This spring saw an amazing number of important outreach efforts at both Harker’s lower and upper schools. At the lower school, grade 1 students broke a new record raising funds for animals living at the Humane Society. Additionally, a number of grade 5 girls took it upon themselves to help sew items for local charities, and a grade 5 boy started a foundation providing sick children with comforting toys. Meanwhile, happenings at the upper school included a freshman serving as a featured speaker for an organization that seeks to eradicate child labor; a senior receiving an award for her advocacy work on behalf of the hearing impaired; and two juniors working to improve the lives of women in poverty. Read on for a more detailed overview of all of these outreach efforts, each one significant in its own right.
Grade 1 Students Raise Money, Create and Collect Items for Shelter Animals
Grade 1 students at the lower school recently completed their annual community service project for the Humane Society of Silicon Valley. The entire first grade student body worked to improve the lives of the shelter’s displaced rabbits, dogs and cats by collecting monetary donations as well as buying needed supplies and making toys for distribution to the animals.
“It was pretty sweet to get Ziplock bags filled with dollar bills and coins. Every bit made a difference … We also collected over 50 bags of food, toys, rabbit hay, treats, collars, leashes, blankets, sheets and towels. We also raised over $1,250. A new record!” reported Cindy Proctor, a grade 1 homeroom teacher who helped oversee the project.
To learn as much as possible about the Humane Society – an 80-year-old independent, nonprofit animal shelter – the children toured the nearby Silicon Valley facility. Following the fun and informative outing, the students decorated a bulletin board with photos of themselves and their animal friends. They also made pet blankets and toys for donation.
Parents played a role as well, as the children were encouraged to earn extra money for the Humane Society at home by doing small jobs around the house.
“The animals will be really happy because they will feel special when they receive all their gifts,” observed grade 1 student Angelina Burrows, who said she spent time cleaning her room to help raise money for the shelter effort.
Her classmate, Stefan Maxim, said he did “a bunch” of extra jobs to help raise money as well, including watering the garden, washing the car and “even washing the house!”
“I want to express our gratitude for the support of the entire Bucknall campus. This grade 1 donation drive was a huge success!” enthused Proctor.
Grade 5 Student Honored for Philanthropic Work at Children’s Hospital
Bryan Zhang, grade 5, recently received a certificate from the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital in recognition of his philanthropic efforts there providing young patients with comforting toys.
“This hospital means a lot to me, and the patients there deserve the service and toys. I am delighted to be helping the Lucile Packard’s Children Hospital,” said Zhang.
Four years ago, when the Los Altos resident was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia, his nurses brought him a stuffed teddy bear, which he found very reassuring. Upon returning home, Zhang began thinking about all the other sick children at the hospital and wondering whether they also received such gifts to help ease their hospital stays.
He had a lot of souvenirs from countries he had visited while traveling with his parents and decided to donate them to children at the hospital – an idea he shared with the staff at the hospital. They were very receptive to the suggestion. Soon after, Zhang’s parents helped him carry his vision even further by forming the nonprofit World Toys for Children Foundation, whose mission is to “support Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital with donations that educate, inspire imagination and comfort sick children.”
Now, thanks to Zhang and his parents, many sick children at the hospital will benefit from the cheering effect that new toys can bring to young patients.
Grade 5 Students Spend Presidents’ Break Volunteering for Sew for Love Program
Five fifth grade girls shared the joy of volunteering during a fun community service project called Sew for Love, an event consisting of sewing needed items for local charities.
Nilisha Baid had heard about the opportunity via her Girl Scouts group. She had met the Sew for Love organizer at other Girl Scout events and been wanting to volunteer herself. So she decided to ask some of her classmates to join her at this year’s 12th annual Sew For Love, which was held on a weekend over the Presidents’ Week break.
There, she and some of her friends (fellow grade 5 students: Ankita Kundu, Advika Phadnis, Pramiti Sankar and Arushi Saxena) joined other volunteers who were working in shifts on projects together.
