Carmen was born and raised in NSW, Australia, with her sister and parents. She attended Avondale College where she followed in her father’s footsteps and studied PE teaching and graduated in 2007 with BA/BTEACH in Personal Development, Health, and Physical Education. 

While studying at Avondale, she took a gap year and volunteered as a student missionary teaching first grade in Pohnpei, Micronesia. This is where she first met her husband Chad, who she married four years later. 

Carmen accepted a teaching position at Brisbane Adventist College where she taught P.E., Geography, History, and Bible. She has a real passion for teaching and her students. 

After her first son, Kyson, was born in 2015, Carmen put her teaching career on hold to be a stay at home mom, and she and her family moved to Bozeman. In 2016, she started working at Mount Ellis Academy as the school librarian and student work coordinator. 

In 2017, Carmen and Chad had their second son, Kaden, and after brief maternity leave, she resumed her position at the start of 2018.

Carmen Mathis