This article originally appeared in the winter 2019 issue of Harker Magazine.
Harker’s incubator program, after one full year, has turned out some solid successes, awarding cash grants to students who developed business plans and successfully pitched to a panel. Now, starting year two, the benefits to students – far beyond money – are becoming apparent.
The program launched with a single class in summer 2017. That first class, a no-credit offering, brought students three of the critical ingredients for entrepreneurial success: strategic advice and mentorship, a dedicated support team and seed funding. A couple of pretty interesting ventures arose from that class, which was so well-received that the department developed the curriculum for a regular school-year program of two for credit classes to start a year later, in fall 2018. (See links in box on page 49 for more.)
The for-credit classes, Honors 2, ran all year. By May 2019, about $20,000 in venture funds were handed out to eight companies developed by 11 students. In Incubator 1, students created and commercialized their own product or service.“Teams are led through the lean startup processes of developing hypotheses about a business concept, testing those hypotheses, adapting and continually iterating,” said Michael Acheatel, business & entrepreneurship teacher.
Incubator 2 is geared toward students who have already launched a company and are focused on growing their business. “Students are led through three-week long ‘sprints’ where students identify their individual goals and tasks at the beginning of the sprint and present a demo of their accomplishments at the end of the sprint,” said Acheatel.
Students in each of the courses receive coaching and mentorship from entrepreneurs, investors and business experts, and a key element in the 2018-19 classes was provided by Next47, a venture capital firm, which donated $10,000 in venture funds.
Now, year two of the for-credit incubator classes has started and the Incubator 1 students are in the midst of the vetting processes, while the new Incubator 2 students are using their funding to develop their ventures to bring them to the next level – a functional organization with a product.
The goal, however, is not to create million dollar companies in high school, though in Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial atmosphere, that is not beyond reach. The real goal is to teach students to think critically when developing ideas, to use resources, like mentors, to advance their knowledge and network, and to help the students gain confidence that careful, hard work will bring concrete results at some level.
“The goal of the course is to provide students with experiences that teach values and practices that are not traditionally taught in the classroom but are hugely important in life/ work,” said Acheatel.
“We want to inculcate soft skills such as resiliency, problem-solving, creative thinking, public speaking and networking. These skills are built into the lean methodology of controlled failure, of seeking failure early as a means of improving. Furthermore, they learn these skills by working with mentors and pitching investors,” he said.
“Additionally, they learn technical skills that they’ll use in the workplace like financial modeling, conducting competitive and market research, executing marketing campaigns, creating and delivering pitches, developing investor reports, etc. These are skills that they will use in almost any job they take, yet they are not taught in traditional school environments,” Acheatel noted.
Nerine Uyanik and Arun Sundaresan, both grade 12, are in the Incubator 1 class, exploring the skills needed for serious entrepreneurship for the first time. Their company is designing electronic flashcards that address shortcomings in existing digital flashcards.
“Most digital flashcards have a two-sided format that inherently limits the content that can be asked,” said Uyanik. “To study certain concepts, such as vocabulary, would require either making many flashcards with closely related but still separate information or making a single flashcard that contains all the related information. One is inefficient, and the other is ineffective, potentially coming at the cost of the student’s own learning,” she said.
The pair is working on a multisided flashcard that suits a student’s needs better. For example, when studying a molecule, to learn its name, formula, molecular geometry and structure would require a program in which students can input all the information and determine how they review that info.”Nothing of the sort exists,” said Uyanik, “so I decided to take this incubator class to develop such an application.”
Partner Sundaresan came in with more background and is really looking for an opportunity to grow as an entrepreneur. “I’ve had a lot of exposure to business and entrepreneurship before, both academically and in extracurricular pursuits,” he said. “I feel like taking the incubator class was a natural progression in my explorations of business, as I will launch a for-profit company.”
The first lesson the pair learned was that although each came to class with independent ideas, there was enough crossover that they could grow their ideas together. “At first, we hesitated to work together since we envisioned pursuing completely different paths,” said Uyanik, “but Mr. Acheatel pointed out that we both were trying to address problems with existing study tools, just with different solutions in mind … so he encouraged us to work together at least during the early stages, where having more ideas on the table wouldn’t hurt. We then delved into the market research and analyzed our ideas realistically.” That’s when the real growth began.
