She Taught, She Saw, She Loved: Remembering Cynthia Brotzman

The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Window Panes Home and Garden.

BAR HARBOR—Some people inspire others to learn. Some people inspire others to love. Some people inspire others to triumph and celebrate when they do.

Some people inspire others to make their view of the world a little bigger, a little broader, and to actually know where every country was on that world and maybe throw in the basics of Chinese calligraphy, too.

Cynthia (Sakovics Collins) Brotzman was the kind of special person who did all these things, every day, over and over again, for decades.

Mrs. Brotzman, a teacher to many who grew up in Bar Harbor in the last twenty-eight years, died earlier this month.

“We are devastated by her passing,” said Dr. Heather Weir Webster, principal of Conners Emerson School. “She was an amazing teacher that brought history to life for her students through her innovative projects and engaging story telling. She was no-nonsense and would tell it how she saw it.

“Though she had retired several years ago, she still came to the school to volunteer and just to say hello. She was actually here last month to watch the graduating seniors walk the halls of CES to the cheers of all the younger students. If you ask her former students about her, they will all have their own funny story about her ending in ‘I just love Mrs. Brotzman.’ She was also an amazing colleague that will be truly missed by all that knew her.”

According to her obituary, Mrs. Brotzman lost consciousness, suddenly, on June 27 and remained in that state until July 3, when it was decided to remove life support. Friends and family surrounded her as she passed.

But not all her friends, there isn’t a room quite that big.

Teachers impact students. That’s not unusual. Mrs. Brotzman definitely had an impact.

Part of what was special about Mrs. Brotzman was how she did that, which she did in Bar Harbor from 1997 until 2022 when she retired. She taught, fifth, seventh and, eighth graders at Conners Emerson.

“Most of what I remember from middle school is geography,” said former student Nora Hubbell. “During the first week of seventh grade, Mrs. Brotzman handed out a map of the world, unlabeled, without any borders between countries or continents. This was the first of these maps that we would fill in over the next two years as amateur cartographers, labeling mountain ranges, rivers, cities, and countries.

“The first lesson that she taught us was coloring and shading, emphasizing that we weren’t in kindergarten anymore and she wouldn’t stand for haphazard shading (her ‘what not to do’ example resembled a twenty-pointed star).”

Hubbell added, “This early impression was indicative of the kind of educator, but more importantly, the kind of person that she was. In retrospect, she was the perfect middle school teacher. She understood that middle schoolers desperately want to be seen as grown up, as whole people, and was willing to engage with that want while pulling no punches when it came to the expectations that would go along with it.

“At one point, she told us that as adults she expected us to be able to do basic arithmetic, and if she ever saw us pulling out a calculator while in line for the bank, she would be furious.”

Seeing people while educating them is part of what made Mrs. Botzman special. Respecting them? That’s another.

She inspired countless funny stories from students and colleagues and friends. She also inspired love.

"I’m deeply saddened by the loss of our friend and colleague, Cindy. It’s hard to believe, especially having seen her so recently—energetic and joyful, proudly sharing pictures of her new cat. Cindy was both a friend and mentor,” said teacher Jaylene Roths. “From my earliest days as an ed tech, I always felt welcome in her classroom. She had a gift for meeting every student exactly where they were and loved them fiercely. Her deep knowledge of history was matched only by her dedication to making it come alive for her students.”

Roths now teaches in Mrs. Brotzman’s former room at the school, a space rich with linkages, much like Mrs. Brotzman.

“We shared many connections—our Hungarian heritage, a tie to Bethlehem, PA, and a love of beautiful jewelry—and I will always treasure those conversations. Cindy generously welcomed my ideas and shared her classroom as a collaborative space. Since her retirement, I’ve felt truly honored to continue teaching in her room, where I keep small reminders of her presence and her commitment to kids at the center of everything,” Roths said. “Cindy will go down in history as one of CES’s most beloved teachers. Her spirit and impact will live on in all of us who had the privilege to know her."

