Dr. Stone: Ryan, it makes me so happy to catch up with you! What are you doing in life as we know it?
Ryan: I’m currently an AP Human Geography Teacher at Coppell High School in Coppell, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Coppell is ranked as the 50th best high school in the state and #395 in the entire country for academics. I am entering my seventh year of teaching and have had the opportunity to mold minds to look at not only what impacts human geography has in Texas and the United State but also the effects decision-making can have on a global level. UCA gave me a wonderful education foundation to really turn teaching into an art form that can hold student interest and make our youth active participants in society.
Dr. Stone: As a history instructor, you know this makes me really happy. Did living in a Residential College make a difference in your life?
Ryan: Living four out of my five years of college in a residential college should almost speak for itself. The social skills I gleaned from living in a residential learning community helped me to mature as not only a person, but as a student by learning different ways to study and to honestly become much more active in classroom discussions. The events held by Minton and State Residential Colleges (now, Minton@Old Main and EDGE@Hughes, respectively) ranging from trips to Memphis to the annual camping trips were an opportunity to make my college experience that much better. I still to this day talk about my college experiences to my students and am currently trying to build a network of former students to make contact with current students interested in attending UCA. I was an Resident Assistant (RA) in State even have a former student who is an RA in EDGE@Hughes and is carrying on the legacy of taking a college experience and making it that much more memorable by living and learning in a Residential College Community.