Staff photo / Brandon Cantwell Brookfield Superintendent Toby Gibson, right, shows Christopher Monsour, a 1995 alumnus and 2026 Ohio Teacher of the Year, blueprints for the district’s planned facilities and classrooms in the former Tiffany’s Banquet Center on Thursday morning.

BROOKFIELD — While Christopher Monsour made return trips to Brookfield in recent years, he said he hadn’t set foot in the high school in more than a decade — bringing a different meaning to homecoming.

“It’s very surreal, walking down the hallway and seeing some of the pictures of my friends and some of the football team — it kind of brought back some memories,” said Monsour, a 1995 alumnus and 2026 Ohio Teacher of the Year.

Monsour was at Brookfield High School on Thursday for the first time in 30 years, as he toured classrooms and the district and attended its homecoming pep assembly ahead of today’s game against Ravenna Southeast.

He also had the chance to share his experiences and insights with students and staff, cultivated from 26 years of teaching at Columbian High School in the Tiffin City School District — located an hour and a half from the place he grew up.

Monsour, a teacher of high school biology, environmental science, and anatomy and physiology at the school, received his Ohio Teacher of the Year nomination in early September, with Paul Craft, the state’s superintendent of public instruction, making the surprise public announcement during a schoolwide assembly.

Monsour said he hadn’t been to the school’s K-12 complex, which opened in the summer of 2011 as a result of a 2007 levy vote and created a single campus for the entire district.

“I was impressed with the new building, but also all of the opportunities students have, with the Makerspace and all, you know?” Monsour said. “Just how many opportunities and what a small school like Brookfield can offer, I was just blown away by that.”

Monsour admitted he never expected to end up in education, as he majored in environmental biology while in college.

“I was gonna go to grad school for environmental policy; I landed a job as a sub because I had nowhere else to work and kind of fell in love with it,” Monsour said. “I love science; I love biology; I love teaching, and then I realized I didn’t mind working with kids — I had never done it before.”

Upon receiving his Teacher of the Year nomination, Monsour said he immediately thought of returning to Brookfield as his first stop, as he will be participating in and speaking at events and schools throughout the year.

He said he didn’t expect to see any of his old teachers upon returning to the school, but one of the first individuals he saw was Mary Arp, a high school government teacher from his youth.

Monsour said between the two classes he had the privilege of speaking to and the district tour, everyone has been good to him — noting that the school felt like a “destination district.”

“All the opportunities — the kids seem like they’re happy here. I sat in on a staff meeting with the high school staff, and I was blown away. I can see they support each other,” Monsour said. “I’m happy to see that the place that supported me and brought me so much joy 30 years ago is still doing that, generations later.”

Monsour said that as he travels and speaks to other school districts, he plans to have a positive message to drown out some of the negativity, noting that 90% of the state’s schools reached their goals.

“Sometimes the perception is not reality. Sometimes I don’t know if everybody knows what some of the teachers are doing, some of the challenges we have,” Monsour said.

For both new teachers and those with years of experience who might feel exhausted, Monsour encouraged them to “stay the course,” acknowledging teacher burnout to be a real thing.

“I’m in my 27th year, and when I do have a down day, I just remember like, ‘Why am I here?’ I think back to students that have been successful,” Monsour said. “I have seen students go on to do great things, even in the face of adversity. Students are still showing up. I’ve met with some students today, and they’ve got some hardships. They’re still showing up, we still need to show up and do the best we can.”

Superintendent Toby Gibson, after leading Monsour on his tour, said it was nice to have graduates like Monsour return to the school and visit because of how much the district has changed.

“To come back, to show him where we’re at now, to talk to him about his experiences in education and allow him to speak to our kids about future plans and where you’re at now and where you can go from here, it was amazing,” Gibson said.

Gibson said he expects to collaborate with Monsour in the future, as 2026 looks to be “super, super” busy for him.

“To have that resource, that contact — not only as an educator, but as an alum,” Gibson said. “To come back and work with our students is hopefully going to be amazing.”