"Amazing school, how sweet the sound that saved a student like me," sings Jaxxon Robertson to me when I visited the LiFT Academy at its Seminole location back in May.
Today, they've moved to a new 60,000-square-foot campus in Clearwater, and Jaxxon couldn't stop telling me all about the new stuff.
"It's going great, and I really like the smell in here," he said.
"This is such an incredible time for LiFT's growth, moving from rented space at a church of about 15,000 square feet now into a 60,000 square foot state-of-the-art campus with sensory room, classroom space, dedicated room for music or science," said Shawn Naugle, executive director of Learning Independence for Tomorrow.
The school caters to students of all abilities, but especially those who are neurodiverse.
There are three programs here: LiFT Academy K-12, LiFT University Transition Program for people 18-22 and the LiFT Adult Training Program, which serves people 23 and older.
For the first time, all three are on the same campus.
"When parents come here, they come with the weight of the world on their shoulders. A lot of times, students have been bullied in other schools," said Naugle. "And we try to break through all of that. We try to make students and parents feel lighter."
The LiFT Adult Transition program's goal is to help these students find jobs and create a life for themselves.
"So the average cost of raising a child with neurodiversity over their lifetime is over a million dollars. More than 97% of students or people in general with neurodiversity end up living with a relative over the course of their lifetime," explains Naugle. "Our goal here is to help prepare them for independence, to help find them jobs, to help get them connected to companies, to help teach them those independent living skills so that they can live on their own and that they have that true path forward for independence."
LiFT is hoping to double in size over the next few years and, when all the renovations are complete, serve more than 400 students every year.
They also have three micro businesses. LiFT U Cleaning Service, LiFT Your Fork, which is a catering company, and LiFT Your Heart, a boutique product-making company.
They also hope to open a coffee shop soon.