Whether busy at the sewing machine, scissors cutting, hand sewing or threading, Sew for Love volunteers were able to combine their efforts to produce some 871 items in just two days. Completed items included child and adult quilts, pet beds, tote and drawstring bags, fleece hats, bean bag chairs, and small “Pocket Love Bears.”
Reflecting back upon their volunteer work, Baid and her Harker pals agreed it was a very rewarding experience to learn to assemble and sew a variety of items for a worthy cause. And, as an added bonus since the event, all the girls have now signed up to be Girl Scouts together, where they are sure to continue to enjoy further shared communal outreach efforts.
Grade 11 Students Work to Help Empower Impoverished Women and Children
When grade 11 student Ashwini Iyer was in seventh grade she went off to Tanzania, Africa, with her father and a school teacher to help orphans there learn math and English. It was that firsthand experience, she said, that planted the seeds for her current volunteer efforts striving to empower poverty stricken women and children from around the globe.
“Ever since then, I have been trying to find ways to give back and help those who are not as fortunate without having to travel too far,” said Iyer, who is the founder and president of Harker’s Rising International Club. The club is one of several local chapters of an international nonprofit by the same name whose mission to help end world poverty
On March 30, Iyer, with the help of schoolmate and club vice president Roshni Pankhaniya, grade 11, hosted a home-based fundraising event attended by about 60 Harker students and parents, as well as neighbors and family friends. All proceeds from the house party, which totaled $4,226 (with more donations expected to flow in from people who could not attend but wanted to donate) went directly to the Rising organization.
In addition to selling arts and crafts made by women locally and in developing nations, they hosted several guest speakers including Rising’s CEO Carmel Jud and Saratoga city council candidate Pragati Grover. Jud and Grover discussed the topic of women empowerment and the importance of teaching impoverished women around the world how to run their own sustainable micro-enterprises.
Iyer originally met Jud at the Khaled Hosseini Harker Speaker Series event held at the upper school last year, which she was covering for journalism. “As we talked, I explained my experiences, and how much I wanted to give back to my community, and she told me to contact her to see if I could get involved in her organization,” recalled Iyer.
Iyer then began her volunteer work with Rising International by working with Jud and two students from other high schools to organize a successful large scale fundraiser at the AMC 14 theaters in Saratoga, as well as their own private home parties.
“Sometimes it’s easy to get overwhelmed with grades and college applications, but we have to remember that many of these women and children would give anything for these worries. Since we are so blessed, I believe that it is our duty to help them and share all that we have,” said Iyer.
“Growing up in Silicon Valley we are in a relatively sheltered environment and I find it really important for all of us to realize that the world isn’t as perfect as it seems. I saw Rising as a wonderful way to bring attention to the cause,” added Pankhaniya.
Zina Jawadi, grade 12, received Harker’s Community Service Spotlight Award at a recent Monday morning school meeting. At the gathering she was given a $200 check from the upper school community service program, which she in turn donated to the Hearing Loss Association of America’s (HLAA) Walk4Hearing event to help promote awareness about children with hearing loss.
The community service spotlight awards are given several times during the school year. They were created to celebrate and honor outstanding community service by upper school students.
In her acceptance speech at the meeting, Jawadi explained that HLAA is the largest national nonprofit support and advocacy organization serving people with hearing loss, with 200 chapters and tens of thousands of members.
A couple years ago Jawadi, who herself has hearing loss, became the youngest board member of any HLAA board nationwide. Shortly after, she was nominated and unanimously elected HLAA-CA secretary. And, she was recently voted HLAA-CA vice president. Among her work for the cause, Jawadi has organized and spearheaded youth events, conventions and fundraisers. She also has been asked to serve as a guest speaker on behalf of the organization.
Previously, between her freshman and sophomore years, she launched a used hearing aid collection in the Bay Area on behalf of the Starkey Hearing Foundation, an effort which she has continued by signing up 29 audiologists and hearing aid dispensers, and collecting more than 600 hearing aids for needy people with hearing loss.
