This article originally appeared in the winter 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Graduates of The Harker Conservatory’s certificate program have spread out across the United States to pursue the arts. 2013 alumni are dancing, singing, playing music and making theater at top universities. For some, that means indulging in their art as an extracurricular activity as they pursue academic disciplines. For others, it means a major or a minor as they make art a part of their college studies. A select few are building on their solid foundation from The Harker Conservatory as they train to pursue their work professionally. Here are the stories of three such alumnae, who headed off to the East Coast to pursue their dreams of acting.
Cristina Jerney headed to Northeastern University in Boston for intimate theater training and an interdisciplinary curriculum. “Northeastern’s lots of fun,” Jerney says. “[The program’s] small, but it’s growing.” The program’s small size means the teachers can work very closely with their students, offering “a lot of individual attention.”
This semester, Jerney acted in Calderón de la Barca’s “The Phantom Lady.” She played a variety of ensemble roles in the 1629 Spanish piece, which featured heavy doses of romance and sword-fighting. In classes, the actors work to release themselves from attitudes of judgment, engaging in exercises that test their ability to commit and to withstand stress. Her curriculum is all theater classes with the exception of a writing class. In her next semester, Jerney will begin to incorporate her multidisciplinary interests, branching out into film and media. She calls Northeastern a “great opportunity to study what I love.”
When a friend from Harker visited her, the two discussed just how well Harker had prepared them. Jerney recalls traveling to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where the Harker Conservatory instituted a rule that if students were even a minute late for their call, they would not be allowed to perform in the show that night. That level of discipline instilled a professionalism in Jerney that has served her well at Northeastern, where she has been able to build on skills from Harker in an environment where all of the students around her are pursuing arts for their education. “I like understanding people, and I like understanding what they do and why they do it,” she says. That sentiment is the basis for her love of performing, and why she wants to be a professional actress.
Apurva Tandon is at Williams College in Massachusetts, and so far, she has been bowled over. “Oh, my gosh, they have everything,” she raves. “It’s so professional, it’s crazy. They have a scene shop. They have a costume shop. They have people working there all the time. There are three different theaters in one building. And they’re beautiful. To someone who does theater, it’s a goldmine.”
Tandon has been expanding her horizons and taking on exciting and inventive projects. A highlight of her first semester has been a production she acted in of “Fefu and Her Friends,” an experimental play by Maria Irene Fornés that takes place in multiple rooms of a house, all at once, with the audience divided into groups and watching different scenes in different locations. Tandon’s production took place in a real house on Williams’ campus, making for a wholly intimate performance. “I had a scene where I was sitting on a couch in a living room, and the audience was literally told to sit on the couch next to me and my scene partner.” The experience was a revelation for Tandon, one that taught her more about feminism and gave her the most modern show she had ever been in. “They’re so open to trying new things” at Williams. “It’s very, very open. Very experimental.”
Tandon credits Harker for having prepared her extraordinarily well for her theater classes. At the moment, her theater course load builds on the Study of Theater class she took with Jeffrey Draper. “I remember all of this from my freshman year at Harker!” she sometimes finds herself thinking.
For Tandon, the university experience has been all about getting involved. “I’ve literally tried out for everything,” she boasts. “If you’re not afraid to try out for everything and put yourself out there, something will come to you. Honestly, I just want to be involved with everything I can.” So far, that’s meant working with both the department and a studentrun group. She even performed an improv show in a storefront window on one of Williamstown’s main streets. Says Tandon, “I’m definitely getting to know the wonders of sitespecific work!”
You can find Hannah Prutton ’13 on Broadway these days – that’s 890 Broadway, at the tip of Union Square in New York City, where she trains with The Meisner Extension at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. It’s an intensive program devoted to the teachings of acting guru Sanford Meisner, who divined a series of exercises and philosophies to aid actors in living truthfully under imaginary circumstances. “It’s very stressful,” says Prutton, “but really rewarding.”
