My name is Nick Ryan, and I feel fortunate to find myself working as the new social studies advisor at Academic Arts starting with the 2010-11 school year. Schools like AAHS, and the amazing educational opportunity they represent, are rare. After state budget cuts forced me out of my previous position at Minnesota New Country School, I was prepared to throw in the towel on my career as an educator. I’ve been living, breathing, and teaching project-based education since my Jr. year of high school, and couldn’t imagine myself teaching in a traditional setting. I truly believe that project-based learning is more in line with the way people are meant to learn. Real world problems cannot be solved by sitting in classrooms, and they are rarely broken up into simple, discreet subject areas. Real problems tend to cross all academic subject areas, and real learning should do the same. I believe that no type of education is better designed to meet real world needs than project-based learning. Since this is one of the few opportunities in the metro area to offer this kind of education, I am thrilled to be here at AAHS.

I grew up in just down the road in Apple Valley. My Mom is a West St. Paul native, so I spent a lot of time as a kid at my grandmother’s house just off of Robert Street. I graduated high school from the ‘Zoo School’ , a somewhat project-based learning school located on the property of the Minnesota Zoo. At the Zoo School I learned that education did not have to mean sitting in neat rows in classrooms, watching videos and filling out worksheets. Education meant doing things, from counting frogs in the mud, to building photo blinds, deer feeders, and developing a nature education program for area elementary school students. Education suddenly became fun!

After high school, I took a couple of years off of school to work, travel, and to develop an appreciation for continuing education. I could only crawl through so many feet of filthy airduct, and bail so much hay before realizing that I wanted to do something more with myself. Not having any idea what that ‘more’ was, I set off to earn a degree in Philosophy. I graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2004 with my B.A. in Philosophy, ready to conquer the world. Of course, I still didn’t know what to do with myself, so I traveled some more, and ended up working as a furniture mover. Strangely, working to train new guys in the art of moving gave me the idea to try teaching. You never know where inspiration might strike! I went back to school to get my social studies teaching license, got a job at another project-based school, worked hard, and four years later here I am.

I currently live in Shakopee, with my beautiful young wife and my haggard old dog. We’re expecting a set of twins (a boy and a girl, how lucky are we?) in early November. I am excited about being a father, but am also pretty terrified of having two babies at home! In my free time I like to read, play with computers, study people, cook things on the grill, and kill things to cook on the grill (particularly pheasant and deer). I am also big into fitness, nutrition, and being the best primate I can be. To stay healthy I enjoy running through the woods, climbing trees, and attempting to stalk unsuspecting animals. I also love to play golf, and watch funny movies. I recently returned from two trips to my favorite place in the world, the Greyhound bus station in Jacksonville, Florida. Just kidding, my favorite place in the world is the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.

This fall is coming up quickly, and I am excited to begin working with a new group of young people at AAHS. I am hoping to study a variety of topics this year, from our food system, to oil, public education, and beyond. It’s a wide world out there, I look forward to making it our classroom!

• We’re getting a Smart Board for the Special Ed area for the 2010-11 school year…Yay!
• We will be announcing our new amazing Math teacher at the Open House, Thursday, July 1 at 5:30!! Yay!! And best of luck to Ms Jelle, who has taken a new position in teaching…!
• Tony Lemmer will be initiating a River Heights Facebook conversation and challenge! Don’t miss it! Call Ms Davin at school for details!!
• Our new logo will be coming out by July 1 along with our new name: Academic Arts High School!!
• Mr. Abu-Saba is back from Japan…and wanting to help with our summer recruitment program!! Hmmm…maybe we can get him to join the River Heights facebook conversation!!
• We will definitely be going to a four-day school week this fall…with Home Project Days on Fridays!!
• This fall we will have several “last-hour-of-the-day” activities that include: Chess, Basketball, Scrabble, Yoga, Dance, Vocal Ensemble, and Actor’s Theatre!! Don’t miss the fun at River Heights, soon to be Academic Arts High School!
• Our academic program is ever-expanding, and that means a daily schedule that is both flexible and appropriately structured for our students: Morning project time, project electives, teacher-led projects off campus, and rotation of classes in the afternoon!

Facebook | Academic Arts High School

Anthony Lemmer likes

Academic Arts High School

Create your Like Badge

Photos