Teacher Appreciation Week Highlight: Richard Conaway

PHS art instructor Richard Conaway helps student Ricky LaRose, who is beginning a tree sculpture using donated wood and PVC pipe.

It's National Teacher Appreciation Week, and Perry County School District 32 is highlighting just a few of its outstanding educators. More than 200 teachers and 100 support staff serve the district's 2,350 students.

Since 1984, National PTA has designated the first week in May as a special time to honor the men and women who lend their passion and skills to educating our children.

Richard Conaway, an art instructor at Perryville High School, has been an educator for 10 years. This is his second year at PHS. He previously taught at Perryville Elementary School for 5 years, and another three at Scott County Central.

"The most enjoyable thing about teaching high school art is that I get to work with advanced students who are working at their highest level," he said. "I love seeing their creative processes and seeing them advance in their skill; it's such an interesting process to me.

"My greatest enjoyment as a teacher comes from experiencing that moment when a student suddenly realizes that he can do something he didn't think he could. Lots of students think that they aren't good at art, only to find out that they really are. That's great."

Conaway doesn't just teach art, he is an artist himself. "I like to work with clay," he said. "I don't get to do as much of my own art as I like, though."

Conaway and fellow PHS art teacher Bettina Comstock's students recently participated in a juried art exhibit at Southeast Missouri State University's River Campus.

"Out of 100 pieces selected from high schools in this region, our students had 13 works of art on display," he said. "I'm incredibly proud of that. In sports terms, that's like the district playoffs of art. Our students did very well."

He said he also loves to take his art students to view others' artwork.

"It's so important to get them off campus to see art in real life," he said. "The PHS Art Club has been to several exhibits this year, and soon we'll be going to the St. Louis Art Museum and the Loop. It's important for them to see that art extends beyond the classroom."

Conaway is also a coach with the PHS Baseball program and said he enjoys learning from great coaches.

"I have learned a lot from Coaches Don O'Keefe and Darin Deckerd," he said. "I love to coach and to be around the kids."

Conaway said that his inspiration to become a teacher was close to home. "My wife is my inspiration," he said. "She went to college and became a teacher and I saw how much she loved the profession, and how much she enjoyed her students and the camaraderie with her fellow teachers, so I went to college to become a teacher."

Conaway said that his art program receives a lot of support from the community.

"I am so grateful to the businesses that support the art programs here," he said. "The Art Club gets to paint the windows at local businesses like Hoeckele's Bakery and the newspaper office. We get items donated for art projects, too. For instance, Schumer Heating & Cooling provided us with pieces of PVC to use in sculptures, and Gilster-Mary Lee gives us cardboard, which is like gold to an art teacher. Stark Truss gave us lumber recently, and we've used that in sculpture and mixed media projects. Our students wouldn't be able to create without these supplies."

If you'd like to donate supplies to the art programs at District 32, contact Richard Conaway at 547-7500, ext. 8599 or rconaway@perryville.k12.mo.us.