Rodney A. Blaukat is the author of Rocket Science Made Easy.
Rebecca Haines is the author of Treasure of Truths.
John Hacker is the co-author of 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado, and Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado.
Helen K Hunter’s roots in Southwest Missouri run deep. Hunter grew up in rural Jasper County, with family ties dating back to 1853. In fact, Hunter’s great-great-grandfather was the first permanent settler in Jasper County. Hunter has always had a fondness for rural schools within the county after attending a one-room school house for elementary school, along with her siblings. Hunter attended Cave Spring School, the oldest rural school in Jasper County, and graduated from Sarcoxie High School. In 2007, Hunter helped restore the Cave Spring School and spearhead the effort to place a Civil War monument on the school grounds. As a volunteer at the Jasper County Record Center Annex in Carthage, she organized dates on rural schools. She is the author of Without Mercy and Echoes of School Bells.
Randy Turner is the author of Devil’s Messenger, Newspaper Days, Small Town News, Scars from the Tornado: One Year at Joplin East Middle School, Silver Lining in a Funnel Cloud: Greed, Corruption, and the Joplin Tornado, Let Teachers Teach!, Classroom Confidential: Stories From Our Public Schools, No Child Left Alive, and Lost Angels: The murders of Rowan Ford and Doug Ringler. He is also the co-author of 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado, Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado.