This summer, Harker’s upper school journalism department created the Humans of Harker Magazine, which arrived in the Harker community’s mailboxes in July, as a tribute to the Class of 2020. It features photos and small profiles of students from each of the 2020 senior advisories, as well as special messages from upper school head Butch Keller, dance teacher and Class of 2020 dean Karl Kuehn and alumni director Kristina Alaniz.
The magazine is named after the series of videos produced profiling members of the senior class and was conceived at the start of editor-in-chief Saloni Shah’s junior year. “As Humans of Harker editor-in-chief, I discussed my vision for Humans of Harker with Ms. Austin,” said Shah, now a rising senior. “In addition to its multi-platform content, I brought up the possibility of creating Humans of Harker’s own publication, a magazine.”
With the onset of shelter-in-place orders in the spring, production of the magazine went ahead to honor the Class of 2020, which faced extraordinary circumstances as COVID-19 caused nationwide school closures. “Our journalism staff wanted to pay tribute to the Class of 2020 and bring the community together during these unprecedented times,” said Shah.
Lead designer Anoushka Buch, a rising senior, arranged the student photos and profiles and the pages were designed and laid out by Buch and Talon yearbook staffers Nilisha Baid, Shreya Srinivasan and Helen Zhu, all rising seniors.
According to Shah, the magazine has been very well-received. “I’ve received so much love from our entire community whether it be students, alumni or even parents,” she said. “Alumni have told me how much the magazine means to them, especially since they were unable to experience the end of their high school career with their best friends; students have expressed their gratitude at being able to learn more about their peers and parents have emphasized their joy of seeing their children featured and recognized.”
This story originally appeared in the spring/summer 2020 issue of Harker Magazine.
Chadwick Manning ’04 is an entrepreneur working to solve big problems, from tackling global energy challenges to helping people quit vaping. He’s making an impact on the planet and on people – and he’s just getting started.
Manning’s Harker journey began in elementary school, where he remembers learning about the stock market in Bill Boss’ fourth grade math class. Boss would give students paper money and teach them how to invest and then throw parties when the stock market hit 10,000. These joyful celebrations are one of Manning’s favorite Harker memories. He also fondly remembers his grade 5 teacher, Pat Walsh.
“Chad was high energy, very positive and had what I love in a student: drive, enthusiasm and appreciation,” said Walsh, who is now retired. “He was respectful and often very humorous; he was hard not to like – a lot.”
Manning attended Harker from grades 3-8 before heading to Bellarmine College Preparatory.
“One of things I appreciated most about Harker is that [teachers] really empowered us to be independent and curious,” said Manning. “They Alumnus making an impact on the planet and on people through two different startups impact encouraged us to ask questions, seek answers and take education into our own hands.”
It’s an approach that Manning, a serial entrepreneur, has taken throughout his life.
While attending the University of San Diego, where he earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting, Manning founded his first startup – Torero Laundry Services, an on-campus pickup/drop-off laundry service. Although he got a taste of entrepreneurship, he decided to take a job at PricewaterhouseCoopers after college.
“[Working at PwC] was an invaluable experience, because I learned about how companies were formed, how to read a term sheet and how to structure deals,” remembered Manning. “But to be honest, I hated it and after three years of too many 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. days, I realized I needed to make a change.”
Manning left PwC to work for a couple of startups before starting ElectrIQ. As he saw the world become ever more reliant on technology, he realized that home batteries would become more essential and didn’t see anyone integrating batteries and a power source with intelligent software. He saw a business opportunity to create a smart home battery backup system to help consumers save on electricity costs and protect against blackouts. That’s when he created a two-page business plan and asked a friend to introduce him to Jim Lovewell, an electrical engineer and mad scientist. The two raised $10 million in seed financing and ElectricIQ was launched.
“I was always interested in renewable energy,” said Manning. “So I decided to follow my dreams because I figured that you might as well fail at something you love than hate.”
Manning was recognized for his work by Forbes “30 Under 30” list and also was named a Grist 50 honoree. Grist, which describes itself as an independent, irreverent news outlet, “scour[s] the sustainability space to find up-and-coming people doing potentially game-changing work,” according to its website.
