This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly
Alumni from all classes through 1997 are listed under the years they would have completed grade 8 at The Harker School, Harker Academy, Harker Day School or Palo Alto Military Academy (PAMA). For all classes after the Class of 1997, alumni are listed under the class years they would have graduated from high school, regardless of whether they completed high school studies at Harker. For unlisted classes, we invite you to email alumni@harker.org if you are interested in becoming a class agent or would like to nominate a classmate.
1993
Kristen (Nielsen) Morgensen works at Harker’s middle school as a grade 8 biology teacher. Recently, her students presentedhands-on ecology activities to their younger pals at Harker Preschool (for the full story, see page 14). Kristen is also a current preschool parent (3-year-old Teagan).
1994
Jason Reid stopped by the upper school to catch up with Joe Rosenthal, Harker’s executive director of advancement. Jason said he has known Mr. Rosenthal since he was 5 years old. He also reported that his brother, AJ ’04, recently had his first baby, a boy named Evan.
1996
Jerome Keene got married. Please see the Celebrations section for details. Andrea Miles had a baby. Please see the Celebrations section for details. Sheila Collins and her husband, Mike, are enjoying spending time with their 10-month-old twins, Alex and Theo.
1997
Congrats to Will Jarvis of Jarvis Estate Winery in Napa, who was recently promoted from vice president to president of his family’s winemaking business.
2004
Kudos to Vivek Saraswat, whose group Halfway to Midnight won the 2016 Bay Area Harmony Sweepstakes Regional A Cappella Festival!
2006
Roshni Mehra wrote in with some exciting updates. She is now the external relations donor stewardship and communications manager at the Stanford Graduate School of Business. She also recently got married and, prior to that, went to Cabo with some fellow Harker ’06 girls for her bachelorette party. For her honeymoon this summer, she’ll be traveling to Italy, Greece and Croatia!
2007
Lower school English teacher Kate Shanahan recently met up with VyVy Trinh. VyVy is currently attending the Harvard Graduate School of Education, with plans to go on to medical school. “VyVy was in my class the second year I taught at Harker. She loved to learn, was excited about literature, and always had a big smile on her face! Her enthusiasm for life was so contagious. I realized that year that Harker was such a special place, and that if all my students had a little bit of VyVy in them, that I would stay here quite a long time. It’s been 18 years now,” shared Kate.
2008
Tiffany Liou spent the last two years in Iowa and Illinois working as a reporter. In March, she moved to Oklahoma City and is now a news reporter at the CBS affiliate KWTV News 9. “It’s been a whirlwind moving from one state to another, but for me it’s the best way to travel the United States while following my dream. For those who don’t know the TV industry, Oklahoma City is a step up in market size from my last job. I’m slowly moving my way up and hopefully back to the Bay Area one day. I would love nothing more than to be a reporter in my home state. Truly, this career change is the best decision I’ve made for my life,” she said. Check out Harker News for a previous story about Tiffany: https://staging.news.harker.org/alumna-passionate-about-career-as-broadcastjournalist/.
2009
Sanaz Oskouy shared that she just graduated from Duke University School of Law and is looking forward to the next Class of 2009 reunion.
2010
Nicole Lindars got married. Please see the Celebrations section for details. Alexander Miller just graduated from Cal Poly in computer science.
Kelsey Chung is entering grad school at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. Kelsey is pursuing her master’s in art history. She will be moving to New York this summer, and would like to connect with any alumni living in the area.
Mark-Phillip Pebworth won the National Science Foundation’s Graduate Research Fellowship.
2011
In May, Swetha Repakula joined IBM as a member of its open source cloud team. Here she is featured in an IBM blog about her current work: https://www.cloudfoundry.org/welcome-tothe-ibm-dojo/.
Harker upper school math teachers Gabriele Stahl and Anthony Silk recently went to Napa Valley to visit Mike Patland, who had invited them up for a private tour of his family’s estate and vineyard. “It was a fantastic afternoon. Mike is such a fine young man. I had him in calculus. To see him again was really special. He is now managing and growing the family wine business,” recalled Ms. Stahl.
Michael Prutton just finished his master’s in medical device and diagnostic engineering at the University of Southern California.
