McKenna Lawler
Service is important to McKenna Lawler so East Carolina University’s motto, servire, and record of community-focused endeavors stood out to her.
Lawler is no stranger to how ECU can help students achieve success — her older brother, Quaid, was chosen as an EC Scholar in 2019. The Gastonia native will also be joined by her twin sister, Aydan, this fall as part of the newest class of EC Scholars.
The EC Scholars award is the most prestigious undergraduate award offered at ECU. The four-year merit scholarship recognizes outstanding academic performance, commitment to community engagement and strong leadership skills. Recipients receive an Honors College scholarship and a stipend for study abroad for a total value of nearly $64,000.
“EC Scholars share a lot of the core values I have,” she said. “They’re going to let me grow those value even more and support me with them.”
Part of this involvement will be at the ECU Community School, where the EC Scholars volunteer with students in a variety of ways, such as leading art classes.
“I’m looking forward to showing them how theater is not just an art that you can do,” she said. “It’s a form of self-expression, almost therapy in a way. Kids who are invested in the arts tend to have better reading scores and better social lives because they have an outlet.”
Lawler had opportunities to work with younger students as a student at Piedmont Community Charter School.
“This year for the Christmas show, I got to work with a whole bunch of middle schoolers, and it was the best thing ever, getting to show them what I love and a lot of them, after that show, decided they were interested in theater,” she said.
The daughter of Joseph Lawler Jr. and Jennifer Mecca-Lawler intends to pursue a theatre arts degree with a musical theatre concentration while at ECU. She said she has always had a love of performing and found theater was a way to escape the social stresses of school.
“Theater was the one spot where I was accepted and people were OK with the fact that I talked a lot,” she said. “Also, it gives you a chance to look at other people’s stories and how they deal with their problems. You put your problems away and you learn how to fix problems or how other people deal with them.”
After graduating from ECU, Lawler would love to originate her own role on Broadway and be a part of an original Broadway cast recording. However, she has a second dream that’s closer to her own experience.
“I would love to create a program that puts together theater, psychology and therapy because I feel like that’s a world that only a toe has been dipped into,” she said. “I would love to create a program that takes students from middle and high school and uses theater to give them an outlet and teach them how to navigate the world if they have mental health problems or social struggles and difficulties. That’s something I’ve seen growing up is how much it helps.”
For her study abroad experience, Lawler wants to explore a country with ties to theater. While she has previously focused on Greece or Italy, she has started to broaden her scope.
“We focus a lot on western theater so it would be cool to see Asian theater or another type that we don’t focus on as much,” she said.
“EC Scholars share a lot of the core values I have. They’re going to let me grow those values even more and support me with them.”
High School: Piedmont Community Charter School
Intended major: Theatre Arts with a Musical Theatre concentration
Hometown: Gastonia