More than 200 people arrived at the Patil Theater this evening to see the Miró Quartet perform at the second event of the 2018-19 Harker Concert Series season. Since its founding in 1995, the Miró Quartet – comprising violinists Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, violist John Largess and cellist Joshua Gindele – has claimed first place at numerous competitions, including the Banff International String Quartet Competition. In 2005, it was the first string ensemble in history to receive the Avery Fisher Career Grant.
In its second Harker Concert Series appearance, the quartet’s program consisted of works by Franz Schubert, Leoš Janáček and Felix Mendelssohn, and the Patil Theater proved to be a splendid venue to hear them performed by a group of superb, accomplished musicians. Schubert’s bittersweet melodies and the fiery, tumultuous passion of Janáček’s “Intimate Letters” (believed to be inspired by the affectionate letters he exchanged with a woman many years his junior) rang brilliantly through the theater’s acoustics. During a brief talk between the first two pieces, Largess remarked that those in attendance made up “the youngest audience we’ve played for in a long time,” which was fitting given that Schubert and Mendelssohn were both in their teens when they composed the pieces in this evening’s show.
Following intermission, the quartet closed with Mendelssohn’s “Quartet in A minor, Op. 13,” another piece created by someone in love, albeit much earlier in life. Though perhaps less intense than Janacek’s work, it expressed a similar range of emotion, fully realized in the Miró Quartet’s very capable hands.
More than 200 people arrived at the Patil Theater this evening to see the Miró Quartet perform at the second event of the 2018-19 Harker Concert Series season. Since its founding in 1995, the Miró Quartet – comprising violinists Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, violist John Largess and cellist Joshua Gindele – has claimed first place at numerous competitions, including the Banff International String Quartet Competition. In 2005, it was the first string ensemble in history to receive the Avery Fisher Career Grant.
In its second Harker Concert Series appearance, the quartet’s program consisted of works by Franz Schubert, Leoš Janáček and Felix Mendelssohn, and the Patil Theater proved to be a splendid venue to hear them performed by a group of superb, accomplished musicians. Schubert’s bittersweet melodies and the fiery, tumultuous passion of Janáček’s “Intimate Letters” (believed to be inspired by the affectionate letters he exchanged with a woman many years his junior) rang brilliantly through the theater’s acoustics. During a brief talk between the first two pieces, Largess remarked that those in attendance made up “the youngest audience we’ve played for in a long time,” which was fitting given that Schubert and Mendelssohn were both in their teens when they composed the pieces in this evening’s show.
Following intermission, the quartet closed with Mendelssohn’s “Quartet in A minor, Op. 13,” another piece created by someone in love, albeit much earlier in life. Though perhaps less intense than Janacek’s work, it expressed a similar range of emotion, fully realized in the Miró Quartet’s very capable hands.
More than 200 people arrived at the Patil Theater this evening to see the Miró Quartet perform at the second event of the 2018-19 Harker Concert Series season. Since its founding in 1995, the Miró Quartet – comprising violinists Daniel Ching and William Fedkenheuer, violist John Largess and cellist Joshua Gindele – has claimed first place at numerous competitions, including the Banff International String Quartet Competition. In 2005, it was the first string ensemble in history to receive the Avery Fisher Career Grant.
In its second Harker Concert Series appearance, the quartet’s program consisted of works by Franz Schubert, Leoš Janáček and Felix Mendelssohn, and the Patil Theater proved to be a splendid venue to hear them performed by a group of superb, accomplished musicians. Schubert’s bittersweet melodies and the fiery, tumultuous passion of Janáček’s “Intimate Letters” (believed to be inspired by the affectionate letters he exchanged with a woman many years his junior) rang brilliantly through the theater’s acoustics. During a brief talk between the first two pieces, Largess remarked that those in attendance made up “the youngest audience we’ve played for in a long time,” which was fitting given that Schubert and Mendelssohn were both in their teens when they composed the pieces in this evening’s show.
Following intermission, the quartet closed with Mendelssohn’s “Quartet in A minor, Op. 13,” another piece created by someone in love, albeit much earlier in life. Though perhaps less intense than Janacek’s work, it expressed a similar range of emotion, fully realized in the Miró Quartet’s very capable hands.
