This article originally appeared in the summer 2018 issue of Harker Magazine.
Note from the Head of School:
Harker thanks all those who contributed to the amazing effort it took to bring both the Rothschild Performing Arts Center, with its Patil Theater, and the athletic center, with its Zhang Gymnasium, to fruition. Community members chipped in with donations large and small, attended events to celebrate milestones in the construction and joined us for our opening ceremonies in August and February. These facilities will serve many future generations of Harker students and we honor you, our community members, for making it all possible.
The Rothschild Performing Arts Center has been in constant use since opening on Feb. 2, and students are reveling in the change to their experiences as performers. Classrooms and rehearsal spaces were in immediate use and a number of academic performances, as well as five big public performances, have been held.
The first big show at the Rothschild Performing Arts Center (RPAC) was United Voices, a night of vocal performances from all of Harker’s lower, middle and upper school choirs. Students were impressed with the advantages of the new space.
“Most obvious to me were the superior acoustics in each classroom,” said Millie Lin, grade 12, who sang with Cantilena, the upper school women’s chorus. “We could now practice in a space that fits the size of our sound, and shape the quality of it. I could enjoy our music making so much more! The acoustic quality is so incredible that our performances feel more intimate, making the connection between choir and song more comfortable and beautiful.”
Akhil Arun, grade 12, sang with Downbeat, one of the upper school choirs. “The most exciting part of performing in the new center is just the feeling of having a performing space that we can call our own. It always felt like intruding when we would perform in other spaces, but now it really does feel like we belong here.
“Having this building on campus will massively help performers as it now expands what we can do. In many of my performing classes I am taking at school, we are now able to just walk over and try a monologue or a scene on stage, something that none of us could even dream about a couple years ago. I think the RPAC is just the perfect space to house the performing arts at Harker as it offers state-of-the-art technology in all aspects of the performing arts,” he finished.
Fellow Downbeat singer Rahul Bhethanabotla, grade 12, noted, “Having the building to practice and perform in is a massive game-changer. There are multiple practice rooms so vocal groups, instrumentalists or anyone really can practice in an ideal environment for music.”
In March, the first official instrumental performance took place at “An Evening of Jazz.” The Middle School Jazz Band, The Harker School Jazz Band and The Harker School Lab Band all played. “I found it nice to finally play at home because it automatically feels more welcoming,” said Elizabeth Shchegrov, grade 8, who plays the trumpet in the Middle School Jazz Band.
“The theater looked very professional [and] it boosted my confidence.” Shchegrov noted that technical advantages were immediately apparent. “In comparison to other theaters, I could hear the rhythm section and saxophones much better. Usually, it’s hard for the trumpets to hear [the rhythm and saxophones], because we are behind them. It helped my section; I knew exactly what the tempo was and which part of the chart we were on.”
Satchi Thockchom, grade 12, who plays drums for The Harker School Jazz Band, noted the sweet advantages of being on campus for the rehearsals and show. “The [acoustic] shell brought out a lot more of the subtle sounds, so I think the audience could hear the intricacies of the pieces. I could actually hear the whole band and that helped me approach the songs more musically.”
Nothing pushes the boundaries of live performances like a musical, and this year’s musical within a musical, “42nd Street,” gave the stage crew a chance to stretch its wings (pun intended!).
“42nd Street” technician Logan Frank, grade 11, has been crewing for Harker shows for two years. “For me,” Frank said, “the most significant difference has to be the multiple possibilities of the new theater. At the old Blackford Theater, we were limited by the changes we could make onstage, and the number of props, sets and backdrops we could use. Now, with all the new equipment in the Patil Theater, my job gets much more complicated, but also more exciting. I get to use items like the pin rail, catwalks, scene shop and more, which allows me to train and learn how to use all of these tools in the future.”
The more complex technical options allow for greater flexibility. “Thanks to the catwalks, we can change light equipment easier and faster than before, which gives us more time for rehearsals,” Frank noted. “Finally, the amount of space backstage allows us to be able to set up significant structures on stage, which gives our performances a whole new aspect.”
One of the finest experiences has been that of the musical performers as they finally have the full access and range of equipment that they need to do the best possible job. Sameep Mangat, grade 12, has been in musicals throughout high school and directed her own Student Directed Showcase this year. For her, the best thing about the new facility is, “The aura and the feeling,” she said.
“The facilities, of course, are amazing. Having actual quick change stations on both sides of the stage, having a prop table not on [just] one side of the stage, and being able to actually stand backstage and not share the space with a couch – that of course has all been incredible from an actress’s point of view. “From an audience’s point of view, it’s the fly space and the beautiful backdrops and the set pieces that can all be stored backstage that create the beauty of an actual, professional show. However, for me … in the RPAC, it’s a whole new aura of sophistication and artistry that made me feel truly like an actor, not just a high school drama kid.”
