Farewell to Departing Faculty: Faculty Interviews(part 2)

Shazia Durrani 

RR: What has been your favorite moment at Riverdale? 

SD: One of my favorite memories has been working on Middle School Project Week and watching that come together over the years, seeing it grow from what it was to what it has become. It’s a much more vast program with so many different offerings. Now we have a ton of parent projects that are offered. It’s just grown in scope of curriculum. So I was really happy and proud about that. Honestly, watching a grade graduate every year, the eighth grade, it's one of my favorite things to see. And I’ve been here a few years to see them graduate high school. A few grades have graduates where I taught them in sixth grade. So watching them from sixth grade to seniors– the current senior class was my first grade that I “deaned.” That’s pretty amazing to see, and that makes me want to cry. 

RR: What are you doing after Riverdale? 

SD: I am going to Hackley to be the Director of the Middle School.

RR: Anything else you would like to say? 

SD: I love Riverdale. I don’t think I can say that enough or loud enough or with enough emotion. I’ve loved every year I’ve been here. I’ve never felt once that I didn’t want to come to work. It’s been a place where there is so much that happens and yet it brings so much joy, the kids and the people I work with. I laugh here and it’s been fun, and I know I’m going to miss it a lot.

Stephanie Simpson 

RR: What has been your favorite part of Riverdale as a whole?

Ms. Simpson: I really enjoyed working with the students that I've gotten the pleasure of knowing. The dance program is not huge, and the musical theater program is not huge, though with the students that get attracted to the program, we've become a family and we're a community. And it's been really wonderful to be a part of their journey and them be a part of my journey. That's always been really special to me. And probably one of the hardest things about leaving will be leaving that family. 

RR: What has been your favorite moment while at Riverdale?

Ms. Simpson: I don't know that I can say just one. I would say each year, my favorite moment is seeing the productions come together. Whether that's the dance concert or the musical, seeing it come together and seeing students who just worked really hard and maybe at times, didn't really believe in themselves, get to a point where they're onstage and they're like owning the stage and they've all come together. And they're truly making magic. These are really special and precious moments. 

Kristin Sammeta: 

RR: “Which courses have you had that you most enjoyed?”

KS: “I love teaching study skills. It is such a fun course to teach because you can be really creative with the curriculum. It also links to the content the students are learning, and it is a really great way to have all students engage with the content in a new way. Also, it helps students work on skills like organization, writing an essay, and thesis development, so it focuses on all of the little skills students are working on within the greater content areas.”

RR: “What was your favorite moment while at Riverdale?”

KS: “Oh, wow. My favorite moment? Let’s think about that for a minute. Let’s see. I have so many little moments where I’ve worked with students and they have kind of had that “aha” moment, and I think that those moments are probably my favorites, where we are just kind of hunkered down, working on an essay or working through a math word problem, and students are just kind of working on that process with me where they get to that moment of realization and understanding. I think those are the little things that just make teaching so fun and enjoyable.”

Gabriel Koo 

RR: What advice do you have for future RCS teachers and students?

GK: For Riverdale teachers, my advice would be to get involved. There are so many things to do, so many wonderful opportunities, and so many people to meet that they’re really missing out on what makes Riverdale Riverdale if they don’t reach out and get involved with the community. I would say the same thing for students. One thing that surprised me about Riverdale was how much autonomy it gives to students. Scheduling a meeting on a teacher’s calendar is not a thing at other schools. Teachers’ time is usually more protected, but I actually like that students have the agency to do whatever they want: make meetings, talk to other people, or just catch up. Getting involved is my advice. 

RR: What was your favorite moment while at Riverdale?

GK: One of my favorite highlights on the debate team is that we finally qualified our first teams to the national championships, which is a breakthrough moment because after years of working hard our teams finally got their successes paid off. A strange moment was when my students last year in Chemistry I were really obsessed with this meme where it was like Obama’s face photoshopped onto a pyramid, so they printed it out and gave me these pyramids of the president’s head. I really don’t want to say that was my favorite moment, but that just stuck with me as a moment when I realized students are strange but wonderful at the same time.

Blair Parker 

RR: Where are you going next?

BP: I am heading to Friends Seminary in Gramercy Park to be the Head of Upper School there.

RR: Which course have you most enjoyed?

BP: Obviously Constructing America. Even if I taught other courses that would still be my favorite. It’s one of my favorite things about Riverdale.

RR: What advice do you have for future RCS teachers and students?

BP: I think Riverdale gives teachers and students lots of freedom to explore their own passions and their own interests, and to take advantage of that.

RR: What other activities/positions/responsibilities have you had while at RCS?

BP: I’ve done a lot of different things here. I was a Dean of the Class of 2017 for four years, and I have also worked on financial aid. Then, as Assistant Head of the Upper School, I’ve done a lot of stuff in the Upper School including assemblies and Upper School activities. For three years I also coached the Boys’ Varsity Golf team. And, lastly, I worked on the statement on Campus Discourse with Mr. Weil and really loved working with students on that.

Tiffani Lynch 

RR: Which course have you most enjoyed at Riverdale and what is your favorite part of the school as a whole?

TL: Oh my goodness! That's so challenging… I would say study skills because it was such a small class which allowed me to have a close relationship with the students. I was also the only teacher so I was able to teach whatever I wanted. My favorite part of Riverdale is the community and the students. The students here are very positive and really want to learn and do well. They are really easy to teach and are very respectful.

RR: Where are you going next?

TL: Well, I’m having a baby in July, so I will just be focusing on that, at least for a while. So that's where I am going, to my house!

Joe Karman 

RR: “What is your favorite part of Riverdale as a whole?”

JK: “I think I got really lucky with the group of the people: my colleagues. I won the lottery with my department for sure. I’ve got a great group of people that I’ve been working with. By being able to have most of my focus be on the sixth grade but also have eighth grade and tenth grade and some other Upper School students, I’ve really gotten to meet a wonderful group of students from across the board. It’s just a great group of people, both students and adults. It’s a very unique moment in time where everyone just gels together really nicely.

RR: “Where are you going next?”

JK: “I’m going to Barcelona, Spain. I lived in Barcelona before moving to New York, so I am looking for work there; it’s kind of like going back home for me after having this little adventure in New York.” 

Erica Babad 

Question: How long have you been at Riverdale?  In what year did you arrive?

Response: “I have been here for about 25 years in all. I started in 1996 as an assistant teacher in kindergarten… I took a couple of years off to work with older kids at a school in Brooklyn, where I was living at the time. In 1999, I had my daughter and came back to Riverdale because I knew about the daycare center for teachers’ children, and it seemed like the perfect place to be.”

Question: What courses have you taught during your time at RCS?

Response: “My background is in the arts… but once I had my child I realized that babies and toddlers are really fun, so I ended up at the daycare center. I loved doing puppetry and art projects with the kids, and we had some great jam sessions with my guitar. I just love that the infant-toddler center is such a part of the teachers’ families, and to give support to the teachers as they have their first child and learn what it is like to be parents.”