Mrs. Taylor joins Great Hearts with a commitment to inspire a love for learning and mentoring students in their growth. Being a native of San Antonio she always knew that her future would include teaching. Mrs. Taylor brings a wealth of knowledge about literacy acquisition and is eager to attune student needs with literature pedagogy in order to serve the ever developing reading minds of our children.

A graduate of Texas A&M University San Antonio with a Bachelor’s of Science, her commitment to lifelong learning leads her to discover new and exciting inquiries about studies that build an understanding of how children acquire and refine reading and writing skills. This pursuit finds her on a path to attaining her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction in Reading from the University of Arlington in December of 2022 certifying her a Reading Specialist.

She applies her love of art and creativity to balance her ardor for education with family fun alongside her husband and two young daughters. Reading, calligraphy, and yoga keep her grounded and focused in faith and love.

Laura Jackson is a native of San Antonio who returned after living and working in numerous cities in the United States and abroad. Mrs. Jackson’s interest in case management began while assisting community members remove barriers in gaining employment.  She was able to hone these skills by helping students achieve their academic goals while working for a private faith-based elementary school in Germany.

During this time, she maintained student records while she managed the school’s budget, served as the de facto nurse, and substitute teacher to the student population.  Her interest in the Liberals Arts was prompted after taking literature courses for her bachelor’s degree.  It was further cemented when she visited the Louvre Museum in Paris and the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne.

Mrs. Jackson’s interests include spending time with her family, serving her community, and crafting.

My name is Melissa Wilson and I have been teaching in the lower school for the past 2 years. I am excited to join the GHLO US team as the Dean of Student Culture. 

I am originally from Washington State and I graduated from the University of Arizona. I have taught for over 10 years from Pre-K to 6th grade physical education. My other roles include; Director at Sylvan Learning Center, teaching SAT and Speed-Reading courses, and have worked as an assistant teacher. I have lived in San Antonio for 5 years, with my two wonderful children William and Savanah.

There is so much I am looking forward to doing this school year! One of my favorite things to teach is literacy. I am looking forward to sharing my love of reading with your scholar this school year. 

It was Ana Gonzalez’s dream to become a teacher since she was little. That became a reality when she graduated with her Bachelors in Elementary Education 20 years ago from the University of Monterrey, México where she specialized in reading and writing. She has 10 years experience teaching elementary K-4. She also took some time off from classroom teaching to focus on raising her little ones.

Those years as a teacher and valuing motherhood made her realize how important the formation of virtues in the family is to society and started her master’s degree in Family Educational Counseling from The University of Villanueva in Spain.

After finishing a thesis on the importance of the parent’s role on the success of their child’s education, she graduated in July 2020 and will continue another year specializing in Marriage Counseling.

After living in Atlanta, New Jersey, Monterrey and McAllen, Texas, she is permanently establishing her family in San Antonio. She is honored to continue her work at Great Hearts Live Oak where she is eager to meet families with the same desire for their families: the pursuit of Truth, Beauty and Goodness.

Stephanie Powers has enjoyed her years teaching World History here at Great Hearts Live Oak. She is excited to set up our high school students for college success as our new College Counselor.

Mrs. Powers has relocated to San Antonio from Portland, Texas. She has been in education for 18 years. Education is a family affair as Mrs. Powers’ husband has been in education for over 20 years, mother, father-in-law, and mother-in-law for over 40 years. She has earned her Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in Psychology; Social Science, and a Minor in Education from Ashford University.

In her free time, Mrs. Powers likes to walk her two dachshunds, golf, water ski, and travel with her four children and husband. Mrs. Powers loves being a member of the Great Hearts community!

Ms. Kimeisha McCullum joyfully joins Great Hearts Live Oak as our Director of Community Engagement and Academy Giving.

Ms. McCullum joins us as a Retired U.S. Army Colonel with over 19 years of experience in public relations. Her passion and enthusiasm for education and helping others live out their full potential is what solidified her decision to enroll her son at Great Hearts Live Oak. As an engaged parent, she loves what GHLO offers students, staff, and the community. She is excited to be a part of such a dynamic group of educators and students and looks forward to building a thriving academy!

