 I'm Winnie Wang, and I'm a senior from Charlotte, North Carolina. Hi, I'm Raleigh Jo Holland. I'm also a senior, and I'm from Marion, which is a town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. I'm Rochelle David. I am also a senior from Youngsville, North Carolina, which is just north of Raleigh. Hello, I'm Love De Shaw, and I'm a senior this year. I am from Wadesboro and Anson County. Thank you for tuning in today for our big announcement. We're going to share some exciting news that will happen at NCSSM over the next 25 minutes. Hi, I'm Mack Barnes, and I am a senior from Mecklenburg County. We have some really exciting plans and the works to share with you today. But first, let's hear from Dr. Todd Roberts, Chancellor of the North Carolina School of Science and Math. Hi, I'm Todd Roberts, Chancellor of the North Carolina School of Science and Math. It's been my privilege to lead this great institution since 2010. I along with many fellow unicorns want to share a vision for our institution. It's been in the works for quite some time. We've been working hard to strengthen the impact of NCSSM's innovative education on the state and nation. Since our founding more than 40 years ago, the state of North Carolina has provided visionary leadership and sizable state support that helped us to grow this institution to what we are today. What you may not know is that from the outset, the school was designed as a public-private partnership. That just makes sense. We achieve a much greater impact when we leverage state funding with philanthropic support from all of our alumni, families, and friends like you. These collaborations allow us to truly innovate and fully meet our mission now and for future generations of North Carolinians. To do that, we need your help. We are sharing news about a comprehensive fundraising campaign that's underway that will make sure science and math is prepared to meet our mission now and into the future. In fact, the word transform is exactly right because of this campaign's far-reaching impact on the school, our students, faculty, and staff. It will help create innovative academic opportunities, upgrade our inspiring learning environments in Durham and Morganton, and deepen the reach of STEM education throughout the state. We've set an ambitious goal to raise $50 million in private support for the school over five years. This is above and beyond the generous public support from the state of North Carolina and is by far the largest private fundraising effort in the school's history. We are thrilled to announce that leadership gifts have already contributed more than $30 million towards our goal. We're off to a fantastic start, but there's more work to do. To reach the $50 million goal, we need every alum and friend of the school to join this effort and make your own personally significant gift. So now I'd like to share more with you about some of the campaign milestones we've already achieved and what's in store for the school. I hope you'll be as excited about them as I am. To start, I'd like to introduce our Knight and Transform Campaign Co-Chairs, Scott Ogle and Henry Quoe to explain more. Over to you, Henry and Scott. Thanks, Todd. Hi, I'm Henry Quoe, coming to you from the stage in the ETC. We wish all of you were here in the audience rather than in your own homes and offices. It's appropriate we're here on this stage because one of the most recent major gifts to this campaign is a $3 million commitment from a hometown Durham Foundation to refurbish this space in honor of a beloved family member. So on some future visit to campus, you'll find a fully renovated performing arts center that will be an asset to both our school and the Durham community. As Todd mentioned, the state of North Carolina gives the significant appropriations to the school each year, which enables this outstanding education to be offered to talented North Carolinians through online classes, a residential campus in Durham, and opening this fall a new residential campus in Morganton, North Carolina. We are so grateful to our lawmakers for their leadership and support, but we need involvement from the private sector too, from folks like yourself who are alumni, other friends, and benefactors, and even current students to accelerate the work of the public sector and strengthen the impact of NCSSM's innovative STEM education. Here's my fellow alum and co-chair, Scott Ogle, to tell you more. Thanks, Henry. It's exciting to be a part of announcing a $50 million campaign to ignite and transform NCSSM. I'm Scott Ogle, class of 1993, and Henry and I were thrilled to step up when our school called and asked us to help with this campaign. And while we are honored to serve as co-chairs of the Ignite and Transform Steering Committee, it's also important to note that we serve alongside three inspiring and accomplished honorary co-chairs. We've captured each of them on our video today talking about why NCSSM is such a special place to them. Let's take a look. There was one particular program at Science and Math that changed my life, and that was the mentorship program. And the mentorship program aligned juniors and seniors with a scientist or engineer in the Research Triangle Park. And I had the incredible opportunity to work with a scientist. It became a real turning point for me in terms of really having a great appreciation and love for science, for inquiry, for asking questions, for curiosity. North