By: Hunter Ferguson

Oklahoma Bible Academy teacher Lacye Russell spoke with VYPE in a recent interview to discuss a bit about who she is. Russell teaches “Middle school art classes, High School Art I-IV, AP Art and Design, AP Drawing, Photography” and is also the Yearbook advisor. This is her sixteenth year of teaching, eight of which have been spent at OBA.

“I have wanted to be an art teacher since 4th grade. I have been blessed with incredible

artistic role models throughout my life. All of my art educators – even in college, have absolutely loved their job and mentoring their art students. I can’t imagine doing anything different and I hope I can be just half the art teacher to my current students as my art teachers were to me” said Russell.

Russell has previously called the University of Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma Christian University, Oklahoma City Community College, and Arkansas State University Mid-South home teaching “collegiate drawing, figure drawing, printmaking, and design courses for years” before moving to Enid in 2016 alongside her husband Matt with whom she shares three children Beau, Luke, and Hannah.

In addition to her current position at OBA she is also “a community art instructor at Autry Technological Center in Enid”. During whatever free time Russell can find she enjoys spending time with her family and cooking although she can usually be found “driving to watch my sons play sports or taking my daughter to dance competitions”.

Russell shared that “I am blessed to be at a school where I can teach the same art students for seven years in a row and get to see the yearly improvements. I love seeing students gain confidence and I love the relationships that I not only get to make with my art students, but also their families. I have many art students that are now majoring in the arts at colleges throughout the nation. One of my favorite things is when they stop by my classroom and keep me updated on all of their new journeys”.