During her speech, Jawadi noted that she used to be inspired to do community service because of her hearing loss. However, she said her source of inspiration has since changed as she is simply grateful to be able to serve people with disabilities, who she believes face more socioeconomic and educational barriers than all other minorities combined.
“Zina was selected to receive our community outreach award because of her passion for community service,” said Kerry Enzensperger, director of community service and activity director.
“She has turned in over 500 hours of community service but continues to volunteer without turning in hours because she so loves what she does! In fact, if she did turn in her hours she would be over 1,000 hours of community service,” said Enzensperger.
Grade 9 Student Presents Alongside Celebrities at Free the Children’s WE Day
Harker freshman Arjun Subramaniam recently joined celebrities and prominent activists in addressing an audience of more than 16,000 children from various California schools gathered at the Oakland Arena for an event called WE Day.
The event, held on March 26, was sponsored by an organization called Free the Children, which works to eradicate child labor in developing nations. After being introduced by actress Selena Gomez, Subramaniam took to the stage to speak about his work with the nonprofit organization. He then presented a short segment, telecast live, on the story of a young child laborer called Iqbal Masih.
Masih’s story had originally inspired the founding of Free the Children by a man named Craig Kielburger back in 1995. Kielburger was only 12 years old when he gathered 11 school friends to begin fighting child labor, laying the seeds for the organization.
Today, Free the Children is an international charity and educational partner that believes “in a world where all children are free to achieve their fullest potential as agents of change.” The organization works domestically to educate, engage and empower youth to become active local and global citizens.
Subramaniam said he first got involved with Free the Children after reading an article about child labor and being upset to learn that kids his own age and younger were being forced to work up to 15 hours a day and denied an education.
“While perusing the Web for organizations that were targeting this issue, I came across Free the Children, and their mission shared many parallels with my interests and passion,” recalled Subramaniam, noting that, by chance, the organization’s only office in the United States was just a few minutes away from his house.
Last year Subramaniam brought a Free the Children representative to speak at the middle school. Shortly after, he and a couple of friends set up a fundraiser on campus to help raise money for the cause.
“I have also talked to leading figures in the child labor movement in India, including Kailash Satyarthi, whose organization has rescued hundreds of thousands of child laborers and successfully petitioned the Indian government to change its child labor laws,” he said.
Speaking at the recent We Day was a transformative experience for Subramaniam. “Everyone there has inspired me to keep being part of the fight to eradicate child labor,” he said.
This story originally appeared in the fall 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Over the summer Nilisha Baid, grade 5, got an award from the Kohl’s Cares program for her exceptional community service work.
Over much of the previous school year, Baid worked with a refugee family from Congo. Along with her Girl Scouts troop, Baid tutored and mentored the family, who had eight children. Many of the kids had little experience with school or even sitting still for a few minutes.
Yet, although they knew little English or math and were unfamiliar with the culture here, Baid was able to create suitable games and activities to teach through play. Baid and her troop helped the children with their homework and also took them out for educational trips, putting smiles on their faces and giving Baid a deep sense of accomplishment!
This story originally appeared in the fall 2013 Harker Quarterly.
Harker student Dolan Dworak, grade 8, and upper school biology teacher Kate Schafer set off for the Alaskan coastline in early June as part of Expedition GYRE, a joint project between the Alaska SeaLife Center and the Anchorage Museum that brought a team of scientists and artists together to examine the effects of marine debris on the environment and wildlife.
Using the research performed during the expedition as a guide, 20 artists will assemble an art exhibition that will be on display at the Anchorage Museum starting February 2014.
During the expedition Dworak, who previously spent three years working with Sea Scavenger Conservancy in San Francisco, was responsible for posting updates on social media about the group’s discoveries. He also learned a great deal about marine life. “Every day I was taken behind the scenes to meet animals in residence and recently rescued animals such as otters and seals,” he said. “Sometimes I got to handle the animal to learn how to feed it and take care of it.”