Classes begin for Prutton in the early morning with two hours of Suzuki training, where a teacher she calls an “absolute genius” leads the actors in a physical theater technique inspired by Greek theater and martial arts. The technique, which takes an enormous amount of energy and features copious amounts of stomping, is designed to increase an actor’s natural awareness of his or her body. From there, she is off to voice and speech class, where the young lady with British parents hopes to finally “learn a proper American accent!” That brings her to three hours of acting training, where the students engage in a series of repetition-based exercises. These “allow our scene partner to influence our emotions, and to have that result in truth on the stage,” says Prutton. Because people develop “habits to avoid being hurt or being honest with other people,” the actors use the practices to lean into being truthful with partners and let go of the barriers to honest emotion. “When you actually get to the moment where you really, truly feel what they’re saying to you, it’s horrible,” says Prutton of the painful breakthroughs the technique inspires. “But amazing afterwards.”
Freshmen actors at New York University are forbidden from doing plays in their first year to prevent them from falling back on old habits. In this way, the students are given a full year to immerse themselves in their new training, letting go of how they used to act in high school and rebuilding their processes in the image of their professional training. According to Prutton, the actors leave behind “older habits that we’ve accumulated over the years” in favor of finding their “most truthful selves.” Her second year, she will begin character work in her studio and begin testing out what she has learned in productions.
For Prutton, “Harker is the reason I’m so passionate about theater.” Her sophomore year, Prutton traveled to Scotland for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with the Harker Conservatory to perform the musical “Pippin.” Now, she can leave her studio after a full day of classes, walk across the street to board the subway, and hop uptown to Times Square to catch “Pippin” on Broadway. Overall, she is learning a lot in her freshman year. “The technique that we’re learning is very compatible with my style as an actor,” she says. “I really love it.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
The Class of 2014 gathered in Nichols Hall atrium May 22 where they were welcomed into the Harker Alumni Association and reflected on their final year as Harker students. Students also received prizes for participating in the senior trip’s scavenger hunt, volleyball tournament and sandcastle-building contest.
The seniors were introduced to their class agents, who will be responsible for acting as liaisons between Harker’s alumni department and the 2014 graduates.
In preparation for college, each of the seniors received the now-traditional laundry bag along with instructions on how to do their own laundry. Finally, the soon-to-be-graduates wrote special messages to friends, teachers, parents and others to be placed in a time capsule that will be opened at the Class of 2014’s 10-year reunion.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Albert “Chip” Zecher ’79 has won this year’s Distinguished Alumni Award. A Lincoln Law School faculty member since 2009 specializing in constitution law, Zecher was admitted to the State Bar of California in 1990, and was also admitted to practice before the California Supreme Court, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. District Courts for Northern and Southern California.
From 1990 to 1992, Zecher worked as a staff attorney with the San Francisco Superior Court, where he was assigned to civil trial departments. Thereafter, he joined The Chubb Group of Insurance Companies as in-house counsel, where he practiced in the areas of director and officer liability, premises liability, construction defect, property casualty, employment and toxic torts.
Since 2008, Zecher has been working as corporate counsel and the director of regulatory compliance for a Silicon Valley satellite communication manufacturer, where he oversees federal regulatory and corporate governance issues, contracts and litigation. He has also served as a judge pro tem with the San Francisco Superior Court and as a hearing officer with the San Francisco Assessment Appeals Board. Additionally, he serves on Harker’s board of trustees and is chair of the Harker Board of Fellows.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Life for John Owens ’85 has changed significantly ever since President Barack Obama nominated him to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, the nation’s largest appeals court, which shapes federal law from districts in California and eight other Western states.
Owens’ historic appointment as a judge was confirmed on March 31 with a vote from the U.S. Senate. On April 25 he was officially sworn in as a circuit judge during an investiture ceremony held in the jury assembly room of the Courthouse Annex in San Diego.
