This story recently appeared in the winter 2012 edition of Harker Quarterly.
Taylor Eigsti returned to a sold-out Nichols Hall auditorium on Sept. 28 to kick off the third season of the Harker Concert Series. Performing to a very enthusiastic crowd, the 27-year-old jazz piano phenom again dazzled an audience made up of everyone from budding jazz fans to longtime aficionados.
The slow, lilting chords of Eigsti’s version of the jazz standard “Cheryl” coursed through the auditorium as the show began. The trio soon brought up the volume, and Eigsti gave ample room to his partners to display their knack for tasteful soloing, in addition to showcasing his own immense chops.
For the last song of the first set, a rendition of Kenny Dorham’s “Lotus Blossom,” the trio was joined by Eigsti’s longtime friend and Harker middle school music teacher Dave Hart on trumpet. Hart navigated the songs shifting times and rhythms in seemingly effortless fashion and also showcased his formidable improvisational skills.
During the intermission, guests at the show remarked about the quality of the venue and reception. “It’s wonderful,” said Vickie grove of Portola Valley, a longtime Taylor Eigsti fan who attended last year’s concert. “I love the venue. It’s small. The food is excellent. It’s really fun.”
Among the more emotionally charged pieces performed was “Distressed,” which Eigsti composed for the 2011 film “Detachment,” starring Adrien Brody. Fittingly, Eigsti performed with no accompaniment for this brooding piece, which was at times also dissonant, plodding and atmospheric.
Eigsti finished the show with the uplifting, groove-driven “Magnolia,” whose rousing mid-section and calming final moments drew a well-deserved extended ovation.
Attendees at the 62nd Harker Family & Alumni Picnic on Oct. 14 gloried in the timelessness of the picnic: new things each year–especially the faces of students growing up–and some of the classics, like the never-get-tired-of-it dunk tank. The whole event, one of the big opening events of the school year, was attended by about 800 people and again fulfilled its promise in providing fun and entertainment to the entire Harker community on a warm fall day.
Families were greeted by Harker faculty and staff as they reached the entrance to the middle school campus, where the day’s festivities took place. This year’s theme, “Jaws, Paws and Claws,” celebrated all manner of wildlife, and patrons were treated to animal shows at the Blackford amphitheater throughout the day.
The crowd was also entertained by an energetic show by a wide selection of groups from Harker’s performing arts department, including Dance Fusion, the grade 4-6 boys and girls dance group; Downbeat, the upper school show choir; and the grade 6 choir, Dynamics.
Picknickers, particularly the younger ones, especially enjoyed being able to see and pet the pigs, goats, rabbits and other animals on display at the petting area. Talented and well-trained dogs performed tricks and ran through an obstacle course to the delight of audiences, and even a python several feet in length was available for visitors to view and briefly wear on their shoulders.
The always-popular game booths were among the main attractions throughout the day. Volunteers spun wheels of fortune, players tossed golf balls, shot hoops and more to win a myriad of prizes, including stuffed animals, toys and bottles of wine. One of the most popular carnival games, the dunk tank, continued to be a hit with picnic-goers. “The dunk tank was a little cold today. If you noticed, the weather was a little overcast,” said upper school chemistry teacher Andrew Irvine, who had an early shift. He was one of a number of faculty members who had the honor of sitting in the dunk tank this year, and one of the most enthusiastic: “I kind of like the anticipation,” Irvine said.
Kaela Bien, grade 5, who liked “watching the teachers get dunked,” also enjoyed the canine feats on display at the dog show. “It’s fun, and they’re sort of mischievous too,” she said.
Generous student and parent volunteers helped sell tickets to the booths that kept visitors entertained and fed all day. Food booths, run by parents, faculty and staff, served delicious refreshments, snacks and hot meals from a variety of vendors. Returning were the food trucks, which proved a hit during the 2011 picnic and received a similar response this year, serving Asian fusion and other types of cuisine.
