Follansbee teaching at Cushing Academy before coming to Collegiate. Photo courtesy of Pete Follansbee.

By Lucy Ottley

Upper School English teacher Pete Follansbee has worked at Collegiate for 29 years and will retire this spring. He has taught a variety of English courses and has watched Collegiate transform in many ways over the years. 

Follansbee was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and grew up in Andover, a suburb outside of Boston. He went to Governor’s Academy, a small private school that taught only boys until his senior year, when it went coed. He then attended Hamilton College in upstate New York, where he became interested in English after taking many English courses. He went to graduate school at the University of Iowa, where he received his MFA in Poetry and lived for five years, two of which he spent as a teaching assistant in Iowa’s Rhetoric Program. Before coming to Collegiate, he taught at Cushing Academy, a coed boarding school in Ashburnham, Massachusetts, for ten years. In 1994, he came to Collegiate and has been teaching here ever since. 

During Follansbee’s time at Collegiate, the most significant change he’s seen has been the facilities. When he first started teaching here, Robins Campus did not exist. The Upper School and Middle Schools were in the opposite buildings they are in now, and he was here for the construction of the science buildings. As the Robins Campus was being built in the first decade of the 2000s, the transition from sports on campus out to Robins was an adjustment for everyone. However, Follansbee says, “It was fascinating, because it allowed more sports to be practiced with better fields and court space.” 

Follansbee with two colleagues: former Upper School physics teacher Mike Pagel and former Upper School math teacher Jose Binongo. Photo courtesy of Pete Follansbee.

During this transition, Follansbee coached Cub soccer and JV boys’ tennis. Through all the changes in the buildings and spaces around Collegiate, Follansbee says, “These buildings have made our school a more attractive place, as far as people wanting to go here.”

Not only have the buildings changed, but the English department has also undergone some development. When he first came, English 9 and English 10 were required courses, similar to our current curriculum, but so was English 11, which focused on British Literature. English 12 allowed students to choose two semester-long electives. When Upper School English teacher Dr. Bart Thornton came to Collegiate as English department chair in 2007, he promoted the idea to open up the electives to juniors and seniors, which Follansbee thought was “wonderful, as far as teachers go. You went from very dry literature to where teachers can cultivate our interests and create courses that we think will be interesting to students.” Throughout the years at Collegiate, Follansbee created and taught four English electives: Poetry Workshop; American Pastoral, which focused on baseball literature; Literature of the Apocalypse; and Science Nature Spirit Soul. Since teachers are able to create their own courses, he says, “It makes the teachers more invested, and students have liked the many elective choices.”

Follansbee says, “My students’ characteristics have remained the same from my first to last year. However, the school has a better culture, is more diverse, and supports all students with many different backgrounds.” He loves teaching at Collegiate mainly because “the kids I teach are motivated, kind, and strong in character.” When he would travel in the summers away from Collegiate to grade AP Language and Composition exams during June, he said, “I was always happy to return home to Collegiate after talking to other college and high school teachers, which had helped me realize my students enjoyed education.”

Follansbee dressed up for Halloween 2015. Photo credit: Vlastik Svab.

When I asked Follansbee what his favorite memory of Collegiate was, he said, “The first thing that comes to mind is colleagues.” The people he has taught with “are the fond memories I look back on.” The classes he has been able to teach have also created great memories, because he enjoys how involved his students get in the classes, and he loves watching them grow as writers. 

Upper School English teacher and Match advisor Vlastik Svab says, “I’ve worked with ‘Pistol Pete’ Follansbee for over 15 years, and he was the first person I met in Richmond when he picked me up at the airport for my interview at Collegiate. Since then, he’s always been a supportive and inquisitive teacher, mentor, and colleague. We’ve enjoyed working together and going to Richmond Squirrels games together, and he’s even helped me move furniture with his reliable little red truck. I will miss him on campus next year, as I’m sure the community will.” 

Drew Stanley (‘23) says, “I enjoyed having Follansbee as my teacher, because he can explain and teach important topics interestingly while keeping his students engaged with his witty humor.” Everyone I asked only had positive things to say about him as a teacher and person. Sadie Brooks (‘23) says, “I’m so grateful I got to take one of Follansbee’s classes my senior year. The light-hearted environment he created made me excited to walk into the classroom every day.” These students’ sentiments speak to who he is as a teacher and how he truly cares for his students, which will be greatly missed next year.