Class Notes — Harker School 1992- Present –Harker Quarterly Fall 2014
2004
After a decade working in acting and graphic design in Los Angeles, Emma Hawley has relocated to Chennai, India, for the second half of 2014. She now resides in the ashram headquarters for Sahaj Marg, a spiritual practice in natural path meditation (www.sahajmarg.org). Recruited to take over as an editor for the mission’s quarterly English publication, she has volunteered to help revamp the magazine for the new year. She said she is thrilled at this opportunity to deepen her skill sets and the practice that has begun to satiate her internal quest. Feel free to email Emma at hawley.emma@gmail.com.
2005
Alan Malek is a Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his master’s degree in statistics last year; previously, he earned a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford. Alan and his long-time girlfriend, Yuanyuan (Yuni) Pao ’07, met at Harker’s Robotics Club when he was a junior and she was a freshman. They’ve been together more than 10 years now! Yuni graduated from MIT in 2011 and received a master’s degree from Stanford last year. She now works in the data-driven marketing field in Cupertino.
2007
Adam Creasman has accepted an exciting new position to help expand Facebook’s presence in the U.K. Currently in the process of moving to London, where he will remain for the next oneto two years, Adam said he is “looking forward to this next adventure.” Look for further coverage about his new international role with Facebook in the winter Harker Quarterly, which will feature a story about alumni living abroad.
Jason Martin was recently named a player of the week by the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball. Congratulations to Jason, who is on the coaching staff at Harker for the JV football and varsity baseball teams. To read more about it: http://www.americanassociationbaseball.com/amarillos-martin-earns-american-association-player-of-the-week/
2009
Congratulations to Tiffany Chang, who was recently named as a recipient of the inaugural Tracy T. Lefteroff Fund Awards for her work with the Fogarty Institute for Innovation. Located on the campus of El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, the institute is an educational nonprofit dedicated to medical technology innovation. Tiffany received her award through the Lefteroff intern program. “The award has allowed me to learn from and work with inspiring professionals in the medical device industry,” she enthused. To learn more: http://www.fogartyinstitute.org/news-20140716.html
2012
Sachin Jain Pranav Bheda and Debanshi Bheda ’07 traveled to Brazil to cheer on the U.S. and enjoy the World Cup.
2013
Michael Amick was named a starter for the UCLA varsity soccer team!
When Maverick McNealy qualified for the U.S. Open (making him the first alumnus known to do so) the Harker community was filled with excitement. There was also a flurry of local media activity singing his praises. While Maverick, who is on the Stanford University golf team, did not make the final cut, he performed brilliantly, coming in at a strong 145, which means that he missed the cut by just five strokes. In fact, he was still in the running right up until the last two holes, where he shot four over. Congratulations, Maverick!
The Class of 2013 left its legacy by gifting the school with water-filling stations, as well as an outdoor classroom. The final touches were put on the classroom this summer, and it is now being used by students and faculty! The classroom, located adjacent to Graduates’ Grove, features benches and a podium for teaching.
2014
Regina Chen was chosen by Cornell University as one of six fencers to join the squad for the 2014-15 season. Regina is a member of the Cardinal Fencing Club, where she has participated in multiple national and international events. She placed 13th at the 2013 Junior Olympic Championships and seventh at the 2011 NAC. She also earned a bronze medal at the 2012 Hong Kong Fencing Association U17 Championship, while finishing seventh overallat the 2012 Hong Kong Fencing Association U20 Championship.
Aaron Lee is among four local high school students who won $2,000 scholarships from the Auxiliary of Good Samaritan Hospital in San Jose for their volunteer service and health-care career goals. Aaron, who currently attends Cornell University, said he was a volunteer at Good Samaritan Hospital from January 2012 to June 2014. “I applied for the scholarship as I do intend to go on a pre-med track in college and the scholarship was for students who want to enter the medical field. Looking back, the scholarship probably also feels great knowing that it came from a community I found in high school. [Good Samaritan] was a great place that supported me while I volunteered and also learned to be a leader,” he said.
This past spring, Zina Jawadi was the subject of an ABC (channel 7) news story about her efforts to help hearing-impaired students. Over the summer she went on to receive an award from the Silicon Valley chapter of the Hearing Loss Association of America. Zina was one of three such scholarship recipients this year. An honorary potluck luncheon was held for Zina and the other award winners in June, where they also received certificates of merit from Santa Clara County. Jawadi is the first of the association’s scholarship recipients to have attended Harker.
Renu Singh debuted as the sole performer in “Bharatanatyam Arangetram,” a show presented by the Kala Vandana Dance Company. The successful show was held at the Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater in San Jose at the end of June. Congratulations, Renu!