Michelle Markiewicz was part of a student team from the University of California, San Diego’s department of urban studies and planning who came up with a winning formula for redoing a nearby commercial property. She and her team were featured in an article in the April issue of the San Diego Metro Magazine, highlighting their accomplishments.
2012
Chun Man Chow was a runner up for the University of California, Berkeley’s prestigious University Medal, an honor that requires a 3.96 grade-point average and goes to a graduating senior who is seeking to make a difference in people’s lives. Chun just graduated from the university with a double major in chemical engineering and environmental engineering.
2013
In mid-March Amy Johnson spent a day visiting the upper school as part of a research assignment she is doing as a current student at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. “I was enrolled in an education class for which I had been asked to conduct a school visit. This visit helped give me hands-on experience in understanding the theories we had been discussing in class,” she explained.
Cecilia Lang-Ree was recently named Reserve National Champion in the Collegiate Cup Novice Equitation on the flat division (second place in the nation) at the 2016 Intercollegiate Horse Show Association National Finals. She was at the nationals as a member of the 2016 Zone Champion Stanford Equestrian Team.
The spring sports season proved to be very good for a pair of alumnae athletes! Ashley Del Alto gained attention as the starting left fielder for the Briar Cliff University Chargers and was named a GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports softball player-of-the-week. The Chargers went 4-0 in one week, thanks in large part to Ashley, who went 8-15 with seven RBIs in four victories. She is currently leading Briar Cliff with a .338 batting average.
A little closer to home, Izzy Connell has been tearing up the track and the record books at Pepperdine University. Izzy broke her own school records in the women’s 100-meter (12.13 seconds) and 200 (24.96 seconds), placing fifth and sixth, respectively, at the Bruins Legends Invitational, held recently at the University of California, Los Angeles. She also holds the school record in the 400.
2014 Congrats to Anika Ayyar who recently launched The Sheroes Project, an interactive, online video talk show to showcase inspirational stories of women in technology. Enjoy her first episode: http://bit.ly/1VkXWkm.
2015
The cast of the Harker Conservatory’s spring musical “Bye Bye Birdie” had a nice surprise when alums Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari, Madi Lang- Ree and Caroline Howells visited a rehearsal and led the warmup routine. All three are graduates of the musical theater certificate program at the Harker Conservatory and continue to be active in the arts now that they are in college.
Fred Chang and Priscilla Pan are spending their summer expanding an award-winning journalism video project they began at Harker. Enjoy their first “In a Nutshell” project at http:// bit.ly/24i8yRh.
(Photo) These longtime buddies – all “lifers” except one who started Harker in grade 1 – reunited after the completion of their freshman year of college. From left: Sarah Bean, Sheridan Tobin, Delany Martin, Madi Lang-Ree, Zoe Woehrmann and Alyssa Amick.
2016
Congratulations to the Class of 2016 on your graduation and welcome to the Alumni Association! We look forward to hearing updates from you.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
The Class of 2016 was officially welcomed into the Harker Alumni Association during an induction luncheon held in the upper school gym on May 18.
During the event, various speakers offered words of inspiration to the graduating seniors, including Chris Nikoloff, head of school, Matthew Harley, Class of 2016 dean and upper school biology teacher, and Tony Silk, upper school math teacher. Silk was the keynote speaker, offering inspiring words about his own journey, as well as on the importance of boredom as a prelude to creativity.
“The world needs you to be creative. There are problems out there that it will be up to your generation to solve,” said Silk, urging the students to put their electronic devices away, even if just for a little while. “Be bored. Be creative,” he advised. Dan Hudkins, Harker’s director of learning, innovation and design, then gave an overview of how to use the new alumni portal, allowing graduates to staying connected with each other and with Harker.
He also spoke about the Harker soci media tools available to alumni, and the importance of networking. The seniors were introduced to their class agents, who will act as liaisons between Harker’s alumni department and the Class of 2016. And the class announced that its parting gift will be something of use (as yet to be determined) for the new gym and theater buildings.
