May 242, 2019
It is with deep sadness that we note that Sandip Nirmel ’17 passed away May 23, 2019, with his parents at his side, after an extended illness while at Harvard University. He was a computer science student exploring artificial intelligence, finance and entrepreneurship.
Nirmel attended The Harker School starting in grade 6 in 2010. He was class president in grades 9, 10 and 11, and associated student body president in his senior year. Nirmel was secretary-general of the Model United Nations Program, a member of the research program, a member of the congressional debate team, a four-year member of the varsity boys golf team and a member of the Challenge Success team. He was also a member of the DECA chapter at Harker. As a class agent for the Class of 2017, his commitment to Harker was ongoing.
Following Harker, he attended Harvard University where he studied computer science with a focus on mind, brain and behavior. He would have graduated in 2021. While at Harvard, he was a case team leader at Harvard College Consulting Group, senior investment research analyst at Harvard Financial Analysts Club and vice chair of the Harvard Society for Mind, Brain and Behavior.
Prior to starting at Harvard, Nirmel interned at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he helped develop an artificial intelligence solution to automatically segment histological imaging data. He also worked in the Ocean Biogeochemistry Lab of the Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences, where he took a data-driven approach to identifying drivers of sinking behavior of Antarctic phytoplankton and ice algae.
A man of many interests, Nirmel noted on his LinkedIn page, “I am an ambitious, fast-paced CS undergraduate at Harvard. I take on the toughest challenges and overcome them with a smile on my face. I live by a simple motto: ‘Why not?’”
He lived his motto. Nirmel volunteered with the organization Youth on Course, founding its volunteer program and a small grants program. He attended and spoke at fundraisers for the group. He was on the organization’s leadership council for four years, serving as president for 18 months before graduation. For his dedication and hard work, he was given The First Tee/Youth on Course Sandy Tatum Leadership Award.
Nirmel earned numerous honors and awards, including being named a Forbes 30 Under 30 Scholar, National Merit scholar, Regeneron Science Talent Search Top 300 scholar and Siemens Competition semifinalist. He also earned a rare perfect score on the AP Microeconomics in his senior year.
Nirmel spoke Chinese and Spanish, along with English.
He was published as well. His papers include “Distribution of Phaeocystis Antarctica-Dominated Sea Ice Algal Communities and Their Potential to Seed Phytoplankton Across the West Antarctic Peninsula in Spring”; “Geoengineering: Turning Back the Climate Change Clock?”; and “Carbon Sinks in a Changing Climate: Relative Buoyancy and Sinking Potentials of Various Antarctic Phytoplankton and Ice Algae.”
Nirmel was also a musician of note, having passed the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music’s examinations for grade 5 music theory, grade 8 piano and grade 8 violin.
Jennifer Gargano, Harker’s assistant head of school for academic affairs, noted Nirmel was “one of the nicest and most mature students that have gone through our halls. He was one of our Challenge Success student representatives who worked with our committee to make some important changes in the areas of balance and wellness.”
Our deepest sympathies to the family, classmates and friends of this wonderful young man. Private memorial services were held in Massachusetts.
A memorial service will be held in Nichols Auditorium at The Harker upper school, 500 Saratoga Avenue, San Jose, on Sat., June 22, 1:00 p.m.-2:30 p.m.. Donations can be made to San Jose Animal Shelter’s “Guardian Angel Fund.” http://www.sanjoseca.gov/index.aspx?NID=2765
Send cards to Kristina Alaniz, Alumni Director, The Harker School, 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129.
Two of Harker’s performing arts alumni were named inaugural awardees of Harker’s Life in the Arts awards on Friday at the annual Senior Showcase, the celebration of those graduating with a Conservatory certificate along with their diploma. Gabrielle DeMers ’03 and D.J. Blickenstaff ’09 were honored for their commitment to their careers as performers as a group of family, friends, former teachers and administrators looked on.
