With the COVID-19 pandemic complicating schedules and making travel infeasible for many around the world, many families were unable to attend Harker’s Summer English Language Institute. “Long story short, most of our Chinese families could not commit to our program due to conflict of schedule,” said ELI director Joe Chung.
However, because there was still great interest among families in Japan, Natsuko Mitsugi of the Tokyo-based after-school program GKCors stepped in so that Japanese students could attend ELI remotely. “We thought if there is any way we can provide the opportunity to local children to experience Harker ELI, we wanted to try,” she said. Mitsugi had heard about Harker in 2017 through a friend in the Bay Area, and had also met Joe Rosenthal, director of strategic initiatives, while he was visiting Japan.
Students met at GKCors and did their lessons together while receiving instruction from ELI teachers, working online from California. “We provided our facility and Harker teachers gave online live lessons for three hours every day,” Mitsugi said. “There are mainly two levels and each class has assistant teachers from GKCors.”
Despite the changes to the program, students enjoyed the lessons and activities planned for them. Karen Glovka’s students “were having fun every day, said Mitsugi. They learned about living things, rainforests and so on. They really enjoyed the games they played.” Although some of the more advanced lessons were challenging, “at the end of the week, we could see their satisfied faces,” Mitsugi said.
Giving the students a place to learn together was very important for the program, as it enabled the students to socialize and learn from one another. “Children had lunch together, played together and learned from each other,” said Mitsugi. “Of course, it would have been better to spend time at a Harker campus, but in a situation like this, we think we did the best we could. We really appreciate what the Harker ELI team did for us.”
In Memoriam: Alex Anderson ’95
Alex Anderson passed away on May 26, at the age of 38. Alex was a Harker boarding student for six years (grades 3-8). “Alex’s general enthusiasm and his natural ability to so comfortably interact with such a diverse group of friends was truly a special skill,” said Joe Rosenthal, who was the boarding director at that time. “Alex had a magnetic personality, set a very good example of how to treat one another, and was well-liked by hundreds of his peers who boarded at Harker from all over the world.” He is survived by many loving family members and friends, including his sister, Ashely Anderson ’91 (pictured with Alex), and his fiancée, Sarah Branam. He touched many lives and will be greatly missed by all who knew him.
Alex was assaulted in Denver and died from his injuries. In lieu of flowers, Alex’s loved ones ask that donations be made to their GoFundMe page, which will be used to increase his Crime Stoppers reward, as well as medical and memorial expenses: http://gf.me/u/x4sdzw. You can share memories and condolences with the family here: https://horancares.com/obits/alex-anderson/
1980 Byron DeLear, host of the podcast “Intention,” interviewed fellow Harker Academy graduate Tiffany Tate (who now goes by Tate Orick). In the podcast’s third episode, they cover everything from their shared history at Harker (including Byron’s father, who attended Palo Alto Military Academy) to the episode’s main topic, “Job Loss, A Hammered Economy, and the New Abnormal.” Byron attended Harker for grades 4-6 from 1975-1978. Check out the podcast at https://www.buzzsprout.com/963421/3374647
1982 Renee Conrad recently changed firms and is now working as an attorney at Gilfix & La Poll Associates in Palo Alto doing estate planning and trust administration.
1989 Justin Pogue is working as a real estate consultant and an author in San Jose, and he’s completed his first book, “Rental Secrets.” By teaching renters how landlords think, he’s helping them negotiate better while improving our national housing conversation. The book is not just for renters; landlords, realtors and lenders can benefit as well. Justin is in negotiations with a few colleges to speak on their campuses in the near future. Mayor Sam Liccardo took great interest in Justin’s book at one of his North San Jose development round table meetings; he even purchased a copy!
1993 Joe Sabeh has a successful track record of 20 years in the real estate industry and averages $50 million to $75 million a year in sales. He had the highest sale in the city of Fremont’s history in 2018, and more than 60 percent of his business comes from referrals from past clients. Joe learned the value of service and hard work from his late father, Joseph Sabeh, also an outstanding top producer in the real estate industry. His favorite part of the job is helping people accomplish their goals, whether it’s selling for the highest price or finding their dream home. Joe also gives back to the community by donating to and SAVE, nonprofits committed to supporting survivors of domestic violence.
2004 Jennifer Lin and her husband, Steve Waite, welcomed son Hudson Lin Waite on April 17. Congratulations!
2005 Kim Wong is the latest Life in the Arts recipient, awarded by Harker’s performing arts department. Kim’s love of the arts began at age 8 when she attended a Shakespeare camp, and she later fell in love with acting. After Harker, where she was Lifer and a musical theater certificate graduate, she headed East to study at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Since receiving her drama degree from NYU, Kim has amassed stage and television credits. She has had recurring and guest starring roles on HBO, NBC, CBS, The CW and Netflix, including “Law & Order: SVU,” “Blue Bloods,” and “FBI: Most Wanted.”
Fun fact: Kim has performed in 31 Shakespeare productions, spanning 18 plays and 66+ different roles!
