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Upper School

Grades 9, 10, 11, 12

Reflections on the Harley Upper School Experience  

Letter from the Head of Upper School

At our core, we are a college preparatory school. While a few of our alumni opt for a gap year, 100 percent of Harley graduates ultimately go on to college—and beyond that, many go on to graduate school. As of December, 2019, the class of 2020 (46 students) has been offered $1.3 million dollars in Merit Aid by the colleges and universities where they have applied.

Our young alumni frequently return to campus (they like it here), and  consistently report that compared with their classmates who graduated from other high schools around the country, they arrive on university campuses well armed for success. Harley grads become college freshmen who ask questions in seminars, who tutor their first-year classmates, who visit professors during office hours, and who land positions as research assistants—sometimes in their first year of college.  

What makes the Harley experience different? We invite students not only to discover their intellectual passions, but to pursue them. Yes, we have graduation requirements: Calculus, French, Physics, AP European History, American Literature—these are the very sorts of challenging courses admissions officers from selective colleges expect to see on high school transcripts; but rooted in the progressive educational tradition, Harley also values non-traditional intellectual inquiry. In any given academic year, we offer as many as fifty electives in Upper School. 

Here’s a sampling:

Arabic

A Cappella Arranging

Ceramics

Design & Innovation

Digital Bookmaking

Discrete Mathematics

Economics

Food & Farm

Intro to Greek

Guitar

Hospice

Improv Theater

Jazz Band

Jewelry & Metals

Kiln Glass

Memoir

Music Theory

Multimedia Journalism

Net Zero Energy

Philosophy & Ethics

Psychology

Sustainability & Community

Theremin

If selections in our annual line-up of electives fall short of students’ needs, they may create independent studies with supervising teachers. Or, during senior year, students can design Capstone projects—intensive collaborations with Harley faculty and off-campus mentors, involving rigorous academic study and culminating in public presentations. 

Independent Studies run the gamut from The Psychology of Sports to Furniture Design and 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 from those who come from other college prep programs—both public and private.  Through deep dives of this sort, Harley students master more than speaking, writing, and computing: our kids learn to communicate, advocate, collaborate, organize, prioritize, listen, and empathize. 

Our balanced approach to learning—collaborative and independent intellectual inquiry—prepares Upper School students to lead engaged lives in college and beyond.

In Upper School, students learn how to advocate. For themselves and for others. 

Our small class size (7:1 student-to-faculty ratio) builds the foundation for advocacy. Students routinely participate in round-table discussions, debates, and workshops. They grow comfortable asking questions, sharing their views, and listening to perspectives different from their own. During Upper School, they have opportunities to work with inner-city Rochester children in our Horizons at Harley program, present sustainable business plans, and care for actively-dying Hospice patients.  

When they leave Harley, our students go into the world as confident thinkers, speakers, and writers—young adults able to articulate positions and defend them.

Our students enjoy a distinctive blend of arts and sciences, and a playful spirit characterizes community life. At Harley, student-teacher relationships are deep and happy.

Our Students

Students are comfortable expressing themselves in speech, in art, in dress, and in music.  Student murals grace classroom walls. Cello strains waft through hallways during Advisory Periods. Clubs—Mandarin, Garden, Feminist, French—celebrate diversity. Upper School students feel free to be themselves—to, as our motto suggests, “Become who they are.”

Upper School students are known.

To teachers. To administrators. To staff. Students hang out in offices and classrooms. They drink tea with our Registrar. With teachers, they travel to New York, New Mexico, Costa Rica, and Switzerland. They mulch together in the microfarm, roll up their sleeves—next to adults—for Key Club blood drives, practice mindfulness, and sing alongside teachers in choir. Upper School teachers and students enjoy a relaxed, but respectful rapport.   

