This story originally appeared in the spring 2014 Harker Quarterly.
Three Harker grads made Forbes magazine’s coveted “30 Under 30” lists, which showcase young movers and shakers working in various fields.
Sharing the spotlight with notable young celebrities such as snowboarder Shaun White, actress Olivia Wilde and activist Shiza Shahid are three talented Harker grads: Neil Mehta ’02, Surbhi Sarna ’03 and Ilya Sukhar ’03. The third-annual issue was released Jan. 6.
To compile the prestigious lists, Forbes consulted with experts in 15 industries to select the top 30 in each category, totaling some 450 individuals (all under 30 years of age) who are making things happen. The magazine started working on the project in the fall, by choosing the categories and assembling the panel of judges.
A leading source for reliable business news and financial information, Forbes is well known for its listings and rankings. On the cover of its “30 Under 30″ issue, it calls the individuals who made the lists “450 game-changers in 15 industries who are building tomorrow – today.”
Here is a look at the three Harker alumni who made the “it” lists:
Neil Mehta ‘02, Founder of Greenoaks Capital
Neil Mehta ’02 is the managing director of Greenoaks Capital Management LLC, a global principal investment firm dealing in private equity, venture capital, real estate and public market opportunities.
Prior to that, 29-year-old Mehta was a senior investment professional at Orient Property Group Ltd., a Hong Kong-based real estate investment and development firm financed by D.E. Shaw, a premier $20 billion global hedge fund and investment firm based in New York.
Forbes listed Mehta in its finance category, crediting him with managing some $600 million, investing in industries ranging from e-commerce to insurance. The magazine also noted that he “hit home runs” with early investments in a Palo Alto-based software company called Palantir and a South Korea-based e-commerce company named Coupang.
“I owe a lot to my colleagues, friends and family. We still have a long way to go at Greenoaks, though,” said Mehta, adding that he was proud and impressed to see so many Harker alumni on the list.
Surbhi Sarna ’03, Founder of nVision Medical
Surbhi Sarna ’03 was last year’s alumni speaker at Harker’s eighth annual Research Symposium, which drew more than 400 attendees. There, she shared the story of how she suffered from painful ovarian cysts in her early teens, which caused her to later become determined to create better conditions in the field of female health.
To this end, the 28-year-old founded the venture-backed nVision Medical in 2009 to develop technology to help gynecologists more quickly detect ovarian cancer. To date, her company has raised some $4.5 million from Catalyst Health Ventures, Draper Associates and Astia, a group that assists female entrepreneurs.
“It is a great honor to be chosen as one of Forbes’ ‘30 Under 30.’ I know Harker has a lot to do with my drive to be an entrepreneur, and I’m grateful for all of the teachers who inspired me while I was there,” she said of her placement in the medical category.
Ilya Sukhar ’03, Co-Founder and CEO of Parse
Ilya Sukhar ’03 made the news several months ago when Facebook acquired his company, Parse, of which he served as co-founder and CEO. Currently, Sukhar runs the Parse business at Facebook, where he also works on platform products.
“There’s a lot of people I really admire on that list, so it’s a nice honor for me to be included,” reported 28-year-old Sukhar, adding, “I got back to work pretty quickly, though.”
Sukhar, who is listed in the tech category, said he got the idea for Parse after he experienced the pains of building a mobile app. According to Forbes, he has since turned Parse into a critical service for mobile developers that now provides the back-end infrastructure for more than 180,000 apps, including those built by Ferrari, The Food Network and Sesame Street. Facebook bought Parse in April 2013 in a deal reportedly valued at $85 million.
Sukhar delivered this year’s alumni address at the Harker Research Symposium. To read more about Sukhar and his work, see http:// news.harker.org/entrepreneurial- alumni-forge-their-own-career-paths/ where he is featured in a previous HNO story.
To view the Forbes “30 Under 30” lists, see http://www.forbes.com/lists/.
From working in television and film to creating vehicles for YouTube and video streaming, many of Harker’s alumni thrive in the fast-paced, quickly evolving world of visual media. Their artistic outlets may differ, yet, at the end of the day, most are driven by the same internal force: the desire to communicate. Read on as three Harker graduates share the ins and outs of pursuing a career somewhat off the beaten path, but well on the road to providing a satisfying outlet for creativity and expressive pursuit.
Matt Wolf ’96
Documentary Filmmaker Matt Wolf was thrilled to receive a Guggenheim Fellowship for his recent film “Teenage,” a historical documentary about the pre-history of teenagers based on a book by the acclaimed British writer and cultural critic Jon Savage. The film, which looks at youth culture from the early 1900s to 1945, followed his previous work, “Wild Combination,” which aired on the Sundance Channel and is still available on DVD via Amazon, Netflix and iTunes.
