On Saturday, three outstanding alumni – Alex Abarca ’09, Daniza Rodriguez ’13 and Amanda (Polzin) Sullivan ’06 – were inducted into the Harker Athletic Hall of Fame, along with the entire roster of the 2007-08 girls varsity volleyball team, one of Harker athletics’ greatest success stories. Sullivan and former volleyball team member Candace Silva-Martin ’09 were unable to attend in-person and Zoomed into the ceremony from home.
A highly prolific scorer, Abarca was a four-time boys varsity basketball MVP for the Eagles and posted more than 1,700 points. In his junior year, he was named the Private School Athletic League MVP. As a senior he was named to the WBAL First Team, a San Jose Mercury News Athlete of the Week, declared Harker Athlete of the Year and received the Eagle Award, which is given to athletes who demonstrate extraordinary dedication and enthusiasm, expressed in their willingness to help their teammates, act as role models and offer their maximum effort to every task. He graduated in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in business management economics from UC Santa Cruz, where he also played basketball. Abarca now lives in San Jose and works as an accounting manager at AEye Inc., and is married and a father to a 7-month-old son.
In addition to being named co-MVP of the girls varsity basketball team in her senior year, Amanda Sullivan (née Polzin) received an honorable mention for the All-West Bay Athletic League Team. While performing as a key member of the team, Sullivan — who was born with amniotic band syndrome — also dedicated her time to serving student athletes with disabilities. She began volunteering with the Special Olympics, which eventually led to her winning the top prize in the San Jose Sports Authority’s REACH (Recognizing Excellence, Adversity, Courage and Hard Work) Youth Scholarship Program, an annual award given to Bay Area high school student athletes who have met significant challenges in order to achieve in both athletics and academics. She went on to study human development in college and found a fulfilling career in social work. Sullivan currently resides in North Carolina and is married with two children.
Daniza Rodriguez set a number of records in her time as a member of the girls varsity basketball team. She at one point held the record for most career points (1,214), most points in a season (511) and the best start to a season for any Harker athletics team (11-1). She received many accolades over the course of her upper school career, receiving Harker’s Female Athlete of the Year award in her sophomore and junior years, winning the Eagle Award in her junior and senior years and being named the WBAL Skyline League MVP and to the Skyline League First Team All League. She went on to play women’s basketball at Whittier College and has since returned to San Jose, where she works as a space planner at Cushman & Wakefield. In 2018, she assumed the role of coach for the girls varsity basketball team, which had a historic season that included a first-ever league title win and an appearance in the CCS finals.
The 2007 girls volleyball team remains one of the most successful teams in Harker’s athletic history. The team’s historic 38-5 run included a 12-0 league record, a win at the Maui Classic tournament and the first appearance Central Coast Section ranking ever achieved by a Harker athletics team. The season culminated in an appearance at the state finals against Santa Fe Valley Christian, in which the Eagles fell short but nevertheless left a permanent impression with their phenomenal talent, work ethic and record-setting performances. Featuring no fewer than three Harker Athletics hall of famers — Tanya Schmidt ’08, Kristina Bither ’09 and Candace Silva-Martin ’09 — and coached by decorated Harker veteran Theresa “Smitty” Smith, this team stands as one of the deepest in Harker athletic history to ever take any field or court. Due to their contributions not only to the team’s success but to this landmark chapter in Harker’s athletic legacy, all members of the team were recognized with this special induction.
On Friday night, four Harker alumni – A.J. Reid ‘04, Chris Davis ‘03, Candace Silva-Martin ‘09 and Isabelle Connell ‘13 – were inducted into the Harker Athletic Hall of Fame during a special virtual ceremony. During the event, upper school athletic director Dan Molin and middle and lower school athletic director Theresa “Smitty” Smith each shared some warm words about each of this year’s inductees, who were honored not just for their athletic prowess but also for their commitment to Harker’s goal of creating well-rounded global citizens.
A.J. Reid ‘04, who was a multi-sport athlete during his entire time at Harker, was named MVP of the varsity football team in his senior year after rushing for 908 yards and scoring seven touchdowns. He also was recognized for his achievements as a wide receiver, making 42 receptions for 718 yards and seven touchdowns. In basketball, Reid played a key role in Harker’s first ever CCS playoff victory and was named both team and league MVP his senior year. Reid continued to play sports after high school, competing in club volleyball as a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and helping his team win the NIRSA National Volleyball Championship, for which he was awarded MVP.
