The three women identified the need for a comprehensive gifting service that lets both consumers and corporations send high-quality, personalized gift boxes for any occasion. The company (shopBOXFOX.com) projects more than $6 million in sales this year. Suri currently serves as BOXFOX’s chief strategy officer.
She met co-founder and CEO Chelsea Moore at her first job in advertising, who then introduced her to Jenni Olivero, her other co-founder and COO. Together, they bring experience from the worlds of advertising, PR, sports and e-commerce, and contribute to BOXFOX in distinct ways that cater to their strengths.
“I oversee long-term growth and business objectives for the company,” said Suri. “I’m always thinking a year, two, even five years ahead, ensuring that we stay relevant and competitive. On a day-to-day level, I oversee our corporate sales division (BOXFOX Concierge), broader partnerships, web initiatives, trendspotting and more.”
As a unique operation, there were challenges. “The hardest part of starting BOXFOX was doing so without any kind of rulebook,” said Suri. “We’ve bootstrapped since day one, so there were a lot of decisions that we just made from our gut (and usually a lot of Google searching), from picking the right box manufacturers to pricing our product to choosing the best shipping carrier.
Suri built a resume that gave her the chops to build a brand. She was a USC Global Fellow and earned a three-month summer fellowship in Hong Kong with Burberry, according to her bio. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in public relations. Suri held down a number of positions as BOXFOX got off the ground, including managing the corporate concierge program, driving B2B business development, and working closely with developers on site enhancements and solutions to constantly improve offerings.
With the company up and running, she has settled in to her current role a bit. “Today, the challenges look a little different. We’re fortunate to have an incredible network of fellow entrepreneurs and experts of all kinds we can call upon. As founders, we now spend a large portion of our time thinking about both managing and scaling our team while maintaining our company culture and values. Scaling can be as scary as it is exciting, but we hire hardworking, kind people who believe in our mission and entrust them to shape our ever-evolving culture.
The payoff? “The most rewarding part of our company is witnessing the impact we have on people’s relationships,” noted Suri “We started BOXFOX after a personal experience left us without a solution to being there for a friend in the hospital. We wanted to send a meaningful, tangible gift with items that would actually help her heal.
“In the four years since, it’s been deeply gratifying to see that same spirit behind the gifts our customers give every single day, from the products they choose to the messages they type. We’re making it easy and accessible for people to be there for the people in their lives, even when they can’t be there physically.”
Becoming an entrepreneur means pulling together disparate skills. Suri’s advice to help with that challenge: “Put simply: take advantage,” she said. “Harker is such a special place and was absolutely instrumental in getting me to where I am today. There are so many resources, between the courses, the faculty and the extracurricular options. Harker gives you the potential to explore anything you are passionate about; if that’s entrepreneurship, you can get a head start.
“More importantly, the people you meet at Harker will be in your network forever. They will be your co-founders, your bosses, future hires, neighbors and best friends. So make the most of the time with them both in and out of the classroom.”
More than a dozen Harker students attended the QuickBooks Connect Conference at the San Jose Convention Center last week as part of Harker’s CareerConnect program.
This year’s topic was “Anything is Possible.” Attendees listened to a welcome speech from Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit, who explained the power of connections and the importance of hard work to achieve goals.
Next, Intuit’s executive VP Sasan Goodarzi (who takes over as Intuit CEO in January) spoke about Intuit’s innovative technologies that can help small and large businesses grow. Afterward, attendees got to hear journalist Lisa Ling interview a panel of three entrepreneurs about their experiences starting their companies.
Dylan Lauren, founder of Dylan’s Candy Bar, spoke about how she combined art, fashion and pop culture to create the world’s largest candy store. Jamie Siminoff, founder of Ring, a company aimed at reducing crime in neighborhoods using a Wi-Fi video doorbell, spoke about how his company grew from a Shark Tank reject to a billion-dollar company. The third speaker was Simon Enever, founder of Quip, a company dedicated to making brushing teeth simple and better. Each speaker gave meaningful insights on the process of starting a business and shared interesting experiences from his or her own journey as an entrepreneur.
“It was super duper interesting and just a great experience. I learned a lot about managing your business and just how to make your business thrive and grow as a whole,” said Laszlo Bollyky, grade 9.
For the rest of the day, attendees explored company booths and attended breakout sessions. This year, there were 90-plus companies with booths, including Chase, Aero, PayPie and Gusto.
