Being Coach Klatt’s neighbor, I personally know that there’s a lot that’s comes from the experience of living next to a coach.

I want to start by saying that Klatt is a great neighbor. He’s always been super friendly. Over winter break, members of Klatt’s family dropped off cookies to all of their neighbors. I assume that Klatt probably was a big part of his family’s gesture this holiday season.

Klatt said that seeing his athletes in the neighborhood is an interesting thing most people don’t experience.

“The hood is an interesting place,” he said. “A lot of [my Mead] kids want to stop and talk to me.”

He even said, “I’ve had dads come up to the porch and talk to me about football.”

Klatt shares that being engaged with the kids is an integral part of building the relationship he has with his students. He said living near his students means he gets to interact with them, or “get in with [his] students” in a casual setting outside of school.

Along with him being engaged with the students, he is also a very important part of the community as a whole. After a few snowstorms, he helped many elderly neighbors, shoveling out their driveways so they could drive out their cars.

He said, “I think it’s awesome because that’s why we moved to Mead — we wanted to be a part of the community, we wanted to live here. We want to do everything here and… be a part of it.”

Coach Klatt is a very important model of MHS values both in and out of school. He interacts with his students as a coach and also works to be a helpful member of his neighborhood.