'Transformed where my life trajectory is going': Scholarships provide years of support

Several UNC scholarships recently reached prominent milestones in 2024, celebrating their impact on education over the years.

Each year, UNC awards academic scholarships to hundreds of students at UNC. Their aid ranges from $3,000 to covering the full cost of attendance at the University.

Established in 2019, the Blue Sky Scholarship Program is in its fifth year of offering funds to in-state students from middle-income families. Former UNC System President and UNC alumnus Erskine Bowles established the program after learning that many middle-income families felt the cost of attending UNC was out of their reach. 

Blue Sky Scholars receive mentorship from University faculty like Kandyce Brennan, assistant professor at the School of Nursing and mentor for Blue Sky Scholars Class of 2027. Brennan said she and her mentees try to meet up once a month. This semester, they attended a men’s basketball game together and had a Thanksgiving celebration. 

Blue Sky Scholars are dynamic students who also show dedication to community service projects, Brennan said.

“One of my mentees is involved with the APPLES Service-Learning program, and did a lot during the orientation for the incoming students in the fall," she said. "A lot of them are involved in special clubs within their majors."

This past September, Carolina Covenant celebrated 20 years of providing scholarships. The financial package includes grants, scholarships and work-study programs that allow scholars the opportunity to graduate debt-free. 

The program’s website states that scholars come from families that are at or below 200% of the poverty guideline. Over the years, Carolina Covenant has offered scholarships to over 11,000 students. 

Some scholarships emphasize the recipient's field of study along with their background. The Chancellor’s Science Scholars Program is specifically for students interested in STEM fields who aspire to pursue advanced study such as doctoral or medical degrees. CSS scholars participate in a six-week immersion program the summer before their first semester, join a research lab at UNC and, in their senior year, are expected to apply to at least four graduate programs. 

UNC senior Corinne Drabenstott is a CSS Scholar studying Biomedical Engineering. Last summer, Drabenstott interned in research and development at IDEXX Laboratories, a veterinary diagnostics company. 

“I worked on different chromatography techniques that were understanding the samples that they were receiving into their labs,” she said. 

While Drabenstott said the CSS program is about 13 years old, other scholarships have been established for decades. The Morehead-Cain Scholarship, the nation's first merit scholarship program, selected its first scholars in 1951. 

Last year, the Morehead-Cain Foundation began offering the scholarship not only to incoming first-year students, but also to sophomores. Sophomores can be nominated by professors, teaching assistants, department heads and other campus partners. Nominated students can then submit an application to be considered for the scholarship. 

Christopher Arraya is a part of the first group of sophomores to be awarded the Morehead-Cain Scholarship. Last summer, Arraya said he took part in the Civic Collaboration program offered through Morehead-Cain where scholars are placed in cities across North America and work to find solutions to problems communities may be facing. 

“I was at Lexington, Kentucky, and I was working with the diversity, equity [and] inclusion department of the government,” Arraya said. 

The Morehead-Cain Scholarship also provides students with the opportunity to take a gap year, if they wish. These gap years are funded by the scholarship and often involve cultural immersion, employment or service. Arraya is currently taking a gap year and working in San Francisco, Calif. on a technology startup. 

Arraya said receiving the Morehead-Cain has enabled him to chase his dreams.

“This [gap year] has really transformed where my life trajectory is going now,” he said.

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