Manolo holds a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Memphis. Some of his career highlights include being in the University’s Honors program while working on his degree, teaching at a middle school after being awarded a National Science Foundation GK12 Fellowship, receiving a certificate in earthquake resistant design while working through Washington University on a structural dynamics and health monitoring project in Japan, and co-authoring several scholarly articles in major engineering publications. Manolo was also the lead developer of The Yunnan Project (now called Crossroads of Hope). This project together with the Chinese Academy of Memphis raised money for educational materials for 50,000 students in the Yunnan Valley in China. He contributed to an essay in the book entitled Share, about the accomplishments of the Yunnan Project. Manolo recently was accepted to the University of Tennessee Medical School and is now in his second year of medical school.

Will holds a bachelor of fine arts degree in illustration from Cleveland Institute of Art. Some of his career highlights include creator/writer/artist for Soul of a Samurai, a comic book series published by Image Comics. He was an education counselor in Dr. Fournier’s after-school counseling program and in her day school where he taught honors courses in Graphic Design, Illustration, Comparative Mythology and Fine Art prior to becoming the illustrator for the Strategizer Learning Series. Will has been featured in the Commercial Appeal newspaper, Newtype USA magazine and Newsarama.com for his comic book series. Will’s art was recently featured in a Buckman Performing and Fine Arts Center gallery show. He also was part of Toy Design in Los Angeles where Fisher-Price Independent Project commissioned him to create a toy design from its “Rescue Heroes” line for children and to conceptualize ideas for another project. He is an instructor of Filipino Martial Arts and is a group leader in Dog Brother Martial Arts.

Dana holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Lambuth University. Before coming to FLS, she did a study abroad on the Westminster College Campus of Oxford University in England. She is a K-8 certified teacher in the state of Tennessee and holds a “Highly Qualified” status in language arts and reading. She has had a math unit published by the Southern Regional Education Board that was distributed to SREB member schools. She wrote and received in-house grants for the childcare programs administered by YMCA of Memphis and the Mid-South. She has been named Teacher of the Year at both the school and the district level. She has more than ten years of teaching experience in her young career.