” said Chow. “So when I graduated a quarter early and the graphics team offered me a job, I was excited to get started.”
Chow had worked at The Washington Post for more than five years when she decided to try something new and took a position with Mapbox, and online platform for custom maps. After more than a year at Mapbox, she realized that she missed working in news and happily returned to The Post.
“I enjoy working near the original startup of all startups – the newsroom – where deadlines are daily, unexpected fires can crop up at any time, and grit, scrappiness, determination and resilience are qualities that drive success,” said Chow.
Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective.
This story originally appeared in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Harker Magazine.
By Vikki Bowes-Mok
Audrey Kwong ’07 was 2 ½ years old when she took her first violin lesson.
“Music has been such a big part of my life from the beginning,” said Kwong.
Kwong attended Harker from grades 6-12 and was very involved in every aspect of performing arts, from orchestra and choir to dance. She was the featured violin soloist when the orchestra traveled to Budapest, Vienna and Prague her sophomore year and France her senior year.
“Audrey was the music gal of her graduating class. She not only sang in Cantilena but was concertmaster of the orchestra and participated in the dance show,” said Susan Nace, upper school choral teacher. “Audrey was a curious and provocative student, and most memorably, she chose an unusual piece for her senior showcase performance. Rather than the usual classical concerto or sonata movement, she went rogue and played a jazzy solo violin version of Gershwin’s ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’ from ‘Porgy and Bess,’ complete with choreography! It was an unexpected delight in an otherwise very classical evening of Vivaldi, Haydn, Chopin and Fauré.”
When Kwong wasn’t performing at school, she played in the California Youth Symphony from grades 6-12 and took to the stage with Children’s Musical Theater. She attended Interlochen Center for the Arts one summer during high school and was completely filled up by being surrounded by people who were so passionate about music.
After graduating from Harker, Kwong went on to study violin performance at the University of Southern California, where she practiced violin for six to eight hours every day. Before her senior year, she had an internship with the Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, where she broadened her views about a career in music.
Kwong realized that she needed a little more “marination time” before she launched her career and was encouraged to consider an arts management program. After being accepted by a variety of schools, she decided to attend graduate school at Carnegie Mellon University.
“Thank goodness for Harker’s excellent academics, because Carnegie’s arts management program was much more academically rigorous than USC’s music program. It was a complete shift, but I was ready for it,” remembered Kwong with a smile. “Then I interned with the Pittsburgh Symphony as an operations intern and I realized that logistics was my thing.” That realization has guided her career in music ever since. First Kwong interned at the Aspen Music Festival and School, a massive musical festival with 400 public events over eight weeks. The experience, which she calls “the craziest thing I’ll ever do,” confirmed her love of logistics.
She enjoyed it so much that she took a full-time position at the Aspen Festival and stayed for six seasons, where she said she grew up professionally.
Although she loved her time in Aspen, it was small-town living and she was looking for a new challenge when an opportunity opened up in St. Louis. Kwong was excited to become artistic operations manager, helping the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra from behind the scenes. She wears many hats, including coordinating musicians with stage and house managers to keep performances on time and budget, to managing tours and special events.
When she’s not keeping the symphony on track, Kwong plays in two bands, Boxcar and Andrew & the Dolls.
“Playing in these bands feeds a totally different musical side because a lot of what we play is improv, but then I’ll grab napkins and write down the notes so I can play it again,” said Kwong enthusiastically. “Music is about community and finding your people; and I’m able to do this whether I’m playing in bands or working for the symphony, both of which feed my musical passion.”
This story originally appeared in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Harker Magazine.
Chadwick Manning ’04 is an entrepreneur working to solve big problems, from tackling global energy challenges to helping people quit vaping. He’s making an impact on the planet and on people – and he’s just getting started.
Manning’s Harker journey began in elementary school, where he remembers learning about the stock market in Bill Boss’ fourth grade math class. Boss would give students paper money and teach them how to invest and then throw parties when the stock market hit 10,000. These joyful celebrations are one of Manning’s favorite Harker memories. He also fondly remembers his grade 5 teacher, Pat Walsh.
“Chad was high energy, very positive and had what I love in a student: drive, enthusiasm and appreciation,” said Walsh, who is now retired. “He was respectful and often very humorous; he was hard not to like – a lot.”
