Specials Teachers

Diane was our original Spanish teacher years ago and is returning for her fifth year in her current role as Spanish teacher at Awakening Seed. She has a B.A. in Fine Arts and Spanish, a minor in Latin-American Studies and a Post-Baccalaureate certificate in Elementary Education, all from ASU. Her goal is to teach Spanish in a meaningful way for all the students at the Seed. This will be her third year running the parent-child knitting group at the Seed. She looks forward to the comradery of the group while passing on handwork skills to the current generation of Seed students. She has two children, both Seedlings, one of whom is starting kindergarten this year.

This is Jay’s third year teaching music at the Seed. He graduated from Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri with degrees in music therapy and music education in 1992. Jay completed his music therapy internship at the Children’s Center for Neurodevelopmental Studies, a school for children with autism and other spectrum disorders. Jay provided music therapy services in the in-home setting, as well as in the classroom as an independent contractor.  Jay hopes to share with students his knowledge of music, but also hopes to share with students his knowledge of music and guide them in their use of music in their everyday lives. When he isn’t working, Jay enjoys reading and spending time with his family, including his wife Christine, daughters, son and grandson.

Mindy Bender was born and raised in Arizona and has always had a passion for working with children. At fifteen Mindy began assistant teaching at her family’s dance studio and by eighteen was teaching and choreographing for her own dance classes. In 2003, as a senior at Mountain Pointe High School, she volunteered her afternoons working in classrooms at an elementary school within the Kyrene School district. Over the next few years she worked with Lifetime Fitness to promote physical activity through youth fitness and sports classes, swim lessons and summer camps. In 2009, she became a certified Yoga Instructor through the Southwestern Institute of Healing Arts and early 2010 earned an additional certification in Family Yoga and Kids Yoga through Rainbow Kids Yoga. Mindy is extremely excited to be a part of the Awakening Seed Staff and looks foward to sharing her love for physical activity with her students.