The first installment of the Harker Concert Series of 2011, held in early March, featured the MarcOlivio Duo, composed of violinists Marc Ramirez and Olivia Hajioff, playing a blend of crushing, heartbreaking and even carnivalesque Eastern European folks songs, art music, and a parody of Mozart’s work.
The MarcOlivia Duo has performed around the world, appearing on radio and television in North America, Europe and Asia, winning Fulbright fellowships, and enjoying a residency at the Tokyo College of Music. On March 9, however, they came to Nichols Auditorium and the audience, feted with sushi and wine, was treated to tunes adapted for two violins.
The concert began with a number of compositions by Béla Bartók, a 20th-century Hungarian composer who traveled through Eastern Europe, listening to and transcribing the folk songs of village communities before they disappeared and melted into a homogeneous global culture. Most of these numbers were short and sudden – thirty seconds of powerful, tragic, arresting, halting, despairing, jagged strikes, followed by ten second fearsomely frenetic and jubilant conclusions. Some were songs of Romanian bagpipes transliterated for violins; others mixed bittersweet reaching and trudging marches with maddeningly twisting, spiraling slashes.
After the most powerful numbers, the audience was paralyzed in frozen silence for several seconds before applauding, digesting the works. The concert finished, however, on somewhat of a lighter note: a blend of a parody and an ode to Mozart’s music, as the two performers wove through a number of his pieces, even using voice and whistling to mimic other instruments.
The Harker Concert Series continues with the Taylor Eigsti Trio March 25 and Areon Flutes, a Bay Area-based flute quartet, at Nichols Auditorium on May 27.
The first installment of the Harker Concert Series of 2011, held in early March, featured the MarcOlivio Duo, composed of violinists Marc Ramirez and Olivia Hajioff, playing a blend of crushing, heartbreaking and even carnivalesque Eastern European folks songs, art music, and a parody of Mozart’s work.
The MarcOlivia Duo has performed around the world, appearing on radio and television in North America, Europe and Asia, winning Fulbright fellowships, and enjoying a residency at the Tokyo College of Music. On March 9, however, they came to Nichols Auditorium and the audience, feted with sushi and wine, was treated to tunes adapted for two violins.
The concert began with a number of compositions by Béla Bartók, a 20th-century Hungarian composer who traveled through Eastern Europe, listening to and transcribing the folk songs of village communities before they disappeared and melted into a homogeneous global culture. Most of these numbers were short and sudden – thirty seconds of powerful, tragic, arresting, halting, despairing, jagged strikes, followed by ten second fearsomely frenetic and jubilant conclusions. Some were songs of Romanian bagpipes transliterated for violins; others mixed bittersweet reaching and trudging marches with maddeningly twisting, spiraling slashes.
After the most powerful numbers, the audience was paralyzed in frozen silence for several seconds before applauding, digesting the works. The concert finished, however, on somewhat of a lighter note: a blend of a parody and an ode to Mozart’s music, as the two performers wove through a number of his pieces, even using voice and whistling to mimic other instruments.
The Harker Concert Series continues with the Taylor Eigsti Trio March 25 and Areon Flutes, a Bay Area-based flute quartet, at Nichols Auditorium on May 27.
The first installment of the Harker Concert Series of 2011, held in early March, featured the MarcOlivio Duo, composed of violinists Marc Ramirez and Olivia Hajioff, playing a blend of crushing, heartbreaking and even carnivalesque Eastern European folks songs, art music, and a parody of Mozart’s work.
The MarcOlivia Duo has performed around the world, appearing on radio and television in North America, Europe and Asia, winning Fulbright fellowships, and enjoying a residency at the Tokyo College of Music. On March 9, however, they came to Nichols Auditorium and the audience, feted with sushi and wine, was treated to tunes adapted for two violins.
The concert began with a number of compositions by Béla Bartók, a 20th-century Hungarian composer who traveled through Eastern Europe, listening to and transcribing the folk songs of village communities before they disappeared and melted into a homogeneous global culture. Most of these numbers were short and sudden – thirty seconds of powerful, tragic, arresting, halting, despairing, jagged strikes, followed by ten second fearsomely frenetic and jubilant conclusions. Some were songs of Romanian bagpipes transliterated for violins; others mixed bittersweet reaching and trudging marches with maddeningly twisting, spiraling slashes.
After the most powerful numbers, the audience was paralyzed in frozen silence for several seconds before applauding, digesting the works. The concert finished, however, on somewhat of a lighter note: a blend of a parody and an ode to Mozart’s music, as the two performers wove through a number of his pieces, even using voice and whistling to mimic other instruments.
