Happy November!

For many of us, the month of November represents cooler weather, cozy sweaters, and the start of the holiday season. Thanksgiving is coming in just a few weeks and during this time of year I like to reflect on what I am thankful for and let those important people in my life know that my life is better because they are a part of it.

I've been thinking about Harley and what a special place it is for me and my family and I wanted to take a moment to thank you, the Harley alumni community, for all of your support. You have shared your stories, your wisdom, your opinions, your time, and so much more, over my 19 years here. Some of my deepest friendships have come from Harley and I appreciate you and your willingness to let me be a part of your life because you are such an important part of mine.

—Karen

The Halloween Parade is one of the sweetest traditions I've ever experienced at Harley. The delight of the lower schoolers as they proudly showcase their costumes is heartwarming. Please enjoy these photos. Check out Harley's Facebook page and Instagram for more!

Artwork by Shayne Hollands '13

Thank you to the talented Shayne Hollands '13 for her fantastic artwork! If you take a closer look at the calendar above, you'll see it matches the November drawing in this year's Harley Calendar.

My son and I were sitting with his grandmother recently and she said to him, “Leo, you’re going into your freshman year and you have four years left of school. Do you have any idea what you want to do in the future?" She paused for a second and continued. "Because, when I was in sixth grade, I had the most amazing music teacher. Her class was the highlight of my day and she was the best teacher I ever had. She is the reason I became a music teacher. She was my inspiration! I hope one day you have a teacher like that.” I asked her, “Did you ever get to tell her that she's the reason you became a music teacher?” She sighed and said, “No, I never did. I wish I had.”

I must have gotten her thinking because when I was speaking with her the other day, she told me that she decided to write the note. "I know she is no longer with us, but it's kind of a fun exercise and I'm getting excited about writing it!" It made me smile and I can't wait to see what she writes!

Do you have a note that you wish you'd written to an inspirational Harley teacher? Harley’s Thankful, a week where we support the Harley Fund and give thanks to the wonderful Harley faculty and staff, past and present, is November 13-17 and it could be the perfect time for you to write that note you always meant to write.

You can email me a note, go to the Harley website to submit it, drop it off at school, or send it to me in the mail at: The Harley School, 1981 Clover Street, Rochester, NY 14618. I'll plan to share any I receive (with your permission of course) during the week of Thankful.

When you hear the job title Chief Executive Officer, you might conjure up an image of a decisive heart-charger, adaptable, with a keen sense of business, always looking at the bottom line of a company. With Mark Dibble ’97, you get all that, but with an earnest focus on the people that make it all happen.

Mark is the President and CEO of the YMCA of the Pines of Medford in New Jersey. This isn’t your typical Y. The Pines of Medford serves 2 ½ counties, 25,000-30,000 people a year, and has a budget of $8 million. All YMCA’s are individually governed and as CEO, he reports to a volunteer board and they work together with the local schools and surrounding neighborhoods to create programs that will enhance the lives of the community. The Pines of Medford does a lot: overnight summer camps for boys and girls, co-ed day camps, school age childcare, family programs, outdoor education and recreation programs. They also do specialized camps like Camp Bright Feathers, a free overnight summer camp that sponsors local children ages 6 to 17 affected by HIV/AIDS or community violence. They also host corporate retreats and team building, school field trips, and a variety of conferences. The YMCA serves the community all year long and summer camps are important, but just a small part of the offerings.

Mark got his start at the YMCA after he graduated from SUNY Geneseo where he majored in English Literature, with a minor in Environmental Science. He says he was introduced to environmental studies at Harley, joining the Global Awareness Project, a student club trying to help the environment. He worked at the YMCA of Greater Rochester/Camp Cory as the Associate Executive Director and Program Director. During his tenure, camper enrollment and activity development and implementation reached unprecedented levels and Camp Cory achieved the highest customer satisfaction rating of any YMCA summer camp facility across the nation in 2009 and 2010. Other notable connections from Camp Cory: Mark met his wife, Beth, there and was the supervisor for current Camp Cory operators, Harley Controller, Nicole Foster P ‘34, ‘37 and her husband, Pat.

