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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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Letter from the Head of School

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Joy Moss: Storytelling Roots

In Every Issue

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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

In 2019, The Harley School Board of Trustees approved a strategic plan for our Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DEI) efforts, focusing on three areas:

Culture:

Enhance School Culture

Representation:

Increase Representation

Program:

Develop Programs

Central Work that Matters to the Heart of Our School

During January 2021, we undertook a self-examination process using the Assessment of Inclusivity and Multiculturalism (AIM), created by the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). The survey was a key element of our DEI strategic plan, and it focused on culture, representation, and program in particular.

There were two parts to the initial assessment: a self-study and an online survey. Different constituent groups, including students, staff, trustees, parents/guardians, administration, alumnae, and faculty contributed. The data gathered help move thoughts, ideas, and assumed best practices into benchmarked numbers for concrete goal setting.

Top-level Findings:

  • Community members are committed to socioeconomic diversity and diversity in the curriculum
  • Generally positive ratings for the Harley community (friendliness, approachability, cooperation, support, pride in school, etc.)

High Priority Concerns:

  • Lack of diversity on the Board of Trustees
  • Lack of diversity of faculty and administrators
  • Multiculturalism needs to be in the curriculum (includes alumni concerns about not being prepared to address issues of inequity in society)
  • Need to work effectively with individual differences based on socioeconomic status

This background information sets the stage for Becoming Magazine’s interview with Jonathan Ntheketha, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Jocie Kopfman, former Civic Engagement Educator and Co-chairs of the Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Committee.

The AIM data provide an important snapshot because they highlight topics of concern as well as areas where we are doing well. At Harley, everyone shares responsibility for our DEI work, so the idea of taking collective steps, and making sure they are the right steps, guides the work that is informed by qualitative data. This helps us to be clear about where we need to articulate our direction, policies, and practices in ways that are supportive of our school community.

Creating, Building, and Teaching a DEI Curriculum in Our Middle School

Although the Middle School DEI curriculum is certainly not a standalone initiative because there is work underway in all divisions, it provides a look into the work of the School. The curriculum is based on the model of integrating topics into a range of subjects, not just viewing the work as a “one and done” class. Jocie, Jonathan, our former assistant head of school and academic dean, Lars Kuelling, and DEI committee co-chair, Carole Bilson, P ’23, as well as the entire Middle School team have spent considerable hours developing the educational progression.

In Grade 5, our students enter Middle School and take a transition class to help them begin to understand who they are, what they need, and build an understanding that the people around students support them. Beginning in Grade 6, the DEI 6 course, which is based on the Pollyanna curriculum, focuses on identity of self, and students explore the interconnectedness of identity, culture, & ethnicity. The following year in DEI 7, students develop a firmer understanding of race, ethnicity, culture, and gender and sexuality at an individual level, focusing on interpersonal relationships and connections to community. DEI 8 examines the structural impact of racism on communities, with a particular focus on our communities in and around Rochester.

However, DEI is not just limited to classroom work. Our School librarian, Elaine Mendola, P ’17,’21, ’25, and Trish Corcoran, P ’15, ’23, our standalone K teaching assistant, are helping to critically examine what we are doing and challenging us by providing supplemental materials that help through tone, language, and imagery in order to share many voices and stories that can be used in the classroom.

You just can’t separate a DEI conversation from wellness. DEI is a part of a wellness plan: it’s about validating and understanding where issues are coming from so we can best heal them. That’s true wellness work.

Understanding and working on this makes communities stronger. Being well and staying well are the responsibility of all of us. — Jonathan Ntheketha

Our DEI board committee:

Chairs

Jeffrey Alexis, P ’20, ’23, ’27
Jim Chung ’89
Deb Willsea ’72, P ’06, ’10

Administration

Jonathan Ntheketha, P ’29, ’31
Lars Kuelling (through 3/22), P ’18, ’20, ’21
Larry Frye, P ’12, ’15, ’15

Members

Belinda Redden, P ’24
Dena Levy, P ’24
Milena Novy-Marx, P ’21, ’22, ’26
Zena Shuber, P ’21, ’24
Seenu Kaza, P ’19
Tim Wiest ’76

The work happening now isn’t just for us today—it’s establishing what Harley will look like in 25 years. This work will make Harley a better place and will reflect the intentionality behind what we do.

