Bright Futures Academy Staff & Teachers
Founders - Philip & Gail Ross
(404) 799-1244
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Philip and Gail moved to inner-city Atlanta in 2000 to work with at-risk children and single mothers. They purchased property located across from Ben Carson Middle School in the Grove Park Community, now home to Bright Futures Atlanta and the Rosses. Most of their time and talent is focused on establishing and developing relationships with students in their immediate area. Using Christian-based love, mentoring, programs and activities, they are making an obvious difference in the lives of the participants and the community.
Executive Director - Chris Brown
(404) 421-1630
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Chris has been involved in inner-city ministry for 10 years. He and Philip Ross first met 11 years ago in a suburban church in Doraville and have been working together in the ministry ever since. Upon entering college at Georgia Tech in 1999, Chris began interning under Philip’s guidance at Midtown Mission, City of Refuge. In 2003, he graduated with a degree in Physics and applied himself directly into fulltime ministry as a youth and children’s pastor. To further his ministerial training, Chris graduated from the Church of God Theological Seminary with a Masters of Divinity in May of 2009. Currently, Chris is the executive director of Bright Futures Academy. Chris not only acts as director for the school, but he also teaches the high school students in Math, Science, Literature, Logic and Biblical Studies. In December 2005, Chris married Laura Carey of Fayetteville, Ga. They met while working in ministry together at Midtown Mission Church. They currently live in Tucker, Ga., and have no kids…so far.
Middle School Humanities - Gretchen Beck
Gretchen Beck has been teaching for 21 years. For 7 years she lived in Peru working with street kids and families in crisis as a missionary with her husband, Peter. She has a Bachelors from Wheaton College and three Masters degrees: Learning disabilities, Behavior disorders & Severe Emotional Disturbance, and Bilingual Multicultural Education. She and her husband Peter have been married for 21 years and they have 3 kids, a son and two daughters: Norman, Kendi, and Kaylee. Currently, Gretchen teaches 7th and 8th grades for Veritas Classical Schools and is the Middle school teacher for Bright Futures Academy.
Math & Science Teacher Middle School - Stephanie Montero
Stephanie Montero graduated from Florida Atlantic University with Honors in 1978; she attained a dual degree in Education and Humanities. She is certified to teach K-12th grade in the fields of English, Philosophy, Literature, Arts & Theater, History, and Social Studies. She has been teaching since 1995 in Christian and Inner-city school. She has worked with Middle and High School students in Math and Science for the past 6 years, and is currently teaching Math and Science at the Bright Futures Academy and “loving it!” She also has a minor in 17th Century French Culture and Civilization and is halfway to a Master’s in Social Studies. She married Dr. Nestor Montero in 1978 and they are parents to eleven children.
Calculus Teacher High School - Dr. Nestor Montero
Having to flee Castro’s Cuba at the age of four, Dr. Montero arrived in the United States with just the clothes on his back. At sixteen, he was an early admission to the University of Miami College; majoring in Chemistry at the age of nineteen, he was accepted to the University of Miami School of Medicine. After obtaining his doctorate, he completed residence in surgical pathology, general surgery, and plastic reconstructive and hand surgery, learning board certification in G.S. and Plastics.
Retiring from private practice in Atlanta in 2006, Dr. Montero transferred his talents into the Math and Science education of our youth. He is currently a High School Math teacher with the Bright Futures Academy and is planning on returning to academia to obtain a degree in Physics.
Middle and High School Spanish Teacher - Laura Muniz
Mrs. Muniz was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She attended an all girls parochial school for middle and high grades. She has a bachelor’s degree in Social Communications from the University of Santo Domingo; she studied English as a second language at Miami Dade Community College for two years and has completed her Masters degree in Spanish Language and Culture from the University of Salamanca, Spain. Mrs. Muniz moved to the United States in 1988, the same year that she married her husband Eric. They have three children: Alan, Lucas, and Gabriel. She became an American citizen in 1991. Currently, Laura teaches middle and high school students at the Bright Futures Academy in Atlanta, GA.
High School Writers Workshop - Kathleen Pierce
Kathleen Pierce grew up in Ivory Coast, West Africa, where her parents served as missionaries and where she met her husband. She developed an interest in writing and literature at the missionary boarding school she attended and later majored in English in college. She attended Azusa Pacific University in California, Samford University in Alabama, and graduated from the University of Georgia with a B.S. in Secondary Education and English. After graduating, she went straight into a classroom at Meadowcreek High School in Norcross, Georgia, where she taught for two years. Once she and her husband began a family, she came home to be with her four children. Now, just as she grew up in a variety of places, she has students from all over: she homeschools her own children, volunteers at Bright Futures, and teaches online English classes to homeschooled students. Kathleen is currently the High School teacher for Writing and Composition class at Bright Futures Academy. She teaches on a volunteer basis once a week.