Three educators who’ve been nominated for LifeChanger of the Year got some serious surprises this week when they were featured on NBC’s Today Show with Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb.
LifeChanger partnered with NBC to honor a pair of teachers in San Diego and another in Detroit.
NBC staged pretty elaborate events at Green Elementary School in San Diego and South Lyon High School outside Detroit. The goal behind the events was to create exciting television by surprising the teachers.
But behind the surprises were some powerful stories about these educators, which is why they were nominated as LifeChangers in the first place.
NBC’s producers understand the strength of the LifeChanger program, so they worked with National Life to identify some teachers to feature in their Toast The Teachers segment.
In San Diego, Dedra Patterson is a physical education teacher at Green Elementary, and Lynn Barnes-Wallace is a physical education teacher and health resource teacher for the San Diego Unified School District.
They were both instrumental in persuading the district to teach elementary school students how to perform CPR. The value became obvious when a third-grade student of Patterson’s used the lessons from school and actually saved his mother’s life.
The two teachers were surprised with a rally outside Green Elementary and $2,500 checks from LifeChanger. The school also got $2,500. The student won a trip to a Lego theme park.
In the Detroit area, John Mackson is a physics teacher and girls basketball coach at South Lyon High. He has become a father figure and a mentor to students at the school.
He caught NBC’s attention because he provided a home to two students whose mother moved out of state for work.
LifeChanger awarded his school $2,500 and in a bit of TV theatrics challenged Mackson to make a basket from half-court to earn his school $7,500. He missed the basket (and the second one) but the school still got the money. He also got a $2,500 check.
It’s worth following the links above to see the NBC segments and also to learn more about these LifeChangers.