The Harker Concert Series continues with the Taylor Eigsti Trio March 25 and Areon Flutes, a Bay Area-based flute quartet, at Nichols Auditorium on May 27.
On October 10, the 60th Harker Family & Alumni Picnic, Peace Love Picnic, unfolded on a beautiful and warm afternoon, the sound of Harker choirs and bands blending with the chatter of young and old enjoying a perfect fall day on the ’60s-themed middle school campus.
This year the picnic featured special theme activities and areas to celebrate the 60th birthday of this one-of-a-kind event. Happy Birthday Boulevard, Past and Present Plaza, K-BID Sound of the ’60s Auction and Groovy Grove all provided birthday themed fun for young and old. And, for the first time, the lower school choir and combination lower and middle school jazz band took to the stage to entertain picnickers. All three campuses’ performing arts groups, along with a magician and storyteller, kept the stage hopping the whole day.
New Harker parents Scott and Mary Hyver, with Ben, grade 5 and Emma, grade 3, enjoyed the picnic for the first time with two smaller children. The family was anticipating watching Ben perform with the lower and middle school jazz band later, and in the meantime, Mary Hyver said, “there is plenty to do for the kids.”
Middle schoolers were there to see and be seen. Selin Ekici, grade 7, has been attending Harker since grade 3 and attends picnics regularly. “It has just always been really fun,” she said.
Plenty of upper school students were evident. Sean Knudsen, grade 9, at the picnic to perform with Bel Canto and wearing his football jersey (the team was in the midst of a record setting seven-game winning streak), was wandering the picnic area with a friend, just checking things out. A full contingent of jersey-wearers were trying out the hammer-and-bell trial of strength with some success. Others were there to watch friends and family perform.
“I’m here to support my cousin,” said Apurva Gorti, grade 9. “He’s singing.” Otherwise, she said, “I’m just here to be with my friends, just hang. My brother is over there, and he’s in kindergarten, so he came for all the games and rides and he’s having a really good time.”
As an alumna and now a mom, Preete Bhanot ’88, attending with her two children (Keshav, grade 2; Priya, grade 4), has a few picnics behind her. “I love it!” she said of the picnic. “I have been bringing [the children] since Priya was in kindergarten – we come every year.”
This year, with her children on stage in the choir, “we ate and we watched their performance, which was really cool – this was the first time they have performed in it.”
At the picnic, the stage is never empty for long and at 3:30 the ’60s Dance Party started to wind up the day. The crowd was still going strong at 4 p.m. when the $10,000 grand prize was drawn (see winners on page 25), and the evening was still warm as the last picnickers trundled off, sated with food, entertainment and memories.
So much has changed over the six decades the picnic has been held! It began in Palo Alto in the 1950s, and even then dedication made the difference. “Picnic” at Harker has a meaning all its own. It’s not just a picnic … it’s so much more!
The first family picnic was held at the Palo Alto Military Academy in 1951 on a sunny Sunday in October. The school kitchen provided lunch, and activities included a tug-of-war, the ever-popular (and often messy) family egg toss, awards ceremony and military parade. In the 1960s “Alumni Day Exercises” included the Presentation of the Colors, a bugle competition, physical exercises and the colorful bicycle drill, led by Cadet Captain Dan Gelineau (middle school teacher Mark Gelineau’s father).
In 1972, Palo Alto Academy and Harker Day School became Harker Academy and moved to Saratoga Avenue. Picnic tradition continued under headmaster Howard Nichols and the Dads’ Club, and the first Saratoga picnic was on what is now Davis Field. In 1975, the Dads’ Club, under the leadership of Harker dads Marty Scarpace (father of elementary school head Kristin Giammona), Bob Sparkman and Wally Briefs, decided to use the picnic to fund a swimming pool. Scarpace purchased pool blueprints, Sparkman added carnival games to the picnic and Briefs built the Plinko game himself – and it is still used today. The pool was built the very next year. In 1978, the Sparkman family donated a trip for two to Hawaii and the family picnic raffle was born.
Then came the 1980s. Picnic attractions changed and none was more exciting than skydivers landing in the picnic field after lunch! Briefs, chair in the early 80s, even rallied the Mothers’ Club by speaking at the annual Mothers’ Dinner, actually dressed as a mother! Enter the incomparable Morici family, with volunteer extraordinaire Becky and Sausage Sandwich King Tony (who inherited the job from Scarpace) and the picnic was on its way to new heights. In 1985, as a Harker parent at that time, I became chair of the family picnic and in 1986 teamed up with then recreation director Kelly Espinosa (now director of summer programs).
