UNC picks two for second Eve Carson scholarship
Two University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill juniors have been selected to receive the second Eve Carson scholarship that memorializes the student body president who was slain in 2008.
The scholarship will pay half the cost of attendance for Caroline Fish and Chase Jones in their senior year and give them $5,000 each for enrichment experiences this summer.
UNC officials said in a release that a merit-based scholarship for juniors was a dream of Carson, who was kidnapped, robbed and shot to death near campus in March 2008. Two Durham men have been charged with her murder.
A nine-member committee selected Fish and Jones from among 123 applicants, choosing two recipients instead of the usual one.
“We felt it was important to spread the responsibility of being an Eve Carson Scholar to more than one person,” Thomas Edwards, a senior biology major who directed the scholarship program, said in a release. He said the Carson family and current Carson recipient, Elinor Benami, were consulted about the change.
Fish, a 2007 graduate of Ravenscroft School in Raleigh, is double majoring in psychology and English and comparative literature, with a minor in creative writing.
Fish is working with campus colleagues to produce a documentary to raise awareness about sexual violence. She also has studied abroad in France, where she worked to help victims of sexual assault.
“Caroline is an incredibly motivated person and inspired the committee with her drive to bring about positive change in this area," Edwards said.
Jones, a 2006 graduate of Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, is majoring in business administration, with a minor in exercise and sport science.
He has worked with patients at the North Carolina Children’s Hospital and next year will lead the Carolina Dreams Program, which connects athletes to children in the hospital. A varsity baseball player, Jones overcame brain cancer during his first year at UNC.
“He took this devastating event and turned it into both a positive personal experience and motivation to work diligently to ease the burden of children in similar situations at the N.C. Children’s Hospital,” Edwards said.
Recipients of the Eve Carson Scholarship must be "balanced, ambitious students who have shown strong involvement in leadership roles" and have at least a 3.0 grade-point average in the first three years, according to the release.