Carolina's motto is to be relative to same. And so if you work with all of the students, you help these students no matter what level they are to become the best that they can be. I love the intellectual aura of the math in science school. I love it because the students are not competing with other peers, they're competing with themselves. Not only are they developing in science, math, technology, but they're also developing the whole person. And now we wanna expand to a new campus, and we wanna get new students, more students coming. And we want it to affect all of the public schools in North Carolina and help them be the best they can be. Wow, that was truly inspiring. And I think those are the feelings that both you and I and many of you watching today deeply share. Before we tell you more about the campaign, I want everyone to know that the chat feature is turned on and you're welcome to offer your thoughts or post questions there. Staff will answer as many questions as they can during the event and we encourage you to check it out and add your voice. Now let's talk about the campaign. If you're anything like me, you probably wanna know how will the money be spent. I sure did and $50 million is a big investment for an organization to seek. What kind of return is science and math prepared to realize on that investment? Let's hear from some of our current students about the priorities of the campaign and how your gifts will transform the science and math experience and students' lives. Thank you, Mr. Ogle. One of the priorities of this fundraising campaign is to innovate STEM instruction. New interdisciplinary approaches will also yield benefits in the fine arts and humanities as well. The campaign is raising $13.4 million in capital projects and academic program support to provide students and instructors with the settings and resources needed for preeminent educational experiences. Updated classrooms in ultra-modern labs will allow future students to gather collaboratively and work more efficiently to accelerate learning and curricular innovation. For example, a new academic common space on the Durham campus is planned to enable collaborative work and social gatherings. The dorms and dining hall will also be updated. There are also plans to propagate powerful instructional methods more broadly to students and educators in every corner of North Carolina. This will increase and enrich distance learning opportunities, including being able to share classes online that are currently only available to residential students. Personally, I found that the breadth of niche courses in chemistry and physics have been a highlight of my education here and I hope that these are courses that online students can enjoy as well. And our academic departments, science, humanities, engineering, computer science, mathematics, along with our extended learning division programs will be endowed to enable ongoing support for educational opportunities that will be proposed by faculty and students. As you can see, this campaign will do much to further the teaching and learning that happens here. Over to you Riley Jo. Transformational leadership is the second priority of this campaign. It's no secret that students learn to lead by doing and at NCSSM we learn to lead using hands-on technology, lab experiences, global competitions, research with university graduate students and professors, or even through entrepreneurship. And these are just a few examples of what students here are doing daily to advance their education. In just the past few weeks, I've learned to use CAD to create 3D puzzles through the process of having access to technology such as computer programs and even the 3D printers themselves. I can use both creativity and STEM in an environment that works to make sure I can learn in a hands-on leadership-focused environment. This campaign allows NCSSM to invest and expand programs in entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence, data science, as well as mentorship and research. It also sets up a new signature program endowment that will enable the school to gain access and opportunities when new areas of knowledge emerge. Personally, I think NCSSM students will be most excited about a new STEM-GEM building that will have free form space for robotics, large-scale simulations and experiments by students and faculty. It's clear that this campaign has a lot of things that will result in transformational leadership. Now let's go to LoveD. What part of this campaign will help with student success and wellness? Riley Jo, I'm happy to say that a large part of this campaign also focuses on student success and wellness. With help from NCSSM's academic program support and $17 million, NCSSM will be able to extend education to students across North Carolina while helping us sustain high achievement and a balanced and satisfying life. With support from this campaign, NCSSM will be able to increase its focus on better access for underrepresented populations by adding capacity for targeted recruitment efforts. This gives more opportunities to people like me who come from smaller communities with fewer resources to come to a place like NCSSM. Another part of this priority is that all residence halls will be renovated to bring them up to date to support the needs of today's students, which are a little different than what was needed in the 1980s. Finally, new wellness centers will be built on both campuses