Each Veritas staff member is a believer in Jesus Christ and active in a local church. Our teachers have a four year college degree in education or a related field of education. Many of our teachers have previous classroom experience in a traditional school setting, and most are homeschool parents themselves.
Click below to learn more about our teachers and staff!
Click below to learn more about our teachers and staff!
Administrative staff
Denise Burgess - Director
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After eighteen years of homeschooling, Denise's children have all finished high school. Before Denise started her family, she taught in public school for eight years and private school in Medellin, Colombia for two years. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish and Elementary Education from Grand Valley State University in Michigan and a Master of Education from Point Loma Nazarene College in San Diego, California. She loves all things teaching and learning. It is her desire to come alongside the next generation of homeschoolers, to encourage and assist them in the challenging and rewarding task of homeschooling.
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Donna Richardson - Lower School Assistant
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Donna recently retired from the Rutherford County school system after working within the special education program for 25 years. Donna and her husband Randall have been married for 45 years and live in Arrington. Their granddaughter, Sarah, attends Veritas. Donna is a member of Stones River Baptist Church in Smyrna. She enjoys visiting antique stores, cooking, and spending time with family.
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Molly Stewart - Upper School Assistant
Molly has been privileged to explore truth and beauty with her four children for nine years. All four of her children attend Veritas. She and her husband, Paul have been married 17 years and live in Spring Hill. Molly’s favorite part of the day is her time in the word and prayer every morning. She enjoys family adventures, date nights, hikes, baking and Bible studies with other women. |
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Kumi Rannin - Upper School Assistant
Kumi grew up in the city of Hitachi, Japan located an hour north of Tokyo. Both her parents were engineers and she graduated from Ibaracki Tanki Daigaku College with a Kindergarten Teacher License. She has worked as a preschool teacher, a social worker in an adult mentally handicapped facility and was the personal assistant to the chancellor of Ibaracki Christian University. Kumi has two adult children and a mother living in Japan. She moved to the US after marrying her husband Bruce and has lived her for sixteen years. They have two children attending Veritas. Kumi enjoys teaching and performing hula dancing, cooking, gardening and raising chickens. |
lower school
Emily Leake - Kindergarten
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Emily graduated from the University of South Carolina with a degree in Early Childhood Education and spent several years in the public school system teaching kindergarten, first grade, and working as a reading intervention coordinator. Teaching has always been her passion, and she was thrilled to find Veritas when her family moved to Nashville in 2018. This will be her 6th year teaching kindergarten at Veritas. When she isn't teaching, Emily enjoys spending time with her family (husband Brad, and children Carson, Stephen, and Avery), reading, gardening, and staying involved in the children's ministry at church.
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Jenessa Bruce - First Grade Humanities
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Jenessa completed her Bachelors of Science in Early Childhood Education from Florida State College at Jacksonville in 2015. She taught 3rd grade and kindergarten at the Department of Defense Elementary School in Rota, Spain. Now she homeschools her two oldest children with a toddler and baby in tow. Jenessa began studying the classical model of education more in-depth last year with a graduate course through South Eastern University in partnership with Classical Conversations. She prioritizes outdoor time, rich vocabulary, and hands on learning to support children’s inquisitive nature and foster intrinsic motivation and a love of learning. She and her husband, Mike, along with their four children Jacqueline, Michael, Alexander, and Matthew, love to travel, hike, and go to the beach. Camping, sourdough baking and gardening are new endeavors this year!
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Hallie Lane - First Grade Humanities & Electives
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Hallie Lane has called Nolensville, Tennessee home since the fall of 2018 after moving here from Little Rock, Arkansas. Prior to living there, she and her family lived in South Carolina where she was blessed to meet her husband, Jeremy, and her two boys were born. With an undergraduate degree in German and International Studies and an MBA from the University of South Carolina, Hallie worked in the both the public and private sectors before resigning from her last position as a certified internal auditor to honor God's calling for her to be a full-time wife and mother. Since this time, she has homeschooled her boys in three states, tutored in Classical Conversations, and served as the director of her church’s children’s ministry. Hallie loves learning, travel, exploring, and growing in knowledge of God and His Word. Finding Him in the big and small, in science, in math, in the arts, in language, in all things is thrilling; being able to do these alongside her boys (10th and 7th grade at Veritas), has been a joy and privilege. She is honored to be a part of the Veritas Nashville family and is eager to encourage both students and families alike in their learning adventures.
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Dani Su Bickley- Second Grade Humanities
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Dani Su holds a Bachelor of Science in Management from Georgia Tech and Master of Science in Higher Education from Florida State University. She has worked in many different roles for non-profits, such as planning conferences, and has enjoyed taking on the challenges of wearing multiple hats. After moving to Tennessee, she stepped into the role of homeschooling and fell in love with education in the home! She is a proud wife and mother to two beautiful daughters, and a joyful rescue dog. She loves to laugh and find new adventures, all the while learning about God and His masterful creation, and sharing in it with future generations.
