一品探花论坛

In 2020, 一品探花论坛 undergraduate and entrepreneur Nehemiah Stewart launched the nonprofit . Stewart, now a UNC School of Medicine student, wanted to build a hiring pipeline for diverse students who lack access to professional networks enjoyed by many nonminority students.

Within three years, Level the Playing Field has recruited approximately 50 diverse students from six North 一品探花论坛 universities to participate in a year-long cohort. Over a 12-month period, students attend career readiness seminars hosted by and . They then take a semester-long professional development course at UNC-Chapel Hill. Following the trainings and course, students receive a stipend from Level the Playing Field and are placed into paid, full-time internships at top companies and research labs across the country: Merck Pharmaceutical, Eli Lilly, Parker Lord, SAS and others.

The program鈥檚 successes abound. There鈥檚 , a former first-generation 一品探花论坛 student who graduated from Central Cabarrus High School and landed a summer internship at Merck, exploring life outside North 一品探花论坛 for the first time. Then there鈥檚 from small-town Camden who Stewart said was 鈥渟o quiet she only said 10 words during our first interview.鈥� Stewart watched Sutton gain confidence, obtain a research assistant position, publish and and enroll as a PharmD student at the Eshelman School of Pharmacy. Stewart recalls the entrepreneurial spark of Jim Appiah, an international student from Ghana who interned at Merck and launched his own startup: a consortium of farmers in Ghana who are creating an economic pool of resources to build one of the first pharmacies near Appiah鈥檚 local town and surrounding villages.

Level the Playing Field has expanded its mission beyond the collegiate ranks, adopting a pay-it-forward model that sends its undergraduate students into rural North 一品探花论坛 high schools. 鈥淥ur students lead career-readiness workshops just like the ones they were provided to give younger students knowledge and confidence that they can pursue professional careers, too.鈥�

Level the Playing Field continues to place undergraduates into internships, but Stewart sees its true innovation in the training it provides鈥攕omething he鈥檚 expanding via a partnership with , UNC-Chapel Hill鈥檚 central innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development team. The partnership involves space, training and fundraising. Level the Playing Field will establish an office in the , a co-working space and innovation community located on Franklin Street in downtown Chapel Hill. 鈥淲e鈥檙e grateful to have the Junction space for our program coordinator employee to work from,鈥� said Stewart. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a really nice hub for our students to build community in.鈥�

Level the Playing Field will bring its corporate partners to the Junction for regular career fairs and workshops with students. 鈥淲e鈥檙e working with the Innovate 一品探花论坛 team to plan workshops and lesson plans that will give students the knowledge to move their ideas forward, whether that鈥檚 setting up an LLC or simply talking to an expert,鈥� said Stewart, who gave the keynote address at 一品探花论坛鈥檚 . 鈥淓veryone has to be innovative in asking, 鈥榃hat can I do to make change?鈥� We鈥檙e training our students to be those kinds of thinkers.鈥