The person who is my Educator of the Year is Gunnery Sergeant Lemke. He is called by three different names, Gunnery Sergeant Lemke (if the person is a cadet that only has been at DMA for a month or if it is someone he has never met), Gunny Lemke (to freshmen that have been there two months or more), and finally Gunny (to everyone else that he knows). He has many good qualities, but the four main qualities he has are that he is kind, he jokes around, but he is also serious, and he knows what he is doing.

So let’s start with how he is kind. To start off he gave me a job. He needed someone to work at a gun club for him to set targets so he asked my platoon, and he chooses me to work there. The next thing is that if you are late turning in your homework, you can turn it in and still get full credit. The only restriction is it has to be in within two days. Another thing is that if a student is having trouble, Gunny will try his best to answer or fix the question or problem. He allows us time to get our homework done comfortably so that we do the homework correctly. He will normally allow a week to get done chapter homework and current events, and he gives us two months to do big projects. His kindness is one of his most enjoyed qualities.


Gunny also likes to joke around during the proper time. If a student makes an unintelligent comment, he will immediately respond with a sarcastic comment to joke around with the student. And if he can’t think of a comment (which is rare) and another student makes a good comment that is funny (also rare) and makes sense he will allow it. If Gunny is joking and a student says a sarcastic joke at him, then 75% of the time he will laugh, but the other 25% of the time he will make them do pushups for the comment. He will also scare some of the students. He will hide next to doorways or behind the lockers and jump out when a student walks by. He can be absolutely hysterical.

As I said above he is funny when it time to be funny, but for when it’s not the proper time then he is very serious. You cannot disrespect someone, or Gunny, or you will be chewed out. And while you are being chewed out you’re doing pushups to make sure that you don’t do it again. If we are marching, he doesn’t allow any talking. If we are talking, then we aren’t paying attention to what’s going on around us, and it makes us look bad so he doesn’t allow it. As if it wasn’t obvious, his favorite punishment is pushups, so if you talk when you’re not supposed to and get caught, he won’t give you a demerit, just pushups. He is no joke.


And finally, Gunny always knows what he is doing. Before he started teaching, he was a drill instructor in the Marines, so that is why he takes marching so seriously. If he needs someone’s attention, he can just yell and be heard over the crowd. If someone is messing around, he knows how to handle them. Typically, he will make them do pushups, but occasionally he will just tell them to stop if it wasn’t a big deal. He always knows what is going on around him.


That sums up Gunny pretty well. He is not a bad man. He is very kind and jokes around but when it becomes time to be serious, he is. He knows how to handle most situations to the point where it almost looks practiced. Unless you want to do pushups, I’d say you should pick Gunny Lemke 2011 Educator of the year.