Brandon Williams is one of the many new teachers at Santa Fe High School. After living in Spain for six years, the Spanish teacher earned his master’s degree from the Universidad de Alcalá and began teaching in the Edmond Public Schools district.
After graduating high school in 2003, Williams’ college career was on and off for a decade before he finished college in 2013.
“I changed my major a lot, so I studied a lot,” Williams said.
Before completing his bachelor’s degree at Arizona State University, Williams attended the University of Central Oklahoma, where he met Santa Fe Spanish teacher Paige Garrett.
He moved to Spain in 2018 to finish his master’s in teaching and business, with a minor in international teaching. He is currently pursuing a second master’s and expects to complete it in 2025.
“Gaining my college degree overseas was never something I planned to do,” Williams said. “I just wanted to go overseas and live, and I thought I would be there forever. But, there was an opportunity for my Master’s, and I decided to take it.”
While he was in Spain, Williams experienced culture shock and explained what it was like for him. Growing up in the U.S., he wasn’t used to aspects of Spanish culture, such as the language and how people live.
“I’ve learned that in order to really learn it, you have to really dive into the culture and then the language,” Williams said. “I learned a lot when I moved there because I was forced to actually use it.”
Santa Fe welcomes Brandon Williams not only to teaching in the United States but also to Santa Fe.