At the “Claws Vegas” silent auction area, attendees bid on all sorts of prizes, ranging from trips to New York City and Las Vegas to sleepovers and animal-shaped topiaries. Parent alumna Tiffany Nishimura ’86 (Alexis, grade 2), said the silent auction was her favorite part of the picnic for the wide variety of prizes available and the various opportunities for “supporting the school.”
Harker alumni had a big presence at this year’s picnic, with more than 130 alumni and their families joining in on the fun. A special lunch area was set aside so that alumni could meet and reminisce, while alumni children enjoyed a craft activity. Alumni director MaryEllis Deacon reflected on the picnic, saying, “It is a time to come back, reconnect, and visit with those teachers who helped you as a child become who you are today. It also allows you to remember the fun things, the games, the food and the spirit of Harker.”
Vincy Chan, parent of Gemma, K, and Gianna, grade 3, said she enjoyed seeing the community’s hard work come to fruition: “It’s like a family, so I just love helping out, and then … seeing all our hard work.”
“When you see everybody come together, and see all the people in their civilian clothing, it shows the magic that makes the Harker community Harker,” Irvine said.
Following the picnic, Chris Nikoloff, head of school, gave well-deserved credit to all responsible for the event’s success. “Special thanks to the talented and creative flock of volunteers who comprise the picnic committee and the Harker faculty and staff who were as busy as beavers helping to make the picnic a great success,” Nikoloff said, making special mention of picnic co-chairs Lynette Stapleton, Kelly Espinosa and Tiffany Hurst, “whose vision made it possible for all our little eagles and their families to soar to new heights today!”
This article was originally published in the summer 2012 Harker Quarterly.
During their graduation ceremony at the scenic Mountain Winery in Saratoga, Harker’s Class of 2012 sat poised, attentively listening to speeches, ready and eager to take on life after high school, when they were then challenged to turn back the clock and view the world through the eyes of a baby.
“If you see like a baby, you just might see yourself as the miracle you are,” advised Chris Nikoloff, head of school. He delivered his yearly farewell speech to the students after welcoming members of the board of trustees, the administration, faculty and staff, family, friends, alumni and the “true guests of honor” — the graduating Class of 2012.
Speaking of the inspiration for his address — the newest addition to his own family, baby Andreas — and here noting that this was the first graduation speech he’d written on an iPad, Nikoloff turned serious as he advised students to continually walk through life with a sense of wonder. He quoted Albert Einstein who wrote, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Prior to Nikoloff’s address, the graduation ceremony had gotten underway on a beautiful spring morning to the melodious sounds of the Harker Chamber Orchestra, led by Chris Florio. As the graduating class proceeded into the amphitheater, taking their front row seats, the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” filled the air. Once the graduates were seated, Susan Nace led the 2012 Graduation Chorus in singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Butch Keller, upper school head, warmly addressed the seniors and their proud families, congratulating students on reaching this important milestone in their educational careers, then introduced this year’s valedictorian, Ramya Rangan.
In her speech, Rangan encouraged her fellow grads to, above all else, pursue their passions and find what makes them happy. Following the speech, the chorus, directed by Catherine Snider and accompanied by Rangan, sang “Leave No Song Unsung.”
The keynote address was delivered by Dr. Vandi V. Tompkins, research technologist, mobility and robotic systems, for NASA’s jet propulsion laboratory. Tompkins provided a wonderful role model of someone actively pursuing her dreams. In her captivating address, she passionately discussed her past work in flight operations for the Mars exploration rovers and the development of NASA’s science laboratory flight mission.
After the keynote speech, graduate and outgoing National Honor Society president Nicole Dalal passed the Lamp of Knowledge to rising senior and new NHS president Emily Wang. When it came time to receive their diplomas, one by one seniors were greeted by Keller, Nikoloff and this year’s class dean, Matthew Harley, upper school biology teacher.
Finally, with diplomas in hand, the students turned their attention to Nikoloff and Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, for their closing remarks. All watched as doves were released and the ceremony came to a close.
