Graduating seniors were joined by the Class of 2027, faculty and family members on Friday evening as they bid one final farewell to Harker at the 2026 Baccalaureate ceremony. The assembled crowd was first treated to a pair of musical performances, first by the all-senior group of violinist George Yang, cellist Aya Sugaya and pianist Mindy Truong, who performed their rendition of the first movement of Anton Arensky’s Piao Trion. No. I. Following a brief welcome address from assistant head of school Jennifer Gargano, the combined upper school advanced choirs performed the Indonesian folk song “Hela Rotan.”
Upper school head Paul Barsky introduced this year’s faculty Baccalaureate math teacher Anthony Silk, who in his speech spoke briefly about the many career paths he has walked upon in his life, “including aerospace engineer flying, jets as an electronic countermeasure officer in the United States Navy, software project manager and cruise ship social host.” The main lesson of his speech, however, was found in one of his favorite hobbies, cooking. He and his sister fostered this hobby throughout their respective lives, although he admitted she had the greater affinity for the craft. If given a recipe, he could follow it to the letter. His sister, meanwhile, “would figure out how to improve it and end up with something really exceptional.”
The creativity his sister displayed as a chef inspired the crux of Silk’s speech. “There is no perfect recipe to life. There’s no perfect courses to get you to college, no perfect major to land the best job, no perfect career path that will make you the happiest,” he said, detailing his own failed search for such an easily plotted path to personal fulfillment in the several careers he had tried before becoming a math teacher.
“As you head off to college, you may have one plan in mind, but that doesn’t have to be where you end up. Add the parts you love. Change or eliminate the things you don’t,” he said. “And maybe most important, use good ingredients.” After a quote from restaurateur Alice Waters about the importance of using the “best and tastiest ingredients,” Silk continued his address to the Class of 2026: “If your life really is a series of recipes, make them tasty, filled with the things you love to eat. Never forget that you are the chef in your own life. Make it a feast.”
Representing the senior class at Baccalaureate was Kallie Wang, who recalled some of the most memorable moments she shared with her classmates, including winning the spirit competition and seeing their Eagle Buddies perform in “Dig It!” which they had also performed seven years earlier. “Harker has seen us grow from small children to young adults, even if some of us are admittedly still pretty small,” she joked. “But none of that happened in isolation. So, to our teachers, staff and administration, thank you for pushing us, supporting and creating a place we could grow.”
Wang also thanked the soon-to-be graduates’ families “for being there through every step, even when we didn’t know where we were going. And to my fellow students, my wonderful Class of 2026, thank you for making all of this mean something.”
She turned to address the juniors and implored them to be realistic about their expectations. “I’m not going to lie and say that this next half year is going to be easy,” she said. “First semester senior year, everything starts happening at once. You’re working on applications, deciding on your future, thinking about who you want to be, all while realizing that this version of your life is ending. So try not to wait for a moment where everything feels settled before you take it all in.”
Returning to her classmates, Wang noted that although the high school chapter of their lives was ending, “We’re still brand new. None of us are finished even now as we head off to college. We’ve survived and thrived here, and we’ll continue to adapt and grow as we move into the world beyond high school. And as our time here comes to an end, this is not the end. It’s just the beginning.”
