We finished the year of classes with Rob Alexander and Rob Marsh. Rob Alexander has been a faithful teacher with Fellows for many years, leading Fellows through his book, Gospel Centered Work.
Last year, we added a class with Rob Marsh on Pete Scazzero’s Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, which has quickly become a meaningful part of the curriculum.
We’re thankful to both Robs for investing in our Fellows and helping us finish the year strong!
End Well
The week prior to graduation, we snuck away to the mountains to rest, play, reflect, and celebrate this year together. We hiked Stone Mountain again, but this time, we didn’t get lost!
There was plenty of pickleball, a few competitive rounds of Flip 7, and lots of time simply enjoying being together. We also spent several hours in solitude, pausing to reflect on all the Lord has done this year, before coming back together to share those reflections as a group.
It was a wonderful way to close out the year together.
Graduation Celebration
This is always one of the highlights of the year, not because it marks the ending, but because of the meaningful words spoken over each Fellow. We invite people who have deeply impacted the Fellows throughout the year, including family friends, mentors, and employers to speak on their behalf. Each person shares encouragement about what they have seen in the Fellow over the course of the year, along with words of blessing for the future ahead. This kind of intentional encouragement is not common in our culture, which makes it all the more life giving and hopeful.
An extra surprise this year was the portraits created by Sarah Johnson. Sarah and her husband, Daniel, have been longtime supporters and partners of the Fellows program. This year, Sarah served as Ellen’s mentor, and she and Daniel also traveled to Ecuador with us.
While in Ecuador, Sarah was inspired by the portraits displayed at one of the ministry sites we visited, Casa G. She surprised all of us with incredible portraits of each Fellow that will now live in the Fellows house as a lasting reminder that they will always be part of this community.
Update on the class of 2023-2024 As we’ve celebrated our tenth class, we’ve tried to share updates from previous classes each month. Last month, we should have highlighted this class, but I forgot, so better late than never!
We hope these updates have been as encouraging to you as they have been to us as we see the remarkable work these young adults are doing in Winston-Salem and beyond.
Since Fellows ended, I decided to stay in Winston-Salem. The summer after graduation, I continued working part-time with Flywheel Coworking, my Fellows job placement, while also working at Farm Camp at NOMAD Farms as a Crofter.
That year, I lived with a host family, the Brown's. Shoutout to the Brown family, y’all are the best!
While living with them, I taught Kindergarten at Salem Baptist Christian School. After my students graduated, I returned to NOMAD Farms for a second summer as the Logistics Coordinator for Farm Camp while continuing part-time with Flywheel Coworking. During that time, I also moved in with Marley Cate and Gracie in a cute house tucked away in a sweet Greek family neighborhood.
This year, I taught First Grade at Moore Elementary School. It is truly an honor to be trusted with teaching and loving students well.
As summer approaches, I am unsure of what my next steps will be, but I do know I’ll continue living in Winston-Salem for the next year and taking things one day at a time.
Jacob Cairns
Ever since I graduated from the Winston-Salem Fellows in 2024 I have continued to live in town, sharing a house with Will and Jacob. It has been a great pleasure to continue to participate in the wonderful community that was inaugurated by the Fellows program with those who still live here, and even those who do not, our friendships will never die, which is really sweet :) I am a regular attender of Christ Church Anglican on Bolton Street along with Will and Noah, which is a great and wonderful church, and I am really fortunate to have a (usually :D) really enjoyable job walking and taking care of other people’s dogs with Venture Dog Walking. I am nonetheless seeking to expand my horizons by dipping my toes into the world of IT and I have been taking IT certification classes roughly since I graduated from the Fellows. I enjoy a variety of activities, especially sports, games, and mind-stimulating challenges like riddles and puzzles. I am pretty optimistic about life and I love my friends and I am really happy and excited about the community I have here.
Jacob Gauthier
After Fellows, I stayed in Winston-Salem and continued working for The Go-To. I’ve had a lot of opportunities to pursue things I love, like joining a writers’ group and acting in a community play!
One of the most significant developments since the end of Fellows has been God leading me to Salem Chapel and placing me in a Lifegroup where I’ve formed deep, vulnerable friendships that have had a large impact on my relationship with God.
My family has gone through a lot of changes – my little sister got married, my older brother had his first child, and my parents moved out of the house I lived in for 12 years. I’m now actively trying to recruit my sister and her husband to move here :)
I’m grateful for the foundation Fellows laid that God has continued to build on for these past 2 years.
