Last weekend, 29 schools from five states visited the upper school campus to participate in the Nichols Debate Tournament. Harker students did not compete, but helped organize and run the tournament. Upper school debate students held a special workshop for novice debaters, who participated in a tournament of their own.
This past Sunday, Harker senior and avid dancer Sharanya Balaji performed for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who appeared at the SAP Center in San Jose. Balaji, who was previously featured in the San Jose Mercury News for organizing a benefit dance show for arts programs at schools, performed in one of three dance acts at the event. “The act that I was a part of was a medley of Indian classical dance forms,” Balaji said. “We were the representatives for Bharatnatyam.”
Prime Minister Modi’s appearance at the SAP Center was the last stop on a two-day tour of Silicon Valley that included meetings with the leaders of valley companies such as Facebook, Google and Apple. Balaji learned of the opportunity from her dance teacher. “We were chosen as the sole representatives for our dance style,” she said. Although the Mercury News piece was not a factor in her group being chosen, she said, “it did definitely get me more noticed during rehearsals.” Balaji is writing an article for Harker Aquila, a student publication and we will provide the link as soon as that story is ready!
Tags: Featured Story Photo, In the News, Top AchievementsFootball
Varsity football defeated Gunn High School 56-0 under the lights of Davis Field Friday to improve to 3-1 overall. Highlights included three touchdowns from Angel Cervantes, grade 10; two from Demonte Aleem, grade 9; one from Nate Kelly, grade 10; and a receiving touchdown by Anthony Contreras, grade 10. Contreras also led defensively with seven tackles. Nikhil Ramgiri and Miles DeWitt, both grade 12, each had interceptions, and kicker Oisin Coveney, grade 12, was a perfect 8-for-8 on extra points. Come on out Saturday night for Homecoming vs. Santa Cruz!
Cross Country
Niki Iyer, grade 11, placed ninth out of 215 runners in the elite 5K varsity girls race at Stanford on Saturday. She posted the third-fastest time of all Central Coast Section athletes among the 1,200 female runners from throughout the Western United States.
Anika Rajamani and Lilia Gonzales, both grade 9, led the frosh-soph girls team to a fifth-place team finish at the Ram Invitational at Westmoor. This is the second fifth-place team finish for these young runners in two weeks. Alycia Cary and Aneesha Kumar, both grade 9, and Akshaya Vemuri, grade 10, rounded out the scoring team.
Peter Connors, grade 10, ran the fastest Eagle time of the day in the sophomore boys race, placing 19th out of 240 runners. He improved by one and a half minutes from his race there a year ago. Connor O’Neill and Jack Rothschild, both grade 12, placed 56th and 59th in the varsity boys run, O’Neill with a two-minute improvement over last year’s race.
Volleyball
Girls volleyball continues to play the best teams in our section in close matches. Last week the girls fought hard in losses to very strong Presentation and Valley Christian teams in four games to drop to 5-6 overall.
Water Polo
Boys water polo lost to Homestead last week 13-10 but responded with a 15-6 victory over Cupertino Thursday to improve to 3-4 overall.
The girls water polo team earned its first victory of the season with a 7-6 win over Salinas at the Watsonville Tournament Saturday. Highlights included goalie Helena Dworak, grade 12, scoring her first half-court goal, and Abby Wisdom and Samantha Yanovsky, both grade 9, scoring their first high school goals.
Golf
Girls golf lost by just three strokes to Menlo last week but rebounded the next day with a 23-stroke victory over Notre Dame-San Jose. The team has been led by Katherine Zhu, grade 10, Daphne Liang, grade 12, and Ashley Zhong, grade 12.
This article originally appeared in the fall 2015 Harker Quarterly.
1992
Sasha Nikki Noonan ’92 had a beautiful wedding in gorgeous Sayulita, Mexico, back in May. Here she is pictured with Harker friends Liz Williams (matron of honor), Stacey Noonan (maid of honor and twin sister) and Amanda Bonomi (bridesmaid).
1995
Upper school Latin instructor John Hawley shared that he teamed up with Tom Garvey to play the World Series of Certamen (classical quiz bowl) at the National Junior Classical League Convention at Trinity University. Tom teaches Latin at The Meadows School in Las Vegas.
2002
In the summer issue of Harker Quarterly, we noted that Alexander Wang MS ’98 had been named as one of top 100 influential people by Time magazine. Madonna seems to agree, as she recently featured him in a video!
2005
Erika Gudmundson will take over as the new spokeswoman for the Clinton Foundation after the Clinton Global Initiative next month! To read more about it: http://nyti.ms/1hEKSVy.
2006
Tara Chandra (stage name Tara Priya) made Time Out London’s list of five rising musical acts to follow! Of Tara the publication says, “San Franciscan Tara Priya makes a mix of jazz, soul, and ’90s hip-hop. Her chilled vocals are made for sunny weekends and lazy evenings. Watching her charm London crowds with a beautiful voice is bliss.”