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Lauren Reino - Second Grade Electives
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Lauren graduated from Moody Bible Institute with a degree in Biblical Studies. After graduating, she spent several years teaching classical education in Minden, Nevada. She has lived in the Franklin, TN area for six years, and now calls it home. Currently, she homeschools her daughter, Benni, and her younger son, Luke, attends preschool. Lauren and her husband, Ben, own a successful recording studio and are working songwriters in the country music industry. Her passion for the Bible and for worship ministry has given Lauren many opportunities to lift up the name of the Lord! She is grateful that the Lord has opened the doors to teach at Veritas.
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Crystal Webb - Third Grade Humanities & Electives
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Crystal graduated from MTSU with a B.S. in Psychology. After working in sales and management for 13 years, God called her to homeschool her children. She has homeschooled her two children, Riley Jo and Brady, for the past seven years and loves it. She is blessed with a supportive husband, Jonathan, and they attend World Outreach Church. They love to travel, spend time in nature and play games as a family. Crystal loves to garden and read in her free time. Crystal taught math at Veritas for three years and is looking forward to teaching all third grade subjects this year!
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Nicole Richardson - Fourth Grade Humanities & Electives
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After graduating from MTSU with a Bachelor of Science in Child Development and Family Studies, Nicole worked as a development evaluator and parent advisor in the Early Intervention Program for the Department of Education. She has also worked as an educational assistant and a preschool teacher in Murfreesboro City Schools. Nicole is an IEW Accredited Instructor and has been at Veritas for the last four years. Together with her husband Jason and daughter Sarah, she attends World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro. Their family enjoys outdoor activities, especially camping and spending time on the lake.
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Christy Jones - Spanish
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Christy is originally from Nashville, although many of her growing up years were spent in Michigan. After graduating from Wheaton College with a BA in History and a secondary education certification, she moved to Tegucigalpa, Honduras where she taught for three years in the International School before moving to Zacatecas, Mexico. Christy joined her future husband Doug, working with a small mission organization called Christ for Children International for the next 15 years. It was there in Mexico, that Christy fell in love with homeschooling her own three children, and has been doing it ever since. Over the past ten years, Christy has taught Spanish to students of all ages in various homeschool tutorials, and is very excited to continue sharing her love and passion for language and culture with the children at Veritas. Doug and Christy are currently attending Southpointe in Nolensville, after pastoring a small, multi-cultural church up in Nashville for the last 10 years. Christy enjoys hiking and the outdoors, reading a good book, drinking coffee with friends, and spending time with her husband and children playing games or watching a good movie.
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upper school
Sommer Whisnant - Fifth Grade Humanities
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Sommer attended the University of South Carolina, received a degree in Psychology and later went on to receive a Masters of Social Work. Sommer started her career at the Department of Social Services with foster children, followed by a career in mental health for children and adolescents. She worked closely with young children through Head Start and elementary schools, and has spent significant time in specialized reading development. Sommer is married to Brian and is mom to Jack, Hadley and Caroline. They attend the Village Church in Nolensville and stay very busy with the children’s activities and events in the community.
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Heidi Davidhizar - Sixth Grade Humanities
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Heidi attended Youngstown State University in Ohio, majoring in Physical and Health Education for 2 years before enlisting in the United States Air Force. She served as a linguist in the Air Force for 4 years and following her enlistment attended McDaniel College in Maryland where she received a degree in Social Work. She later attended the University of Southern California and received a Masters of Social Work. Her career has included work in mental health for adults, children, adolescents, and families as well as substance abuse recovery with adults. Heidi and her husband Brian, along with their three boys Ezra, Asher, and Roman, attend the Church at West Franklin.
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Rebecca McKisic - Seventh & Eighth Grade Humanities - Language Arts
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Mrs. Becca McKisic has a BA in English from Bob Jones University. She has over ten years of experience teaching children of many ages in church and Bible study programs, and has been at Veritas for two years. She is passionate about encouraging the love of reading in others. As a homeschool mom and also a former homeschool student herself, she is excited to have the opportunity to teach the next generation of homeschoolers. Becca and her husband, Steve, have a daughter, Gabby, who attends Veritas. They are all book lovers! Becca enjoys reading, walking in God’s creation, and playing games with her family.
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Kim Kirby - Seventh & Eighth Grade Humanities - History, Bible, Logic
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Kim Kirby graduated from Lipscomb University with a BA in English, minoring in History and Psychology. From there, she received an MA in English from the College of Charleston. She has taught college English at both Charleston Southern University and Lipscomb University, but her greatest love is homeschooling. In addition to teaching her own children for ten years, she has also taught writing classes in Classical Conversations Essentials program. Kim served with her husband, Greg, in youth ministry for twelve years and continues to enjoy teaching children and teens in her local church. She also enjoys spending time with her family, reading, hiking, traveling, and overanalyzing movies.