“Arun realized that my proposition seemed more feasible to achieve through this class, so he decided to let go of pursuing his vision to focus on mine,” said Uyanik. “I realize how difficult it was for him to make such a decision, for we both had strong ideas and intentions when deciding to take this class. As he has come to understand my idea, though, I am grateful that he is now also convinced of its potential and confident in his work. Arun’s expertise in coding and technology makes up for my lack of experience in that area when addressing the specifics of product development, and my deeper understanding of the product helps drive the vision of the company. Through this class, I have come to value working with someone with a complementary set of skills and perspectives.”
“Since the first day,” noted Sundaresan, “when we were figuring out problems that our businesses would solve, we had to think creatively and in terms of how to solve existing problems. Presentation skills are also vital for this, because we create our own elevator pitches that are regularly revised and presented. Nerine and I have definitely used this class to expand our networks,” he said. “It’s a class, but it’s all real,” said Uyanik. “Everything we learn and do ties into making practical progress. The pitches we now refine in class will eventually be delivered to investors. Our homework – completing market analyses and conducting customer interviews, for example – reflects the work that businesses must do to grow. We learn to do, and we do to learn.”
Anay Karwal, grade 12, an Incubator 1 student, is developing Persona, an app that automatically recommends outfits to high school and college students, and to business professionals, based on their existing wardrobe and their fashion preferences. He is already seeing the kind of life-growth that Acheatel noted. “I joined the incubator class because I really wanted to attain an experiential perspective with a business,” said Karwal. “I’ve participated in DECA since my freshman year, and I wanted to utilize all the skills that I learned in order to create something tangible. By the end of the year, I want to have a working prototype to take into college.”
Karwal is seeing the building blocks to his goal emerge from the course. “From working at this startup alone, I’ve now realized that collaboration is extremely crucial in life, because it provides you a new perspective and is much more effective,” he said.
It is clear that Incubator 1 students are acquiring skills essential to developing a product, and that personal growth is part of that learning, including how to be flexible, how to work with others on complex tasks and, in Sundaresan’s case, how to switch gears when necessary to build out a successful product. But beyond the incubator program, the students are finding their advancing skills eminently useful in other classes and in life.
“With my experiences in DECA and this class, I refined my public speaking abilities and I constantly apply that to all my classes. The problem-solving skills I learned from this class help in my math and economics classes,” Karwal said, adding that he now appreciates learning from others. “The best thing I’ve gotten out of the class is my mentor, as he consistently provides me with help and guidance,” Karwal concluded.
Nanoseed is a Harker student-developed nonprofit that organizes student and business loans and grants to underserved regions in China. Graduating seniors pass down leadership of the company each year, and this year Andrew Sun, grade 11, heads up the venture and is “franchising” the fundraising program at other schools. “We’re interested in helping those who have been abandoned by traditional lending organizations in China,” Sun said.
For Sun, the rewards transcend grades and personal accomplishments. “I am passionate about effecting change beyond myself,” Sun said. “I’ve realized through heading Nanoseed that it’s incredibly gratifying to do something that will directly impact someone else’s life. It’s helped me realize that there is much more to life than grades and homework assignments, which is a balance I have definitely struggled with in the past. For example, Nanoseed’s benefit concert last year [to reduce poverty in rural China] really opened my perspective.
“The summer reading for the class also introduced us to a systematic approach to finding solutions to problems by testing one feature/aspect at a time, similar to isolating one variable in an experiment,” Sun noted. “This approach helped me also with improving my speeches in congressional debate, another activity I’m involved in. I’ve found applications of that systematic approach by changing one thing about a speech every iteration and seeing if that achieved the improvement I wanted it to achieve.”
For Sun, like Karwal, the biggest advantage to the class is networking and being able to interact with the other people in the class. “They’ve given me so many ideas for fundraisers, operations, etc., and have also been wonderful about offering help when I need it,” said Sun.
