As classes open at Gem State Adventist Academy (GSAA), students and staff are getting to know new staff members Debra McCarver, director of marketing and recruitment, and Sophie Berecz, English/Spanish instructor.
Debra McCarver
“Vivacious” and “engaging” describe McCarver, who received her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Walla Walla College and will complete her master’s degree next March.
Of her new job, she says, “I love talking with prospective students. Some days it feels more like play than like work!”
Before joining the Gem State staff, she worked for three-and-a-half years at KTSY, an on-campus Adventist radio station. Her responsibilities there included office management and spot sales.
She and her electrical-engineer husband of seven years, Dave McCarver, enjoy traveling, their Toy Poms named D’Artagnon and Zoe Girl, and riding their BMW motorcycle.
Sophie Berecz
Sophie Berecz, new Gem State Adventist Academy English and Spanish teacher, grew up in Colorado. While enrolled at Union College, she spent a year as a student missionary in Bolivia and there learned Spanish. She later received a master’s degree in English education from the University of Virginia.
She has taught at Mt. Ellis Academy, Shenandoah Valley Academy, and Cole Valley Christian High School.
“I love teaching in an environment where I can talk freely about God and share what He means to me,” she says.
Last year, she pursued another of her interests— writing—and released books titled “In His Hand” and “God is Crazy About You.”
Her husband of three years, Monty Berecz, is an attorney in the Ada County prosecutor’s office in Boise, Idaho. •
Debra McCarver, marketing and recruitment
Sophie Berecz, English/Spanish
