Part of the beauty of having a fully operational workshop in the Commons is that students can work to fulfill identified needs in the community. Last year, the valiant members of the Upper School Design Thinking class built shoe shelves for outside the CMEE, make Adirondack seats for the playgrounds...
This Tuesday, the 9th Grade Rights & Responsibilities class welcomed Ann Johnson to class as a guest presenter. Ann is the Director of ACT Rochester and has held the position since 2009.She has also been involved with several organizations, including Facing Race and Embracing Equity; Rochester’s racial equity initiative, Rochester...
The Seventh Grade is tackling the problem of how to design a vertical hydroponic growing structure which maximizes access to nutrients (sunlight and liquid food), includes a system to deliver that food (solar-powered pump and plastic tubing), and takes up a limited amount of space. They are in the early...
As part of their unit studying simple machines, the Third Grade made good use of the Project Space to set up various tests to lift loads with different sizes of pulleys. With the help of Leader In Residence, Ja’Daiza Johnson, the entire class was able to choose several pulleys to...
We were honored to welcome Congresswoman Louise Slaughter to give the fourth presentation in the Commons Speaker Series this past Monday. She gladly gave up her time back in Rochester to come and speak at Harley, where her daughter attended back in then 1980s. Representing the 25th Congressional District of...
We were honored to have Brighton Town Supervisor Bill Moehle as our third presenter in our Commons Speaker Series. He was the first speaker to address topics relating to civic engagement, local government, advocacy and activism. The design behind the speaker series is to present a variety of local experts...
In the spirit of service learning in action, 9th grader Ryan Woodhams has been a powerful force in the community with his awareness and fund-raising efforts, as well as linking to The Harley School’s commitment to supporting local and national causes. A little over a year ago, we posted on...
Design Thinking Classes — Guest blog by Ja’Daiza Johnson, Commons Leader in Residence Design Thinking has been a great set of classes so far this year. The two Middle School Flex Time classes have been working on various projects to get the students familiar with the design process and to...
Seth O’Bryan, Commons Co-Coordinator and teacher of the Living Building class, is always asking questions. That’s what makes working with him such a delight. As we gradually learn more about what is possible with the systems of the Commons and how they interact, Seth is leading the charge to analyze...
Guest blog by Ja’Daiza Johnson, Commons Leader in Residence This year the Greenhouse appears much more tropical than usual. The 20 banana trees that now live on the Mezzanine balcony are the reason! The trees are all different shapes and sizes, ranging from babies just sprouting through the soil up...