“Wild Combination” is a feature-length documentary about the late Arthur Russell, a musician who mastered everything from the cello to the perfect disco beat in unimaginable ways. “Wild Combination” garnered positive critical attention and helped kick start Wolf’s career.
“It was a surprise. I wasn’t really tapped into the film industry. So I was fortunate to get positive critical attention and distribution for that film,” recalled Wolf, who grew up in San Jose and attended New York University’s film school, where he met many of his current key collaborators. He still resides in New York and credits Harker with helping prepare him for the rigors of both film school and filmmaking.
“Harker was really academically challenging, and prepared me for the kind of intensive research I do in my work today,” he said. While “Wild Combination” helped Wolf get his foot in the film industry’s door, it was his documentary “Teenage” that really took off and helped him gain a larger audience. “Teenage” is what Wolf calls “a different kind of historical film.
“I was struck by the unconventional way [Jon Savage’s book] treated the history of youth from the early 20th century. The film was much larger in scale than anything I had made before, so it was a growing experience for me as well,” he said. With his struggling artist days behind him, Wolf advises others interested in pursuing a career in film to finish what they start, especially when it’s a self-initiated or independent project.
“There are a lot of obstacles to completing these kinds of projects, but finishing is the key to having a creative career,” he advised. Wolf is currently making a documentary about children’s book illustrator and Eloise co-creator Hilary Knight, as well as a documentary project for the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Karan Lodha ’04
Creator at Human Hangouts Since graduating from Harvard College in 2008, Karan Lodha ’04 has forged a satisfying career as a digital media professional working for a variety of companies. He most recently stepped out on his own, as creator and producer of an innovative Web series called “Human Hangouts,” showcasing candid conversations with individuals from all walks of life.
The conversations seek to help viewers understand their own humanity by examining both life and career choices. Lodha creates his show using a technological program from Google+ called Hangouts, which allows users to start or join a video chat. He posts his guest interviews to YouTube, where viewers can subscribe to his channel. “All of us at one point or another question who we are and why we’ve chosen the paths we’re on, and these interviews illuminate that what can seem like a linear process is often a collection of adventurous accidents,” said Lodha, who for a time lived in Los Angeles and has since returned to the Bay Area.
He spent several months in Los Angeles consulting with production companies and learning from industry innovators to get a firm grasp on the emerging trends in media and entertainment. His previous experience in visual media includes serving as a development intern at Voltage Pictures; working as head of business development at Kamcord; being a creator at The Sports Odyssey; becoming a strategic partner/manager at Google TV Ads; and serving as a digital programming intern at MTV Networks.
When he was a student at Harvard, he was the sports chair for The Harvard Crimson, the school’s daily newspaper. “I’ve been fortunate to work in digital media in an era when every year brings radical changes to the industry,” he said. “Continuing to do business as usual is no longer an option for players in this space. My experience with various companies has taught me the importance of not just staying abreast of the latest trends but also of trying to predict the next wave of possibilities.”
Lodha said he will be eternally grateful to his teachers at Harker for instilling a lifelong love of learning. “I still try to treat each day as if I’m sitting at a desk at 500 Saratoga Ave.,” he said.
Sean Doherty, Jr. ’09, Co-Founder, Wurl
Sean Doherty, Jr. ’09 was an undergraduate at Boston College when he and his father launched Wurl, a successful company that helps users integrate the world’s best online videos into their own apps, video services and websites.
Doherty worked remotely to help craft the company’s product and marketing strategies, and helped create Wurl’s ranking algorithm, “ChannelsRank.” He graduated this year from Boston College with a degree in management (with concentrations in information systems and marketing) and a minor in history. He continues to work at Wurl as an advisor, providing valuable insight into the trends and innovations of technology and media companies involved in broadband video delivery.
“We spent a lot of time [while I was in college] figuring out what our product would be, given the technology we had created. I traveled to New York a few times to meet with media companies, but most of the work I could mold to fit my schedule,” he recalled.
He said part of the secret behind his success at combining working at Wurl with his college studies was that Harker prepared him so well academically. Now, having successfully launched Wurl and graduated from college, Doherty has decided to start a new chapter in his life by pursuing another passion: the television and film business. He soon will be relocating to Los Angeles to seek work in TV and movie distribution and production. “I think it’s really important to follow your passions career-wise,” advised Doherty, who is excited about moving forward yet looks back fondly on his time at Harker, college and working at Wurl.
