About Brooke

New York Born and Raised

The two guiding influences on my life have been my faith and my sense of adventure. My wife, Eileen, and I have tried our best to live our lives that way and to instill the importance of these principles into our three children.

This gritty kid from the streets of Queens really creates merriment and good cheer for friend and foe alike. I grew in Queens and on Long Island. I attended Syosset High School and played numerous sports there, such as soccer, lacrosse, and track. It was there that I also first began performing. While a student there I hosted the Dolphin Water Aquatics Show where I was hosted for two years and was involved in a synchronized swimming act. (I’m not a very strong swimmer!)

I did a brief one year stint in the United States Coast Guard Academy, which you can read about in my screen play “Man Overboard.” Despite my limited time there, I was the organizer for the numerous Hotel Company morale nights and was even invited back as a guest speaker a year after I was invited to leave the academy.

After that, I went to SUNY Oneonta, where I ran cross country and continued my public performing. It was there that I first created “The Wandering Winter Wondermen,” which was a group of my friends and I that were a Christmas Gram for hire service. We were lead musically by Craig Marshal and the guitar ensemble. We performed 2 songs anywhere on campus for $1. While here I also embarked on a quest to run from Montreal back home to Syosset to raise money for charity. Both of these endeavors got me in New York newspapers.

(Plattsburgh Press Republican)

(New York Times)

Lifelong Teacher and Organizer

For 33 years I taught high school and middle school in the Rocky Point School District on Long Island, NY. As a teacher there, I taught US History, World History, Participation in Government, and Psychology. I coached girls varsity soccer, boys junior high lacrosse, and the chess team. My focus as a teacher was always to help make my students have more fun than any human being should be allowed to have while learning and growing as members of our community. I also always aimed to instill a sense of patriotism and to strengthen the virtue of courage. I frequently incorporated movie clips, pop culture references, group challenges, and the occasional educational song parody into my lessons.

In addition to my teaching, I created countless student clubs and events. I created the “Be a Nicer Neighbor Club,” which focused on getting the students to become better members of the community by volunteering to help underserved populations. My “Singing Santas Club" had students performing numerous Christmas shows a year, composed of skits and Christmas song parodies I wrote, to hundreds of members of the community. I also created numerous school events such as, “Swoopin’ and Hoopin,’” a teacher verse teacher basketball tournament, “Senior Citizen Prom,” a night where local senior citizens from the community were invited to come to a dinner dance where the students operated as waiters, bartenders, and casino croupiers, “Battle of the Classes,” an inter-school game night where each grade competed against each other in over 30 different events utilizing the whole school building, and the “Live Like Susie Kindness Award Night,” which recognized the kindness of individual students who were nominated by the teachers in the school for the award.

Christian Speaker and Teacher

For over thirty years I have been involved in Christian Ministry. At my home parish, I have been involved in many ministries. I taught religious eduction for several years. I was an adult leader in the Youth Group, where I lead small group discussions on matters of faith and gave talks on the yearly retreats. I lead service trips for high school students. I started a “Finding Faith through Films” ministry, where I helped show Christian messages in popular movies. I also ran the sports and outdoor recreation for the parish’s vacation bible camp.

After retiring from Rocky Point High School, I taught theology and was a campus minister at a Catholic high school, Holy Trinity, and later at a Catholic elementary school, Our Lady Queen of Apostles. While teaching at these schools I was able to lead many faith based events and retreats. I created the “Good Clean Fun Club,” which was a club that’s motto was to “have fun with faith.”