About

Ian Fennell is from Boonville, North Carolina, and graduated in May of 2018 with a degree in special education. His biggest accomplishments were graduating from the honors college and co-founding the Sports Empowerment Program with Madison Wilcox, a May 2016 honors college graduate. Having the opportunity to make meaningful relationships with honors faculty was rewarding to Ian because “they really took the time to get to know me and they really care about my education.” 

For his senior project Ian used his Sports Empowerment Program that he created as a community service project. He wanted to create an inclusive sports day camp for special needs students from local high schools. This spring of 2018 UNCP hosted its 4th annual Sports Empowerment Program where they also informed students and families about the Accessibility Resource Center (ARC) and how UNCP makes college possible for special needs students.  

After graduation Ian began teaching special education. He advises honors students to complete the honors curriculum and the senior project: “Employers asked me about the honors curriculum requirements and the senior project, which really helped me stand out during interviews.” During his undergraduate years Ian made some great friends and the memories they made together were some of his greatest ones.