When Ashley Schufeldt first met Patty Cunningham, Cunningham was driving a golf cart through the middle of the Oval shouting, “Testicular cancer can happen to you.”

“Since that day, I always remember when Testicular Cancer Awareness is,” Schufeldt said.

Schufeldt, a senior in political science, is one of the many Oho State students who have worked along side Cunningham in many undergraduate and graduate student organizations. Cunninghman, a director of the Diversity Committee of the Undergraduate Student Government, has run a multitude of projects, including Cancer Awareness Day on the Oval and some programs with the Multicultural Center.

Even though Cunninghm is a graduate student in the Higher Education Student Affairs Masters Program, she still finds time for student organizations. Cunnigham is is co-chairing May Week, organizing the annual Council of Graduate Students Spring Picnic, and serving on the advisory board for Heritage Fest.

“My motto is ‘service is our rent for living,'” Cunningham said. “Some day, I would love to be vice president of Student Affairs, but my real goal is to serve people with the gifts and talents I have been blessed with.”

Cunningham said her work ethic originates from her mother, Patricia Cunningham Sr.

“My mother is in her late 60s and still works 60 hours a week as a meat clerk,” she said. “She sacrificed everything she had to provide for me and my siblings. I know I did not grow up with material wealth, but all that I really needed was provided.”

Each of the Patricia Cunningham offspring, who hail from Springfield, Ohio, have earned undergraduate degrees. Patty Cunningham, the youngest of the five, said this is a great delight for her mother.

Photos of her siblings and mother cover Patty Cunningham’s desk at the Student Affairs office in Lincoln Tower alongside photos of friends and roommates. Without saying how many faces adorn her cubicle walls, she admits that having a number of friendships has taught her innumerable lessons.

“Being that friend that someone can call at 4 a.m. when they’re heartbroken or the friend who remembers what you are allergic to is not about reward. It’s about loving people where they are, helping them to become the best person they can be and realizing we all need other people in our lives,” Patty Cunningham said.

Emily Rapoport, a senior in English and psychology, has known Patty Cunningham since their days together as residents in Taylor Tower four years ago.

“Patty brings out the best in people,” Rapoport said. “I love that she sends out bi-weekly e-mails to all her female friends with motivational stories, poems, the ‘food for thought’ section and even an Ebonics vocabulary lesson.”

The latest edition – the 26th volume – of the bi-weekly e-mail, known to her female friends as “The Gal Pal Newsletter,” featured poems by Maya Angelou and Bell Hooks.

“Patty is a humanist,” Rapoport said. “She cares about people, and she takes pride being able to help in any which way she can. She is a true diva.”

Friends who recieve the newsletter know Patty Cunningham simply as “The Diva.” Adina Sterling, a 2002 alumna in engineering, has known Patty Cunningham since 1997 and said she is truly a “lady of color.”

“I’ve seen her karaoke in front of a room full of strangers and own the stage,” Sterling said. “I’ve seen her play a pick-up game of basketball and drop boys on their heads – she never hurt anyone though. I’ve seen her read her own poetry on coffee house nights, and the audience is attuned to her every move, every rhythm of her voice.”

Patty Cunningham’s “gal pals” saw her perform an original piece in the February campus production of “The Vagina Monologues.” Patti Cunningham chose to write her monologue not about her life but her mother’s.

“Mama Pat is so confused about pop culture,” Patty Cunningham read to the audience. “She doesn’t understand why women keep talking about their milkshake. She said it’s a cookie, and a cookie ain’t no pop song. It should be treated like a prized possession.”

“OK, people,” she said looking up from her script, “P. Diddy has nothing on my mama because she makes up her own remixes on the spot.”