ST. PAUL, Minn. — Mr. DeWayne Combs has been teaching in the St. Paul Public School District for the last 34 years, most recently at Murray Middle School in the Como neighborhood.
He prides himself on teaching his students sports with a practical purpose, biking and bike safety knowledge.
“I’m trying to teach them life-long learning skills,” said Combs. “A lot of kids do ride their bike to school, so I teach them hand signals, how to get over on the right, how to interact with traffic and other bikes when they’re not on a bike path.”
He also teaches his students to ski in the winter.
“As a person of color, a lot of times I don’t see people who look like me, so I like to get the kids out skiing. I’ve taken probably 3,000 kids over 30 years, about 100 kids a year,” said Combs.
Mr. Combs was named the Minnesota Society of Health and Physical Educators’ Middle School Physical Education Teacher of the Year (MNSHAPE) and was recently recognized at a school board meeting.
“I was not surprised,” said Kasenija Cantrell, a 7th grader and one of Mr. Combs’ students. “He’s an amazing teacher.”
“I was not surprised either,” said Elliot Lueck, a 7th grader and one of Mr. Combs’ students.
His students say Mr. Combs teaches them something new, but always finds a way to make it fun, like taking their bikes through the hallways of Murray Middle School.
“He was like, ‘okay we’re going to go bike through the hallways,’ and I was like ‘What?! What?!” said Cantrell.
“He was like, ‘just don’t make skid marks because otherwise I’m going to be in big trouble,'” said Lueck.
For Mr. Combs, simply seeing these kids have so much joy in school, is greater than any statewide recognition.
“My job keeps me young,” said Combs.
Mr. Combs will be honored at the award ceremony during the MNSHAPE state conference at Lakeville South High School on Nov. 4.
He also now has the opportunity to now be considered for the Central District Teacher of the Year and then the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE America) National Teacher of the Year.
