Rondi Aastrup

Writer

Rondi Aastrup has been teaching English and Journalism since 1978.  A graduate of Atlantic Union College (B.A. ’77) and Andrews University (M.A. ’83), she has traveled extensively around the world with family, friends, and students.  She enjoys reading, writing, traveling, photography, listening to and playing music, and hanging out with family and friends.  Her blog (www.raastrup.blogspot.com) touches on all of those topics as well as her love for nature.
Formerly principal and English teacher at Greater Boston Academy, Rondi is the English teacher at Thunderbird Adventist Academy in Scottsdale, Arizona, doing what she loves best: connecting with young people through reading, writing, and learning. Collaborating with her colleagues is also a special joy, especially when that collaboration results in a journey to discovery and excellence with their students.

Ashley Creech

Writer

Ashley Creech is an enthusiastic educator originally from the Kettering, OH area. She is a recent graduate of Southern Adventist University (SAU), having completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts Education, Summa Cum Laude. Ashley is very committed to lifelong education and leadership. She served as President-elect (2006-2007) and President (2007-2008) for SAU’s branch of Association for Childhood Education International (A.C.E.I.). While performing these duties, she worked with the United Way to open a “Born Learning Trail” for the children of the Chattanooga, TN area. Ashley was also a dedicated member of SAU’s Teacher Education Council (TEC), helping determine School of Education and Psychology goals and standards, as well as interviewing Student Teacher candidates.

Ashley looks forward to continuing her education, most likely pursuing a Masters degree in childhood literacy. She is engaged to Travis Sisson, a soon-to-be Religious and Physical Education graduate, and is excited about their shared ministry in the Kansas City, KS area.

Pauline Evans

Writer

Pauline is a highly motivated educational professional with diverse experiences in education and a drive for excellence. She is committed to professional and personal development as well as cultural diversity.

Pauline hails from the beautiful island of Jamaica. She has been a teacher since September 1994. A graduate of the University of the West Indies with a Bachelor Degree in Education (1999), and, Andrews University with a Masters in Educational Administration and Leadership (2003). Presently, she serves as the Assistant Principal of the Brooklyn Temple SDA Elementary School, Brooklyn, New York. She also teaches  third and fourth grades. Her deepest desire is to positively impact the lives of the students who are entrusted to her care each year.

Scott Fellows

Writer

Scott Fellows has served the Seventh-day Adventist Church for the last 25 years in teaching, administrative, and pastoral roles. His first love is teaching Bible. He currently teaches English I-IV and Bible III at South Lancaster Academy in Massachusetts.

Enil Hubbard

Writer

Enil Hubbard has resided in Massachusetts for 18 years and is a graduate from AtlanticUnion College with a B.S. degree in Business Administration.  She has worked in the Human Resources industry for over 10 years, though currently is a stay at home mom for her son and daughter, Clark and Elora.  She met her husband Derek at AtlanticUnion College and has been married for 14 years.  In her spare time she enjoys crafts, rubber stamping, traditional and digital scrapbooking, camping and hiking.

Kim Kaiser

Writer

Kim Kaiser has taught a variety of grades in church schools as well as students with special needs in public middle and high schools. Currently she is serving as the associate superintendent for the New York Conference, responsible for elementary education. Kim enjoys writing multi-grade curricular materials for small schools, finding creative solutions to meet individual student needs and supporting teachers. In her spare time she enjoys knitting socks and loves to read children’s literature.

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.

Laura Mayne

Writer

Laura Mayne is a highly motivated educator who is currently employed by the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists as the principal of the Brooklyn Seventh-day Adventist School. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Home Economics and Family Studies from Andrews University and a Master of Science degree in Elementary Education from Hunter College, CUNY.Laura is an excellent teacher and administrator. She is a recipient of the Zappara Excellence in Teaching Award and a multiple recipient of the Who’s Who Among American Teachers Award. Laura has served on numerous boards and professional committees including the 2001 Language Arts, North American Division Summer Committee, the Grades 5 – 8, Bible Steering Textbook Committee and the Atlantic Union Technology Committee. She currently serves on the Greater New York conference K -12 Board of Education and the Atlantic Union Teacher Bulletin Committee. She is an advocate for Adventist Christian Education and believes that every child should be taught of God. Laura is married to Albert. They have three adult children, Boyd, Raquel and Geneva and two grandsons, Matthew and Justin.

