Abby Keller grew up in a Tar Heel family, so she was hurt when she wasn't accepted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill coming out of high school.

"It was hard to accept," she said. "I had the choice of going to a school I didn't really want to attend or sitting at home."

Instead, the Apex native found a path through Wake Tech that led her to her dream school.

C-STEP, the Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program, provides a way for Wake Tech students in Associate in Arts or Associate in Science degree programs to transfer to and graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill. Not only are they guaranteed admission, they get access to special events, advising and support services at both Wake Tech and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Keller had picked up a number of credits while still in high school through the Career & College Promise dual-enrollment program. So, she figured she could finish her Associate in Arts degree at Wake Tech while figuring out her next steps. She had never heard of C-STEP, but when a family friend learned she was at Wake Tech, they recommended she check it out.

"It was the perfect bridge between Wake Tech and UNC," Keller said.

Asli Mutlu, a Mathematics assistant professor who serves as a faculty advisor for C-STEP, says the program better prepares young adults for the rigors of an elite four-year university than if they went to UNC-Chapel Hill straight from high school. She notes that nearly all participants in transition programs like C-STEP – Wake Tech has 10 special admissions programs to UNC System institutions and private colleges in North Carolina – go on to graduate from a university.

"We raise them in a way, prepare them, mold them," Mutlu said. "The universities carry less risk than if they went in as freshmen."

Even though Wake Tech was operating virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic, Keller says C-STEP put her together with other students looking to go to UNC-Chapel Hill, which made her transition to the university easier later on.

"I got to meet a bunch of people pursuing the same path as me," she said. "I already had a friend group in place as a transfer student."

Wake Tech has about 25 to 30 students in C-STEP each semester, and they must maintain a 3.2 GPA to stay in the program, says Penny Lovett, a Spanish associate professor who also is a C-STEP faculty advisor. She and Mutlu organize monthly events for participants, such as attending plays or athletic games, to build relationships among the students.

Keller found the program so rewarding that, once at UNC-Chapel Hill, she mentored other C-STEP students from community colleges across North Carolina to ease their transition to campus.

She went on to earn a bachelor's degree in 2024 from UNC's Hussman School of Journalism and Media and joined the North Carolina Conservation Network. She says her job organizing events and outreach efforts to raise awareness of environmental issues across the state blends her interests in communications and environmental science.

She's not sure any of it would have been possible without Wake Tech and C-STEP.

"Wake Tech brings people together from different backgrounds and helps them achieve their goals," she said.