“We learned a lot about how to network with people and how to interact with people to make connections,” said Michelle Liu, grade 9. “Most of the companies we talked to were the payroll companies. The people would talk about the company, and ask if we had questions. It was a very good learning experience.”
Last month, the Columbia Scholastic Press Association (CSPA) announced that two 2017-18 Harker journalism publications would receive Crown awards, the organization’s highest honor. The Winged Post was named a finalist in the High School Print News category, and the Talon yearbook was announced as a finalist later in the month. In March, the finalists will find out which level of Crown award they’ve received: gold or silver.
Upper school journalism teacher Ellen Austin noted that this will be “the first time that Harker journalism will receive multiple Crowns from CSPA in the same year, and it’s the first time that I, as an advisor, will have two publications that I advise getting Crowns at the same time.”
Karlene McCallaCreary ’09 was a Raiderette of the week in early October! A graduate of Harker’s Conservatory dance program and former member of Harker’s varsity dance team, she is in her first season with the Raiderettes.
McCallaCreary began dancing at a young age and jazz/hip-hop quickly became her favorite styles. After Harker, she studied accounting at Santa Clara University where she graduated with honors. She danced while at SCU: one year in the theater and two years on the dance team.
“My dance experience at Harker and Santa Clara gave me the foundation and encouragement to audition for a professional team. I have been loving my first season on the Raiderettes,” McCallaCreary said, “and I am really thankful to have this opportunity to continue dancing for an incredible organization among a talented group of women.”
By Jenny Achten, speech and debate department chair, 6-12
The speech and debate team has had some great results thus far in the season. Students have won awards in both local and national events in all five major events (policy debate, speech, Lincoln-Douglas debate, public forum debate and Congress).
The team of Anusha Kuppahally, grade 12, and Maddie Huynh, grade 11, made it to elimination rounds at both the Valley Invitational in Iowa and the St. Mark’s tournament in Texas. Andy Lee, grade 10, and Deven Shah, grade 9, were also in elimination rounds in Iowa. In policy debate, the yearlong topic is about whether the United States should ease restrictions on immigration. Harker’s advocated for the United States to accept more refugees from Syria.
The speech students are also off to a great start with Alycia Cary, grade 12, winning an award at the Yale Invitational in original oratory. Nikki Solanki, grade 11, took second place in both programmed oral interpretation and dramatic interpretation at the Florida Blue Key tournament. Solanki also won first place in dramatic performance at the Florida Blue Key round robin. Jay Menon, grade 12, also reached elimination rounds in Florida with his oratory. The team is also proud of Brian Pinkston and Ellis Goldman, both grade 10; Andrea Thia, grade 9; and Brandon Lin, grade 11, for making the final rounds of a local league tournament.
A number of the Lincoln-Douglas students also have represented Harker extremely well. Kelly Shen, grade 12; Akshay Manglik, grade 10; and Quentin Clark, grade 11, all qualified for elimination rounds at the Valley tournament in Iowa. Manglik also made it to elimination rounds at the Presentation tournament in San Jose, along with Aditya Tadimeti, grade 10; Sachin Shah, grade 11; and Anshul Reddy, grade 9. Manglik, Tadimeti and Reddy also cleared at the St. Mark’s tournament in Texas. They have debated topics ranging from the rights of reporters to protect confidential sources to privacy concerns for candidates for public office.
In public forum, the duo of Annie Ma and Amanda Cheung, both grade 11, as well as Cindy Wang and Clarissa Wang, both grade 12, and the pairing of Datha Arramreddy, grade 11, and Raymond Banke, grade 12, were in elimination rounds of the Milpitas Invitational. Naveen Mirapuri and Chandan Aggarwal, both grade 11, also won awards at the St. Francis tournament. Their current topic is about whether or not the federal government should impose price controls on the pharmaceutical industry.
Finally, in Congressional debate, Jason Lin, grade 10; Jason Huang, grade 12; and Andrew Sun, grade 10, earned bids to nationals at the Yale Invitational. Sun and Nakul Bajaj, grade 11, both placed second at a league event. Lin, Sun, Riyaa Randhawa, grade 9, and David Feng, grade 11, earned bids to nationals at the Florida Blue Key Invitational.
The coaches are very proud of the success students have enjoyed across the team. This semester, the team will also travel to Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago, and Oakland in addition to attending some local events in San Jose and Santa Clara.
