Our Team
Director & Instructors
Sarah Latch
Director & Founder
Sarah was born and raised in Snellville, GA, and became passionate about music at an early age. After a childhood full of musical accomplishments and experiences, Sarah received her B.S in music education from Toccoa Falls College in 2006. She then went on to teach middle grades choral music for two years before continuing her education at the University of West Georgia and graduating with a masters degree in Music Education in 2010.
Upon the completion of her masters degree, Sarah married her Tennessee husband, Chris, and together they raise three beautiful children, Hannah, Maddie and Carson. With a strong passion and dedication to home education, Sarah prayerfully considered starting a local homeschool choir once her children were old enough to participate. And, in 2019, Harmony Homeschool Choir sang their first notes together!
Sarah is passionate about using music to minister to the hearts of each student in her classroom and believes that music is a beautiful gift from God. When she is not schooling her children or preparing for choir, she can be found around town showing homes and writing contracts for her real estate clients. Sarah also enjoys quality time with friends and family, preparing and leading the music at her church and entertaining her loud goats and chickens on the Latch Family farm in Columbia.
Steve Rupp
Music Theory Teacher
Steve was born in San Jose, Costa Rica and grew up in Colombia, South America where his parents served as Southern Baptist missionaries. He began studying music at age 7 and immediately showed great interest in playing piano and singing in church.
Upon moving to the United States, Steve became heavily involved in touring choirs and also began learning guitar at Santa Fe High School in Santa Fe, New Mexico. He participated in All-State Choir and church music camps all through high school, earning the Best Male Vocalist award from the New Mexico All-State Choir during his Sophomore, Junior and Senior years.
After high school, Steve moved to Nashville, TN and attended the Belmont University School of Music where he sang in operas, multiple choirs, (even fronted rock bands!) and toured with Belmont’s Chamber Singers and the Phoenix Commercial Ensemble. Steve earned a Bachelor of Music degree with a Vocal Performance emphasis from Belmont University in 1998.
While pursuing his music degree at Belmont, Steve met and married his lovely wife of 21 years, Lorie, with whom he would have four rambunctious children, Leah, Lily, Lexi and Daniel. The Rupps eventually moved south from Nashville to Lewisburg, TN in 2018 where Steve plays guitar and sings with the worship band and Lorie serves as the Director of the Children’s Ministry at New Life Church of Lewisburg.
Steve now works as a freelance Graphic Designer and music teacher in the middle TN area and absolutely loves teaching music theory (which he calls “the language of music”) and introducing it to young musicians. In 2021, Steve was honored and thrilled to be asked to join the Harmony Homeschool Choir program as the music theory instructor.
Rachel Verdon
Assistant Choir Director
Rachel discovered her love for singing at an early age and has been involved in choirs at church and at school ever since. In middle school and high school, she performed in honors choirs and was selected for the TN All-State Choir her junior and senior years. She attended undergrad at Belmont University in Nashville where she performed with the Chamber Singers and Women’s Choir. She studied conducting under Dr. Jeffery Ames and Dr. Deen Entsminger. She earned her B.M. in Music Education in 2013.
Rachel has a passion for sharing the joys of choral music with young people. In her 9 years of teaching, she has taught elementary, middle, and high school music and choir in Marshall County and Maury County. Her students have been selected for honors choirs, Mid-State and All-State and have received Excellent and Superior ratings in competition at the state level. She also helps lead worship at the church that her dad started.
In 2014, she married her high school sweetheart, Andrew. Together they are raising their two beautiful girls, Rebekah and Sophie, whom they plan to homeschool when the time comes. In her spare time she enjoys drawing, being in nature, 18th century reenacting, and cosplaying Star Wars with her family.
Accompanists
Rachel Janda
Accompanist- Columbia Concert Choir
Rachel has been playing piano since the age of six, which is way too many years to count! While in College Rachel accompanied both instrumental and vocal students for lessons and recitals, as well as serving as accompanist for college choirs. Since graduating with a degree in Piano Performance, Rachel has continued to work as an accompanist with church choirs and as a teacher to private piano students. In her spare time Rachel loves to travel anywhere the camper will take her family, and hiking all of the awesome waterfalls and trails in Tennessee.
Sharon Pennington
Accompanist- Men’s Choir
Sharon Pennington grew up and was homeschooled in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her parents shared their love of music with her every chance they could, regularly taking their 9 children to live musical performances and playing great music recordings at home. They gave her piano lessons starting when she was 10, voice lessons and choral camps and violin lessons in high school. In 1997, she was offered a student teaching position at Janell Whitby School of Music and began studying piano pedagogy and performance at Oral Roberts University under Dr. Vicki Walker. In 2000, she earned her state certification in piano pedagogy, was elected to serve on the board of the Tulsa Accredited Music Teachers Association and Oklahoma Music Teachers Association, and started her private studio as well as continuing her teaching at the music school. She met her husband, Nathan, and they married in 2006. Their 2 beautiful children arrived, and still she taught piano while beginning to homeschool and frequently traveling with Nathan when he oversaw art installations in museums, churches and studios across the States. Tennessee became home in 2012 when Nathan’s work moved them to Franklin and eventually to beautiful Cornersville. It was also an end to her time at the music school and goodbye to her hometown. But Tennessee was easy to call home. And southern middle Tennessee needed places for children to be surrounded by good music and opportunities to learn. So she started teaching private piano lessons in Marshall County and brainstorming with Sarah Latch until Harmony Homeschool Choir had its first concert in Cornersville in 2019.
Administration
Becky Kiser
Administrator
Becky serves as administrator for Harmony Choir. Other than her role as mother, wife and admin, she doesn't take anything else seriously.