Jan Patrick – 15 in 2015

// Art Teacher, Bryant Elementary // 27 years in Saline County

Bryant Art Teacher, Jan Patrick’s lessons stretch far beyond the canvas of the classroom. She’s not only communicating her love of the world through her art classes, she’s inspiring the next generation of teachers and guiding the students of the Bryant School district safely home.

Each week, she teaches art for each grade at Bryant Elementary, and she is also the first teacher a student sees in the morning and last teacher they see when they are dropped off at home on her daily bus route.

Initially taking on a bus route for extra income, she has been driving the school bus for nearly 20 years and loves every minute of it. “I get paid in hugs,” says Jan. “I get to be a part of their lives on the bus.” Many of the students she taught, now have children who are students in her classes today. “It’s fun to watch them grow up,” says Jan. “There is a real sense of family and community and I enjoy it.”

Jan’s love of teaching grew from a love of art and her fascination with how it connects to the world. She began teaching private art lessons and worked with the Boy Scouts, then became the High School art teacher on the first day of Kindergarten for her oldest child, Ben. Her love of teaching has inspired her daughter Kate, to become a teacher as well.

Jan’s lessons resonate beyond the classroom. “Art is not just doing a craft, it’s really something that you have to think about and be aware of,” says Jan. “Art is a way to communicate,” she says. She also mentors new teachers coming in to the school district. She wants to help them become the best teachers they can be. “I’ve always felt like, I would do this job whether they would pay me or not.”

Jan says she enjoyed working with the high school students because of the concentration and fine motor skills they would give to a project, but she loves the joy and passion elementary students have for creating. “They say ‘what do we get to do today?!’,” says Jan. “That enthusiasm is what makes it worth it!” Jan is a rockstar in their eyes.

In 2015, she has no intentions of slowing down. Jan plans to spend time with her family, see her daughter Kate graduate from college to become a teacher and continue to inspire students. “If you’re going to do something, give 100%,” says Jan.  “Why not give it your best and you’ll be happy if you do that, you will have no regrets.”