Maverick McNealy ’13 gave notice early on that he would be a force on the Harker golf team and his outstanding play and conversion to a pro put him front and center to be inducted into Harker’s Athletic Hall of Fame this Saturday before the Homecoming game. In March 2010, as a freshman, McNealy turned out the lowest scores for two of the team’s first three matches. The team qualified for CCS regionals for the first time in school history and finished eighth. McNealy qualified for CCS individuals and finished in the top 10, qualifying as an alternate to the NorCal championships.
The following season McNealy, then a sophomore, qualified for the CCS championships for the second year in a row, placing 44th of 64 in that event.
In his junior year, when the team beat Crystal Springs and Pinewood to earn a 6-1 record, McNealy “continue(d) to blister the competition shooting a 33 and 31,” according to Harker News. It was indeed a banner year for him as he took second place at the U.S. Junior Amateur qualifying golf tournament then went on to make the final eight at the USGA Junior Amateur Championship. McNealy won the WBAL title and The Mercury News also named him as a member of its boys golf first team.
Finally, just before his senior year at Harker, he made the quarterfinals of the Northern California Golf Association’s Amateur Match Play Championship and won the Silver Creek Valley Junior tournament. Following these remarkable showings, in November, McNealy signed a letter of intent to play golf for Stanford University.
But golf was not McNealy’s only game. He played hockey for the Junior Sharks for years, captaining the team at least one year, and also played soccer for Harker in his senior year. Harker News tells us he scored in at least two games, so his skills extend beyond the links to the pitch and rink.
In his senior year, McNealy continued to amaze, once again winning the WBAL individual title, being named to the Mercury News’ first team and ending his high school career by tying for fourth place at the CCS championships.
Of course, McNealy rose to greater heights as he grew as a golfer. He made the traveling squad at Stanford in his freshman year and was named to the Pac-12 Conference All-Freshman Team. He qualified for the U.S. Open, the first Harker alumnus to do so. The Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner all published articles featuring McNealy’s qualification.
In 2015, his trajectory continued. He won the Haskins Award as the top college linksman and was the 2015 Division I recipient of the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award.
An article posted at www.Nicklaus.com noted McNealy’s accomplishments that year:
“A sophomore from Portola Valley, Calif., McNealy led NCAA Division I with six collegiate victories this year. He posted a dominant 10-stroke win at the Pac-12 Conference Championships, where his 18-under aggregate score of 262 established a new league tournament scoring record. The Pac-12 Conference player owns a 69.05 season scoring average, the second best in recorded NCAA history. McNealy claimed medalist honors at the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional, Southwestern Intercollegiate, Olympia Fields/Fighting Illini Invitational, The Prestige at PGA West and The Goodwin. McNealy was selected to compete this summer on the United States Palmer Cup team.”
In late August 2016, before beginning his senior year at Stanford, McNealy won the McCormack Medal as the top-ranked amateur golfer in the world. That award automatically qualified him for the 2017 U.S. and British Open championships. A few months later, he was named the male amateur athlete of the year by the San Jose Sports Authority Hall of Fame.
By spring 2017, McNealy was a true star in the golf world. In April, he was ranked No. 1 on the World Amateur Golf Ranking, tied with Tiger Woods on the Stanford all-time wins list, and received the 2017 Byron Nelson Award. Only graduating seniors are eligible for the award, and a golfer’s entire collegiate and academic career, plus his integrity and character, are considered when selecting the winner.
A month later, after being nominated for the third time, McNealy received The Ben Hogan Award, given annually to the top men’s college golfer. Colonial Country Club, Friends of Golf and the Golf Coaches Association of America take into account all collegiate and amateur competitions over the last year when selecting finalists.
By that time the speculation was red hot on whether or not McNealy would turn pro or start a business career with the degree in management science and engineering he earned at Stanford. In October 2017, following graduation, McNealy ended the speculation when he signed a promo deal with Callaway Golf and started his pro career.
This August, McNealy reached a new milestone in his career when he was handed his PGA tour card by placing in the top 25 on the Korn Ferry Tour.
McNealy also has committed to raising funds for education. This season, his Birdies for Education campaign is supporting Curriki, an organization helping to lower the cost of education by providing free educational materials online. He has raised $400,000 so far. Read more here.
Founded in 2018, The Harker School Athletic Hall of Fame honors those who have made outstanding contributions to its athletic program. Candidates for selection exemplified desirable character traits during their years at Harker and beyond, and have distinguished themselves in competition representing Harker, their college or at the professional level. Candidates may also be non-graduates who, through long service to Harker, have distinguished themselves in the field of athletics.
