Brooke Brown has taught English and Ethnic Studies at Washington High School for 14 years. As a powerful voice for equity in her building and district, she leads equity trainings, co-leads the school’s equity team, serves on the District equity team, and represents student voice on the school’s Foundation team (focused on addressing the racial opportunity gap by advocating for restorative justice practices and equitable discipline procedures).

Brooke believes that learning is done best in community. She works to center student experiences and reminds them how much she learns from them too. She advocates for educating the whole child, often using content to teach life lessons and challenge her students to look for ways to improve their communities.

Brooke uses her classroom to create a brave, inclusive environment for students to show up authentically by modeling it herself. She teaches her students about radical self-love and the need to cultivate an understanding of their identity as a prerequisite to developing empathy and compassion for others.

Brooke also realizes the need to impact the system in order to positively affect her students and the teaching profession. She is an integral part of the Bridge to College leadership team, where she mentors teachers in her area to support their students in rigorous, relevant coursework. She worked tirelessly to bring Ethnic Studies to her school and district and serves on the OSPI Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee (where she works with a small group of stakeholders to create the framework the state will adopt for Ethnic Studies implementation statewide). She believes in the importance of hiring and retaining staff of color and has worked to mentor teachers in her building. She is committed to her students, her colleagues, and the teaching profession. She believes in each student and gives 100% to everything she does.