Melissa Reaves
Director

Melissa has been homeschooling all seven of her kids since the beginning, and with her oldest now in high school she is beginning to see the fruits from all of the early years. She is passionate about supporting homeschool families, especially those who have children facing learning challenges, neurodiversity, and/or complex medical needs. 

She has a Masters in Higher Education Administrative Leadership and professional experiences in training and organizational development for both the public and private sector. She has previously served as both a volunteer and a board member for several non-profits. Since reverting back to the Catholic faith after the birth of her first two children, she’s been active in a variety of different parish ministries including women’s programming, Children’s Liturgy of the Word, Vacation Bible School , and has served as a youth catechist.

Melissa and her family are transplants from Austin, and are parishioners at St. Mary Magdalene in Flint.

Brynn Turner
Assistant Director

Brynn is a homesteading, homeschooling mom of four outdoorsy children. They spend way too much time learning beautiful poetry and reading good books, while relegating other important subjects to their limited spare time. She and her husband met in the middle of the Arabian Gulf and have lived a lifetime since then, finally returning to Golden in East Texas, near where her husband grew up. 

Brynn served as a Navy Public Affairs Officer at home and abroad for nearly 13 years before running communications for a popular, classical homeschool-hybrid program for Catholic families. She has extensive experience in crisis communications, strategic communications, leadership and management. She has a BA in English from College of the Holy Cross and a MPH from Benedictine with additional certificates in Health Education, Emergency Management, and Grant Writing. Since the birth of her fourth child, she works only on a volunteer basis for causes she truly believes in. 

Her family attends St. Peter the Apostle in Mineola.

Jennifer Pacheco
Programming Coordinator

From the beginning, Jennifer has always had a love of the medical field and teaching. After exploring the possibility of medical school or nursing, she decided to pursue nutrition. While attending Stephen F. Austin, she worked various jobs in the medical field until graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree, majoring in Nutrition, and minoring in Chemistry. She spent six years working for WIC and in that time, she spearheaded many outreach programs, taught classes for the community and was the floating Clinic Manager for the various clinics in the organization. After the birth of her fourth son, she decided to start homeschooling. This freed up her time to help develop a new co-op for the community, start two businesses, and help various groups in a leadership capacity. She currently works for the county where she juggles community education & outreach, coordinating events for various groups, grant opportunities, board meetings and more.

Jennifer is a convert who ran to RCIA when she turned 18 because she knew her whole life she wanted to be Catholic. After graduating from SFA, she attended St. Mary’s in Longview to be certified as a Catechist. She taught Kindergarten and 1st grade faith formation as well as First Year Sacramental Prep.

She is fluent in English and Spanish and resides in Rusk, TX.

Janae Spencer
Communications Coordinator

Janae, along with her husband Ryan, met at UT Tyler where they began their journey together. Janae received her undergraduate degree in Kinesiology before attending dental school at UT Health in San Antonio, TX. However, life had other plans in store when they were blessed with twin girls. Embracing God's plan, Janae made the decision to leave dental school to focus on raising their growing family.
As a stay-at-home mom knee-deep in diapers, Janae discovered a passion for photography as a creative outlet. What started as a hobby soon blossomed into a successful photography business, with Janae serving as a professional photographer for over five years.
Photography became more than just a profession for Janae; it became a means to stay connected with her children while nurturing her creativity and serving her clients.

Janae and her family returned to Tyler two years ago, and now have four young children. She is driven by her newfound passion for homeschooling and creating a nurturing environment for her children to thrive in faith and education.  With a deep desire to instill values of love, service, and devotion to the Lord in her children, Janae is committed to creating a space where souls can flourish and grow.

She and her family are parishioners of St. Mary Magdalene in Flint.

Chelsea Lockman
Membership Coordinator

Chelsea is mom to four boys and decided to join the homeschool community two years ago with the main goal of giving her children a better education and a deeper understanding of our faith. As a cradle Catholic who has seen many people leave the Church, she knows how important it is for children and families to be part of a Catholic community. She feels led by the Holy Spirit to help her family and others build lifelong relationships with others who have the same morals and values. 

She has a Bachelors in Business with a concentration in Operations Management. She has a NAMC Upper Elementary certification and previously served as a Montessori Guide here in Tyler. Between growing her family she has served as Catholic Schoolhouse Dialectic Science Leader, youth catechist, and volunteers with Vacation Bible School and Feed my Lambs.

Chelsea and her family have lived in the Tyler area for over eight years and are parishioners of St. Mary Magdalene in Flint.