Harley Alumni Happenings:
March/April 2022
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I am in my 18th year at Harley and I know many of the faculty and staff around school. However, with masking and the pandemic, it's been difficult to get to know, much less recognize, new faculty and staff. I swear half the time I don't recognize colleagues I have known for years when they have a mask on! Things are looking up, though. With the Covid-19 rates coming down in the area, masking is now optional at school. I can now greet those new teachers and staff members with a "Oh! That's what you look like—lovely!"
We are going into our second week as a mask-optional school, and the masking with students, faculty, and staff is a mix of completely off, completely on, and everything in-between. Larry Frye provided information to parents who had questions about the new protocol and I wanted to share it with you. This link has some resources that might help you and your family in your decision-making about masking as well.
Stay healthy!
—Karen
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Joy Moss was a respected and adored Harley Lower School librarian for over 45 years (1969-2015). She took her passion for reading and books and shared it with students and colleagues alike. This March marks the one year anniversary of her passing and while we know a lot about her impact at The Harley School, we wanted to honor her with a story that includes accomplishments in her life outside of Harley. We collected stories from her family, friends, and colleagues to give you a more complete story on Joy. Enjoy!
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We had a blast last weekend at The Harley School and Horizons at Harley annual gala, Blast! After a two year hiatus, over 150 people gathered to eat, drink, bid, and dance the night away. The night was a huge success—we raised over $115,000 to support Harley and Horizons, and surpassed our goal!
Thank you to our Blast! chair Donna Sullivan P '32, '34 for all of your creative ideas and ceaseless enthusiasm! Congratulations to Eboné Creighton, our Assistant Director of Development and Special Events, for such an amazing first event! Thanks to all who participated in Tuesday's Silent Auction event and the Gala—we could not have done it without you!
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A splash of paint to celebrate Blast!
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Patrick and Donna Sullivan P '32, '34 and Jenn and Ted Townsend '98, P '32, '33 |
Eboné Creighton and Kirsten Allen Reader '90, P '26, '20 |
Marketing staff members and huge Blast! helpers, Amy Brand P '25 and Lisa Osborne Lange '74, P '09 playing on the giant Lite Bright. |
Jim and Kay Benjamin P '09, '15, '15 |
Former Board President Gail Fiorini and Ray Fiorini P '18 |
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Larry and Robin Frye P '12, '15, '15 |
Kathy Durfee D'Amanda '76 and John D'Amanda '75, P '03, '05, '09, GP '32, '35 and Whitney Brice |
Les Lange and Lisa Osborne Lange '74 P '09 |
Our auction emcees, Joe Lomonaco and Andrea Holland |
Board President, Milena Novy-Marx P '21, '22, '26 |
Zena Shuber Dorsey P '16, '18, '20, '24 and Alan Knauf P '16, '18 |
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Commons Series Recording:
Collective Grief
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Please find below the link to the recording of the February Commons Series presentation featuring Harley parent, Dr. Natercia Rodrigues, and her colleague, Dr. Jessica Shand. They discuss grappling with the collective grief through several powerful and effective frameworks and exercises.
We hope you enjoy the presentation!
The Commons Team
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Conversation with Michael Lasser |
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Michael Lasser, Harley English teacher from 1966-1998, author, and radio host of the syndicated Fascinatin' Rhythms, recently spoke to former students about how he became a writer and his upcoming book, I Hear America’s Song: Popular Music & American Identity.
Michael is interesting and engaging and the alumni in attendance, Valerie Bronte '99, Kathy Durfee D'Amanda '76, Joshua Lansky '98, Charlotte Lee '72, and Tim Wiest '76 enjoyed getting to know one of their favorite Harley teachers even better.
Click here to watch the Zoom, but note that the video was cut off at the end. Below is a summary of the last few minutes.
One last question. Do you have any advice for people who are interested in writing a book?
Write, write, and write and be extraordinarily tough on yourself. Eventually you will get to a point where you want to go to a University Press or get an agent, but you don’t want to do that too soon. You don’t want them to make you change too much, and they will if you haven’t got much. So, you are going to have to write an introduction and at least 2 or 3 chapters, then a prospectus, and a chapter summary for the agent. That is time consuming and grueling, so just write like hell.
