Sierra Vista teacher named New Educator of the Year

By Garrett Estrada

Sierra Vista High School teacher Kenneth Brown was honored by the Clark County School District with its annual High School New Educator of the Year award during the school’s faculty and staff virtual video conference on May 6. 

The English and African American Studies Teacher called winning the award “surreal.”

“I’m not the kind of person this kind of stuff happens to and I’d much rather celebrate the achievements of others than myself,” Brown said. “I am so humbled and grateful for the award and the recognition, but the best part about this was getting to share it with my colleagues at the school. As a student teacher and substitute the year prior, I had been in plenty of classrooms at Sierra Vista and gained many mentors and role models. I share this award with them because they taught me great habits and supported me all the way through.”

The entire first half of the faculty meeting was dedicated to celebrating Brown, who was surprised by friends and family from outside of the school who joined onto the meeting to watch him be honored. Support for Brown didn’t stop there as a group of the teacher’s colleagues formed a cheering section outside of his apartment, holding up signs congratulating him. Once news of the award hit social media, Brown said his students started reaching out as well, congratulating him on the honor.

“We have phenomenal students at Vista and they make every extra hour spent, every extra mile walked more than worth the effort. It makes me proud to be a positive influence in their lives,” Brown said.

Starting his teaching career amid a pandemic that shut down classrooms across the county provided a “major obstacle” to the educator, but he credited the many education leaders in CCSD for finding a way to “make this work” and to help prevent apathy among students unable to attend schools in person.

After watching his wife finish the Master’s Program for Special Education at UNLV, Brown said he was inspired to start teaching. He said he began by teaching interns at a small travel company he was working for at the time. The feeling he received watching those interns learn to become professionals solidified his love of teaching and he moved onto becoming a tutor before eventually graduating from UNLV himself through its Alternative Route to Licensure  (ARL) Program, which according to the university’s website is designed to provide an “expedited track to a full-time teaching position.”

“I don’t believe you have enough space to print the entire list of shoulders I am standing on,” he said. “I’ll limit it to groups: thank you to my parents, to my mother and father-in-law, to the phenomenal team in the UNLV college of education, to Laurents, Juan, Jessica and Monica (my ARL family), my amazing admin team and my fellow teachers at Vista, my students, and most of all, to my rock, my rider, my wife, April…You were right, sweetheart!”