Khadija Zanotto, store manager of family-owned and operated Zanotto’s Family Markets, was featured in a San Jose Mercury News article titled “Standing in harm’s way – essential workers on the front lines of COVID-19.” Read the entire story: https://bayareane.ws/2xU9Gac
In mid-March, Zanotto’s began designating exclusive shopping hours for seniors, to better support the local elderly population, a practice that larger chain stores would quickly adopt. Khadija shared the story on her Facebook page: “In this time of need, our family is committed to our community. Thankful to the many news channels that helped us spread the word and inspire bigger stores to do the same. Proud to pioneer this in our area.” See more: https://cbsloc.al/3540cWj
2006 Jaya Pareek married Vipul Chhajer on Sept. 7, 2019, at Bear Flag Farm in Winters. Many Harker friends attended, including classmates Naeha Bhambhra, Akshay Bhatia, Tara Chandra, Meghana Dhar, Mina Lee, Amulya Mandava, Amit Mukherjee, Aalok Patel, Swasti Sarna and Priya Takiar. Friends from other classes were Vivek Patel ’02, Rishi Bhatia ’11 and Sahil Takiar ’09. The ceremony was officiated by Jaya’s brother, Ravi Pareek ’08.
Jaya attended Santa Clara University. Vipul went to the University of Michigan and then Harvard University for business school. They live in San Francisco and both work at tech startups.
2009 Back in November, the Class of ‘09 held its 10th reunion at the Coterie Winery in downtown San Jose. More than 65 alumni and Harker faculty and staff gathered for wine tasting, charcuterie platters and warm conversation filled with memories and laughs.
In March, Sabrina Paseman founded the nonprofit Fix the Mask (http://www.fixthemask.com), which has developed a do-it-yourself method for constructing a surgical mask brace using rubber bands. The pandemic has caused a surge in demand for N95 surgical masks, leading to a shortage that has put medical workers at risk of infection, as the surgical masks currently in use do not attach to wearers’ faces tightly enough. The surgical mask brace developed by Fix the Mask significantly improves the efficacy of surgical masks and lowers the risk of infection. The company has posted a how-to video on its website.
And more recently, some ‘09 friends didn’t let the quarantine stop them from getting together on a Zoom meetup for a “Brady Bunch” style photo op! Shown from left to right, top to bottom are: Sean Mandell, Stephanie Guo, Barrett Glasauer, Brian Chao, Evan Maynard, David Kastelman, Jennifer Huang (friend of ’09), Daniel Tien and Alex Achkinazi.
2010 Mark-Phillip Pebworth and his wife, Hanna, are pleased to announce the birth of their son, Elliott Ames Pebworth, on June 8, 2019. He was 7 lbs., 13 oz., and 21 inches long. He’s now nearly a year old and growing well! Mother and baby have been safe through this crazy COVID-19 season.
2012 After graduating from Columbia School of Social Work in 2018, Kristi Sun obtained her licensed master social worker degree and started working with formerly homeless low-income seniors at the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, which provides permanent long-term housing in New York City. In February 2020, she was promoted to senior social worker and now runs her own building, using Mandarin, English and Spanish to communicate with her wide range of international residents. Kristi is currently the youngest supervisor in the agency, working directly with the director of clinical services, and she loves her job. She credits Harker Spanish teachers Sra. Rozanes, Sra. Pinzás and Sra. Grande for igniting her interest in Spanish, and Ms. Horan for her AP Psychology course; these classes were the building blocks that led to her current career.
2014 Mary Liu was awarded a Schwarzman Scholarship. The program is “designed to prepare its graduates to build stronger relationships between China and a rapidly changing world and to address the most pressing challenges of the 21st century,” according to its website. Mary’s bio notes she is a Gilman Scholar, studied applied mathematics at Columbia University and dedicated a year in service to rural communities in China and Thailand, where she volunteered as a community organizer, teacher and website developer. Mary is passionate about increasing economic opportunity in rural communities. https://www.schwarzmanscholars.org/
Vikram Sundar was recently named a Hertz Foundation Fellow, offering full funding for his Ph.D. at MIT starting in the fall. Vikram is currently an AI resident at Google, and has degrees from Harvard (math, physics) and the University of Cambridge (chemistry). The official press release is here: https://bit.ly/2ZCZVJ2
2016 Shannon Hong started a quarantine diary in April (https://medium.com/quarantine-diaries) to give members of the Harker community a space to share their experiences while living through the COVID-19 pandemic. Originating as a shared document between friends to bring each other closer during a time of separation, it has been expanded to include Harker students, faculty, staff and alumni. “It is valuable to write down that which we do, think and experience during these times,” said Shannon. “We decided that this project was one that we wanted to share with other people, to partake at least a little in each other’s lives.”
2017 Molly Wancewicz earned two recognitions for her writing and research this year. In fall 2019, her paper “Environmental Law and Agents of Profit Throughout History” was published in the Texas Undergraduate Law Review (volume 8, issue 1). Then, in spring 2020, she won second place (and $300) in Rice University’s Fondren Undergraduate Research Awards for her paper, “Organized Labor and Faction in the United States, 1930s and 1940s.” Molly will be presenting her research to the board of Fondren Library next month.