He left the YMCA in 2010 to pursue a business degree and went on to earn an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. His goal was to gain experience in the for-profit business world and apply it to the non-profit world. He did this for several years as a business strategy consultant for Accenture, an organization that helps other companies build high-performing teams to solve complex problems. He learned a great deal working on different areas of business at several multibillion-dollar companies: employee relations, IT issues, stakeholder satisfaction, budget reconciliation, and more. While he learned a lot solving these complex issues, he missed his time in the non-profit world, helping young people and families, and started doing some pro-bono work. Eventually, he reached out to his friends at the YMCA and in 2015 was hired at the Pines of Medford.

Mark is a very busy guy. He says with five different YMCA campuses and so many camps and events, he is out and about in the community quite a bit, making sure all of the YMCA-sponsored programs are running smoothly and continuing to support the well-being, and physical and mental health of children and families. He understands that anxiety and depression can impact any family and wants the Y to be a resource to alleviate some of the pressure.

He also works hard to achieve “operational excellence” for his employees, wanting to make his YMCA the employer of choice in the area. His goal for his employees is for them to love their work and he promotes an attitude of wellness in the institution. He encourages trying new things and inspires everyone to share ideas (a new staff Table Top Society club was just formed for a board game group) and be comfortable with failing, because with failure comes innovation and innovative ideas elevate the level of support. He also offers an excellent benefit package that includes free summer camp for all employee children, 12% retirement contribution by the YMCA, a work from home option, and 30+ days of vacation. This attention to employee satisfaction is paying off. Over Covid during the “Great Resignation” when so many organizations lost huge numbers in their workforce, Mark only lost one person. He also shared that a neighboring YMCA was failing and although it could have been a burden on his organization, they decided, for the better of the community, to take it over and keep it open. They didn’t have to lay anyone off and the new branch is making a profit.

While Mark understands that financial strength in any organization is necessary to keep the doors open, his focus on the people is commendable. He often credits his time at The Harley School and Camp Cory for his success in the non-profit world. He learned from both organizations that caring for yourself and for others makes the world run a little smoother. And keeping the budget balanced makes it even better!

Belle Sherwood ’19 has always been a fervent learner and a natural leader.

Early in her Harley Upper Schooler career, Belle was involved in various activities including the Bioinformatics Club. The club was interesting, but the club advisor, DV (Dr. Betsy Vinton, Math and Science, 2001-present) wondered if there was more work the students could do. DV recruited Belle and a few other club members and they transformed the Bioinformatics Club into the Biomimicry Club. Together, they made the student group more focused on climate change and were able to enter a national competition. During the very first year of the Biomimicry club, Belle and her team came in 3rd place nationally for designing a mangrove-inspired break wall that mitigated erosion without disrupting the coastal ecosystem. She also revitalized the school Feminism Club, coordinating the content and running the meetings. Belle was so involved at school, that her junior year she was awarded the Chris Nielsen ’76 Award. This award is given each year at the Honors Assembly, recognizing a student who is an “enthusiastic participant in Harley life…with a commitment to improving his/her skills.” Senior year, she was awarded the Alumni Cup.

Her work in biomimicry fueled her interest in climate change and the environment. At the University of Rochester, she majored in ecology and evolutionary biology and minored in political science, with an environmental law focus, and environmental humanities, looking at the cultural and social aspects of environmental work. She was also a resident advisor, the president of her sorority, head teaching assistant in the biology department, and a student manager of a campus store. In January of her senior year, she started looking for environmental policy jobs. Although she was a biology major, she was not interested in doing lab work or research. Instead, she wanted a job where she could take action and make change.

Belle was hired by Green Corps, “the Field School for Environmental Organizing,” this past August. She was attracted to the organization because it’s all about traveling around the country and engaging students and communities to make social and environmental changes. She spent the first month in Denver, CO where she and other recent college grads were trained on how to motivate individuals to support a specific cause and “get a movement started” through petitioning and phone banking. She is now in Austin, TX working with TexPIRG (Texas Public Interest Research Group) to support students at the University of Texas, Austin. She is a full-time staff member for the next few months working as the “Commander in Chief” leading people to protect federal investments in clean energy, register to vote, stop local hunger and homelessness, and provide affordable textbooks. Her job is to encourage civic engagement among the people. She says her days are busy, but she loves it! When her work is done in December, she will be given a list of new cities and campaigns, and they will move her to a new city to keep inspiring people to make a difference.

