Ms. Anna Hall Starts New Role as Head of Upper School
Riverdale Review: What is your background in education?
Anna Hall: I have been working in education since the fall of 2003, so a little over 20 years now. I grew up in a family of educators; my mom was a teacher, my grandmother was a PE teacher, my great-grandmother was an art professor, and my dad is a teacher. When I was a kid, I thought I was going to do anything except teaching. I was an English major in college and was contemplating law school and a film program.
When I came to New York, the New York City Teaching Fellows Program had just been launched, and I was really excited by the mission of that program and the idea of recruiting teachers, so I applied and became a New York City Teaching Fellow.
On the first day of class, I met my first class of kids. They were so curious and funny, but also so serious about learning and had so many questions. There was something in that experience that was really magical. I stayed at that school for 10 years and had every job: I taught, was a grade leader, an advisor. I led the hiring. I became an assistant principal in charge of all the academic programs, and then I became the principal. I knew our school really well, but I wanted to know more about how other schools operated and how learning looked different in other places.
Later, I worked with another program that was focused on designing schools, and really, any kind of learning program. It was amazing, though I had to travel a lot, which was hard.
At that time, I reconnected with Mr. Randolph, who was the head of Riverdale before Ms. Ostrem. We were old friends from when I was a principal in the Bronx. He was working on an R&D project here at Riverdale, and he asked me to help him think about the strategic direction for that.
That was when I met Riverdale. I love it here. The students and faculty are really lovely. When this position became available, it seemed like a wonderful opportunity. I am so grateful Ms. Ostrem asked me to join her leadership team. So here I am again, 20 years later, teaching ninth-grade English and leading a division that I really love.
RR: What’s one thing you like to do outside of school?
AH: I grew up among a family of art makers. We’ve always been a family of happy putterers, so I always have something new that I’m doing. For a while, I was super into paper making and paper arts, drawing, and fine arts. At another time I was really into gardening and space design. Lately, I’ve been very into fiber arts. Anything connected to weaving or knitting or crochet or spinning.
RR: Any fun facts you want to share about yourself?
AH: I have been to every one of the 48 contiguous U.S. states, but I haven’t yet been to either Alaska or Hawaii.
RR: What advice do you have for Upper Schoolers ahead of the upcoming school year?
AH: It’s really important in your high school years to take your work seriously and to give yourself space and time to begin to understand what you’re good at, what you love, and what feeds your soul. It’s important that you have to bring focus, concentration, and real discipline to that work to deepen your skill.
At the same time, it’s important to let yourself wander, to try something new, in order to take good risks. My daughter is about to start fencing, which she’s never tried before. It’s important that your portfolio of interests is wide and your understanding of yourself is broadened. There can be pressure to specialize to the exclusion of everything else, or to try and do everything so you don’t miss anything.
RR: Anything else you want to add?
AH: I feel really happy and grateful to be at Riverdale, and in a moment in which the world outside of Riverdale is a stressful, tense, sometimes confusing, and scary place. It’s lovely to be a part of a community that brings clarity of vision and a really strong sense of core values: the life of the mind, the development of character, and building community in a real way. We’re building a place where people are committed to taking care of each other and engaging with the world, asking questions, creating new knowledge, and interrogating what’s happening with attention, focus, and rigor.
