Jackson area native and captain of the NCAA Division III Lady Barons volleyball team Christina Lawrence will lead the Lady Raiders as head volleyball coach beginning June 1. Lawrence began playing volleyball in the seventh grade in Mississippi. She joined the Lady Barons of Franciscan University in Ohio in 2012, serving as captain in 2015-16. In 2015, Franciscan University Athletics named Lawrence Most Valuable Player. She received the St. Sebastian Leadership Award in athletics and was named to the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference Third Team All-Conference that same year. She was nominated for and elected to the Center for Leadership at Franciscan University where she will complete a bachelor of arts in communication arts with a concentration in radio and television in May of 2016.
“I’m so excited about joining the family at Jackson Academy. I’m impressed by the culture of JA, by the loyalty of the community, and by the student-centered focus of the faculty and staff,” she said. “I’m excited to offer my coaching ability and mentoring to the volleyball team and to learn as much as I can from the notable staff around me.”
Lawrence chose to attend Franciscan University, a small catholic school in Steubenville, Ohio, where she found a college home that allowed her to “encounter God more closely” and pursue NCAA volleyball. She sees athletics as a “chance to use your gifts and be a witness of good virtues and faith to those with whom you play.”
Members of the JA community may already know two members of Christina’s family, her sister Nicole Lawrence, a JA seventh grader, and her mother, Angela, who works in Preschool.