Grade-by-Grade Highlights

Sample Schedule

  • English 9:  Literary Genres
  • French, Latin, or Spanish
  • Algebra I, Geometry, or Algebra II
  • Biology or Biology Honors
  • World Religions/World Economic & Political Systems/World Wars
  • Art 9/Rights & Responsibilities/Writing 9
  • Choir, String Orchestra, or Wind Ensemble
  • Team Sport

 

Other Events

  • Freshman Lock-In 
  • Cape Cod Trip
Sample Schedule

  • English 10:  World Literature
  • French, Latin, or Spanish
  • Geometry, Algebra II, or Functions, Statistics, and Trigonometry (FST)
  • Chemistry, Chemistry Honors, or AP Chemistry
  • Industrial America/Human Rights/Cold War to Terrorism/AP U.S. History
  • Health
  • Visual Arts Elective
  • Team Sport

 

Other Events

  • Wilderness Education Trip
  • College Campus Visit

Sample Schedule

  • English 11:  American Literature
  • French, Latin, or Spanish
  • Algebra II, FST, or Precalculus
  • Physics, Physics Honors, or AP Physics
  • Modern Global Studies/Middle East/Dissent in the U.S./AP Government
  • Electives (e.g., Multimedia Journalism, Acting, Psychology, AP Statistics)

 

Other Events

  • NYC Trip
  • One-on-one college planning

Sample Schedule

  • English 12:  Advanced Literary Genres/AP English Literature
  • French Latin, or Spanish (AP)
  • FST, Precalculus, AP Calculus AB or BC, or Discrete Mathematics
  • Environmental Science (AP), or AP Biology
  • AP European History, Women’s Studies, Philosophy & Ethics, Economics (AP)
  • Electives (e.g. AP Photography, AP Studio Art:  Drawing, Chamber Ensemble, Intro to Anthropology, Culinary Arts, Sustainability & Community, Net Zero Energy, Hospice)

 

Other Events

  • Capstone Project
  • Senior Internship
  • Oak Tree Ceremony
  • Senior Dinner

Acorn Grants Are Now Available!

Interested in learning how to make a Harley education possible for your child? Acorn Grants are smaller grants awarded to families who may not be eligible for need-based financial aid.  It is a grant of up to $5,000 intended to put the Harley education within reach for your family. The Acorn Grant stays with your child until graduation. 

Come for a Visit

Learn more about what makes The Harley School experience unique.

The Harley School

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

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©2023 The Harley School

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College Counseling

Harley’s Approach to College Counseling is highly individualized and student-centered. Students have direct access to college counselors throughout their Upper School experience, but really, each student is part of a team including faculty, administration, and staff. It’s our job to support each student and we want nothing more than to send students on to the next step of their journey at a right fit school for them. The student centered and driven process is wrapped in care, expertise, and professionalism.

We host college reps during times students are available (no need to miss a class) so they can make connections and learn more about potential schools. We also arrange campus visits for classes as field trips, host an alumni college day (where recent Upper School graduates return to share advice and answer questions), and help connect students with our international alumni network. In fact, representatives from schools all over the world actively seek opportunities to come to Harley and meet with our students!

Our college counselors are accredited and are part of national/global conversations on admission trends. They also attend and present at conferences across the country.

Beginning with our Grade 11 parent night, we offer informational sessions for parents, including one devoted just to financial aid. Our partnership with families is critical, as the college admissions world changes very quickly and having an expert to guide students and families through the process is essential.

View the downloadable College Counseling Guide

Clubs

“Club Rush” is an afternoon every fall in the Upper School when students have the chance to sign up for clubs for the year, and each year it is very different because new clubs are created based on student initiative and enthusiasm.

A few of this year’s choices: Sports Media, Social Action Club, Journalism Club, Feminism Club, Student of Color & Allies (SOCA), Gay-Straight Alliance, Tri M (music honor society), E-Sports Club, Euchre, Key Club (service), Animation Club, Dungeons & Dragons, Sustainability Club, Jewish Cultural Club, Astronomy Club, Biomimicry, and Beyond Soup (social justice/service).

