After the last day of school, Photography and Art History teacher Mr. Craig Ryan will never teach another class of students again. After 26 years of teaching virtually everything art related from ceramics to drawing to painting, he will be retiring from Noblesville Schools.

Ryan has never taught anywhere but NHS. For two years before getting hired, Ryan substitute taught, and even his student teaching days were spent in the high school. He feels lucky to have taught at NHS, he said, but he is also ready to retire and go on to other things.

“I didn’t want to retire from here and not be able to go out and do something useful,” said Ryan. “So I thought if I retire now, I can still go be really productive and work and do different things for another ten years.”

As far as his work inside the classroom, he said there are an endless lessons to learn, academic or not. A few of his students speak on their favorite thing about his class.

“My favorite thing about Mr. Ryan is that he has a passion for what he does,” junior Zoe Vandewater said. “Whenever he teaches our class you can tell he genuinely cares what he talks about. It’s rare to see teachers excited to teach and I love that about Mr. Ryan.

“He was one of the most entertaining teachers I’ve ever had,” sophomore Megan Furgason said. “On the second day of class, he passed out donuts and that’s when I knew I would enjoy that class.”

“I love how he just lets us use our own creativity and ideas,” sophomore Emma Allen said. “He is so relaxed in the classroom and doesn’t expect his students to be perfect at everything.”

“He really relates to the students and gives them lots of opportunities,” sophomore Shelby Johnson said. “He cares about his students a lot.”

To see more on what his students have to praise him about, visit the art hallway and take a look at all the notes and pictures written for him. Make sure to also stop by his room and see his smile, one thing NHS will certainly miss next year.