The KO community is welcoming many new Wyverns to campus this fall, including additions to faculty and staff. One addition is Upper School history teacher Alice Riley!
Originally from New Hampshire, Ms. Riley graduated from Kenyon College with a B.A. in History and Art History. Previously, she worked at Greenwich Country Day School for two years before her transition to KO.
One thing she has always loved about history is how it is one big puzzle. “I’ve always found the stories of people to be really interesting,” she said. “I am a trained social historian. I look at people and how they interact with each other. I just like seeing how that changes over time, how it doesn’t change over time, and what that means.”
Art history was a surprise addition that added a layer to history for Ms. Riley. “ I took an art history class because I had to do diversification credit,” she said.“And I just fell in love with getting to understand history through a different lens.”
Her path to teaching was one of resistance, wanting to forge a path of her own. This all changed when she worked at an all-boys camp during her summers, right down the street from Camp Merriwood. “ I realized I liked the interactions I had on a daily basis,” she said. “I liked the challenge of working with kids, but also the joy of it.” One thing that stood out to Ms. Riley was her love of interacting with people. “ I want to be talking to people, I want to be making connections,” she said. “I don’t want to just be staring at a computer screen. That’s not how I want to live my life.”
As a long-time runner, Ms. Riley was a member of both the cross country and track teams at Kenyon College. This year, she will be the Assistant Coach for the girls cross country and track and field teams. Previously coaching at Greenwich Country Day School, she will bring her experience as a student athlete to KO.
In her free time, Ms. Riley enjoys being outdoors in any capacity. “I love to just be outside,” she said. “I’m a big hiker. I am from New Hampshire originally, so I grew up doing a lot of hiking and spending a lot of time outdoors.” Another hobby of Ms. Riley is baking. While it was hard to choose one favorite to bake, she says that baking for her friends and family is special to her; when it comes to baking for herself, anything with chocolate will do. Other passions are traveling and trying new foods.
When choosing a new school, Ms. Riley noted that staying in a day school environment was important. She also enjoyed her communications with the Director of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Rich Mutts. “ I thought he was just wonderful in our communication, and he seemed like someone I really would wanna work with from a DEI perspective,” she said.
Being such a new teacher, Ms. Riley felt that she had a lot to learn from the history department and KO community as a whole. As well, she was amazed by history Department Chair David Baker. “ The entire History Department are people that I want to work with and I feel like I can learn so much from,” she said. “Because I am such a new teacher, I was just excited that this seemed like a place that wanted to help me grow.”
We are so happy to have Ms. Riley join our community and cannot wait to see all the incredible things she does!
