New Improvements In Store For Riverdale
As Riverdale heads into a new year, students and faculty alike are wondering: what changes are in store for 2026? Major updates include a reimagining of the science buildings and enhancement of the communal experience of Riverdale students.
In 2025, Riverdale students and faculty benefited from many changes. In the first half of the school year, 11th Grade Student Faculty Council representative, Julia Rosenthal, reported that the SFC established a buddy system for the current 9th grade students and brought back desserts on Fridays for the Upper School. Reflecting on the changes made to Riverdale in the year past, Assistant Head of Upper School Ms. Julie Choi, mentioned the development of science research programming, the construction of the community room, and the TDF Department’s full utilization of the McClanahan house space on the football field.
Amongst the most exciting changes in the works for 2026 are the renovations to the Weinstein Science Building and the Cohen Science Annex. Chief of Staff, Ms. Jazmin Rogers, who is helping steer the design process, explained that the need for a new science building stems from the desire “to make science visible.” As the science building is one of the first buildings someone sees when they step onto campus, Riverdale has “an opportunity at the front of campus to convey who we are and what we care about.”
From the beginning, Ms. Rogers and the administration decided “student input was always going to be central to the design,” and that “the question was just about how to do it best.” Thus, student input on the project has become integral to its design, particularly through a mini-course titled Design Thinking.
In the first semester, students in Ms. Roger’s Design Thinking mini-course, which she co-teaches with the Head of School, Ms. Kari Ostrem, discussed and generated plans for the construction of the new science building. Students broke into groups or worked solo, focusing on specific aspects of the design, ranging from interactivity in the facility’s design to creating effective collaborative and individual work spaces for students and teachers. During the process, the mini-course visited the new science facilities at Barnard College and Columbia University for inspiration. On January 15, the last day of the course, students presented their plans to a team of architects, administrators, and faculty.
Senior Max Blau and junior Miles McCabe worked on the entrance to the new building, choosing to call it the “Gateway to Riverdale,” as it will be people’s first impression of the school. To convey a message to people walking onto campus, especially those seeing it for the first time, Blau and McCabe chose the overarching theme of sustainability to connect science, the outdoor campus, and Riverdale’s core values of mind, character, and community. Potential interactive designs include hydroponic displays, which would connect the Freight Farm work to the science building, an electricity panel, and ongoing science class experiments.
Another area of focus is the creation of collaborative spaces. Many Riverdale students know the feeling of walking into the library, planning to get ahead on homework—only to realize that there are no seats. Ninth-grader Maya Sinelnikov, who presented on this issue, highlighted that when students meet with their teachers, these meetings often take place in shared offices, which can be simultaneously distracting to other teachers and intimidating for students. As a result of these needs, Sinelnikov articulated the three main components of the collaboration floor: meeting space for students and teachers, quiet space to work alone, and availability, so rooms will not have to be booked ahead of time.
Despite all the students’ intricate plans, Ms. Rogers noted that, because “design is an iterative process,” very few aspects of the project have been set in stone. At current, the Middle School and Upper School science buildings would be merged into one, and expanded farther back into the area next to the bus turnaround. The new science building would, as Ms. Rogers explained, serve as a connector to make 9/10 and Mow feel less distant.
With regard to student life in 2026, Student Faculty Council representatives are focusing on the student experience, whether by bringing small treats and drinks to lunch or hosting gradewide bonding events. Rosenthal stated that the SFC’s main focus for the new year is to “foster more community.” She suggested that outreach and connection building is increasing at Riverdale, especially with the creation of the “POTUS Instagram account, “where [they]...post various announcements and celebrate the successes of students.”
Ms. Choi explained that while there are not any drastic changes to curriculum or co-curricular activities for the coming year, “department chairs are always working on improvements” to courses and students “are going to propose new activities that don’t overlap” with existing ones, leaving room for new ideas in programming.
Though 2026 will inevitably come with its own set of surprises, it is exciting to know that Riverdale is constantly working to improve the collective experience of the community.