LS-H teacher does it all, serving as a coach, mentor and leader to students

By CARSON HUGHES chughes@lesueurcountynews.com

Just 15 years ago, the Blackberry and the iPhone revolutionized the way we communicate. Ten years later, and we have apps for dating, shopping and ride-sharing, virtual assistants, drones, smart watches, virtual reality it’s a lot to keep up with, especially if you’re a business and computer science teacher — like Don Marcussen.

e Le Sueur-Henderson educator strives to nd new ways to teach and coach his students and athletes in a world where his curriculum and sports are always receiving a fresh update.

It appears that Marcussen was destined to become a business educator. In the small town of Ada, Minnesota his father owned an accounting rm while is mother worked as an assistant at the practice and as a teacher at a private Catholic school. Marcussen was raised with eight siblings, including a brother, who would buy out the family business, and a sister, who teaches as a music instructor, and a brother and sister that work at school districts as a technology coordinator and speech pathologist respectively.

Marcussen would get his own start in education aer graduating high school in 1983 and receiving a degree in education from Minnesota State University Moorhead, then called Moorhead State, in 1988. He was still uncertain about his career path and returned to Moorhead to pursue an accounting degree aer teaching in Indianapolis. However, teaching ended up suiting Marcussen and he went on to spend three years teaching in Timber Lake, South Dakota, a small town of around 700 people. He eventually returned to Minnesota to teach at the Montgomery-Lonsdale School District. LS-H coach Don Marcussen, left, puts 2015-16 basketball players through their drills during a preseason practice. (County News File Photo)

Today, Marcussen teaches business education and computer science at Le Sueur-Henderson High School. To Marcussen, it’s very important that students come to learn, because he teaches everyday life skills, like balancing personal nances, understanding how businesses are run and working with customers and co-workers.

“What I want kids to understand, don’t approach my class like you would the study of Shakespeare, when who knows if you’ll ever quote Shakespeare in your life,” said Marcussen. “Don’t use it like an advanced math class, where you may never use any of the advanced formulas in your lifestyle … In my class, everything I show you and talk about and teach, you’re going to have to use. My goal for my students is to understand when you take my class, absorb everything you can.”

Keeping with the times However, teaching today comes with a new set of challenges, Marcussen said. With new technology always changing, the way students are learning is dierent and he has to nd ways to change with the times. “As a teacher, we can’t teach the same way we did 15-20 years ago,” said Marcussen. “e way students learn, their attention span, what interests them, has changed. For me, a change could be over a 10-15 year span, but for them, there’s a major change every year. Technology, educationwise, happens so much faster than when I was in high school. If I’m not on top of my game and picking up on all the latest then I’m cheating them out on showing them and sharing them information that they can be using.” What’s current in 2015 can be outdated in 2020, noted Marcussen. To equip his students with the information they need, he oen spends much of his summers writing and updating his own curriculum, quizzes and assignments to ensure everything is up to date. “I have homework just like the kids do,” said Marcussen. “Some nights I’ll just grab my computer while I’m watching a TV program and surf business elds and maybe someone in the news. I like to bring that into my conversations with students.” His approach has paid o for former students like Brady Rose, who got to know Marcussen in the classroom and on the basketball court. Today, Rose works as an accountant and said his decision to enter the eld was impacted by the impression Marcussen had on him. DOES IT ALL Continued on page 7

PAGE 6 VALLEY PROFILES Thursday, March 26, 2020 Lunch ladies are a key

ingredient at Cleveland School

By RICHARD ROHLFING Correspondent Reected on television and in songs, stereotypes about school “lunch ladies” have le many of them wanting to change their title to something more fashionable, like “school nutrition professional.” But while quartet of Cleveland School’s kitchen sta and their director Monica Manzey don’t mind the label, they want to break free from the typecast that surrounds it. “I’ve heard some jokes about lunch ladies. It’s the hairnet,” said Marilyn Holicky, who has 25 years of service in the Cleveland School kitchen. “But that’s what we are. It doesn’t bother me, just so they don’t call you ‘crabby old lunch lady.’” With several options on the menu— sometimes ones that came from student input—and a salad bar to boot, Manzey’s goal of making her department more glamorous has succeeded. “When I grew up, I said I would never be a lunch lady because they had this stereotype,” said Nina Williams, who has served at Cleveland for three years and is the youngest of the group. “It was slap it on, and you are going to eat it.’ ere were no choices. You got whatever they decided to whip up. But then I came here, and I said ‘this is nothing like it.’ It’s a totally dierent game.” e food program is an important ingredient for Cleveland School. Between 400 and 450 students and sta go through the lunch line every school day. In addition, another 125 to 150 eat breakfast there. Besides meals in the morning and at noon, the Cleveland kitchen crew prepares and delivers snack carts for preschoolers, K-6 graders and for kids in aer-school childcare. ey also cook dinners for special events, like sports banquets. ey prepare food for sta during late starts and conferences, for other extracurricular activities and programs and for community education events and more. ey even provide food for a daycare, several blocks away. Team members stagger their morning start, depending upon their duties. Holicky begins her day at 7 am, but Manzey is already preparing for the day by then. Margo Mauser, who retired from St. Peter schools and then started at Cleveland ve years ago and whose responsibilities include the salad bar, starts a half hour earlier. Williams, who kids know as “the snack cart girl” comes in a 9 am, a half hour before dishwasher Dee Schuttloel—who has been with the school for 10 years and 18 years in the deli at Minnesota State University, Mankato before that—begins her day. Manzey has a month’s worth of daily menus pasted on a kitchen wall, and the sta works o recipes. e night before, they stack carts with ingredients, so the meals will be ready to plug and play the next morning. Once in a while, a run to a food store is needed, Holicky admitted, but Manzey said she is so OCD that missing elements almost never happen. Many of the recipes the school uses come from state guidelines, but the cooks add spices and such to make them more palatable, Manzey said. ere is more experimentation with the salad bar, the most unique aspect of the Cleveland kitchen. Even its croutons are home made. “Cleveland is one of the few schools that oers a salad bar with the meal instead of one or the other,” Mauser said. “We try to make a couple of dierent pastas a week. You nd out what kids like that and don’t like. ere are some salads that are a big hit, so we always make a couple of tubs of it so we have enough for the week. But if you really hit a good one that the kids like, it’s gone that rst day.” Williams, who has two elementary children of her own at Cleveland, said that kids get adequate time to eat, but it is harder for the younger ones because they are such “chatterboxes.” But all can be picky at times, and that makes the job challenging as well. “I had that last night. I don’t like that,” Holicky quoted. “It makes us laugh,” Williams said, “but Marilyn is really good at saying ‘just try a little bit.’” To try to keep the food nutritious yet popular too, Manzey encourages her sta to submit ideas. “All ladies have input, she said. “If they have an idea, bring a recipe. Let’s map it out for 50 students.” Manzey also solicits involvement from her customer base as well. “It’s an open door. ey can email me, or I will just randomly ask. I get a lot of kids back here, student helpNina Williams, Margo Mauser, Monica Manzey, Dee Schuttloel and Marylyn Holicky are Cleveland School’s “lunch ladies.” (Richard Rohlng/Le Sueur County News)

Marilyn Holicky and Nina Williams serve lunch to a procession of Cleveland students. (Richard Rohlng/Le Sueur County News) INGREDIENT Continued on page 13