One animal in particular surprised him: “I learned that octopuses are amazingly interactive and curious. One octopus tried to eat my camera!”
Schafer helped develop the educational portion of the exhibition, and was pleased to be included among such a stellar team. “[Expedition leader] Howard Ferren brought together such a talented and diverse group of expedition members,” she said. “It was so great to be a part of the discussions around the topic of marine debris that began upon our arrival in Anchorage and will continue far into the future. I truly felt honored to have the opportunity to be a part of such a unique event.”
Reflecting on the issue of marine debris, Schafer said that reducing and possibly eliminating the use of single-use plastic containers, redesigning these containers to reduce their environmental impact and devising ways to minimize the amount of waste reaching the oceans are all crucial to solving the problem. “The challenge of controlling marine debris is a large and complex issue,” she said. “A huge investment of resources is needed to address the problem once garbage actually enters the ocean.”
Dworak found the whole experience inspiring and it further motivated him to continue his work to help clean the oceans. “I was inspired by everyone on the team and by the people who supported the team, and I hope to inspire others to care for the oceans and the sea life,” he said. “Our consumption is causing severe damage to the ocean and we need to stop using and disposing of plastics before it’s too late.”
When asked to give the special gift of time during a series of recent back-to-school events, Harker parents across all school campuses generously responded by signing up in the hundreds to serve as volunteers.
Thanks to a vast network of talented and enthusiastic parent volunteers, last year more than 1,100 hard-working volunteers set new records by collectively giving well over 4,800 hours of service on behalf of students, faculty and staff. This year, parents seem poised to repeat or even best that record.
At the lower school alone more than 300 sign-ups were collected electronically via iPads on hand at a special breakfast for parents, and about a hundred more flowed in after the event. Some parents chose to use QR codes (printed on sheets of paper and available at the breakfast) which they downloaded using their smart phones.
“We also had sign-ups available at the middle school breakfast, and an upper school welcome barbecue evening event. The upper school parent event coincided with the student social First Friday which had a great turnout as well,” reported Jennifer Hargreaves, director of middle and upper school volunteer programs.
According to her, parents could socialize, sign up and browse the range of volunteer opportunities. “We’ve had over 600 volunteer slots across the middle and upper school signed up for and counting …. We get people signing up every day!” she said.
This year Harker’s volunteer department went paperless with its successful launch of a convenient, new, user friendly, schoolwide online sign-up system called I-volunteer. I-volunteer was introduced across all divisions during the well-attended back-to-school functions. For parents of all campuses, a listing of volunteer opportunities is available on the parent community page of the portal with instructions for signing up.
“Parents were very receptive to both volunteering and the new online sign-up system,” said Tere Aceves, director of the preschool and lower school’s volunteer programs. She had been working on creating the I-volunteer system for the past several years and said she is hoping to soon bring it to the now open Harker Preschool.
Yet, putting technology aside, all of the back-to-school events served as an important opportunity for parents to become better acquainted with the school’s vibrant community by bonding with fellow parents. Present at all events were current parent volunteers and advancement office personnel to welcome newcomers and answer any and all questions about volunteering.
As the long lazy days of summer drew to a close, Harker sponsored several separately held welcome-back-to-school barbecues at the lower, middle and upper schools. It was all part of a schoolwide effort to help students and their families more successfully transition into a new year.
Harker’s Bucknall campus set the scene for two different back-to-school barbecues – one for kindergartners and another for grades 1-5.
In late August kindergartners and their families gathered at the lower school to socialize and enjoy delicious food, which was generously donated in part by Brown Chicken Brown Cow, a new restaurant recently opened in Campbell by Harker alumnus Chris Yamashita ’90.
Following the kindergarten barbecue, the rest of the lower school held their own larger, combined event in early September. “Over 600 people attended …. The energy was great, the food was delicious and company fantastic,” enthused Tere Aceves, volunteer director at the lower school. “What a great beginning of the year!”
At both happenings, parents took the opportunity to relax and catch their breath during the hectic back-to-school time, casually chatting with one another, as well as with faculty and staff, while their children took to the play yards.
