Meet a Maverick: Marlana Tewes

Marlana Tewes is familiar with the walls and halls that make up Clay Central/Everly Elementary, as she once walked them as a middle school student years ago.

Tewes has found it hard to stay away. She started her career in education 11 years ago teaching Spanish at Ruthven-Ayrshire, then held a shared position as the CC/E High School counselor before heading to Graettinger-Terril as the district’s Spanish teacher and elementary counselor. She returned to CC/E in 2014 and has remained ever since.

“This was an easy choice for me,” said Tewes. “I was born and raised here and now I am raising my children in the district. CC/E holds a special place in my heart and I was honored to be able to come back to my roots to teach.”

Tewes shares a passion with her peers to instill behaviors, skills and knowledge to raise well-rounded youths that will grow into well-rounded adults. In today’s day and age, that task is not a light one, but Tewes knows just how to instill a bit of fun and excitement into the heavy learning and curriculum she covers.

“We are going to be doing a lot of fun activities with mindfulness and learning about how our brains work when dealing with our emotions,” she said. “Brianne, the naturalist, will also be visiting us to help us use nature when dealing with our feelings.”

Tewes enjoys teaching and being part of the CC/E team because she gets to interact with children every day.

“I love being able to see all of the students learn, grow and have fun,” she said. “Their smiling faces can brighten anyone’s day. I also love how small and close-knit we are here at CC/E. We are one big family.”

Tewes has a specific teacher that comes to mind when thinking who her own teaching mentors were.

“Mrs. Meyer was my first-grade teacher and I can still remember how she made me feel,” she recalled. “Whenever I think about her and my first-grade year I am filled with happiness. I want to be able to make students feel this way when they are at school.”