This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
More than 200 students from the graduating classes of 2009-12 returned to Harker’s upper school campus during their winter breaks for the informal annual alumni event Home for the Holidays.
The college-aged alumni were joined by at least 30 faculty and staff members for the Jan. 2 gathering held in the Nichols Hall atrium, which was decorated with balloons in school colors and bouquets of flowers in “Harker Alumni” tumblers.
More than two dozen of the alumni present at the event were “Lifers,” having attended Harker from kindergarten through the upper school. They especially enjoyed reconnecting with old friends during the gathering. Others noted how well Harker had prepared them for the academic rigors of university life.
MaryEllis Deacon, director of alumni relations, said she was pleased to see how welcome alumni had been made to feel on their visit, which began with faculty and staff greeting them as they arrived on campus. Before gathering in the atrium later in the day, many alumni sat in on classes, played sports on Davis Field and ate lunch in the Edge with old friends.
Seeing the Edge again reminded Cindy Tay ’12, a current student at Duke University, of special times spent simply hanging out, including “one lazy afternoon, talking and eating tangerines with friends in the bistro.”
“We want our alumni to know they are always welcome here, and we want them to keep in touch. We hope Harker will continue to be a part of their extended family … a community to return to, and a home away from home,” said Deacon.
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Upper school students and faculty alike gave a warm welcome to visiting exchange teacher Michiko Takahashi, who is a music instructor at Tamagawa Gakuen, Harker’s sister school in Tokyo, Japan.
During her Jan. 5-18 visit, Takahashi taught Japanese music and observed classes in the upper school’s performing arts department.
Although Takahashi does not speak English, she was made to feel at home at Harker, thanks to the efforts of several Japanese-speaking faculty members who offered to serve as interpreters, joining her for meals and serving as friendly faces around campus.
And, from the moment Susan Nace, upper school music teacher, picked Takahashi up from the San Francisco airport, it was a whirlwind of activity. After a weekend of sightseeing, Takahashi studied the upper school’s music and acting programs, had lunch with the administration, spent time teaching Japanese classes, visited with the college counseling department, and attended a farewell party with performing arts teachers.
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Harker’s middle school recently played host to 19 students and four chaperones visiting from the World Foreign Language Middle School (WFLMS) in Shanghai, China as part of Harker’s student exchange program with its Chinese sister school.
Come spring, a contingent of Harker students will head to China as part of the annual exchange program which is a highlight and culmination of the middle school experience for many grade 8 students.
During their stay from Jan. 22-25, the WFLMS students observed and attended several middle school classes and headed over to the lower school for a traditional Chinese paper cutting project with grades 4 and 5. In their free time, the visitors ventured out for some sightseeing activities.
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
In February, Harker received a visit by two high school students from Tamagawa Gakuen in Tokyo. Akari Ito and Ayako Nagashima, who buddied up respectively with grade 11 students Monika Lee and Maya Madhavan, arrived Feb. 2 and spent the next month shadowing their buddies in classrooms and attending classes of their own. Classes they attended included stone carving with upper school art teacher Jaap Bongers, chemistry with Mala Raghavan, Pilar Agüero-Esparza’s painting class and Masako Onakado’s Japanese 5 class.
Ito also made a special visit to the lower school to teach a class of grade 5 students about Japanese calligraphy, showing them how to write words such as “dream” and “wind.” Students who had some proficiency in the art were challenged with writing the more advanced characters for “lemon” and “rose.”
The two students enjoyed a special farewell party in Onakado’s classroom on March 1, the day before their departure back to Japan, enjoying treats, playing games and sharing memories with their newfound Harker friends before making the trip home.
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly
Strawberries dipped in chocolate mirrored the sweetness of newly formed friendships at a recent farewell dessert reception honoring nine visiting exchange students from the Collège de Gambach in Switzerland.
During the event held in the upper school’s Bistro, both Harker students and their new Swiss buddies breathed a collective sigh of relief that it was not a goodbye party.
