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Photos and writing provided by Lisa Barker, Food and Farm Coordinator

With the winter almost officially upon us, I’m sure at least  some of you are wondering: What exactly happens to the bees in the winter? The answer varies somewhat depending on the region and the climate, but: because bees are resilient and adaptable, they’ve evolved to survive long winters without access to flowers and warm temperatures.

While in the spring and summer worker bees have a lifespan of just 4-6 weeks, the last bees born during the year—the “winter bees”- will live for 4-6 months. These bees will hunker down inside the hive in a cluster with the queen at the center, doing minimal activity and surviving off of the honey that the colony has been storing up all year. The bees cannot fly when the temperature is lower than 50 degrees, so for much of the winter, they just stay inside. On 50+ degree days, they will take “cleansing flights”—bees will not use the bathroom inside the hive all winter! (There’s a set of circumstances to imagine!)

As the temperature drops, the queen completely stops laying eggs until after the winter solstice. Then, as the days slowly start to get longer, activity begins to gradually pick back up again.  

Because the bees are limited in their resources in the winter, the population of the colony goes down along with the temperature. The male bees, or drones, do not survive the winter- they are kicked out of the hive by the female worker bees. Only once it has warmed up significantly in the spring and the stores of food have been replenished will the queen bee begin laying male eggs. 

In this part of the world, a colony needs at least 60 pounds of honey to survive the winter. So, a few weeks ago, we combined two sets of two hives, each of which did not have enough honey stores on their own.

When combining hives, the stronger of the two goes on the bottom, and a layer of newspaper goes in between. The bees will eventually chew through the paper but having it there initially allows them to gradually get used to their new housemates. 

It’s not a completely peaceful transition, though: If there was a queen bee in each of the two colonies that got combined, they will literally fight it out and by the time the colonies are combined, there will only be one. 

Most of what you can see on this frame is capped honey, but there are some empty cells around the edges. What we really want to see are frames that are completely filled with honey from top to bottom. When the bees have finished processing the honey, they seal it into the cell with a wax capping. They make the wax themselves with special a gland on their abdomen! 

Our next step in preparing our bees for winter was to make something called a quilt box for each hive. Sounds cozy, right? This is one of the best methods of keeping the hive moisture-free during the winter. While the bees will, remarkably, keep the temperature around 95 degrees all winter long by clustering together and pulsating their muscles, moisture buildup inside the hive is one of the biggest threats to their survival. A two-part system of inserting material at the top of the hive to absorb the moisture as well as proper ventilation to let it escape is essential, especially in areas with long cold winters like ours.

A quilt box has a piece of cotton cloth as a “floor” underneath a thick layer of pine shavings. We also added a layer of wire mesh beneath the cotton cloth to keep it from sagging over time. Moisture vapor, rising up from the cluster of bees as  they eat and breathe, passes through the fabric and into the shavings. Ventilation is also key: above the shavings are holes in a shim that will allow the moisture to continue to travel up, through, and out of the hive when outside conditions are right. In the meantime, the shavings will absorb the water and hold it away from the bees. 

With the quilt boxes in place and some supplemental food provided in each hive—in the form of solid sugar mixed with a pollen substitute—our bees are ready to cozy up and wait out the winter. The beekeeping class, which has been working with them since the beginning of the year, said “good night” to the bees last week during our final day of working with them for the season. In the spring a new class will be checking to see how they fared over the cold months. It’s always a little nerve-wracking for me—I miss seeing our small fuzzy friends all winter! In the meantime, I like to imagine them daydreaming about brightly colored flowers abundant in nectar as they wait for the temperature to rise and the days to get longer. 

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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

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“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).

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​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.

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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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