Becoming 2015

The Commons Blog
January 2016

Happy New Year! I hope that 2016 is starting off well for you. 

Harley Commons Co-Director, Seth O'Bryan, wants to tap into the collective memory of our alumni and former faculty for a student project.

My living building [the Commons building] students want to do a display about ways in which Harley has studied environmental sustainability. We are interested in hearing from alumni, former faculty, or parents about projects or classes that studied sustainability in the 50's, 60's, 70's, 80's, and 90's. The subjects can be related to pollution, recycling, waste, deforestation, energy use, acid rain, ozone, etc.

I have been thinking about this for awhile. I was particularly struck by something a former faculty member wrote in a recent alumni newsletter, "We were an extraordinary group, even if it's self-serving for me to say so. John's death brings back wonderful days at Harley when Steve Hinrichs and then Dexter Lewis were building an extraordinary school and we were all part of it." 

I'm interested in the specific things that were happening that led to building this extraordinary school. In this case, our focus is projects related to environmental sustainability.

Thanks for any help!
Seth

If you have a story to share, please contact Karen Saludo at ksaludo@harleyschool.org or (585) 277-1117.
 
Upcoming Events
  
February 5 
HAC Boys Basketball Jamir Avery '13 Night at Allendale Columbia School, 5:30 p.m.
 
February 23
Commons Speaker Series featuring Rob Staehle '73, engineer and researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory 
 
Join us for an alumni reception at 5:00 pm in Lehman Art Center and stay for the Commons Speaker Series at 6:30 pm in Briggs Center for Civic Engagement 
 
February 26
San Francisco Alumni Gathering hosted by Kraig Kayser '78

February 27
Los Angeles Alumni Gathering hosted by Bruce Brown '79

March 4 
Seattle, WA area Alumni Gathering hosted by Tim Wiest '76 and  Priscilla Rockwell Wiest '76
 
March 5 
Boulder, CO area Alumni Gathering hosted by Linda Hamlin Arnold '83

March 12 
Blast! at Temple B'rith Kodesh
Alumni College Day 2016

Annually, we invite recent alumni back to Harley to share their college experiences. Here is some of the sage advice they imparted to Upper Schoolers:

-Don't narrow your options based on cost of college; financial aid is available.

-Visit schools before you make decisions.

-Utilize your free time; there are a lot of interesting opportunities at college. Go to "Club Fair" to find some new interests.

-Teachers at Harley are looking out for you and keeping track of what you are doing. At college, professors are not checking that you get your work done; you are responsible. College academics are on you.

-College isn't necessarily hard, you just have to be organized and have a plan, set goals, have a routine. 

-Sometimes it's hard to live with other people!

-Harley prepares you to write and study, which helps with a college workload.

-Utilize college resources like tutoring, professor office hours, study groups, and the writing center.

-Use your time at college to do something different.

-Don't just focus on school work because you don't make friends that way.

-Balance school and social life, especially first semester. You get out of college what you put in.

-Ask questions in class.

-Have fun, but be safe. 

College Day 2016 participants:  Eddy Wang '12 (Yale), Alyssa Yudelson '15 (George Washington), Cameron Yudelson '15 (Goucher), Alissa Wells '15 (American), Morgan MacRae '15 (Bard), Bjarne Nielsen '15 (St. Lawrence), Kristina Benjamin '15 (University of Dayton), Megan Mendelson '14 (Alfred University), Justin Fox '15 (College of Wooster), Robert Smith '15 (Lehigh), Andrew Regelski '13 (Rochester Institute of Technology), and Allison Jordan '15 (Colgate)

Thank you to everyone who came back to support this great event!
While we are on the subject of college...

Here is an update on the Class of 2016 from College Advisor, Kim McDowell.

As of January 22, 2016, the Class of 2016 has submitted 501 college applications to 211 unique colleges and universities. The total application count is up 15% from last year. 
 
Eight seniors have been accepted Early Decision (binding) to eight different schools:  Alfred University, Boston University, Bryn Mawr, Cornell, Kenyon, RIT, University of Rochester, and Wellesley. 
 
