Amy Brownlee

Cincinnati

Writer at Freelance

Teacher at @SycamoreSchools.

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Articles

Low Cost, Engaging STEM Programs for Elementary Students

2 weeks ago | edutopia.org | Amy Brownlee

For years, I enviously read articles and saw photos of schools with amazing elementary STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) programs. I dreamed of implementing something similar at my school but felt overwhelmed because I didn’t have the funds for equipment or the knowledge of where to start. After attending a workshop where an educator from another district shared her format for STEM stations and showed how you can begin with low-budget items, I was inspired.
A Villa Hills Manse That Once Housed a Legend

2 weeks ago | cincinnatimagazine.com | Amy Brownlee

Address: 835 Rosewood Dr., Villa HillsListing Price: $1,950,000Just 15 minutes from downtown Cincinnati sits a Northern Kentucky manse with an impressive origin story: Built in 1977, the address was the personal home of builder Matth Toebben of Toebben Properties. He founded his company in 1955, two years after he emigrated from Germany with just $10 in his pocket.
Living Big in Over-the-Rhine

1 month ago | cincinnatimagazine.com | Amy Brownlee

Address: 1325 Clay St. Over-the-RhinePrice: $1,390,0001880 was a big year for Cincinnati: The city had become the only municipality in the country to own an interstate railroad, and the very first freight train traveled from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, Tennessee, on February 21, 1880. The first passenger train followed just the next month. Cincinnati’s economy (and population) exploded, and the city’s iconic Over-the-Rhine neighborhood was at the center of it all.
A Cozy Home in the Woods of Indian Hill

Mar 6, 2025 | cincinnatimagazine.com | Amy Brownlee

Blue Cut Lane is an unassuming cul-de-sac around the corner from Indian Hill’s main north-south artery of Given Road; it contains just five properties. This two-story home, a customized 1978 build with a split personality, is one of them. The construction style is “transitional,” which means it’s inspired by traditional design elements while also containing telltale modern updates. The result is familiar and cohesive yet fresh and approachable.
Steve Seifried's Crash Course in Hand-Crafting Cymbals

Feb 18, 2025 | cincinnatimagazine.com | Amy Brownlee

Steve Seifried doesn’t know how many instruments he owns. The number surely runs into the hundreds, especially if you include the 60-odd cymbals crowding his living room. In fact, cymbals are packed and stacked all over Seifried’s house in Mason. They’re suspended beneath the staircase and in front of the windows. Loosies are slotted into open cases on the floor and piled on shelves in the corners. They fill out the drum kit that occupies the space where you’d usually find a couch.
Teacher Professional Development With Travel

Jan 28, 2025 | edutopia.org | Amy Brownlee

Finding professional development (PD) that’s impactful and engaging can be a challenge. But what if you could choose from a variety of compelling sessions and travel across the United States or even the world to learn with other educators? Many of these programs exist, and some provide partial or full funding for expenses. I have been fortunate to take part in two incredible travel-and-learn PD experiences.
A Blue Ash Home’s Ties to the Civil War

Nov 25, 2024 | cincinnatimagazine.com | Amy Brownlee

Address: 3849 Mohler Rd., Blue AshPrice: $499,900At first glance, you’d be forgiven for missing the historic significance of this Blue Ash house. Much of its square footage is in a multi-story 1968 addition that rambles down the hilly back lawn. But the shingled front section was built more than a hundred years earlier, in 1860, the year before the U.S. was plunged into the Civil War.
A Comeback in Clifton

Oct 14, 2024 | cincinnatimagazine.com | Amy Brownlee

Address: 210 Hosea Ave., CliftonList Price: $1,200,000People toss around the term “urban oasis,” but when a home in the middle of the Clifton Gaslight district has five bedrooms, a vine-wrapped double-wide front porch, and a small forest of mature trees out back, it’s an apt description. On the market again for the first time in 30-odd years, this 1906 brick Italianate-style house, built by local life insurance magnate George F.
A Home With Heart

Feb 28, 2024 | cincinnatimagazine.com | Amy Brownlee

2233 Burnet Ave., Mt. Auburn, $429,000Burnet Avenue stretches south from Avondale through the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and University campuses, past the famous Vernon Manor (The Beatles slept there!) and over Reading Road, finally ending in the neighborhood of Mt. Auburn, just a quick jaunt to the Art Climb Steps at Cincinnati Art Museum. It’s a busy street that runs through some of the greatest hits of uptown Cincinnati.
A Completely Custom Contemporary

Jan 16, 2024 | cincinnatimagazine.com | Amy Brownlee

3506 Holly Ridge Dr., Withamsville, $345,000It seems right and proper that this Clermont County house was custom-built by its one-and-only owner: The sprawling property hugs the hill behind Holly Ridge Drive and blends beautifully with the wooded landscape. The understated front entrance sits far back from the road, down a long drive flanked by a stone pathway that skirts around behind the home. The designer—who prefers to remain anonymous—planned the house’s layout over a few years of drafting.