This article originally appeared in the winter 2011 Harker Quarterly.
Tevis Howard ’98 spent a gap year in Kenya doing malaria immunology research before attending Brown University to earn a B.Sc. in neuroscience in 2007. While a junior there, he founded KOMAZA, a social enterprise working to get rural families in Kenya out of extreme poverty. Since 2008, KOMAZA (www.komaza.org) has planted more than 650,000 income-generating trees with nearly 3,000 farmers, and is now working to grow more than 3.5 million trees with 15,000 families by 2013. Be sure to check out the videos of KOMAZA’s work when you log onto their site.
Q: When you were at Harker, did you dream of doing what you do now?
A: Never! In school I was passionate about science. Winning the Harker seventh grade science fair encouraged me to continue science through high school and into university. My gap year in Kenya exposed me to a new set of challenges and opportunities, inspiring me to switch my focus from science to social entrepreneurship.
Q: What personal traits make you successful at what you are doing?
A: Passion, creativity, critical thinking, empathy, psychological resiliency and unfailing perseverance; entrepreneurship is rarely easy or straightforward.
Q: What in your life so far took you the longest time to learn?
A: It took me some time to realize the need and passion for applying my efforts and leveraging my good fortunes (great education) to make dramatic and sustainable improvements in the lives of the least fortunate. There are big problems on this planet today – 1 billion people (three times the population of the U.S.) struggle for basic survival in extreme poverty on less than a dollar per day. Now I aspire to create as much positive real- world impact as possible.
Q: What’s on the top of your personal and professional “lists” right now?
A: Professionally, my biggest goals are to hire an experienced president to help me raise growth capital for scaling up. We have great traction in Kenya, but now we need to build the managerial and operational capacity to plant over 25 million trees with 100,000 farmers by 2015, becoming the largest forestry company in East Africa. Most of my current personal goals are also professional goals (like, reply to emails faster!). Once I have more time, I’d like to invest a bit more in rekindling friendships and old hobbies – skiing in California and road trips across Africa.
Q: Tell us something surprising about yourself.
A: Despite being prone to sunburn and not really enjoying beaches, I’ve spent more than six years living and working in coastal, equatorial Kenya. My favorite hobby is mediocre gardening/landscaping.
Q: What advice do you have for current Harker students?
A: Get out and see the world! Before you do, it seems really big; once you have, you’ll realize it’s very small. Educate yourself about the major challenges and opportunities we’re facing as a planet over the next 50 years. There are a dozen or so big issues, and many will become intensely exciting and critically important. We are incredibly fortunate to be born into this hyper-accelerating era of humanity (vs. a hunter-gather 20,000 years ago). As current and recent generations of Harker students, we have more opportunity to make an impact with our lives, to build the world we want, than any previous generation of humanity. And we better get it right – if we don’t, we’ll be in for some rough waters; if we do, the future will yield unimaginable awesomeness.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2011 Harker Quarterly.
Rachel (Bendis) Shekhtman ‘94 graduated from the University of Oregon in 2000 with a B.S. in economics. After a short stint as a financial advisor in Illinois, she emigrated to Israel where she has been working as a business consultant, business writer and coach for U.S. clients. This year she has begun organizing a wilderness therapy program in Israel for troubled teens called BaMidbar.
Q: When you were at Harker, did you dream of doing what you do now?
A: My dreams in junior high school were not focused on a specific career or lifestyle. There were three main themes in my dreams for the future: I wanted to help others, I had a deep connection with nature and I had a strong need to be loved. I am happy to know that these three drives are all fed to- day by my career and my personal life.
Q: What do you find most exciting about your career or current project?
A: I am passionate about both my career and my current project (which is a volunteer operation for me), and I love that they both involve helping people. Right now the wilderness therapy program is most exciting for me because it will be filling a real need here in Israel and because I believe deeply in the approach. I find it rewarding to know I have an impact on the lives of others.
Q: What personal traits make you successful at what you‘re doing?
A: Compassion, intuition, creativity and an ability to quickly analyze a situation.
Q: What in your life so far took you the longest time to learn?
A: Unfortunately, I am still on the way to learning personal organization. There actually is such a thing as “natural consequences.” Most rules are simply there to protect us from having to suffer natural consequences and to try to isolate the impact of a person‘s behavior to that person. Sounds pretty simple, but it didn‘t come “naturally” to me.
Q: What‘s on the top of your personal and professional “lists” right now?
A: Personally: 1) ensuring my husband and each of my four children get the individualized attention and love they need; and 2) preserving and feeding my individual identity by continuing to learn, to build and maintain friendships, and to have fun. Professionally: launching the BaMidbar: wilderness therapy project (http:// www.bamidbar.org.il) while continuing to provide my clients quality service.