And life-changing work is happening all over the globe. In Haiti, ElectrIQ donated two systems to a school in Cité Solée in Port-au-Prince that allows more than 400 students to receive an education; in Puerto Rico, right after the hurricanes, the company donated another two systems that helped many families keep their power on.
ElectrIQ is still going strong, but Manning left to pursue a new cause.
He had started vaping and wanted to quit, so this past March he launched Fluux, a digital health company, to help people moderate their usage and ultimately quit.
“I love what I’m doing now because I always felt like a cog in a machine at larger companies,” said Manning. “It takes a lot of persistence and many failures before you find success, but when I realized that I’m really good at taking risks and getting people to believe in crazy ideas, I never looked back.”
Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective.
In the final winner announcement of the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, 2020 graduate Zara Vakath was named a winner of college-sponsored scholarship from Claremont McKenna College. The final total of Harker scholarship winners stands at 23. Congratulations to all this year’s winners!
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June 3, 2020:
On Wednesday, recent graduates Quentin Clark, Eric Fang, Lila Gorman, Phillip Han, Nathan Sudeep and Anthony Xu were named winners of college-sponsored scholarships in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, bringing the total number of Harker scholarship winners to 22. Another round of winners is set to be announced in July.
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May 13, 2020:
Today, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the second round of winners in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, and 11 Harker seniors are among them. They are: Kathy Fang, David Feng, Jeffrey Fung, Alyssa Huang, Sahil Jain, Allison Jia, Eileen Li, Kyle Li, Jack Pearce, Thomas Rainow and Bryan Wang. These students are among 2,500 high school seniors chosen to receive National Merit $2,500 Scholarships. More winners are set to be announced in June and July.
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April 28, 2020:
Last week, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced the first round of winners of 2020 National Merit scholarships, and seniors Rohan Cherukuri, Mahika Halepete, Madison Huynh, Jessica Jiang and Nellie Tonev were named winners of corporate-sponsored scholarships. Each of the students had reached the finalist portion of the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Competition. The next three rounds of winners will be announced in May, June and July.
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Sept. 24, 2019:
Earlier this month, 63 seniors were named semifinalists in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program, placing them among the 16,000 high school students who make up less than 1 percent of the more than 1.5 million students who entered the contest as juniors last year. Students enter each year by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT). This year’s National Merit semifinalists are:
Prerana Acharyya, Jai Bahri, Nakul Bajaj, Martin Bourdy, Katelyn Chen, Evan Cheng, Andrew Cheplyansky, Rohan Cherukrui, Quentin Clark, Rishi Dange, Eric Fang, Kathy Fang, David Feng, Finn Frankis, Lauren Fu, Jeffrey Fung, Lila Gorman, Ellen Guo, Mahika Halepete, Phillip Han, Alyysa Huang, Madison Huynh, Rashmi Iyer, Sahil Jain, Allison Jia, Jessica Jiang, Matthew Jin, Annebelle Ju, Montek Kalsi, Naviya Kapadia, Jatin Kohli, Jeffrey Kwan, Shyl Lamba, Max Lee, Eileen Li, Kyle Li, Emily Liu, Carolyn Lu, Vani Mohindra, Kalyan Narayanan, Rakesh Nori, Sana Pandey, Jack Pearce, Thomas Rainow, Sanjay Rajasekharan, Amla Rashingkar, Chaitanya Ravuri, Sachin Shah, Nikhil Sharma, Rohan Sonecha, Nathan Sudeep, Christine Tang, Michael Tang, Anika Tiwari, Nellie Tonev, Jin Tuan, Nerine Uyanik, Zara Vakath, Bryan Wang, Nathan Wang, Anthony Xu, Jacqueline Yang and Jeffrey Yang.