Adhir Ravipati ’05 played four sports his senior year: football, basketball, volleyball and track. He was named Harker’s most valuable player in the first three sports and earned all-league placement in each, sealing his entry into Harker’s Athletic Hall of Fame with four years of dedicated athleticism.
Ravipati made his mark on Harker athletics early on, receiving the JV Eagle Award his freshman year for both football and basketball. From then on, his accolades appeared regularly in Harker News.
In April 2003, at the end of his sophomore year, Harker News reported Ravipati’s hitting helped win the baseball season opener, adding a fifth sport to his list. That year he lettered in football, basketball and baseball.
In his junior year, Ravipati was noted early in the season when Harker News wrote, “… the Eagles flew to the ball and played like a team to be reckoned with. Seniors Matt Vucurevich and A.J. Reid led the Eagles, with strong performances turned in by junior quarterback Ben Shapiro and junior receiver Adhir Ravipati.” That year, Ravipati earned letters in football, basketball and volleyball, along with second team honors for the first two and first team-all league honors for volleyball.
Charging ahead to basketball in winter 2004, Harker News notes, “The team then proceeded to dismantle an overmatched Pinewood squad 48-24, with a 21-5 first quarter barrage, punctuated by a steal and crowd-pleasing dunk by junior Adhir Ravipati.” That team also earned a 2004 Scholastic Championship from the Central Coast Section (CCS) with an average 3.74 GPA.
For volleyball in spring 2004, the team finished in second place, and Harker News noted, “The team had an outstanding season, finishing 16-6 and 9-3 in league. The team was led by PSAL league MVP A.J. Reid and first team all-league player Adhir Ravipati.”
On to senior year! In the very first football game of the year, Ravipati caught a touchdown pass that set up a win in the last 18 seconds, and to that was added a paen to the true value of athletics. Again, from Harker News, in October 2004, author unknown, but very likely Jack Bither, athletic director at the time:
“On the fields and courts, friendships and memories will be forged that will last a lifetime. Hopefully, many as exciting as the dramatic finish of the first football game of this season. Behind 13-6 with only 18.8 seconds remaining in the game, the team was about to learn a lesson they will carry on with them their entire lives. ‘Never quit,’ ‘It’s not over till it’s over,’ however you want to say it, these phrases now have meaning that will last a lifetime. As the Eagles’ opponent lined up to punt the ball away, in all likelihood securing their victory, the ball suddenly popped over the punter’s head. As several Eagle defenders converged upon the hapless punter, it became Harker’s football, with only 13 seconds remaining. With time for one play, sophomore Jason Martin [Harker Athletic Hall of Fame, 2018] hurled a perfect spiral 35 yards on a halfback option pass to sprinting receiver, senior Adhir Ravipati, touchdown Eagles! Yet the team was still behind by one point, 13-12. With determination and courage, [senior] Najm Haque barreled over the goal line with only inches to spare to secure the dramatic 14-13 victory for Harker! Teenage boys and grown men aren’t known to hug all that often, but a world record for hugs and high fives may well have been set! Athletics does matter. It creates experiences and emotions unique to sports, a feeling everyone should experience at some point.”
Continuing his career, in February Ravipati was back on the hardwood: “The never-say-die team roared down the floor with only seconds remaining and took home the victory,” noted Harker News. “The team is led by senior post-player Adhir Ravipati.”
In spring, Ravipati hit the volleyball court with his usual vigor, and though they finished third that year, the team went out with a bang, defeating league champion The King’s Academy in their final match.
To sum up his senior year in athletics, Ravipati lettered in football, basketball, volleyball and track. In football, he caught 42 balls for 750 yards and eight touchdowns. He was named first team all-league and team offensive MVP and selected to the Charlie Wedemeyer High School All-Star Game. In basketball, he was first team all-league and team MVP; in volleyball, he was named first team all-league and team MVP. In track, he was second in the league for the long jump.
Ravipati became the second Harker football player to play football in college, and his passion for sports led him to a career in coaching football in the Bay Area, where his successes have grown over the years as he has matured in that role. He has a coaching record of 38-15 for Menlo Atherton, including winning the state championship in 2018, and a long list of accomplishments and titles, including many coach-of-the-year awards – five of them in 2016. Check out these awards and stats!
Ravipati has a 38-15 record (17-3 in PAL-Bay Division) in his four years as head football coach at Menlo-Atherton High School. He was an assistant coach for five years prior to becoming head coach. His teams won PAL-Bay Division titles in 2015, 2016 and 2018. They won CCS and NorCal titles in 2016 and 2018. He coached the team to the state title in 2018.