Members of one of the biggest groups to use the theater, The Harker School Orchestra, slid right into their chairs for their first performance in the RPAC. “It’s amazing to have such a nice and accessible venue on campus,” said concertmaster Constance Horng, grade 11, noting rehearsals in the Patil Theater help the group get a feel for the acoustics and space they will be using in the actual performance.
“Before the RPAC opened, we would only get one rehearsal at our off-campus venue on the day of the concert,” Horng said, “so it’s definitely been more convenient to have the Patil Theater so close. I love how everyone, no matter what aspect of the program they’re involved in, is able to come together and collaboratively enjoy the innovative technology and beautiful aesthetics of the theater while pursuing something that they are passionate about.”
“Just Dance” was the final public show in the RPAC this school year, and dancers loved being “home,” too. Charlotte (Charley) Huang, grade 12, is captain of Varsity Dance Troupe and has been dancing at Harker since grade 7. “The RPAC feels more like home while the other venues, like Foothill College’s theater, although beautiful, feel like just a place to perform,” she said.
“My favorite thing about performing in the Patil Theater is that whenever I come out after a performance, I know my friends are waiting for me. Now that the shows are at school, the performances are easy to access and attend and it makes it easier for all my friends to come watch. The RPAC is honestly such a special building for a high school to have and it makes me feel lucky to go to a school with such amazing opportunities for the performing arts that you don’t see at other schools,” she added.
Eloquence aside, students feel the advantages of the RPAC in their creative hearts. Eighth grader Shchegrov summed up the whole reasoning behind the RPAC: “It made me want to play better because a great hall should be filled with great music.”
The grand opening of Harker’s new athletic center drew more than 600 people Friday evening, as members of the Harker community and local media arrived to get an early look at the feature-rich facility.
Many at the event were new visitors, getting a first-time look at the 33,000-square-foot facility’s spectacular gym floor. Measuring 12,000 square feet, the floor is designed to allow two games to be played simultaneously and is situated 14 feet below ground to facilitate temperature control and reduce the building’s profile. The building’s HydroWorx underwater treadmill – the same kind used by orthopedic hospitals and NFL teams – is the first at any U.S. high school. It is situated alongside a HydroWorx 300 therapy pool and Grimm Scientific cryotherm pool.
“It’s the best of everything. It’s gorgeous, the lockers, the training room facilities, top of the line,” said Joe Cea, father of Dominic Cea, grade 12, adding that he “can’t wait to watch the games.”
In addition to its many benefits for Harker athletes and athletic faculty, the building also provides an ideal venue for assemblies and contains a large screen for streaming events. The spectator experience was also crucial to its design, with bleachers situated to enable a great line of sight to the action on the gym floor, a spacious promenade and an easily accessible snack bar. In keeping with Harker’s energy-conscious approach to designing and constructing new facilities, 25 percent of the electricity to both the athletic center and the Rothschild Performing Arts Center (opening in 2018) will be provided by a 140-kilowatt solar array.
“You really see the effort and the vision behind the whole gym,” said Simar Mangat ’13, one of many alumni in attendance. “To see the whole community here, I think there’s a lot of spirit that’s both in the walls of the building and in the people that are here.”
Attendees showed up in the early evening and enjoyed pizza and hot dogs while waiting for the gym to open to visitors. When the time came to open the building at about 7 p.m., ribbons at the entrance were cut by Harker’s Board of Trustees, along with the leaders of the construction effort, and the captains of the boys and girls basketball and volleyball teams. Throngs of people then walked through the entrance and eventually took their seats at the bleachers. Board of Trustees chair and former head of school Diana Nichols then joined faculty, donors and administrators on the gym floor, offering them many thanks for their hard work that made construction of the building possible.
Theresa “Smitty” Smith, longtime volleyball coach and lower and middle school athletic director, later stood on the court, flanked by members of the Nichols family and the upper school girls volleyball team. After Smith delivered a heartfelt dedication to former president Howard Nichols, the members of the volleyball team revealed that the 12,000-square-foot court had been named in Howard’s honor. The Nichols’ grandchildren then had the honor of being the first to dribble basketballs across the length of the court.
Harker facility director Mike Bassoni also had the chance to speak, giving the many in attendance a brief breakdown of the gym’s features while the girls volleyball team set up on the court. The team then played a practice game to the crowd’s delight.
“It is truly amazing, and I’m so glad that we came out as alumni,” said Sumit Minocha ’13. “Everybody seems so happy, I can really just sense the Harker spirit skyrocketing.”
This article originally appeared in the fall 2015 Harker Quarterly.