Graduates then moved their tassels as a symbol of their graduation. Soon after, they flung their caps in the air, watching, with a newborn’s sense of wonder, as the hats went high into the sky.
The Harker Concert Series is in its second year, yet has already established itself as a must-see event for lovers of classical and jazz repertoire. Pianist Adam Golka sold out Nichols Hall’s auditorium on Feb. 4 as the third installment of this year’s series, following Opera San Jose and the Gerald Clayton Trio. The 2011-12 season will conclude in March with the Afiara String Quartet.
Texan Golka is only 24 years old and has had a grueling concertizing schedule for some time. Winner of several major international piano competitions, including the Shanghai International Piano Competition in 2003 and the Gilmore Young Artist Award in 2008, Golka added Harker to his list of impressive collaborations, which include Carnegie Hall with the New York Youth Symphony and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. According to his online biography, Golka currently studies with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore.
The second star of the show was the piano, a seven-foot-eight-inch Bechstein, generously leant for the evening by Piedmont Piano Company. Golka’s program showed off not only his own technical mastery, but the warmth of this wonderful instrument.
Fittingly for the Bechstein’s rich and dramatic sonority, Golka played a program of Romantic music, with a Beethoven sonata, three intermezzi by Brahms and Liszt’s famous “Mephisto Waltz” in the first half of the concert. After intermission, Golka was a tour de force, playing what is generally considered by pianists to be Beethoven’s most difficult piece, the “Hammerklavier” sonata. Each movement of this 45-minute piece showcased a different strength of both Golka and the Bechstein, with furious staccato passages, flowing, almost post-Romantic interludes and Bach-inspired fugal passages.
Golka met with audience members in the atrium after the performance.
The Gerald Clayton Trio played to the largest Harker Concert Series audience yet on Jan. 20, a fine night for an indoor show, given the rainy weather. Middle school music teacher Dave Hart introduced Clayton, 27, a three-time Grammy award nominee who has worked with greats such Roy Hargrove, Lewis Nash and Clark Terry. Joining him on drums was Justin Brown, a graduate of the Dave Brubeck Institute and Juilliard, attending both on full scholarships. On bass was Matt Brewer, a professional performer since the age of 12 and a highly in-demand sideman, according to Clayton.
Appearing the very portrait of concentration, Clayton put hand to keys, performing a dissonant improvisation before segueing nicely into a slow and soft rendition of the standard “It Could Happen to You.” Brown used his brushes to great effect, adding an ethereal touch to his steady, nuanced technique. Both he and Brewer contributed the first of many tasteful solos that evening, while Clayton’s increasingly dexterous playing brought the song to an exciting finish.
Clayton followed up with “Major Hope,” an original composition that began with rapid staccato chords in shifting times, gradually swelling into an upbeat display of musicianship, featuring Clayton’s fluid improvisational skills and Brown’s exacting touch.
Clearly fond of standards, Clayton tossed the much-loved ballad “Blame it on My Youth” into his set, adding his own unique flourishes and syncopations. At one point, Clayton intimated to the audience that the band didn’t know what to play next. “Maybe that’s the genius of youth,” he remarked. “No plans.”
The trio’s version of “Body and Soul” was much appreciated by Bill and Cathy Fraser, both of them first-time attendees of the Harker Concert Series.
“It was beyond my expectations,” Bill Fraser, a longtime jazz listener, said of the show. “Particularly the couple of ballads they played …. It’s just rare when a jazz trio settles down in that mood and gets it.”
Roger Kim ’07, who studied music at the University of California, Berkeley, was also impressed with the show. “I see a lot of jazz, and this definitely was a unique experience,” he said, mentioning that the Clayton concert was among the best he’d seen.
Winston Wey ’07, who played with Harker’s jazz band during his high school years, said he had recently rekindled his interest in music and that Clayton’s performance was an inspiration to him. “I’m really impressed with the caliber of performers they get here,” he said.
