About the Project

About the RIT Iceberg

The RIT Iceberg is a collection of historical facts, folklore, and student material culture. It compiles 120+ unique entries that covered everything from inside jokes, pranks, and graffiti to legends and myths. This was started as a personal project by Igor Polotai, who wanted to compile all of the lore and jokes that he heard from his first year of college. Working over the summer, he interviewed many alumni, combed through the RIT Archives, and dug deep into RIT student social media like r/rit. Releasing in August 2023, the first version showcases the unique culture that RIT students have imprinted onto the campus.

The Imagine Project

In the Spring Semester of 2025, what started as a personal undertaking bolstered by the love of RIT folklore turned into a full-fledged project. The goal of the project was to mount an Imagine RIT 2025 exhibit, along with creating a website and a database of all the Iceberg sources. Many individuals collaborated to make it happen, and they are acknowledged below.

Project Leader and Iceberg Creator

Igor Polotai - Game Design and Development & History '26

Faculty Advisor

James (Jim) Rankine - Visiting Lecturer, Department of History

Display Team

Bryce Carney - English '25

Daisy Catherine Roberson - History '27

Julia Resciniti - History '26

Maya Smith - Mechanical Engineering '29

Interactive Team

Dayne Stein - New Media Design '26

Trading Card Artists

Alexa Amoriello - Game Design and Development '24

Andrew Steven Hernandez - Game Design and Development '26

August-Fenwick Michaels Hrysanthopoulos - Physics, '28

Connor Vallandigham - Physics '27

Dannahe Kuntz - Humanities, Computing, and Design & Museum Studies '27

Dayne Stein - New Media Design '26

Emily Ott - New Media Design '27

Emmett Beggs - Studio Arts (Expanded Forms) '27

Elly Medcalf - Humanities, Computing, and Design '26

Evi Schwartz - Game Design and Development '27

Hudson Ward - Game Design and Development '26 

Jay Miller - Game Design and Development '25

Maya Smith - Mechanical Engineering '29

Website Team

Dannahe Kuntz - Humanities, Computing, and Design & Museum Studies '27

Elly Medcalf - Humanities, Computing, and Design '26

Acknowledgments from Igor Polotai

This project wouldn’t be possible without the help of many, many people, all of whom were extremely helpful and supportive as I fell down many rabbit holes during the hundreds of hours of research that went into this. I would first like to thank all the people who first helped me by offering ideas in my initial thread, all the way back in May. That thread got over a hundred seventy responses, and helped jump start my research. I would like to thank all thirteen members of my vetting team, and the countless other people I sent my research to prior to its release. I reached out to many people during my research, and those who responded were extremely helpful as well. Mark Brown gave me a lot of info and cheered me on from the sidelines, always being there to support me or provide new info to look at. Matt Chan provided valuable photos from his archives. Sean Hammond and Kelly Gunter were a pleasure and an honor to interview. I also have to thank Marc Billow, Roberto Erb, Michael Reilly, Peter C. Gravelle, Greg Kobergar, Dr. Richard MeMartino, and Dr. Reynold Bailey for answering my many inquiries. I would also like to thank Lizacomley for creating the Balloon Ritchie sticker and u/YamYam024 for the clay Balloon Ritchie sticker, both of which I used on the Iceberg. And lastly, thank you for taking the time to read this.