Scholar Awards

Frank Perpich - Honored 2019

Frank Perpich was another "living legend" from the greatest generation as a teacher at White Bear Lake High School. The native of Crosby-Ironton started in August of 1957 which began an incredible high school teaching career of almost thirty years in White Bear Lake. He graduated from Brainerd Junior College and then graduated cum laude with a bachelor of science degree from the University of Minnesota-Duluth and then earned a master's degrees in both the arts and science there.

Mr. Perpich won several awards locally and even an award from the National Association of Biology Teachers in 1977.  He was quoted at the 1977 ceremony for that award saying "that I have always tried to keep in mind the fact that biology deals with the study of life and should therefore be alive and meaningful to students." He was known for bringing biology to life for  his students.

Mr. Perpich has had several scientific articles published.  He was active with the Minnesota Education Association and served a term as a president of the White Bear Lake Education Association. He coached the Bears wrestling team with Mr. Joe Rukavina for eight years. He serves as another shining example of a White Bear Lake High School teacher committed to excellence in his field of biology and with an extraordinary commitment to all his students.

Don Glover - Honored 2019

Don Glover, a native of St. Charles, MN, began his teaching career at Winona High School in 1967, after graduating from Winona State University In 1970 and receiving his Master’s in Physical Education from Winona State University, Don joined White Bear High School as an instructor in Physical Education and as an assistant coach in soccer, basketball and track & field.

In 1980, after 10 years as a teacher/coach at White Bear High School and White Bear Mariner High, Don was asked to establish and teach in one of the first comprehensive Adapted Physical Education programs in Minnesota for all students in the White Bear area covering preschool, elementary, and secondary levels where he remained until his retirement from WBL in 2000.

During Don’s 30 years tenure with the White Bear Lake Area School District, Don was a leader in his field on multiple levels. In 1981, Don was recognized as Minnesota’s Teacher of the Year, being the first and only teacher to date from White Bear Lake Area School District 624 to achieve this outstanding recognition. Being recognized means more than receiving a plaque, for during the year, Don represented White Bear Lake and the teaching profession throughout the state speaking on the importance of being proactive, inclusive and innovative when applying teaching methods. In 1989, Don received another statewide recognition, when he was named the first recipient of the Minnesota’s Adapted Physical Education Teacher of the Year Award now given by the Minnesota Society of Health and Physical Educators (MNSHAPE). He is also the former president of Minnesota Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance (MAHPERD). Lastly, in addition to his teaching accolades, Don for his coaching, has been inducted into both the Minnesota State High School Cross Country Coach’s Hall of Fame and WBL Area High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame.

An author of 8 books, numerous magazine and journals articles of physical education and sport, Don’s impact on his students as well as his teaching colleagues stands out in his field. To quote Don, “I have been a Physical Education and Adapted Physical Education teacher for over 53 years, and I can’t think of a better job. Helping all students regardless of abilities, learn movement skills in an inclusive and safe environment resulting in mentally and physically
healthier students has been a very satisfying experience for me.” After leaving White Bear Lake in 2000, Don went on teach Elementary Physical Education and later Adapted Physical Education at University of Wisconsin, River Falls, where he is still actively teaching as well as writing. He like many of the teachers throughout the history of White Bear Lake, who have taught within the White Bear Lake Area School District 624, is a leading example of excellence in the classroom, within his field of study and the community at large.

Don, and his wife Carolyn, raised three children, all graduates of White Bear Lake Area High School.

Photo credit Deb Berry

Paul Mork - Honored 2019

Paul Mork is a multi-sport coaching legend in the White Bear Lake Area School District and has received statewide recognitions from two Minnesota State High School coach associations. What many of Paul’s students know him from are his college prep English Literature and Creative Writing classes.

Paul was born and raised on a farm in southern Minnesota near the Iowa border.  He attended Kiester High School located in southern Minnesota. “Attending a smaller school, it may be easier to try more sports, the arts, school paper and other things” Paul says of his high school years.” All students should be encouraged to try anything the school offers regardless of the size.”  Paul’s football coach was also his English teacher. A door was opened as to the places and experiences great literature may take him. An added bonus to Paul’s literary adventure was his coach/teacher was previously a WWII spy for the Allied Forces.

Paul graduated from Kiester High School and attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, receiving his undergraduate degree in English, playing baseball, basketball and football along the way. His post-graduate work was accomplished at Macalester College in St. Paul where he earned his M. Ed. with an English emphasis.In 1959 Paul began his long teaching and coaching careers. The first 7 years of Paul's 37-year teaching and 56-year coaching experiences were at Wells, St. Charles, and Hayfield High Schools in southern Minnesota. However, the majority of his career took place in the White Bear Lake Area School District.

Paul came to White Bear Lake in 1965. College prep English was Paul's primary teaching assignment. “As the curriculum developed, Hero1 and Hero 2 were a semester each” he recalls. “Hero 1 included the Greek playwrights, Shakespeare and Tolstoy. Hero 2 moved to Dostoyevsky, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O’Neal, Faulkner, and Hemmingway.” Paul appreciated the chance to teach creative writing. “Every human being has creativity in them. It just needs to be tapped. Poetry was something all could have a little fun with. Those students that had the most fear about writing found they could get some satisfaction from the fact they could put it all together. A few submitted their writings to Scholastic Magazine and received recognition of their work.”