Additionally, 72 seniors were named commended students for their outstanding performance on the PSAT/NMSQT:
Arjun Akkiraju, Kai Ming Ang, Kenya Aridomi, Ekdatha Arramreddy, Vibha Arramreddy, Anvi Banga, Ryan Brown, Darshan Chahal, Gabriel Chai, Eva Chang, Cynthia Chen, Emily Chen, Kevin Chen, Emily Cheng, Henry Cuningham, Kaitlyn Dai, Reiya Das, Jeremy Ding, Mihir Dixit, Sidharth Dudyala, Roni Gagneja, Nina Gee, Anna Gert, Aditi Ghalsasi, Avi Gulati, Aarzu Gupta, Grace Hajjar, Jack Hansen, Richard Hu, Grace Huang, Jedd Hui, Vishnu Jaisim, Arnav Joshi, Nikhita Karra, Mahi Kolla, Sejal Krishnan, Asmit Kumar, Allison Lee, Emma Li, Bennett Liu, Jeffrey Liu, Annie Ma, Grant Miner, Naveen Mirapuri, Shomrik Mondal, Natashad Moorajani, Arushi Nety, Karthik Nukala, Jason Pan, Gina Partridge, Sriya Prathfuri, William Rainow, Ahsna Reddy, Riva Saksena, Anu Selvaraj, Mihir Sharma, Anjali Sheth, Rani Sheth, Alexander Shing, Anthony Shing, Neal Sidhu, Arun Sundaresan, Larissa Tyagi, Smriti Vaidyanathan, Joshua Valluru, Ramanand Vegesna, Katelyn Vo, Jessie Wang, Henry Wiese, Alicia Xu, Catherine Zhao and Joshua Zhou.
Altogether, Harker’s National Merit semifinalists and commended students comprise 68% of the Class of 2020!
At the end of each school year, Harker recognizes longtime employees with the presentation of gold pins for five-year full-time employees and a diamond inset for every five years thereafter. This year’s 67 recipients, honored at a ceremony on Thursday, are:
Five years Adam Albers – Pastry Chef, Food Service
Johnny Castro – Custodian ll, Facilities
Anuradha Datar – Computer Science Teacher, Upper School
Miran Eldeeb – Mathematics Teacher, Middle School
Christopher Hurshman – English Teacher, Upper School
Abigail Joseph – LID Director, Middle School
Mark Kocina – Photographer, Office of Communications
Christine Larita – Kitchen Aide, Food Service
Patty Marsette – Academic Counselor, Lower School
Sheva Momenian – Mathematics Teacher, Upper School
RaeAnn Prado – Assistant to College Counseling, Upper School
Erik Ruiz – Custodian, Facilities
Ronald Spitalere – Kitchen Aide ll, Food Service
Byron Stevens – History Teacher, Upper School
Mira Vojvodic – Mathematics Teacher, Lower School
10 years Tere Aceves – Director of Endowment Funding, Advancement
Greg Achten – Speech and Debate Teacher, Middle and Upper School
Meredith Cranston – Campus Librarian, Upper School
Nicole Hall – Administrative Services Manager
David Hart – Instrumental Music Teacher, Upper School
Samantha Hipol – Cook ll, Food Service
Kelly Horan – Academic Dean, Upper School
Mark Janda – History Teacher, Upper School
Sam Lepler, Business and Entrepreneurship Teacher, Upper School
Corey Newton – Internet Technology Services and Support Coordinator, Tech Department
Heather Russell – Grade 3 English Teacher, Lower School
Amira Townzen– Asst. Director Enrichment and Supervision, Lower School
15 years Miguel Aguilar – Custodian ll, Facilities Dept.
Mark Brada – Physics Teacher, Upper School
Enni Chen – Science Teacher, Lower School
Carlos Rojas Esquivel – Lead Groundskeeper, Facilities Department
Walid Fahmy – Physical Education Teacher, Lower School
Irene Gary – Payroll Specialist, Business Office
Melinda Gonzales – Director of the Annual Fund, Advancemenet
Maria Guadalupe Gonzales – Food Service
Carol Green – History Teacher, Upper School
Danielle Holquin – Director of Admission
Shaun Kelly Jahshan – Mandarin Teacher, Upper School
Lori Kohan – Academic Counselor, Upper School
Kevin Lum Lung – College Counselor, Upper School
Carlos Madrigal – Cook, Food Service
Dan Molin – Athletics Director, Upper School
Rodolfo Molina – Custodian, Facilities Dept.