“The collaborative aspect of the class is really rewarding and I’m most grateful I took the class for this reason.” Claire Luo, grade 11, now in Incubator 2, formed a company last year called GetTime, whose mission is to decrease stress and increase productivity among teenage students through an engaging and efficient time management app. The current version of the app consists of three core features – a dashboard for tracking progress and tasks, a prioritized to-do list and a timing function to keep students on track throughout their study period. “What differentiates my app is that it combines task and time management on one platform and specifically targets high school students, which helps make the experience more streamlined and effective,” she said.
Luo, too, has gained wider perspective through her work in the incubator program. “One overarching truth I have learned is that flexibility and adaptability are key, for me as a person and for my company,” she said. “Whether this means continually soliciting feedback and revising features or altering my goals to fit new circumstances, I have learned to be more open to change. In particular, going out and talking to potential customers and mentors has encouraged me to embrace pivoting some aspects of my app.”
The payoff is there in the learning, even if the product never gets to market. “I have definitely been able to apply these skills, both in creating my company and in my own life,” said Luo. “For instance, designing the app and then asking for potential customer feedback was a new experience for me and required me to break down the tasks and keep going at it resiliently. The ability to have a clear project end goal and then executing each task one at a time has applied to any other large group project in other classes.
“In addition, presenting and pitching to investors has improved my presenting skills. In my other classes (and activities like DECA), I am more comfortable with speaking in front of larger groups and with using business terms. Also, I learned how to create more effective visuals that are clear and concise, which has been incredibly helpful in other classes.”
No surprise, Luo has also embraced the collaborative value of networking. “Networking is also an invaluable skill, since I am now more aware of the importance of going out and connecting with others in order to expand my network. The type of creative and entrepreneurial thinking cultivated in this class has improved my analysis skills, for example, by allowing me to better evaluate the benefits and drawbacks of certain things.” Luo feels the class has given her the tools to set and reach ambitious milestones.
“As starting a company is a very individualized process, setting goals is often up to what I want to accomplish, not what someone else tells me,” she said. “This class has inspired me to be proactive in adapting to changes and staying on top of my work, and has provided me the resources I need to achieve my goals.”
Bohemian Trio brought a world of sounds to the Patil Theater on Friday night, as the group performed a series of varied and eclectic pieces with its unique instrumental combination – made up of saxophonist Yosvany Terry, pianist Orlando Alonso and cellist Yves Dharamraj. Their first set consisted mainly of pieces written for the trio by close friends and associates, an arrangement that works well for them due to their unusual configuration. Pieces such as the tender, contemplative “Impromptu No. 1 for Gershwin,” composed by Cuban pianist Manuel Valera, contrasted well with Alexis Cuadrado’s “Trivium,” a hauntingly lively number that reflects the composer’s homeland of Barcelona.
The second half of the show featured Terry’s own works, including the lively “Tarde en la Lisa,” a tribute to the working-class neighborhood in Havana where he lived. Its complex melodies and harmonies (particularly Alonso’s piano work) created a portrait of what Terry called a “dynamic” community. They closed with “Okonkolo,” the title track from their latest album, named after the smallest member of the Batá family of drums originating from Nigeria. Beginning with an extended percussion intro, with vocalizations led by Terry, the trio launched into a vigorous section reflecting Terry’s trademark Afro-Cuban style, venturing into territory both melodic and dissonant.
On Friday night, the Harker Speaker Series hosted a special evening with legendary composer David Amram. During his nearly 70-year career, Amram has collaborated with many of the 20th century’s most influential cultural figures, including Jack Kerouac, Bob Dylan, Hunter S. Thompson and Leonard Bernstein.
The event began with a scintillating performance by the upper school jazz band, which was joined by Amram on flute and percussion, demonstrating that his skills as a soloist remain sharp. He then sat down with Harker English teacher Charles Shuttleworth for a live interview, during which Amram shared his incredible life story, beginning with his interest in classical music, which he discovered at age 11. He later became enamored with jazz, gospel and folk music from around the world. Amram described much of his life as “serendipity,” having been repeatedly blessed to be put in contact with (and subsequently work with) top musicians. After serving in the military, he was introduced to jazz bassist Charles Mingus, with whom he began playing while studying at the Manhattan School of Music. He later met Thelonious Monk, who complimented Amram on his French horn playing. “I almost fainted,” Amram recalled.
