At the UNC homecoming game this weekend, UNC crowned Aaron Epps as Mr. UNC and Micheline Amisi as Miss UNC. Both of the winners are African American — for the first time since 2006.
Senior Aaron Epps has dreamt about running for Mr. UNC since his first year. He ran on the basis of his service project, which aims to expand inclusivity on UNC’s campus and in its faculty by combating implicit biases.
“My goal is to work with administration and the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office on campus to see how we can expand that training to all the faculty, in order to make a more inclusive learning environment,” Epps said.
Epps said he knows that this election was voted on by all of campus. He believes this title is so much more than who he is, and that it is important to his community.
“Micheline and I are friends, and so it was always like we could do this for our community," he said. "We know there hadn’t been a black Mr. and Miss UNC in (years), and so it would be fulfilling to us to wear the title for our community, but also to raise awareness about issues that we were very passionate about."
Senior Micheline Amisi wanted to run in part due to the service component of Miss UNC. Her service project is called #SoarSzn, which aims to teach health and wellness to every UNC student.
“The premise of that was to promote overall health and wellness for students on our campus,” Amisi said.
Amisi said the election represented the student population's voice, and their election leaves room for other students of color to believe they can have positions of power on campus as well.
“It’s just a very humbling experience for us to be in the positions where we're able to give somebody hope,” Amisi said.