The Harker School has always been proud of the talent and passion of its performing arts students; and their talent certainly doesn’t stop growing after graduation. The annual Alumni Conservatory Classic allows graduates – recent or not so recent – to return and show off all they’ve learned, accomplished, and become interested in since graduation. This year marked the fourth annual such show, which was well-attended by approximately 70 alumni along with staff such as MaryEllis Deacon, the director of alumni relations, and Susan Nace, a performing arts teacher.
Performances ranged from solos, including one by Christina Li ’11 accompanied by a dancer to illustrate the piece, to groups of musicians – a string quartet opened the evening – to songs in foreign languages alumni have mastered, including an impressive piece in French. Nace conducted a group of female alumni along with current student Tina Crnko, grade 12, blending the school’s past and present talent.
Deacon enjoyed all the performances, and along with them, enjoyed seeing students catch up with each other. “Seeing them reconnect and visit with friends is one of the best parts of alumni events, I believe,” she said. The alumni, parents and staff had the opportunity to see each other after the performance, and talk about life after Harker.
The second season of the Harker Concert Series was kicked off Dec. 2 with a stirring selection of pieces by Opera San Jose. Upper school music teacher Chris Florio customarily began the proceedings by welcoming everyone to the inaugural show of the second season.
After the announcement of some changes to the concert schedule (and the introduction of the night’s accompanist, Veronika Agranov-Dafoe on piano, who provided great backing to the singers throughout the concert) by Opera San Jose’s artistic director Matthew Siek, the show began with mezzo-soprano Betany Coffland, soprano Jasmina Halimic and tenor Alexander Boyer performing a section from Mozart’s “Idomeneo,” a retelling of the saga of Idomeneus, who led the armies of Crete in the Trojan War. The singers’ wonderful dramatic interpretation, in addition to their stellar interplay and vocal abilities, were more than enough to keep both opera newcomers and aficionados entertained.
OSJ’s first set was fairly diverse, due in some part to an unexpected absence by bass-baritone Isaiah Musik-Ayala, who was slated to sing “Suoni la tromba” with baritone Evan Brummel. In his place, Michael Dailey injected a little Broadway into the set, singing George Gerswhin’s “There’s a Boat Leaving to New York,” with all the stylistic flair expected from one of musical theater’s most beloved composers.
Boyer, bass Silas Elash and soprano Jouvanca Jean-Baptiste brought the first set to a fittingly grand close with “Alerte, Alerte” from Charles Gounod’s “Faust,” in which the three singers each gave a virtuoso performance.
During the intermission, attendees mingled in the Nichols Hall atrium, enjoying the many refreshments and snacks available, including a popular chocolate fountain.
“I think it’s very welcoming,” said Anne Stauffer, a first-time attendee of the Harker Concert Series of the atmosphere of the event. She added that it offered “the ability to start talking with people and engaging in conversation.”
“I think this is a wonderful thing for Harker to do,” said Debra Edginton. “I think it’s a way for Harker to blend with the community, which I think is very important. And it’s also a boost and a boon for the arts.”
Dailey and Brummel opened the second set with Gaetano Donizetti’s “Venti scudi,” from Donizetti’s opera “L’Elisir d’Amore.” Dailey, who earlier had sung Broadway, had no trouble switching gears to opera, convincingly portraying the love-stricken peasant Nemorino, as Brummel faithfully recreated the pompous swagger of Sergeant Belcore.
Coffland later returned to the stage to give one of the evening’s most impressive solo performances, singing the aria “Una voce poco fa” (“A voice a little while ago”) from Gioachino Rossini’s “Il barbiere si Siviglia,” better known as “The Barber of Seville.” Handling the song’s many challenging passages with confidence and grace, Coffland enjoyed an enthusiastic reaction from the crowd.
For the finale, all of the evening’s singers gathered onstage to sing “Libiamo ne’lieti calici,” from Giuseppe Verdi’s famous “La Traviata.” Their infectious delight in performing one of opera’s most widely known pieces drew a lengthy, well-deserved standing ovation from the audience.
