This story originally appeared in the summer 2016 Harker Quarterly.

Members of the Class of 2016 and their parents gathered at Graduates’ Grove on the upper school campus in late May for the annual brick ceremony, where dozens of graduating seniors placed bricks in the walkway to commemorate their years at Harker.

Each year, the bricks are laid in the path, which winds through Graduates’ Grove, past a babbling brook and fountain and among towering redwood trees, a tangible reminder of those who’ve come before.

This Harker tradition was started by the parents of the first class of upper school graduates in 2002. It has since become a way for graduating students to preserve the memories of their time at Harker, while serving as a reminder of their legacy for future graduates.

Placing bricks in the grove at this year’s ceremony were: Sachit Agarwal, Shalini Arimilli, Sorjo Banerjee, Akshay Battu, Jonathan Dai, Victoria Ding, Emma Doherty, Elizabeth Anne Edwards, Kaitlyn Gee, Arthur Wolff Goldstein, Prithvi Gudapati, Cynthia Vivian Hao, Jonathan Hochberg, Shannon Hong, Kevin Hu, Kaylan Huang, Raghav Jain, John Nicolas Jerney, Kevin Ke, Johnathon Keller, Malvika Khanna, Mehul Khetrapal, Philip Krause, Lawrence Li, Lisa Liu, Sophia Y. Luo, Alex Lyon, Dhanush Madabusi, Sadhika Malladi, Shreya Mathur, Natasha Mayor, Dakota McNealy, Michael Moncton, Melina Nakos, Kristen Park, Shannon Richardson, Jackiel Rothschild, Edward Y. Sheu, Elisabeth Siegel, Ameek Singh, Surya Solanki, Sai Shreya Sunkara, Chandini Thakur, Allison Wang, Tong Wu, Kevina Xiao, Daphne Yang, Richard Yi, Jonathan Yiu, Michael Zhao and Ashley Zhong.