By Elaine Zhai, grade 10, Harker DECA Director of Communications
In mid-November, almost 50 students from the Harker DECA chapter flew to Anaheim for the DECA Western Region Leadership Conference (WRLC). Marking the beginning of the 2018-19 competitive season, this event was Harker DECA’s second time attending WRLC, a non-competitive conference designed to provide students with competitive tips. Through workshops and keynote speakers, students bonded with one another and developed skills to prepare themselves for their next conference.
“This year’s WRLC was a really great experience that had a good balance between being fun and also informative,” said Shania Wang, grade 12, Harker DECA CEO. “I felt that the workshops and speakers had really important messages and was able to learn from each of them, and the competitive aspect was also super helpful in terms of introducing members to competitions. At the same time, being in Anaheim and having chapter time really allowed our chapter to come together and get closer while forming lasting memories. As a whole, even being a senior, I definitely feel that it was an overall well-done conference that had a lot to offer to everyone.”
Members staging in the conference are as follows:
Competitive Event Testing Session
Claire Luo, grade 10
Shania Wang, grade 12
Ronit Gagneja, grade 11
Riya Gupta, grade 12
Role-play Tournament
Riya Gupta, grade 12
Shania Wang, grade 12
Yejin Song, grade 9
Mahi Kolla, grade 11
DECA Garage Top 3 Finalists
William Chien, grade 9
Shrey Khater, grade 9
Vinay Sudarsanam, grade 9
Students opened the visit by preparing for the introductory workshops that afternoon, which included an alumni story session, DECA Competition 101 and a Tell Your Story workshop. Attendees were then given the rest of the afternoon to participate in the Competitive Event Testing Session and grab dinner before the opening session.
In the opening session, DECA members from throughout the Western Region, including California, Arizona and Washington, assembled to hear the keynote speakers share their stories of success.
On Friday, the chapter gathered to attend the general session and listen to speakers share insightful lessons they have learned throughout their professional careers. Students were given the opportunity to engage with experts in various fields, and left feeling inspired and encouraged to pursue their own dreams. Creating a perfect environment to network with students from other states, these educational and interactive workshops served as learning experiences for the chapter.
“As a first-year DECA member, the workshops provided a more fun and interactive way of learning about the DECA experience,” said Tuhin Chatterjee, grade 10. “I’ve definitely gained a variety of skills, and I look forward to applying them in future conferences.”
After a busy day of workshops, students were able to unwind and spend time bonding with one another and enjoying the attractions of Disneyland.
On Saturday, all members of the chapter participated in the DECA competitive events. In round one, where they competed against other students in a role-play tournament, judges were able to give students feedback and constructive criticism on their performance to prepare them for future competitions.
“The role-play mock competition was overall an incredible learning experience for the students,” said Claire Luo, grade 10, Harker DECA director of role-plays. “For many of the attendees, this was their first role-play in an actual conference setting, and it gave them a great taste of what to expect. In particular, they got to do the role-play in front of an actual judge, which was a new and eye-opening experience for many of the members. The role-play itself was also really interesting and allowed the students to come up with all sorts of creative marketing ideas and plans. In all, I thought that the mock role-play competition benefited the students a lot, especially as they prepare for their next conference.”
Throughout the morning, students also visited The Hub to support fellow members of the Harker DECA chapter, Phil Han, grade 11, vice president of competition; Anay Karwal, grade 11, director of technology; and Enya Lu, grade 12, vice president of California DECA, in the DECA Fashion Show. Furthermore, William Chien, Vinay Sudarsanam and Shrey Khater, all grade 9, participated in the DECA Garage Pitches and placed in the top three among teams from across the nation.
Then, students attended another set of workshops, which covered various topics including creative storytelling and public speaking. Again, these workshops provided a unique experience for new members, who could not only socialize with other like-minded students but also develop and hone useful life skills.
On Saturday evening, members of Harker DECA gathered for a quick excursion at BowlMor Lanes in Anaheim. For two hours, students were able to relax and compete with one another while snacking on mozzarella sticks and buffalo wings.
“Chapter bowling was a really fun experience because I got to take some time out of the trip to relax, interact, and have fun with my roommates and talk more to the other chapter members,” said Alysa Su, grade 9. “It’s a great way to connect with some people you might not have known before and a great bonding experience for the entire chapter.”
Students finally convened for the closing session. While there, students watched as Chien, Sundarsanam and Khater represented Harker DECA in the DECA Garage Shark Tank Panel Pitches, presenting their proposal in front of a panel of judges and hundreds of students. Students also experienced a performance by Brian Nhira, a former contestant on The Voice, and after the closing session, members gathered to take a chapter photo and pose with Nhira.