“Professionally, for more than 15 years, my primary concern was obtaining the best outcome for a client, either the United States or a private person or company. I really cared about the outcome of a case. Now as a judge, I no longer care who wins or loses. I only care that my decision was correct under the pertinent facts and law,” said Owens, a former partner with the Los Angeles-based law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson. “On a personal level, my life is a little less hectic now, which is nice for my wife and daughters,” he added.
Judges on the 9th Circuit review the decisions of federal trial courts in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and certain islands in the Pacific. “This requires us to apply a wide variety of law (civil, criminal, immigration, administrative). After we have reviewed the decision of the trial court and heard arguments from the parties, we set out to write an opinion explaining our decision to uphold or reverse the trial court’s decision. We work with law clerks (usually recent law school graduates) to help make these decisions,” explained Owens, who graduated first in his class from Stanford Law School in 1996.
He then served as a law clerk for Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the U.S. Supreme Court. Prior to that Owens was a federal prosecutor and served as chief of the criminal division in the San Diego U.S. attorney’s office. At the age of 19, he worked in the publicity department of the Golden State Warriors basketball team.
Owens’ current judicial appointment filled one of the most prolonged vacancies in 9th Circuit history. Judge Stephen Trott stepped down in 2004, leaving unresolved political feuding over whether his seat should be considered a California judgeship or an Idaho judgeship.
Reflecting back on his experience clerking for Ginsburg, Owens said she had an extremely high level of dedication to our justice system.
While working with her, Owens helped set up a visit to the Supreme Court for a group of grade 8 Harker students who were in Washington, D.C., on their class trip in 1998. “Justice Ginsburg addressed the students in the courtroom, and answered their questions. I was very proud of my fellow Harker Eagles that day,” he recalled.
Of his time at Harker, he said that the school 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.
“It was the least I could do to say thanks to the school,” he said.
An advisory group to the school’s board of trustees, the board of fellows comprises a dedicated contingent of current parents, alumni parents and alumni who meet regularly to exchange ideas on strategic planning for the school. During a spring board of fellows meeting, Owens was applauded for his recent judicial appointment.
When asked to offer words of wisdom to fellow Harker alumni about pursuing their chosen careers, Owens said he would offer two pieces of advice. “First, make sure that you enjoy your work … you will probably spend more time working than anything else in your life, so you don’t want to be stuck in a miserable job. Second, there is no substitute for hard work, especially when you are in high school and college. Hard work now makes the rest of your life much easier,” he said.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
The beautiful new Union campus was the site of the Harker Alumni Families Easter Egg Hunt. Held in March, the fourth-annual event attracted an all-time high of more than 120 people.
“Attendance was awesome! Over 1,000 eggs were hidden,” enthused MaryEllis Deacon, director of alumni relations.
In the past, the egg hunt had been held at the lower school campus. New to this year’s egg hunt were age divisions for egg hunting, and arts and crafts activities. Eggs were strategically hidden throughout the grounds.
In addition to the arts and crafts tables, the day featured a fun bounce house and surprise visit by the Easter Bunny.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Butch and Jane Keller can hardly believe they have reached the five-year milestone of the Keller Tour, an annual series of trips during which they visit with Harker alumni attending various colleges throughout the United States.
The first Keller Tour was in spring 2009 when Butch Keller, upper school head, and his wife, Jane, an upper school math teacher, 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 tour serves 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.
This year’s Keller Tour officially launched last fall with a trip to visit alums at the University of California, Davis. During that visit, the Kellers were treated to a performance by the school’s dance team during halftime at a Sacramento Kings game.
Then, over the March break, the Keller Tour continued with a trip to St. Louis, Mo., to spend several days with Harker alumni at Washington University. Butch Keller said he enjoyed some one-on-one time with former Harker basketball player Kevin Susai ’13. Meanwhile, Jane Keller said her former advisee, Kaavya Cherukuri ’11, gave her a lovely tour of the school’s campus. A brief detour to Chicago allowed the Kellers to enjoy a performance by The Harker School Orchestra, which was playing in the Chicago Symphony’s International Music Festival.
