Schoolhouse Hero: Bourassa helps WLC students enjoy math

Joyce Bourassa, in her 34th  year of teaching math, approaches each school day like it’s her first. “I’m here because of the students who don’t know what they are capable of until they are challenged and motivated,” Bourassa said of her teaching philosophy. Acknowledging that math can be difficult and even scary for some learners, Bourassa is a firm believer that they simply lack the confidence that they can solve the math equation. “I break it down into chunks so they can handle it,” she said on a recent lunch break in her classroom at Wilton-Lyndeborough Cooperative High School. Bourassa has a simple definition of math. “It isn’t just about numbers,” she said. “It’s about finding the patterns.” Bourassa recognized this early on, at the age of 10, from her fifth-grade teacher.