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From Shy, to Student Leader: How UNO Helped Kiere Find His Footing

Fueled by academic ambition and passion for his community, Phelps now looks to uplift the next generation.

  • published: 2026/04/15
  • contact: Annie Albin
Kiere sits at a chair holding a book.

Kiere reads to Florence Home residents as part of his volunteer work through the Black Studies Student Association.

In a few short years at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Kiere Phelps has transformed.

When he originally entered UNO as a transfer student, Phelps felt shy and unsteady as he navigated his first few semesters. Now, as a leader in a student organization and member of the Chancellor’s List, he feels rooted and ready for the future.

Phelps credits campus resources for helping him adjust to college life. Leaning on the resources provided to him by the Susan T. Buffet Scholarship and the Thompson Learning Community, he was able to find his footing and dive into his studies.

Over the course of new classes, engaging essays and prompting presentations, Phelps found his academic home in UNO’s Black Studies Department. With a criminal justice minor added to his workload, he felt a strong cohesion between his two courses of study, as well as an inner reassurance that he had picked the right path.

Phelps’s academic journey led him to an unexpected junction — student leadership. When a professor encouraged him and a few other students to revitalize the Black Studies Student Association, Phelps found himself learning how to lead amongst a cohort of his peers.

Over the years, Phelps went from historian for the student organization all the way to president. A leadership role wasn’t something the formerly shy student thought he would be capable of, but it taught him a valuable lesson about overcoming his own timidity.

“I noticed that you can't impact somebody when you're in your own shell,” Phelps said. “I'm really learning how to come out of my shell, and I'm really learning how to engage people in an impactful and a powerful way.”

As Phelps prepares to graduate this May, he knows that the lessons he’s learned at UNO play a major role in his future plans. With a foundation in Black Studies and leadership skills learned from BSSA, he hopes to become a youth mentor and inspire the lives of young students like him in North Omaha.

“I figured — somebody mentored me, somebody poured into me,” Phelps said. “And I think it's fair and it's right to pour back into the youth.”

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