‘The gift of wonder’: Naperville Central teacher encourages students to solve global issues

It seems like someone who spent his early childhood in a town called Bad Axe might be pretty tough.

In the case of Naperville Central High School social studies teacher Seth Brady, there’s some truth to that.

Moving to Mount Prospect from rural Michigan as an eighth grader, when Brady was a senior at Prospect High School he finished fifth in Class AA wrestling at 189 pounds. As a University of Illinois heavyweight, Brady qualified three times for the NCAA tournament.

He offered more than brawn. While attaining the first of his two master’s degrees in social science, in 1997 Brady earned a Big Ten Medal of Honor, the conference’s highest academic award for a student-athlete.

Keen intellect and a curiosity for world affairs helped set the stage for where Brady is today. Once determined to put opponents down on the wrestling mat, the 22-year Naperville Central educator’s mission is to raise students up.

In February, the Illinois State Board of Education named Brady, 51, a regional teacher of the year for the Far West suburbs. He’s eligible for 2026 Illinois Teacher of the Year, announced this spring, and will be among those honored at an April 18 awards banquet in Normal.

“He basically was my guide and peer. He didn’t treat me like a ‘teacher and student,’ he treated me like a colleague,” said 2025 Naperville Central graduate Michael Kim, a freshman at Iowa State University, who nominated Brady for the ISBE award.

“What makes him a good teacher is he listened to every student. Not only did he care about our school work, he also cared about us personally. He would ask us questions outside of school, like how our day was, before starting our lesson.

“He was an amazing teacher, and I respect him,” Kim said.

That respect goes two ways. Through the Illinois Global Scholar Program implemented by Brady and fellow Naperville Central social studies teacher Randy Smith through a 2016 Illinois law, students have the freedom to develop an actionable question related to a global issue of their own choosing, collaborate with experts on the ground, and develop artifacts that they take into action to affect change.

“Framing a question as actionable — in other words knowing you’re going to have to do something about it — changes a student’s orientation to the learning. It’s not just knowledge ‘for my teacher.’ This is for the world, and I have to be able to really do something with it,” Brady said.

“Because we’re on a similar plane in terms of learning, in my mind there’s no way to do it without a relationship that’s pretty level, too. I think students just feel really seen.

“That’s another part of this learning — I realized if I’m talking all the time I’m wasting most of the brain power in that room,” Brady said.

As project director of Illinois Global Scholar, Brady oversees a certificate which awards a certificate of merit on the transcript to students who demonstrate high levels of global competence.

The certificate program and the culminating capstone performance assessment was developed by Brady and his colleagues and has been adopted by 14 Illinois schools and a Michigan school district.

In Capstone, a student identifies an actionable question related to a global issue in a specific place, and researches it. The student then develops an artifact that must be reviewed by at least two “on the ground” experts who provide feedback before the student uses the artifact to create measurable change.

One student wondered how to prevent a future Ebola outbreak in Sierra Leone. After interviewing physicians and hospital volunteers in the African nation, she created a game for Sierra Leone schoolchildren in which they acted as doctors who must decide how to deal with an outbreak.

“She … was able to determine that playing that game changed attitudes and behaviors about Ebola,” Brady said.

Another student entered Capstone with a vague idea about fashion. She wound up creating a public service announcement about organized labor that was distributed in Bangladesh, in the Bengali language.

“To me, that change from, like, ‘I just am interested in fashion’ to, ‘You’re engaged in the Bangladeshi labor movement’ is crazy. That’s amazing,” Brady said.

“Does she go on to be an activist? Probably not. But she definitely enters the world with a different lens, a different perspective — understanding the connectivity of things in the world, and the injustice.”

Currently teaching world cultures, peace and conflict studies, and Capstone, Brady also was a 2015 finalist for ISBE teacher of the year.

It’s among wide-ranging honors, fellowships, publications and projects that include a 2017 Prairie Rivers Network citation as steward of the year, a 2022 National Council for Social Studies Diversity and Inclusion Award for religious literacy, and a 2024 Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence.

“One of his great gifts is the gift of wonder, and that he has found creative methods to engage students in very different ways in his classroom,” said Naperville Central Principal Jackie Thornton.

“I guess the overarching theme of that is that the agency in Mr. Brady’s classroom is in the hands of students, not in his hands. He has developed courses and units and lessons that shift the responsibility for the inquiry to students.”

Brady now lives in Naperville with his wife, Allison. Children Luke and Grace attend the University of Illinois, and their oldest child, Dean, is in the Navy, stationed near Seattle.

Family, travel, gardening — and seeing his students expand their horizons — are among his main interests.

“Obviously it’s not like a parent relationship,” Brady said, “but when you see your children succeed after all the preparation you’ve done, but then it’s them, it doesn’t get any better. That’s the best part.”

Curriculum vitae: Seth Brady

School: Naperville Central High School

Occupation: Social studies teacher; project director, Illinois Global Scholar; Inclusive Inquiry for Social Science, Illinois State Board of Education; religious literary standards and curriculum writer.

Residence: Naperville

Age: 51

Education: Prospect High School; Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Philosophy, University of Illinois; Master of Science in Kinesiology (Social Science of Physical Activity), University of Illinois; Master of Arts in Social Science, University of Chicago.

Previous work experience: Assistant survey director, Abt Associates, Inc., Chicago.

Tips from Top Teacher Seth Brady

1. The human should always comes first — keep relationships and humanity at the center of your teaching practice.

2. Agency matters — when you set students free and support them, they do amazing things.

2. Utilize the assets and wisdom found in your own school and community.

3. Education is growth, and growth is life — seek out new perspectives, approaches, and learning.

4. Student belonging is essential, not just for classroom culture but for cognitive development.

5. If things don't go well, assume it is you. It might not be, but assigning blame won't make you a better teacher, and there is always another way to do things.