The Leader of the Pack scholarship is awarded to recognize students who have contributed to the NC State community through civic engagement, leadership and scholarship and is offered through the Leadership and Civic Engagement office at NC State.

The scholarship applications are due Wednesday, September 26.

“The leader of the pack demonstrates a commitment to service in multiple areas of their life,” stated Chelsea Doub, a doctoral graduate assistant in the Office of Leadership and Civic Engagement.

Doub emphasized how the office desires to have students from all different backgrounds apply for the scholarship.

“We encourage students from all across the university to apply,” Doub said. “It seems that often times when it comes to leadership, we often limit ourselves by saying ‘don’t have this specific title or role.” We want to encourage students who may not have formalized leadership titles, but who are still very committed to the Wolfpack and NC State community in different capacities to apply as well because we know that leadership doesn’t look the same from person to person,” Doub said.

Leaders of the Pack from past years have come from all different areas such as Fraternity and Sorority Life, the food pantry, archery team, student government and various scholars organizations.

Victor Eduardo, a fourth-year studying philosophy and the current 2017-2018 scholarship recipient, earned it through a variety of civic engagements which promoted marking the available gender inclusive restrooms on campus and updating the list of high schools in the state that have gay-straight alliance (GSA) groups.

Eduardo has been a part of the GLBT center since his first semester at NC State and wanted to continue to give back to the community through his involvement with the center.

“I had a GSA, gay-straight alliance, in high school and I wanted to continue being involved in LGBT activism on campus,” Eduardo said.

Eduardo succeeded in his goal through two main projects he focused on through the VIP volunteer program through the GLBT Center. The first was updating the GSA database, a database that recognizes which high schools in North Carolina have a GSA program and which do not. He also organized a group of students to go on bathroom scavenger hunts to update the Safe to Pee database, which is a list of all gender inclusive restrooms that are on campus.

Both Doub and Eduardo encourage students from all different backgrounds to give the scholarship a shot.