This story was originally published in the Fall 2010 issue of Harker Quarterly
By Casey Near ’06
Alumni and Administrators Gather in San Francisco
Two dozen Harker alumni gathered for the second annual Northern California regional event Aug. 12 at District, a wine bar in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood. Attendees ranged from recent college graduates to established professionals; the guests found common ground reminiscing about their time at Harker, whether it was four years ago or 20! Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, spoke with the alumni about recent developments at Harker and visited with longtime friends and former students.
If you have photos you’d like to share, please e-mail alumni@harker.org.
Alumni Join Giammona for ‘80s Moment
There was an ’80s moment on June 25 when Kristen Giammona, elementary division head, held a mini-reunion at her house with people from her own class of 1981 as well as alumni from 1980 and 1982.
“Miss Kelly [Espinosa, director of summer programs] joined us because many of us worked with her when we were summer camp counselors,” said Giammona. “Everyone brought food and drink to share. We had a great time catching up and reconnecting.”
This story was originally published in the Fall 2010 issue of Harker Quarterly
Tara Chandra ’06 graduated from Columbia University in economics, political science and music performance in 2008. After spending a brief time in the financial field, she returned to her true passion, performing. She recently moved from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, where she is pursuing a career as a singer and songwriter.
Q: When you were at Harker, did you dream of doing what you do now? A: Yes, I’ve never not dreamed of being a performer! I’m so proud and grateful to have participated in Harker’s Conservatory certificate program under Catherine Snider, Laura Lang-Ree and Chris Florio.
Q: What do you find most exciting about your career or current project? A: The music and the performance trump everything. But these days, there is a huge do-it-yourself aspect to being a musician, and I really enjoy the entrepreneurial prowess required. I’ve also come to love the uncertainty and instability; the not knowing used to be frightening, but I’ve come to find it exciting.
Q: What personal traits make you successful at what you’re doing? A: My impatience and my tendency not to trust that everything will work out for the best. Impatience and efficiency stem from the same place within me, the place that refuses to let me sit still or rely on others to help me move forward. Ambition, drive, efficiency and impatience all share the same roots.
Similarly, my belief that you make your own luck, and that nine out of 10 people will fail to deliver, has ensured that I am always working on several tasks at once. I don’t believe in being “discovered”; I don’t hope that I’ll be that rare case of overnight success. I try to work diligently and determinedly, and I always prepare a backup plan for when something doesn’t come through. It’s harder to get discouraged when you value your actions over attributes.
Q: What in your life took you the longest time to learn? A: Patience and trusting everything will work out for the best. I’m a Type A personality in an industry plagued by flakiness and uncertainty. I’m often forced to wait on other people – the musicians accompanying me, DJs and record labels wading through piles of CDs before seeing my stuff, etc. I’ve had to learn to be grateful when things go well and to be calm when they don’t. I’ve had to learn the only things you can control in life are your attitude and your effort. Managing your expectations of yourself, others and life in general is definitely a lesson we are fated to learn over and over again!
Q: What’s on the top of your personal and professional “lists” right now? A: There are so many musicians out there right now – the competition is fierce and the exposure opportunities are limited. I’m focusing on playing as many shows as possible right now, while reaching out to DJs, radio stations, magazines and music bloggers. Hopefully, I’ll get bigger and better bookings.
Q: Tell us something surprising about yourself. A: I love investing! I started buying stocks as soon as I turned 18 and made enough to pay off my college loans and travel the world for four months after college.
Q: What advice do you have for current Harker students? A: At Harker, I was part of a closeknit community of caring teachers and intelligent, passionate and diverse students. I was supported and encouraged by the faculty, challenged and inspired by my peers. This is a very rare thing and should definitely be appreciated. No matter where you go to college, find a community for yourself, and try to keep in touch with all your Harker friends! They’re some of the best people you’ll ever know.
[Football Update]
The Eagles triumphed, again, Friday evening, over Capuchino this time, 27-6, making them 6-0! Quarterback Rishi Bhatia, grade 12, had a hand in all 27 points, accumulating 228 yards passing and 117 yards rushing. Senior Gautam Krishnamurthi pulled in 150 yards receiving, while Eagles sophomore Michael Chen had 10 tackles. Go Eagles!
