Name:
Mrs. Helen Brandenburg
School:
Bishop England High School
Classes:
Freshman English 101, Research/Study Skills 151, Junior English 133
School Phone:
(843)-849-9599 (ext. 307)
Education: Ashley Hall (1960-64); College of Charleston (BS in English,
1968); UNC-Chapel Hill (MA in English with a concentration in 18th-century
literature, completed 1979); College of Charleston (teacher certification in
Secondary English, completed 1985); since 1985, teacher re-certification
courses including the Lowcountry Writing Project Summer Institute 2009
Service: Board member of the Advocacy Coalition for People with Disabilities
(secretary); board member of the Poetry Society of South Carolina (treasurer
and editor of Yearbook 2009)
Passions: Family (Mary Tarbell, age 33, who was graduated from BE and now
works in HR in Virginia; Drummond, age 26, who lives at Coastal Center and
specializes in wheelchair maintenance); Dance (member of a touring ballet
company during my teens and twenties; taught ballet; directed Athens Ballet
Company in the 1970’s and 1980’s); Exercise (pilates and walking); Writing
(mostly poetry); Dreaming (Jungian dreamwork at Kanuga under Bob Haden and
Joyce Rockwell Hudson); Collecting (mostly fountain pens, all kinds, antique
and modern); Knitting (mostly scarves but just finished my first sweater and
have started socks); Blogging (just started a blog this summer . . . enjoy
putting pictures with text); Artist’s Cards / Postcards (started this summer,
along with working through The Artist’s Way)
Deficiencies: Cooking; speed of execution of almost everything (due to my
contemplative nature)
Pet: one black cat (named Mischief), a much-loved champion shedder
Teacher of English: Literature, grammar, and composition, including creative
writing; 24 years at BE; also Department Head of English at BE for over 10
years
Awards: 2-time finalist in the South Carolina Poetry Initiative Single Poem
Contest (poems published in State newspaper, most recently 2009); honorable
mention in Best American Poetry acrostic contest 2008 ("To Gretel: A Double
Acrostic" published on blog of BAP); winner of 2007 Dubose Heyward prize
awarded by the PSSC
