Our History
Science teacher Jennifer Canady sought to engage students who had finished their work early in fascinating project-based learning assignments. Quickly, students showed their appetite to engage in real-life problem-solving. At her dining table with her two daughters, the trio crafted a name for the rapidly growing program. The “RISE” Institute — which stands for Research, Innovation, STEM Learning, and Entrepreneurship — was born. RISE became a place for students who wanted to pursue their own goals and academic endeavors, and had the grit and responsibility to do so independently.
RISE students became esteemed researchers; studying everything from the migration of monarch butterflies to development of switch-adaptive toys for children with mobility issues. The team began consistently earning high accolades at regional and national science fairs.
Another group of students became interested in studying law, and so lawyer and professor of law, Chasity Branham, developed a Mock Trial Team. For the last 10 years, the RISE Mock Trial Team has excelled; winning trial championships across the country. Alumni of the team have since graduated from studying law at prestigious universities such as Columbia, UCLA, and Chapel Hill.
Soon after, a group of students began researching robotics and engineering and Team #7719 became part of RISE. Our competition robotics team has engineered and crafted robots that have won First Tech Challenge’s coveted 1st Place Inspire Awards. Alumni have gone to study engineering at Berkley, the University of Florida, and Florida State University.
RISE Entrepreneurship has quadrupled in size in the last four years. Students have developed an Entrepreneurship Incubator where they are able to create and sell products for a real-life picture of small business ownership. Over 70 student-owned and operated businesses have come out of our rigorous Entrepreneurship classes.
Further, RISE has created Event Planning, Leadership, Video Production, and Songwriting/Music Production programs.
While the courses and programs have changed and expanded throughout the last twelve years, they have all been the answer to the question: “what’s best for kids?”
Work is a creation ordinance. Working hard, getting gritty, and growing in resilience is the heartbeat of the RISE Institute.
The "how" looks different for many students — from studying a court case to mixing audio, serving coffee, planning an event, or building a robot — but the "why" is always the same.
We grow students into world-changers by giving them fascinating problems to solve, challenges to conquer, and space to learn who God made them to be.
RISE has served as a place for students to feel both challenged and welcomed as they pursue what God-given passions are in their hearts whether that be coding a robot into the late hours of night, planning an event strategy, serving as a barista at a student-operated coffee shop, or studying a trial in a court room.
