Chamber President's Commentary

November 29, 2012
By: Bay Area Chamber of Commerce

President's Commentary by Michael D. Seward This past month, your Bay Area Chamber of Commerce hosted a Business & Education Partnership Forum featuring a panel consisting of each of the seven school superintendents in Bay County. The program, moderated by Delta College president, Dr. Jean Goodnow, was designed to provide an opportunity for business and education leaders to discuss challenges and opportunities facing our local public and private school districts.

At the Forum, your Bay Area Chamber also presented the Jerome L. Yantz Partner in Education Award to retired Dow Corning scientist, John Blizzard.

John was nominated for his many educational attributes including his support for Bay Arenac Community High School. He has involved himself in the educational community in a variety of ways. Not only is he willing to share his knowledge with students, creating projects and demonstrations for students to participate in, he selflessly shares his resources in order to make the learning environment a more enjoyable experience.

John shares his time and talents to conduct various demonstrations for chemistry students. Students have been treated to field trips to John's chemistry lab to participate in hands-on-training.

John has also created collaboration amongst schools, promoting teacher training with chemists from Dow Corning, to create a broader and real-world relevant learning experience for students in the classroom. In addition, John has spear-headed fundraisers to create state of the art chemistry labs in local schools.

Working to improve the quality of education throughout the Bay Area continues to be a top priority of your Bay Area Chamber's Business & Education Partnership. Through the dedicated work of volunteers like John Blizzard, education for our children will continue to improve.