{"id":4974,"date":"2022-06-24T09:00:17","date_gmt":"2022-06-24T16:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/?p=4974"},"modified":"2022-06-14T14:08:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-14T21:08:02","slug":"palomar-alum-making-good-waves-in-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/palomar-alum-making-good-waves-in-los-angeles\/","title":{"rendered":"Palomar Alum Making Good Waves in Los Angeles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Caitlin Cunningham transferred from Palomar to UCLA, and was recently named to the university\u2019s Bruin Business 100.<\/p>\n

SAN MARCOS \u2014 When Caitlin Cunningham was in the 5th grade San Elijo Elementary School, she took a hip-hop dance class from Fit Kids America.<\/p>\n

After graduating from San Marcos High School in 2015, Cunningham made her way to Palomar, and also found her first job as an instructor with Fit Kids, which provides activities that incorporate movement and encourage children to form healthy and active habits. She spent her free time teaching cheer, dance and art at schools across North County.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved it, and when I transferred to UCLA, I would come back during the breaks and coach for Fit Kids to stay part of it,\u201d she said. \u201cI have always loved working with kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

So it was no surprise when, launching a business after college, Cunningham opened a Los Angeles County franchise of Fit Kids America<\/a>. One year later, her company is serving five schools in Los Angeles, with plans to add seven more this fall.<\/p>\n

This spring, she was named to the Bruin Business 100<\/a>, a network of \u201cexceptional UCLA alumni entrepreneurs\u201d who serve the greater Los Angeles area as \u201cfounders, owners and visionaries.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she arrived at Palomar College in 2015, Cunningham\u2014who is now 25 years old\u2014did not know what she wanted to study: \u201cI think I changed my major six times, but I knew I wanted to transfer to UCLA. That\u2019s all I had planned.\u201d<\/p>\n

She did make her long-awaited transfer, in 2017, to major in Gender Studies and Sociology, and earned her Bachelor of Arts in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cColleges are a great place to meet people, to be inspired by other people and feed off of each other\u2019s ambition,\u201d she said. \u201cTo me, that was what UCLA represented. But I found that first at Palomar. Being in a classroom setting, surrounded by other people exploring their passions or pursuing their goals\u2014it\u2019s really enriching to be around people like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cunningham said she has always felt like an advocate for Palomar: \u201cWhen I was here, I would document every single day\u2014I would post on social media about how much I loved it here, to the point where I think I influenced a bunch of other high school students to do the two years here. I\u2019m an advocate for Palomar, and for community college itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said her younger sister, Cayla, 21, and mother Caroline\u2014who holds a degree from Cal State San Marcos\u2014are both attending Palomar now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI developed my leadership skills, and definitely my public speaking skills, at Palomar College, and I really loved the faculty here,\u201d said Cunningham, who splits her time between San Marcos and L.A.<\/p>\n

Fit Kids is an enrichment program that provides after-school classes, lunch-time plays, seasonal camps and other activities for kids ages 4 to 11 (although Cunningham said most of her students are in the 6- to 8-year-old range).<\/p>\n

Cunningham said she plans to grow her business in L.A., which is in acute need of children\u2019s fitness programs since, due to COVID, \u201cso many students haven\u2019t even had the experience of being on campus. It\u2019s challenging, but at the same time, rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Caitlin Cunningham transferred from Palomar to UCLA, and was recently named to the university\u2019s Bruin Business 100. SAN MARCOS \u2014 When Caitlin Cunningham was in the 5th grade San Elijo Elementary School, she took a hip-hop dance class from Fit Kids America. After graduating from San Marcos High School in 2015, Cunningham made her way… \u00a0Continue Reading: Palomar Alum Making Good Waves in Los Angeles<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10413,"featured_media":4969,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19,9,23,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-carousel","category-features","category-home","category-slider"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPalomar Alum Making Good Waves in Los Angeles - Palomar News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.palomar.edu\/news\/palomar-alum-making-good-waves-in-los-angeles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Palomar Alum Making Good Waves in Los Angeles - Palomar News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Caitlin Cunningham transferred from Palomar to UCLA, and was recently named to the university\u2019s Bruin Business 100. 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