Coach Greg Achten noted, “I am really proud of our students’ success but even more proud of the way they have come together this year and worked as a team. The level of support the students show one another and work to help their teammates both in class and at tournaments tells me a lot about how inclusive and caring our students are.”
Tiffany Zhu ’17, now at Stanford, had her Mitra Family Endowment for the Humanities paper, written while at Harker, published in the spring 2018 issue of the Stanford Undergraduate Research Journal. The paper is titled “Putting the Realism in Socialist Realism: Gorky’s Mother as a Bridge between Soviet and Chernyshevskian Literary Aesthetics.”
Zhu has continued to pursue her interest in Russia and took a three-week seminar in St. Petersburg. “Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see much about (Maxim) Gorky (he was mostly based in Moscow, it turns out),” Zhu said, “but we did get to look at Soviet architecture, which we learned had as complicated a relationship with the state as Soviet literature.
“Right now, I’m taking an upper-division colloquium on Russian revolutionaries from the 18th century to the present day, and one of our readings talked about Chernyshevsky’s ‘What is to be Done?’ I feel that my Mitra research prepared me to understand Chernyshevsky and his context when the time came.”
She added a note to her Mitra mentors. “Thank you, so much, once again, for all of your encouragement and support from the very beginning. You all have inspired me to dive deeper into my passions, and I really don’t think I could be the scholar (and Russia enthusiast) I am today without the Mitra program.” Check out her paper – it’s the first one in the magazine.
Millie Lin ’18, former Cantilena member, has joined Stanford Chamber Chorale! Lin noted she enjoyed Cantilena so much, she thought she’d give the audition a whirl. “It reminds me of the Cantilena experience, and I actually got in!” she said. The group “sings classical music like Cantilena and is a small SATB [soprano, alto, tenor, bass] group, and I’m really looking forward to bonding with the fellow singers, who include even grad students! Everyone sounds incredible and is so musical.”
Lin sent special thanks to Susan Nace, vocal teacher at Harker. “I couldn’t have gotten in without you, as my enthusiasm for last year’s amazing conducting experience and the past three years’ singing had prompted me to converse with Chamber Chorale members (and the director).”
“This is marvelous news!” said Nace. “The chamber chorale in most universities is one usually reserved for graduate students and upperclassmen. What an accomplishment to be admitted as a froshie!”
Close to 200 friends, family and colleagues gathered on the upper school campus on Oct. 6 to honor Diana Nichols, former head of school and board chair, who passed away on Sept. 2, 2018.
Speakers movingly spoke of the vision, passion and contributions – including the opening of the upper school in 1998 – that Mrs. Nichols poured into Harker to make it the school it is today. “As far as she was concerned there was no challenge that could not be met as long as one was prepared to work hard,” said Chip Zecher ’79, Harker’s current board chair. “She expected no less of others than she was prepared to give.” Huali Chai Stanek, board member and alumni parent, also spoke of Diana’s vision and the result of that resolve. “She was a leader who sought excellence, fostered excellence and insisted upon excellence in everyone around her, the product of which is Harker and the beneficiaries of which are the Harker students.”
Fittingly, the memorial was held in the newly opened Rothschild Performing Arts Center, which was her passion and the most recent of many improvements at Harker that Mrs. Nichols oversaw. A Harker student quartet played, and Chloe Chen, a junior, danced to “Wind Beneath My Wings,” an especially fitting choice since this song was Howard and Diana Nichols’ wedding song. A photo slide show shared memories of Mrs. Nichols’ long career, of her beloved family and friends, and of her many global adventures. Video clips of interviews with Diana and Howard were also shared. Additional speakers were: Marie Clifford, board member and Mrs. Nichols’ sister; Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs; Anita Chetty, upper school science department chair; and Ashok Krishnamurthi, alumni parent.
“Diana accomplished what we should all hope for in our own lives: to have embraced everything about herself and to have lived a life not only of interest but full of meaning and impact,” said Brian Yager, head of school. Stanek poignantly captured the day’s sentiment in her remarks. “She will always be here, in the school she loved, on the campuses she acquired and built, in the buildings she worked to construct … Diana and Howard’s contributions will live on and remain embedded in the memory of Harker.”
Visitors were encouraged to attend the reception, lovingly called a Boston Tea Party in honor of Mrs. Nichols’ roots, and to share memories at a video station. Permanent plaques have been installed on the front of Nichols Hall on the upper school campus to honor the legacy of Howard and Diana Nichols.
