What’s it like to teach a student and then work beside him as a professional peer?
Photo by Alyssa Guiliani
Steven Benezue, art instructor and Gallery director, poses with his North Lake art teacher, Marty Ray, at the 2008 Student Exhibition reception April 23.
Most students will never forget that inspiring teacher who left a lasting impression. At North Lake College, there are some special instructors who encouraged young students to make a difference by teaching – at North Lake.
Marty Ray, 3D art director, taught Steven Benezue, now Gallery director, at North Lake in 1985. Benezue took Ray’s 3D design class and recognizes her as one of his biggest influences, as well as an inspiration in his current artistic explorations.
Ray steered Benezue into working with clay. And, although there were a few detours, clay brought Benezue back to North Lake.
“I always had teaching in the back of my mind as a career option,” Benezue said. “But when I was a student at North Lake, I did not ever consider that I would be here again one day teaching. It seems life has its own agenda.”
Benezue said it helps that he once was a part of North Lake’s student body.
He explains: “I now know how the psyche of the student body works. Being a student, then a teacher at NLC, helps me see both sides of the workings at school.”
Ray and Benezue have a long history together and know one another in different roles – as student and teacher, as fellow artists, as friends, and now as professional peers teaching the same subject. They said that history makes this particular relationship very meaningful.
Chris Fulmer, art professor, taught Gregg Ruuska for two years at Richardson Junior High School. Now, both work for North Lake in the Visual and Performing Arts Division. In 1978-79, when she first taught Ruuska, Fulmer was in her fourth year of teaching. (see photos below)
Today, that number has grown to 32.
“Over the years, I have taught thousands of students and have often wondered where they are and what they have become,” Fulmer said. “What a joy it is to remember Gregory and now to see him as an adult and a peer.”
Ruuska, now an adjunct instructor in video technical production at North Lake, has been teaching for 14 years. He said he had an interest in teaching long before he became a part-time instructor.
“There is a lot of satisfaction when working alongside a former student,” Ruuska noted. “You get to see that they have succeeded in the world.”
Ruuska remembered Fulmer as an unforgettable teacher and was really surprised to find that they would be working together as peers.
As long as North Lake continues to have inspiring professors, he predicted, there will be former students who return to join their ranks.