06.22.18

Sullivan Honors Alaskan of the Week: Greg Brown

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-AK) spoke on the Senate floor this week in recognition of recently retired teacher Greg Brown. Mr. Brown is a legend among his former students at A.J. Dimond High School in Anchorage, where for 25 years he taught European and U.S. history, art history, philosophy, and student government. He is such a revered teacher that his former students raised $16,500 for him to travel the world in his retirement. Mr. Brown was honored as part of Senator Sullivan’s “Alaskan of the Week” series.

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Sullivan Honoring Greg Brown as Alaskan of the Week (Click image or here to watch, click here to download).

TRIBUTE TO GREG BROWN (U.S. Senate – June 21, 2018):

Madam President, it is Thursday, and it is one of the best times of the week for me. I know the Parliamentarians and others who work in the Senate know, and now the pages are going to learn this, too, because it is the time every week when I get to talk about what I call the Alaskan of the Week. I am referring to someone who has made a difference in my State, someone who is doing a great job, and someone who is oftentimes an unsung hero and doesn't get a lot of attention but deserves it. That is what I do here.

As I like to say, Alaska is a very beautiful State. I think it is the most beautiful State in the country, probably the most beautiful place in the world. Now summer has arrived, and the Sun hardly ever sets. The fish are running.

The air is drenched in the energy of summer, so now is the time to visit. Everybody who is watching or watching on TV, you have to come visit. The Presiding Officer came a couple summers ago. We had a great time. Her father was out there during World War II, which was a great honor. So you will have the trip of a lifetime.

By the way, you will also have the best food in the world. Interestingly enough, in the Senate on Thursdays, one Senator typically hosts a lunch. Today, I am hosting. I think my colleagues will like this. You can almost smell the aroma. Right now, we are making it in the kitchen here--salmon, halibut, reindeer sausage. We are all going to be treated to that in a little bit.

What is truly amazing about my State is the people who call it home--smart, creative, energetic, caring people, folks helping each other.

Today, I want to talk about our Alaskan of the Week, Mr. Greg Brown. He comes at the suggestion of quite a few members of my staff, who call him Mr. Brown. The lobbying campaign in my office for Mr. Brown to be the Alaskan of the Week has been intense.

Mr. Brown, as he is known far and wide among those who went to Anchorage's Dimond High School, is a legend among his former students at Dimond, where for 25 years he taught European and U.S. history, art history, philosophy, and student government.

Many of us are fortunate enough to have had that teacher or person--usually, it is a teacher--who really changed our lives and showed us the pure joy of learning; as my director of constituent relations, Rachel Bylsma, put it, that person ``that made history come alive,'' that person who made an ``indelible impact'' on someone's life or many lives. For Rachel, Andrew--one of my interns, who is here with me on the floor--and five members of my staff in DC and back home in Alaska, that person is Mr. Brown. So let's talk a little bit about Mr. Brown.

Originally from Texas, when he was 15 years old, his family moved to Alaska when his father, who was in the oil business, got transferred to Alaska. A lot of Texans up in Alaska fall in love with it, as he did. He moved back to Texas as a teenager, but Alaska stilled beckoned, and it was never really out of his mind, so in 1989, when his father moved back again, he went back--now with a master's degree and a few years of teaching--and he never left. He was a substitute teacher for a while and in 1993 got a full-time position at Dimond High, where he has stayed, learned, taught, and where he has inspired thousands of students--think about it: 25 years.

What makes a good teacher? According to Mr. Brown, it is vital that you, the teacher, fall in love with the subject and also, just as importantly, that you listen sympathetically, and you should know how to reach your students. Sometimes that is through books, Mr. Brown said, and sometimes the most important thing you can do is just play a game of chess with a student. I think that is what Andrew and Mr. Brown did. According to his students, Mr. Brown did these kinds of things.

Mr. Brown was a demanding and exacting teacher. The papers they wrote for him were graded hard--graduate school-quality. He demanded excellence, which is another great attribute of a teacher. Because of his passion for the subjects he taught and the way he treated the students--he treated them like adults who were ready to learn and deliver--he made a huge impact. And learn they did. They read the classics--John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Socrates, Plato, Machiavelli, Marx. Martin Luther, Patrick Henry, Thomas Paine, and on and on. They learned about the profound impact the Reformation had on Europe. They learned about the ramifications of governmental authority. They learned about how art can be a language that reflects the present. They learned about how alliances are formed, how leaders are born, and how the clashing of events can lead to devastating wars and world-altering peace treaties. They learned about the roots of all different forms of government. They learned to love--or at least appreciate and understand--our own government and the importance of institutions like the U.S. Senate.

This year was Mr. Brown's last year as a teacher. He is, unfortunately, retiring. He bought a plot of land in Willow, AK, the part of the Alaska we call the Mat-Su Valley. He is going to garden, he is going to fish, he is going to read, and he is going to travel, but he is still going to be with us, and he can do that in part because of a gift he received from his students at his retirement party.

This is quite unusual. This party, which was thrown for him by his students at his retirement, was quite amazing. Hundreds of his past students showed up to pay tribute to Mr. Brown. Some of them gave speeches. Many of them cried. At the end, they handed him a picture that one of his students painted. It was a reinterpretation of the School of Athens by the 16th-century artist Raphael, but it substituted Mr. Brown for Plato in that very famous painting.

Then something really amazing happened at that party. The students also handed Mr. Brown a voucher. They had individually raised $16,500 for him to travel the world. Think about that. Motivated and inspired students, over 25 years, came together, threw a party, and raised money for their beloved teacher just to show him their deep admiration and abiding appreciation. That is very special for a special teacher.

What was his reaction to the gift? Mr. Brown said:

I wanted to go somewhere and gently weep. My students have always given me more than I have given them.

Now, Mr. Brown, I am not sure that is true. You have given so much. In fact, at the party, one of my staffers--I already mentioned Rachel--in her speech about Mr. Brown said, ``Each student you taught ..... carries a piece of the precious gift you gave, learning the contours of history and the trends that have defined the course of humankind.'' Powerful stuff.

So, Mr. Brown, thank you for all you have done for our young people, for our State--really, for the country--producing great Alaskans with a sense of civic duty and history. Thank you for being such a great teacher--and we have so many in our great State--and thank you, on your retirement, for being our Alaskan of the Week.

I yield the floor.

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