The Silvanus Foundation, an organization founded by Nathan Liu ’24, held its fifth fundraiser benefiting the families of California firefighters on Jan. 4 at the Community School for Music and Arts in Mountain View. Other alums appearing at the event included Anni Ankola ’15, Cynthia Wang ’24 and Selina Xu ’24 as panelists on college and life preparedness, moderated by current Harker junior Raeanne Li.

According to Silvanus’ website, the assemblage of speakers and musical performers was in support of the foundation’s mission to “honor fallen firefighters and support their children through education, leadership, and long-term opportunity.”

As in previous years, Harker students were also among the evening’s performers, as senior Jonathan Szeto and junior Aaron Ma delivered performances on piano and violin, respectively.

Alongside Vince Wells, VP of the California Fire Foundation, Liu also presented awards to Li, Szeto and senior Erika Wang for their service to the Silvanus Foundation’s efforts.

Other speakers during the event were, Dr. Wayne Liu of Perfect Corp, leadership coach Dina Venezky and Mark Lucas of Lucas Management Consulting.

Liu began organizing the event, at which he has also been a performer, in 2020 as way to raise funds for the families of firefighters who died while battling that year’s California wildfires.

The event raised approximately $14,000, bringing the total raised since 2020 to more than $100,000.