W-K teacher named semifinalist for National Teachers Hall of Fame

Luke Merchlewitz has taught for 32 years at Washington-Kosciusko Elementary School — the same building where he went to kindergarten. It was at W-K where his love for learning began and sent him on a path. 

A path that included stops in China, Hong Kong, Switzerland and India. 

A path that resulted in multiple state, national and international awards.

A path that always came back to W-K and Winona, where he has made a difference in the lives of hundreds and hundreds of students and families.

And it’s a path that could lead him to the National Teachers Hall of Fame.

Merchlewitz was recently informed he is a semifinalist for the National Teachers Hall of Fame, which is located in Emporia, Kansas, and since 1992 has annually honored five of the nation’s most outstanding teachers. 

The finalists will be announced soon, and the Hall of Fame class of 2020 will be announced later this month. 

“A teacher is what I always wanted to be,” said Merchlewitz, a second-grade teacher. “It is what I have worked so hard to be. It is what I always hope to be. It is who I am. I am a teacher on paper — according to framed diplomas and credentials — but I am a teacher in my heart.”

Merchlewitz was nominated for the award by Harriet Sanford, former president and CEO of the NEA Foundation, who said that Merchlewitz is the living embodiment of the Benjamin Franklin quote: “Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I will learn.”

“The best teachers in the world live this Benjamin Franklin quote every day,” she wrote. “They are the teachers whom students, peers and the community remember years later. … I wanted to be one of those teachers when I was in the classroom, but I left too soon. When I met Luke Merchlewitz 10 years ago, I met that teacher I aspired to be and who I wanted my daughter to have as a teacher.”

As part of the selection process, Merchlewitz had to submit an application and provide a video, as well as include letters of recommendation. One letter was written by a student he had in his classroom nearly 30 years ago who became a teacher herself. 

“Luke has been my teacher all my life,” the letter began. “Luke is my dad.”

Sarah (Merchlewitz) Kuhner, a middle school special education and literacy teacher in New York City, said the environment her father created in the classroom helped mold her into the person she is today.

“We all felt we were a part of Luke’s classroom as if it were our own homes,” she said, “and I would know.”

Nancy Denzer, a retired educator and current chair of the Winona Area Public Schools Board of Education, also wrote a letter of recommendation.

“The joy Luke finds from teaching is evident in his relationships, strong student engagement, high expectations and community spirit in the classroom,” Denzer said. “Luke has an infectious ability to generate enthusiasm in the classroom, with his building and school district peers and in the community at large because of his great love of what his life work has been — educating others.”

Merchlewitz, a Winona Senior High School graduate, has spent his entire teaching career in Winona, the last 32 of which came in WAPS at W-K. He was a Minnesota Teacher of the Year finalist in 2009, a Minnesota Teacher of Excellence in 2010 and in 2019 received the first Harriet Sanford Award for Distinguished Global Learning from the NEA Foundation. 

Merchlewitz is active in the Winona Education Association and last fall helped start a program that connects current teachers with aspiring educators at Winona State University. He’s a member of the Foundation for Winona Area Public Schools board and helps plan and organize an annual fundraising gala that generates thousands of dollars that directly impact classrooms and students in the district. And he routinely gives back to the community, whether it’s through the Winona Family YMCA, Big Brothers Big Sisters or other community groups.

“The support he provides to benefit the schools, students and community is immeasurable,” Foundation for WAPS executive director Shelly Milek said in her nomination letter.