You might wonder how the Harker Family & Alumni Picnic became such a time-honored tradition at Harker, celebrating sixty years and still so much fun. Well, the reason is simple. It’s the people! There are so many individuals to thank, who genuinely love the picnic – the hard-working, talented, dedicated, fun-loving people who support this event year after year.
At its core, the picnic is nurtured by a group of parent volunteer committee chairs who give it their all to create a unique and fun-filled day for the entire Harker community. With a team like this you just can’t miss!
Peace and Lots of Love to our 2010 Committee:
Ken Azebu, artfully and skillfully producing our colorful picnic publications and printed materials; Debbie Buss, tirelessly coordinating and creating amazing picnic décor (especially in the auction area); Fred Carr, serving for many years as master builder and booth setup king; and Nancy Claunch, acting as picnic historian and photo coordinator extraordinaire, along with making cameo appearances as one of the original Curbside Crazies;
Becky Cox, leading us to new heights in sponsor recruitment while offering her expertise in auction setup; Kelly Delepine, kindly stocking and creating the plant booth display along with all the table centerpieces throughout the picnic; Sandhya Jagadeesh, singlehandedly and remarkably handling all pre-picnic admission ticket sales; and Shalini Jain, taking on the coordination of the Adult Wheel of Fortune display with style and grace;
Lalitha Kumar, happily co-chairing T-shirt sales and offering invaluable assistance with raffle ticket accounting; Mary Malysz, serving as our super positive and innovative “wine wizard” as she acquires donated wine and sets up our wine game year after year; Greg Martin, again creatively and efficiently taking charge of the ever popular MPR Bar (what fun!); and Melody Moyer, proving once again that creativity is alive and well at Harker as she adds her special magic to décor and costumed Curbside Crazy appearances;
Mark Peetz, offering his many artistic talents as our resident painter extraordinaire; Robyn Peetz, coordinating setup and cleanup duties in addition to the awesome Child’s Wheel of Fortune display and cheerfully assisting with anything and everything related to event setup;
Kim Pellissier, tirelessly helping with everything imaginable, organizing T-shirt sales, assisting with general event setup, coordinating sponsor check-in and seating, and more; and Janet Rohrer, serving as our fearless team meeting manager with wit and wisdom and offering guidance and help with anything and everything, including Adult Wheel of Fortune setup;
Lori and Ron Saxon, graciously returning to lend their expertise to auction setup; Alice Schwartz, displaying her amazing creative talents wherever needed; Ingrid Semenza, enjoying and excelling at being a first-time Teen Wheel coordinator; and Carol Underwood, happily assisting with the creative setup of our favorite MPR Bar;
Shankari Sundar and Jane Villadsen, serving as our silent heroes of the picnic, as they graciously organize a huge team of volunteers to tally thousands of raffle tickets and distribute a wealth of student incentive prizes, even working tirelessly throughout picnic Sunday.
These are the people who make it happen, with the help of many, many more!
We wish to extend our heartfelt thanks to the nearly 700 loyal parent volunteers who worked the booths and served on committees, along with our amazing administrators, faculty, staff, students and alumni. Your help as sponsors and donors is deeply appreciated, too! It’s so gratifying to be able to come together year after year as a truly dynamic community. We can’t thank you enough!
On October 10, the 60th Harker Family & Alumni Picnic, Peace Love Picnic, unfolded on a beautiful and warm afternoon, the sound of Harker choirs and bands blending with the chatter of young and old enjoying a perfect fall day on the ’60s-themed middle school campus.
This year the picnic featured special theme activities and areas to celebrate the 60th birthday of this one-of-a-kind event. Happy Birthday Boulevard, Past and Present Plaza, K-BID Sound of the ’60s Auction and Groovy Grove all provided birthday themed fun for young and old. And, for the first time, the lower school choir and combination lower and middle school jazz band took to the stage to entertain picnickers. All three campuses’ performing arts groups, along with a magician and storyteller, kept the stage hopping the whole day.
