This article was originally published in the fall 2012 Harker Quarterly.

Harker ties run deep, as demonstrated by the many alumni and parents of alumni who continue to support the school long after their association with Harker has ended. Highlighted in this issue of Harker Quarterly are several such donors who support the school in this impactful and meaningful way.

“The entire Harker community is enormously grateful to them,” said Joe Rosenthal, executive director of advancement, reporting on the strong and enduring connections of both former Harker students and parents of Harker students.

Silvestri Family

Among the Harker supporters are Chet and Irene Silvestri, who have two sons, Adam ’97 and Matt ’93, who attended Harker back when it was a K-8 school (Matt Silvestri’s wife, Tiffanie, also appears in the photo). After the boys finished at Harker, Irene Silvestri continued to be actively involved in the school as a long-term substitute teacher.

“The Silvestris learned about the positive impact our exciting plans are going to have for the school and were inspired to make a generous leadership gift to our capital campaign,” said Rosenthal, noting that Irene Silvestri continues to be involved with Harker by sitting on the school’s advisory board.

Mandell Family

Jay and Susan Mandell’s two sons, Jeffrey and Sean, both graduated from Harker’s upper school in 2009 and are currently attending Stanford University. While their sons were attending Harker the Mandells became benefactors with their very generous gift to the school’s capital campaign, supporting the science and technology center, athletic field and aquatic center.

Following their sons’ graduation, the Mandells continued to support both the annual giving and capital campaigns. Susan Mandell also remains actively involved as a member of Harker’s advisory board.

Shalini Mohan ’02

Another Harker supporter, Shalini Mohan ’02, was a member of Harker’s first upper school graduating class.

She graduated from medical school and successfully completed a six- year combined Bachelor of Liberal Arts/M.D. program at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. She was later awarded a grant from the National Institutes of Health and is currently postdoctoral fellow at the Stanford Institute for Neuro-Innovation and Translational Neurosciences.

After a return visit to Harker, which included a chat with her former science teacher Anita Chetty, Mohan took the unique opportunity to name the jellyfish aquarium located in the atrium of Nichols Hall with her generous gift to the capital campaign. In doing so she joined another alumni donor, Neal Mehta ’02, who was his class’ first capital campaign donor.

“It’s an incredible feeling to be fortunate enough to have a career I love and the ability to give back to the school that set me on this amazing path,” enthused Mohan. “I will always be proud to be a Harker Eagle!”