Two recent images capture some new developments at The Commons. The first is a collaborative art project of a Harley Acorn, created by using 6″x6″ squares of blue, green and brown paper collages which were then assembled into acorn form, if you look at it from a distance. The project...
Touring around The Commons with the alumni this past weekend, it is clear that this building is handsome. The fine balance struck between sustainability and aesthetics has truly made this a unique version of an upstate New York barn. You can see from the photos that it rises nicely in...
We are indeed fortunate to have Chris Costanza, the designing architect of The Commons, available to interact with our students of all levels. He had a busy day today, starting off speaking with the Lower School Project-Based Learning class of 3rd and 4th graders about being an architect and his...
Student-conceived and student-driven initiatives are celebrated here at Harley, and we have our fair share of them. This year’s first such endeavor was in support of Alex’s Lemonade Stand for Childhood Cancer, an organization which raises funds to further cancer research. “Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation (ALSF) emerged from the front...
Two important classes in our Upper School which relate directly to the Commons and its school-wide programs are Rights & Responsibilities (led by Chris Hartman and Seth O’Bryan) and The Living Building (taught by Seth O’Bryan). Rights & Responsibilities is a mandatory class for 9th graders which lasts a trimester....
While walking around the school, one can find meaningful moments of mindfulness. This is so woven into the fabric of how we behave and what we do in all divisions, that we can sometimes take it for granted. Many of us have established ways of regulating ourselves in response to...
That expansive quote was offered by Seth O’Bryan during our initial meeting with the newly-established Commons Student Council. We were discussing the different aspects of the Commons that captured our passion and interest, and nearly every member of the 12-student team mentioned the compelling, yet undefined, vision of students taking...
