Tom Henihan
Express Staff
Kristen Blanchette, a teacher of science and biology at G.P. Vanier is among twenty teachers from across the province to receive a 2016 Excellence in Teaching Award.
Alberta Education presents the Excellence in Teaching Awards annually to principals and teachers to acknowledge their outstanding contribution to the teaching profession.
Established in 1989, the Award nominees have their names put forward by colleagues, students, parents and community members in recognition what is unique and valuable in what a teacher or principal brings to the role of educator.
In its twenty-seven years, more than 10,000 teacher and principal nominations have been submitted and over 500 members of the teaching profession have received the awards.
With both her parents being teachers, Kristen Blanchette grew up in an environment with a strong focus on education and saw firsthand how students of her parents acknowledged the difference her parents made to their life.
Her mother teaches at G.P. Vanier and her father who taught at E.W. Pratt School in High Prairie retired recently.
“I remember how people they had thought would often stop my parents on the street, it might have been years since they had seen them, and they would just say how much my parents meant to them in their life. My parents were very focused on having a good relationship with their student, encouraging and supporting them. That is what I saw from them and that is what I hope I was able to continue to do.”
Through her own teaching experience also, Blanquette recognizes the importance of having a motivational approach, the importance of good schools and being inspirational in the lives of her students.
Blanchette teaches senior biology, chemistry, and junior high science in both French and English and is the Peace Country Regional Science Fair secretary. While science is her passion her roles also extends to other areas of education, such as professional development on Google Classroom, serving as a divisional literacy coach and she delivers diploma prep courses to all students in the division.