Deborah Brooks:  

All right, I finally found the time (and great deal!) to upgrade to Gold so that I can re-connect with my old friends. Our 20-year reunion was in 2004, and at the time I'd been involved with a guy for about 2 years. I remember everyone asking me if I'd kept up with my art, which I have. In fact, I have been teaching elementary art in Adams 12 for the past 18 years! I started as a sub, then got my first job at Tarver for a semester. Following that I spent 6 yrs at Thornton Elementary, and transferred to Arapahoe Ridge Elementary in 1999. I started out thinking I wanted to teach High School art, but it didn't take long to find my niche in elementary, where I get to work with kids who are not yet inhibeted by their won self-consciousness, and who love their teachers unconditionally. I have been serving as the district art coordinator since 2001, and was honored as Colorado Art Education Association's Elementary Art Educator of the Year in 2005 and National Art Education Association's Pacific Region Elementary Art Educator of the year in 2006. In addition to teaching, I enjoy being an independent contractor and receive quite a bit of work from the Butterfly Pavilion, everything from paingint the mural on 3 walls in the tidepool exhibit to illustrating a coloring book about their ambassador, Rosie the Tarantula, to desig...Expand for more