Photo by Mike Lamb Bert Raney Elementary physical education teacher Mary Grey encourages students to keep active.

Physical education teacher Mary Grey stood in the middle of the third graders standing in front of the Bert Raney Elementary playground.

We are going to learn about obstacle courses. They are fun,” Grey told her students, all dressed up in coats on a crisp southwest Minnesota March morning.

One-by-one her students climbed the steps to the playground set that included multiple walkways and slides.

“Only one at a time,” Grey yells out. “I don’t want to see two or three people (together). I know we are outside and we have talked about this all winter. We still need to be apart from each other to keep each other safe. Patience, patience, patience. You will get your turn.”

After 34 years of teaching, this school year will be Grey’s last. She’s retiring when this school year ends. And the past last year has been unusual where not only her students had to adapt to the pandemic, but Grey had to change her whole approach to physical education.

After her students headed back into the school, she talked about the past year.

“It’s been awful,” Grey said about how the school year ended last spring. “Teaching distance learning when you just live on being with the kids.”

While she never would have envisioned how her final year of teaching would end up so challenging, she’s quick point out there have been some silver linings.

“It has caused me to think outside the box technology wise,” she said. “Technology is not a strong point for me. And it pushed me to learn things to be able to teach the best I can, using that technology. I’m not afraid of it anymore like I was.”

Once her students returned to the school this past winter, thinking outside the box continued.

“Because of the social distancing and the masking and everything, I’ve spent more time outside. While time was spent doing the traditional P.E. activities in the gym, Grey led her students outside when weather permitted. And once more, she got creative.

Cross country skis were purchased by four organizations in the community. They even borrowed some snow shoes. They also spent time sledding down a nearby hill, which Grey said was hit with the students.

“I never thought sledding would be a hit. I couldn’t believe the number of children that have never been on a sled before,” she said. “And now that hill is being used all the time. And the neighbors are saying it’s wonderful to see and hear the children.”

She also taught her students to play “Fox and Geese,” which was a game she played as a child. It’s all part of her plan to change the mindset of children who tend to stay indoors during the winter.

“Get outside, instead of sitting on your devices or watching TV or watching movies. They know there’s better things for them to be doing,” she said.

During her P.E. teaching career, Grey said she’s always had the goal of teaching her students learn healthy habits to take into adulthood.

“There is a lot of misconceptions out there that physical education is just throwing the ball out. And it’s just not playing games or dodgeball,” she said. “What can they do when they get done with school. They choose a lifestyle that includes exercising, taking care of their bodies.

“We talk about eating, we talk about exercising, we talk about tobacco usage. Through that, it allows me to have just amazing conversations with these kids. Teaching them CPR, knowing they can make a difference.

Grey started her education career in Clarkfield in 1987 as a P.E. teacher and volleyball coach. She transitioned to Granite Falls when the two school districts merged. She eventually took a break from coaching to raise her son and daughter, who both followed their mother into the teaching profession. Her husband, Bob, is retiring as the Activities and Athletics Director at the Montevideo School District. He also spend his entire education career at the same school district.

The couple moved to southwest Minnesota from Iowa.

“I pretty much taught all grade levels. I started out in Clarkfield in 1987 and coached and then we went through the transition of coming together of two communities. I was fortunate that I was able to continue my job. So I’ve taught high school, I taught junior high and elementary. So I can honestly say K through 12 has been my position.”

Grey said she feels blessed and honored to work for the same school district her entire teaching career.

“They have been amazing,” she said of he teaching colleagues through the years.

“I haven’t had one administrator that was not supportive of some crazy new ideas I had. I’m going to miss every single one of my colleagues. I never felt as an outcast. I always felt part of the family. And that’s what this is. It’s a family. I love it here.”

Bert Raney Elementary School Principal Lisa Hansen said Grey is an “incredible person.”

“As an educator, she is respected and loved by her students and their families and as a colleague, is supportive, intuitive, and caring beyond what words could ever describe,” Hansen said.

“Each morning before school, it is Mrs. Grey who greets our students, their families and our staff members outside. She greets everyone by name and can be seen supervising the arrival of vehicles, buses and students, regardless of rain, snow, sleet or sun. At the end of the day, it is again Mrs. Grey who says good-bye to our school community and makes sure our students get to where they are supposed to be going.”

Grey said she didn’t want to wait too long before retiring. She plans to spend more time with husband and family.

“I look at my 34 years of teaching and I equate it to going to an amusement park and go on this most thrilling ride,” Grey said.

“And how quickly that ride is done. That’s what’s mind boggling to me. How 34 years can go so fast and enjoy it so much.”