Football
Harker varsity football cleaned up California School for the Deaf 23-0 Oct. 1 and set a school record by going 5-0 to start the season. Linebacker Greg Cox, grade 12, intercepted a tipped pass in the first half, and classmate cornerback Alex Kablanian returned another interception 26 yards for a touchdown. Safety Gautam Krishnamurthi, grade 12, had three interceptions and took one back 55 yards for a score. The Tri-City Voice published more details.
The week before, in pre-league play, the team topped Lynbrook 19-6 with quarterback Rishi Bhatia, grade 12, running for one touchdown and throwing for another to Cox. Krishnamurthi sealed the victory with a 53-yard interception return for a touchdown in the final minute of the game. The boys have their last home game before homecoming this Friday, Oct. 8, against Capuchino High. Senior Appreciation Night for football will take place prior to the contest.
Volleyball
Varsity volleyball continued their impressive season with victories over San Lorenzo Valley and Silver Creek, along with strong play at the Cupertino Classic Tournament. At the tournament the girls won their pool and advanced to the Gold Division. They posted victories over Mills, Sobrato and Fremont, with their only losses coming to eventual tournament champion Burlingame and Valley Christian. Their record is now 13-2.
Cross Country
The team competed last weekend at the Stanford Invitational, one of the largest cross country races in the country. The boys placed 30th and the girls 23rd. Tyler Yeats, grade 10, ran the team’s fastest time at 18:36 and Claudia Tischler, grade 9, was the fastest girl, finishing at 20:52. In their first league meet last week at San Bruno Mountain Park, the girls team placed third, with Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 10, running 18:59 and placing fourth in the league. The boys team took fourth at the meet and Yeats ran 16:59. Their next event is this Saturday at the Crystal Springs Invitational.
Golf
The girls have had five matches in the last two weeks, starting and finishing with losses, but with three straight wins in between. Starting with a tough loss to Castilleja School and a big win over Notre Dame San Jose 247-271, they were led by Katie Liang, grade 12, who shot an impressive 46. The squad went on to beat Menlo and Mercy before dropping to Sacred Heart Prep. The next games are rematches against Castilleja on Wed., Oct. 6, and Notre Dame next Tuesday. The girls have important matches this week against Menlo and Mercy Burlingame.
Water Polo
Girls water polo last week earned their first victory of the season, defeating Cupertino in a league match 12-5. Keri Clifford, grade 10 and Cindy Shwe, grade 12, looked impressive with four goals apiece. The team was blanked 0-3 in some close games last weekend at the Carmel Invitational, though Clifford had seven goals and Sierra Lincoln had 22 goal saves. The girls JV team traveled to Monte Vista for a tournament last weekend and went 3-0. They won big games over Valley Christian, Castilleja and Homestead.
The boys water polo team improved to 7-5 after two huge victories over Cupertino and Santa Clara and a loss to Lynbrook. In the Cupertino match, Chris Ng, grade 12, led the team with four goals. Against Santa Clara, Ng again led the team with six goals, supported by Rex Chen, grade 12, with three and Gilad Nilo, grade 10, with one.
Tennis
The girls tennis team has had a busy schedule, winning four and losing two in the last 10 days. The victories came over Presentation and Priory, both 7-0, and Pinewood and Sacred Heart Prep, both 5-2, with tough losses to Archbishop Mitty High School 2-5 and Monta Vista High School 0-7. Now 6-2 as of this week, the team is at home against Castilleja and visiting at Notre Dame. Go Eagles!
The 60th Harker Family and Alumni Picnic, titled Peace Love Picnic, danced through a warm afternoon, the sound of Harker choirs and bands blending with the chatter of young and old enjoying a perfect end-of-summer day on the ’60s-themed Blackford campus.
The picnic featured a special “Birthday Boulevard” to celebrate the anniversary of former school president Howard Nichols’ birthday and, for the first time, the lower school choir and combination lower and middle school jazz band took to the stage to entertain picnickers. All three campuses’ performing arts groups, along with a magician and storyteller, kept the stage hopping the whole day.
