Wabasha-Kellogg's Bob Galewski named custodian of the year in a national contest
Apr. 30—WABASHA, Minn. — Bob Galewski was dressed for a normal day's work on Tuesday as a longtime custodian at Wabasha-Kellogg Public Schools. He had two separate bundles of keys hanging from his belt, and he wore a blue shirt with "Bob" stitched across one side and "W-K Schools" stitched across the other.
But it wasn't the normal day he was anticipating. Instead, he walked into the high school's gymnasium in the afternoon to the fanfare of a red-carpet celebrity. A sea of students started roaring with excitement and applause. The student council lined up on either side to greet him as he walked in.
The students, teachers and staff were celebrating the fact that Galewski was recently named custodian of the year in a national contest, hosted by the company Cintas. A spokeswoman for the company said he was one of several thousand custodians nominated. From that nationwide search, he was narrowed down to the top 10, and then ultimately to the winner.
"For a while there, my daughter's main focus while at school was to scare Bob," preschool teacher Andrea Day said, while addressing the crowd in the gym. "And one day, she finally did. That is when I really realized the connections that he makes on a daily basis with all of our students."
As the winner of Cinta's national search, Galewski was awarded $10,000 dollars, as well as an upcoming trip to Las Vegas.
After making his way on stage to accept a massive check, he joked that he must have got a lot of votes from "down south" and "up north" because of the large beard he had in the photo the company used for the competition. He referred to it as his "Duck Dynasty beard."
While pinning on three different lapel mics to speak to the media, a student nearby summarized his status:
"You're a celebrity now, Bob!"
Galewski has been a custodian at the schools for more than 20 years, and has been able to watch students grow from one grade to the next.
"It's always the little things that make it worthwile," Galewski said. "It's not the big things."
And yet, there are a few things that have stood out to him from throughout the years. In the mid-2000s, he started giving inspirational speeches to the school's dance team since they would already be up for practice when he arrived for work.
"I opened my mouth and said 'you guys got this ... you're the top team of the school,'" Galewski said. "That's how it started."
Galewski's wife Linda was sitting next to the stage in the gym, watching the crowd dote on him. Leaning against her chair was a big placard, plastered with the "Duck Dynasty" photo her husband referred to during his speech.
She said the school has been important to Galewski over the years, especially in light of one particular fact.
"We lost our daughter and she never got to go to this school," Linda Galewski said. "I think that plays an important part. Because he gets the interaction with these kids that he never had with our daughter."
