Eve Carson Scholarship helps scholars Fish, Chase to carry on leader's legacy

Correction (October 7,11:01 p.m.): Due to a source error, a previous version of this story incorrectly stated when application for the scholarship will be online. It will go up Oct. 14. The story has been updated to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.

Caroline Fish never imagined her passion for women’s issues could grow. But after a summer of trekking the globe, interviewing more than 40 feminist activists, it has.

“You see these women devoting their whole lives to something because they want violence to end, they want women to have equal pay as men and they want as many women presidents as men,” she said.

Fish is one of two Eve Carson Scholars this year. The scholarship was created in 2008 in honor of Eve Carson, the 2007-08 student body president who was murdered during her term in office. She wanted to create a scholarship run by students for juniors. The scholarship was created from her platform.

The scholarship aims to help student leaders commit to their positions by helping pay tuition costs. It is open to UNC juniors with at least a 3.0 GPA who are not on a full scholarship, and the application will become available October 14.

“Part of the reason we went to two scholars is so that we can show that there is no one model — that we have people who have overcome something during their time at Carolina and turned it into something positive for the community,” said senior Katherine Novinski, director of the scholarship.

As a scholar, Fish was able to design a summer experience combining her desire to see the world with research into how women’s activism is received in different cultures.

She visited Iceland, France, Turkey and the Netherlands.

“I wanted to uncover for each women’s activist story why she was involved and what her experience had been and to show why some people do women’s work and why everyone should care,” she said.

In addition to half a year’s tuition, Fish and the other scholar, Chase Jones, each received $5,000 to fund summer projects required to promote personal growth.

Jones, a business major, chose to split his money into two separate projects — an internship with Ronald McDonald House Charities in Chicago and a two-week study abroad through the Kenan-Flagler Business School.

Jones said he helped plan several events for Ronald McDonald House in addition to creating a brochure about what will be the largest Ronald McDonald House in the world.

He said the opportunity marked his first entry into the business world, and it allowed him to work to help families affected by cancer ­— an area in which he is well-versed.

Jones survived brain cancer during his freshman year, in 2006.

“Being a survivor opened my eyes to the blessing of those who give back,” Jones said. “With or without the scholarship, I was going to give back, but because of the scholarship, I was able to do it on a bigger scale.”

To do so, Jones said he organized a day of community service for 75 girls at the Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy, sponsored by McDonald’s. He said the event was the highlight of his summer.

“I’ve never been able to give a group of people that large the opportunity to do community service for the first time,” Jones said. “It was eye-opening to me to see the impact I could have on others, the same impact Eve had on me by reaching out.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.