Come June, a group of Harker students and chaperones will head to Switzerland in continuation of the exchange program. The upcoming adventure will afford the Harker contingent the opportunity to immerse themselves in Swiss culture, brush up on their language skills, and explore the country’s vast natural beauty.
The Collège de Gambach is a secondary school under the authority of the department of public education and cultural affairs in Fribourg, Switzerland. The school places a strong emphasis on the formation of character and stresses strong resolve, clear thinking, a sense of responsibility and an appreciation for thorough work habits.
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly
Thanks to video conferencing, even students as young as kindergarten can participate in Harker’s successful global education program.
Long before the much-anticipated exchange program with the Tamagawa Gakuen School in Japan that occurs in grade 6, Harker’s youngest students begin building relationships with their overseas pals in Tokyo.
In January and February, the lower school’s four kindergarten homerooms held a series of video chats with same-age children from Tamagawa, Harker’s sister school. The video chats, which ran for 30 minutes, afforded both Harker and Tamagawa youngsters the unique opportunity to interact with, learn from and entertain one another, as well as set the stage for an ongoing relationship that will develop all the way through high school.
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
By Theresa “Smitty” Smith
Lower School
Grade 4
Junior Varsity-C girls basketball finished a perfect 6-0 in the league, WBAL champs!
Grade 5
Junior Varsity-B girls basketball finished at 2-4 in league, and took the Consolation Championship at the WBAL tournament.
Junior Varsity-B boys soccer finished a perfect 6-0 in the league, WBAL champs!
Middle School
Grade 6
Junior Varsity-A girls basketball finished at 2-6 in league, and headed into the WBAL tournament.
Junior Varsity-A boys soccer is currently 3-2-1 with one match remaining on the schedule.
Grade 7
Varsity-B girls basketball finished a perfect 8-0 in league, WBAL CHAMPS, and headed into the WBAL tournament.
Varsity-B boys soccer is a perfect 4-0 with three matches still remaining on the schedule.
Grade 8
Varsity-A girls basketball is currently 7-3 and going to the WBAL tournament.
Varsity-A boys soccer is currently 1-5 with two matches remaining on the schedule.
By Steve M. Boyle ’06
Upper School
Sure, it’s been a chillier-than-average winter, but a few hot streaks from Harker athletes have provided more than a little entertainment during the shorter days. Harker’s varsity basketball teams cruised to the postseason, while Harker’s soccer teams improved, and one talented senior wrestler ended his career at Harker on a high note.
Basketball
Both of Harker’s varsity basketball teams stormed into to the postseason with 17-win seasons, won a playoff game, and then saw their seasons end in hard-fought match-ups.
The boys advanced to the playoffs after a 17-7 run in which the team went 11-3 in league play and won five of their last six games, earning them a number 6 seed and a first-round bye. In round two, Harker faced off against Pacific Grove with a shot at the quarterfinals on the line. There, Harker muscled through to a 64-56 victory in front of the home crowd at Blackford as senior Nikhil Panu led the way with a team-high 21 points. The win set up a CCS quarterfinals game against league-rival Menlo Park, against whom Harker had split its two games during the regular season. Unfortunately, this time Menlo bested Harker 53-46, ending Harker’s run. Overall, Panu led the team in points with 319 for the year while averaging 12.3 per game. Sophomore Eric Holt stood out with 278 points for the year and 10.7 per game, while sophomore Nicholas Nguyen led the team with 98 assists and 59 steals.
The girls finished up their year with a 17-6 record overall and a 7-3 mark against league opponents, earning them a playoff berth. In the first round of CCS, the girls matched up against 11th-seeded Ocean High School and defeated them on the road, 51-40, setting into motion a second-round collision with number 6 seed Monte Vista Christian, where they were bested 53-35. For the year, Daniza Rodriguez, grade 12, put up a team-high 342 points, averaging 14.3 a game. Senior Shreya Vemuri and junior Nithya Vemireddy added another 13.5 and 11.4 points per game, respectively, while Rodriguez led the team with 139 assists. Vemireddy led the team in rebounds with 146. Senior Priscilla Auyeung stood out on both sides of the ball with 146 rebounds and 67 steals, second on the team in both categories.
