Orlando Archives - Spirit Magazine

Here to Serve

On Call to Serve

By Yvette C. Hammett August 2023

Giving back is a ‘heart thing’ for physician and alumna Kamille Garness ’11.

When Kamille Garness was just 4 years old and living on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, she was taking in stray animals off the streets to feed and house them.

Giving her time and talents to those who need her help — human or otherwise — is just a “heart thing” for her, said Garness, who graduated from Saint Leo University in 2011 with a bachelor’s degree in biology and a minor in chemistry.

Today, in addition to her thousands of hours of community service, Garness is working toward completing her residency to become a specialized medical doctor, having graduated from medical school at the Spartan Health Sciences University in St. Lucia, and completing medical internships in Miami and Chicago, as well as earning a Master of Public Health degree from The George Washington University.

While she works toward the goal of completing a medical residency, the 34-year-old, who lives near Orlando, FL, continues to devote much of her time to others. That work is earning her recognition and numerous awards.

“I have been involved with the Red Cross since as far back as high school in St. Lucia,” she said. “I visited the homes of the elderly and the sick, and I also volunteered at different sporting events.

“When I came to the U.S. in 2007, I decided I wanted to undertake a number of volunteer opportunities, and the Red Cross was one of them.”

Garness was honored with the American Red Cross Rising Star Award for her contributions in improving the quality of life of South Floridians and for demonstrating the humanitarian principles of the Red Cross. She received the award at the Sarah Hopkins Woodruff Spectrum Awards for Women in Miami.

She has volunteered with the Red Cross in Orlando and Miami since 2016, assisting families affected by natural disasters. Her efforts also have earned her the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Service Award, the highest honor for a volunteer. To be eligible, an individual must volunteer more than 5,000 hours in his or her lifetime.

Her time at Saint Leo also included “serving humanity from her heart.”

“While at Saint Leo, I volunteered for the Good Samaritans Club and homeless shelters, including the Love One Another Homeless Shelter, and I also took part in the Haitian education project to raise funds for earthquake victims. And I volunteered for the Hernando-Pasco Hospice. I was a caregiver for the hospice, preparing meals for the patients and speaking with them so they had someone to speak with, since they sometimes get lonely.”

Garness recently received her medical license and hopes to specialize in internal medicine, family medicine, or pediatrics.

“Just as I was about to apply for my residency in 2020, the pandemic started so I started working as a disease investigator,” to track COVID-19 cases, she said. Following the setback of the pandemic, she is now working to obtain a residency placement.

“I always knew it was my calling in life to help other people,” Garness said. “I always wanted to be a part of alleviating human suffering.”

The university emphasized giving back to the community through service. “That just reinforced that this was the field I wanted to go into,” she added.

Majoring in biology, “improved my fascination for the human body, and how systems interact to produce the miracle of life,” Garness said.

Giving back is simply a part of her — an internal requirement for her life, fulfilling her life mission by doing God’s work, she said. “I always wanted to help the world.”

Saint Leo Profile: Alumni

Christina Granville is ‘Ms. Basketball’

By Mary McCoy August 2023

Event host. Influencer. Model. Actor. Radio personality. Esports announcer. Brand ambassador. Professor. Reality TV star. Nonprofit founder. Ms. Basketball. Christina Granville ’13 boasts all of those titles on her résumé and more. The Saint Leo alumna is a multi-hyphenate who does it all. “I’m all things good energy,” Granville said with a laugh.

One of 10 children, Granville grew up in Clewiston, FL. As the “caboose” of her family, she found role models in her parents — dad Theodore is 94 and a pastor, and mom Catherine is 78 and a retired teacher.

Her love of basketball came from watching her big brother play. “I wanted to be just like him,” Granville said. “It was church every night, and then watching my brother play. I was 9 or 10, and I never looked back. There was an article written about me when I was young, and I said I wanted to be the first female in the NBA! Of course, I was going to be in the WNBA; I was going to be the next Lisa Leslie.”

Dream Deferred

Granville was recruited to play basketball and attend college at Independence Community College in Kansas. “My thought was that I wanted to get away [from Florida],” Granville said. She had a few scholarship offers, but a guidance counselor steered her to Independence.

