On Aug. 6, Vice President Kamala Harris announced her running mate as Minnesota Governor Tim Walz. States outside of Minnesota may not have known who Gov. Walz was before Harris’s announcement, but those who did know him because of his work as a public servant, former teacher, and coach. Gov. Walz’s background in education has caused him to form personal relationships through academics and helps him elevate the voice of educators.

Before becoming a governor, Walz taught at Mankato West High School (MWHS) along with his wife, Gwen Walz. It was at MWHS where Edina High School math teacher David Boone first met both of the Walzes. When Boone expressed that he needed a place to stay, the family offered their home’s granny flat. “They took me in, recogniz[ing] that I needed a place and also some other connection with some friends and some teaching colleagues,” Boone said.

During his time living in that granny flat, Boone got to know the Walzes and the depths of their character. “It’s just those times when my daughter would be playing in the backyard and they would come out to the backyard and hang out with us too,” Boone said. “The general aura around them. They were just very family-oriented [and] very caring. They just wanted the best for people.”

While Boone has a unique personal relationship with the Walz family, their impact has stretched to teachers in general. Jennifer Stone, another math teacher at EHS who also serves on the Eastern Carver County School Board, mentioned that Gov. Walz hosted weekly Zoom meetings for educators to help guide teachers through the COVID-19 years. “Every week, we got on a Zoom call where he answered questions and explained the three-tiered system that we had,” Stone said. “It was really powerful. He explained everything step by step… He made time every week to go through a Q&A for us.”

Similarly, Mark Schmiesing, a former Mankato East High School teacher and current Education Minnesota employee, mentions Walz’s impact during the pandemic. “During that time we were in the pandemic, there were guidelines that had to be put in place for how schools operated… Having a teacher’s voice in the governor’s office, I think, made it a much better environment than it could have been,” he said.

The general consensus about Gov. Walz is that his past as an educator brings advocacy for education within the government. “As a teacher, it means a lot to me because then we know we’ve got a voice. At the state level, we knew we had his ear in terms of what we feel we need and what we feel we’re not getting. As he moves into the national perspective, hopefully, he can bring that to the nation as well,” Boone said.

With Gov. Walz being elevated to such a high level of conversation, his role as a teacher can seem like a small part of his life, but it’s this experience that shows his genuineness. “I can honestly say what you are seeing in the media about Tim Walz being everybody’s dad and just his personality, the way he’s acting, the way he laughs, the way he interacts with people, is what you see. There’s nothing fake about that,” Boone said. “This is a good guy. Win or lose, whatever your politics are, he’s a nice guy.”

This story was originally published on Zephryus on November 4, 2024.