This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Lauren Gutstein ’06 Teaching English and Drama at a Quaker School in Delaware
For the past two years, Lauren Gutstein ’06 has worked as an upper school English and drama teacher at the Wilmington Friends School in Delaware, a private Quaker school serving preschool through high school students.
“Getting up in front of class can be, in my opinion, quite theatrical, which fits my personality. I also love that teaching requires me to be constantly learning,” said Gutstein of her work at the school, which was founded in 1748 by members of the Wilmington Monthly Meeting of Friends (Quakers).
The school was originally intended for Quakers as well as for underprivileged children, regardless of religion. As Delaware started offering public education, the school moved toward its current college-preparatory program. Today only about 7 percent of the students are Quaker.
Gutstein, who teaches grades 10 to 12, called it “fascinating” to experience high school from “the other side.” Now, she said, she empathizes with her students as they agonize over a paper, audition or college application, remembering how she felt in those moments.
A highlight for Gutstein is directing the upper school’s annual musical. This past fall she worked with her students on the musical “Kiss Me Kate.”
Prior to teaching at the school, Gutstein lived and worked in Kazakhstan, a central Asian country and former Soviet republic, for several years. In addition to teaching English and literature at the Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Astana, Gutstein started a drama program. “We actually put on five trilingual (English, Kazakh and Russian) plays. I was working at a fairly new school and they were doing a lot of experimenting with curriculum and school organization, so one skill I really learned there is flexibility,” she recalled.
“The respect and admiration I had for my teachers at Harker was another factor in choosing teaching as a profession. Harker definitely nurtured my many interests, both academic and extracurricular. Harker also taught me how to balance a million responsibilities at once, which is teach- ing in a nutshell,” said Gutstein.
When asked to give advice for other alumni interested in teaching, Gutstein suggested teaching in wildly different environments. “Between Quaker education, Kazakhstani education, and student teaching in The School District of Philadelphia, I’ve seen dramatically different educational models and experienced joys and frustrations with each. Also, I learned what minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit feels like, so East Coast winters seem pretty tame!” she said.
Grace Hudkins ’08 Working Abroad in South Korea
Grace Hudkins ’08 had never been to Korea before moving there to teach theater to elementary school children attending Chad- wick International (CI). Located in the newly created city of Songdo in Incheon, South Korea, CI is an independent, coed, non-sectarian, preK-12 international school.
Hudkins recalled taking “a huge leap of faith” going to CI. Not only was she unfamiliar with Korea, she was entering into an intern position, so figured she would only stay a year or two. “I had never even eaten Korean food! But when my boss offered me the chance to start a drama program for the elementary school, I couldn’t say no!” recalled Hudkins.
“My first year I was an intern in a grade 3 classroom, then for the last two years, I have taught elementary school drama. Next year I am moving into a role as the coordinator of our theater spaces, as well as teaching some middle and upper school drama and theater tech,” said Hudkins, who currently works with students in preschool and kindergarten.
Incheon is known as an exciting area and transportation hub bordering the country’s capital of Seoul. Life in Korea is pretty great, said Hudkins, thanks to “a wonderful built-in community at the school, with expats from all over the world.” During her free time, Hudkins enjoys exploring Seoul, which is about an hour away, and is jam-packed with museums, shopping, culture and restaurants.
Teaching comes naturally to Hudkins, who has always enjoyed being around children. “I started babysitting when I was just 11, and was a camp counselor from the time I was 16. I became licensed for early childhood education, and my background in theater prepared me to build the elementary school program out here at CI,” she explained.
Hudkins credits Harker’s performing arts programs with spurring her interest in her current work. “It was through the arts that I found community, family and a sense of belonging. Harker’s conservatory program gave me a really well-rounded understanding of the arts, which launched me into my college student theater group as a director and stage manager in my first year.”