Almost 200 high school students visited Nichols Hall on Oct. 22 for the first ever, independently organized TEDx Harker School event, put together by grade 11 students Neeraj Baid and Neel Bhoopalam. Headlined by keynote speaker Guy Kawasaki, the event featured five top entrepreneurs, each offering unique perspectives and advice to the young audience.
As chief evangelist at Apple in the ’80s, Kawasaki helped bring developers to Apple’s Macintosh platform. During his introduction, he asked how many members of the audience used Macs. Upon seeing the vast majority of the attendees raise their hands, he grinned and remarked, “I love to see that.”
With Steve Jobs still in headlines due to his recent passing, Kawasaki’s presentation focused on key lessons he learned from the late celebrity businessman and inventor. “I’m one of the few people who survived working for him twice,” he joked.
The first such lesson was, “Experts are clueless.” “If there’s anything that Apple has proven,” he said, “it’s that experts are often wrong.” He encouraged the audience to “learn to ignore experts.
“This may be contrary to what you’ve been taught, but experts usually define things within established limits, and I think you should break those limits,” he said.
He followed up with several prophetic quotes from influential business leaders that in retrospect seemed downright foolish, including one by Thomas Watson of Western Union, who in 1876 famously said, “This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.”
Other lessons he learned from Jobs included the value of design, realizing that customers often don’t know what they need, and the concept that changing one’s mind is a sign of intelligence.
The conference was kicked off by Kevin Surace, CEO of Serious Energy, who observed that the United States is “no longer number one in much of anything,” a far cry from when the U.S. “took over” the industrial revolution in the 1850s. Rising carbon dioxide levels present an opportunity for America to once again be a leading innovator, he said, “and the opportunity is to correct it.”
After identifying the various ways in which the world uses energy, Surace said there a number of things American businesses can now reinvent. “Whether it’s motors or pumps or washing machines or lighting or the way we operate buildings or all the supply side dynamics, we get to reinvent today, and this, in fact, is what America has always done best,” he said.
Although there is competition, particularly from China, America is good at what Surace called disruptive innovation, using none other than Steve Jobs as a shining example. Under his leadership, products such as the iPod, iPhone and iPad “completely disrupted an industry, like no industry has ever been disrupted before,” he said.
However, being disruptively innovative means “we have to be absolutely empowered to take the risks,” and come up with ideas that are unconventional and possibly looked down upon.
Karl Mehta, founder and CEO of PlaySpan, a micropayment company acquired by Visa in March, talked about what he called the “building blocks of entrepreneurship,” covering key principles that helped him in his business ventures. “Wealth creation is not just about money,” he said, but also about giving back to the people who enabled them to become entrepreneurs in the first place. “We want to keep in mind that we stay grounded, that it’s not about money but about creating the wealth so that we can help society. We can give it back to the community,” he said.
Mehta is passionate about using technology and entrepreneurship as “two big tools” to help the people at the “bottom of the pyramid,” who are living on less than $10 a day. He is currently a board member of Simpa Networks, which seeks to make energy available to people in poor and remote areas by allowing them to purchase credits for clean energy with an affordable “pay-as-you-go” model.
When founding a company, Mehta said, one of the most important steps is “to hire people who are smarter than you.” Forming an effective team means being able to find people who are strong in areas where others are not. “Seldom you’ll find individuals who are well-rounded, but generally only teams are well-rounded,” he said.
Following Mehta was Sramana Mitra, who has built three companies since 1994, two of which she has successfully sold. Instead of a presentation, she opted to “have a conversation” with the audience, recapping her journey as an entrepreneur and talking about some of the opportunities that await future generations. “By 2020, there are going to be five billion people on the Internet … So the potential for value creation, the potential for entrepreneurship, the potential for wealth creation ahead of your generation is immense,” she said.
