The Eve Carson Memorial Scholarship
The Eve Carson Scholarship was established in 2008 to celebrate junior-year students who have exhibited passion and transformative growth since matriculation at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
As the living legacy of former Student Body President Eve Carson, the scholarship fulfills the vision for a student-run merit scholarship she included in her platform.
The Eve Carson Scholarship champions scholars to write stories they wouldn’t otherwise be able to write. A committed executive board works to create a community that binds individual scholar experiences into a larger narrative of passion and personal development. At their core, the Scholarship seeks to be great, but always remembers to be good.
“Some students work to support themselves financially in high school, and are thus unable to hold leadership positions or participate as deeply as other students in extracurriculars, preventing them from being considered for merit scholarships at the college-entrance level. And many students’ eyes are opened after coming to college, when they discover an activity or a cause which particularly impassions them—but at that point it is too late to apply for merit or honor scholarships, and so they help fund their college education by seeking financial aid or a work-study program.
That is a shame, because many of UNC’s greatest leaders and public servants found their passion after coming to college—and many also have to face the choice between getting more involved with their student organization or activity, and working to contribute money towards college. UNC rewards very few students for anything other than high school activities and accomplishments.
Eve Carson will create two scholarships that are based upon leadership and community involvement at the collegiate level. Students at the junior-level only could apply, and awarding of the scholarships would be based on demonstrated financial need and on leadership and service activities done only while attending UNC-Chapel Hill.
As students, we want the best possible leaders for our campus leadership positions, regardless of their financial standing. If the best student suited for these positions cannot run for them because they have to work to supplement their financial aid package, we are severely limiting our campus community. Eve believes that we have the responsibility to the development of the student body, and the future health of our University, to promote the best possible leadership—and this scholarship would help to do that.
The contributions of our non-merit scholars who discover their paths in college and give much to UNC, even in the face of financial obstacles, must be honored. The creation of this scholarship will bring attention to these fantastic UNC students and exemplary citizens: these students who win the scholarship would be financially rewarded for their enthusiasm and service to the University and to the student body. But just as importantly, they would also receive the recognition that UNC’s other premiere scholars receive. This scholarship would be prestigious and garner the sort of attention that UNC’s Morehead, Robertson, Pogue and other scholars receive.”
-- Eve Marie Carson, in her 2007 platform for student body president
