{"id":304,"date":"2011-02-21T15:39:58","date_gmt":"2011-02-21T20:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vandfam.net\/dev\/wordpressmu\/college\/?p=304"},"modified":"2011-02-21T15:39:58","modified_gmt":"2011-02-21T20:39:58","slug":"first-generation-student-wins-graduate-school-scholarship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=304","title":{"rendered":"First-generation student wins graduate school scholarship"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Christopher Carter, born and raised in the small town of Elkin, bagged groceries as a teenager. Before college, he\u2019d never ventured more than 400 miles from home.<\/p>\n

Then he won a life-changing Morehead-Cain Scholarship<\/a> to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill<\/a>. And is he ever going away next fall.<\/p>\n

Carter, a UNC senior in the College of Arts and Sciences\u00a0and first-generation college student, has received a Gates Cambridge Scholarship<\/a>, a merit award covering all expenses for one to three years of graduate studies at the University of Cambridge<\/a> in England.<\/p>\n

The award was created with a $210 million donation to Cambridge from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Seattle-based foundation operates in developing countries and the United States, working domestically \u201cto ensure that all people \u2013 especially those with the fewest resources \u2013 have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life,\u201d its website says.<\/p>\n

Between 80 and 100 scholarships are issued annually to college students worldwide for intellectual ability, leadership and desire to perform community service. Carter’s scholarship is valued at about $24,623 for nine months of study plus $20,880 for living expenses.<\/p>\n

Carter, the son of Debbie Lynn Carter and Reggie Lee Carter of Elkin, is Carolina\u2019s first Gates Cambridge Scholar since the awards began in 2001 and one of 30 U.S. winners this year out of 800 applicants.<\/p>\n

A 2007 graduate of East Wilkes High School in Ronda, Carter is double-majoring in political science and history in the College.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to pursue a Ph.D. in political science with a focus on Latin America, and completing a master\u2019s in Latin American studies at Cambridge will really help,\u201d he said. \u201cEventually I would like to be a professor of political science in comparative politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter already has had a taste of travel through the Morehead-Cain, a full, four-year merit scholarship that also provides four summer enrichment experiences. Carter\u2019s summers included studying political history in Argentina and Chile and teaching English in Ecuador.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Ecuador, I taught indigenous children to play basketball, hiked through the Amazon jungle, was in a bus accident and ate more yucca than I care to remember,\u201d he said. What he gained: \u201cAn insatiable desire to continue helping individuals in Latin America.\u201d<\/p>\n

At Carolina, Carter has won five awards for research, enabling work including an honors thesis on public opinion of the new health-care law. He created and distributed a survey to a national sample of 900 Americans. In March, he will present his findings at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress<\/a> in Washington, D.C., and the Midwest Political Science Association<\/a> annual conference in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Carter is active in student government, president of the honors program\u2019s student executive board and vice president of Phi Beta Kappa. He has been a group leader for the first-year student mentoring program and played intramural sports.<\/p>\n

Carter\u2019s volunteer service has included teaching writing and math in two Chapel Hill elementary schools, helping the Interfaith Council for Social Services and taking notes for Carolina students with disabilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was happy just to be able to come to college,\u201d Carter said. \u201cHaving these great awards to come to college has been a real blessing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Related Links<\/h3>\n