Matt Brown represents the North Central Region in Olympia

MANSON – Manson Secondary School’s music teacher Matt Brown was selected as Regional Teacher of the Year back in May and earlier this month he traveled to Olympia to compete for State Teacher of the Year.

Nine people from around the state were selected as Teachers of the Year for their particular region and they were all present in Olympia for four days. The nominees  had to give TED talk and answered questions in front a panel.

“They were amazing people,” said Brown “all nine us just greeted each other and shared ideas, we shared energy, something that we all shared was the passion for teaching,” he added.

Brown describes those four days as a “conference of ideas,” everyone shared what they do in their respective classrooms. “We all had different backgrounds, the person who was chosen as Teacher of the Year is a Family and Consumer Sciences teacher … there was a Biology teacher, a Math teacher, a second grade teacher,” Brown stated.

He was the only Music teacher nominee, “I shared what is like to have a successful program in a small school … I think that we face certain challenges but with a positive outlook we can overcome a lot of those challenges.”

His experience as a Teacher of the Year nominee allowed Brown to speak to many “decision makers … it was exciting, I learned how to use my voice, it was amazing.”

“To me it was an honor getting chosen as Region Teacher of the Year and I just went into it with the feeling of I’m going to speak from my heart and I know that when I do that whatever happens is going to be positive … it  felt less of a competitive thing,” said Brown.

The students, staff and administration showed total support to Brown. “The day before I felt, I went to get a District vehicle and the entire school had put sticky notes on the inside of the car with just really meaningful notes and I was just great until I made it to the car, it was a lot of emotions,” explained Brown.

He said he read the sticky notes before doing the panel interview in Olympia, “it was a nice reminder of who I am representing and why I am doing what I am doing.” He will now frame every single sticky note as a memory that will last forever.

“I am very appreciative of the staff and the administration they have really helped the program to thrive,” Brown described how much the music program in Manson has grown over the years. “This program started as high school band of 18 and now we have over a third of the high school in music and over 90 percent of the middle school is in music,” he stated.

Every sixth grader in Manson has the opportunity to play music regardless of any factor, “it’s because of the community support, the staff support, parents and administration.”

Now Brown has a few goals in mind, “I still plan on being a voice for small schools, for music educators as well and for those that are in both situations, in small schools and as music teachers … and to spread positivity what I mean is looking at situations and going to them with a solution … it can change lives.”