Gary Rude is joining the staff at Olympic Christian School as the school’s newest administrator.

A U.S. Army veteran, Rude is a retired Washington State educator. His background includes teaching (first-grade through master’s degree candidates), elementary school principalships and directorships at the school district and state levels.

Rude also has experience in educational consulting and he has trained teachers and principals throughout Washington and the country. His volunteer work includes state and local advocacy groups and boards, several stints in Washington, D.C., for People to People, and for the Olympic Area  Agency on Aging, where he later worked as program manager.

Rude earned a bachelor’s degree from Seattle University, a master’s degree from Western Washington University and a doctorate in educational leadership and organizational development from Seattle University.

Rude was born in Seattle and grew up in Auburn. He is married to Kathy (Baumunk), a Sequim native, and has four grown children and four grandchildren.

Mason joins OCS faculty

Clarke Mason recently accepted the third-grade position at Olympic Christian School after serving for 24 years as an educator for the Sequim School District.

Raised in Seattle and Bellevue, Mason graduated with a degree in K-12 general and special education from Seattle Pacific University. There, he met his wife, Susan, who also graduated with a degree in education. Mason served in the U.S. Army for three years. His educational experience includes four years as a special education teacher at the high school and elementary levels. He has been a volunteer high school and junior high church youth group and Young Life leader.

Mason attended Fuller Extension Seminary part time and later served as a full-time youth director for a church in Wenatchee.

He taught sixth-grade, self-contained classes (all subjects) for nine years, and later, sixth- and seventh-grade humanities classes until 2012 (including history, language arts and literature) for the Sequim School District.

He has a bachelor’s degree from Seattle Pacific University, and a Master of Divinity degree from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, Calif. He later entered a graduate program at Argosy University in Seattle and received his Washington State associate’s license as a mental health counselor.

Other staff additions

Janice Tydings, middle school teacher

Tydings graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education. She has minors in math, science, physical education and a reading endorsement. She attended University of Washington to earn her standard teaching certificate. Tydings has a variety of teaching experiences in three states: Washington, California and Arizona. She has taught every grade from kindergarten through eighth grade.

Alicia Scofield, director of Little Sprouts Preschool program

Scofield knows the program well as a former Little Sprouts Preschool parent. She graduated from Western Washington University with a bachelor’s degree in human service with an emphasis in early childhood studies. She has served in children’s ministry as a teacher in various classes from birth to teen for the past 18 years, and was on staff as Children’s Ministry director in her church for several years. She was a preschool teacher in a Head Start program during the 2012-13 school year.

Shelley Shamp, assistant teacher of the Little Sprouts Christian Preschool program

As the daughter of missionaries, Shamp was born in Jos, Nigeria, but spent most of her childhood in Port Angeles.  She graduated summa cum laude from Wheaton College, Ill., with a bachelor’s degree in English literature and is a member of the Wheaton College Scholastic Honor Society. She volunteered and substituted in the Little Sprouts classroom for seven years.