Equipping students with knowledge and skills for increased learning outcomes that equal practical, innovative, and adaptive livelihoods.
Instilling students with the values of servant leadership, growth mindsets, and critical thinking skills for supportive, ethical, and democratic governance.
Restoring lost identity by promoting learning from one another by teaching local and regional histories and cultures.
Despite the war, we continue to serve children and their communities by focusing on work that creates the greatest impact.
Everything we do is designed and created by the communities we serve to meet their greatest needs and desires.
We believe that the impossible becomes possible only through faith and love freely provided by Jesus Christ.
Ryan and Jazira started To Move Mountains after living years in Sudan’s conflict zone of the Nuba Mountains. Despite the war, children still walked to school in caves and under trees. Our founders wanted to support those desires for long-lasting change.
Ryan Boyette
Co-Founder / Director
Ryan co-founded To Move Mountains (TMM) and leads the team with over 20 years of experience living and working in Sudan’s conflict area of the Nuba Mountains. Ryan ensures our educational programs live out the vision and mission of TMM. Ryan has managed multiple humanitarian and church-based efforts within Sudan and South Sudan and has a Master’s Degree from Vanderbilt University in International Education Policy and Management.
Ryan Boyette
Jazira Awad
Co-Founder / TMM teacher
Jazira is a co-founder of TMM and is from the Nuba Mountains. She has lived her entire life in war. Her struggle for Education continued through the burning of her village, the bombing of her school, and famine. After many years of hard work and determination, Jazira graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor’s in Education Studies. Jazira is now a teacher in TMM’s first school in the Nuba Mountains and continues to drive the organization’s direction.
Jazira Awad
Laura Manni
Director of Teacher Development
Laura leads our teacher development college with a Master’s of Education from Cambridge University and additional education courses at Harvard University in Creating a Culture of Thinking. Her extensive experience in early childhood education and teacher training in many international settings greatly supports her role as the director of teacher development. Laura has developed a TMM teacher training program based on research and culturally appropriate methods that meet the needs of teachers and students in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan.
Laura Manni
Dr. Suzanne Nave
Director of Curriculum Design and Development
Suzanne has been an elementary and middle school educator for over twenty years and has taught children in three different US states in varying grade levels and all content areas. Suzanne has a doctorate of education from Northern Arizona University in curriculum and instruction and a master’s degree in Independent School Leadership from Vanderbilt University. Her passion for innovative curriculum and a wide range of experiences in the field of education have guided the facilitation of community-led curriculum design in the Nuba Mountains.
Dr. Suzanne Nave
Stella Amonwy
Student Scholarship Affairs Manager
As a trained teacher from Kyambogo University in Uganda, Stella has extensive experience teaching in her home county and the neighboring country of South Sudan since 2012. Her personal experience with conflict instantly connected her to our students while they were finishing high school where she was teaching.
Stella Amonwy
Dr. Patrick Schuermann
Strategic Education Advisor
Dr. Patrick Schuermann’s career has been filled with cultivating leadership with individuals and organizations that span Kindergarten through Doctoral level initiatives in both the public and private sectors.
Patrick founded the Peabody Professional Leadership Institutes at Vanderbilt University and developed and directed the Independent School Leadership Master’s Program. His expertise has advised high-level international leaders on programs to support leadership development in educators and schools across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
Patrick is a strategic advisor for To Move Mountains’ work to develop and implement Sudan’s first culturally anchored teacher training program and curricular standards.
Dr. Patrick Schuermann
Nathan Miller
Engineer / Construction Manager
Nathan’s engineering background and heart for ministry have led him to the Nuba Mountains, where he is leading the construction of our new Mustard Seed Primary School. His Civil Engineering degree from Vanderbilt University and experience in engineering in seven African countries have prepared him to work with the crews on-site in Nuba. Nathan ensures lasting infrastructure for generations of learners and lifelong relationships with the community, working hand-in-hand on the construction of the school.
Nathan Miller
Ryan Boyette
Co-Founder / Director
Ryan co-founded To Move Mountains (TMM) and leads the team with over 20 years of experience living and working in Sudan’s conflict area of the Nuba Mountains. Ryan ensures our educational programs live out the vision and mission of TMM. Ryan has managed multiple humanitarian and church-based efforts within Sudan and South Sudan and has a Master’s Degree from Vanderbilt University in International Education Policy and Management.
Jazira Awad
Co-Founder / TMM teacher
Jazira is a co-founder of TMM and is from the Nuba Mountains. She has lived her entire life in war. Her struggle for Education continued through the burning of her village, the bombing of her school, and famine. After many years of hard work and determination, Jazira graduated from Vanderbilt University with a Bachelor’s in Education Studies. Jazira is now a teacher in TMM’s first school in the Nuba Mountains and continues to drive the organization’s direction.
Laura Manni
Director of Teacher Development
Laura leads our teacher development college with a Master’s of Education from Cambridge University and additional education courses at Harvard University in Creating a Culture of Thinking. Her extensive experience in early childhood education and teacher training in many international settings greatly supports her role as the director of teacher development. Laura has developed a TMM teacher training program based on research and culturally appropriate methods that meet the needs of teachers and students in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan.
Dr. Suzanne Nave
Director of Curriculum Design and Development
Suzanne has been an elementary and middle school educator for over twenty years and has taught children in three different US states in varying grade levels and all content areas. Suzanne has a doctorate of education from Northern Arizona University in curriculum and instruction and a master’s degree in Independent School Leadership from Vanderbilt University. Her passion for innovative curriculum and a wide range of experiences in the field of education have guided the facilitation of community-led curriculum design in the Nuba Mountains.
Stella Amonwy
Student Scholarship Affairs Manager
As a trained teacher from Kyambogo University in Uganda, Stella has extensive experience teaching in her home county and the neighboring country of South Sudan since 2012. Her personal experience with conflict instantly connected her to our students while they were finishing high school where she was teaching.
Dr. Patrick Schuermann
Strategic Education Advisor
Dr. Patrick Schuermann’s career has been filled with cultivating leadership with individuals and organizations that span Kindergarten through Doctoral level initiatives in both the public and private sectors.
Patrick founded the Peabody Professional Leadership Institutes at Vanderbilt University and developed and directed the Independent School Leadership Master’s Program. His expertise has advised high-level international leaders on programs to support leadership development in educators and schools across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.
Patrick is a strategic advisor for To Move Mountains’ work to develop and implement Sudan’s first culturally anchored teacher training program and curricular standards.
