In our continuing coverage of new faculty and staff, we have reached the new Fine Arts teacher, Mr. Snyder.

Even though Mr. Andy Snyder spent the majority of his childhood in Minnesota, he moved to Picayune, Mississippi, when he was in 7th grade. From there, he finished high school in Picayune and pursued higher learning at MUW. He earned his Masters at Indiana State University.

Despite being an art teacher today, Mr. Snyder remarkably didn’t have an interest in art until his freshman year of college; the turning point happened to be a web design course he took during that freshman year.

Mr. Snyder was interested in the camera that the professor owned, and just to his luck, he was able to borrow it for a while. He eventually was hired as that professor’s assistant web developer, which entailed all the nitty-gritty details to get websites up and going.

With the camera, Mr. Snyder grew as a photographer and an artist by taking several art courses in the latter half of freshman year and continuing until he got his major in photography.

Armed with all of this experience in which he’d built, he started teaching at the MUW from 2012 to 2017.

He joined the MSMS crew with hopes of varying the options available to students. “I hope to expand the arts program,” he said. “I’d like for there to eventually be more course options for the students.”

Mr. Snyder also wants to bring back older methods of photography that have been lost to the digital age of pull-out-your-phone-and-click. Besides the more common professional DSLR approach, he’s also aiming to have “students shoot with film and explore alternative photographic techniques.”

The approach of his photography class is very practical. Besides learning the basics of how to control the camera, students are left to freely express themselves based on the loose assignment criteria. Often, Mr. Snyder will say at the beginning of class, “Go out and get some photos!” With the approach to the class period, everyone’s learning experience is unique, molded by the photos they choose to take and how they learn to adjust and master the camera better in future situations.

“I feel extremely welcome and supported. I am extremely excited to be a part of it,” Snyder said in regards to being a new part of the MSMS family.