DeMers was in the second high school graduating class at Harker and was part of the effort to create the Harker Conservatory. She had major roles in “Little Shop of Horrors” in 2001 and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2002, and she remains the only Conservatory graduate to major in both vocal music and theater.
DeMers holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and a Master of Music in opera performance from the University of Maryland, College Park. As a member of the Maryland Opera Studio, she sang the title role of Sandrina in Mozart’s “La Finta Giardiniera” and Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” Read her full biography here. Watch her acceptance of the award here.
She had a few words of advice for those interested in a career in the arts. “I was flashing back to my Senior Showcase and if I could give myself advice at that age, the first thing would be to dream big,” said DeMers, “because it has to start with a vision, you have to envision what you want to do. The road to it may be full of twists and turns, and take you in an unexpected direction, but you have to envision it first.
“The second thing I would have told myself is, growth comes through failure. You will receive a lot of rejection and you will make some mistakes, but the most growth I ever experienced as an artist is by trying things that were huge, coming up a little short, then getting into the practice room and figuring out how to get better next time,” she said.
Blickenstaff shone in Harker productions of “Urinetown: The Musical” (Lockstock) in 2007, “Annie Get Your Gun” (Frank Butler) in 2008 and “The Music Man” (Harold Hill) in 2009. After graduating from Harker with a certificate from the Conservatory along with his diploma, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California and has appeared in a number of shows, including a reoccurring role in Netflix’ “Dear White People.” Read his full biography here.Watch him accepting the award here.
His advice for those interested in a career in the arts? “Trust yourself,” Blickenstaff said, “not just believe in yourself, but trust yourself and go out there and pursue it.”
And he added a few kind words for those who helped launch him. “Harker really truly is one of the driving forces behind me pursuing a life in the arts,” Blickenstaff said. “I would be nowhere in the arts without Harker and the amazing Harker family and the Harker faculty.”
Life in the Arts awardees are those alumni who have the character, talent, drive and determination to pursue their passion as their livelihood. Inductees come from the stage, screen, classroom, backstage and rehearsal halls. They are passionate about their art and create at the highest level within their domain.
“Life in the Arts inductees are not necessarily ‘stars’ in the performing arts like we think of on stage or screen,” said Lang-Ree. “We may come to recognize their names, and we may never see their names in lights, but they are living out their own dreams and that is what we honor.”
A permanent location to display annual winners is currently in progress and will be unveiled at next year’s presentation.
Two of Harker’s performing arts alumni were named inaugural awardees of Harker’s Life in the Arts awards on Friday at the annual Senior Showcase, the celebration of those graduating with a Conservatory certificate along with their diploma. Gabrielle DeMers ’03 and D.J. Blickenstaff ’09 were honored for their commitment to their careers as performers as a group of family, friends, former teachers and administrators looked on.
DeMers was in the second high school graduating class at Harker and was part of the effort to create the Harker Conservatory. She had major roles in “Little Shop of Horrors” in 2001 and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2002, and she remains the only Conservatory graduate to major in both vocal music and theater.
DeMers holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and a Master of Music in opera performance from the University of Maryland, College Park. As a member of the Maryland Opera Studio, she sang the title role of Sandrina in Mozart’s “La Finta Giardiniera” and Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” Read her full biography here. Watch her acceptance of the award here.
She had a few words of advice for those interested in a career in the arts. “I was flashing back to my Senior Showcase and if I could give myself advice at that age, the first thing would be to dream big,” said DeMers, “because it has to start with a vision, you have to envision what you want to do. The road to it may be full of twists and turns, and take you in an unexpected direction, but you have to envision it first.
“The second thing I would have told myself is, growth comes through failure. You will receive a lot of rejection and you will make some mistakes, but the most growth I ever experienced as an artist is by trying things that were huge, coming up a little short, then getting into the practice room and figuring out how to get better next time,” she said.
Blickenstaff shone in Harker productions of “Urinetown: The Musical” (Lockstock) in 2007, “Annie Get Your Gun” (Frank Butler) in 2008 and “The Music Man” (Harold Hill) in 2009. After graduating from Harker with a certificate from the Conservatory along with his diploma, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California and has appeared in a number of shows, including a reoccurring role in Netflix’ “Dear White People.” Read his full biography here.Watch him accepting the award here.
