Middle School Arts

Middle School Fine Arts allow the students to explore the fine arts and build foundational skills that allow them to excel as they grow in their art.

ART

Junior high students at Grace Community School learn the fundamentals of drawing and design in various genres of art.

BAND

Students in sixth grade learn foundational skills and music reading on woodwind and brass instruments. Select instruments can be provided free of cost for one year to allow students to “try-out” an instrument without the added expense of a rental fee. Students perform two concerts per year. Students in seventh and eighth grade with at least one year’s experience in band develop more advanced skills. This class will combine with the high school to develop advanced skills on woodwind, brass, and percussion. Students perform three concerts per year, October, December, and May, as well as attend various competitions as a group and as individuals.

CHOIR

Teaches the basics of singing in unison and parts along with sight singing. Seventh and eighth grade choir expands on these skills, and the eighth grade choir has the opportunity to explore musical theater by producing a junior musical project.

DRAMA

Sixth grade drama introduces students to creative dramatics and foundational performance skills. A combined seventh and eighth grade class builds these skills and produces a one-act play.

DRUMLINE

Sixth grade students learn the fundamentals of playing percussion in an after-school club and expand on these skills in the Middle School Drumline. All Drumline students must sign up for another fine art during the school day.

ORCHESTRA

Students with no prior string experience on violin, viola, cello or bass learn the fundamentals of their instrument. Select instruments can be provided free of cost for one year to allow students to “try-out” an instrument without the added expense of a rental fee. Students perform two concerts per year. Students in seventh and eighth grade orchestra with at least one year’s experience on violin, viola, cello or bass develop more advanced skills. Students perform three concerts per year, October, December, and May, as well as attend various competitions as a group and as individuals.

Meet Our Team

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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. In 2007, she founded The Fearfully and Wonderfully Made Company, a performing arts partnership between Grace students and specially-gifted children and young adults. Delisa worships at Bethel Hope in Tyler. She is looking forward to occasional visits to NYC to see her daughter Caitlin and son-in-law Jesse who met each other at Grace in the sixth grade.

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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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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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Jason Montier

Band, Orchestra & Swim Coach

Jason Montier

Band, Orchestra & Swim Coach

B.S., East Central Ada College

Jason has been the middle school/high school orchestra director since 2010, the middle school/high school band director since 2014, and the middle school/high school cross country coach since 2013. He has served as National Honor Society advisor, shotgun team advisor, and the summer camp administrator. Since he has been at Grace, the instrumental program has won three Texas Association for Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) instrumental state championships. He also serves as the TAPPS state music chair. Jason received his B.S. in Music Education from East Central University, where he met his wife, Angela. They have three daughters who attend Grace. Jason is an avid outdoorsman who loves to hunt and manage conservation lands. He is also a seasoned runner who has completed six marathons and an ultra-marathon 50K, and many other races. One of his favorite races is the Rose City Triathlon were he competed individually, but also enjoys putting together relay teams stacked with several of his students.

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Anna Pierce

Art

Anna Pierce

Art

B.A., Art History, University of North Texas

Anna joined the Grace team in 2020. She received her bachelor’s degrees in Painting/Drawing and Art History from the University of North Texas. She teaches art at Grace Middle School 5th and 6th and Grace University. Anna is married to the delightful Drew Pierce, and they have two dear preschoolers!

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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.