When Hudkins thinks about life after CI, she is not certain if it will always be as a traditional classroom teacher. “I can see doing educational outreach for a theater company, stage managing for a youth drama program or something completely different. For the foreseeable future, I am really passionate about international education and I love teaching drama, so I hope to keep doing that even after I leave CI,” she said.
Hassaan Ebrahim ’11 Working with Low-Income Families in East San Jose
Hassaan Ebrahim ’11 recently received his undergraduate degree in neuroscience from the University of Southern California but put plans to apply to medical school on hold. Instead he signed up for a two-year stint with Teach For America (TFA), a nonprofit organization promoting educational equity.
After competing an intense training program this past summer, he was placed at Summit Rainier High School in East San Jose as a grade 9 math teacher, becoming one of the thousands of college graduates now serving as TFA teachers nationwide, and one of 340 in the Bay Area. These select individuals, known as “corps members,” commit to teaching for at least two years in a public or charter K-12 school in one of 52 low-income communities the organization serves.
“Education is more important than simply allowing someone to earn a steady income. Education opens doors of opportunity, allows one to discover new passions and to live an authentic life,” said Ebrahim. “The fact that such inequity exists in our country is shocking. I am drawn to working towards bringing quality education to those who need it most.”
According to TFA statistics, there is an educational crisis in San Jose, with nearly 40,000 students not proficient in grade-level skills and 2,300 middle and high school students dropping out every year. To combat the problem, back in 2009, a group of committed parents from East San Jose approached Summit Public Schools – a nonprofit organization created to provide high quality public school options to diverse communities – about bringing a Summit charter school to their community.
In 2011, two Summit schools in San Jose were born, Summit Rainier and Summit Tahoma. Summit Rainier is now a thriving high school in East San Jose and ranks among the top 20 public high schools in Santa Clara County.
Ebrahim, who plans to begin medical school after fulfilling his teaching commitment, recommends TFA to any alumni interesting in going into teaching. Corps members do not have to be certified teachers but must attend a training program. Once placed at a school, TFA teachers are considered full-fledged faculty members there.
“I wanted to do something different, not touring the world, but something still purposeful, before going on to medical school,” shared Ebrahim, who, after spending his TFA time working with children, is now considering becoming a pediatrician.
“My time at Harker taught me about the value of making a meaningful impact. I have such gratitude to the teachers I had. And Spanish at Harker really paid off as I now use it to speak with the families of some of my students!” he added.
Leyna Cotran ’94 Sharing Passion for Computer Science with University Students
Leyna Cotran ’94 knows a thing or two about racking up frequent flier miles. Prior to recently becoming a full-time computer science instructor at Santa Clara University, she worked there as a part-time adjunct faculty lecturer while completing a Ph.D. in software engineering at the University of California, Irvine. That meant a lot of back and forth travel between Southern California and the Bay Area.
“It was just go, go, go!” recalled Cotran, who along the way also became pregnant with her first child, a daughter now 2 years old.
Prior to working at Santa Clara University, Cotran was the project lead for Navy re-entry systems at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., one of four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin, an American global aerospace, defense, security and advanced technologies company with worldwide interests.
Although she spent many years working in the private sector, Cotran, who earned her master’s degree in software engineering from Santa Clara University, says she feels at home teaching at her alma mater. One of the first courses she created and taught at the college continues to be part of the school’s master’s curriculum for software engineering.
One of the things Cotran enjoys most about teaching at Santa Clara University is the opportunity to transmit knowledge to a new generation. “The students I teach today are going to be leaders during my child’s future,” said Cotran, who finds she has a fresh perspective on teaching now that she has become a parent.
“Much of my own character was shaped at Harker. Now that I am teaching, it feels like things have come full circle,” she said.
Last weekend, the National Scholastic Press Association awarded Harker Aquila, Harker’s online student news site, with its first Online Pacemaker Award for schools with an enrollment of fewer than 1,500 students. The Pacemaker is a national honor that also is awarded to student newspapers, yearbooks, magazines and broadcast reports. Winners for these categories are still to be determined.
