The winner and runners up for the University’s 2011 Martin Luther King, Jr. Scholarship are students in the College of Arts and Sciences. They were recognized during UNC’s 30th Annual MLK Birthday Celebration for following Dr. King’s example through their work to improve the quality of life of the community and the campus.
Jakelin Bonilla, a global studies major from Siler City, N.C., will receive $1,500 to support her senior year at Carolina. Runners up Isaac Adams from Washington, D.C., and Eric Campbell from Hagerstown, Md., will receive $1,000 each.
Bonilla, who also is pursuing academic minors in geography and entrepreneurship in the College, is interested in Latin American politics and migration, and their impact on economic development at the grassroots level.
After her first year at Carolina she received a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the Office of Undergraduate Education to conduct an independent study on how migration influences migrants’ home communities in Honduras. The following summer she won a Burch Fellowship to study Quechua and the influences of migration flows on gender roles in a rural indigenous community in Peru.
Bonilla has led an APPLES public service course on Latina/o Migrant Issues and been active in Carolina United and the Scholars Latino Initiative.
She plans to pursue graduate studies in law and business and would like to work on economic development in Latin America.
Eric Campbell, a double major in business administration and African-American studies, says, “Improving public education in America is the fastest way to promote equality and alleviate poverty.” He has been working with Movement of Youth, a program to help enrich, engage and empower high school students to become effective leaders. He has also been involved in student government and AmericCorps. He plans to pursue a career in politics.
Isaac Adams, a double major in journalism/mass communication and religious studies, has been involved in APPLES and the Campus Y. He coordinates a camp program that mentors first-year incoming students. He has helped develop a curriculum for a course on Civil Rights and is coordinating a spring break trip to New York City where his team will do volunteer work focused on domestic violence issues.
Scholarship recipients are selected by a committee of representatives from UNC’s Office of Minority Affairs, the Department of African and Afro-American Studies, the Black Student Movement, the Office of Student Government, the Center for Public Service, Student Affairs, the Carolina Union and the Campus Y.