This story originally appeared in the fall 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Thinking outside the box comes naturally to many of Harker’s alumni. Harker Quarterly recently caught up with several alumni who have chosen to chart their own career courses. From a winemaker to a mobile app builder and a sister/brother glow-in-the-dark apparel designing team, these forward thinking alumni all share one thing: the ability to make things happen.
Ryan Moreland ’98, Owner of Corvalle Winery
Ryan Moreland ’98 spent a great deal of time in his parent’s vineyard growing up in St. Helena. Among his favorite memories is sharing a glass of wine with family and friends seated around an old redwood plank table, surrounded by a canopy of trees. It was the memories he made in this spot, he said, that impacted his decision to become a winemaker.
While his family originally planted their vineyard as a hobby, Moreland turned it into a career and has made every single vintage from their vineyard since it first began producing fruit in 2007. He started Corvalle Winery the following year, when he was just 25 years old, after attending college at the University of California, San Diego, and obtaining a degree in environmental chemistry. Success followed soon after, and Corvalle today is a known competitor in the wine market.
“My parents had planted an acre of sauvignon blanc. I immediately was hooked, walking up and down the rows pruning the young vines as they stretched out onto the trellises,” recalled Moreland, who went on to work entry level positions at nearby wineries before deciding to focus solely on developing his own label.
The name Corvalle is derived from Latin, meaning “Soul of the Valley,” and is intended as a tribute to the community of Napa and its legacy of farming.
“I learned so many valuable skills that have helped me both as an entrepreneur and in my professional life. When I look back on my time at Harker, the first thing that comes to mind is my strong belief that, given adequate drive, an individual can accomplish any goal he or she dreams up. This belief is a product of the culture at Harker,” he said.
Moreland also believes in giving back. In addition to generously donating wine to Harker’s advancement events, he also is a supporter of the Danville D’Elegance foundation supporting Alzheimer’s research and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.
Moreland has recently relocated to attend the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania while simultaneously expanding his business to the East Coast market. Having just begun pre-term events at Wharton, Moreland is enjoying getting to know his fellow classmates. “I feel genuinely lucky to be able to participate in such an amazing program surrounded by this caliber of staff and fellow students. As one could imagine, my background is a bit unique here.”
Moreland said he is also enjoying sharing his love for wine in his new community and regularly returns to Napa to oversee winemaking activities at Corvalle.
Working on developing sales in both New York and Pennsylvania has proven a much different endeavor than in California due to the states’ specific legal framework regarding wine importation and distribution, but Moreland said he likes the challenge and opportunity to engage with so many eager and curious wine consumers outside of the Bay Area.
Moreland advises other alumni not to be afraid to follow their own interests. “If something sounds enjoyable and gets you excited then take the time to learn more about your passion!” he said.
Ilya Sukhar ’03, Co-Founder and CEO of Parse
Ilya Sukhar ’03 recently made the news when it was announced that Facebook acquired his company, Parse, of which he served as co-founder and CEO. Currently, Sukhar runs the Parse business at Facebook and also works on Facebook platform products.
“Parse helps companies of all kinds build mobile apps. When we were getting started in 2011, Facebook itself was undergoing a large internal shift to mobile. They took notice of what we were doing very early on and we started talking about how the two companies might work together. Those talks dragged on for a while so over the course of a couple years I got to know everyone there pretty well. Finally, when we were set to close our third round of funding, they came to us with a very compelling offer to join forces,” explained Sukhar.
Parse, a startup that developed a mobile platform for cloud integration, had been gaining an increasing amount of traction in its field even before the Facebook acquisition. The backend service for mobile users should help make Facebook more attractive to developers looking for a social networking site with whom to advertise. Sukhar said he is all about creating products that people love to use. Before his current headline-making endeavor, he was the first employee at Etacts (acquired by Salesforce), where he worked on all things product and engineering. Before that he was an early engineer at Ooyala and holds a B.S. and master’s degree in computer science from Cornell, where he did distributed systems research and graduated with honors.
“Harker’s competitive academic environment instilled in me the value of surrounding myself with smart and ambitious people. Optimizing my career for continuously learning from people smarter than myself has proven to be a good life strategy. I’d recommend it to anyone,” said Sukhar, adding that there is no safe path to success.
“You have to take risks, fail a lot, and keep going. Don’t get comfortable in your cushy job,” he concluded. “It’s tremendously rewarding to create a product that people love.”
