Alumni Snapshot: Liz Brown

Name: Liz Brown

NHA school attended: Excel Charter Academy (Class of 1998)

College attended: Grand Valley State University (Class of 2017)

Degree: Master of Arts in Elementary Education - Curriculum and Instruction

Employer and position: L. Brown Educational Consulting; Founder/CEO

Tell us about your journey since you graduated from NHA.
Since leaving Excel in 1998, I went on to Ottawa Hills High School. I graduated from there in 2003. Once graduated, I received an associate degree from GRCC in 2006, a bachelor’s degree in elementary education and ELA in 2011, and a master’s degree in elementary education/curriculum and instruction in 2017. I became an elementary teacher from 2011 to 2016 at Living Stones Academy. While completing my master’s degree, I was the board co-chair for Living Stones. In 2019, I became the assistant principal and in 2022, I became the principal at Living Stones. In 2023 I published my first children's book entitled "The ABCs of Adoption". It's all about my story as an interracial adoptee and can be found on Amazon. In June of 2025, I left the principalship after being at Living Stones for 14 years and opened my own educational consulting business full time, L. Brown Educational Consulting. In 2013, I got married and had my first daughter. In 2018, I had my second daughter and in 2020, I had my son.

Which Moral Focus virtue™ has best shaped your life and why?
Wisdom. I learned that wisdom is not just about what I know and what I can instill in others, but even more about the good (and bad) wisdom I can gain from others who have more experience in a certain area and have gone before me. How did your NHA schools help prepare you for your academic and life experiences? As the guinea pigs for Excel Charter Academy, I learned the importance of opening a school, all the ups and downs of being the "first" and how much I truly loved education and wanted to be an educator once day.