Mary Hyver (Ben, grade 5; Emma, grade 3), a new family to Harker, was strolling the blacktop with husband, Scott, and two smaller children enjoying the picnic for the first time. “There is plenty to do for the kids,” she said. The family was anticipating watching Ben perform with the lower and middle school jazz band later.
Middle schoolers were there to see and be seen. Selin Ekici, grade 7, has been attending Harker since grade 3 and attends picnics regularly. “It has just always been really fun,” she said, “I’m mainly here to see everybody.”
Ekici was accompanied by classmate Chloe van den Dries, who said she was there to “play the games and eat food. I just like to come and walk, to watch the crowds.”
Plenty of upper school students were evident. Sean Knudsen, grade 9, at the picnic to perform with Bel Canto, and wearing his football jersey (varsity won Friday night, bringing their record to 6-0) was wandering the picnic area with a friend, just checking things out.
“I’m here to support my cousin,” said Apurva Gorti, grade 9. “He’s singing.” Otherwise, she said, “I’m just here to be with my friends, just hang. My brother is over there, and he’s in kindergarten, so he came for all the games and rides and he’s having a really good time.”
As an alum and now a mom, Preete Bhanot ’88, attending with her two children (Keshav, grade 2; Priya grade 4) has a few picnics behind her. “I love it!” she said of the picnic. “I have been bringing (the children) since Priya was in kindergarten – we come every year. This year, with her children on stage in the choir, “we ate and we watched their performance, which was really cool – this was the first time they have performed in it.”
Priya said she loves winning prizes, but her favorite activity is dunking the teachers at the dunk tank. Keshav said he was there for the rock climbing.
The stage was never empty for long and at 3:30 the ’60s Dance Party began to wind up the day. The grand prize drawing for $10,000 was at 4 p.m.; watch for the full story on winners in the next few days!
The UCLA marching band took to Harker’s Davis Field for pre-game practice this morning. The band, in town for the football game between UCLA and UC Berkeley, ran drills from 9 a.m. to noon, as Harker students and faculty stopped by between classes to watch the fun!
The band’s director, Gordon Henderson, stays in touch with members of Harker’s performing arts and library faculty who are alumni of the UCLA Marching band: Laura Lang Ree, performing arts director; Chris Florio, orchestra director; Dave Hart, middle school music teacher; and Lara Hubel, upper school library clerk. The San Jose Mercury News covered the visit in today’s publication.
This story was originally published in the Fall 2010 issue of Harker Quarterly
Harker Athletes Excel at Summer Sports
For Harker athletes who wanted to stay in shape during the summer there was a plethora of options. These ranged from sportspecific camps and practices to the Eagle Iron program, which is open to all students. The goal of these offerings is not only to help athletes stay in peak physical condition but to prepare them for the upcoming seasons so that they are ready to compete at the top of their game.
Eagle Iron
Every year upper school athletes participate in the Eagle Iron summer training program.This year, Theresa Smith, middle school athletic director, ran the program with the help of coaches Karriem Stinson and Ron Forbes.
The group met every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from mid-June to the end of July, 9 a.m. to noon. Almost 100 athletes attended at least once over the summer, with most participating on a regular basis.
It’s a demanding program. “The athletes were put through an extensive dynamic warm-up to get ready, and then we’d break into three groups and work on specific drills,” said Smith. “Those drills were focused on developing speed, agility, quickness, jumping ability and conditioning.”
After drills, volleyball players did sport-specific training with Smith, and the rest of the athletes lifted weights with Forbes and Stinson.
Tara Rezvani, grade 10, attended every session to prepare for this year’s volleyball season. She felt the coaches were essential to her success throughout the summer. “They focused on mixing it up a lot so the drills would not become monotonous,” she said. “They also paid attention to each individual athlete and gave us personal advice on how to get the most out of each exercise.”
“It is great the school has a program that allows athletes to get and stay in shape over the long summer,” said Gautam Krishnamurthi, grade 12. “I encourage every athlete to come for this program as it really works wonders.”
Wrestling
Jason Mendel and Chris McCallaCreary, both grade 12, competed extensively throughout the summer. At the state finals McCallaCreary took fifth in Greco- Roman and was in the top 10 in freestyle. Mendel placed fourth in freestyle. Both qualified for the California team this summer and, as a result, went to Fargo, N.D., to compete in the national tournament, where McCallaCreary got his first win at the national level.