Q: Tell us something surprising about yourself.
A: I made a choice a number of years ago to live my life according to the ancient laws and customs of my Jewish heritage, in the land of the Jewish people, Israel. I have four kids ages 2 through 8, and we‘re expecting a foster child in the near future. On an entirely different note, my first year in university I was a theater major, and I interned at a professional theater. I also was two quarter credits short of a minor in archaeology when I graduated from university.
Q: What advice do you have for current Harker students?
A: Almost every rule has a reason. Every person has feelings: your words and actions can hurt them terribly or give them true joy. Your choices can and do make a big impact on your future and the future of others.
This article originally appeared in the summer 2010 Harker Quarterly.
Alix Natalia Briggs ’08 attended Harker for Gr. 5-9 before transferring to Interlochen Arts Academy, a private boarding school in Michigan, to pursue theater in her final three years of high school. In 2009 she was chosen out of thousands of entrants as one of three winners of a youngARTS award in the play and script writing for film or video category; 141 young artists were named winners in several disciplines. Because of this exposure, she was selected by famed choreographer Bill T. Jones for the HBO documentary-series “Masterclass.” A New York Times article about the show, in which Briggs is mentioned, can be found on the NY Times website. Currently she is a sophomore at the University of Michigan and continues to pursue her dream career as an actress and aspiring playwright.
Editor’s note: Harker has had two previous winners of youngARTS awards. For information about their program, please visit http://nfaa.org/Programs/.
Q: When you were at Harker, did you dream of doing what you do now?
A: Definitely. My interest in theater began at Harker, where I participated in Harmonics and later, the upper school Conservatory. The arts program at Harker is incredibly encouraging and community-centric. I wanted to maintain that sense of community for the rest of my life, which is why I chose to further pursue theater. I think my Spanish teachers would be pretty surprised to find out that I’m double-majoring in Spanish, though!
Q: What do you find most exciting about your career or current project?
A: Through the youngARTS program, which led to my project with HBO, I was able to meet a host of inspiring, uber-talented peers. Being able to collaborate with other artists my age has definitely been most exciting.
Q: What personal traits make you successful at what you’re doing?
A: I’d say my brashness, my outspokenness. Nothing is off limits for me. I think a large part of that is a result of growing up in the Bay Area; the Bay Area is definitely the poster child of ‘freedom of speech.’ I was fortunate enough to grow up in a place where I was exposed to all sorts of different opinions, cultures and issues.
Q: What in your life took you the longest time to learn?
A: In order to be happy, you have to be flexible. If you invest all of your potential for happiness into one goal, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. It’s better to put energy into your everyday pursuits, and then see where it takes you.
Q: What’s on the top of your personal and professional “lists” right now?
A: I want to travel the world and expose myself to as much as possible. I’d love a job that would pay me to travel – my own show on the Travel Channel, maybe? I’m a huge fan of the Ling sisters and their investigative-journalism-fueled-by-new-media approach. I think that’d be a great way to combine my interest in international studies with my background in theater.
Q: What advice do you have for current Harker students?
A: Don’t take your education for granted; most of your peers, when you leave Harker, will not have had the same opportunities as you – be respectful and mindful. Always remember that there is a world outside of Harker; it’s easy to be consumed by the ‘bubble.’ Put your effort into learning the material as opposed to just trying for stellar grades. And apply for youngARTS – it is a tremendous opportunity (for high school seniors and college freshmen under 18)!
This article originally appeared in the spring 2010 Harker Quarterly.
Colin Dickey MS ’91 holds an M.F.A degree from the California Institute of the Arts and is finishing a Ph.D. in comparative literature at the University of Southern California. He resides in Los Angeles and is the author of “Cranioklepty: Grave Robbing and the Search for Genius.”
Emma Hawley ’04 studied acting at the University of California at Los Angeles and graduated valedictorian in 2008. Since then she has performed improvisational comedy, sung professionally, signed with a commercial agent and has appeared in two commercials for Jack in the Box. She lives in Los Angeles, where she continues looking into lead roles in voiceovers and theatrical productions.
Q: When you were at Harker, did you dream of doing what you do now?
A: Colin Dickey: Absolutely. I really developed a love of reading through Sylvia Harp’s literature classes in seventh and eighth grades. And the first story I ever wrote was a western that was based on all of my best friends at Harker.
A: Emma Hawley: While at Harker I knew I was going to pursue acting and a creative career – and I am.
Q: What do you find most exciting about your career or current project?
A: CD: I love working with words: seeing how a sentence can be put together, thinking of the way words sound and how they look on the page, and developing a sense of music and rhythm through writing.
A: EH: I love this opportunity to collaborate with talented, tenacious, conscious beings.