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Elizabeth Kea - High School Humanities - Language Arts
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After graduating from the University of Georgia with a BA in English Literature, Elizabeth worked as an editor in book publishing for nine years. She has homeschooled her children for the last twelve years and now has two children in college and two at Veritas. Elizabeth enjoys introducing great books to the next generation of readers and helping them discover how to interpret, analyze, and appreciate all literary genres. She has taught high school literature and writing for seven years and is thrilled to be part of Veritas. When she doesn’t have her nose in a book, Elizabeth loves spending time with her family--hiking, traveling, playing sports, rummaging in antique stores, and serving in their church, LifePoint Riverdale.
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Wayne Wilson - High School Humanities - World View, Government, Economics
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Mr. Wayne Wilson was born in Murfreesboro and grew up in the Lascassas area. He has lived in Murfreesboro for the past 20 years. Mr. W received his B.S. in Social Sciences with an emphasis in history at MTSU. After teaching for 36 years in public schools in Rutherford and Williamson counties, Mr. W. recently retired in May of 2021. Mr. W is married and has four sons and six grandchildren. He enjoys sharing his love of history with Veritas students.
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Rachel Boyd - Fifth & Sixth Grade Science, Saxon Math 7/6
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Rachel graduated with a degree in Elementary Education from the University of North Florida. After teaching 3rd and 4th grade in the public schools, Rachel took a break from teaching to raise her three boys, Drew, Josh and Jake. During that time, she tutored a variety of subjects both private and for the school system, as well as performed homeschool evaluations in Florida. After almost 18 years outside of a classroom, Rachel returned to teaching last year at Heart Christian Academy in Columbia, teaching 7th grade math and science. Rachel is married to Paul, who pastors Redeemer Church Murfreesboro, and she loves anything outdoors, especially hiking, camping, kayaking, and gardening.
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Elizabeth Orr - Seventh & Eighth Grade Science, High School Biology
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Upon graduating from Union University with a degree in Elementary Education, Elizabeth obtained her Masters of Education in curriculum and instruction from the University of Memphis. She taught five years in the Jackson-Madison County school system in Jackson, Tennessee and was an adjunct professor at Union University. After years of being a stay-at-home mom, she returned to the classroom where she taught nine years at the University School of Jackson teaching fourth grade and seventh grade biology. Before moving to Murfreesboro two years ago, she taught seventh grade science at Faith Home School Tutorial. She and her husband, Greg, have two married children and three grandchildren. Elizabeth loves traveling, watching old movies, women's Bible studies, and spending time with her family.
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Sharon Ness - Saxon Math 6/5
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Sharon Ness wanted to be a teacher before she began kindergarten herself! She never doubted her calling to be a teacher and graduated from MTSU with a degree in Education, specializing in middle school education. She is state certified and has taught various grade levels and subject matter over the years. Her favorite age group to teach is middle school, and her favorite subject to teach is math! She has a true passion for helping students develop confidence in themselves, and she sees this need especially evident during the middle school years. She is both creative and organized! These strengths help her students feel at home in her classroom and give them the confidence to try new things. She is married and has three children. She is active in her church and enjoys walking, reading, and spending time with her friends and family.
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Kelsey Tomes - Seventh Grade Math
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Kelsey started her work in education as a math tutor at the age of fifteen. She graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a Bachelor's Degree in Elementary Education and continued her schooling by receiving a Masters in Education with a teaching credential in K-8 Subjects as well as Secondary Mathematics. When Kelsey and her family moved to Nolensville, she switched from teaching 7-8th grade Mathematics in a public school and started a tutoring company, Tutoring Rocks. Kelsey and her husband, Chris, started a new church in Nolensville called Cross + Crown. They have been working in ministry together since they met at 18 years old. The Tomes have FOUR daughters, and their oldest daughter will be joining Veritas this year as well. Kelsey loves being a mom and still getting to work in education. She loves middle schoolers and thinks they are so fun!
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Abigail Walters - High School Geometry
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Abigail graduated from Anderson University in South Carolina with a B.S. in Secondary Mathematics Education. Upon graduation she worked in MNPS (Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools) for 6 years. While in MNPS, she taught Integrated Math 1 and 2, Trigonometry/Pre-Calculus, and participated in a college mentorship program for first generation college students. Throughout her time in public education, she discovered her passion for creating engaging, hands-on lessons that show students the beauty of mathematics. Abigail has three daughters-Frankie (6), Retta (3), and Mills (2). After her third daughter was born, she left the classroom to stay at home and focus on homeschooling her oldest. Frankie will be attending Veritas as a first grader this year. Along with her husband, Joel, Abigail enjoys doing anything outdoors as a family-biking, hiking, and all types of exploring.
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Becca Smidt - Spanish
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Bekah graduated from Olivet Nazarene University with a B.S. in Spanish Education and Communication Studies. Her love of language and culture began as a young girl when she lived in Brazil for four years, and grew as she spent a college semester in Latin America. After graduation, her husband, Ben, was offered a job overseas and they lived for almost three years in Brussels, Belgium. Bekah has taught Spanish in various immersive settings from birth to high school. Ben, Bekah and their children - Isaiah, Brooklyn, Joseph, and Noelle - enjoy visiting new places, playing board games, and reading together.
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