Playing board games and watching movies can be inspiring, just ask Briarcliff High School senior Cat Lynch. Cat loves playing the “Clue” board game, as well as watching the movie version so much, that she asked Briarcliff theater director Paul Kite to put it on as the fall drama this year.
What's Happening Now
Each September, Briarcliff High School welcomes ninth graders from Briarcliff Middle School, as well as from Pocantico Hills Central School District, known as POCO.
POCO serves students from pre-k through eighth grade. Each year, towards the end of January, Pocantico eighth graders are required to select one of three high schools to attend. Briarcliff High School is one of those three.
We spoke with several former POCO students to learn more about why they chose to attend Briarcliff, how that decision shaped who they are today and what makes the school special.
Things are taking shape this year at The CLIFF, the new learning hub at Briarcliff High School, which is part of the Capital Project and combines the library and the area formerly known as the Maresca.
While still a work in progress, The CLIFF (an acronym for Collaboration, Learning, Innovation, Faculty, Forum) hosts several classrooms that make learning more accessible and inviting.
One of the best things about Briarcliff High School is that it provides many different options for students. For example, students who prefer a non-traditional physical education class can take a fitness class, which counts as an elective, but also provides PE credit.
In Al Meola’s “Fitness Through Strength Training and Conditioning,” class, students have the opportunity to work out in the school’s fitness room, and even creating their own workouts.
Each year, when upperclassmen take the PSAT exams, freshmen at Briarcliff High School participate in the second half of their high school orientation.
This year, to shake things up a bit, Principal Diana Blank and Assistant Principal Danny Goldberg introduced a few changes.
If you own a television and occasionally flip to the NBC News channel, it is very possible you have seen Capitol Hill Correspondent Ali Vitali on the screen.
What you may not know, though, is that Ms. Vitali is a 2008 Briarcliff High School graduate, as well as the recipient of the school’s 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award.