by: Olyvia Kane
This past week, WHS English teacher Mrs. Mullen-Richards left on maternity leave. For the past month students have been buzzing about who would replace their Spanish and English teacher when it was time for her to leave. Mr. Brown officially took over her position this week and students couldn’t be happier.

Mr. Brown is hard-working, fun, passionate, and interesting. He is a rather relatable person and brings new elements to the classroom experience.

Mr. Brown grew up in Marlboro and attended Marian High School in Framingham. He attended Framingham State University as an undergraduate as well as for his post baccalaureate. English has always been Mr. Brown’s favorite subject because of his interest in reading and discussing literature. Brown’s favorite book at present is The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brian because the story of war uncovers emotions and has lasting effects.

His interest in literature began at a young age. When he attended high school, the English curriculum was awful. Mr. Brown felt as if the English teachers were boring and unengaged. This had a negative impact on students, which Mr. Brown eventually learned to leverage. Having such a negative high school English experience made Mr. Brown realize that he wanted to teach English in a way that students would be able to enjoy.

According to Brown, literature is interesting and provokes great conversation. He has now accomplished his goal of becoming an English teacher and is passionate about his work.

Before Mr. Brown took the place of Mrs. Mullen-Richards, he had prior exposure to English and Spanish cultures as well as teaching experience. He did his field study at Nashoba Regional High School which consisted of slight classroom exposure. It was mostly uninvolved; Mr. Brown would observe a class once a week and every once in a while he had the opportunity to teach the class parts of a lesson plan.

After graduating, Brown became a student teacher at Westborough High School for four months. Mr. Brown’s position as a student teacher for WHS English teacher Mrs. Roney was his first real teaching experience.
In grade school Mr. Brown began to study the Spanish language and culture, which continued through college. At FSU Mr. Brown took Spanish classes for four out of five semesters, which made him one step away from minoring in the Spanish language. At the peak of his studies, Mr. Brown was fluent in Spanish and could also speak some French, Brazilian, and Portuguese. He visited Mexico for vacation and communicated with native speakers.

It just so happened that Spanish classes came as a package deal when taking the position of Mrs. Mullen-Richards. Mr. Brown expressed a high interest in Spanish as he mentioned that it is one of his favorite classes to teach. In his daily schedule, Mr. Brown teaches multiple English classes with similar class discussion. His Spanish class, however, adds variety to his day as it varies greatly from a typical English class. Mr. Brown does not favor English or Spanish over one another. They are incomparable as Spanish has definite right or wrong answers and English has ambiguity and areas of gray.

To Mr. Brown, becoming a teacher was the obvious path in order to express his love for English and literature. Teaching high school level English is the most suitable position for Mr. Brown because teenagers are fun and free compared to adults, but are not so immature. Teenagers have real conversations and interactions, which makes teaching enjoyable for Mr. Brown.

As a young teacher, Mr. Brown has many advantages over some older teachers. He consistently brings enthusiasm to the class and has an energetic personality. These qualities make Brown relatable to his students, which in turn make a more enjoyable learning experience. Brown loves teaching because there are many fun interactions and he is able to watch students grow, develop, and mature.

Mr. Brown has had a positive reflection of Westborough High School. According to him, the curriculum is well organized and well balanced. The class sizes are perfect for discussion and conversation. Compared to the high school Mr. Brown attended, WHS has a much better system and is a positive learning environment.

Mr. Brown, who has taken over for Mrs. Mullen-Richards for the remainder of the year, is an enthusiastic educator and WHS is lucky to have him. Mr. Brown is passionate about his love for English and is devoted to the education of his students. He is a positive role model and a strong leader. Brown’s blatant passion for learning has an influence over his students as he pushes them to succeed. According to Mr. Brown, “you can’t teach something unless you love it”.