After concluding the interview, Amram joined the Harker upper school orchestra to perform Franz Schubert’s haunting “Unfinished Symphony,” as well as an original work he wrote as a tribute to Afro-Cuban percussionist and composer Chano Pozo during a 1977 cultural exchange trip to Cuba. Titled “En Memoria de Chano Pozo,” the piece incorporates audience participation, and the audience happily clapped along toward the finale. Following the event, Amram participated in an audience Q&A session before signing copies of his books in the lobby for the appreciative attendees.
Krish Mysoor, grade 8, had a record-setting weekend in debate, placing first at the Damus Hollywood Invitational, hosted by the Harvard-Westlake and Notre Dame schools in Los Angeles, Nov. 2-4.
Mysoor is the only eighth grader in memory to take first place at a varsity national qualifier to the Tournament of Champions (TOC). TOC-designated tournaments are considered to be the most challenging debate tournaments because they attract the most competitive schools from multiple states. The topic for the event was whether or not the United States ought to eliminate subsidies for fossil fuels.
Students who reach a certain level of elimination-round success at two of those events are invited to compete at the most elite varsity championship at the end of the year. It is extremely rare for a middle school student to even reach early elimination rounds at TOC tournaments, let alone to have a perfect preliminary record and then go on to win five elimination rounds in a row. The team is very proud of his outstanding accomplishment.
Lincoln Garrett, the head debate coach of the University of Kentucky, which hosts the Tournament of Champions, noted of Mysoor’s accomplishment, “That is incredible. To go from learning the activity a short while ago to winning a competitive tournament is remarkable.”
Mysoor is known for his hard work and being a great teammate. His remarkable success has attracted quite a bit of attention from the national debate community. Go Harker speech and debate!
On Oct. 12, the student-founded nonprofit KidzRule held the second-annual Santa Clara Children’s Business Fair. The event, held in Santa Clara’s Live Oak Park, was co-founded last year by Harker sixth grader Mikhil Kiran. The organizers worked closely with the city of Santa Clara to put on the fair, and Kiran had several key responsibilities, including raising funds, getting plans approved by the city council and marketing the event.
Several businesses started by Harker students were present at the fair, including third grader Ayza Tahirzad and fifth grader Bazigh Tahirzad’s Pet Rocks; seventh grader Avayna Glass’ Kissify Soaps; fifth graders Risa Chokhawala and Trisha Shivakumar’s Books and Bottlecaps; and C3 Custom Card Cases, founded by sixth graders Ruhan Arora and Alejandro Cheline, and fifth grader Ian Cheline. In total, 99 young entrepreneurs were showcased at the fair.
Attendees spent their time visiting booths and listening to the businesses pitch their products. Some of the businesses sold all of their available inventory. A custom greeting card business received a large corporate order and another was given an opportunity to market therapeutic pillows through a local physical therapy business.
Several prizes were awarded to the business at the fair, and C3 Custom Card Cases took first place in Best Salesmanship in the ages 10-12 category. Businesses were judged by a panel that included Harker DECA members Alivia Li, grade 10; Lisa Barooah, Bryan Zhang, Elaine Zhai, all grade 11; and seniors Mahi Kolla and Christine Tang, led by business and entrepreneurship teacher Juston Glass.
Santa Clara city councilmember Kathy Watanabe was a guest speaker at the event, and expressed her appreciation for the organizers’ hard work and the important learning opportunities the fair offered. “I was so impressed by the product creativity, marketing but most importantly how some entrepreneurs used this as a way to give back to communities in need,” she said.
The Harker community showed up in the hundreds for Saturday night’s Homecoming to enjoy company with friends and family, sample a variety of foods and cheer on the Eagles, who took on the Saint Vincent de Paul Mustangs.
Guests began showing up roughly an hour before game time for the tailgate festivities, perusing tables of pizza, soft drinks, hot dogs and other goodies set up by Harker staff, students and families, as well as food trucks which set up shop on the upper school parking lot. Students raised funds for class activities by selling pizza and candy to attendees, often walking the area with boxes in hand.