so that more mental health and college counselors can build on a culture of wellness and offer a secure refuge where students can learn to manage stress and stay mentally healthy. I'd say this campaign really takes into consideration what the students need today and in the future, whether they are online or on campus. Okay, over to you, Mac. Hey there, welcome to our studio. I'm here to tell you more about the annual fund. The part of NCSSM fundraising, most of you likely already know something about. However, it is integral to keeping NCSSM a place where students like me can explore our passions. As you may know, annual philanthropic gifts to the NCSSM Foundation directly impact the students and faculty. These program grants enrich the NCSSM experience in ways our state of North Carolina funding simply cannot. As NCSSM expands its reach to serve more students like me in even more ways, we need alumni and parents' support of the annual fund more than ever. These gifts make possible the memories that stick with students forever. Memories like mentorship, musical instruments and lessons, athletics, trips to academic competitions, interhaul pizza nights, and before the pandemic, van loops to recreational destinations like the mall. This part of the campaign is a way everyone can help the school, whether this is your first gift or if you have been giving for many years. Because the school is now 40 years old, it is our hope that more alumni are in a position to pay forward to the next generation the transformative opportunities they received as students here. I hope this covers what you wanted to know about how the campaign funds will be used. Let's get back to the campaign co-chairs. Yes, it does, Mac. Thanks to all of the students who helped explain how the campaign funds will be distributed to these important priorities. I know why I have been a donor to the annual fund and why I am giving a meaningful gift to this campaign. I firmly believe science and math has been one of the most impactful forces in my life. But Henry and I thought it might also be helpful to see some interviews that were done earlier with alumni, faculty members, and others to hear their perspective on why science and math is so special. Let's roll the tape. NTSSM has given me the opportunity to do research beyond what I thought was possible to do in high school. It prepared me, I think, to be a better global citizen, just by experiencing, in a small way, what it was like to live and work with people who I'd never met before, but who were working together for the same mission. One of the best parts of NTSSM is the community of like-minded individuals from all corners of the state who can all collaborate together for a common interest. I work to the future of NTSSM as a place where we can reach more students and then also grow with how the world is growing. Without your continued support of academic programs at NTSSM, I would not have been able to participate in research at UNC Chapel Hill as part of the mentorship program. Having gained so many diverse experiences from all these opportunities, I've learned to become a person who takes more initiative and is more outgoing. Well now it's time for some of you to have the spotlight. As most of you are aware, we promised the first 2,000 people who signed up to attend this event a special item they could use to join in this Ignite and Transform event. And remember, Henry, we didn't limit them to using only the items that we sent. I mean, hey, this is the School of Science and Math and we're known for being, well, creative. Well, people were certainly creative with their submissions, no doubt. Let's take a look. Is it science? Is it fractal mathematics? Is it art? NCSSM ignites and transforms us all. As a parent of an NCSSM alum and as an NCSSM faculty member for three decades, I have seen thousands of young minds ignite through the experiences of challenging courses and energizing independence. I am in awe of the spectacular transformation of lives when touched by NCSSM. You know, Henry, when you and I went to Science and Math, there was just the one campus in Durham, but there's a whole lot going on right now in a town west of here called Morganton, where a brand new campus for Science and Math will be opening this year. Scott, I visited a while back and what is happening there is very exciting. Let's hear from Kevin Baxter, Vice Chancellor and Chief Campus Officer for NCSSM Morganton about how the campaign will impact them. Thanks so much, Henry and Scott. It's an exciting time to be here in Morganton and the foothills of Western North Carolina as we prepare to bring NCSSM's second campus to life with our first class of 150 students joining us on site for the residential program in a few short months. I'm sitting here in Goodwin Hall, which is a historic building that goes back to 1911 and it's one of our anchor buildings on the new campus. Our new campus is going to allow us to extend all of NCSSM's programming to this second location. So you'll see gains in enrollment in our residential program, our online program, our distance education partnerships, and our wide array of summer programming. It's a really exciting boom for the institution to be able to leverage this second site and one that is on such beautiful grounds here. The campus itself is located on 62 acres adjacent to the School for the Deaf and it's a real opportunity for us here in Morganton to leverage this