Charles Alexander McKinney, IV

Who am I and what are my ambitions?

Charles McKinney recently graduated from Immaculata University, Immaculata, Pennsylvania, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in international business foreign language- Spanish, a minor in entrepreneurship, and a certificate in theology.  He was named to Delta Epsilon Sigma (a national scholastic honor society for students of Catholic colleges and universities), Theta Alpha Kappa (national honor society for Religious Studies and Theology), and the Immaculata University College of Undergraduate Studies Honor Society.

Prior to commencement exercises, Charles was selected as a flag bearer as a founding member of the first coeducational undergraduate class at Immaculata.  Charles was named to Who’s Who Among American Colleges and Universities, the National Dean’s List, and Immaculata University’s Dean’s List.  A recipient of two Immaculata endowment scholarships, Charles was honored by the President of the University during his sophomore year at the President's Hour Reception, and had the pleasure of introducing Mr. John C. Bogle (founder and former CEO of Vanguard) to the educational community when he came to deliver a lecture and book-signing of his most recent book, The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism.  

As a member of the African American Cultural Society (A.A.C.S) of which he served as president during his sophomore year, Charles participated in the Gospel Choir and Chorale music ensembles, and served as president of the Macs in the Spirit Bible Study Prayer Group amid his sophomore year.  In fact, Charles occupied the editor-in-chief position of the university newspaper during his senior year and contributed to the yearbook as a section editor for both his junior and senior years.

Recently, Charles completed a journalism internship with the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors (PSNE) in Gettysburg where he worked as a pioneering online reporter for the annual Pennsylvania press conference.  He and five other interns produced a groundbreaking website by reporting, photographing, shooting videos, and editing stories for the conference.  The website where his work can be viewed is getty.psne.net.  A visit to the Gettysburg Times daily newspaper supplemented this experiential opportunity.

Charles completed a temporary position at a summer youth camp (John Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth) for academically gifted teenagers.  He worked for the program last year as a summer Resident Assistant (RA) and returned this year to the same position, but in a different locale and hopes to apply for the summer 2010 program.   

Freelance writing is something that Charles has pursued with all diligence in the past few months.  Fortunately, these efforts paid off because he finished his professional freelance writing gig in mid-December 2009.  He traveled to Georgetown, DE for nearly two weeks to report on the high-profile Ebay vs. Craigslist trial at the Chancery Court for the Advanced Interactive Media Group website, which is known as the bible of the global online classifeds industry.  Thus, Charles constitutes the newest freelancer for this prestigious international business website.