Brand New: Brook Lade
By Matty Mooney
As the school year begins and students enter the classroom once more, new faces are not surprising. As much as Jenks loves to welcome new people and new teachers to our school, many feel overwhelmed, whether it's because of the crazy amount of students or the ever rampant COVID-19. However, they quickly fall into place with the amazing community Jenks has built.
Self- proclaimed major nerd and entrepreneur, Brook Lade, 12th grade English teacher, is a lot of things, but it doesn’t take much time to figure out that she is a kind and caring teacher who supports her students.
Fresh out of OU, Brooke started her own non-profit organization, Together Tulsa, a career prep program that uses experiential learning projects to enrich student’s social skills and foster a
community. She then transitioned to traditional in-classroom teaching at schools like Hail Junior High and Tulsa Honor Academy before moving back to Jenks. Lade was a student at Jenks originally, and was ecstatic to be back.
“There was a general culture of joy here that I have not ever witnessed in a school before,” says Lade. “It feels so nice to be somewhere where you feel appreciated.”
The staff at Jenks has been nothing but sociable and friendly to Lade, which is super important to her, as building community is one of her main roles as a teacher and as a person.
“Every single class, when we’re working on something, everyone’s working, everybody’s got their head down, thinking,” Lade says with a smile. She loves her students, and praises their hard work. The quality of people at Jenks was different from any other school. “I can just see it and hear it, when we have little conversations, and it’s a beautiful thing as a teacher. I love to see that.”
Lade is excited for the school year and what the future will bring. Being optimistic, especially during this year, is a good message to spread to not just fellow Jenk’s members, but all across the world. Together Tulsa was made by the Tulsa community, for the Tulsa community. Check out their website here to donate and get involved: https://www.togethertulsa.org/