Roice Fulton, North Carolina Governor's School Foundation vice president, hangs a poster promoting fundraising at the final convocation of Governor's School West in Winston-Salem, N.C., on June 23, 2011. reesenews/file photo

The future of the North Carolina Governor’s School has been in question since 2010 when the General Assembly of North Carolina voted to reduce funding for 2010 and 2011 and eliminate funding for 2012.

But after a six-month fundraising campaign led by alumni raised more than $675,000, the program will remain open for summer 2012.

Governor’s School alumni remained positive throughout devastating cuts in hopes of somehow keeping the program alive for 2012.

“Alumni and other people across the state have realized Governor’s School is important and has changed their lives and changed the lives around them,” said Chris Hendel, student body president of the 2010 Governor’s School.

Mackenzie Brown, freshman at UNC and 2010 Governor’s School student, said Governor’s School changed her life.

“If the state were to take away funding for the program, they would be making one of the worst decisions yet,” she said. “Everyone deserves to have the opportunity to experience what I experienced, and cost should not be a factor.”

The General Assembly has funded the Governor’s School program since its founding in 1963, allowing students to attend for free. A $500 dollar tuition was imposed in 2010 to ensure that Governor’s School would continue throughout the summers of 2010 and 2011.

Governor’s School is a unique six-week summer program that brings four hundred students from different backgrounds together to learn and develop. Many alums of Governor’s School express a passion for the program and a general positive outlook of their experience. Driven by their desire to keep the program alive for future students, alumni from across the state have not hesitated in banding together in support of raising funds sufficient to open both campuses for summer 2012.

Chris Hendel has led the UNC Governor’s School initiative with the help of Tom Bodo in order to rally alumni of the program at UNC and to raise as much funding as possible for summer 2012.

“It was very frustrating to know that something I enjoyed so much was being taken away,” Hendel said. “So I kind of got in touch with the Governor’s school foundation and tried to be a part of making Governor’s School live on.”

Last year’s efforts have paid off, according to a recent press release by the North Carolina Governor’s School Foundation. The press release dated Feb. 3 confirmed that after a six-month fundraising campaign and support from thousands of alumni and dozens of state-wide organizations, the Governor’s School had raised more than $675,000. That ensures that both the Salem college and Meredith college campuses will be open for a summer 2012 Governor’s School program.

“As for what we have accomplished since June and July, it has been something we never expected–being where we are now and we have achieved opening both campuses,” said Roice Fulton, vice president of the foundation. “It is almost surreal to look back at how much work went into it. I can’t believe we did all of that.”

Six months and $700,000 dollars later, Fulton said that both campuses will be open for a summer session in 2012 for five or six weeks, “I certainly hope for a six-week program,” he said. “We don’t want any student to miss out on the full experience.”

Fulton said charging tuition prevents some students from attending.

“Some have said they will not even apply this year because of the tuition of $500,” he said.

The foundation announced that more than $39,000 in scholarship funding would ensure that the tuition would not pose a barrier to entry for low-income students. The foundation hopes these scholarships will help offset the 2012 tuition costs for qualified applicants.

Although supporters of the Governor’s School rejoice in their success and the security of the summer 2012 program, future funding is still in question. Hendel acknowledged that the next step is to ensure that the state funds the program.

“We had one shot to prove to the state that this program is important and should be funded, and if it doesn’t happen it will be very difficult to maintain fundraising in the years to come,” he said.

Fulton said that private funding is not a sustainable path for the future. “Sponsors have said ‘We are only going to do this once,’ and now it is up to us to convince the state that this is a treasure to the state.”

Of the 1,700 past recipients of the prestigious Morehead-Cain Scholarship, 430 have attended Governor’s School. Anthony Dent, a senior Morehead-Cain Scholar who also attended Governor’s School, expressed his strong support for using private funds to keep Governor’s School alive.

“Governor’s School was a fun six-week program that allowed me to work on my fluency in French and offered lively debates on all manner of topics,” he said in an email message. “Many of the friends and acquaintances I made later matriculated with me into UNC.”

Fulton remains positive hoping the foundation’s great efforts will pay off in the end. “Hopefully, maybe not next year but some time soon, we will get our funding back.”