Meet Brea Adams of Better Together Educator Collaborative (BTEC)

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brea Adams.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I moved to Chicago just over a decade ago after earning a B.S. from UW-Madison. Since then I’ve been involved with education on every level, from teaching preschool to teaching grad school, but found my niche when I entered the MEd counseling program at DePaul. School counseling turned out to encompass many of my interests, and it didn’t take long for me to meet professors, teachers, counselors, advocates, classmates and eventually students whose experiences and stories highlighted some profound differences between my educational experiences growing up in small-town Wisconsin and those of students here in the city.

At the same time, I was working at DePaul researching teaching and learning, so I was becoming more aware of how students learn best. The more I learned about education, research, counseling and most importantly, Chicago, the more committed I became to supporting students and the more frustrated I became with educational policies and their implications.

I loved school counseling, but after five years of doing it full-time, I felt like I was ready for more. I met so many amazing educators, stymied or burnt out or insecure because of the exacting demands placed upon them; I met so many students whose stories further emphasized connections between education and so many other systems. The idea of BTEC was beginning to emerge, and meanwhile, I spent a year working at a great non-profit (A Knock at Midnight) where I gained some needed perspective on student and school supports from the outside. BTEC really came to fruition after a brainstorming session with my wife, a high school English teacher, whose mind compliments mine in so many ways.

In a sense, I understood the problem (broadly-speaking) but I was all over the place. Aly helped me hone in, make connections, and recognize some common themes that have become foundational for BTEC. We had organically surrounded ourselves with such a great network of colleagues, former colleagues-turned-friends, and numerous other educators who had so much to give but often felt isolated. We created BTEC to foster connectivity and leverage our strengths and resources to ensure students receive the support they deserve because at the end of the day, we’re all in this for the students.

Has it been a smooth road?
I think how smooth a road has been depends a lot on how smooth one expects it to be. In the case of starting my own business, I feel like it happened because there was no other logical course for me to take – as a school counselor I felt like I could never do enough, and that feeling doesn’t just disappear outside school walls.

I sometimes struggle identifying specific areas of focus because the need exists on so many levels, and in our current educational climate, there’s no rosy end in sight. So I knew the road wouldn’t be smooth per se because it’s daunting to swim in stories and statistics that sometimes paint a grim picture but I also knew that at least I’d be free to spend some time figuring out how to best support not just students or schools but people in general, and how to genuinely get to the root cause of issues, use research and stories to make connections and highlight context, and create interventions with all of that in mind.

Luckily, I’m surrounded by built-in consultants: family, friends, former colleagues and acquaintances who have supported BTEC’s efforts and helped smooth some of that inevitably rough terrain.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
BTEC exists to fill gaps in education. This includes academic support like tutoring and test prep but entails so much more. First, we recognize some basic structural inequities within the education system itself and strive to advocate and inform by designing interventions specific to the school, student, and staff needs. We offer staff workshops and professional development, student interventions, tutoring, and general education-related consulting services.

Based on our client’s unique needs, we connect with the educators in our network who sound like a good match. Our teachers, counselors, social workers, tutors, and professors possess varied interests and experiences but share a commitment to providing rewarding educational opportunities. This happens by fostering social/emotional growth, promoting student-led interventions, and focusing on building relationships and making connections.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Chicago is the only place for BTEC because we exist as a direct response to the systemic, pervasive barriers many Chicago students and educators face. Working in Chicago schools magnifies the importance of shedding a one-size-fits-all approach to learning – that approach denies context, and context is what prompted BTEC to begin with.

That said, anyone starting a business with the intention of supporting students and schools must certainly take into account the many intersecting systems that affect young people, something I’ve started attempting to untangle on my new podcast, Relatus, which features interviews with students, loads of research, and of course, conversation about context.

Contact Info:

• Address: 2020 N California #141 Chicago IL 60647
• Website: https://www.bettertogetheredcollab.com/
• Phone: 3128343186
• Email: bettertogetheredcollab@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bettertogetheredcollab/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettertogetheredcollab
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BTEdCollab
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/better-together-educator-collaborative-chicago
• Other: https://soundcloud.com/breanna-adams-530868476

Image Credit:
Alyson Weier, Justine Hunter

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