New Harker parents Scott and Mary Hyver, with Ben, grade 5 and Emma, grade 3, enjoyed the picnic for the first time with two smaller children. The family was anticipating watching Ben perform with the lower and middle school jazz band later, and in the meantime, Mary Hyver said, “there is plenty to do for the kids.”
Middle schoolers were there to see and be seen. Selin Ekici, grade 7, has been attending Harker since grade 3 and attends picnics regularly. “It has just always been really fun,” she said.
Plenty of upper school students were evident. Sean Knudsen, grade 9, at the picnic to perform with Bel Canto and wearing his football jersey (the team was in the midst of a record setting seven-game winning streak), was wandering the picnic area with a friend, just checking things out. A full contingent of jersey-wearers were trying out the hammer-and-bell trial of strength with some success. Others were there to watch friends and family perform.
“I’m here to support my cousin,” said Apurva Gorti, grade 9. “He’s singing.” Otherwise, she said, “I’m just here to be with my friends, just hang. My brother is over there, and he’s in kindergarten, so he came for all the games and rides and he’s having a really good time.”
As an alumna and now a mom, Preete Bhanot ’88, attending with her two children (Keshav, grade 2; Priya, grade 4), has a few picnics behind her. “I love it!” she said of the picnic. “I have been bringing [the children] since Priya was in kindergarten – we come every year.”
This year, with her children on stage in the choir, “we ate and we watched their performance, which was really cool – this was the first time they have performed in it.”
At the picnic, the stage is never empty for long and at 3:30 the ’60s Dance Party started to wind up the day. The crowd was still going strong at 4 p.m. when the $10,000 grand prize was drawn (see winners on page 25), and the evening was still warm as the last picnickers trundled off, sated with food, entertainment and memories.
The eighth Harker Fashion Show is coming! This year brings some changes to this annual extravaganza, but what won’t be any different is the spectacular fashion show, the delicious lunch and dinner, the opportunity to bid on fabulous prizes, and of course the chance to “see and be seen” and mingle with the Harker community. The event is being held at the Santa Clara Convention Center for the first time and will feature an exciting online auction, live auction and gift wheel.
This year’s theme, “When I Grow Up,” will focus our attention on the cornerstone of our community, our students. They start off so small, dreaming big, big dreams, and by the time they leave the upper school, many have already begun to walk their life’s path. Proceeds from the event provide financial aid to students and help fund the building of our new performing and visual arts center.
Behind the scenes is the phenomenal team of Sue Prutton, the fashion show liaison and director of the upper school’s volunteer programs, and Laura Lang-Ree, chair of the performing arts department and director of the show. Prutton is always looking for volunteers to help out before and on the big day, and information is constantly being updated on the website, so go to www.harker.org, search on “fashion show, and keep checking back!
Live Auction Info
Each year the live auction items are eagerly scanned ahead of time and paddles prepared. Damon Casatico of Charity Benefit Auctions will once again lead the proceedings, and we promise you’ll be tempted by the packages being offered!
Here are some of the treats being offered at this year’s live auction:
a year of your child’s life documented in one-of-a-kind pictures by our own Harker photographers
a consultation with premier Bay Area designers, including Dennis Baldwin, Chelsea Court Designs and Tanvi Buch
a San Jose Police helicopter ride over Silicon Valley
a private party at Santana Row’s hottest wine bar
club-level seats and a Zamboni ride at a Sharks game
all-access VIP passes to Infineon Race Track in Sonoma
a trip to the 2011 Emmy Awards in Los Angeles
the chance to throw out the first pitch at an Oakland A’s game
a handmade quilt with the names and artwork from each student of Harker’s Class of 2023
And there’s more, including an encore of our spectacular vacation homes and our annual Harker packages of the VIP graduation experience and meals from the Harker kitchen. Get your paddle ready!
Director Spotlight
What does Laura Lang-Ree most look forward to this year, her fifth as the fashion show’s director? We asked her!
“I love that it’s centered not only around our kids, but the whole community. I’d like to think we are all young at heart, always looking to grow and challenge ourselves. When I see an amazing woman in her seventies or eighties doing great things, I always think, ‘I want to be her when I grow up!’ Life is full of possibilities, and this show reminds us of that.”
