When Maria Walinski-Peterson was asked what inspired her to be a teacher, she said that it was her DNA. “My father was an orthodox priest, and my mother always wanted to be an art teacher,” she said. “I had no choice; it was my vocation. The word comes from the Latin word ‘vocare,’ which means ‘to call.’”
Walinski–Peterson began her Omaha South High school journey as a student in 1984 and graduated in 1988. In 2002, Walinski-Peterson said she completed her student teaching at Omaha South. Walinski-Peterson’s official teaching career took off in 2003 when she began teaching math and social studies. At the end of 2012, Walinski–Peterson left South to become a part-time adjunct professor at UNO in the department of Geology and Geography for eight years. She later returned to Omaha South High in August of 2021 as a “new teacher” and started over.
During Walinski-Peterson’s years as a student at South, she said she was involved in the National Spanish Honor Society, theater and The Ambassadors. “I was what we would call a drama jock,” she said. When asked what her favorite subject was, Walinski-Peterson said, she “loved anything from the English department.”
Walinski-Peterson said her proudest moment occurred during her first year back at South in 2021 when her sophomore class invited her to an awards ceremony. She said one of her students won an award and mentioned Walinski-Petterson in her speech. “It’s not that she mentioned me; it’s that my students wanted me to hear it,” she added.
When Walinski-Peterson was asked how she hopes her students remember her, she said, “That’s a good question. I am too weird; every semester I change, so I don’t have a hope. If I did have an answer, it would be that they remembered that I tried, that I am human and I make mistakes.”
When asked about her return to South in 2021, Walinski- Peterson told a story.
“When I went to South as a student, my family and I lived right across the street. My house faced the building, so I would put letter signs in my window so people could see. My mom would always joke that she would put ‘you can come home now, Maria.’ When I think about it now, it’s funny because I did end up coming home when I finally came back to South in 2021. This is my home.”
Outside from educating students on human geography, some of the things Walinski-Peterson likes doing are crafts or do it yourself projects. She added that she’s not certain what she’ll do after she retires.
“I don’t have plans; this is what I’m born to do. This is my vocation,” she said. “I will be here forever with a walker, wheelchair, whatever. I have to make up years of lost memories.”
