The only proper way to begin this post is to share with you all that many CCS graduates are doing incredible things today, and I am very humbled to share with you where I have been the past four years, as well as where God has placed me for this season of life!
My career at CCS began in the sixth grade after my fearless mother homeschooled my siblings and me for the first eleven years of my life. Since I wasn’t asked to share my entire CCS story, I’ll just say that seven years rolled by very fast, and suddenly it was time to fill out college applications! Throughout high school I sought to ultimately place myself in the best position possible to fulfill my dream of playing collegiate baseball while also receiving the best higher education attainable. When I graduated in 2011, God graciously opened the door for me to fulfill that dream at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
The past four years at Hopkins shaped me in major ways. I graduated in May with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and I also picked up priceless training such as: global cultures, enduring the absence of sweet tea, liberating cars from snow piles, celebrating a Super Bowl victory, and most importantly relying on Christ in the presence of adversity and failure. Thankfully, I came out on the other side in one piece, and I’ve come back to Raleigh to begin my professional career with Duke Energy as a Nuclear Engineer at the Harris Nuclear Plant. Currently, I work in the design engineering group on various upgrades to the plant so that it continues to run as safely and efficiently as possible. So far I’ve found the job very interesting, and I’m thrilled to be able to use my engineering degree in a challenging field.
Looking back on my time at Cary Christian, I’m really thankful for the training I received while I was there. I graduated with more than just the capacity to read, write, and bubble in SAT answer books. When it was time for me to begin my college career, I knew that I would be able to handle the challenges I would face because of the way in which I was trained. The liberal arts (or classical) model required me not only to come up with correct answers, but also to explain the rationale for why I believed my answers were correct. The training I received at Cary Christian never allowed me to settle for minimum effort and understanding. Instead, I continually had to deliver (often while standing) excellence in whatever I put name to. I believe the heart of Cary Christian’s commitment to excellence culminates in senior year when students must write and defend a thesis before a panel of teachers and peers. I’ll never forget that experience, partially because I bombed my defense, but also because of the lessons I took away from it. In a culture where a lot of communicating is done passively from a keyboard, I am grateful that CCS gave me the foundation for approaching the world with critical reasoning and the tools for communicating my ideas reasonably, all with a biblical worldview.