Diana Nichols Memorial Program

In M emory of Diana Nichols March 25, 1942 - Sept. 2, 2018

Memorial Celebr ation Sat., Oct. 6, 2018 | 12 p.m. | Patil Theater

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Pre-ceremony performance by Tri-M Music Society students

Welcome

Brian Yager - head of school

Speakers

Marie Clifford - Diana’s sister, board member, alumni grandparent Jennifer Gargano - assistant head of school for academic affairs

Video Excerpts from interviews with Diana, Howard Nichols and Sylvia Harp from “Born to Teach,” 2004

Speakers

Ashok Krishnamurthi - alumni parent Anita Chetty - upper school science department chair

Dance

Chloe Chen, grade 11

Speakers Chip Zecher ’79 - board of trustees chair Huali Chai Stanek - alumni parent, board member

Reception

Please join us at a Boston Tea Party in the lobby.

Share memories at our video station.

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D iana N ichols

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ducator, environmentalist, philanthropist and business leader Diana Nichols passed away Sept. 2, 2018 from pancreatic cancer. She was 76. Mrs. Nichols was the former head of school and board chair at The Harker School in San Jose, and one of the important figures in the school’s 125-year history.

Along with her husband, Howard Nichols, Diana Nichols was key to shaping Harker into the quintessential 21st-century school.

Her own path developed her strong beliefs in the need for excellent education grounded in scholarly research and academic discipline. Born March 25, 1942 in New York, Mrs. Nichols grew up in the Boston area and started her teaching career in 1963 in her home state of Massachusetts. She moved to California to teach biology at Crystal Springs School in Hillsborough, then joined Harker as a biology teacher in 1973.

In the early 1980s, by which time she was serving as assistant principal, the visionary partnership of Howard and Diana Nichols was beginning to have an historic impact on the future of the school. At this time Mrs. Nichols became an advocate for the emotional and mental well-being of the students and introduced the Harker Personal Development program, teaching Harker students techniques for stress reduction and relaxation.

Developed with the help of Dr. Kenneth Blaker at Santa Clara University – where Mrs. Nichols was finishing her master’s degree in marriage and family counseling – the program also emphasized goal-setting, communication skills and other important aspects of what she and Howard Nichols deemed the “whole child.”

Mrs. Nichols left her mark as an educator on all of Harker’s academic programs, developing the entire K-12 science curriculum and presiding 4

over the development of curricula for every academic department. Her success in directing the creation and development of curricula for the upper school was noticed by the University of California, and in 2002 she was named to an advisory board that worked with other schools that were creating syllabi for UC submission.

A passionate believer in environmental preservation and sustainability, Mrs. Nichols was instrumental in starting and maintaining Harker’s recycling program and other environmental projects, such as organic gardens.

In 1990, she was selected by Santa Clara County to coordinate Earth Day activities for 120 area schools. She later worked with Our City Forest, an organization devoted to local tree-planting efforts. Nichols Hall, the county’s first LEED-certified school facility, was so named in part to recognize these and many other efforts. Following her retirement, Mrs. Nichols remained active in her environmental work, spending several years as a docent at Point Lobos State Natural Reserve and serving on the Point Lobos Foundation’s board of trustees.

Among her other notable accomplishments in the 1990s was the 1995 launch of Harker’s global education program, starting with yearly exchanges between Harker and Tamagawa Academy in Tokyo, which continue to this day. Since then, Harker has established ongoing relationships with schools in countries such as China, Australia, Switzerland and Costa Rica. She brought her devotion to environmental causes to this program as well founding the Our Trees Project to foster passion for sustainability between Harker and its sister schools.

Mrs. Nichols became Harker’s head of school in 1992, and she and school president Howard Nichols led Harker’s biggest expansion to date: the addition of a high school. The seeds for the upper school were planted in the 1980s when, in addition to the Nicholses’ recognition of a niche in Silicon Valley that needed filling, a survey of Harker parents revealed an interest in post-middle school education at Harker. Mrs. Nichols led a select 5

group of Harker faculty and staff on a tour of the East Coast, visiting prestigious prep schools and learning how they could adapt those schools’ best attributes to Harker’s unique approach to top-flight education.

Harker’s upper school, now recognized as one of the top private schools in the nation, was launched in the fall of 1998, with its first class graduating in 2002.

A career full of accomplishments led to many accolades, including three National Science Foundation Awards, recognition by the Peninsula Conservation Society for her work in environmental education, two nominations by the Women’s Fund of Santa Clara County for the Woman of Achievement Award, and a Clean Air Award from the American Lung Association for creating awareness of the need for cleaner air.

Diana and Howard Nichols retired to much fanfare in 2005, leaving behind the legacy of their tremendous passion for education and service. In December 2010, two years after Howard Nichols’ death, Diana Nichols became the chair of Harker’s board of trustees as the school began to execute its long-term development plans, which included the new Rothschild Performing Arts Center and athletic center, both completed in the past year. Mrs. Nichols was the key mover in this building project, working with contractors, drawing plans and keeping close involvement even as her illness progressed; she was passionate about completing this phase of her and Howard’s vision for what was their life’s work: the current and future excellence of The Harker School. She is survived by her sister, Marie Clifford of Arroyo Grande, her son, Gregory Appleton of Houston, step-daughters Elizabeth de Oliveira of Portola Valley and Stephanie Norton of San Jose, and six grandchildren.

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The Harker School 500 Saratoga Ave., San Jose, CA 95129 www.harker.org OofC: 10/5/18 (RM) 300