Educators are perhaps the greatest population of unsung heroes in Berrien and Cass County. This school year, Leader Publications will publish a weekly spotlight featuring teachers throughout the district, giving the community a chance to get to know the hard-working individuals shaping their children’s lives. Throughout the next school year, their answers will be published in the newspaper that serves each school district.

Name: David Brenneman

School: Brandywine High School

Grades/subjects taught: Ninth and 12th grades

Where did you attend college? Goshen College, Indiana University South Bend and University of Phoenix.

How many years have you been teaching? How many years have you been with your current school? Thirty-two years at Brandywine, three years at Elkhart Central, four years in Egypt.

Why did you decide to become a teacher? Because the children in Egypt amazed me.

Outside of school, what do you enjoy doing for fun? Reading, watching sports, and the Premiere League, listening to classical, rock and jazz music.

What is one thing your students may not know about you? That I was once a radio DJ.

Who is your favorite fictional character and why? None — but Jorge Luis Borges is my favorite author.

When you were a student in the grade you teach, what were your favorite hobbies? Going to concerts of live music and reading.

How would your co-workers describe your teaching style and personality? Probably a bit different in all regards.

Who is you biggest role model and why? Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela.

How has education changed in the last 10 years? Teachers have lost control of the art of teaching [and] bureaucrats and corporations now control it.

What is your best advice to parents to help their children continue to grow academically? To read to read to read.

If my students learn one thing this year, I hope it is … To believe in themselves and not what others may believe about them.