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This article originally appeared in the Rochester Business Journal, June 22, 2021.

The Harley School has been awarded a grant by the Edward E. Ford Foundation for the advancement of the school’s climate change curriculum, enhancement of its sustainability plan and dissemination of educational resources to schools across the country to amplify impact.

Just 12 other schools received grants from the foundation, whose mission is to improve secondary education by supporting independent schools and “encouraging promising practices.” The Harley School will receive $96,225 and plans to match the award with the support of the school community.

The school already has made the understanding of climate change a priority. Harley’s student-run sustainability club studies ways the school can limit its carbon footprint, including a composting initiative for school lunch trays. The Commons is an immersive learning space devoted to education for a sustainable future where students manage a structure with low impact in energy, water and carbon dioxide consumption.

The school says it will use the grant to determine methods through which instructors can integrate critical investigations around climate change into existing course materials. The goal will be to provide a holistic education through studies of the beginnings of CO2 production during the industrial revolution, zoonotic disease past and present in Europe, and the politics of climate change in the United States.

Technology upgrades also will be made with items such as laser cutters and 3D printers to enhance learning in biomimicry and sustainable farming innovation.

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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

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