From there, the Kellers traveled to Southern California for a three-school tour. Highlights of that trip included a dinner with some University of Southern California students near L.A. LIVE, an entertainment complex in downtown Los Angeles. That dinner was arranged by Hassaan Ebrahim ’11. Following was a get-together in Westwood with alumni attending the University of California, Los Angeles, which Butch Keller said ended with a brief, “but much enjoyed sighting of Johnny Depp.”
The tour of the Southern California schools concluded with a lunch with alumni attending the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The Kellers also were treated to a tour of the Cal Tech campus by Chat Malladi ’12.
Shortly after returning from spring break, the Kellers headed to the Stanford University campus for a baseball game at which some alums watched Butch Keller, standing on the diamond, throw out the ceremonial first pitch of the game.
The evening concluded with Stanford winning the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Keller Tour concluded with dinner with Harker alums attending Santa Clara University, followed by dessert at the Mission Ice Creamery.
“In a year where over 100 students were visited, the common theme was appreciation for the teachers who cared enough to make a difference in and out of the classroom. Another topic discussed at almost every stop is the confidence students gained while at Harker,” reported Butch Keller, noting that many alumni said that they gained the confidence to speak to college professors or teaching assistants from the ease of working with Harker’s upper school teachers.
“Many alumni enjoy talking about their Harker years but are also excited to share stories of their college experiences. These conversations range from the struggles of being a college athlete to learning to manage time and budgets. We are continually fascinated to hear about the adventures of the varied extracurricular activities that range from club lacrosse to singing in musical groups,” said Butch Keller.
The Kellers are already looking forward to planning next year’s trip. “We love visiting with alumni on their turf. The excitement in their voices and the fun they have telling stories makes every second of the trip enjoyable,” they concurred.
When Amira Valliani ’06 recently had her photo taken with President Obama, she never expected it to become a Harker Quarterly cover shot. Now the photo has made Harker Quarterly history – marking the first time a graduate has graced the magazine’s cover.
Published four times a year, Harker Quarterly showcases some of the top news, leading programs, inspiring people and visionary plans of the greater Harker community. We mail it to current families and alumni, and post to our account at issuu.com for all to enjoy.
Valliani recently wrapped up her duties as senior adviser to the deputy national security adviser for strategic communications at the White House. During her stint there, Valliani worked on a range of foreign policy, press and public diplomacy issues. Of her photo with President Obama, she said “It was taken in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before a town hall with young people from across Southeast Asia as a part of the launch of the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI), which I coordinated. My boss introduced me to the president backstage before the event started and told him I put the initiative together.”
That event was actually Valliani’s last day on the job. “So the president and I chatted for a few minutes about the initiative and my plans for after the White House,” added Valliani who previously worked in the Office of the Secretary of State under Hillary Clinton. In that position, she served as special assistant to the State Department’s deputy chief of staff and wrote speeches for Secretary Clinton.
When not working (or posing with the world’s most powerful politician), Valliani enjoys running. This past spring, she ran in the Boston Marathon in an effort to raise money for the Aga Khan Foundation, one of the world’s largest international development organizations. “Our team of three runners successfully raised over $60,000,” she reported.
Valliani recently packed up her apartment in Washington, D.C., and backpacked around Myanmar (Burma) with fellow alumna Mina Lee ’06. She is spending the remainder of the summer traveling throughout Southeast Asia and Europe. Come fall, she will attend graduate school at the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
This article originally appeared in the fall 2011 Harker Quarterly.
We caught up with retired lower school teacher Howard Saltzman to find out about his years and fondest memories as a Harker teacher, as well as how he spends his post-Harker time.
Q: What did you teach at Harker and for how long?
A: I taught at Harker for 31 years! I was a fourth grade teacher for the first 13 years and taught third grade the last 18. At first, I taught all subjects! Once third grade was departmentalized, I taught just social studies. Ultimately, I really enjoyed teaching California history.
