A beautiful garden of blooming delights welcomed back the students and faculty from their snowy and frozen February break. This is the 23rd annual flower show, courtesy of retired Middle School English teacher, Barbara Willard. The bulbs started in pots in Mrs. Willard’s barn, but were then transferred to the...
On Tuesday, January 20th, the three Rochester-native producers of the climate change documentary Comfort Zone were our featured presenters in the Commons Speaker Series. The evening began with a screening of their documentary which follows the film makers, Dave Danesh, Sean Donnelly, and Kate Kressman-Kehoe, on their shared journey to...
We are excited to unveil the New and Improved (and much more user-friendly) Commons Control website! This site has been functional and has been referenced earlier in this blog (here and here), but the new website has improvements which invite data analysis, provide background on the systems, and house an...
Many of you are aware of the Gift of Giving event that took place in the BCCE on December 12th, as organized by the Harley Humanitarian Club. We are delighted to have Kate Veverka as our guest blogger to help us learn more about the concept behind the club as...
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...
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...
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...
