Tagged: North Carolina Central University

North Carolina Central University became the first university in the state to offer a jazz degree in 1977. The university has since been a force on a state and national level in keeping the jazz scene alive.

The university is now throwing its 23rd annual Jazz Festival this week. Ira Wiggins, director of their jazz department, founded the festival in 1990 with hopes of creating a space for students to meet and learn from seasoned jazz musicians. This year the festival features jazz artists Carl Allen and Benny Golson. Benny Golson is a world-renowned saxophonist, composer, and producers.  Ira Wiggins and Benny Golson join Host Frank Stasio to talk about the state of jazz education today, and give us a sneak peek of the festival.

Thousands of people packed polling places across the state yesterday as early voting began.

North Carolina Central University’s drum-line led a parade of voters in Durham to the student union where they could vote early.  Leotrice Pegues is a senior at NCCU.  She was excited about casting her vote early.   Pegues didn’t get to vote in 2008 because she forgot to switch her registration.

Quiz bowl is a competition of knowledge. The players train with the devotion of athletes, but they answer questions, rather than make baskets or score touchdowns. The Honda Campus All-Star Challenge is a quiz bowl circuit specifically for historically black colleges and universities, and North Carolina Central University has one of the best teams.

Young adults came out in droves to support President Barack Obama in 2008. But early poll numbers show the youth vote is not as strong this time around. To help get young voters to the polls, the Obama re-election campaign hosted a national HBCU Student Summit last night at North Carolina Central University in Durham. The “Greater Together” initiative uses social media to try to get young voters to volunteer and register to vote.