Ms. McCullum has a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry/Pre-Med and a Master’s degree in Health Service Administration. She is currently completing her doctoral degree in Business Administration. She enjoys traveling, reading, spending time with her son and family, and serving her community.

Mrs. Graebener joined Great Hearts Live Oak as a founding faculty in 2020. Since then, she has been working as a third grade Apprentice Teacher and is excited to move into her new position as Business Clerk. She will be working with the Operations team and is excited to be a part of our campus wide community.

Mrs. Graebener’s journey as a Great Hearts family started when she discovered the best interest for classical education while searching for a curriculum for her children. What she believes in classical education is that its focus is to provide a well-rounded education to children and every single child deserves a high-quality education.

Mrs. Graebener was born and raised in South Korea where she attended Daegu university. There, she majored in English Literature and Language, and during that time, she discovered the joy of reading classic novels. Before she joined Great Hearts Live Oak, she worked as a preschool teacher at Trinity Christian Academy for 3 years.

She is happily married to an Army veteran and has her own two scholars at home. During her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoor painting and listening to classical music so you will see me either outside painting or listening to classical music.

Ms. Silvas is excited to be part of the Great Hearts Live Oak team as the Co-Curricular Coordinator for our Athenaeum program and Homework Club.

Ms. Silvas found her passion working with children while residing in Germany serving our military community. She continued working for child youth programs for 12 years which inspired Ms. Silvas to change her major. She has graduated with her Child Development Associate and Childhood Education and Family Studies A.A.S in San Antonio and plans to continue her education and be a lifelong learner.

 Ms. Silvas is excited to provide a fun and safe GHLO environment for all GHLO children and families, as she has her own GHLO Owl attending this year. She loves being a mother and enjoys spending her extra time with her family, traveling, and crafting.

Ms. Cindy Audelo is the Founding Headmaster of Great Hearts Live Oak, and is now serving as the upper school 504 Coordinator. Ms. Audelo’s passion for the liberal arts was sparked between the covers of the books she consumed as a voracious young reader. Her desire to better understand human existence and our place in the world led her to study humanities and social ethics at the University of Iowa, earning her Bachelor of Arts from the School of Religion.

As a young mother striving to find better and affordable educational options, Ms. Audelo homeschooled her three children through their primary education, drawing from many of the curricular pieces that are features of a Great Hearts education. After moving to Phoenix, she enrolled her children in the first Great Hearts academy, Veritas Prep. First as a parent volunteer, and then as a coach, teacher, and administrator, Ms. Audelo’s passion and commitment for public, tuition-free liberal education has grown with Great Hearts.

After answering her professional call, she earned her master’s degree in educational leadership from Arizona State University. Founding Live Oak continues to be an honor and a privilege, and she looks forward to graduating the first class of seniors in 2026 and promoting liberal education in the San Antonio region.

Mrs. Sharipova is a founding faculty member of Great Hearts Live Oak. She is excited to join the upper school Emergent Bilingual program She has taught Russian language when she oversaw the Russian Language Owls Club at GHLO.

Mrs. Sharipova was born in Tajikistan. She has 8 years of teaching experience in her native country teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) to children, teenagers and adults. She has also taught in Ukraine and Moldova. She holds a Bachelors degree from Nosiri Khusrav University. She is fluent in English, Tajik (her native language) and Russian, but also has an intermediate level of the Uzbek language.

Her passions are reading books about history and visiting historical places in order to get a taste of the past. In her free time, she likes to play the harmonica, outdoor activities such as playing basketball and tennis and she loves hiking. She is grateful to be part of Great Hearts Live Oak and is excited to be part of this amazing community.

Mrs. Borden is a founding GHLO faculty member, after six years in a first-grade classroom, she is excited to work with our Owls in need of Reading Intervention and Dyslexia services.  

