EC Scholars program welcomes Class of 2025 finalists

Current EC Scholars gather on Cadence to prepare for Selection Sunday.

This year, the EC Scholars program welcomed the Class of 2025 finalists to Selection Sunday virtually through the Cadence event platform.

This year’s finalists represent four states and 21 North Carolina counties. There are 23 majors across 6 colleges, as well as 7 first-generation students. Finalists have proven themselves academically throughout their high school experience by becoming published authors, researchers, AP Scholars, National Merit Qualifiers and Semifinalists.

Beyond academics, this year’s class are athletes, artists, journalists, coders, chefs, dancers and environmental advocates. Some are Eagle Scouts, trilingual, pages in the North Carolina House of Representatives and drum majors. There is a competitive spikeball player, a professional TikToker with 46K followers, an Etsy small business owner, and an Indian Mridangam (traditional Indian drum) musician.

The EC Scholars Selection process involved nearly 90 ECU faculty and multiple rounds of review. Finalists were selected from just under 1,000 applications, which was the largest applicant pool to date. Just over 200 semi-finalists moved on to the second review committee and of these, 57 candidates were selected as finalists for the next class of EC Scholars.

Finalists were invited to join ECU faculty, staff and students on Cadence, a virtual event platform, for Selection Sunday on Sunday, February 14. During the day, various events will take place such as finalist interviews, a student showcase and panel discussion. They will also learn more about the EC Scholars program from current students and alumni in one-on-one and group discussions.

EC Scholars, housed in ECU’s Honors College, represent the best and brightest students. These students pursue Excellence in every endeavor, Collaborate to cultivate an inclusive and inspiring community, Serve the public and seek to grow as engaged and purposeful citizens.

EC Scholars is ECU’s most prestigious merit-based scholarship, valued at nearly $64,000. It provides a $5,000 stipend for study abroad, includes multiple high-impact trips where students participate in civic engagement and service, and grants access to faculty-led research. There are nearly 500 EC Scholar alumni across the country.

EC Scholars have studied abroad in more than 35 countries and donated just over 600 service hours from EC Scholar events. This year, scholars raised almost $5,000 to purchase and donate children’s books that feature people of color as the protagonists or heroes to promote positive identity development among youth in Greenville.

For more information about the EC Scholars program, visit the EC Scholars website