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By Harika Rao '11, '15Published Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012
Kelly Kennedy '09 graduated with a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Lynn University. Born and raised in Miami, Fla., Kelly earned a master’s degree in exercise physiology from Florida International University. After graduation, Kelly worked as an adjunct instructor for four years at FIU until she became the director of fitness for the Miami-Dade police department. “While working at the police department, there was an opportunity to continue my education with a Ph.D. It was around the same time I started a fitness consulting company called Fit-to-Enforce where I consult with various departments throughout the country on physical fitness for law enforcement.”
Kelly is in charge of the fitness center, training and health education for the police department. She gives lectures to units such as the special response team, rapid deployment force, bike certifications, defensive tactics and police academy recruit training. “The reason I love what I do is that it changes depending on the needs of the department for that day. I frequently lecture to different classes and make sure to invite other professionals in the field to teach our department as well.”
She is the creative idea behind the ‘ieatnburn’ app released in September 2012. The ‘ieatnburn’ app helps counter calories ingested through different forms of exercise. Currently, there are 42 different restaurants in the app. People use the app to select the food they ate and burn off the calories from 170 different activities ranging from washing dishes, running and zumba. The app has far exceeded projections for downloads in the first month. “I hope the trend continues and at this pace we will reach 10,000 downloads way before one year,” stated Kelly.
Kelly says that having been a part of the doctoral program at Lynn is one of the toughest processes one will ever go through in his or her life. But her slogan for the current students is “You will survive, you can do it!” She also recommends planning some time each day to write but also remember to take time off too, and then, after graduating, take some time to let your brain recover and then get back in the game.
Kelly’s final words of inspiration to current Lynn students: “It is important to remember that opportunities are not given to you. Create opportunities for yourself and if you have an idea to do something new—do it. Life is too short to be scared to make the next move.”