New Carolina Latinx Center endowment aims to make travel more accessible

Marquise Drayton, a 2019 UNC alumnus, traveled on an airplane for the first time with the UNC program Global Takeoff: Puerto Rico during his first fall break of college. A recent donation from a UNC alumna will continue to fund this initiative for years to come.

The University announced on Sept. 26 that Maribel Carrion started the Carrion Global Experiences Fund — the first endowed fund at the Carolina Latinx Center. The fund was created to provide financial support for short-term travel experiences to students who would otherwise be unable to afford them, Carrion said. 

Carrion is a UNC double alumna with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and a master's in business administration. She is one of the founding members of the CLC, which was created in 2019. Currently, Carrion works as the executive director of student administration and enterprise reporting for Information Technology Services at UNC. 

As a result of growing up in an Army family and working internationally as an adult, Carrion said she has traveled all her life. She said her experiences have taught her that people are more similar than some may think.

“Cultures may be different; languages may be different, but people aren’t that different, and when you engage with them like that, you realize that the world is a lot smaller than you typically think it is,” she said.

Drayton said his experience in Puerto Rico lessened his fear surrounding travel and improved his cultural competency. He has continued to travel since graduating from UNC — he recently visited London and Toronto and is currently planning a trip to Paris, he said. 

“[Global Takeoff: Puerto Rico] definitely gave me a sense of freedom and exploration,” he said. 

Josmell Pérez, director of the CLC, said the hope and expectation of the fund is that it will eliminate any financial barriers students may face in their search for a global experience. Although managed by the CLC,  any student who would not otherwise be able to afford travel experiences will have the opportunity to access the fund, he said.

Carrion said she has funded Global Takeoff: Puerto Rico, now called Exploradores Globales: Puerto Rico, since the trip’s creation in 2015. She had the idea for the fund when she began thinking about how to ensure the program’s longevity, she said. 

Pérez said in an email that the new name was adopted when the program was changed from being housed under the Center for Global Initiatives to being managed in a partnership between the CLC and the Study Abroad Office.

Carrion said programs like Exploradores Globales — which lasts 10 days and can be accessed by first- and second-year students through an application process — introduce students to global travel very easily and provide a door-opening opportunity. 

“When you've never done anything like this, the idea of doing it for a semester can be overwhelming.” she said. “But most people can do something for a week.”

Carrion said she sees the fund as extending what the University does and making it easier for students to access “the extras.”

Pérez said the center is starting with Puerto Rico, Carrion’s place of birth, but is already in conversation about launching programs in international places. He also said the fund is part of a larger effort to increase visibility around the CLC and the Latino community as a whole. 

Paul Cuadros, the faculty associate for the CLC and an associate professor at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media, said the fund will allow some students to visit their countries of origin.

“Many of our students have not been to the countries of their parents and don’t have that cultural experience,” he said.

Cuadros said he hopes other donors will use the endowment as an example and join Carrion in establishing additional programs or contributing to her fund. 

“I think it really begins a process for us where we’re gonna begin to raise funds on our own,” he said.

Pérez said the center is currently working on a new crowdfunding platform and aims to add to Carrion's fund to get it to $100,000. He said he hopes to “highlight and demonstrate the impact that initiatives like these have on students and their success.”

Carrion said she hopes the programs supported by the fund will give students the confidence to go somewhere else and show them that it “doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg to travel.” 

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