A piece of practical advice: When you write, what do you write with? It’s a misleading question. Your ear. You have to hear it; it has to sound like you. Not chit chat at the kitchen table, but you have to hear your voice in it so it comes out of you. When you read it back, does it sound like you could be saying it? I mean lift it to writing, obviously, but don’t write academic crap and avoid the passive voice and all that stuff. Use the active voice and read it aloud to yourself. It’s a great help. Also know that you never finish what you’re working on, but it comes to a point where you just have to say, “Enough. I am stopping.”
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Harley School in the News |
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Prior to the pandemic, we held Lower School assemblies in the Centrum every Wednesday that always ended with a round of "Creating a caring community, community, community. Creating a caring community, here at the Harley School!" Earlier this year, we were proud that a student-led project to build a "tiny house" for the homeless in the Rochester area came to fruition and was recently delivered to its designated spot in the city. I can't help thinking the two Middle School students who proposed this idea had this song's sentiment in mind!
News coverage:
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Katherine Rich '08:
Harley Changed the Trajectory of My Life
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“Harley changed the trajectory of my life.”
--Katherine Rich ’08
Katherine says there are two key reasons Harley made such an impact on her.
First, Latin class with Jessica Densmore (Upper School language, 1997 to present). Spanish and French are the main languages at Harley, but students are required to take one semester of Latin in Grade 8. The language is then an elective in Upper School. Katherine stuck with it (and Spanish) all through her time at Harley. She also studied Greek with Len Wilcox P ’01, ’03, GP ’34 (Mathematics, College Counseling 1969-82, 1986-2020) during the lunch period and she said Len inspired her and really encouraged her studies in this ancient language. In fact, she was such a voracious student, he let her borrow all of his classic language books to peruse on her own time. She did and she enjoyed them immensely (see photo below)! She also shared, “I was the only student in the AP Latin class in my senior year. That was fun, very cool that Harley let me do that even though I was the only one. We read Vergil's Aeneid.”
Click here to learn more about Katherine.
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Liam Brennan-Burke '17:
Invoices and Cryptocurrency
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When Liam Brennan-Burke ’17 first joined Harley in Grade 6, he was already thinking about invoicing. He had started his own lawn mowing business that year, “Liam’s Lawn Service,” and wanted to figure out how to easily bill his neighborhood customers and receive payments from them. So he learned some basic Excel, which helped him organize services, payments, and accounting. He sent out paper invoices and received checks back in the mail. It worked well for an 11-year old running a business, but was not the most efficient in terms of payment processes.
Throughout high school and college, Liam had the opportunity to learn more about financial technology. He was first exposed to “mobile wallets” and companies like M-Pesa that were at the frontier of peer-to-peer payment while doing an independent study with his sister, Erin Brennan-Burke ‘15, in Malawi and Tanzania. While in college at Claremont McKenna, Liam returned to East Africa to intern for a tech startup in Uganda. At SafeBoda (think Uber for motorcycles), he did operations/product work and learned more about mobile wallets since the ride-hailing app’s drivers used them to accept funds for completed rides. His junior year internship at a Buy-Now-Pay-Later fintech company involved working with four engineers and developing a web extension for credit cards. These experiences showed Liam the power of financial products and cemented his interest in the space.
Click here to learn more about Liam.
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John Goldman '52:
Johnny's Journey
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John Goldman '52 was thinking about his upcoming 70th Reunion from Harley and shared a great story.
John knows how to celebrate a birthday in style! When he celebrated his 80th birthday back in 2014, he “sold” all of his party guests a copy of a book that he wrote about his life—for 10 cents.
In the prologue of Johnny’s Journey he talks about why he wrote this book, “Perhaps I have a case of nostalgia. Most of us old people have it. As you age you discover that there’s a lot of it going around and that it’s highly contagious. You can catch it while watching old black and white movies on television where people wear the same clothes that you once wore and ride around in cars like those you and your neighbors had when you were a kid…But I think that it’s much more personal than that. I am intrigued with the idea of trying to reconnect with my early years…this will not be an autobiography. I am going to focus on my “extended childhood”—from birth to college. That’s the span of time that shapes most of our lives, mine included.”
John shared two particular chapters that Harley alumni might find interesting because they pertain to his time at the school.
John’s book is available at The Harley School library if you are interested in reading it.