Educator, environmentalist, philanthropist and business leader Diana Nichols passed away Sept. 2, 2018 from pancreatic cancer. She was 76. Mrs. Nichols was the former head of school and board chair at The Harker School in San Jose, and one of the important figures in the school’s 125-year history.
Along with her husband, Howard Nichols, Diana Nichols was key to shaping Harker into the quintessential 21st-century school. Her own path developed her strong beliefs in the need for excellent education grounded in scholarly research and academic discipline. Born March 25, 1942 in New York, Mrs. Nichols grew up in the Boston area and started her teaching career in 1963 in her home state of Massachusetts.
She moved to California to teach biology at Crystal Springs School in Hillsborough, then joined Harker as a biology teacher in 1973. In the early 1980s, by which time she was serving as assistant principal, the visionary partnership of Howard and Diana Nichols was beginning to have an historic impact on the future of the school. At this time, Mrs. Nichols became an advocate for the emotional and mental well-being of the students and introduced the Harker Personal Development program, teaching Harker students techniques for stress reduction and relaxation.
Developed with the help of Dr. Kenneth Blaker at Santa Clara University– where Mrs. Nichols was finishing her master’s degree in marriage and family counseling – the program also emphasized goal-setting, communication skills and other important aspects of what she and Howard Nichols deemed the “whole child.”
Mrs. Nichols left her mark as an educator on all of Harker’s academic programs, developing the entire K-12 science curriculum and presiding over the development of curricula for every academic department. Her success in directing the creation and development of curricula for the upper school was noticed by The University of California, and in 2002 she was named to an advisory board that worked with other schools that were creating syllabi for UC submission.
A passionate believer in environmental preservation and sustainability, Mrs. Nichols was instrumental in starting and maintaining Harker’s recycling program and other environmental projects, such as organic gardens. In 1990, she was selected by Santa Clara County to coordinate Earth Day activities for 120 area schools. She later worked with Our City Forest, an organization devoted to local tree-planting efforts. Nichols Hall, the county’s first LEED-certified school facility, was so named in part to recognize these and many other efforts. Following her retirement, Mrs. Nichols remained active in her environmental work, spending several years as a docent at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve and serving on the Point Lobos Foundation’s board of trustees.
Among her other notable accomplishments in the 1990s was the 1995 launch of Harker’s global education program, starting with yearly exchanges between Harker and Tamagawa Academy in Tokyo, which continue to this day. Since then, Harker has established ongoing relationships with schools in countries such as China, Australia, Switzerland and Costa Rica. She brought her devotion to environmental causes to this program as well founding the Our Trees Project to foster passion for sustainability between Harker and its sister schools.
Mrs. Nichols became Harker’s head of school in 1992, and she and school president Howard Nichols led Harker’s biggest expansion to date: the addition of a high school. The seeds for the upper school were planted in the 1980s when, in addition to the Nicholses’ recognition of a niche in Silicon Valley that needed filling, a survey of Harker parents revealed an interest in post-middle school education at Harker. Mrs. Nichols led a select group of Harker faculty and staff on a tour of the East Coast, visiting prestigious prep schools and learning how they could adapt those schools’ best attributes to Harker’s unique approach to top-flight education. Harker’s upper school, now recognized as one of the top private schools in the nation, was launched in the fall of 1998, with its first class graduating in 2002.
A career full of accomplishments led to many accolades, including three National Science Foundation Awards, recognition by the Peninsula Conservation Society for her work in environmental education, two nominations by the Women’s Fund of Santa Clara County for the Woman of Achievement Award, and a Clean Air Award from the American Lung Association for creating awareness of the need for cleaner air.
Diana and Howard Nichols retired to much fanfare in 2005, leaving behind the legacy of their tremendous passion for education and service. In December 2010, two years after Howard Nichols’ death, Diana Nichols became the chair of Harker’s board of trustees as the school began to execute its long-term development plans, which included the new Rothschild Performing Arts Center and athletic center, both completed in the past year. Mrs. Nichols was the key mover in this building project, working with contractors, drawing plans and keeping close involvement even as her illness progressed; she was passionate about completing this phase of her and Howard’s vision for what was their life’s work: the current and future excellence of The Harker School. She is survived by her sister, Marie Clifford of Arroyo Grande, her son, Gregory Appleton of Houston, stepdaughters Elizabeth de Oliveira of Portola Valley and Stephanie Norton of San Jose, and six grandchildren.
