Andrew Richard replaced long-time tech ed teacher Dan Olson on September 2nd. Richard said that he found out about this teaching position from the internet and he applied soon there afterward.
“I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none. So I do a lot of things, but I don’t do a lot of them well. Like I do a lot of sports, I play a lot of music. I just get bored with something and then I go to the next.”
From playing music to playing a pick-up game, Richard does it all. Despite popular opinion however, Richard said that he has never acted in such a movie called The Notebook.
“I’ve gotten that before,” said Richard in reference to him being called a Ryan Gosling look-alike, “I’ve gotten that a lot before I came here even.”
Though he says that he isn’t a master at anything, he believes that you should always try even if you might fail.
“I guess my basic teaching philosophy is don’t be afraid to fail. You have to put yourself out there, take your ideas and do something with them. If you’re afraid to fail, you’re never going to create anything worthwhile.”
Richard reflected on his personal failure when, as a students of Northern Michigan University, he studied abroad in Brazil in pursuit of a different language skill.
“I guess one of my biggest failures was trying to learn how to speak Portuguese. I went to Brazil as a foreign exchange student in college, and I took all of my classes in Portuguese, and I spoke very poor Portuguese,” said Richard, “but I was trying at every step.”
Richard says that because of his experience, he can speak conversational portuguese which helped him when he was in Brazil this past summer for the World Cup.
“I had one of the most in-depth and amazing experiences of my life because I was willing to jump in with both feet and give it a try.”
[blockquote]“I guess my basic teaching philosophy is don’t be afraid to fail. You have to put yourself out there, take your ideas and do something with them. If you’re afraid to fail, you’re never going to create anything worthwhile.”[/blockquote]
After coming back from Brazil after a rocky year, Richard came back to the midwest, where he taught in Phelps, Wis. However, he left Northern Wisconsin for West-central Black River Falls after doing some research on the area.
“Yeah, there’s a lot of nice trails here. You can go biking, running and there’s some good places to kayak, too,” said Richard.
Richard preaches that he’s into a lot of activities, both indoors and outdoors, but his true passion lies in the area he teaches.
“[Tech Ed] is just a great way to make whatever you think, happen. To create things that you envision, and make something out of it. Not only that, but you can get great jobs out of it as well.”
Richard believes that you can find a job in blue-collar jobs such as welding and more advanced jobs such as engineering. He believes that any Tech Ed class can prepare you for a future in these job fields, but he does have certain favorites.
“I guess it’s a toss up between the Woods and Architectural Design. I don’t think I could choose between the two,” said Richard, “Woods can be great; depends who you have in your class and how motivated they are to design their own projects. You can create some beautiful pieces of art.”
You could see him in the halls, his classroom or maybe out on the river kayaking. But wherever you see him, make sure you welcome him into the district.
“Oh yeah, I’m settling in fine. There hasn’t been any mishaps so far.”
