About Us
Hello teachers and schools! We’re the Live Oak Computer Science team. Beyond computer scientists, we are programmers, designers, artists, project managers, teachers, and coders living and working in Georgia.
History
We are a team of experienced computer scientists who have taken our experience building software for the business world and used this to develop a custom CS curriculum for Georgia's high school students and teachers.
Purpose
We're teaching students the same skills and industry standards that we look for when we're hiring new team members for our own software design team to ensure students are prepared for industry.
Mission
Our team's sole focus is to build the absolute best CS curriculum that complies to Georgia's rigorous standards that outline the 9 Pathways and 15 CS classes within the Department of Education's standards.
Values
As our society shifts more toward widespread digital technology we believe the education system must also shift to provide students with the skills they will need to be successful.
Vision
The Live Oak Computer Science curriculum aims to give high school students a cutting edge computer science education while simultaneously equipping teachers with the necessary tools to become confident STEM educators.
What is Live Oak CS
Live Oak is a comprehensive LMS that delivers exciting lessons to students, trains teachers, and provides cos-effective CS education to school districts and administrators.
Meet our Team
Dane Hildreth
Dane Hildreth is a graduate of the University of Georgia and has worked extensively within the educational sector of Computer Science. During his time as an undergraduate, Dane worked as a lead classroom instructor for FourAthens, a non-profit organization supporting the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Athens, GA. Prior to joining LiveOak Academy, Dane worked as a software engineer for the silicon valley based company Digication, a global leader in ePortfolio software solutions and educational learning tools.
Kemble Hildreth
Kemble Hildreth is a graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology and currently serves as the CEO of Big Southern Software, a tech-based services and solutions company based in McDonough, GA. Kemble has extensive experience developing logistics management software for the retail and telecom industries for companies such as Whole Foods, Point to Point surveying, and Home Depot.
James Mac William
James is the Chief Technology Officer at Big Southern Software, directing all aspects of development and research that drive the feature set of this innovative solution. He has over 10 years of experience building high performance industry leading solutions, and brings a deep understanding of computing architecture, rapid scaling, availability, and operational excellence to his role. Prior to joining Big Southern, James held technical and leadership positions for various organizations including large publicly organizations, mid tier organizations, and startups. He has helped teams achieve success in health, cybersecurity, legal, finance, and marketing. James holds a B.S. in Information Technology from the New Jersey Institute of Technology
Raphael Smith
Raphael is a self-taught web developer with a natural passion for education. Raphael learned programming by building python applications to automate his repetitive tasks, organize his mom’s computer, and aide a college law professor in London to teach his college course . He started volunteering as a CoderDojo instructor where he taught programming basics, game development and web development. He also has experience with 2D animation, 3D modeling, digital design and UI/UX design.