This past weekend, Harker alumni Melissa Chen ’08, Kacie Kaneyuki ’10, Rebecca Liu ’13 and Daniza Rodriguez ’13 – who is also the upper school girls basketball coach – participated in some friendly competition with Harker students in this year’s alumni basketball game. Several alums who planned on competing unfortunately could not attend, so the alumni team was graciously joined by junior varsity coaches Melissa Cabrera and Pip Chan. The first alumni basketball game was held in 2013 and takes place every year over the Thanksgiving break.
As the Harker community reveled during the festivities of Harker Day this past weekend, alumni Cole Davis ’10, Drew Goldstein ’13 and Jessica Khojasteh ’11 became the latest inductees into the 2021 Harker Athletic Hall of Fame during a special ceremony held at the Harker Athletic Center.
Dan Molin, Harker’s athletic director, introduced each of this year’s inductees to the assembled audience of parents, friends, teachers and coaches. The first to be introduced was Davis, a three-sport athlete who competed in football and wrestling for his entire upper school career and in wrestling for two of those years. A Harker lifer, Davis was described by Molin as “tough, physical and a team player.” As a football player, he helped Harker reach its first ever playoff appearance and had a career-high 20 tackles against San Jose High. He was a formidable wrestler as well, and in his freshman year pinned a senior who reportedly went on to be a state-level competitor. In swimming, he was an All-American in his sophomore, junior and senior years and placed second in CCS in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle.
Goldstein, the next inductee, was described by Molin as “the definition of ironman. Not only did this gentleman play three sports for all four years at Harker, he played just about every position in the sports of football, basketball and baseball.” He captained the baseball team in his junior and senior years, and was captain of the football team in his senior year. Goldstein’s incredible work ethic led to the creation of the Drew Goldstein Commitment Award, which is awarded to Harker athletes who compete in three sports per year for all four of their years at the upper school.
The final inductee, Jessica Khojasteh, “was always on top of our list” of eventual inductees, Molin said. She was one of Harker’s most successful swimmers, earning four varsity letters and becoming the school’s first CCS champion in any individual or team sport after winning 2010 CCS championship in the 200-meter individual medley. She was also named to the 2011 Scholastic Championship team, was a four-time All-American, a three-time league MVP and in 2010 was named Harker’s Female Athlete of the Year. She also set no fewer than six Harker records: in the 50-, 100-, 200- and 500-meter freestyle events; the 100-meter breaststroke and 200-meter IM.
After receiving their awards, the inductees together removed the curtain to reveal the newly updated Hall of Fame display, which sits in the Harker Athletic Center.
In October, Harker alumni Cole Davis ‘10, Drew Goldstein ‘13 and Jessica Khojasteh ‘11 will be inducted into the Harker Athletic Hall of Fame. The three former student athletes will be honored for their athletic achievements and for their exemplary efforts in becoming global citizens. The induction ceremony will be part of the Harker Day celebration on Oct. 9, which also will include the annual Homecoming football game and the Family & Alumni Picnic. For more information, email news@harker.org. Come on out and support these incredible alumni!
DoorDash co-founder Andy Fang today gifted $10 million to The Harker School to establish The Alumni Scholarship Endowment Fund. Fang is a 2010 graduate of the private K-12 school, located in the heart of Silicon Valley.
The fund will create a permanent legacy at The Harker School to provide need-based financial aid to students who qualify for admission, but otherwise could not afford tuition and fees. It will support Harker’s commitment to diversity at the school.
“A great education is one of the best ways to even the playing field for underprivileged kids,” Fang said. “I hope this endowment can help families from underserved communities achieve the American dream.”
Harker’s Head of School, Brian Yager, expressed pride in Fang’s efforts to improve access to education at Harker. “Andy is doing something of profound impact for the school, and his vision, forethought and overwhelming generosity will have a significant effect on Harker and the community for generations to come.”
Board of Trustee Chair and ’79 alumnus, Albert Zecher, Jr. added, “Andy’s commitment to creating this historic endowment for scholarships at Harker is inspiring. As a young alumnus, his philanthropy is especially laudable.”
Fang cited his experience at Harker as a motivating force. “With my philanthropy, I was looking to focus first on an institution that I knew could help the community, based on my personal experiences,” he said. “I’m thankful for the education I received at Harker, and I want to provide a way for more students to get access to Harker’s world-class education.”
Kim Lobe, Harker’s Director of Advancement, added, “Increasing our endowment is an important goal of our strategic plan. We couldn’t be more grateful that Andy has established this new Alumni Scholarship Endowment fund to inspire others to join him in giving to this very worthy cause.”
Fang co-founded DoorDash in 2013 with Stanford University classmates Evan Moore, Stanley Tang and Tony Xu. The company went public in December 2020.
Last week, Rohan Shah ’10 was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Retail & Ecommerce category. Extend, the company he co-founded in 2019, provides an easy method for merchants to offer warranties and protection plans. Its high-profile clients include Logitech, Harman and Advance Auto Parts. Extend allows customers to easily file claims online and receive fast approval, and the company receives a portion of each warranty sale. Extend’s $56 million in funding has come from benefactors including PayPal Ventures, Meritech Capital and Pritzker Group Ventures.
A Harker Lifer, Shah was also a three-sport athlete, which earned him the Super Eagle award for Harker athletes who participate in three sports in a single semester. As a football player, Shah was invited to play in Silicon Valley Youth Classic High School Football All-Star Game in 2010.
Earlier this week, Amiti Uttarwar ‘10 was named to the annual Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Finance category. Uttarwar was recognized for being the first known woman to become a Bitcoin Core contributor and becoming one of the few paid developers of bitcoin’s code when she was awarded a joint grant of $150,000 from OKCoin and HDR Global in June. A profile of Uttarwar published by Forbes in July chronicled her life as the child of Indian immigrants who found a passion for community service at a young age, eventually becoming a board member of Girls For A Change, a San Jose-based organization that encourages girls to develop local projects that benefit their communities.
After graduating from Harker, she attended Carnegie Mellon University, majoring in information systems. She eventually landed at Simbi, where she discovered her love of cryptocurrency. After a stint at a company called Coinbase, Uttarwar took a residency at Chaincode Labs in 2019 to become a Bitcoin Core developer, working directly with bitcoin’s underlying code. Her work at Chaincode resulted in a sponsorship by the Hong Kong-based crypto company Xapo and the landmark OKCoin/HDR Global joint grant.