LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Jim Vento was nominated by an anonymous student.

"I don't know how many times I can say just how much Mr. Vento has done for me. Going into 8th grade at North Shore Middle School, I had always disliked math and school. As a kid, I saw no use in it and had no passion for going and getting good grades. In math especially, I would always get B's or C's and thought I was stupid and not smart enough," said the student.

"Math wasn't fun for me, and I struggled with it. When I walked into Mr. Vento's class, though, I knew that it would be different and that he affected the students. His loud and energetic personality showed that he cared for us and what he was teaching. He made the class engaging and entertaining with fun examples of the stuff we were learning. I distinctly remember when someone asked about graphing and rise/run, and Mr. Vento gave an example with a chair and a foot. He explained that you need to raise your foot before you move it to the chair, and he showed how it didn't work if you moved your foot and then up - causing the chair to flip over. Examples like this one still stick with me today," said the student.

"Mr. Vento tells it how it is, and he is so honest, talking about life and stuff happening in the world. He would always tell students off when they were acting like tough guys or not doing their work, trying to help them be better people and pushing them to be good students," said the student. "I always enjoyed the sports updates Mr. Vento gave us, whether about the Packers, the Brewers, or any other sports team. He always wanted to talk to us and hear what we had to say about the game/team."

"Playing chess with him was always so much fun as well. When we finished our work, he let us play chess or card games with one another, and we all looked forward to it. Trying to beat Mr. Vento in chess was fun (he was the one who taught me how to play in the first place). Doing this for us also made it so we had a reason to get our work done before the school day had ended," said the student.

"We might have dreaded the 45-minute weekly quiz since we have never done quizzes like that before. I struggled with finishing quizzes quickly; initially, I thought it was hard. Looking back on it, I'm grateful Mr. Vento formatted quizzes like that because, without him, I would have never been able to do it in freshman year, especially in math," said the student.

"Mr. Vento made me enjoy math for what it was and gave me a reason to go to school and understand its importance. Because of him, I love math and excel in it. Even if we thought his teaching could be hard due to the topics being at a higher level, I see myself, even in junior year, getting taught some of the things Mr. Vento had already taught us back in 8th grade. I get A's and B's regularly, and he has made me more confident in myself, showing me that I am smart if I want to be. He helped me believe in myself so much," said the student.

"Once in a while, I still hear and get in conversations with kids about Mr. Vento and how much we miss having him as our teacher, and always acknowledging how much we loved him as our teacher. He changed many kids and made many people smile and enjoy school more. I will never forget his 8th-grade math class and all he has done for the students and me at North Shore," said the student.