Mr. Zinn showcasing his artistic skills.
Art: Mr. Zinn
After being out of teaching for some time to work in the construction industry, and settle into his new Minnesota home with his family, BSM’s new art teacher, Mr. Charlie Zinn, decided that he wanted to get back into the profession this past summer. And when the opportunity to work at BSM came calling, he couldn’t help but take it.
Mr. Zinn grew up in Colorado Springs and developed a passion for art at a young age. “Growing up in Colorado, I had access to the mountains and art, and I always enjoyed art. When I was growing up and figuring out who I was, I was always attracted to the arts and identified with it,” Zinn said.
Zinn attended the Bemis School of Art before studying art in college at Rhode Island School of Design. Zinn moved to Minnesota from Denver in June of 2017. He has been working in construction for a couple of years. “We moved to Minnesota because we have toddlers, and my wife is from Edina so we moved to be closer to her parents. I have been out of teaching for some time, but when I saw the opportunity to teach at BSM, I had to put my name in the hat because Benilde has a great reputation,” Zinn said.
As of right now, Zinn is teaching Introductions to Drawing and Painting, as well as some 9th and 10th grade art classes. Zinn has experience in a lot of areas of design and art. “I am excited to challenge my students to use materials in unexpected ways, I am excited to work with students to their benefit, and to see them grow, and to have them make art that raises their expectations of themselves and encourages them. I welcome students to my room and to connect and I am happy to connect with the whole community and to be an active part of the extracurricular goings-on,” Zinn said.
Ryan Kraemer
Senior Ryan Kraemer says that being a valedictorian shows how much he enjoyed learning about everything.
At the end of every school year, Benilde-St. Margaret’s recognizes those who have maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout their high school experience. Being named valedictorian is a high honor that few people get to achieve. One of the seniors this year to receive this award is Ryan Kraemer.
There are multiple reasons why receiving this award made Kraemer proud of himself. “I’m happy to have had so many good classes in my time at BSM, so being a valedictorian to me shows how much I enjoyed learning about everything. I think the root reason I made sure I did well in my classes since freshman year was that I look up to my siblings, who I think are all very smart and successful,” Kraemer said.
To be able to maintain a 4.0 GPA throughout high school, Kraemer had certain study habits to make sure he understood the materials. “I think my main form of studying comes from listening to teachers in class and making sure I understand the whole process. Like in math, I’ll make sure I have it down in class; I think understanding is the most important, over just knowing whatever formula. The same goes for English and everything. So every night, I do my homework for the next day, and if I have a test, I’ll look over my notes and make sure I understand every concept,” Kraemer said.
This accomplishment wasn’t always easy for Kraemer with certain classes pushing him more than others. “My two hardest classes were AP Human Geography and AP Chemistry. APGeo was my first AP, and I was a sophomore, so I had to get into the rhythm of making sure I knew everything. I had to develop a lot of reasoning skills for that class so I could understand cause and effect and then write about topics. For AP Chem, it definitely took the most understanding of things going on at microscopic level and trying to apply that to the formulas I had learned,” Kraemer said.
AP Chemistry teacher Lisa Bargas taught Kraemer through his difficult class. “He went through the materials with a fine-tooth comb and his attention to detail was unsurpassed,” Bargas said.
There are people along the way that helped Kraemer out on this path. “It was nice for me to have my parents recognize that I could be a bit more independent because I feel like if they were pressuring me to do my homework, I would be more angry about doing it. Otherwise, I’ve had amazing teachers in every subject during my time at BSM, and they make it very easy to enjoy the topic. When you enjoy the topic, it becomes a lot easier to do well,” Kraemer said.