Growing up in the midwest as a child of educators, Erica has always had a deep love for learning and creating. She followed in her parents footsteps to become an educator with a degree in elementary education from Tennessee Temple University. She began her career as a traditional teacher, during which time she earned another bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a master’s degree in Teaching and Learning from Liberty University.

After several years in the classroom, Erica started a learning center to help struggling students and a microschool for student athletes. It was through research about best practices and innovation that she learned about the Acton Academy model, and she knew that she had stumbled upon something extraordinary that would benefit her own daughters, her students, and school-age learners in the Tyler area.

Erica’s daughters, Ruby, Hannah, Liberty, and Ember, are her prime reason for starting Acton Academy Tyler. One of her greatest desires is for her daughters to become adventurers, learners, and world-changers.

Born and raised in Texas, Dillon has always been passionate about independence. Around middle school he decided traditional education wasn’t the most efficient way to learn, and begin to plug in to this new thing called the internet. In the early days he quickly found out that no written knowledge of technology was easily obtained, and he needed to learn by doing. Over the next decade of using the “hacker” approach to learning, he found himself earning a Bachelor’s Degree from Liberty University, building a career in engineering leadership, and beginning his entrepreneurial journey. He is passionate about his family, ensuring his four daughters never have to suffer through the same educational drudgery he did.