For this years Educator if the Year essay contest I chose my Naval Science Instructor Gunny Lemke. I chose Gunny because he is my favorite teacher so far in my freshman year. Gunny is like my morning coffee; I have him first period, and he wakes me up every morning. He is one of the funniest teachers ever. He always has a funny story to tell about anything you can think of. The most important reason I chose Gunny is for his teaching style. Gunny has a way of making the most boring subjects fun. He has a way with everything he teaches, and sometimes it may seem crazy, but you learn to go along with it after a while. He is one of the easiest teachers to learn from. He is also just a great person all the way around. No one can ever find a reason to dislike him at all. Everyone gets along with him because he is always in a good mood, and he gets along with everyone.



Gunny is obviously a strange name; Gunny's real name is Robert Lemke. Robert is called gunny because he served more than twenty years in the United States Marine Corps. He made it all the way to the rank of Gunnery Sargent (E-7). Gunny has traveled all around the world many times. He has been to Japan a few times; he is been to Thailand and many other places. Because he has been all over the world while he served, he often tells us stories about when he was in the military. He told us one story about when he went to Japan and he saw the Japanese police take down a criminal without using any weapons. This is because all of the Japanese police are all black belts in some type of martial arts. He also shared with us his story of when he crossed over the equator for the first time. This is called shellback initiation.



Gunny is a one of the best teachers I have ever had. He is awesome to be around, and I have learned so much from him. He always gets the message of his lessons over in an effective way. He teaches us all of our military based curriculum. He has taught me and my classmates a lot of drill movements. He has taught us all of our facing, stationary, and marching movements. He has taught us right, left, and about faces. He has taught us right and left step march, right and left dressing, and backwards march. He has also taught us all of these marching movements as well, to the rear and change step, right and left flanks, columns, and obliques. He has also taught us to the winds march, and counter march. Gunny also teaches us our unit lessons out of our naval science 1 textbooks. He uses the SmartBoard to show us visuals while teaching us verbally the lessons out of the book. He has also taught us all eleven general orders to the sentry and our ship terminology.



Gunny deserves the Educator of the Year award because he is one of the few teachers that I have ever had that I have seen leave such a big impression on people. Anyone that I have ever talked to about him has had anything bad to say about him. People can always remember him and the things he teaches, and they can often tell stories about his class from the past. Many cadets who joined the military come back to visit Gunny at our school. They would not visit him if he did not leave a big impression on them. Anyone you ask, Gunny is always one of their favorite teachers. Gunny has a way of making peoples day a whole lot better too. He is always in a good mood and that rubs off on people; it makes them feel better too.



Gunny is a great teacher who has left, and continues to leave, heavy impressions on people. He is one of the easiest teachers to learn from, and he always has a lesson to share with you. He makes you feel good about yourself because he is always one person who believes in you; he is very motivational towards you and many other cadets. Gunnery Sargent Robert Lemke is the teacher that I chose to nominate for the Educator of the Year Award.