Congratulations to Mr. Boylan on being awarded the “Teacher of Excellence Award” at the state Career and Applied Technology Conference on September 25th by the Iowa Industrial Technology Association!

Not everyone here at Ames High is familiar with Craig Boylan, although it is likely that they’ve heard fanciful tales about his tailored moustache. His classroom is located in what I like to call the “Forgotten Hallway”, dimly-lit MIT Hall where the strong survive and the weak hide in the bathroom.

Mr. Boylan teaches industrial technology (in addition to a multi-occupations coop class), and that’s why you may not be familiar with him. In today’s ever-changing world based on computer screens and gigabytes, classes such as Mr. Boylan’s woodworking class can easily be passed up for classes that are more readily applicable to our everyday lives. But Mr. Boylan contends that woodworking teaches students a lot more than simply how to work with wood.

“Most of my students in my woodworking classes realize they are learning skills that will benefit them no matter what their chosen profession in life,” Mr. Boylan says. “Woodworking is a discipline that teaches students to appreciate the link between independent thinking, self-reliance and the value of skilled work using their hands as well as their head.”

Mr. Boylan wants to instill in his students the same respect for woodworking as an artform that was instilled in him in his youth. He believes that nature does the hard work by creating beautiful and intricately patterned wood, and the woodworker simply has to take away what he doesn’t want to create something even more beautiful than before.

In order to really grasp the passion for what he does that Mr. Boylan possesses, you have to see it for yourself. Watching his eyes spark up with pride when talking about the amazing things that students have created in his classes make me want to create those things too, and hearing about all that he and Mr. Jahn are doing to keep our industrial technology department strong tells me that these classes are worth our while and greatly contribute to making Ames High’s students well-rounded individuals in all aspects of their lives.

Here is to Mr. Boylan’s continued success, and equally to the continued success of all the students whose lives he impacts everyday.