space, the environment, the landscape and also some historic and new buildings to deliver a campus that will maximize programming opportunities for our students. One of the ways that will happen is through data science activities. We're really looking to the Morganton campus to provide an opportunity for data science to be integrated throughout the curriculum. So whether it's humanities, mathematics, science, or computer science and engineering, you'll see data science themes trending throughout all of our academic pathways and opportunities here at Morganton. It's a real exciting way that we can showcase the future directions of some of North Carolina's leading businesses and industries, but also a way that we can leverage some of the unique assets here in Western North Carolina and especially in the foothills. This project was seeded in the Connect NC bond measure, which appropriated $58 million thanks to the citizens of our state to create this new campus. With your generous support through this campaign, we'll be able to finish the build, open all the doors of all the buildings to this campus and provide our students the first class of residential students here at NCSSM Morganton with an experience on the state of the art campus that will be unrivaled around the country. These conversations go back more than 10 years to help create this incredible campus behind me, and we are so close to the finish line. We are in the process of selecting students who will be in the first class, we're turning over buildings in the first phase of work, and we're preparing to hold an incredible grand opening celebration in a few short months. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, and we are so excited for what's yet to come here at NCSSM Morganton and for NCSSM overall. Henry, Scott, back to you. Wow, there certainly is a lot going on in Morganton. Scott, I'm told we have a question from the chat asking what participants can do to support the campaign. This campaign is already underway, but as the chancellor noted, we still have quite a ways to go to reach our $50 million goal. I want everyone to notice there's no flashing give now button on your screen, although we certainly will take your donation if you're so inclined now. However, what we really want to do is have this be a beginning, a beginning for each of you to have a deeper connection between you and science and math. We've got some of the opportunities coming up in the next few months, including the Morganton campus opening this summer, and the Alumni Reunion Weekend in October that we'd love you to attend. And we want to continue to keep in touch with you as you consider the level of involvement and financial contribution you could make to the campaign. Well said, Scott. My wife and I have been annual fund donors as Scott has for many years, but this campaign felt like the right time to step up and do something more. We hope you will join us and consider a personally significant gift that fits your budget and charitable giving goals. And for those of you who may be new to philanthropic giving, our advancement team would be happy to talk with you more about how you can get involved. For instance, you don't have to give all at once. In fact, many people pledge an amount and pay it in installments over several years. Reach out to our advancement team or check out the campaign website shown on the screen. Okay, we're gonna wrap up this event in a few moments, but before we do, let's hear again from Chancellor Roberts. Henry and Scott, isn't this just awesome? I am so grateful to hear such heartfelt words from our students, alumni such as yourselves and other friends of science and math. I hope each of you watching will decide to join us in this endeavor, the largest and most impactful campaign in our school's history that will provide transformative experience for our students, our faculty and staff, and the people of North Carolina. There's nothing we cannot achieve if we work together. If you're an alum, I urge you to think back to when you walked on this campus for the first time, whether that was just a few years ago or a few decades ago. The awe and excitement you felt were made possible by the actions of visionary leaders in this state and a whole lot of people steadfastly dedicated to your success. It's time to prepare for the next generation of leaders. And I need you to be a part of this. Can I count on you? We'll follow up in the coming days with more information, but for now, let me close by saying thank you. Thank you to our co-chair, Scott and Henry, to our honorary co-chair is Maya Esmeral, Shirley Fry and the honorable James B. Hunt. Thank you to the individuals serving on our campaign steering committee and for their leadership in this endeavor. Thank you to our board of trustees, our foundation board of directors for their vision and guidance and thanks to our advancement team for their work. And of course, thank you to our many, many donors and supporters. And finally, thank you to the students, faculty and staff who make NCSSM a place where I am inspired every day. We can do this. Go Unis. Thanks for listening in today. Thank you. Thank you. Are you as excited as we are? Your gift makes all the difference. Thank you. Ignite and transform. All right, let's go. NCSSM needs you. Thank you. Your support means so much. We need your help. Are you ready to do your part? Thank you for considering giving a gift to NCSSM.