Campus is left broken-hearted

Shock traveled through campus when the news spread that Sharon Brockman, the English Instructor at Seward County Community College, died Feb. 26 in Amarillo after an illness. 

“Sharon Brockman’s heart beat with an abiding love of teaching,” remembered Lori Muntz, an English instructor. 

Brockman worked at SCCC for 11 years starting first in the TRIO office and writing center before eventually moving up to a full-time English teacher in 2018. She was unable to teach this semester due to her battle against cancer.

While in this position she welcomed instructor Muntz to SCCC in 2019. Muntz described Brockman as being “thoughtful, patient, creative, and sensitive to what would be helpful” during her transition to the college which would have been “overwhelming.” 

“She did her best to support students… She made me a better teacher because she invited experimentation and collaboration, which is what the best colleagues and leaders do. 

“Whether it was one of us instructors in the Humanities hallway trying to figure out which tab to click in canvas or the college trying to figure out how to promote diversity, Sharon always worked to solve the problem because she wanted things to be better. She knew we could do it,” Muntz said. 

William Swanson, a chemistry and secondary education major from Liberal, was one of the students that she had supported. Swanson never had a formal English class until he took English composition I with Brockmann. He learned how to write and gained self-confidence through her class. 

“One of my fond memories was when I was talking to Dr. Muntz about how I didn’t think I was that great of a writer before I took her Comp II class. Brockman overheard and said I am a great writer, and she helped build me up,” Swanson said. “She was a really good person and English teacher, too.” 

Brockman went beyond her role as a teacher and colleague. Her friendship is something that her fellow instructors will miss most. Dustin Farmer, the art instructor, expressed that he will miss “her smile, her support and her friendship.” 

Darin Workman, Brockman’s supervisor, spoke about their whole division being good friends. 

“I’m going to miss our afternoon meetings when we were both out of class. We would be in Terri’s [Terri Barnes] office, and I would get her all riled up about something going on. That is the thing I really remember about her and the biggest thing I am going to miss. She understood my sarcasm and would play along,” said Workman. 

Another coworker and friend Magda Silva described Brockman as “quick-worded and funny,” as well as someone who was well-liked. She was a good jokester that always had a smile on her face. 

“The comradery in the division was great… I am going to miss my friend,” Silva said.

For colleagues, this loss has left them heartbroken. Farmer said SCCC is now a little darker without Brockman but her memory will bring back the light. 

Muntz and Terri Barnes, humanities division secretary, stood for a moment yesterday in Brockman’s office just to feel her presence.

“The silence broke our hearts,” Muntz said. 

Brockman’s service will be at the United Methodist Church in Guymon, Oklahoma. It will take place on Mar. 12 at 2:00 p.m. The Brockman family suggests donations to be made to the American Cancer Society instead of flowers.  

Below are more memories of Brockmann from SCCC staff and students. Please feel free to use the comment section below to share your own.

Also contributing to the story is Crusader Staff.

Aaron Camacho 

“Mrs. Brockman was one of the nicest teachers I’ve ever had. She was extremely thoughtful and considerate of others, always making time for each and every one of her students. I remember she always helped me whenever I needed it. She went above and beyond to make sure we clearly understood the material. Something that will always stick with me about her is how she knew some Spanish, I thought it was very special that she made the effort to communicate with students that had a language barrier considering English is really hard to learn and write.”

Melissa Hilditch 

Sharon Brockmann was a commendable mentor, empathetic colleague, and caring friend. I have several memories about Sharon, and a lot of my journey here at SCCC was influenced directly by her. When I first started at the college, Sharon supported me saying that she thought I would be great and by encouraging me to reach out to her if things ever got tough. Of course, they did get tough, and I needed to call her cellphone right when she was in the middle of teaching her class in the library. This was during the second hour of my first day of work. Even though the timing was terribly inconvenient, Sharon came by to help me anyway. That was the kind of person she was. She was patient. She cared about each student and employee that she helped. When I broke my foot, Sharon worked with our division to make posters of what shoes everyone was wearing that summer and anxiously awaited my reaction to the picture of my boot. Sharon later reminded me to take care of my health and then everything would fall into place. She was a beautiful person and will be missed by all who knew her. 

Blanca Castro  

I knew Mrs Brockman for years so when the email came out of her passing my jaw dropped. I was just so saddened and shocked about it all.

Liz Atrizibal

Yo siento que tenía mucha conexión con ella porque se que ella estuvo en colombia por algunos años. Sino estoy mal ella nació en bogota, Colombia. Era una profesora muy atenta, era buena en su trabajo, muy dedicada en el labor educativo. No la conocí muy a fondo pero se que era una gran persona.

Casandra A. Morin

Sharon always fought for her students. She would come into the library wanting new stuff for her students to improve her students, so then she would get the best of her students.

Joel Figgs

I worked with Sharon multiple times primarily dealing with student issues. Her and I would sit down with the student and work through some success strategies and work out some possible options for the student. I found her to be a very determined English instructor, and she always had very high expectations of her students. She will be missed.