Riverdale Shapes Global Citizens Through International Connections

While many know Riverdale is part of a community of New York City Independent schools, Riverdale is also part of a global network of schools. Riverdale students have the opportunity to travel around the world in exchanges with partnering schools, creating lifelong connections. 

One of Riverdale’s missions is to promote global citizenship. This year, the Global Studies department offers three exchange programs coming to Riverdale, and nine outgoing trips with about 160 participating students. Director of Global Studies Ms. Chime Dolma explains that the program has four main goals: for students to become informed citizens, create connections across cultures, and discover themselves in the process. She summarizes: “The human experience exists in every country, and it’s important to understand our shared humanity rather than our differences.” She hopes Riverdale students will travel mindfully, and emphasizes the importance of being a traveler rather than a tourist: “The difference between travelers and tourists is that travelers try to understand the experience of the local, while the tourist is just having an experience.” With these goals in mind, Riverdale creates connections with schools around the globe, and pushes students to build relationships on exchange and language immersion travel programs while thoughtfully aligning our global offerings with the curriculum we provide at our school.

Among Riverdale’s outstanding partnerships are schools in Botswana, South Africa, India, China and Taiwan, Zimbabwe, and the Pierce at the American College of Greece. Seventh-grade Dean Ms. Antoinette Quarshie started work in Botswana in 2003. She and a River campus history teacher, Mr. Jay Crosby, first took students to Bana Ba Letsatsi—a center for underprivileged children in Maun, Botswana—in 2007. She notes that Mr. Crosby led the trip for Riverdale students in the years following, and then for students and faculty from the Dalton School, Rye Country Day School, Hackley School, and other independent schools after leaving Riverdale. In more recent years, Dean Quarshie has led Riverdale faculty to Sumbandila, a non-profit school in South Africa, for two weeks during the summer, building long-lasting connections for both Riverdale and the faculty.

Middle and Upper School Computer Science Chair Mr. Andrew Abate has traveled with Dean Quarshie to Sumbandila for five years, which led him to the Yajayo project. Last summer, Mr. Abate led a trip along with Technical Theater teacher Ms. Kellie Taylor and Math teacher Ms. Toni Barbour for Upper School computer science students in primary schools in Zimbabwe. He uses Python and Dragon Drop with Microbits and Embots to teach students computer science fundamentals. Mr. Abate’s ultimate goal is to put computer science in schools across Africa, starting in the Victoria Falls region. 

Through the Head of Middle School, Mr. Milton Sipp, Riverdale maintains a relationship with Pierce College, an American school in Athens. Mr. Sipp is on the board of Pierce College, and explains that the partnership is very fruitful: “They are very aligned with us, with our values, with the way they run in their school around building around community and character.” Each year, Riverdale runs an exchange with middle school students. This October, Riverdale students went to Athens, and this April, students from Pierce College will visit Riverdale.

When developing partnerships, Riverdale must have direct and clear communications, Dean Quarshie explains. She notes that while many schools want to visit New York, not all expect that homestays may take place in Central Riverdale or Westchester, not just Manhattan. After an exchange takes place, Riverdale and the partnering institution reflect; Dean Quarshie adds, “I reach out and give very detailed feedback so that we improve for next time. If we’re connected as a partnership between our two schools, it has to have longevity.” Dean Quarshie also reaches out to Riverdale’s partnering schools periodically, often because she’s genuinely interested in how they’re doing. Similarly, Mr. Abate returns to Zimbabwe regularly, as does Mr. Sipp to Athens. In the future, Mr. Sipp hopes that high school students will get the option to partner with students from Pierce College to work on a collaborative project as juniors. 

At the heart of Riverdale’s international partnerships is Riverdale’s motto to change the world for the good. Ms. Dolma hopes that students will expand their understanding of different cultures while realizing humanity exists globally: “Students may see a fourteen-year-old who is just like them, who has the same aspirations. But the living circumstances might be pretty different, and the infrastructure that they have access to in that country is quite different. I think it’s really important for our students to open their eyes and see someone like them in a very different context.” Mr. Sipp adds, “cross-cultural connections are things you can’t really teach in a book.” He hopes that after an exchange, students will be hungry for more and “develop an appetite where they’ll want to go out and explore not just in Greece, but in other parts of the world too. It brings people closer together.”