“There is not another job that I would rather have.” -Mr. Ryan 

In an interview, Mr. Ryan was asked about his past and his love for English and Film Studies. These were some of his answers:

When Mr.Ryan went to college, he was originally a Biology major at Boston University, but he graduated at Stonehill with an English major. He said, “It’s a good lesson about choosing your college.” For being a teacher he said that he only realized he wanted to be a teacher after his first day of student teaching, however he said, “The very first class I did, it went horribly. I was nervous, I was a mess, it ended 20 minutes too soon.” Nevertheless, he did the same lesson later that day, it went wonderfully and he realized that, “this is what I want to do.” He always wanted to teach English because he loves all things English—books, reading, and writing. 

Then he was asked about his favorite topic to teach about. In response, he stated that “[his] favorite book to teach is East of Eden…but probably [his] favorite thing to teach is Hamlet.” However, since he does not teach seniors this year, he cannot teach Hamlet. 

He said that his favorite book, next to East of Eden, is Pride and Prejudice, but East of Eden definitely has a slight edge. Next, his favorite piece of poetry is Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson because, “it has a really inspirational message that they [the students] can relate to.” 

He also said that he was very lucky to be teaching Film Studies since it was always a dream of his. He took some Film courses as an English major and said, “to get the opportunity to teach it has been very rewarding.’’ 

His parting remarks were, “If you love what you do, you don’t mind doing it.”