Students Lead the Way: Reflections from the 2024-25 NC Civic Impact Fellowship

When empowered to lead, students are powerful drivers of change, energy, and growth for their campus and community. In 2024, the NC Civic Impact Fellowship was launched to offer passionate students at NCCE member campuses an opportunity to carve out their unique place as leaders in their campus’s history by building a stronger civic life.

The inaugural cohort of Fellows included students from Elizabeth City State University, High Point University, Greensboro College, UNC Pembroke, and William Peace University.

Over the course of the 18-month fellowship, Fellows dedicated time to working with peers, staff, faculty, and community partners to explore an aspect of their campus’s civic culture that would benefit from growth. Based on surveys, interviews, personal experiences, and other research, the Fellows then designed a project that would create a lasting impact on the topic that they wanted to address. While designing and carrying out their projects, Fellows received ongoing professional development and mentorship from NCCE staff.

Fellows also had a variety of opportunities to network with peers and professionals from across the state. At Citizen Redefined Camp in summer 2024, Fellows met with their cohort and other student leaders in-person for a week-long camp where they explored their identities as citizens and civic leaders. Fellows had the opportunity to present about their fellowship projects and other successes during the Civically Engaged Student Webinar Series. In addition to this, select Fellows were invited to share their insights as student leaders during a panel at the 2025 PACE Conference.

At the conclusion of the program, each Fellow presented a Capstone or final report to campus stakeholders. The Capstone presentations invited Fellows and stakeholders to reflect on the successes and challenges of the project, and collaboratively plan for ways to continue the momentum on the work that had been done. See the 2024-25 Fellows and their projects here.

Here’s what some of the the 2024-25 NC CIF’s had to say about their experience!

“This empowered me to really take that next step and think of everything more critically. Specifically, thinking of how my actions and the programs/things I do can sustain itself for years to come even long after I am gone. I learned a lot about myself, specifically how I can be as a teacher/mentor for others.”
“The Civic Impact Fellowship taught me a lot about power mapping and coalition building. It taught me about how important relationships can be to accomplishing civic good.”
“I learned that I am resilient, capable of leading through adversity, and passionate about creating long-term change. I found that I thrive when empowering others, and I learned how to manage large-scale projects while balancing school and life responsibilities.”
“The NC Civic Impact Fellowship strengthened my skills as a civic leader by giving me hands-on experience in planning, collaboration, and community engagement. I learned how to lead with flexibility, communicate effectively, and stay committed despite challenges. Most importantly, I discovered that leadership is about showing up, listening, and creating space for others to get involved.”

NCCE was pleased to welcome the 2024-25 cohort as alumni of the NC Civic Impact Fellowship in May 2025. The future is bright for these program graduates who demonstrated exceptional leadership, perseverance, creativity, and commitment to building a stronger civic culture.