Jacalyn Nosek

Writer

Jacalyn Nosek, Director of the TEACH TO REACH curriculum series, is an Academic Therapist/Family Consultant/Tutor, who lives and practices in central Massachusetts. Based on her experience in the fields of Physiology, Biopsychology, and Education, she has been teaching/training, mentoring, speaking, consulting, trouble-shooting, supervising, designing, planning, writing, mediating, negotiating, team-building…well, you get the idea…for nearly thirty years.

Jacalyn’s genuine passion for helping adolescents succeed, combined with a remarkable ability to translate complex information/directions into easy-to-follow, concrete steps, led to the creation of a uniquely holistic, creative, and compassionate study skills program for the students she tutors. The unique program is based on a knowledge of physiology and psychology that looks at how we learn, store, and process information. It’s a holistic approach that uses techniques that involve all five senses and all areas of the brain. These new approaches transform students from passive learners to active, involved participants.

David and Max is the first book in Jacalyn’s TEACH TO REACH curriculum series. The series is dedicated to fiction and non-fiction books that review history, while leading students to talk about critical, current social issues.

Ulises Poyser

Writer

Ulises Poyser is one of those rare people who loves math. Teaching high school-level to college-level math, in both private and public schools, has been a passion of his for over 15 years. Currently he is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at Atlantic Union College. A special interest of his is to teach math using simple, easy-to-understand terms, that takes the fear and anxiety out of learning math at any level.

Ulises grew up in a military home, having to move frequently from state to state. He has lived in Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, and Maine. Most of his years have been spent in Massachusetts, which is where he met his wife, Wendy. The two have been married for 15 years and have two young children, Lucas (age 7) and Jessica (age 4). Both of whom Ulises has taught to memorize some Calculus derivatives. (Starting 'em young!)

Tiffany Rustad

Writer

Tiffany Rustad is a recent elementary education graduate of Southern Adventist University. Working for the Education Department at Southern Asia Pacific Division (SSD) during academy to make past issues of The Journal of Adventist Education online helped to solidify her dream to become a teacher as she read about the great and exciting things teachers are doing in their classrooms. She is excited about starting her career this next year as an English teacher in Nepal at the Adventist grade school at Scheer Memorial Hospital. Teaching has always been her passion, and she wants to use it to reach students around the world.

Having spent all of grade school and high school in the mission field, both in Hong Kong and the Philippines, missions are very important to Tiffany. She would like to eventually return to the mission field on a more permanent basis to share God’s love with His children in other countries.

Summer Schleifer

Summer Schleifer recently graduated from Southern Adventist University with a Liberal Arts Bachelors degree. She loves teaching children, whether it is in the classroom, in a swimming pool, or on a ski slope. Her goal in life is to bring others to Christ and to hasten His soon return. She gives Bible studies to people in the community regularly, and finds great joy in seeing God change their lives. Having had the experience of being a missionary with her parents in Europe as a child, she hopes to serve as a full time missionary overseas.

Marsha Serafin

Writer

BS, Physical Education, Loma Linda University, La Sierra Campus; MA, Physical Education, University of Denver; MA English, UC Irvine.

In her thirty-first year at San Diego Academy, Marsha Serafin has a full plate with an entree of registrar and half of the English Department along with sides of U.S. History and Yearbook. When she is not at work, she can be found walking her lab mix Riddley or traveling somewhere to take pictures.

Dana Waterman

Writer

Dana is currently raising her two girls, tutoring students, writing curriculum for North American Division Teacher Bulletin, and substitute teaching. Dana received her B.S. degree in Elementary Education from Atlantic Union College and her M.Ed. in Teacher Leadership with an emphasis in Curriculum from the University of Southern Maine. She taught grades five and six for six years at Pine Tree Academy and was a student elementary teacher in the Marshall Islands. She enjoys reading, writing, researching, and spending summers on the lake swimming and boating with her husband and two daughters.