Life is unpredictable, and plans change often. This is true for one of Central’s newest special education teachers, Molly Brown.  She grew up in Athens, Tennessee, and then she studied environmental policy at the University of North Carolina in Asheville for her Bachelor of Science.  She later earned her Master’s in environmental education at Washington University.  Then she decided to take a different path.

“After I got all the environmental education stuff, I realized that people and students with disabilities weren’t always thought about in those different types of educational opportunities. That’s when I decided to go back for my master’s in special education: to make sure that programs were inclusive and that everyone had an opportunity for an education that is appropriate for them,” explained Brown.

Brown earned her master’s of education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and has been teaching for eight years. Brown has had the opportunity to teach students from preschool to young adults.  She says her inspiration to go into education originally came from her mother.

“My mom was a special educator, so I grew up watching her work with students with disabilities and really respected her work…My mom inspired me growing up because she was doing the same thing, so I just carried that through all my other jobs to get to where I am now,” Brown expressed.

Brown currently teaches a classroom full of special education students.  Her goal is to help them obtain their high school diploma and develop job skills that will prepare them for when they leave Central.

“[Special Education Students] are working on all those things that everyone else is for high school, it’s just going to be on a different level,” Brown related.

In her free time, Brown loves biking, climbing, backpacking, and anything outside.  She has three dogs, and spending time outside with them is one of her favorite things.

Brown plans to prepare her students to be the best that they can be, even through the unpredictable, ever changing life we all live.