About the Authors

Wes Higginbotham is a 3rd degree black belt instructor. He has extensive experience with youth in athletic programs and is a highly respected martial arts instructor. He has received training in conflict transformation through the Alternatives to Violence Project and training with the Victim Offender Reconciliation Program (VORP), and he is a volunteer mediator.

Karen Higginbotham is a 1st degree black belt instructor in Tae Kwon Do. For the past 15 years, she has worked in the community as a police services officer. Along with other women volunteers, she models a strong female presence in Peacemakers. She trained with two of her children and has taught women’s defense and safety seminars.

Phil Thomas, Ph.D. candidate, works as a consultant in conflict transformation. He has worked with Mennonite Central Committee, the Organization of American States, the United Nations, and government agencies, civil society and grassroots organizations in designing programs and promoting dialogue and deliberations for building peace in countries in Latin America. He has a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do.

Steve Thomas, M.Div., is the writer of this curriculum in collaboration with the others named above. He has worked as a Mennonite pastor for twenty years and has experience in working with youth. He has taken graduate level courses in conflict transformation, seminars on violence and received training in the Alternatives to Violence Project course. He is a 1st degree black belt instructor in Tae Kwon Do.