If you walk into Ankeny High School, you may see kids rolling on scooters down the halls or dropping parachutes from the catwalk. These are most likely a byproduct of the school’s physics course. One of the physics teachers, Lucas Chamberland, is a beloved teacher at AHS. Among his students, he is known for his silliness, whimsy, and biking dedication, but he possesses an unknown skill that deserves more appreciation.

“I believe my ranking in the United States is eighth… For a world ranking, there’s the official Minesweeper game, and then there’s the spin off website. Spinoff website, I think I’m 28th or something. And the official rankings I would be somewhere around like 200th,” Chamberland explains.

Along the ranks of solitaire and snake, minesweeper is a classic computer game. While fun and common, it does require critical thinking skills and a certain level of strategy. The game gives you a grid, in which the goal is to click all the squares on the grid without landmines. As you click each square, it’ll tell you how many mines the square is touching. While it may sound easy, it is difficult for many due to the analytical skills needed and the risk that the game involves.

“I think it’s funny how he’s like nationally ranked in Minesweeper and bikes to school every day and he just doesn’t really care what other people think. He’s very curious, and he’s open to all student’s questions and cares about students’ understanding, and he never judges,” said Enriched Physics student, Claire Close.

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These skills that he holds make students feel as if Chamberland stays true to himself. He discussed in an interview how the skill of Minesweeper was initially introduced to him.

“My brother and I played it on our family computer when we were young, so I kind of got into it through a family member,” Chamberland said.

Sometimes our favorite hobbies and interests are introduced to us through our friends and family members. When interests are linked nostalgically to those we love, we might care about them more, find more comfort in them, or be more encouraged and motivated to accomplish these topics. 

“It’s soothing, maybe because it’s just something I know how to do, the repetition in it calms me. I guess it gives me something to work toward,” Chamberland explained.

Having something to work toward and staying motivated is how he became nationally ranked. Sometimes the simplest of tasks or hobbies can become our greatest strengths. Many claim that practice makes perfect, and that is obviously the case here. 

“To me, it’s therapeutic in a way. It’s repetitive-ish, but at times you can sit down and actually think about it, and there’s a high skill ceiling. So people can put in a lot of effort, but you won’t be the best, because you can put even more effort in beyond that, no matter how good you are,” Chamberland explained.

This shows us a good lesson of how seemingly mundane tasks can teach us important life skills. What some may consider a mere computer game has given Chamberland six years worth of experience in improving his logical, strategic, and analytical skills. Having constant room to improve is a healthy thing. Some people are constantly striving to improve themselves and their skills, be it through healthy habits like daily biking or even just brain games like Minesweeper. 

This feat may seem insignificant to some, and Chamberland is certainly humble about it, but it is traits like these that make him such a fun teacher. Many of his students attest to this, and praise his irregular, hands-on-heavy teaching style and discuss how his class helps to encourage their curiosity.

“I am kind of seeing more of his like, goofy personality, and I appreciate how himself he is around the students; it kind of feels like I’m just talking with another student,” said Close. 

She goes on to talk about how he treats his students and how he lets his accepting personality and interesting hobbies shine through.

“It’s refreshing, I’d rather have a teacher that is silly and still respects students and treats them with kindness and is himself, rather than one that is super strict,” Close said. “The better relationships you have with students, the more they’re going to pay attention in your class and respect you and care about what you’re teaching.”

It’s obvious that Chamberland makes an impact on his physics students and his funny habits shine through to allow his classes to be themselves. His minesweeper abilities champion most, and his way of facilitating genuine learning in an increasingly standardized testing environment show that Chamberland is anything but standard. His bubbly personality and interesting hobbies allow students to embrace learning in his class and more importantly, embrace themselves.

“His minesweeper ranking is so impressive. He’s so cool. It’s so Chamberland that he’s like 28th in the world. I would expect nothing less from him. He’s a very, very personable guy and is super chill. You can just talk to him about whatever. He’s not afraid to show his goofy side and embrace his own personality, which helps students feel more comfortable around him,” AP Physics student Caleb Brynes said.