Journalism’s success didn’t stop there. The Winged Post, the upper school student newspaper, took third place in Best of Show for newspaper broadsheets of 17 or more pages in length.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Middle school library assistant Renee Ting was awarded a travel grant from the Public Library Association. Ting was one of 10 winners nationwide, selected based on essays about be- ing librarians and why they deserved to receive the grant. Ting received a free registration for the 2016 PLA Conference, held in Denver in April, and $1,000 to help with travel.
Middle school debate teacher Karina Momary was recently profiled in the 2015 edition of Rostrum, the National Speech and Debate Association’s quarterly magazine. In the story, she discusses her teaching method, the annual “Teamsgiving” event and how she got started in speech and debate. Read the whole story at https://issuu.com/speechanddebate/docs/2016_winter_rostrum_web.
In December, middle school soccer coach Brighid Wood worked as a team liaison for USA Soccer as China played the U.S. in the final two games of the World Cup’s Victory Series. She traveled to New Orleans for the final game of the series. Wood also has worked for legendary players such as Brandi Chastain, Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy.
Sandra Berkowitz earned a Second Diamond degree of membership in the National Speech & Debate Association’s Honor Society, based on points earned by students she coached. She will be recognized at the 2016 National Speech and Debate Tournament in Salt Lake City in June and in Rostrum, the association’s quarterly magazine.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
On a brisk afternoon in mid-January, grade 8 students gathered in the middle school’s multipurpose room to receive special visitors. A group of 20 students from the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS) in Shanghai had arrived for the first part of this year’s exchange between the two schools, continuing a tradition that began in 2003.
The WFLMS students, who are well-versed in English, took turns giving presentations about their daily academic lives: how they use technology to learn, their Halloween and Christmas celebrations and their annual science and art festivals. At the end, a Chinese student offered her solo acoustic guitar and vocal cover of Taylor Swift’s “Safe and Sound.” Following enthusiastic applause, the Harker and WFLMS students departed to begin their week together in earnest.
Harker’s exchange with WFLMS began shortly after the Shanghai school’s founding. Its then-head of school, Madame Luo Peiming, whose great aunt attended Harker, approached Harker’s then-head of school, Diana Nichols, about creating an exchange between the two schools.
“Just like Harker, it’s an ever-growing school,” said Jennifer Walrod, Harker’s director of global education. “They now have several campuses. They have several different types of programs.”
The two schools agreed to begin the exchange, and true to Luo’s predictions, it was a success. “It was a great fit,” Walrod said. “And so from there, it’s turned into an annual exchange.”
Students from Harker and WFLMS begin interacting months in advance of the visit by participating in discussion forums on technology and global issues, such as the effects of media on society and issues sur- rounding youth and the use of technology.
To qualify to apply for the exchange, the WFLMS students must be deeply involved in the study of English, and participation in the forums is required for those making the trip to Harker. Each year, discussions begin in the fall and last several weeks, leading up to the January visit by the WFLMS students, who spend the week staying with their Harker buddies. A second round of discussions is held toward the end of the school year before the Harker students visit China.
“We really put it in the hands of the students to be emailing back and forth,” Walrod said.
The forum discussions present an opportunity for students from both schools to learn about one another before meeting in person.
“I got to learn some things about them that helped me gauge their personality and the activities they enjoyed doing,” said Jackie Yang, grade 8.
Anna Weirich, grade 7, agreed. “It was very interesting to see what [my guest] did differently than what I did in the United States,” she said. “I loved learning about the diverse yet unique culture of the Chinese.”
During their week at Harker, the WFLMS students visit and observe classes with their buddies, embark on field trips to famous California landmarks and bond with their Harker hosts during their homestays.
In the last few years, a tour of the Stanford University campus was added to the exchange at the request of WFLMS administrators. “A lot of the kids are interested in going to college in the U.S., so now that’s just a standard field trip,” said Walrod.