“DECA Garage was a great experience overall,” said Chien. “In the beginning, we were introduced to Jason Lucash, the founder of Origaudio, who has appeared on Shark Tank. They then let us start working on making our company and developing our pitch. After that, we had to do a form of crowdfunding where every student was given DECA Dollars, and we had to convince them to invest in us. Our company raised enough money to be in the top three, giving us the opportunity to present in front of five sharks and the 1,500 people attending the conference. In the end, we didn’t win but it was still the highlight of my DECA career so far. Huge thanks go out to everyone in Harker DECA, the officers and my teammates, as none of what happened would have been possible without them.”
Overall, Harker DECA’s experience at WRLC was definitely a learning one, where students were able to network with students from across the nation and develop the critical skills to aid them in becoming competitively successful in the future. The chapter looks forward to applying their newfound knowledge to the first competitive conference of the 2018-19 season, the Silicon Valley Career Development Conference. Go Eagles!
About The Harker School DECA Harker DECA is an international competitive business organization that prepares emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in four fields of business: marketing, finance, hospitality, and management. Our DECA chapter integrates classroom instruction, applies learning, connects to business and promotes competition in order to prepare the next generation to be academically prepared, community oriented, professionally responsible and experienced leaders.
The upper school show choir, Downbeat, was recently accepted into the 2019 Varsity Vocals International Championship of High School A Cappella, a global competition highlighting high school a cappella groups. They will travel to Portland, Ore., in January to compete in the quarterfinal round. Varsity Vocals organizes a cappella competitions for high school and college students that attract thousands of singers from across the world every year. The collegiate-level competition is featured in the “Pitch Perfect” series of films, which has become one of the highest-grossing musical comedy franchise of all time.
“We are thrilled to receive this wonderful opportunity!” said Downbeat co-director Jennifer Sandusky. “It will provide a new performance venue for our singers’ musical growth with adjudicated feedback on our singing and performing skills.”
In a Harker alumni chain reaction, following his employment at DoorDash, Barrett Glasauer ’09 has co-founded WanderJaunt, which partners with property owners to maximize value for short-term rentals.
Post-Harker, Glasauer went to the University of California, Berkeley, and picked up an electrical engineering/computer science degree. “While at college, I joined a fraternity, TKE [Tau Kappa Epsilon]” said Glasauer, “and made a bunch of friends who I’m close with to this day – and am lucky enough to have a number of them working with me at WanderJaunt.”
After graduation, Glasauer joined Palantir Technologies, a data analytics company, and led teams of engineers and data scientists helping protect clients from cybersecurity and fraud threats. “After 2.5 years at Palantir, I wanted to get closer to a true startup and reached out to Andy Fang (Harker Class of 2010) about openings at DoorDash,” said Glasauer. “He mentioned that they were starting up a business operations team, which sat at the intersection of data and strategy. It was a great fit for what I was looking for and I had a great time working with a bunch of other Harker alum, notably David Kastelman (Class of 2009), Rohan Chopra (Class of 2010) and Kevin Fu (Class of 2010).
“While at DoorDash, I met my two co-founders for WanderJaunt, Andres Green and Michael Chen. Andres was a general manager for the city of Boston and Michael was building out a bunch of our back-end merchant operations functions. They had a pretty terrible Airbnb experience during a DoorDash East Coast summit, and we got to chatting about how we’d do it better using what we’d learned building an operational tech company. That’s really the genesis of WanderJaunt – the belief that we could take our experience growing a three-sided marketplace at DoorDash with a ton of operational complexity and apply it to the short-term rental space.
“Airbnb, Homeaway, Expedia and all the rest of the online travel agencies (OTAs) had proven that people wanted to stay in homes over hotels when they traveled. The growth proved the fit was there, but the experience from both a host and a guest perspective was littered with inconsistency and operational complexity. It’s that inconsistency that prevented people like my parents from ever trying Airbnb. We believe that we can bring the best of both worlds together to create amazing guest experiences.”
The team finds properties to update and rent out by searching Trulia, Zillow, Craigslist and Redfin for properties available for rent. They also go direct to apartment buildings and lease a number of units at once, using multiple listing services to find properties that are about to go back into the rental market. “We also have acquired a significant chunk of our portfolio through referrals from people we manage properties for. It’s a pretty easy sell for most homeowners – more money, less work,” Glasauer noted.