She also talked about her “1 Million by 1 Million” initiative, which aims to help one million entrepreneurs reach $1 million in revenue by 2020, which would create a worldwide GDP of $1 trillion and create 10 million jobs. “We have entrepreneurs from all over the world, at all different stages of their lives and careers doing one million by one million right now,” she said. Those who wish to take part in the initiative can gain access to lectures, case studies and coaching via the website http://1m1m.sramanamitra.com.
During the question and answer session, Mitra said that one way to help solve problems stemming from the current economic crisis is to “empower a lot more entrepreneurs … with the skills and knowledge of how to be successful entrepreneurs,” and she is seeking to create a “Capitalism 2.0, a distributed, democratic capitalism. We need to democratize capitalism the same way Steve Jobs democratized personal computing, the same that Henry Ford democratized the automobile.”
One of the more popular speakers of the day was Rahim Fazal, who sold his first company during his senior year of high school. He was spurred into entrepreneurship, funnily enough, after being fired from McDonald’s for working “too slow.” “I might be the only entrepreneur who’s ever been fired from McDonald’s,” he joked. He went on to start an online business with his friend, which resulted in him cutting several classes and taking far too many bathroom breaks.
The pair made local headlines after selling the business for more than $1 million. Feeling confident, he stridently ignored his parents’ advice to go to college and started another business. “I thought I was on the top of the world,” he said. “That business ended up falling flat on its face, and lost almost all of this money that I made.” He then decided to listen to his parents and acquired an MBA.
Fazal’s current business is Involver, a social marketing company that helps companies leverage social networks to reach customers. Involver’s clients include Nike, Facebook and the National Football League. One of the lessons he learned in his journey so far was that having a good relationship with his parents was more important than he originally thought, mentioning his “incredibly successful” sister, who “had an awesome relationship with my parents, and that was I think one of the things I regret that I didn’t have.”
He also recommended that entrepreneurs build a group of people around them who can answer questions and solve problems for them that are outside their expertise, such as lawyers and accountants. Another point close to Fazal’s heart was getting a life. “If you’re not having a good time, if you’re not out there doing the things that regular kids do, then you’re going to completely regret it,” he said. “Make sure you’re actually doing stuff that’s fun, and that matters.”
Hundreds arrived at the upper school campus on Sept. 26 to see decorated astronaut Dr. Gregory Chamitoff kick off the 2011-12 season of the Harker Speaker Series with an in-depth talk about his inspiring life. His appearance was spurred by his visit to his alma mater, Blackford High School, now the site of Harker’s middle school campus. Prior to his speech, Chamitoff spent nearly an hour talking to Winged Post and Talon staffers. Once at the podium, after introductions by Chris Nikoloff, head of school, and Paul West, grade 12, Chamitoff began by recognizing some of the teachers who inspired him during his days at Blackford High, and by introducing his family, who were in attendance, as well as some Blackford High alumni. He briefly recapped his years as a high school student, struggling to find the right crowd in which to belong. “It felt to me like in high school, who you were was defined by where you had lunch,” he joked. He found that he was most comfortable among science students. He reminisced about the pranks he and his friends would organize, including one where they built a flying saucer to frighten the neighborhood. For this particular project, the young Chamitoff wrote to NASA to ask how to make it fly. To his delight, a NASA engineer wrote back with an explanation. “I still have this letter from a long time ago, explaining exactly how the lift would work on this flying saucer,” he said. This inspired him to pursue his dream of being an astronaut. Before continuing, Chamitoff touched on the topic of fulfilling one’s dreams. “You have to set your own standards in your work, and the standards that you set are really for you and based on what you can do and what you want to do,” he said. “You can’t compare yourself to the people sitting next to you.” Having many different interests is also an asset, citing the complaint that many high school students have about learning things in school that do not interest them. “It turns out those subjects later on in life could be very important to you,” he said. “The other thing is skills; sports, hobbies, whether it’s music or dancing or anything you’re interested in doing, these are things that you love to do, you have a passion for, and things you have a passion for are things that end up defining you, things that build character and make you who you are,” he added. Teachers also play an important role, he said, explaining that, “in my job right now, everybody is my teacher.” He said he often finds himself in the role of the student. “You can learn something from everybody,” he said. Chamitoff’s most recent mission was as a