McDaniel graduate alum selected as Carroll County Teacher of the Year

Brian Thompson M.S. ’15, who graduated from McDaniel with a master’s in Curriculum and Instruction and an Administrator I Certificate, is the 2024-25 Teacher of the Year for Carroll County Public Schools, making him eligible to be chosen as the 2025 Maryland Teacher of the Year.

Carroll County Teacher of the Year Brian Thompson M.S. ’15 teaches music at Westminster Elementary School.

McDaniel graduate alum Brian Thompson M.S. ’15 is the Carroll County Public Schools (CCPS) Teacher of the Year for 2024-25. He is one of 24 outstanding teachers — representing the 24 school systems in Maryland — selected for the honor, and he is eligible to be selected as the 2025 Maryland Teacher of the Year.

Thompson has been teaching for 19 years, with the majority of his career spent instructing instrumental and vocal music at Westminster Elementary School. Outside of class, he leads his school’s student ensembles in adjudicated competitions and community performances.

“It is an honor to be recognized as Carroll County Teacher of the Year. We have numerous excellent teachers in Carroll County who could have easily received this recognition,” Thompson says. “I was inspired to teach music because of the many fantastic music teachers I had when I was in school, and I hope to provide the same inspiration to my students.”

He earned his master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction (now Innovations in Teaching and Learning) from McDaniel in 2015, and his Administrator I Certificate from McDaniel in 2018.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Towson University and attended Westminster High School.

“While I’ve always felt confident in my music education pedagogy, I feel like I really became a more complete teacher after my time in the Curriculum and Instruction graduate program at McDaniel College,” he says.

“I really became a more complete teacher after my time in the Curriculum and Instruction graduate program at McDaniel College."

Brian Thompson M.S. ’15

Dedicated to educating students in music across the state of Maryland, he has previously taught as an adjunct instructor for elementary music methods at McDaniel College and is a current instructor for the marching, concert, and pep bands at Stevenson University. He is also a music adjudicator with the Maryland Marching Band Association and a district solo ensemble and band assessment adjudicator and clinician for various Maryland counties.

A leader in his community, he has coordinated the CCPS/MMEA District 8 Solo and Ensemble Festival since 2011 and coordinated the CCPS All County Ensemble Auditions since 2013. He serves as a mentor to new CCPS music teachers and for McDaniel student teachers and teaching interns.

He is a nine-time nominee for the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce Outstanding Teacher Award, and, in 2017, Thompson received the Outstanding Teacher Award and was a finalist for Carroll County Teacher of the Year.

McDaniel has a tradition of producing top educators in Maryland with more than 30 alums since 2010 recognized as County Teachers of the Year and four as Maryland Teachers of the Year. In 2011, Michelle Shearer M.S. ’96 was named National Teacher of the Year