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Head of School’s Letter

Head of School’s Letter

E. E. Ford is generally regarded as the foremost foundation in the independent school world, and they have been good to Harley over the years: I believe this is the sixth grant we have received, the most recent was support for the Commons.

Dear Harley friends,

A year ago at this time, I wrote to you in these pages on the topic, “Education for a Sustainable World.” Normally, I wouldn’t want to repeat myself, but so much has happened this year that, well, I’m going to!

Specifically, I want to make sure you know about the work our faculty is doing to write a curriculum to address the climate crisis. Incredibly, few comprehensive programs like ours exist in the United States (or the world, for that matter). A year ago we applied and were approved for a grant from the Edward E. Ford Foundation to help rectify that situation.

What does it mean to write a curriculum addressing climate change? For us, it is not a single course or set of classes: rather, we are stitching lessons about the climate crisis into most of the disciplines in the Upper School.

This year, Upper School Math & Science teacher Betsy Vinton, Ph.D. spent half of her time working with colleagues to re-engineer certain units in the Upper School that would accomplish both their original goals and be part of a through line in the Upper School about climate change. Meanwhile, Commons Director Seth O’Bryan, P ’32, ’34 was working on other aspects of the grant, including a Sustainability Plan for Harley, beginning to upgrade some of the equipment that will help us do this work, and planning professional development for the faculty and staff.

One interesting note is that this won’t feel like a big overhaul to the students. Having a unit or two in a course re-worked is something that happens roughly every summer in every class at Harley. That said, part of the curriculum will be the Freshman Experience—days spread through the school year—in which all Grade 9 students will discuss various aspects of climate change, including eco-anxiety, colonialism, proposed solutions, and reflections on what they have learned in other classes related to climate.

Harley is an unusual and wonderful school in lots of different ways, and one of them is this: for a school that’s more than a century old and loves its traditions, we nonetheless continually innovate, re-examine, and seek to get better. I couldn’t be prouder of this important work.

Larry Frye, P ’12, ’15, ’15

Head of School

Letter from the Head of School

Letter from the Editor

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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

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. 

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