Westside Educator Named Top Teacher

(Deborah Brown is a 1971 OHS graduate)

For more than three decades, Deborah Brown has worked in a profession she loves — teaching.

"My love for learning, especially mathematics, joined with my desire to serve others was blended to create the perfect vocation for me and that vocation was teaching." Brown said in her application.

The Westside High School mathematics teacher was named Wyoming County Teacher of the Year and honored by schools officials during ceremonies Sept. 10 in Pineville.

She was led to teaching by a combination of people, including her husband, her parents, and former teachers.

"... They instilled in me a true desire to learn and they developed my character to have high standards for myself," Brown said of her parents. "They also taught me it was paramount to be a help to others. As a result, I loved to learn and enjoyed attending school.

"... Before we were married and I was still in college, he became a teacher," Brown said of her husband, Carroll, who teaches at Pineville Middle School. "As he began teaching, he shared his excitement and love for teaching and it was an encouragement to me that my goal of becoming a teacher was accurately chosen."

Brown believes her greatest accomplishments have been to influence individual students.

"By endeavoring to be a role model for my students, I have been able to win their trust and respect. By seeking to find the positive attributes in each student and reinforcing those characteristics, I have been able to guide students to attain high standards of learning.

"As a high school teacher, I have seen many students who have had less than amiable experiences with mathematics. By using various teaching strategies to meet the needs of the individual student, students have been successful in mathematics who were before intimidated by this subject.

"Each year students thank me for inspiring them to learn more than they thought was possible. So, my greatest accomplishments and contributions have been believing in students and getting students to believe in themselves so that they can achieve and be successful even when the subject is as difficult as mathematics."

school teacher, among other duties.

She also volunteers to tutor adults and students in mathematics.

"I have tutored many students over the years at levels from middle school mathematics through college," she said.

"The teacher has the task of convincing the student and inspiring him to believe that he needs to learn what is placed before him for his life to be better. This task is not easy, but I believe it is a challenge that is tremendously rewarding.

"... The most rewarding aspect of teaching for me is assisting an individual in the development of his intellectual, social, and ethical development and witness the evidence of this development.

"My heart has been thrilled as I have been able to see the successful achievement of my students as they have attained their goals of becoming engineers, doctors, lawyers, teachers, pastors, and many other professions.

"But, my heart has also been thrilled when a student who has struggled with a mathematical concept finally has the veil removed and they suddenly understand that difficult concept.

"Rewards come to me in the classroom daily, but they do vary in intensity."