Indiana Jones is a legend amongst the historical community, even if he is a fictional character. At some point, most kids aspired to grow up and be like Dr. Jones. For good reason too. He’s highly educated and shares his great knowledge with normal kids, his story growing up is different than most, and he explores the wonders of the world.
Needless to say, it’s a life that most kids would want, but most likely could never actually live up to.
Not Brett Rydalch.
Although Highland’s new history teacher doesn’t carry around a whip or wear a leather jacket and a fedora, his story is about as close to that of Indiana Jones as it comes. Rydalch’s life out of school would put any rumors of him being a typical history teacher to rest.
“I am a cyclist who is closing in on my goal of riding 3,000 miles,” Rydalch said.
Thats almost the length of the entire mainland United States across, an impressive physical feat, to say the least.
Speaking of physical feats, it would be worth noting that Rydalch grew up in California, and that exposed him to a sport that he would go very far in.
“I was an avid high school, college, and post-college water polo athlete,” Rydalch said. “I earned a silver medal in 2020 at an international competition in Melbourne, Australia.”
The number of people that make it out of high school in their sport is very limited, and that number slims down even further when going from collegiate sports to professional, and beyond that, the number of people that can say they have medaled in international competition – next to none.
Besides his physical accolades, Rydalch has also been making contributions to major Utah news sources in recent times including the Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News, and Medium. A small group writes for each of those programs, and Rydalch has written for all three.
If Rydalch has a little extra time on his hands, he does things maybe even more extreme than those things.
“My goal is to visit all seven continents. I have Asia and Antarctica left. A lot of my retirement will be spent exploring the world,” Rydalch said.
Exploring the world is on the bucket list of many, but the number of people that pencil it in versus the number of people who actually board the planes are very different, although it seems like it isn’t an issue for Rydalch.
“I love to travel,” Rydalch said.
When Rydalch isn’t doing something crazy unordinary, he is back home supporting the community. Rydalch serves on the board of directors for the Utah Department of Education, where he is the chair of the UEA’s LGBTQ+ caucus. His passion for serving the community is mostly shown through educating today’s youth to become a bright future generation.
“I got to substitute teach a class in college,” Rydalch said. “I just fell in love with hanging out with teenagers. It’s a really unique job, and there is a lot of impact that can be made.”
Rydalch’s journey in education began with his own.
Rydalch’s list of education is a long one, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in History & Business Education, Master of Education in Social Studies Education, Master of Science in Education Leadership, and a Doctor of Education Specialty in K-12 Administration. Aside from college diplomas he holds a Utah Professional Teaching License endorsed in: History, Political Science, Social Studies, Business, Education Technology, Instructional Coaching, School Leadership, and English as a Second Language.
All this begs the question, is Rydalch a little overqualified to be teaching high school social studies in a small school in Salt Lake City, Utah?
“There is no such thing as overqualified for a teacher,” Rydalch said. “As teachers we set the example. Everything we do is about education, so I wanted to become an expert and be the best at what I did.”
It sounds like maybe the one thing Rydalch doesn’t have is an ego. Rydalch cares deeply about the rising generation. An attribute that is very desirable among teachers. He figures that one of the best ways to prepare students for the future is to help them learn about the past.
“I think a lot of our future, our democracy, our country, rest on young people’s shoulders. It takes a village to help raise and develop a child or teenager into their best self,” Rydalch said. “There is nothing better than helping someone become their best self.”
Rydalch will be a great addition to the already strong teaching staff at Highland. Especially if he cares so much about the lives of each student and the success of the generation moving through Highland right now. With his qualifications, it could imaginably be easy to complain about being placed at Highland, luckily Rydalch understands the importance of a future he will live in, and that’s where his priorities are. When he’s not exploring the wonders of the world that is.
So even though he is a lot like Indiana Jones, for Rydalch, it’s anything but “Fortune and Glory, kid.”
