Some things are just meant to be. One could argue that Seth Brown and Kadence
Bazor Brown returning home to teach at Marietta is one of those things.
Kadence, the daughter of Josh Bazor, who’s been the FFA advisor at Marietta since
forever, was running the halls at MHS since she could run. As a tiny, curly-headed cutie,
Kadence came to school with her dad in the late evenings to pick up his mail in the high
school building or catch up on work, generally spoiled rotten by Josh’s colleagues.
And Kadence’s husband Seth, the son of longtime primary school teacher Mischelle
Brown and former MHS science teacher Charles Brown also grew up knocking around
on campus. Both were raised, not only by their parents, but by the school family at
Marietta Public Schools.
When they were old enough, they started school, and both are MHS graduates, Seth in
2020 and Kadence in 2022.
After that, came college. Seth started at Murray State College, where he earned his
associate’s degree, then eventually ended up at Oklahoma State University, where he
graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 2024. He currently holds alternative certification
in Biology, but is working toward certification in Chemistry and Physical Science. Seth is
completing his first year of teaching at Stillwater High School where he teaches Biology.
Kadence took advantage of concurrent college classes while still in high school. After
graduating from MHS, she enrolled at Oklahoma State University as a sophomore and
finished her degree in just three years. She recently graduated with a degree in
Agricultural Education and holds traditional certification in ag ed, having passed all her
certification tests.
Between high school and college graduations, the couple, who got to know each other
during middle school and dated in high school, got married. They also had a child,
Theo, who’s one.
Most teachers fall into one of two camps when they talk about the possibility of
becoming teachers themselves: they either absolutely don’t want to do it, or they
absolutely do. There’s little middle ground.
“If you’d asked me at any time up until a year after high school, I would’ve told you I’d
never be a teacher,” Seth laughed. “But then something changed, and it seemed like the
right fit, and here I am. I just felt like it’s what I need to do, what I’m inspired and driven
to do.”
Kadence fell into the other camp.
“Throughout high school and even after I graduated, I knew I’d either be a vet or an ag
teacher,” she said. “I enrolled in college as a pre-vet major. My first year I was taking a
horticulture class. That was the year that Marietta put in its greenhouse. Dad was
struggling a little getting started and I came to help him.
“While I was here, I did an impromptu lesson in the greenhouse, and I fell in love with
teaching. I went back to see my advisor and changed my major to ag ed. I love
teaching. It’s all I want to do, and I’m so excited to be doing it.”
And after their hiring was approved during the regular meeting of the board of education
on Monday, May 5, the Browns are coming back home to teach at Marietta, beginning
in the 2025-26 school year.
For Kadence, Marietta will be her first job. She will be the district’s second ag advisor
and will be heading up the horticulture program, speech teams, and career development
teams. Seth will be and middle and/or high school science teacher, depending on how
the schedule perks out, and perhaps will have some junior high coaching duties, also.
“I super-excited about teaching at Marietta,” Kadence asserted. “I see where Mr. Oakley
wants to take the school and I like what he’s trying to do. He wants to emphasize
academics and to gear things toward academic excellence, but at the same time he’s a
big supporter of FFA and other extra-curricular activities.”
Seth, on the other hand, was a little unsure about teaching at Marietta, but not for
reasons you might think.
“I feel like there are going to be some extremely high expectations for me,” he said. "I
know that I’m going to have big shoes to fill after my dad taught Biology here for so
many years. He’s a tough act to follow. But at the same time, I’m ready for it.”
Both of the Browns, who are go-getters like their parents, have all kinds of plans for
their curriculum and the programs they want to invest in.
Kadence has programs that she wants to develop. Within five years, she wants to have
at least one successful team in career development or leadership development
competitive events. She wants to host a speech contest. And within her career—which
she hopes to spend in Marietta—she wants to see a student cross the stage at state
convention in each of the categories where students can earn individual awards.
While Seth is a little worried about trying to fill his dad’s shoes, Kadence isn’t. At all.
“When I was in high school, I was on the officer team and we worked well together,” she
insisted. “And we’ll be working together some, but mostly, we’ll be in our own
specialties. I’ll be working with speech, horticulture, and career development, and he’ll
continue to dominate in the ag mech, just like he’s done for years. I’ll do my thing, and
he’ll do his. We’ll work together when we need to.”
Seth realizes that he probably won’t see his mom too much since she’s in the
elementary, but knows he’ll have students who will know her. Despite that, he’s
anticipating next year for several reasons.
“I’m looking forward to being in a smaller school and knowing my students,” he said.
“And I want to be able to develop my own curriculum and to add more activities of my
own. Right now, my curriculum is already structured and set up for me, so I really can’t
change it.”
There’s one thing, though, that the Browns are in complete and total agreement about.
They’ve been away for a while and are ready to be back.
“We’ve started our own family, and we realize how hard it is not to have an extended
support system,” Kadence stated. “And really, we were just homesick and wanted to be
back with the people we love and who love us. What better way to do that than to invest
in the school system that gave us so many opportunities.”
You see what I mean? Some things are just meant to be.