Painting Pathways

Briggs Middle School teacher Joe Hass sees the world through a different lens.

By Paige Oswalt

In order to reach the art studio at Briggs Middle School, a visitor must embark on a treacherous journey through the school. First, they must gain access through the main office, where they will immediately be greeted by the friendly faces of the office staff.

Unfortunately, these faces do not properly prepare outside people for the chaos that ensues upon entering during the students’ passing period. The loud trill of a bell releases a tidal wave of prepubescent bodies swarming the hallways. An escape involves pushing through the herds of different friend groups, meeting up for the first time in 45 minutes, and quickly fleeing into the cafeteria, packed with herds of kids pushing up against one another, eagerly waiting to get their hands on any lunch they can find.

Maneuvering through a third of the school’s ravenous students poses a challenge, but you must reach the double doors that sit in the farthest corner of the room. Slowly moving forward through the doorway, the lights begin to brighten and the sounds of the cluttered and cramped cafeteria slowly fades.

When entering the art studio, the aura of students settles differently compared to any other area of the building. Kids move around in organized chaos, dancing around the room to clay stations, light tables, or supply rooms. In the center of it all, Joe Hass operates the ship. Hass is energetic and engaging, and his personality proves hard to miss. Whether it be his endless jokes, wild stories, or ridiculous accents, current and past students alike have a special fondness towards their art teacher.

In Hass’ 8th-grade class, students have just received their newest project and Hass floats through the room answering the constant buzz of questions. The minute he sends one student off, another takes their spot.

“Hey, Mr. Hass-Man?” a student says as he approaches Hass while he works on a scroll saw. Hass finishes his cut and turns his attention to the newcomer. He listens to what he is asking, then immediately springs into action answering the questions while demonstrating and adjusting the cuts his pupil had been struggling to grasp. As the endless barrage of questions finally comes to a close, the student has a grand “aha moment” as he takes it all in. After the student is satisfied, he begins to walk away, yet he abruptly turns back. “Guess what?” he asks with a sly smile full of mischief. Slowly, Hass looks away from the newest student that has appeared, and for a moment just looks at him. Finally, he shakes his head with a laugh and tells him, “it is time for you to go away now,” and sends the student off.

----------

Hass is the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) and CTE (Career and Technical Education) teacher at Briggs. The art studio and shop class are both run by Hass and, depending on the time of day, students create and learn something completely different. The 6th-grade classes are making ceramic pieces that tie into what they are learning in their social studies class, while 7th-graders are required to come up with a “crazy idea” about how they could improve the way we live while also preserving the environment, and then they must create a poster that includes drawings that encompass the scope of their idea. All of these classes reflect parts of his personality and commitment to helping educate and mentor kids at a “very pivotal and difficult time.”

Fine arts provide many advantages for students. Studies show exposure to fine arts have both academic and noneducational benefits. For instance, self-esteem, motivation, and creativity are improved, and cultural exposure and emotional expression are increased. However, all across the nation, fine arts programs are being cut by the hundreds. After the 2008 recession, 80 percent of schools were faced with budget cuts. Regardless of the multitudes of art departments disappearing, Hass has remained devoted to the challenge of upholding the arts at Briggs in order to better his students’ experiences in all aspects of education, providing them with an outlet that advocates for self-expression.

As of the summer of 2018, Hass has been in the process of revamping the art department, spending countless hours designing, planning, and painting his updated space. With the help of bond measures like Measure 98—which provided the Oregon Department of Education with $170 million to disperse among schools—secondary schools were allowed to spend money to renovate. He has refurbished the art studio with a new layout and equipment, as well as advocated to bring back shop classes. Previously, the life skills program was at Briggs, and they utilized the shop space. However, once Hamlin Middle School was rebuilt in the 2017-2018 school year, the program moved into the new school. This then freed up the shop once again, allowing Hass to make efforts and take steps to bring woodshop classes back to the middle school.

Hass introduced the STEAM program to Briggs. According to Hass, STEAM is creating more collaboration among himself and the science and math teachers. These partnerships allow him to coordinate lesson plans and develop a curriculum that lines up with what students are learning in other classroom settings. “When we look at the arts along with the core classes, we are trying to teach an entire student instead of just a part of them,” Hass states.

The connection between classes provides further comprehension of all subjects, supporting students to flourish in ways that otherwise might not have been possible. Under Hass’ management, art is no longer simply fumbling around with watercolors, but rather, an extension of the classroom “that allows students to use a totally different side of their brain and try to be creative, versus just sitting in a desk.”

----------

To simplify Hass as just an art teacher feels like an injustice and understatement. Hass was born in South Korea and faced many trials growing up. When he was in Korea, Hass says, “I had to learn to take care of myself.” At a young age, his family was poor and his mother, being a single parent, was often forced to work long shifts. His father, who was a part of the US Army, left when he was a year and a half old. Since his father was no longer present, Hass was given his mother’s family name, Nam, rather than the last name he was born with, which is considered a social taboo in Korean society. Only half Korean, Hass says, “kids would make fun of me because I looked like an American. At the time, I actually had blond hair and blue eyes, so they would wait after school to fight me because I was different.”

At the age of 10, Hass was forced to leave his mother behind when she placed him in an orphanage in Seoul, South Korea, in hopes to grant him a better life in the United States. Knowing not much more English than the ABCs, Hass waited for a year to be adopted by an American family. He was eventually adopted by a family in California, where he remained until he was 13. Then, he was driven up to Holt International, a Christian organization in Eugene, devoted to finding loving, adoptive homes for kids and orphans. There, he was placed in a foster home for several months until he was adopted by the Hass family, whom he remained with throughout the rest of his childhood.

Once enrolled in school, Hass reminisces that learning English was a considerable challenge. He says, “I didn’t know at the time, and wouldn’t until I was in college, but I have dyslexia and later on found out I have ADHD.”

He also recalls that “on top of everything else, my fifthgrade teacher, the very first teacher I had, did not want to spend a lot of time with me because she viewed me as more of a burden than anything.” Alienated by both Korean and American society and familiar with the struggles of learning impairments, Hass wishes to now teach his students in a way that utilizes their differences, allowing them to become gifts, not burdens. “It’s more of a blessing because I think we get to see the world completely different compared to somebody else,” he says. This has allowed him to connect with young students as they enter middle school and are now face-to-face with their own issues and struggles, unlike anything they have experienced thus far.

Tyler Rutledge, an 8th grader at Briggs Middle School, has taken Hass’s class as an elective since his 6th-grade year. Rutledge continues to come back each year to take everything Hass has to offer. “He makes school fun,” Rutledge says, “and it is different because you incorporate everything together, rather than just learning one subject. It makes you want to learn.”

The STEAM program and Hass are breaking down boundaries with students and the way they are learning and processing information in and out of the classroom. Rutledge expresses his appreciation toward the program by revealing that he has “learned to think outside the box,” and that if a student happens to be struggling in a class, “Hass will always help you and he never will tell [you to] go do it yourself or figure it out on your own. He will actually spend time to sit down and help you with what you need.”

Hass has dedicated himself to bettering the art program at Briggs and has become an advocate and support system for young students. Despite all that he has been through, Hass has taken life into his own hands and now recognizes the lessons life has taught him as a powerful tool to help his own students through the darkest parts of their lives.