2018 Amy Jin, currently attending Harvard, is now a team member for the Crown Education Challenge (https://www.crowneducationchallenge.org/), an international contest for K-12 students that contains tracks in art, STEM and writing. Founded during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent wave of worldwide school closures, the contest hopes to inspire students to continue their learning, become active in global issues and foster hope in troubled times.
Katherine Zhu was named the University of California, Berkeley’s women’s golf MVP. The award is given to the player with the lowest stroke average after the completion of the spring season. The player must have played in 75 percent of the season’s tournaments. Katherine’s stroke average was 73.5. Congratulations!
2019 Kelsey Wu’s Near/Mitra paper was published in a Harvard journal. The report of Kelsey’s achievement was one of the most-read Harker News stories. Check out more on page 4.
Jarrett Anderson was recently named AVCA D3 Northeast Region Newcomer of the Year and NVA/AVCA D3 First-Team All-American. Jarrett plays volleyball at Springfield College in Massachusetts.
This story originally appeared in the Spring/Summer 2020 issue of Harker Magazine.
By Vikki Bowes-Mok
Alex Iftimie ’03 arrived at Harker in seventh grade and was excited to be in Silicon Valley at a school with plenty of technology offerings. He loved to take computers apart and rebuild them, and he used his rudimentary coding skills to help middle school teachers create their first classroom websites in the late ’90s.
He imagined getting his MBA and working at a tech company, but that all changed when he discovered debate in ninth grade.
“Debate opened my mind to policy issues, got my competitive juices flowing and gave me confidence that I could succeed academically,” remembered Iftimie. “It set me on a different path and also allowed me to practice English.”
English was Iftimie’s third language. He was born in Romania and lived there until he was 6, when the revolution prompted his family to leave. After that, he spent six years in Canada, speaking French before his family moved to Silicon Valley when he was 12.
“Alex is an extraordinary human being whose participation in debate was noted not only by sheer excellence but also by his humility and regard for others,” said Matthew Brandstetter, Iftimie’s debate coach who is now a speech and debate coach at Milton Academy in Massachusetts. “Alex was a debate coach’s dream student, and his continued success in life is no surprise.”
After high school, Iftimie decided to parlay his passion for debate into a law degree. He attended the University of Southern California, where he studied international relations and global business, knowing that he would go on to law school. While at USC, he was captain of the Trojan debate team and advanced to the quarterfinal round at the prestigious National Debate Tournament College Nationals.
After graduating from USC, Iftimie took a year away from school to work on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.
“Having come from communist Romania, I was always interested in this neat idea that you could participate in your government and that candidates won elections through the force of their ideas,” remembered Iftimie. “Obama was an inspirational leader who captured for me the virtue of government and public service.”
Iftimie’s focus on public service prompted him to study law at Yale Law School and spend his summers at government internships in Washington, D.C. When he graduated, he clerked for an appellate court judge and then took a job with the National Security Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.
“The best part about working for the Department of Justice was the sense of mission and purpose. I had the privilege to work with committed civil servants and to pursue justice every day,” said Iftimie.
As he pursued a career in law, Iftimie’s background and interest in technology allowed him to find his niche. “A key part of my success in the government went back to the fact that I understood technology.”
This foundation allowed him to work on hard legal issues at the intersection of technology and national security law, such as intelligence collection reforms, terrorists’ use of the internet and investigations of nation-state sponsored cyberattacks.
After nearly six years at the National Security Division, he served as a prosecutor in the National Security and Cybercrime units in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, where he brought charges against those involved in Russian efforts to interfere in the 2018 midterm elections.
Although he remains committed to public service, he recently moved to the private sector to broaden his legal experience, and to use his government background to advise clients on complex cybersecurity and national security issues. He started with Morrison & Foerster in Washington, D.C., and just relocated to San Francisco with his new wife, Melissa Antal.
As a middle schooler who enjoyed tinkering with computers and participating in debate, Iftimie didn’t know where his path would lead. But he has successfully forged a career that combines his passions for technology and law.
“Alex was one student who really opened my eyes to what is possible. He could absorb and learn new ideas and concepts at a rate that was absolutely breathtaking,” said Rand Harrington, Iftimie’s physics teacher at Harker who is now head of school at Kent Denver School. “Alex was the epitome of what I had always envisioned as the ideal student — a fierce intellect, highly motivated and intensely curious.”
Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective.
Senior Ethan Steeg has been spending his summer as an intern at Silicon Valley Robotics, a nonprofit organization that supports the robotics and artificial intelligence industry in a variety of fields, including agriculture, retail and transportation.