Meanwhile, the middle school hosted their second annual barbecue on the Blackford campus in mid-September, with more than 400 attendees. Parents went the extra mile, pitching in by cooking and creating fun activities for the students, including volleyball, tug of war and making candy sushi.
“The relaxed event was a great way for new families to meet current Harker families and to bring the community together,” recalled Jennifer Hargreaves, Harker’s director of middle and upper school volunteer programs.
Hargreaves further noted that there was also an upper school welcome barbecue evening event for parents (replacing last year’s breakfast for parents) which coincided with the student social First Friday. Both events had a large turnout, with the added bonus of bringing upper school students and parents to the Saratoga campus simultaneously.
Over the years, Harker’s volunteer-led back-to-school barbecue events at all three campuses have grown in popularity, with attendance increasing steadily.
About 120 new and returning Harker families gathered for the lower school’s inaugural Playdate in the Park in early August at the John D. Morgan Park in Campbell. The event provided a casual morning of fun and friendship, as well as an early opportunity for lower school families to gather as a community.
“It was all about meeting new families and reconnecting with old friends,” said Tere Aceves, the lower school’s director of volunteer events. “It was great to see kids playing soccer and on the playground, many of the little ones enjoyed the water facilities, and dads were playing Frisbee with students, too.”
“There were many activities to do at the park, and families also brought their favorite games and outdoor recreational equipment to share with friends,” added Mandi Corona, Harker’s events coordinator.
New students were provided with a Harker T-shirt prior to the Playdate in the Park event and were excited to have a chance to put it on for their first lower school function. Returning students proudly displayed their regular school T-shirts or ones from other fun Harker happenings, such as picnic and summer camp.
During the entire morning of what proved to be a successful first communal event of its kind, lower school staff were on hand for questions at a nearby Harker alumni tent.
Grandparents and “grand-friends” visited the lower school in mid-May for a charming NASA-themed day where guests toured the Blackford campus, met with teachers and participated in activities with students.
Held annually, Grandparents’ Day is coordinated by a committee of dedicated parent volunteers and is always a highlight of the school year. During the event, students welcomed grandparents, special adult friends or adoptive grandparents-for-the-day for a memorable afternoon held in their honor.
This year’s event, “Blast Off!: An Aerospace Adventure,” featured space station activities at various booths. Students in the primary grades made faces of the moon out of Oreo cookies and learned about gravity force. Older kids in grades 4-5 explored the phases of the moon, learned about space and participated in a “create your own tornado” activity.
Guests also enjoyed performances by students, refreshments, a visit to the lower school’s art show, a fun photo booth, a telescope set up to view the flares of the sun and seeing the students’ classrooms. Another special highlight was the school’s coinciding annual book fair in the Bucknall library, where some visitors chose to dedicate a book especially for their grandchild or special young friend.
“We are delighted that every year the number of attendees increases … over 400 grandparents or special friends came to the event,” said Teré Aceves, director of Harker’s lower school volunteer events program. “The theme was my favorite so far; NASA provided us with age-appropriate activities that everyone enjoyed,” she added.
Aceves noted that this year, for the first time, activity stations were kept open after the event for those students who were not able to invite a guest. She also voiced her appreciation to all the volunteers, faculty and staff who helped make this event such a huge success.
At the end of the day, grandparents and grand-friends were given Harker tote bags to commemorate their visit. Meanwhile, all the lower school students received popsicles, capping off a very sweet day!
This article was originally published in the summer 2013 Harker Quarterly.
More than $8,000 Raised by Annual Cancer Walk; Harker Community Goes the Extra Mile During Walk to Raise Money for Camp Okizu
Students, faculty and family members recently put on their walking shoes for the seventh annual Harker Cancer Walk. The successful schoolwide effort netted more than $8,000 for Camp Okizu. “This will give many young cancer patients a fantastic opportunity to go to camp!” said Cindy Ellis, middle school head. “I know they will also enjoy the many decorated Frisbees from the middle school students while at camp.” The symbolic stroll was held in late March at Blackford. Supplementing cash donations were sales of T-shirts, water bottles, Jamba Juice, baked goodies, temporary tattoos and wrist bands, all of which were sold by volunteers.
