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Horizons at Harley

An Academic and Enrichment Program Serving Rochester City School District Students

An Academic and Enrichment Program Serving Students from the City of Rochester

Believing in the potential of all children, The Harley School has led the way in summer learning for students from Rochester City School District families for 25 years.

Founded in 1995, Horizons at Harley makes a nine-year commitment to 140 K-8 students from the city of Rochester and provides year-round support through its Saturday academy. Horizons students spend six weeks each summer on Harley’s campus engaged in a full-day program that blends high-quality academics with cultural enrichment and typically make two to three-month gains in math and reading. The program is proven to close the opportunity gap through long-term, deep engagement with students and families. More than 95% of Horizons 8th grade graduates have gone on to complete high school and more than 70% have gone on to higher education.

“The commitment to Horizons being at Harley is an expression of who we aspire to be as a community.”

— Head of School, Larry Frye

Horizons transforms the way students see themselves and their future.

Horizons brings civic engagement to life by providing the opportunity for Harley students build meaningful relationships with Horizons students despite the structural inequalities that exist in Rochester. Each year, as many as 50 Harley Upper School students volunteer with the program, in the classroom and in the pool where every Horizons student learns to swim. 

Horizons at Harley

Engaged Mentors: Harley students go beyond tutoring, they are mentors for young students in the Horizons program.

Horizons at Harley was one of the first affiliates Horizons National, a network of over 60 programs across the United States committed to offering a high-quality learning experience outside of the traditional school year. Here in Rochester, Horizons at Harley has incubated summer learning programs at University of Rochester’s Warner School of Education, Monroe Community College, and SUNY Brockport, and helped found the Greater Rochester Summer Learning Association.

Today, more than 1,000 Rochester students are enrolled in high-quality summer enrichment based on the Horizons at Harley model.

Horizons at Harley operates under the 501(c)(3) designation of The Harley School, but relies on contributions from individuals, foundations, and corporations for operating support. The program has its own Executive Director and Advisory Board, which is responsible for raising the funds needed to sustain its operations.

The Harley School

1981 Clover Street
Rochester, NY 14618
(585) 442-1770

©2023 The Harley School

Our Upper School is filled with formal and informal opportunities for students to take on leadership roles. Whether following passions or learning new skills, student-driven opportunities take many shapes. 

  • Independent study: one trimester, full year, and multi-year projects have included automating our solar chimneys, coding handmade musical instruments, or developing a class on financial literacy for underserved high school students.
  • Serving on student council: 
  • STEM: Climate curriculum program, biomimicry program, NASA Hunch program

At Harley, our students learn how to evaluate social systems in order to identify complex problems in society through a lens of social justice. They take a hands-on approach to working for a fair, equitable society by researching, exploring and evaluating different perspectives, and offering solutions—both theoretical and practical.

Our faculty integrate social justice into our broader curriculum to assist students in gaining a foundational knowledge about what makes a democracy function. By gaining skills in ideating supportive pathways they become more exposed and experienced to how communities can undergo healing and restorative actions.

Students may create independent studies with supervising teachers throughout their Upper School experience or, during Grade 12, they can design Capstone projects—intensive collaborations with Harley faculty and off-campus mentors—involving rigorous academic study and culminating in public presentations. They are empowered to create their own curriculum, set goals, and work on time management skills in order to accomplish their objectives.

Independent Studies run the gamut from The Psychology of Sports to Furniture Design to The Neuroimaging of Alzheimer’s Disease. Capstones, meanwhile, are as diverse as the students who pursue them: Fictional Rochester, Autobiographical Art, Biomimicry Education, Organic Fuel, and Rochester Refugees. 

Indicative of Upper School curiosity and creativity, pursuits such as these distinguish our graduates in college. Through deep dives of this sort, Harley students master more than speaking, writing, and computing: they learn to communicate, advocate, collaborate, organize, listen, and empathize. 

About

Academics

Key Programming

Enrollment

Letter from the Head of School

Letter from the Editor

Features

Central Work that Matters: DEI

Harley Black Alumni Network

Climate Crisis Curriculum

Citizen Scientists

Joy Moss: Storytelling Roots

In Every Issue

Class Notes

Diane Donniger Award

By the Numbers

From the Archives

What’s (Who’s) New at Harley

Divisional Highlights

Alumni Profile: Vandebroek

Alumni Profiles: Keller

HAC Athletics

2021 Lives of Great Purpose Awards

1000 Words

Commencement 2022

Reunion 2022

In Memoriam

Retirements and Fond Farewells

Letter from the Head of School

Letter from the Editor

Features

Central Work that Matters

Affinity Group Forms

Climate Crisis Curriculum

Citizen Scientists

Joy Moss: Storytelling Roots

In Every Issue

Class Notes

Diane Donniger Award

By the Numbers

From the Archives

What’s (Who’s) New at Harley

Divisional Highlights

Alumni Profile: Vandebroek

Alumni Profiles: Keller

HAC Athletics

2021 Lives of Great Purpose Awards

1000 Words

Commencement 2022

Reunion 2022

In Memoriam

Retirements and Fond Farewells