Hanson hangs up his brushes

The final act of Scott Hanson’s 42 year-career as an art teacher, the last 38 at Minneota Public School, officially ended last Wednesday and critics have raved about his performance.
Many of the students he has had in class have had positive things to say about his teaching methods and life lessons he has taught them.
One of those former students, 2020 graduate Tara Thooft, was influenced by Hanson’s teaching and led her to major in Art Education at North Dakota State University.
“The arts bring a different kind of joy to life, and whether pursued as a hobby or a career, Mr. Hanson is the reason so many of us have been introduced to this reality; a reality that I feel is often forgotten and overlooked by most of the rest of society,” said Thooft, who recently completed her junior year at NDSU.
“However, many Minneota students and alumni can look back on their high school years and think “Yeah, I remember when I took art. It was one of my favorite classes. This is all because of the time Mr. Hanson gave for us, his students, something I know many of us will always be incredibly grateful for and look back upon with positive memories,” Thooft added.
Hanson, a 1977 graduate of Hendricks High School, majored in Art with a minor in History at Augustana College. He was hired right out of college to teach K-12 Art in Hendricks in 1981.
In 1985, he was hired as a K-12 art teacher in Minneota and remained there past the “Rule of 90” despite a couple of failed retirement attempts.
“It’s a job I’ve always loved,” he said. “I’ve been blessed with having some very good students. It’s been a lot of fun. ”One of Hanson’s students while teaching in Hendricks, Laura Mueller, made art her career. She received her Doctorate in Asian Art History and currently runs a Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
On Hanson’s final day at school last Wednesday, students and faculty did a walk-thru past his room, extending well-wishes and presenting him with gifts. The K-12 students all signed a large poster with “Thank you for everything, Mr. Hanson” written in large letters in the center.
“There were a lot of tears,” Hanson said, admitting many of them were his own.
The students in his home room gave Hanson a $100 gift card to a restaurant.
“I’ve had the juniors in class since they were in seventh grade,” he said.
Among the things Hanson said he and the students enjoyed during his career at Minneota was an annual field trip to the Twin Cities to take in performances as “A Christmas Carol” at the Guthrie, while taking the high school students to off-Broadway plays such as “Cats” and, more recently, “Hamilton.”
Hanson and his wife, Nancy Dunlap live in Hendricks. They have two sons and four grandchildren.
The Hansons enjoy traveling and are planning a trip to Spain among other places.
“I’m going to miss the kids and the ideas they come up with,” he said. “I always enjoyed helping them with problem solving as they were always so gung-ho about finishing a project. I will miss the other faculty members and everyone else at school, too.”
Kennar Wee of Cottonwood has been hired to take Hanson’s place as art teacher for the 2023-24 school year.