The weather was as warm as the atmosphere as nearly 200 guests turned out for a summer evening reception for new parents held at the Silver Creek Valley Country Club in San Jose in June.
The annual event welcoming newcomers to Harker was graciously hosted by board member Sally Anderson with opening remarks by Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement.
After time for mixing and mingling, Rosenthal kicked off the evening by showing clips from televised new stories about Harker and its students. Many of the new parents had not seen the clips and were clearly impressed at the school’s many newsworthy accomplishments.
Following that, Casey Near ’06 spoke about her years and experiences at Harker, noting the impact her peers had on her and how well prepared she was for college and beyond.
Attendees were visibly moved by the event. They also enjoyed appetizers, drinks and dessert while connecting with one another as they prepared to become a part of the Harker community.
The upper school’s 2012-13 year began in earnest on Aug. 27 when the entire student body and faculty gathered at the upper school campus quad for this year’s matriculation ceremony. Grades 10-12 greeted the faculty with applause as they carried the flag of the class of 2013. Shortly after, the students cheered for the incoming class of 2016 as they took their seats.
Chris Nikoloff, head of school, greeted the students with an opening speech about jam sessions of the musical and non-musical varieties. He reminisced about his days in junior high and high school, playing both improvised and popular music with his friends. “We played music just to play music,” he said. He also enjoyed talking with his friends through the night, “just to talk, and this too was a form of improvisation.”
Both of these, he said, were activities done for their own sake. “Whatever you call them, I wish for you today that you get lost in some activity for its own sake, and not regard the grades, popularity, college admissions or outcomes of any kind,” he said. “If you have a jam session, you just might find something bigger than yourself to love, or you might find that you yourself are more, way more, than you ever imagined.”
Following Nikoloff’s opening remarks, Cantilena, the upper school all-female vocal group directed by Susan Nace, sang a spirited rendition of Stephen Hatfield’s “Run, Children, Run,” complete with improvised passages and raucous audience participation.
Butch Keller, upper school head, then took the stage to deliver his matriculation address, which focused on two lessons he felt were particularly important. The first was the importance of having goals. “There is no achievement without goals,” he said. He then related a story he’d heard about a Harvard graduate with a business degree who met a fisherman one day and offered to help him to start a business that would make him rich, only to realize that the fisherman would do the same things he does every day even after becoming successful.
The second lesson Keller wanted to get across was the importance of being able to react to tense situations in a calm and rational manner. He related a personal anecdote about a time he went golfing with his two sons. At one point, a particularly irate golfer started a confrontation that could have potentially ended in violence. “That wouldn’t have been right. Think of the litigation,” Keller joked. Instead, he and his sons defused the situation by walking away and notifying those in charge of the golf course about the troublemaker, who was escorted off the premises.
“It’s not the situation that’s important,” he said. “It’s your reaction to the situation.”
The final speaker of the ceremony was ASB president Raghav Sehtia, grade 12, who warmly welcomed the class of 2016 and said that the best way to enjoy their years as high school students was to be themselves. Sharing a story about a bike-related accident he’d suffered, he said, “I had decided that I wasn’t going to pretend not to cry because it would make me seem manly or strong. Don’t waste your time trying to be someone you aren’t.”
He also advised the students not to be afraid to get involved and to participate in the many activities available to them, something he learned during his freshman year. “I realized that if I did not go out and participate in those skits and spirit events and try new sports, my high school experience would not be a cherishable one,” he said.
Sehtia concluded by introducing the students to this year’s class officers before inviting ASB vice president Maverick McNealy, grade 12, to the stage for the recitation of the matriculation oath. The class of 2016 then signed the matriculation book while the Harker string quartet performed, directed by Chris Florio.
After the students had returned to their seats, the upperclassmen performed the time-honored “Freshman 101” skit, wherein the students, dressed as various superheroes, offered advice to their new friends through a series of humorous sketches, covering topics such as the dress code, honor code and student clubs.
Harker golf star Maverick McNealy, grade 12, wrapped up an eventful summer in mid-August by making it to the quarterfinals of the Northern California Golf Association’s Amateur Match Play Championship. McNealy started strong with a third-place finish in stroke play, shooting 72-71. After winning his first two matches, he later fell behind by two with four holes remaining. He nearly rallied with two birdies to force a playoff, but hit the bunker in the sudden-death playoff, allowing his opponent to advance.
