Four of the coolest classrooms on campus

There are dozens of classrooms at Rider. They’re all different sizes and filled with different decorations.
But a few classrooms stand out because teachers have gone out of their way to turn them into a more calming and unique environment.

Here are four classrooms that are the coolest on campus:

Tabitha Cahanin (Room 259)

Mrs. Cahanin is the theater teacher and is in charge of all on-stage productions.
“I wanted to create a kind of relaxed calming atmosphere. I don’t like fluorescent lights, they give me a headache and I spend a lot of time in here, and I feel like most students kind of relate to that. Creating an environment that’s more calming is good for theater because people are already nervous and anxious about being in here and performing, so creating that environment is important for me. It gives a different energy walking in here vs. going to a different classroom. Theater is more inviting, warm, relaxed so it doesn’t build anxiety,” she said.
“This is my sixth year here, each year I’ve changed something a little bit different. Started with kind of bring in my things, the backwalls, all the playbill things that I’ve seen. It slowly morphed into something a little less performance space, kinda a hybrid of classroom and performance space I guess.”

Cleveland Wallerich (Room 132)

Coach Wallerich teaches government and has college flags covering his walls.
“Just when I first started hanging up college posters, college pennants, and posters, it has just slowly evolved over the years of stuff kids have brought, stuff they’ve done in class,” he said.

Heather Preston (Room 237)

Mrs. Preston teaches English and is the English department chair.
“I put a lot of importance on the decorations of student artwork, just because I think it brightens up the room and my students have always made comments of the artwork over the years. So I try to make student artwork a vocal point in my classroom,” she said.
“Honestly it kind of just happened a little organically, one of the activities I like to do with my students towards the end of the year, is after we read a longer work is to give students an opportunity to combine something that they love with their understanding of the work that we read. As I’ve received wonderful artwork over the years, I wanted to showcase it. So it wasn’t an overnight thing that happened, it’s just grown over the years.”

Regan Stanton (Room 160)

Coach Stanton is the Raiderette coach, JV cheer coach and teaches dance classes.
“As an educator, it is my goal to create an environment that students feel a sense of belonging and safe in,” she said. “I wanted my room to make students feel at home, so that they are comfortable enough to take academic risks in it.”