Ravipati has earned numerous awards for his football coaching:
2012 Charlie Wedemeyer All-Star Game Coach
2015/2016/2018 PAL Coach of the Year
2016 San Francisco 49ers Coach of the Week
2016 and 2018 GetSportsFocus Coach of the Year
2016 Mercury News Bay Area Coach of the Year
2016 California Coaches Association NorCal Coach of the Year
2016 Regional and National Positive Coaching Alliance Double Goal Coach Award Winner
2017 Marines Semper Fi Coach of the Year
2018 NorCalPreps Coach of the Year
In addition, Ravipati has been assistant varsity basketball coach at Menlo-Atherton for six years. In 2016, his team was a NorCal finalist; in 2013 the team was a CCS finalist, and the basketball team won PAL-South titles in 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2019.
Ravipati looks back on his time at Harker with fondness. “My favorite memories are the time with my teammates and best friends at practice, on the bus rides, team bonding and on the field competing,” he said. “Specific on-the-field memories are either my game-winning TD catch against Hillsdale as a senior, or my game-winning shot against King City as a junior to win our first CCS playoff basketball game.”
He also, of course, remembers those who accompanied him on his journey. “I’d like to thank my athletic director Jack Bither,” Ravipati said, “and coaches Karriem Stinson in football, Jeremiah Brewer in basketball, Jason Reid in volleyball, CJ Cali in baseball and Vonda Reid in track. I’d also like to thank [coach] Richard Amarillas. All of them taught me so much as a person and athlete.”
The takeaways, aside from a very successful career as a coach, are numerous. “Sports taught me a lot that a textbook can’t,” Ravipati said, “It put me in mental, physical and emotional situations that I learned a lot from in how to deal with situations in life. It made me a better person and taught me teamwork, but most importantly leadership and mental toughness/discipline. Playing sports at Harker was special. It was unique being a part of the formative years of the high school and seeing the sacrifices we made to establish a sports program that kids could be a part of in the future and take pride in.”
Founded in 2018, The Harker School Athletic Hall of Fame honors those who have made outstanding contributions to its athletic program. Candidates for selection exemplified desirable character traits during their years at Harker and beyond, and have distinguished themselves in competition representing Harker, their college or at the professional level. Candidates may also be non-graduates who, through long service to Harker, have distinguished themselves in the field of athletics.
Kristina (Bither) Gurney ’09, a Harker Lifer, was a force to be reckoned with on the court and on the pitch, and she will be inducted into Harker’s Athletic Hall of Fame this Saturday before the Homecoming game. She played volleyball and soccer all four years at the upper school, which means she was a member of the dynamite 2007 state finalists team that went 38-5 for the season, ending up NorCal champs and second in the state.
Bither was a natural athlete who played a variety of sports at the lower and middle school level, including volleyball, basketball, soccer and flag football. “She started out mainly as a soccer player but quickly transitioned to volleyball without any difficulty in high school,” said Theresa “Smitty” Smith, who coached the volleyball team. “I remember her as being one of our most fit players who often set and held the pace for the rest of the team. She was a hard worker, a tough kid and a huge part of the 2007 team’s success as one of the outside hitters.”
Harker News is replete with references to Bither‘s contributions to her teams. In February 2006, Evan Barth, then a soccer coach, noted, “Kristina Bither, grade 9, continues to find the back of the net with three goals in league play, and when not scoring, she does a great job setting up her teammates, with two assists so far.” Two months later, Bither was named MVP and all-league first team, having scored a team high of 16 goals.
In January 2007, Bither was named all-league first team in volleyball. A month later, she was back out in front as Harker’s high scorer as soccer season hit its stride. A month later, with 15 goals to her credit, Bither was among the top scorers in the league.
In December 2007, Harker’s girls volleyball team was fighting every step of the way for a shot at the championship. In CCS quarterfinal play against The King’s Academy, Bither, then a junior, was service leader with four aces and racked up 10 kills, including the game-winning kill in game three. The team went on to the championship but succumbed, finishing second in the state, a record for any Harker team at the time.
In fall 2008, during her senior year, Bither again dominated the court, with 10 kills in the team’s first three-game match. The team had solid successes that year, with Bither named all-tournament first team at the Los Gatos Tournament.
The team finished that year with a 9-12 record, but Bither held the top kill record in the league with 4.7 kills per game and was fourth in the league in digs per game. She was named to The Mercury News All-Star team as an outside hitter, with an honorable mention.
