The Class of 2022 gathered at Davis Field yesterday for this year’s baccalaureate ceremony, during which it offered a heartfelt farewell to Harker and welcomed the junior class into its new role as next year’s campus leader.
The ceremony kicked off with a performance by a special trio made up of seniors Yejin Song and Lucas Chen on piano and cello, respectively, and junior Cassie May on violin, who performed the first movement of Paul Schoenfeld’s “Café Music.”
Following some welcoming words from Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, Cantilena marched onto the stage to perform its rendition of Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend.” Junior Gwen Yang then took the stage with fellow upper school Honor Council member Alexa Lowe, grade 12, to accept the responsibility for continuing the school’s honor code on behalf of the junior class.
Upper school head Butch Keller, who will retire at the end of the school year, introduced this year’s baccalaureate faculty speaker, English teacher Christopher Hurshman, whom he called “the world’s most interesting man,” owing to his wide range of interests and international upbringing. Hurshman spoke on the sense of loss that accompanies major life changes such as the ones the Class of 2022 is experiencing. “Over every new beginning there hovers a shadow of melancholy and loss and grief,” he said. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s right to be excited about the future that’s opening up ahead of you, but you’re also about to experience a great loss, and perhaps you’ve been anticipating it.”
Using examples from his own life experience, Hurshman pointed out how both they and the world they have become familiar with will change drastically as they move into the wider world beyond high school. He also advised students to recognize and treasure the “ordinary moments” that will shape who they are, despite the feelings of immense pressure young people often feel to have an impact on the world. “It’s possible to come to the realization that the nitty-gritty particulars of your life, the specific circumstances and relationships and responsibilities in it, are precisely where you will build meaning, and you’ll build that meaning by making conscious choices about what’s important to you.”
Keller then reappeared to welcome this year’s student speaker, senior Ayan Nath, who he introduced by playing a sound clip of Nath’s cover of Bruno Mars’ “Uptown Funk” at the 2019 Hoscars. “We all knew from that moment on he was someone that was going to make an impact on our lives,” Keller said, saying later in his introduction that as much as he could entertain his classmates, “you picked him as your student speaker tonight because you respect him for being such a wonderful person.”
Nath commended the seniors on reaching this key moment in their lives. “We made it through four years … of getting cut off every morning at the Saratoga [Ave.] intersection by yet another red Tesla. Four years of using Schoology grade display — developed by our own [fellow graduating senior] Arjun Dixit — a couple hundred times a day. Four years of the highs and lows that are high school,” he said, summarizing the difficulties faced by the students during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included challenges posed by remote learning and the cancellation of many yearly events.
While graduating high school is often seen as the first step into students’ adult lives, followed by the addition of new responsibilities, “I believe that becoming an adult does not necessarily mean we have to give up on youthful or fun hobbies or activities,” he said. “Even if you love painting, playing Foursquare or have a strong affinity for creating nonprofit organizations, I encourage you to keep doing these things, even though they might not necessarily fall under your realm of responsibilities. Stay true to who you are and remember not to grow up too fast.”
To the juniors, Nath stated that he was proud to call many of them friends. “It is with this mindset that I urge you to be nice to the Class of 2024 and to love them as much as we have loved you,” he said. “Also, congratulations on beating us in Spirit Week.” He also advised them to treat their upcoming senior year “as an opportunity to mend broken relationships or get to know someone new. Go to prom. Go to homecoming. Watch or perform at Quadchella or Hoscars.” Academically, he urged the juniors to treasure the unique opportunity to be a Harker student for one final year. “Your teachers love you, and interacting with teachers and classmates in small environments is something that’s not guaranteed at the university that you end up attending,” he said. Concluding, Nath restated his hope that his classmates won’t lose all of their youthfulness with the onset of adulthood: “I hope that we will continue to bring our youth with us wherever we go and never lose touch with who we are.”
On the eve of this year’s graduation exercises, juniors, seniors and senior parents gathered at the upper school quad for the annual baccalaureate ceremony, during which members of the Class of 2020 graciously accepted their responsibility as leaders in the coming 2019-20 school year. The audience was treated to performances by Cantilena and the The Harker String Orchestra before upper school math chair Anthony Silk, chosen by the Class of 2019 as this year’s faculty speaker, took the podium.
Silk shared some of the wisdom he learned from his father, whom he remembered as a voracious reader with a steel trap-like memory. From his father, Silk learned to become an enthusiastic learner, as well as the importance of not choosing a career based on income. He also told the seniors that not knowing what they wanted to do with the rest of their lives was no reason for panic, particularly in a rapidly changing world. “The path that brings you the most happiness may not have even been invented yet,” he said. “You may have to be the one to invent it.”
