Cedar Creek High School teacher of the year Sandra Brown says she likes “nerdy math problems” but also enjoys teaching real world applications for her students to use.
EGG HARBOR CITY -  Perhaps it was a natural choice for Cedar Creek High School administrators to select teacher Sandra Brown as Cedar Creek's teacher of the year.

That's because Brown, who is the daughter of a pair of educators, earned it.

"Teaching is in my blood," says Brown, who joins Absegami's Janet Hutchings and Oakcrest's Emily Brock as teacher's of the year in the Greater Egg Harbor Regional High School District.

"My father, Stan Leathers, was a high school algebra teacher until he retired last spring," she said. "Yes, he taught me math, but he also taught me how to communicate and how to love learning.  He taught me how to set attainable goals and helped me plan my future."

And her mother, who spent a career helping others, set an example for Brown and showed her how satisfying it can be to serve others by helping them learn.

"My mother, Betsy Boyd, worked with high school English teachers and students as a writing coach," Brown said, "Later in life she worked in a county prison helping prisoners earn their GEDs."

Brown said her mother taught her how to care about others and how to figure out ways to help them.

"She taught me that not everyone was as lucky as I was," Brown said.

But Brown was very lucky to have parents such as hers.

Because of her inspiring parents “who clearly loved their professions and have contributed so much to society, teaching was an easy career choice for me," Brown said.

She began her career at Oakcrest, where she taught math for six years. She is entering her second year at two-year-old Cedar Creek and teaches four courses this year: algebra I, algebra II, pre-calculus and statistics.

"Every day is a good day at Cedar Creek," she said. "I have been blessed with students who want to learn and can envision their own future success.  The other teachers in my building are professional, dedicated, and supportive.  The administration is fair, consistent, and helpful.  On top of that, I get to go home to a fantastic husband and two lively young sons."

Brown's husband, Jason, teaches math at Oakcrest. They live with their sons, Kevin, 3, and Ben, 1, in Galloway.

"Jason and I taught together and earned our master's degrees together," she said. "It has been so nice to have a partner to experience these things with. He is always supportive and really does know, just how I feel."

Brown learned she had been selected as the school's teacher of the year when she received phone calls from Superintendent Steve Ciccariello and her supervisor, Stacey Culleny.

"Mrs. Brown transitioned from Oakcrest to our brand new Cedar Creek High School last year, where she harnessed our young students' desire to make history, helping them set the foundation blocks of Cedar Creek High School,” said Culleny, supervisor of business, language arts and mathematics. “Within the classroom, her high energy level never wavers.  Her enthusiasm for mathematics is infectious to her students where she brings the content of math to life with her narratives and real-life connections interacting with all students throughout every period. For our faculty, Mrs. Brown has become the staff cheerleader, coordinating celebrations and acting as the central communicator for all organization and team activities. Quite simply, she is the glue to our community."

Then the big moment came for Brown.

"Our building Principal James Reina made an announcement over the loudspeaker the next morning," Brown said.

When Cedar Creek media teacher Christian Monroe directed his students to interview Brown for the school's morning show, she wondered, "I imagine this is how celebrities feel."

Brown grew up in Downingtown, Pa., where she graduated from the local high school in 1998. She attended the College of New Jersey for three years before transferring to Richard Stockton College for her senior year and student teaching.

She says the Cedar Creek staff is amazing.

"Everyone takes their job seriously, but no one takes themselves too seriously," Brown said. "That's the kind of character education that you can't buy a poster for or train staff to model for the students. We just have it."

The students help make the school such a wonderful facility to teach at, Brown said.

"The students at Cedar Creek fill the school halls with life," she said. "The vast majority of them are involved in after-school activities - their schedules are very demanding.  They have so much enthusiasm for and dedication to their academics, sports and clubs.  It is really amazing to see everything that they are capable of. "

Brown said she enjoys teaching what she calls, "nerdy math lessons about linear equations, conics, the unit circle and normal distribution."

But, she said, she relishes in the opportunity to help students with real life problems.

"The lessons that really fire me up are the life lessons that present themselves,” she said. “Occasionally we get to talk about career choices and how they, my ninth-, 10th-, and 11th-graders, are already developing skills that employers are looking for. They are at such an exciting time in their lives. It is so neat to see how they pull together and help each other decide how they might best use their talents."

Brown said she learned a life lesson early on when she asked her parents why she didn't get an allowance though most of her friends received one.

"My parents explained to me that going to school, learning everything I could, and doing my best was my job and that I would be rewarded for it later," she said. "I didn't really like the 'no allowance' part, but they were right. I have been rewarded. It's annoying at times, but my parents are always right."