Soccer then ramped up and by March 2009, Bither was noted as a critical player by coach Troy Thiele, who said, “Harker has been led by senior Kristina Bither, who is not only the CCS leading scorer, but also the 23rd leading goal scorer for all girls winter soccer players in the nation!” Bither was named San Francisco Chronicle Athlete of the Week honorable mention for her eight goals in a three-game span in mid-January. According to MaxPreps.com, Bither was ranked 23rd in scoring nationwide in January.
In April, the girls soccer team locked in second place with a 6-2-2 record, and Harker team members garnered 10 of the 28 all-league awards handed out that year. Bither, with 21 goals, was named league MVP of the newly formed Skyline Division of the WBAL, and again made The Mercury News All-Star team with an honorable mention. In mid-April, Bither signed papers to compete in volleyball for Villanova.
Thiele was impressed by Bither’s skills, noting that, “Kristina was probably the purest athlete to ever be an upper school student (at least in the time I have been here), male or female. She was a Division 1 volleyball player, but easily could have been a Division 1 soccer player if that is where she had put her heart,” he said.
“She literally won games for us single-handedly,” Thiele added. “The first game I ever coached (I was a mid-year replacement), I did not really know what the team was like, and we were losing by several goals and really had no business being on the field with the other team. In the last 10 minutes of the game, Kristina scored two or three goals all by herself to give us the win. She also dropped back and basically prevented the other team from scoring the tying goal as well.”
Bither joined the Villanova team and had a solid first season, playing in 95 sets, averaging 1.75 digs per set, and reaching a career high of 18 digs in a game vs. Princeton. In 2010, her second year at Villanova, she played in 55 sets, made 70 digs, including two games where she got double digits. She was named a Big East Academic All-Star for the 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. Unfortunately, Bither suffered a back injury, ending her career at Villanova during her second year.
Bither went on to complete a marketing degree at Villanova, then studied at Tufts School of Medicine to become a physician assistant.
Bither looks back on her years at Harker with fondness. “My favorite memory is, of course, when our volleyball team was able to play in the state championship game,” she said. “I will never forget how the entire Harker community rallied behind us. It was also really special to be able to play with my younger sister, Veronica, for one year.
“I am thankful to have had such a close relationship with Coach Smitty, who coached both my Harker and club volleyball teams. I am absolutely a more fearless and resilient person today because of her. I would also like to thank Coach Barth, who always made me feel valued, respected and capable of succeeding.”
Being an active athlete in high school also was helpful in life, Bither noted. “I think I have gained skills in time- and stress-management, as well as important perspectives on how to work well as a team. Now having worked in both the emergency department and operating room settings, I am able to stay calm and function well under pressure, which is a strength I believe came from all of my sports training.
“I enjoyed athletics at Harker because I was able to play on so many different teams and make relationships with a lot of people that I wouldn’t have otherwise. It truly is inspiring to see the successes of so many Harker athletes nowadays!” she added.
Founded in 2018, The Harker School Athletic Hall of Fame honors those who have made outstanding contributions to its athletic program. Candidates for selection exemplified desirable character traits during their years at Harker and beyond, and have distinguished themselves in competition representing Harker, their college or at the professional level. Candidates may also be non-graduates who, through long service to Harker, have distinguished themselves in the field of athletics.
Two Harker alumni were given Dean’s Awards for Academic Excellence by Wharton/University of Pennsylvania School of Undergraduates this spring. Savi Joshi and Vedant Thyagaraj, who both graduated from Harker in 2015, received the awards.
Joshi was awarded for service to the University of Pennsylvania and/or the greater Philadelphia community. “Savi was recognized with this award for her tremendous efforts in teaching over 150 people about healthy eating in the greater Philadelphia community,” said Lee Kramer, director of student life at Wharton.
“She worked with our Netter Center and the Vetri Community Partnership to create a program that allows undergraduates to learn healthy eating with accessible produce so that they in turn can then teach the local community and younger students about healthier eating,” he added. “During her time at Penn, Savi also served as the co-chair of the Wharton Alumni Relations Council and as a facilitator of the Wharton Roundtables, a peer-to-peer discussion group.
Thyagaraj, who graduated from Wharton’s life science management dual-degree program in May, was presented with the Dean’s Award for Innovation for his remarkable career at the school. His many achievements at Wharton included strong academic performance, serving as president of the Penn Undergraduate Biotechnology Society and acting as a research assistant for the Wharton Global Family Alliance. Along with fellow Penn/Wharton alumni, Thyagaraj also founded Ride-Health, a transportation technology company that provides low-income, elderly and disabled patients with transportation to medical care by integrating with ridesharing providers such as Uber and Lyft and other modes of transport. Ride-Health currently has 12 full-time employees and operates in 25 states.