The JV boys finished strong, winning four of their last five to wind up the year 13-10. The JV girls dropped their 15 games, but took massive strides forward at the close of the year, drawing to within two points of Summit Public Schools – Tahoma in their fourth-to-last game and coming within just one point of Notre Dame High School San Jose in their final game of the season. Meanwhile, the freshmen boys went 5-11 and ended the season with a dramatic overtime win against Santa Cruz High School.
Congratulations to both varsity teams on their playoff runs!
Soccer
Girls soccer finished in third place in league with a 9-4-1 record, 10-8-1 overall. Senior Sondra Leal Da Costa led the team in scoring with 18 goals, while Nikita Parulkar, grade 10, had a team-high 11 assists. Alyssa Amick, grade 10, finished second on the team in both goals and assists, hitting the back of the net 11 times and assisting on nine other goals.
The boys went 7-8-2 this season with a 5-7-2 record in league play, giving them a fourth place overall finish. The JV squad wound up at 4-8 on the year, but finished strong, winning their final two games in front of a home crowd.
Wrestling
At the 49th annual Wiliam C. Overfelt Wrestling Classic, Harker’s lone senior wrestler, Danny Wang, went 3-2 and made it to the consolation semifinals. All three of his victories came by way of pinning his opponents.
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
The first Wednesday of February probably does not call for much attention or register as an important day in the minds of most students lugging backpacks from class to class, but for five members of the Class of 2013, that date, Feb. 6, meant that courtship between school and player was over, and they could take pens in hand to sign their letters of intent to play collegiate athletics for their chosen universities; an additional student signed earlier in the year.
After a few sullen days of rain in early February, Harker found itself awash under a baby blue sky. As students made their way to lockers in the morning to gather their books and anthologies, video monitors in the main academic hallway glowed with the day’s news. One special announcement caught the attention of many a passerby: an invitation from Dan Molin, athletic director, to join seniors Michael Amick, Siobhan Cox, Karan Das-Grande, Ashley Del Alto and Andy Perez in the college counseling offices as they signed to commit themselves to four years of college athletics, joining Maverick McNealy, who in November signed as a Stanford linksman.
In recent years, national signing day has grown in popularity and prominence, due, in part, to the surge in ESPN and regional markets that cater to specific conferences like the Big 10 and Southeastern Conference. Star-studded football recruits hold a nation’s attention, and fans bite their lips as they watch a fabled recruit extend his hand to clasp their school’s hat. A top athlete choosing the maize and blue of Michigan sends jubilant cheers through Ann Arbor and beyond, while in Columbus, Ohio, the Buckeye denizens sigh woefully at missing out. Just such a scene is by no means a hyperbolic one, and as other sports gain popularity, football recruits will not be the only ones holding press conferences.
Michael Amick will be playing soccer for UCLA. A Harker Eagle since kindergarten, Amick began dribbling a soccer ball at age two when he enrolled in Kidz Love Soccer, an instructional youth camp. From those early beginnings, Amick began to develop a keen awareness for the game, and after dabbling in track, he decided that “the joy of soccer” and team aspect of the game far outweighed the individualism of track and field.
As Amick matured over the years, so, too, did his game. His field awareness, precision passing, speed of play and sheer athletic prowess led him to be selected for premier club teams, and his time with the De Anza Force and coach Shaun Tsakaris (who is also the varsity boys coach at Harker) sent his stock soaring.
Over the past four years, Amick has concentrated his efforts on “pushing [himself] harder and harder each and every day,” he noted.
