Teacher of the Year

Jennifer Brown poses with her Golden Apple award in her classroom at Forest High School in Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024. Brown teaches Geometry and AVID at Forest and was recently named the Golden Apple Teacher of the Year. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2024.

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Posted February 14, 2024 | By Caroline Brauchler
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One very special geometry teacher from Forest High School has been honored as Marion County’s 2024 Teacher of the Year.

Jennifer Brown, a product of Marion County Public Schools herself, said she’s always wanted to teach and impact students’ lives the same way her teachers impacted hers. Brown began her teaching career in 1996 at her alma mater, Wyomina Park Elementary School.

“I just love learning,” Brown said. “My whole life, I’ve had great teachers who have always inspired me.”

She credits the many great teachers who taught her for inspiring her to choose teaching as a career.

“Being around other like-minded people who love their careers and love teaching and made me love teaching and want to provide that for students,” she said.

Brown’s geometry classes take mathematics off the page and into the hands of her students, who often do collaborative activities to communicate, work together and solve problems. Brown has been teaching for 21 years and taught in the Marion County school district for the last nine years.

Brown is married to her high school sweetheart, Otto Brown, whom she met while attending Vanguard High School. The pair have three children and spent many years living in Iowa where Brown continued her teaching career. In 2015, Brown found herself with the chance to come back home to teaching in Ocala in 2015. She has been a teacher at Forest High since 2020.

“Teachers don’t get acknowledged very often for the work that we do and so it’s really something to hear other people appreciate what I do,” she said. “That’s the biggest thing, just the acknowledgment that this brings for education in Marion County.”

Brown was announced as teacher of the year at the 34th annual Golden Apple Gala on Feb. 3 at the Reilly Arts Center. Also nominated for the award were Timothy Matthews from Horizon Academy, Alysia Hoekstra from Maplewood Elementary, Miranda Brogan from North Marion High, and Stephanie Prisciandaro from Osceola Middle. Carlie Schrimsher from Greenway Elementary was recognized as the Rookie Teacher of the Year.

“The students are so excited about it, and that was probably the thing that made it the most fun,” Brown said. “After the gala, they kept coming in every class period, saying ‘Mrs. Brown, congratulations!’”

Brown received a prize of a free three-year lease for a 2024 Subaru Outback from Jenkins Auto Group.

She will now advance to the statewide Teacher of the Year competition.

“I think the coolest part was when they nominated me at the school level for teacher of the year at Forest, because my son is a senior this year,” Brown said. “I came home and told my family and my son said, ‘Mom, if you’re a teacher of the year at Forest, you’ll be giving a speech at my graduation and you’ll be on stage to give me my diploma.’”