Science was the one subject that challenged my ability to stay awake. It was boring, and I struggled to learn the material. But once middle school hit, all of my opinions changed --and that was because of Mr. Hogan.

Mr. Hogan is the type of educator  you don’t even consider a teacher. I look at him as a friend. It goes without saying that Mr. Hogan would be completely different if he didn’t have his amazing sense of humor, enthusiasm, and love for his job.

When you are in class with Mr. Hogan, he’s the class clown. It’s impossible to leave his room without a smile stretched across your face. His positive personality and motivation made me want to learn instead sinking my head into my desk. Mr. Hogan knew how students thought and felt about learning, so he took that into consideration and turned lessons into a fun activity or game.

When we were learning about mitosis, he had us make a music video about the steps the cells went through. One of the best days of school was when we shared our videos because of how funny they were. Even though the presentations made us laugh, they taught me all about mitosis without me even noticing. After singing through my lyrics to my song I realized I had learned so much while at the same time having fun.
Mr. Hogan had something special with his students, and he knew each of our personalities like he was our father. He knew that students liked to learn with physical hands on activities and games so he made sure that all of our lessons revolved around those tactics.
A great teacher in my eyes is a teacher that shows pride in their  job -- Mr. Hogan is an example. Never did I see Mr. Hogan walk into class with a frown on his face. Every day he walked into class with excitement, enthusiasm, and energy that everyone loved. He acted like he had just won the lottery moments before entering the room. Mr. Hogan was the most fun teacher. He participated in school pep rallies and events. In seventh grade the school attached Mr. Hogan to a wall with tape for a fundraiser. He was standing three feet off the ground on top of a chair as students laid huge strips of duct tape across his body and onto the wall. Once we thought we had enough tape we pulled the chair from his feet and he stuck to the wall for the remainder of the assembly. Mr. Hogan participated in our fundraisers because he cared about the people around him and liked to help where help is needed.

He made time for his students — and he made time to help me with troubles I was having in science or even my picks for March Madness Basketball! I remember Mr. Hogan calling me over to his desk when there was no work to be done to watch the last seconds of a Wisconsin Badgers game on his computer. After the game was over he said, “Come back during lunch and we can watch the Arkansas game!”

My eyes widened and my face grew a smile. There aren’t many teachers that will sacrifice their few minutes they have alone in the day just so that they can make their students happy!

He also volunteers his time to do things because he knows his students will love it. Mr. Hogan volunteered his time to coach both basketball and volleyball for our school’s teams. Also, in sixth grade there was five students (including me) who didn’t have a gym class because of a scheduling mess up. Mr. Hogan volunteered to come teach gym for us during his free period. All six of us would play three on three basketball against each other everyday -- it was the best gym class I ever had. Mr. Hogan was one of the most caring teachers that I have ever had.

You don’t see teacher like Mr. Hogan. It’s not common that you get a teacher that cares more about his students then he does about himself. He cares about what students enjoy, how we're feeling and he does whatever he can to make students enjoy their time at school. Most of the teachers I’ve had at school felt like educators, but Mr. Hogan felt like family.