For 37 years, English teacher Greg Richards has educated Noblesville teenagers while simultaneously writing poems and memoirs, and

participating in an average of three to four plays a year. Even with all that, he still finds time to travel the world.

    “I came right out of my student teaching my senior year in college into a job here immediately,” Richards said. “Teaching has always been my profession and it’s been a good career. Very suitable.”

    NHS secretary Christina Burch remembers her senior year as a student of Richards.

    “He was very cool,” Burch said. “He was great because he would make you think about literature and actually put us in discussion groups. He just did things that, back then, a lot of teachers didn’t do. It wasn’t a normal classroom setting.”

    Richards writes poetry and prose for local literary journals like The Polk Street Review.

    “The prose writing I do is nonfiction or memoir,” Richards said. “I recall stories of my interesting family members. My grandfather especially was a real interesting character who was always getting us involved in some kind of shenanigans.”

    Richards also teaches theater tech, which puts him behind the wheel of every NHS production. He also participates in dramatic productions outside of the school.

    “I’ve probably in my lifetime since college directed, produced, or acted in [more than] 100 shows,” Richards said.

    Richards says that while he loves teaching English, it doesn’t fully satisfy his need for hands on experience.

    “[Theater] is kind of an artistic outlet for me so I enjoy it for that reason,”

Richards said. “I like the problem solving that comes with set construction, I like the painting that comes along with set design. It’s a creative outlet. I find

satisfaction even in making repairs in the electrical systems in the auditorium.”

    Every February, Richards helps produce The Vagina Monologues as a

fundraiser for Prevail, a local social service organization. Prevail, located on the South side of Noblesville, provides legal services and relocation services for women and children who are victims of domestic violence.

    In the rare free time he can find between teaching, writing, and theater, Richards hits the road.

    “Every vacation, I make it a point to leave Noblesville, whether it’s to just leave the state or to leave the country,” Richards said. “Sometimes I’ll leave for a month at a time. In July, seldom will you find me in Indiana.”

    Last July, Richards went on a

European tour. He started in Berlin, and then he flew to Cologne. He and his brother, who lives in Germany, biked two major rivers in the German wine regions and then flew to Rome. From there, they traveled to the Adriatic coast to visit the town their ancestors came from.

    “We just went there to hang out,” Richards said.

    They then took the train back to Rome, flew to Germany, and then to Paris to visit a friend. Richards arrived in Noblesville two days before the semester started.

    Richards has also spent lots of time on Kauai, an island of Hawaii. For his next trip, Richards is trying to decide between two options.

    “A friend and I are trying to decide

between Vietnam and the canals in Southern France [where] you can rent a houseboat,” Richards said. “You can sleep on and carry your bicycles on [them]. You can go from small town to small town along the canals in Southern France.”

    Richards is also looking at a length of the El Camino trail as well as a trip to Kenya to see the East African culture.

    Sophomore Alex Allee is in Richards’ Honors English 10 class. Allee says Richards uses his travels to help students relate to other cultures better.

    “There’s never a dull moment with that man,” Allee said. “He’s either

threatening to slap you with a cat, or he’s doing his job amazingly well.”