Making A Difference: Teaching from the heart

By Mike Bush

KSDK -- We all go to school for an education, but sometimes we also find inspiration.

Charlie Merriott has been a teacher for 42 years, the last 18 at St. Louis University High School, teaching Spanish classes.

"The man is a natural educator. What you see when you see him talking to our students is very much who he is," says SLUH Principal Dr. John Moran.

His students say Mr. Merriott gives his all everyday. In return, they give him grief.

"We make fun of his age," says student Ben Merrill. "Not really his age but the way he sometimes acts."

Make no mistake most of his students would follow Mr. Merriott to the ends of the Earth. And every year, some actually do.

Six students travel with Mr. Merriott to help the poor in Honduras as part of a senior project.

"We go to a little town called Yoro," says Merriott. "It's a little town in the mountains."

The students spend months raising money and getting ready for the trip but they admit nothing quite prepares you for what you see.

"There's no real infrastructure there. The roads are all dirt and big potholes with water in them and it's kind of intimidating," says student James Unverferth.

But no one knows his way around Yoro, better than Charley Merriott who reluctantly agreed to make the journey one time. That was 15 journeys ago.

"Everybody knows him," says student Zach Stauder. "They call him Profe' Carlos and everybody says, 'Are you with Profe' Carlos?' And you go, 'Yeah,' and they all love him so much."

For an entire month, Mr. Merriott and the students work at the Yoro nutrition center which was built, in part, by St. Louis University High School.

"The nutrition center is there to take care of the malnourished babies who really are coming not just from Yoro but from the villages even farther up in the mountains where the people are extremely poor," says Merriott.

From morning until night, often 14 hours a day, instead of caring about grades, the students have to care for about two dozen children.

"They were all the cutest kids I've ever met in my life," says student Tom Markowski.

"We had some come in that I didn't think were going to make it but did and we've had a couple that I thought would make it but didn't," says Merriott.

In addition to feeding and changing the kids, the students give them the human contact they sorely need. The long days may be tough but not as tough as saying goodbye.

"They always say to us how grateful they are to us for coming down and how much we have helped them and I thought, you have no idea what you have done for us," says Merriott.

When the students get back home, they say they are forever changed.

"I'd say it gives you a whole lot of perspective on what's really important and how I view joy in my life," says Merrill.

And they bring a little of Yoro back to St. Louis.

"I might look at my watch, I still do this now, and think oh the kids are eating right now," says student Alex Hall. "And I'll re-live the trip all in that instant and think the smiles, the laughter."

Some teach from a textbook, others like Charley Merriott teach from the heart.

"You know in teaching, you never know how much of an effect you have on anyone," he says. "You hope you do."

And for as long as he's able, Mr. Merriott says he'll lead his annual trip to Honduras. Because making good grades may be important, but not as important as making a difference.