Applications for Green Corps are always open and she encourages any recent college graduates who are looking to see the country and do meaningful work to apply. Go to http://www.greencorps.org for more information. If you wish to learn more about what Belle’s doing, contact her at Eisabella.sherwood@gmail.com.

Several years ago, Rebekah Sherman-Myntti '09 and a small film crew came to Harley to record some footage for a project she was working on. That film now has a name and Salamander Days is done!

Here is a short synopsis:

Salamander Days is an atmospheric meditation on friendship, grief, self-discovery, and adolescent consciousness. Set in an American high school, taking place in the midst of a student’s passing, and deeply rooted in the mythology of the salamander, the film explores the concepts of memory and creation, as well as the transformative experience of loss. The film employs a hybrid of narrative, documentary, animation, and in-camera experiments with light. The teenage mind’s emotional interpretation and absorption of timelines, events, and teachings is examined through the deconstruction and rejection of traditional coming-of-age narrative structures.

Salamander Days (2023, 65 minutes, color, DCP / 35mm)

Written and directed by Rebekah Sherman-Myntti & KJ Rothweiler

Starring Alex Arauz, Sabrina Fuentes (@sickysab of the band Pretty Sick), Eléonore Hendricks (The Pleasure of Being Robbed), Sam Stillman

Cinematography by Barton Cortright (The Cathedral, winner of the John Cassavetes award at this year’s Independent Spirit Awards)

Original score by Curtis Everett Pawley

Animation by Tracey Todd

Salamander Days was not only filmed at Harley, but features some folks from Harley including Alex DeSantis P '84 (English, 1971-2009), Sybil Prince '00 (Upper School Hospice, 2017-present), and Richard Simon '20. Check out the trailer and it will look and feel familiar! Note that Sybil is the narrator in the trailer.

There were several sold-out screenings in October for the film at Braindead Studios in Los Angeles and at the Roxy in New York City. Rebekah is hoping to host a screening in Rochester, too.

Below is the first review of the film.

This past October, we lost Chuck Gedge, Head of the Upper School and History teacher from 1981-1986. I didn't know Chuck very well, but was able to speak with Scott Reisinger (History, 1980-1987, Director of Admissions, 1983-1987), a close friend, to learn more about Chuck's time at Harley and beyond.

Chuck worked at Harley for 5 years and in those years he took the time to get to know each and every student well and serve as an advocate and mentor to colleagues and students alike. Chuck served as a mentor for Scott and they worked together closely at Harley for four years. Chuck left Harley in 1986 and became the Head of the Upper School at Greens Farm Academy in Connecticut where he worked for 11 years. Within the first couple of years at Greens Farm, Chuck needed a new history teacher. He reached out to his former colleague, Scott, who had left Harley the year before, and asked him to meet him for corned beef at the Carnegie Deli in New York to interview for the position. It took some cajoling, but Scott took the job and they worked together at Greens Farm Academy for 11 years.

According to Scott, Chuck was healthy his entire life and he and his wife were making plans for a trip on the Queen Mary until thyroid cancer sidelined him in June. His health went downhill from there. He passed away in the presence of his family.

Chuck had a long career after his time at Harley. Click here for Chuck's obituary.

Mary Ellen "Mickey" Trescott Urzetta, Harley Art teacher, 1948-1953. passed away in September. She was only at Harley for a short time (by Harley standards), but she made an impression on her students. Art Dagan '51 said it best, "Mickey Trescott was young and beautiful and all the boys, whether they were interested in art or not, signed-up for her mechanical drawing class. If the boys basketball team won a game over the weekend, she would bring in a special baked treat for us on Monday."

How could they not adore her? I was able to meet Mickey when she and her daughter joined us for Harley's Centennial Celebration in 2017. She's pictured below at the Emeritus Faculty/Staff Breakfast. She had several former students there that remembered her!