“To get the properties ready, we have an internal activation team that handles everything from design, painting, furniture install to cleaning and photography,” Glasauer said. “We’ve basically got the process down to a point where we can have a property go from unfurnished to ready for guests within 10 days of us signing the lease. In order to facilitate this speed, we maintain a warehouse in each of our operational markets that stores 15-plus homes worth of furniture at a time to help us combat any lag in furniture delivery. When we first started two years ago, it would take us a full month just to get a single property ready. This November, we’ve managed to activate 20 individual properties.”
The company started out partnering with owners to operate their properties, but is evolving to maximize the use of company resources. “We’ve learned that our business model allows us to create much higher yields on a piece of real estate than owners would get in the traditional long-term market,” said Glasauer. “Looking into the future, we want to capture both the yield upside as well as the appreciation of the real estate asset. To do that, we’ve started raising a private equity real estate fund with the explicit purpose of buying and selling real estate. We expect to buy our first homes by Q2 of 2019.”
Glasauer is clearly a seeker of adventure! When asked what the scariest part of starting a company was, he replied, “Truth be told, I was more scared at the beginning of not taking the chance and I was fearful that if I didn’t take the leap, I would forever kick myself or wonder what could have been. For me, viewing the whole journey as a crazy learning experience that I wouldn’t get in any other company mitigates most of that ‘fear.'”
After all the planning and groundwork, it was exciting to actually open the doors of the first property, he said. “I think getting our very first guest was a huge moment for us,” said Glasauer. “It was the first validation that we could actually put something out there that people were interested in experiencing. I also think it resonated deeply with us that we were building the right thing when we got our first reviews where people said we gave them the best short-term rental experience they ever had or talked about how we helped their family get through things like a funeral or provided a great place to celebrate a birth.”
The journey has been thrilling as Glasauer grows into his management role. “To use a sports analogy,” said Glasauer, “when we first started out, I could be a player 100 percent of the time and it was super clear how outcomes were affected by my inputs. As I’ve played more and more of a team captain or a coach role as the [organization] has grown, the distance between my immediate inputs and the eventual outcomes that we deliver have also grown. It’s been personally challenging to feel like I have less control over the actual output since it requires a larger number of involved players to get to (reach?), but also incredibly rewarding to see super talented people working together to solve problems I never could on my own.”
The company is growing rapidly and WanderJaunt, like so many companies, is seeking good workers. “We would love to talk to software engineers and data scientists located in SF,” said Glasauer, “or folks who’d love to own a P&L [profit and loss concern] and help build the business from the ground floor by running entire markets in Phoenix, Austin and soon Chicago! Further, if anyone owns investment properties in the Phoenix or Austin area, I’d love to chat!”
Earlier this month, the middle school concluded its yearly food drive, which began Oct. 26 and ended Nov. 15. A total of 2,465 food items were collected for delivery to the Second Harvest Food Bank, which each month serves more than 257,000 people in need in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. This drive is one of several annual community service projects carried out by the middle school during the holiday season. Others include Suits2Empower, which donates business attire to young people whose families cannot afford it, and the Family Giving Tree, which provides holiday gifts to impoverished families in the Bay Area.
The three women identified the need for a comprehensive gifting service that lets both consumers and corporations send high-quality, personalized gift boxes for any occasion. The company (shopBOXFOX.com) projects more than $6 million in sales this year. Suri currently serves as BOXFOX’s chief strategy officer.
She met co-founder and CEO Chelsea Moore at her first job in advertising, who then introduced her to Jenni Olivero, her other co-founder and COO. Together, they bring experience from the worlds of advertising, PR, sports and e-commerce, and contribute to BOXFOX in distinct ways that cater to their strengths.
“I oversee long-term growth and business objectives for the company,” said Suri. “I’m always thinking a year, two, even five years ahead, ensuring that we stay relevant and competitive. On a day-to-day level, I oversee our corporate sales division (BOXFOX Concierge), broader partnerships, web initiatives, trendspotting and more.”
As a unique operation, there were challenges. “The hardest part of starting BOXFOX was doing so without any kind of rulebook,” said Suri. “We’ve bootstrapped since day one, so there were a lot of decisions that we just made from our gut (and usually a lot of Google searching), from picking the right box manufacturers to pricing our product to choosing the best shipping carrier.
