Author, alumna revisits Sunnyvale High School

The Sunnyvale Historical Society will host author Karen Hansen and Robert Handa in a conversation about Sunnyvale High School on Monday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m.

Hansen will provide insight into the multiracial, working class high school in conversation with her classmate Robert Handa, reporter at NBC Bay Area News.

Opened in 1956, Sunnyvale High School, the city’s second public high school, worked to achieve collaboration between students and educators, aiming to reduce violence and enrich the curriculum during the interracial tension that marked the 1960s and ’70s. This curriculum included U.S. Black history and Mexican American literature as well as increasing girls’ access to sports. The high school was closed in 1981.

In her new book “Working-class Kids and Visionary Educators in a Multiracial High School,” Hansen lets Sunnyvale High’s alumni and educators share their experiences and the impact the school had on their lives.

A California native, Karen Hansen is a professor of sociology and women’s and gender studies at Brandeis University. She has written several books about social issues, community, gender and class.

Robert Handa was named 2015 Reporter of the Year by the Associated Press and has won several national journalism awards and several Emmys. He was included in the Asian American Journalists Association’s Honor Roll of Pioneers in Journalism.

The historical society’s event will take place at the Heritage Park Museum, 570 E. Remington Drive. Admission is free; Hansen will have copies of her book for sale and signing. There will also be vintage copies of SHS yearbooks available for purchase.
For more information, visit www.heritageparkmuseum.org, email info@heritageparkmuseum.org or call 408-749-0220.