This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly. Read the complete issue at http://bit.ly/10W17nX.
Bringing together hundreds of donors and members of the Parent Development Council (PDC), this year’s Head of School’s Circle Celebration thanked donors who give $2,500 and up for their continued commitment to The Harker School and its mission.
Upon their arrival at the event, held in early May in the upper school’s Nichols Hall atrium, participants enjoyed appetizers as they strolled the room, admiring artwork still adorning the walls from the art students’ recently held exhibit.
After opening remarks from Chris Nikoloff, head of school, audience members were treated to performances by Harker’s upper school show choir Downbeat, its middle school all-male dance team High Voltage and middle school girls’ dance group Showstoppers.
A handful of upper school students representing athletics, business, entrepreneurship and other learning areas also talked about how greatly those programs had impacted them. They thanked the audience members for supporting curricula they are so passionate about.
The engaging evening was brought to a close as dessert and coffee were served in the atrium.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly. Read the complete issue at http://bit.ly/10W17nX.
With Harker applying for a $5 million grant from the Valley Foundation to support its capital campaign for a performing arts and gymnasium complex, the school launched an end of the year appeal called “5-for-5,” asking those who had not yet contributed to Harker’s annual campaign to donate $5, $50, $500 or $5,000 to help secure the $5 million.
For a number of years Harker’s advancement team has sought to emphasize how important it is for schools seeking financial support from foundations to have a high percentage of participation from parents contributing to annual operations via the annual giving campaign – the amount of the donation is not as important as the commitment to donate.
This year, the message really got out and now just over 80 percent of Harker parents are contributing to the annual fund. “I think the word spread because we were able to be very specific about exactly which foundation we were applying to and the large amount of money that we are seeking. That made it very real for people,” said Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement.
“Response was tremendous, with hundreds of gifts coming in during the last week of the fiscal year,” reported Melinda Gonzales, managing director of advancement, of the temporary fundraising drive. “Even a five-dollar gift from a family helps increase our parental participation level,” she said.
Although the appeal was aimed at parents, the 5-for-5 campaign attracted the attention of grade 3 student Daniel Wu, who donated money he had won in a piano recital to the cause.
“I participated in a piano competition and won $200! I practiced hard for about two years and decided to donate half my prize money to Harker because it is and always will be my favorite school,” said Wu, adding that he loves all the fun activities at Harker such as the picnic and fashion show.“I want to contribute to the 5-for-5 program to make Harker even more successful.”
“What an incredible third grader, to be thinking about giving back at such a young age!” noted Elise Robichaud, who teaches grade 3 language arts, voicing how proud she was to be his teacher.
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly. Read the complete issue at http://bit.ly/10W17nX.
The advancement department proudly reported that Harker faculty reached a record level of 100 percent participation in this year’s annual giving campaign.
At a recent faculty meeting, Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, thanked teachers for going “all in” to support Harker students. To celebrate the achievement, all three campuses held separately organized faculty free dress days.
Rosenthal thanked members of the Faculty Development Council (FDC), a group working to increase faculty participation in the annual giving process, and encouraged others to join in. As a result of the record-setting faculty/staff drive, many parents were also inspired to make a gift or pledge to the campaign.
This year’s FDC members:
• Representing the lower school: Michelle Anderson, Diann Chung, Jared Ramsey, Eileen Schick and Grace Wallace.
• Representing the middle school: Jonathan Brusco, Monica Colletti, Keith Hirota, Vandana Kadam, Andy Keller and Pat White.
• Representing the upper school: Victor Adler, Chris Colletti, Chris Florio, John Heyes, Andrew Irvine, Smriti Koodanjeri, Eric Nelson, Sue Smith, Bradley Stoll and Troy Thiele.
Harker is applying for a $5 million grant from the Valley Foundation to boost its capital campaign to raise money for a new performing arts and gymnasium complex.
“One of the criteria that grant-making foundations examine in deciding whether to award a grant to a school is parent participation in annual giving,” said Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement at Harker. “Foundations want to be sure that they are adding to stakeholder responsibility, not replacing it. Parent participation in annual giving is a widely accepted measure of parent support of the school’s mission and philosophy.”