 Mrs. Borden graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Sociology with a minor in Family Studies, and Child Development. Her time in the sociology department exposed her to the beauty of Socratic teaching, and she recognizes the importance of a classical education’s role in creating life-long learners.  

 As a native Texan, and San Antonio resident for more than a decade, she feels there are no truer words than “there’s no place like home”. When out of the classroom she is keeping up with her 4 children. She loves time with her family, antiquing, queso-testing, singing like no one is listening, dancing like no one is watching, and roller-skating her heart out. Mrs. Borden also has a weakness for musicals, and enjoys reading classics by Jane Austen, R.D. Blackmore, and C.S. Lewis. All hobbies aside, she is thrilled to continue the pursuit of the Great Hearts mission and provide the best education for all. 

Mr. Bollinger holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix and recently retired after 32 years as a UPS driver. He is excited to begin his first year of instruction teaching Physical Education in our lower school. Mr. Bollinger also had the privilege of being an assistant coach for the Owls basketball team last fall.

He and his wife Lisa have been married for twelve years and have three children attending Live Oak this fall. In his spare time, Mr. Bollinger enjoys watching and playing baseball, listening to music, and spending time with his family.

Mrs. Cowen has always loved learning.  During elementary school, she loved to read and discovered a passion for both literature and history. Born in Arizona, Mrs. Cowen earned a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education, graduating summa cum laude from Arizona State University. She also completed a Masters in Educational Technology at Northern Arizona University, graduating with distinction.

She began her career as a teacher in 2007, teaching fourth grade in a rural district on the outskirts of Phoenix. Since then, she has taught a range of grades, including middle school (6^th, 7^th, and 8^th grades). She loves bringing her passion and enthusiasm for learning new things and ideas to her classroom.

Mrs. Cowen began her career with Great Hearts as a member of the founding faculty of Archway Lincoln in 2015. Currently, she is completing a second Masters in Classical Education at the University of Dallas.

An accomplished musician, Mrs. Cowen plays viola and violin and is learning cello and piano. Her family (including her husband and dog) have relocated to San Antonio from Tempe, Arizona. On the weekends, she enjoys hiking and exploring San Antonio.

A native of San Antonio, Mr. Jackson’s interest the humanities started in the latter years of his Air Force career and is rooted in his love of history. He found he was able to easily apply the relevancy and wisdom of the past to his military duties. He discovered Great Hearts while retiring from active duty and he knew at once that he wanted to work for an organization that cared about young people’s character as well as their education.

Mr. Jackson has a bachelor’s degree in the liberal arts, with a concentration in the Middle East, and a master’s degree in Strategic Intelligence. Although he has instructed in a military setting, it was his volunteer time teaching youth in his church that cemented his calling to a second career in education.

He enjoys travelling with his wife, spending time with friends,
serving his community, and reading.

Matthew Kost is a former graduate of California Baptist University earning a Bachelors of Music in Music Education. Specializing in the woodwind family and vocals, he brings a wide array of experience through his teaching in public and private schools since 2015. However, in 2021, Mr. Kost moved to Schertz, Texas and has worked in the Great Hearts network, sharing in the vision of pursuing truth, goodness, and beauty. Motivated by a love for learning, he hopes to bring an inward joy through the experience of organized sound. A goal for every class is to help students build and cultivate a vocabulary of music as Suzuki once said, “Music is the language of the heart, without words.”

Mr. Kost is married to his best friend and fellow musician, Linda Kost. Both graduating from California Baptist University, they met traveling the world bringing the joy of music to congregations and audiences. Performing in five countries, Mr. Kost performed with the Saringhimig Singers, a choral group based out of Oakland, CA from 2015-2019. In college, he performed with the Concert Band, Jazz Band, Pep Band, Choral Union, Male Choral, University Choir and Orchestra, Hope (a vocal small group), and was the sound engineer for the New Song choir.