After making a 24-hour trip in her purple 1994 Honda Civic to Kansas, “the coach tells me I’m not good enough and red-shirted me,” she said, dashing her hopes of playing that year.

Granville was devastated at the prospect of not playing college basketball and pursuing a career in the WNBA. “I thought if I couldn’t play basketball, then I don’t want to go to college,” she said.

She moved to Orlando and left the community college. There, Granville began brand ambassador work. “I got my first job for 7-Eleven, going to various college campuses handing out 7-Eleven coupons for $25 an hour. But I was missing basketball.”

So she played pick-up games and in summer leagues around the city. With her glamorous looks — makeup on and nails done — and her loudness on the court, she gained the attention of an agent at the age of 24. She told him she had given up her dream of playing for the WNBA or professionally overseas.

The agent told Granville if she was serious about playing basketball, she needed to go to college, and he secured tryouts for several teams, including Jefferson College in Missouri. “It had to be God as I had the best tryout of my life,” she said.

Soon, Granville was on the court again. During her two years at Jefferson, she hit the “reset button,” serving as captain of the women’s basketball team and breaking a school record with 22 rebounds in one game.

Her coach told her she should look at Saint Leo University, a “really good, private school” where she could get a full scholarship to play in Division II, while earning her degree closer to home.

Granville fell in love with Saint Leo on her first visit to campus. “I really got a chance to be myself at Saint Leo,” she said. “I was 26 or 27, older than all of my teammates. I wasn’t the stereotypical basketball player. But I felt at home. I still have friends from Saint Leo.”

Christina Granville played two seasons for the Saint Leo University Lions, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013.

Life at Leo

Christina Granville, No. 15, and her teammates unite during a game at the Marion Bowman Activities Center.

At first, Granville thought she would major in marketing, since she already was selling and marketing products as a brand ambassador. Her academic advisor gave her a “road map” for her future, helping her take courses she needed to graduate on time.

She realized that a bachelor’s degree in management suited her, and she found her professors to be positive and encouraging.

Granville choked up as she recalled her time at the university. “The opportunity to be at Saint Leo and play the game I love meant so much to me,” she said. “It was not only my teammates, but the support of the community and fans coming out.”

Saint Leo provided her with a foundation to help build her career. “I learned it’s OK to go back and start over. You’re never too old to live out your dreams,” Granville said.

On the Mic

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Christina holds HBCU NBA 2K Xbox League Champion trophies.

The multi-hyphenate career of Christina Granville includes being a host for the esports NBA 2K League.

Granville also models and acts.

As a host for the 2023 Super Bowl Experience in Phoenix, Granville interviews Chris Godwin of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Granville began entertaining in elementary school. “I have a big personality,” she said, which many would say is an understatement. As a brand ambassador, Granville picked up the microphone to start driving sales.

She recorded herself, creating hosting reels in order to obtain work hosting events and shows. “I started getting more and more gigs, and I documented it on social media, gaining followers,” she said.

Moving to Atlanta in 2013, Granville’s career took off. She appeared in Ride Along 2, Tyler Perry’s: The Have’s & Have Nots, and Dating In Atlanta: The Movie; graced more than 50 fashion show runways; hosted major events at the Essence Festival, NCAA Final Four, NCAA Football Championship, Black Enterprise Entrepreneurship Summit, and the 2023 Super Bowl; and became an Atlanta radio show host.

Now, she hosts the esports NBA 2K League and added “professor” to her resume, teaching esports team management at Morris Brown College. In addition to teaching and hosting events, Granville also is a guest correspondent for WAGA-TV, Fox 5, Atlanta.

Hosting the NBA esports program is exciting for Granville. “When I came into the NBA 2K League community there was only one African American woman in broadcast. I want to encourage people who look like me to get into this space and take full advantage of all of these opportunities. There is room for you!”

Fulfilling Others’ Dreams

Granville has not forgotten her first love: basketball. On her website, Ms. Basketball — her MySpace handle from back in the day — her mission statement is to encourage others “to keep hooping no matter your size, race, or age.”

She started the I Hoop Too Foundation, which focuses on personal development, education, and health and wellness programs for girls and the community. Her foundation provides summer camps, mentoring programs, coat and food drives, breast cancer awareness events, and scholarships so others can pursue higher education, following in her path.

