Mr. Ludwig walks the halls and waves to his students in a punny T-shirt while making his impact on the school. He has been here for many years and loves being a part of the Latrobe community.
His journey started at a school called Purchase Line for around a year and a half. Over his career, he then transitioned to Derry Area teaching in both the junior high, then moving up to the high school for 35 years and loved every minute of it. To this day, he still acts as a substitute teacher three days a week at Latrobe. He is also known as a Latrobe alumnus returning to his alma mater very frequently.
Mr. Ludwig taught for many years and treated it as a gift. He loves helping others to achieve their best and become better. “You really don’t know you know until you graduate. I like to work with my hands, and I always enjoyed teaching other people how to use tools correctly. So I got hands-on experience and I still could teach the young people how to be safe and make something constructive, that’s always my work. I taught drafting metal, wood, and photography,” said Ludwig.
He recounted a memory of how he stepped into substitute teaching, “In 2002, I retired and Mr. Porembka, I had him in class over at Derry, and we were down at a restaurant called The Pond. He was a principal at the junior high school and said ‘why don’t you come over and sub’ And I said ‘I heard a lot of bad things about subbing and the kids giving the sub a hard time’ and then I said ‘I really enjoyed my career’ and he said ‘Come over here; you won’t regret it’ that was in 2007 and I’ve been here ever since,” said Ludwig.
An influential figure for many students, Mr. Ludwig is adored by all. Many students look up to him for advice and guidance.. “I don’t go south with the snowbirds, I’ve gotten to stay up here and enjoy all the seasons. It’s nice to have a place to go. I give them the old school photos, and the kids give me the new school photos, and we have this banter back and forth. They ask me a lot of questions.”
“I graduated in 1962 so Latrobe’s my home school. I saw both Latrobe and Derry. I had 35 years with Derry, so I’ve experienced everything I could experience over there and now I’m over here at Latrobe joining these great kids. They are great, I enjoy it. It’s good to have someplace to go in the morning, so that you can have some interaction with some people,” said Mr. Ludwig.
Ludwig has made his mark on Greater Latrobe High School, through his work ethic, kind smile, and achievements. With one of his biggest achievements having created the girls wrestling team. “I was a coach at Derry for 30 years. It’s another challenging thing that I like to do. In the spring of ‘23, Pennsylvania sanctioned girls wrestling as a sport. I’ve wrestled my whole life and I knew they had a chance and so I said the girls should have a team, too,” shared Ludwig.
Just by talking to him, the passion in his voice overflows when he speaks about wrestling. He is dedicated to helping the girls become their best on and off the mat. This past season was the second season the Lady Wildcats have competed. Meryn Zangaro, graduate of 2024, was a big inspiration for him when starting the team. She asked Ludwig if there was a way for her to compete and he jumped at the chance.
“I’m approaching where I’m going to have to soon give it up, you know because that’s age-wise. I’m just really lucky and I think wrestling was the reason why I was still going on. It kept me in pretty decent shape, and so I enjoyed that. But I’ll just keep going as long as I can and doing it to my best,” said Ludwig.
He also shares how wrestling takes a great deal of self discipline to train and learn the fundamentals. He has high hopes for next season, predicting it will be their best yet.
He also loves experiencing watching students grow. He describes it as a reward. “I taught both the junior high and the senior high kids, who can do more advanced things. I really enjoyed teaching the young seventh graders how to start out doing things and learning it the right way. It feels really good watching someone you’ve taught achieve something great,” said Ludwig.
“I like to see that transition, you know. I look at them and I can remember them back to seventh grade, and look at how much they have grown over time. I knew they were going to make it,” stated Ludwig.
“What a transition being at one place the whole time I see that because here I get a chance to see people develop, you know, and that’s an important thing. They turned into wonderful ladies and gentlemen and getting to watch them grow to be seniors, the kids here are very progressive.”
Anyone who meets Ludwig can tell he is an avid music lover. “The 50s and 60s and 70s, we had really good music. I’m a big music fan, that music was just the best,” shared Ludwig. He often shares a unique song or a mixed CD with a listening ear.
He also is known for his impressive origami skills. He runs the origami club at the high school. “I’ve been doing it for years. I like woodworking and I like to show them interesting things. I have done it the past 30 years,” shares Ludwig. “I started in the middle school over at Derry teaching how to do that. In woodwork we were carving kinds of wood, you know. The girls were doing beautiful work, but they kept getting cut because they would have to use really sharp tools.. So I said ‘If you don’t want to get any blood on the piece that you’re working on, this is an alternative.’ The papers have a lot of configurations and if you mess up you just untold it and try again. Now it’s all on YouTube. I learned all out of books, but now it’s all on YouTube,” said Ludwig.
Mr. Ludwig has had an impactful journey from teaching at Derry to subbing at Latrobe. He has shown many students how to harness their creativity and become better versions of themselves. Thank you for all you do for our school Mr Ludwig!