To increase parent participation, and thus increase the chances of getting the grant, Harker has started a 5-for-5 campaign, asking parents who have not contributed to annual giving to give $5 to help Harker get $5 million.
“We have 100 percent board participation and 100 percent faculty participation,” Rosenthal noted. “We’re aiming to increase our parent participation to a similar level.”
The campaign only runs through May 31. “We’re asking those families who haven’t yet participated in annual giving to give $5, $50, $500 or $5,000 to help our children receive the $5 million grant,” Rosenthal said.
Families may make their gifts online at www.harker.org/onlinegiving or can drop off their donations at any campus’ front office, but gifts must be made by May 31 to help with the 5-for-5 compaign.
“At the upper school, my ‘soccer daughter’ loved playing on Davis Field,” said Karen Coates (Amy ’10, Shelby ’13), co-chair of the Parent Development Committee, “and my ‘swimming daughter’ felt enormous pride in swimming in the Singh Aquatic Center and competing against other private schools in the area. Nichols Hall not only provides the outstanding science facilities, it also serves as the manifestation of Harker’s direction for architectural excellence that we will see in the facilities planned for the future.”
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Three visionary gifts from donors, made early in Harker’s expansion to a K-12 school, are still making a major impact on our students’ experience today.
The Shah/Krishnan Family
When the decision was made to create an upper school program, it was clear that a new building would need to be added to the Saratoga campus to house Harker’s middle school students. Thus, Shah Hall was constructed with Ajay Shah and Lata Krishnan making the lead gift during the second phase of the capital campaign, giving Harker’s middle school students a brand new set of classrooms to call their own.
The couple co-founded SMART Modular Technologies in 1989, a memory module company that later merged with Solectron, and they continue to achieve great success today via their technology-based private equity firm. As role models for budding entrepreneurs in the Indian community, they came together with several other families to create the American India Foundation in 2001, an initiative to accelerate the social and economic development in India and strengthen the bonds between India and the U.S. Their focus on global outreach includes strong support of any educational programming that encourages students to challenge themselves, and they were happy to support Harker’s “Cornerstones of Success Campaign.”
Today, Shah Hall houses the upper school’s history classrooms, as the Saratoga campus remains flexible to best meet the demands of any given school year. Each summer, Harker also welcomes students from around the world to Shah Hall to participate in the English Language Institute (ELI). Shah and Krishnan have given many hours of volunteer service to the school, serving on the Parent Technology Advisory Committee and hosting several head of school gatherings and focus groups at their home. Their eldest child, Kavita ’07, earned a B.A. in international relations from Stanford and now works for Google. Rohan ’10 is currently pursuing a B.S. in science, technology and society at Stanford.
The Davis Family
Harker homecoming games would not be complete without the large motor home seen in the upper school parking lot every year. This grand tailgating experience is courtesy of John and Christine Davis. Their benevolence doesn’t stop there, however; just before each game, excited fans file into the bleachers of Davis Field, a state-of-the-art athletic facility gifted by the family to the school and built during the third phase of the capital campaign.
“Through the generosity of the Davis family and their donation towards Davis Field, we have seen tremendous growth in our athletics program witnessed not only through our teams’ increased competitiveness but also as a gathering space for the entire Harker community,” said Dan Molin, Harker’s athletic director.
Davis Field has become a centerpiece of student life at Harker, hosting soccer, football and lacrosse games at night while serving as a casual meeting spot for students looking to catch some sun while studying or play a quick game of Ultimate Frisbee during their lunch breaks.
The Davis’ son, Cole ’10, was an all-star athlete during his time at Harker, participating in wrestling, football and swimming at the varsity level. He now swims for Stanford and recently competed in the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team swim trials. While Cole was at Harker, John and Christine Davis dedicated much of their time to advancing the school, serving as room parents, team parents, development council members, capital campaign committee members, founding fashion show co-chairs, and Family & Alumni Picnic volunteers.
Since Cole’s graduation, Harker has been pleased to see that John and Christine are still familiar faces on campus, despite many additional philanthropic interests that also bid for their time. Christine currently serves on Harker’s Board of Trustees, and both John and Christine continue to regularly attend the school’s special events and head of school gatherings.
