By Finley Wittkamp

Photo credit: Mil Norman-Risch.

Generations of students have passed through Mil Norman-Risch’s Upper School English classroom during her 38 years at Collegiate. This spring, as she retires, the community says goodbye not only to a beloved teacher but to a presence defined by curiosity, creativity, and humor. 

Norman-Risch did not set out to become a teacher. After living in Germany and getting a degree in Adult Education at the University of Bremen, she moved to Richmond in 1984 and simply needed a job. Her resumé pointed toward education, so she stepped into a high school English classroom. At the time, she wasn’t chasing a career; she was focused on “experiencing the world,” she said. Teaching was not the plan, merely the next open door. After one year teaching in Amelia County and three at the now-closed Marymount High School in Richmond, she found her way to Collegiate in 1988 and discovered work she truly loved. 

Over her nearly four decades at Collegiate, she taught a wide range of courses, including British Literature, English 10, and electives she designed herself, such as Language and Composition; Nomads, Pilgrims & Exiles; Film Classics; and Poetry Intensive. She co-created two interdisciplinary art and English courses with Upper School art teacher Pam Sutherland: Poem, Page, & Pattern, and Memoir & Bookmaking.  

Her openness to new experiences became the foundation of her teaching philosophy. Rather than following a fixed script, she has approached the classroom with experimentation and wonder. She described herself in the classroom as “a little scientist in a lab,” constantly experimenting with new approaches. Each class, each unit, each discussion demanded reinvention and was seen as an opportunity to test ideas, adjust, and try again. “It just wouldn’t work to think ‘This works, I’m done,’” she explained. Teaching for her was never static. It was alive. No two classes looked the same, because no two groups of students were the same. The environment was always changing, and that was precisely what energized her.

That mindset made professional development not an obligation, but a gift. Norman-Risch “loved all of it,” she said, because it gave her “new ideas to try.” Through Collegiate’s support, she completed her master’s degree through the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College and pursued studies that shaped both her personal education and her classroom. Rather than settling into a routine, she continually refreshed her thinking, bringing new texts, new frameworks, and new questions back to her students. 

Teaching also gave her something she once weighed against higher-paying careers: time and opportunity. She chose the life that allowed her intellectual and personal freedom. Summers off and travel grants opened the world to her. She traveled to Lithuania and Italy, studied at Oxford, and returned each time with stories and insights that enriched her courses. Looking back, she says simply, “I’ve had an incredible life.”

Norman-Risch also shaped the professional life of the school. She served as English Department Chair for nine years, was one of the first Lead Advisors when that role was created, facilitated Collegiate’s Critical Friends Group, a faculty peer conversation group, and initiated the school’s participation in the national Poetry Out Loud competition. Her work in the classroom was recognized with the Ann Griffin Award and the Joanne Pratt Award for Teaching Excellence. 

Norman-Risch views literature not as an academic requirement, but as a living art form. In her Shakespeare elective for Juniors and Seniors, she teaches more than plot; it is a space to wrestle with betrayal, identity, and death, large concepts that interest her deeply. According to Coco Wayne (‘26), by reenacting the plays in class and then watching the film versions, Norman-Risch made Shakespeare “feel relatable.” Students were not passive readers but participants, standing up to perform scenes, debating characters’ motives, and discovering that centuries-old language still carries urgency.

In her Composition Studies elective, she encourages her students to take what they have learned within her four walls and step outside to experience and interact with art. With suggested visits to Glenstone, Les Yeux Du Monde, and other local art galleries, Norman-Risch makes her students active participants in art. They bring back what they have experienced and have thoughtful discussions. “We practiced how to see, which changed the way I write,” said Alice Flood (‘27). For Norman-Risch, observation is foundational. Learning the power of discernment sharpens a student’s thinking and writing skills. By giving students the language to describe quality and nuance, she believes they develop a richer interior life.

Even with all the intellectual rigor, her classroom was rarely heavy. Norman-Risch understands the importance of joy. “It’s good to have something to laugh at, all of us, together,” she said. Shared humor transformed discussions into bonding moments. The balance of seriousness and play became one of her trademarks: “I’ve never laughed so hard in a class before and simultaneously enjoyed an English class,” said former student Anne Randall Berkeyheiser (‘25). 

Beyond the classroom, Norman-Risch is a published poet, fiction writer, and essayist. She won first place in the Writers@Work 2014 Fiction Contest, and her story “A Straight Clean Line” appeared in Quarterly West. Her work has received a Pushcart nomination and American Poetry Journal’s American Poet’s Prize, and her poems and prose have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, and she co-authored a textbook earlier in her career. 

In addition to being a talented writer, Norman-Risch paints, draws, plays piano by ear, sings alto and second soprano, speaks German, and runs three miles three times a week at Pony Pasture. She also has grapheme synesthesia, meaning she sees letters and words in distinct colors. And, she added, “I’m a Gemini.”

Teaching also shaped her family life. Her children, Melanie (‘09) and Christopher Risch (‘11), are Collegiate graduates, and her husband, Don Crow, is an artist and professor at VCU. 

As she prepares to retire, Norman-Risch’s thanks extend beyond her own classroom walls. She expressed appreciation for the technology Help Desk, front desk, administrators, and her fellow teachers. She leaves Collegiate with no grand blueprint for what comes next but with hopes to continue her travels and her work with art. Although she does not plan to continue publishing, she also looks forward to spending more time working on a novel. For Norman-Risch, retirement will certainly not be an end to curiosity. If anything, it may simply be another open door, one more experiment for the “little scientist” who never stopped asking what might happen if she tried something new.

Update on April 5: Norman-Risch’s family is collecting stories and well-wishes from past students and colleagues. Notes and memories can be sent to milsretirement@gmail.com.