The “biggest cancer walk poster ever” was hung on the amphitheater wall from March 25-29 and stood 8 feet high. Advisories also made small, honorary flags for those who have survived or passed away which were then placed in the ground along the walking path.
“The Cancer Walk is truly an effort of the community that I have grown to cherish at Harker,” said Michael Schmidt, organizer, who teaches middle school computer science. “Thank you again for our seventh amazing Cancer Walk.”
Upper School Student Creates Unique Math Program for Children
Like many teens, Urvi Gupta, grade 11, maintains a jam-packed schedule, yet she makes time to give back to her community by providing free math tutoring to K-3 kids at local libraries in San Jose using a unique program she created called OneInMath. The program teaches youngsters simple ways to add, subtract, multiply, divide and understand concepts quickly for math success.
“I designed the free volunteer-run program from the ground up, defining its purpose, goals and developing materials, including 1,862 math problem sheets, teaching instructions, learning videos, program format, volunteer instructions and the logistics of running it,” said Gupta, who teaches as well as independently manages the overall program.
She currently supervises more than 150 kids and 27 high school volunteers across three libraries using the program, which was implemented in November 2011. Now, the popular OneInMath classes – which utilize video instruction in addition to faceto- face volunteer tutoring – have both students and parents excited about learning mathematics.
Gupta was recently honored as Volunteer of the Year from the entire San Jose public library system for her dynamic math program and volunteer efforts. The top honor began with a nomination from local librarian Vidya Kilambi, who had been impressed with Gupta’s program for some time. As a result of her efforts, aside from all the children her program has helped, Gupta received a commendation on June 11 from the City of San Jose for her efforts.
Students Raise Record Amount for the Humane Society
Life just got a little easier for animals at the Humane Society of Silicon Valley, thanks to the efforts of the school’s grade 1 community service project.
The students showed their love for the shelter’s displaced rabbits, dogs and cats by collecting monetary donations, buying needed supplies and making toys for distribution to the shelter.
“We raised about $900 (a new record) and collected more than 80 bags of toys, supplies and food for the animals,” reported the students’ homeroom teacher, Cindy Proctor, who oversaw the project. In addition to monetary donations, items for collection included animal treats, collars, litter, toys, clean blankets, sheets, towels and comforters.
“We would like to express our thanks for the tremendous support and generosity of our Harker families for participating in this project. The donations continue to come in, and we are extremely grateful,” said Proctor.
Blood Drive to Help Remedy Local Blood Shortage
At least 100 locally-based hospital patients desperately in need of blood will be helped, thanks to the annual Harker Blood Drive held at the upper school campus in March.
This year’s successful drive resulted in the collection of 44 total pints, which will benefit the Blood Centers of the Pacific, a nonprofit organization that supplies blood to Northern California hospitals, doctors and patients.
Thirty-nine Harker students, faculty and staff members gave blood at the drive, which was organized by the Red Cross Club, with five people donating double red cells.
GEO Week Raises Funds to Build Schools Overseas
By Zach Jones
The Global Empowerment and Outreach (GEO) student club held its annual GEO week in mid-March, raising nearly $1,000 for Pencils of Promise, an organization that works to build educational programs in poor areas of the world. Some of Pencils of Promise’s efforts include building schools, training teachers and providing supplies. The organization has already completed construction on 110 schools, and 14 are in construction with plans for at least four more.
According to Amie Chien, grade 12, GEO president, the cost to provide a year’s worth of education for a child in one of these areas is just $25. “A pair of jeans from Express is easily $25, a week’s worth of Starbucks every morning, about the same. If we were to give up a little luxury for a week, we could easily find $25 lying around,” she said.