Over the years the team and many wonderful volunteers, staff and students have made picnic history.
While the ’80s saw the addition of memorable themes, more games, more entertainment and more fun, the ’90s proved to be a decade of growth and change for the school as well as the picnic. In 1991, a new kindergarten complex was built and in 1993, we honored the school’s 100th birthday with a Centennial Celebration picnic, featuring a turn-of the- century schoolhouse, an aerial banner across the sky and a giant birthday cake. In 1994, Dobbins Hall was completed with beautiful glass doors that opened out to a perfect patio stage for student performances, so the family picnic was reborn on spacious Rosenthal Field (adjacent to Nichols Hall).
In the midst of all the changes, a dynamic group of fantastic parent volunteers kept the picnic fresh. The great Dan Zanotto graciously accepted the title of Sausage Sandwich King from Tony Morici, and “reigned” through the ‘90s. Yet, the search was on for someone to fill in for Harker super-moms Maryanne Wilson, Jorja Smith, Sue French and Shirley Mortenson, who were retiring from picnic central as their children were graduating. Along came the dynamic duo, Nancy Claunch and Melody Moyer, two talented, funloving, hard-working Harker moms. With the help of their friends Sherry and Louis Ammatuna, Sharon and Harris Meyers, Ken Azebu and Dede Ogami, Amanda Lundie, Ni Denari, Fred and Candy Carr, Fumiko Kimura, Chidori Okubo, Alice Schwartz, Judy Stapleton, Smita and Nayana Patel, the Kawahara family, Linda Sabeh, Robyn Peetz, Kathy and Steve Polzin and many more, the picnic thrived as never before!
The “Curbside Crazies” reigned supreme, especially in 1998 when the picnic became a springtime event. With many weeks available to promote the Harker Goes Hollywood picnic, accepting donations on the curb in elaborate costumes while giving Oscar-worthy performances became the order of the day. “My Fair Lady” Week and “Titanic” Week were legendary! Even Howard and Diana Nichols made a grand entrance at the volunteer breakfast dressed as a movie director and starlet. Then, at the picnic, the Santa Clara Aquamaids provided entrancing synchronized swim performances. Super supporters John and Christine Davis arrived on the scene with kindergartner Cole (who graduated this May), decked out in their NASCAR gear, as they set up their 14- foot spaceship Messenger II along with a selection of NASCAR racecars. What a team! Family picnic organizers promoted the 1999 spring event with a parade, rallies, elaborate door decorating, and spirit, spirit, spirit! The picnic was bigger than ever!
The new millennium arrived with a splash, literally, with FantaSEA 2000. With two days to go, it had been raining off and on most of the week and organizers made the call to move the event indoors for the first time. It came to be known as “Plan B” and the whole crew worked around the clock to move everything into the gym, hallways, classrooms, the library – wherever there as space. When all was said and done, Harker families and friends came in droves to enjoy a fabulous day “at sea.”
Fast forward to 2010! In the coming months, we’ll be sharing more picnic stories, including moving the family picnic back to the fall in 2003 (two picnics in one year) and finally heading to our new home at the Blackford campus. We all love this special day at Harker; whether it’s indoors or out, rain or shine, in the spring or in the fall, it’s a time for us to come together each year and appreciate how lucky we all are to be a part of the Harker family.
Partially compiled from the Harker Archives (parent Debbie Dawkins, contributor)
Graduates, friends and family were once again greeted by gorgeous weather and surroundings at the Mountain Winery on May 22 for the upper school’s ninth annual commencement ceremony. The Harker Chamber Orchestra, directed by Chris Florio, officially began the ceremony by welcoming the graduates with “Pomp and Circumstance.” Following the processional, Susan Nace directed the 2010 Graduation Chorus in her arrangement of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Following a brief welcome speech by Butch Keller, upper school head, salutatorian Adam Perelman addressed his classmates in a light-hearted speech; Andrew Zhou, who, as valedictorian, traditionally would have spoken, was not able to attend the ceremony because he was attending the U.S. Physics Olympiad team training in Maryland (see p. 7).
“I was so excited when I found out that I had the chance to speak today. And that’s not just because [college counselor] Mr. [Kevin] Lum Lung promised me twenty bucks if I mentioned his name in this speech,” Perelman joked. He went on to list the many accomplishments of the Class of 2010, which included but were not limited to winning consecutive spirit championships and running a marathon to honor John Near, the much-loved 30-year veteran history teacher who passed away last September (see p. 48). “What I’m trying to say is that, we’re kind of a big deal, Class of 2010,” Perelman quipped.
