Walz brings message of OPS connections
Opening Day for the staff of Owatonna Public Schools seemed to have something for everyone: Encouragement, a little star power – and a healthy dose of reality.
The big surprise of the day was the star power, provided by Minnesota’s First Lady Gwen Walz, in a surprise appearance.
“Wow,” she said as the applause died down. “I just need a minute. This is stunning.”
Walz looked around the nearly full, 825-seat auditorium at the new high school and repeated herself.
“I just need a minute.”
Walz’s message
As an educator in public schools for nearly 30 years, she drew laughter and applause throughout her comments, speaking to the crowd as a peer.
Walz endeared herself almost immediately, though, with a story about one of her first education classes in college.
“It was the fall of 1985, and I was sitting in a classroom in Gustavus (Adolphus College),” she said, “and next to me sat this super-organized, friendly, cute guy, and his name was Kyle DeKam.”
A collective “aww” rang through the auditorium.
DeKam was a much-loved teacher and principal in Owatonna Public Schools for 24 years before he died of cancer in 2012. He was 45.
His wife, Jodie DeKam Valentine, still works for OPS; she is a second-grade teacher at McKinley Elementary.
As Walz prepared her comments, she said, “I thought of your schools, and I thought that this new school is a statement of this community, of this staff, of these students … that says, ‘We are about learning in Owatonna, and here’s what it looks like.’
“This is an intentional statement about how you value community, how you value children, what you think of the future, and how you all are a part of it,” she said.
She spoke of the importance of Owatonna Schools’ Career Pathways program, again with a personal story.
Walz and her husband, Gov. Tim Walz, were both high school teachers in Mankato, where he also coached football at Mankato West High School.
“What we said in our house was, any path to a state championship ran through Owatonna, because for 28 years – no kidding, 28 years – you had been running over Mankato West,” Gwen Walz said.
The school won its first state championship in 1999, a few years after Walz was hired as a coach.
“But we knew the path ran through Owatonna, because you claim the path, and show the commitment,” she said.
Walz spoke of her work with former OHS Principal Sherri Allen, who later became superintendent of Mankato Area Public Schools. Walz also has a friendship with current OHS Principal Kory Kath, who elicited another large ovation.
“So many paths that I’ve known have run through Owatonna,” she said. “It’s an unwavering place, a strong place, with an emphasis on students, on pathways, on choices, on career pathways.
“The future is learning,” Walz said, “and what we are teaching is less knowledge-based than when I was in school, when we memorized facts. It’s about learning to think – and learning to love learning. We are on that path with our students.”
She and her husband believe their preparation for the role of leading the state came through their connection to education, which began strong and remains strong. Both of her parents were educators; two of her three sisters are also teachers.
“My youngest sister is a doctor, and my parents feel like they completely failed,” she said, once again drawing laughter.
The Governor’s father was a superintendent of schools; his three siblings are all teachers, married to teachers.
“That’s what prepared us to face the challenges that we face each and every day,” she said. “But education was not preparation for life: Education is life itself.”
In closing, she said, “my one ask is that you share your story, this story, with the rest of the state and the country, because it is that bold and it is that inspiring.”