A four-sport athlete while at Harker, Chris Davis ’03 competed in football, wrestling, soccer and baseball and was team captain for the varsity baseball and football teams. Davis was the second Harker football player to be chosen to play in the Charlie Wedemeyer High School All-Star football game, and the first from Harker to play college football. Davis played Division 3 football as a student at Claremont McKenna College and was a standout defensive player, reaching the school’s fifth-highest number of interceptions in a single season and being named defensive MVP and Second Team All-West for Division 3. He is a co-founder and CEO of the fan commerce site Loot Crate.
Volleyball phenom Candace Silva-Martin ’09 was, along with fellow Hall of Famer Tanya Schmidt ’08, a key member of the 2007 upper school volleyball squad that reached the CCS finals and CIF state championships. In her junior and senior years, she was named All-County by the San Jose Mercury News, and was an All-West Bay Athletic League selection no fewer than four times. In her senior year, Silva-Martin was named a Super Eagle for competing in three sports in a single school year. While at George Washington University, Silva-Martin was named Atlantic 10 Conference defensive player of the week, Atlantic 10 rookie of the week and co-defensive player of the week in her first year, and is the Atlantic 10 Conference’s all-time digs leader.
Isabelle Connell ’13, a cross country and track and field competitor while at Harker, still holds four of the five school records she set as a Harker student. She was also one of the first two Harker track athletes to compete at the California Interscholastic Federation meet, along with Sumit Minocha ’13. She also received the Iron Eagle award – given to Harker athletes who demonstrate the highest degree of dedication to their school and teammates during off-season and pre-season in addition to the regular season – and the Director’s Award, which is bestowed upon seniors who played at least one sport for four years, received recognition at the state or section level and demonstrated commitment, leadership and a strong work ethic.
A team of computer scientists including Anand Natarajan ’09 recently published a proof that has solved “a raft of open problems in computer science, physics and mathematics,” wrote Quanta Magazine’s Kevin Hartnett. Natarajan co-authored the proof with researchers at Caltech, the University of Toronto, the University of Technology Sydney and the University of Texas, Austin. The full article contains an in-depth explanation of how the proof was developed.
This story originally appeared in the Fall/Winter 2019 issue of Harker Magazine.
When Matthew Gehm ’09 was at the upper school, he didn’t know what career path he wanted to pursue – until a pivotal class his senior year. A Harker student since kindergarten, he was strong in math and science, but was also drawn to the arts.
“Matt was not a typical Harker math- and science-focused student, because his visual art classes were a lifeline for him,” said Pilar Agüero-Esparza, art teacher. “As a teen, he seemed to be going through a tough time and art was a way he could channel his creativity and inner self.”
His creativity and bent toward math led him to take an architecture class in the fall of his senior year – and that sealed the deal. His grandfather was an architect, so he had been exposed to the field, but everything clicked in the class, and he realized he wanted to pursue architecture in college.
So after high school, he set off to study architecture at the University of Southern California, which had a highly rated, five-year program. He had found his passion in architecture but also continued his digital artwork, which is focused around the misuse of digital tools used in architecture in pursuit of novel forms and complexity. After graduating from USC, he started Forester Gehm, a multidisciplinary design firm, which allowed him to balance the line between art and architecture by working on larger installation pieces.
He also worked for some architecture firms and then decided to attend graduate school, all while keeping Forester Gehm humming.
“Matt reached out to me after he graduated from USC, and I saw a laser focus and ambition light up in him about his life and career goals,” said Agüero-Esparza. “Soon after our meeting, I saw him reach for new heights, including entering his artwork in exhibitions and then applying to graduate school.”
Gehm decided to attend Harvard University to pursue a Master in Architecture II, a two-year program that extends the base of knowledge of the professional field with particular emphasis on design.
“If you asked me when I was graduating Harker if I ever thought I would go to Harvard, I would have said ‘no,’” Gehm said in his steady voice. “It felt out of reach, but then I found something I really cared about and something I was passionate about and it felt more real.”
One of Gehm’s projects at Harvard, “Tin Whiskers, or The Ghost in the Machine Part II” with Jonathan Gregurick, is a “conceptual hybrid of motion and stasis, which blurs the lines between control and chaos, structure and fenestration or machines and technics,” according to Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design website.
The intellectual challenges of coursework combined with fascinating history courses and students from around the globe consumed Gehm for an amazing two years.
But when Gehm graduated in 2019, he knew he wanted to return to Los Angeles where his girlfriend lived and the beach beckoned. Instead of racing home, though, he spent a month traveling and camping across the United States. He’s an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hiking, camping and going to the beach.
Gehm is now a designer at Gehry Partners LLP, a full-service firm with broad international experience. He just started with Gehry and is involved in designing a skyscraper in Toronto. He plans to build his career in architecture but also continue his artwork.
“I realize that life is not a sprint but rather a series of opportunities,” said Gehm. “I’m lucky to have found my passion.”