WEST PALM BEACH – Forest Hill has been really good to Keyshawn Cunningham.
The outgoing senior cornerback has fought his way to a respectable high school journey as a true student-athlete. He went from being a relative unknown to a Falcons team leader and Palm Beach County All-Star.
And as Cunningham’s time at Forest Hill will officially conclude on June 3 with a virtual graduation ceremony, he took it upon himself to show some love to everyone who helped him along the way.
“Forest Hill taught me to overcome anything,” said Cunningham, who has at least a 3.1 grade point average. “I’m grateful for all the things they have done for me and teaching me valuable lessons.”
Cunningham recently made the biggest decision of his life to date. Even though he pledged his verbal commitment to St. Vincent College on March 20, he felt he needed to make a solid change a few weeks later.
On May 1, Cunningham sealed the deal by signing his letter of intent with Heidelberg. He explained what went into his final choice.
“Honestly I tried to make a decision too fast because I felt like I was behind,” Cunningham said. “But I prayed and I wanted to be patient. Being patient led me to see who really wanted me at their school. Heidelberg showed me love, and the coaches have a lot of faith in me to make their program better.”
Cunningham will be playing college ball with at least one other player from Palm Beach County. He’ll be a teammate of wide receiver Dimitri Penick, who was a budding star at Dwyer and graduated from high school in 2017.
“He came to me and told me we’re family from the jump,” Cunningham said of Penick. “He can run nice routes and he has strong hands. He’s a beast.”
Penick offered his quick analysis of Cunningham as well.
“He’s a great cornerback,” Penick said. “Hopefully he can come in and play as a freshman.”
With that said, Cummingham will never forget how he got to be in this amazing situation with Heidelberg.
“High school wasn’t hard and it wasn’t easy,” Cunningham said on his Facebook page. “But I made it my mission to complete one of my goals. Couldn’t have done it without God and my family.”
Cummingham, who was part of the BETA Club at Forest Hill, will major in business management at Heidelberg. He hopes that every challenge thrown his way will make him stronger and very successful in college and beyond.
This includes the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced him and all other seniors to have the rest of their high school moments in a virtual setting.
“It’s really slowing everything down, but it’s giving us a lot of time to work on our craft,” Cunningham said. “This pandemic will see who’s been working and who hasn’t. It may make or break you.”
Cunningham offered some parting thoughts on his high school experience at Forest Hill.
“I’m a person that goes with the flow, but it’s kind of a bummer that 2020 couldn’t walk the stage,” he said on his Facebook page. “[It’s] 12 years of hard work paid off. Now on to another 4 years. I wanna thank all the people that has been in my corner. We finally made it, but the mission isn’t done.”