The Patil Family
After 10 years as an instructor at both MIT and the University of Utah, Suhas Patil was just beginning what would prove to be an impactful career in the technology industry. He went on to found Cirrus Logic, one of the first semiconductor companies to utilize a fabless business model. His wife, Jayshree, has always shared Suhas’ interest in education and technology, having earned a master’s degree in education and administration and presently serving as a senior executive in their current startup.
Both parents have greatly assisted Harker in past years by contributing their thoughts and time to the Parent Technology Advisory Committee and capital campaign planning meetings.
Though their daughter, Teja ’02, ultimately continued her own rigorous academic pursuit in the field of epidemiology and is now a resident at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, the Patils chose to highlight another of their daughter’s interests, performing arts, in their gift to the school. The classes currently offered in the Patil performing arts wing of Manzanita Hall on the Saratoga campus will soon move to the new sports and performing arts complex, to be built within the next few years. The Patil Theater will be the premier venue for Harker student performances and community events.
Laura Lang-Ree, Harker’s K-12 director of performing arts, said, “We have over 950 students actively performing each year and no current home for them to hone their craft. These young performers are used to making do in the gym at Bucknall or the cafeteria at Blackford. The first time our amazing students walk into a theater, their theater, it will change their lives. They will hear notes they have never been able to hear before, create music in new ways, be a part of a technical theater team where they can actually build and run the shows in their own space, and their work will reach heights they can’t even imagine right now.”
The Patils feel that education should be our country’s number one priority, and they recognize the importance of K-12 education in providing the foundation necessary for the next generation to remain agile in the workforce.
As parents and also as mentors through TiE, The Indus Entrepreneurs group they co-founded in 1992, Suhas and Jayshree Patil encourage young people to explore multiple fields, including science, math and the humanities, to gain a wider breadth of learning. Their own daughter was able to do just that at Harker, balancing a demanding class load with participation in the performing arts and in the mentoring program.
As Harker continues to address the needs of the whole child, the school is thrilled to provide new facilities that will let our students thrive in their respective fields of interest, whether in the lab, on the court or taking center stage.
This article was originally published in the spring 2013 Harker Quarterly.
The 2013 Harker Golf Classic and Wine Tasting provided a fantastic day for golf enthusiasts and wine drinkers alike, who gathered first at the beautiful Stanford University Golf Course, then at the hilltop home of Susan and Scott McNealy (Maverick, grade 12; Dakota, grade 9; Colt, grade 8; Scout, grade 6) for the after-party.
It was a beautiful, sunny Monday in early March and golfers enjoyed a variety of links-related activities, including a putting contest, hole in one contests (the prizes of a Smart car and a Mustang were, alas, unclaimed) and a longest drive contest for bragging rights.
Held as a benefit event for Harker’s general endowment fund, the Golf Classic opened at 10 a.m. with attendees warming up at the driving range. Later, after the putting contest, foursomes headed out for the shotgun start of the tournament, teeing off at 12:30 p.m.
Maverick McNealy, who next year will be playing for Stanford University, was paired up with upcoming grade 8 golfing sensation Ryan Vaughan, and the students joined presenting sponsors Gary and Pooja Gauba (Alexis, grade 8; Ashley, grade 4; Ariana, K) on team number 1. McNealy shot a 70 and Vaughan a 74.
The golf course, opened in 1930, is located in the foothills above the Stanford University campus and is consistently rated one of the finest in the world. Golf greats Tom Watson and Tiger Woods both played the course extensively while students at Stanford. In 2009 Stanford was rated the nation’s third best college course by golf coaches.
Following the scramble, participants headed out to the wine tasting at the McNealy’s. Ryan Moreland ’98, who owns Corvalle Winery, and Yannick Rousseau from Y Rousseau Wines poured and talked about their wines, which were accompanied by oven-fired homemade pizza and many other delicious dishes.
The first place winning team was Mike Armstrong (Annabella, grade 8), Harry Murray, David Nesbitt and Trask Leonard. On the women’s first place team were Patricia Huang, grade 12; Daphne Liang, grade 9; Kristine Lin, grade 11; and Katherine Zhu, grade 7.
