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Teaching Experience

    29 Years

Field Experience

    40 Years

Hi, I’m Priscilla. I am a life-long musician and lover of learning. I began teaching formally when I finished my highschool credits ahead of schedule and was “promoted” to kindergarten teacher at the small private school I attended. This began my long journey in the development of my unique teaching style.

Since then, much of my professional experience has been in teaching and coaching, largely in the area of music through private lessons and classes. But I’ve also gained experience through mentoring and counseling in a range of Christian organizations, leading worship teams, serving in church leadership, working for several years as a trainer and supervisor in a customer service setting, through a teaching assistant position in university, local community education programs, and as a university professor.

My experience is well-rounded and benefits from my having lived in four countries and working with an enormous diversity of people and settings. I have two undergraduate music degrees, an associates in performance and education, and a bachelor’s in vocal performance with heavy side-emphasis in composition and jazz studies. I then attended a music school for two years into their Master of Contemporary Vocal Performance and Hip-Hop Studies, but them felt led to change to the Master of Liberal Studies program in order to further hone my research and writing skills. I completed my masters research on the societal effects and significance of Haitian graffiti.

Currently I am a Doctor of Worship Studies candidate at Liberty University. I am focused largely on the interdisciplinary category of Ethnodoxology in which we look at how culture, language, and ethic artistic expression can and should be used in worship in a biblical way. I am focusing my doctoral research on the immigrant churches in the US and around the world, primarily focusing on the Haitian diasporic community.

I am an analytical learner, and process information based on my understanding of how things work in relationship to one another, and this informs my teaching style. I lean heavily on student-led discussion and on active class participation in my classes. I have no problem re-routing a discussion to address questions that come up in class as they relate to the subject matter. And I believe that learning is most effective when students enjoy themselves.

Currently I live outside the Boston MA area. I moved here from the Dominican Republic where I lived with my husband and dog, both of whom are Haitian, and the loves of my life. We pray that they will be able to join me soon. We believe that God has ordained our steps to this place and that He will be glorified in and through us, and even when the journey is hard, we rest His provision.

“My kids really enjoyed this class and learned a lot of new tips and tricks. The teacher made sure there was plenty of time for practice. Great class!” (Breathing for Actors and Vocalists)

“My daughter really enjoyed this class! The description was very clear that this particular class focuses more on the science than the actual singing, so we knew exactly what to expect. My daughter loves science, and even though she was familiar with the science of sound, she really enjoyed approaching it from a different angle and learning how it specifically relates to the voice. The teacher was also super engaging and made sure that each student was able to participate. Thanks for a great class! ” (Singing and Science)

“My daughter really enjoyed the class and learned fundamental techniques. She also appreciated Ms. Stilwell’s sense of humor and asked to take more classes with her.” (Find Your Voice: Intro Group Lesson)

“Great content and the kids loved the teacher!” (Different, Just Like Me!)

“Lots of fun and very engaging. My son ( 5 ) liked sharing his enthusiasm for pirates. The teacher was friendly and used a song, story, maps, and props to teach the lesson.” (Pirate Adventures)

I grew up as a pastor’s kid. And as the last of seven kids in a very musical family, performance and church seemed to go hand in hand. But that performance soon began to fall apart as my parents and older siblings came face-to-face with the realities of the fallen world.

When I was ten, my dad left “the ministry,” and we moved from Kansas where he had been working, back to Wisconsin. Mom and dad decided to homeschool the youngest three of us who were still at home, and started a family business. It was the sacrifices made by my parents at this time, for the benefit of the family, in which I first began to see Jesus. I had given my life to Christ when we were still in Kansas, while watching the old Ben-Hur, and feeling my heart break when I saw, for the first time, the humanity of Christ. He had seemed so unattainable and distant and angry before!

My dad died when I was fifteen, and life was challenging for a long time. The resulting strain between my mom and I has lasted far into my adult years, and only now is beginning to heal. But though this, I never left my faith. I would sometimes attempt to set it aside in order to pursue what I thought was socially acceptable, or what would make me gain acceptance. But I’ve always been driven to God.

Throughout my life, because of my life-long music abilities, I’ve been involved in worship and church music. And worship has been my most passionate expression of prayer, praise, and petition to God. I have learned to worship through a range of expression, not just music, and now I desire to use my growing understanding of worship and music and leadership and the world, to help lead the Kingdom of God to a picture Jon paints for us where he describes “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb” (Revelation 7:9).

I’m a perennial nerd, and love to learn and study. But learning is as much experiential and observational to me as it is academic. For this reason, one of my favorite things is to go. Go anywhere. Just to experience people and culture and understand how the world works and how people view the world and each other. I love to travel internationally when I can, but I also can get this experience simply by being with diverse people in diverse settings. I also get it from reading a wide range of books, or even sometimes watching foreign films.

Part of that is my interest in studying languages. I am conversational in Spanish and Haitian Kreyol, and am also dabbling in French, Hebrew, German and Russian.

I love animals and adore my pup. She’s a little depressed being separated from mom, so I’m praying that she and “daddy” will be able to join me soon. Eventually I dream of having a little homestead and having my garden and critters and living in paradise on earth!

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