Steeg is currently leading an effort to create face shields for Circuit Launch, an Oakland-based maker space that has partnered with Silicon Valley Robotics. “Circuit Launch hosts innovative, early-stage robotics, [augmented reality/virtual reality] and AI startups and has a wide variety of machining capabilities,” Steeg said. The goal is to create 5,000 face shields before summer’s end. “From the beginning of the summer to present, my team has produced over 1,500 face shields and we expect to produce 3,500 more by the end of the summer,” he said.
Had 2020 gone as planned, a contingent of upper and middle school Latin students would have headed to the University of Richmond in Virginia for the annual National Junior Classical League Convention. The convention was held virtually July 24-29 instead, with 12 Harker students joining the California delegation for games, academic competitions and assemblies.
Rupert Chen, grade 10, kicked off his term as second vice president of the California Junior Classical League by leading the California delegation in nightly organizational meetings and submissions to spirit and service competitions. California placed first in service (letters to representatives) and second overall for large states in spirit and service. Chen and his brother Felix, grade 8, appear at the 35-second mark in a video of one of the spirit themes, “Golden Slumbers/Purple Rain,” named for the JCL colors of purple and gold.
Rupert Chen also served as webmaster for CaJCL for the 2019-20 school year, and the CaJCL website placed first in the website competition. Kabir Ramzan, grade 9, is taking over as webmaster this year.
Students earned the following academic awards, competing at the level of Latin completed in 2019-20.
Level 1/2:
Rahul Sundaresan, grade 7: First in Academic Heptathlon, Ancient Geography, Hellenic History, Roman Life, Mythology, Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, and Latin Derivatives; Second in Classical Art; Third in Roman History
Sundaresan also competed on the novice open certamen (quiz bowl) team that placed second. Open certamen teams are made up of students from different states.
Level 1:
Felix Chen, grade 8: Fifth in Latin Derivatives, Reading Comprehension and Roman Life
Level 2:
Trisha Iyer, grade 9: Fifth in Reading Comprehension
Kabir Ramzan, grade 9: Third in Latin Vocabulary
Michelle Wei, grade 9: Fifth in Reading Comprehension
Iyer and Ramzan also played on the California intermediate competitive certamen team, which placed eighth.
Level 3:
Tiffany Chang, grade 10: First in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, fifth in Latin Vocabulary
Rupert Chen, grade 10: Fourth in Reading Comprehension Prose
Michelle Jin, grade 10: Third in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations
Lauren Liu, grade 10: First in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, first in Latin Literature, second in Reading Comprehension Poetry, second in Classical Art, third in Latin Vocabulary, fifth in Latin Derivatives, fifth in Reading Comprehension Prose
Nicholas Wei, grade 10: First in Reading Comprehension Poetry, second in Latin Grammar, second in Latin Vocabulary, second in Reading Comprehension Prose
Level 4:
Ann Ryan, grade 11: Summa cum laude in Impromptu Art
Level 5+:
Jeffrey Fung ’20: Second in Greek Life and Literature, third in Reading Comprehension Poetry, third in Latin Vocabulary, fourth in Hellenic History, fourth in Roman Life, fifth in Mottoes, Quotes and Abbreviations, fifth in Latin Literature
At the final assembly, Lisa Masoni, middle school Latin teacher, was presented with a Summa Cum Laude Sponsor award. This award recognizes contributions to JCL on the local, state and national level. Her nominators highlighted her service to CaJCL as treasurer for the past 14 years, as well as her work on the national level on the certamen moderator squad.
This story originally appeared in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Harker Magazine.
Juggling competitive sports and rigorous academics isn’t easy, but alumni athletes say the payoff is well worth it. Not only do players improve their game – with some going on to compete in college and beyond – they also build relationships and develop skills that last a lifetime.
Balancing academics and sports “took a lot of hard work and dedication from a young age, and pushed my physical and mental limits to the extreme at times,” said Rohit Shah ’18, who played soccer at Harker and is now a midfielder on the team at Macalester College. “Nonetheless, I feel like it was worth it in terms of what I gained personally.”
Shah said playing soccer at Harker not only prepared him to take to the field in college, it prepared him for life by instilling confidence, mental toughness and resilience. Especially during his junior and senior years, he said he learned to focus on the things he could control, such as working hard and having fun, and let go of things he couldn’t control, such as results or what people thought of him.
“I realized I couldn’t change the outcomes, only my attitude,” he said, adding that he is grateful his coaches pushed him as both a soccer player and a person.
The ultimate goal of Harker athletics is that players have a positive experience and can apply lessons learned during the season to other areas of their lives, emphasized Dan Molin, upper school athletic director. “We want [players] to graduate with a greater sense of teamwork, leadership, sacrifice, kindness and respect while doing so in a competitive environment,” he said. “The lessons learned in athletics, whether they realize or not, will carry with them in life.”
Fun and friendship
One of the most rewarding aspects of sports is the camaraderie among players. Being part of a team gives students a chance to nurture friendships outside of the classroom with peers who share a passion for the same activity and are working toward the same goals. At Harker, coaches emphasize the value of building relationships, supporting each other and having fun together.
