“I believe education should do more than prepare students to succeed academically. It should help them develop the curiosity, confidence, and critical thinking skills to better understand the world around them and recognize their ability to shape it.”
Brenda’s Story
Brenda is a physics educator, curriculum designer, and instructional leader committed to making ambitious science learning accessible to all students. She believes rigorous, meaningful learning experiences cultivate curiosity and help students make sense of the world.
Brenda earned her undergraduate degree in physics education from UC Santa Cruz and her teaching credential and Master of Arts in Teaching from UC Irvine, where she trained in Ambitious Science Teaching. Throughout her career, she has helped refine her district’s physics curriculum, developing NGSS-aligned learning experiences grounded in meaningful phenomena, collaborative inquiry, and tools that make student thinking visible.
She currently teaches 10th grade physics and Advanced Placement Physics in the Middle College program at Orange Glen High School in Escondido, California. For the past three years, she has also served as an instructional coach, facilitating campus professional learning, leading lesson studios, and providing individualized coaching. She especially values collaborating with her professional learning community to design rigorous, accessible curriculum that engages students’ ideas and supports deeper understanding.
Brenda’s leadership experience includes campus equity initiatives, standards-based grading, and developing guidelines for responsible artificial intelligence use in education. She has presented professional learning on NGSS-aligned curriculum, grading practices, engineering design, whiteboarding, and anchoring phenomena. Across these efforts, she supports teachers in creating intellectually engaging classrooms where students can contribute, collaborate, and build confidence as scientific thinkers. She has also served as head coach of a competitive robotics team and advisor to the California Scholarship Federation.
Outside of education, Brenda enjoys disc golf, video games, time with her pets, and involvement in her local church community. An enthusiastic lifelong learner, she pursues interests in space science, mathematics, cooking, and Scripture.