June 8, 2026 by Frankie Anzaroot (‘26)
At Saratoga Springs High School (SSHS), the math department is full of great employees. Robin Chudy, the head of the department, oversees them all. She is the person who stands between fully functioning citizens and Saratoga students who have to count with their fingers. While many students might view math as random shapes on random lines with a whole bunch of numbers, Chudy sees it as a vital life tool.
“Math is everywhere. While each specific topic may not be seen in real life, they are essential to build a foundation in order to tackle real life problems,” she believes. As the Mathematics Department Head, she oversees many courses and ensures that every student has the support they need to do great. This position was not the one she had always imagined, however.
Born in Albany and raised in East Greenbush, Chudy was a standout student at Columbia High School. She always loved math, but it wasn’t until her senior year at Union College in Schenectady that her path became clear. While working toward her degree in math and psychology, she found herself often tutoring her friends and peers. She realized she had a natural talent for making difficult concepts easy to understand. After getting her degree, she decided to stay at Union for her Master’s in the Art of Teaching.
Over thirty years teaching at Saratoga, she has taught almost every math course they offer. Coming in as a young teacher, Chudy was mostly concerned she “delivered the material” and that “every single standard is met.” As she taught, she learned that the most important thing was to engage with students and make them want to learn.
“If they want to learn, it makes your job a whole lot easier,” said Chudy.
Chudy mostly teaches Honors Pre-Calc now. When students say that her class is hard, she works hard to debunk that myth. She uses word problems to prove math can not only be easier to understand but also applied to real life situations. “The word problems help make things easier,” said Jake Schaefer, one of Chudy’s Honors Pre-Calculus students, “but all of the memorizations and just the knowledge needed for the class is way too much.” Chudy knows that math isn’t everyone’s favorite, and in the math department office, teachers joke about it and plan accordingly.
Outside of school, Chudy is just as active as she is in the halls of SSHS. She is a former college basketball player and a coach of 15 years. She was inducted into the athletics hall of fame at Union College in 2002. She says her experience playing a team sport in college really helped her prepare for the high pressure of being a high school teacher.
“You’re put in a game, making critical decisions, trying to figure out what to do next — sometimes when you’re in the classroom, you have to roll with what’s happening, change things, make things better for your kids,” said Chudy.
These days, you can find her on the pickleball court in her free time. She is also just starting to learn golf. She is “watching video after video at night,” trying to learn all the ways she can calculate trajectories, but she mostly turns off her math brain while playing. A former student of hers and athlete, Josh Simon, described her as an empathetic leader who is always ready to help someone in need. “She definitely holds us to a different standard as they see how much effort we put in on the court, so they expect the same from us in the classroom,” said Simon.
Chudy’s family is very important to her. She and her husband have two boys and two girls, three who are working and one who is still finishing up college. Not all her kids shared the same love for math as she did, however. Three were STEM enthusiasts; one was not, and he struggled with math as a kid. He went to school, where he was faltering and worked hard at his math journey. He is now in the math world working. With her children starting their adult lives, the Chudys are happy to have Jax, a German Shepherd the family adopted during the pandemic. Despite never having had a pet before, Chudy quickly fell in love with him, proving that even after years of teaching, you can still learn something new.
At the end of 2026, her final year of teaching, Robin Chudy is more than just the head of the math department. She is a teacher who cares about her students, and wants them to succeed, in both school and in life. Through her years of experience, she has learned that math is not just about numbers, but about building a strong foundation for the future.
“Don’t worry about the details, worry about the overall idea of what you’re doing,” Chudy said. “Don’t get caught up in how to solve something, look at the bigger picture.”