Aamir ’11 and Elissa Patel ’08, co-founders of LUM Apparel
Brother and sister team Aamir and Elissa Patel took a surprisingly simple idea (glow-in-the-dark apparel) and turned it into a business with their launching of LUM Apparel.
Aamir Patel attended Harker until grade 6 and Elissa Patel graduated in ’08. They went into business together by breaking into the fashion industry with customizable glow-in-the-dark clothing where unique temporary designs can be “printed” onto tank tops or T-shirts using the light from cellphones and other devices.
The tanks and tees are treated with a special type of paint, allowing designs to be brightest during the first five minutes of being applied. They don’t fully fade until about 15 minutes later.
The Patels explained that customers can use the LED light from smartphones or a laser to draw messages on their shirts. They can even take photos from their phones or tablets and print them onto the LUM apparel.
“All you need to do is take your light source, press it up against the shirt, and then get creative. Designs can even be erased by swiping your hand across them while your light source is a few inches away,” they said, explaining that LUM was launched with help from Kickstarter, the world’s largest funding platform for creative ideas.
“When we first started LUM we had the door shut 100 times before one person finally agreed to help us out. We started out with $500 and turned it into $22,000 in 35 days. By the end of the year we should be on track to have a quarter million dollar evaluation. It doesn’t matter where you start or what happened in the past, it’s all about where you want to go,” said Aamir.
The Patels concede that working with a sibling can sometimes be hard. “We naturally get on each other’s nerves, but the great thing is we can always give it to each other straight. My sister has been supportive by guiding me with marketing advice. It’s great to have someone you can bounce ideas off of and get real feedback in return,” said Aamir.
The two are aspiring to become a high tech clothing line. As technology continues to get smaller, most devices are going to become wearable. Hence, their vision is to fully integrate existing and up-and-coming technologies into apparel. Their ultimate goal is to create fully customizable clothing where designs can be downloaded off a smart phone and displayed directly onto clothing.
“As long as you believe in yourself you will be successful,” they advised.
This story originally appeared in the fall 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Palo Alto Military Academy (PAMA) graduate William Mathews Brooks ’67 found something unique scuba diving in the Indonesian seas: a new species of coral reef fish. The discovery was the cover story in the April edition of the International Journal of Ichthyology.
“The fish is specifically of the goby (Gobiidae) genus,” explained Brooks, who named the species – a brightly colored orange and pink fish with a distinctive bright yellow mid-lateral stripe that runs horizontally down the side of its body – Eviota pamae.
This new species is named pamae in honor of Pamela Scott Rorke, Brooks’ wife and diving companion on the expedition that uncovered the fish.
A successful businessman and entrepreneur, Brooks is well known in adventuring circles for his passion for the outdoors. An avid climber, mountaineer and alpinist, he is a certified international mountain guide and founder of Brooks-Range Mountaineering Equipment Co. He is also a longtime certified scuba diving instructor who began diving in college in the early 1970s.
Brooks was twice decorated by the American Mountain Guides Association, once in 2010 and again in 2012. He collected that organization’s two most prestigious awards, the Presidential Gold Medal and Lifetime Achievement Award, and is its honorary past-president.
He credits Harker with giving him the tools he needed early on to able to lead such a successful life. “PAMA provided me with a wonderful academic and moral base. When I first entered the school I was a struggling student …. By the time I left I excelled and became a merit scholar,” he recalled.
New Class of 2013 alumni Kenny Zhang, Anuj Sharmaand Aneesh Chona were defending national champions in the public debate forum sponsored by the National Forensic League (NFL), which held its first tournament in 1931. Sharma and Chona made history as the first team to repeat a final round appearance in a debate event as a partnership. Although they lost in finals in a close decision, they had gone undefeated through 15 rounds of competition. Zhang won second place in the dramatic interpretation event, marking the highest honor a Harker student has won at a speech national championship. There were some 4,000 people watching the debate live and thousands more watched it stream online. Go Forensic Eagles!
Ryan Moreland ’98 spent a great deal of time in his parent’s vineyard growing up in St. Helena. Among his favorite memories is sharing a glass of wine with family and friends seated around an old redwood plank table, surrounded by a canopy of trees. It was the good times he had in this spot, he said, that impacted his decision to become a winemaker.
While his family originally planted their vineyard as a hobby, Moreland turned it into a career and has made every single vintage from their vineyard since it first began producing fruit in 2007. He started Corvalle Winery the following year, when he was just 25 years old, after attending college at the University of California, San Diego, and obtaining a degree in environmental chemistry. Success followed soon after, and Corvalle today is a known competitor in the wine market.
