The Reverend Rita Teschner Powell comes to St. Andrews with over 17 years of ordained ministry.  She served in the Diocese of South Dakota (where she was ordained) as both Vicar of a small congregation in Vermillion, and youth and young adult ministry leader for the diocese, caring for the church camp in the Black Hills, and helping create a prayer event with the Taizé community in France on the PIne Ridge Indian Reservation in 2013. This was followed by time as an associate at Trinity Church in Copley Square, where she focused on evangelism, music, and liturgy.  Most recently, she has served as the Episcopal Chaplain at Harvard, where she led a small community in creative expressions of liturgy and theology, as well as developing and implementing a contemplative walking tour engaging the Legacy of Slavery and Colonization at  Harvard.  She recently earned her MFA in Poetry with Scott Cairns at Seattle-Pacific University, and her first book of poetry is set to be published this fall. She is also a certified yoga teacher, a distance athlete, and a good cook.  She is married to Justin Beebe, and has two children in high school, Jackson, and Juliet.