Meet Teri Pence (Director)
It has been Teri's privilege and joy to be the director of GHC since the fall of 2020.
Teri was born in the suburbs of Chicago and was raised with one younger brother. After spending her teen years in the midwest, she moved to southwest Florida in the mid 90's to go to college. She graduated from Florida Gulf Coast University in 2000 with an education degree and spent two years teaching with Collier County Public Schools before taking a position teaching middle school math, science and PE at First Baptist Academy for 6 years.
The Pence family became members of Grace Bible Church in 2018 and find it to be a wellspring of Biblical teaching, shepherding, fellowship, discipleship, and encouragement. Teri serves in the preschool ministry monthly and at Adventure Club on Wednesday nights.
In her free time Teri enjoys watching her boys play football, having good conversations with friends, and being outdoors exploring Florida's beautiful and varied wildlife areas.
There are many things Teri loves about being a part of GHC, but the thing she loves the most is witnessing the kindness, love, knowledge, and wisdom the staff impart to the students.
Teri's favorite drink is matcha and her favorite snack is anything with dark chocolate and nuts.
Teri's birthday is September 30th.
Meet Nichole Dixon (Teacher, Wednesday/Assistant Director, Thursday)
Nichole is the oldest of three and has lived in Florida most of her life. She’s been at GHC for a year and a half. She teaches students on Wednesdays and is the Assistant Director on Thursdays.
Nichole loves her students and enjoys watching them learn new things. She runs a cookie business called “The Sugar Cup”, where she gets to bake and decorate all kinds of special treats!
She was born in La Grange, Georgia before her parents moved back to Florida in 2004. She was homeschooled since fourth grade before graduating in 2018. Some of her favorite hobbies include baking, watercolor, reading, and music. Her favorite color is yellow and she loves bees. Her favorite snack is Takis and her favorite drink is Poppi sodas.
Nichole has attended Grace Bible Church Naples since 2017, where she serves in the youth ministry, plays the bass guitar on the worship team, and helps in the Pre-K class. She is so grateful for her church and the blessing of sitting under God's word every week.
She loves working at GHC, where she gets the priviledge of both teaching the students and directing! She's amazed by the capability of the students on Wednesdays as well as the kindness shown by the teachers/assistants on Thursdays.
Nichole's birthday is February 15th.
Meet Kim Dixon (Teacher, Wednesday/Thursday)
Mrs. Dixon was born and raised in Florida. She lived in Georgia for about 10 years with Dale, her husband of 31 years. Her 3 adult children, Nichole, Cameron, and Connor, were all born in Georgia and homeschooled through 12th grade. The family moved back to Florida in 2004, just a few short weeks before Hurricane Charley!
Mrs. Dixon and her family volunteered at the Creation Adventures Museum in Arcadia, Florida for over 6 years where her passion and love for science grew. At the museum, they led fossil digs and canoe trips down the Peace River hunting for fossils.
She was a dental hygienist for 20 years! Her favorite food is spaghetti and she loves the colors yellow and green.
She and her family have been attending Grace Bible Church Naples since 2017 and consider it an absolute joy to sit under God’s Word!
Kim's birthday is April 30th.
Meet Kathy Black (Teacher Wed/Thurs)
Mrs. Black graduated from University of Houston with a degree in English education. She also has a Master’s Degree in Reading from Rowan College of New Jersey. She is a retired public school teacher.
She has been married to Fred Black for 50 years and has two daughters and four grandchildren. She is blessed that they all live in Florida. For six years, she and her husband were sunbirds, living in Naples during the summer and spending the winters in Texas. In 2018, they made Naples their permanent home. Soon after that, they joined Grace Bible Church where they help with the Children’s Ministry and Adventure Club programs.
Teaching has always been a passion of hers. She loves helping students in the learning process and watching them grow both academically and spiritually.
Kathy's birthday is November 4th.
Meet Amy Rigall (Teacher, Thursday))
Mrs. Rigall has been teaching at GHC since Winter 2023 and she is thankful for the opportunity and excited to participate in the homeschooling community as an educator and parent. Mrs. Rigall enjoys the opportunity to help students engage in creativity. Mrs. Rigall and her husband Stephen met at Biola University where they both earned fine art degrees. Their family recently returned to Naples, Mrs. Rigall's hometown, having lived in Texas for the past decade. While in Texas, Mrs. Rigall completed a Master's degree in Humanities with a concentration in literature. Reading has been a life-long love for Mrs. Rigall, though finding time is a challenge! In addition to teaching for GHC, she is a teacher for an online Christian school, Northstar Academy, and periodically works as a freelance floral designer. Sharing a love of reading with her children is one of her goals. Currently, they are reading the Little House series together after recently finishing up The Chronicles of Narnia. C.S. Lewis and Jane Austen are two of Mrs. Rigall's favorite authors. Iced chai lattes and milk tea with boba are two of her favorite beverage treats. Her favorite snack is original or cheddar Sun Chips. Amy's birthday is February 16th. |
Meet Aimee Meisner
Meet Karma Bensen (Assistant, Wed/Thurs)
Karma Bensen grew up in Nebraska,, where she lived on a farm with lots of pets! She has been married to her husband, Don, for 59 years and together they have three children, eleven grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Mrs. Karma enjoys watching football and basketball, reading, going to the beach, and being at home! Her favorite food is Mexican.
Mrs. Karma and her husband came to Grace Bible Church two years ago, where she enjoys serving in childcare. This is her first semester helping at GHC and she loves working with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ as well as watching the students grow and learn.