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Christina Granville created the I Hoop Too Foundation, focusing on personal development, education, and health and wellness programs. The foundation hosts summer camps and skills clinics, as shown above.

“Ms. Basketball” hands a basketball to a young girl at a skills camp, sponsored by her foundation.

“I literally have been blessed at every level,” she said. “It keeps getting better and better. I want my life to be motivation to others to not give up on their dreams.”

Spring 2017

Pre-Med On Hold: National Guardsman Answers the Call

By Jo-Ann Johnston March 2017

“I am the nontraditional student,” said 25-year-old Nick Carlson by way of introduction. “That has summed up a lot of my life.” Indeed, he might be the nontraditional among nontraditionals and, consequently, gives back to his state and country in uncommon ways and at unexpected intervals.

Carlson enrolled at University Campus in Fall 2015, already married, an officer in the Florida Army National Guard, and equipped with a four-year degree in business. He came with the dream of eventually becoming a rural physician—a path he had earlier rejected as taking too long, especially for a restless young fellow. “God helped me understand my calling for medicine. I’m going the long way around.”

Saint Leo offered Carlson welcome and entry into the rigorous science courses needed for medical school admission. He registered for first-level biology, chemistry, and physics, plus their respective lab courses, all at once. And he was determined to excel.

His first discovery: “There is a way to be a student, there’s a way to be a science student, and there is a way to be a scientist.” It took him about a month to make the required mental shift, and he credits the science faculty for mentoring him whenever needed.

And he delighted in his next discovery: that synergies exist among biology, chemistry, and physics, synergies that are apparent when you plunge into all of them. “I never knew physics could be so awesome,” he told his wife, Heather. The A student eagerly followed through with the second-level biology, chemistry, and physics courses.

By Fall Semester 2016, Carlson had taken on part-time employment as a tutor. He also dived into the first level of organic chemistry, a notoriously difficult subject. He managed his time during the first weeks so he was a bit ahead.

Then Hurricane Matthew formed and swirled furiously along the east coast of Florida during the first week of October, leaving floods, damage, power outages, and stressed communities. Carlson was deployed as an officer of the Florida Army National Guard. It was his first call to action for storm duty and a chance to serve his home state.

Carlson went with a logistics unit to a big operations site in Orlando. His job for two solid weeks was to use his military operations and leadership skills to keep track of soldiers, trucks, bottled water, supplies, and food, and to get everything and everybody to the right places at the right times. He was equipping the Guardsmen who were assisting civilians. The days were repetitive, and 14 or 15 hours long. When he got home, it was time to turn around for two days of regular drill training in St. Augustine.

Yet, all that was manageable. The challenge was maintaining his A in organic chemistry without being able to go to class. “Dr. [Brian] Kyte and I communicated by email,” as Carlson continued reading the text and working on study questions during his downtime. By the end of the semester, Carlson’s grade dropped by a few points, perhaps five, and he was satisfied with that.

That’s not to say that Carlson would necessarily want to try something like that again, say with the organic chemistry and biochemistry courses he still needs. Ironically, the next choice he faced involved a similar predicament.

Carlson got word that his financial management unit is likely to be deployed overseas during 2018, and that there were command roles that would have to be filled.

“I felt called to take the position. I had the leadership skills and the training so that I could lead these soldiers, and I would be one of the best choices to accomplish the mission and get everyone back alive.”

The responsibility also involves spending much of 2017 on pre-deployment work, getting to know the soldiers under his command, and spending time with his family while he is still in the States. As for school, he and his wife concluded that his remaining pre-med studies would have to wait until he fulfills his military mission.

Though he considers himself impatient by nature, Carlson says he is at peace with the delay in his nontraditional timetable. “In 2019, I will be back here, taking classes.”

Fall 2016

Lions in the Pride

By Saint Leo Athletics September 2016

Katie Adamson
Volleyball • Senior
Nelson, New Zealand
The middle blocker was a force at the net in the 2015 season, leading the team in both total blocks, at 103, and blocks per set, averaging 0.87. She tallied a career-high eight blocks in three different matches last season. Offensively, Adamson put away a total of 159 kills in 2015, tallying a career-best 11 against Eckerd College (FL). As one of three seniors, Adamson will help the young Lions squad build off a 21-11 season and an NCAA Second Round appearance.

