Meet the team

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Christy  met her husband, Steven, at Bryan College, where she earned a B.S. in Elementary Education and played collegiate soccer. They have served together in ministry their entire married life, from international missions to local churches. Along with leading Aretē as the Executive Director, Christy homeschools her four children, volunteers at church, and coaches soccer. Her greatest joy in life is spending time with her family and investing in other people's lives, especially the next generation. She also enjoys hosting people in her home, cheering her kids on at sports games, reading, traveling, and, her newest hobby, drinking coffee.

Missy is a graduate of Truett McConnell College with a BA in Church Music and became a Board Certified Music Therapist after graduation with a Masters of Music in Music Therapy from Florida State University. Missy holds dear the power that music can have to influence our learning, emotions, worship and even our physical being. She cares deeply to use music as a tool to first worship the Lord personally and second to help draw others to Him with all of the other functions following. Whether it's writing songs to memorize Scripture, singing harmony with the worship band or teaching students to sing to their best ability, Missy is typically immersed in something musical! 

Missy has been married to Jonathan for 14 years and they have 3 precious children, 2 poodles, 1 turtle, 1 rabbit and several fish. She enjoys caring for her home, baking bread as of late, and performing the duties needed to continue developing Aretē!

June moved around a lot as an "Army brat", but Fayette County always held a special place in her heart. After many years in other parts of the country and world, she returned to the area with her family in 2018. She and her husband Carson have three small children and a wild goldendoodle. She has taught and tutored a variety of subjects to students from Pre-K to the university level over the last 20 years. She earned BAs in Visual Arts and Spanish from the University of North Georgia and an MA in Art History from the University of Oregon. Before she began homeschooling, she was a curator, first at the University of Oregon’s art museum and later at the Boise Art Museum. She is passionate about helping families discover beauty, goodness, and truth through art, art history, and nature study. When she is not teaching, you can usually find her snuggled up with a book or out for a run. One of her greatest joys is sharing the sport of running with the students at Aretē as a Kilometer Kids coach.

Kelly  is the mother of six children. She spends most of her time in Christian home education and enabling others to do so. She met and married her husband while in college at Virginia Tech, where she double majored in International Studies (concentrating in Business) and German. She and her husband were both cadets in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets. Her husband commissioned in the US Air Force in 2001 and she commissioned in the US Army in 2003. She served on active duty for four years as a military intelligence officer and an additional six years in the US Army Reserve. The Army taught and shaped her significantly, both through the classroom, large scale exercises, and real-world operations. She deployed, had great experiences, and worked with brilliant operators, but once the children started coming along, she requested her military status be changed to the inactive ready reserve. Her interests include linguistics, art and music appreciation, logic, speech and debate, and interdisciplinary education.

Raque is a wife, mom of four girls, and grandma of two boys and two girls. Originally from Colombia, she has been living in the United States for more than ten years. Although she initially felt intimidated by the idea of teaching in a language other than Spanish, she began homeschooling her youngest daughter, and they are now in their sixth year of homeschooling.

She has been teaching Spanish at Aretē since it began.

Lauren is a Fayetteville native and mother of four. Prior to homeschooling, Lauren spent seven years in NPO management and operations, leading to her career in Georgia's Solar Industry, both as Executive Director of Georgia Solar and later as Corporate Account Specialist at Ag Solar Solutions. In 2020, Lauren felt the Lord calling her to leave her corporate position to homeschool her children. She is passionate about getting kids outside and teaching them self-sufficiency. In her free time she enjoys hiking, fishing, and being the in-house photographer and hype person for her kids at sports games and skateparks.

Chelsea lives in Fayetteville with her husband, Josh, and their three children. Prior to homeschooling, Chelsea worked for almost 10 years at Chick-fil-A, Inc. in several different roles. Her most recent role was as a Throughput Consultant, which gave her the opportunity to travel weekly all around the USA to help Chick-fil-A Operators learn to be more efficient in their businesses. In addition to homeschooling, Chelsea currently owns and runs her own social media marketing business. Chelsea graduated with a degree in Business Management from the University of Georgia, Terry College. In her free time she enjoys traveling, being outside and exploring nature, and reading. She is passionate about igniting a love for learning, especially entrepreneurship and physical fitness, in all of her students.

Megan has surrounded herself with babies and kids for as long as she can remember and LOVES helping train up little ones to love Jesus! She tries to embrace each day with a sense of adventure and seeks to find the beauty in everything around her. Megan and her husband Robert have six kids! They originally lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, then ventured to Mukilteo, Washington for one and a half years, before finding themselves in Fayetteville, where they have settled for the last three years. Alongside homeschooling, Megan works 30 hours per week for U.S. Bank in Risk Management. She appreciates the ways this professional outlet helps her thrive as a mother.

Jennifer  graduated from Abilene Christian University in 2005 with a BA in Communications. She is a mom of two and has been homeschooling for four years. She has volunteered and substituted in various public schools and Sunday school classes for the last 15 years. She has a passion for books and teaching and looks forward to helping students of all ages build, develop, and hone their writing and public speaking skills.

Ray has a Bachelor of Music Education from Baylor University and a Master of Music (Conducting) from Samford University. Ray worked fifteen years as a music director and director of music ministries in churches and Christian schools. After getting an avionics certification, he spent 25 years in avionics and quality fields with Delta Air Lines and Organizational Strategies. Ray and his wife, Donna, home-schooled all three of their children. Ray has been a member of Heritage Baptist since the early 90's and has been teaching various high school classes at Konos Academy since 2018.