The Stories & Insights That Matter
Fort Myers Newspaper Features New Lee County Academy
As Lee County Acceleration Academies (LCAA) prepares to celebrate its first group of graduates, The Fort Myers New-Press featured the school in an article about serving students who are looking for a ...
ECAA’s Kennede Thomas: ‘I’m Proud of Myself That I’m Graduating on Time’
Kennede Thomas had always been a strong student. She remembers with pride earning a place in honors geometry at her old high school. But when the Covid pandemic shuttered schools during her freshman y...
Miami Academy Celebrates New Grads: ‘They Believed in Me’
Marcus Moore, who rose above poverty as a child to follow his mother’s footsteps into educating the next generation, looked out at the crowd of soon-to-be graduates, eyes expectant and surrounded by b...
Miami Advocate Erick Velis: ‘You Have to Explore the Genius Inside of You’
If graduation candidates at Miami-Dade Acceleration Academies (MDAA) are looking for a role model in developing a wide range of life skills, they need look no further than Erick Velis. The Cuban-born...
In Lee County, Christian Arenas Closes the Distance to His Diploma
For Christian Arenas, doing the work of high school wasn’t the issue. Getting there was. Christian, a senior, had been doing well at his former high school in Cape Coral, Florida. But his mom, who su...
Escambia Celebrates Class of ’23: ‘I Feel Like They Saved My Life’
Family, friends and educators gathered recently to celebrate the hard work, determination and bright future of the Escambia County Acceleration Academies Class of 2023. Each grad had a powerful story...
SLAA’s Ja’Lissa Leggett: From Dropout to a Future in Health Care
Ja’Lissa Leggett had always been a good student. But in a traditional high school, with its crowded classrooms and busy teachers, she fretted about requesting the help she needed. “It felt like I was...
ECAA Grad Devon Linhardt: ‘They Were There for Me at a Really Low Point in My Life
When Devon Linhardt moved to Pensacola with his father, a spell of hard times forced them to live in a van and made Devon uneasy about enrolling at a traditional high school to finish his diploma. He ...
At Marion County Academy, Best Friends Soar Together
Adrianna Wann and Leilani Brown walked very different paths to Marion County Acceleration Academies, but these besties have something vital in common: a drive to move past adversity into a promising t...
MDAA Grad Christian Johnson Tunes Up for Success
From the time he was young, Christian Johnson has been a gifted trumpet player. That spark grew into a flame when he was in fourth grade and got invited backstage to meet legendary trumpeter Wynton Ma...
ECAA Grad Nathan Godwin: ‘Personalization is Everything’
Even before the car crash, traditional high school wasn’t working for Nathan Godwin. A serious-minded young man, Nathan signed up for AP chemistry, calculus, physics, statistics and other challenging...
