I'm a 29-year-veteran of a middle school science classroom. An Eagle Scout and veteran science teacher, I was born in Tucson in 1958 but consider Sierra Vista, Arizona, my hometown. I have a B.S. from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and an M.A. from United States International University in San Diego. From playing the lead in dinner theater comedy and leading a month-long wilderness backpacking expedition for the National Outdoor Leadership School, to studying wild killer whales in the Puget Sound and scaling the heights of California's Mt. Whitney, I enjoy a wide variety of pastimes. A SAMLA Middle Level Educator of the Year and NAU Distinguished Education Alumni Award winner, I still make Sierra Vista my home base where I taught in a public middle school. My first novel, "Adventures In Spacetime," was published by Dan River Press in 1996. My second novel, "Duck Egg Blue," was published by Prometheus Books in 1999. Since that book's release, I have been busy with speaking engagements from California to Texas, across the Southwest, educating groups about First Amendment issues including censorship, religious discrimination, and the creationism versus evolution controversy. My latest adventure was cage-diving with great white sharks for the launch episode of Dreamchasers, a new reality TV series on A&E. I'm also a photographer and sell stock photography on several online sites.

Variety is the key

Derrick: A SAMLA Middle Level Educator of the Year and NAU Distinguished Education Alumni Award winner, I still make Sierra Vista my home base where I taught in a public middle school. Maura: Honeywell Fellowship for Educators to attend NASA Advanced Space Camp, 2006. Changes in Altitudes Program, NASA Space Grant program, 2006. Cochise Chapter Teacher of the Year Award, Air Force Assoc, 2006. Honeywell Fellowship for Educators to attend NASA Space Camp, 2005. Medical Summer Research Program Fellowship, University Medical Center, Tucson, Arizona, 2001.

Derrick: I have a B.S. from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and an M.A. from United States International University in San Diego Maura: B.A. Biology /Minor Math : Anderson College, Anderson Indiana 1981 M.A. Secondary Education /Minor Zoology: Ball State University, Muncie Indiana 1993

Maura: I grew up in England before coming to the States on a scholarship as a foreign student to a small liberal arts college in Indiana. Now after 15 years teaching Science at middle school and high school level and living in 3 different continents, 5 different states I feel I have many experiences that I bring to my classroom here on the Mexican border of Arizona.