We also asked Lang-Ree if she could give us a sneak peek at some surprises in store. She wouldn’t give too much away, but did hint at the possibility of some cameo appearances from alumni or maybe some interesting revelations from teachers about their dreams when they were growing up.
New and Returning Features
Returning fashion show attendees will see a familiar feature out in the lobby before the lunch and dinner shows. Gift and wine wheels, like roulette wheels, will be providing a way to win some prizes even before you take your seat! Tickets for the wheels will not be presold and will be available only in the lobby at the show.
New this year is the online auction which will run during the lead-up to the event itself and will offer unique items including premium wines and gift packages from Santana Row. The online auction will provide an opportunity for everyone to participate in this fun event, even if you can’t attend; look for more details in January.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2010 Harker Quarterly.
According to the dictionary, an entrepreneur organizes, manages and assumes risk. That definition clearly highlights ways that extracurricular activities at Harker offer great opportunities for entrepreneurial thinking.
In a number of Harker organizations, students develop creative paths to achieve organizational goals, many of which add to the coffers of their club or charitable organizations, while others develop the spirit of entrepreneurship through acquisition and effective use of materials and research.
Entrepreneurship is clearly alive at the lower school where the lower school student council, advised by Kristin Giammona, elementary school head, gathers feedback and suggestions from its peers, then discusses solutions and ideas to address the concerns of the community. “It’s always [the students] saying, ‘Hey, we need to do something,’” Giammona said. “It’s always their idea. They definitely want to respond and help.”
In addition to improving things on campus, the lower school student council also supports the grade 4 toy drive and grade 5 food drive, bagging, loading and organizing the donated goods before shipment. Last year, the student council organized a bake sale to raise money for Haiti’s earthquake victims.
In the middle school, the eCYBERMISSION program, led by science teacher Vandana Kadam, requires teams to use math, science and technology to present a solution to a community issue. One of last year’s teams, The Dust Busters, spent all year researching a community controversy two students initially read about in the town newspaper related to mercury dust emissions from Lehigh Hanson Cement Plant.
Before submitting their project online in February, the quartet spent five months collecting samples from four different bodies of water, testing for emissions in the lab and compiling data to research ways to educate the residents about the pollution and possible health issues. They also interviewed company officials to hear their side of the story.
The Dust Busters discovered that, while the plant was not in violation of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regulations, the mercury level in water near the quarry was significantly higher than mercury levels in other bodies of water in the area. The students took their findings to the Cupertino City Council and created a pamphlet that was distributed door to door to residents.
The entrepreneurial aspects of eCYBERMISSION projects stand out. A good project “needs students who have good research skills, writing skills, data collection and analysis, and public relations skills to help them interview experts in the field that they are working on,” said Kadam.
Peace-2-Peace is one of many service- oriented groups on the middle school campus using entrepreneurship to advance its goals. Two years ago members organized a garage sale to raise money for an orphanage in India. Last year they sold Halloween “candy-grams” to start an account with Kiva, an organization which provides microloans to people in underdeveloped regions so they can start businesses.
The single most obvious entrepreneurial effort takes place in the hardware-filled robotics laboratory. “I model my program after a Silicon Valley start-up,” said Eric Nelson, physics teacher and robotics advisor. “Each year the team receives ‘seed funding’ through the school via the advancement office. The team learns early on that they must live within their funding limits, so all members are made aware of the need to plan and report.”
Elected officers appoint the corporate equivalent of vice presidents to oversee every aspect of the team, including team image (promotion, logos, recruiting, spirit, etc.), business development (business plan and sponsorships) and finance (purchasing, vendor relationships and budget planning).
In an example of spontaneous entrepreneurship, for this year’s Harker Family & Alumni Picnic, robotics students designed and built a laser gun game that allowed picnic goers to fire lasers instead of water to fill and pop balloons. The idea was a product of a brainstorming session, “and the details evolved as they tried to get the various parts to work,” Nelson said.
“In preparation for start of the robotics competition season which runs from January to April, the students must build up strategic partnerships with other teams, suppliers and machine shops in order to ensure we have access to the resources we are likely to need,” he added.