Football
The football team was especially busy this summer with a camp, a passing league and double days. Since football began soon after the first day of school, it was important that the players started getting ready for the season during the summer.
The team continued the tradition of attending a weeklong camp at Oregon’s Willamette University in June. Head coach Karriem Stinson stated that the reason they have attended this camp year after year is that Willamette uses the same offense as Harker. This similarity allows players to work at college-level facilities with the accompanying level of instruction and apply it directly to their play in the coming season. Harker was joined at this camp by the Alaskan state champion football team as well as some tough teams from Sacramento and Sacred Heart Prep, making it an extremely competitive environment.
At the end of the camp several athletes were presented awards in recognition of their excellent performances throughout the week in their positions. Four Harker seniors were recognized: David Wu, sweeper; Jerry Shteynberg, lineman; Gautam Krishnamurthi, wide receiver; and Rishi Bhatia, quarterback.
Harker also started a summer passing league for schools in the area. Some of the teams who participated were Cupertino, Archbishop Mitty, Los Altos and Serra. Teams played each other in seven-on-seven matches throughout the summer to work on plays and stay in shape. Harker ended the summer with a 13-3 record, which is impressive considering their competition was some of the best in the area.
The team also competed in a passing tournament at Stanford University where they took the Consolation B championship.
At the end of the summer the team had mandatory practices twice a day, really gearing up to prepare for the school season.
Basketball
The boys and girls basketball teams worked hard this summer in order to stay in top form. Both teams madehuge strides in their skills and abilities.
The varsity boys team, which includes students in grades 9-12, competed in a number of tournaments as well as the William C. Overfelt summer league. Their record was an impressive 7-3 in league play and 15-7 overall.
They had an especially impressive showing at the San Jose State University summer tournament, with wins over South San Francisco, James Lick, Menlo Atherton, Los Altos and James Logan. Their only loss was to Archbishop Mitty in the semifinals. The team ended up in third place, an impressive finale considering that most of the schools they were competing against have between 1,500 and 3,500 students.
The frosh-soph team gained a great deal of experience in practices and games while playing in the Los Gatos league.
The girls team held open gyms throughout the beginning of the summer. These practices were open to all interested students. Though their numbers may have been small, this gave each player a lot of face time with coaches and opportunities to work on their skills.
In addition to open gym the girls team participated in a summer league for the first time. They played two games a week, and coach Alfredo Alves was excited that it gave them a chance “to build chemistry and tune up for the upcoming 2010-11 season.” They also played against teams that they had never seen before. In their third to last game of the season they lost a nail biter to one of the best teams in the league. This was not all bad news as the loss inspired them to do better, and they finished off the summer with two big wins.
Michelle Markiewicz, grade 12, said, “It felt really good to have the team practically all together again and gave us each opportunities to improve on our skills and teamwork overall.”
Volleyball
This year marked the 13th summer that open gym volleyball has been offered. This year’s coed open gym volleyball was held every Monday and Wednesday night.
The gym was open to athletes ranging from those entering grade 6 to alumni.
Each night three courts were open with players divided based on their abilities. On most nights each court had more than 50 players, leading to a lot of fun for everybody.
Open gym began with warm-ups and proceeded to “a variety of scrimmagetype games, including six-on-six,” said coach Theresa Smith.
Cheerleading
For the first time, several of Harker’s cheerleaders attended a United Cheer Association camp this summer at U.C. Davis. The camp ran from August 14-17 and was a great way for the cheerleaders to get ready for the upcoming year.
A typical day at the camp included “jump classes, stunt classes, learning dance routines and cheers, dance/cheer/sideline evaluations, cheerrelated games, private coaching, jump and cheer competitions, and team bonding activities,” according to captain Saira Ahuja, grade 11.
While only three Harker students attended, they were honored with a host of awards. Jessica Lin, grade 11, “tried out for the All-American Cheer team and made it, which means that she received a medal as well as the opportunity to cheer in Europe over Christmas break,” said Ahuja. Ahuja, along with co-captain Amanda King, grade 12, was offered the opportunity to perform in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. As a group Harker’s cheer team was awarded the superior award and the spirit award at the end of camp in recognition of their performance.
