Shelley Bacon

Shelley's continued passion for service is fueled by frequent trips to Africa and regular service at home. She has a strong interest and extensive experience in distance learning and integration of technology. Shelley and her husband Barry have four grown children and two grandchildren, with whom they spend as much time as possible.

Martha Aastrup Ban

Coordinator | Editor | Writer

Martha Aastrup Ban is both the editor of Teacher Bulletin and a writer. She has been affiliated with Teacher Bulletin for well over 25 years – the last 10 serving as editor. She is a third-generation educator. Knowing that she wanted to be a teacher, her teaching “career” began in 8th grade as a tutor for 1st grade students learning to read.

Although her Master’s degree is in Education – with an emphasis in Reading, her educational emphasis has migrated to the history and technology area. She loves to teach using anything techy. She has taught all ages – from kindergarten through college. While she loves teaching all ages, she loves grades 5-8 the most. It’s a great age group – and has great content to teach.

Aside from her work with Teacher Bulletin, Martha is currently self-employed. She contracts with Griggs International Academy for webmaster, course development and online teaching and the North American Division TDEC for an assortment of responsibilities.

Martha’s interests are technology, sharing ways to integrate technology, camping, gardening, model railroading, reading, and being with family. She and her husband, Gerry, have been married for 27 years. Gerry is principal at Adventist Christian Academy in Charlotte, NC. They have two children: Kaitlynn, a graduate of Atlantic Union College with a business administration finance/accounting major and Christopher, an incoming freshman to Southern University for a major in computer programming. They live with a menagerie of 3 cats, 2 dogs, fish, and a horse. Martha and Gerry live in Mint Hill, NC.

Damali Boston

Damali Boston is currently the Religion Teacher/ Chaplain at Greater New York Academy. She loves the Lord with all of her heart. She is a graduate of Andrews University where she obtained a dual degree in Religion/ Communication. Young people are her passion and by the grace of God it is her goal that every young person she comes in contact with will see that living a practical Christian life is much easier than they thought.

Carol Campbell

North American Division

Associate Director of Secondary/Accreditation

Prior to coming to the NAD Office of Education, the author taught in the Education Department of Southwestern Adventist University.   She has also served as an elementary teacher and an union associate director of elementary education.  Her interests include reading, traveling, and gardening.

Catherine Farkas

Catherine Farkas has been a Principal/Teacher and Teacher, both multi-grades and single grades, since graduating from Andrews University with a B.S. in Elementary Education and General Science Majors. She also graduated from Andrews with a M.A. in Education, Curriculum and Instruction for Elementary Education. She has taught all grades from 1st through 8th. Currently she is teaching at Middletown Christian School of Seventh-day Adventists in Middletown, NY. Catherine has taken additional classes in Singapore Math and has served on the NAD Math Curriculum Committee. She enjoys teaching all subjects but particularly sees that math is a special organizational plan that God has created for mankind to help us understand Him better. She is the Chair of the Curriculum Committee for the Greater New York Conference of S.D.A. and serves on the Atlantic Union Conference Curriculum Committee

Gavin Gaynair

Writer

Gavin, a graduate of Oakwood University, holds a B.A. in Biology Education. He has spent two years overseas teaching as a volunteer missionary in Karnataka, India. Currently, he heads the science department at Greater Boston Academy. To Mr. Gaynair, true education is the harmonious development of mind, body, and spirit. His desire is to see his students grow not only in knowledge of subject content, but to see the subject content lead his students into a deeper understanding of and relationship with their Creator.

Rebecca F. Kinley Fraker

Writer

Rebecca K. Fraker lives at Union Springs Academy in NY with her husband Steven Fraker.  She has three children and one grandchild. Most of her career has been spent with multi-grade education and she has taught every age through 12th grade.  She is greatly interested in everything and is always eager to learn new things.  This past year she has explored the world of bones and has started a collection of animal skulls, bones, and teeth to examine with her eager, enthusiastic students.

Davenia Lea Jones

North American Division

Associate Director of Early Childhood Education

Davenia Jones Lea, Ph.D. is currently the Associate Director of Early Childhood Education for the Seventh-day Adventist Church, North American Division, Office of Education. She has over 20 years of experience as an early interventionist where she provided services to children with disabilities and their families as well as experience in higher education. Additionally, she has worked substantially in the field of culturally responsive teaching practices as well as effective programming for adolescent parents and their children.

She is a graduate of University of Maryland at College Park and her research expertise includes building effective relationships within families, culturally responsive practices, and effective communication and collaboration strategies. She is published in the Journal of Early Intervention, she is a contributing author to Culture in Special Education by Maya Kalyanpur and Beth Harry (2012) and has made extensive presentations at local, national, and international professional conferences such as the Association for Educational Research and (AERA), The Division of Early Childhood (DEC) and the International Conference on Education. She has also been an invited participant in the Seventh-day Adventist Integration of Faith and Learning Seminar in Thailand, a presenter for the promotion of Multicultural Education in Capetown, South Africa and for the promotion of inclusion for the SDA North Caribbean Teacher Conference in the Dominican Republic.

Davenia is very active in her church and community as well. Davenia is the wife of Derrick Lea and they have been married for seventeen years and they have two children, Jonathan and Morgan. Next to her relationship with God, her family is her greatest joy.

Sherina Phillips

Sherina was born and raised on the island of Barbados and has been through the Adventist educational system for nearly all her life. She has a Bachelor in Science Degree in Biology with a minor in Chemistry from Andrews University. She is currently pursuing a Masters in Forensic DNA and Serology. Sherina started teaching in 2003 and has taught both High School Mathematics and Biology. After relocating to New York, she has since been at Hebron SDA Bilingual School in Brooklyn, NY, having taught 6th-8th grade science, 3rd grade all subjects and is presently serving as the 5th grade teacher.

Sherina believes that if a student is bored in class, then their learning will be affected and hence she wants to not only impact students in the classroom through textbooks, but also draw on her many years working with Pathfinders to make the classroom more lively and entertaining while still teaching the fundamental core education. Learning about math, science and God should never be boring. School is meant to be fun.

Mathew Smith

Mathew Smith, a native New Yorker, is a proud product of Christian Education. He is a recipient of a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physical Education and Health and a Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Atlantic Union College. His experience as an educator spans more than thirty-five years as he is athletic director at Northeastern Academy. He has served as Head Commissioner for the Northeastern Conference Senior Basketball League for thirty-three years and holds membership with both The International Approved Association of Basketball Officials and Sports United Boro-wide Officials' Alliance. Mr. Smith's love for young people has expanded in "off-the-court" activities. He has sponsored educational tours for students in areas of Central America, Europe, and Asia. He is married to the former Patricia Campinha and together they have one daughter, Kira Alyssa.