The efforts at all three schools embrace most, if not all, the elements of entrepreneurship, including risk: like adult entrepreneurs, students risk failure and risk spending their limited time on projects outside of required classroom work. The payoffs are there, however, in personal growth, whether failing or succeeding, and in some contests, like eCYBERMISSION, substantial cash prizes: Harker’s two regional winning teams, seven students in all, earned $18,000 in prize money last year, and one team traveled to Baltimore to present to the U.S Army organizers, an invaluable experience.
Of course, at Harker, the focus is on the lessons learned, not on results above all. In the robotics program, students learn a great deal more than just how to run a robot. They learn something about how to build and run an engineering company, said Nelson. “There are years where we ‘go public’ and are off to the championships, and then there are years where we go Chapter 11. In both cases the students learn volumes about not only engineering but also team work, leadership and organization,” he noted.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2010 Harker Quarterly.
Harker’s reputation as an academically rigorous school sometimes outshines the breadth of other key elements of student life, such as its many clubs and after-school programs. Another overlooked but highly important aspect of the K-12 experience is the emphasis on character and leadership, which has been a value at Harker since the school’s founding.
“The concepts of character and leadership have always been intertwined in what it means to be a Harker graduate, going back to the days of the Palo Alto Military Academy and Miss Harker’s School for Girls,” said Kevin Williamson, upper school dean of students.
Harker students are instilled with these values from their very first days at the school, and these values are reinforced through various programs for the entirety of their Harker careers.
“Children begin learning right from wrong at a very early age, even before school begins,” said Joe Connolly, dean of students at the lower school. “The development of strong character is part of that process. Values learned at an early age tend to stay with the child throughout life.”
Upon entering Harker, kindergartners are enrolled in a required character development class that they continue to attend until they complete grade 5. “They learn about respect, treating others like you would like to be treated, being kind and polite,” Connolly said. This year, the lower school is focusing on compassion as a theme. “It is a theme we choose to bring up whenever the opportunity presents itself. Compassion can be different things depending on the age level.”
The lower school also runs service projects for each grade level every year. Grade 5 ran its annual food drive in November, for example, and grade 4 students collected toys for their annual toy drive in December. Character building is also a valued component of the lower school athletics program, where values of fairness and good sportsmanship are constantly reinforced. After-school programs such as Share, Care and Be Fair and Students Play and Learning All Together (SPLAT) teach students about good playground conduct and how to treat one another while at school.
Upon entering the middle school, students build upon the groundwork laid during their time as lower school students. “Middle school students learn about character, leadership and academic integrity through the assembly and advisory programs,” said Lana Morrison, middle school dean of students. Throughout the year, outside speakers are invited to speak at assemblies on various topics. Students later discuss the topics brought up during the speaker’s appearance at advisory meetings. “Some students find the smaller setting easier to freely discuss how and what they are feeling,” Morrison said.
Middle school students also have access to several clubs and programs to strengthen character and leadership qualities. Recently, middle school students earned several regional awards from the eCYBERMISSION national competition, which challenges students to solve problems in their communities using science, math and technology. Several students also collaborate each year to create the middle school literary magazine “enlight’ning,” which this year received recognition from the National Scholastic Press Association, American Scholastic Press Association and the Columbia Scholastic Press Association.
A recent development at the middle school is the KidLead program. Designed specifically for kids aged 10 to 13, KidLead is a program intended to develop the leadership skills of young students. The program consists of weekly 90-minute sessions that are run by certified instructors, during which students lead groups in various problem-solving activities. Although specially trained “Koaches” oversee each session, they are intentionally set up so that students are the ones designated to lead the activities.
Greg Lawson, assistant head of school for student affairs and a certified KidLead instructor, said he believes the program has great potential for teaching valuable leadership skills. “All you need to do is look at the dozens of community service opportunities, sports teams, performing arts groups, extracurriculars in general, student government, along with all the team academics like robotics, Future Problem Solvers, etc., to know that these skills have the potential to augment the development of this next generation of Harker leaders,” he said.
By the time students reach the upper school, character and leadership values have ideally become a part of their everyday lives. The upper school’s myriad programs and clubs are designed to further reinforce and develop these values within students.