Soccer
Coach Troy Thiele held open field soccer practices for the girls soccer team. As a team they decided to focus on three areas this summer: speed, strength and soccer-specific skills.
They were aided in this endeavor twice a week by Ron Forbes, who gave them specific tips to improve the mechanics of their running. The open field was a place “where players who were available could play soccer [and] bond before the season starts in the winter,” according to Monisha Appalaraju, grade 12.
Golf
Maverick McNealy, grade 10, did well this summer representing Harker’s golf program. Not only did he win a Junior Golf tournament, but he also tied for 12th in the Junior World Championships.
More Sports News
It was recently announced that Harker was awarded state academic championships in football, boys wrestling and boys swimming. Harker and a school in Southern California were the only three-team winners in the state!
At press time the varsity football team is 1-0 having won/lost their home opener against San Jose High on Sept. 3 14-6. Boys water polo was 2-1 after their tournament in Monterey on Sept. 4, and girls water polo to date has had victories over Evergreen Valley (3-0) and Santa Teresa (3-1). Girls volleyball won their season opener at Mount Pleasant in three sets and is currently 1-0.
Harker is extremely proud of all of the athletes who trained and competed this summer. We would like to give special recognition to Gautam Krishnamurthi, football and basketball player, and Tara Rezvani, volleyball, who have the honor of being Harker’s official “athletes of the summer.” They were nominated based on their work at Eagle Iron, where neither missed a single day, and the summer’s various open gyms and camps. Congratulations to them and good luck to all our athletes in the coming year.
This story was originally published in the Fall 2010 issue of Harker Quarterly After more than 18 months of planning, which included the participation of over 580 members of the Harker community, the conceptual design of the Saratoga campus is complete.
This milestone could not have been reached without the generosity of a small group of seed investors; their funds are subsidizing the architectural drawings and the accompanying petition to rezone the Saratoga campus.
The major benefit that will result from the rezoning is that we will be able to build three stories high, four if we go underground, resulting in saving precious green open space for our students and families.
In addition to funding the architectural and permitting fees, the seed investors’ funds will be used to estimate the cost of the project and to cover fundraising expenses.
Annual Giving Pledge Week
Remember to make your Annual Giving pledge by Oct. 10 and be entered in the drawing to win a Napa weekend getaway!
Your contribution to the Annual Giving Campaign supports every single one of our students by helping to fund our many exceptional programs.
Parent Volunteer Breakfasts
As school began, each campus held breakfasts to welcome parents to the new year and show them the many exciting volunteering opportunities available to them. The first such event took place Aug. 23 at the Blackford campus’ multipurpose room. Approximately 150 middle school parents arrived to enjoy a morning meal and visit the tables set up by the various departments. The lower school breakfast on Aug. 27 was held at the Bucknall campus gym and attended by approximately 150 parents, who chatted with other enthusiastic volunteers and signed up to become volunteers themselves. The upper school event was attended by about 50 parents, who gathered at Nichols Hall on Sept. 2. All events featured fresh breakfasts, congenial company and a conversational atmosphere.
This story was originally published in the Fall 2010 issue of Harker Quarterly
This year Harker offered a triple treat for athletes: soccer, swim and tennis camps all ran throughout the summer, and campers of all ages and skill levels attended. Each camp was handcrafted by its director and offered goals tailored to the athletes’ needs.
Soccer
This dynamic camp was directed by upper school boys varsity soccer coach Shaun Tsakiris, a UCLA MVP nominee and national champion team member.
Each camp ran for a week, 9 a.m. to noon, and gave kids a chance to work on virtually all aspects of their game. Tsakiris worked hard to ensure that the athletes stayed focused on soccer.
He said the goal was to hold “an active, soccer-specific camp.” The highlight of the June camp came when Joe Cannon, goalkeeper for the San Jose Earthquakes, visited the group. He talked soccer to the campers, signed autographs and presented a banner to the player of the week.
“It was a good experience to talk to a guy who plays professional soccer,” said Alex Courdillon, a grade 8 student at Miller Middle School. “You learn a little bit more about how you can prepare to become a great soccer player. It’s really inspirational.”