When he is not practicing or rehearsing with his church, he enjoys traveling with his wife, reading, golfing, bowling, and attending Bible studies.

Mr. Monterroso started here at Great Hearts Live Oak as a fifth grade Lead Teacher. This year, he is excited to join the math instruction team serving our upper school scholars teaching Pre-Algebra and Geometry. After graduating from high school, David moved to Coahuila, Mexico where he served as a volunteer for two years. During this time, he discovered a love for teaching and serving others. He developed a passion for helping others become the best version of themselves.

Upon returning from his two-year service, Mr. Monterroso began studying at Brigham Young University – Idaho where he focused his studies within mathematics and the physical sciences. As he studied, he noticed that he had adopted a common yet poisonous philosophy: education was merely transactional (e.g., One attends college to get a good job). From this realization, Mr. Monterroso has taken it upon himself to change his way of thinking and to aid others in rethinking the purpose of education. As a teacher, he hopes to help the Live Oak community, students and parents realize that the true worth of education stems from its power to transform the life of a scholar. Through diligent service and genuine love, Mr. Monterroso intends to effect change in the lives of his scholars.

Outside of the classroom, David enjoys spending time with his beautiful wife and his two energetic boys. They truly are his greatest joy.

Mrs. Smith joined Great Hearts Live Oak in 2021. She began her journey as an Apprentice Teacher in lower school, but is now excited to jump into her next role as the instructor of Humane Letters in our upper school. Mrs. Smith earned her BA from Concordia Texas and her Masters of Education from Concordia Portland. She has a background in college education, GED courses, and classical education in a widespread of subjects. She has a passion for education and teaching and has come to embrace classical curriculum whole-heartedly.

Mrs. Smith is not a native-born Texan but got here as quick as she could. She became a Texan by proxy upon marrying a native Texan and now has three beautiful Texan babies. She has come to embrace the Texan pride and will even cheer for the Cowboys on occasion. She loves to sit outside in the sunshine and read.

Chloe Sonnier is excited to continue her teaching career as a member of the inaugural faculty at Great Hearts Live Oak. Chloe graduated in 2020 from Trinity University with a Bachelors of Arts in Anthropology and a minor in Music. She is the recipient of  the Margaret Mead Award, awarded “in recognition of outstanding achievements in the Field of Anthropology,” as well as a recipient of Departmental Honors for completing an Honor Thesis.

Over the course of her studies, Chloe focused on fine-tuning her research abilities, even joining a large-scale research project led by Trinity University professor Dr. Amy Stone in the summer of 2019. She looks forward to bringing her research skills, her eye for detail, her penchant for close readings, and her analytical tenacity to the classroom in service of inspiring students to truly love and enjoy the search for knowledge and truth.

In her free-time, Chloe enjoys finding ways to be involved in the broader San Antonio community and challenging herself to further her mastery of piano, do research into new topics and questions, and master new yoga poses. She also enjoys relaxed evenings with friends and is currently enjoying learning how to cook delicious vegan meals for herself and her roommate.

Mr. Phillips began his adventures in adulthood by enlisting in the U.S. Army shortly after graduating high school.  While in uniform, young Mr. Phillips was stationed overseas in both Japan and Germany.  Eventually, after attaining the rank of Staff Sergeant (where he first discovered a talent for inspiring people to success), he decided to rejoin civilian life and completed a bachelor’s program in Political Science at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).  After spending a year abroad in a Mandarin Chinese language immersion course, Mr. Phillips returned to UTSA and finished a master’s program in International Relations.

This will be Mr. Phillips’ 5^th year teaching math to young people, and he is very excited to continue doing so at Great Hearts Live Oak.  Mr. Phillips is also a big fan of history and may reliably be expected to launch into an overly detailed description of the 6,523 occurrences that led to any particular noteworthy event.  Finally, Mr. Phillips is an adherent to the old axiom of “Fit Body, Fit Mind”.  Accordingly, he tries to maintain an active lifestyle by hiking, biking and otherwise maintaining a vigorous physical training regimen.