In-room 2110, there lie the mysterious origins of a Midwestern man born and raised in the state of Illinois. An individual with a voice that speaks louder than most. Intending to acknowledge self-belonging, the importance of one’s opinions, and cherishing the things one loves most. This is not the story of some hidden philosopher or activist, but rather the humble beginnings of an English teacher by the name of Merrick Ramza.
Early Life
Growing up, Ramza describes his early childhood as run-of-the-mill.
“I had a good childhood, I wouldn’t say it was very traumatic or problematic at all. I’m very grateful to have the family that I have,” Ramza said.
Ramza speaks very highly of his family, particularly of his brother. He elaborates on how his actions and contributions shaped him into the person that he is today.
“I’m very fortunate to have the family that I have. It’s helped me a lot, my brother especially. He has autism, and I don’t think I would be half the man or even a quarter of the man that I am without him. So I think that’s done a lot for my character,” Ramza said.
“Growing up, I had a minivan that only played CDs and cassettes. So I took a lot of my parent’s [CDs and cassettes] and just played their stuff all the time. And I loved it, I loved the variety of it. I think you can’t have life without variety in art and lifestyle. So I got a lot of that from my parents,” Ramza said.
His love for art and music followed him into young adulthood.
High School & Hardships
Ramza describes high school as a nerve-racking experience, and a learning curve for many, including himself. He also reiterates the advice that many have heard before: High school experiences are the “golden years of your life.”
As he grew older and entered secondary school, he expanded his artistic palette further and took an interest in activities like choir and theater, which were readily available as after-school extracurricular activities (and would later lead him to his wife).
“These four years you learn a lot, which sounds incredibly stereotypical and cliche. But you’re becoming a person too, you’re introduced to your actual potential adult self, which is terrifying. A lot of people try to reject it, and a lot of people hate it. But you can’t avoid it,” Ramza said.
What he wants students to take away from his message is that high school is not something to fear, but rather an inevitable phase in one’s life that will pass.
Conversely, it was not always easy for Ramza. During his junior year, he experienced something no teenager should have to.
“The biggest blow was the loss of one of my best friends Joey. He died that year. It reminds me that no matter how much we may grow up, life could have been completely different if Joey hadn’t died,” Ramza said.
In remembrance of his fallen friend, Ramza wears a wristband to honor their friendship.
“I hope it never breaks. If it breaks, I’m going to get it tattooed. But not in color, because I don’t like colored tattoos,” Ramza said.
Becoming a Teacher
Despite the loss of his dear friend Joey, Ramza pursued becoming an educator because of his admiration for the teachers who helped him through the difficult times in his life.
“My English teachers Miss Coleman and Mr. Seeker at Hampshire High…I do this partially to keep them alive, first and foremost but also make sure that they are seen as people and that they have opportunities to share their voice. I think because of both of them, it opened me up to understanding the true depth of a teacher,” Ramza said.
Needless to say, Ramza’s contributions as a teacher have made an impact on his students at WEGO.
“For a while, English wasn’t really a fun class to me. It was always considered a class that would drag, but now it’s something that I actually look forward to because of Mr. Ramza’s teaching methods. He makes it engaging, very fun, and he just makes the class overall a very fun environment,” then-sophomore Brendon Rodriguez said.
Ramza believes learning has an abundance of value, and finds it disrespectful to the material when a student isn’t engaged or participating.
“People say ‘I don’t know’ for an answer, and they hold it in there like, they just hold on to it. The ‘I don’t know’. I hate that. I don’t care if you don’t know, guess. There’s nothing wrong with guessing,” Ramza said.
Hobbies
After taking a look at how Ramza’s room is decorated, one can assume that he is an individual with many traits and hobbies since there are many posters and pop culture references. However, he tends to care more about the memories being made rather than the hobby itself, which is why he finds something like weightlifting so boring because there’s no fun memory being made constantly doing repetitive motions.
“If you look back at your life, and you have no memories, what was the point of living that moment?” Ramza said.
Ramza enjoys being physically active, specifically by participating in sports like basketball, cross country, and soccer. “I’d rather do that [a sport] because I feel that there’s more incentive and fun to be had than just looking at a set of weights and being like ‘I’m going to PR today,’ I couldn’t care less for PR. Also, the people in the gym are not fun,” Ramza said.
Living, Laughing, Loving
Ramza was lucky enough to have a classic meet-cute with his wife, Elise. “We were both in line for choir auditions, and I said something under my breath as a little joke and she laughed at it… inseparable ever since. And apparently, we grew up in the same neighborhoods all our lives and never knew about each other until college,” Ramza said.
Ramza and Elise enjoy living an organized and active life together.
“So being with Elise out on the town, going to my friend’s place of work, because they usually have like festivals and little cultural centers, which is great. So I think my hobbies are more about spending time with others or learning about them. I don’t know what else that could be,” Ramza said.