“One valuable lesson I learned over the years was that it is not all about winning and scoring goals,” said Joelle Anderson ’17, who played soccer for three years and basketball for a year during high school and is now a midfielder/forward on the soccer team at Pepperdine University. “I will forever remember the friendshipsI formed on the team and the memories I made, not only on the field, but more importantly off the field.” Anderson isn’t the only one in her family playing collegiate sports. Her brother, Jarrett ‘19, is on the volleyball team at Springfield College.
Golfer Katherine Zhu ’18, who now plays for the University of California, Berkeley, echoes that sentiment. “My favorite part of high school golf was being able to meet new people and the new relationships that were formed due to it,” she said, adding that she has very fond memories of her time on Harker’s golf team. “In every event, [coach Ie-Chen Cheng] taught us how to have fun while competing at a respectable and competitive level.”
Harker coaches also emphasize the importance of being positive role models for their teammates and classmates. “If you are a good teammate, the character and values you need are always up front,” said Butch Keller, upper school division head and longtime basketball coach, adding that a team motto is “the man beside you is more important than the man in the mirror.”
Sports also can bridge the gap between upperclassmen and lowerclassmen, since players in different grades often compete side by side. Water polo player Matthew Hajjar ’19 said he misses his Harker teammates, “from the seniors I played with as a freshman to the freshmen on the team when I was a senior.
“By the time I was a senior and a leader on the team, the most rewarding thing I could do was help a younger player learn and get better, whether it was teaching a couple of moves as the hole set (center forward) or reassessing a game after we played,” said Hajjar, who is now on the water polo team at Caltech.
Likewise, Zhu said she learned it’smore important to be the best teammate than the best player on the team. As a member of Harker’s golf team, she said she developed more compassion and sympathy for others, which has served her well in other aspects of her life. “Golf is an innately individual sport,” she explained. “Harker golf taught me how to be both a team player and a leader.”
For many, sports also ease the transition to college, giving freshmen a built-in sense of community. Since water polo is a fall sport, Hajjar arrived on Caltech’s campus a month and a half early to begin practicing, which enabled him to acclimate and make friends before classes started. Jadan McDermott ’18, who played both football and basketball at Harker, had a similar experience at Tufts University, where he is now a defensive lineman on the football team.
“One of the hardest things about starting college is being forced to make new friends and being separated from your old life. Being on the football team immediately gives you 75 people that you interact with every day and share experiences with,” he said, adding that he runs into teammates on campus all the time. “Having something like that in college has more value than can be put into words.”
But players aren’t the only ones who benefit from athletics. Team sports also help foster school spirit among the greater Harker community. Students get especially pumped up for big games, such as Harker’s Homecoming football game. In the weeks leading up to the game, anticipation builds among the entire Harker community, with spirit days, a rally and a pre-game tailgate party, among other activities.
“Every week, we received support from our classmates and teachers in preparation for our games,” recalled McDermott. “There was no better feeling than going down the hallways and getting a ‘good luck today!’ or remarks of that nature. Playing in front of friends and family embodies a big aspect of what makes sports fun.”
In March, Harker’s boys soccer team won the section championships for the first time in school history, as did both the boys and girls volleyball teams last year – creating lasting memories for both players and the Harker community.
“The school pride and spirit was unlike anything we’ve seen,” recalled Molin. “It’s not just about the teams succeeding and competing at a high level. I place a lot of value in what that brings to the school community in the form of spirit, pride and fun.”
Training for life
High school is a challenging time for many students as they begin to discover who they are and what matters to them. Sports reinforce the idea that by doing things well, one will be rewarded, said former Harker head football coach Michael Tirabassi.“These lessons can be expanded to life lessons on interpersonal relationships, leadership, etc.,” he said. “In general, I think high school sports can help athletes define their principles, which they will carry with them the rest of their lives.”
Alumni athletes agree that playing sports at Harker was a great training ground for life, helping them develop valuable skills, including time management, stress management and professionalism. Balancing demanding academic and sports schedules forces athletes to set priorities and manage their time effectively.
“My days were pretty packed because I wanted to excel in both [academics and golf ],” said Zhu, explaining that since she spent two to three hours a day practicing with the golf team, she had to use free periods to finish homework. “Efficiency is key!”
As a student athlete, you cut out unnecessary activities and “find new ways to create time for work,” added McDermott. “Whether it’s working while you are waiting to get picked up after practice or doing worksheets before conditioning, it’s essential to use any spare time for getting your work done.”
Harker students who succeed both on and off the field are “masters at managing their time,” said Keller. “When they go to college, they are prepared to face the real life pressures of prioritization.” In setting priorities, athletes also learn to make sacrifices. Through this process, Anderson said she became a better soccer player and a better person.
“There were a lot of sacrifices I had to make, with my social life specifically, in order to keep up in school and continue to excel in soccer, but it paid off in the end,” she said. “All the sacrifices I made during high school felt worth it in the long run because of the amazing opportunities it gave me to take my soccer career to the college level.”
