– A Weekly Spotlight on the Teachers in Our Community
Meet Kara Brueggen! A kindergarten teacher at Kingfisher’s Gilmour Elementary School. Just across the Cimarron River in Dover, Oklahoma is where Kara Sandefur grew up. She spent her time playing every sport under the sun (not literally but pretty close). She was an avid basketball player and a part of the 2001, 2002, and 2003 Class B Girls State Championship teams, and the 2004 Class B Girls State Runner-Up team. Kara also made Basketball All-State and was a McDonald’s All-American. When she wasn’t dribbling a ball down the court, you could find her playing softball, running track, or participating in a field event. Kara graduated from Dover High School in 2004 and continued her education at Southwestern Oklahoma State (SWOSU) in Weatherford. She graduated with her Bachelor’s in Elementary Education in 2008.
When asked when she met her husband Kara replied, “Way back when it was cool to cruise Main Street and hang out in the Walmart parking lot.” In 2008 Kara married her husband of 16 years, Greg Brueggen, a 2002 Kingfisher High School graduate. Together they have two children; one daughter, Addyson, who is a freshman at Kingfisher High School; and one son, Beau, who is a 6th grader at the Kingfisher Upper Elementary School.
Kara started her teaching career at her alma mater, Dover, upon her graduation from college. She taught kindergarten there for 4 years before coming to Gilmour Elementary where she’s now been for 13 years. During her first two years at Gilmour, she taught 1st grade due to other teachers retiring but kindergarten is definitely her niche. Kara enjoys everything about teaching but her favorite parts about it are building bonds with students and seeing them have those “light bulb” moments.
In her second year at Kingfisher Schools, Kara received the distinguished honor of Gilmour Teacher of the Year in 2013. She received the same title again this past 2023-2024 school year and was awarded the District Teacher of the Year the same year. Kara also takes on the responsibility of STARS Site Coordinator for Gilmour, a position that is new this year with the expansion of the STARS program. Kara absolutely loves Gilmour and the supportive and friendly staff she gets to work with each and every day.
When she’s not at school with someone else’s kids, she’s busy chasing hers around to their respective sporting events but she wouldn’t have it any other way. Her family are huge sports lovers, and big Sooners and Thunder fans. When Kara is able to get some time to herself she enjoys being outdoors, building things, painting, and loves a good craft. In fact, face painting is a reward in her classroom. How cool is that?! Talking about making memorable moments that will last a lifetime.
Kara was destined to be a teacher and a good one at that. Her mother taught for 32 years at Dover and her sister was a teacher also. When asked how she knew she wanted to be a teacher there was no reply. Growing up around educators it was like second nature to her and teaching just made sense.
