Have you noticed all the new faces around campus? The ODA Upper School has forty new students and three new teachers this year. Have you also noticed that friendly art teacher eagerly trying to figure out who’s who at the lunch tables filled with students?

Choosing Thunder Nation wasn’t a hard decision for new ODA teacher William Munson. When visiting the school for the first time last spring, he immediately noticed how open and friendly everybody was. Munson recalls he was “thoroughly impressed” with the students he interacted with and was happy to be moving closer to his mother who lives in  Fort Myers.

Munson decided to start teaching art when he was a graduate assistant for the Arts Education Department at Ball State University where he “just fell in love with the idea of teaching.”

Lucky for ODA students, Munson not only loves teaching, he is also an accomplished artist. Munson’s art was featured nationally as well as internationally in Korea. While in Korea, where Munson lived for a period of time, he found much to paint. Munson leans towards portraits.

He explains almost apologetically how he finds painting men a more “honest pursuit” than painting women because men don’t care how he paints them. Women tend to be a little bit more picky about how they want their portrait to look. Munson finds it more rewarding to paint it as he sees it.

Munson hopes to bring a new style and way of looking at art to his students this year. Several times, Munson has commented on the amazing work his students have already completed and is very eager to see what else they can do. On one recent afternoon, Munson could be seen walking around campus with Freshman Mackenzie Condrack’s recent masterpiece: a striking, over-sized portrait of man.

“Isn’t it great,” beamed Munson.

Junior, Anne Keen, one of Munson’s student artists says that he is “engaging” and very “free” with his class, which she loves. She also appreciated his help with the cheer leading banner and hopes to get to work with him more in the future.

The next time you see our new art teacher walking around with a beaming smile, you’ll know exactly who Mr. Munson is.