Bernie Lee dropped by the alumni relations office for lunch and a campus visit over the summer. He is working for DuPont Industrial Biosciences in Palo Alto. Bernie stepped up to serve as an alumni mentor to current seniors interested in working in his field. He still enjoys playing basketball, and spending time with old Harker friends, including former classmate Wilson Haung.
Mina Lee is having an incredible time working as chief of staff for Xiaomi in Southeast Asia. Check out this great article about her work: http://bit.ly/1LONiLU
Lauren Harries had a busy spring and summer in collaborations with The Philadelphia Theatre Company Tribe of Fools. In the early spring, she traveled to Georgia with Tribe of Fools to compete on TruTV’s second season of “Fake Off” (they made it to the finals), and for the summer Lauren was cast in their original Fringe Festival show “Zombies … with Guns.” In the middle of all this, she also got married on June 13 to Jeff Moorhead (they met at stage combat camp), and Casey Blair was her Best Ninja (aka Maid of Honor).
Abhishek Belani MS ’02 married Sara Kendall this summer in San Francisco in a festive, two day-long celebration. Here he is shown with fellow Harker friends Naushad Godrej ’06 and Casey Near ’06 (maid of honor).
2007
Emily Isaacs graduated from the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Emily is going to be practicing as a vet in Vallejo. Congratulations, Emily!
2009
Harker Conservatory graduate DJ Blickenstaff shows off his acting chops in this Subway commercial, which just started airing nationally. Check it out at http://bit.ly/1KMPwws
Upper school math teacher Gabriele Stahl had the opportunity to meet up with Ben Pibulsonggram in Bangkok. “I had a pretty amazing experience having brunch with Ben there. He was my student for several years. He works now in Bangkok and goes to N.Y. for his master’s next month,” said Ms. Stahl.
Sean Mandell told the alumni office that he has been living in San Francisco for two years and working in economic consulting. “I recently joined a nighttime soccer league where I’m teaming up with fellow ’09ers Jeff Mandell, David Kastelman, Kevin Laymoun and Barrett Glasauer,” he shared.
2013
Maverick McNealy has added yet another notch to his driver grip! He was named to the 2015 United States Walker Cup Team in early August. He is one of 10 team members who will compete in the 45th match against Great Britain and Ireland in one of the game’s most prestigious and watched golf matches. Mav was selected to the United States Palmer Cup team and received several other accolades for his golf this summer. Mav was also recently featured on the cover of Golfweek magazine’s college preview issue! Shrish Dwivedi (’15 and a Duke-bound golfer) went to Illinois to watch Maverick play at the Palmer Cup over the summer.
Michael Amick is on the “soccer Heisman” award watch list! The MAC Hermann Trophy is the most prestigious individual award in college soccer presented annually to one male and one female athlete. Read more about it: http://bit.ly/1gKvoj4
Aneesh Chona helped his sister Eesha, a Harker senior, launch a nonprofit organization called Association of Teens Against Cancer (ATAC). To read more about their work, see page 24 and http://bayareane.ws/1IN91yZ.
2015
Matthew Ho recently paid a visit to an upper school Study of Visual Arts class. He currently attends the Rhode Island School of Design.
Over the summer class agents Katy Sanchez and Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari stopped
by the alumni office to roll up their sleeves and help out with some volunteer work.
Maya Nandakumar, current National Junior Classical League first vice president, presented awards for a promotional video contest at the 2015 National Junior Classical Convention at Trinity University in San Antonio. She was awarded the organization’s Jessie Chambers Scholarship, established upon the retirement of Chambers, who served for many years as Federations Chairman of the Committee on the National Junior Classical League.
Eric Holt is currently pursuing a degree in chemistry at Oberlin College. He was a four-year varsity basketball player at Harker, where he amassed 962 points and 657 rebounds over a 90-game career, among other honors. He also played four years of varsity water polo and gained first-team honors his senior season.
Leeza Kuo and Hannah Bollar so enjoyed their time and experiences together at Harker that they embarked on a unique video project. Each day of their senior year, they had a photo taken of themselves holding up the date with their fingers. The video is on their YouTube channel, Kuo Bo.
Fourteen members of the Class of 2015 received National Merit Scholarship Awards! Read all about it: http://bit.ly/1XlKU5H
Over the summer CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) hosted 11 young students who won the CERN Special Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. These winners were selected from the 1,700 high school students who participated in the competition. Among them was Nitya Mani. “Seeing the accelerators was really cool. It was great to have the chance to get so close,” she is quoted as saying in this article: http://bit.ly/1JBXwMt
This article originally appeared in the fall 2015 Harker Quarterly.
