SPIA Recognizes Two May Graduates with William J. Block Award for Service

Caroline Buaron and Austin Dunlow are the 2021 undergraduate recipients of the William J. Block Award for service to the university and broader community. Awarded annually to a graduating senior who has shown exceptional dedication to public service, this is the first year that it has been awarded to two students, both of whom demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to improving their communities during an especially difficult time.

Caroline Buaron
Caroline has been an agent for change since her first year on campus. “Fighting for change and creating community is all I wanted to do,” she said. She has organized others to feed local homeless populations, listened to congressional constituents and relayed their concerns to government leaders, educated and mobilized voters for elections, implemented outreach strategies to improve the 2020 census count, and worked to address issues important to North Carolina’s Asian American community while supporting equity and social justice.

“It is really easy, sometimes, to get jaded or to feel like the work I’ve been putting in isn’t enough. It can be difficult, but it is all worth it in the end as [the work we do] forms a deeper bond within the community and within the spaces.”

Her involvement with North Carolina Asian Americans Together (NCAAT) has helped lead her to this conclusion. “Last semester when I interned with NCAAT we had to pivot to virtual organizing work, so we definitely had to think of more creative things to get people out to vote and to really take that initiative to do the virtual organizing work. I learned there are more creative ways to hold events and do more organizing work, and that the work really never stops no matter the circumstance.”

A double major in political science (public policy) and economics, Caroline found NC State gave her the tools and support she needed to combine her academic interests with her passion for improving society. Through campus organizations, internships and a network of supportive people, Caroline turned her interests and ideas into actions with measured positive outcomes and developed a vast skill set along the way. As she put it, “I learned to lead with intention by listening to my community’s needs.”

“The work of community service may be different from what is seen on the surface,” Caroline points out. “Community service to me takes on the form of late nights and constant meetings, bound together with the goal of achieving systemic change and trusting in the power of grassroots organizing working together with a team that shares the same belief of wanting more support from our government, working to create a community based on collectivism rather than individualism, and fighting for these goals not only until they are achieved, but until it is the standard within society.”

Austin Dunlow
“Community service could so easily be boiled down to doing community work because you have to, or because you feel obligated to,” Austin explains, “I’ve learned that community service is so much more than that; American society would fall apart without community service.”

Through the material covered in several nonprofit classes and his many volunteer experiences, Austin has become a strong advocate of the work done by the nonprofit sector and the critical role it plays in filling the gaps—supporting society when government does not. Actively involved on campus and in the community since his first year student at NC State, Austin worked with other young environmentalists to raise awareness of and advocate for the importance of clean water, increased voter education and registration, and helped underserved populations across NC complete the census and vote. As a writer and editor for Technician, Austin has also helped to document some of the major events on campus during a historic period.

Austin’s experience has a Social Innovation Fellows has been the highlight of his NC State experience. “I have definitely learned different things in every community service project, but the one that has impacted me the most was the Social Innovation Fellows. The program had a problem and my team and I were able to do whatever we wanted to do to solve it. It was very eye opening for me to not be in a traditional community service role where I was being told what to do. The leadership really wanted us to be involved in creating the solution. As a result, my team worked closely with farming communities and academics and we all collaborated to create our final project.”

“One thing that I learned is to involve the community in your community service. A lot of the times community service comes from the outside,” Austin said. “Groups come in and they don’t have actual contact with the people they are trying to serve, but I think it is important for the people you are helping to be involved with the process because they know more about the problem than you do.”

Austin cannot imagine not working to improve his community and society in general. For him, the rewards of doing this work far outweigh what he puts into it, and he is a big advocate for people getting involved in some kind of community project. His enthusiasm is infectious as he explains that working with community service nonprofits is a great way for people to explore their interests and find out what really matters to them. Community service organizations allow people to gain first-hand problem solving experiences with a variety of societal issues, he explained. “If people don’t know what issues they want to focus on, or what they may be good at, community service projects allow them to test the waters and find out where they want to focus their energy and really make a difference.”

The Future is Bright
Both Caroline and Austin epitomize the think and do spirit of NC State students. Not content to just be students, Caroline and Austin looked at the world around them, identified problems they wanted to solve, and jumped in to do just that. They led by example and accomplished a great deal in their short time as undergraduate students. We cannot wait to see what they do next!

Caroline graduated in May 2021 with degrees in political science (public policy) and economics. She will work for the nonprofit organization Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) for two years before beginning a graduate program in economics.

Austin graduated in May 2021 with a degree in political science (public policy) and a minor in anthropology. He was a 2020-21 Social Innovation Fellow with the Episcopal Farmworker Ministry. Austin will continue at NC State in the master of international studies program and as a Senior Fellow with the Social Innovation Fellows program for the 2021-2022 academic year.

The William J. Block Award recognizes a graduating senior from the School of Public and International Affairs who has demonstrated exceptional community service, public engagement and a record of academic achievement. It was created in honor of William J. Block, who had a long and distinguished career at NC State. A popular professor, he chaired the political science department, created the public administration department, served as chair of the faculty senate, and was active in his community and city politics. His commitment to his students and the larger community was profound. After he retired in 1984, Professor Block continued to advise students for many years.