mission specialist aboard the space shuttle “Endeavour” on its final voyage earlier this year. In 2008, he spent six months aboard the international space station (ISS) as a flight engineer and science officer. He fondly recalled the camaraderie among his crewmates, who gave one another amusing nicknames. During the Q&A session following his presentation, Chamitoff revealed that his nickname was “Taz,” after the popular Looney Tunes character, because of the sounds he would make while eating. He told most of his story through photos, taking the audience from the launch of “Endeavour,” which included one striking image of the shuttle bursting through a cloud bank, a thick column of exhaust casting its shadow across the top of the clouds. The object of that particular mission was to complete the construction of the ISS. As “Endeavour” approached, what originally started out as a “dot on the horizon” eventually became a structure the size of two football fields. The “Endeavor” crew was actually delivering two key items to the ISS. One was a palette of spare equipment that would be used to sustain the station through 2020. A photo showed the palette being transferred from the shuttle’s robotic arm to a robotic arm attached to the space station, a job Chamitoff said was similar to a video game, “but if you look out the window, it’s real stuff, and it’s big stuff that you’re moving around.” The other piece being delivered was an alpha magnetic spectrometer (AMS), a $2 billion piece of equipment made to look for “dark matter” that may explain why stars rotate at certain speeds around galaxies. It is also designed to look for anti-matter created by the Big Bang. “If they discover an anti-matter galaxy with this, that will be a fundamental breakthrough,” Chamitoff said. Chamitoff took the audience through more amazing photos of him and his crewmates at work on the space station. One wide-angle shot, taken at the end of the final spacewalk, was taken at the highest spot on the ISS, showing it complete after 12 years of construction, which required 36 shuttle flights. “During this spacewalk, we hit the 1,000th hour of spacewalking time,” Chamitoff said. “We were able to announce, ‘space station assembly is complete,’ after all this work by 15 countries for all this time.” The final photograph of the presentation showed the view from the window where Chamitoff slept during his stay at the ISS. “I’ve taken about 22,000 pictures in space, and this is my favorite one, and I took it during this mission,” he said. Upon arriving at the space station, he put his sleeping bag next to his favorite view from the space station. “Every night I would get into my sleeping bag, and I would open up a shutter, and I would look at this view and I would just stare at it until I was forced to go to sleep,” he said. In it, the earth and its glowing atmosphere float below the space station, with thousands of stars visible in the distance. “You feel like you can reach the future from here; you feel like you’re already part of the future, and all you need to do is go a little faster,” he said, “and this space station, which is really comfortable to live on for six months, could take you all the way to Mars.” Chamitoff’s presentation was followed by a video showing highlights from the mission, including several impressive first-person views from the spacewalks, and amusing footage of the astronauts maneuvering about the space station and catching floating pieces of candy and droplets of water with their mouths. Following the short film, Chamitoff took questions from the audience. In response to a question about floating debris inside the space station, he explained that spacecraft have advanced filtration and ventilation systems that keep the surroundings clear. Another audience member asked about the continued delay of a new space vehicle after the space shuttle had been retired. “It’s very disappointing,” he said, saying he thought the space shuttle was retired too soon. “There was this path of retiring the space shuttle, and there was this path of building the next vehicle, and those two paths should have been connected by milestones,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to retire the shuttle until the next thing is sitting on the launchpad.” He estimated that the next vehicle could be ready in five or six years. Until then, American astronauts will have to acquire seats on Russian Soyuz rockets. Responding to a question about physical changes in space, Chamitoff explained that he actually lost 10 percent of the bone mass in his hips and pelvic area during his time in space, and adjustment to life back on earth was difficult as a result. “Gravity feels really strong when you come back,” he said. “You feel like gravity’s not happy unless you’re flat on the ground and every part of you is squished on the floor.” It was several months before he could move normally as before, but his bone mass eventually returned. Chamitoff said he knew from age 6 he wanted to be an astronaut and one particular step in the realization of that dream stood out for him. On his first space walk, as he hung by a hand rail from the very bottom hatch of the space station, the Earth 200 miles beneath him, he paused for a moment at the thought of trusting his life to the tether that held him to the space station, the Earth and his family. “You have to convince yourself that it’s OK to let go,” he said. “Because you have work to do.”
