McKenna Cunningham

Ever since I was in elementary school, I have always strived for straight A’s. I can remember back to the third grade when I received my first “A” on a report card. My teacher, Ms. Holloman, had come up to me at the end of the school year and told me the news. I had received an “A” as the last grade of the third grade! I was quite shocked yet excited, but the moment I remember the most from that experience was when Ms. Holloman told me how proud she was of me. When she said that, I felt on top of the world. Having a teacher praise me for my hard work was something I had never experienced before. This was the point in my life when I truly learned and understood the value of hard work.

 

Until I was a freshman in high school, I lived in San Antonio, Texas. My mom was in the Air Force, so my two sisters and I attended Randolph High School on Randolph Air Force Base. Being part of a military family and attending a military school was an invaluable experience. At a young age, I learned many important values- responsibility, respect, determination, and honesty- that can take a lifetime for some people to understand. I instilled them into my brain so they would become a part of who I am. I think this happened because it was a privilege to attend Randolph High School. Any sign of misconduct or irresponsibility could have kicked me out of the school and forced me to attend the area public school. The school was very strict, but it was a great way to teach students good values and work ethic.

 

After my freshman year, my family and I moved from the only place I had ever known to Waxhaw, North Carolina. Attending Cuthbertson High School was certainly a challenge, considering the adjustments I had to make from attending a military school to a public school. I had to adjust to a different curriculum, class schedule, and requirements. However, the values I learned while attending a military school helped me adjust quickly and be successful in a new atmosphere. In fact, the biggest challenge I faced at Cuthbertson High School was AP U.S. History, or APUSH, which I took my junior year. It was the hardest class I took at the school because history was my most challenging subject. This class really made me push myself. Because I knew it was going to be challenging, I devoted extra time to this class and studied until I felt confident for the exams, which sometimes took four hours in one night. I can honestly say that I would not have succeeded in this class the way that I did without having learned the value of hard work in the third grade.

 

The next stop in my journey as a student was at SPCC. After I graduated high school, I enrolled in the Culinary Arts program at SPCC and graduated with the degree in May of 2016. While obtaining this degree, I faced many challenges. I not only had to learn how to cook, I had to learn the ways of a chef, which demanded patience, respect, and a lot of hard work. However, because I am a tactile learner- I learn best by doing- culinary quickly became second nature to me. It did not take long for me to get the hang of skills and techniques. In fact, during my last semester of the culinary program, I completed an internship at Atrium Health Union in Monroe. Because of my ability to learn by doing, I quickly learned several of the culinary positions, which enabled me to get hired on as the Kitchen Supervisor once I graduated.

 

The most challenging part of my time at SPCC was actually while I was enrolled in the Associate in Arts degree program. I knew that I wanted to complete this program after I completed the Culinary Arts degree, so I worked tremendously hard throughout the two years of the culinary program to take all of the classes I would need to finish the degree. Once I officially enrolled in the AA program, I had one semester to finish the rest of my classes. This was an extremely challenging experience. I not only had to take five classes, I had to take five general education courses after having been used to all culinary classes. Fortunately, my work ethic in high school and college up to this point enabled me to persevere. My work ethic was not by chance because I already learned the value of hard work by working hard.

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After graduating with my AA degree in December of 2018, I enrolled in the University of North Carolina at Charlotte the following semester (Spring, 2019). Because of all the college work I had done prior to attending UNCC, I immediately enrolled as a Junior and was officially in the Bachelor's program. When I started at UNCC, I declared a business degree, but I was not sure which major I wanted to pursue. However, after taking Financial Management my first semester and talking with some friends and teachers, I realized that a Finance degree was the path for me. During this same semester, I also took a Religious Studies course on the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament. This course really challenged me, and I learned more than I could have imagined. I was so intrigued that I decided to minor in Religious Studies. The following semester, in the Fall of 2019, I took an elective Finance course titled Principles of Risk Management and Insurance. It was in this class that I developed an interest and passion for Risk Management and Insurance. Prior to taking this course, I did not have much knowledge about this industry. I knew that everyone needed insurance, but that was about it. Throughout this class, I realized that insurance was more than it appeared on the surface. While it is about helping people obtain insurance, at its core is helping people in their daily lives. After working with a trusted professor and now mentor, I decided to declare a concentration in Risk Management and Insurance. However, my educational journey did not stop here.

 

Also during the Fall 2019 semester, I took another Religious Studies course, this time one titled Christianity. This course introduced me to the creation and transformation of Christianity from the time of inception to the point when it made its way to the Americas. I found the history behind Christianity to be extremely fascinating. The following semester, the Spring of 2020, I enrolled in a course called Jesus. Just as the name implies, this course explored the life of Jesus from a historical perspective, trying to uncover what the living Jesus would have been like as he lived in the first century. During this semester, I was just about to run out of classes to take for Religious Studies. I was about to finish my minor, but I did not want my learning to end. Therefore, after careful evaluation and planning, I decided to enroll in a second degree- Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies. At the end of this semester, after speaking with my professor from the Jesus course, I decided to enroll in the Religious Studies honors program. The following semester in the Fall of 2020, I found myself writing a thesis proposal for a thesis I would write during the Spring 2021 semester, my final semester of my Bachelor's program.

 

Fast-forward to today, I am currently seeking a Bachelor's of Science in Business Administration- BSBA- with a major in Finance and a concentration in Risk Management and Insurance. I am also the Secretary of Gamma Iota Sigma- an insurance organization from UNC Charlotte. Lastly, I am seeking a Bachelor of Arts in Religious Studies and am in the Religious Studies Honors program. During my final semester, I am finishing up my courses in both of my degrees, taking two insurance courses and two religious studies courses. On the one hand, I will be learning about property and casualty insurance and corporate risk management. On the other hand, I will be learning essential writing and communication skills in the Religious Studies senior seminar class and writing a thesis on the Gospels of Mark and John and two popular Jesus films in the Religious Studies honors thesis course.

 

Both Finance and Religious Studies are two fields that I really enjoy learning about and where I know I can go tremendously not only as a professional, but as a person. I am not only enjoying my classes, I am also enjoying the many opportunities UNCC has to grow professionally, including career fairs and networking with business professionals. I plan on learning as much as I can and working as hard as I can in school until I graduate in May 2021 with my Bachelor's degrees. After that, I plan on continuing on at UNCC to pursue an MBA. My entire life, I have always worked extremely hard to learn and get to where I want to go. I did not stop then, so I certainly do not plan on stopping anytime in the future.