With 26 years of special education at Emmaus High school under her belt, Brookie Bunn has decided to retire at the end of this school year. During her time at Emmaus, she has made countless connections with both students and faculty that she will not soon forget. 

Her interest in working with children began in high school. As she frequently worked as a babysitter, she soon discovered an interest in pursuing the same career as her mother.

“I had worked with young children in high school and done a lot of babysitting. I really thought I wanted to be a preschool teacher, and my mom was a preschool teacher, so, that’s how I got interested in that,” Bunn says.

Despite her interest in preschool teaching, her experience in college soon moved her in a slightly different direction. Bunn attended the University of Delaware and Lehigh University. At the University of Delaware, Bunn worked towards degrees in “childhood education, special ed, and elementary [education].” 

At Emmaus High School, Bunn has worked in the special education field with numerous children of varying backgrounds.

“I’ve worked with learning disabled kids, kids with emotional disturbances, [and] autistic children,” she says. “All the connections that I’ve made with students over the years have really impacted me.”

This past year, just the same as many others, she has certainly faced struggles as a result of online schooling, but she always makes sure to look at the positives as well.

“It’s been much more difficult connecting with kids this year, because doing it through the computer and through zoom is not the best way to connect with kids,” Bunn says. “But, it is nice when you’re able to connect in a breakout room with a student one-on-one that you weren’t able to maybe do in a classroom… they use the chat a lot, so you learn a lot about kids when they send things in the chat just to you.”

Despite her wonderful experience at the school, Bunn is still very happy with her decision to retire this year. She can’t wait to spend her retirement with her family, including a new grandson.

“Very happy. Thrilled. It’s definitely time to retire, and I just want to enjoy spending time with my husband and my family, and not doing paperwork and grading anymore,” Bunn says. “First and foremost, I’m a grandmother. So I just had a grandbaby born a week ago, Charles Joseph, so that’s the first part… Our son lives in Utah, so we’re probably gonna go visit him, and then go out west and do some national parks, which we’ve done before but we want to go see more.”

She hopes that everyone at Emmaus High School remembers to look on the bright side, even if the whole world seems to be showing otherwise.

“I guess, really, focus on the positives. Focus on the students, focus on the parents, focus on faculty members, you know administrators. Focus on the good things that happen, because we can get so caught up in negativity that we just want to try and focus on what good is going on in our life. And also, focus on what’s happening in your life outside of school. Don’t make it all about your school day. Focus on your family, your friends, what you’re doing outside of school as well. Find a balance in life,” Bunn says.