“My parents had planted an acre of sauvignon blanc. I immediately was hooked, walking up and down the rows pruning the young vines as they stretched out onto the trellises,” recalled Moreland, who went on to work entry level positions at nearby wineries before deciding to focus solely on developing his own label.
The name Corvalle is derived from Latin, meaning “Soul of the Valley,” and is intended as a tribute to the community of Napa and its legacy of farming.
“I learned so many valuable skills that have helped me both as an entrepreneur and in my professional life. When I look back on my time at Harker, the first thing that comes to mind is my strong belief that, given adequate drive, an individual can accomplish any goal he or she dreams up. This belief is a product of the culture at Harker,” he said.
Moreland also believes in giving back. In addition to generously donating wine to Harker’s advancement events, he also is a supporter of the Danville D’Elegance foundation supporting Alzheimer’s research and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.
Moreland has recently relocated to attend the prestigious Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania while simultaneously expanding his business to the East Coast market. Having just begun pre-term events at Wharton, Moreland is enjoying getting to know his fellow classmates.
“I feel genuinely lucky to be able to participate in such an amazing program surrounded by this caliber of staff and fellow students. As one could imagine, my background is a bit unique here,” said Moreland, adding that he is also enjoying sharing his love for wine in his new community and regularly returns to Napa to oversee winemaking activities at Corvalle.
Working on developing sales in both New York and Pennsylvania has proven a much different endeavor than in California due to the states’ specific legal framework regarding wine importation and distribution, but Moreland said he likes the challenge and opportunity to engage with so many eager and curious wine consumers outside of the Bay Area.
Moreland advices other alumni not to be afraid to follow their own interests. “If something sounds enjoyable and gets you excited then take the time to learn more about your passion!” he said.
This story recently appeared in the winter 2012 edition of Harker Quarterly.
Taking on leadership positions after graduating from high school comes naturally to many Harker alumni. It certainly helped pave the way for Senan Ebrahim ’08, Sabena Suri ’08 and Tyler Koteskey ’11.
Senan Ebrahim ’08 Ebrahim recently graduated from Harvard University, where he studied neurobiology and served on the undergraduate council for four years. As a senior he was Harvard’s student body president – a prestigious role he credits Harker with helping him prepare for.
Although he only attended Harker for his junior and senior years, Ebrahim said they proved to be some of his most formative. At Harker, he was named one of two California Presidential Scholars and became involved in leadership activities, including serving as senior class president, vice president of the National Honor Society and Science Bowl team captain.
“This early exposure to taking on leadership responsibilities undoubtedly helped prepare me for my duties as Harvard’s student body president,” said Ebrahim.
As Harvard president, his job was to represent students’ interests to the Harvard administration and provide student services. “What this really means is I went to a lot of meetings and sent a lot of emails,” joked Ebrahim, adding that he and his vice president chose to focus on four main areas: launching a program called Forum for Change, planning campuswide events, improving winter break and creating popular Web apps like UC Taxis, which enabled students to save money by sharing taxi rides.
“I was fortunate to have a great team, so we did a lot of projects in one year, but more than anything, leading Harvard’s student government was an amazing learning experience for me,” recalled Ebrahim.
He also held leadership roles in other groups, including Responsible Investment at Harvard, Harvard for Pakistan and Launch 2012, an innovative program enabling the Harvard Class of 2012 to connect and collaborate for greater positive social impact post-graduation.
Ebrahim remains a director for Launch 2012 and is currently pursuing a medical anthropology fellowship in India. He advised current Harker students to explore widely both in academics and extracurriculars, especially in high school, because you never know what you might love. “Harker has so many fantastic extracurricular opportunities –from swimming to research to mock trial. There is plenty of time to specialize after college!”
Sabena Suri ’08 Ebrahim’s former Harker classmate, Sabena Suri ’08, attended Harker for 11 years, beginning in grade 2. After graduating, Suri went on to attend the University of Southern California (USC) and applauds Harker for having helped to prepare her for the academic rigors of a university.
“I definitely would have struggled during my first semester of college had I not developed such strong reading, writing and critical thinking skills while at Harker. Harker also gave me the opportunity to enroll in a variety of different courses (through APs and electives) that helped me hone in on my academic interests, so I had a greater sense of what I was interested in studying as soon as I got to college,” said Suri.
More than giving just a solid academic foundation, though, Harker helped Suri realize the importance of giving back to the campus community. “At Harker, students are privileged because they are surrounded by not only the best and brightest, but the most passionate as well. I remember hearing the student speakers at our Monday morning assemblies talking about the steps they were taking to fix a cause they cared deeply about or simply expressing their love of something. These kind of experiences certainly resonated with me during my years at USC.”