“As a fellow graduate, I know firsthand that once you’re a Harker alum, you will always feel at home here on the Saratoga campus,” said Karri Baker ’84, director of alumni relations, noting that she would be working in tandem with the class agents to help keep all the new graduates connected to Harker.
As the event drew to a close each student received what has become a fun Harker tradition: a laundry bag along with instructions on doing one’s own laundry. They were also handed a boba tea as they exited the gym to sign yearbooks and chat with one another.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.
As the 2015-16 school year wound its way to a close, so too did the annual Keller Tours, led by Butch Keller, upper school head, and his wife, Jane Keller, an upper school math teacher.
The couple uses the tours, which occur throughout the year, as opportunities to visit with Harker alumni attending various colleges throughout the United States. The first Keller Tour occurred in spring 2009 when the couple headed to New York to attend a performance by The Harker School Orchestra at Lincoln Center.
Several alumni living in the area heard the Kellers were in town and asked them to stop by. Soon after, requests began flooding in from other alumni to “come out and see us,” recalled Butch Keller. Today, the tours serve as an opportunity not only to stay in touch with alumni, but also to visit with them while they are still in college, gaining invaluable feedback on how well Harker prepared them for university life.
In early September, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) junior Andy Perez ’13 traveled to he University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to play soccer against UCLA junior Michael Amick ’13 in a match between their respective schools’ teams. Before the game, the Harker Alumni Association sponsored a small gathering for Harker graduates and parents, held in UCLA’s Hall of Fame. About 15 Harker supporters attended, cheering on both teams in the game, which UCSB ultimately won. Later in the year, over spring break, the Keller Tours headed south again, this time to visit the University of California, San Diego and UCSB, which included an oceanfront dinner with various alumni. It was there that Perez shared the exciting news that he had been named a captain of UCSB’s soccer team for next year.
The largest Keller Tours gathering this year was at the University of California, Berkeley, where they met with more than 30 students who shared stories from their first quarter. After spring break the Kellers continued their trek of the UCs by visiting the University of California, Santa Cruz for a campus tour ith Nick Nguyen ’15 followed by dinner with him and Lydia Werthen ’13.
The final stop on the Keller Tours was the University of California, Davis. “We had a fantastic dinner with students of every grade, from senior Ila Dwivedi ’12 to freshman Jeton Gutierrez-Bujari ’15. Sophomore Huck Vaughan ’14 shared stories of his summer bike trek from Santa Cruz to San Diego while Michael Chen ’13 talked about his rafting adventures.
Andre Tran ’13 shared stories of club volleyball, while Dwivedi talked about her post-graduation plans to pursue a master’s at USC,” recalled Jane Keller. “This year it was again evident that Harker alums enjoy reminiscing with one another … in their current college environment. The Keller Tours reconnect them in a special way,” said Butch Keller.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
1996
Jeremy Kerr and his wife, Jennifer, had a baby. Please see the Celebrations section for details.
1997
In January Will Jarvis was featured in an article in the Napa Valley Register about Jarvis Estate winery, which he runs with his father in the Napa Valley. To view the article: http://bit.ly/1oXw48Y. 2003 Amit Saxena got married. Please see the Celebrations section for details.
2003
Amit Saxena got married. Please see the Celebrations section for details.
2004
Neil Bhalerao is getting married. Please see the Celebrations section for details.
2005
Kristen (Hulberg) Hunsbedt got married last May. “My husband (Mark) and I got married in the Santa Cruz Mountains near our home. I also got my M.A. in counselor education in 2014 from San Jose State, and I’m working as a college and career counselor at Monte Vista Christian School in Watsonville,” she said.
Liat Noten started an abstract art and photography business, using digital photography to create art that she said is full of heart, energy, vibrancy and wonder. “I’m interested in abstract and conceptual photography because it allows me to play and imagine even before I’ve picked up my camera. I’m always on the lookout for new ways to create digitally,” she said. Check out her website at: http://www.artislifeitself.com/.
The Class of 2005 held its reunion on Dec. 22, 2015 at The Old Pro in Palo Alto. Classmates enjoyed catching up over a nice dinner.
