Minnesota Adventist Education Department welcomed several teachers to the conference family at the In-service Training held Aug. 2-5. These teachers were able to meet their colleagues in the natural summer beauty of North Star Camp at Brainerd, Minnesota. Several of these teachers have moved a great distance to come to Minnesota, leaving family and friends behind, but the warm and sunny weather proved irresistible! As one noted on Facebook: “Minnesota is making it really hard for us to hate it!”
Dr. Stuart Tyner immersed both teachers and pastors in the wonder of God’s grace at both morning and evening worship experiences. While pastors continued their studies with Dr. Tyner, teachers studied enhanced techniques for presenting Reading and Language Arts under the tutelage of Dr. Krystal Bishop, head of the Department of Teacher Education at Southern University. Teachers were pleased by Dr. Bishop’s focus on teaching children to embrace the beauty and grandeur of scriptural thoughts. They were also shown the importance and how-to of maintaining rigor in these central classroom disciplines.
We are happy to introduce the following new teachers to our school and church communities:
Andy Carlson (Georgia) and Jesmarie Iverson (West Virginia) will be teaching grades 1-8 at Minnetonka Christian Academy with Devonett Wilson (Minneapolis) serving as a part-time teaching assistant (Bible and Language Arts) in the upper grade classroom.
Christal Matsomuto (Hawaii) will be teaching K-8 at Oak Street Christian School in Brainerd.
Rachelle Nelson (Nebraska) will be opening the new school in Blackberry with six students in Grades K-6. She is a 2015 graduate of Union College.
Chad Dungan (Texas; Tennessee) will be the 5-8 teacher at Capital City Adventist Christian School.
We welcome each of these teachers new to our conference with joy and thanksgiving, praying that the 2015-16 school year will be the best ever!
Connie McCormick is education superintendent for the Minnesota Conference.