Q: Did you coach any sports or advise any clubs?
A: I coached fourth and fifth grade sports after school for about 15 years. It was so much fun coaching football, basketball, soccer and softball. I stopped coaching once my son, Michael, was
in sixth grade so I could watch him participate in those same sports.
Q: What is your typical day like now that you are retired?
A: Now that my wife, Susan, and I are retired, I enjoy working in the yard, walking with my dog and doing a little traveling. We have had a chance to go to Sydney, Australia; Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Vancouver Island, Canada; and Las Vegas, Nev.
Q: Are you pursuing any long- desired goals, now that you have time?
A: On May 25, my daughter, Kari, gave birth to our first grandchild, Kiora! So, we are excited about being able to take care of her Monday through Friday, so Kari can teach English at Palo Alto High School. Our son, Michael, is an English teacher at Irvington High School and coaches football at Saratoga High School.
Q: What is your fondest memory of teaching at Harker?
A: I have so many fond memories of my days at The Harker School. Those memories all revolve around the terrific students and colleagues that
I had over the years. I was always surrounded by truly outstanding teachers at Harker. Howard and Diana Nichols were both visionaries! I had the chance to see both of them take Harker from a one-campus,
K-8 school to a three-campus, K-12 school. They constantly strived to make Harker the best that it could be. Betty Koski and Marla Vallone worked with me for the first 13 years in the fourth grade. They were terrific teachers. I could not lose.
Q: Do you keep in touch with any former students?
A: I did have the privilege to work with Grace (Sabeh) Wallace ‘95 the last few years at the Bucknall campus. She was an outstanding student in
my class when she was in the fourth grade. Also, I recently had a chance to connect with both Matt Baker ’83 and Karri Sakai ’84. Matt was in my first class at Harker while Karri was in my second class. Now, they’re married and have a daughter in the first grade at Harker who had Grace Wallace as a teacher last year.
Q: Can you share a memory of your days at Harker with us?
A: Pat Walsh and I taught together all 31 years! What an outstanding teacher and great friend. His sense of humor made all my years at Harker so much more enjoyable.
Q: Do you have any message for the current students or the Harker community in general?
A: How lucky I was to have been a teacher at The Harker School. My own children had a chance to attend Harker and both were very well prepared for high school, college and life.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2010 Harker Quarterly.
Alix Natalia Briggs ’08 attended Harker for Gr. 5-9 before transferring to Interlochen Arts Academy, a private boarding school in Michigan, to pursue theater in her final three years of high school. In 2009 she was chosen out of thousands of entrants as one of three winners of a youngARTS award in the play and script writing for film or video category; 141 young artists were named winners in several disciplines. Because of this exposure, she was selected by famed choreographer Bill T. Jones for the HBO documentary-series “Masterclass.” A New York Times article about the show, in which Briggs is mentioned, can be found on the NY Times website. Currently she is a sophomore at the University of Michigan and continues to pursue her dream career as an actress and aspiring playwright.
Editor’s note: Harker has had two previous winners of youngARTS awards. For information about their program, please visit http://nfaa.org/Programs/.
Q: When you were at Harker, did you dream of doing what you do now?
A: Definitely. My interest in theater began at Harker, where I participated in Harmonics and later, the upper school Conservatory. The arts program at Harker is incredibly encouraging and community-centric. I wanted to maintain that sense of community for the rest of my life, which is why I chose to further pursue theater. I think my Spanish teachers would be pretty surprised to find out that I’m double-majoring in Spanish, though!
Q: What do you find most exciting about your career or current project?
A: Through the youngARTS program, which led to my project with HBO, I was able to meet a host of inspiring, uber-talented peers. Being able to collaborate with other artists my age has definitely been most exciting.
Q: What personal traits make you successful at what you’re doing?
A: I’d say my brashness, my outspokenness. Nothing is off limits for me. I think a large part of that is a result of growing up in the Bay Area; the Bay Area is definitely the poster child of ‘freedom of speech.’ I was fortunate enough to grow up in a place where I was exposed to all sorts of different opinions, cultures and issues.
