Teacher’s Pet: Mr. Ryan Hubbell
By Sam Romero ’17
THE ROUNDUP
Mr. Pidgeon’s question from the October “Teacher’s Pet”: If you were to sing one song on “American Idol” what would it be and why?
“Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi. It is a karaoke go to of mine. Everybody loves it and nobody can’t sing along to Bon Jovi… I am not a huge Bon Jovi fan. I just want to go on record and say that.
Why did you come to Brophy to teach?
So long story short, I was hired by ASU in the fall semester of 2008, and that is when the state budget collapsed… I knew Ms. Guffey for about 15 years and she said there was a job opening here and I applied for it and got the job. I started out with Mr. Heideman as a sub coordinator. And now here I am, and I love it. Absolutely love it.
What are you passionate about?
I love history, specifically looking at the history of women’s rights and feminism. I love teaching students about how to contextually analyze media and look for ways to fight against injustice by using media. I also love Phoenix Suns. I’m passionate about golf. I’m passionate about my wife and son.
Why are you so interested in women’s rights?
That’s a good question. Back when I was a sophomore in college, I was a philosophy major and I had to write two papers for a class on metaphysics. One was why numbers didn’t exist and one was on why colors didn’t exist, and I thought to myself this doesn’t make any sense. I don’t care about writing these papers that don’t mean anything. I happened to be taking an elective called Women in Contemporary Society and I thought it was awesome. It opened my eyes… I got really interested not only because I thought it was a worthwhile endeavor, but I felt like I had a worthwhile role to play in that endeavor.
Do you moderate any clubs?
Yes the Student Summit Community. It is a student group involved in helping plan the Summit on Human Dignity every year. I moderate that club.
Do you have a Jesuit education?
I do not. I went to public school my whole life. I went to Hamilton for high school. Then I went to Arizona State University for my undergrad. Then the State University for New York at Stony Brook for grad school. So I was definitely a public educated kid.
Why did you go to Stony Brook?
Four years ago we did a summit on masculinity and our first keynote speaker was a man by the name of Dr. Kimnel, and he was my dissertation advisor in grad school. I went to Stony Brook because of him.
What is your favorite Disney Princess movie?
“Frozen,” easily “Frozen.” My son loves it. We probably sing “Let it Go” at least five to 10 times a day. I think it is a really great movie actually because, kind of going off the whole women’s rights things, I think it is a great positive message about women in the movie.
Where are you originally from?
I was born in Kirksville, MO… I spent some time in Ohio before finally moving to Arizona. I moved to Arizona when I was about four or five.
What was your favorite place you have visited?
Edinburgh by far. I mean that’s hard. I think New York City is the greatest city in the world because I lived there for four years and it was an absolutely amazing, life changing experience for me. But a close second is Edinburgh, Scotland.
Why do you think Edinburgh was one of the best?
Edinburgh was really cool because the people were super friendly. Everybody was so nice there. I really liked the feel of Edinburgh… There was this great juxtaposition of sort of the new and the modern with the old ancient history that is rich with the culture there.
Would you like to propose a question for the next Teacher’s Pet edition?
If you had to pitch a reality TV series to Fox, what would your pitch be?
