Meet Our Board Members
Kristen Carmitchel | Founder + School Director
Kristen and her husband Jason live in Lewisville, NC. They have four children, ages 17-24. A long-time English teacher, Kristen has worked in a variety of educational settings, including community colleges, private schools (two of them University-Model®) and homeschool co-ops. With experience as both a teacher and a parent in the University-Model® system, Kristen understands the benefits of this educational design and has been a proponent of the model for several years. Shortly after moving to the Winston-Salem area, Kristen met Misty Russ and heard the vision of establishing a new school, and she’s been on board ever since. Kristen holds a BA in English with a minor in Communication Arts. Kristen was commissioned through the Colson Fellows program in May 2023.
Cathy Collins | Founder + Director of Student Life, Upper School
Cathy and her husband Kerry are parents of three children, ages 12-19. Cathy has spent many years homeschooling her children and volunteering in various capacities, both in church and in the local homeschool community. Cathy has the heart of a servant, and when she heard of the plans to establish a new school community in her area, she volunteered to serve on the founding team. Cathy holds a BS in Biology and Business Administration and an MS in Physical Therapy.
Lora Geer | Founder + Director of Spiritual Formation
Lora and her husband Andy live on a family farm near Winston-Salem, NC, where they have homeschooled their five children, ages 6-22. Lora has worked extensively in women’s ministry and the pro-life movement. She directed and helped to found Maplewood Women’s Center (one of nation’s first crisis pregnancy centers in the same building as abortion provider), where she trained and oversaw counselors, raised support and interest, and provided education and counseling to clients. She has homeschooled for 15 years and after the launching of her oldest children, Lora has felt led to focus her energy on helping establish Cathedral Oak Academy as an option for the families in her community. She has a BA in English and Studio Art from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Masters in Theology with a concentration in counseling from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.
Jessica Gelatt | Director of Student Life, Lower School
Jessica grew up in Orlando, Florida and graduated from Liberty University with a B.S. in Psychology. Jessica lives in Winston-Salem, with Danny, her husband of 23 years, and their three kids, ages 12, 11 and 9. She also lives next door to her identical twin sister (and her family) and across the street from her parents. She is also very involved with her church, Friends Baptist Church, where the school meets.
Jessica worked in liability claims settlement before becoming a full time mom. She homeschooled her 3 kids for 5 years before learning about Cathedral Oak Academy. She likes to say she was their #1 fan. After attending the very first information meeting, God melted and captured her heart for the board’s vision and the dream for this school. Cathy, Lora and Jessica had been in a homeschool co-op together prior to working together at COA. They asked Jessica to join the Board in the summer of 2021, just before the school opened.
Misty Russ | Founder + Executive Director
Misty lives in Clemmons, NC, with her husband Rhett and their three children, ages 8-17. A veteran homeschool mom and a former director of Classical Conversations of Winston-Salem, she has a passion for classical-style learning and plans to pursue a graduate degree in Classical Education. As her family dynamics changed over the years, she became interested in the University-Model® schools and began to research the possibilities of establishing a school in her area. After much prayer, the Lord connected her with other interested founding families, and the vision for Cathedral Oak Academy began to take shape. Misty has a BS in Biology, a certificate in Computer Science, and three years of graduate work in Bioinformatics. Misty was commissioned through the Colson Fellows program in May 2023.