GSB NEWS
Barbara Ripton.
Barbara Ripton’s 28 years at Gill have truly been a family affair. Ripton first came to GSB in 1986, joining her husband John—Upper School history department chair— and their three children, Jessica ’96, Sarah ’99 and Erin ’01, as a member of the school community.
Ripton spent the early part of her Gill St. Bernard’s tenure working alongside former teachers Kathy Maisano and Ronna Storm to co-pilot a language arts program for ninth grade students. When the pilot program dissolved, Ripton began teaching traditional English classes. She accepted a position as chair of the English department in 2002. To help her prepare for this new role, former Head of School Chris Cox encouraged Ripton to take a sabbatical in 1996. “That sabbatical launched me with 15 credits,” says Ripton, who continued to pursue a master’s degree in literature at Drew University. “It changed my whole perspective toward teaching, enhancing my methodology and, more importantly, my curriculum.” While grateful for the opportunity to continue her own education as well as watch her daughters grow, Ripton says she is most grateful for the chance to collaborate with others to bring literature alive in the classroom. She reinstated the GSB literary magazine, The Unknown Muse, and wrote the 10th grade American literature curriculum, once by herself and again with fellow colleague Andrew Lutz. “It has been truly rewarding to work with a group of hardworking teachers. Some of my deepest and longest friendships are with faculty members here.” Ripton plans to keep in touch with students and faculty members in retirement. She hopes to spend more time with her grandchildren and daughters, travel often, take piano lessons and pursue other interests. “I’d like to participate in a book club where, for once, I’m not the facilitator,” she says while laughing. “I’m done with grading papers. From now on, I just want to be a participant.”
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Juliana Ruby’s decision to work in education came later in life. After more than two decades in publishing, Ruby decided to pursue a new ambition: dedicating her time and talents to an occupation with far more promise of making a significant impact on others. After 10 years of working on trade publications in New York City, as well as 11 additional years with New Jersey Monthly magazine—serving as production director and later as director of circulation—Ruby says she experienced a sudden “change of heart.” She shares, “I loved it, but decided if I was going to put in all this time, I wanted it to be for a worthwhile cause.” Ruby joined Gill St. Bernard’s Development Office as data manager in the early ’90s, noting that the transfer from her old career to GSB provided a beautiful place to contribute meaningful work. Since accepting the position in 1991, Ruby has taken personal ownership of the digital fundraising software program, Raiser’s Edge, a duty Juliana Ruby. she considers her biggest contribution to the school today. Though typically “a paper, pencil and spreadsheet” person, she quickly found her niche within the GSB community. “This job has become very much my own. I didn’t go to school to learn how to do it,” says Ruby, an honors English major at the University of Florida. “I figured it out, set up my own policies for how things would be inputted and created a manual on how to do the yearly conversion. Essentially, I’ve created a version of the program that has lasted more than 20 years and has proven to be effective and sustainable, and that makes me feel really good.” While working at Gill for the past 23 years, Ruby says, “I saw the product of what my work was all about every day; students’ experiences at GSB being enhanced from our fundraising efforts. I’m so excited about the future of this school that I can hardly wait to see what happens next! It’s a wonderful place where great things happen and I plan on staying in touch.”
Long-time teacher and history department chair John Ripton announced his retirement in late summer. More on Ripton and his 29-year career at GSB will be featured in the next "GSB Alumni Magazine."