This mental fortitude found promise in January 2012 when Amick was called up to the U18 national team and scored two goals in international competition. Attending and playing for the same school as other soccer greats like Carlos Bocanegra, Brad Friedel and Jonathan Bornstein do not faze Amick; rather, he embraces the challenge an elite soccer university offers, stating, “There is a time and a place to be social and joke around, but when it is time to put in the work, the mindset must be right.”
Siobhan Cox has been working that mindset for her club team PSVUnionFC, which stands for Peninsula Silicon Valley Union Football Club, and, as a result, will be playing soccer for Stanford. Cox began showing interest in soccer around age 7 and has been embracing the sport for the past nine years.
Her club team “trains every day, which is unusual for a club environment,” she said, but the competitive nature of those sessions has brought about “fun and intensity.”
While Cox played her freshman year only for Harker, she relishes that season and credits the graduating seniors from that year as the catalysts for motivating her to play soccer. Attending a rigidly academic school, Cox recognizes the credit that is due her teachers. She states, “Harker has provided me with the opportunity to take care of the academic side, especially as many people don’t realize that athletes who want to go to a highly academic school must also meet the academic requirements, regardless of their [athletic skill].”
While Stanford will be her home for the next four years, Ireland, England and the United States may be calling upon her skill in later years. With a mother from Ireland, a father from England and the United States as home, Cox “is available to play for three different national teams.” She now just needs to bide her time until July 27 to start training with the Cardinal, but her name is already on the press release and signing made it officially a “dream come true,” she said.
The only one to leave California, Karan Das-Grande will make his way across the country to Connecticut College to submerge himself in water polo. A Harker student since grade 1, Das-Grande’s introduction to the sport was a late one, but he has been making waves, and schools took notice. While the sport is, arguably, still more regional than national, water polo saw tremendous exposure during the 2012 Olympics, and Das-Grande sought a college whose program was “young and on the rise.”
Connecticut College met both criteria and is also a liberal arts school, a final requirement of his. Claiming that “defying the odds is possible,” Das-Grande points to his sophomore year and his contest against Saratoga as a defining moment for him both as a player and as an individual. Despite losing to Saratoga twice in the regular season, Harker “managed to squeak out a 7-6 win in league finals,” Das-Grande said. As a result, some of the Saratoga players refused to exchange handshakes during the contest overtures. Accordingly, Das-Grande remarked that “given their frustration, [the victory] taste[d] even better.” Having been coached and taught by “role models,” Das-Grande is grateful for the help he has had in growing into a mature, respectful person.
On the diamond, softball player Ashley Del Alto will be taking her bat and glove to Iowa to pursue her dreams at Briar Cliff University. Daughter of J.R. Del Alto, the Saratoga campus’ maintenance director, she will abide by the words of her new head coach Michelle Schaper: “If you produce, you will play.” And Del Alto is no stranger to producing. As a four-year varsity athlete on the softball team, she raised her batting average from an already-impressive .371 percentage as a freshman to an astounding .537 as a junior; she also has 34 RBIs. A two-time first team all-league player, Del Alto will need to adjust to the climate in Iowa, but she states that “the care of the Harker community and the knowledge gained from her teachers” will help her transition to the “tightly knit community of Briar Cliff.” As Del Alto charges on to the field at Briar Cliff she takes with her memories of 14 years at Harker, remarking that she “would not want to be a part of any other class.”
Recognized as the next rising talent in the world of golf, Maverick McNealy will be playing for Stanford. As the son of parents who both share an infinite love of solving problems, McNealy sees tranquility in what many consider to be a frustrating game.
Learning the game when he was learning how to walk, he “loved to go outside and whack balls around with a plastic club,” he said. Arriving at Harker in grade 9, McNealy immediately excelled on the links, but he believes that “until [he] shoot[s] 18 in every round of golf he plays, there will always be room to get better.”
Given that drive, it is no wonder that McNealy is acutely aware of the life lessons golf provides: “Golf, to me, is the ultimate game of personal responsibility,” he said. “Your performance is a direct result of the time and effort you put into the game, and you take complete responsibility for your play. If you hit a bad shot, you can only blame yourself because you were the only one to swing the club. Conversely, if you make a hole in one, you can take complete pride in your accomplishment.”
