This story was originally published in the Spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly
Lower School
Before the lower school went on winter break to celebrate the holiday season, grade 4 students organized their annual toy drive, collecting, counting and loading 809 toys. Student council members helped deliver the items to San Jose-based Sacred Heart Community Services (SHCS) and received a tour of the facilities that serve more than 18,000 families a month. “The volunteers at SHCS were thrilled with the donation,” Joe Connolly, K-5 dean of students, wrote in an email. “Your donations went a long way towards helping them reach their goal of making sure that every child has a toy to enjoy.” Before Christmas weekend, Sacred Heart put 16,000 gifts on display, where 5,000 parents with children in need picked out toys to bring home for Christmas.
On Dec. 27, grade 3 families helped organize clothing donations, sort bread and prepare food items for SHCS. Organized by Heather Wardenburg (Amy, grade 11; Ricky, grade 3) and Stephanie Woolsey, grade 3 teacher and alumni mother, this holiday volunteer opportunity aligned with Woolsey’s desire to build community within the school while giving back to the larger community. Woolsey had volunteered with SHCS previously and found that it was “one of the few organizations that can use younger kids.” Kristin Tong, grade 3, spent her day bagging pears, apples and potatoes and enjoyed spending time with her friends outside, where “we got to help people.”
The lower school also continued to work with the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) at Stanford University to brighten the walls and corridors of the hospital. This collaboration stemmed from a discussion between students and Eric Hoffman, lower school art department chair. Freshman Matthew Ho, then grade 5, suggested LPCH as a potential partner and, in spring 2009, about 50 pieces of student art marked the beginning of a long-term relationship. In December, an art curation and interior design team visited the lower school campus to select a new collection for rotation.
The students showcased their work in the conference room and the team selected grade 4’s spread of ceramic desserts and about 45 pieces of flatwork to display in LPCH’s clinic.
At the end of January, the lower school held a special assembly in celebration of this year’s successful pajama collection and book drive. Dressed in pajamas for the occasion, upper school sophomores visited their grade 3 counterparts as part of the Eagle Buddies program and spent the duration of the assembly catching up, reading and celebrating the 425 pairs of pajamas and 475 books that were donated to families in need. Pallie Zambrano, co-president of the Northern California chapter of the Pajama Program, picked up the donations and congratulated the students, informing them that Harker has donated more than 1,800 pairs of pajamas in the last five years.
Middle School
The middle school’s Service Club held its annual used coat drive, which was once again a great success, according to club advisor Steven Hewitt. The club collected more than 200 coats for InnVision, an organization dedicated to keeping the Bay Area’s homeless warm during the winter months. “The middle school Service Club’s annual donation of coats to InnVision has been a tradition for nearly 10 years now, and in that time we have donated close to, if not more than, 2,000 winter coats,” Hewitt said. “I’m exceedingly proud of the students in the club who gave their time and effort to the drive.”
Seven grade 6 advisories joined together in February to send 110 Valentine’s Day cards to deployed military personnel around the world. These cards, filled with heartfelt messages, comments, jokes and words of encouragement, were shipped in care packages through the nonprofit A Million Thanks. Some advisories continued their efforts through March, making thank you cards to be delivered later this year.
Upper School
The upper school also helped with gift giving this past holiday season, donating toys and items to Family Supportive Housing, Scott Lane Elementary and Sacred Heart Community Service. Kerry Enzensperger, community service coordinator, recognized seniors Farrah Gulzar, Asia Howard, Dylan Qian and Michael Wu; juniors Michael Chen, Ashley Del Alto, Andre Tran and Daniel Wang; and freshman Katy Sanchez for their help in delivering the gifts to the three organizations.
On Jan. 28, upper school students joined Save the Bay in their restoration efforts, “Planting for Penguins.” More than 20 students spent the day at the Faber Tract in East Palo Alto weeding invasive mustard plants and planting different species of native plants in an effort to revitalize the marsh area. The students were pleasantly surprised to find that the lower school had also organized an outing for the same day and both worked alongside each other on the stretch by the levee. Interested in saving endangered species, Justin Gerard, grade 10, spent a portion of the day planting gum plants, which will eventually grow large enough for birds to use as shelter from predators. “I really liked this work because the progress was evident as we looked at the hundreds of plants that our group managed to root into the soil,” Gerard said.
