Colby’s Homeyer wins Crystal Apple Award

By Nathaniel Underwood

During an assembly held last Friday at the Colby high school gymnasium, Colby School District’s Brandon Homeyer was announced as a recipient of the Crystal Apple, an award created by the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce & Industry to recognize excellence in education from local schools. Homeyer is the first winner from the district.

“Complete surprise and shock,” Homeyer said after learning that he had been selected. “I’m just blown away and I’m very honored to get this.”

The award, for which 1,758 nominations for 388 different educators in 12 school districts were received, was given out to just four winners this year. While Homeyer knew that he had been selected as a Teacher of Distinction, or one of the 28 finalists, after being nominated by his fellow staff members and being selected by the committee, he had no idea that he had been one of the four teachers chosen to receive the Crystal Apple award until it was announced in front of the assembled student body and staff at Friday’s assembly.

“I really didn’t expect it; I feel like I kind of show up, do my job to the best of my ability,” he said. “I feel like I usually point to other people and say it was because of them that I am where I’m at. But it is nice to be recognized though.”

Homeyer, who teaches a variety of high school math courses, from Algebra II to calculus, has been with the school district for eight years. He also works as the advisor for Colby’s chapter of the National Honor Society and acts as a co-advisor for the math league team.

While he says that he has always liked math, his path to becoming a teacher was one somewhat out of the norm.

After graduating from Medford High School, Homeyer continued his education first at UW-Marathon County, now UW-Stevens Point at Wausau. However, he did not pursue a degree in teaching at the time, but rather in actuarial sciences.

“I went to college and I just knew that I wanted to do something in math,” Homeyer said. “Everybody there told me actuarial science, and I had no idea what it was so I said ‘why not?’” And while Homeyer finished the degree, eventually moving on to UW-Eau Claire to complete it, he very quickly realized that it probably was not going to be a good fit for

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TEACHING GREATNESS - Colby math teacher Brandon Homeyer was surprised with the honor of winning the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Crystal Apple Award in Colby on March 1. He celebrates the moment with his wife, Nicole at the assembly.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD Homeyer

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him. After spending some time as a consumer loan officer and once again sensing that it once again was not what he was looking for, a conversation with his childhood best friend’s father, who had been a middle school principal, turned him on to teaching.

“He gave me a program I went through and I got an alternative license,” Homeyer explained. “I started teaching here and I’ve been here ever since. Colby went out on a limb and took a chance on me and it’s just nice to kind of have a way to pay back for them.”

While the road may have been a bit winding, it seems that Homeyer found his niche. He expressed one of his main goals is trying to make math more digestible, especially for those that might struggle with the subject.

“It’s great to go through and maybe make it a little easier, little bit less of a headache for them, that’s kind of the main thing that I want,” Homeyer said. “Just to be able to understand enough to be successful at the next level, whether that’s in high school, college, or the real world and maybe make it a little less tedious and hopefully a little more enjoyable. That’s all I care about.”

When asked how he tries to get his students to engage with his classes and the subject material, Homeyer cites that keeping some levity while maintaining an understanding of mutual respect has worked well for him.

“I just treat them like adults,” he said. “That’s kind of the main thing. So I start with that, I try to be really big on respect and I think the kids notice that and they respond really well with it. I know I’m not the only teacher that does it here but I feel that once you get that mutual respect going, students understand ‘what can I do, what can I not do’ and what’s expected and go from there.”

He also noted that each student is going to have a different use for the subject in the future, so trying to meet them halfway and discover how best his teaching might serve them in the real world is a big part of what he does.

“Like with Algebra II, you’re probably not going to need to know how to graph two lines to be successful in the real world,” Homeyer added. “But you have to know how to get through it to move on to the next class or whatever it may be. And along the way we can talk about where it can be implemented, but if there are any other questions that they have that I can go through and answer, that’s what’s important. That’s what I care about.”

Homeyer and the other three winners of the Crystal Apple, as well as all 28 selected Teachers of Distinction, will be honored at the 21st Annual Crystal Apple Banquet, which will be held at Hotel Marshfield onWednesday May 1, 2024.

WINNER, WINNER - Homeyer accepts the Crystal Apple award from MACCI representative, Mike Warren.

STAFF PHOTO/NATHANIEL UNDERWOOD