Earlier in August, McNealy won the Silver Creek Valley Junior, shooting 65-72. He scored birdie no fewer than seven times in the first round. “It felt good to finally win one, though my results in bigger events have been exciting,” he said.
What began as an interest in sailing morphed into a crusade to save the earth’s waterways from plastic pollution for Dolan Dworak, grade 7.
When 12-year-old Dworak enrolled in sailing lessons a couple years back he had no idea the classes would lead to his current volunteer efforts with the Sea Scavenger Conservancy, a nonprofit San Francisco-based organization working to rid our waterways of plastic pollution.
Looking back it seems almost fated that he took up sailing at San Francisco’s McCovey Cove, where he met and bonded with Sea Scavenger founder Lorraine Palmer, who would go onto become his mentor. Today, as the Junior “SeaEO” of Sea Scavenger, Dworak represents the organization as a spokesperson, educating fellow Harker classmates, speaking at scout troop, church, school and city council meetings, and even attending international marine biology conferences to spread the word about the dangers of petroleum, a byproduct of plastic waste infesting our oceans, seas and tributaries. He is also busy recruiting other Bay Area students to serve on Sea Scavenger’s junior board of directors and helps coordinate monthly shoreline clean-up efforts and publicity for the cause.
Last year he visited Harker’s lower school where he led an engaging presentation about his work with Sea Scavenger. He brought along an art project titled “The Picket Line: Protest Plastic Pollution” to show the younger students what he and several students from the middle school (along with art instructor Elizabeth Saltos) created with trash they picked up during a cleanup at a local beach tied to wooden pickets. “The Picket Line” will soon be displayed at multiple locations in the Bay Area.
Most recently, he used the summer break to travel the East Coast from Maine to Delaware where he continued his education in marine biology along diverse shorelines – urban industrial, rocky beaches on remote islands, high density sandy beaches near resorts – from small inlets to wide-open ocean. His greatest concern is the oceans and the sea life within.
All five of the world’s oceans contain gyres – massive islands of trash afloat off the coast – attributed to the overuse of plastic, which gets into waterways and oceans. In fact, millions of tons of plastic have accumulated and created the gyres. The plastic breaks down through wind, sun and wave action and the chemicals leach into the water – water that flows all over the world. Also, sea animals mistake the plastic for food, ingest it, are poisoned and die. Humans ingest the harmful chemicals through tainted water and seafood.
“Too much marine life is dying due to plastic pollution, and my generation can stop the problem and save the animals,” said Dworak.
Dolan’s mom, Susan, added, “We can’t stop using all plastics, of course, but we need to stop polluting the earth with wasteful, single-use, harmful plastics. We are overwhelming the earth and causing irreversible harm. There is hope. Every single person can make a difference every single day by reducing, reusing, replacing or refusing plastics. Every plastic bag. Every plastic water bottle. Every bit helps, and changes in lifestyle are easy to make.”
Founded in 2008, Sea Scavenger works to establish ongoing cleanup operations in the remote ocean gyres where great concentrations of plastic are accumulating. They also strive to develop new technologies for plastic extraction and seek innovative uses for recycled ocean plastics.
Dworak’s family donate their motor yacht to assist in a monthly shoreline cleanup effort along the Bay, which the entire Dworak family takes part in. Beyond removing harmful trash along the beaches, they collect it and sort it out by various types of plastic to determine its origin and work with its manufacturers to try and find alternatives to using plastic.
A highlight of Dworak’s volunteer efforts with Sea Scavenger was attending the fifth International Marine Debris Conference in Hawaii. He went there in his role as junior spokesperson for Sea Scavenger, accompanied by his mom. The event, held every 10 years, hosts 38 participating countries, and attracts a large number of participants, including hundreds of scientists. But Dworak had the distinction of being the only child there.
Next up on Dworak’s agenda is a trip in June of 2013 to Seward, Alaska, to participate in Gyre X, an international expedition led by the Alaska Sea Life Center. Dworak has been asked to serve as Gyre X’s youth social media coordinator. The expedition will include an array of scientists and artists who will study and collect marine debris from remote parts of Alaska that will later result in an exhibit sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution traveling to museums around the world.
“I hope to get more people involved and to increase awareness, because the less plastic we use means the quicker the problem is solved,” said Dworak.
Plastic pollution is a huge problem, but one that is not impossible to solve. Scientists are studying the environment. Industry is redesigning products. And organizations – like the one Dworak is involved in – are creating awareness.