2006
Amit Mukherjee, a senior associate at New Enterprise As- sociates (NEA), was included on Forbes magazine’s prestigious “30 Under 30” list of of the 2016 young movers and shakers in the venture capital category. Amit has worked at NEA since 2012, overseeing more than $500 million of invested capital. A leading source for reliable business news and financial information, Forbes is well known for its annual lists and rankings. The “30 Under 30” list prides itself on predicting the brightest and most ambitious young adults to watch in the coming year. Congratulations, Amit!
In the winter 2015 issue of Harker Quarterly, we ran a note about Steve Boyle designing and directing a show called “Matthew Briar and the Age of Resurrection.”
Steve is a graduate of Harker’s Conservatory program and has produced several shows recently. In early March he returned to the upper school to speak with performing arts students about his career and life in the arts.
Rohini Venkatraman began working as a business designer at the award-winning global design and consulting firm IDEO last year. She recently helped arrange a visit to Harker’s middle school by IDEO representatives who were interested in observing classrooms there. For more information on the IDEO visit to Harker, see page 28 for a feature story on the middle school’s new “moveable classrooms.”
Michael Hammersly, a materials and processing engineer at SpaceX, was the official announcer for the SpaceX launch! Check out the webcast at http://bit.ly/1Ph7CXS. The video was streamed live on Dec. 21. SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. With this mission, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket delivered 11 satellites to low-Earth orbit.
Arvind Ravinutala and Nirav Chitkara stopped by the alumni relations office to say hello while visiting with former teachers on the upper school campus.
2009
Anu Ramachandran was one of two Johns Hopkins University students selected to spend next year pursuing a graduate degree in the United Kingdom after winning the highly competitive Marshall Scholarship. A third-year Hopkins medical student, Anu will study public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She was among 32 U.S. students selected as Marshall Scholars out of 916 applicants this year. Funded by the British government, the prestigious scholarship allows high-achieving scholars to undertake postgraduate studies in the U.K. program of their choice, with the goal of nurturing future leaders and strengthening British-American collaborations.
2010
The Class of 2010 held its reunion on the evening of Dec. 26 at BJ’s Restaurant in Cupertino. A great time was had by all!
2011
Harker Conservatory graduate James Seifert appeared in a Stanford University play. Seifert was also active in speech and debate, sang in the All-National Honor Choir in Washington, D.C., in 2011, and earned the President’s Volunteer Service Award from President Obama in 2011.
To read an article about him that appeared in the Palo Alto Weekly: http://bit.ly/21E3kTM.
The Class of 2011 held its five-year reunion on Dec. 26 at Tied House in Mountain View. The evening was filled with fun filled memories and delicious food.
2012
Govi Dasu started a consultancy (abhigoviconsulting.com) that helps entrepreneurs build Web and mobile applications for their early startup ideas. “It’s pretty amazing how Harker has a business department now. At Harker, I didn’t really understand the value of the Harker network, but after Stanford, I realize how powerful both schools’ networks are. Harker is actually more powerful because it so tightly knit,” said Govi, who is offering a 5 percent commission on all project referrals. So far, several of his clients have come from the Harker community!
2013
Joe Wang is studying real estate finance at New York University and also raising funding for a food curation startup on the East Coast. Joe recently moved and is now living in Brooklyn. He is in touch with Caroline Lai, who also attends NYU. Joe stopped by to visit the alumni relations office and volunteered to become an alumni mentor for seniors interested in learning more about NYU and New York.
Lorraine Wong, a student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, joined other women representatives from the private research university to talk to local middle school girls about engineering. They discussed examining DNA from a strawberry that clumped and separated from an extraction process, among other topics.
Maverick McNealy is a regular in Harker Quarterly for his breaking golf news. In January the Stanford golfer made a guest appearance at a mandatory upper school spring sports meeting for parents and athletes. He spoke to them about his athletic experience and the lessons he has learned from playing sports.
Molly Wolfe was a White House intern last summer and is now at the London School of Economics for her junior year at Vanderbilt University.
A number of alumni from the Class of 2013 had a great time playing an informal pickup game during one of Harker’s varsity soccer team’s practices over the holiday break. Joining in the fun were several other alums from the classes of 2012, 2014 and 2015.
