ALUMNUS MANAGES GOV. CHRISTIE'S PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN.

• Position: CARING PEOPLE

There were blinding flashes, thousands of reporters and hundreds of events crammed into the days that led up to the 2016 Republican National Convention and vote for the party's official nominee.

Plenty of candidates were vying for the spot as the world watched. Ken McKay knows. He was there, behind the scenes, managing the presidential bid for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Somewhere between the sleepless nights, long drives across Iowa and flights that zig-zagged the country, McKay drew on what he learned at High Point University.

He wasn't a political science major back then, though HPU now has majors in political science, communication and political communication. McKay was a biology major who graduated in 1991. He'd served in the military before coming to HPU and attended law school after graduation.

HPU was the bridge in between that gave him the confidence to realize he could accomplish big things.

"High Point is the place that gave me a chance,"McKay says.

NEVER A NUMBER

McKay grew up in Rhode Island, where his family owns a furniture store. In high school, he struggled academically and joined the Army after graduation to serve in the infantry. He pursued college in his early 20s, and his family's connection to furniture and the High Point Market furniture trade shows brought him to High Point.

The Army improved his confidence, but he still worried. College, he knew, would be academically strenuous. He moved into his residence hall with nothing but his duffel bag and immediately felt underprepared.

But the familial atmosphere of this campus made him believe he had a chance.

"I was never a number here like in the military," McKay recalls. "It was a close-knit community where people knew who you were and held you accountable."

He chose biology, a challenging major. But he committed and soon, his professors were praising him.

"That had never happened before," he said. "Everyone here was so supportive of somebody like me who had very little confidence."

PREPARING A PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

McKay reached graduation with good grades and discovered a new sense of self and purpose. It helped him prepare for the...