Behind the Scenes as a Chancellor’s Aide 

Jaylan Paige is a senior studying Paper Science & Engineering with double minors in Business Administration and Industrial Engineering. He is also a Chancellor’s Aide! As an aide, Jaylan is a part of a select group of students chosen to promote a positive image of NC State and be the face of the university. Jaylan had the amazing opportunity to help out during the 2020 Day of Giving as a donation announcer.

Day of Giving – An Opportunity to Shine

“I was honored to be able to help out any way that I could for Day of Giving. Around 9 a.m., I arrived at ‘Command Central’ in the Park Alumni Center, the hub of operations for the day. I was filled with awe when I first walked in. Computer monitors were everywhere in the main dining room just ahead of the foyer. There was also a jumbotron, similar to the one in Talley Student Union, that showed live updates from each donation being received. The director of the Chancellor’s Aides, Stephanie Money, welcomed me to Command Central and introduced me to some of the other staff and alumni that volunteered their time. She allowed me to get comfortable, before handing me pieces of paper that had the donation information. I was to announce the donations as they came in at different fundraising milestones. I was extremely nervous at first since I had never been in front of a camera being live-streamed to thousands of people! However, at the same time, I was excited to be doing my part to help serve the NC State community and announce the awards made to the College of Natural Resources (I wonder if they did that on purpose)! I made my way in front of the camera, the technician counted down from five seconds, and then it was my time to shine. I introduced myself, announced the donors and their donations, and made a shoutout to what I called ‘the greatest college at NC State’: CNR.”

Jaylan also said, “Stephanie, as well as the other staff, were so supportive and continued to encourage everyone these words: “Wow, you’re a natural!” To be honest, the first time was the most difficult. However, after that it became much easier to make recurring announcements as my nerves kept calming down. I put a twist into each announcement; using different props to expose my excitement and to have fun.”

A Deeper Appreciation of Alumni and Community

Jaylan’s biggest take away from this event was realizing just how vast and interconnected the Wolfpack community truly is. Prior to this experience, he used to think of the NC State community as students, staff, and faculty on campus but failed to realize that our community also extends to hundreds of thousands of alumni across the world. Of course, he knew that NC State had an extensive alumni network, but didn’t realize just how essential our alumni are in the funding of the programs and services that make NC State the world-class institution that it is today. His whole experience made him that much more excited to eventually become a part of the growing alumni network.  Jaylan hopes to be able to pay it forward for the future generation of scholars just as our alumni, whether knowingly or not, continue to do so for him.

By guest blogger Jaylan Paige