His advice for those interested in a career in the arts? “Trust yourself,” Blickenstaff said, “not just believe in yourself, but trust yourself and go out there and pursue it.”
And he added a few kind words for those who helped launch him. “Harker really truly is one of the driving forces behind me pursuing a life in the arts,” Blickenstaff said. “I would be nowhere in the arts without Harker and the amazing Harker family and the Harker faculty.”
Life in the Arts awardees are those alumni who have the character, talent, drive and determination to pursue their passion as their livelihood. Inductees come from the stage, screen, classroom, backstage and rehearsal halls. They are passionate about their art and create at the highest level within their domain.
“Life in the Arts inductees are not necessarily ‘stars’ in the performing arts like we think of on stage or screen,” said Lang-Ree. “We may come to recognize their names, and we may never see their names in lights, but they are living out their own dreams and that is what we honor.”
A permanent location to display annual winners is currently in progress and will be unveiled at next year’s presentation.
Two of Harker’s performing arts alumni were named inaugural awardees of Harker’s Life in the Arts awards on Friday at the annual Senior Showcase, the celebration of those graduating with a Conservatory certificate along with their diploma. Gabrielle DeMers ’03 and D.J. Blickenstaff ’09 were honored for their commitment to their careers as performers as a group of family, friends, former teachers and administrators looked on.
DeMers was in the second high school graduating class at Harker and was part of the effort to create the Harker Conservatory. She had major roles in “Little Shop of Horrors” in 2001 and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2002, and she remains the only Conservatory graduate to major in both vocal music and theater.
DeMers holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and a Master of Music in opera performance from the University of Maryland, College Park. As a member of the Maryland Opera Studio, she sang the title role of Sandrina in Mozart’s “La Finta Giardiniera” and Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” Read her full biography here. Watch her acceptance of the award here.
She had a few words of advice for those interested in a career in the arts. “I was flashing back to my Senior Showcase and if I could give myself advice at that age, the first thing would be to dream big,” said DeMers, “because it has to start with a vision, you have to envision what you want to do. The road to it may be full of twists and turns, and take you in an unexpected direction, but you have to envision it first.
“The second thing I would have told myself is, growth comes through failure. You will receive a lot of rejection and you will make some mistakes, but the most growth I ever experienced as an artist is by trying things that were huge, coming up a little short, then getting into the practice room and figuring out how to get better next time,” she said.
Blickenstaff shone in Harker productions of “Urinetown: The Musical” (Lockstock) in 2007, “Annie Get Your Gun” (Frank Butler) in 2008 and “The Music Man” (Harold Hill) in 2009. After graduating from Harker with a certificate from the Conservatory along with his diploma, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California and has appeared in a number of shows, including a reoccurring role in Netflix’ “Dear White People.” Read his full biography here.Watch him accepting the award here.
His advice for those interested in a career in the arts? “Trust yourself,” Blickenstaff said, “not just believe in yourself, but trust yourself and go out there and pursue it.”
And he added a few kind words for those who helped launch him. “Harker really truly is one of the driving forces behind me pursuing a life in the arts,” Blickenstaff said. “I would be nowhere in the arts without Harker and the amazing Harker family and the Harker faculty.”
Life in the Arts awardees are those alumni who have the character, talent, drive and determination to pursue their passion as their livelihood. Inductees come from the stage, screen, classroom, backstage and rehearsal halls. They are passionate about their art and create at the highest level within their domain.
“Life in the Arts inductees are not necessarily ‘stars’ in the performing arts like we think of on stage or screen,” said Lang-Ree. “We may come to recognize their names, and we may never see their names in lights, but they are living out their own dreams and that is what we honor.”
A permanent location to display annual winners is currently in progress and will be unveiled at next year’s presentation.
