Farewell to Departing Faculty: Faculty Interviews(part 1)

Cole Harrop 

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

Mr. Cole Harrop: This is my 21st year. I arrived in 2000.

RR: Where are you going next?

CH: My wife and I will be moving permanently to our home in Normandy, France, in the very rural countryside of Normandy, France. We have owned a home there since 2005, and that is where we will set ourselves up for the duration. 

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

CH: Assume the best of intentions in your colleagues, in your students, and in your teachers. It has been a stressful last three or four years at Riverdale for a range of reasons, least of which, frankly, is Covid-19. The bigger stresses have been the relationships between faculty and forces outside of the faculty that are disappointed from one, two, or several directions at the same time in the curriculum that we teach, but I think that students and faculty should feel confident that our hearts are in the right place and that we are doing the very, very, very best we can. No one should assume that we are indifferent to or incapable of dealing with the important social issues of our moment.

Alan Pike 

Riverdale Review: “How long have you been at Riverdale? In what year did you arrive?”

Mr. Alan Pike: “This is the end of my 26th year. I started in 1995.”

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

AP: “I have been an advisor/homebase person. I did do a couple years in the ninth grade, but mostly it has been in the Middle School, seventh and eighth grade. I did admissions interviews for three years. I did all the standardized testing, so I took care of all the SAT and ACT coordination for about 18 years. This is not really an obligation or responsibility, but I played with the orchestra and wind symphony over the years in the lower brass, just helping out and playing in some of their concerts. Way back when, we used to do student-faculty shows, like plays or reviews or musical things, and I would be in some of those.” 

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

AP: “There are so many favorite parts. School has been my family for the past 26 years. Certainly, the lifeblood of this school is the students. And that is the favorite part: being able to interact and share my knowledge with them and to learn from them. But, I also have to give a shoutout to all my colleagues. I only know my students for a couple of years, but I have known many of my colleagues for almost 20 years. It is certainly the students, but the people that I teach with are a close number two.”

Ricky Lapidus 

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

RL: May or may not have written an anonymous advice column for the Riverdale Review for six years. Ran nomads, advised clubs, Dean of Faculty for the last six to seven years. English department chair before that. I’ve played in more student-faculty basketball games, softball games, and soccer games than I can remember. Ran the senior speeches program.

RR: What was your favorite moment while at Riverdale?

RL: I gave a kid the Heimlich maneuver and saved his life. Nico Hicks, who actually ended up teaching at the Lower School for a year, put a whole orange in his mouth and tried to swallow it. He started choking outside the cafeteria, and he was a senior. 

RR: Where are you going next?

RL: I'm going to California. I’m going to a school called Head-Royce which is a really good independent school in Oakland. I’m going to be Upper School Head there, just a new adventure, a new challenge.
Sue Poliacik

Riverdale Review: How long have you been at Riverdale and in what year did you arrive?

Sue Poliacik: I arrived in 1981, in the fall, and I did not start in September. It was a little later, so this is my 40th year.

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

SP: Well, I’ve taught all ages at Riverdale, from Pre-K through 12th… I’ve taught chamber music from very early ages through grade twelve, and I’ve taught cello from third grade through grade 12 in classes, middle school strings, lower school ensembles and then, of course, orchestra. 

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

SP: “Ok, I did oversee something called Music in Motion for several years, and that was very rewarding… Also, I started the bass program here. There were all these basses sitting around like a herd of elephants and I thought somebody should be using them, plus we need them in orchestra, so I studied with a wonderful man, a bass teacher...basses for private purposes...But my real thing has been a cellist, and I’ve had a broad career outside of playing at school. I’ve recorded with Michael Jackson, I’ve been on Saturday Night Live, I’ve played with the Metropolitan Opera, I’ve just done all kinds of other, you know, other things, had I been full time at Riverdale for all this time, none of that would have happened. I’ve played in so many orchestras I can’t count them, I’ve played in ballet companies, you know I’ve played with Alvin Ailey, so I haven’t done advisor groups.”

RR: Where are you going next? What’s your plan?

SP: Well, first of all, I have been so busy that I haven’t planned a lot except I think I’m going to watch grass grow for a while. I’ve spent quite a period of time here. I’ve always loved to travel, and I’ve done a lot of traveling. So, when it feels right to do that again, I’ll do that. I have family scattered across the country that I will spend more time with… Honestly, I have so many little projects, like I want to listen to all of the music, one composer at a time, of several different composers, who have written so much music that I don’t know like Shostakovich… There’s a lot of stuff I just haven’t had the chance to hear, and I want to make a project of that. I’ve been studying French, I’m going to continue doing that. I may also start studying German, because I haven’t been to Germany, that’s one of the countries I’ve missed, but I have been to many many countries, I just haven’t been to Germany. We’re going to get there. It’s just, making any concrete plans right now is hopeless.”

Emily Vidal 

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

EV: I’ve taught Spanish II, Spanish IA, and Spanish II/III.

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

EV: I would say be open to as much learning as you can. Take every opportunity to get feedback from your colleagues and students, and just be open to the idea that you have a lot to learn from them. Teaching is obviously about teaching students, but it’s about learning as well.

RR: Where are you going next?

EV: I've accepted an Upper School Spanish position at Greenwich Country Day School.
Kate Arpin 

RR: “Which course have you most enjoyed?”

KA: “I think working with students one-on-one has been my favorite thing that I have gotten to do at Riverdale because the students at Riverdale are so thoughtful and such strong self advocates and they just want to do better.”

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

KA: “My favorite moment was the first time that some of my study skills students brought their friends to my classroom for extra help and said: “you know what, you just have to meet with her, just go get some extra help from her.” There was a little community that started to build and people were starting to recognize that asking for help was great.”