In the years of education, students spend almost all of their time at school. Eight hours a day, nine months out of the year, students are in classrooms learning, working and achieving new things they didn’t even think possible.    

     Students also spend a large chunk of their time around the teachers giving them their education, which can influence their lives greatly. Whenever a student graduates, it is rare that they don’t come out of the halls of high school with a teacher who made the greatest impact on them. Even in only his two years of teaching at De Soto High School, many students name social studies  instructor Ryan Robie as this teacher.

Although Robie has only taught for two years at DHS, he has been in the district for 12 years. Previous to De Soto, he spent his other 10 years teaching at Mill Creek Middle School.

Like the students who are influenced by him, Robie’s main motivation to become a teacher himself was the teachers he had during his education.

“For me, I didn’t really know I wanted to be a teacher until my senior year of high school. I had some incredible teachers and some people that I looked up to as mentors or role models, and they just had a really cool way of connecting with kids,” Robie said.

What inspired him most was the opportunity of connection with students and the ability to build relationships.

“I wanted to have that opportunity to connect with people, and I’m very much a relationship person. I had great mentors that guided me down that path and said that it [teaching] is an option for continuing to do that,” Robie said.

As a teacher, his favorite part of the job is building connections with students and staff.

“My favorite part is definitely the relationships … I think there are all kinds of teachers out there: the expert teachers, the relationship teachers and the really outstanding ones who are good at both. But I’d consider myself a relationship teacher because I work hard to build those connections with kids, and then I want to develop and grow those. For me, that’s what really matters,” Robie said.

The environment at DHS is also a positive element of teaching for Robie, as he appreciates many things about the building and its staff.

“There are some great people as far as staff all the way from top down,” Robie said. “Everyone is very willing to help and do what’s best for kids. The students here are great too, and just looking around I think that we have awesome kids here at the school.”

Many students have known Robie since their early years of middle school, such as junior Addison Gress.

“I’ve known Mr. Robie since the seventh grade, so about five years. The first time I had him was in seventh grade and then I got to have him again as a sophomore last year,” Gress said.

According to Gress, Robie is really passionate about the bettering of himself and other students at DHS.

“My favorite thing about him as a teacher is how passionate he is about being the best person he can be, and also making others want to be the best versions of themselves. He cares a lot about his students and really wants a personal relationship with them,” Gress said.

She also appreciates his teaching style, which helps her stay engaged in the class lessons and material.

“His teaching style is really hands on, where we do a lot of activities and moving around. I like that we aren’t just sitting down the whole time, and it helps me learn because then I don’t get bored and I stay more focused,” Gress said. “At first he said at the beginning of the year that he wasn’t going to lecture and he did, but with him it’s okay because he’s so passionate about what he’s teaching and it becomes really interesting.”

As well as teaching multiple social studies classes at the school, Robie is also the head girls’ basketball coach.  

“This will be my fourth year as the head coach here at DHS. I was the JV coach for a year, and then after coach Bonar stepped down I had the opportunity to take on the role,” Robie said.

His move from MCMS to DHS also made the coaching aspect of his career easier as well.

“I loved being there [MCMS] and teaching seventh grade with the people I worked with, but after teaching the same thing for 10 years I decided it was time to challenge myself,” Robie said. “The move also gave me the opportunity to be in the building with the kids I coach and interact with them, and being the head coach it was really hard to not be in the building.”

Overall, Robie’s many roles in the building and his unique teaching skills have grown over the student body at DHS in only two short years. In those two years, he has already accomplished his goal of making an impression on many of the students.