Learning LEADershop: How Shaniya (Pleasant) Phipps Carried her Lessons Beyond the Classroom
Shaniya (Pleasant) Phipps
LEAD Academy: 2010-2017
Undergraduate: Lipscomb University, 2017-2020, Bachelor of Science in Biology
Graduate: Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy, 2020-2024, Master of HealthCare Informatics, Doctorate of Pharmacy
For LEAD Academy alumna Shaniya (Pleasant) Phipps, success after high school has been built on persistence, academic growth, and confidence to keep pushing herself toward her goals.
Today, Shaniya works as a Drug Education Pharmacist with Kaiser Permanente after completing her doctoral pharmacy residency in 2025. While her career has taken shape well beyond the halls of LEAD Academy, she still credits her time at LEAD with building the foundation that carried her through her postgraduate education and career.
“LEAD really helped prepare me for what came next by teaching me how to be responsible, how to find resources when I didn’t know the answer, and how to push myself academically,” Shaniya said. “LEAD also always felt like a family, and I think having that support system gave me the confidence to keep going even when things were difficult.”
Shaniya attended LEAD from 5th through 12th grade, and one of the biggest examples of her growth came during high school, when she increased her ACT score by seven points.
After her first practice test, Shaniya admitted she didn’t prepare much and wasn’t happy with her score, so her teachers encouraged her to approach the test differently. Through an ACT prep course with Ms. Harris and the rigorous AP Literature class with Mr. Yurchak, she began reading more, using ACT prep materials, and focusing on how to be successful on the test. This hard work and her teacher’s belief in her ultimately earned her an ACT score that expanded her college options and helped put her on the path to attend Lipscomb University.
Shaniya said LEAD also taught her to think critically, ask questions, and trust her own perspective, lessons she carried with her through her postgraduate education. Just as important as her academics were the relationships she built along the way. She remembers pep rallies, student-teacher basketball games, and class activism as moments where staff members and students came together to make LEAD feel like a family.
That sense of family and connection followed her beyond graduation. Shaniya later married her childhood sweetheart, Malik Phipps, a fellow LEAD alum and her senior prom date. As she looks toward the future, Shaniya plans to enjoy the life she has worked so hard to build and continue growing in her career into a management role. Looking back, Shaniya believes one of LEAD’s greatest strengths is its ability to grow alongside the students it serves.
“LEAD really adapts to the time we’re in. The LEAD I started at in fifth grade isn’t the same LEAD it is today, and I think that’s a good thing. They take what they’ve learned in the past, build on it, and continue to adapt to what’s best for their students. A lot of schools don’t have that kind of flexibility, but LEAD has always been willing to grow with its students. To me, it’s as close to an individualized education as you can get in a public school setting.”
For Shaniya, that adaptability, paired with the support, expectations, and community she found at LEAD, helped prepare her not just for college, but for every step that came after.