Even attending Stanford, home to Tiger Woods and Tom Watson, McNealy’s “favorite golfer,” causes no anxiety, and he credits Harker for that aplomb. “Everyone whom I have met (at Harker) is motivated and possesses a great work ethic,” he said.
Andy Perez also had an early commitment to soccer: he played it in his crib, he said, and when fall arrives, he will be taking the field for the University of California, Santa Barbara. Perez credits parents for ingraining in him a solid work ethic. Perez’ father, Ismael, a professional player for the San Jose Earthquakes, “coached [his son] at the age of four and continuously pushed him to strive harder.”
Perez began attending Harker in grade 4, and when he arrived on the Saratoga campus for his freshman year, he played for Tsakaris and thought that the “camaraderie with teammates who are also classmates is an advantage because you want to work hard for your friends,” he said.
Moving over to the De Anza Force as well as the San Jose Earthquake’s Academy team proved invaluable for Perez, especially in terms of gaining national recognition. He does recognize that Harker has played a vital role in his academic growth and also helped to instill in him the character trait of respect.
One instance in particular that stands out for Perez is a playoff game between Menlo and Harker during his freshman year. He reminisced: “Halfway through the game I looked over at the fans and saw a sea of Harker fans, students, faculty, football players, basketball players, and many more coming together to root us on to the next round. We ended up losing the game, and that was our last game with the seniors, but after the game all the fans came up and congratulated us on a great season.” It is in this spirit of respect and passion and pride for high school that Perez makes his way to become a Gaucho.
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly
Martin Scarpace, father of Kristin Scarpace Giammona ’81, Harker’s elementary division head, and Marty Scarpace ’79; grandfather of Matt Giammona ’13 and Mia Giammona ’17 and Gabriella, Francesca and Antonio Scarpace, passed away Feb. 23, 2013, after a long illness.
Scarpace was director of the Dad’s Club in 1975 and spearheaded the drive to fund a swimming pool, which was completed the following year. Scarpace, who owned a food brokering company, brought his expertise to Harker as a sausage cook at the Harker Family & Alumni Picnic in the 1970s and contributed to Harker in many other ways. Harker is very sorry to lose this longtime member of the community and extends its deepest sympathy to his family and friends.
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Joseph Sabeh, a Fremont resident, longtime board member and involved parent at The Harker School, passed away on Feb. 11 due to heart failure.
The beloved husband of 34 years to his wife, Linda, Sabeh was born Dec. 25, 1940, in Zahle, Lebanon, and was passionate about his family, real estate and golfing.
Head of School Chris Nikoloff fondly recalled Sabeh’s years as a distinguished member of Harker’s Board of Trustees since 1995. Sabeh’s son, Joseph Jr., graduated from Harker in 1993 and his daughter, Grace Wallace, graduated from the school in 1995. Grace currently teaches grade 2 at Harker’s lower school.
“As a board member, Joe saw the school through tremendous change, from the opening of the upper school to the acquisition of the Union campus,” said Nikoloff, adding that in his professional life, Sabeh was well known for both his integrity and honesty.
In 1984 Sabeh founded and became principal of Executive Homes Realty. Among many other awards throughout his years in real estate, he was recognized seven times by the Southern Alameda County Association of Realtors as the premier Realtor in residential sales topping $20,000,000.
Many members of the Harker community attended various services held in his honor. At the end of February there was a viewing and a vigil at the Fremont Memorial Chapel. The next day was a funeral mass in San Jose followed by a burial at Cedar Lawn Memorial Park in Fremont.
“We all remember Joe as a true gentleman. He had that rare gift of making everyone he met feel special. He had a warm handshake, winning smile and a big, loving heart for his family and friends. He served Harker and its families loyally for many years,” added Nikoloff.