While at USC, Suri became very involved with Undergraduate Student Government (USG). In her junior year in student government, she served as the director of public relations for USC’s events-planning branch. As such she oversaw promotions for some of USC’s largest student-run and university-sponsored events, from Barack Obama’s visit to USC to Third Eye Blind’s on-campus performance.
During her senior year, she became overall senior director of communications for USG, serving as the organization’s spokesperson to the press and overseeing a team of 11 to promote USG’s on-campus presence and encourage new members to join.
Meanwhile, she was also heavily involved with Delta Omicron Zeta (DOZ), USC’s coed leadership fraternity. The mission of the fraternity is to develop the skills of on-campus leaders through various programs. Suri served on the executive board of the fraternity as vice president of social programming, planning and budgeting social events that furthered its mission.
“I chose to primarily focus on undergraduate student government and my leadership fraternity, although I was also involved with PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) and SCIA (Southern California Indo Americans),” recalled Suri, who graduated from USC last May having studied public relations with a minor in marketing. She is currently working at advertising agency Ogilvy & Mather’s Los Angeles office in the associates program.
“You’ll make some of your best friends at Harker …. College may be a fresh start, which is exciting, but your roots have been firmly planted in Harker soil, so to speak. Keep in touch with your peers, even if it’s just on Facebook, and check in to see how they are doing every once in a while!” advised Suri, adding that above all else, college should be a time of experimentation and seizing opportunities.
“If you’ve never taken a yoga class, now’s the time. If you’ve always been interested in Russian literature but never thought it would be applicable as an engineering major, take it anyway. You’ll be surprised how much you’ll learn about yourself through simply exploring your interests!”
Tyler Koteskey ’11 Come the beginning of January, Tyler Koteskey ’11 will begin a two-year term with the Central Committee of the Los Angeles County Republican Party.
The swearing-in ceremony on Dec. 15 took to the next level his previous election to an official position within a municipality. Koteskey was elected to the GOP (Grand Old Party) committee during the June 6 primary election. In his new intraparty office role he will help register voters in his assembly district and vote on party platforms and endorsements when all the committee members convene during county meetings.
Koteskey, a student at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), recalled the excitement of seeing his name listed on the first page of the primary ballot for all registered Republicans in his assembly district. Although he is not a city official, in order to get listed on the ballot he collected petition signatures, campaigning by precinct – walking and sending out mailers with other members of his slate.
Becoming involved in politics is not new to Koteskey, who currently serves as the chapter president of Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) at UCLA. YAL is a group that focuses on advancing economic and social freedoms as well as a non-interventionist foreign policy. And, just last year, when he began attending UCLA, he organized a record-breaking rally for presidential candidate Ron Paul.
“Running UCLA’s Youth for Ron Paul chapter and volunteering on the campaign offered an educational taste of the good, the bad and the ugly of electoral politics,” he said.
More than 6,600 people attended that event in early April, making it Paul’s largest rally ever. In fact, after booking an initial venue, Koteskey had to find a bigger one. The RSVPs kept pouring in, far beyond what he expected, yet Koteskey continued to accommodate them, watching the numbers swell into the thousands. The rally was ultimately held in Straus Stadium at the Los Angeles Tennis Center, with huge lines to get in and plenty of press coverage.
According to Koteskey, only 12 percent of his assembly district is registered Republican – a number that he said indicates big problems with the local party’s status quo. “The GOP is unnecessarily missing out on the next generation of voters and key demographics. For instance, I will be advocating for the county party to adopt a platform rejecting the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens without trial under the National Defense Authorization Act.”
But Koteskey feels well-prepared for the challenges which lie ahead, partly thanks to his education at Harker. “The main reason I had time to get involved in the presidential election and local politics was because Harker prepared me so well academically for UCLA, which gave me the extra time to get involved in politics.” He further credits Harker’s forensics and performing arts departments with giving him the necessary tools to speak confidently in public.
In passing on advice to fellow Harker alums interested in becoming involved in politics, Koteskey related something he learned while attending an activism training seminar. “I was told the following: the world is run by people who show up. If you’re frustrated with your party’s stance on an issue, get involved and change the party. Don’t just sit around and talk about it. That puts you past the vast majority of people right out of the gate.
“While presidential campaigns may be more visible and publicized, there are greater opportunities to make meaningful differences in local congressional, state and municipal races,” he added.
This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.