They also get a big sampling of Silicon Valley culture by visiting The Tech Museum of Innovation in downtown San Jose, as well as various sites around San Francisco and Monterey.
The time the buddies spend together is especially valuable, as students from two different cultures learn about one another. on one occasion, the family of seventh grader Leland Rossi read a section of his assigned reading on Chinese history with his WFLMS buddy present. “As we read through the text and discussed it together, we were so lucky to have the perspective of Hu Fei, the eighth grader from China!” enthused Rossi’s mother, Lesley Matheson. “It was amazing to hear him bring his view of the history and politics alive. He loved it, too.”
Students also find that the exchange helps the two different cultures find common ground.
“I enjoyed going to school with them, because my buddy often found ways to relate Harker with her experiences at WFLMS and would often tell me interesting things about her school,” said Yang.
Walrod said the students are extraordinarily good at hosting due to the empathy they show for their WFLMS buddies. “They’re really good at putting themselves in their buddies’ shoes,” she said, adding that many students are initially nervous at the prospect of hosting “because it’s not like having someone over to your house for dinner.”
Seeing their buddies have a great time visiting Harker is a big confidence booster. “They really put their heart into this. They really want their buddies to have a good time,” said Walrod.
During the spring semester, Harker middle schoolers visit and stay with their WFLMS buddies as part of the annual exchange with China. For many Harker students who regularly visit family in China, the exchange program’s trip to Shanghai offers the chance to enjoy their time in the country visiting their WFLMS buddies and spending time as everyday Chinese citizens. oftentimes, Walrod said, spending time among the local citizens is a highlight of the trip for Harker students.
“That has been the regular feedback,” she said. “Everyone just thought they were typical Chinese students, and that’s what they’ll mention to me as one of their best memories.”
Junior Venkat Sankar was recently named one of 20 national finalists in this year’s USA Biology Olympiad. He will attend a special training program to decide which finalist will represent the United States at International Biology Olympiad this summer in Hanoi, Vietnam.
“It feels great to be selected as a finalist,” Sankar said. “I’m excited about spending 12 days at the camp with other finalists who are very passionate about biology.”
The USABO begins with two rounds of exams. The first is a 50-minute series of multiple-choice questions, and the second contains multiple-choice questions with more than one possible correct answer and an essay portion. Sankar put considerable time into preparing for the exams. “The baseline preparation was to master Campbell Biology, the AP Biology textbook,” he said. “Beyond that, I also used a college level book on plant biology.” His 2015 summer internship also gave him additional advanced knowledge on biochemistry and molecular biology, “which turned out to be very useful as well.”
Sankar said he will be studying cell biology and reviewing wet lab techniques to prepare himself for the final stage of examinations, which take place in June. Good luck!
Grade 6 student Callie Mayer and five of her classmates (Shivani Thaakur, Julie Broch, Gloria Zhu, Madeleine Hansen and Emma Gurleroglu) enjoyed a free-dress day and delicious luncheon on April 19, thanks to an Alumni Family Picnic teacher auction package that her parents won.
Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, served as the stellar waitstaff for the ninth annual luncheon, which was held at the Blackford campus amphitheater.
“The parents of a middle school child bids on this, with the winner picking five classmates as their guests. They select the menu and theme, which this year was llamas. They had strawberry smoothies, homemade guacamole and chips, Caesar salad, rolls and butter, sushi, an ice cream trolley for make-your-own sundaes, cream puffs in the shapes of llamas and chocolate covered strawberries,” recalled middle school teacher Kate Murphy, the picnic package sponsor.
“Bye Bye Birdie” was recently nominated for Outstanding Overall Production and Outstanding Supporting Actress (for Zahra Budhwani, grade 11, in the role of Mae Peterson) in the 2016 Rita Moreno California High School Musical Honors. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on May 23 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. If she wins, Budhwani will perform in front of industry professionals at the National High School Musical Theater Awards in New York City, and audition for scholarships to the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Congratulations!