Q: What in your life took you the longest time to learn?
A: In order to be happy, you have to be flexible. If you invest all of your potential for happiness into one goal, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. It’s better to put energy into your everyday pursuits, and then see where it takes you.
Q: What’s on the top of your personal and professional “lists” right now?
A: I want to travel the world and expose myself to as much as possible. I’d love a job that would pay me to travel – my own show on the Travel Channel, maybe? I’m a huge fan of the Ling sisters and their investigative-journalism-fueled-by-new-media approach. I think that’d be a great way to combine my interest in international studies with my background in theater.
Q: What advice do you have for current Harker students?
A: Don’t take your education for granted; most of your peers, when you leave Harker, will not have had the same opportunities as you – be respectful and mindful. Always remember that there is a world outside of Harker; it’s easy to be consumed by the ‘bubble.’ Put your effort into learning the material as opposed to just trying for stellar grades. And apply for youngARTS – it is a tremendous opportunity (for high school seniors and college freshmen under 18)!
This article originally appeared in the spring 2010 Harker Quarterly.
Colin Dickey MS ’91 holds an M.F.A degree from the California Institute of the Arts and is finishing a Ph.D. in comparative literature at the University of Southern California. He resides in Los Angeles and is the author of “Cranioklepty: Grave Robbing and the Search for Genius.”
Emma Hawley ’04 studied acting at the University of California at Los Angeles and graduated valedictorian in 2008. Since then she has performed improvisational comedy, sung professionally, signed with a commercial agent and has appeared in two commercials for Jack in the Box. She lives in Los Angeles, where she continues looking into lead roles in voiceovers and theatrical productions.
Q: When you were at Harker, did you dream of doing what you do now?
A: Colin Dickey: Absolutely. I really developed a love of reading through Sylvia Harp’s literature classes in seventh and eighth grades. And the first story I ever wrote was a western that was based on all of my best friends at Harker.
A: Emma Hawley: While at Harker I knew I was going to pursue acting and a creative career – and I am.
Q: What do you find most exciting about your career or current project?
A: CD: I love working with words: seeing how a sentence can be put together, thinking of the way words sound and how they look on the page, and developing a sense of music and rhythm through writing.
A: EH: I love this opportunity to collaborate with talented, tenacious, conscious beings.
Q: What personal traits make you successful at what you’re doing?
A: CD: I’ve always had an insatiable curiosity, but I’ve also always been more interested in the stories that don’t get told, the things that run counter to the party line, the stuff that nobody knows about but is often hiding in plain sight. That desire to seek out the stuff that isn’t being talked about has been a great asset in terms of my current writing, since it allows me to bring these stories to light.
A: EH: I have an unceasing desire to be more fully myself.
Q: What in your life so far took you the longest time to learn?
A: CD: When to use “that” and when to use “which” correctly in a sentence.
A: EH: I understand a lot less than I think I do, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Q: What’s on the top of your personal and professional “lists” right now?
A: CD: Um, I’m reading a lot of Henry James – does that count? I’m also trying to find a way to try something on “The Thuringian War,” a long poem written by the sixth century German saint Radegund, which I think is incredibly beautiful and which no one I’ve ever met has heard of.
A: EH: The real priority is striking a balance between knowing what I already have going for me, moving through the steps I need to take and opening to the myriad opportunities presenting themselves every day.
Q: Tell us something surprising about yourself.
A: CD: I’m a really big fan of karaoke.
A: EH: I frequently swing on the traveling rings at the original Santa Monica Muscle Beach.
Q: What advice do you have for current Harker students?
A: CD: Have a healthy, positive relationship to failure. The more you can let yourself be okay with failure, the more risks you’ll take, and the more you can achieve. Failing at great things is always better than doing mediocre things.
A: EH: Learn to balance your head with your heart and your gut. Gratitude is your best friend. Stillness is underrated. Play more.