The upper school celebrated former Harker president Howard Nichols’ birthday through the annual tradition of serving chocolate chip cookies to students and faculty during lunch on Tuesday.
In a Schoology post that morning, Head of Upper School Paul Barsky highlighted the significant role Nichols played in the school’s history. During lunch, Barsky and Administrative Assistant to Upper School Division Head Michelle Martinez handed out cookies to those passing by outside Manzanita.
Nichols served as Harker’s president from 1992 until his retirement in 2005 and was known for keeping a jar full of chocolate chip cookies in his office for anyone who wished to talk to him. He passed away in 2008. According to upper school biology teacher Jeff Sutton, Nichols was invested in students’ well-being in addition to being methodical and efficient in his approach to running the school.
“Students would always go and pick up cookies — they used to be in [Nichols’] office,” Sutton said. “And so he had to have that exchange with students. They would come in and get a cookie, and he would say hi, at least. He was definitely student-oriented. He wanted to know how the students were doing, what was going on.”
The tradition is not only celebrated at the upper school campus but also at the lower and middle schools. For Sophie Chen (9), who has been attending Harker since the third grade, the distribution of cookies has served as an annual reminder to be grateful.
“I think the tradition is a great way to commemorate Mr. Nichols and his contributions to the school,” Sophie said. “Even though there are cookies available in the Aux Gym every day, cookies in honor of someone else are undoubtedly more special. I hope Harker continues this tradition for years to come.”
Alongside his wife, Diana Nichols, Nichols led the initiative to create and develop Harker’s upper school, which accepted its first students in 1998. Upper school history and social science teacher Donna Gilbert noted that Nichols’ contributions to the upper school reached beyond developing its academic curriculum.
“The number one thing I loved about Harker when I came here is the students were respectful and kind to each other and invested in learning, and I think that came from the Nichols,” Gilbert said. “I think they emanated that, and that was one of their greatest legacies.”