Anderson said she is grateful that her Harker coaches pushed her to be the best version of herself both on and off the field. She has found a similarly supportive environment at Pepperdine, where the coaches often remind players that they are trying to develop “women of character,” not just stellar athletes or a game-winning team.
Tirabassi said he and his fellow coaches urged players to “live their lives motivated by the impact they can make” on others, including their family, community, teammates and friends. The more effort players put into positively impacting those around them, the more successful they will be in sports and in life, he said.
“Many sports teams have negative connotations with their behavior or demeanor,” McDermott explained. “Coach Tirabassi had our team challenge those misconceptions. He helped the players understand that being a student athlete means excellence on and off the field.”
Likewise, Zhu said golf coach Cheng instilled the importance of being professional, “and enforced it everywhere, whether it was at country clubs or even on snack runs!”
Pushing the limits
Many athletes dream of playing their sport in college, but not all have the required discipline. Keller said he is proud of Harker athletes who made this dream come true. Their dedication pays dividends both on and off the field.
“Being an athlete anywhere, not only Harker, is one of the avenues by which young people are able to build resilience,” said Keller. “In the middle of a game or practice, you have to accept the events and adjust in the moment. These are real life experiences.”
Those often challenging experiences also strengthen the team. “We faced the same adversity whether it be extremely hot days, excessive conditioning or even a tough loss,” McDermott recalled. Those experiences formed an “unbreakable bond” among teammates, he added.
As a water polo player at Harker, “the biggest takeaways were perseverance and dedication,” Hajjar said. While some people pressured him to quit the team to focus on his schoolwork, he was determined to manage both well, adding that his life is more balanced and organized during the water polo season. He said water polo gives him the opportunity to de-stress and focus on something other than school.
“When I get out of the pool, I’m refreshed and ready to tackle my studies with a clear and improved mindset,” he said. “I rarely waste time, and since I’m working out, I make sure to get enough sleep and stay healthy.”\
Even those who ultimately leave competitive sports say the experience made them stronger and more confident.
Mahi Gurram ’19 played both softball and golf at Harker. She joined the softball team her freshman year, having never played before, which she said was “one of the best decisions” she made at Harker. Her experience as a rookie and in the years that followed gave her the confidence to try crew as a freshman at Colgate University.
“Harker’s teams taught me to push myself past the limits I set for myself,” she said. “Walking on to the softball team is what inspired me to walk on to the rowing team. I thought it was worth trying out a new sport because of how much I enjoyed playing softball at Harker.”
Although she enjoyed rowing and said the workouts taught her to “dig deep” and push herself, she ultimately made the difficult decision to quit the team to focus on her pre-med studies.
“I was definitely stressed out academically, but it was a very rewarding experience,” she said. “I enjoyed my brief time on the [crew] team, because it taught me that I am capable of things I didn’t know I could do.”
Leveling up
While playing sports has many benefits, a key motivation for most players is, of course, to improve their game. Both individual players and teams at Harker have set records and earned many accolades over the years. Many Harker players have gone on to play sports in college, some earning scholarships to do so, and a few alumni have even gone pro.
For example, Jason Martin ’07 played semi-pro baseball for several years. Tanya Schmidt ’08 played pro volleyball in Europe for two years between college and graduate school. And one of Harker’s most notable alumni athletes, golfer Maverick McNealy ’13, went pro in 2017.
“We’re so proud of all of our athletes who have pursued their sport beyond high school,” Molin said. “Though it’s not the main goal of our program, we want to celebrate their achievements and let it be known that athletes at Harker can, if they work hard, continue their athletics after high school.”
While few college athletes make a career of their game, most anticipate sports will always be a part of their lives, noting the benefits of staying active on their health and well-being.
“Even if I may not be able to compete at a professional level, I hope to have golf in my life in some form because of all the happiness and joy it’s brought me thus far,” said Zhu.
Jennifer Maragoni is a freelance writer and editor based in Folsom.
Last week, third graders held a fundraiser for the Epilepsy Foundation’s Lemonade for Livy program, raising more than $2,000. The students had read the novel “The Lemonade War” by Jacqueline Davies in their summer classes, and lessons and activities also were designed with a lemonade theme. Fittingly, students also participated in a lemonade-themed service project, creating a virtual lemonade stand and promoting their effort by passing out lemonade.
Students also enjoyed interacting via Zoom with Olivia “Livy” Scheinman, for whom the program is named, and her family, and speaking to Maile Chung ’17, who was diagnosed with epilepsy during her freshman year. “It has been wonderful working with the summer school third graders on this,” said Kathy Ferretti, grade 3 English teacher. “They learned a lot and had fun doing it.”
In the latest construction update video, viewable below, Harker facility manager Mike Bassoni details the complex process of laying the concrete foundations at the Union Campus.
Three student films were recently selected for the All American High School Film Festival, one of the largest and most prestigious film festivals of its kind. Rising seniors Jason Lin and Ajay Madala created the short film “Duality” for Nicholas Manjoine’s English class, in which students developed creative projects based on the works studied in class. “Ajay and I had made our own films before, so we decided to partner up to make a short film,” said Lin. “We chose Emerson and Thoreau texts, because we felt that they exposed meaningful relationships between individuals and society.”
