LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Kristen Falkner was nominated by an anonymous student.

"The move from Milwaukee to Lake Country was anything but ideal, and I had become bitter. Being forced to start a new school mid-semester in 7th grade enabled my irritation. Then, COVID hit, and any small glimmer of hope I had for making a friend plummeted to the ground," said the student.

"The beginning of high school threw me back to square one. Added to the fact a global pandemic set in, the uncertainty surrounding that was terrible. I was back to that small, little kid when we first moved. No friends, no nothing," said the student.

"When I started 9th grade, it was that fateful morning when I shuffled into Mrs. Falkner's room, apathetic and tired from the day already. I was the first to arrive and took out my sketchbook to begin doodling. Drawing had become reliable, something to focus my energy on. And I was good at it. I had hardly heard her creep up behind me, and I flinched when her gasp of enlightenment came over my shoulder."

"'Oh my god, did you draw that? Those are amazing,' Mrs. Falkner, my art teacher, proclaimed," said the student. "I looked at her confused but nodded anyway. I told her I had drawn what was in my sketchbook and allowed her to view some of my pages. She told me I was talented, that my work was something to be proud of, and that seeing what I was doing was so cool. She was impressed, she said, and happy to have me in her class."

"I smiled, and though we both had masks on, I could tell she genuinely meant what she was saying by her eyes. Genuine. An unfamiliar concept soon to become a running theme I found to be in her classroom," said the student. "From there on, Mrs. Falkner would let me eat lunch in her room whenever I was feeling down, and she would gawk at my work with praise and appreciation, not the ridicule I was accustomed to. It wasn't only with me. Mrs. Falkner was always there for all her students, whether by listening to us about relationship problems, offering advice, or simply being there to sit with."

"Being in her class for over two years allowed me creative freedom to produce magnificent pieces of art and the encouragement I needed as a kid lost in this crazy world," said the student. "Each year I've attended Arrowhead, I've drawn her a picture of a girl and an orange. The following year, I've redrawn the same picture through her guidance to see how much I've improved. I plan to keep this same tradition until I graduate and beyond. Though I was exasperated at first entering my family's new move, Mrs. Faulkner aided in helping ease that struggle and blossomed my perspective into something new."