Tinley Park teacher wins national award, calls helping special needs kids ‘truly what I wanted to do my entire life’

Lauren Brazel has been a special education teacher for 19 years and said it is what she’s always wanted to do.

A teacher at Tinley Park High School and the mom of a special needs son, Brazel said she’s worked the last nine years as a special ed teacher in Bremen High School District 228.

“Being able to help those that needed it most, that is what I really like,” she said Friday following an assembly.

Students gathered in the main gym after Brazel was recently announced as the grand prize winner of the Kleenex national teacher recognition program, Heroes of the Classroom.

The awards are meant to honor teachers from kindergarten through 12th grade “for their hard work, resilience and dedication to students,” according to Kimberly-Clark, maker of Kleenex.

There were about 800 nominations, and Brazel was selected, by a public online vote, from 10 finalists in nine states.

She works with students who have behavioral and learning challenges, and wrote in describing her work that she is “passionate about making sure every student feels seen, heard, and recognized for their efforts both in and out of the classroom.”

At Friday’s assembly, Brazel said being a special ed teacher “is truly what I wanted to do my entire life.”

Brazel said she develops connections with students beyond the classroom and after their time at Tinley Park High School, “knowing that they have somebody in their corner even after they graduate.”

She and her husband, a Country Club Hills police officer, are the parents of three children, including a son, Frankie, who was diagnosed with epilepsy, cerebral palsy and a traumatic brain injury, Brazel said.

Frankie and his twin brother, Charlie, were born in July 2016 and two months premature, she said.

Kimberly-Clark gave a year’s supply of Kleenex tissue along with checks of $5,000 for Brazel and the school.

Brazel said the $5,000 she received is being used to pay for an addition to their New Lenox home for their special needs son.

Principal Theresa Nolan nominated Brazel, saying she “shows care and compassion yet holds strong to her commitment as an educator and takes responsibility for her students to academically grow.”

Nolan told students that, within the next couple of weeks, there will be a giveaway of free bundt cakes to them, with details to come.

Brazel said she also volunteers, outside of District 228, to help parents of children with special needs navigate the process of getting individualized attention in schools for their students.