Last day of school

Mary Malherek has seen seismic shifts in technology, educational trends and Blooming Prairie itself since moving here in 1976. 
The one constant was the English teacher and librarian’s classroom career, which began in 1971. That will change May 29, the last day of the school year for Blooming Prairie students and the last year ever for Malherek, who is retiring.
She said she’d considered retiring last year, but it didn’t feel right. This year, it does. She also said she’s in her mid-60s, making her older than most teachers are when they end their careers.
Malherek began her teaching career in 1971 at Marion High School in Owatonna, a Catholic school that closed two years later. She went on to teach at Queen of Angels in Austin and served as the public librarian in Blooming Prairie in the mid-1980s. She began teaching at Blooming Prairie High School in 1988.
“Blooming Prairie was an idyllic town when we first moved here,” she said of her husband and her. “What was utterly wonderful about living in Blooming Prairie was that you could do everything in Blooming Prairie and never leave the town.” 
Back then, she said, the town had grocery stores, clothing stores and more small restaurants. The arrival of big-box stores in nearby, larger towns has helped change that, Malherek added.
“Blooming Prairie actually had its own land bank at one time,” she said. “What a community. It still is, I think, healthier and more prosperous than most small towns. We weathered … change better than most.”
Her desire to become a teacher was at least partly inspired by her mother, who taught eight grades at once in rural schools near Waterville during World War II. Malherek spent her early years in Waterville, then moved to nearby Janesville at age 5 or so. She got her master’s degree in school library media at Mankato State University and also attended the College of Saint Theresa in Winona.
What will she do now? She’s not sure yet, but she knows she’ll miss the day-to-day elements of teaching. 
“I get excited about something I’ve taught for many years, over and over,” Malherek said. “I still learn more and more and more from a text. I’m excited to pass that on.”
She’ll also miss interacting with students.
“They’ll always surprise you,” she said. “They give you hope in the fact that you can’t help but be amazed at some of the things they come up with.”
Malherek said educational methods have changed through the years, and not always for the better. She bemoans what she calls an overemphasis on testing and drilling now.
“Students need time in the day to work with their hands, (with) art, music, good literature, history … They don’t need drill and practice to fulfill a goal that happens one day a year,” she said. “It seems not the purpose of educating a whole child to be a citizen, to be a thinking adult.”
Spanning generations
Malherek runs into former students often — and has taught some of their children.
Amy Simon worked under Malherek on the school yearbook while in high school in 1998-2000. Fifteen years later, her son Payton is in eighth grade and is in Malherek’s class.
Simon said Malherek seems to be the same teacher now as back then, and that she gives students space to practice good time management. She also was happy when she learned Malherek would be her son’s teacher.
“It wasn’t strange. It was exciting,” she said. “I really respected Mary. I still do; she was always very kind to me — very helpful and supportive.”