Josh Rowsey for after-school poetry program

Josh Rowsey wants to see kids jamming to poetry.

If he wins Mr. UNC, Rowsey plans to create an after-school poetry program for students in Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools.

“I want to add diversity to the after-school programs,” Rowsey said.

He said he wants to provide an outlet for students that aren’t interested in traditional programs.

“If you’re not a basketball player or a baseball player, I feel like you don’t get enough attention. There are people out there doing something else that would also like to be recognized.”

His proposed program would create a series of poetry workshops for students over several weeks and would culminate in a final performance.

Rowsey said he would use the $500 to buy supplies for the workshops and to host the final performance.

“There is no better feeling in this world than getting a hand clap or a snap from a group of students,” Rowsey added. “They’re saying, ‘I don’t know you, but I accept your story and it was very good.’”

Josmell Perez, the multicultural programs coordinator for the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs, has worked with Rowsey since he was a freshman.

“His commitment to helping others is so honorable,” Perez said. “It goes beyond just Carolina. His involvement impacts so many others.”

Rowsey, a business major, has worked as a judicial board member for Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. and volunteered for March of Dimes.

AC Locklear met Rowsey the summer before his freshman year and described his friend as one of the most generous students at UNC.
“Even in some of the hardest times, he asks how you’re doing and puts you before himself,” Locklear said.

Rowsey is also involved in Project Uplift, an organization that helps underserved high school students experience and prepare for college by bringing them to UNC during the summer.

“Some of these kids are getting discouraged from applying to college and I want to change that.”

He said he wants to use the poetry program to help encourage students to apply to college so they can pursue their passions.
“These kids can go to college,” Rowsey said. “If they want to do anything in life, college is something they need.”

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