Denise Paulette Descouzis, M.A., was born on March 26, 1956 with a significant heart defect. She was not expected to live past age 2. Denise, however, defied medical predictions and thrived, leading a relatively normal life, and was highly involved in music, theater and dance, maintaining a virtual 4.0 scholastic average through graduate school.

Denise received her undergraduate degree in Speech Pathology at UNCG in 1977, and proceeded to become an Audiologist, practicing for over 35 years. She realized that her passion was not only supervising graduate students in Audiology practicum, but also the leadership opportunities presented to her during her entire life, from leadership positions in many organizations, to directing high school plays in her teens, then to directing a Youth Choir for 30 years. “The ripples” in the water of life in education count - a lot.

Michael Parrish, M.Ed., received his undergraduate and graduate degrees in Theater Education and Communication at UNC-G. In 1973 he began his career as the drama teacher for Grimsley High School, where he had the pleasure of working with Denise in his directing debut.

Michael was appointed to the advanced leadership team tasked with logistic and curriculum design to found the Weaver Academy in 1978, where he was the first Chair of the Performing Arts Dept. In 1992, he became the Distance Learning Coordinator for Guilford County School's unique participation in the North Carolina Information High-way, building and supervising 17 distance learning labs, working with all the GCS high schools and GTCC.

For the final act of his career, he returned to the classroom for eight years at Page HS to reprise his first love, teaching and directing. 2010 marked his retirement, with 37 years of joy and fond memories of the students who so deeply touched his life and career.

Michaeline Wright Parrish grew up in Birmingham, Alabama and is the oldest of four children and likely the most dramatic. During her undergraduate experience, she majored in theatre and English and spent 2 years teaching 8th grade while conducting drama classes for Birmingham Children's Theatre.

Life then brought her to the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she did her graduate work and majored in Child Drama. After a brief stint teaching back home in Birmingham, Michaeline returned to Greensboro to create a program for artistically gifted children for Greensboro City Schools and performed in many community theatre productions. Three years later, she began an 11-year run teaching academically gifted students until the first arts elementary magnet opened at David Jones Elementary School, where she taught drama for 9 years.

Michaeline took a 3-year break from the classroom and taught technology courses to Guilford County teachers. She returned to the classroom for her last 14 years before retiring from GCS in 2015. Since retiring, she has been the Lower School Theatre Director for Greensboro Day School. She continues to perform, singing with the Triad Pride Performing Arts Women's Chorus.

With over fifteen years of experience teaching in various K-12 public, charter, and private schools, Kara Lewis is a seasoned educator with a passion for inspiring creativity in students of all ages and experience levels. With a focus on quality and refinement, Kara’s art is an expression of both her technical skill and her creative vision. Her work combines both the formal and creative aspects of visual expression, resulting in pieces that are both visually striking and emotionally resonant. Through her teaching and artistic practice, Kara continues to inspire and uplift those around her, fostering a love of art and creativity in all who encounter her work.

Susan Russell, Professor Emerita at The Pennsylvania State University, was the director and co-founder of The Center for Pedagogy in Arts and Design in The College of Arts and Architecture, and for 17 years, Dr. Russell, taught graduate and undergraduate literature/criticism, Musical Theatre History, and Playwriting, and led the University community in conversations about Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. She received her PhD in Theatre Studies from Florida State University’s School of Theatre in 2007, her Master of Arts degree from Florida State University in 2003, and her BA in Theatre from St. Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC in 1979. Between her education pursuits, she experienced a twenty-five-year career as a professional actor on and off-Broadway, and as a playwright, her works have been produced by Emerging Artists Theatre and Lincoln Center in New York City, and at Penn State University. In 2007, Dr. Russell created Cultural Conversations, and this unique “community collaboration” used music, theatre, dance, storytelling, and visual arts to help young people talk about the social issues of their time. As a practical application of her work in Cultural Conversations, Dr. Russell has written Body Language: Stop the Violence/Start the Conversation, and Body Language: Cultural Conversations Reaching Out and Reaching In, and these texts were supplied free of charge to school systems and community organizations. Dr. Russell was honored in 2012 with the Penn State Commission For Women's Faculty Award for her work on women's rights, in 2013 she was selected as one of the Faces of Penn State, and in 2014, Russell was appointed as The 2014-2015 Penn State Laureate. During her Laureate year, Dr. Russell brought all the Penn State campuses together in an ongoing conversation about Dignity, and in 2017, Dr. Russell was awarded a fellowship with PSU’s Teaching and Learning with Technology organization where she created The Moral Moments Project. Alongside a TLT team of instructional designers and project managers led by Dr. Crystal Ramsay, Assistant Director of Innovation at TLT, the course found a research home in CPAD and an academic home in the College of Arts and Architecture. The course is taught across Penn State Commonwealth campuses and is utilized by a diverse community of disciplines, students, and instructors. Dr. Russell retired from PSU in 2022. 

Andrew Dancy is the Coordinator of Fine Arts for Guilford County Schools. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). He also completed a Master of Music and Bachelor of Music from UNCG. Dr. Dancy is passionate about sharing his love of music and the arts with students of all ages. He was previously Director of Choirs at Northwest Guilford High School, where he conducted three choirs in the Viking Voices choral program and taught AP Music Theory. He has held teaching positions in K-12 music classrooms throughout NC and was named Teacher of the Year at Winget Park Elementary in Charlotte, NC. His choral groups regularly received Superior and Excellent ratings at regional & state contests and festivals. He serves on the staff each summer at the UNCG Summer Music Camp, where he accompanies and directs middle and high school choirs. Dr. Dancy has also held arts administration positions with the Music Academy of North Carolina and Greensboro CityArts (now Creative Greensboro). 

Dr. Dancy is a member of the National Association for Music Education, North Carolina Music Educators Association, American Choral Directors Association, and Mu Phi Epsilon Music Honors Fraternity. He performs frequently as accompanist for many of the outstanding choral and theatre programs throughout NC and has presented concerts at numerous locations, including the Piccolo Spoleto Festival, the National Conference on Percussion Pedagogy, North Carolina Day of Percussion, Percussive Arts Society National Convention, Charleston Southern University, NC A&T State University, and Greensboro College.

Leigh Ann Little is the Director of Fine Arts for Guilford County Schools. Leigh Ann started her career in Visual Arts as a teacher at Northeast Guilford High, where she was the Varsity Co-ed Swim Coach and served one year as an Administrative Intern while continuing to teach Visual Art. After seven years of teaching at Northeast, Leigh Ann moved to Eastern Guilford High to teach Visual Art and coach swimming. In 2015, she made the move to the district level as a Personalized Learning Coordinator with the goals of helping to improve teacher instruction by personalizing lessons to meet the needs of all students (similar to what arts teachers do every day!).

In 2006, Leigh Ann received her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. After a brief break from higher education, Leigh Ann completed her Master of Arts in Education with a concentration in Art Education from East Carolina University in 2009. Finally, in 2011, she completed a licensure add on in Educational Administration from High Point University.  Leigh Ann resides in Greensboro, NC with her husband Justin.