The speech got another big laugh when Perelman reflected on how much the class had changed since freshman year. “A lot of you probably remember that back then, I looked a lot more like this!” he exclaimed, donning an afro wig.
Before closing, Perelman thanked the Harkerteachers and families who helped him and his classmates become the people they are. He then thanked his fellow graduates “for making high school so unforgettable.”
After much applause, Catherine Snider conducted the 2010 Graduation Chorus, singing the Taylor Hicks hit “Do I Make You Proud,” before the day’s keynote speaker, San Jose Mercury News columnist Scott Herhold, took the podium. In his speech, Herhold made special note of the accomplishments that the graduating seniors had achieved as part of a collaborative effort. He recognized several students by name and recapped many of the accomplishments they achieved together in areas such as community service, sports and performing arts.
In another yearly tradition, graduate and outgoing National Honor Society president Anjali Menon then passed the Lamp of Knowledge to rising senior and new NHS president Ashtyn Ka. Chris Nikoloff, head of school, then went to the stage to give his customary parting words to the senior class (see p. 4) before individually awarding the diplomas to the class of 2010, along with Keller and Naomi Schatz, class dean and psychology teacher. Nikoloff and Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, then said their closing words and released doves, before the Harker Chamber Orchestra performed the recessional piece, “March Heroique” by Saint-Saens, to bring the ceremonies and a great senior year to an end!
Beautiful weather and a spectacular setting awaited family and friends of the Class of 2009 as they arrived at the newly remodeled Mountain Winery in Saratoga for the upper school’s eighth commencement exercises. Graduation was held on campus last year because of the extensive renovation to the famous music venue, and seniors were eager to be the first class to utilize the beautiful new space.
Music provided by Chris Florio’s chamber orchestra wafted over the amphitheater as guests arrived; then the ensemble played the traditional “Pomp and Circumstance” as the graduating seniors, faculty, administration and Board of Trustees slowly paraded from the Winery’s main building, through the audience and down to their seats, their path lined by Gr. 7 students holding floral garlands. After the 2009 Graduation Chorus sang the “Star-Spangled Banner,” arranged and conducted by Susan Nace, Butch Keller, US head, welcomed the assembly. Vikram Nathan spent his last few moments as a Harker student delivering the valedictory address, and the chorus, this time including seniors who were members of vocal ensembles, returned to sing a poignant version of “You Raise Me Up,” conducted by Catherine Snider.
The keynote address was delivered by attorney Larry W. Sonsini, chairman of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. Sonsini gave an overview of the turbulent and boom times of Silicon Valley, and urged the students not to stay fixed in habits; to keep interested in their priorities; and to try to remain optimistic by using unpredictability to their advantage.
Graduate Mohit Bansal, the outgoing president of the National Honor Society, passed the lamp of knowledge to Anjali Menon, Gr. 11 and incoming president, who promised to continue the academic and ethical integrity the seniors had modeled for them. Then it was Head of School Chris Nikoloff’s turn to give his parting words of advice to the seniors.
Nikoloff drew on his experiences as the father of 1- and 3-year-old sons, and based his humorous address on the adventures of a popular children’s literary character. “Be like Curious George,” he said: always have good intentions, keep your curiosity, and let those intensions and curiosity fuel your innovation. “Where we see mundane, George sees wonder. Who has the better vision?” he asked.
Then it was time for the seniors to process up onto the stage one by one, as their beloved class dean Jeff Draper read their names and Nikoloff handed them their diplomas. Several Harker faculty and staff and two trustees had children graduating this year: trustees Linda Emery (Christine) and Huali Chai Stanek (Andrew), executive chef Steve Martin (Taylor), US librarian Sue Smith (Kevin Laymoun), US biology teacher Gary Blickenstaff (son D.J. and niece Emma), US math teacher Gabrielle Stahl (Julian), LS math and science teacher Nina Anand (Ananya), LS P.E. teacher Paula Bither (Kristina), assistant business manager Sharon Paik (Paul) and MS English teacher Stacie Newman (Sophie).
Nikoloff and Jennifer Gargano, assistant head of school for academic affairs, released doves to symbolize the graduates’ new journey onwards, and the faculty recessed, lining the Winery road and applauding the new graduates as they passed before their teachers for the last time.
Congratulations and best of luck to the Class of 2009!