'Good Guy' Jeff Brown surrounded by a few of his admiring students

"You get into education to teach the students, not so much the curriculum," said Brown. "When you relate to the students and can see some lights go on, that's exciting."

Brown, in his fourth year at Palmetto Senior High School, teaches gifted studies classes ­including creativity for ninth and 10th graders and philosophy for 11th and 12th graders -- and speech and debate.

"Never a dull moment," he said. "You never know what's going to happen or what they (the students) are going to say. But, the young people today really care and I really show an interest in the kids. They realize that it's a genuine concern for them and that I'm going to help them."

Brown, 54, was born in Corry, Pennsylvania, a small town near Erie. As a child, he would come to South Florida with his parents to spend the winter months. Entering his high school years, he found himself living in Miami-Dade on a permanent basis. He enrolled in Coral Gables High School and graduated in 1964. He went on to Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, where he decided on teaching as a career and studied education. He took his degree in 1968 and began teaching that same year.

Brown notes that he has taught every grade level in the school system, from kindergarten to adult. Asked to name some of the schools where he has taught, Brown quickly ticks off Lorah Park Elementary School in North Dade where he started his career, Olympia Heights, George Washington Carver, Ludlum Elementary and Palmetto Middle School, where he spent seven years before coming to Palmetto Senior.

"I've taught for 32 years," said Brown. "It's fun, it's really a rewarding experience. In fact, one of my students in the sixth grade at Ludlum is now a teacher with me here."

Brown says teaching continues to be exciting for him today and coaching the Palmetto High debate team makes it doubly rewarding. The team this year had remarkable success, as two of his students came away from the state tournament with golden eagle first-place trophies.

"Being on the debate team is the best education the kids can get," said Brown. "They get travel, they learn to be independent, they learn relating, and it just teaches them all kinds of life skills. And they're reading constantly to get new sources, new references and more evidence. So, they're really up on politics and current events."

Brown travels extensively with the debate team from September through February and is often away from home two weekends out of each month. But, he says the results are well worth the effort.

"It's a great group of kids that choose to do it," he said of his debate team.

As the interview with Brown was drawing to a close, several students drew near to listen to the conversation.

"He's the most caring teacher there is," said one. "He actually cares for his students."

"He's the best," said another. "He's not like any other teacher. He's kind of like a father to all of us and we're like one big family. He's very easy to talk to and he's just a good guy."

Brown and his wife, Pat, have three children; Troy, 27, Kyle, 23, and Mary Elizabeth, 18.