By Hannah Frazier
With the new semester, Tempe Prep has welcomed a black belt teacher to campus! Dr. Ryan has taken over Latin III, Latin IV, and one of the 9th grade Humane Letter classes. Dr. Ryan originally comes from Cincinnati, Ohio and lived there for most of his life. Dr. Ryan is the youngest of three, with two sisters who are older than him by seven years.
He went to undergrad with Dr. Riesbeck where they learned Greek together from the same person at Ohio University. He then went to grad school at the University of Cincinnati and moved to New Orleans in 2017 where he taught Latin for three and a half years.
Dr. Ryan has lived in Arizona for as long as he has been a Tempe Prep teacher. He says that his love for what he teaches brings him joy and he hopes to share that joy with his students. He calls classics a “gymnastics of the mind” and says that there are no limits to what we can learn.
Dr. Ryan loves to read and write – especially in Latin! He mentions some of his personal hobbies other than Latin saying, “When I was young I was an avid mountain biker and competed in a few races.” He adds that seeing all of the mountain bikers in Arizona has been nostalgic for him.
He goes on to mention a couple of his other athletic hobbies. “I was once a serious runner, before injuries in my high school career changed my outlook drastically. Although I’m no longer competitive, I still enjoy running at least four times a week. Running out here has been a vast improvement over running in New Orleans! I used to compete as a black belt in taekwondo, until another injury sidelined me altogether from that activity.” Dr. Ryan will surely enjoy all of the great mountain trails for biking and running that Arizona has to offer!
Dr. Ryan comes from a larger school but looks forward to teaching at Tempe Prep because of the great books curriculum and says, “It’s amazing that you have this opportunity, and I really hope you all do your best to digest it and analyze it thoroughly. You all have a great opportunity to enrich your lives in ways beyond value. I really hope students see that, and I hope that in some small way I can help them see it.”
We are so lucky to have a teacher like Dr. Ryan who has such passion for imparting knowledge to his students. If you see Dr. Ryan on campus, make sure to say hello!