Swimming
This year’s Harker Summer Aquatic Program was a hit with kids and parents alike. Offerings included swim lessons and a swim camp, with enough free swim time to keep the spirit of summer going. Over half the participants were from schools other than Harker, and meeting new swimmers was one of the highlights for campers.
The lessons were 30 minutes long, scheduled a week at a time. Students chose individual, semiprivate or group lessons, but lessons weren’t all work. “Having my free time and playing in the water,” was great, said Terman Middle School grade 6 student Leonard Wong, “and swimming [lessons are] also good. My mom says I’m getting a lot of exercise.”
The swim camp was a two-week program aimed at middle school students and focused on fitness and water safety. It included physical training, classroom learning and skills instruction. In the classroom, the kids learned part of the American Red Cross GuardStart program, covering topics such as responding in an emergency and the prevention of aquatic accidents.
Tennis
The Harker/Oakwood Tennis Training System (HOTTS) and Harker Tennis Camp are taught by Harker’s varsity coach Craig Pasqua. The tennis camp focuses on skills for beginning and intermediate players, while the HOTTS camp is geared more towards higher level players. Both operate at the Oakwood tennis courts located less than a block from the Blackford campus. With the two programs, Harker is able to offer a summer tennis experience to players of all skill levels that is both challenging and fun.
This year, there were about 30 HOTTS students each week, ages 10-18, filling all five courts and giving athletes a wide range of competitors and plenty of court time. A typical day involved complex drills and games, following a weekly cycle with instruction and drills three days a week and competitions on Thursday (boys) and Friday (girls).
By devoting an entire day to matches with clubs from around the area, players had a chance to gain valuable competition experience “that can be hard to obtain outside of extremely competitive tournaments,” said Pasqua. “For many of the kids in the HOTTS program this is the first time they have ever played a competitive match.”
All three camps aim to help students become athletes and develop sportsmanship skills in a fun, challenging environment, and, as usual, mission accomplished!
The third year of the Gallon Jug Contest saw another collection of creative entries from grade 4 and 5 students. The contest is a math class challenge requiring students to create gallon guys, gallon gals, animals and other objects using divisions of a gallon (such as four quarts, eight pints and so on). Winners were separated into two categories, one for creativity and one for functionality, or how well the creation showed the relationship between the measurements. This year’s winners, all grade 4, are: Compass, Henry Wong; Native American Girl, Alexandra Lu; Harker Eagle, Nikhil Dharmaraj; Caterpillar, Ally Wang.
Almost 50 Harker community members joined more than 73,000 volunteers in late September on the California coast for the 26th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day (CCCD), hosted by the California Coastal Commission.
Inspired by this year’s lower school theme of compassion, parent volunteer Kelly Lewis Brezoczky (Emma, grade 5; Charlotte, grade 3) suggested that Harker participate in the coastal clean-up. “This fits in with compassion for others,” said Joe Connolly, lower school dean of students, noting the importance of instilling a sense of service among the students.
CCCD is part of a larger grassroots movement, the International Coastal Cleanup, and was only one of 100 countries that dedicated Sept. 25 to removing millions of pounds of trash from beaches and waterways.
Brezoczky coordinated Harker’s participation through the Marine Science Institute in Redwood City, and service and spirit club advisor Katie Molin invited grade 4 and 5 families to help pick up debris littered across Pillar Point and Pilarcitos Creek in Half Moon Bay.
Families walked along the shoreline and collected aluminum cans, cigarette butts and pieces of broken glass. The Ocean Conservancy, one of the event’s many sponsors, awarded Molin’s daughter Naomi, grade 7, with a T-shirt for finding the most unusual piece of litter in the area – a large plastic net.
“The students were excited to be helping the environment by collecting candy wrappers and other paper trash, as well as by finding an old tent and two shopping carts in the creek,” Molin said. “There seems to be a lot of student interest at the lower school in helping with such projects, so I’m sure that a future event would be equally well-attended and successful.”
Brezoczky said that working at Pilarcitos Creek for the second half of the morning gave students a chance to see how trash makes its way to the ocean. “The students got so excited when they found so much trash in the creek that they wanted to go back and continue cleaning up after we finished!” she said.