Employee Spotlight: Ian Garrett, Science Teacher at Madras High School

For the month of October, JCSD 509J is spotlighting Ian Garrett who is a science teacher at Madras High School for the work he does every day in his role.
He started working for the district in the 21-22 school year. He originally planned on being a scientist and got to work with some high school students during his graduate work. That was when he first realized he enjoyed teaching. He ended up working as an advisor at Portland State University. However, he started taking night classes to get his teaching license. He was born in Madras and grew up here and when he saw that MHS was hiring a life science teacher, he took that as a sign.
Ian says his biggest success as a teacher so far has been figuring out how to manage his classroom. He has developed a strong relationship with his students and at the same time he has high expectations for all of them.
“My biggest success as a teacher is not teaching science. I’m first working with kids and people and humans and the relationship I develop is going to determine whether I am going to teach them anything. At the high school level, you also get to build these amazing relationships with these kids.”
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Ian is also the club advisor for the Environmental club, Japan club, Youth Advisory Council, and Space club. He loves having the opportunity as well to take his classes on field trips to see science happening in a real-world application.
Watch the video to learn more about him and the work he does in school!
Below is his nomination,
"Ian Garrett is a highly motivated teacher who truly cares about his students. He has been instrumental in developing our dual enrollment program for science. He has College Biology articulated so students can earn 12 college credits from COCC. He was also instrumental in getting his College Environment class articulated so students earn 4 college credits. He takes his own personal time to set up study sessions for students on weekends at locations such as Dairy Queen or Great Earth where students get support from their peers or himself. He also orchestrates field trips to places as the Painted Hills and PSU's science department. He does these trips so students have the opportunity to see science in our natural environment or real-world settings. On top of all his teaching responsibilities, he is the advisor for the Environmental Club which among other things takes care of the local community garden. He is the Japan club advisor which offers the opportunity to participate in an exchange program with our sister city in Japan."