Louis Boucher
Collège Saint-Sacrement

“I’m the instigator of wild and crazy ideas and I like it when my colleagues get involved in my projects. And everything we do, we do so to simply create something that will stimulate our students.” For Louis Boucher, a geography and history teacher at Collège Saint-Sacrement in Terrebonne, getting involved with his students is one of the positive sides to the teaching profession. No matter what zany idea he comes up with – such as the red classes project, the thematic weeks and school sports events – he makes sure that he puts the interests of his students at the heart of his actions.

After spending 18 years teaching at the same school, Louis Boucher is adamant: “I still feel just as passionate about my job!” And he was genuinely surprised when he received recognition for his work by becoming the weekly winner of the Forces AVENIR high school program. Somewhat modest by nature, he prefers to draw attention to the work of others rather than his own and his immediate reaction when he heard the news was to point out that it is the Collège Saint-Sacrement itself that fosters a culture of commitment to young people and that all he’d done was act on it.

“I am the product of a milieu made up of teachers who are convinced that you have to get involved with students in order for them to succeed. They have passed on this passion to me and now it’s my turn to hand the torch to the new teachers who arrive at our school,” he asserts with a huge smile.

The best way for Louis Boucher to hand on this torch is by preaching by example. For several years now the Secondary 1 teacher has been the coordinator and host of a two-day outdoors camp that serves as a welcoming activity for new students.  The red classes project is the perfect way to help students integrate and the teacher has a great time creating amusing activities for the event.

“It’s a really important experience for the students. It helps break the ice and boosts the feeling of belonging to both the group and the school. At a more personal level, it enables me to establish privileged ties with my students. They see me in a different light, not just as a teacher, and this helps get things off to a good start.”

But Mr. Boucher’s involvement doesn’t stop there. Throughout the school year, he enjoys taking part in numerous activities, in particular during lunch period. Whether it’s participating in improvisation matches or sports such as football, hockey and kin ball, a sport he’d never practised before, the teacher always commits himself with the same fervour and desire to see young people attain their full potential and enjoy being at school.

And as a means of further motivating students, Mr. Boucher launched the Monétas reward system, an honour system that commends the achievements of students throughout the year and the winning group is rewarded by being given the privilege of attending a huge banquet.

Recognized for his dynamism, leadership skills and ability to rally the support of others, Louis Boucher has also surprised many of his colleagues with his creative ideas for enhancing teaching, ideas in which young people get steadfastly involved and, more importantly, which enable them to showcase their different skills and talents. The setting up of the La semaine historique project is just one fine example of how he uses this creative energy. Initially established as a one-day event called Voyage autour du monde, which encouraged students to explore the planet by giving all kinds of presentations and attending workshops, the project kept gaining so much in popularity and rallying more and more teachers that it ended up by becoming a one-week event.

“This year, the students recreated a mediaeval village right in the heart of the school. They built kiosks, hosted presentations about different countries, gave foreign language lessons and even offered theatrical performances. What started off as a simple idea has turned into a kind of school project for students in Secondary 1, 2 and 3. The timetable is turned upside down for the whole week but its well worth it and the students invest so much effort,” the teacher recounts, adding that it would not have been possible to achieve such results without the participation of the entire teaching staff and the support of the school administration.

Louis Boucher
Collège Saint-Sacrement