North Carolina Fellows program participant Noah Weyne ‘27, grew up immersed in the Carolina community. Although he spent the first 10 years of his life living on the west coast, his parents’ love of Chapel Hill and his sister’s experience as a student at Carolina made him feel there was nowhere else he’d rather be.
“From the architecture of the campus to the people I engaged with on my tour to the sports environment, Carolina was the perfect fit,” he said.
On his walk to the North Carolina Study Center each morning as a first-year student, Weyne saw a sign advertising NC Fellows, a three-year, cohort-based program where students are challenged to create a personalized definition of leadership to positively contribute to the world in and beyond the Carolina community.
“It felt like the Fellows program was calling me to apply,” he said. “I knew I wanted to be a part of this leadership cohort.”
Now a third-year student studying advertising and public relations and management and society, Weyne is grateful for his experience as an NC Fellow. He’s taken leadership classes, attended retreats and development sessions with his cohort and, most recently, received summer funding from the program.
The funding enabled him to take a summer class while having the financial leeway to shadow the Wake Forest town manager and Wake County commissioner. Weyne completed tasks including working with leadership teams to gain insight into municipal government, observing interviews and providing feedback on candidates and analyzing the town’s budget and community priorities.
Weyne’s shadow position encouraged him to consider a career in local government. He said he loves local government work because of its bipartisan nature and community-focused goals, and he is now interested in pursuing a master’s degree in public administration in the future.
“It reinforced the idea that no matter what I do, I want to be with people and help people,” he said. “I want to serve individuals and meet their needs.”
As he completed his work with Wake County government, Weyne used his summer funding to complete the MEJO 371: Advertising Creative course, where he learned what it means to be creative and how to use that creativity to target specific audiences.
“Even just having one less class to worry about has lightened my schedule for the remainder of my time at Carolina,” he said. “I don’t know if I would have ever gotten to see local government in action without this funding.”
Weyne said this summer taught him the importance of taking risks and reflecting on your experiences. He’s grateful for the chance he had to try something new, and he encourages all Carolina students to reach toward new opportunities they may not have thought of.
“There’s so much pressure to have a traditional college summer,” he said, “but my advice is to try something that sounds cool and unique to you because it will mean so much more in the long run.”
None of this would have been possible without the summer funding he was awarded, Weyne said.
Donors who give to the NC Fellows program allow students to explore career paths they are curious about while easing the stress that comes along with finding a summer job to pay for the cost of their basic needs.
“My summer funding allowed me to explore different career paths and further my academic journey,” he said. “Summer school is expensive, and the fact that I didn’t have to worry about it was incredible.”
Want to help make a difference in the lives of student like Noah? Consider donating to NC Fellows.
— Payton Wilkins, ‘25