WACTC student receives Blain scholarship
- Woonsocket Area Career and Technical Center student Austin Ballou, of Woonsocket, received the third Jonathan M.N. Blain Memorial Scholarship last month.
The scholarship is named for the 26-year-old man who died in June 2020 in motorcycle accident on Diamond Hill Road. Jonathan was also a WACTC student, and the scholarship supports student like him who decided to pursue a trade after graduating.
“When he got to the vocational school, he really took off,” said Jennifer Blain, Johnathan’s mother. She added that he was never at the top of his class, but was known as a dedicated and hardworking student in the automotive program.
Ballou, like Johnathan, graduated from the automotive technology and transportation program. Blain said he had almost the same class rank as Jonathan, and came highly recommended by the program’s instructors and a resource officer who had also known Johnathan.
“He just sounded so much like my son,” she said. “I truly know that we picked the right kid.”
Blain and her family presented the award award at the WACTC’s award night on June 7, which coincided with the third anniversary of Johnathan’s death. After the ceremony, Ballou wrote Blain and her daughter a letter thanking them, which Blain shared on Facebook.
“I am truly grateful for being chosen for this award, and of all the students in attendance, my name was the last one ever expected to be called to receive such an honorable gift and award,” he wrote. “We may not all be academic scholars, receive all A’s of have the highest class rank, but what we do have is heart and a lot to give just like your son Johnathan.”
Ballou will be continuing his education at the New England Institute of Technology in East Greenwich, Rhode
Island, in the automotive program.
The scholarship is funded by the annual memorial bike run, which will be held this year on September 17. Blain said there was an outpouring of support from Johnathan’s biker community after the accident and in the years since, which culminates in the annual bike run.
“There’s always a few tears that were shed but always a lot of laughs,” she said. “It’s very bittersweet for me. Nothing is ever going to bring my son back, but it’s nice to know there were so many lives he touched in his 26 years.”
The bike run typically starts and ends at the American Legion in Woonsocket, and Blain said it has grown from about 80 riders the first year to just under 100 last year. This year, the run will make two stops, one at the American Eagle Saloon and Cafe in Willington, Connecticut and one in Cady’s Tavern in Chepachet, Rhode Island. It will end with catering by Bugg’d Out BBQ and a raffle back at the American Legion.
Blain said Johnathan loved hanging out with friends, riding motorcycles and having a good meal, all of which are featured at the bike run.
“He could light up a room and he just loved life,” Blain said. She said he was 6-foot-5, with a big, booming voice and a smile “as big as he was.”
Money raised from the bike run also funds other donations in addition to the scholarship. In its first year, funds were donated to Johnathan’s friend Kim Tanguay, a passenger on Johnathan’s bike who survived the crash but sustained serious injuries.
This year, since the organization only awarded one WACTC scholarship, they plan to make two additional donations to veterans or their families in the community. Blain said they are working with the American Legion to identify the recipients. She said she noticed a lot of people who turned out to the first bike run were wearing veterans patches, and this year she wanted to give back to the veteran community.
Registration for the bike run will be day-of at the American Legion Post on River Street starting at 9:00 a.m.
In addition to organizing the memorial bike run and scholarship, Blain mobilized to remove the decorative brick wall at the intersection of Diamond Hill Road and Walnut Hill Road, which she said most likely contributed to the crash. She also wanted to add a traffic light, and potentially reduce the number of lanes as a speed-control measure. The wall was demolished in January of 2021, but the Department of Transportation determined a traffic light was unnecessary.
“Some people were upset with us when we had the wall removed, but I can’t help but think it was 90% of the cause of the accident,” Blain said. “It happened much too late… but the reason I did it is because I don’t want another family or another group of friends to go through what I went through.”