Note Regarding Order of Entries

The posts in the pages that follow are in this order:

May 2012: CAS Graduation—Kyle Harty Strang Spirit of CAS Award
May 2011: CAS Graduation—Kyle's loyal and loving CAS-mates move up.
March 2011: Two incredible articles that appeared in local newspapers
November: Lyrics of a beautiful song written for Kyle by Sarah Crews
July: Things shared on and around the 17th anniversary of Kyle's birth
June: Snippets of Facebook interchanges, end of school year pieces, and other things written to Kyle
May: CAS Memorial and misc. contributions received in May (in the order the comments were made)
April: Kyle's funeral and misc. contributions received in April (in the order the comments were made)
March 2010: Before Kyle's funeral and information about where to make donations in Kyle's memory

Because postings do not appear in the order they were posted, you will have to check the listing in the Blog Archive below to see whether there are posts you have not read, and then click on those posts.

If you made comments at one of the memorial events and/or if you have words about Kyle that you would like to post, send to: jbarber@berkeley.edu

Followers

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Article about Kyle in the Berkeley Times

“Passion” is a word that comes up a lot when people reminisce about Kyle Harty Strang.
At 16, Kyle was an athletic kid with arresting green eyes, an easy smile and a natural way of bringing people together. He was well known at Berkeley High for his loyalty to his friends and his Jewish pride. And he was passionate: about baseball, about his family and — increasingly, in the year before his death — about Israel.

“He was absolutely committed to going to Israel after graduation,” said his father, Craig Strang, explaining that Kyle felt that, as a Jew, it was his duty to serve in the Israeli army. “He told me it was his home as much as it was for any Jew.”

BAstrang, kyle
Kyle Harty Strang


Kyle, however, never made it to “his home.” He was killed in a car crash on March 31, 2010, losing control of his vehicle on an expressway, crossing the center divide and slamming into a bus. There were no passengers on board and the driver wasn’t hurt, but Kyle and his passenger, Prentice Gray Jr., one of his best friends, were killed instantly.
Now, one year after his death, 20 of the people closest to him are about to go to Israel in his honor — under the auspices of a new project named the Kyle Harty Strang Leadership Program.

The program is an educational and skill-building project for teens, with the goal of bridging gaps in knowledge about the conflict in the Middle East and humanizing the problems of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It came together through a collaboration between Communication, Arts and Sciences — a small school-within-a-school that Kyle attended at Berkeley High — and Seeking Common Ground, a Denver-based peace-building nonprofit that brings together U.S., Israeli and Palestinian teens.

After months of leadership development activities and fundraising — to the tune of $90,000 over six months — the teens will depart on a 10-day trip to Israel and the West Bank, accompanied by Craig Strang and CAS teacher Hasmig Minassian.

The group is slated to meet with people on different sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The departure date, by coincidence, organizers said, is March 31 — exactly one year after Kyle’s accident.

Craig, Associate Director at Berkeley’s Lawrence Hall of Science, said that while his family is still reeling from its loss, forming the program has been a tangible way to honor Kyle’s memory.

“We knew we didn’t want a lot of expensive flowers, to have people spend money that way,” Craig said of the first few days after his son’s death. “So we decided to set up a memorial fund at Berkeley High to benefit CAS, to support Kyle’s teacher’s and friends in some way.”
Craig says the CAS community had become a second family to his son, who had good relationships with many of his teachers and moved in and around different social circles with ease. Fittingly, it was one of his close CAS friends who came up with the idea of the Israel trip as a component of the program.

“We were sitting around brainstorming about what to do with the memorial money, and people were talking about things around Berkeley High — posters of influential people in the classrooms, or creating some kind of media space named after Kyle, and then we started talking about trips,” recalled Leib Sutcher, a CAS senior going on the trip and one of Kyle’s best friends. “I said, ‘I think it’s pretty obvious, we have to go to Israel.’ That’s what Kyle would have wanted to do.”

Kyle’s passion for Israel and Judaism was unquestioned and organic. Though his family isn’t particularly religious and his parents have never been to Israel, he seemed to latch onto Judaism when his parents got divorced.

“I think he gained a great deal of comfort from his Jewish identity during really difficult times of his life,” Craig explained. “It was part of his identity that could not be taken away from him. When he was bar mitzvahed, he took that on in a really eager way that was sort of hard even for me to understand.”

Some of his connections were untraditional, such as when he opted to get a Star of David tattoo (with the Sh’ma written inside it) on his chest. And while other kids directed their energy toward college applications, Kyle focused on making his move to Israel as soon as possible after graduation.

“It was something we had many long conversations about, and that he often talked about with his friends,” Craig said. “No one could talk him out of it.”

On their trip to Israel, students will complete video and photo projects, and when they return, they will give presentations to other classes on what they learned about the conflict. And while the trip may be a one-time thing — it’s not technically sponsored by Berkeley High — the leadership program bearing Kyle’s name is on track to become a fixture in the CAS community.

For Kyle’s father, there’s a mix of emotions as the departure date approaches. “With this anniversary coming up, everybody’s sort of looking forward to it and dreading it,” Craig said. “I still can’t believe it’s been a year.”