Her birthday is October 12th.
Meet Kati Connell (Assistant/Teacher)
Katie Connell has been married to her husband, Glenn, for nine years. They got married on the island of Jamestown in Virginia. They have a Belgium Tarvernon named Ayremis, who is six years old!
Mrs. Connell spent most of her life on St. Johns Island in the Caribbean, where she had a destination wedding planning and catering business for 25 years. Her favorite thing about living in the Caribbean was the warm weather!
She went to pastry school at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. She enjoyed living in New York because she loved the adventure. Her favorite snack is raspberries and her favorite drink is water.
Mrs. Connell's favorite part about GHC is the opportunity to get to know parents and fellow Christians through the students and enjoys teaching them about food science!
Her birthday is December 26th.
Meet Bryce Coakley (Assistant, Thursdays)
Meet Kessa McEwen (Assistant, Wednesdays))
Kessa is 16 years old and she has been part of GHC since Winter 2023. Some of her hobbies include cooking and art. She's been doing ballet for nine years!
Kessa attends Classical Conversations and a few of her favorite subjects are biology, literature, and art. A fun fact about Kessa is that she loves snakes and spiders.
Kessa's birthday is on October 29th.
Meet Caroline McEwen (Assistant, Wednesdays)
Caroline was born in Jupiter, FL, and has been attending Grace Bible Church Naples with her family since 2018. Her favorite subject in school is speech and debate and it is her life's goal to go to France someday! Fun facts about Caroline are she loves the beach and has been a classically-trained ballerina since she was four years old. She has a pet axolotl named Thingol! Her favorite snack is salted pistachios and her favorite drink is Thai boba tea. She also enjoys sketching European buildings. Caroline loves helping students at GHC with their art!
Meet Vanessa Coakley (Assistant, Thursdays)
Vanessa is the second oldest of three siblings. She enjoys making all kinds of things, particularly art and crochet! Her favorite is watercolor, but has just started experimenting with acrylic. She also enjoys horseback riding.
Her family has lived in Florida for four generations. Her great-grandparents moved her from Ireland during the potato famine.
Her favorite food is tacos...but not just any tacos! She specifically likes the ones from Seven-Mart. Her favorite snack is any type of chips and her favorite drink is root beer.
In the future, Vanessa hopes to be a mom! She's interested in owning a business because the setup intrigues her and everything that goes into it.
Her birthday is January 2nd.
Meet Anders Knutson
Anders was originally from the rural woods of Wisconsin, where he enjoyed an adventurous childhood, with his six siblings. He is the middle child. In 2019, his family relocated to Bonita Springs, Florida, where he now resides. Anders is currently dual-enrolled at Florida SouthWestern State College, balancing his high school studies
with college coursework.
Anders has two beloved dogs: Arlo, an 11-year-old golden retriever, and a 2-year-old mini
Aussie doodle, Alfie. In his free time, he enjoys playing recreational basketball, frisbee, and football with his four brothers and his friends, as well as video games.
When he’s not studying or assisting at GHC, Anders enjoys helping at Grace Bible Church Naples, where he and his family have attended for one year.
Meet Aaron Knutson (Substitute Assistant)
Meet Jim Gomory (Hall Monitor, Wednesdays)
Mr. Jim was with the Naples police department for thirty years, starting in 1987. He worked as a detective as well as road patrol. He was the first officer to do bicycle patrol in Naples and even had his picture in a magazine! He's been married for seven years. He has a grown son and stepson.
For as long as he can remember, well over 20 years, Mr. Jim has attended New Hope Church in Naples. Mr. Jim loves to travel. He's been to over one hundred countries including Israel, but his favorite was New Zealand. He just spent six weeks in Europe and as a UN Peacekeeper.
When he's not traveling, Mr. Jim likes to read and go to the gym. He is very grateful to serve GHC!
His birthday is June 2nd.
Meet Dave Sugrue (Hall Monitor, Thursdays)
Dave worked in the Collier County Police Department fromDave worked in the Collier County Police Department from 1987-2017. He was a detective, detective sergeant, community police, and road patrol.
He also worked with the current chief of police! His favorite part about being with the police department was meeting new people. He and Mr. Jim started within a few months of each other and retired on the same day.
Mr. Dave has been married for 37 years. Together, they have three adult children and four grandchildren.
He enjoys golfing and going to the gym. His favorite snack is fruit salad and his favorite drink is decaf Crystal Lite tea.
Although he's Irish, Mr. Dave's favorite food is the Italian sauce his Italian college roommate taught him to make. He makes five gallons of the sauce at a time (as well as homemade meatballs) and freezes it!
His birthday is November 23rd.
Meet Sarah Splain (Challenge Study Hall Tutor)
Sarah Splain is a homeschooling mom of 3 daughters with over 15 years of homeschooling experience under her belt.
For the past 4 semesters, Sarah has led the Challenge studyhall at GHC where she provides 30 minutes of 1:1 tutoring for each student in whatever subject they need help with, provides group Latin practice and drilling, and is available to answer questions and help keep students on task with their studies. She has also taught spring Latin intensive at GHC.
Sarah and her husband Don have been married for 25 years.Together, they run Chef Don's Catering, are very involved in farm to plate cuisine, permaculture, gardening and foraging.
They have graduated 2 of their daughters from the Classical Conversations program where both Don and Sarah are Challenge directors, and their youngest will graduate in a couple more years. They lead a home church called Table of Grace.
In her free time, Sarah enjoys gardening, painting and reading and teaches gardening and cooking classes privately.
Sarah's birthday is December 22nd.