Making an
Impact
by
Karin E. Bleeg ’01 shown with Jay Stetzer
Karin Bleeg ’01 went to the University of Washington and graduated in 2005 with a bachelor’s in women’s studies, ultimately receiving a master’s in public health from George Washington University. Presently, she is a research associate at GW’s School of Public Health, working on an NIH-funded program that focuses on Latinos in Langley Park, Maryland. Outside of work, she manages two community gardens for low-income individuals and volunteers as a case manager for the DC Abortion Fund.
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The Harley School is community. No matter where we are in the world, we are a community and connect on a level that isn’t understood by many other people.
I started attending Harley as a freshman and by the time I was a senior, I couldn’t wait to get out of the Harley bubble. My best friend Lauren (Rosenberg) Stuhmer ’02 bid me farewell, and her mother told me I’d come back and become Harley’s biggest cheerleader one day. I was a petulant 19-year-old who just wanted to escape. I moved to Seattle but couldn’t shake Harley. My roommates were incredulous every time Mrs. Deutsch would leave me phone messages on our house answering machine. And, I found myself reaching out to Foster and Schara. I was a tiny fish in a big university sea. When I graduated from Harley and sat stoically at graduation, I had no idea that Harley would never let me go. I graduated college, I ran away to Mexico for a man, dragged myself, while kicking, back to Rochester, and then found myself working in corporate America, at PAETEC.
What was I thinking? Really, Ms. Women’s Studies, how are you going to save the world in corporate America? But guess what: the CEO of PAETEC, Arunas Chesonis, sent his children to Harley and sat on its Board of Trustees. In fact, in my first year at PAETEC, I was offered two seats at his table at Blast! (and no one turns down that kind of invitation). Then, I connected with Karen Saludo, and once I became a manager, I thought about ways of starting a Harley internship at PAETEC. Then, in a very strange twist of fate, while looking for apartments in 2008, I came across a posting on Craigslist that included contact information for Jay Stetzer. I knew of Jay, but beyond being the person who orchestrated the Lower School Pageant and played the piano during lunches on our last day before winter break, I didn’t know him. Now, I can remember that lifers spoke of him and his wife, Maura Allen, with such love. I moved into Jay and Maura’s second-floor apartment, we became close, and there’s rarely a week that goes by that we don’t exchange voicemails, texts, or emails. The last imprint Harley made on me before I moved to DC was by Chris Hartman ’93. Soon after he arrived at Harley, I became involved in the burgeoning local food movement that Chris was deeply involved with, not just at Harley, but also throughout Rochester and the Finger Lakes region. In 2009, I volunteered from May to November at Mud Creek Farm, a community-supported agricultural farm, in Victor every Sunday. Before this experience, I resented gardening. It was a chore; I was more concerned with the ethics of food production. But I quickly learned how sweet and rich an eggplant tastes if you grow it on your own without any inorganic or organic pesticides. And you know what? I discovered that creating a community around sustainable food practices and production is a viable solution in what ails much of the world: Pollution. Hunger. War. Poverty. Food is a universal language that all of us can speak as we come to the table to laugh, cry, shout, whisper—but always, to connect. I’m grateful that Harley didn’t give up on me (and yes, Mrs. Rosenberg, you were right). My time with Harley and its community as a high school student and a twenty-something has helped usher me to the here and now. Hello, my name is Karin and I’m a recovering Harleyite. Be creative. Be supportive. Give back. Love. Be[come] thou what art.
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