Harley’s Approach to College Counseling
“Club Rush” is an afternoon every fall in the Upper School when students have the chance to sign up for clubs for the year, and each year it is very different because new clubs are created based on student initiative and enthusiasm.
Each and every year, students at The Harley School participate in HAC Athletics, and their success continues to be impressive, both as students and athletes. Our athletic program is an integral part of Harley, teaching student-athletes invaluable lessons about teamwork, time management, persistence, and competition. Our program allows them to develop physically, mentally, socially, and emotionally as they represent their school on and off the field. They grow, mature, and work hard to be the best teammate they can, while creating lifelong memories with teammates who often remain friends for life. 
Our Upper School is filled with formal and informal opportunities for students to take on leadership roles. Whether following passions or learning new skills, student-driven opportunities take many shapes.
Unlike this class, death is not an elective. Although it is one of two universal human experiences, our culture often ignores, denies, or misconstrues the true nature of death and dying. What happens when we bear witness to this natural process in the cycle of life and develop our ability to be fully present with others when they need us more than ever? It has the potential to change us deeply and fundamentally while shining a brilliant light on the path of our own lives.
This program utilizes environmentally-focused approaches to education and hands-on learning in order to foster the next generation of leaders through a lens of sustainability and problem-solving.
At Harley, our students learn how to evaluate social systems in order to identify complex problems in society through a lens of social justice. They take a hands-on approach to working for a fair, equitable society by researching, exploring and evaluating different perspectives, and offering solutions—both theoretical and practical.
Students may create independent studies with supervising teachers throughout their Upper School experience or, during Grade 12, they can design Capstone projects—intensive collaborations with Harley faculty and off-campus mentors—involving rigorous academic study and culminating in public presentations. 
By Lee Allen, Grade 5 and 6 Mathematics Teacher
Each year on March 14th (in other words, 3/14!), grade 6 students at The Harley School celebrate Pi Day. This event originated over 20 years ago because I thought it would be fun for the kids to learn about circles in a way that’s different from their daily routine.
Our students are always excited to enjoy this day in a big way with plenty of activities that are perfect for Middle Schoolers.
Before the big week, I ask the kids to work on the presentation of a skit, song, poem, or video to share with others on Pi Day as part of what we like to call “American Pidol.” These works performed for their peers and a panel of faculty judges. You can enjoy an original song and video by Anna Miller, “Gonna Do Some Pi”, as a well executed example of one girl’s work.
In class, several lessons are devoted to activities leading up to Pi Day, including one day where there are 36 stations set up around the room including math problems to solve, such as: “What is the radius if the diameter is 22 inches?” or “What is the area of a circle whose radius is 3 feet?”.
Other examples of Pi-related work include:
- Researching Pi and sharing information with the class.
- A Pi Scavenger Hunt that enables the children to measure the circumference and diameter of a given circular object, and, using a calculator, come up with the ratio (hopefully approximating 3.14).
- Creating an “artifact” of learning using Pi as the subject.
- Making a Pi Day necklace with different colored beads, each representing a number. In this way, kids learn some of the digits of pi by color and by number.
- Writing poetry at the Pi-ku station, where the kids write haiku poems with syllables corresponding to the numbers in pi. For example, 3 syllables, 1 syllable, 4 syllables, 1 syllable, etc.
All of this is engaging for the students and there is real learning going on.
Take a look at the objectives of these activities:
- The children will know definitions of parts of a circle (radius, chord, diameter, circumference, and center).
- They will be able to define pi (the circumference of a circle divided by its diameter, or that a diameter of a circle goes around the circle a bit more than 3 times).
- They will be able to use formulas for circumference and area using both diameter and radius.
- They will know the first 10 digits of pi and a few facts about pi.
- They will use the information to extend and apply their learning.
- They will know how to creatively use words to create their Pi-ku poems.
It is always a terrific experience for the kids to learn more about mathematics in very hands-on ways that connect to other skills and subjects. I love bringing math to life…and we all enjoy eating pi(e) as part of our celebrations, too.