Students Remember 'Mr. K,' Help Plan Memorial

Canton High School students are planning a memorial service and more permanent tributes  to honor beloved teacher Paul Kalasnik, who died April 19 after a battle with cancer. He was 60. 

Students met Tuesday with Principal Gary Gula in the student study center where Kalasnik, known as Mr. K,  held court for the last several years. Together, they planned and reminisced.

They discussed how to pay tribute with speeches without getting overwhelmed, trying to find an old Navy buddy of Mr. K’s, and having a reception so people could talk, reminisce and leave when they were ready. The students also discussed ideas to pass some keepsakes on to the family, some of whom will be in attendance.

One idea was to videotape teachers’ memories of Kalasnik, a project senior Reece Newberg started immediately after the session. He said staff members were also fond of the late teacher.

“He didn’t just affect students,” Newberg said. “He affected staff as well.”

Another thought was to create a scrapbook with brief messages and stories about Kalasnik.

“Families want to keep those words,” Gula said.

Students also remembered some of Kalasnik’s interests, which were many. Among them were the UConn Huskies and college basketball, NASCAR, Moby Dick and countless other works of literature, the classic Hudson Hornet automobile, politics and world events.

But most important to student after student was his laid-back approach, personal connection and willingness to talk about anything and everything, including their struggles and triumphs.

Newberg is enlisting in the Marines in the fall and said Kalasnik helped him greatly with that, drawing on his own experience in the Navy in the late 1960s and 1970s. He said the teacher was always there during the the six years he knew him. He called Kalasnik “a salt of the Earth kind of guy.”

“He was very personable; you could talk to him about anything,”  Newberg said.

Sophomore Kaitlyn Arel said Kalasnik was interested in helping students figure out more than just how to survive high school.

“He didn’t just shape us for high school; he shaped us for life,” she said.

In a phone interview Tuesday, Kalasnik’s son Mike said his father was always willing to spend the time with students, who related to his easygoing manner.

“Kids were always able to relate to my dad,” Mike Kalasnik said. “He always, always, always took extra time.”

And the kids were his father's motivation to go to work every day despite his physical struggles with cancer, Mike Kalasnik said.

“It kind of kept him going,” he said. “There was never a point he wanted to quit.”

Mike Kalasnik will be back at his job with ESPN in North Carolina and will miss the ceremony. But he visited the school with his mother earlier this week. He said he deeply appreciates the support and the students’ efforts, which included a large grassroots effort on Facebook.

Paul’s wife, Jane, and his mother, Ann, will be at the ceremony.

Jane Kalasnik said she also appreciates the support from Gula and the students. 

“I’m happy they’re doing something,” she said. “That’s great.”

Kalasnik came to Canton High School in 1986 as an English teacher after one year at Lewis S. Mills High School in Burlington. He received teacher of the year recognition that first year, his family said, and students plan to nominate him this year.

He “retired” for a short time and went to work at Home Depot but ended up coming back as a paraprofessional and later became the Student Study Center coordinator.

“He just wanted to get back to teaching,” Mike Kalasnik said. “He missed it a lot.”

Students and staff said Mr. K remained dedicated until the end, despite intense pain from a tumor.

“Even to his last day here, the thing he cared about most was the students,” Nancy Grace, the former athletic director who is now a health and wellness teacher, told Newberg for the video segment.

Andrew Barger, who is studying political science at the Catholic University of America, never had Kalasnik as a teacher yet found himself in the teacher’s room before he spent his afternoons at The Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science magnet school.

Barger said Kalasnik encouraged his sense of curiosity, was always reading and always willing to lend the books in his cabinet. He also loved Kalasnik’s enthusiasm and extra credit sections of current events quizzes, subjects that could range from geography to the Bible to pop culture.

“You would always learn something,” he said.

Back at the high school Tuesday, Dan Kleckner said one his favorite things about Kalasnik was the fact that he helped and accepted everyone.

“He was welcoming to everybody,” he said. “Everyone here loved him.”

Students and staff are still working out the details for the service, which will take place at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 4, at Canton High School. The public is invited.

Students have received support from teachers and counselors this week and will have the chance to share some of their memories at the service.

Kleckner will likely always remember some of the last words he heard from Kalasnik just a few days before he died, “I’m really going to miss you guys.”