An impact that lasts a lifetime: East Lansing’s Kathryn Kluzak named Educator of the Year

As any teacher can attest, the job title isn’t shed once you step outside of the school doors.

And Kathryn Kluzak is certainly no exception.

“I think what most people don’t realize is how much of the experience I take home. There is that personal component of it,” said Kluzak, a kindergarten teacher at East Lansing’s Robert L. Green Elementary School. “These students, they’re not my children. They don’t live at home with me, but they become my kids, and they have a significant impact on my life. And the impact that I have on their lives is unlike any relationship I could ever describe. You learn so much about them, you learn so much about their families; and you take home not only the good parts but also the hard parts.

“You just want to help them always; you want to be in their lives always. They become a part of you,” she added. “Even though my former class left me (at the end of the school year), tonight we’re doing an ice-cream meetup just so I can see their faces and see how their summers are going.”

The summer for Kluzak was particularly stellar, starting off in June by being named the 2023 Educator of the Year in the Michigan Lottery’s Excellence in Education program.

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