The upper school also continued efforts on-site, hosting a Kicks Against Cancer pizza party for families and organizing an “Ai Support Japan” week (“ai” means “love” in Japanese). Japan Club reached out to Japanese National Honor Society (JNHS) advisor Masako Onakado about hosting a fundraiser this year and Onakado found a fitting cause and organization in Japan. Worried that people were forgetting about the devastation and difficulties Japan continues to face, Onakado made contact with a nonprofit organization helping coordinate efforts to fundraise for the Onagawa Kogakkan School and others. The school, in Onogawa, Miyagi, where the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami struck, helps provide classes and self-study areas to elementary and middle school students, many of whom are still living in temporary housing.
“There are many students who were really concerned about Japan and have wanted to do something for the country,” Onakado said, recalling the 2,700 paper cranes students folded after the earthquake hit Japan, “so I wanted us to take action and communicate with the Harker community that Japan needs long-term support.”
During the week, the JNHS and Japan Club sold tote bags with buttons designed by students, wristbands, candy, hot chocolate and Japanese tea, raising more than $1,500 for Onagawa Kougakkan students.
To learn more about Harker’s community service efforts, visit news.harker.org and search “service.”
The history department is pleased to announce the 2012-13 recipients of the John Near and Mitra Family scholar grants, all rising seniors. 2012-13 John Near Scholars: Apricot Tang, Ashvin Swaminathan and Nina Sabharwal. 2012-13 Mitra Family Scholars: Apurva Tandon, Paulomi Bhattacharya, Warren Zhang, Joseph Wang and Shivani Mitra. “Congratulations to all students selected!” said Donna Gilbert, history and social sciences chair.
The $300,000 John Near Excellence in History Education Endowment Fund, in memory of the 31-year veteran of Harker’s teaching staff who passed away in 2009, was made by his parents James and Patricia Near, to, in John Near’s words, “help develop the history department, both through the acquisition of resources and providing growth opportunities for both faculty and students.” Each year, three students receive a grant to pursue an independent historical or social study.
In 2011, Harker parents Samir and Sundari Mitra established The Mitra Family Endowment for the Humanities which matches gifts to the annual giving campaign up to a total of $100,000.
This year’s annual Harker Cancer Walk was a huge success, bringing in $7,700 in one day alone, with donations still being received at Harker News Online press time. Middle school students, faculty and Harker family members went the extra mile – both literally and figuratively – in an effort to raise money for Camp Okizu.
The camp provides fun activities and quality care for young cancer patients, enabling them to enjoy such outdoor childhood pastimes as swimming, boating, archery and a ropes course, in addition to social events.
“Even Mother Nature got with the program!” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head, who organized the event with middle school computer science teacher Michael Schmidt. Schmidt began organizing the Cancer Walk in 2007 following the passing of his mother due to cancer in 2006.
Along with the welcome warm weather, Ellis was pleased with the large amount of T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wrist bands which were sold, supplementing the direct donations.
Thanking the Harker community for once again stepping up to the plate, Schmidt said, “It was a beautiful day filled with sunshine, giving and inspiration.”
“Michael deserves a special word of gratitude; he is the driving force behind this event. Fortunately, he has picked up some special helpers along the way. This walk signifies the wonderful heart and spirit of the entire community, including faculty, staff, parents and students,” said Ellis.
Donations are still being accepted at this time. Checks or cash can be brought to the Blackford campus front office. Checks can be made out to either Camp Okizu or Harker.
Raghav Sehtia, grade 12, has been honored with the prestigious Blue Diamond Award from the Second Harvest Food Bank. The award was handed to Sehtia from Kathy Jackson, CEO of Second Harvest, during the food bank’s recent 21st annual recognition event held at the Mountain View Center for Performing Arts.
This award is the food bank’s highest level of award, and is normally given to corporations and organizations. Sehtia stood out as an exception in receiving this award as an individual. Previously, Sehtia was recognized for his efforts to fight hunger by being named a 2011 Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Regional Honoree. He also received the Platinum Award last spring from the Second Harvest Food Bank for his work in organizing food drives for the past four years.
“Using birthday money along with the proceeds of bake sales held during the school year and at assorted school breaks, Raghav raised nearly $3200 for Second Harvest Food Bank over the past year. I was delighted to present him with a Blue Diamond Award at our recent Freedom From Hunger awards. Raghav’s determination to support the hungry in our community is truly inspiring,” said Jackson.
“I want to convey my heartfelt thanks to the whole Harker community in motivating and inspiring Raghav in one way or the other,” said Arvind Sehtia, his father.
Sehtia has called volunteering a passion of his. To read more articles about his volunteer efforts with the Second Harvest Food Bank and other organizations, click on the links below:
Thanks to donations from Harker and care and attention from Mike Bassoni, Harker’s facility director, two San Jose youth community centers have survived deep budget cuts to continue to serve the local community.
