Student teacher says farewell to Southmoreland

Posted on May 2, 2018 by Abby Whitlatch in Features // 0 Comments

For the last few months, Mr. Ryan Rick has been part of the school district student teaching music classes. From starting at the elementary school in Mrs. Megan Whytsell’s music class to Mrs. Jamie Gore’s band and music theory classes at the high school, Mr. Rick has been able to make an impact on musical students in the school district.

Mr Rick has been studying music education with a specialization with the trumpet at Seton Hill University. He said his experience teaching high school students was “fantastic. I’ve never known another school with such great students and faculty. I’ve felt welcome since day one,” he said.

Mr. Rick said that the difference between teaching high school and elementary is the amount of focus given by the students.

“(Elementary school students) have such a short attention span. If you let something slide, they’ll go crazy,” said Mr. Rick. “But with high school students, they’re way more independent and I don’t have to guide them as much.”

Double bass player junior Erin Polakovsky truly enjoyed having Mr. Rick as ateacher.

“It was really awesome to learn from him,” said Polakovsky. “He made learning so fun and helped me a lot. I’m sad to see him go.”

Mr Rick can’t believe his time at Southmoreland is over and that he will be moving on.

“I feel like it went too fast,” said Mr Rick. “I want to thank Mrs Gore, the staff, and students for making this such a wonderful student teaching experience. I’ll never forget it.”