A legacy of 17 years, riddled with hundreds of students, handfuls of theatre productions and an effort to be involved with the school has led to theatre department director and teacher Gregory Arp’s recognition as Teacher of the Year.
“I look back at my first couple years of teaching and it was so long ago I can’t even remember how I got by,” Arp said. “I can remember at that time there was maybe one textbook that I would teach out of, but now we have so many more opportunities I don’t know how I did it because it was just sink or swim and I’ve obviously come a long way in my teaching.”
Arp was raised in a small town near Lubbock. He started participating in theatre in junior high, and he never imagined that he would become a theatre teacher. Arp successfully tried out for a scholarship West Texas A&M after being seen at one of his performances in high school. In college Arp began majoring in commercial art, but he kept coming back to theatre and teaching. Arp has been teaching for 19 years, 17 in Plano. He began teaching at Wilson middle school, and at one point he was teaching half days at Wilson and Vines.
“I learned from teaching kids in middle school more than any education class,” Arp said. “Those middle school kids keep you going. You have to be on top of things all the time. I think middle school teaching was the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Because of this long teaching career in the district Arp had taught some kids for seven years straight. Some of his past students have become speech or theatre teachers. Some other have become Broadway, TV, and film stars.
“Some of the proudest moments have been seeing past students become theatre teachers,” said Arp. “There’s an element to teaching in a school like this where there are highly motivated students who go out and become really successful at what they love.”
Theatre teacher Erin Crossley graduated in 2006 and now teaches theatre tech and co-runs the department with her former teacher Arp. She also teaches at Wilson during her second half of the school day, much like Arp did himself.
“Mr. Arp was one of the big reasons why I wanted to be a theatre teacher,” Crossley said. “I get to teach with him every day, so it’s kind of surreal. He’s the kind of teacher who really takes a personal interest in students and for me he helps me see I could have a future in theatre, which not only inspired me to be a performer and increase my interest in it, but also to inspire other students. He showed me how to be a mentor, not just a teacher.”
Some theatre students have to stay long hours after school to rehearse for the many different productions that they have throughout the year. Senior Sara Bynum, a second year theatre student, has a sister who was also one of Arp’s students.
“Mr. Arp is a really passionate teacher who cares about and likes what he’s doing,” Bynum said. “Other teachers seem indifferent at times about what’s going on in their students’ lives, but Mr. Arp really takes that next step in improving his relationship with the students.”
The involvement that Arp has with not only the school but his students is one of the reasons that Arp said he might’ve been chosen over the other candidates for teacher of the year.
“We become very much like a family because often times I see my students more often than their parents do,” Arp said. “We just wrapped up a huge musical and we were here all hours its seemed like we were leaving at 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. the last couple of weeks before the show. I can see when they are having their ups and downs because I see them in class and after class. It offers an opportunity to bond that other departments just don’t have.”
Crossley values the opportunity she has been given to now be a friend and colleague to Arp. She said that not much has changed and that she still has interactions with him that remind her of how much he was, and still is, involved with his students.
“While I still go and sit on his office couch and tell him all the things that I’m stressed about, he still takes care of me like he did when I was one of his students,” Crossley said. “This is such a great experience to share with him and now we get to help each other.”
Students like Bynum value the respect that Arp gives them and the smaller things that he does like joining in on improvisation games. She also appreciates the department’s production process.
“I was just in Chicago,” Bynum said. “I was part of the chorus. It was a really fun experience and everyone moves in different directions all the time because of all the involvement with the different directors. The whole rehearsal process is more professional, and it’s a lot of fun because of the amount of people that came and how much effort everyone, especially Mr. Arp, put into it.”
Arp said that he hopes to continue teaching and challenging his students with more productions like Chicago, so with not just singing, acting, or dancing, but all three. Arp said he wouldn’t mind teaching for the rest of his life and is ready to keep pushing his students
“I try not to do anything different,” Arp said. “I just try to be me. This department is so successful because of the respect we have for one another’s work. There are really good teachers on this campus and to be honored with that really makes you feel proud of your job and the people and students you work with.”
