Barbara Varnell is the junior and senior academic advisor for Mount Sophia Academy. She holds a B.S. M.S. and Ph.D. from Penn State University in Polymer Science and a Masters in Biblical Study from International Seminary. Her loves are reading and learning and she has a passion for working with young people and helping them use the gifts and talents God has given them to make a difference in the world.
Barbara teaches Honors Calculus I and II, Honors Statistics, Honors Discrete Math/Linear Algebra and Honors Chemistry II. She is also the coach for the MSA Rhetoric Team and the director of the MSA Concert Choir (she originally was a double major in polymer science and music at Penn State but decided that at some point she needed to graduate and never completed her music degree but still loves her involvement in music.) While she enjoys every class she teaches, when she is having a stressful school day her calculus class is her “happy place”.
Barbara began homeschooling her oldest daughter in 1993 and graduated her youngest in 2014. She began directing choir in 2000 and coaching the Rhetoric Team in 2003. She is active in the Delaware ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) and DMEA (Delaware Music Directors Association) and she chairs the ACSI Regional Junior High/Senior High Speech Meet in the spring.