“We are very proud of both Savi and Vedant!” said Kramer. “They have both accomplished so much here at Wharton and Penn and they leave a great legacy here. In addition to all of their accomplishments, they were amazing students and I really enjoyed working with both of them during their four years at Wharton.”
This article originally appeared in the summer 2019 issue of Harker Magazine.
Dav Yendler ’03 arrived at Harker his sophomore year and quickly found his happy place in the theater department.
“From the beginning his choices were always interesting, his performances always memorable,” said Brian Larsen, K-12 production manager. “His dentist in ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ was menacing, his grandfather in ‘You Can’t Take it With You’ was warm and engaging, his Oberon in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ commanding and regal.”
Yendler, a member of the second graduating class at Harker, remembers that his class felt like a bunch of middle children, but they all loved each other.
“Our class got really up on ourselves, and we would put on whole productions to win rallies, complete with dance routines and life-size UFOs,” said Yendler with pride.
Yendler said his passion for all things creative was nurtured at Harker, and performing arts chair Laura Lang-Ree taught him discipline and how to be a responsible artist.
“Dav was a wise soul from the time I met him and was able to throw himself fully into whatever the moment or character called for – be it sincere and serious, or wildly physically fun,” said Lang-Ree. “Dav can do it all. His sincerity and interest in others and curiosity about life makes him a wonderful person and artist, and one I’m now proud to call friend.”
Yendler loved theater and attended the University of California, San Diego, where he immersed himself in the global scene, including living in the international dorm his sophomore year and studying in London his junior year.
After graduating, he headed to the Actors Theatre of Louisville. Following a yearlong internship, he moved to Chicago to pursue theater. While in Chicago, he started working as an illustrator to pay the rent, and in it he found success. His humor, talent and creativity landed him a job in Groupon’s humor department (which no longer exists).
After being laid off from Groupon, he went out on his own as an illustrator and designer, and has since done work for BuzzFeed and Cards Against Humanity.
Yendler was in the right place at the right time when the opportunity to do work for Cards Against Humanity presented itself. A fellow graphic designer who worked at the company offered to take Yendler on a tour of the office. They cruised around and were headed down the stairs when Max Temkin, a company co-founder who had seen Yendler’s work, approached him and said, “We just bought an island and I was wondering if you could draw a map of it.”
This was part of Cards Against Humanity’s holiday promotion in 2014. The company started self-described weird holiday promotions in 2012 and has pulled off wildly hilarious stunts every year since. Yendler has drawn three different maps, including “Ten Days or Whatever of Kwanzaa” in 2014, “Eight Sensible Gifts” in 2015 and “Cards Against Humanity Stops the Wall” in 2017.
In addition to maps, he’s helped design a card game for the incoming freshman class at University of Chicago, done a short animation for the Los Angeles Tourism Bureau, and is now a resident at 72U, which explores the intersection of art, technology and culture.
His group at 72U is working on a program to create awareness around homelessness and dispel myths about shelters. With the support of the city of Los Angeles, the group will create murals in several neighborhoods that will juxtapose letters from homeless people as well as activists who are against shelters in their neighborhoods.
This work is important to Yendler, who wants to spend his life doing creative and meaningful things.
“My passion right now is illustration, but my bigger passion is anything creative,” said Yendler. “Right now I’m passionate about bridging reality, journalism and news reporting with creativity. Stay tuned for some cool work about Russia in 2019!”
Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective
This article originally appeared in the Summer 2019 issue of Harker Magazine.
When Ella Fitzgerald Park – complete with green grass, a jungle gym, a basketball court and two 60-foot murals – opened in summer 2018, Alexa Bush ’02 got to see firsthand the impact she is making in the world.
“We wanted to create a neighborhood that felt complete, intentional and cared for without having to build a single house,” she told online news source Citylab in an article about Detroit’s new holistic approach to redevelopment.
Bush was recruited by Detroit planning director Maurice Cox, who was one of her professors at the University of Virginia, where she earned her master’s degree in landscape architecture. Cox had a vision to focus on three different neighborhoods to create a model for redevelopment, and he encouraged Bush to leave the private sector to rebuild Detroit.
“Everything about Alexa’s story – her family’s roots in Detroit, her natural inclination to show empathy towards others, a design thesis spent reflecting on neighborhood vacant lots – has prepared her to ably guide residents toward courageous design solutions,” said Cox. “Alexa is such a wonderful role model for young professionals looking for their own path to making a positive difference in the world.”
