Ryan is the 2024 SHAPE America National Middle School Physical Education Teacher of the Year. He has been teaching physical education for 16 years; the last 8 years at Spooner Middle School in our home state of Wisconsin. Outside of school, Ryan coaches hockey, football, baseball, mountain bike racing and enjoys fishing, hunting and biking with his wife and 3 sons. He strives to incorporate multiple physical education standards into his lessons; stressing the social and emotional components, and attempts for all students to feel valued and comfortable to take risks and grow. His passion at school is using outdoor physical activity to help students with attention challenges find academic and behavioral success.