Meet Your 2025 Athena Camp Faculty and Guests
Kim Bain, Conductor
Kim Bain returns to the Athena Camp after first guest conducting the All-Girls Band in 2012. She retired as director of bands at Louis Pizitz Middle School in Vestavia Hills, Alabama in May 2021. For thirty-four years ensembles under her leadership were consistently cited for musical excellence at both the state and national levels, performing at the Midwest Clinic, the Music for All National Festival, and the Alabama MEA state conference. Ms. Bain is an active freelance musician in the Birmingham area. Since retirement from public school teaching, she is an instructor of saxophone and music education at Samford University and an adjunct instructor in music education at the University of Alabama.
Mariachi Búhos de Oro
Since 2015, Mariachi Búhos de Oro has performed classic arrangements from Vargas and Jiménez, to more modern songs and adaptations as they continue to share their music at venues such as the Georgia Aquarium, the National History Museum, the Rialto Center for the Arts, Chateau Elan, and more. Comprised of classically trained musicians from various ethnic backgrounds, their Mariachi is truly a melting-pot of musical styles, especially since almost all of the musicians actively participate in various groups ranging from rock bands, jazz ensembles, orchestras, salsa bands, and small ensembles. As a result, they approach the "Mariachi classics" with the intent of elevating their musical reputation.
Jessica Petrasek, Flute
Jessica Petrasek received her Master of Music in 2013 from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, where she studied with Leone Buyse on a full scholarship. Jessica graduated from Princeton University in 2011 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Classics and a Certificate of Music Performance, studying with Jayn Rosenfeld. She is the Lecturer Flute at Georgia State University’s School of Music.
Jessica has served as Principal Flute of the Knoxville Symphony, Assistant Principal Flute/Piccolo of the Colorado Music Festival, Piccolo and Utility Flute of the Kansas City Symphony, Principal Flute of the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and Piccolo/2nd Flute of the Sarasota Opera Orchestra. She is currently Solo Flutist of the BreckCreate Breckenridge Institute of Fine Arts. In the summer of 2018, Jessica was awarded the “Best Performance of a Newly Commissioned Work” prize at the National Flute Association’s Young Artist Competition. In 2013, she earned Third Prize in the same competition.
As a teenager, Jessica was a NFAA YoungARTS Silver Award Winner and a Presidential Scholar in the Arts, resulting in a solo performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. She was a Miyazawa Flutes Emerging Artist from 2008-2013, and currently plays both on her 14k Miyazawa and her platinum Powell. She also performs on her Sankyo alto flute and Hammig piccolo.
Artist Faculty
The Athena Camp faculty consists of highly successful, professional women who teach band, orchestra, and private music lessons at the elementary, middle & high school, and college levels. Many faculty members have been with us since the camp's inception in 2008.
DR. MYRA RHODEN - Founder
DR. ZANDRA BELL-MCROY - Athena Camp Director
ASIA LLOYD - Elementary Music Educator, Gwinnett County (GA)
MICHELLE RICKARD - Ret. Band Director, Cobb County Schools (GA); Adjunct Professor, Reinhardt University
JOSEY JIMINEZ - Band Director, Gwinnett County Schools (GA)
ASHLEY GODBEE - Band Director, Houston County Schools (GA)
DR. ELLIE JENKINS - Associate Professor of Music, Dalton State College; Artist Affiliate, Berry College (GA)
HOLLIE PRITCHARD - Midtown Brass Quintet, Georgia Brass Band, and Savannah Philharmonic
SARAH DIETRICH - Freelance Musician, Atlanta (GA)
LATOYA BROOKS - Elementary Music Educator, Atlanta Public Schools (GA)
MIKAYLA BUSH - Music Technology Educator, Atlanta Public Schools (GA)
Meet Your 2025 Athena Camp Muses
Thank you to our 2025 summer camp partners!
