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<\/a>It\u2019s a long way from Tyro, N.C., to New York City.<\/p>\n
Allen Tedder<\/strong> came to UNC-Chapel Hill from the tiny unincorporated community located a few miles west of Lexington, which \u201chas one stoplight and more cows than people.\u201d<\/p>\n Now he\u2019s headed to The Juilliard School after graduation. Tedder, a dramatic art major and creative writing minor in the College of Arts and Sciences, is among only 18 people admitted to the prestigious graduate program in acting after competing against nearly 1,400 applicants from around the country and the world.<\/p>\n Tedder entered Carolina as a pre-dentistry major, but landed a part in the first play he auditioned for his first year, UNC alum Mike Wiley\u2019s \u201cParchman Hour.\u201d The production tells the stories of the \u201cFreedom Riders,\u201d who rode buses into the heart of the deep South during the first months of the civil rights movement. Many were imprisoned in Mississippi\u2019s notorious Parchman Farm Penitentiary, where they invented a variety show to help them cope with their time behind bars. In the fall of 2011, the play debuted as an undergraduate production, then during spring break of 2011, the show went on the road to Mississippi. It returned home to UNC later that fall, where the professional production debuted at PlayMakers Repertory Company.<\/p>\n Tedder calls that week on the road \u2014 riding on a bumpy bus, operating on little sleep, working 19 hour days \u2014 \u201cone of the most miserable and the most educational\u201d experiences of his life. It was also where he found his calling.<\/p>\n \u201cTaking a play on tour is kind of like a series of away games for baseball,\u201d he said. \u201cYou have to do this very, very taxing physically and mentally [exhausting] thing every day, in a different place every time, sometimes more than once a day. \u2026 I\u2019d never done anything like that before, but the tour convinced me I could do this for my life.\u201d<\/p>\n The first acting class Tedder took during his freshman year, Drama 150, was with Juilliard alum and dramatic art senior lecturer Julie Fishell. He says Fishell approached teaching about the craft with \u201crelentless discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShe coached us that there\u2019s never too far you can go, and there\u2019s never too much effort you can give. It taught me that acting is not just a hobby, it\u2019s a way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n Fishell described Tedder as inventive, disciplined and someone who makes \u201cbold, engaging choices.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur students are easily pegged as having academic strengths, but there are quite few who strike me as having special artistic gifts. Allen is one of these rare individuals,\u201d she said. \u201cFrom the beginning, his curiosity was innate and his heart was clearly large.\u201d<\/p>\n Tedder, who has also been a member of the Chapel Hill Players improv company since his sophomore year, said he can\u2019t wait for the next chapter in his career. As he leaves Carolina behind, he said he will always envision his time on campus as being like \u201ca bunch of hands pulling you forward.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUNC is a great place to be. It is like being at the center of the world without any pressure. Pun intended. Really, it is a place that can show anyone how to do great things. \u2026 As long as you are driven and grasping for opportunities, they will always find you at UNC.\u201d<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Finding a Tar Heel home far from home<\/strong><\/p>\n Chenxi (Chex) Yu<\/strong> has been living away from home since age 11, when her parents sent her about four hours away from her rural China home in Zhuzhou in the Hunan Province to boarding school. She went even farther away to high school in Singapore, thanks to a full scholarship from the Singaporean government.<\/p>\n Yu, a first-generation college student, continued her journey far from home when she was accepted to UNC as a Colonel Robinson Scholar, a full, merit-based scholarship. She had an opportunity to return and make history in her homeland when she founded, conceptualized and spearheaded TEDxBeijing 2012, the first TEDxBeijing conference conducted entirely in Mandarin. TEDx is an international nonprofit devoted to spreading creative ideas through short, powerful talks. Yu did all of that while working as a research assistant at the China Center for Health Economic Research. [Watch a video interview with Yu about the 2012 event.]<\/a> <\/b>She has also been heavily involved in planning for TedxUNC since its formation.<\/p>\n Yu is pursuing majors in mathematical decision sciences and economics with a minor in entrepreneurship in the College of Arts and Sciences. She is interested in international development and global health. During the summer of 2013, she was a policy intern in Geneva at the World Health Organization (WHO), a position often held by graduate students. She found out about the internship through her work at Duke University\u2019s Sanford School of Public Policy, first as a research assistant, then as a global health fellow.<\/p>\n \u201cI got to be a part of the delegates attending the WHO Assembly and watched global health policy happening right in front of me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n During her first year at Carolina, Yu worked on a comprehensive health project that was implemented in rural India. She serves on the Chancellor\u2019s Innovation Team, and as a junior won the Chancellor\u2019s Award for International Leadership, presented to an undergraduate who has made significant contributions to increasing international awareness and understanding.<\/p>\n After graduation, she\u2019ll head off to graduate studies at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.<\/p>\n Jeremy Petranka, a lecturer in the department of economics, calls Yu, who won the 2014 Undergraduate Prize and the Best Thesis Award in Economics, \u201cthe singularly most amazing student I\u2019ve had the pleasure of teaching.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSince I first met Chex in 2011, she has shown a maturity, experience and passion for global health issues and international development that is not remotely close to any other student I\u2019ve encountered,\u201d he said. \u201cShe hasn\u2019t hesitated in taking the most challenging quantitative classes we have at UNC. She is currently taking our Ph.D.-level econometrics theory class. \u2026 She doesn\u2019t just want to explore the world\u2019s problems, she wants to find solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite her travels far and wide, Yu said what she\u2019ll remember most about UNC is the people.<\/p>\n \u201cThey genuinely care about your success,\u201d she said. \u201cEveryone is so driven and motivated and has a sense of purpose, but at the same time, they are warm. I was challenged here all the time, both academically and in terms of personal growth. \u2026 It\u2019s a special place. These years have been the most formative of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/a>