Inspiring & Unforgettable Describe This High School Teacher by Carol Schmidt, MSU Communications Services Unforgettable, that's what high school psychology teacher Joyce Jarosz Hannula, '76 SpCm, '93 M, is. Ask colleagues, administrators and former students who took her Advanced Placement Psychology class years ago, and they say Hannula and her classes are hard to forget. "Mrs. Hannula was definitely inspiring," says Travis Dorsch, now a punter in the National Football League who graduated from Purdue University with a degree in psychology. Dorsch said buzz about Hannula's class prompted him to enroll in her class. "I loved the class--enough so that I decided that psychology would become my major at Purdue. "Mrs. Hannula really had a way of turning all her students on to the concepts and theories that many of our textbooks had a hard time pushing us through. She not only made the PROCESS of learning enjoyable, but Mrs. Hannula seemed to make WHAT we were learning practical as well." Godfrey Saunders, principal of Bozeman High School, is Hannuala's boss and friend, and also sees her value from a parent's viewpoint. His oldest daughter, Paige Saunders, '03 Psy, was inspired to make a career of psychology while a student in Hannula's class. She is currently "at the top of her class at Northwestern's graduate school majoring in psychology," he said. "Bozeman High and MSU prepared her well." "Joyce is just a fascinating human being, a wonderful person," Saunders said. "She's a motivator. She's that teacher the kids mention. She's the kind of educator that will come up again in 10, 20 or 30 years after school is over and you are sitting around chatting about your youth. She's that one teacher you will remember." A master at finding and inspiring passion for learning in her students, Hannula is an award-winning teacher. In 1993 she won the MSU Foundation's Graduate Achievement Award. A couple of years ago, Hannula was selected as one of the first "Women Who Make a Difference" by the United Way of Gallatin County. Recently, she spent three weeks teaching in Russia as the winner of a U.S. State Department educational award. The time in Russia meant a great deal to Hannula, whose parents immigrated to Bozeman from Ukrania, also a former Soviet satellite country. The Russian culture, language and even food were familiar to Hannula, who said that 30 percent of Russians have roots in Ukrania. "In three weeks I spoke to 1,200 people," said Hannula, who taught critical thinking, writing across the curriculum and cooperative learning in three different Russian cities. "The stance there is still fairly authoritarian," Hannula said of the teaching style in Russia. "Teachers won't give students much pause to think, so it's difficult for them to develop critical thinking skills." Hannula also teaches an education course at MSU. The one "secret" she passes on to future teachers is "you have to put yourself on the line. "If you don't want to take a good hard look at who you are, how you feel about others and how you look at learning, then teaching isn't for you." Hannula's students say her lessons are dramatic, her expectations high, her effectiveness never in doubt. She is so successful at teaching the fundamentals of psychology that 95 percent of her students who take the Advanced Placement Psychology courses each year pass the strenuous AP test, and a whopping two-thirds of her students receive grades of four or five out of a high of five points. Hannula, who is now studying for a Ph.D. in instruction and curriculum, said much of the credit for her success lies in the parents of her students for supporting their children and valuing education. "From the time they walk into my class, the students are so articulate and thoughtful. The main thing I do is show my passion for education." Saunders said the passion is mutual. "Perhaps the greatest thing about Joyce is her ability to listen," he said. "When you ask for advice, she always leaves you with hope. And that is a very wonderful thing."