Arts Team

My name is Aaron Risch and I am honored and thrilled to be returning as Farrell B Howell’s physical education teacher. I was born in Fort Collins, Colorado and graduated from Rocky Mountain High School, where I was both an All State Football Player (chsaa 5A), and heavyweight state wrestling champion (5A). My love of football and wrestling, and having started at a young age, unfortunately left me unable to continue to do either at a collegiate level. At this time I fell in love with music. I graduated from Naropa University in Boulder with a degree in jazz guitar and minor in eastern traditional arts like Chinese brush stroke and Aikido. My mother and grandmother were both teachers and I felt a strong calling to the profession. Twenty years  ago I started as a special education paraprofessional in Denver Public Schools. I went back to school and completed a full physical education teacher program at Metro State University while subbing for Denver Public Schools. Later I went back to school and got my master’s degree in education administration. I have taught both music and physical education in Denver and am licensed to teach both.  I have a lot of hobbies which include gardening, camping, golfing, cooking, sewing, and playing music.  I teach basketball, football, soccer, frisbee golf, washers, bag toss, kan jam, Frisbee knock down, volleyball, gymnastics, softball, ultimate frisbee, golf, dancing, juggling, cup stacking, throwing, tennis, badminton, bowling, parachute, ribbon dancing, fitness, hiit, yoga, and more. I live in Denver with my two children, wife, and cat.   

Hi, I’m Ms. Santiago- your new art teacher! Art is my favorite subject ever. It has brought me through a lot of hard times and made the biggest impacts on me throughout my life. My passion for art was instilled on me in school and I want to pass that passion on to many generations to come. I received my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Art Education from Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2019. I am excited to be teaching art at Howell and being a part of this amazing family.