Aarthi Ragupathy – Corporate Budget Manager ERP Administrator, Finance
Kimberly Sandoval – Kindergarten Teacher, Lower School
Jennifer Sandusky – Vocal Music Teacher, Upper School
Eileen Schick – Mathematics Lab Teacher, Lower School
Preeti Sharan – Information Systems Lead, Tech Department
Grace Wallace – Teacher and Grades 1-2 Department Chair, Lower School
20 years Evan Barth – Division Head, Middle School
Bob Benge – Copy Center Manager
Jeremiah Brewer – Physical Education Teacher, Middle School
Jeffrey Draper – Theater Teacher, Upper School
Danny Dunn – K-5 Technical Director
Kerry Enzensperger – Director of Community Service, Upper School
Jesse Lara – Director, Information Technology, PK-12
Marissa Lucketti – Human Resources Manager
Maria Parry – Security Officer
Bradley Stoll – Mathematics Teacher, Upper School
Jeff Sutton- Biology Teacher, Upper School
Kevin Williamson – Dean of Students, Upper School
25 years Darrin Cassidy – Assistant Director, Food Service
Diann Chung – Admission Director Lower School
Kathy Clark – Campus Librarian Lower School
Laura Lang-Ree – Director, Performing Arts, K-12
30 years Pete Anderson – Physical Education Department Chair, Grades 6-8
Gail Palmer – Dance Director, K-8 Lead Performing Arts Teacher
Theresa “Smitty” Smith – Athletic Director, Grades 4-8
Earlier this month, brothers Hassaan and Senan Ebrahim – graduates of the classes of 2011 and 2008, respectively – were featured in The Harvard Gazette for their work in helping Syrian refugees via software their organization developed specifically for the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hassaan and Senan founded the 501(c)(3) Hikma Health in 2018 to create software organizations can use to provide better health care to refugees. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care workers needed a way to evaluate symptoms and risk factors. Hikma developed a tool workers could use to screen patients without the need for internet access, which is often lacking or nonexistent in the areas in which they work.
According to the article, the Ebrahim brothers are exploring ways to help spread the tool to more refugee camps. For the time being, they have released it for free to all organizations via GitHub.
Harker is proud to announce the nine student athletes from the Class of 2020 who have signed commitments to play collegiate sports next year. Ethan Hu committed in the fall to swim at Stanford in the coming year, with the following eight students recently making their decisions public: Katelyn Vo will golf at Pomona College; Jeffrey Kwan will play volleyball at Harvard; Carolyn Lu will play volleyball at Caltech; Cassandra Ruedy will play water polo at Harvey Mudd; Shomrik Mondal will play football at Macalester College; Ashley Jazbec will play volleyball at Bowdoin College; Arushi Madan will play water polo at the University of Toronto; and Emily Cheng will play volleyball at MIT. Congrats to all these amazing athletes! Go Eagles!
Check out all the students along with their “thank yous” here:
Class of 2018 alumnae Sohenee Banerjee and Meghana Karinthi have started a virtual tutoring service that donates tuition fees to organizations providing relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. The service, called TheTutorNextDoor, matches college students to elementary, middle and high school students seeking tutoring in a wide variety of subjects. It is also offering college counseling and SAT exam preparation. Tutoring is carried out via phone and video calls in both one-on-one and group sessions, held on a weekly or bi-weekly basis or as a one-time session. More information, including registration and pricing structure, visit TheTutorNextDoor’s website.
After an impressive 13-2-3 season for the girls soccer team, four Eagles were named as part of the Prep2Prep All-CCS teams. Megha Salvi, grade 10, earned third team recognition, with Sarah Baicher, Emma Boyce and Aria Wong, all grade 11, earning honorable mentions. Check out the full list of girls soccer honorees. Go Eagles!
The upper school ASB and Student Council have launched a donation drive to support Silicon Valley Strong, an initiative started by San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo that delivers aid to households put at risk of displacement during the COVID-19 pandemic due to factors such as illness, joblessness and lack of income. Small businesses and local organizations also are receiving assistance. The donation drive, which runs from today until Sunday, was launched to provide Silicon Valley Strong with more funding, which has become necessary due to the high demand for aid.