Meet our Team!
Jennifer Canady
RISE Institute Director
My job is to connect students and our RISE faculty to interesting opportunities for real-world learning. I make connections and help develop community partnerships, providing leadership and hands-on support for projects, events, and student travel. I teach Entrepreneurial Leadership, Urban Farming, and robotics courses and facilitate Design Thinking workshops for schools, businesses, and non-profits. I love to teach students to use design thinking to solve problems. We have designed student-owned companies that provide services, products like toys adapted for kids with physical disabilities, and experiences for groups ranging from successful professionals to individuals coming out of homelessness. Good design starts with empathy and valuing the user.
Chasity Branham
Professor of Legal Studies, RISE Law, Mock Trial Team Attorney Coach
It is my privilege to facilitate a love for learning about our Criminal Justice System and our American Court System. Instruction in these areas is offered through the Center for Law and Public Policy at LCS. While at Stetson College of Law, I was a member of their national, award-winning Trial Team. Upon law school graduation, I had the privilege of serving as a Prosecutor at the Tenth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office. This incredible experience solidified my love for the courtroom, the rule of law, and trial practice. It is my distinct joy to pass this love of trial practice on to both middle and high school students as the head coach of the Lakeland Christian Mock Trial teams. I also serve as a professor of Criminal Justice at Polk State College and the Kenneth Thompson Institute of Public Safety.
Jenna O’Brien
RISE Entrepreneurship, Design, Event-Planning, Innovation, and Intro to RISE
Marketing & RISE Leadership Institute Director
My passion is helping students gain resiliency through creativity. I graduated from LCS and earned my degree in Communications while starting my own business in college. I still actively work as a designer, and own my own loose leaf tea business here in Lakeland! With extensive experience in design, e-commerce, social media marketing, and management, I’ve become a project manager to help students dream big & execute. RISE is a place students can grow and fail safely. We explore empathy, problem-solving, beauty, and effective branding and marketing strategies in my classes. Students are actively creating everything from a fantasy video games, to birthday cake scented gift-able candles in my class!
Kayla Tirrell
RISE Administrative Assistant
As the administrative assistant for the RISE Institute, it’s my job to come along side our faculty so that they can serve our students to the best of their abilities. I have the pleasure of being involved in multiple facets of the RISE Institute including administrative duties, working with the robotics program, and assisting in the classroom. I also help maintain the Urban Farm, a garden in the heart of Lakeland. Through our efforts there, we are able to donate fresh produce to the Dream Center every week. It’s my absolute joy to be a part of this program and work with such amazing teachers and students.
Matthew Croxton
RISE Program Facilitator: Science Research & Visual Media
Directing students to handle the imperfections dished out by life is among the greatest teaching privileges I enjoy. For example, in photography there are so many ways to goof—and it’s important for students to push past the errors they have made and adjust to make the next shot better. My responsibilities include leading project-based learning in both science research and visual communication; these areas complement one another. Research in science is about coming up with questions that challenge us to better understand the world and then convincing others that we’ve actually attained the best explanation. Visual media can promote interest and comprehension and require a combination of creative and technical skills to solve problems in service of the message.
Call or Visit Us Today!
LCS RISE Institute
1111 Forest Park St
Lakeland FL, 33803
Phone
(863) 688-2771
Urban Farm at Mass Market
830 N Massachusetts Ave
Lakeland FL, 33801
Get in touch.
We would love to answer any of your questions and hear all of your suggestions! Let us know what you have been thinking!