Charles Kellon, a first-year elementary education major and Teaching Fellow, was working at his job as an office manager at the YMCA when he received the email letting him know he had been accepted into the Caldwell Fellows, NC State’s premier leadership development program.
“Once I opened it and saw the congratulations, I just literally gasped and everyone was like, ‘Are you OK?’ I was just so shocked,” Kellon said.
After the shock passed, Kellon said he was excited to learn he had been selected as one of 30 first-year students who will make up the Caldwell Fellows class of 2026.
“Being a Caldwell Fellow means being able to reach my leadership potential, while also growing to become the best person that I can be and learning how to serve my community in ways that are both impactful, but also are truly going to help the community in the long term,” Kellon said.
Serving the community is important to Kellon. He started working at the local YMCA as a youth counselor in high school and he also volunteered with a number of organizations, including WAKE Up and Read, which he is still involved in. Kellon said the time he spent working with children, especially at the YMCA, made him more aware of the challenges they face and is what inspired him to choose education as a career path.
“Being that positive thing in their life is really what drew me to being a teacher,” Kellon said.
As he prepares to be a leader in the classroom, Kellon is excited to develop his leadership skills through the Caldwell Fellows. Since being accepted into the program in March, he has already been able to connect with other fellows and attend one of the program’s monthly dinner seminars, where he was able to broaden his conception of what leadership is.
“It just really exposes you to a variety of leaders and what leadership means to everybody — how it’s not a one size fits all thing,” Kellon said.
Kellon said he is looking forward to growing as a leader in his time in the program, and modeling that leadership for his future students.
“I personally had really amazing teachers for most of my educational experience,” Kellon said. “I just wanted to be able to emulate that for other students.”
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