The wonderful world of McKenna
Through TU, senior finds dream school, professional passion
By Kyle Hobstetter on June 30, 2021
McKenna Bondura ’21 admits that growing up, she never had a dream college. So when she came to Towson University, she was determined to make TU into her dream.
Bondura and her family moved around a lot, following her father Dave’s U.S. Navy career. They lived in Texas, Virginia and Florida before she wound up in her current hometown—Ellicott City, Maryland—at the start of her freshman year of high school.
But there is a family story that contradicts her belief about lacking a dream school.
When she was younger and relatives asked about her future, Bondura always joked that she would go to “Disney College.”
And like a Disney Channel original movie, that “impossible” childhood dream came true. During her junior year at TU, Bondura participated in the Disney World College Program, where she worked and lived at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
There she worked in the Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom, where she wore a colonial-style dress and welcomed visitors to the restaurant. When she wasn’t working, Bondura took part in the program’s seminars, where she learned the ins and outs of the resort’s operation.
“I walked away thinking that Disney is still as magical as it was [to me before],” Bondura says. “Seeing how many people work each day to put on that theme park is surreal. I have a much bigger appreciation of it than I had before.”
Prior to going to Disney, she admits that she was at a crossroads with her education.
Originally, she planned on going into nursing, because her mom Kathy was a NICU nurse. But Bondura soon switched her major to teaching. But as she reached her junior year, that wasn’t clicking either.
But what was, were the organizations she joined: the Student Government Association (SGA)—serving as Freshman Council president and director of new student development—and Homecoming Committee, where she was the events director.
The late Mary Leeper, SGA’s former administrative assistant, was instrumental in Bondura joining the Disney program.
“It was Miss Mary that told me, ‘Why not do it?’” Bondura says. “We had a heart to heart, and I said that I didn’t want to give up SGA or Homecoming, because I worked all of college in those positions. And she said that it would be there for me when I got back.”
She started at Disney World in August 2019 and planned to stay there until January. But that fall, she saw the U.S. Naval Academy was hiring an event planner, a field for which she developed a passion.
Her dad talked her into applying for the job, even if it would be just for the interview experience.
Her first interview was at a Starbucks in Orlando while she was waiting for her bus to work. After her second, they offered Bondura the job, much to her surprise. She is now the marketing and membership coordinator for the Naval Academy Club, an exclusive membership club that offers special amenities to active duty and retired military and civilians.
But Bondura knew that she had to finish her degree. With a new passion for hospitality, she decided to change her major to communication studies. This allowed her to not only understand how to work and communicate with people, it also helped her understand the marketing and analytical side of event planning.
“When my adviser told me how many classes I was going to have to take, there were a lot of tears just because I didn't know how it was going to be possible,” Bondura laughs. “That first semester back, I took a full class load, and I did some classes at Howard Community College.
“I would leave work an hour early, drive 40 minutes to Howard County, take a class until 10 p.m. and then go back to work the next day.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bondura continued to take a full class load, virtually. This meant doing homework during her lunch break, writing papers at Annapolis coffee shops and not leaving work until her projects were turned in.
As she looks back on her time at TU, she remembers the plan to make it her dream school. Bondura thinks everything happened the way it was supposed to.
“I’m grateful for the network I made at Towson University, because it took me a lot of places that I didn’t think I was going to go,” she says. “I found my dream school, because I knew what I wanted and sought that out at TU.”