LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

John Blanchard was nominated by a student.

"Mr. Blanchard has always been a great teacher. For my eighth grade year, I had the privilege of having Mr. Blanchard as my middle school math teacher. I have struggled with math in previous years, and I felt like I got the hang of it near seventh grade, but after I had Mr. Blanchard for the first time, I felt like I started to understand what I was doing. I thought that pre-algebra would be a difficult subject, but as the year started, I began to realize how easy this class would be, especially with the help of Mr. Blanchard," said the student.

"Throughout the year, math has become easier and easier for me. Previously, these different equations and functions weren't very clear to me. Mr. Blanchard explained them in-depth. They felt like they just made sense. He was always there for other classmates and I when we needed help. He was always a very kind teacher, cared a lot about his students, and always found a way to get a good laugh. If someone doesn't understand something about the class, he moves right next to them to help them," said the student.

"He also will make jokes to the entire class that make everyone laugh. Mr. Blanchard demonstrates the meaning of having fun while being serious. He was very relatable to students in the class; he loved a game called 'Halo.' He loved fishing, hunting, golfing, and basketball. This was very cool to me and others because we could relate to him and many different topics. He could teach one minute, and the next, he could talk about the latest basketball game, which made everyone feel welcome," said the student.

"Something I liked about him was that he could teach multiple classes outside of math and was a very adored teacher. I greatly enjoyed having him as a teacher. I enjoyed his teaching style; it was very optimized to what rate the students were learning and their difficulty of learning," said the student.