First-year teacher Ryan Dziatkowiec lives in Batavia where he likes to go to his local coffee shop or to the local library to read novels. No stranger to the town, Dziatkowiec grew up in Batavia where he attended Batavia High School.

During high school, Dziatkowiec had many interests not limited to reading, baseball and martial arts. “I got my black belt in Taekwondo in high school which was a lot of fun,” said Dziatkowiec. But, of all of his interests, the one that means the most is the teaching and learning of Spanish.

Dziatkowiec took Spanish in high school and in college at Valparaiso University. During college, he studied in Costa Rica for five months, which had a very big impact on his life. “Living with a host family was really significant,” said Dziatkowiec.

Spanish continues to play an important role in Dziatkowiec’s life: it is the main language on his phone and the language of the music he listens to every day. However, he would like the importance of Spanish in his life to go even higher. “Spanish is not as big of a part of my life as I want it to be,” said Dziatkowiec.

Even though his love for the Spanish language runs deep, his interest in foreign languages in general is broad. He said he would like to learn a new language eventually. “I really want to learn another language like French or Italian,” said Dziatkowiec. 

Dziatkowiec says he loves teaching Spanish at Naz because he thrives off of the students’ positive attitudes.