Sutcher said that, all in all, the trip feels like the perfect way to honor his friend’s life and passions — even though Kyle’s politics were decidedly more pro-Israel than the curriculum of this program.

“Kyle stood up for what he believed in, and he loved to argue his point, no matter if he felt outnumbered,” Sutcher said. “And he strongly believed that Israel belonged to the Jews. He held firmly to that stance. And I guess some people might say Kyle wouldn’t necessarily agree with this attitude that’s so in the middle … But I also think that in his life, Kyle was a bridge-builder. He had a really diverse group of friends, he brought people together left and right.”

Article about Kyle in Berkeleyside



Kyle was 16 years old when he died. He and his close friend Prentice lost their lives in a fiery crash on the Richmond Parkway, March 31, 2010, in a tragic end to two promising lives.
Kyle, a junior at Berkeley High School, had more to do in this world. He dreamed of going to Israel, because of a deep connection he felt, and his desire to make a difference for peace and security within the region. While his classmates were taking the SAT prep classes, Kyle was earning money to pay for a one-way ticket to Tel Aviv. His determination and passion were such that no one doubted he would get there. The only question was how he would choose to engage in the struggle for peace. With knowing eyes and a heart bigger than most, Kyle formed deep friendships everywhere he turned. He was gifted in finding ways to bridge differences; he exuded empathy and understanding. Kyle was everyone’s friend.
Kyle’s classmates and teachers have taken on his dream, and are pushing to make the trip that Kyle was unable to make. In his honor, a group of 17 Berkeley High School students and teachers are raising funds to create the Kyle Harty Strang Leadership Program and 2011 Middle East Encounter Trip. The group has partnered with an international, nonpartisan, non-profit organization called Seeking Common Ground, based in Denver. Seeking Common Ground connects young leaders in Palestine, Israel and the United States — the next generation of leaders — to help them learn about the conflict in the Middle East and related issues, as well as build skills and dispositions that promote listening, respectful discourse, and abilities to transform antagonistic relationships into partnerships. Rather than trying to advance a specific agenda, Seeking Common Ground works to promote dialogue and to help people with multiple perspectives to come to understand, if not agree with, another’s point of view. Seeking Common Ground uses this person-to-person strategy to break down stereotypes of “the other.” While other seniors at Berkeley High will be spending their spring semester winding down, these 17 classmates of Kyle’s will be participating in three leadership development retreats conducted by Seeking Common Groundand going on a ten-day trip to the Middle East where they will meet with Palestinian and Israeli teens who struggle with working through conflict in all parts of their lives.
At least that’s the plan. The first of the Kyle Harty Strang Leadership Development retreats is later this month, with two others to follow. However, the trip will only happen if these students are successful in raising enough funds.
Kyle’s family has contributed all of the funds in the Kyle Harty Strang Memorial Fund — donations from over 162 people nationwide who want to honor the memory of Kyle. A grant of $5,000 was made by the Samuel Rubin Foundation. $6,000 was raised at a pair of benefit dinners held at the guerilla restaurant, CafĂ© 20, earlier this month. And in addition to their college applications, students in the program have submitted applications to local Jewish organizations for scholarships, one of which has been awarded. Counting each family’s contribution, the total is within reach. However, many thousands more must be raised.
If you are interested in supporting this worthwhile endeavor and memorial to Kyle, please consider attending one or more of the following benefit events, or simply making a tax deductible donation to the Kyle Harty Strang Memorial Fund. Details follow:
Bungee Jumpin’ Cows Benefit Concert
Come hear the Bay Area’s favorite children’s science rock band in this special benefit concert. Silly, fun, rousing, hilarious and educational, the Bungee Jumping Cows are guaranteed to please young and old alike. Be prepared for pirates, termites, cavemen, Bubba the frog and more. Come on down… you might learn a science concept or two while you are laughing!
Sunday, February 13, Aurora School Auditorium, 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., sliding scale for tickets ($5 and up)
Benefit Film Screening of My So-Called Enemy
Filmmaker Lisa Gossels’ film My So-Called Enemy, follows six Israeli and Palestinian participants of the 2002 Seeking Common Ground Building Bridges for Peace program. It beautifully captures the power of their summer experience and then follows the girls as they navigate their relationships over the next seven years. As described on its website, the film “speaks to the humanity and complexities of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict in every frame. But, it is also a coming of age story that transcends the conflict.  It’s about the power of individual narratives to open hearts and minds, challenge long-held pre-conceptions, and create the space for dialogue, with the goal of creating more just societies here and abroad.” The film was shown at the SF Jewish Film Festival last July.
Sunday March 6, Berkeley High School Little Theater, 4:00-6:00 p.m., tickets on a sliding scale ($10 and up)
Tax deductable donations to the Kyle Harty Strang Memorial Fund can be made by sending a check made payable to: The Berkeley Public Education Foundation, write “Kyle Strang Memorial Fund” on the memo line, and send to: Kyle Strang Memorial Fund, 828 Ashbury St., San Francisco, CA 94117.
Or go directly to the Berkeley Public Education Foundation to donate online.  In the place where it asks whether you’d like to dedicate your donation, write: Kyle Strang Memorial Fund.