Our DEI board committee:

Members

Belinda Redden, P ’24
Dena Levy, P ’24
Milena Novy-Marx, P ’21, ’22, ’26
Zena Shuber, P ’21, ’24
Seenu Kaza, P ’19
Tim Wiest ’76

Chairs

Jeffrey Alexis, P ’20, ’23, ’27
Jim Chung ’89
Deb Willsea ’72, P ’06, ’10

Administration

Jonathan Ntheketha, P ’29, ’31
Lars Kuelling (through 3/22), P ’18, ’20, ’21
Larry Frye, P ’12, ’15, ’15

The work happening now isn’t just for us today—it’s establishing what Harley will look like in 25 years. This work will make Harley a better place and will reflect the intentionality behind what we do.

Our DEI board committee:

Chairs

Jeffrey Alexis, P ’20, ’23, ’27
Jim Chung ’89
Deb Willsea ’72, P ’06, ’10

Administration

Jonathan Ntheketha, P ’29, ’31
Lars Kuelling (through 3/22), P ’18, ’20, ’21
Larry Frye, P ’12, ’15, ’15

Members

Belinda Redden, P ’24
Dena Levy, P ’24
Milena Novy-Marx, P ’21, ’22, ’26
Zena Shuber, P ’21, ’24
Seenu Kaza, P ’19
Tim Wiest ’76

The work happening now isn’t just for us today—it’s establishing what Harley will look like in 25 years. This work will make Harley a better place and will reflect the intentionality behind what we do.

DEI, Social-Emotional Learning (SEL), and Wellness: Important Interconnections

Once students exit our Middle School, they will have a solid handle on identity and responsibility to others. This is the perfect groundwork for Grade 9’s mandatory Rights & Responsibilities (R&R) class, and it provides the framework for students to create action strategies to tie their work into climate justice. Students in R&R engage in critical reflection to lead to critical action; and studies show this ability leads to systemic change while maintaining momentum and hope. During the 2022–23 school year, the R&R class will be revamped since students will already have four years of work leading up to this class. There will be more time spent creating their action strategies around their advocacy projects. 

The goal is to build up “critical mass” of collective ability and confidence to go beyond surface work and discover the value in deeper exploration. This creates the space where more meaningful DEI dialogue can thrive. Our students will be prepared to engage in these conversations both in and outside of the classroom.

Faculty members focus on providing spaces and opportunities to encourage and develop a lens to incorporate greater understanding among students. By paying attention to what is taught and how it is taught, and searching for teaching practices that empower students, they enhance student-centered teaching.

Equity and mental health are intertwined, and connections between mental health and academic achievement have been shown in numerous studies. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted students in many ways related to mental health. “It is the responsibility of all of us to ensure our students are well and stay well. Skills such as self-awareness, mindful listening, social awareness, relationship building, and decision making are just as important as subject knowledge.”  

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning  (CASEL) defines Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) as “the process through which children and adults understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make thoughtful decisions.” Their framework comprises the competencies that directly tie into both mental health and equity: self-awareness, social awareness, self-management, relationship skills, and responsible decision making. Students who are able to reflect and own their academic and non-academic successes and areas of growth can also learn to advocate for what best supports their growth and development. 

As we prepare students for their future, it’s imperative we prioritize social-emotional development and equip them with a lens to view the diversity of our world so they can  build bridges and solve problems as thoughtful agents of change.  

DEI topics can bring up many feelings in our learners, but by increasing their ability to engage in emotional regulation, they can recognize their feelings, understand it is okay to have them, and move forward. Learning how to take care of themselves means equipping them to engage and act with intentionality instead of just hoping for an outcome or being reactive in the moment.

A key question we are thinking about at Harley is:
How does our day-to-day curriculum empower our students?

Intentionality and Curriculum

A school like Harley benefits from the ability to pivot and adapt our curriculum rather than being constrained by “teaching to a test.” However, with any opportunity for growth, there are also challenges. It takes the whole School together to not only make sure DEI topics are interwoven but also that there is a progression from each grade to the next. This is systemic work, and it takes time. This past year, we began utilizing the Pollyanna curriculum in K-Grade 8: a terrific starting point to guide us as we reflect and examine what works for Harley. As we continue to move forward, the lens of DEI provides us with a roadmap to build and to understand realities and truths beyond our own.

AIM research data help us focus our efforts, and the articulation of our policies drives our intentionality, however, systemic work takes time. The goals we set now will evolve and grow year-to-year, but because they are rooted in an institutional commitment, they transform into the legacies which are meant to outlive us.