Congratulations Nick Janzen, our 2025 AITC-M Educator Champion Award recipient!

At Linden Christian School in Winnipeg, Nick Janzen doesn’t just teach about agriculture—he helps students live it.

As a senior geography and social studies teacher, Nick uses agriculture education to reconnect students with the land, their food, and the world around them. This year, his remarkable dedication has earned him the honour of being named AITC-M’s 2025 Educator Champion.

“My parents and grandparents grew up on farms, and I spent a lot of my youth there too,” says Nick. “But each year, when I ask students if they or their parents ever lived on a farm, fewer and fewer hands go up. That disconnect—between students and the source of their food—is what I’m working to change.”

His mission has had a profound impact, especially on the family of fellow teacher Margo Kehler, who nominated him for the award.

“My daughters Mia and Zoe graduated from his class forever changed. They didn’t just learn about agriculture; they started living it. We now grow our own vegetables, raise butterflies, and talk about food systems at the dinner table.”

Margo’s daughter Mia remembers walking into Nick’s classroom for the first time and being struck by the rows of plants along the windowsills and in the vertical grow towers. “It brought so much life into the room. Having to care for those plants taught us a deeply important lesson in responsibility.”

In Nick’s classroom, learning is lived. Students plant seeds, measure growth, and ask big questions about how we feed the world. With the support of AITC-M resources and activities, they don’t just study agriculture, they experience it. Field trips to the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre, visits from real farmers, even lessons on AI and ag tech show students what agriculture looks like today, and how it’s adapting to meet the needs of tomorrow.

Next year, he’s taking things a step further. Nick will be piloting a brand-new Grade 11 course focused on agriculture as a cornerstone of Manitoba’s economy—one he hopes will grow roots in other schools too.

“It’s an important subject because in Manitoba, one in every eight jobs is connected to the agriculture sector, so I know that some of my students are going to be involved in the industry somehow.”

That’s certainly true of Zoe, who works in the food industry. “Mr. Janzen’s classroom really opened my eyes to how many options there are for careers in agriculture.”

Her sister Mia, meanwhile, is preparing to pursue a degree in agriculture with hopes of working with animals. “Mr. Janzen showed me how much agriculture shapes the world around us,” she says. “I want to be part of that.”

That kind of transformation is exactly what Nick hopes for when he teaches.

“There’s a reason the agriculture unit is a favourite among my students,” he says. ‘You put this little seed in the soil, water it, make sure it has sunlight, and this thing starts growing into something amazing. It really is a miracle."

For more on Nick’s story, view his feature video above.

Congratulations, Nick!