Chelsea Barnes and Sangeetha Kumar were both selected in April by the Morris K. Udall and Stewart L. Udall Foundation as honorable mentions for the 2014 Udall Scholarship. This is the first time two students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been chosen as honorable mentions in the same academic year.
Barnes, daughter of Keith Barnes and Kay Barnes of Hope Mills, is a rising senior with a double major in political science and interpersonal/organizational communication studies, both in the College of Arts and Sciences. An Honors Carolina student and a member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, she was president of the Carolina Indian Circle, social director of the Alpha Pi Omega sorority and a member of Unheard Voices, a Native American a cappella performance group. She is also a recipient of the 2014 Native American Congressional Internship, also funded by the Udall Foundation.
Kumar, daughter of Kumar Mani and Usha Gopalaswamy of Cary, is a rising senior with a double major in environmental science and mathematics, both in the College of Arts and Sciences. An Honors Carolina student, she is co-founder and president of ScienceDays and co-president of Engineers Without Borders.
The U.S. Congress established the Udall Foundation as an independent executive branch agency in 1992 to honor Morris K. Udall’s 30 years of service in the U.S. House of Representatives. In 2009, Congress enacted legislation to honor Stewart L. Udall and add his name to the foundation.
The Udall Foundation awards its scholarships to sophomore and junior level college students committed to careers related to the environment, tribal public policy or Native American health care. Students must receive endorsement from the Office of Distinguished Scholarships to apply for the Udall Scholarship. Both Barnes and Kumar will receive special resources and access to networks from the Udall Scholarship as two of 50 honorable mentions. UNC has now had 14 Udall Scholarship recipients and six Udall Scholarship honorable mentions.
In addition, Barnes and Anthony C. (AC) Locklear II were both selected by the Udall Foundation for a fully funded, 10-week summer internship in Washington, D.C., for Native American and Alaskan Native students who wish to learn more about the federal government and issues affecting Native Americans.
Locklear, son of Anthony Locklear and Terri Locklear of Pembroke, will enter his second year at the UNC School of Law this fall. His undergraduate degree from UNC was in American studies, with a concentration in American Indian studies. A member of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, Locklear is vice president of the Native American Law Students’ Association, executive board member of the Carolina Native American Alumni Club and alumni advisor to the Gamma Chapter of Phi Sigma Nu American Indian fraternity. As an undergraduate, he was president of the Carolina Indian Circle and Greek Alliance Council, received a 2013 Chancellor’s Award and was inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece.