Last spring, a new two-building design for the athletic and performing arts complex on the Saratoga campus was announced during Harker’s Night on the Town gala, following the strong response from the community in meeting the Rothschild Challenge. In addition, a second inspirational match was offered by a generous Harker family who wishes to remain anonymous. With these two historic gifts, plans have been confirmed to break ground in spring 2016. Construction on the complex will begin while the school is in the midst of raising the final $7 million to meet the capital campaign’s goal. The exact completion date will be influenced by the ability to reach that goal. Should the objective be met, a ribbon-cutting ceremony will be planned for fall 2017.
New Two-Building Design
The two-building design will include outstanding facilities for learning and allow for plenty of green open space, enabling the buildings to integrate seamlessly with the rest of the campus. In addition, a central quad has been added where students can gather during the day, adding to the already collegiate feel of the school. This new feature will help preserve the current amount of parking spaces and allow Harker to push the parking toward the back wall facing Interstate 280, helping to increase the safety of students walking through campus as well as minimizing noise pollution.
Currently, upper school athletes and performing arts students need to be shuttled to the middle school’s Blackford Avenue campus – and even off-site to larger theater venues – for games and performances. The new design is a necessary step toward planning for the eventual transition out of the Blackford Avenue campus lease, so that upper school students have facilities on their own campus.
Athletics Building
The planned two-floor athletics building has features including a training room, fitness room, hydrotherapy room, team and locker rooms, and a regulation-size gymnasium. An added benefit to the redesign is the close proximity of the athletics building to Davis Field and the Singh Aquatic Center. Students will no longer have to walk across the parking lot from the locker room to other athletic facilities. The new gym will also cultivate school pride as students can go and watch sporting events happening right on campus.
Performing Arts Building
The new performing arts center incorporates much-needed features such as a fly loft and larger professional stage, which will allow students to produce higher quality performances worthy of their skill and ability. The center also includes an orchestra pit, a large rehearsal space, medium and large vocal rooms and a scene shop. A unique element of the performing arts center will be a gallery space to showcase students’ visual arts pieces.
Together, ‘Let’s Make It Happen!
The new performing arts and sports complex is a much-needed addition to the upper school campus. Not only will it serve performing art and student athletics, but also other schoolwide and public events, including the research symposium, Harker Speaker Series, and business and entrepreneurship programs.
Last fall, a historic $10 million challenge from the Rothschild family was announced. This gift matched any contributions made to the capital campaign for the new performing arts and sports complex.
Recently a Harker family, who had already given $3 million to help Harker meet the Rothschild Challenge, was inspired by the response of the school community to the challenge. In addition to their first gift, the family decided to make an inspirational matching pledge of $7 million. They wanted to go a step above and inspire other families to join them, and now they want to provide additional families with the same opportunity to double the impact of their capital gifts.
Families who did not have the opportunity to increase their support during the limited six month period that the Rothschild Challenge was in effect will now be able to do so. This might include families who are new to the school or who have decided to make an additional gift to the capital campaign now that the complex is set for construction and the benefits are in sight.
“As they sat down to complete the paperwork for their contribution, the father could not contain his excitement and exclaimed, ‘Let’s make it happen!’ – so we are calling this last appeal for this campaign the ‘Let’s Make It Happen’ phase,” explained Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement.
How Does the Campaign Work?
For any family who participates in the annual campaign, and also makes a gift to the capital campaign, the donor will match the amount of the capital campaign donation, dollar for dollar up to $7 million. Contributions will have a positive impact now and for the future of The Harker School, further solidifying its place among the finest independent schools in the nation.
For updates and information about giving to the capital campaign, please visit www.harker.org/giving/capital-giving.
Beginning in June 2016 Harker launched two new state-of-the art building projects on the upper school campus, the result of a $45M capital campaign. The 33,000 square-foot athletic center, opening August 2017, features a 12,000 sq.-ft. gym, athletic training room with advanced hydrotherapy unit, and spacious team rooms. The Rothschild Performing Arts Center, opening spring of 2018, features a 450-seat theater with fly loft and hydraulic orchestra pit, a state of the art scene shop, vocal, instrumental, theater/musical theater classrooms and dressing rooms. For more information visit the news and video links below or contact communications@harker.org
On Aug. 25 over 350 students, parents, alumni and faculty gathered for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony of the science and technology building, Nichols Hall.
Preceding the ribbon-cutting, science teachers shared their favorite aspects of the building including the new collaborative space, robotics room, special projects room and, in the atrium, a large-screen monitor displaying energy savings from the solar array on the green roof.
Anita Chetty, US science department chair, noted, “As Harker teachers, we get to play everyday. We get to think. We get to create. And now in this incredible facility, we get to do it as anyone would dream of doing.”
Lon Allan, chairman of Harker’s Board of Trustees, recognized the contributions of lifetime trustees Howard and Diana Nichols for their “extraordinary vision, dedication and leadership at The Harker School for more than four decades,” by announcing the Board’s unanimous decision to name the new building Nichols Hall.
