A Valpo Life in the Spotlight: Dane Brown

For Dane Brown, the decision to become a middle school teacher was an unexpected one. It has also been one of the most rewarding decisions he has ever made.

Brown fell in love with golf at an early age. After graduating from Valparaiso High School, he was offered an athletic scholarship to St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, where he majored in environmental science. After that, he pursued his master’s in Earth and Atmospheric Science at Purdue University.

“While I was at Purdue, I was also teaching junior golf in the summer,” Brown said. “I enjoyed the research side of my master’s degree, but I also enjoyed the teaching side; I especially enjoyed teaching junior golf. Meeting with one of my academic advisors, we talked about my next options on what I wanted to do, and I brought up maybe going back and becoming a teacher.”

Brown had initially thought he might be a college professor like so many of the ones who influenced him. After completing a transition to teaching course at Purdue, however, he was more convinced than ever that he wanted to educate children.

Teaching is a family business for Brown. All four of his grandparents worked in education, including one grandfather who was at one time the superintendent for the Portage school system. Brown’s mother is also a teacher in the Valparaiso school system.

“I think once I started teaching junior golf and then also being a teaching assistant at Purdue, I realized I really enjoyed teaching, and it was one of those things I feel like I was meant to do, and so I pursued it after that,” said Brown.

Brown now teaches seventh grade math at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. His own seventh grade math teacher, Charlie Foster, had been the teacher in that school until his retirement in 2025. Brown feels proud to step into those shoes and be an educator his teachers would be proud of.

“I try to create a classroom where there’s mutual respect between their peers and also with the staff,” Brown said. “I want it to be comfortable so that students feel like they can ask questions and make mistakes.”

Brown understands that for many students, math might be a difficult subject. His goal is to be the kind of teacher who welcomes learning while also acknowledging that part of the learning process is getting things wrong on the first try sometimes. He also believes that gaining an education in any subject is a team effort.

“I compare it to sports,” Brown said. “If you’re on the basketball team, the coaches aren’t going to shoot free throws for two hours, then expect a player just sitting there to watch for two hours. It’s something you’ve got to practice in the classroom, and you’ve got to be willing to work hard while we’re in there.”

Outside of the classroom, Brown still spends plenty of time with children. This is because he and his wife, June, have four children under the age of ten. The oldest two, Sam and Rae, also enjoy golf, and Brown is proud to teach them the sport he loves. The younger two twins, Max and Will, are still a little young to follow that path just yet, but Brown remains optimistic, and he’s just happy for any time they can spend together as a family.

“My wife and I met when I was at Purdue in grad school and she was in med school,” Brown said. “She really pushed me to pursue education and go down that path. She’s been super supportive with everything. Now, life kind of revolves around our four kids. It’s awesome.”