The longest drive winners, sponsored by Mass Mutual, were Maverick McNealy and Susan Zhang (Patricia Huang, grade 12; Sonya Huang ‘10). Closest to the pin, sponsored by Shirin’s Events, were Susan McNealy and Gregg Ringold ’07.
Harker sends out a grateful thanks to all presenting sponsors: the Gaubas, Ram and Indira Reddy (Nikhil, grade 10) Christopher and Andrea Umdenstock (Haden, grade 6), Sandeep and Priya Vij (Sarina, grade 12; Sameer, grade 11) and Wayin.com, Scott McNealy’s current major venture.
In an effort to honor and recognize the tradition of philanthropic support Harker benefits from every day, a new special addition has been added to the “Support Harker” section of the school website (shown at http://rt.harker.org).
“We are the fortunate recipients of charitable gifts and volunteer efforts which enrich the school experience for our students and create a warm and inviting community for our families. Showing our appreciation for our donors and volunteers is very important to us. We want to make sure we express our thanks in a timely way, and so we provide monthly updates here,” reads the new “thank you” website in its introduction.
Viewers can enjoy browsing through the site’s pages and reflecting on the meaningful impact their contributions and efforts have made at Harker.
“This website replaces our former printed piece, the annual report. In addition to being more environmentally and financially responsible than printing and mailing thousands of copies of the report, it allows us to more quickly thank and recognize our donors,” said Melinda Gonzales, director of development. She noted that the site launch coincided with the overall redesign of the main Harker website.
According to Gonzales, the site will be updated throughout the year by adding the names of all the families who carry on the tradition of annual and capital campaign giving, providing students with the “margin of excellence” that helps them thrive.
For questions about donor listings, please contact Allison Vaughan, director of donor relations and stewardship, at allison.vaughan@harker.org.
For the past couple months, thanks to a corporate matching gift program from the Cisco Foundation, Harker’s upper school students, faculty and staff have enjoyed seeing digital signs manufactured by Cisco around the Saratoga campus.
In early October, during a recent event thanking Harker parents who work for Cisco for being a part of the company’s employee matching program which made the signage possible, Harker officially expressed its gratitude for all they have donated.
The Oct. 4 evening gathering was held in the lobby of the upper school’s main administration building. About 40 people were in attendance, with Dan Hudkins, Harker’s director of instructional technology, giving a presentation specifically about how the digital signs from the Cisco philanthropic program are being used.
The new signs offer information about upcoming events, lunch menus, sports scores and more. The hardware for the project was made available to Harker through a special Cisco donation program, wherein Cisco employees can have three dollars added to every dollar they donate if the donation is made in Cisco products equal to that value.
Due to the coordinated efforts of Harker parents employed at Cisco, the school has saved hundreds of thousands of dollars on Cisco products, including the digital signage, in the last several years. Digital signs are tentatively expected to appear at other Harker campuses by the spring of 2013.
“I think it’s great for the Harker community as well as for allowing students access to not only the Internet but also the new technology,” said alumni parent Haidung Nguyen (Devin Nguyen ’12), who works for Cisco and coordinated Cisco/parent donations for the past five years. Taking over from Nguyen as Cisco program coordinator this year is another dedicated Harker parent, Jatinder Kaur.
“This is what Cisco’s vision is …. Changing how we work, play and learn,” added Randy Huang (Grace, grade 5; Jason, grade 6), who works for Cisco and was involved in the program.
Hudkins credited Cisco with enabling Harker to provide more bandwidth, control and service without having to spend as much money. “Because of the generosity of Harker parents who work at Cisco and the Cisco Foundation, we can do more and we can do it better than we could if we had to it otherwise,” he said.
The Winged Post sophomore reporters Sindhu Ravuri and Jessica Chang contributed to this story.
Attendees at the 62nd Harker Family & Alumni Picnic on Oct. 14 gloried in the timelessness of the picnic: new things each year–especially the faces of students growing up–and some of the classics, like the never-get-tired-of-it dunk tank. The whole event, one of the big opening events of the school year, was attended by about 800 people and again fulfilled its promise in providing fun and entertainment to the entire Harker community on a warm fall day.