Through his community involvement with the Blackford Neighborhood Action Coalition (NAC), Bassoni, a 31-year Harker employee, learned of the Starbird Youth Center and their dire needs. Because of deep budget cuts last year, youth centers throughout San Jose were slated for closure, including the Starbird Youth Center. Community United, a nonprofit group focused on helping at-risk youth, came forward and offered to operate the Starbird Youth Center, as well as another center on Alma St. next to the downtown San Jose DMV office.
While the City of San Jose agreed to a one-year trial of this collaboration, it removed all electronic support – computers, video games, TVs, office equipment – from the centers, leaving them sadly bereft of the resources integral to community support.
Bassoni, who knew Harker regularly disposed of outdated computers, approached the Harker technology department. “They were great!” said Bassoni. The department donated 30 Apple Mac computers and supporting software that were delivered and installed at the two centers. In addition to the electronic supplies, Harker also donated art supplies, construction and office paper, TVs on rolling carts and art room seating.
“(Bassoni’s) contributions are fantastic and enrich these youths’ lives,” wrote Donna Stewart, executive director of Community United.
Bassoni believes the key is getting many people involved. “The formula of local and broad-based efforts has been the catalyst for a successful reopening of a community resource that appeared to be headed for the scrap pile,” said Bassoni, adding, “50-80 youth find daily refuge because of the efforts of several charitable groups, including those of Harker.”
At the end of January, The Harker School had a pajama and book assembly at which pairs of pajamas and books were donated to The Pajama Program, who will give them to children living in shelters in the San Jose area.
Before the assembly started, friendship and caring among the Harker students was emphasized by a visit between the Eagle Buddies. Each grade 3 student is matched with a grade 10 “buddy,” and on this occasion, the buddies spent nearly half an hour before the assembly talking and catching up with each other.
The rest of the lower school students then filed in for the assembly. Pallie Zambrano from The Pajama Program came to pick up the donations – 425 pairs of pajamas and 475 books in all – and explained the importance of them, and what they mean for children living in shelters. She told students that Harker has donated more than 1800 pairs of pajamas over the last five years. Following her talk, Butch Keller, upper school division head, performed a lively reading of the book “The Spiffiest Giant in Town,” a story about a giant who gives his clothes to those in need.
The assembly finished off with all the students reading. The Eagle Buddies paired up again for the grade 10 buddies to read to their grade 3 buddies.
Joe Connolly, dean of students K-5, said the event was “lots of fun. It was special to see the interaction between the big buddies and little buddies. The 3rd graders look forward to the times they get to spend with their big buddies. They were so excited all week and they told me they had a great time.”
In mid-December, The Harker School’s lower school completed a service project that resulted in presents under the trees of many families who would not have otherwise been able to afford them. Joe Connolly, the dean of students K-5, said that while the massive toy drive at the lower school was a grade 4 service project, most of the lower school families donated a toy.
Grade 4 students went above and beyond by not only donating toys, but also counting the toys and loading them up for delivery. At the end of the project, 809 toys were delivered to Sacred Heart Community Services (SHCS) in San Jose.
As Connolly said in an email to lower school families, “The volunteers at SHCS were thrilled with the donation. Your donations went a long way towards helping them reach their goal of making sure that every child has a toy to enjoy.” Including Harker’s donation, more than 16,000 toys were donated, then set up and organized like a toy store for parents of children in need to choose from, resulting in a very merry Christmas day.
In mid-December, the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital (LPCH) at Stanford University sent over an art curation and interior design team to select art to display in different parts of the hospital.
The Harker School’s lower school art department has had students involved in displaying art at the hospital for several years, ever since Eric Hoffman, lower school art department chair K-5, asked his students for suggestions on where their art could be displayed back in 2008. Hoffman contacted LPCH on a student’s suggestion, and after months of planning with Susan Gray, administrative project manager at the hospital, and display specialist Ted Cohen, student works premiered in spring 2009.
The art is switched out occasionally, and the team from LPCH came to Harker to select the newest pieces. “We had displayed everything in the conference room at the lower school campus, and when they came in, they were truly surprised, and very, very happy,” said Hoffman of the team’s visit. “This particular ceramics project is one we’ve been developing for about a year.”
The grade 4 art students made ceramic desserts as part of this year’s art curriculum, and the LPCH team thought they looked good enough to eat. The students did, too. According to Hoffman, his morning classes had been working on decorating their ceramic pieces, and there was a whole table full of them when the afternoon class came in.