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Alan Staehle '59: A Lifetime of Achievement |
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Following winter break in Grade 11, Alan Staehle '59, along with five other boys from the class of 1959, was asked not to return to Harley after a series of "stupid stunts" earlier in the year. Though he did not graduate from Harley, he is especially thankful for the influence of Bud Ewell '40 (Math and Science, Head of Lower, Middle and Woodworking 1952-1993).
"A favorite time for me was lunch time and the socialization involved, and I liked wandering Allen’s Creek. In class, I remember Mr. Ewell told me that a theorem I had used to solve a geometry problem didn’t exist, but then he went on to help me prove “Staehle’s Theorem” and declared it useable by others in the class (it was actually of very little use, but his support made me feel good). I enjoyed all the science classes at Harley and think they were well presented for that day and age.
I also watched Mr. Ewell give some special attention and support to a kind of 'loner' girl who was desperate to get into the Coast Guard. That was not something that would have been common in those days, but he encouraged her and I think made some inquiries on her behalf.
Dr. Larry Utter (History, and Head of School, 1930-1954) was Head of School and I occasionally had to stop by his office. I felt he cared about the school and our success and enjoyed visiting with him, even if I was in hot water for something.
Now giving it some thought, I would guess Mr. Ewell became a role model for me in helping others solve problems and be successful in what they tried to do professionally. My father was a good person and a leader of many things, but as a scientist he didn’t have the opportunity to help others to the extent that it turned out that I was able to do, and got satisfaction from doing so."
Alan went on to pursue a career in police and public safety for more than 50 years. Much of his work was in criminal justice reform in Colorado. He says one of the most successful jail program improvements was providing GED education for interested prisoners.
"Getting their GED really changed their self-image and helped keep them out of the Justice System when they left us."
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Peter Brown '80, architect, planner, development consultant, author, and instructor at at the University of Minnesota, recently shared on LinkedIn, "I was deeply honored to have the opportunity to speak at the Lithuanian Real Estate Development Association conference today, and to talk a little bit about my book, How Real Estate Developers Think. I hope to have shared some useful and universal truths about the role of collaboration in successful development."
Here is a glimpse of what the book is about:
Cities are always changing: streets, infrastructure, public spaces, and buildings are constantly being built, improved, demolished, and replaced. But even when a new project is designed to improve a community, neighborhood residents often find themselves at odds with the real estate developer who proposes it. Savvy developers are willing to work with residents to allay their concerns and gain public support, but at the same time, a real estate development is a business venture financed by private investors who take significant risks.
How Real Estate Developers Think is available on Amazon.
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This is from Larry Frye's The Weekly to parents:
Magnus Sheffield ’20—“One of the most promising cyclists in the world”
This is just really fun to follow. I actually got a LinkedIn request from Magnus the other day—his job title is the coolest ever, “Professional Athlete”—and it reminded me of this piece from last weekend in the Democrat & Chronicle. Magnus is certainly making waves internationally for his cycling, having just won his first major race. He’s cited as “one of the most promising cyclists in the world.”
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Harley Archives: Class of 1979 |
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Bruce Brown '79 was feeling nostalgic and passed along some wonderful photos of the Class of 1979. At the top, a class photo and below are pictures from that year's upper school musical, The Sound of Music.
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Gail McGuire (Science, 1965-2000) is not an alum, but many of our alumni will remember her! Gail stopped by school to drop off a bottle of her single barrel scotch for Harley's Blast! auction.
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Kiera Holloran, grandbaby of Peter Holloran '71
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The beautiful family of Brendan Larrabee '06 and his wife, Meaghan.
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There was a mini Reunion in Tel Aviv, Israel with Aliza Leit '17, Rachel Present Schreter '02, and Aidan Leit '20.
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I had a chance to speak with Ulrik Soderstrom '11 about his interest in working with Betsy Vinton (Upper School Math and Science, 2001-present) as she creates Harley's first climate change curriculum.
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From Doug Gilbert '87 (Middle School History, 1999-present):
Here is a picture of Eckart Baum, who was an exchange student at Harley and living with my family during his 11th grade year, 1985 and 1986, and Ian Watson '88.
Both families live in Bavaria and got together for dinner on Saturday night. They had a terrific time! While they were there, we video chatted with them. I guess you could say it was a three family get-together!
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Caitlin Broman '11 and Tom Lombardo on their wedding day in November! |
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Karen Saludo, Senior Associate Director of Development and Alumni Relations
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