Students part of the inaugural cohort of Elevate, NC State’s new inclusive postsecondary program, began their first classes on Jan. 6, 2025. Meet all seven of them below:
- Michael Bailey of Apex
- James Cunas of Clayton
- Sarah Gatewood of Raleigh
- Dreyahna Grunow of Raleigh
- Dimas Lopez de Jesus of Apex
- Molly Minnick of Raleigh
- Alyssa Rea of Raleigh
Michael Bailey
- My hometown: Apex
- My high school: Apex High School
- Why I chose NC State and Elevate: I love the Wolfpack!
- What I’m looking forward to: Making friends.
- What I hope to study and learn more about: Sports
- My activities outside of school: Basketball, bowling, theater, movies, working at Apex Outfitters
- What I want others to know about me: I’m friendly and funny and like to meet new people.
James Cunas
- My hometown: Kearny, New Jersey
- My high school: Corinth Holders High School in Wendell
- Why I chose Elevate and NC State: I feel it has the best programs for me
- What I’m looking forward to: Learning and making friends
- What I hope to study and learn more about: Life skills and religion
- My activities outside of school: Watching football and playing the piano
- What I want others to know about me: I am fraternal twin and a fan of the Dallas Cowboys
Sarah Gatewood
- My hometown: My hometown was Banner Elk, but I now live in Raleigh.
- My high school: Avery County High School
- Why I chose Elevate and NC State: I want to do more activities and still live at home. I have friends at State. And I love Talley!
- What I’m looking forward to: Fly out of the nest and grow up. Meet new people.
- What I hope to study and learn more about: Art and theater
- My activities outside of school: Young Life and Young Lives, church, painting, games.
- What I want others to know about me: I am a cheerful person. I make others laugh. My smile is hard to resist.
Dreyahna Grunow
- My hometown: Raleigh
- My high school: Wakefield High School
- Why I chose Elevate and NC State: It is my dream to be a manager someday for my job and that is the reason I want to be in Elevate to learn. The reason I want to go to NC State is because my manager, Lindsay, went to that college in the past and I want that too. It is a very good campus. and I love it so much.
- What I’m looking forward to: Learning about the classes that NC State and Elevate have for us. I am looking forward to college spirit to wear red NC State clothes on Friday like everyone else does. I am looking forward to college sports by tailgating and having fun with my friends and family and going to games to watch them play soccer, football and basketball.
- What I hope to study and learn more about: I would like to study management, like hiring, training and customer service. I would like to learn communications, like working with customers and getting their feedback and working with co-workers when they are talking to customers to stay on task and in a kind way so that he or she would not be offended.
- My activities outside of school: I played basketball when I was in middle school. Now I play for Spirit League with kids who have disabilities like me or autism. I have fun with all my friends. I love to dance because it is a lot of fun and I like it. This dance club that I am in is called Confidance. It is a workout plus music, and it is so much fun to do. And I work for 321 Coffee, and my favorite thing to do at work is making lattes and talking to the customers. I love to smile and talk to them about their day and what they are doing on the weekend because it makes them happy. 321 Coffee is my family, and I love it so much.
- What I want others to know about me: I have a dog named Anna, and she likes to lick and bark and jump. If you come to my house, she will jump on you and lick you a lot. That means she loves you so much. I have a sister whose name is Noa who goes to UNC for college. I know that NC State and UNC are rivals, but I want to cheer for both schools.
Dimas Lopez de Jesus
- My hometown: Apex
- My high school: Panther Creek
- Why I chose Elevate and NCState: I like education, computer science, and Spanish. I like the classes that are offered through Elevate and NC State.
- What I’m looking forward to: Living in the dorm in August.
- What I hope to study and learn more about: I want to learn more about computers and Spanish.
- My activities outside of school: Ice hockey, exercise, yoga, dance, baseball, basketball and line dancing.
- What I want others to know about me: I’m a Puerto Rican, Hispanic, Latino and American.
Molly Minnick
- My hometown: Raleigh
- My high school: Sanderson High School
- Why I chose Elevate and NC State: Because it is close to home, and I want to be one of the first students in the Elevate program.
- What I’m looking forward to: Meeting new people, making friends, living independently, learning about working with young children.
- What I hope to study and learn: Working with young children in daycare or preschool.
- My activities outside of school: Karate, Miracle League baseball, working at Esteamed Coffee
- What I want others to know about me: I have a black belt in karate. I am a lot of fun.
Alyssa Rea
- My hometown: I was born in Sydney, Australia, and currently live in Raleigh
- My high school: Broughton High School
- Why I chose Elevate and NC State: I chose Elevate because I love NC State.
- What I’m looking forward to: I want to meet Tuffy.
- What I hope to study and learn more about: I want to study animals and help create my dog walking business.
- My activities outside of school: I ride horses, drive my car and walk dogs.
- What I want others to know about me: I have a pug named Murphy.
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