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Weekend audiences took a fun-filled trip back to the late 1950s during the Harker Conservatory’s performances of “Bye Bye Birdie,” which ran April 15-17. Directed by Laura Lang-Ree, this rollicking period piece takes place primarily in the fictional town of Sweet Apple, Ohio, where love-struck teenager Kim MacAfee (Mia Giammona, grade 11) wins a contest to receive a kiss from rock ’n’ roll heartthrob Conrad Birdie (Emre Ezer, grade 11), who has just been drafted into the army. Conrad’s appearance in the town sets off a series of events involving jealous lovers, disapproving parents and plenty of fun-filled musical numbers!
Backed by the “Bye Bye Birdie” Band (led by musical director Catherine Snider), the cast did a wonderful job realizing Charles Strouse’s score, which was splendidly interpreted by Katie O’Bryon’s choreography. Scenic designer Paul Vallerga, costume designer Caela Fujii and Harker’s go-to lighting designer Natti Pierce-Thomson brought their great instincts for visuals to the production.
Harker Latinists and classicists wrapped up some tough exams and came out shining!
National Latin Exam
More than 154,000 students across America and in 19 foreign countries took this year’s National Latin Exam. As usual, Harker students did a terrific job. Of the 41 upper school students who took the exam, 35 won awards. Special congratulations to Andrew Semenza and Edgar Lin, both grade 10, who earned perfect scores!
Nine gold medals (with summa cum laude certificates): Lin; Semenza; Bobby Bloomquist, grade 9; Peter Connors, grade 10; Alexander Lam, grade 11; Mathew Mammen, grade 9; Nicole Selvaggio, grade 9; Allison Wang, grade 12; and Alexander Young, grade 9.
Fifteen silver medals (with maxima cum laude certificates): Divija Bhimaraju, grade 10; Josh Broweleit, grade 9; Timothy Chang, grade 9; Cameron Jones, grade 9; Sara Min, grade 9; Arthur Oung, grade 9; Ayush Pancholy, grade 9; Akshay Ravoor, grade 9; Ashwin Reddy, grade 9; Kaushik Shivakumar, grade 9; Elisabeth Siegel, grade 12; Alyson Wang, grade 9; Tiffany Wong, grade 9; Peter Wu, grade 11; and Heidi Zhang, grade 9.
Eight magna cum laude certificates: Justin Au, grade 10; Isabelle Gross, grade 12; James He, grade 11; Era Iyer, grade 11; Sarisha Kurup, grade 11; Michael Kwan, grade 10; Winnie Li, grade 11; and Arnav Tandon, grade 11.
Three cum laude certificates: Allison Cartee, grade 9; Clarissa Wang, grade 9; and Tiffany Zhao, grade 9.
National Roman Civilization Exam
Harker students also did well on this year’s National Roman Civilization Exam. More than 1,800 students nationwide took the exam. This year, five students from Harker took the exam and they all won awards!
A total of 675 students nationwide participated at the advanced level, 95 of whom earned gold medals, including two from Harker: Alexander Lam and Venkat Sankar, both grade 11.
A total of 900 students nationwide participated at the intermediate level, 123 of whom earned gold medals. Harker had two gold medalists, Lin and Semenza, as well as a silver medalist, Ravoor.
National Latin Vocabulary Exam
This year over 2,500 students nationwide took the National Latin Vocabulary Exam. Seven Harker students took this year’s exam and all won awards.
Latin 3: 570 students nationwide took the exam; 82 earned gold medals. Ravoor earned a gold medal, while Kaushik Shivakumar, grade 9, earned a silver medal.
Latin 4: 300 students nationwide took the exam. Semenza earned a silver medal.
Latin 5: 115 students nationwide took the exam; 19 earned gold medals. Four Harker students earned awards: Lam earned a silver medal, Sankar earned a gold medal, Allison Wang, earned a gold medal and Wu earned a bronze medal
National Classical Etymology Exam
Over 5,500 students nationwide participated in the National Classical Etymology Exam. Eleven Harker students participated and eight earned awards.
