Harley’s Approach to College Counseling
“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.
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. 
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 
I was a “lifer” at Harley. In the fall of 1963, my parents enrolled me in Harley’s Nursery program, taught by Miss Wadsworth. I went straight through until Grade 12, except for Grade 3, when we returned to London (where I was born) for a year. I think a lot of little boys like to dive deeply into a specific area and learn everything about it. The topic may be narrow, but it can be really deep. If it has numbers and diagrams associated with it, so much the better! A lot of boys dive deeply into sports, or dinosaurs, or fantasy worlds. Me, I got cars.
Classmates remember me drawing cars during slow parts of class. A few, including Sam Hampton ’77 — whom I’ve known since Grade 1—may recall the Morris Minor woody wagon my parents drove me to school in. That was probably the first car I remember focusing intently on, learning everything I could about it.
It wasn’t until 30 years after leaving Harley that I’d get paid to cover my passion. My so-called “career” has been all over the map. I was a systems consultant, I’ve been part of five venture-funded startups, and I’ve been a professional writer since 1985. I got my first editor job that year and built my first website in 1995. I’ve been very lucky to follow different passions throughout my life — “Become what thou art” — and to stay employed while doing it.
In 2005, I went out on my own as a full-time freelance writer. When I went solo, I knew I needed a specialty to set me apart—and, back then, there was no good reporting on hybrid or electric cars. They were seen by the auto press as weird, slow, stupid, and only driven by smelly hippies. That felt like a niche that needed to be filled. I ended up employed again, running Green Car Reports for nine years. In December 2010, soon after I started, the first modern electric cars arrived.
What a difference a decade makes. Now, the entire auto industry acknowledges that it will transition from cars that burn fossil fuels to those that get their energy from the electric grid. But electric cars still have a lot of myths to bust—for instance, the “coal tailpipe.” Here’s the reality: Even if they’re charged on the dirtiest grid in the U.S., an EV emits less CO2 per mile than the average new gasoline car, when you do the analysis properly. On cleaner grids, their carbon footprint is so low, it equals that of a 100-mpg gas-powered vehicle (if such a thing existed). And their CO2 per mile gets lower every time the grid decarbonizes —when renewable energy replaces coal, for instance. No gasoline car ever gets cleaner as it ages. These days, I’m excited that carmakers are building EVs that are desirable vehicles on their own, regardless of the electric aspect. Tesla knew this from the start; now others are catching on. The Ford Mustang Mach-E is sexy and has a legendary brand, and the GMC Hummer EV will prove that big, audacious, honkin’ trucks can be electric, too. They may not be your kind of vehicle, but the hard truth is that very, very few people consider climate or environment when they buy cars.
I headed to Stanford University for college. After 15 years in Rochester, I wanted to put some distance between myself and the life I knew. Plus, I visited in March, and even then it was sunny, with students biking around campus in T-shirts. After Upstate New York winters, that seemed appealing. Being in California let me buy, sell, and drive old cars during college. At one point, I had five at once, and I spent as much time hanging out at friends’ repair shops and San Francisco’s midnight drag races as I did getting my engineering degree. But it was good to get out of my comfort zone, and I enjoyed living in Silicon Valley when it wasn’t quite as crazy as it is today.
The transition to EVs will take the rest of my life and beyond, but it’s no longer in question—although the U.S. runs the risk of falling behind the rest of the world in that respect. Today, I spend my time explaining the auto industry to utility executives, explaining the electricity industry to drivers, and explaining carbon emissions from transport to pretty much everyone. And that’ll keep me busy until I decide to quit and work full-time on my old cars.
So I’m the guy to ask for advice on what new car to buy and whether an EV is right for you. I can also teach peaceful, nonviolent civil-disobedience tactics, but I do less of that these days. These days, I mostly spend my time in the Catskill Mountains — and wait for that next new car to be delivered.