West Springfield High School Newspaper

The Oracle

West Springfield High School Newspaper

The Oracle

West Springfield High School Newspaper

The Oracle

Lang students give Nelson a ‘5’ in contest

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She calls her students her “cherubs.” She spends countless hours in Room 215.
She also was the first AP Lang teacher here, so it’s only fitting that it was last year’s Lang students who put her nomination over the top.
The Oracle’s own Brooke Nelson was recognized in June for her dedication, winning the PTSA’s 2013-2014 Teacher of the Year award. In addition to being our newspaper adviser, Nelson also teaches AP Lang, Yearbook and Journalism 1 classes.
Each year the PTSA honors one teacher here for innovation, dedication and hard work.
“The letters were overwhelming from her AP Lang kids,” said PTSA Secretary Janis Ours. “They were thrilled about the college prep they got from her and they really liked her personality.”
The next steps in the nomination process include entering Nelson’s name in the running for Fairfax County Schools Teacher of the Year. The winner of that award goes on to compete for the regional Agnes Meyer Washington Post Teacher of the Year designation, a top honor in the DMV.
The process of nominating and selecting a teacher of the year for this school is relatively simple. The PTSA staff posts an announcement on its Web site saying that they will be accepting nominations. Then students, parents and colleagues send in letters explaining why they are nominating a specific teacher for the award. Eventually, a committee of two PTSA officers and two WS staff members gets together and reads all the e-mails sent in on behalf of candidates. The committee selects the winner based on a number of criteria, including these recommendations.
One such letter, from 2001 grad Amy Whipple, is representative of Nelson’s support from her students, both past and present.
“In my daily work life, I rely on the lessons Mrs. Nelson taught us starting all the way back in Journalism 1,” wrote Whipple, who took four Journalism classes as well as Lang from Nelson and served as an Oracle editor-in-chief. Whipple is now a professional writer and professor in Pittsburgh.
Recent graduates feel the same way about Nelson.
“I think she deserves it,” said Sydney Manning from the Class of 2014, who was one of Nelson’s students here for four years. “She’s been working here for 20 years now and she always makes sure what needs to get done gets done.”
Manning said Nelson helped her personally during four years on The Oracle staff. When she first became an Oracleite, “I had no clue what I was doing—Nelson told me, ‘You need to calm down, you can figure this out.’” Manning was never afraid to come to Nelson for help, even if it was trivial and she became editor-in-chief her senior year.
Nelson was surprised when she heard her name called in the auditorium on the last day of school .
“I was sort of in a daze until someone elbowed me in the ribs and said, ‘That’s you!’” she said. “I was listening to the description of the teacher who had won and I was thinking, ‘Wow, they must have worked here a long time.’”
The PTSA was flooded with e-mails on Nelson’s behalf, some from Spartans who graduated from 6100 Rolling Road as far back as 1999.
Nelson, who is considered a “career-switcher” in education jargon, started out after graduating from the University of Missouri as a reporter and copy editor at The Dallas Morning News in her hometown in Texas. She worked in both magazine and newspaper journalism, including at The Washington Post, before becoming a Spartan in 1994.
Nelson also spent time in politics, working on Capitol Hill and for a DC trade association.
But the bottom line, Nelson said, is that Room 215 has really become more of a home than a workplace.
“This [teaching] is the best job I’ve ever had,” said Nelson. “The job has variety and excitement. I don’t work well with down time. And here, I get to be part of the Spartan community, which is awesome.”

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