Educator in running for national award
From fashion design
to cooking, Monmouth Regional consumer sciences teacher does it all

Abby Brockwell, who teaches family and consumer sciences at Monmouth Regional High School, Tinton Falls, has already won a state award and is competing for national recognition in her field.

Abby Brockwell, the family and consumer sciences teacher at Monmouth Regional High School, Tinton Falls, is very busy right now. Along with getting back to school after the winter break, she is filling out the paperwork for the American Association of Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher of the Year 2001 Award.

She has already won the New Jersey Family and Consumer Sciences Teacher of the Year award.

Brockwell has been teaching at Monmouth Regional for 39 years. She said she was very surprised to learn that she had been nominated after so many years of running the school’s program.

Brockwell’s courses include fashion design, cooking, career awareness and nutrition education.

"I like the fashion design classes best," Brockwell said. "Fashion design is very creative. I also teach foods, but that’s not as much fun. It’s a lot of cleanup."

The fashion design class allows students to get a sense of the what that industry is all about, according to Brockwell.

"We show students what they would do if they had a job in the fashion industry," she explained. "The class involves a lot of problem solving and abstract thinking. Over the years, I’ve seen a decline in students’ ability for abstract thinking."

The Holmdel resident has a home-based business called Bayshore Craft Designs which makes her do plenty of abstract thinking.

"I design Simplicity patterns for home furnishings, mostly curtains and pillows," Brockwell said. "I’ve been doing that since 1990. I’ve also designed the patterns for doll clothes and stuffed animals."

Brockwell started teaching at Monmouth Regional the second year the school was open and has no plans to retire. For the first five months of her teaching career, she taught kindergarten, but except for that brief period, she has taught family and consumer sciences.

She said she always wanted to teach home economics the field she studied in the late 1950s at Douglass College, Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She graduated from the school in 1960.

She is a certified family and consumer sciences (CFCS) teacher, a designation that requires significant effort to keep up.

"In order to maintain the certification I have to do 75 credits of professional development every three years," Brockwell noted. "I feel the certification is helpful when I write references for students."

Brockwell has been in the same classroom for many years now, but it was recently redecorated "My students picked the color scheme. I guess you would call it two-toned lavender. And this is my prized possession," she said pointing to an XL-1000 electronic sewing machine with embroidery capability.

"The machine can do wonderful things, but it takes patience to learn to use it," Brockwell said. As a holiday project, the students bought material and came up with plans and designs. "Some made clothes; others made holiday stockings or pillows," according to Brockwell. "The project was designed so that I could see what their skill levels were."

Brockwell created the family and consumer science program in 1973 and has updated it periodically to fit the needs of the students. For the community service component she has invited Girl Scout troops to come to the high school for sewing lessons. In one instance, the girls were involved in a national project to prepare quilt squares for a national quilt honoring famous women.

"The girls used the XL-1000 sewing machine to embroider the name of their honoree on the background of their square," she explained.

She also has taken over the Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) club. "It used to be Future Homemakers of America, but with more males joining the club, the name was changed."

She has been running the club for the past three years taking over after a friend retired. Every year there is a competition in which students compete in 30 different events, including fashion, foods, child development, job interviews and applied technology.

In addition to the quilt project, FCCLA members provide an annual Thanksgiving basket for a needy family. They also have collected and donated sheets, blankets, and other home items to a women’s shelter in the area.

Brockwell also has served as the affirmative action officer for the school, responsible for providing faculty workshops in affirmative action and from 1992-1998, she served as the director of the Minority-Mentor Academic Achievement Program designed to encourage academically talented minority students to select academically challenging classes.

"For the fashion show the students went to stores and arranged to borrow clothes. I had to use my credit card to secure them," she said. "Then they created the fashion show.

"In the last two years, my students have won over $5,000 in scholarships."

Brockwell, a Holmdel resident with three grown children, said her family has a long history in the county. "My mother’s family has been in Middletown since the first boat came over. My father’s family were farmers in Lincroft until they sold their farm in 1960. We always lived in Monmouth County."

She didn’t start out thinking that she would remain in the same school, or in the same county, she said. There just wasn’t any reason to change anything.

"I liked the job and it was only 15 minutes from home. The pay got better and better. I enjoy teen-agers. They’re fun to be with.

"My husband worked locally, and all of my family was here so there was never any reason why I would want to be somewhere else. Besides," she added, "I can’t pump my own gas, so I can’t move out of New Jersey."