2015
Corey Gonzales took a gap year to travel around South America by motorcycle. While home for the holidays, Corey returned to Harker to present to an upper school Spanish 4 class. Corey plans to attend Harvard in the fall.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
1985
In the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly, we ran a feature story about Judge John Owens’ appointment to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the nation’s largest appeals court.
On Dec. 2, he visited Harker’s lower school where he talked with the third graders about his life as a judge. And in early March, he spoke to the upper school student body during a morning assembly titled “Honors and Ethics,” sponsored by the Honor Council.
Class agent Loren Due and class committee member Kalei Kelly recently dropped by the alumni relations office for an informal lunch and to reminisce over yearbooks.
Jon Mays is keeping busy as editor of the San Mateo Daily Journal, where he has worked for many years. The Daily Journal is the leading local news coverage on the Peninsula. To view the paper: www.smdailyjournal.com.
Pat Walsh, longtime Harker math teacher and former boarding school supervisor, recently caught up with Humberto Armenta, who came to Harker’s boarding school from Monterrey, Mexico, as a fifth grader in 1981-82. Over a leisurely dinner, Humberto filled Pat in on his work over the past two decades as owner of a successful construction company called REC- SA (Regiomontana de Construcción y Servicios) in Mexico. “Having dinner with him, his daughter Anna (16) and son Humberto (10) the Friday before the Super Bowl was a blast! My wife, Terry, was there. She was the dorm house- parent at the time, so she knew Humberto well, too. My son Kevin [’01] was also at dinner. Humberto was in town to take some clients and his children to the Super Bowl. He has three other children, but they did not make the trip,” recalled Pat, adding that he and Humberto plan to stay in touch.
1988
Joe Tremba is married to Amanda Hubber and living in Valley Village, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. They are having fun playing with their new, very small puppy named Porkchop.
1993
Found at last! The missing Class of 1993 time capsule was located while excavating to move the oak trees on Rosenthal Field. Facility manager Mike Bassoni and his crew found the long-lost 1993 time capsule. “It’s quite large, currently stored in the alumni closet, and the Class of 1993 is considering either a capsule-opening party, or a big 25 year reunion/capsule-opening bash!” said Karri Baker ’84, director of alumni relations.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
1940
Katrine “Trinkie” Watson attended Miss Harker’s School from 1939-40, and participated in its summer boarding program. Trinkie is now a successful real estate agent serving the luxury Lake Tahoe market. A San Francisco native, Trinkie spent her first seven years in Woodside and then lived in San Francisco until her move to Lake Tahoe in 1966. She fondly recalled making jam in a class at Miss Harker’s and giving it to her mother when she came to visit.
This article originally appeared in the spring 2016 Harker Quarterly.
Lauren Gutstein ’06 Teaching English and Drama at a Quaker School in Delaware
For the past two years, Lauren Gutstein ’06 has worked as an upper school English and drama teacher at the Wilmington Friends School in Delaware, a private Quaker school serving preschool through high school students.
“Getting up in front of class can be, in my opinion, quite theatrical, which fits my personality. I also love that teaching requires me to be constantly learning,” said Gutstein of her work at the school, which was founded in 1748 by members of the Wilmington Monthly Meeting of Friends (Quakers).
The school was originally intended for Quakers as well as for underprivileged children, regardless of religion. As Delaware started offering public education, the school moved toward its current college-preparatory program. Today only about 7 percent of the students are Quaker.
Gutstein, who teaches grades 10 to 12, called it “fascinating” to experience high school from “the other side.” Now, she said, she empathizes with her students as they agonize over a paper, audition or college application, remembering how she felt in those moments.
A highlight for Gutstein is directing the upper school’s annual musical. This past fall she worked with her students on the musical “Kiss Me Kate.”
Prior to teaching at the school, Gutstein lived and worked in Kazakhstan, a central Asian country and former Soviet republic, for several years. In addition to teaching English and literature at the Nazarbayev Intellectual School in Astana, Gutstein started a drama program. “We actually put on five trilingual (English, Kazakh and Russian) plays. I was working at a fairly new school and they were doing a lot of experimenting with curriculum and school organization, so one skill I really learned there is flexibility,” she recalled.