Today, as design director for the city, she is leading a team of three planners and designers who are responsible for neighborhood planning, development and open space projects for the east side of Detroit.
The east side of Detroit is where Bush’s mom grew up – so when her then-boyfriend-now-husband asked her to move to Michigan after graduate school, it felt right.
Similarly, the decision to go to Harker for high school felt right many years ago. Bush was a member of the inaugural freshman class at Harker when it opened the upper school in 1998.
“Alexa was a huge part of steering the direction of the student body in those first years,” remembered Theresa “Smitty” Smith, head volleyball coach who coached Bush for four years. “It was tough to be a member of that first class, as we were all learning together how to be a high school. Alexa was a positive role model, a leader by example and a multitalented student.”
Members of the first class – who dubbed themselves “the guinea pigs” – bonded as they paved the way for Harker’s upper school. Bush commuted to Harker from Morgan Hill, so when the time came to look at colleges, she knew she wanted a campus where she could walk or take transit.
After a visit to Boston and acceptance to Harvard University, she packed up and headed to the East Coast. She studied visual and environmental studies, which cultivates skills in both the practice and critical study of the visual arts. She chose film production as her focus and thought commercial film was her future.
“I had an internship in New York working on a film and thought this was my path,” said Bush. “But then my senior year, I realized that wasn’t what I wanted to do, which was hard but felt right.”
She graduated from Harvard and landed a job at Google, where she worked for two years. It was interesting, but she realized that a desk job wasn’t for her because she wanted to be more creative and actually create tangible products, she explained. So she applied to graduate school and chose the University of Virginia to study landscape architecture.
She couldn’t have predicted how life after Harker would unfold, but she remembers sage advice a college advisor gave to her years ago when he said, “Alexa, I know you are successful and you like to plan your future, but sometimes you have to just be open to other things happening and then allow them to happen.”
Bush couldn’t agree more; she looks back on her journey and realizes that so much of it was being in the right place at the right time, despite all her planning and hard work. “Being open to opportunity can be incredibly rewarding,” Bush reflected.
Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective
This article originally appeared in the Summer 2019 issue of Harker Magazine.
There is a whole new world in medicine, thanks to technology,” said Rupan Bose ’07. “I’ve been lucky enough to have fantastic mentors, grow up in an environment of innovation and entrepreneurship, and be surrounded by extremely successful people at Harker.”
But, of course, it’s more than just luck. Bose is driven to make an impact in the world and he’s on his way to doing that through his studies in medicine and his passion for technology.
Bose came to Harker in fifth grade and stayed through the upper school, where he served as ASB president his senior year. He appreciated how Harker emphasized the intersection between different fields and trained him to think in a very multidisciplinary way. Bose focused on science and math but learned many valuable skills through his electives and other non-STEM courses.
“These teachers taught me to look at the world from a non-scientific view. I owe a lot to them, because even in science there’s art,” said Bose, who spoke at the fountain dedication for former Harker English teacher Cheryl Cavanaugh, who died of cancer in 2007. “Dr. C knew English wasn’t my strongest subject, but she took so much time after class to help me. I was honored to give the speech; it was a monumental, vivid and emotional experience that I will carry with me forever.”
As Bose remembers his past, he also looks optimistically toward his future as he completes his residency as a doctor of internal medicine.
Bose grew up in a house filled with engineers, so it was initially a surprise to his close-knit family when he veered toward medicine instead of technology.
Bose studied neuroscience/pre-med at the University of Southern California. He then went on to pursue a master’s degree in biotechnology, with a particular interest in entrepreneurship, at the University of Pennsylvania, because he appreciated the combination of medicine, technology and business.
It was while at Penn that he started seeing that medicine could be greatly improved by technology, and his worlds of medicine and technology began to merge.
He then moved back to Los Angeles and started working at the USC Center for Body Computing, a digital health research and innovation center that is at the forefront of the intersection of medicine and technology. There, he focused on developing wearable sensors, mobile medical apps and virtual reality models for health care.
While working at the CBC, he decided that next step to pursuing his dream of changing the world through medicine and technology was to become a doctor. So he returned to USC, this time attending the medical school with a focus on internal medicine and as a part of USC’s new health, technology and engineering dual medicine-technology program.
“Rupan is a remarkable, open-minded and naturally gifted leader who inspires others to confront challenges and pursue their goals,” said Jacob Bongers ’07, who attended Harker and USC with Bose. “I remember years ago having a frank discussion about career anxiety and uncertainty. He listened intently to my concerns and offered precious advice about how the future is always uncertain, but finishing projects, tasks and degrees is such an important and valuable skill to cultivate. His words renewed my motivation to finish my Ph.D. and drove me to look to the future with confidence.” (Read Harker Magazine’s profile on Bongers in the fall/winter 2018 issue.)
