Profile: LBCC's Danielle Blackwell Juggles Teaching and Coordinating while being Inspiring

Danielle Blackwell helps students Brittany Vandersteen (left) and Kelsey Franich (right) with a question.

Danielle Blackwell juggles teaching and advising all while she is also inspiring to her students, with her sarcastic humor she lights up the room and her students.

Wearing her “Through a healthy body, you build a strong mind” t-shirt, Mrs. Blackwell, who is often referred to most as just Blackwell, commands her Lifetime Fitness and Wellness class, reminding them about their upcoming fitness plan that is due later in the term.

As she presents her lecture to her morning class she tells students to start working on their fitness plan with others around them and she will walk around the room to help. The all get to work and she begins the walk around the room.

Blackwell taught classes for the past few years at West Albany High School before coming to LBCC this year to teach Lifetime Fitness and Wellness and be the Albany High School programs Advanced Diploma program Coordinator and Adviser.

This is the first-year for the Greater Albany Public School's Advanced Diploma program. The program pays for students, who just graduated high school, first-year of college at LBCC.

When at West Albany, Blackwell taught Lifetime Fitness and Wellness along with a program called Peers.

Blackwell help student Amanda Jeffe.

"One of the big things the students had to do was take on a peer that either at risk or struggling in school, and they worked one-on-one with them. Then we did impact days, which were VERY powerful," said Blackwell.

[Impact Days are] a day spent just getting rid of harassment and bullying and finding out that underneath it all we're just human."

"Through that Peers class, Because we were so intimate in it, I crossed a lot of lines as a teacher that you're not supposed to because I did learn their personal life and they learned my personal life."

"We became very close, like a family," said Blackwell.

A student stops her to ask if she needs to finish the rest of a previous assignment. "Nope, you're good! Turn it in," said Blackwell.

In 2007, Blackwell won West Albany High School’s Most Inspirational Teacher award; which is an award in which the students nominate the teachers for. That same year, she also received Oregon Physical Education Teacher of the Year Award.

When asked why she believes she is an inspiration to so many students, Blackwell said, “I think because I relate to them a lot. I don't act older or superior. I'm goofy with them.”

“The way she was with students was incredible because we weren't just students to her, we were actual humans. A lot of teachers lose sight of the fact that we actually have feelings and that we're all different. Mrs. Blackwell never did lose sight of that,” said former student Karla Baum.

“My attitude on life changed after listening to her talk about how life should be. I'm more confident in my actions as a human being, and as a member of society, I feel better about my image than I did before I met Mrs. Blackwell and all around I just love people more."

Past students praise Mrs. Blackwell for being there for them or getting them through tough times. Former student Emmalee Harmon said, “Blackwell was always there for any of us that needed it. She always had open arms and an open heart.”

After finding out her father was diagnosed with cancer, Former Student Kelsea Neuenschwander said “[Blackwell] cried with me. She continually gave me a follow up of, "How are you doing?", and told me not to worry about my homework for her class.” “It made me feel like a teacher actually did care about my personal life and it made school a little less stressful through that time.”

Blackwell teaching her Lifetime
Fitness and Wellness Class.

Blackwell tries to work in her real-life experiences and mistakes she has made into her lessons, “I always give real-life examples, I always share the same battles I had. I've had battles with weight and all those things," said Blackwell.

"When I join weight watchers, I share that with everybody, so they just know that these are the things I've done too. I think it [helps me] become real or relatable [with the students]."

When asked to describe Blackwell, Co-Coordinator and Adviser of the Advanced Diploma Program, Larry Anderson, said, “She is upbeat – positive, communicates that she cares about people, has high expectations for students, has a ton of energy, is driven, has a good sense of humor – likes to laugh and can laugh at life even in tough times, and is a hard worker."

How is she able to juggle everything? “I go a little crazy sometimes,” said Blackwell.

-- At A Glance: --
Danielle Blackwell
Lifetime Fitness and Wellness Instructor, High School Program's Advanced Diploma Program Coordinator and Adviser.
Email: blackwd@linnbenton.edu
Office: T-213