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Article by Sara Hinds | Photo courtesy of Ty Martinsen

There’s something in the water at Doane’s physical education and health education program. A little of it is due to the sheer effort of associate professor Cindy Meyer. 

Every year she nominates one of her students to the Society of Health and Physical Educators of Nebraska (SHAPE) for consideration for the Physical Education Major of the Year award. 

And every year — for the past two in a row and in 2018 — a Doane student has won. 

Because Doane faculty and students exist symbiotically. The success of one party propels or hinges on the other’s involvement. 

Faculty advocate for their students, students acknowledge the impact faculty have. 

Meyer nominates, and her students win SHAPE Nebraska awards:

• In 2021, Carson Deisley ’22 was named Physical Education Major of the Year. 
• In 2018, Dana Johnson ’19 was named Physical Education Major of the Year. In 2022, she was named SHAPE Nebraska’s Middle School Physical Education Teacher of the Year. 
• In 2022, Heather Nicholson Leader ’03 was named Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year. 

And in November 2022, Ty Martinsen was named Physical Education Major of the Year. He’ll graduate in May 2023 with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education and Health Education. After, of course, his practicum this spring.

He said he’s “anxious and nervous” to return to a classroom setting but in a good way.

“I love teaching kids,” Martinsen said.

The front of a classroom is his calling. 

The Cedar Rapids native (a small town 60 miles slightly northeast of Grand Island, Nebraska) grew up watching his mom, an elementary school teacher, care for students. Not just teach, care.

Martinsen has carried this same passion with him from class to class, classroom to classroom. Meyer has noticed. 

She’s taught him in core classes since his sophomore year, and he’s impressed her since, scoring high marks in every pertinent teacher characteristic.

Natural leader? A+. Personable with cooperating teachers? A+. Rapport with students? A+. 

To sum him up? 

“He’s a class act,” Meyer said. “Any school that gets him and [is] able to hire him, they have an awesome teacher.”

Heck, it’d be a done deal if she was in charge.

“I think if I were [an] administrator, I’d jump at the opportunity to hire him, that’s for sure,” Meyer continued.

In symbiotic fashion, Martinsen raves heavily about Meyer. He said the award wouldn’t have happened without her.

“The things she has done for me [are] incredible,” he said. “I feel like she’s probably the best recommendation I have.”

Inspires Martinsen and classmates to learn? A+. Grown the physical education and health education program into a powerhouse? A+. All-around great teacher and person? A+. 

Because it’s not a lesson, quiz, or test that students remember about their favorite teachers. It’s how they always seemed to notice you as a shy kid, how they made learning fun for everyone. 

That’s how Martinsen remembers Meyer and his mom. The way they care for students. That’s how Martinsen wants his future students to remember him.

“Kids aren’t going to remember that one good lesson you teach,” he said. “They’re going to remember how you treated them.”

In 20 years, he hopes his former students will reminisce about their P.E. and health teacher who treated everyone with respect. 

With strong education role models in Meyer and his mom — and now a 2022 SHAPE Nebraska Physical Education Major of the Year award — Martinsen has the resume and support to do just that.