Suri built a resume that gave her the chops to build a brand. She was a USC Global Fellow and earned a three-month summer fellowship in Hong Kong with Burberry, according to her bio. She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in public relations. Suri held down a number of positions as BOXFOX got off the ground, including managing the corporate concierge program, driving B2B business development, and working closely with developers on site enhancements and solutions to constantly improve offerings.
With the company up and running, she has settled in to her current role a bit. “Today, the challenges look a little different. We’re fortunate to have an incredible network of fellow entrepreneurs and experts of all kinds we can call upon. As founders, we now spend a large portion of our time thinking about both managing and scaling our team while maintaining our company culture and values. Scaling can be as scary as it is exciting, but we hire hardworking, kind people who believe in our mission and entrust them to shape our ever-evolving culture.
The payoff? “The most rewarding part of our company is witnessing the impact we have on people’s relationships,” noted Suri “We started BOXFOX after a personal experience left us without a solution to being there for a friend in the hospital. We wanted to send a meaningful, tangible gift with items that would actually help her heal.
“In the four years since, it’s been deeply gratifying to see that same spirit behind the gifts our customers give every single day, from the products they choose to the messages they type. We’re making it easy and accessible for people to be there for the people in their lives, even when they can’t be there physically.”
Becoming an entrepreneur means pulling together disparate skills. Suri’s advice to help with that challenge: “Put simply: take advantage,” she said. “Harker is such a special place and was absolutely instrumental in getting me to where I am today. There are so many resources, between the courses, the faculty and the extracurricular options. Harker gives you the potential to explore anything you are passionate about; if that’s entrepreneurship, you can get a head start.
“More importantly, the people you meet at Harker will be in your network forever. They will be your co-founders, your bosses, future hires, neighbors and best friends. So make the most of the time with them both in and out of the classroom.”
More than a dozen Harker students attended the QuickBooks Connect Conference at the San Jose Convention Center last week as part of Harker’s CareerConnect program.
This year’s topic was “Anything is Possible.” Attendees listened to a welcome speech from Brad Smith, CEO of Intuit, who explained the power of connections and the importance of hard work to achieve goals.
Next, Intuit’s executive VP Sasan Goodarzi (who takes over as Intuit CEO in January) spoke about Intuit’s innovative technologies that can help small and large businesses grow. Afterward, attendees got to hear journalist Lisa Ling interview a panel of three entrepreneurs about their experiences starting their companies.
Dylan Lauren, founder of Dylan’s Candy Bar, spoke about how she combined art, fashion and pop culture to create the world’s largest candy store. Jamie Siminoff, founder of Ring, a company aimed at reducing crime in neighborhoods using a Wi-Fi video doorbell, spoke about how his company grew from a Shark Tank reject to a billion-dollar company. The third speaker was Simon Enever, founder of Quip, a company dedicated to making brushing teeth simple and better. Each speaker gave meaningful insights on the process of starting a business and shared interesting experiences from his or her own journey as an entrepreneur.
“It was super duper interesting and just a great experience. I learned a lot about managing your business and just how to make your business thrive and grow as a whole,” said Laszlo Bollyky, grade 9.
For the rest of the day, attendees explored company booths and attended breakout sessions. This year, there were 90-plus companies with booths, including Chase, Aero, PayPie and Gusto.
“We learned a lot about how to network with people and how to interact with people to make connections,” said Michelle Liu, grade 9. “Most of the companies we talked to were the payroll companies. The people would talk about the company, and ask if we had questions. It was a very good learning experience.”
July 9, 2019
Update: Over the last year, Alag has received numerous kudos for his research, including having his work published in both Smithsonian Magazine and PLOS, a professional research journal:
Nov. 29, 2018
Over the summer, senior Ayush Alag received a $10,000 grant from genetic research company Illumina to continue his research into food allergies, which led to the creation of his own company, Allergezy. The company aims to develop a safe and accurate means of genetic testing for allergies. Alag’s original research, which he pursued due to his own experiences with food allergies, was the basis for the project he submitted for the 2018 Synopsys Science & Technology Championship, which won a first award in the bioinformatics category. Recently, Alag was selected to give a poster presentation at the American Medical Informatics Association’s 2019 Informatics Summit in March, an opportunity typically reserved for medical professionals and graduate students. More information about Allergezy, its team and its mission can be found on the company’s website, which is maintained by Alag’s brother, Shray, Allergezy’s VP of marketing and web design.