“They thought it was the best thing they’d ever seen,” Hoffman said. They even asked who had done the pieces, and Hoffman told them that they had – this was the work of their classmates, and their pieces were looking just as great. Part of the LPCH’s team’s visit also involved a discussion of LPCH’s expansion – the hospital is going to have more wall space, and the team is rethinking where and how to display artwork.
The ceramics dessert project the grade 4 students did inspired some spur-of-the-moment brainstorming. “Normally we display our 3-D work there for a year or so, and when they saw this dessert project, they started playing with the idea of taking it and putting it on permanent display in the cafeteria,” Hoffman said, something the team had not intended on when they first arrived at the school.
For the new wall space in LPCH’s clinic, the team also selected about 45 pieces of flatwork. Looking toward the future, Hoffman believes they will “absolutely be involved” with the project five years from now and beyond. “Giving to our community is so important,” he said. “I don’t know a better way to do that than to make people laugh and smile. Especially in a hospital situation.”
Harker’s 2012 Golf Classic will be Mon., March 5, 2012, and the outing includes some impressive add-ons for avid golfers and wine enthusiasts. Highlights include 18 holes of golf at the beautiful Stanford University Golf Course followed by wine tasting at the home of Scott and Susan McNealy.
Various packages for single players, couples, foursomes and twosomes are all available. Some packages include a wine tasting ticket so you can bring your spouse or a guest to the wine tasting event at the McNealy’s home.
Special Executive Level packages are available for couples interested in making it possible for the Harker boys and girls golf teams to participate in this special golf outing, which supports Harker’s general endowment.
Executive Level packages include extra wine tasting tickets and will support more than one member of the golf team and sponsor two golf holes. Friends of the Golf Team packages also include an extra wine tasting ticket and will support one golf team member and sponsor one hole.
Non-golfing friends who would like to attend the wine tasting can sponsor a golf team member, a teacher or coach, or a golf hole, and join the fun at the McNealy’s home following the golf, knowing your support will benefit Harker’s general endowment.
Space is limited! For more information on the packages, go to the Web page (same link) or contact Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, at joer@harker.org or 408.345.9266.
The Bollywood and Bangles evening held in September was a great kickoff to fashion show preparations. Hosts Raj Bahri and Kavita Tankha, parents of Aliesa, grade 6, Jai, grade 4 and Mir, grade 2, welcomed guests into their spacious hillside home in Los Altos on a warm, starlit Saturday evening.
“Kudos to Kavita and Rajat for hosting one great party,” said attendee Anil Gulati (Avi, grade 4; Aaditya, grade 2), who was accompanied by his wife, Anjali. “From the smallest detail of decorations to the scrumptious food, drinks and the dancing – everything went off so well! We had a ball dancing to the favorite Bollywood tunes and the gals with the henna done all over looked really festive!”
After dropping cars with the hosted valet service, guests were greeted at the door with a smile and handshake from their hosts, then passed through the house to the beautifully landscaped garden surrounded by stretches of lawn. The whole garden was spotted with upholstered lounges and glowing white tables, tall and short, to make snacking on the delicious hors d’oeuvres and sipping the notable mojitos a most enjoyable experience.
The garden sported two bars and a half-dozen or more servers passed through the crowd of nearly 200 guests. Since the theme was Bollywood (after the Mumbai film making industry’s home) and Bangles, the women, especially, were dressed in everything from full Indian evening dress – sari and wrap – to western dress accented with colorful shawls. Men mostly stuck to dress slacks and shirts, but a number wore traditional dress, as well.
As the evening progressed, gas heaters were lit and the DJ changed the music from traditional and modern Indian music to well-known modern dance tunes with a beat and bass that carried throughout the party setting.
Along with the always-ready mojitos, the bar had a great variety of beverages, and hors d’oeuvres included curry chicken and breaded cauliflower. Around 9 p.m. a buffet opened on the lower level and guests fueled up for the rest of the evening on traditional Indian dishes.
Around 9:30, the music warmed up and couples hit the dance floor. Partiers were in full swing well into the evening and all left filled with delicious food, tasty beverages and the sense of having been to a wonderfully well-arranged event that also helped the Harker Fashion Show kick off its fundraising in style.
Harker’s advancement team was impressed by the donor’s efforts on behalf of the school. “An event of this nature takes many hours and a tremendous amount of effort to pull together so beautifully,” said Sue Prutton, fashion show liaison for the team. “We’re indebted to Kavita and Raj for their gracious support of the fashion show and of the school.”