NILES CHARTER TOWNSHIP — As Brandywine Community Schools students and parents begin to receive class schedules for the new school year, teachers and staff are placing the final touches on their teaching plans and classroom décor.

Melissa Miller, Cindy Swem and Emily Zablocki-Kohler have all been through the school prep routine before, but this will be their first semester doing so for Brandywine.

The three new employees each shared their insights into what brought them to Brandywine and what they have in store for the district.

Melissa Miller: Instilling a love of reading

Second-grade teacher for Merritt Elementary Melissa Miller is excited to make the move to Brandywine, and she intends to take her classroom library with her.

It took a U-Haul vehicle to move into her classroom, she said. The major reason? Her books.

“I love teaching all subjects, but reading and writing are my other passions, so I spend a lot of time focusing on those,” she said.

Aside from feeling like Brandywine was a close-knit community, reading was what helped Miller make the decision to come to district. She appreciated Merritt’s #MerrittOnAMission program, which sought to give every student a free book each month.

“There’s a high focus on literacy there, which is my passion, too,” she said. “I make sure that all my students get a book a month every month so that they have a collection of books to take home during the year.”

As in school years’ past, Miller said she strives to give provide a plethora of book choices to students, whether their reading level be at, below or above a student’s. She also wants to provide book resources to families to encourage reading outside school grounds.

Those goals are meant to make children excited to read and create better classroom performance.

“In school, we tend to make them read instead of developing a love of reading in them,” she said. “So, my whole goal is give them they choices in their reading.”

Along with books, the Alpena, Michigan resident will bring 14 years of teaching experience from four school districts into the classroom.

University of Michigan fans be warned, though. Miller, with a laugh, said it was her mission to instill a love of Michigan State University spirit in her students.

Cindy Swem: Making

connections

It was a counselor at Buchanan Community Schools that inspired Cindy Swem pursue her masters degree in counseling.

Now, she has left Buchanan to become the Brandywine Middle and High School counselor.

Swem’s prior work, however, was right up the alley of a school counselor: She worked with parents and prospective students of Lake Michigan College and Southwestern Michigan College through their admissions departments.

She said both roles are similar. They ask students what they plan to do and how they will do it. Then, together with parents, they figure out how.

“I love working with students and parents,” she said. “That’s the most important part of my job, right?”

Swem said she was drawn by Brandywine’s current counseling programs, and she plans to keep them if students and parents like them. She also wants to find out the culture and climate of her new district to see the capacity she should work in.

“You know that teenage time of life. It’s tough,” she said.

Swem’s role goes past helping students work out their futures, however, She also helps mediate conflict.

“I want kids to understand you can really get along or fix things,” she said. “You don’t have to immediately jump into thinking you’re bullied or going to social media and trying to cure it when making it worse.”

Regardless of her role, Swem said she wants students and parents to know she is a confidential and reliable resource.

“My whole goal is to help their student be successful in school and to be a productive citizen when they get out of school,” she said.

Emily Zablocki-Kohler: ‘Science is everywhere’

High school biology, physical science and anatomy and physiology teacher Emily Zablocki-Kohler has loved the subject of science for a long time. She is a self-proclaimed nerd of it.

Zablocki-Kohler said she wants to share her passion with her students.

“I want them to find a love of learning,” she said. “I want them to ask questions and seek out answers, learn that we don’t always have to be right, but that the process of learning is the most important part.”

Zablocki-Kohler said that science is all around. Everything we do is impacted by science.

She said it is her goal to help students realize this. That realization could help them appreciate it and treat the field not as a necessary classroom subject they have to get through, but something to be fascinated with.

Take anatomy, one of Zablocki-Kohler’s favorite topics. Even the act of something mundane, like breathing, can be more interesting than some students may think.

“The body is cool, and it does amazing things without us having to do much sometimes,” she said.

To encourage students’ inspiration, she tries to complement the textbooks and worksheets with real-life examples. In the past, she has discussed news events with students, like CRISPR technology and other advances in genetics.

Zablocki-Kohler said she helps students understand the material by being an “open book.”

“Open relationships are really important,” she said.