Upper Division Head Butch Keller introduced senior Haris Hosseini, this year’s student farewell speaker, whose humor-laced speech elicited many laughs from his peers. Hosseini recalled being named this year’s speaker three weeks prior. “So as I began writing it on the bus ride back from Laguna yesterday,” he quipped, “I was having a little bit of trouble. I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to say.” He then related a story about how faced an immense fear looming over him as his senior year approached: how to secure 1.5 required PE credits in one year. The experience was valuable to him, as it gave him “a lot of time to reflect on my senior year here at Harker and what it meant to me,” which afforded a newfound appreciation for his time at the school.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Like many Harker graduates before them, members of the Class of 2015 walked up the center of the upper school quad on May 21, while family, friends, faculty and staff welcomed them with a standing ovation to their baccalaureate ceremony.
Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, warmly welcomed the audience and introduced Cantilena, which kicked off the ceremony with a rendition of “For Good,” directed by Susan Nace. This was promptly followed by The Harker String Ensemble’s rendition of “Andante Festivo,” directed by Chris Florio.
Baccalaureate services are thought to have originated at the University of Oxford in 1432. At that time, each student was required to give a sermon in Latin as well as a musical and/or dramatic performance as part of the academic requirement.
“No doubt the ceremony has evolved since,” said Butch Keller, upper school head, to the graduates. “Our speeches are now spoken in English. And the presence of the juniors is indicative of the send off and their readying to take your place.”
Keller then introduced math teacher Mary Mortlock, who gave the faculty farewell to the students who would be graduating just days later.
“Mary is innovative and always looking for new ways to teach students, many times with food,” Keller quipped.
“This Saturday is a time for your parents; however, today is your day,” Mortlock said to the soon-to-be graduates. “Look at the past but also look to the future.”
She emphasized that the students should make decisions, and keep trying and going up to bat … just because.
“You are now part of the whole world,” Mortlock said. “Whatever you do now is just because.”
Mortlock insisted that students look to the future, make decisions that are out of their comfort zones and above all else, not get hung up on disappointments. She shared that when she was a student, she jumped out of an airplane six times – with a parachute, of course.
“Be grateful, be confident, be nervous and be yourself,” she said. “Dust yourself off and start all over again … just because.”
The true “moment” of the night, however, came when this year’s student baccalaureate speaker, Ethan Ma, stepped up to the podium. “The Native Americans have the Bear Dance to welcome the spring, but here at Harker, we have baccalaureate,” Ma said.
The graduating senior began his speech with an anecdote about coming to Harker in first grade. The young Ma had been proudly sporting a “rat tail” hairstyle, which he said was the “light of his life.” But, according to Harker’s dress code, boys were not allowed to have hair past the shoulders.
At this point, the young Ma looked at his mother and asked if he could be a girl, but was met with a “no.” The two came to a compromise that made sense to both at the time.
“Mama would be cutting my rat tail but, on my 18th birthday, she would put the hair back on my head with her fairy powers, which I believed in at the time,” Ma said, a smile on his face.
He went on to share that indeed, on his 18th birthday, his mother presented him with his beloved lock, but upon inspection, he found it to be a withered version of his memory of it. And, although the two watched it for some time, the rat tail did not reattach itself to Ma’s head.
“We must be stewards of history,” he told the audience. “ We keep the memories alive within us. And through it all, remember to share your joys and sorrows with each other.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Days before the 2014 graduation ceremony, the classes of 2014 and 2015 gathered at the upper school quad for this year’s baccalaureate ceremony. This traditional event bid the seniors a bittersweet farewell and welcomed grade 11 students into their upcoming roles as Harker seniors.
After an introduction by Upper School Head Butch Keller, Anthony Silk, upper school math teacher and this year’s faculty speaker, took his spot at the podium.
Silk asked the students in the audience to close their eyes and envision what success looks like for them and how they might achieve it.
First on Silk’s list of steps was learning how to take risks. He recalled a story in which he tried skydiving for the first time during college, an experience that forced him out of his comfort zone but helped him learn a valuable lesson. “Taking a risk doesn’t mean doing something risky, something you’re completely unprepared for. It means doing something where the outcome is unknown. But that’s OK.”
Silk also discussed failure, and why it isn’t actually failing. After losing a job that he had mentioned in an earlier anecdote, he ended up working on a cruise ship, which he enjoyed because it gave him the opportunity to be out at sea and working with people. His next challenge was to find something that combined this newfound enthusiasm for helping people with his love for mathematics. It was then that his best friend advised him to become a teacher, which led him to Harker. “Remember, when you can’t see your future, find someone who can,” he said.
Next up was Efrey Noten, grade 12, this year’s student baccalaureate speaker. Noten’s speech emphasized a quality that he felt many people forget after leaving college and entering the work force: compassion. Referencing a graduation speech given by author David Foster Wallace, he retold a parable about two young fish who encounter another, older fish, who greets them and asks how the water is. One of the younger fish then looks at the other and asks, “What the hell is water?”
