Brandon Vestal was recently honored with the Outstanding Teaching of the Humanities Award by Humanities Texas.
The Outstanding Teaching of the Humanities Awards recognize exemplary K–12 humanities teachers.
“I just continue to try to find ways to be more creative in my classroom, ways to engage the community and find more ways to help my students learn outside the classroom and be students of the world,” said Vestal. “It is just an incredible honor kind of just still sinking in.”
Vestal said he tries to get students out in the real world and create experiences for them that will help them see from another's point of view.
“I think sometimes we struggle to show empathy,” said Vestal. “If we can get to a place where we can have empathy for people we disagree with and see where they're coming from, we're going to create a place that better for everyone.”
Speaking to empathy during his speech, Vestal said, “if we lose our ability to listen, we lose love. And if we lose love, we’ve lost because all of our futures are bound together.”
Principal Todd Bradford remarked, “We need more people like Mr. Vestal.”