Her daughter shared the following with us:



She died as she lived with beauty, strength, and grace. Mary Ellen Trescott Urzetta was born on July 3, 1926, and passed on September 11, 2023, at St. Ann’s Home. Mary Ellen was a proud member of the Class of ’44 of East Rochester High School and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Nazareth College in 1948. She began her career as an art teacher at the Harley School where she taught until 1953 when she had her first child. Raising her four children became her passion and she was always involved in their lives and activities. Mary Ellen lived a wonderful life always cherishing her family and always being a hard working, energetic, and gentle woman. She was steadfast in her faith, and she approached life with a sense of goodness, kindness, and love of others.

Harley alumna Rachel Present Schreter '02 was recently interviewed by 13 WHAM news following her return to Rochester after she and her family fled Israel following the recent attacks.

Newsweek recently published an opinion piece "Wisconsin Republicans Are Starting to Panic Over Their Crooked Maps" featuring Arn Pearson '78, attorney and executive director of the nonpartisan investigative journalism group, Center for Media and Democracy.

Click here to read the story.

Not quite an alum, but AJ August, a non-graduate from the Class of 2024, was recently signed to the professional cycling team Ineos Grenadiers. He is now a teammate of Magnus Sheffield '20. People are wondering where the Harley velodrome is because it seems like there might be something in the water!

As a student at Harley, Erik Chesonis '10, was always working on digital art. He took several classes with Sam Olivier (Middle and Upper School Computer Science, 2005-2012) that included computer graphics and Adobe Illustrator. His passion for design continued, and his teacher, Chris Hartman '93 (Social and Environmental Sustainability, 2007-2016) noticed the potential and encouraged him to design some logos for Hartman's class and various clubs. Erik ended up doing an AP Art study with a digital art focus and attended Ithaca College to continue the journey.

When the pandemic hit, Erik was looking for a creative outlet away from the computer screen, so , he picked up some markers and discovered a love for the more traditional mediums. The picture above is one of his "Grid Collages" and he says, "One of my favorite creative exercises is creating a composition out of (sometimes) dozens of different illustrated assets, combining them into one layout. It forces you to think with an open mindset as you build and try out several solutions to a layout–like a puzzle you're creating as you solve it."

Take a look at his website to see more of his work.

I saw on Facebook that Julia Aagesen '14 has recently started a pet portrait business. All of her drawings are done in colored pencil.

Click here if you are interested in learning more about her work.

Our Diversity Equity & Inclusion director, Jonathan Ntheketha P '29, '31, was recently a moderator for the Ewing Forum's discussion on Unmasking Medical Bias in Canandaigua and Harley alumna Sarah Hamlin '87 was in attendance!

Lauren Chiavaroli '05 married Kyle Dacey on September 9 at Glenora Wine Cellars.

Jim Alsina '74 and Lisa Osborne Lange '74 (Graphic Designer, 2007-present) on the phone with classmate Shira Goldberg '74 talking about their upcoming 50th Reunion in June 2024.

Mike Merin '78 and Joanne DeWeese '78 got together for lunch in Queensbury, NY.

Harley alums represent at an HAC Boys Soccer game: Dave Shechter '86, P '13, Charlene Kaiser Costello '91, P '18, '21, '24 (her son Finn was the Grade 12 student on this year's squad), and Kirsten Allen Brown '90, P '20, '26 (Middle School English, 1999-2018, Director of Enrollment, 2018-present)

Members of the Class of 2024, and Lee Allen McDermott '64 (Middle School Math, 1973-present) helped up put together the care packages for the Class of 2023!

Scott Frame '73, P '05, '08 and Kathy Kearns Frame '73, P '05, '08 stopped by Harley to pick-up a bottle of Scotch procured from Gail McGuire (Science, 1965-2000).

Sue Groesbeck P '01 (Head of Upper School, 1992-1996) and her husband Mark stopped by school to visit their friend, transitional Head of School, Kathryn Kaiser.

Nathan Bushnell '23 stopped by to visit some former teachers.

Doug Goldman '87 stopped by to drop off some photo archives from his days on yearbook. Doug Gilbert '87, P' 21, '24, '27 (Middle School History 1999-present) dropped by to say hello.

Peter Holloran '71 and I caught up over coffee. Over the past year, Peter has closed his marketing business, Cognitive Marketing. He is now venturing out as a strategic communication and brand development consultant.