Eight to watch

Area residents make their mark as advocates of many causes

One is a stay-at-home mom who fights for parents' choice, another an elected county leader who strives for consensus. One is an activist for the environment, another for open government and another for neighborhood protection.

One runs a historically black university. Another works to raise the achievement of all children regardless of race or immigration status. And one sees the arts reviving a downtown that others wrote off when the textile jobs disappeared.

Our eight to watch come from the public and private spheres. Watch in 2008 where those circles, like a magician's rings, come together, and apart. Our eight will be there.

CHARLIE NELMS

It didn't take long for Charlie Nelms to shake things up at N.C. Central University.

Recruited over the summer from Indiana University, NCCU's new chancellor arrived on campus and swiftly began demanding sweeping change -- in attitudes and performance from staff and students alike.

Standing on stage in September giving his first universitywide address, Nelms made very clear that NCCU's lagging graduation and retention rates will have to improve. Period.

"Unless you have graduation as your destination, you shouldn't be here," he said that day. "We're deceiving ourselves if we settle for less than that."

Nelms wants NCCU to become the top liberal arts college in the Southeast, a lofty goal for an institution struggling to retain students.

Nelms replaced James Ammons, who spent six years expanding NCCU's enrollment before taking the Florida A&M University presidency. Nelms has challenged the entire university community to treat itself and one another with more respect, to the point of reminding faculty, staff and students to pick up litter on campus. All staff members are now going through customer service training to address an issue students have long complained about: a lack of consistent, basic services such as telephones being answered, messages being returned and the like.

"If you get a call from a student," Nelms thundered that day, "return the call to the student."

In 2008, many will be watching to see whether the roots of these initiatives take hold on campus.

DAWN GRAFF

Cary resident Dawn Graff never imagined herself an activist, much less the legal opponent of Wake County's school system.

She added both titles when she formed WakeCARES with two other stay-at-home moms. Last year the parent group claimed victory when a judge ruled in favor of its lawsuit in May, saying Wake County couldn't assign students to mandatory year-round schools.

This year Graff, 44, and WakeCARES will continue the fight. The state Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case Jan. 9.

After last year's ruling, the school system went ahead with its conversion of 22 elementary and middle schools to year-round but made attendance voluntary.

Graff's two young daughters attended one of the converted schools, Salem Elementary, and have remained there because Graff thought Wake's traditional-calendar option too crowded.

The experience sparked Graff to form WakeCARES with other Wake parents Patrice Lee and Kathleen Brennan. Graff, a former teacher, finds the year-round calendar incompatible with many families' needs.

On a broader level, she thinks parents should have a say over which calendar their children's schools use.

Whatever the ultimate outcome of the lawsuit, WakeCARES will continue to give parents a voice. The group's e-mail list now numbers in the thousands, Graff said.

"It's about asserting your rights," Graff said. "That's what our country is all about."