It’s been a year since Wendy Tsai ’04 spontaneously moved to Shanghai to work for the Neri & Hu Design and Research Office, an internationally renowned multidisciplinary architecture and furniture design firm.
Tsai was in New York researching boutique hotel precedents while working for another architectural firm when she came across an intriguing magazine article about the Hotel Waterhouse, located in Shanghai and designed by Neri & Hu.
Tsai was immediately struck by the impressive architectural detailing of the hotel, a 1930s warehouse now made over into a small yet elegant hotel noted for fusing modernism with the city’s storied past. The 19-room hotel boasts a renovation with many of the old walls remaining intact while new elements sprout out of the old, creating a rare architectural linkage between then and now.
“I really liked the details in Neri & Hu’s work, so I sent them an email telling them so … and ended up moving to Shanghai to work for them four weeks later!” recalled Tsai incredulously.
Having only been to Shanghai once for a family vacation when she was 10, she didn’t know what to expect. But, she figured, with so many exciting architectural developments now happening in China, “Why not check it out and see how it is to live in Shanghai while I can still explore and move around?”
The decision turned out to be a wise one for Tsai, who is learning much while on the job at Neri & Hu. The award-winning firm, regularly featured in international design magazines, was founded in 2004 by partners Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu.
One of the things that attracted Tsai to Neri & Hu was its global reach in providing architecture, interior, master planning, graphic and product design services. Currently working on projects in eight countries, Neri & Hu has a multicultural staff with a capacity to speak more than 20 different languages.
“The projects we have at the office are very diverse and interesting,” said Tsai, noting, for example, that she’s had the opportunity to oversee the design and completion of a new store concept of a luxury retailer dedicated to young contemporary designers like Harker’s own Alexander Wang ’98.
“The design opportunities are definitely a lot more interesting here in Shanghai – it’s like the new American dream, where anything can happen,” she said.
Yet, despite her new, exciting life, Tsai will always have fond memories of her time spent at Harker. “I really miss the Harker days,” said Tsai, who got her start at the middle school back in 1999 with the then-available boarding program. “The dorm years, as well as the high school years, will always have a special place in my heart.”
According to Tsai, Harker fostered a supportive learning environment, both academically and socially, leading the way for her to explore various art media that helped prepare her portfolio for architecture schools.
Tsai now advises other Harker alumni who wish to take on work abroad to travel and explore as much as they can while not yet completely tied down by obligations.
For Tsai, following the path to her dream architectural job has been quite an adventure and memorable experience. “At first I was in cultural shock. Now, I enjoy learning something new every day … nothing ceases to be surprising!” she said.
This story was originally published in the spring 2012 issue of Harker Quarterly.
Compiled by William Cracraft, Igor Hiller and Zach Jones
Medical Students Drop By with Advice The Harker School had two medical students – who also happen to be Harker graduates – stop by upper school science chair Anita Chetty’s classroom in late November. They spoke to three different classes about what being in med school is really like, giving soon-to-be college students an insider’s look into both the course of study and the career it leads to. Alfred See and Geetanjali Vajapey, both Class of 2004, were home for Thanksgiving break when they decided to drop in and surprise Chetty, their former teacher. See, Chetty says, was also in the area interviewing for a residency. Chetty was pleased to see them both, especially considering they were only home for a few days. “It’s a nice reminder that Harker is truly a family, even after graduation, whose students are always willing to share their time and expertise,” she said.
Harker Academy Grad Publishes Timely Book on Muslim Americans Ayesha Mattu ’86 was featured on the Sunday front page of the San Jose Mercury News Living section on Feb. 26. She co-edited a book titled “Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women.” In the book, 25 Muslim women share their search for love and speak openly for the first time about love, relationships, sexuality, gender, identity, homophobia and racism.
Mattu, who attended Harker Academy for grades 3-7, received Harker’s 2008 Alumni Community Service award. After graduating from Clark University, Mattu’s first job was as a public relations manager for Sahil, a Pakistani non-governmental organization addressing child abuse. Working on such a controversial and taboo subject in a conservative Islamic society proved challenging and rewarding.
After Sahil, Mattu worked for Hagler-Bailly, where she researched community initiatives connected to the Himalayan Brown Bear Conservation Project. She then moved to Boston, where she was the coordinator for institutional giving at Grassroots International, a human rights organization that works with social movements and progressive organizations to build a global movement for social justice. Mattu met her husband at Grassroots International, and the pair moved to San Francisco, where she worked as a development officer for the Global Fund for Women.
In addition to her book editing work, Mattu is currently self-employed as a philanthropy consultant, helping organizations and individuals formulate strategies and practices to foster a social-change grant-making model. Congratulations to Mattu on the publication of her book!