“The respect and admiration I had for my teachers at Harker was another factor in choosing teaching as a profession. Harker definitely nurtured my many interests, both academic and extracurricular. Harker also taught me how to balance a million responsibilities at once, which is teach- ing in a nutshell,” said Gutstein.
When asked to give advice for other alumni interested in teaching, Gutstein suggested teaching in wildly different environments. “Between Quaker education, Kazakhstani education, and student teaching in The School District of Philadelphia, I’ve seen dramatically different educational models and experienced joys and frustrations with each. Also, I learned what minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit feels like, so East Coast winters seem pretty tame!” she said.
Grace Hudkins ’08 Working Abroad in South Korea
Grace Hudkins ’08 had never been to Korea before moving there to teach theater to elementary school children attending Chad- wick International (CI). Located in the newly created city of Songdo in Incheon, South Korea, CI is an independent, coed, non-sectarian, preK-12 international school.
Hudkins recalled taking “a huge leap of faith” going to CI. Not only was she unfamiliar with Korea, she was entering into an intern position, so figured she would only stay a year or two. “I had never even eaten Korean food! But when my boss offered me the chance to start a drama program for the elementary school, I couldn’t say no!” recalled Hudkins.
“My first year I was an intern in a grade 3 classroom, then for the last two years, I have taught elementary school drama. Next year I am moving into a role as the coordinator of our theater spaces, as well as teaching some middle and upper school drama and theater tech,” said Hudkins, who currently works with students in preschool and kindergarten.
Incheon is known as an exciting area and transportation hub bordering the country’s capital of Seoul. Life in Korea is pretty great, said Hudkins, thanks to “a wonderful built-in community at the school, with expats from all over the world.” During her free time, Hudkins enjoys exploring Seoul, which is about an hour away, and is jam-packed with museums, shopping, culture and restaurants.
Teaching comes naturally to Hudkins, who has always enjoyed being around children. “I started babysitting when I was just 11, and was a camp counselor from the time I was 16. I became licensed for early childhood education, and my background in theater prepared me to build the elementary school program out here at CI,” she explained.
Hudkins credits Harker’s performing arts programs with spurring her interest in her current work. “It was through the arts that I found community, family and a sense of belonging. Harker’s conservatory program gave me a really well-rounded understanding of the arts, which launched me into my college student theater group as a director and stage manager in my first year.”
When Hudkins thinks about life after CI, she is not certain if it will always be as a traditional classroom teacher. “I can see doing educational outreach for a theater company, stage managing for a youth drama program or something completely different. For the foreseeable future, I am really passionate about international education and I love teaching drama, so I hope to keep doing that even after I leave CI,” she said.
Hassaan Ebrahim ’11 Working with Low-Income Families in East San Jose
Hassaan Ebrahim ’11 recently received his undergraduate degree in neuroscience from the University of Southern California but put plans to apply to medical school on hold. Instead he signed up for a two-year stint with Teach For America (TFA), a nonprofit organization promoting educational equity.
After competing an intense training program this past summer, he was placed at Summit Rainier High School in East San Jose as a grade 9 math teacher, becoming one of the thousands of college graduates now serving as TFA teachers nationwide, and one of 340 in the Bay Area. These select individuals, known as “corps members,” commit to teaching for at least two years in a public or charter K-12 school in one of 52 low-income communities the organization serves.
“Education is more important than simply allowing someone to earn a steady income. Education opens doors of opportunity, allows one to discover new passions and to live an authentic life,” said Ebrahim. “The fact that such inequity exists in our country is shocking. I am drawn to working towards bringing quality education to those who need it most.”
According to TFA statistics, there is an educational crisis in San Jose, with nearly 40,000 students not proficient in grade-level skills and 2,300 middle and high school students dropping out every year. To combat the problem, back in 2009, a group of committed parents from East San Jose approached Summit Public Schools – a nonprofit organization created to provide high quality public school options to diverse communities – about bringing a Summit charter school to their community.
In 2011, two Summit schools in San Jose were born, Summit Rainier and Summit Tahoma. Summit Rainier is now a thriving high school in East San Jose and ranks among the top 20 public high schools in Santa Clara County.
