Faculty and Staff

Mr. Gilley has served on the board since 2007 (in an ex-officio capacity since joining the staff in 2011). He was an entrepreneur prior to becoming an educator. He and his wife Janice are parents to two Trinitas alumni, Colby and Parker. Mr. and Mrs. Gilley worship at Providence Church in Pensacola, where he serves as an elder.

Before coming to Trinitas, Mr. Cowart served as Head of School at a classical Christian school in Tennessee. Mr. Cowart and his wife Joy have five children, four of whom attend Trinitas. The Cowarts are active members of Christ Church in Pace, where James serves as a deacon.

Ms. Johnson brings a wealth of business management and organization skills to Trinitas where she manages the administrative office and oversees admissions. Ms. Johnson has one daughter who graduated from Trinitas with the class of 2019. They are active members of Providence Church in Pensacola.

The Rev. Justin Hughes has more than ten years’ experience in classical and Christian education, having worked as both teacher and administrator at schools in Florida, Idaho, and North Carolina.  Justin has taught subjects as diverse as Algebra, history, literature, theology, Latin, and music to students of all ages.  Now, in his role as Academic Dean, Justin works to ensure excellence in K-12 curriculum and instruction, and he supports the faculty’s work in the classroom.  As Chaplain, Justin cares for the spiritual well-being of the Trinitas community, and he helps teachers bring the Christian tradition to bear on their classrooms and subject matters.  Justin and his wife Allison have four children, all of whom are Trinitas students.  Justin is a deacon ordained in the Anglican Church of North America.

Mrs. Howell has worked at Trinitas since the school’s first year. She works tirelessly to help the administration and students in countless ways but concentrates on bookkeeping.  She and her husband Curtis were original Trinitas parents with two children, one of whom was an early Trinitas graduate. Now the Howells also have nine grandchildren.  Mrs. Howell is a faithful and longstanding member of East Brent Baptist Church.  

Rebecca and her husband, Sam, joined the Trinitas family in 2008 as parents with three small boys. Rebecca joined the faculty in 2012 and has served over the years in several capacities as a teacher assistant, substitute, tutor, after-school care coordinator, and office assistant. After the birth of their first daughter in 2017, Rebecca returned as the after-school care coordinator. The Peterson's youngest son, Mitchel, is at Trinitas and their oldest son, Brandon, is a 2018 alumni. Just as their boys have grown up in the Trinitas family, they look forward to having their little Marie do the same. 

Charity Usita has over ten years of experience in Christian and classical education. She has taught in schools in Georgia, Florida, and Hawaii. Mrs. Usita has experience teaching every subject area at the grammar stage and music to all ages.  After teaching sixth-grade at Trinitas for three years, Charity and her husband Lev have welcomed their first child. She is now serving Trinitas as librarian and teaching private piano lessons. 

Sarah Hadley has been teaching for the last fifteen years. She has taught homeschool, preschool, Kindergarten, and Montessori classrooms both in the U.S. and abroad. She has also coached high school basketball. Mrs. Hadley works hard in the Jr. Kindergarten classroom at Trinitas to create a hands-on learning experience and to foster a love of learning, the same love of learning she and her husband Sean cultivate in their own four children.

​Patty Sarrell has ten years of experience in classical and Christian schools in North Carolina, Hawai’i, and Florida and eighteen years of experience homeschooling her own children. Mrs. Sarrell has been the Kindergarten teacher at Trinitas for six years. She brings expertise as a reading specialist to her Trinitas classroom. In her free time, Mrs. Sarrell enjoys her nine grandchildren.

Mrs. Heifner is the mother of three Trinitas graduates (‘14, ‘16 and ‘18). She has been involved with classical Christian education for many years, serving as a volunteer, a teacher’s aide, and a substitute teacher at classical schools in Missouri and Florida. Among Mrs. Heifner’s greatest contributions to curriculum and instruction at Trinitas are the chants, songs, and jingles she has composed to help students learn grammar, Bible, and history.

Sharon Robson has thirty-two years of experience in classical and Christian education in Georgia and Florida and eight years of experience homeschooling her own children. She has experience teaching all subjects at grammar school and logic school levels, and she has taught music to students of all ages. Mrs. Robson has also directed dramatic productions and prepared students for fine arts competitions. As the wife of a retired minister, she has been deeply involved in church ministry for over thirty years. In addition to second grade, Mrs. Robson also teaches Kindergarten music at Trinitas. Mrs. Robson and her husband remain actively involved in the lives of their four married children and soon-to-be nine grandchildren.

