ALUMNI
visits
Alumni School Administrator Returns Harker Day School Alumni Sehba Zhumkhawala ’90 (third from left), Harker MS alumna and the principal at KIPP Heartwood Academy, visited Harker US in November with some of her school’s Gr. 6 students and teachers. KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) is a charter school in San Jose’s Alum Rock district. The school has a rigorous college-preparator y curriculum and a strong culture of achievement and support to help the students make significant academic gains and continue to excel in high school and college. In an effort to prepare the young students for high school, Zhumkhawala arranges visits to other Bay Area high schools to give students a glimpse of what lies ahead. “Of course the first place I thought about was Harker,” said Zhumkhawala! Harker admissions director and Zhumkhawala’s former Gr. 8 math teacher, Nan Nielsen, made the arrangements for the students to visit English and science classes and for the teachers to visit Spanish, math and psychology classes. “It was great to be back at Harker! The students and teachers had a great time and took away a tremendous amount. Thank you so much,” said Zhumkhawala.
Terry Walsh - both photos
Alumnus Lectures in Gr. 3 Classroom Alumnus Kevin Ormsby ’91 recently spoke about his career in the U.S. Air Force to his former teacher, Howard Saltzman and the current Gr. 3 students. Saltzman said, “He was delightful! Kevin emphasized to the students that nothing wonderful in life is achieved without hard work and he said that Harker, not his high school, prepared him best for his years at the Air Force Academy. He said that he was more challenged in 7th and 8th grade at Harker than in all four years of high school. Kevin shared fond memories with the 3rd graders and told them that D.J. Sosnowski ’91 was his best friend at Harker and still is.” Ormsby has fond memories of many teachers that he had at Harker and enjoyed being back on campus. He reconnected with a few other staff members as he and Saltzman were joined for lunch by Carol Sosnowski and Pat Walsh. Ormsby is currently stationed at Travis Air Force Base and hopes to return to the skies as a jet pilot for the U.S. Air Force. The Harker News Alumni Reports are published three times per year by the Harker Office of Communications. Current and archived issues are also available on the Harker Web site. Editor: Pam Dickinson; Asst. Editor: Sally Wing; Production: Blue Heron Design Group; Photos: Mark Tantrum, unless noted; Lead Writer: Terry Walsh, alumni programs director; Printing: Harker Copy Shop.
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Harker Day School alumnus, Steve Bitker ’65 recently visited Harker to help with identifying people in some archive photos and to look through archive memorabilia and reconnect with former Harker Day School employee and current board member Phyllis Carley. Bitker is currently the morning sports anchor at KCBS, part-time announcer for the Oakland A’s and author of the book, “The Original San Francisco Giants.” He arrived on campus in the late morning and immediately got to work looking through photos with Carley. He had no problem remembering names of former classmates and had countless stories about his days at Harker. Only his classmates could
truly appreciate some of the details of his memories, such as who had the best penmanship and the trick he organized, having all his classmates drop their pencils at the same time in class. (This trick caused Bitker to lose his citizenship in May of ’64 for the one and only time during his seven years at Harker Day.) It was fun to come across the permanent awards records for 1965, Bitker’s graduating year from Gr. 6 (Harker Day was K-6 from 1959 to 1972). He received permanent awards for Scholarship, General Honors, Citizenship and Honor Roll, and had the highest average for the year in both Scholarship and General Honors. Copies of these reports were sent home with Bitker to show to his two daughters. Bitker was interviewed by Sharon Huang ’07, a reporter for the US Winged Post newspaper, and he also got in a quick visit with Howard & Diana Nichols, who happened to be on campus that morning. In the early 60s Nichols worked part time while attending Stanford, and Bitker recalled seeing him coaching and driving the school bus. Bitker and Carley were joined for lunch by histor y committee member Enid Davis, US athletic director, Dan Molin, and Bay Area spor ts fanatic Pat Walsh. The conversation turned to spor ts during lunch as the group learned about some of Bitker’s favorite inter views, spor ts moments and career highlights. The Harker School is a K-12 independent, co-ed, college-prep school.
Grades K-5: 4300 Bucknall Rd., San Jose CA 95130 Grades 6-8: 3800 Blackford Ave., San Jose CA 95117 Grades 9-12: 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose CA 95129
Harker believes that all persons are entitled to equal employment opportunity and does not discriminate against its employees or applicants because of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical conditions), national origin, ancestry, age (over 40), marital status, political affiliations, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, or any other basis protected by state or federal laws, local law or ordinance. Harker News — February 06, Alumni Supplement