“Duality” was structured to reflect the two creators’ perspectives, “mine representing nature and Jason’s representing society,” Madala said. “We used quotes about nature and society from Emerson and Thoreau to contrast the difference between the two. The way I represented nature and the way Jason represented society were decidedly opposites of each other.”
Lin and Madala worked on the film separately, each creating their own half without managing the other’s portion. “I know Jason as a great filmmaker and knew he would do a good job,” said Madala. “He also had trusted me as a filmmaker and believed I would make something up to the task.” Once each half of the film was ready, a transition from one section of the film to the next was added to make the film function as a whole.
Madala’s own film, titled “Stay Inside,” also was chosen for the film festival. A surrealist work that deals with feelings of isolation, boredom and confusion during the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was inspired by Madala’s readings “about a person who wakes up in a room and has no idea how they got there, why they’re there or even who they are,” he said. “I immediately connected this to quarantine and started writing.”
“Stay Inside” is purposefully light on dialogue and narrative structure and was originally 15 minutes long. “The festival had a time limit on their shorts, so I decided to make a much shorter version that would encapsulate the same energy and tone of the 15-minute version with even less dialogue and plot,” said Madala.
Both filmmakers expressed surprise at being selected for the All American High School Film Festival, with Lin describing his own reaction as “incredulous disbelief.” Madala found after checking the festival’s Twitter account, which posted the list of selections that included “Duality,” “Stay Inside,” and “Cmd-Delete,” a film Lin created with classmates Sara Yen and Amar Karoshi that was named the grand prize winner of C-SPAN’s StudentCam contest in March.
The All American High School Film Festival, historically held in New York City, takes place Oct. 9-11 and will be hosted online this year due to closures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This story originally appeared in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Harker Magazine.
By Marla Holt
Simar Bajaj, a Harker senior with dual interests in history and medicine, spent a large part of his senior year researching and writing about the complex impacts of the “The Flexner Report” of 1910, a landmark paper that established high standards for today’s four-year medical school system while also nearly eliminating the path to medicine for women, African Americans and the working class.
“The report’s most harmful effect was to make the medical profession the domain of white middle- and upper-class men,” said Bajaj, who conducted much of his research at Stanford University’s Lane Medical Library, pouring over countless journal articles and books related to the history of medicine.
Seniors Kathy Fang and Ellen Guo also were hard at work conducting independent research on topics about which they are passionate.
The three students and five of their classmates were this year’s participants in Harker’s Near/Mitra scholars program, which is celebrating its 10th year. The program supports eight to 10 seniors in pursuing academically rigorous, independent research on a topic of their choice in U.S. history, literature, art, music and the social sciences. The student scholars are selected in the spring of their junior year, after which they work with one or two faculty mentors and a librarian to refine their research topics. The majority of their research is conducted over the summer, with additional research and writing continuing through the fall and winter. Their lengthy papers, similar to a college thesis, are published by Harker and presented at a reception in April.
Fang spent last summer at the University of Cambridge, the National Archives in London’s Kew Gardens and the Folger Institute in Washington, D.C., examining the portrayal of women and gender roles in Restoration adaptations of Shakespeare in light of the advent of actresses in public theaters. Her research led her to conclude that “women’s status in the public sphere was degraded by playwrights who created oversexualized female characters,” she said.
Meanwhile, Guo focused on examining bisexuality in the queer theory canon. She conducted a close read of Eve Sedgwick’s “Epistemology of the Closet” and then applied modern theorizing about bisexual identity and experience to the author’s theses. “This project has expanded my thinking beyond binary-isms and the limits of naturalized, Western thought,” she said.
The skills and lessons Near/Mitra scholars learn are varied, said library director Lauri Vaughan, who co-directs the program with history teacher Donna Gilbert. Overall, students strengthen their critical thinking, writing and reading comprehension skills through high-level interdisciplinary research. They also become more tenacious and resilient.
“We don’t give the Near/Mitra scholars a roadmap, so they undertake a big, messy process of truly organic research,” Vaughan said. “It becomes a personal journey of exploration.”
High-Level Research Support
Launched in 2009, the Near/Mitra scholars program is managed by the history department with support from the library. The John Near Excellence in History Endowment, founded in 2009, and the Mitra Family Endowment for the Humanities, added two years later, provide small grants to students to cover research expenses, such as travel costs, book purchases, and archive and library fees. The funds also have allowed Harker’s library to expand its student access to electronic databases essential for higher-level research. The first Near scholars were from the Class of 2011, making this the 10th year of senior research papers. Mitra scholars began submitting papers in 2012. Near/Mitra scholars can enjoy the comfort and privacy of the John Near Resource Room in Shah Hall, which is available to them as a study space.