Bose and Bongers forged a strong friendship during their years at Harker and then USC. As the ever-humble Bose reflects back on his time at Harker, he realizes how important and formative it was.
“Harker pulls together some of the most impressive, amazing and friendly people,” said Bose with pride. “These people are the movers and shakers who are changing our world, and I’m just lucky I got to know them.”
Vikki Bowes-Mok is also the executive director of the community nonprofit Compass Collective
Two of Harker’s performing arts alumni were named inaugural awardees of Harker’s Life in the Arts awards on Friday at the annual Senior Showcase, the celebration of those graduating with a Conservatory certificate along with their diploma. Gabrielle DeMers ’03 and D.J. Blickenstaff ’09 were honored for their commitment to their careers as performers as a group of family, friends, former teachers and administrators looked on.
DeMers was in the second high school graduating class at Harker and was part of the effort to create the Harker Conservatory. She had major roles in “Little Shop of Horrors” in 2001 and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2002, and she remains the only Conservatory graduate to major in both vocal music and theater.
DeMers holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and a Master of Music in opera performance from the University of Maryland, College Park. As a member of the Maryland Opera Studio, she sang the title role of Sandrina in Mozart’s “La Finta Giardiniera” and Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” Read her full biography here. Watch her acceptance of the award here.
She had a few words of advice for those interested in a career in the arts. “I was flashing back to my Senior Showcase and if I could give myself advice at that age, the first thing would be to dream big,” said DeMers, “because it has to start with a vision, you have to envision what you want to do. The road to it may be full of twists and turns, and take you in an unexpected direction, but you have to envision it first.
“The second thing I would have told myself is, growth comes through failure. You will receive a lot of rejection and you will make some mistakes, but the most growth I ever experienced as an artist is by trying things that were huge, coming up a little short, then getting into the practice room and figuring out how to get better next time,” she said.
Blickenstaff shone in Harker productions of “Urinetown: The Musical” (Lockstock) in 2007, “Annie Get Your Gun” (Frank Butler) in 2008 and “The Music Man” (Harold Hill) in 2009. After graduating from Harker with a certificate from the Conservatory along with his diploma, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California and has appeared in a number of shows, including a reoccurring role in Netflix’ “Dear White People.” Read his full biography here.Watch him accepting the award here.
His advice for those interested in a career in the arts? “Trust yourself,” Blickenstaff said, “not just believe in yourself, but trust yourself and go out there and pursue it.”
And he added a few kind words for those who helped launch him. “Harker really truly is one of the driving forces behind me pursuing a life in the arts,” Blickenstaff said. “I would be nowhere in the arts without Harker and the amazing Harker family and the Harker faculty.”
Life in the Arts awardees are those alumni who have the character, talent, drive and determination to pursue their passion as their livelihood. Inductees come from the stage, screen, classroom, backstage and rehearsal halls. They are passionate about their art and create at the highest level within their domain.
“Life in the Arts inductees are not necessarily ‘stars’ in the performing arts like we think of on stage or screen,” said Lang-Ree. “We may come to recognize their names, and we may never see their names in lights, but they are living out their own dreams and that is what we honor.”
A permanent location to display annual winners is currently in progress and will be unveiled at next year’s presentation.
Two of Harker’s performing arts alumni were named inaugural awardees of Harker’s Life in the Arts awards on Friday at the annual Senior Showcase, the celebration of those graduating with a Conservatory certificate along with their diploma. Gabrielle DeMers ’03 and D.J. Blickenstaff ’09 were honored for their commitment to their careers as performers as a group of family, friends, former teachers and administrators looked on.
DeMers was in the second high school graduating class at Harker and was part of the effort to create the Harker Conservatory. She had major roles in “Little Shop of Horrors” in 2001 and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2002, and she remains the only Conservatory graduate to major in both vocal music and theater.
DeMers holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and a Master of Music in opera performance from the University of Maryland, College Park. As a member of the Maryland Opera Studio, she sang the title role of Sandrina in Mozart’s “La Finta Giardiniera” and Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” Read her full biography here. Watch her acceptance of the award here.
She had a few words of advice for those interested in a career in the arts. “I was flashing back to my Senior Showcase and if I could give myself advice at that age, the first thing would be to dream big,” said DeMers, “because it has to start with a vision, you have to envision what you want to do. The road to it may be full of twists and turns, and take you in an unexpected direction, but you have to envision it first.
