Christian Brother Ryan Anderson bounced around his classroom at DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis Jan. 11 like a teenager, moving quickly toward every hand that was raised.

At 30, he’s only about a dozen years removed from his high school days. More importantly, his presence ensures that the school’s tradition of having a brother teaching in the classroom will continue.

It was in jeopardy last spring, when the school’s last remaining teaching brother died. Brother David Barth’s death May 11 left the school wondering if it would have a brother teaching come fall.

“For the first time in the 117-year history of the school, we wouldn’t have had a teaching brother,” said Matt Lehman, the school’s communications director and an alumnus (2001). “There were some conversations and a lot of praying.”

School administrators contacted the order’s Midwest District and helped bring about the arrival of Anderson, who left his position as campus minister at Christian Brothers University in Memphis, Tennessee. He teaches a class for sophomores called Creed and the Sacraments, and also serves in the school’s Lasallian Ministry office.

“I really enjoy his class,” said sophomore Megan Benson. “He’s very involved and energetic, so it’s easy to follow him. He makes religion interesting to know about. He’ll tell us stories about some saints, and stories from his experience and his faith.”

She also likes the idea of having a brother as a teacher.

“It’s a different experience than just having a normal teacher,” she said. “He’s not married, so his faith is his main focus in life. It’s inspiring.”

Two other Christian Brothers also work at the school. Brother Jim Krause serves as an assistant in the school’s Learning Specialist Office, where he meets individually with students to provide additional academic support. Brother Michael Lee Anderson, a 1955 alumnus who taught at DeLaSalle in the 1960s, provides counseling support in the school’s Guidance Office.