Dr. Arnold Rist, who has devoted his life to helping guide and counsel students, received a solid foundation in caring while at Cortland. "My high school background was quite different in many ways from most of my classmates," said Rist, one of just 12 high school students at Newcomb (N.Y.) Central School in the Adirondacks. "But the transition to college was made without undue hardship. In fact, the atmosphere of the College was that of one large family, due no doubt to the philosophy of the College and the care and concern of the faculty."
Rist adjusted well to Cortland, where he lettered in soccer, basketball and baseball, serving as team manager for the latter. He was president of Beta Phi Epsilon fraternity, class treasurer in his sophomore and senior years, and a member of the College Governing Board, the Men's Athletic Association and the AAHPER. After serving in World War II, Rist graduated from Cortland with a bachelor's degree in physical education in 1947. He earned a master's degree in health education and guidance from Syracuse University. In 1979, Rist received an Ed.D. in organization and administration from New York University.
Between 1948 and 1952, Rist was a physical education instructor and coach at Schroon Lake, N.Y., and Newcomb, N.Y., where his 1952 basketball squad won the state sectional championship. During the summers as director of the Tahawus Youth Program in Newcomb, he established the first New York State Youth Commission Program offered in the central Adirondacks.
Rist initiated and developed the guidance program for grades 7-12 in the Canastota (N.Y.) Central School System from 1953 to 1955. Rist became the first director of Pupil Personnel Services in Rockland County in 1955 while at BOCES in West Nyack, N.Y., where he organized the Underachiever Program in areas of reading and mathematics in grades 3-6. As Intellectual Resources Pool school coordinator for the South Orangetown School District, Rist identified and selected gifted students in grades 4-12. From 1961 to 1965, Rist directed the Evening Divisions at Rockland Community College in Suffern, N.Y., where he developed the "Foundation Program" for students with weak academic skills. Between 1965 and 1982, Rist was a counselor for grades 9-12 at Nanuet (N.Y.) Public School.
For the past 32 years, Rist has been president of Rockland Educational Services, Inc., which offers speed reading/speed learning programs and PSAT preparation programs for students in grades 8-12. RES offers 15 scholarships annually to deserving students. The ETA Chi Lambda Chapter, Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, made Rist its only non-minority recipient to date of a special service award for outstanding contribution to the educational development of college-bound minority youth. Rist is co-founder and director of "Newcomb Day" in Newcomb, N.Y. He chairs the Nanuet Teachers Association Scholarship Fund, and is a long-time member of the Nanuet Rotary Club and the Ramapo Mountain Ski Club.
UPDATE: Rist passed away on Feb. 6, 2017, at age 92.