Manning attended Harker from grades 3-8 before heading to Bellarmine College Preparatory.
“One of things I appreciated most about Harker is that [teachers] really empowered us to be independent and curious,” said Manning. “They Alumnus making an impact on the planet and on people through two different startups impact encouraged us to ask questions, seek answers and take education into our own hands.”
It’s an approach that Manning, a serial entrepreneur, has taken throughout his life.
While attending the University of San Diego, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting, Manning founded his first startup – Torero Laundry Services, an on-campus pickup/drop-off laundry service. Although he got a taste of entrepreneurship, he decided to take a job at PricewaterhouseCoopers after college.
“[Working at PwC] was an invaluable experience, because I learned about how companies were formed, how to read a term sheet and how to structure deals,” remembered Manning. “But to be honest, I hated it and after three years of too many 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. days, I realized I needed to make a change.”
Manning left PwC to work for a couple of startups before starting ElectrIQ. As he saw the world become ever more reliant on technology, he realized that home batteries would become more essential and didn’t see anyone integrating batteries and a power source with intelligent software. He saw a business opportunity to create a smart home battery backup system to help consumers save on electricity costs and protect against blackouts. That’s when he created a two-page business plan and asked a friend to introduce him to Jim Lovewell, an electrical engineer and mad scientist. The two raised $10 million in seed financing and ElectricIQ was launched.
“I was always interested in renewable energy,” said Manning. “So I decided to follow my dreams because I figured that you might as well fail at something you love than hate.”
Manning was recognized for his work by Forbes “30 Under 30” list and also was named a Grist 50 honoree. Grist, which describes itself as an independent, irreverent news outlet, “scour[s] the sustainability space to find up-and-coming people doing potentially game-changing work,” according to its website.
And life-changing work is happening all over the globe. In Haiti, ElectrIQ donated two systems to a school in Cité Solée in Port-au-Prince that allows more than 400 students to receive an education; in Puerto Rico, right after the hurricanes, the company donated another two systems that helped many families keep their power on.
ElectrIQ is still going strong, but Manning left to pursue a new cause.
He had started vaping and wanted to quit, so this past March he launched Fluux, a digital health company, to help people moderate their usage and ultimately quit.
“I love what I’m doing now because I always felt like a cog in a machine at larger companies,” said Manning. “It takes a lot of persistence and many failures before you find success, but when I realized that I’m really good at taking risks and getting people to believe in crazy ideas, I never looked back.”
Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective.
During the spring semester, John Owens MS ‘85, circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, made special appearances at Harker classes via Zoom. In May, Owens gave a presentation of the Ninth Circuit’s history and geographic boundaries to lower school history teacher Eric Leonard’s grade 3 students. Much of the class time was set aside for the students to ask questions, but due to time constraints, Owens agreed to answer questions that students posted online.
In April, he visited Carol Green’s AP U.S. Government and Politics class to discuss his background, including his career in law, his duties as a circuit judge and memories of his time at Harker. He also answered questions from Harker students on topics such as memorable cases he has presided over and advice for soon-to-be-graduates.
Earlier this month, brothers Hassaan and Senan Ebrahim – graduates of the classes of 2011 and 2008, respectively – were featured in The Harvard Gazette for their work in helping Syrian refugees via software their organization developed specifically for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hassaan and Senan founded the 501(c)(3) Hikma Health in 2018 to create software organizations can use to provide better health care to refugees. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care workers needed a way to evaluate symptoms and risk factors. Hikma developed a tool workers could use to screen patients without the need for internet access, which is often lacking or nonexistent in the areas in which they work.
According to the article, the Ebrahim brothers are exploring ways to help spread the tool to more refugee camps. For the time being, they have released it for free to all organizations via GitHub.
Class of 2018 alumnae Sohenee Banerjee and Meghana Karinthi have started a virtual tutoring service that donates tuition fees to organizations providing relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. The service, called TheTutorNextDoor, matches college students to elementary, middle and high school students seeking tutoring in a wide variety of subjects. It is also offering college counseling and SAT exam preparation. Tutoring is carried out via phone and video calls in both one-on-one and group sessions, held on a weekly or bi-weekly basis or as a one-time session. More information, including registration and pricing structure, visit TheTutorNextDoor’s website.