Mrs. Phillips has been teaching children for almost thirty-five years. After homeschooling her four children for fifteen years, she taught in a classical school in Georgia before coming to Trinitas. She has served Trinitas as lead grammar school teacher, and she continues to mentor new teachers. She has presented workshops at ACCS national and regional conferences, and is called upon frequently to present teacher training modules for Trinitas and other regional classical schools. Mrs. Phillips is an accomplished musician who accompanies Morning Meeting and Trinitas choral performances. Her love for music fills her classroom and overflows into her students’ hearts.

Michael Murphy teaches the fourth grade as well as Bible class for sixth graders. He has five years of professional experience in classical Christian education in Virginia—mostly teaching Latin, Logic, and language classes—and seven summers of volunteer experience teaching English in China. 

Mr. Murphy and his wife, who is pursuing an M.A. in choral directing, attend Campus Church.

Bobby McGee graduated as the Valedictorian of the Trinitas class of 2009. He is, therefore, intimately familiar with classical and Christian education and with Trinitas as an institution. After completing his university education, he returned to Trinitas to teach the fifth-grade class. He has also taught Latin and Bible to third and fourth graders. Mr. McGee supports other teachers as chair of the upper grammar school. The eldest of his five children attends Trinitas.

Joined Trinitas Staff in 2017.
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In addition to her degrees in Music, Mrs. Kaunitz also completed credit hours for a bachelor’s degree in Science Education.  Upon completing her education, Mrs. Kaunitz taught for two years at Pensacola Christian College in the science and nursing labs.  At Trinitas Mrs. Kaunitz teaches logic- and rhetoric-stage math classes along with second- and fourth-grade science. She shares with her students her love of biology—plants, animals, and humans. Mrs. Kaunitz further serves the Trinitas community by playing piano for Morning Meeting and other events and by teaching private piano lessons.

Joshua Butcher serves the Trinitas community primarily through teaching the art of Rhetoric and chairing the humanities department.  Mr. Butcher has published articles on classical education in Classis and with the CiRCE Institute.  He has delivered presentations at the annual ACCS and SCL conferences.  With his wife, he works hard at parenting his five children, three of whom are Trinitas students. Joshua and his family are members of Christ Church in Pace.

​​In addition to her Bachelor of Science from Troy, Mrs. DeGraaf also completed graduate studies at University of West Florida in the field of agricultural management practices, focusing on water quality. She worked for the Departments of Environmental Protection for the states of Florida and Arizona in water quality. Mrs. DeGraaf has two sons at Trinitas whom she homeschooled with a local Classical Conversations community prior to their attending Trinitas. She also serves as dean of House Valerian in addition to her science teaching responsibilities.

​​Mrs. Mary Stout has taught various math and science classes from the fourth to twelfth grades including calculus, physics, chemistry, pre-calculus, geometry, and Algebra I and II. She also serves as math and science department head for the logic and rhetoric school, testing coordinator, yearbook advisor, and sound and lighting technician. 

Sean Hadley has taught in the classroom for ten years; though, he has been an educator for more than fifteen years. He has taught in Colorado, the Dominican Republic, and Florida, instructing in a wide range of humanities courses in each location. In his current role, Mr. Hadley directs the senior thesis program, guiding the research focus and skill development for students in Grades 11 and 12.  He also teaches Traditio, the integrated humanities course in the rhetoric school. One important focus in Mr. Hadley’s classroom is teaching students how to read closely. Mr. Hadley advises the Arcadia Club (the rhetoric-level student book club), and he is the Dean of House Augustine. Mr. Hadley and his wife Sarah, Trinitas’ Jr. Kindergarten teacher, have three young sons who attend Trinitas and a daughter who will join them soon. Mr. Hadley plans to complete his doctoral dissertation in 2020.

Sean Johnson teaches Humanities at Trinitas. He is also advisor to the National Honor Society and Classic Film Society. In his spare time he cooks, reviews movies, and works as Executive Editor for FORMA Journal, a magazine from the CiRCE Institute dedicated to all things classical and Christian. His wife, Heather, is a Trinitas Alumna who spends her days teaching their four children to love poetry.

Mrs. Berube has studied Latin for the past seven years and currently teaches sixth and eighth-graders. She and her husband Nathan have five children, four of whom are Trinitas students. The Berubes have been actively committed to classical Christian education for eleven years and are members of Christ Church in Pace, Florida.