From their station on the bleachers, the Harker Pep Band kept things lively throughout the evening as they entertained onlookers and energized the players. The pre-game entertainment also included two beloved Harker Homecoming traditions, a performance by the Junior Cheerleaders and the Eaglets flyby, which were warmly received as always by the audience gathered in the stands.
Prior to kickoff, the third place tug-of-war match between the sophomores and the freshmen ended with the Class of 2022 emerging the victors. The finals of the tug-of-war took place at halftime, with the juniors taking first place and celebrating ecstatically on Davis Field.
An especially eventful halftime also saw performances by the Harker upper school cheer squad and the Harker Dance Company, as well as a special appearance by Harker Athletic Hall of Fame inductees Kristina Bither Gurney ’09, Adhir Ravipati ’05 and former athletic department staffer Chris Collins, who had been inducted before the start of the game. Closing out halftime was the showing of this year’s Homecoming Court and the crowning of seniors Grant Miner and Kathy Fang as this year’s Homecoming Royalty to much fanfare.
The final score for the evening was 34-6 in favor of St. Vincent de Paul, who were thanked by Head of School Brian Yager for being gracious opponents and guests.
Maverick McNealy ’13 gave notice early on that he would be a force on the Harker golf team and his outstanding play and conversion to a pro put him front and center to be inducted into Harker’s Athletic Hall of Fame this Saturday before the Homecoming game. In March 2010, as a freshman, McNealy turned out the lowest scores for two of the team’s first three matches. The team qualified for CCS regionals for the first time in school history and finished eighth. McNealy qualified for CCS individuals and finished in the top 10, qualifying as an alternate to the NorCal championships.
The following season McNealy, then a sophomore, qualified for the CCS championships for the second year in a row, placing 44th of 64 in that event.
In his junior year, when the team beat Crystal Springs and Pinewood to earn a 6-1 record, McNealy “continue(d) to blister the competition shooting a 33 and 31,” according to Harker News. It was indeed a banner year for him as he took second place at the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifying golf tournament then went on to make the final eight at the USGA Junior Amateur Championship. McNealy won the WBAL title and The Mercury News also named him as a member of its boys golf first team.
Finally, just before his senior year at Harker, he made the quarterfinals of the Northern California Golf Association’s Amateur Match Play Championship and won the Silver Creek Valley Junior tournament. Following these remarkable showings, in November, McNealy signed a letter of intent to play golf for Stanford University.
But golf was not McNealy’s only game. He played hockey for the Junior Sharks for years, captaining the team at least one year, and also played soccer for Harker in his senior year. Harker News tells us he scored in at least two games, so his skills extend beyond the links to the pitch and rink.
In his senior year, McNealy continued to amaze, once again winning the WBAL individual title, being named to the Mercury News’ first team and ending his high school career by tying for fourth place at the CCS championships.
Of course, McNealy rose to greater heights as he grew as a golfer. He made the traveling squad at Stanford in his freshman year and was named to the Pac-12 Conference All-Freshman Team. He qualified for the U.S. Open, the first Harker alumnus to do so. The Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner all published articles featuring McNealy’s qualification.
In 2015, his trajectory continued. He won the Haskins Award as the top college linksman and was the 2015 Division I recipient of the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award.
An article posted at www.Nicklaus.com noted McNealy’s accomplishments that year:
“A sophomore from Portola Valley, Calif., McNealy led NCAA Division I with six collegiate victories this year. He posted a dominant 10-stroke win at the Pac-12 Conference Championships, where his 18-under aggregate score of 262 established a new league tournament scoring record. The Pac-12 Conference player owns a 69.05 season scoring average, the second best in recorded NCAA history. McNealy claimed medalist honors at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional, Southwestern Intercollegiate, Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational, The Prestige at PGA West and The Goodwin. McNealy was selected to compete this summer on the United States Palmer Cup team.”
In late August 2016, before beginning his senior year at Stanford, McNealy won the McCormack Medal as the top-ranked amateur golfer in the world. That award automatically qualified him for the 2017 U.S. and British Open championships. A few months later, he was named the male amateur athlete of the year by the San Jose Sports Authority Hall of Fame.
