Mandy Marek, Spanish teacher who carved new paths for Hispanic students, dies at 37

Mandy Marek of Bloomington was born to be a teacher.

She taught at Shakopee West Middle School until cancer abruptly ended her career and her life at age 37.

"In the fifth grade, she and her friends had a kids club where they'd invite the littler neighborhood kids to our garage and she'd read them stories, do arts and crafts, and play games with them," said her mom, Sue Marek of Apple Valley.

Around ninth grade, Mandy started teaching piano to neighborhood kids. Recitals would be held in the Marek home. Her love of music, which she learned from her guitar-playing father and opera-and-musical theater-loving mother, carried into adulthood. In her spare time she taught voice and piano.

With Hispanics making up 15% of West Middle School's population, Marek understood that someone coming from a Spanish-speaking home needed different instruction than an English speaker who knows Spanish. She jump-started an existing Spanish program for native speakers that focused on Spanish literacy and the culture of the language.

She taught language and highlighted the culture. Former student Lucy Zarate of Shakopee was in Marek's first Spanish for Native Speakers class. "We thought she couldn't relate to us Hispanic kids and our struggles, but she changed our lives," Zarate said. "I never had hopes or aspirations to go on to college, but I went on to college and am currently pursuing a degree in elementary education and ESL. I aspire to be just like her and have an impact on students' lives as she did in mine and many others."

Alyssa Rutherford, a colleague at West Middle School, remembered Marek as a teacher who could easily shift from disciplining goofy middle schoolers with a "Quit licking your desk" command to researching ways to help a student succeed.

In 2013, she was a semifinalist for Minnesota Teacher of the Year.

Her interest in Spanish language and culture started in middle school as an elective. In her senior year in high school she went to Cancun where residents were enthralled by a blonde-haired, blue-eyed American who could speak fluent Spanish. "Shop owners would ask her to translate unfamiliar English words like, 'What does 'browsing' mean?' " her mom said.

At the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, she majored in Spanish and English with an education minor, graduating in 2005. She also traveled, studied and acted as interpreter in Central and South America and Segovia, Spain.

"She was absolutely empowering to be around," said Scott Brose, co-owner of Waconia Music Studios where Marek taught for the last five years. "She made the kids feel like rock stars. She took a youth who was shy and at-risk to one singing soulful songs like 'Rise Up' by Andra Day or 'Cry Me a River' and writing music and learning guitar."

As for the ukulele, Marek was self-taught. "I remember Mandy telling me that she was teaching herself ukulele because one of her students wanted to learn it," said Catherine Craft-Fairchild, a professor at the University of St. Thomas where, in 2014, Marek received a master's degree.