 Almost since its founding, Exeter has expected its instructors to fulfill many
roles—as classroom teachers, coaches, club advisers, dormitory supervisors and mentors. The expectation that faculty will literally teach from every “quarter” of campus is what makes Exeter’s residential experience so rigorous and enriching. By the same token, it can also present challenges...particularly for teachers who are eager, as Exeter’s are, to do a good job in every arena. In this 24-7 learning environment, where at any time of day or night one might be called upon to help a student with any number of issues (from perplexing homework assignments to personal crises), how does one strike a balance?
To find out, Non Sibi recently caught up with Director of Financial Aid Rick Mahoney ’61; ’74, ’95 (Hon.); P’88, P’92 and History Instructor Ron Kim. Rick’s been here almost 40 years; Ron’s been here 10. Together they coach Exeter’s varsity girls’ basketball team. Each brings his own unique personal and generational perspective to what it’s like to live and teach at the Academy. Here’s what they had to say:
Non Sibi: When did each of you arrive at Exeter, and why did you decide to come work at the Academy?
Rick Mahoney: I graduated from the Academy in 1961. A few years later, I was teaching at the Storm King School in Cornwall-on-Hudson, New York, when Ed Wall ’52, who’d been an instrumental mentor to me in my senior year at Exeter, directed me to a job that had opened up in the admissions office. I interviewed and was offered the position, and the decision to take it was really a no-brainer for me because I had always aspired to return to the Academy. Both financially—I was young and newly married—and emotionally, it was also the right thing to do.
Ron Kim: I grew up in Los Angeles in a first-generation Korean family, and other than my local grade school, the only two schools I really knew of were UCLA and Harvard. Boarding school was this mythical, distant thing, so much so that I didn’t even hear of PEA until I reached graduate school.
Later, after deciding to take a break from academia and my dissertation, I took a full-time job with a consulting company. But both experiences were disappointing to me, and it was at this point that someone told me about an advertisement that the Academy had posted. I recall that I actually had to look up Exeter in the library to know what it was. I had been told it was an all-boys’ school in Massachusetts. Once I visited and learned more about it, the decision to come was a no-brainer for me, too. That was 1994.
Non Sibi: Can you give a brief synopsis of each of your current responsibilities/ involvements? How many courses are you teaching? What clubs are you advising and/or what sports are you coaching? Where are you living and how many students do you advise or oversee?
Rick Mahoney: My triple threat [teaching, coaching and living in a dormitory] ended in 1988, after 21 years in Cilley Hall. I’m currently the director of financial aid, but I also travel and conduct interviews on behalf of the admissions office. Right now I am the head coach of the girls’ varsity basketball team, the adviser to the Catholic Exonians and the adviser to the Academy’s student chapter of Habitat for Humanity. I also advise six day students.
 Ron Kim: I teach two courses this term—US History and Asian Civilization—because of my additional responsibilities as a member of the Curriculum Review Committee and as an interscholastic coach who is also a dorm head. I’m the dorm head in Ewald South, where I advise 12 students, and the assistant coach of the girls’ varsity basketball team. I’m also the married father of two young children, ages 4 and almost 2.
Non Sibi: What are the greatest joys presented by your work?
Ron Kim: Getting to experience kids’ successes in different areas of their lives, to know that you’re a part of that. It’s very rewarding to make a positive impact on a student’s life. Also, my fellow teachers. I work with people who are bright, good at what they do and fun to be around.
Rick Mahoney: The kids, unquestionably. I draw a lot of energy from the students here. Then there are those occasions where you get a hint that you’ve been important in a student’s life. That’s pretty special, and I guess I would say that, in a way, that’s what I strive for...to be important to kids’ lives in the same way that Exeter people have been important in my life. The other great aspect of this job is being able to live what I believe. I don’t have to compromise my spirit or ideals here. And then, of course, there are the people. This is a tremendous community.
Non Sibi: What’s it like to try to raise a family here and still be a quality teacher, adviser, coach, mentor? How do you strike a balance?
Rick Mahoney: It’s challenging. The tension comes when different constituents need you at the same time. I can remember so many evenings where I’d be in my study in Cilley and my wife, Linda, and the kids would be in bed or doing their thing. My study opened to the hall of our apartment so Linda would often pick up snippets of conversations I was having with different youngsters. At one point, after a fairly serious discussion I’d had with a student, she said, “I wish you could do that with your own kids.” It’s the difference between advising someone who’s not of your bloodline and raising your own children.
When our kids were growing up, it was pretty much the norm that moms were at home. In fact, Linda stopped teaching for 10 years to raise our family. It’s different for faculty families today. It’s no longer the case that one parent will be in the dorm while the other is in the classroom. That dynamic has changed.
Exeter is, however, a really supportive environment in which to raise kids. People know them, and they’re safe here. My kids thought Cilley Hall was the greatest place in the world, particularly at the end of the academic year, when the students would clear out and leave all sorts of things behind; it was like the world’s greatest yard sale.
Ron Kim: I think there is a double-edged quality to raising kids in this environment. The nature of this place is that it can demand your time seven days a week, any time of the day or evening. So there are times when I’d like to be with my children, but a student will show up at the door asking for assistance with something. On the other hand, there is a seamlessness about things that’s refreshing. My kids have the run of the dorm and the Academy Building. They eat in the dining hall where they see their friends. I don’t know where else our family would find that kind of community.
My wife, Theresa, works part-time from home. She is the director of a significant department, so on the days that she needs to be working, our kids go to the PEA Children’s Center, and I’m there as a back-up.
Theresa’s very understanding and patient of the time I need to put into my job. For Christmas, she gave me a calendar in which she marked all of the significant events for the coming year, including work obligations and special family days. She also designated one day a month as “Ron’s Day,” which is supposed to be a day that I do something special for myself. I think that’s indicative of the life of commitment that teachers here lead. We sometimes forget to take care of ourselves. But the great thing is you don’t do the triple threat by yourself: I coach with Rick. I manage the dorm with the help of other faculty. I borrow ideas from my colleagues all the time. This is not a solitary experience, and that’s what makes it manageable and fun. 
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