Michael McKenna, Recruiting Specialist

I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, and I still live there today with my wife, Julie (college tennis) and three children: Michael (who plays lacrosse at St. Louis University); Ava (volleyball and lacrosse); and Natalie (basketball and lacrosse). I graduated from Mt. Carmel High School, an all-boys, private, Catholic high school on the city’s South Side. In an effort to find the best fit for me academically and athletically, I decided to attend Kishwaukee Community College in Malta, Illinois, to play baseball while pursuing my education. After two years of maturing not only as an athlete and student but also as a person, I accepted an offer to attend Auburn University, from which I graduated with a degree in economics. All of my life, I have had a passion for athletics, and it is that passion that took me all the way to Division I baseball at Auburn University. While in junior college, I had the good fortune of being selected in the MLB Amateur Draft not once, but twice. As you can tell, I chose the value of education over the lure of the big leagues. Education was not only important for me, but also my family.  I had to make some tough choices on my journey to college, and most of those choices were made on my own. I see NCSA as an opportunity to help student-athletes and their families in the recruiting process and guide them through their journeys into the world of college academics and athletics.