The Harker School is purchasing an eight-acre site on Union Avenue in San Jose, near Highway 85, as part of its long-range strategic plan. The site will initially be used to launch Harker’s new preschool and in 5-10 years will become the campus for the lower grades (K-5).
Frequently asked questions about the new campus have been posted on our website at www.harker.org/union. For additional information, please email communications@harker.org or call 408.345.9273.
The Harker School is purchasing an eight-acre site on Union Avenue in San Jose, near Highway 85, as part of its long-range strategic plan. The site will initially be used to launch Harker’s new preschool and in 5-10 years will become the campus for the lower grades (K-5).
Frequently asked questions about the new campus have been posted on our website at www.harker.org/union. For additional information, please email communications@harker.org or call 408.345.9273.
The Harker School is purchasing an eight-acre site on Union Avenue in San Jose, near Highway 85, as part of its long-range strategic plan. The site will initially be used to launch Harker’s new preschool and in 5-10 years will become the campus for the lower grades (K-5).
Frequently asked questions about the new campus have been posted on our website at www.harker.org/union. For additional information, please email communications@harker.org or call 408.345.9273.
Harker athletics opened the new year with a win by both varsity and JV in girls volleyball against Priory. JV won in two sets, but varsity had to keep the hammer down for a five-game marathon, finally winning 15-13 in the fifth set. Read all about it in the Merc! Come watch their home opener at Blackford next Tuesday night v. Homestead! 4:30 JV, 5:45 varsity.
Cross Country
A few cross country runners competed in the Gunn High scrimmage meet yesterday. Sophomore Corey Gonzales won the varsity boys race defeating runners from St. Francis, Palo Alto and Gunn high schools. Senior Tyler Yeats placed sixth. On the girl’s side, Ragini Bhattacharya, grade 12, and Claudia Tischler, grade 11, placed ninthth and 11th, respectively. Their next race is Sept. 15 in Salinas.
Varsity football season opens tonight against Yerba Buena at 7! Come on over – the price is right (free)!
Upper school music teacher Susan Nace visited Tamagawa Gakuen in Tokyo as part of this year’s teacher exchange. Nace spent the duration of her trip, which started in late June and lasted through the first week of July, teaching classes to students in grades 8, 10 and 11.
“I had a lot to share about vocal and choral techniques that were unknown to them,” Nace said. “I also shared some of my teaching materials.”
Nace found that the students were very receptive and eager to learn, and that the teachers “were very curious and interested in vocal pedagogy, as their choral teachers are instrumentally trained.” She was also impressed with how musically trained the Tamagawa students were. “Everyone sings in a choir and takes art classes every year,” she said. “Each of the upper grades has its own choir, which sings major works. They have several large lecture/recital halls and music rooms in which to hold rehearsals.”
Aside from teaching, Nace also had many opportunities to experience the rich Japanese culture, visiting the famous Rikugien Garden and sampling many different foods, including “every conceivable way to eat tofu, conger eel, salmon roe, cockles and fish that I am unfamiliar with.”
The students even taught her a bit of Japanese. “One taught me to write my name in katakana so that I could sign her songbook!”
At the United Spirit Association Dance Camp, held in July at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Harker varsity and junior varsity dancers won a number of awards and earned the privilege of performing in Hawaii and London. Students in attendance at the camp were grade 12 students Ria Desai, Michaela Kastelman and Molly Wolfe, grade 11 student Jenny Dai, grade 10 students Noel Banerjee, Darby Millard, Erika Olsen and Jacqui Villarreal and grade 9 students Selin Ozcelik, Emily Pan, Kristen Park, Ankita Sharma and Madison Tomihiro.
The camp featured classes on technique and choreography and also featured a number of competitive challenges. Under the guidance of dance teachers Amalia De La Rosa and Karl Kuehn, the dancers won several awards. Kastelman, Millard and Villarreal were recognized as All-American dancers, an honor that included an invitation to perform in London with the United Spirit Association. For their overall technique and performance acumen, Kastelman, Banerjee, Millard and Villarreal all received Super Sensational ribbons. Millard and Kastelman reached the final round of competition and were among the top 10 dancers at the camp.
The Harker dance group was awarded a “Superior” plaque, the highest group recognition at the camp, and was invited to perform at next year’s NFL Pro Bowl in Hawaii. They also won the teamwork challenge and received an award for being the most-improved team at the camp.
Desai’s and Sharma’s efforts in drill classes earned them first-place ribbons and Park and Ozcelik received second-place ribbons. In the drill competition, Sharma received a medallion for her second-place finish.