Brooke Payne is delighted to be working at Cincinnati Classical Academy as a First-Grade Instructional Aide. She loves guiding children through learning with curiosity and playfulness, meeting each student where they are and helping them discover connections that make learning feel meaningful. Whether she is celebrating the moment a new math fact finally clicks, weaving flower crowns together outside at recess, turning an ordinary lesson into an adventure, or guiding a student through a moment of growth in character, Brooke’s greatest joy as an educator is seeing that unmistakable look of wonder and discovery on a child’s face. She hopes to nurture that curiosity while reminding her students, and herself, that learning is something we are fortunate enough to do throughout our lives.

Brooke spent several of her early childhood years along the Outer Banks of North Carolina, playing among the windswept dunes where the Wright brothers first took flight. Though firmly a Cincinnatian both at heart and home, she carries a little saltwater in her veins and that same childhood sense of wonder with her. Outside of Cincinnati Classical Academy, Brooke is a wife and mother of four and studies Business and Hospitality Management at the University of Cincinnati. She enjoys gardening, writing, baking, dancing, aerial silks, theater, and nearly anything with a touch of vintage or old-fashioned charm.