1984
Former Harker boarding school student Danielle Glosser wrote in that she has lived in Washington, D.C., for half of her life. While attending graduate school at The George Washington University, Danielle worked for the National Conference for Community and Justice in the city’s Anacostia neighborhood, fighting all forms of discrimination. Later, she pursued her interest of becoming a diversity trainer by working with a firm that conducted organizational development programs for Fortune 500 companies. Danielle had the opportunity to continue her work with adults on such issues with the Clinton administration’s Initiative on Race program. Danielle primarily worked with religious leaders on plans to engage more people in a national conversation. Most recently she started a firm, Client Raiser, that helps artists increase the visibility of their art and attract clients. She established Client Raiser (www.clientraiser.com) to help artists achieve their business goals through customized plans of action. Ironically, Danielle’s company has brought her back to familiar territory as one of her clients has commissioned a number of works for The White House Historical Association. Danielle describes her experience at Harker as a defining period in her life. “Harker exposed me to a diverse student body that taught me the importance and richness of working with people of other races, religions and cultures,” she shared.
This article originally appeared in the fall 2015 Harker Quarterly.
The alumni office is launching a program called the Alumni Connect Initiative. The initiative is aimed at connecting alumni both to each other and to the school in ways that are meaningful to them.
Karri Sakai Baker ’84, Harker’s director of alumni relations, reported that the first step is on the way. Class agents are forming committees to help collect updated information on as many alumni as possible. In addition to contact information, they will update the regions of the country in which alumni live, the industries in which they work and the programs at Harker they may be interested in getting involved in or keeping updated about (e.g., performing arts, athletics, science, business and entrepreneurship, etc.).
Having updated information will allow the alumni office to segment communications to alumni and keep everyone up to date on activities and opportunities that are of interest and value to each individual alumnus.
Teré Aceves, director of middle and upper school volunteer programs, has expanded her role to include supporting alumni volunteers. Such engagement might take the form of returning to Harker to be a guest speaker in a class or at an event, or to serve as a judge for a debate tournament.
Another part of this reconnect is the “virtual mentor” program, allowing current upper school students to video conference and engage with alumni from all over the world. The goal is to help alumni find ways to volunteer and reconnect with the school, beyond attending social events.
“The idea behind the Alumni Connect Initiative is to enable Harker alumni to benefit from making strategic and meaningful connections and taking full advantage of the ‘Harker network,’” Baker added.
This article originally appeared in the fall 2015 Harker Quarterly.
More than a decade has passed since Abhinav Mathur MS ’05 was a middle school student taking computer science with instructor Mike Schmidt. Over the summer, Mathur returned to Harker as a guest lecturer for a new course, called Beginning Python, that Schmidt was teaching for the Summer Institute (SI).
Being back in Schmidt’s classroom, filled with 17 middle school students, Mathur experienced an overwhelming sense of déjà vu. Now a sought after coding expert, Mathur said he was excited to teach a class at Harker and give back to the school that provided him with so much.
Schmidt, Harker’s longtime middle school computer science teacher and current department chair, explained that Mathur had designed the instructional software program he was using in the SI coding class.
Python is a widely used general-purpose, high-level programming language. Mathur created an online learning environment, called Pythonroom.com, focused on Python. He and another young entrepreneur, Keshav Saharia, founded a company called HulaLoop, which provides Web-based educational platforms for various programming systems, of which Pythonroom is currently their main focus.
“I had been using their product for my newly created Python programming course to teach middle schoolers the world of text-based programming. The kids were crazy about it and absorbed all the lessons like sponges!” recalled Schmidt.
Pythonroom provides a solid foundation for Python programming by allowing students to move forward at their own pace, Schmidt added.
“I think Pythonroom is great for beginners and it is really fun,” agreed Angela Cai, a grade 7 Harker student who attended the class. “Abhi was a great [guest] teacher, and he gave great advice on finding easier ways to do certain problems,” added Stephen Yang, a grade 8 student at Miller Middle School.
Held on the upper school campus from June 15-Aug. 7, SI was open to both Harker students and grade 6-12 students from area schools. SI enabled participants, like those enrolled in the Python class, to get a jump start on the coming school year, as well as enrich their learning on topics of interest.
This article originally appeared in the fall 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Middle school library assistant Renee Ting was recently awarded a Spectrum Scholarship from the American Library Association; she plans to continue her graduate studies in library and information studies at San Jose State University. This scholarship was awarded to 60 library and information studies students nationwide. According to an ALA press release, the majority of this year’s applicants – more than three times the number of available scholarships – were considered “highly fundable.” Congratulations!
Karriem “Coach K” Stinson, Harker’s longtime wrestling coach, was profiled in The California Wrestler in July. The story recaps his history as a competitor at San Jose High Academy and his coaching method, as well as his extensive efforts to promote the sport of wrestling. In addition to coaching during the school year, Stinson also runs the summer wrestling camp and TRX training camp.
