Portage High School (PHS) Graphic Arts Teacher Adam Farster is a man of many talents. Not only has Farster been a teacher for the last seven years, but he also has over 20 years in the creative field as a graphic designer, illustrator, and comic book publisher.
A graduate of Hammond High School, Farster decided to take up teaching to better prepare students for a career in the graphic design field. His programs at PHS include 2D animation, graphic arts, and animation for video games.
“I’m just trying to get them exposed to as many things as possible,” Farster said. “You can’t say, ‘Oh, I want to do this for a living’ until you actually do it. Then you might realize that's not something you want to do.”
Farster’s love for pop culture is evident in his own design work. He has worked for Family Express, designed labels for Smuggler’s Coffee of Dyer and is the co-founder of Gorilla Publishing.
“I’ve worked in the field and try to bring that real-world experience and expertise to the classroom. I want to show them that these jobs are possible, even for people who don’t live in big cities,” Farster said.
Some of the labels Farster designs for Smuggler’s Coffee hearken back to old Dungeons & Dragons book covers from the ‘70s and ‘80s. He has a fondness for the artwork that the game’s former publisher, Tactical Studies Rules, would create. It helps that Smuggler’s Coffee owner Dave Fajman and Farster share their pop culture interests.
“It's super fun, because Dave's a great guy,” Farster said. “He absolutely loves this stuff. Being a fellow nerd, we can pull from the same references, make cool art and enjoy coffee.”
Farster hopes to add the title of America’s Favorite Teacher to his list of accomplishments. America’s Favorite Teacher is an annual competition that rewards one teacher in the country for their outstanding work. If Farster wins, he will receive $25,000, a feature in “Reader’s Digest,” a trip to Hawaii, and a school assembly with television personality Bill Nye.
It doesn’t seem like becoming America’s Favorite Teacher would be too much of a stretch for Farster. He hopes the contest will shine a positive light on Portage and public education.
“There are great teachers who have been doing this for a very long time,” Farster said. “While this is more of a popularity contest, it’s still nice to be recognized. It’s great to bring attention to public education and Portage in general. The things we do and what we have available for the kids of our community can really change their trajectory.”
Farster believes the contest is a great opportunity to bring greater awareness to the importance of public education. He wants to ensure future generations are afforded the same opportunities through public education that he received as a youth.
“It’s a great opportunity in a time where education is being defunded at a national level and education on the state level is possibly going to be dictated by tax dollars,” Farster said. “With the funding for lower income communities, those communities are going to struggle. Bringing attention to public education like this is something that I feel is needed."
Farster's advice to anyone who wants to get into the graphic design field is to stop talking about it and just do it.
"A lot of people talk about what they want to do, but when you're talking about it, you're not doing," Farster said. "If you stop telling people all the things that you want to do and just do it, you're going to actually jump into it."