No, that is not Ryan above. But nobody ever sends me photos [insert sulky face here] and this photo is very appropriate for Ryan. Why a cactus, you ask? Although I only taught Ryan this year, he would sometimes visit my classroom when he was in grade 8 and 9. On one of these first visits, Ryan noticed my cacti sitting by the window. He was VERY excited to see these plants for some reason. And, from that day on, Ryan would ask me - almost every time I saw him in the hallway - "How are your cacti?". By grade 10, I'd probably spoken to Ryan 100 times, and 99 times we had only talked about my cacti. Funny.
Ryan joined my class late this year and I had concerns that he would not be able to catch up. Boy was I ever wrong! Ryan has the ability to WHIP through his math. He is a very strong math student. He did very well in PreCalculus 10 as well as on a number of this year's Math contests.
At one point this year, Ryan realized that he had a spare (it WAS a spare, wasn't it Ryan?) at the same time as one of my PreCalculus 11 classes. He started attending this class from time-to-time, would participate in class, and even did some of the assignments! And he didn't seem overwhelmed by the material in any way. Looks like you are going to do just as well in PreCalculus 11 next year, Ryan!
Sadly, Ryan will NOT be taking PreCalculus 11 - nor any of his other classes - at King George next year. Ryan is another one (why are there so many!!) of this year's students who will not be returning next year. To be honest, I can not exactly remember the reason for this. But it MUST have something to do with Ryan pursuing his passion around computers. You have probably all experienced Ryan's interest and expertise in computers/ technology. He helped me (and many other teachers I'm sure) with my computer difficulties on several occasions.
Ryan is always ready and willing to help. In such cases he is always friendly and enthusiastic. In fact, over the past three days, Ryan got to King George around SIX IN THE MORNING (!!!!!) to help out at an MYP conference at the school. Now THAT's committed (a shout out to Ali and Petar who were also there at an early hour).
I hope that things go very well for you next year, Ryan. Thanks for all the help (and your concern for my cacti). Come back and visit us (I'll save all my computer problems for you hahaha). All the best RH!!