In 2013, Emily was hired to teach high school and middle school English in the Sherwood Cass School District, where she also coached volleyball and basketball for two years. During her time at Sherwood, she was a team leader for the middle school English department, and was a finalist for teacher of the year.

In 2015, Emily returned to the Ray-Pec School District as a high school English teacher and a coach. In her 10 years at Ray-Pec, she has taught: English I, English 2, Advanced English 2, English 3, AP English Language, English 4, and A+ Tutoring and Mentoring. She has coached and/sponsored: volleyball, basketball, Student Leadership Team, and Student Senate. Emily is actively involved in various committees at Ray-Pec that focus on making decisions that benefit all district stakeholders including: Team Ray-Pec, Calendar Committee, Building Leadership Team, and Ray-Pec Professional Learning. Emily has also played an active role in embracing Real World Learning at Ray-Pec as she coordinates client connected projects in English 4, which allows all students to earn a market value asset upon graduation. In addition to teaching, Emily has been an assistant principal for Ray-Pec’s secondary summer school program.

Emily is also a member of the Kauffman Education Foundation’s Teacher Network in which she serves as a mentor teacher. Her role is to support other Kansas City area teachers as they begin to implement client connected projects into their curriculum. 

Emily and her husband, Jacob, have been married for eight years after meeting during their time at Sherwood. Jacob now teaches and coaches for the Panthers, and their son Rhett is a kindergartener in the district. Emily's parents are Ron and Carol Barnes. Both have longtime ties to the community and the school district. 

While taking a break from her career to stay home and raise two young sons, she discovered a passion for health and wellness. For many years she worked with Cass County residents both as a fitness instructor, and as a wellness coach.  Her specialty was in enhancing the health and well being of older adults.  In 2015, she returned to a public relations position, by promoting and implementing community events for the City of Belton Park Department.

Melisa’s heart lies in making a positive difference in the community where she lives.  In addition to her current position as Executive Director of the Raymore Chamber of Commerce, she serves as a Board Member for the Cass County Coalition of Chambers.

She has been married to Matt Ferrari (Ray-Pec Class of 1985) for more than 30 years. They have two sons, ages 25 and 23. She loves to travel, and continues to enjoy instructing fitness classes away from her work at the Chamber.

Throughout high school, Reed focused his energy on balancing school, work, and band. He was the lead trumpet in Marching Band, Wind Symphony, and Jazz Band, and competed at both All-District and All-State level events. At the time, the director of all three bands was John Wilson. Reed likes to think he had a part-time job giving Mr. Wilson a hard time, although he wouldn't add that to his resume. 

In high school, Reed lettered in band, received the Lamp of Learning for academic excellence, and benefited from the A+ Program. After graduating from Ray-Pec, he used his A+ benefit to attend Longview Community College. After two years, he went to the University of Missouri-Kansas City, where he received his Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science in May of 2020.

Throughout high school and college, Reed worked at Culver's to help pay for school. Little did he know, it would soon blossom into a full-time career. Culver's, and more specifically, MPH, which is the ownership group he is now a part of, provided him much opportunity and room to grow. He was trained to be a Manager early on in his college years. After he graduated, he was given the opportunity to become an Assistant Manager, so he decided to pursue that instead of applying for jobs with his degree. He was promoted to General Manager of the Raymore location in May of 2022. In October of 2023, he went through a Mentee Evaluation with Culver's in order to be approved to be an Owner. In January of 2024, he began attending Mentee Classes, and in April 2024, he graduated, becoming an approved Franchisee with Culver's, and now eligible for ownership. After the paperwork was finalized, Reed got his name on the door and became the Owner Operator of the Culver's in Raymore. His next step is to be approved for expansion and open up his second restaurant, which he hopes to do in the next year or two.

Although Reed is an introvert at heart, he loves giving back to the community. What separates Culver's from other restaurants is their involvement in the community, hosting school nights and fundraisers for clubs, donating coupons, gift baskets, or scoops of custard to a variety of events, and so much more. 

In addition to his work family, Reed is close with his parents, Kevin and Karla, and is the middle child of three, with older brother Reese and younger brother Rance, both of whom attended Ray-Pec as well. There are countless people who have made an impact on Reed, including mentors at work, teachers from school, and of course his family.