Un-Expectations

         Ryan Poynter, born roughly 20 years ago in Somerset, KY, is no stranger to unpredictability. Even in his youth, Ryan would never have considered the word “normal” an accurate description of his life. At age 5, before he was old enough for kindergarten, Ryan watched as his parents divorced and the only home he had known split into two. Then, when he was 11, he saw two houses condense back into one when his mother died at age 35.

Ryan's staff photo from M-Fuge Cumberlands 2010.

            Ryan is now at University of the Cumberlands, and the story of how he got there is no less erratic. A string of mistakes left his academic aspirations back home in Somerset, where he planned to attend a local community college and transfer after two years. That is, until the office of admissions called him at the end of June to offer him almost a full-ride in scholarship money for the approaching semester.

            Three years later, Ryan is a junior studying creative writing and journalism at the University of the Cumberlands. There, his passion for words and writing is slowly developing into an attainable career. But that isn’t the only thing he does on campus. He’s also the Senior RA in his residence hall and heavily involved in the Baptist Campus Ministries worship team where he plays the drums.

            Ryan has found a home at the University of the Cumberlands, and he’s done it almost entirely on accident. For everything that has seemed to go wrong in his life, he has ended up in exactly the right place. Yes, his life has been unpredictable so far, but it has resulted in plenty of stories for him to tell; and he has always loved to tell stories.