Notre Dame Marist Academy’s Cindy Brown teaches math to middle-division students. She says that a love of books that dates back to when she was in second grade is partly responsible for a career as an educator. Brown started teaching at Notre Dame nearly 14 years ago.
Brown has been at Notre Dame’s middle division since she first arrived on campus almost 14 years ago and loves her “home.” ND wasn’t her first gig, though. “My first teaching job was at Hooks High School in Hooks, Texas,” she said. “My classes were great, but I also was given the job of coaching the Hornets cheer squad. ‘Buzz Buzz Sting Sting, Go Hornets!’” But Brown had no cheerleading experience at all and, she says, no athletic ability. “The girls were really coaching me. What a riot! God has such a sense of humor!”
After moving from Hooks, Brown taught at a four-year college where, to her great relief, she didn’t have to coach anymore. Life was good, but then her family moved again and she found herself teaching middle school for the first time.
Then it was on to NDPMA where she once again felt like she found her home.
“I remember walking down the ND Marist hallway for the first time and I had that feeling again that I had as a kid in school,” she says. “It really felt right, like this was the place I was supposed to be. It seemed like a serious but fun school and best of all, it was a Catholic school.”
Since she joined the Notre Dame family, Brown has witnessed a lot of change. “So many amazing things have happened. I thought it was awesome that we added a lower division to the school and now in the fall that school will have a new building just up the street. I love seeing all the little kids when they join us for liturgy.”
Brown also was quick to embrace the school’s International Baccalaureate program and the way it has changed how students are taught and how it has brought a new level of achievement for them. Middle division principal Jill Mistretta said that from the very beginning of the IB program, Brown has been 100% all in without any hesitation. “She has developed some of the most creative mathematics units and interdisciplinary units of study in the entire school.”
Now, as Notre Dame continues its aggressive technology upgrades, Brown says she can’t wait. “In the next two years as we put tablets in the hands of each student in the classroom, all kinds of new, exciting and creative teaching and learning opportunities will be possible.”
While technology is necessary and important for the continued success of Notre Dame and its students, Brown knows that there are a few fundamental basics that will never change. “There are two things I teach the children every day,” she says. “First, of course, that math is very, very cool and everyone can do it! Second, there are only two things more important than math—your character and your faith in God. Your character determines the quality of your life on earth and your faith in God determines your life in eternity.”
Brown thinks that her life on earth as a teacher is exactly right. But if for some reason her career had not been in the classroom? “Clearly I have no future in athletics or coaching,” she says. “But there may be some other jobs I might enjoy though—like collecting data in a national park about plants or animals, working in a bakery inventing new kinds of cakes or singing with a contemporary Christian rock band. But, you know what? I think I’ll stick to teaching at NDPMA.”
About Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy
Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy is a private, Catholic, independent, coeducational day school located in Oakland County. The school's upper division enrolls students in grades nine through twelve and has been named one of the nation's best 50 Catholic high schools (Acton Institute) four times since 2005. Notre Dame's middle and lower divisions enroll students in jr. kindergarten through grade eight. All three divisions are International Baccalaureate "World Schools." NDPMA is conducted by the Marist Fathers and Brothers and is accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Central States and the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement. For more on Notre Dame Preparatory School and Marist Academy, visit the school's home page atwww.ndpma.org.