By spring 2017, McNealy was a true star in the golf world. In April, he was ranked No. 1 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, tied with Tiger Woods on the Stanford all-time wins list, and received the 2017 Byron Nelson Award. Only graduating seniors are eligible for the award, and a golfer’s entire collegiate and academic career, plus his integrity and character, are considered when selecting the winner.
A month later, after being nominated for the third time, McNealy received The Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the top men’s college golfer. Colonial Country Club, Friends of Golf and the Golf Coaches Association of America take into account all collegiate and amateur competitions over the last year when selecting finalists.
By that time the speculation was red hot on whether or not McNealy would turn pro or start a business career with the degree in management science and engineering he earned at Stanford. In October 2017, following graduation, McNealy ended the speculation when he signed a promo deal with Callaway Golf and started his pro career.
This August, McNealy reached a new milestone in his career when he was handed his PGA tour card by placing in the top 25 on the Korn Ferry Tour.
McNealy also has committed to raising funds for education. This season, his Birdies for Education campaign is supporting Curriki, an organization helping to lower the cost of education by providing free educational materials online. He has raised $400,000 so far. Read more here.
Founded in 2018, The Harker School Athletic Hall of Fame honors those who have made outstanding contributions to its athletic program. Candidates for selection exemplified desirable character traits during their years at Harker and beyond, and have distinguished themselves in competition representing Harker, their college or at the professional level. Candidates may also be non-graduates who, through long service to Harker, have distinguished themselves in the field of athletics.
To celebrate her dedication and hard work, Chris Collins, athletic department stalwart, will be inducted into Harker’s Athletic Hall of Fame this Saturday before the Homecoming game. Collins started with Harker in 2001 as assistant to the dean of students and the athletic director. After a brief hiatus in 2004, she returned to support the academic dean in 2005 and, in 2007, again added support for the upper school athletic director to her duties. In 2008 Collins moved exclusively to the athletic department. Seven busy years later, in December 2015, much to her regret, Collins had to leave Harker due to several serious health issues, and her loss was deeply felt.
“Chris is a true Eagle,” said Dan Molin, the upper school athletic director since 2005. “She gave her heart and soul to Harker, and the kids and coaches. Her behind-the-scenes work was a major reason for our and our students’ success over the years of her tenure. She was very responsive and responsible. She did everything for us, and would never leave a task undone.”
Collins held down a desk in the main academic hall before the new athletic center was built, and was accessible to anyone passing by. “Chris is very caring; she has a very maternal aura about her and that reflected very positively,” added Molin. “People gravitated to her and people trusted her. The athletic office can be quite busy at times, but she would always stop what she was doing to answer any question from an athlete, coach, parent or teacher, making them aware that their question was of the utmost importance and deserved her undivided attention.”
Over and above her regular duties, “Chris also, on her own, took on the task of selling athletic logo wear at football games and other big events we hosted,” Molin said. “She would lug all the boxes out there with a cart and set up a little logo wear table at football games on Friday nights. That is something she didn’t have to do; she just did it to get the spirit wear out there. She was always at games, always supporting the kids.”
Collins noted she loved giving out uniforms to the kids at the beginning of each season and seeing how excited they were when they received their uniforms. Another high point was getting flowers for seniors and their parents on each sport’s Senior Day.
“I was surprised and very happy to be selected to the Harker Athletic Hall of Fame,” said Collins. “To be given this honor for doing a job I truly loved is a blessing. Dan Molin was a fantastic boss. I felt like Dan and I were a wonderful team and I hope I helped him as much as he helped me! I loved the whole Harker family, administrators, teachers and the kids who made it an awesome place to work and I miss everyone so much!”
Molin noted Collins brought calm to the busy athletics office throughout her time at Harker. “She never got rattled, no matter how crazy and hectic things could get,” he concluded. “She was always very even-keeled about things – the calm in the eye of the storm. She cared for and loved the kids and enjoyed seeing them compete. She’s phenomenal.”
Founded in 2018, The Harker School Athletic Hall of Fame honors those who have made outstanding contributions to its athletic program. Candidates for selection exemplified desirable character traits during their years at Harker and beyond, and have distinguished themselves in competition representing Harker, their college or at the professional level. Candidates may also be non-graduates who, through long service to Harker, have distinguished themselves in the field of athletics.