Tufts Grad Manages Campaign to Raise $500,000 for Nonprofit Shawn Huda ’06 said he first discovered Let’s Get Ready (LGR) during his sophomore year at Tufts University. “As a product of a minority, single parent household, I was immediately drawn to the nonprofit’s mission: to help break the cycle of poverty by empowering students to attend college,” said Huda.
While at Tufts, Huda worked a semester as a verbal coach at LGR and three semesters as the director of the Tufts LGR program. After graduating from Tufts in 2010, Huda went on to work as a program associate in LGR’s Boston office, overseeing multiple programs.
“I discovered major benefits of the model that mirrored tenets of the Harker experience,” said Huda. “Classes were kept small (five students, on average) to ensure individualized attention and guidance; students both at the high school and college levels were empowered to take greater responsibility and ownership inside the classroom and out; and rather than focusing solely on one aspect, the SAT, the program took a holistic approach to preparing students for the college application process,” Huda said.
He was given the unique role of managing LGR’s campaign for the 2011 American Giving Awards Competition and, in December, under Huda’s management, LGR took second place, a ranking determined via the campaign’s Facebook voting drive, and won the group $500,000. Read the story on LGR’s website: http://bit. ly/ok6bc5.
Alumna Wong ‘05 Founds Theater Company Kimberley Wong ’05 has co-founded a groundbreaking theater company in New York. Her group, called The Accidental Shakespeare Company, mixes theater with improvisation, with casting decisions made by the audience moments before curtain and random props thrown into the mix.
The theater company is dedicated to the idea of play. Wong says she realized the little moments of terror during a performance – when an actor forgets his line, or a set piece malfunctions, or a prop is missing – often spur the most exciting, interesting and real moments on stage. “Lately, I have become really tired of the kind of theater where they say: Stand here. Do this. Move your arm like that,” said Wong. “You start to feel like a set piece.”
Wong believes accidents are part of the joy of live theater, which is why her company purposefully incorporates elements of change into their productions.
Harker’s performing arts program played a significant role in Wong’s education. As a kindergartner, she was cast as a fairy princess in “Cinderella.” Every year thereafter, Wong performed in Harker’s dance production. In grade 8, she performed in Harker Harmonics and played the lead role in “42nd Street” as a senior. She was also a musical theater certificate graduate in the Harker Conservatory. Said Wong, “I see how the work ethic, the professionalism and the passion that I learned at Harker set me apart from so many other actors. It is the reason … why I can develop and run my company!”
After graduation, Wong attended New York University, where she earned a BFA in drama. Her most recent theater credits include playing Juliet at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, and Wong is currently in an apprenticeship at the Pearl Theater in New York, understudying Julia in George Bernard Shaw’s “The Philanderer.”
Alumna Accepted to Oxford Visiting Student Program Maggie Woods ’10 was recently accepted to a visiting student program at Oxford University. Currently a history major at Santa Clara University, Woods plans to study medieval and early modern British history as well as Latin and Greek during her stay at Oxford. “Oxford has been the dream since sophomore year of high school, pretty much as soon as I decided that I wanted to continue studying history,” Woods said. She visited Oxford while on a trip to London the summer after her junior year at Harker. “The atmosphere is magical, and not just because it reminds me of Harry Potter,” she joked. “I felt an urge to study while I was there.”
This article was originally published in the summer 2012 Harker Quarterly.
She may be known as Tara Priya to her fans, but to her fellow Harker alumni she’ll always be Tara Chandra ’06. Already a rising star in Japan, Chandra is now poised to make a name for herself in the United States as well.
She has reached second place on the Japanese McDonalds Zip Hot 100 Chart and released a new music video. Most recently, she performed locally to an appreciative audience at The Hotel Utah Saloon, a historic San Francisco institution.
Chandra graduated from Columbia University in economics, political science and music performance in 2008. After spending a brief time working in the financial sector, she returned to her true passion, music, moving from the Bay Area to Los Angeles, where she is pursuing a career as a singer and songwriter.
In a previous interview with Harker Quarterly Chandra had said that she believes individuals create their own luck, and that she doesn’t believe in being “discovered” as an overnight success. Rather, she pointed to hard work and determination as skills required to make it in today’s fiercely competitive music industry.
“At Harker … I was supported and encouraged by the faculty, challenged and inspired by my peers,” she had said when giving advice. “No matter where you go to college, find a community for yourself and try to keep in touch with all your Harker friends! They’re some of the best people you’ll ever know.”