Randy Turner is an eighth grade English teacher at Joplin East Middle School and has taught in the Joplin School District for 10 years. Prior to becoming a teacher, he spent two decades as a newspaper reporter and editor. He is the co-author of 5:41: Stories from the Joplin Tornado and Spirit of Hope: The Year After the Joplin Tornado, and has written two other non-fiction books and three novels.