Teachers leave a lasting effect on students. To some, teachers can be just as influential as parents. It is hard to say that there was a teacher in Baldwin who was more influential than former BJHS English teacher Kathy Johansen. Even before she was diagnosed with ALS (or Lou Gehrig’s  Disease), she was a favorite for many at BJHS.

“She was my favorite teacher in the sixth grade.” sophomore Elliott Stiefel said. “She had creative ideas to make sixth grade a lot of fun like with J-Bucks, she always had a fun attitude.”

To many, not only was having her class fun, but also educational.

“I had fun in Mrs. Johansen’s class,” junior Emma Burnett said. “I liked learning about the Holocaust because it was interesting and she knew what she was talking about.”

Johansen had been teaching for 14 years at BJHS when she was diagnosed with ALS in the first week of June 2014. Since then her life has changed in many ways.

“I sleep in more, but I miss the students, teachers, and all BJHS so much,” Johansen said. “I was shocked to be diagnosed with ALS, and I admit I did not know much about it until this summer.”

Even though Johansen had to give up her life’s passion of teaching, she is still staying positive.

“I adore teaching and I am sad that I had to retire,” Johansen said, “but I am ready to fight this difficult disease, I have since been to clinics and doing research about how to stay healthy.”

Johansen plans to travel to try Stem Cell Treatment to hopefully control some of her symptoms this October.