Though she wasn’t always officially a teacher, Mrs. Brotzman was always teaching, even while growing up, and even while working as a welder and a laborer (one of two women) at the Roll Foundry at the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. She taught purposefully in the classroom, but also by example in her life.

She forged a way for women with those occupations, and she forged a way for students, too.

“She was also pedant to the highest degree. She was a harsh grader, but there was no shame attached to it, no embarrassment in not knowing, only identification of error. As my friends and I have shared recollections of her in the past few weeks, we’ve remembered different details,” Hubbell said. “I remember a rant about the ‘Sahara desert’ and ‘Himalaya mountains’ where she made clear to us that she would not accept the anglicization of place names and would dock points for not calling them ‘the Sahara’ and ‘the Himalayas.’ Another friend remembers a rant about the hard ‘C’ sound in words like ‘arctic’ and ‘nuclear,’ with the [implication/impetus] being ‘don’t sound like a moron when you’re not.’

“She delivered these declarations loudly and bluntly, making it clear that there was no room for negotiation, but I never thought for a second that she wouldn’t go to bat for any or all of her students if need be. A friend remembered that she told us we were allowed to call her at home for two reasons: if we were about to get in a car with a drunk driver and needed a ride, or if we could see the Northern Lights on MDI.”

Mrs. Brotzman was warm; she cared. The way people lived in other places, their cultures, fascinated her. She traveled to Germany, Belgium, China, and Australia. She often traveled with her students, showing them the world and all the ways to live within it.

She very much lived within it, crafting and reading, creating and writing, teaching, caregiving, and sharing knowledge and sometimes getting a bit lost. She wasn’t the best with directions.

School Superintendent Mike Zboray called Mrs. Brotzman’s passing, “a surprising and tremendous loss to our school community. She was a master teacher who was passionate about the role of the social sciences in developing the hearts and minds of her students. She had a passion for geography and ensured that her students knew where they were on this grand planet, and they could locate any other country in the world after their time in her class. If you were to ask her students where Lesotho was, you'd be sure to get the correct answer!”

Those who weren’t lucky enough to learn from Mrs. Brotzman can know that Lesotho is a landlocked country in South Africa.

“Cindy often joined me on the eighth-grade class trip, rafting down the Kennebec. She would stay behind in the lodge, correcting the infamous countries test, while I went down the river. Students would return, and she would call them over to share their score and feedback, ensuring they understood the world they inhabited,” Zboray said. “Even after retirement, she continued to share her expertise, an educator through and through!”

According to her obituary, animals played a big role in Mrs. Brotzman’s life.

“She loved animals, in particular dogs, having had many beloved beagles, and golden retrievers. She had pet birds throughout her life…and in her last year, a cat,” it reads. That cat is Henry.

Many of those animals, she shared with her husband, John.

Her sharing, her love, her worry, her praise, her lessons, and her seeing where always authentic and level and true.

“She had a talent for giving critique without making it feel as if she was punching down. As I attempted to find my voice as a writer, she was the person that I went to with my creative writing. It was 2009, Harry Potter and Twilight were at the forefront of my middle school mind, and my writing was certainly reflective of this. In spite of this, she only ever gave me thoughtful critique. She never lambasted the subject material (in retrospect, this alone deserves a sainthood), focusing only on the prose itself, striking a balance between the ways that I could improve while also commending me for the things I did well, “ Hubbell said.

That balance? It’s part of what made her special—and part of her lasting impact on all the students she taught and all the staff who taught with her.

Some people spend their whole lives trying to make a difference—a real, authentic difference. Mrs. Brotzman simply did.

Some people strive to see others as whole humans. Mrs. Brotzman just did.

Some people long to be fascinated by the world, its cultures, and its intricacies. Mrs. Brotzman just was.

She did. She saw. She was. And the difference she made? The impact? It was enormous and it continues.

---

Follow us on Facebook. And as a reminder, you can easily view all our past stories and press releases here.

If you’d like to donate to help support us, you can, but no pressure! Just click here (about how you can give) or here (a direct link), which is the same as the button below.

If you’d like to sponsor the Bar Harbor Story, you can! Learn more here.