John Near was a beloved history teacher at Harker until his death in 2009. His career spanned 31 years as a middle and upper school teacher, coach and department chair. His parents, Jim and Pat Near, together with his wife, Pam Dickinson, director of Harker’s Office of Communication, and his daughter, Casey Near ’06, established the Excellence in History Endowment according to John’s wishes.
“John’s vision was to promote professional development and pedagogical excellence in history education,” Gilbert said. “John wanted students to build research skills through a deeper dive into history.” To that end, she and former library director Sue Smith developed the scholars program, engaging librarians to guide the students in research skills and information literacy, as well as faculty members to serve as subject matter advisors.
“That first year, we worried no one would want to do it,” said Smith, noting that Near/Mitra is a research program with a level of rigor not often seen at the high school level. “But Harker being Harker, we have amazing students who have always embraced the love of learning.”
Six students were selected as Near scholars in the first two years of the program, completing papers on such topics as the suitability of military justice during the Vietnam War and Sino-American economic relations from 1972 to 1989.
In 2011, an endowment established by Harker parents Samir and Sundari Mitra expanded the program to include support for students who wished to conduct research in the humanities, including literature, art, music and the social sciences. The first Mitra scholar was Sarah Howells ’12, who wrote about Winston Churchill’s efforts to unify Britain from 1940 to 1941. Her paper won first place at the 2012 Churchill Research Paper competition at the University of Minnesota.
“This program transforms students from those waiting for teachers to take the lead into students who take the reins of their learning,” said upper school librarian Meredith Cranston, who has advised Near/Mitra scholars since 2011. “It’s so rewarding to see the delight in their eyes as they make discoveries and connections. The rise in their intellectual confidence is amazing to watch.”
The program emphasizes the process of conducting rigorous research and writing a lengthy paper; therefore, Near/Mitra scholars are not graded on their work, nor is there any monetary prize awarded to them.
“Because the program operates outside of the normal high school evaluation process, our students don’t have to focus on having achieved what they may think is success or failure based on a final grade,” said history teacher Damon Halback, who has mentored nine Near/Mitra scholars. “It’s more important that they learn what serious advanced academic scholarship looks like and achieve a level of critical thinking they can carry with them lifelong.”
Wide-Ranging Research Interests
Sixty-one Harker students have participated in the Near/Mitra scholars program in the first decade of its existence, and the research topics they’ve chosen have been as varied as the students themselves.
“As the program grew, we saw a rise in interdisciplinary interests,” said Smith, who retired from Harker last year. “That reflects students’ thinking that solving problems isn’t siloed in a singular field.”
Some Near/Mitra scholars have gone beyond expectations for their research. For example, Mitra scholar Shivani Mitra ’13 – the daughter of program benefactors – wrote a paper on artist Frida Kahlo. She traveled to Mexico City to visit museums and archives and communicated with one of Kahlo’s relatives. Near scholar Leon Lu ’19 talked his way into the Library of Congress to study the original works of his research subject, jazz bassist and composer Charles Mingus.Lu, a first-year student at Columbia University, said access to those materials was pivotal to his research.
“I got great perspective into Mingus’ temperament and how he approached writing music, including that every note he placed on the paper had meaning. It also gave me a portal into the Civil Rights era during which he was writing,” Lu said.
Mitra scholar Elisabeth Siegel ’16 wrote an algorithm to help her examine how news organizations used language to portray Palestinians during the summer of the 2014 offensive in Gaza. She then drew connections to an existing scholarly system about the impacts of colonialism.
“It was my first in-depth and focused look at Middle East politics,” she said. “I gained a lot of knowledge about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict that I was able to bring with me to college.” She is a senior international relations major at Yale University and her Mitra paper was published in the university’s Review of International Studies in March 2017.
Near/Mitra scholars agree that what makes the program so successful is the expertise and guidance of their faculty mentors and librarians.
Near scholar Andrew Rule ’17, a junior studying comparative literature and Chinese at Williams College, examined the coinciding of the increase in published Native American literature with the rise in activist movements between 1968 and 1978.
“My mentors taught me how to effectively construct and write an advanced academic argument,” he said. “I felt well prepared for comparative literature courses in college and had the expected ability to digest dense literary criticism, since I’d already done that in high school.”
Near scholar Kelsey Wu ’19, a first-year student at Harvard University, wrote about the role culture plays in the challenges faced by first-generation Chinese-American parents of autistic children. Her paper was awarded the Best Manuscript Award in the fall 2019 issue of The Harvard Undergraduate Research Journal.
Wu’s mentors were her “most valuable resources,” she said. “Beyond a deeper knowledge of my topic, I learned how to properly cite sources, how to avoid plagiarism and how to use keywords effectively to find the exact sources I needed. These are research skills I’m using in college.”
The gratitude for the program goes both ways, with mentors equally relishing their work with students. “Most teachers and librarians would say Near/Mitra is an incredible opportunity to work one-on-one with students,” Smith said. “That’s something we could never have foreseen when we began this program in 2009 – that it would become such a joy for faculty. It’s so rewarding to see that it’s blossomed into an amazing experience for everyone involved.”