Q: What personal traits make you successful at what you’re doing?
A: CD: I’ve always had an insatiable curiosity, but I’ve also always been more interested in the stories that don’t get told, the things that run counter to the party line, the stuff that nobody knows about but is often hiding in plain sight. That desire to seek out the stuff that isn’t being talked about has been a great asset in terms of my current writing, since it allows me to bring these stories to light.
A: EH: I have an unceasing desire to be more fully myself.
Q: What in your life so far took you the longest time to learn?
A: CD: When to use “that” and when to use “which” correctly in a sentence.
A: EH: I understand a lot less than I think I do, and there is nothing wrong with that.
Q: What’s on the top of your personal and professional “lists” right now?
A: CD: Um, I’m reading a lot of Henry James – does that count? I’m also trying to find a way to try something on “The Thuringian War,” a long poem written by the sixth century German saint Radegund, which I think is incredibly beautiful and which no one I’ve ever met has heard of.
A: EH: The real priority is striking a balance between knowing what I already have going for me, moving through the steps I need to take and opening to the myriad opportunities presenting themselves every day.
Q: Tell us something surprising about yourself.
A: CD: I’m a really big fan of karaoke.
A: EH: I frequently swing on the traveling rings at the original Santa Monica Muscle Beach.
Q: What advice do you have for current Harker students?
A: CD: Have a healthy, positive relationship to failure. The more you can let yourself be okay with failure, the more risks you’ll take, and the more you can achieve. Failing at great things is always better than doing mediocre things.
A: EH: Learn to balance your head with your heart and your gut. Gratitude is your best friend. Stillness is underrated. Play more.
This article originally appeared in winter 2009 Harker Quarterly.
William Jarvis ’97 graduated from Santa Clara University in molecular biology in 2006, and in 2011 will receive an M.B.A. from Stanford, where he currently lives. A science experiment Jarvis began as an eighth grade boarding student at Harker has recently been released by his family’s winery as “Will Jarvis’ Science Project,” and was given 93 points by the Beverage Testing Institute and 92 points by Wine Spectator.
Bruce Jones, PAMA ‘71, attended Culver Military Academy, Trinity University, St. Mary’s University and the University of Washington. He makes his home in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where he is the CEO of U.S. Submarines, Inc., Poseidon Undersea Resorts LLC and Triton Submarines LLC.
Q: When you were at Harker, did you dream of doing what you do now?
A: William Jarvis: I always knew, even at an early age, that I wanted to attend a graduate business program and eventually run my own business. After finishing my undergraduate education I worked for three years doing research and development at a biotech company called Codexis. My work experience helped me gain admittance to the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where I am currently enrolled as a first-year M.B.A. student.
A: L. Bruce Jones: I learned to dive the summer of my sixth grade year at PAMA [Palo Alto Military Academy], and that was the start of a lifelong fascination with being underwater.
Q: What do you find most exciting about your career or current project?
A: WJ: An M.B.A. is exciting because it opens lots of doors and presents you with educational and career opportunities you would not have access to otherwise.
A: LBJ: We’re currently building the world’s first sea floor resort and the very first permanent, one- atmosphere undersea residence. It’s the culmination of a dream for me.
Q: What personal traits make you successful at what you’re doing?
A: WJ: I have a good sense of what my priorities are and I focus my time and energy accordingly. I do not let myself get sidetracked by the non-essential.
A: LBJ: Hard work and perseverance.
Q: What in your life so far took you the longest time to learn?
A: WJ: Developing effective leadership skills is a lifelong process and this is an area where I continually seek improvement.
A: LBJ: Balancing work with family and leisure.
Q: What’s on the top of your personal and professional “lists” right now?
A: WJ: I am in the middle of the “on campus recruiting” process at Stanford, looking for an appropriate summer internship. I believe that work experience outside of the family business will allow me to contribute in a more meaningful way to the winery.
A: LBJ: Teaching my wife and teenage boys to fly in preparation for an around the world journey in a small plane in two years. Continuing to grow the submarine and the undersea resort companies.
Q: Tell us something surprising about yourself.
A: WJ: I bought a Japanese sports bike (motorcycle) when I was 20 years old and I have been riding ever since.
A: LBJ: I won the 1977 Collegiate National Skydiving Championships when in college.
Q: What advice do you have for current Harker students?
A: WJ: Focus on your academics and take advantage of all the opportunities that are available through Harker, but also put some time aside for your personal development. It is important to develop a sense of perspective and see yourself and your aspirations in a broader context than what you are accustomed to. If you have the opportunity, traveling can be a great way to expand your horizons.
A: LBJ: Do what you love and don’t give up when it’s difficult. When the time comes, find a mate that supports you and your career choice.