​Bristol Academy

Tara Balcom is one of Bristol Academy's newest teachers. She earned a degree in Business Administration and a Minor in Religion from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, WA. Her first "real job" out of college was for the commercial side of The Boeing Company as an Industrial Engineer, helping keep the production of the 757 airplanes on time and under budget. She also worked on the defense side of Boeing as a Staff Analyst before she got her promotion to Mom. Mrs. Balcom has taught Financial Peace University for 15 years and has worked as an independent Financial Coach for 7 years. 

She and her family recently landed in Bristol, TN after living full-time on the road for 16 months in a 42' fifth-wheel RV. They left Washington State in the summer of 2022 and traveled the Western US for 5 months, Baja Mexico for 2 months, across the SW into Texas where they lived for 4 months, finally traveling to TN in July of 2023 and landing in Bristol 4 months later. 

Before leaving Washington, Mrs. Balcom helped run multiple homeschool programs. She was a Classical Conversations tutor for 5 years and Challenge (high school) Director for 2 years. She also served as the community coordinator for their homeschool co-op, running annual registration and creating events and opportunities for families to interact and grow together. She co-coordinated a homeschool PE program and ultimately created and ran her own for two years. 

Tara Balcom lives in Bristol, TN with her two daughters who love quoting movie lines. They attend First Christian Church of Bristol.

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