In July, upper school French teacher Nicholas Manjoine (now teaching English) visited the AP Annual Conference (APAC) in Austin, Texas, where he gave two talks. The first covered how the AP French Language and Culture course and exam can promote student research and how the wide variety of media resources available to students enhances their learning and exposure to Francophone culture. His other talk focused on how to enhance the use of reading and listening materials when teaching French.
Also at APAC, Derek Kameda, Harker’s director of standardized testing and scheduling, hosted a workshop titled “Organizing Your AP Exam Administration.” More than 30 AP coordinators attended, including several from Europe, the Middle East and China. “It was an all-day workshop during which we shared best practices and traded ideas on how to successfully run an efficient and organized AP program,” Kameda said. “It was the sixth time I’ve been asked to present at the AP Annual Conference.”
Congratulations to middle school science teacher Thomas Artiss, who was named the 2015 Outstanding Biology Teacher for California by the National Association of Biology Teachers. Each year, the Outstanding Biology Teacher awards recognize excellent biology teachers in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Canada, Puerto Rico and other overseas territories. As a recipient of the award, Artiss is now eligible to attend a special honors luncheon at the 2015 NABT Professional Development Conference, to be held in November in Providence, R.I.
Special events director Danae McLaughlin took part in the Garlic Showdown at this year’s Gilroy Garlic Festival. Having been a judge for another festival event, the Garlic Bowl, since its inception, McLaughlin entered this year’s Garlic Showdown when one more team was needed to fill a spot. She and her partner were given one hour to create two entrées from a batch of specially selected ingredients. “Our first dish was pork tenderloin roulade stuffed with spam, spinach and squash blossoms, lentils with rosemary and garlic, and a summer herb salad with nectarines and white balsamic and garlic dressing. Our second entrée was smoked chicken (yes, we smoked it during our time) with a fruit compote, mashed sweet potatoes, and sautéed fennel and shaved cucumbers.” Though McLaughlin’s team did not win the competition, “We had people from the audience come up to us afterward and say they thought we [should have] won,” McLaughlin recalled.
This article originally appeared in the fall 2015 Harker Quarterly.
In April, Mike Tirabassi joined Harker as head football coach, but he’s a known quantity on Davis Field as he was Harker defensive coordinator in 2012 and offensive coordinator in 2013. Previously, he was head coach at Pinewood High School and JV offensive coordinator at Santa Margarita High School.
“My coaching philosophy is very simple,” Tirabassi said. “Use football as a medium for developing life skills.” He believes learning these skills can result in people who improve both themselves and their communities. “As long as we stay true to that vision, competitive success will take care of itself,” he added.
Tirabassi also will continue developing an environment where players feel both safe and comfortable with their skills. “I believe in removing any chance of players being put into a situation in which they aren’t ready,” he said. One system he’s implementing will separate new players from experienced ones to ensure new players can learn the fundamentals of football at a suitable pace.
“Practices are going great. Our players are working very hard toward a common goal, which is a powerful thing. Everyone … is doing everything they can to make the Harker community proud.”
The coach noted that he is inspired by his players and how they want the team to be a source of pride to their fellow students. “We have talked a lot about our responsibility to represent Harker on and off the football field,” he said. “The team feels that they can bring the community together every Friday night and be a source of pride for the students, faculty and parents. It is pretty awesome how hard they are working to fulfill this obligation to their school.
“Success for us is going to come when we look up in the stands and see people from all four campuses rallying together, going crazy to support our school. We are doing everything we can do to build a team that properly represents our Harker community.
“If we have a group of players who are committed to the vision, every member of our team has the potential to have a life-changing experience and we have the potential to be a source of pride for the entire Harker community,” Tirabassi said. “This is what matters to me.”
Tirabassi also is excited to be more involved with the Harker community. “There is no place that I have ever seen that is like Harker,” he beamed. “The unadulterated care that the faculty and staff have for the students is amazing.”
This article originally appeared in the fall 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Katherine Zhu, grade 10, won the Gary Gilchrist Golf Academy/Shanshan Feng Junior Championship in August! This is her first American Junior Golf Association win. The AJGA website noted: “With a final-round 2-under-par 70, Katherine Zhu of San Jose, California, earned her first AJGA win at 5-under-par 211. The victory was Zhu’s first AJGA win after having two previous top-three finishes in 2014.”
Naturally, the win meant lot to her. “I was excited because it is my first win and I was relieved because I was worried I’d never win anything,” she said. Zhu noted that “keeping calm and patient” was key to winning. On competing for Harker this year, she noted, “I’m really excited to see how far we’ll go this year!” Congratulations to Zhu on this accomplishment, a great way to end the summer!