#MCCGrads2025: 6 p.m. student commencement speaker’s path to a degree was hard … but worth it
Samantha Kuykendall
When Samantha Kuykendall, 43, of Blue Springs, Missouri, returned to Metropolitan Community College last year for a third try at finishing her associate degree, she had life experience in her corner. “This would have been way easier at 18,” she says. “Four kids, two jobs and being a full-time student has definitely not been an easy path.”
First attempt: At MCC-Longview after high school, Samantha took 19 credit hours of classes while working 40-plus hours a week. One day she walked off campus and never returned. Attempt 2, about 2011: Online was the plan, but she was staying home with her kids and “made the excuse that I was taking away time from them.”
Later, circumstances compelled her to find employment. But “interviewing for jobs after being out of the workforce (15 years) and not having a degree was definitely humbling.” She was hired as a middle school registrar and eventually became a counseling office secretary at Blue Springs High School, where her children attend.
Which brings us back to this school year, of Samantha being a full-time online student with two jobs (second gig: coach at a cheer gym) and a single mother of four (three boys and a girl, a “huge” motivating force).
Her MCC-Online experience has been “amazing,” she says. Instructors have been responsive and helpful, and her advisor has “listened to me cry a couple of times and just been a huge encouragement.”
Look how it turned out. Next school year she and her oldest, Jaxon, will both attend Missouri State University. Imagine mom and son living in the same dorm … but in reality, Samantha will take online courses and Jaxon will be on campus in Springfield.
She will be earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work, with a goal of becoming a secondary school social worker. “I would like to continue working with students, their families and teachers.”
As for her commencement address, Samantha says she wanted to motivate others by sharing her own story of perseverance.
“My motto has been ‘Just because it is hard does not make it bad.’ I want to encourage others to not give in to fear but to pursue what they were uniquely created to do.”