Staff Updates – June 2009
– Alumna Lauren Ammatuna ’08 has been volunteering in the alumni office for several weeks. She is required to complete a three-unit community service activity for the University of Redlands and elected to help out the Harker alumni program. Terry Sweeney Walsh, alumni director, will be involving Ammatuna in alumni-related projects, tasks and planning.
– The Office of Communication has the good fortune to have Jessica Liu ’04 and Laena Keyashian ’04 helping out in between college and grad/med school. Those on campus will see them taking photographs, helping with interviews, etc. Please extend a warm Harker welcome to these two young women if you see them – it’s truly a “K through Life” experience to have some of our alumnae back in the fold for a while!
– Bucknall kitchen staffer Lupe Gonzalez delivered Daniela Gonzalez at 6 pounds, 4 ounces, 18 ½ inches long in the early afternoon of May 5. Congratulations!
– Soraya Alcantar will be stepping in as administrative assistant to Cindy Ellis, MS school division head, and Lana Morrison, MS dean of students, while Kelly Schlernitzauer, the current assistant, goes through some special training. “Soraya is very excited to join Harker and I know everyone will welcome her warmly,” said Ellis.
– Teacher Ruth Meyer is contributing a chapter, titled “Chronos vs. Kairos: A Plea for Restoration of Empathy and Imagination in History Teaching,” to “Reimagining Education: Essays on Reviving the Soul of Learning,” edited by Dennis Patrick Slattery and Jennifer Leigh Selig. Meyer, a US history teacher, noted the chapter will be a re-work of the education section of her Ph.D. dissertation and that the book is the publishing imprint of “Spring: A Journal of Archetype and Culture,” the oldest Jungian psychology journal in the world.
– Mark Gelineau, MS English teacher, will be per forming in the Shakespeare on the Square Festival in Arclight Repertory Theatre’s production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” this June. He plays the role of Bottom, one of the great Shakespearean comic roles. The show runs June 11-27 at the Theater on San Pedro Square; see www.arclightrep.org for details. In addition, Gelineau is volunteering as the educational outreach coordinator for Arclight and brought on Harker alumna Emily Stapleton MS ’93 as one of the teaching artists running the classes and assisting with the program.
“Arclight is a theater organization dedicated to bringing theater to audiences who might not traditionally be exposed to it,” said Gelineau. “They specialize in Shakespeare, but also focus on literary adaptations and suppor ting new and upcoming playwrights. They do work with schools, at-risk youth groups, community centers, etc. They started the Shakespeare on the Square Festival a few years ago, and it is the only Shakespeare festival in the city of San Jose. They are an amazing organization.”
– Congratulations to Katie Chou Hollier ’95 and husband Brian Hollier, on the birth of Louis Samuel Ming Shi Hollier the Fifth. The lad, called Sam, was born at 10 p.m. EDT, at 8 ½ pounds and 20 inches, and at the same moment Carol Zink, US history teacher, became a grandmother.
– Welcome Maya Esther Biton, who could not wait until after finals! Little Maya arrived on Friday, May 22 at 4:19 p.m. Congratulations to parents Lisa Biton-Rozakis, Latin teacher, and husband Yehiel Biton, on this new addition to their family!