Chain of Lakes Achievers Inc

The Learning Resource Center of Polk County, Inc. ( LRC ) was founded by the Junior League of Greater Lakeland, Inc in 1975 to help students by providing personalized supplemental education programs and consulting services for parents. At that time it was known as the Learning Disabilities Center and its primary purpose was to serve students with specific learning disabilities and provide support for their parents. The name changed in 1977, as programs for the learning disabled grew in the public school system, and LRC expanded its services to help all students maximize their learning potential. From its humble beginnings as a small volunteer group working in borrowed space, LRC today has over 400 certified teachers who provide countywide services to over 3, 000 students ages five through adult.

HistoryNeal Hess, Chuck Blakeslee, Jim Auxier, and Al Tillman (NAUI #1) met in August 1960 to discuss and organize NAUI's first Instructor Certification Course (ICC). It was held at the Shamrock Hotel in Houston, Texas on August 22-26. During the six-day course, 72 candidates attended from the U.S. and Canada, but only 53 graduated. The 53 graduates and their staff instructors became the first instructor members of the National Association of Underwater Instructors. The NAUI ICC became the first course to make diver certifications available worldwide and internationally. A year later, the second NAUI ICC was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, under the direction of Ben Davis, NAUI #101. In October 1961, NAUI was incorporated in the State of California as a non-profit educational organization, with Al Tillman as the President and Neal Hess as the Executive Secretary.SpecialtiesNAUI is the largest non-profit membership based training agency and the oldest of the major scuba diving training agencies. NAUI develops training materials for all levels of scuba diving, including recreational diving, technical diving, freediving, and public safety diving.