Written By: Emily Rogers, Staff Writer
AESTHETE: Mr. Garret’s love for teaching and art drives his life. Feature; Garret
With over a decade in education, Noal Garret steps into the spotlight, literally and figuratively, as he begins his first year here at Poly High School. Garret, a California native, attended Jurupa Valley High School before graduating with a Bachelor’s in Fine Art with an emphasis in drawing and painting from CSUF. Prior to his time at Poly, he taught in Moreno Valley USD but chose to stay local and closer to his kids who attend Victoria Elementary, and his wife when switching to RUSD to work at Poly.
With a lasting influence from the 1980s artist Jean- Michel Basquiat, Mr. Garret was introduced to art early on in his life. Developing his own personal styles and interests, when it comes to his craft. When he works, he favors a “mixed medium; combining drawing, painting, printmaking, and collages,” to create his pieces. In previous teaching jobs, he’s worked in a variety of classrooms not just dabbling in art but also AVID, as well as starting a Media Arts program specializing in teaching photoshop, adobe illustrator, and video production.
Coming from two teacher parents, Garret couldn’t help but share the love of knowledge himself. “The love of sharing what I know with someone else” drove him to a career in education; when one benefits and turns his teaching into something with potential, it brings him joy. He witnessed the benefits of being a teacher through his parents, acknowledging their additional spare time as a family that wouldn’t exist had they worked different jobs. Now working as a teacher, Garret is allowed to take advantage of this free time and spends it with his wife and kids, as well as his personal interests outside of art, such as various forms of cycling (his current favorite being his gravel bike) and being an assistant coach to his daughter’s softball team.
As Garret embarks on furthering his new career at Poly, he looks back at his last 11 years of teaching. Remembering the new teachers he welcomed to his previous school, he thinks of his welcome to Poly. “I welcomed a lot of new teachers to my previous school sites, but I’ve never welcomed anyone the way I have been welcomed here at Poly.” Poly cannot wait to see how Mr. Garret grows and the future he holds here.