Upon senior Zoe Killingsworth’s first impression of Mr. Cunningham, he was intimidating. But once she got to know him, she was able to open up more to him.

“He turned out to be a big teddy bear,” she said with a smile.  

Not only do students think highly of him, but his co-workers do too. He was even nominated by his colleagues for teacher of the year.

“He is great with students,” counselor Ms. Wooten said. “Sometimes girls are hesitant to talk to him, but if they give him a chance, they find out that he is really good at his job.”

His hard work and experience shows through daily. The guidance office is easily impressed with how he portrays himself to students.

“Mr. Cunningham is easy to work with,” Ms. Wooten said.  “He came with lots of experience and knowledge.  We were lucky to get him. He was the counseling department chair at St. Charles High School for eight years before coming to Liberty.”

Mr. Cunningham comes with experience and the desire to want to help specifically teenagers.

“I have always felt like I am a good listener and I just love helping people, especially teenagers,” he said. “My passion is working with teenagers and I just felt like this was a better position than teaching because I can help them in a different way.”

Students can see that he is motivated and tries the best he can to accommodate every situation as needed. Killingsworth describes him as “open, honest and willing.”

There is nothing else he would rather be doing than helping teenagers.

“I think I would intimidate kids but a teenager I can be more real with because you guys are closer to adult age. I am able to talk to you like an adult,” Mr. Cunningham said.

Cunningham went to college at Southwest Baptist University. Then he went to Lindenwood and got a master’s in school counseling. He has been a counselor since 2007.

“Lindenwood gave me a good job of giving me a little bit of foundation, but honestly I think with everything  you have to learn on the job,” Cunningham said. “I didn’t learn in school how to deal with schedules and things like that. It prepared me for the consulting part. They aren’t going to be able to give me every scenario I deal with on a daily basis. Something new comes through every year. You use your past experience to deal with the new situations. I don’t think any education could prepare you for every situation in a job.”

A counselor faces many challenges throughout the year and even on a daily basis, but Cunningham handles it smoothly and takes it day by day.

“The biggest challenge is to get students to calm down and be able to relax and know that they are okay here,” Cunningham said. “That’s hard when you have 1,400 + students and all the faculty and I have to try to help them understand that it is a small community and we are a family here at Liberty and that they are going to be okay. Avoiding is not going to help. If we can get you here, I know our teachers are going to take care of you and hope that students understand. It is a daily battle.”

Even outside of school, he still his willing to help people in our community. He works at Behavioral Health Response in Creve Coeur several times a week in which he provides telephone counseling to people in mental health crises as well as mobile outreach services, community referral services and critical incident stress management.

“It is just a great feeling to be able to know that I helped that person out today,” Mr. Cunningham said.

Mr. Cunningham is a shining example of someone who does the job for the love of students and our community.