by Logan Gilman

Every single day, students file into PCM High School before classes to talk with friends, get help with teacher or eat breakfast, but not senior Joseph Cunningham. Cunningham runs his own business: Cool Beans.
Cool Beans is Cunningham’s very own company. It is a coffee, hot chocolate and tea shop that is open every Tuesday morning before school from 7:45 to eight. All drinks are sold for the reasonable price of 25 cents.
Lori Thomas, Cunningham’s associate, will tell you they use the money to buy more products and that the reason for the shop is for Cunningham to run his own shop. But Cunningham will tell you otherwise. He said, “I’ve been wanting to do it since I was six. It’s always been a dream of mine. I wanted to be my own boss and run my own business, and I wanted to get more orders from the ladies.”
Cunningham is arguably the most popular guy in school. He never fails to brighten students’ or teachers’ days with his great sense of humor or his hugs. When asked what he wanted his PCM legacy to be, Cunningham said, “I want people to remember me as sweet, loving and an Elvis singer.”
Cunningham’s future plans are to graduate later this year with his class, the class of 2015. He plans to attend Christian Opportunities Center classes next year in the morning and then come back to the high school for lunch and the afternoon for the fall semester. After that, his career as a student at PCM will be over. He wants to come back and work at the high school. He also wants to work at the McDonald’s drive-thru and eat people’s french fries. Whatever path Cunningham chooses, he will be deeply missed, and he will miss everybody that helped make high school so great. “When I leave here, which I’m not, I will miss all my friends.”