MARYSVILLE — On the 162nd day of his 36th year as a teacher, Jim Pankiewicz stood in front of his students and said, as always, “It’s nice to see your smiling faces here today.”
Around 35 seniors responded by pounding their desks repeatedly.
“Get pumped, Mr. P. Do the greeting!” they chanted. “Get pumped, Mr. P, and do the greeting. We won’t shut up until you get pumped!”
He leaned back and smiled, soaking in 20 years of tradition. After a minute, he pumped his fist in the air — a general rallying his troops.
“Good morning,” he said calmly. “I’m glad to see you all here today. I hope you’re looking forward to a good day in senior sales and marketing for the unusually gifted.”
His students roared, “I know I am.”
The beloved tradition is coming to an end.
After 34 years teaching business and leadership classes at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, Mr. P is retiring.
He is perhaps the best-known teacher in Marysville. Generations of students credit him with changing their lives, giving them confidence and teaching them compassion.
“When you’re growing up, he’s always that one teacher you want to have,” said Damon Matz, a Boeing analyst who had Pankiewicz in 1997. “My son’s not going to have that opportunity. It’s sad. … He’s just a one-of-a-kind teacher.”
Pankiewicz makes a point of getting to know his students personally. He tells them he loves them and isn’t afraid to use unorthodox approaches to reach them.
To let students know he cares about them as individuals, Pankiewicz, 58, calls them by their full names — first, middle and last.
If he sees students typing text messages on their cell phones during his class, he’ll sometimes send them a text message: “Put that phone away.”
Last year, he helped his pupils organize a series of assemblies where they shared personal stories of drug use, suicide attempts and bullying. They called the project “Think about it” and hoped it would encourage younger students to consider the consequences before making life-altering decisions. They continued the assemblies this year.
“There are a lot of times when I think, ‘You’re crazy. You’re out of your mind. Just let it go. Come to school. Just do your job and don’t worry about anything,’” Pankiewicz said. “There’s an emotional cost that comes with caring. … But I believe it’s a privilege. On day 162 in year 36, I still believe it’s a privilege.”
Marysville Mayor Dennis Kendall called Mr. P a school district icon. If you walk into any business in Marysville, chances are, the young person tending to you has been through Pankiewicz’s class, the mayor said.
“He kind of reminds me of Dick Clark,” Kendall said. “He never changes. He’s the kind of teacher that walks the talk.”
Scores of former students visit Pankiewicz annually. Each week, he receives around three e-mails or Facebook messages from alumni.
When he announced his retirement earlier this year, his former students collected donations and planned a retirement party for June 13 at Viking Hall in Silvana. Tickets cost $26, or $15 for current students. As of Friday afternoon, 83 people had RSVP’d.
“He was one of the few positive influences on my life in high school,” said attorney Julia Bahner, who graduated from Marysville-Pilchuck in 1991 and is helping organize the party. “I was raised by a single mother who worked a lot and didn’t have a lot of money and he was a positive ray of light. You can just tell he loves teaching. You feel it’s something he’s meant to do.”
Each year, Pankiewicz accompanies students to DECA marketing competitions in various parts of the country. His classes organize a Christmas party for developmentally delayed teens in their school. They collect money and buy gifts for each student. This year, his pupils also accompanied special education students on a trip to the zoo.
After 9-11, he organized an aerial photograph of MPHS students and staff wearing red, white and blue and positioned to look like an American flag. A few years later, he helped his students build a memorial at the school engraved with the names of Marysville residents who died in battle.
“Most teachers just want you to pass and get out of their class and never see you again,” senior Jordan Valadez said. “With Mr. P, I think I will see him in the future and say ‘hi’ and have a conversation with him, because he’s been on a personal level with us.”
Pankiewicz is leaving teaching to sell real estate on weekends and write and fish during the week. He’s worked as a real estate agent occasionally since 1971 and wants to jump in full-time to see what he can accomplish and how much money he can earn.
The father of three grown children, Pankiewicz lives south of Mill Creek with his wife, Katy, who is also a teacher.
He said he’s not worried about selling real estate in a recession, but he is afraid to leave his students.
Standing in his office Thursday, Pankiewicz gazed into his classroom at students writing essays about what they learned in his class.
“I look at them every day and I think ‘Yikes! My life is going to be so different when I don’t see their young faces every day,’” he said, his eyes clouding over.
He shook his head and walked through the doorway, back to his students, his life for 12 more days.
Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292, kmanry@heraldnet.com.
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