Juby Agwu readily admits that college did not get off to a smooth start for him. He had wanted to work in the automotive industry, designing and developing cars. But after graduating from Enloe High School in 2020 – at the height of the pandemic – he found he'd lost his drive for rigorous academic study. He had hoped to attend North Carolina State University but didn't get accepted, so he enrolled at Wake Tech – somewhat reluctantly.

"After a few semesters at Wake Tech, my GPA dropped," Agwu says. "I allowed many factors, like poor time management and an overall poor attitude, to deter me from academic success. When my GPA reached a low of 1.5, I knew something had to change."

He sought help from Wake Tech's Individualized Learning Center, where he worked with math tutors, and spent hours completing class assignments and studying in the library. By the time he graduated in December 2023, he had completely turned his academic performance around. He finished strong, with a grade point average of 3.5.

"You get a real feeling that Wake Tech cares about your success," Agwu says. "With academic support centers like the STEM, SPEECH and SPEAK centers and the ILC, there are many resources available to help."

He also got involved with clubs and student organizations at Wake Tech, and he was inducted into Phi Theta Kappa, the national honor society for two-year colleges.

Agwu was selected as the speaker for his December graduation ceremony. "We are the next ones to transform our world," he told fellow graduates. "And our next is now!"

With his strong academics and leadership activities at Wake Tech, he earned admission into N.C. State's highly competitive College of Engineering.

"I was in disbelief when I got the acceptance notice," he says. "I'm looking forward to going to my dream school and studying the discipline that I've always had my heart set on – mechanical engineering."

While he looks forward to attending N.C. State, he will always value his time at Wake Tech and be glad he made that choice: "Going to Wake Tech was one of the best decisions of my life."