March is Employee Appreciation Month! We’re celebrating our team members all month long by sharing their stories. Read more about Justin Brandenburg, Alternative Education Teacher at our Lancaster campus, and how his classes are judgement-free zones.  

What is your favorite thing about working here?  

The people – both students and staff.  

What keeps you coming to work each day?  

The feeling that I am finally doing what I should have been doing for the past 20 years. 

How do you make an impact on students’ lives?  

By listening. 

Which one of our BetterTogether values resonates with you most personally and why? (Integrity, Accountable, Collaborative, Inclusive, Supportive)  

Accountability, because we need to hold our students to a certain standard but also be humble and vulnerable enough to admit when we are wrong.  

What does a “day in the life” look like for your role?  

I am either attempting to squeeze anything resembling “interest in history” out of my students or managing the cornucopia of behaviors that present themselves in the students we service. 

Can you talk a little bit about your career trajectory and what led you to where you are now?  

Since graduating from college in 2005, I have done a little bit of everything. The one thing that remained constant during the past 20 years is that I really enjoyed and benefited from working with young people and it turned out that I was halfway decent at it. I think the specific job that laid the groundwork for why I am teaching in alternative education was when I worked in juvenile corrections. That’s when I realized that there were a lot of young people that needed help and not enough people to provide it. 

What has been your proudest moment or accomplishment in your role?  

I haven’t been at this very long, but I think one of the things that I’m most proud of at this point is that the students believe that when they speak with me there won’t be judgement and that I will hear them when they have something to say. I’d also like to think my coworkers know I’d be there to help whenever the need arises. 

What is something about you that not many people know?  

You wouldn’t be able to tell by my pear-shaped physique right now, but I was an All-American honored swimmer as a junior and senior in high school.