Walz is remembered as an influential teacher and coach who mentored students beyond the classroom and field and helped lead the football team to state championships.
As a teacher and coach at Mankato West High School, Tim Walz gave out hallway high-fives, was named “most inspiring teacher,” motivated students to become educators themselves and helped create a turnaround story for the football team.
Now governor of Minnesota and the vice presidential pick on the Democratic presidential ticket, Walz is still remembered fondly by his former students and players.
“He was probably one of the most well-liked teachers in the school while he taught there,” said Katie Heintz, 41, who had Walz as a teacher her junior year of high school and is now the director of a library in the area.
My wife is one of the students that went on the trip with them the year she graduated, and apparently he speaks some Mandarin (if you asked him, he referred to it as “baby mandarin” at that point.)
She tells a story about a moment not long after they arrived in China that was basically straight out of the movies. Their shuttle buses pulled up, and the two drivers were speaking in Mandarin to each other and bad mouthing the students and adults, and generally just being kind of rude and he walked up to them and said in Mandarin something to the effect of “Hey Guys, how’s it going? Is there some sort of issue?” and their faces just blanched. The company apparently then sent out other shuttle bus drivers to pick them up and take them to where they were staying.