Harker’s Conservatory graduates shone on the Blackford stage on April 22 during Harker’s 10th annual Senior Showcase. Featuring 33 performers from every discipline – theater, musical theater, technical theater, vocal music, instrumental music and dance – it was the largest showcase in the Conservatory’s history.
The fast-paced two-and-a-half hour show included everything from high-energy dance numbers to stirring dramatic scenes to inspiring instrumental and vocal pieces. Splendid piano accompaniment was provided by Melissa Lin. Production values were high as usual, with Conservatory candidates Michael Prutton and Araby Martin handling sound and lights, respectively, as their part of the showcase. Lead-off performer John Ammatuna demonstrated the great use of tech by descending from the ceiling on a swing for his infectiously upbeat performance of “Footloose,” from the film of the same name.
Two performers brought their siblings on stage to duet with them: Francesca Nagle’s brother, Nico, grade 10, joined her on guitar while she sang and played banjo on “Wake Up Everybody” by John Whitehead, Gene McFadden and Victor Carstarphen; and Warren Kwong had his sister, Audrey, a Conservatory graduate in 2007, play violin for his virtuoso viola/violin duet. Other performances featured multiple graduates, including Pierre Gerard and Amal Asghar acting a scene from Shakespeare’s “Richard III,” and the final dance performance of Anisha Agarwal and Malika Mehrotra, which featured an impressive ensemble of no fewer than 14 dancers.
The night’s masters of ceremony were Tina Crnko and Cole Manaster, both grade 11, who introduced every performer and kept the crowd warm between performances with humorous banter.
At the end of the show, the featured performers were presented with their plaques from the Conservatory advisors, signifying their graduation from the elite program.
This year’s Harker Conservatory graduates are:
Anisha Agarwal (Dance), John Ammatuna (Musical Theater), Amal Asghar (Theater), Samir Asthana (Theater), Clara Blickenstaff (Musical Theater), Daniel Cho (Musical Theater), Jennifer Dai (Instrumental Music), Carmen Das-Grande (Dance), Lydia Demissachew (Instrumental Music), Mallika Dhaliwal (Vocal Music), Katharine Forsberg (Dance), Pierre Gerard (Theater), Nidhi Gandhi (Instrumental Music), Vrinda Goel (Vocal Music), Michelle Holt (Vocal Music), Warren Kwong (Instrumental Music), Christina Li (Vocal Music), Araby S. H. Martin (Technical Theater), Malika Mehrotra (Dance), Daisy Mohrman (Dance), Shireen Moshkelani (Vocal Music), Nirjhar Mundkur (Musical Theater), Francesca Nagle (Instrumental Music), Aditya Parige (Theater), Michael Prutton (Technical Theater), Ava Rezvani (Instrumental Music), James Seifert (Musical Theater), Naomi So (Dance), Catherine Stiles (Instrumental Music), Allika Walvekar (Musical Theater), Michelle Vu (Dance), Jason Young (Instrumental Music) and Olivia Zhu (Dance).
Their Harker faculty advisors are:
Laura Lang-Ree (Musical Theater), Jeffrey Draper (Theater), Brian Larsen (Technical Theater), Catherine Snider (Vocal Music), Susan Nace (Vocal Music), Chris Florio (Instrumental Music) and Laura Rae (Dance).