“There is a lot of buzz about ‘leadership development’ programs these days,” Williamson said. “Leadership comes in a variety of forms. I think the wealth of volunteer programs that our students and faculty create and participate in speaks to this fact.”
Although Harker’s upper school population numbers fewer than 700 students, the Saratoga campus surprisingly houses more than 46 student clubs and organizations. “Our students are very self-motivated, and there is a lot of positive student encouragement to have peers step up and develop their own unique leadership styles,” Williamson said.
The Global Empowerment and Outreach (GEO) club, for example, runs an extensive program on international issues each year, while the Harker chapter of the Key Club focuses on community service in the South Bay area. Outside of clubs, students use the leadership qualities they’ve developed at events and classes such as the Research Symposium, Student-Directed Showcase and the many debate tournaments that students attend throughout the year.
The Honor Council, established by students and faculty in 2001 to create standards for academic integrity, is an important outgrowth of Harker’s commitment to the primacy of building character in its students. The group established the Honor Code, which is a central facet of academic life at Harker, and the Honor Council works to remind the student body about the Honor Code in a variety of ways. For instance, the Honor Codes and Honor Councils forum will be hosted in February and will draw similar organizations from independent schools across the country.
Leadership and character development principles are also a key part of the Living with Intention, Focus and Enthusiasm (LIFE) program, which teaches students about the value of maintaining good physical, mental and emotional well-being. “The freshmen will be using the book ‘The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens’ as a base, and they will spend two sessions working through the seven themes,” said Jane Keller, upper school mathematics teacher, who is running the program with Connolly and Jeffrey Draper, upper school dean and theater teacher, as well as a committee of students. “The beauty of this is that it will be an ongoing lesson for the next three years,” she said.
This article originally appeared in the winter 2010 Harker Quarterly.
As the school year began, many families were faced with the task of adjusting to Harker life, and they found ample support from Harker faculty and staff to assist with the transition.
Kindergartners Sabrina and Sally Zhu attended a play-based pre- school before joining Harker in the fall. When asked by their mother, Hong Wei, where they would like to go to school, both said Harker “because they can learn more from Harker in many areas.”
They have found the balance between academics and fun to be refreshing. “Harker is fun because you learn, and it’s really even with playing and learning,” Sabrina said.
Andrew Pluzhnikov, another kindergartner, said Harker’s approach to teaching math was different from the method at his pre-school. His teachers, he said, helped him get used to the new method “with numbers and projects about numbers, like making a number line.”
Scott and Mary Hyver, parents of Ben, grade 5 and Emma, grade 3, brought their children to Harker after home-schooling them for a number of years. Prior to the start of the year, she and her children attended a buddy party hosted by Harker, during which her children were paired with buddies and learned more about the school. The buddies have helped new students during the year by helping them find classrooms, answering their questions and providing other general assistance.
Mary Hyver also received advice from other Harker parents, who discussed their routines and shared their experiences in dealing with homework and academic expectations. She was also able to find assistance when encountering bumps in the road. “Making friends and managing homework with after-school sports were particularly difficult,” she said. “The staff communicated regularly with my children and us and worked cooperatively, assisting my children with time management and social interactions on the playground and in the classroom.”
Emma Hyver said the new approach to testing was one of the major changes she had to get used to. “After practicing a couple of times, I am used to tests,” she said. “Similar to tests, changing classes just took practice.”
Support from teachers has been proven helpful for Ben Hyver. “They know that I’m not used to this because I was home-schooled,” he said. Their help has enabled him to become accustomed to student life and make more friends.
New student Kai-Siang Ang, grade 6, had to adjust to Harker’s academic emphasis after transferring from a public school. He found that the orientation on his first day of school helped him get accustomed to the new experience, “because it got me comfortable with the campus and teachers.” He has also had fellow students assist him in using online student resources and attended a party hosted by the McNealy family (Scout, grade 4; Colt, grade 6; Dakota, grade 7; Maverick, grade 10), where he was introduced to other students.
Though he initially found the experience “a little stressful,” he said that has now gotten settled in and is enjoying life as a Harker student. “Here we have a lot more courses I can take and I’m learning more on a daily basis.”
