High School Arts

The high school fine arts expands on the students’ foundational skills and challenges them in preparing concert repertoire, small ensembles, art exhibits, drama productions for competition in TAPPS fine arts competition and for local performances and shows.

ART

Students build on foundational skills and explore different media and genres of art, design, and ceramics.

BAND

Grace High School students are frequently selected in the Region Jazz Band and advance to the Area Jazz Auditions.

CHOIR

The Grace Ashira! Concert Choir will compete in TAPPS competitions, as well as perform in the community and school programs. Students desiring to excel in their musical abilities will be given the opportunity to audition for The Cougar Chorale (a mixed ensemble, SATB) or The Tapestry Singers (an SSA ensemble.) Our choir has been blessed to earn the vocal state champion for our division for the last five years.

DRAMA

Our high school drama actually offers three courses. Acts of Grace, which is our acting company, focusing on production and competing in TAPPS one-act play and speech/acting state level contests. Acts of Grace has been a state level competitor in the TAPPS One-Act Play contest each year and also leads the way in producing a bi-annual high school musical. Stage Craft teaches the design and technical aspects of theater production, and Fine Arts Support Team (FAST) is an independent study actually working the technical aspects of chapel, school programs and productions.

DRUMLINE

The after-school course develops skills on various percussion instruments and gives the students the opportunity to play various styles of percussion music. The fall semester focuses on marching by participating in the TAPPS state contest and a drumline festival and performing at many football games and other community events, while the spring semester focuses on the TAPPS music contest and the drumline concert. Our drumline has been the state champion for our division all five years of the TAPPS state contest.

ORCHESTRA

The Philharmonic Orchestra concentrates on advanced skills and repertoire. Students prepare selected music for TAPPS and the TMEA All-Region audition process in the fall. The group has many school and community performance opportunities. Emphasis on helping the students prepare for college auditions is an integral part of the class. In Fall 2016, Grace had five high school students advance to Region Orchestra, one to first chair, and three high school students who advanced to area orchestra auditions.

Meet Our Team

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Melissa Euler

Art

Melissa Euler

Art

B.A., University of Alaska

Melissa has been the middle school art teacher and high school art and ceramics teacher since 2014. Melissa received a bachelor’s in Art from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, and a secondary teaching certificate from Judson University in Elgin, Illinois. After many years of homeschooling her three children, Melissa has taught high school visual arts and ceramics since 1999, developing a three-tiered ceramics program along the way. She and her husband Andy, also a Grace teacher, now have three grown children and three adorable grandkids.

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Jennifer Furr

Choir Director

Jennifer Furr

Choir Director

M.Ed., University of Texas at Tyler

Jennifer joined Grace Community School in 2018 as the high school and middle school choir director. She has a Bachelor of Music degree from Stephen F. Austin State University with a choral music emphasis as well as a Master of Education degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Texas at Tyler. She has over 20 years of experience teaching voice and directing choirs in both public and private schools from the middle school to collegiate level. Her choirs have performed under her conducting baton in Dublin, Prague, Salzburg, Vienna, Munich, and Dresden, as well as Carnegie Hall and Disney World. Jennifer has two sons, Cameron and Charles, who are both enrolled at GCS. They attend Green Acres Baptist Church where Jennifer actively participates in the music ministry.

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Delisa Bice

Director of Fine Arts

Delisa Bice

Director of Fine Arts

M.A., University of Houston at Clear Lake City

Ms. Bice holds a BA degree from Sam Houston State University and MA from University of Houston at Clear Lake City. Prior to her start at GCS in 2001, she taught sixteen years in public education in Texas. Ms. Bice loves introducing young people to theater in the middle school program as well as teaching dual credit speech. She also serves as Director of Fine Arts for GCS. Delisa worships at Bethel Hope in Tyler. She is looking forward to occasional visits to NYC to see her daughter Caitlin and grandson Oliver..

Class of 2003
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Katie Ritcheson

Drama

Class of 2003

Katie Ritcheson

Drama

Katie Ritcheson began teaching drama at Grace Community School in 2017. She is a 2003 graduate of Grace Community School. Katie studied theater and music at Tyler Junior College and Stephen F. Austin State University before beginning a career teaching middle school theater in Whitehouse and Waco. She and her husband, Doug, have two daughters at Grace.

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Jeff Shelton

Mathematics & Drumline

Jeff Shelton

Mathematics & Drumline

B.S., Stephen F. Austin State University

Jeff has worked as a high school teacher since 1991 and started at Grace Community School in 1997. Jeff teaches high school mathematics and directs the Grace Community Drumline, which was established in 1998. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Stephen F. Austin State University. Jeff is married to Kathy, who also teaches at GCS.