In mid-May, junior Allison Jia was named one of two winners of the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Award at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair! Jia’s project, which studied proteins associated with neurodegenerative diseases, won her a $50,000 prize! It also was named Best in Category for cell and molecular biology and won a First Award, earning Jia an additional $5,000 and $1,000, respectively.
Senior Ruhi Sayana also did well at the fair, winning a $10,000 scholarship from the Drug, Chemical & Associated Technologies Association for her project in the biomedical and health sciences category, in which she also won a $1,000 Third Award from Intel ISEF and a $500 Second Award from the Ashtavadhani Vidwan Ambati Subbaraya Chetty Foundation. In the computational biology and informatics category, junior Cynthia Chen received a Third Award of $1,000. All three students won trips to the Intel ISEF at the Synopsys Silicon Valley Science & Technology Championship in March.
Jia’s efforts were writtten up in several publications:
By Jenny Achten, Speech and Debate Department Chair, Grades 6-12
The middle school speech and debate team had an outstanding weekend at the Middle School Tournament of Champions, hosted by the University of Kentucky on May 11-12.
The team won first place in overall sweepstakes for the best performance at the tournament by any school. Shoring up this award were the top speaker in Lincoln-Douglas debate, Ansh Sheth, grade 7, and top speaker in policy debate, Deeya Viradia, grade 8. Arjun Krishna, grade 7, Krishna Mysoor, grade 7, and Mir Bahri, grade 8, also won debate speaker awards.
Harker had a three-way closeout of the final round in Lincoln-Douglas debate with Alexander Lan, grade 8, Kabir Buch, grade 7, and Mysoor sharing the championship. Joe Li, grade 7, and Sheth also cleared in Lincoln-Douglas. The policy team of Bahri and Viradia made it to semifinals. Additionally, Arissa Huda, grade 8, was in the final round of extemporaneous speaking.
The coaches are all thrilled with the results of our students’ hard work! A special thanks to Shania Hunt, middle school debate teacher, who did a fabulous job of organizing this large and complicated trip. The students were not only well prepared, but were safe and had fun.
Senior Ellie Lang-Ree was recently named a finalist in the Steve Silver Foundation and Beach Blanket Babylon “Scholarship for the Arts” competition. This annual contest for Bay Area high school students awards winners in three categories – acting, dancing and singing – with a $15,000 scholarship to put toward their college education. Lang-Ree, a finalist in the singing category, will perform on June 3 at San Francisco’s Club Fugazi for a panel of judges, which includes Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman, actor Will Durst and opera composer Jake Heggie. Congratulations and best of luck!
Some of Harker’s Honors Entrepreneurship students got in front of some of Silicon Valley’s most important executives when they sat on a panel at the Association for Corporate Growth Silicon Valley (ACGSV) 2019 GROW Awards in mid-April. The organization bills itself as the premier organization for C-suite leaders in Silicon Valley. The GROW awards recognize the outstanding growth company and top emerging growth company in the area.
This year’s awards ceremony celebrated leadership and the role Silicon Valley plays as an international hub of innovation and entrepreneurship. Four young entrepreneurs from Harker formed a roundtable, moderated by ALOM CEO Hannah Kain. The four students were Riya Gupta and Nishka Ayyar, both grade 12, from PromElle, and Andrew Sun, grade 10 and Suraj Pakala, grade 12, from Nanoseed.
Preschoolers had a great Earth Day last week! Parent volunteers were key to making the day special: one parent volunteer talked about climate change and read “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss to the class. Other parent volunteers stood by to demonstrate various ecological investigations for our students to explore: solar, wind and water energy stations, a water filtration station and germination station. It was a great week for students, parents and teachers!
Preschoolers had a great Earth Day last week! Parent volunteers were key to making the day special: one parent volunteer talked about climate change and read “The Lorax” by Dr. Seuss to the class. Other parent volunteers stood by to demonstrate various ecological investigations for our students to explore: solar, wind and water energy stations, a water filtration station and germination station. It was a great week for students, parents and teachers!