Amber Evans, the Brownwood ISD Secondary Teacher of the Year for the 2023-24 school year, is a seventh grade math teacher at Brownwood Middle School, where she has worked her entire 27-year teaching career.

“I feel honored to just be considered for that,” Evans said of being honored at the conclusion of the most recent school year. “I was really surprised. I just really think that being recognized for something that you do every day, that you love, that you’re meant to do, it’s amazing. I don’t take it lightly and I really try and encourage my colleagues in my math department. If I’m not giving my best effort then they’re not giving their best effort either, and I feel the same way in the classroom.”

Evans was first influenced to pursue a career in teaching by spending time with her grandmother at work.

“My grandmother was a teacher’s aide for a long time in the Brownwood schools,” Evans said. “I used to be able to sit with her while she was at school and that’s how I figured out I wanted to teach, just her influence on kids and watching what she did.”

Evans’ desire to teach was further fostered in fourth grade, the year she began attending Brownwood ISD as a student.

“That same year year I had lost my grand dad, that was the closest death at that point I’d ever had,” Evans said. “Ms. Acevedo, my fourth-grader teacher, she was the most loving, kind and compassionate teacher I could have had at that time. She made the greatest impact on me.”

Following her graduation from Howard Payne, Evans initially wanted to become a second-grade teacher.

“In Brownwood that job wasn’t available so I ended up interviewing for math and a coaching job at Brownwood Middle School and I took it,” Evans said. “When I first started I did math and coaching and from that point I never really looked back. I love math, I love teaching it and I think God knew where I needed to be.”

After decades of teaching teens and pre-teens, Evans said, “I just love that age. A lot of people say that middle school is the hardest age, but it’s really not. They’re still kids, they still want a positive impact, they still want to be taught. Yes they go through changes, but I just really like that age group.”

Evans also serves as the head of the math department at Brownwood Middle School, and shared the example she tries to present to her colleagues.

“Teaching is the most important job there is out there and we should always strive to do our best,” Evans said. “I really think teachers have a unique ability to make a difference in a child’s life, many children, throughout their career, and that shouldn’t be taken lightly. Being in education for 27 years have been some of the hardest times of my life but also some of the most rewarding times. Just this year I had a seventh grade honor student that wrote me the sweetest letter at the end of the year and told me that just saying good morning to her and saying her name and acknowledging her made her want to come to my class each day. Sometimes we just need to step back as educators and be intentional in everything we do. Not every student is the same, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be loved and have stability in our classrooms and shown kindness.”

Regarding the most rewarding aspect of her job, Evans said, “Being able to help students and discover their strengths and challenges and overcoming those to show them different ways to approach a problem. That’s what I do every single day.”

Evans’ husband, Branon, works for Ingram Ready Mix as General Manager for West Texas. The couple have two children, both Brownwood High graduates, as son Dawson is also a graduate of Texas A&M and works for Bangs ISD, while daughter Jensyn is currently a student at Tarleton.