Families were greeted by Harker faculty and staff as they reached the entrance to the middle school campus, where the day’s festivities took place. This year’s theme, “Jaws, Paws and Claws,” celebrated all manner of wildlife, and patrons were treated to animal shows at the Blackford amphitheater throughout the day.
The crowd was also entertained by an energetic show by a wide selection of groups from Harker’s performing arts department, including Dance Fusion, the grade 4-6 boys and girls dance group; Downbeat, the upper school show choir; and the grade 6 choir, Dynamics.
Picknickers, particularly the younger ones, especially enjoyed being able to see and pet the pigs, goats, rabbits and other animals on display at the petting area. Talented and well-trained dogs performed tricks and ran through an obstacle course to the delight of audiences, and even a python several feet in length was available for visitors to view and briefly wear on their shoulders.
The always-popular game booths were among the main attractions throughout the day. Volunteers spun wheels of fortune, players tossed golf balls, shot hoops and more to win a myriad of prizes, including stuffed animals, toys and bottles of wine. One of the most popular carnival games, the dunk tank, continued to be a hit with picnic-goers. “The dunk tank was a little cold today. If you noticed, the weather was a little overcast,” said upper school chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine, who had an early shift. He was one of a number of faculty members who had the honor of sitting in the dunk tank this year, and one of the most enthusiastic: “I kind of like the anticipation,” Irvine said.
Kaela Bien, grade 5, who liked “watching the teachers get dunked,” also enjoyed the canine feats on display at the dog show. “It’s fun, and they’re sort of mischievous too,” she said.
Generous student and parent volunteers helped sell tickets to the booths that kept visitors entertained and fed all day. Food booths, run by parents, faculty and staff, served delicious refreshments, snacks and hot meals from a variety of vendors. Returning were the food trucks, which proved a hit during the 2011 picnic and received a similar response this year, serving Asian fusion and other types of cuisine.
At the “Claws Vegas” silent auction area, attendees bid on all sorts of prizes, ranging from trips to New York City and Las Vegas to sleepovers and animal-shaped topiaries. Parent alumna Tiffany Nishimura ’86 (Alexis, grade 2), said the silent auction was her favorite part of the picnic for the wide variety of prizes available and the various opportunities for “supporting the school.”
Harker alumni had a big presence at this year’s picnic, with more than 130 alumni and their families joining in on the fun. A special lunch area was set aside so that alumni could meet and reminisce, while alumni children enjoyed a craft activity. Alumni director MaryEllis Deacon reflected on the picnic, saying, “It is a time to come back, reconnect, and visit with those teachers who helped you as a child become who you are today. It also allows you to remember the fun things, the games, the food and the spirit of Harker.”
Vincy Chan, parent of Gemma, K, and Gianna, grade 3, said she enjoyed seeing the community’s hard work come to fruition: “It’s like a family, so I just love helping out, and then … seeing all our hard work.”
“When you see everybody come together, and see all the people in their civilian clothing, it shows the magic that makes the Harker community Harker,” Irvine said.
Following the picnic, Chris Nikoloff, head of school, gave well-deserved credit to all responsible for the event’s success. “Special thanks to the talented and creative flock of volunteers who comprise the picnic committee and the Harker faculty and staff who were as busy as beavers helping to make the picnic a great success,” Nikoloff said, making special mention of picnic co-chairs Lynette Stapleton, Kelly Espinosa and Tiffany Hurst, “whose vision made it possible for all our little eagles and their families to soar to new heights today!”
This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
Parents of Harker’s very first upper school graduating class in 2002 established the now annual tradition of a senior parent appreciation gift as a way of showing their thanks for their Harker experience.
“It was structured so that any incremental giving to the annual giving campaign over and above what a family had given during the previous year would go to fund a beautification project on campus,” explained Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, noting that plaques have been placed in areas that have been beautified, commemorating each of the students’ families who participated in making that year’s senior parent gift.
Last year, the parents of the graduating class added a new feature to the tradition, requesting that the money be used to establish a class fund that will become part of the school’s general endowment. The 2012 Class Fund was established with their cumulative gifts of approximately $35,000.
“Alumni and alumni parents are welcome to continue to make gifts each year to their class funds as a part of their annual giving gifts. And students will thus be able to benefit from this generosity year after year in perpetuity,” said Rosenthal.