Dr. John Johnson
Founder & Executive Director of Odyssey

In 1977, Dr. Johnson worked with three other educators to found Rainbow Mountain Children's School (RMCS) in Asheville, North Carolina. He continued his involvement with the school as a parent and Board member until 1991 when he returned as the Director of the school for nine years. Under his creative leadership, the school grew from a preschool to include elementary and middle school programs. Through 2006, he has served as an advisor to the school. An innovator in education, he introduced to Asheville an original curriculum focusing on multiple intelligences, student-led conferencing, service learning, mediation, and essential learning behaviors.

A catalytic figure in the on-going dialogue between science, spirituality, and healing, Dr. Johnson has organized twenty-six conferences in support of this discussion. He was the international head of The Sufi Healing Order for twenty years and founded The Raphaelite Work, a method of healing and transformational process rooted in Sufism and updated by modern psychology and bodywork. He has shared his passion for life-long learning in teaching mysticism and spirituality in fourteen different countries.

Dr. Johnson's degrees include a B.A: SUNY- Oswego 1970, a M.S in Education: Western Carolina University 1990, and a Th.D. Holos: Graduate Seminary, Springfield, Missouri, 2003. Dr. Johnson is the father of three children (Aiden, 14, Alia, 21, and Noor, 29). With his wife Angela Whitney, he co-directs Light of the Mountains Retreat Center near Asheville.

Mary Virginia Bunker

Deeply committed to providing high quality education for young children, Ms. Bunker has over twenty years of experience in holistic, experiential teaching. Her gifted teaching skills are most apparent in her ability to help children learn appropriate use of personal power and the heroes journey. Through the development of a mythological classroom, Ms. Bunker inspires the young students’ awe of life. The magical environment of her classroom and her talented story-telling have inspired many students’ parents to say that they wish they could go back to kindergarten. Ms. Bunker has extensive experience applying developmentally appropriate educational theory to the classroom environment. She has repeatedly demonstrated her ability to monitor, record, and communicate information effectively about children to parents, school personnel, and resource professionals. A graduate of Loyola College of Maryland (Bachelor of Elementary and Special Education), Ms. Bunker has also earned a Masters of Appalachian Studies from Appalachian State, a Masters of Library and Information Science from UNCG, and is a candidate for Post- Masters degree from the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, Maryland.

Arlaya Swan-Sullivan

Arlaya Swan-Sullivan has lived in the Asheville area for 11 years and has worked with children for the past 15 years. Ms. Swan-Sullivan has been a childcare provider for children in her community and a home-schooling parent for her four daughters. She held a Morning Garden in her home for preschool aged children and recently was assistant teacher in the first grade at Rainbow Mountain Children's School. Her educational background has been in Waldorf Education, Multiple Intelligence Theory, Positive Discipline and Early Childhood Development. She studied with Katherine Holle at Warren Wilson College and with the Steiner Education Study Group for Teachers and Parents. Ms. Swan-Sullivan states that her joy is to share the magic of discovering the natural world, storytelling, puppetry, creative play, pageantry, artful handwork, cooking and celebrations with children. In her spare time she can be found playing with her four daughters, crocheting rugs, reading or looking for fairies in the forest.

Kalyan (Kevin) Volpe

A dedicated family man, Mr. Volpe states that education is not only his chosen vocation -it is his passion. It is his belief that rather than serving in the traditional role of teacher as an imparter of knowledge, his role is that of a guide - inspiring and encouraging his students to unfold and embrace the unique and divine natures which reside within each of them. He is committed to a life of self-realization and service to humanity. Mr. Volpe served as the Head Teacher at PSOLI in Merrick N.Y for five years. During his tenure he and a co-teacher taught classes of 13 to 19 students employing teaching methods that were holistic, child-centered and experiential. He also served as the Head Teacher at Interac in Fukuoka, Japan where he was responsible for the recruitment, training, and assessment of 15 teachers. Mr. Volpe also aided in curriculum planning, resource development, and designed and led cross-cultural training seminars, and taught English as a second language. Mr. Volpe has his B.A. in Political Science from University of Connecticut, and his M.A in Education from Goddard College in Vermont. His Masters Thesis focused on design of Holistic Elementary Schools, including extensive research into various teaching methodologies and techniques.