Ebrahim, who plans to begin medical school after fulfilling his teaching commitment, recommends TFA to any alumni interesting in going into teaching. Corps members do not have to be certified teachers but must attend a training program. Once placed at a school, TFA teachers are considered full-fledged faculty members there.
“I wanted to do something different, not touring the world, but something still purposeful, before going on to medical school,” shared Ebrahim, who, after spending his TFA time working with children, is now considering becoming a pediatrician.
“My time at Harker taught me about the value of making a meaningful impact. I have such gratitude to the teachers I had. And Spanish at Harker really paid off as I now use it to speak with the families of some of my students!” he added.
Leyna Cotran ’94 Sharing Passion for Computer Science with University Students
Leyna Cotran ’94 knows a thing or two about racking up frequent flier miles. Prior to recently becoming a full-time computer science instructor at Santa Clara University, she worked there as a part-time adjunct faculty lecturer while completing a Ph.D. in software engineering at the University of California, Irvine. That meant a lot of back and forth travel between Southern California and the Bay Area.
“It was just go, go, go!” recalled Cotran, who along the way also became pregnant with her first child, a daughter now 2 years old.
Prior to working at Santa Clara University, Cotran was the project lead for Navy re-entry systems at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., one of four major business divisions of Lockheed Martin, an American global aerospace, defense, security and advanced technologies company with worldwide interests.
Although she spent many years working in the private sector, Cotran, who earned her master’s degree in software engineering from Santa Clara University, says she feels at home teaching at her alma mater. One of the first courses she created and taught at the college continues to be part of the school’s master’s curriculum for software engineering.
One of the things Cotran enjoys most about teaching at Santa Clara University is the opportunity to transmit knowledge to a new generation. “The students I teach today are going to be leaders during my child’s future,” said Cotran, who finds she has a fresh perspective on teaching now that she has become a parent.
“Much of my own character was shaped at Harker. Now that I am teaching, it feels like things have come full circle,” she said.
In early March, Judge John Owens ’85 came to campus to speak to upper school students at a morning assembly on “Honors and Ethics,” sponsored by the Honor Council.
Owens said that his time at Harker remains “the most significant professional and personal influence on me.” He went on to say that Harker provided him with the study skills necessary to succeed in school, and more important, the ethics and values to succeed in life.
Owens started out as a Harker student in 1979, graduated from grade 8 in 1985, and worked as a summer camp counselor/coach at the school from 1985 until 1991. Today, he remains active with the school in his capacity as a member of Harker’s distinguished board of fellows.
He was previously featured in Harker News when he was appointed to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the nation’s largest appeals court.
Prior to his talk at the upper school, Owens had returned to Harker’s lower school to talk with third graders about his life as a judge.
The 2016 Harker Golf Classic united Harker alumni, parents, alumni parents and their friends at the renowned Stanford Golf Course to raise funds for Harker’s General Endowment. For the second year in a row, the event was presented by the Harker Alumni Association.
The April 11 event brought 96 golfers out on a pleasant spring day. Jeremy Pomer ’91 was the event chair, while former Harker faculty member Howard Saltzman and current lower school math teacher Pat Walsh served as honorary marshals for the day. The marshals had a great time handing out prize ribbons and libations to golfers.
“Everyone had a wonderful time, made all the more meaningful with the knowledge that it was good fun for a good cause!” enthused Karri Baker ’84, director of alumni relations.
A variety of special awards and prizes, as well as numerous generous sponsors, helped make the day special. Capping off the event was a 19th hole reception with live music on the clubhouse patio for golfers, as well as non-golfers, wishing to join in on the fun.
A highlight of the day was the announcement of the winning foursomes. The winning men’s foursome comprised Harker parent Mike Armstrong, Trask Leonard, Josh Breeding and Rodney Plett ’81. The winning women’s foursome comprised Thu Ka, Connie Kim, Kavita Patel and Kavita Tankha, all Harker parents.
The Stanford Golf Course, designed in 1930 by renowned golf course architects William Bell and George C. Thomas, is located in the foothills above the Stanford University campus. In 2009, it was rated the nation’s third-best college course by golf coaches.