Five Seniors Recognized by National Charity League for Thousands of Volunteer Hours
On March 16, Michelle Douglas, Cristina Jerney, Emily Wang, Amy Grace Wardenburg and Molly Wolfe, all grade 12, were honored by the Heritage Oaks Chapter of the National Charity League, Inc. NCL is a philanthropic organization that fosters mother-daughter relationships through community service, leadership development and cultural experiences. Over the past six years, the five seniors have logged hundreds of volunteer hours (often with their mothers) at many local organizations including the American Cancer Society, Habitat for Humanity – Silicon Valley, Humane Society of Silicon Valley, InnVision, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Sacred Heart Community Services.
In addition to these awards, Wardenburg has received the President’s Volunteer Service Award for volunteering over 100 hours in a calendar year for all six years she has been volunteering, and Wolfe and Jerney have also each received the award in the past. Wardenburg will also be receiving the Senior Service Award, which is given to the graduating senior with the highest cumulative philanthropic hours earned during her years at National Charity League.
Senior Honored by Stanford for Volunteering
Senior Leslie Chan was awarded the Stanford University Medical Center Auxiliary Scholarship in May in recognition of exemplary service and contributions to the C-1 Unit and Junior Volunteer program at Stanford Hospitals and Clinics.
Toward the end of the school year, Harker’s lower and middle school faculty were treated to two delicious meals expertly prepared and served by both parents and students. The breakfast and luncheon events were a token of appreciation for all the teachers’ hard work.
Following a hearty breakfast in the multipurpose room, the middle school teachers enjoyed a moving presentation that thanked them for their dedication. Then, in the afternoon, middle school parents continued the festivities by hosting an elegant luncheon for the teachers.
The lower school also held a teacher appreciation luncheon with a special breakfast served by parents. The Bucknall event took place in the faculty lounge. Later, lower school teachers joined parents for an outdoor lunch held on the school’s front field. Parents thanked teachers for their unconditional dedication to their students. Attendees enjoyed the glorious weather, a wide variety of entrees and desserts and easy conversation.
The lower and middle school appreciation breakfast and luncheon events are a much-beloved annual Harker tradition, caringly organized by class grade level coordinators at each campus.
Choosing the right career path is often foremost on the minds of students in the upper grades of high school. With college just around the corner, older students begin to think more seriously about what they want to do in college … and beyond.
In an effort to help provide information about future college majors and career options, The Harker School Mentoring Program brings upper school students together with adult mentors. One highly successful and important feature of the mentoring program is its career panel luncheons.
Held throughout the school year, the panels offer guest mentors an opportunity to speak about their chosen professions to interested students. Mentors come from diverse professional backgrounds, yet they share strong connections with the school community, usually as parents or alumni. It is this shared dedication to education at Harker that provides a common ground for discourse.
The panels are organized by Jennifer Hargreaves, director of middle and upper school volunteer programs. “We are very grateful to all the parents and friends of Harker for their participation on a career panel,” said Hargreaves.
Below is a list of those who have generously dedicated their time to the project:
Doctors:
Dr. Stacey Law – orthodontist in private practice and adjunct clinical faculty with the Craniofacial Anomolies Clinic at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Dr. Surendra Gudapati –interventional cardiologist in private practice, El Camino Hospital
Dr. John Siegel –general and trauma surgeon at Valley Medical Center, a level one trauma center
Engineers:
Gautham Nadathur –architect, embedded platforms, Apple
Maria Gong –lead recruiter software engineer,Google
Rajiv Batra –founder and SVP of engineering, Palo Alto Networks
Business and Entrepreneurs:
Jack Jia,founder (Trusper, Interwoven, Baynote, V-max), CEO, angel investor
Joe Schneider,CEO of Lacrosse Footwear
Biotech:
Dr. Yalia Jayalakshmi,co-founder & VP, Product Dev, StemPar Sciences (past: Johnson & Johnson, Alza, Genentech, Cygnus)
Dr. Olga Issakova,executive vice president, Nanosyn, Inc.