The Harker Alumni Grand Reunion took place Saturday afternoon and a great group of about 60 former students, from classes 1954-2013, enjoyed catching up with each other and seeing the changes on the campus. The group gathered about 2 p.m., and Brian Yager, head of school, led tours through the new athletic center and just-opened Rothschild Performing Arts Center, where everyone was floored, and a little jealous.
Later, the classes of 1993 and 2008 opened their respective time capsules to a hubbub of excitement. Very fun! The 1993 capsule had manila envelopes from each student filled with individual memorabilia including CDs, magazines, notes and lots of photos. That capsule was found while digging up the oaks prior to beginning construction in 2017. The 2008 capsule had tons of letters to classmates, election material, performing arts memorabilia and items that reminded the students of their senior year.
Harker athletics stood tall Friday evening, prior to the Homecoming game, when it opened its Athletic Hall of Fame, inducting three Harker athletes and one super fan.
Harker’s inaugural Hall of Famers are Adam Vucurevich ’02, Jason Martin ’07 and Tanya Schmidt ’08, along with Phyllis Carley (“Mrs. Carley” to everyone), Harker’s first super fan. Mrs. Carley’s award was presented posthumously; she died in 2009. All three athletes attended with family and Mrs. Carley’s grandson, Dale Kent Johnson ’80, attended to represent his grandmother.
Harker’s Athletic Hall of Fame honors those who have made outstanding contributions to its athletic program. Candidates for selection have exemplified desirable character traits and have distinguished themselves in competition representing Harker, their college, or at the professional level. They can also be non-graduates who, through long service to Harker, have distinguished themselves in the field of athletics.
Nominees are eligible five years after Harker graduation or after 10 years of service to the school or under special circumstances. Nominees may be former athletes, coaches, teams, members of the athletic staff, or supporters of Harker athletics. Up to five individuals may be inducted into the Hall of Fame in a given year. Names are inscribed and displayed on a wall in the athletic center with short photo-biographies running on a central monitor. In addition Harker has created a permanent web page to celebrate our Hall of Famers.
Johnson said it was great to see his grandmother’s name permanently enshrined in the Hall of Fame. “This school was her life. Up until the day she died she was still doing stuff here,” he said. Once he heard Harker was creating a hall of fame, he wasn’t surprised to hear his grandmother was being inducted as a super fan. “She used to come watch me in sports and even after I left in 1980, that was her thing, she would watch anything and everything she could,” Johnson said. “With the new gym, for her to be part of it, for her to have this award in there for everybody to see, and as time goes on, hopefully there is enough of a legacy with people hearing stories, that they will continue to remember her.”
“This award is quite an honor and very special to me,” said Vucurevich. “I was very surprised when I heard about it, but it is not just my reward, it is really a testament to the selflessness of our athletic teams at Harker as a result of the great coaches we had. Our coaches knew how to pull a young inexperienced group together, train us, inspire us, and encourage us to put our individual goals aside and work as a team. This is an award that the teams and the coaches all truly share in.
“The plaque is a special recognition for our first graduating Class of 2002 as pioneers for future Harker classes. I think of it as a tribute to Mr. and Mrs. Nichols for their vision to make a great school even greater. Their efforts and achievements affected so many families and ultimately enriched so many lives. I am very grateful and proud to be a Harker alumnus and part of Harker’s history.
“I have so many awesome memories from Harker, teachers, coaches and friends. I truly enjoyed playing sports, being with the coaches and my teammates. I really liked that no one cared about individual glory; they cared about the team’s success, and our goal was to give our best to the team. We had one purpose and it was very unifying. That is how we were coached and that is what made the team so great,” Vucurevich finished.
“I was very excited to hear I was being inducted into the Hall of Fame!” said Martin. “Dan Molin and CJ Cali were the first two people I talked to about it and I appreciate their love and support! It was an honor to be inducted with such great company as Adam, Tanya and Phyllis Carley, and to see my name on the plaque and be a part of Harker history! I can’t thank my family, coaches and teammates enough for all the support!”
Martin noted three things that helped his athletic career for which he will be forever grateful: “My dad selling his restaurant in Boston, buying a RV and driving across country to put his family in a better situation and his kids in a great school; Mr. and Mrs. Nichols for having a dream and making it a reality that affects so many people in a positive way; Coach Thorpe teaching us about hard work, perseverance and determination,” he finished.