Marley Cate Harriman
I’ve stayed in Winston-Salem since finishing Fellows, now working in accounting at Flow Automotive. I currently attend Two Cities Church where I’ve found such a sweet community! Lately I’ve been filling my free time learning new recipes, playing piano at various functions, lots of watercolor painting, and spending time outside with my dog, Hank! The past couple years have been filled with trips to spend time with and celebrate the joys of life with friends and family. I have absolutely loved calling Winston-Salem home and have been so, so grateful for all the ways Fellows has made this city near and dear to my heart.
Gracie Malcomb
Shortly after the Fellows program ended in May 2024, I worked as an intern at Nomad Farms, spending the summer chasing hens, making fruit smoothies as a part of a garden cooking class I helped teach, and leading award ceremonies at the end of the camp day. The adventure wasn’t over because following this, I moved to Orlando to work at Disney’s Magic Kingdom as a cast member — a dream of mine since I was fourteen! For those who love Disney, I worked in many of the gift shops throughout Tomorrowland. I absolutely adored working there and the many perks that came with it (like free park admission!), but I knew Winston was a place I wanted to return. I moved back to Winston last June to begin a master’s of education (MAED) program at Wake Forest, and my coursework will be fully finished by the end of this upcoming June. I am so excited to continue living in Winston this next year — it has been a city that has brought such dear friendships and memories in my life, and I cannot wait for the many more over the next year(s) here!
Noah McClanahan
After Fellows, I worked for Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) at Washington & Lee University. While I loved serving the students at W&L and made some friends through my local church, I struggled with loneliness and had a hard time adjusting from the Fellows/Winston community to a small town of 3,000 people. However, God used that time to bring me closer than ever to my family, and I had a lot of time to read and pick up new hobbies.
I left the RUF internship after just one year and spent last summer adrift. I was living with my Fellows family and planning to move to Alabama (!) when Dharma (from my Fellows class!) told me about the Ministry Associate position at the Wake Forest Christian Study Center. After some great talks with the executive director and the Board, I somehow got a job offer back in Winston! I’m still pinching myself. God truly did more than I could ask or imagine. This fall required some patience on the part of our staff as we waited for our house renovation to be completed, but the spring was wonderful, and I can’t wake to continue to build relationships at Wake Forest next year.
William Parker
God has been so incredibly kind in my years following my time in the WS fellows (as he has always been)! I have remained in WS living with both the Jacob’s from my class, and right down the road from the Dharma, MC, and Gracie so the party has continued. Plus I am deeply connected at Christ Church Anglican and have an amazing, faithful community of believers around me, both from my church and others.
Most excitingly, the Lord has placed the kindest, funniest, most whimsical woman in my life, Hannah (if you’re reading this, skip the next line <3) - whom I hope to make my fiancé in the next month!
Work wise, I had the incredibly challenging, albeit rewarding opportunity of being a Teach for America corps member, teaching 7th grade math at a Title 1 school in High Point, NC. Unfortunately due to some health issues I had to change course, but now am pursuing a Masters in Biblical Language Linguistics at Liberty University (so much Greek) and am working in international logistics for Reynolds America.
Clara Whitman
My year as a Winston Fellow was one marked by tremendous growth and so much joy! After finishing the Fellows program in May 2024, I began an internship with Samaritan's Purse in Boone, NC. This led to a full time role in their International Projects Department supporting humanitarian aid and disaster relief efforts overseas. Since leaving Winston, I have bounced between several different countries in South America and the Middle East. I returned to work at Samaritan's Purse headquarters in Boone for one month this spring and had the joy of seeing some of my fellows fam in Winston, a reunion that always feels like a homecoming. I revisited several of my favorite haunts from my Fellows year, with Crossnore, home to the Fellows house, remaining especially dear to me. I am deeply grateful to Hef and the Fellows program for giving me a year to cultivate deep roots of faith and community that continue to ground and equip me to step out into the world in strength, even as I am tossed around between all of the moves and job changes of the last few years.
Incoming Class
Though we have just wrapped up this past Fellows year, we are already looking ahead to the next class and working hard to prepare for their time in Winston Salem. Thankfully, several job placements are already secured, and we have a few hopeful potential opportunities still in progress. If you are a local employer who would be interested in hosting a Fellow next year, please let us know.
Additionally, we are still accepting applications and often see incredible additions come in late in the process. Gracie, pictured above, applied just two to three weeks before her Fellows year began, and we truly cannot imagine this year without her.
We cannot wait to introduce the next class!