​George Reed is a humanities major who has a passion for literature and language. He served as a linguist in the US Navy and lived overseas for years, traveling and working in many different countries. In the intervening years, Mr. Reed has continued to educate himself in literature, languages, international affairs, and theology. Mr. Reed's work as the fourth-grade teacher at Trinitas marks a return to the classroom, as he was a full-time substitute teacher while still in college. Mr. Reed and his wife Cinnamon were classically homeschooling their five children before coming to Trinitas five years ago. ​

Mandy Fuller teaches logic- and rhetoric- stage math courses at Trinitas.  She has been alternating between teaching high school math classes and staying at home as a mom since 2002 and has taught in Texas, Georgia, and Florida.  In her spare time, Mrs. Fuller enjoys reading and spending time with her family and friends, especially when the games come out and hilarity ensues.  Mrs. Fuller has two children attending Trinitas and her husband is a web developer.

Joined the Trinitas staff in 2012
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As a professional artist, Mr. Kivisalu has had several solo and group exhibitions of his work, most recently displaying his work in the Celebration of Light exhibition at Quayside Gallery in downtown Pensacola. Outside the studio, Mr. Kivisalu is an athlete, regularly participating in team and individual sports such as baseball, basketball, tennis, hiking, and kayaking. In addition to his teaching duties at Trinitas, he serves as the athletic director, varsity baseball coach, and graphic designer for the school.

Joined the Trinitas staff in 2013

Ed Varela has been teaching music for thirteen years, six of those at Trinitas. With a bachelor and master's degree in music, he has taught college music theory, choral pedagogy, choir, and piano to students of all ages. He is involved in the Pensacola Music Teachers Association Executive Board and serves in his local church as a pianist and a deacon. He and his wife Miranda have three children, two at Trinitas and one soon to be.  

Joined the Trinitas staff in 2010
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Mrs. Hilt is a gifted flutist who perform frequently across Northwest Florida, both solo and with other gifted musicians. In addition to flute, Mrs. Hilt also teaches piano at Trinitas.

Jennifer has three years of teaching experience in private schools and 8 years of experience in private strings lessons. She enjoys playing for her local church and for various performances. 

After a distinguished career in the U.S. Navy, including service as an aviator in the Gulf War, Mr. McGee has worked in several strategic roles for Gulf Power Company. Bob and his wife Terri are parents to four Trinitas alumni, Robert, Chrisann, Collin, and Sean; and are grandparents to one current Trinitas student, Bobby. The McGees are active members of Christ Church in Pace, where Bob serves as an elder.

He is owner-operator of Chick-fil-A 9 Mile in Pensacola. Robert and his wife Connie are parents of three Trinitas alumni: Gary, Josh, and Bryce. The Barneses are active members of McIlwain Presbyterian Church in Pensacola.

Rev. Hadding is the Pastor of Christ Church in Pace. Prior to entering the ministry he worked in business management. Rob and his wife Marty are parents to two Trinitas alumnae, Sarah and Emily; two current Trinitas students, Abby and Claire; and they homeschool their son Sam.

He worked in medical sales for over a decade and then became a financial advisor with Morgan Stanley. He has been with the firm six years. Mr. Strickler and his wife Jill have four children: Leah and Adam are alumni; Paul and Jack are current Trinitas students. The Stricklers worship at Providence Church.

After more than twenty-five years in banking, he is now an attorney in the Pensacola law firm Borowski & Traylor, P.A. Steve and his wife Amy Jo have three daughters; the youngest, McKinley is a Trinitas alumna. The Traylors are members of Providence Church in Pensacola.

Wesley Todd and his wife Jennifer have three children; Jillian, Emma, and Whitney.  Jillian recently graduated from Trinitas (c/o 2019). Emma is currently in the 11^th grade, and Whitney is currently in K-5.  The Todds have been at Trinitas for over fourteen years.   The Todds are members of Christ Church in Milton where Wesley serves as a deacon. 

Blake is a former golf professional with more than ten years in the golf industry. He is now the owner of J.W. Boot Company. Mr. Baker and his wife Krystin have two children at Trinitas, Delainey and Coleman. The Bakers worship at First United Methodist Church in downtown Pensacola.

Now retired from regular board duties, Dr. Noland continues to be an active supporter of the school. He has practiced dentistry in Pensacola for many years and continues to operate a thriving practice. Dr. Noland and his wife Cathy have three children—Rob, Hannah, and Ben—who are all Trinitas alumni. The Nolands are faithful members of Providence Church in Pensacola.