Brief Biography:
Brooke grew up just north of Indianapolis, IN, as the second of four children, and attended a classical Christian school until graduating in 2007. She attended Hillsdale College, where she and her husband graduated in 2011. The two moved to Phoenix, AZ to teach in a classical charter school, where Brooke taught 4th grade. After three years, they moved to San Antonio, TX where Brooke began with teaching 5th grade and eventually moved to 6th grade Ancient History. After adopting their four children, the family moved to South Bend, IN. Brooke continued to teach online for the Classical Learning Resource Center and homeschooled their children.
Research Interests:
I am passionate about training teachers, especially at the elementary levels, to see the Great Tradition within their own material. If teachers of younger students want to see their pupils excel at the higher grades while reading Aristotle, Plato, Cicero, Aquinas, Shakespeare, and Dante, then they must feel equipped and confident to show those same enduring truths in the mathematics, science, history, and literature of the younger grades. I enjoy discussing how teachers of all subjects and ages can better engage with the great masters of the past, so they can then share those ideas with their students.
What brought you to Hillsdale?
As a high school senior, I was first drawn to Hillsdale when I saw its course catalogue. Certainly, I was amazed at the variety of courses available for almost any major or degree. But, even more importantly, I was amazed at the unifying themes I saw running through the classes. The courses seemed designed to teach students about the deepest questions of mankind and to provide meaningful encounters with the answers discussed throughout history. As a student, I had access to kind and thoughtful professors who were enthusiastic not only about their subject matter, but also about introducing their students to that material in meaningful ways.
After more than a decade of teaching in various classroom settings, I felt thirsty for learning again. I wanted to understand history, philosophy, theology, mathematics, science, and the arts more fully. I knew I could try self-teach, but I also wanted to experience being a student again, with teachers from whom I could learn and model in my own teaching. Again, I looked at the course catalogue for the MACE program and knew that this was exactly the program I needed.
What is distinctive about Hillsdale’s Graduate School of Classical Education?
I have been most impressed by people involved in the program. My cohort is filled with passionate human beings from all walks of life, who all share a desire to contribute to the classical education world as we know it. In reading the same texts together with them, I find myself learning more than I ever imagined possible, as their depth of comprehension extends my own, even in areas of weakness. I hope I do the same for them. I’m deeply grateful to be able to learn under the professors in the program as well. To have their undivided attention for several hours a week with such small class sizes is such a blessing. Although each class is different, the coursework in each seems to inform the others. The readings for Philosophy of Education always provide greater insight into the History of Liberal Education readings, which in turn reveal even more depth in the Humane Letters readings. To have such meaningful encounters with professors and students, both face to face in the classroom and in the readings, is exactly what I was hoping to experience when I applied to the program, and it has already exceeded all expectations.