“Mr. Wallace clarified by saying that the fish story shows us that the stuff most obvious and common to us is the stuff we have the most trouble perceiving or conceptualizing,” Noten said, adding that graduates would find themselves getting up every day to work a challenging job, come home tired, eat and retire to bed. “The so-called rat race I’ve just described often causes us to react to minor inconveniences with irrational, internalized rage,” Noten said.
“I just ask that if you find yourself repeating the same ceremony day in and day out, that you become actively aware and compassionate of the people around you,” he said. “Do not let yourself forget, as the two young fish did, what water is.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Days before the 2014 graduation ceremony, the classes of 2014 and 2015 gathered at the upper school quad for this year’s baccalaureate ceremony. This traditional event bid the seniors a bittersweet farewell and welcomed grade 11 students into their upcoming roles as Harker seniors.
After an introduction by Upper School Head Butch Keller, Anthony Silk, upper school math teacher and this year’s faculty speaker, took his spot at the podium.
Silk asked the students in the audience to close their eyes and envision what success looks like for them and how they might achieve it.
First on Silk’s list of steps was learning how to take risks. He recalled a story in which he tried skydiving for the first time during college, an experience that forced him out of his comfort zone but helped him learn a valuable lesson. “Taking a risk doesn’t mean doing something risky, something you’re completely unprepared for. It means doing something where the outcome is unknown. But that’s OK.”
Silk also discussed failure, and why it isn’t actually failing. After losing a job that he had mentioned in an earlier anecdote, he ended up working on a cruise ship, which he enjoyed because it gave him the opportunity to be out at sea and working with people. His next challenge was to find something that combined this newfound enthusiasm for helping people with his love for mathematics. It was then that his best friend advised him to become a teacher, which led him to Harker. “Remember, when you can’t see your future, find someone who can,” he said.
Next up was Efrey Noten, grade 12, this year’s student baccalaureate speaker. Noten’s speech emphasized a quality that he felt many people forget after leaving college and entering the work force: compassion. Referencing a graduation speech given by author David Foster Wallace, he retold a parable about two young fish who encounter another, older fish, who greets them and asks how the water is. One of the younger fish then looks at the other and asks, “What the hell is water?”
“Mr. Wallace clarified by saying that the fish story shows us that the stuff most obvious and common to us is the stuff we have the most trouble perceiving or conceptualizing,” Noten said, adding that graduates would find themselves getting up every day to work a challenging job, come home tired, eat and retire to bed. “The so-called rat race I’ve just described often causes us to react to minor inconveniences with irrational, internalized rage,” Noten said.
“I just ask that if you find yourself repeating the same ceremony day in and day out, that you become actively aware and compassionate of the people around you,” he said. “Do not let yourself forget, as the two young fish did, what water is.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Days before the 2014 graduation ceremony, the classes of 2014 and 2015 gathered at the upper school quad for this year’s baccalaureate ceremony. This traditional event bid the seniors a bittersweet farewell and welcomed grade 11 students into their upcoming roles as Harker seniors.
After an introduction by Upper School Head Butch Keller, Anthony Silk, upper school math teacher and this year’s faculty speaker, took his spot at the podium.
Silk asked the students in the audience to close their eyes and envision what success looks like for them and how they might achieve it.
First on Silk’s list of steps was learning how to take risks. He recalled a story in which he tried skydiving for the first time during college, an experience that forced him out of his comfort zone but helped him learn a valuable lesson. “Taking a risk doesn’t mean doing something risky, something you’re completely unprepared for. It means doing something where the outcome is unknown. But that’s OK.”
Silk also discussed failure, and why it isn’t actually failing. After losing a job that he had mentioned in an earlier anecdote, he ended up working on a cruise ship, which he enjoyed because it gave him the opportunity to be out at sea and working with people. His next challenge was to find something that combined this newfound enthusiasm for helping people with his love for mathematics. It was then that his best friend advised him to become a teacher, which led him to Harker. “Remember, when you can’t see your future, find someone who can,” he said.
Next up was Efrey Noten, grade 12, this year’s student baccalaureate speaker. Noten’s speech emphasized a quality that he felt many people forget after leaving college and entering the work force: compassion. Referencing a graduation speech given by author David Foster Wallace, he retold a parable about two young fish who encounter another, older fish, who greets them and asks how the water is. One of the younger fish then looks at the other and asks, “What the hell is water?”
“Mr. Wallace clarified by saying that the fish story shows us that the stuff most obvious and common to us is the stuff we have the most trouble perceiving or conceptualizing,” Noten said, adding that graduates would find themselves getting up every day to work a challenging job, come home tired, eat and retire to bed. “The so-called rat race I’ve just described often causes us to react to minor inconveniences with irrational, internalized rage,” Noten said.
“I just ask that if you find yourself repeating the same ceremony day in and day out, that you become actively aware and compassionate of the people around you,” he said. “Do not let yourself forget, as the two young fish did, what water is.”