Students were greeted upon their return to campus this August by many fresh faces; the newest of these faculty members is computer teacher Mr. Brian Bray.

Mr. Bray’s arrival at Benjamin marks a return to South Florida, as he studied Decision Information Systems at Florida Atlantic Univ. in the late nineties. Aside from moving to pursue a teaching career at The Benjamin Upper School, taking up a new opportunity, or reuniting with old friends, Mr. Bray says he also enjoys the heat that Florida has to offer. 

A member of the Arts and Innovation department, Mr. Bray will teach multiple computer-based classes, including  Game Design, AP Computer Science, AP Computer Science Principles, and Introduction to Computer Science. All of the classes focus on programming, in general. 

Mr. Bray stresses the importance of learning independence in his classes.

“I like students to work independently, and I like them to be able to teach themselves the material because that’s how a scientist would teach himself…it’s important to learn how to teach yourself,” Bray said.

Sophomore David “Harry” Scarola, who takes the AP Computer Science Principles course taught by Mr. Bray, has been impressed so far. 

“He improved my understanding [of the course] by teaching very complex material that was above the curriculum level,” said Scarola. 

Mr. Bray has various teaching methods to help improve student’s understanding of the content taught in classes. He likes to have students prepared for any upcoming assignments or other things planned. He is there to help students whenever needed.

“I prefer students to be on their computers. I run my class by where everybody sits down, turns the computer on, and pretty much has the work set out with what is needed to be done for the day, for the week, or for the month. Students know when all of their tests are due; they know when quizzes are due; they know when all of their readings are due; and I answer questions when they have some problems when going through their work.”

Mrs. Ford, Upper School Arts, and Innovation Department Chair, as well as Upper School Visual Arts Teacher, thinks that Mr. Bray will make a great addition to the Computer Science department.

“Mr. Bray brings passion and enthusiasm for computer science to the department. The classes are all taught with a hands-on approach that encourages students to problem solve and learn computer operation, programming or game design,” said Mrs. Ford. 

Mr. Bray replaces Ms. Karen Cardillo whose tenure at Benjamin was, unfortunately, and unexpectedly ended this summer. Ms. Cardillo has returned to her roots, rejoining her family in New England. 

The Upper School community is lucky to have found someone eager to jump right in to begin the school year.