Irene Bashar, grade 6, also had to deal with a new workload and responsibilities after moving on from the lower school. She appreciated that the teachers “explained all the class material clearly so that you can understand it when you get back home,” and that “they try hard not to give you way too much homework” despite the new academic requirements.
Adjustment to a markedly different academic environment is something other parents have noted. “Harker is substantially more dialed in to the specific needs, social and academic, of our child,” said Lisa Chapman, mother of Julia Fink, grade 9, who started Harker in the fall. “There is a lot more accountability with respect to curriculum, status of her progress and her sense of inclusion.”
“Everybody here was really welcoming, and everybody was really helpful,” Fink recalled of her experience upon joining Harker this year. As an example, she mentioned that English teacher Erin Redfern frequently checks up on her progress and makes sure she is not causing herself too much stress.
Chapman said she found it refreshing that Harker faculty and staff were proactive in making sure that experience has been comfortable. “Everyone has been very gracious. Many [teachers and administrative staff] have inquired about how the experience is going thus far,” she said. “We appreciate that.”
Other parents advised Chapman to “get involved early. We attended events over the summer and met families, and converted that into get-togethers with our daughter and other kids. Those kids have become her good friends.”
“Harker can be a big shock to a lot of students from public schools in particular,” said Jeffrey Draper, upper school drama teacher and the dean of the Class of 2014. “As a teacher, it’s really fun to figure out who’s new, and work to have them feel like that’s not going to be a big deal as fast as possible.”
It’s not only academics that require adjustment. Students from other schools also have to deal with being new among students who have been attending Harker together for several years. “When there are so many Harker ‘lifers’ around them … once in a while those students have to fit in socially and find out where they are and acclimate themselves, in addition to their academics,” Draper said. Pairing up new students with those who have been at Harker for much longer, he said, is one way he accomplishes this goal. “There’s a lot of new stuff they have to deal with. Helping with that transition is one of the fun things I get to do.”
In addition to students from other schools, Harker students transitioning to a different campus also have certain responsibilities to learn and adopt. Freshmen moving to the upper school from middle school, for example, “get a lot more freedom … more than they’re used to, and sometimes they don’t know how to use that freedom,” Draper said. “But they figure it out pretty quickly.”
Students are reminded to sleep and eat well, and are coached on how to make smart choices for themselves. The structure of the K-12 program also provides ample preparation for the switch from middle school to upper school. “We just seem to do that well,” Draper said.
This story first appeared in the Winter edition of the Harker Quarterly.
Lifetime trustee and former head of school Diana Nichols has accepted the position of chair of the Harker Board of Trustees. Nichols was instrumental in building Harker into the world-class school it is today in tandem with her husband, the late Howard Nichols (1940-2008). “Diana brings to the position of chair a rich legacy at Harker and a unique perspective to guide the institution into the future,” said Chris Nikoloff, head of school. Nichols takes the helm at an exciting time for Harker as it moves into the next phase of the Saratoga campus upgrades, which will include a state-of-the-art performing arts center and new athletic facilities.
Since her retirement from school administration, Nichols has remained a force in developing school resources, especially in promotion of the annual Harker Fashion Show.
This story first appeared in the Winter edition of the Harker Quarterly.
Glance around the Saratoga campus and you will notice significant upgrades — a 3,803-square-foot library, a 40-car parking lot with two adjoining sport courts, and a 1,600-square-foot deck off Shah Hall. But the renovations don’t stop there, according to Mike Bassoni, Harker’s facility manager.
Beginning last year and continuing through the summer, all three campuses have received cosmetic and technological upgrades.
At the middle school campus, new modular air conditioning units were installed in all academic classrooms, and landscape planters now line the asphalt outside of building P. The dark red trim of all Blackford buildings has been painted dark forest green, “to give the campus a fresher, more modern look and tie the campus into the school colors,” Bassoni said.
The lower school campus now has synthetic turf in the kindergarten playground and a new, more efficient filtration system for the pool. To accommodate the expanding instrumental music program, Harker has installed a 960-square-foot modular building.