The Early Action (non-binding) application route also has yielded acceptances to the following schools:
 
Binghamton University
Case Western Reserve
University of Cincinnati
University of Colorado at Boulder
DePaul
Drexel
Fordham
Georgia State University
Hampton University
University of Hartford
Indiana University
New Jersey Institute of Technology
The New School
Northeastern
Ohio State University
University of Pittsburgh
Pratt Institute
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Spelman
Stanford
University of Vermont
 
Results for those who applied "Regular Decision" are beginning to trickle in, but many decisions will remain unknown until April 1. The weeks ahead represent an epic test of patience for many seniors!
Alumni In the News
Andrea Durfee '02 featured in
Post Magazine

Andrea Durfee '02, P '23 was recently featured in Post Magazine, a publication focused on Rochester's "innovators, artists, entrepreneurs, dreamers, and doers." She is all that and more.

I recently visited her at a collaborative art space in Rochester's Public Market, "The Yards." She is an artist in residence there until the end of January. She spends much of her time working on her beautiful landscape watercolor paintings. Her work is unique in that it looks like a view of the mountains, or a river running through a valley, but if you look hard enough, you always find a human image within the picture. She said most of her pieces start off as a little sketch and become "more deliberate" as the painting forms.

Andrea was a "lifer" at Harley and spent much of her time developing her artistic craft. She said that even as a child her mother had to rush her off to school in the morning because she always had a crayon, pen, or pencil in her hand.

As a Harley parent, Andrea is happy that her son is able to share her Harley experience. She said she loves the mindfulness that Harley Lower School teaches the children, and the holistic approach to teaching.  Carlin is very happy and loving learning. 





She is also expanding the business she started with her sister-in-law in 2014,  Louelle Design Studio, an "artisan invitation and stationary company." The new store will be located in the former Little Blue Cheese Shop in Rochester's South Wedge. It will be a small store front, and they hope to provide a personal touch to their work.


Emerald Carroll and Jenna Fain '05

Jenna Fain '05 was recently  featured in New York's  Village Voice for her work at Stone Set , a premier fine-jewelry website she and friend, Emerald Carroll founded. Jenna is also Director, Social and Influencer Marketing at Stuart Weitzman.
Alumni in Action
Carlos Echaniz '55, Richard Cerasani '56, Ward Ghory, and Morley Glutzman


Richard Cerasani '56 spoke at an Upper School assembly about his new book, "Love Letters from Mt. Rushmore: The Story of a Marriage, a Monument, and Moment in History." Discovering a trunk full of letters between his parents, he was inspired to write the story of their connection to Mt. Rushmore. His father spent seven months as a sculptor at Mt. Rushmore, leaving his wife home in Rochester. Captured in their daily correspondence, their story shows the human side of the effort to complete the monumental memorial.


We had a clandestine visit from former staff member,  Dorothy Barrows P '80, and Laura Bales Barrows '79. They were on the hunt for a new HAC sweatshirt for Paul Barrows '80. Dorothy had never seen the new Commons building, so we gave her a tour.


Charles Hosley '70 has moved back to Rochester from sunny Kealakekua, Hawaii. He stopped by for a tour and an updated class list. Welcome back, Charles!
Harley Archives




Guenther Steffen '54 recently notified us about a discrepancy in the 1954 Comet yearbook. We have Arthur Simon '54 and Guenther's pictures switched on their senior pages. Above is what it should have looked like. If you have a copy of the 1954 yearbook, take a look!

A few days later, Barbara Poole von Schilcher '58 passed along that in the 1955 yearbook, the 9th and 10th grade photos were switched. Below is the fixed version. Again, if you have a 1955 yearbook, take a look!

As we organize and digitize our archives in preparation for Centennial it is always helpful to get corrected information. Please bring any changes to our attention.



Karen Saludo, Associate Director of Development | (585) 277-1117 | ksaludo@harleyschool.org |