Advanced Level: 1,848 students nationwide participated; 262 gold medals awarded. Li and Nikhil Manglik, grade 11, earned silver medals.
Intermediate Level: 2,317 students nationwide participated; 388 gold medals awarded. Lin, Pancholy, Semenza and Shivakumar all earned gold medals; Nikhil Dharmaraj, grade 9 and Ravoor earned silver medals.
Medusa Mythology Exam
Finally, results are in for the Medusa Mythology Exam. Allison Wang and Young each earned a corona laurea (laurel crown/wreath; equivalent to a fourth place award). Rahul Bhethanabotla, grade 10, Manglik, Min and Ravoor each earned a corona olivae (olive crown/wreath; equivalent to a fifth place award).
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Grade 5 Sets Sail at Performance of ‘Pirates! The Musical’
Adventure on the high seas was in store for audiences of this year’s grade 5 show, “Pirates! The Musical,” directed by Kellie Binney-Smart and performed Jan. 28-29. A cast of 132 took the stage for a series of sea shanties about their swashbuckling exploits. In addition to the fifth graders, several faculty members joined in on the fun, including Katie Molin, Shelby Guarino, Jared Ramsey, Gerry-Louise Robinson, Kate Shanahan and Kristin Giam- mona. Songs performed during the show included “A Pirate’s Life for Me,” “Stowaway,” “King of the High C’s” and “The Pirate King.”
Upper School Dance Show Joyfully Reminisces About the ’80s and ’90s
A huge cast of 140 dancers paid tribute to the songs and styles of the ’80s and ’90s at the 2016 upper school dance show, “Mixed Tape: Songs to Dance To,” held Jan. 29-30 at the Blackford Theater. Separated into two acts – one for each decade – the show featured a total of 21 routines, set to such hits as Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Wham!’s “Wake Me Up,” and Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”
Musicians Impress Audiences at Winter Concert
Middle and upper school student musicians performed this year’s Winter Concert at San Jose’s Mexican Heritage Plaza Theater Jan. 15-16, displaying their many talents in a variety of styles. The concert featured performances by the Grade 6 Jazz Band, Grade 6 orchestra, Grade 7-8 Jazz Band, the upper school’s Lab Band and The Harker School orchestra.
Four Middle School Instrumentalists Selected for All-State Bands
Four Harker middle school students were chosen to be members of statewide ensembles that performed in February at the California All-State Music Education Conference. French hornist Kai-Ming Ang, clarinetist Jenny Shaw and flutist Anika Tiwari, all grade 8, were selected for the California Band Directors Association’s All-State Junior High School Concert Band. Trumpeter Leland rossi, grade 7, was selected to play with the CBDA’s All-State Junior High School Jazz Band, making him the rst Harker student to play for an all-state jazz band. Together, these four students represent the largest group of Harker middle school students ever selected to play for all-state ensembles.
Middle School Dancers Earn High Honors at Competition
Harker dance students Karina Chen, grade 7, and Chloe Chen, grade 8, recently competed at the Hollywood Connection dance competition in Santa Clara, where they won a first place gold medal for lyrical dance in the 11-13 age group. Karina also earned the chance to receive a Hollywood makeover, while Chloe was put in the running for a special studio scholarship for a week of unlimited classes at the Millennium Dance Complex.
Both students are enrolled in Harker’s middle school dance program as members of the grades 7-8 girls dance group Showstoppers, and Karina was previously a member of Dance Fusion, the coed dance group for grades 4-6.
Congratulations to these two young talents!
Series of One-Act Plays Featured at Student Directed Showcase
The Harker Conservatory opened 2016 with its Student Directed Showcase, which took place at the Blackford Theater Jan. 8-9. one of the most rigorous courses in the performing arts program, the Student Directed Showcase puts four seniors each in charge of putting on a one-act play. In addition to directing the play, the students are tasked with handling every stage of its production, from casting to promotion to visual effects.