In addition to the new library, outfitted with eBeam technology, expanded study tables and enhanced wireless connectivity, there are several other expansions and upgrades at the upper school campus. More photovoltaic cells were installed on the roof of Nichols Hall, pushing the total output of the system to 20 kilowatts. Inside Nichols Hall, there is an extensive indoor plant collection to “enhance the quiet environment of the Nichols Hall atrium,” explained Bassoni. On the other side of campus, a new 2,000-square-foot sun deck extends out of the Shah Hall patio, offering more seating and outdoor lounging areas for students.
The addition of new parking spaces near the main office allows for more spaces for students, faculty and visitors. For studying between classes, students now have access to indoor charging stations around campus to provide additional electric circuits. “One of these sites has lockers so that laptops can be left unattended while charging,” Bassoni said, referring to the charging stations in Main Hall.
All in all, Harker aims to maintain state-of-the-art facilities to enhance the learning environment and address the community’s needs.
This story first appeared in the Winter edition of the Harker Quarterly.
The official opening of the John Near Resource Center took place in early November, attended by a score or more family, students, staff, alumni and friends.
The center, located in Shah Hall, adjacent to Near’s former classroom, reflects the late teacher’s love of American history. Near taught at Harker’s middle and upper schools for 31 years prior to his passing in 2009. His legacy includes many hundreds of students left with a love of learning and history and, now, the John Near Excellence in History Education Endowment Fund.
The Near endowment, the first of its kind at Harker, funds robust online research databases for students and provides grants to students or teachers each year for research on history projects of their choice. The first three recipients of John Near Scholar Grants have already received their funding and are listed in a display alongside photos of Near and a plaque commemorating both his contribution to Harker and his philosophy for the fund’s use.
As only interest from the endowment will be spent, and none has yet accumulated, the center, the first grant recipients and initial databases were funded by special contributions from the Class of 2010 (with 100 percent participation!), a John Near Fun Run, a benefit poker game and special contributions from alumni.
Those attending the reception included history department faculty members, administrators, advancement office staff, longtime employees, John’s wife, Pam Dickinson, director of Harker’s office of communication, and daughter Casey Near ’06. Key members of the John Near Resource Center planning committee were also present, including Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs; Donna Gilbert, history department chair; Susan Smith, head librarian; Mike Bassoni, facility manager; and Sarah Covey ’91, a former student of Near’s and interior designer who donated her expertise to the project. All were instrumental in making the room come to life.
Once the gathering was underway, Dickinson acknowledged John’s parents, Jim and Pat Near, who established the endowment fund in their son’s honor – and based on John’s own wishes – just months before he passed away. She also recognized the special role so many played in achieving the final outcome. “We all agreed this space needed to be inspirational, warm and comfortable,” she said. “Each person involved just intuitively knew the right thing to do and did it. It’s an amazing space, and John would have loved both the space and the process.”
The room features media and periodical libraries that will each expand over time, a flat screen and DVD/VHS player, a collaborative work table, comfortable sofa seating and bookcases of Near’s books from his personal library. Poster- sized, framed black and white photos decorate the walls – from singer Billie Holiday to President John F. Kennedy – each representing iconic facets of American history and culture that had resonated with Near.
Gilbert noted that the room has already been used by both students and teachers in various ways and has become a bit of a sanctuary for teachers to enjoy a few moments away from the bustle of the hallways. Each year the room will also host a reception for the John Near grant scholars when they receive their awards, but from day to day, Near’s scholarly soul, represented by the photos and books he loved, fills the room, providing a lasting memory of one of Harker’s finest teachers.
This story first appeared in the Winter edition of the Harker Quarterly.
Harker’s energy manager dashboard is now live online at: http://www.harker.org/page.cfm?p=1534. The tool displays the energy consumption measured by the smart meters installed at the upper and lower school campuses and gives detailed readouts on the day-to-day energy usage of each building on both campuses. It also shows how each building ranks according to the amount of energy consumed. The smart meters were installed in 2009 using grant money received by grade 11 students Shreya Indukuri and Daniela Lapidous from the Alliance for Climate Education.