Seth Cunningham: Growing His Businesses and His Faith

When Seth Cunningham of Ebensburg, Pa. was just a freshman at Saint Francis University in 2024, he considered dropping out of school to pursue his dream of becoming an entrepreneur and business owner. Feeling like college just wasn’t what he needed, he wanted to jump straight into the next phase of his life – growing his online businesses and finding new pursuits to pay his bills. But then he was introduced to a core group of students in Campus Ministry, and everything instantly clicked.

“Being involved with Campus Ministry helps to keep me accountable to my faith and to school,” Seth said. “It’s a great motivator to just be around people who are just as committed and serious.”

His involvement with Campus Ministry and his relationships with the other faith-filled students, inspired Seth to stay in school and pursue a degree in Management.  With his entrepreneurial spirit and brain for business, Seth quickly connected to the class materials and developed personal and professional relationships with his professors. His business instructor, Fr. Jason Wooleyhan, T.O.R, acts as his spiritual director.

Fr. Stephen Waruszewski, T.O.R., the Director of Campus Ministry, encouraged Seth to enroll in Alta Via (an intentional community of Catholic SFU students). While Seth's business classes are helping him prepare him for his future as an entrepreneur, the Alta Via program is guiding him to deepen his Catholic faith.  Along with the rest of the Alta Via community on campus, Seth attends specially designed courses on the catechism, the moral life, liturgy and sacraments, and witnessing the faith. According to Fr. Stephen, each Alta Via course (Professing the Faith, Living the Faith, Praying the Faith, and Witnessing the Faith) helps the student grow in their faith so that by the time they graduate, they are prepared for living an adult Catholic life in their careers.

As a member of Alta Via, Seth also actively engages in the liturgy and devotion, and regularly meets one-on-one with a Franciscan Friar to set goals for spiritual, intellectual, communal, and human development. Seth attends Mass and prayer groups often, and he, along with his best friend Riley Weyer, leads a regular Bible Study group that averages about 10 other student attendees.

“I would not have met all of these awesome people if not for Campus Ministry,” Seth said.

Being raised as a Roman Catholic, Seth attended private Catholic schools his entire life (including graduating from Bishop Carroll Catholic High School) and always considered himself to have a strong faith. While also being very business-minded, and with dreams of being his own boss, he began an online Catholic clothing brand while still in high school. His company, AMDGCO, which sells gym apparel and jewelry, made over $20,000 in revenue last year. Now, on a fast-track to graduation, Seth has also used what he has learned in his classes at Saint Francis to start a second business – one that develops websites for local service establishments, like Smithmyer’s, the local superette close to campus where Seth currently works as a butcher.

While Saint Francis has been a special place for Seth, where he can combine his mind for business with his commitment to his Catholic faith, he is on an accelerated schedule and plans to graduate a year early, in Spring 2027. He is eager to strike out on his own and see where life takes him next. He hopes to continue to run his own businesses successfully and has plans to open a premium storage unit facility in the local area as soon as he can.

Seth’s academic advisor, Dr. Kent Tonkin, has also been impressed by his drive, determination and maturity. “Seth always is looking for ways to apply theory in the real world,” says Tonkin “and his entrepreneurial drive is off the charts. I’m always excited to speak with Seth and to provide resources to help him grow his apparel business or explore other new avenues.”

“I would rather work with people than for people,” Seth said. “I want to do my own thing and see where that takes me. If I have to get a job to make that happen then I will, but I plan to just be an entrepreneur.”

The Power of "And" 

At Saint Francis University, we encourage our students to embrace the power of “and.” Every new skill, talent, and challenge they explore here under our guidance builds a foundation for something greater. It’s through blending passions, disciplines, and experiences that they become that someone they are uniquely called to be.