Schmidt said she first learned about the Hall of Fame recognition just prior to delivering the keynote address to the the Class of 2018 at graduation this past spring. “I remember what an exhilarating feeling it was both to be the first Harker graduate to return to speak to some of the smartest students in the country and now to be honored in Harker’s Athletic Hall of Fame!” she said. “I feel both gratitude and responsibility when receiving this Hall of Fame recognition. I appreciate the opportunities and mentorship that I’ve had thus far, and I feel a sense of obligation to continue this success with Harker and to be a role model for others in the future.
“I will always remember the camaraderie of a team effort working to achieve something exceptional against great odds. Some special moments include beating our rival Castilleja with my older sister Sylvia Schmidt ‘06 (now Sylvia Carle); winning NorCals in Sacramento with several buses of Harker students, faculty and staff cheering for us on a school night; and playing in the state championships!”
Our inductees
Phyllis Carley (1920-2009, at Harker from 1952-2009) Phyllis Gwynn Carley, much beloved member of the Harker community, was a staunch supporter of Harker athletics for more than 50 years. Mrs. Carley, as she was known to so many, was an institution and an irreplaceable tie to our past. As a student in the Central Valley, she played polo, basketball and softball, and noted once that being involved with Harker allowed her to relive her childhood. For the duration of her life, she was one of Harker athletics’ biggest fans, attending many, many home games. It didn’t matter what sport, she just enjoyed seeing kids active. “I love watching students of all ages coming together and having fun,” she said in a Winged Post article.
She opened her Harker career in 1952 in Palo Alto as a driver, shuttling local students to and from school. She progressed by virtue of her wonderful disposition and hard work to become secretary first to Donald Nichols and then to Howard Nichols, and remained in that role for many years, though her contribution to campus life went far beyond her desk in the administration building. She passed away in 2009, but will be long remembered at Harker. Read her full biography in Harker News.
Adam Vucurevich ‘02
Vucurevich nearly earned his plaudits at another school, but Harker opened its upper school in the nick of time. “When I finally reached the eighth grade, it was sadly time to move on to high school. St. Francis was my choice, but then, in the eleventh hour, Mr. and Mrs. Nichols decided they would extend Harker to include high school, one year at a time, [so] we would be seniors for four years. That was interesting, but I was not yet convinced to stay until Mr. Nichols decided Harker would have [its] first high school football team, and then I was in,” he said.
Vucurevich took full advantage of Harker’s athletic program, playing football, baseball and wrestling, making him Harker’s first three-sport athlete. He was team captain for football in both his sophomore and junior years, and was MVP and got an honorable mention in the All-CCS team that year. He also captained the baseball and wrestling teams. Read his full biography.
Jason Martin ‘07
While playing baseball at Harker, Martin was named to the Varsity Second All-League Team in his freshman year and to the First Team for the next three years. He was runner up his junior year for CCS MVP, hitting .629 for the year. Martin played varsity football for three years and, in the 2006 Homecoming game, became the only player in Harker history to run for a touchdown, throw for a touchdown and catch a touchdown in the same game.
Martin noted a number of coaches at Harker have had a huge impact on his life. Coach K (Karriem Stinson) was his middle school flag football and junior varsity football coach. Martin said that Stinson instilled toughness and a work ethic in him at a young age, and those traits have been at the foundation of his character ever since. C.J. Cali was Martin’s middle school P.E. coach and is still a life mentor for him – an example of how Harker really is “K through Life,” Martin said. Dan Molin has always followed and supported Martin’s baseball career, and has been a constant resource for Martin in life after Harker as well. Martin played semi-pro baseball for two years after college. Read his full biography.
Tanya Schmidt ‘08
A four-year starter on Harker’s varsity girls volleyball team, Schmidt was named a four-time All-West Bay Athletic League First Team honoree and a two-time West Bay Athletic League MVP. Her junior year, Schmidt was named a Top 50 Junior Recruit in the nation. By her senior year, Schmidt was an unstoppable force on the Harker team.
During her senior season in 2007, Schmidt led the girls volleyball team into Harker history with a series of firsts for the school. As the first Harker team to compete in the Central Coast Section championship final, the team continued to make history by winning the Division IV NorCal Championship in Sacramento. In December 2007, the team played in the state championships in front of a home crowd of more than 1,500 Harker fans at San Jose State University, where Schmidt was named California Division IV State MVP. Schmidt went on to play pro volleyball in Europe for two years. Read her full biography.