news-record.com

GREENSBORO — When Zimuzor Ugochukwu created Ignite Greensboro last year, her goal was to raise student awareness and to get donations for the International Civil Rights Museum here.

She couldn’t have imagined that a year later, she would be accepting an award for her efforts at an event featuring former President Bill Clinton.

The UNCG senior will be honored Wednesday at the Campus Progress National Conference in Washington.

“I just felt like all of the college students in Greensboro are such nomads,” the Durham native said. “We come into the community, go to school and then leave within four years.”

Ugochukwu said she wanted to change that, to get students more involved in local issues.

After attending a September retreat with Campus Progress, part of the liberal think tank, Center for American Progress, she decided to focus on the civil rights museum.

“Most students in Greensboro didn’t even know where it was,” she said. “I would have to tell them it was across from the N Club so they would know what I was talking about.”

Dogged by financial problems, the museum has been moving toward an opening for more than a decade. Ugochukwu said she was excited by its potential but hadn’t seen much progress.

“Before I came to UNCG, I came to the city to visit and drove by the museum,” she said. “I saw the large picture of the Greensboro Four, ladders, tables and construction equipment. And now, four years later, it looks pretty much the same way.”

Fresh from an internship with the Obama campaign, Ugochukwu thought she could use some of the same grass-roots methods to raise money for the museum. Unfortunately, it was easier said than done.

“I e-mailed every single member of the Greensboro City Council,” she said. “No one got back to me.”

Finally, through an old-fashioned written letter, Ugochukwu set up a meeting with Mayor Yvonne Johnson. Johnson not only got behind the project, she paid for the group’s $150 solicitation permit fee out of her own pocket.

“She actually suggested we try to raise $2 from every student in Greensboro,” Ugochukwu said. “That’s about the price of a cup of coffee, but if we did it, we thought we could make it our goal to raise at least $30,000.”

So far, the drive has been slow going, but through on-campus events, media exposure and word-of-mouth, the group has secured several thousand dollars in pledges. The work will continue when students return to campuses this fall with a series of fund-raising shows organized by Ignite Greensboro.

Impressed with her leadership, Campus Progress chose Ugochukwu from about 150 students in its network as Student Representative of the Year.

“She’s just been a superstar,” said Tanya Paperny, network associate for Campus Progress. “We were impressed with her from the beginning, with this idea she had that students should know more about local history, about local issues.”

Ugochukwu said she hopes to expand Ignite Greensboro into other local issues in the coming year and create a sustained student network for activism.

“I think we have a good foundation,” she said. “We can build on that now.”

Contact Joe Killian at 373-7023 or joe.killian@news-record.com