MS history teacher Patricia White admired the building, pointing out the beautiful aesthetics. “I think we really needed the space for students and this brings us up to being a world-class prep school,” White said. She thinks that the LEED certification will “put us on the map as a very progressive school. We’re known for our science. We’re known for our math…We are putting our priorities in the right order and we are actually fulfilling what we preach.”
After the Nichols’ cut the ribbon, attendees poured into the new building, exploring the new classrooms and teaching space. “I wish I was a high school student right now,” Anshu Das ’05 said, shaking his head in disbelief as he looked at the Foucault pendulum in the rotunda. “I think it is starting to set a standard. Any building made from here on out only has to be better than the last.” Neil Shah ’08 added, “I have never seen anything of such caliber. It certainly changes the way you look not only at this campus, but of course at science and technology.”
Howard Nichols addressed the guests and discussed the 20-year planning process and the hard work of all who were involved in the project. “Our vision has always been to build the best school in the world,” he said. “I don’t know if anyone can claim that distinction but we certainly know we are one of the best, and we are only going to get better.” Diana Nichols added, “It pleases me to think that, in this building, the next generation of scientists will start forming ideas that will fuel the future.
Olympic athlete Andrea Nott ’96 knows a little something about the hard work involved to achieve excellence. “I learned that first, right here at The Harker School,” she said. More than 300 members of the Harker community gathered on Jan. 11 to participate in the opening of Harker’s aquatic center and to honor Nott as keynote speaker and member of the U.S. Olympic synchronized swim team competing in Beijing in August.
Nott, who started swimming at age 9, recalled the support she found at Harker. “I always felt my teachers were concerned about both my sport and my grades,” said Nott, who still treasures the fifth grade essay she wrote about her dream to be an Olympic competitor. “Managing school and sports can be really difficult, but it can provide a nice balance. Also, you have to learn to manage your time and energy, which is a skill that will help you for the rest of your life.”
US Athletic Director Dan Molin echoed Nott’s recognition of the parallel twins of academics and athletics. “What a great statement to build a first-class facility to match first-class academics,” said Molin, who added he most looks forward to the aquatic center’s bringing Harker teams and fans together.
Swim team captain Senan Ebrahim, Gr. 12 said he welcomes regular practices in the new pool in time for his final season at Harker. “We’ll have tighter knit teams,” predicted Ebrahim, who presented Nott with a Harker swim jacket after pouring honorary buckets of water into the pool with two dozen other Harker athletes. “And we’ll make good use of (the pool) during spring spirit activities too!”
“We are working toward a totally updated, state-of-the-art upper school campus for the 21st century,” said Head of School Chris Nikoloff, referring to the recent addition of Davis Field and the construction of the Science & Technology Center on the Saratoga site.
In the meantime, Nott is working toward securing a medal in Beijing. “We think our chances are good!” she said. “The top countries are Russia, Spain and Japan, but we are keeping a close eye on China,” said Nott, daughter of director of nursing, and Harker employee for 19 years, Debra Nott.
The young Olympian took a break from a six-days-a-week, 10 hours-a-day training schedule to sign autographs and take photos with Harker’s littlest Eagles before sending them off to add their bucket of water to the pool. “I love to be in the water first of all, but I also love to choreograph to the music and work together with my teammates to make the best product possible.” That would be the little something about excellence.
Pool Facts
The new swimming pool building houses two 30-horse power water
circulation pumps, two heaters and a sand filtration system. It also
features two large changing rooms with restrooms, storage facilities
and a coach’s office. More facts about the pool:
488,800 gallon capacity, 75′ x 112.5′ dimension
13 swimming lanes, 10 race blocks
electronically interlinked sensors tied to an Omega
With the crisp feeling of fall in the air, approximately 800 parents, students, faculty and staff attended The Harker School’s September 14 dedication ceremony of the new Davis Field on the Upper School campus Saratoga campus.
After a special donor reception on the sidelines, Head of School Chris Nikoloff hosted the evening’s ceremonies, which included the presentation of a $1.5 million donation from development council members John and Christine Davis. “We could not be prouder,” Davis stated. “The parents and student body wanted this field, and Harker made it happen.” Immediately after the ceremony, players from the girls’ soccer and lacrosse teams, boys’ soccer team and the football team broke through paper banners onto the field through tunnels formed by donors. The players met in the center of the field and formed a spontaneous cheering circle in the center. Following the color guard and the national anthem, a memorial recognizing Coach Deron Thorp, a Harker football coach who died suddenly at the age of 33 last fall was unveiled to Thorp’s family. Thorp’s positive impact left an indelible mark on Harker’s football team, and – beginning with this home game on the new Davis Field – the players have begun a new tradition of each player touching the football on the memorial before each home game as a gesture to remember Coach Thorp and the principles that he instilled in the players.
Mercury News Columnist Lisa Chung writes about a special dedication to beloved coach, Deron Thorp >>