“The second thing I would have told myself is, growth comes through failure. You will receive a lot of rejection and you will make some mistakes, but the most growth I ever experienced as an artist is by trying things that were huge, coming up a little short, then getting into the practice room and figuring out how to get better next time,” she said.
Blickenstaff shone in Harker productions of “Urinetown: The Musical” (Lockstock) in 2007, “Annie Get Your Gun” (Frank Butler) in 2008 and “The Music Man” (Harold Hill) in 2009. After graduating from Harker with a certificate from the Conservatory along with his diploma, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California and has appeared in a number of shows, including a reoccurring role in Netflix’ “Dear White People.” Read his full biography here.Watch him accepting the award here.
His advice for those interested in a career in the arts? “Trust yourself,” Blickenstaff said, “not just believe in yourself, but trust yourself and go out there and pursue it.”
And he added a few kind words for those who helped launch him. “Harker really truly is one of the driving forces behind me pursuing a life in the arts,” Blickenstaff said. “I would be nowhere in the arts without Harker and the amazing Harker family and the Harker faculty.”
Life in the Arts awardees are those alumni who have the character, talent, drive and determination to pursue their passion as their livelihood. Inductees come from the stage, screen, classroom, backstage and rehearsal halls. They are passionate about their art and create at the highest level within their domain.
“Life in the Arts inductees are not necessarily ‘stars’ in the performing arts like we think of on stage or screen,” said Lang-Ree. “We may come to recognize their names, and we may never see their names in lights, but they are living out their own dreams and that is what we honor.”
A permanent location to display annual winners is currently in progress and will be unveiled at next year’s presentation.
Two of Harker’s performing arts alumni were named inaugural awardees of Harker’s Life in the Arts awards on Friday at the annual Senior Showcase, the celebration of those graduating with a Conservatory certificate along with their diploma. Gabrielle DeMers ’03 and D.J. Blickenstaff ’09 were honored for their commitment to their careers as performers as a group of family, friends, former teachers and administrators looked on.
DeMers was in the second high school graduating class at Harker and was part of the effort to create the Harker Conservatory. She had major roles in “Little Shop of Horrors” in 2001 and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2002, and she remains the only Conservatory graduate to major in both vocal music and theater.
DeMers holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music and a Master of Music in opera performance from the University of Maryland, College Park. As a member of the Maryland Opera Studio, she sang the title role of Sandrina in Mozart’s “La Finta Giardiniera” and Tatyana in Tchaikovsky’s “Eugene Onegin.” Read her full biography here. Watch her acceptance of the award here.
She had a few words of advice for those interested in a career in the arts. “I was flashing back to my Senior Showcase and if I could give myself advice at that age, the first thing would be to dream big,” said DeMers, “because it has to start with a vision, you have to envision what you want to do. The road to it may be full of twists and turns, and take you in an unexpected direction, but you have to envision it first.
“The second thing I would have told myself is, growth comes through failure. You will receive a lot of rejection and you will make some mistakes, but the most growth I ever experienced as an artist is by trying things that were huge, coming up a little short, then getting into the practice room and figuring out how to get better next time,” she said.
Blickenstaff shone in Harker productions of “Urinetown: The Musical” (Lockstock) in 2007, “Annie Get Your Gun” (Frank Butler) in 2008 and “The Music Man” (Harold Hill) in 2009. After graduating from Harker with a certificate from the Conservatory along with his diploma, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California and has appeared in a number of shows, including a reoccurring role in Netflix’ “Dear White People.” Read his full biography here.Watch him accepting the award here.
His advice for those interested in a career in the arts? “Trust yourself,” Blickenstaff said, “not just believe in yourself, but trust yourself and go out there and pursue it.”
And he added a few kind words for those who helped launch him. “Harker really truly is one of the driving forces behind me pursuing a life in the arts,” Blickenstaff said. “I would be nowhere in the arts without Harker and the amazing Harker family and the Harker faculty.”
Life in the Arts awardees are those alumni who have the character, talent, drive and determination to pursue their passion as their livelihood. Inductees come from the stage, screen, classroom, backstage and rehearsal halls. They are passionate about their art and create at the highest level within their domain.
“Life in the Arts inductees are not necessarily ‘stars’ in the performing arts like we think of on stage or screen,” said Lang-Ree. “We may come to recognize their names, and we may never see their names in lights, but they are living out their own dreams and that is what we honor.”
A permanent location to display annual winners is currently in progress and will be unveiled at next year’s presentation.