On Friday, November 4, 2016 the Virgin Islands Department of Education named St. Croix Central High School English Teacher Dinah Browne as its 2017 State Teacher of the Year. The honor was bestowed upon Ms. Browne days after she was also named the St. Croix District Teacher of the Year in a ceremony on October 30. As State Teacher, Ms. Browne will represent the Virgin Islands both locally and on the national stage.
As a child, Ms. Browne learned two key principles from her mother: First, that no one could take away her education from her and that she should always feel free to express herself. Secondly, she learned that each child has a right to be heard and acknowledged without fear of reprisal. These life lessons were deeply ingrained in Ms. Brown early in life, and they provided the foundation of inspiration and validation that later propelled her into her lifelong career as an educator--a path for which she felt predestined.
Upon graduating in 1991 from Rutgers University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, Ms. Browne began working as a teacher at a small, private preparatory school on St. Croix. While she was eager to infuse her own love of language and learning into her students, she yearned to touch the lives and minds of a greater, more diverse group of students--students with fewer opportunities, students upon whom she might have a lasting, positive impact.
In 1995, a teaching post became available at St. Croix Central High School and Ms. Browne happily jumped into the opportunity. In her twenty-one years at Central High School, Ms. Browne has taught students in grades 9-12, to include students with disparate abilities. At the same time, the lifelong learner has further honed her teaching capabilities by obtaining a Master of Arts degree in 2004, and more recently, an Educational-Specialist degree in 2016.
Ms. Browne never wavered in her belief that her calling was to become a teacher. She continues to believe that every child can learn and that education is light, and the absence of it is darkness. It is her intention to transport her students into the light by having each cultivate a greater understanding and appreciation for his or her place and purpose on earth. Ms. Browne continues to assert that it is each student’s inalienable right to be recognized, to be heard and to be acknowledged.