What would be one thing he would like to see be a priority for every student?“In an ideal world”, Paul smiled,” all students would be in a play. They would build self-confidence…stage presence to one degree or another. Experience what it is like to stretch yourself, explore a character, to ‘get out of your own skin’ and experience something different.’ When recalling former students mentioning to him, they felt they had a leg up in their college courses due to having taken one or more of his classes, Paul’s face lights up. “That is what is meant by ‘you receive more than what you give back’.”  

Paul Mork retired from teaching in 1996, but continued to coach and author a book that encompasses his philosophy followed in both his teaching and coaching careers. Paul’s book, "The Power of Becoming: Achieving Personal Fulfillment," was published in 2005. The book is a series of eight essays, revolving around the idea of physical, psychological and spiritual elements coming together to realize personal fulfillment and illustrate how to 'become' what you hope to. "It was built on a motif that whether you are in the classroom or on a team, each year is a new year and what are you becoming?" Paul said.

In addition to teaching, Paul served in a variety of combinations as a high school varsity assistant and head coach. These positions included football, boys' and girls' basketball, baseball, and cross country.  In 1966, his second year at White Bear Lake High School, Paul coached the boys cross country team to a state championship. He then began coaching in boys basketball, football, and track, taking the Bears boys basketball team to the state tournament in 1972. Later in his coaching career Paul added baseball and girls basketball.  During his football tenure at White Bear Lake, Paul led White Bear Mariner High School from 1972 to 1983 and White Bear Lake Area High School from 1983 to 1993 compiling a head coaching record of 113-74 winning two suburban Conference Championships. In 1990 and 1991, Paul led the Bears baseball team. Paul came out of retirement and in 2002, returned to state tournament with the Irondale's girls basketball team. 2009 found Paul Mork directing the New Life Academy girls basketball team to the state tournament. Paul has been inducted into the White Bear Lake Area High School Athletic Hall of Fame, Minnesota State Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame (2002), and the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association (2015).

Paul Mork is one of those teachers that has touched hundreds of us, in ways he is not even aware of. If you never had the good fortune to have crossed paths with this extraordinary man, enjoy this gift that he has given us. Paul has four children and seven grandchildren. He has lived in White Bear Lake with his wife Marilyn, since 1965. He and "Mamie" have been married 52 years.

Photo credit Deb Berry

Edwin Nakasone  - Honored 2015

Edwin Nakasone is the inaugural recipient of the Alumni Association's Scholar Award.  Nakasone, a history teacher at White Bear Lake High School from 1956 to 1970, was presented the award for excellence as part of the fifth All School Reunion. Since 1992 the WBLAAA has recognized accomplished alumni through the Wall of Fame. Nakasone, now age 88, taught 11th-grade American history at White Bear Lake High School. After also teaching part time at Lakewood Community College for a few years he left the high school and taught history and international relations at the college (which became Century College) from 1970 to 1999. In later years, in two-month stints, he taught history to sailors aboard Navy ships.

Nakasone, born in Wahiawa, Hawaii, the son of Japanese immigrants, graduated from Leilehua High School in 1945. He was 14 when he witnessed Japanese planes bomb an airfield and barracks as part of the Pearl Harbor attack. He was drafted into the Army . He enlisted in the Army right out of high school and was sent to Fort Snelling, Minnesota for Japanese language training. By then the war was ending, but he was sent to Japan as an interpreter aiding the reconstruction.

Nakasone said he was in the last class at Snelling before it was closed and the training was moved to Monterey, CA in 1946. He was stationed with the occupational forces in Japan from 1947 to ’48 as a linguist and interpreter with the 168th Language Detachment of the 1st Cavalry Division. Nakasone later attended the University of Hawaii and was commissioned through its ROTC program and served in the Army Reserve until he retired as a colonel in 1987. In his civilian life,

IN 2001 Nakasone became an autor publishg the book, Japanese American Veterans of Minnesota, a book of interviews with Japanese American veterans, relating their war experiences as members of a distrusted ethnic minority. Despite such distrust, Americans of Japanese ancestry fought bravely and courageously for their adopted country. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team, to which most Japanese American soldiers belonged, became one of the most highlydecorated units in WWII in the U.S. Army.

Nakasone became a frequent speaker and still gives presentations about what he witnessed in Hawaii and Japan. He also has written books about Japanese-American soldiers in WWII. Of particular note Nakasone's son, Paul Nakasone '82 is a four-star general and in 2018 was promoted to Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) while concurrently serving as the Director of the United States Cyber Commnand. Although Nakasone retired in the White Bear Lake, he said that he and his wife spend every February in the islands "to escape the hageshii (harsh) MN (Minnesota) fuyu (winter)." Nakasone has two adult sons both graduates of White Bear Lake High School.