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, Honors Chemistry II, and Writing 12 (technical writing). She is also the coach for the MSA Rhetoric Team since 2003 and has a passion for both helping students overcome their fear of public speaking and helping those with a natural gifting improve their abilities.
Barbara 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. Her oldest is a computer engineering professor, her middle daughter is an equine veterinarian and her youngest is in graduate school for developmental psychology, just confirming that each and every one of our children are unique individuals.