Hannah Beard
Women’s Soccer • Class of 2010
Grassendale, Liverpool, England
Hannah Beard is a former Lions women’s soccer player. Originally from England, she is playing professionally with the Western Sydney Wanderers in the Australian W-League. She was one of the best players in program history to date, winning several individual honors and helping the team reach the NCAA tournament in each of her four years at Saint Leo, and the program’s first Sunshine State Conference Tournament Championship.

Tyreece Brice
Men’s Basketball • Junior
Rock Hill, SC
Tyreece Brice made an instant impact on the court for the Lions in the 2015-16 season as the sixth man. Brice averaged the second most points on the team, 15.5 per game, and finished the season as a 2015-16 Sunshine State Conference All-Newcomer team selection. He played in 31 games with 14 starts and tallied 481 points in 977 minutes for the Lions. Along with his 15.5 points per game, Brice averaged 4.2 rebounds per game and 3.6 assists per game. Brice scored a career-high 31 points against Alabama-Huntsville in the first round of the NCAA South Regional tournament. Brice helped lead the Lions to a 19-12 record and a fourth-place finish in the SSC with a 10-6 mark.

Sommer Pollard
Softball • Junior
Clearwater, FL
Sommer Pollard was the everyday starter behind the dish for the No. 1 pitching staff in all of Division II, owning a 0.93 earned run average. Pollard played in all 47 games, with a .991 fielding percentage with only three errors on the season. She recorded 300 putouts behind the plate, with 19 assists. A Second Team All-Sunshine State Conference selection, Pollard finished the season with a .366 batting average (41 hits in 112 at-bats) while scoring 24 runs and driving in 17. She recorded one triple during her sophomore campaign against Colorado Christian, where she went 2-for-2 from the plate. Pollard recorded 15 stolen bases over the course of the season.

Brandon Rivera
Men’s Soccer • Senior
Orlando, FL
The local product out of Lake Nona High School in south Orlando has come a long way since his freshman season when he saw action in just two matches. In fact, in his junior campaign, Rivera saw action in all 18 games for the SSC regular season champion, including making 13 starts. He scored a career-best four goals on the season, adding a career-high four assists, including his first career assist that came against Lees-McRae (NC) in a 4-1 victory where the midfielder saw three passes find the foot of the goal scorer. Rivera’s breakout game came in the SSC Tournament Semifinals, where he tallied two goals in the Lions 2-1 win over the 2014 reigning NCAA National Champion Lynn (FL), earning himself a spot on the SSC Tournament team.

Maftuna Tuhtasinova
Women’s Swimming • Sophomore
Tashkent, Uzbekistan
A native of Uzbekistan, Maftuna Tuhtasinova competed in the final four regular season events and the Sunshine State Conference Championship for women’s swimming and made an immediate impact on the team. The freshman was a finalist in three events at the SSC meet, including a third-place finish in the 200 Backstroke with an NCAA “B” cut mark and Saint Leo record time of 2:02.01. Her 100 backstroke time also qualified as an NCAA “B” cut time, and Maftuna was a part of 200 medley relay and 400 medley relay teams that set new Saint Leo records.

Zach Whitaker
Baseball • Senior
Land O’Lakes, FL
Zach Whitaker was Saint Leo’s top pitcher in 2016, recording a 4.38 earned run average over 72.0 innings pitched, with a 6-1 record and one save. He finished among the top 10 in the Sunshine State Conference in ERA, and held opponents to a .277 batting average. Whitaker fanned 62 batters over the course of the 2016 season, tied for most on the team.

Jim Cerbie ’79 got his 400th win as head baseball coach for The Providence Day School in Charlotte, NC, on April 5, 2016. During his 29-year baseball coaching career at Providence Day, he has seen 28 of his players sign to play college baseball at some of the most prestigious programs and schools in the country.

James Jacobsen ’70 is the golf coach at Bergen Catholic High School (NJ), where he won his 1,000th match on April 22, 2016. This gave him an overall 34-year coaching record of 1023-33-1. He was named Coach of the Year by the Star Ledger, The Record, and The Bergen County Coaches Association.