Velishek receives Saintly Service Halo award from CSCOE

    Child’s Play Theatre owner, and physical education teacher at Most Holy Redeemer Catholic School (MHRCS) and Holy Cross Catholic School in Webster, Andy Velishek, was honored this past week with receiving the Catholic Schools Center of Excellence’s (CSCOE) February Saintly Services Halo Award.
    MHRCS Principal Kari Marsh nominated him for the award, and she said in her statement, “Andy is always steadfast with a smile. It seems that he never gets stressed and is always ‘rolling’ with any interruption or challenge. The students are excited to have PE (physical education) class with Mr. V! He also directs our school play each year and helps the students become more confident with themselves. It amazes me how he can get a quiet shy student to shine!”
    Velishek, a 1989 MHRCS graduate and a 1993 Montgomery-Lonsdale High School graduate, said, “I am grateful, but I am also shocked to have received it. It’s kind of a big thing. It’s an award open to the 87 schools in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. There are a lot of other teachers and staff at our school that have earned those kudos in keeping our school open. People are really stepping up, taking on more and more.”
    In addition to being a teacher two days a week at both schools and operating his business Child’s Play Theatre, he also is an adult leader in the Rice County 4-H program and a coach for their Poultry Project Bowl. “We just had regional competition in Hastings where they took second place, so we will be headed to state in Sauk Rapids on April 11th,” said Velishek.
    Velishek’s journey to where he is at is one of chance, fate, or divine intervention — depending on how you want to look at it.
    After high school, Velishek went to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., where he studied and graduated with a degree in physical education. He then taught his first full-time teaching gig at Sunrise Park Middle School in White Bear Lake, Minn., in 1999 for the next three years until he got laid off...

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