Sherry Brights

Growing up I can remember a daily ritual of Nursery Rhymes at home with my mom. “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” which I can still recite from memory today. The first books I can remember her reading to my brothers and I were the Junior Instructor Book 1 and Book 2, we always referred to them as The Big Red Book and The Big Yellow Book. These books were always so fascinating to me and took me on indescribable journeys every day. I still have the books that have a 1943 copyright. There were always encyclopedias on our shelves, and my mom was quite an avid reader.

Upon graduating from East High School, Denver, Colorado, I attended the Community College of Denver, completed two years, then decided to get a degree in Art, so I relocated to Kansas City, Missouri and attended the Kansas City Art Institute. After graduating in 1977 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, I returned to Denver.

I married and spent time raising my children as an at home mom for several years. Once my children were in school, in 1996 I decided to go back to school myself. I could only take one to two courses per semester while my children were still attending elementary school. I applied at the Community College of Denver to earn a teaching license, then transferred to Metropolitan State University of Denver. After four years I earned my teaching license. I was hired by Aurora Public Schools and began my career as an Elementary School Teacher.

Within my first three years of teaching I applied to Regis University, Colorado, to earn a Masters in Education with an emphasis in Reading. By 2007, I completed my courses and graduated. I always tell myself, I didn’t choose education as a career, education chose me; it seems that was always the journey that I was on.

Events that shaped me into the educator I am today: A loving family, a rich heritage; traveling abroad, my dad the adventurer, and mom who was my first reading teacher, my children and grandchildren, and many, many, friends and colleagues who have supported me along the way.