Grade 1 Students Gather to Celebrate the Holiday Season in Song
On Dec. 15, just days before the winter break, the grade 1 homeroom students of teachers Imelda Kusuma, Cindy Proctor, Larissa Weaver and Rita Stone gathered on the stage at the Bucknall Theater for the annual grade 1 holiday show, directed by Carena Montany. The students sang seasonal favorites, including “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” as well as newer songs, including “Spin a Little Dreidl” and “A Million Little Snow akes,” the song for which the show was named.
Grades 2 and 3 Spread Seasonal Cheer at Annual Holiday Show
Students in grades 2 and 3 celebrated the giving spirit of the holidays at the annual grades 2-3 holiday show, this year titled “The Spirit of the Season,” held Dec. 17 at the Bucknall Theater. Directed by lower school music teacher Carena Montany, the show featured students singing a variety of holiday-themed songs, including “Frosty the Snowman,” “Feliz Navidad” and “o Chanukah, o Chanukah.” Several numbers included special solo performances or instrumentation, such as the maraca and claves played respectively by second graders Sophia Schafer-Wharton and Jackson Powell on “Feliz Navidad.” The upbeat “Gettin’ in the Mood (For Christmas)” featured exciting choreography by Kimberly Teodoro.
Winter Concert Brings Together Lower School Musicians
Several lower school performing arts groups united in early December for the 2015 lower school Winter Concert, directed by Louis Hoffman, who also conducted the Lower School Jazz Ensemble and Lower School orchestra. other featured groups included the Bucknall Choir, conducted by Kellie Binney-Smart and Carena Montany, the Lower School String Ensemble, conducted by Toni Woodruff, and the Preparatory String Ensemble, also directed by Woodruff.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
A lower school dress drive brought smiles to the faces of at-risk and underprivileged youth at the Starbird Youth Center in San Jose. The clothes were part of a larger donation of more than 500 gifts collected for clients of the center.
“There were about seven bags of boys and girls party clothing donated,” recalled Teré Aceves, Harker’s director of event fundraising.
The gently used clothing was collected during a holiday cookie-decorating event. About 60 parents heeded the call for such items.
Harker parent Erin Vokey (Miles, grade 1) is the youth activities supervisor at the Starbird Youth Center and is in charge of the center’s day-to-day activities, as well as its literacy programs.
“We are an after-school program that works with at-risk and under-privileged youth. We help them by providing food, homework help and a safe place to go after school. We also do a program called The Good Choices, which is a basic moral guide that teaches them the right choices to make to lead a better life,” she said.
Around the time of the dress drive, the center also had partnered with the Family Giving Tree to distribute gifts to clients and their families, Vokey explained. “We set up a room where children picked out clothing from the dress drive. This is the second year we have had the dresses there and it was a huge success. Fellow Harker parent Julie Carr (Aiden Harshman, grade 1) and her family volunteered to hand out all of the dresses to the youth in our community. It was an extremely heartwarming event,” recalled Vokey.
Another Harker parent, Stephanie Black (Chloe, grade 1), is the program director at the Starbird Youth Center. “Without her none of this would have been possible,” added Vokey.
Carr and her son agreed that it was wonderful to see the joy on the kids’ faces when they got a beautiful dress, jacket or new shirt. “Stephanie, Erin and the entire staff at the center made it so easy for us to come in and volunteer. We are very grateful for the work they do and proud that we got to represent Harker’s philanthropy,” said Carr.
Of his experience volunteering, Carr’s son, Aiden, reported that it was “really cool.” He said that there were lots of games to play with at the center and that he enjoyed seeing the kids get toys. “It made me feel good in my heart.”
Harker students initiate and participate in outreach activities all year round. Visit Harker News and search “outreach,” or go to https://staging.news.harker.org/tag/outreach, for all the Greater Good stories!