The University’s Alumni Association will honor eight distinguished graduates during the Homecoming Alumni Celebration Friday, Nov. 8 at the Lake Pavilion.
The honorees are Christina Coakley, of the Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy; Sterling Frederick, of the School of Music & Fine Arts; Joshua Holbrook, of the School of Arts and Sciences; Cynthia Kanai, of the Catherine T. Catherine T. MacArthur School; Janie Lacy, of the School of Education and Behavioral Sciences; Alexandra Renelus, of the School of Nursing; Aarron Schwartz, of the School of Ministry; and Rudina Toro, of the Marshall E. Rinker Sr. School of Business.
CoakleyCoakley serves veterans as the associate chief of pharmacy at the Orlando VA Medical Center. After earning her doctorate from the Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy in 2011, she completed two years of postgraduate residency training at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center, specializing in cardiology pharmacy in the second year. She accepted the role of clinical pharmacy supervisor at the new Orlando VA Medical Center and moved to Orlando in 2015 to help bring the center online.
She is board certified in pharmacotherapy and ambulatory care and has been published in notable pharmacy journals. Her time at PBA fostered a desire to serve, which has included training pharmacy students, volunteering for mission work, fundraising for nonprofits, participating in community health fairs and volunteering for multiple animal rescue groups.
Frederick Frederick is the choral director at Boynton Beach Community High School, where he has worked since the school opened in 2001. Under his direction, choirs have consistently earned superior ratings at national, state and district competitions. He and the Dimensional Harmony chorus have performed on “The Today Show,” at Carnegie Hall and the London International Choral Festival.
Frederick has been giving vocal workshops at the Florida Music Educators Association and several choral districts. He has served as district coordinator and chairman for Florida Vocal Association District 14. He is founder of a new community chorus called “First Serve Dimensional Harmony Singers,” which will open for the Radio City Rockettes Christmas Spectacular at Radio City Music Hall this December. He is a 1995 graduate of the School of Music & Fine Arts.
Holbrook, a 2009 graduate of the School of Arts and Sciences, is an ecologist specializing in wetlands, reptiles and Holbrookamphibian ecology. As a student, he worked with Dr. Tom Chesnes to design and conduct the first study to determine the effects of the invasive Burmese pythons on mammals in Florida, which led him to appear as a guest speaker on the Discovery, National Geographic, Weather and History channels.
Since then, he has authored two books, “A Field Guide to the Snakes of Southern Florida,” and “The Field Herping Guide: Finding Amphibians and Reptiles in the Wild.” He is an environmental science instructor at Montreat College in North Carolina, where he enjoys getting students involved in research, publication and discipleship. He and his wife, Rebekah ’09, have two daughters, Chava and Josephine.
KanaiKanai is CEO of the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens in West Palm Beach, where she oversees the gardens’ landmarked house, gardens, grounds and art collection. Prior to that, she worked at Palm Beach Day Academy for 28 years, first as a fifth grade teacher and then as development director. She earned the William T. Dwyer Excellence in Education Award in 2012. She raised $5.5 million for the school’s capital campaign and gained support for other fundraising initiatives.
She is a member of the Palm Beach Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Leadership Palm Beach County Class of 2014, Executive Women of the Palm Beaches, the International Women’s Forum and the Palm Beach Flagler Rotary Club. A 2016 graduate of the Catherine T. Catherine T. MacArthur School, she lives in Atlantis with her husband, Dennis; they have two grown children.
View profiles of Lacy, Renelus, Schwartz and Toro here.
Photo 1: Christina Coakley is a 2011 graduate of the Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy and the associate chief of pharmacy at the Orlando VA Medical Center.
Photo 2: Sterling Frederick is a 1995 graduate of the School of Music & Fine Arts and the choral director at Boynton Beach Community High School.
Photo 3: Joshua Holbrook is a 2009 graduate of the School of Arts and Sciences and an ecologist specializing in wetlands, reptiles and amphibian ecology.
Photo 4: Cynthia Kanai is a 2016 graduate of the Catherine T. Catherine T. MacArthur School and CEO of the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens.
