LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Stephanie Brown was nominated by a colleague, Megan Fleet.

"Stephanie Brown is the epitome of a LifeChanger. She is an exceptional educator at Gold Rush Elementary. Mrs. Brown serves multiple roles in the building, and I have had the honor of being both her colleague and a parent of a student in her accelerated math and language art programs," said Fleet.

"Often in education, buzzwords and theories are tossed around like "differentiation," "growth mindset," and "data," with little attention paid to how those ideas are implemented at the building level. Mrs. Brown takes the concept of doing what is best for students and delivers a clear and consistent body of evidence that everyone can understand. As a colleague, she leads professional development in making data come to life. Mrs. Brown has created multiple systems to ensure that all students thrive and are seen as individuals whose needs guide instructional decisions. She works to use a student's work product not to check a box, but to unlock their thinking and push it further than anyone could imagine," said Fleet. "As a colleague, Mrs. Brown dives in with teachers to help unlock puzzling barriers and brainstorm the next steps to ensure all student needs are met. She truly is the unsung hero at our school. There is not an area of Gold Rush that Mrs. Brown's systems and or wisdom haven't touched. She collaborates with every staff member on data and instructional programming for all learners. She sees students from all grade levels and works on their reading, writing, math, and social learning plan goals. Stephanie models what good instruction looks like and dives in to help every single teacher, every single student, every single day."

"As a parent, I see firsthand how she can make students feel seen and valued. She has developed a strong relationship with my son over the last three years. She has seen him for extensions in both math and reading. Having this longitudinal lens on students allows her to develop deep relationships and individualized instruction that is continuous and not bound by school years. Over the last three years, Mrs. Brown has helped my son to understand that it is not only okay but good to be challenged academically. She supports his mistakes and shows him how persevering through them leads to celebrating his successes," said Fleet. "Mrs. Brown understands his needs as a learner and gives him a safe structure to take risks and break challenges down into meaningful parts. I don't know how one person can do this for so many students, but she does. The individualized support she provides my son is the same that she provides to many students at Gold Rush."

"Mrs. Stephanie Brown is truly a Life Changer, an inspiring educator, and an incredible asset to our school community," said Fleet.