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“I don’t regret it, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”

This is what Chloe Monson ’11 says about her family’s decision to relocate from England to the United States when she was 16.

Originally from Dublin, her family moved around a bit and when her parents decided to move from England to Rochester for work, she was a little surprised at the timing. She was about to embark on a particularly significant schooling year, filled with big exams as she prepared for a future at university. England has a totally different educational system and she was on a very regimented educational track. When she started at Harley, she went from a focus on a specific set of core subjects to options like guitar and jewelry making. She switched from “Maths” in the United Kingdom where she would do a little bit of algebra and a little bit of geometry to whole semesters of one math subject. She was more than a little overwhelmed and didn’t feel prepared. She said, “I was this mix of either way behind or way ahead in every class and people kept talking about something called an SAT…” She said her first year at Harley was a crazy experience and she was just trying to manage.

One of the saving graces that first year, though, was sports. She had always been an athlete at her school in England, and was excited to continue in the States, but she discovered that her favorite sports were either not available at Harley (field hockey) or didn’t exist (netball, kind of like basketball, but no dribbling). Her mom urged her, “Just sign-up for something!” So, she chose volleyball for the fall and says it was the greatest decision she ever made because she met Amy Colosimo. She and Coach Colosimo had a connection from the start and when Amy offered to be Chloe’s advisor at Harley, she jumped at the chance to work with this woman she greatly respected and admired. The two worked together throughout her time at Harley and it made life a little easier.

Despite all the huge life changes, Chloe’s focus on college did not waver. She planned to go to Trinity College in Dublin where both of her parents attended. She said her family would go back to Ireland periodically to visit relatives or for work and student visa renewals and her parents would make a point to stop and visit the college. She said on one visit, her father said, “Let’s just go to the admission office, tell them you are an Irish citizen, but living in the States, and you want to know exactly what you need to do to get in here.” The admissions office was extremely helpful and laid out a plan for Chloe to follow. Chloe followed the plan and was admitted to Trinity College where she majored in business and economics.

Chloe shared with me that studying business at college is kind of a norm in Ireland because the country has a lot of international business connections. Ireland is kind of a “tax haven” meaning they have a very low corporation tax, and that means multinational businesses build headquarters or subsidiaries in Ireland to take advantage of that benefit. She says due to the international flavor of companies within Ireland, many of the college students, like her, earn business degrees with a particular focus on “strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship.” Within her degree, she did various internships, but a highlight in her college career was volunteering as a college student for a non-profit company called Enactus. Enactus establishes student programs on campus to help students with social justice issues. Chloe worked in a program called “Voice for the Voiceless” where she would go to homeless shelters to help build resumes for the residents.

Now, Chloe is living in Brooklyn, NY and works as a consultant. She says much of her work is in market entry, corporate growth strategy, customer experience, and long-term innovation projects. She says she has a passion for this work and in the past has worked for big mammoth consulting firms like Ernst and Young, but more recently has been working at boutique firms like Fahrenheit 212 and at her new job, Vivaldi Group. She says Vivaldi is an innovation consulting group with a focus on brand strategy, and when you hire Vivaldi, they help create a strong, tactical strategy for ideas within the company.

Chloe really enjoys her new job at Vivaldi and likes consulting because she knows what’s she’s good at. “I like client services and find that I am especially good at working with their needs.” Chloe explained that there are four types of working styles: Generator, Conceptualizer, Optimizer, and Implementer. She said she is absolutely the implementer and when a client has a good idea, she is the one that can make it happen. Knowing this about herself, she said she probably wouldn’t ever start her own business, but will be a great asset at a start-up company or joining a friend on their next business venture idea. Will she ever move back to Ireland? She says probably not and shared this article she wrote for the Irish Times about the longer you stay away, the less it makes sense to move back.

She says moving to Harley and to the United States was hugely impactful on her and that both the move and the struggles with the new school environment taught her to be embrace and be comfortable with change. “The business world is in flux all the time, with a level of ‘sink or swim.’ Sometimes you just need to figure it out and get stuff done. The move to the States taught me that.” Although, as stated above, she wouldn’t recommend a move like this to anyone, she has no regrets because these challenges made her resilient and got her where she is today.

 

 

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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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