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PLU MAE alumna Brooke Brown ’06 named the 2021 Washington State Teacher of the Year
PLU MAE alumna Brooke Brown ’06 named the 2021 Washington State Teacher of the Year
Image: PLU Alumna Brooke Browne ’06 in front of Washington High School (photo by John Froschauer/PLU)
By Silong Chhun
Marketing & Communications
Brooke Brown '06, an ethnic studies teacher at Parkland’s Washington High School, was recently named the 2021 Washington State Teacher of the Year by the Washington State Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).
Brown engages students in her classroom by centering each student’s rich experiences to encourage them to recognize the values in themselves. Brown says that “Fostering a safe environment for students to develop critical thinking skills and to have critical conversations” is fundamental to her approach.
“I wanted to be the teacher that I needed growing up” Brown explains.
An aspiring Power Ranger as a young child, Brown’s passion for saving the world led to dreams of a law career. During her junior year at Tacoma’s Stadium High School, Brown served as an intern with the Tacoma-Pierce County Bar Association only to realize that law wasn’t a great fit and decided to go to college without declaring a major.
As an undergraduate student at University of Washington, Brown served as a tutor and was moved by the need for teachers that represented the students they were teaching. Realizing that she enjoyed tutoring, Brooke enrolled in PLU’s Master of Arts in Education program where she began her journey to become the educator she is today.
Listen to Brooke’s conversation and learn how her impact in the classroom has awarded her the high honor of Washington State’s 2021 Educator of the Year.