Athletics

​Each and every year, students at The Harley School participate in HAC Athletics, and their success continues to be impressive, both as students and athletes. Our athletic program is an integral part of Harley, teaching student-athletes invaluable lessons about teamwork, time management, persistence, and competition.  Our program allows them to develop physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally as they represent their school on and off the field. They grow, mature, and work hard to be the best teammate they can, while creating lifelong memories with teammates who often remain friends for life. 

Helping our athletes to reach their potential are some of HAC’s best assets: our coaches. More often than not, they are drawn from the ranks of our faculty and  have a deep understanding of the personalities and abilities of the student-athletes on their teams.  

We strive to find the right balance of academics, exercise, and personal growth for everyone.  By offering a variety of sports at many different levels, all student-athletes find a sport they can be successful in. It is with great pride and pleasure that my team and I work to enrich the athletic lives of all our HAC student-athletes. Go Wolves! 

To learn more check out our athletics page.

Student Leadership

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

Clubs

“Club Rush” is an afternoon every fall in the Upper School when students have the chance to sign up for clubs for the year, and each year it is very different because new clubs are created based on student initiative and enthusiasm.

A few of this year’s choices: Sports Media, Social Action Club, Journalism Club, Feminism Club, Student of Color & Allies (SOCA), Gay-Straight Alliance, Tri M (music honor society), E-Sports Club, Euchre, Key Club (service), Animation Club, Dungeons & Dragons, Sustainability Club, Jewish Cultural Club, Astronomy Club, Biomimicry, and Beyond Soup (social justice/service).

Hospice

Unlike this class, death is not an elective. Although it is one of two universal human experiences, our culture often ignores, denies, or misconstrues the true nature of death and dying. What happens when we bear witness to this natural process in the cycle of life and develop our ability to be fully present with others when they need us more than ever? It has the potential to change us deeply and fundamentally while shining a brilliant light on the path of our own lives.

With the support of their classmates, teacher, and comfort care home communities, senior students are offered the chance to care for others who truly need their purposeful, non-judgmental attention. In the home-like setting of a comfort care home, opportunities for learning extend beyond a traditional classroom rubric and conventional methods of evaluation. In this course, students will certainly find tangible “learning outcomes” by studying the medical/physical processes associated with dying and the basic nursing assistant skills of comfort care. The ultimate goal, however, will always be rooted in true relationships and connection, which occurs only through empathy and compassion.

Learn more about the Hospice Program at Harley HERE.

Capstone/Independent Studies

This program utilizes environmentally-focused approaches to education and hands-on learning in order to foster the next generation of leaders through a lens of sustainability and problem-solving.

Food & Farm: These year-long and trimester-long classes are held outside as much as possible, allowing students to become leaders in our various growing spaces. They cover environmental justice issues as well as hands-on work such as planning and overseeing planting, harvesting, and preparation of the gardens.

Past year-long focus projects have included: Creating a native plant shade garden in the Wild Wood area, redesigning our hydroponic system, overhauling Harley’s high tunnel, and improving the irrigation system for the MicroFarm.

Culinary Arts: These classes have a two-fold purpose: to give students practical skills in cooking and the science behind different techniques in the kitchen, learning about food justice, food sourcing, labor topics, and sustainability.

Past topics have included: Examining a plant-based diet, looking at the carbon footprint of different meals and food preparation methods, proposing a low carbon footprint menu to the dining hall, links between food labeling and environmental issues of food production.

Beekeeping: This one trimester class provides hands-on training in beekeeping, how to be a beekeeper, and safety and other techniques for working with bees. Once trained students help with all aspects of Harley beekeeping such as hive inspections, honey collection and extraction, and teaching students in Lower School about our hives.

Students pick a research topic addressing honeybee health and the larger environmental picture.

Social Justice

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.

 

Capstone/Independent Studies

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. 

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Alumni Profile: Vandebroek

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HAC Athletics

2021 Lives of Great Purpose Awards

1000 Words

Commencement 2022

Reunion 2022

In Memoriam

Retirements and Fond Farewells