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Carolina College Advising Corps expands numbers and reach E-mail
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Greater help in navigating the complicated world of college admissions and financial aid is on the way to more than 7,000 seniors in 38 North Carolina high schools, thanks to a substantial expansion of the year-old Carolina College Advising Corps. The corps, based at in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has increased from four advisers to 19 advisers this year.

“We look forward to having the new advisers join our community,” said John Modest, principal at West Charlotte High School. “Their efforts will greatly enhance our ability to help our students find their way to college.”

Funded by the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation, the Annie Penn Community Trust, and the Golden LEAF Foundation, the Carolina Corps is one of 13 partner programs in the National College Advising Corps, which is also headquartered at UNC. The corps aims to increase the number of low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students entering and completing higher education. According to the College Board, high-achieving students from low-income families have about the same chance of enrolling in college as low-achieving students from high-income families.

“We’re extremely pleased with the expansion of the Carolina Advising Corps,” said Nicole Hurd, founder and executive director of the National College Advising Corps. “The work of the Carolina Advising Corps and the other constituent programs is integral to the success of the National Corps, and we look forward to continuing to work with them to empower even more students across the nation to attend college.”

To prepare for their roles, the 19 advisers participated in an intensive six-week summer training led by Wendy Jebens and Jennie Cox Bell, program coordinators from the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at UNC. Advisers also toured campuses and met with administrators from more than 20 two- and four-year colleges and universities around the state. The 19 Carolina advisers will join 132 advisers from 12 other institutions in the National College Advising Corps August 3-7 for a training workshop on the UNC campus.

Each of the advisers will serve two high schools, working closely with guidance counselors and other school personnel to create programs that meet the needs of the students in each school.  Advisers will help students research and apply to a broad range of two- and four-year schools, not just UNC.

The 2008-09 advisers in the Carolina College Advising Corps are:
  • Returning adviser Camille Cates of Greenville, at Ben L. Smith and James B. Dudley high schools in Greensboro;
  • Returning adviser Ebonie Leonard of Greensboro, at Hillside and Southern high schools in Durham;
  • Returning adviser Dexter Robinson of Greensboro and New Rochelle, N.Y., at Graham and Hugh M. Cummings high schools in Alamance County;
  • Ken Beasley of Dunn, at Scotland High School;
  • Emmanuel Bello of Willingboro, N.J., at Chatham County and Jordan-Matthews high schools;
  • Pharen Bowman of Wilmington, at West Charlotte and West Mecklenburg high schools;
  • Rachel Brody of Raleigh, at South Caldwell, Caldwell Middle College and Caldwell Early College high schools;
  • Kay Exum of Kenly, at Northwest Halifax and Southeast Halifax high schools;
  • Jennifer Fisher of Durham, at Warren County, Warren New Tech and Warren Early College high schools;
  • Blythe Gough of Pilot Mountain, at West Caldwell and Hibriten high schools;
  • Kelli Hammond of Forest City, at Morehead and McMichael high schools in Rockingham County;
  • Austin Hill of Lewiston-Woodville, at Bertie and Hertford high schools;
  • Tyra Johnson of Henderson, at Northampton-West and Weldon City high schools;
  • Kareemah Lewis of Asheville, at Reidsville and Rockingham County high schools;
  • Nick Neptune of Winston-Salem, at Monroe and Anson high schools;
  • Courtney Richardson of Hollister, at KIPP Pride and Roanoke Rapids high schools;
  • Justin Simmons of Rocky Mount, at E.E. Waddell and Garinger high schools in Charlotte;
  • DeWhitney Upchurch of Bunn, at Carver and Atkins high schools in Winston-Salem; and
  • Angelena Young of Lake Waccamaw, at Scotland and South Robeson high schools.

UNC Tomorrow: The Carolina College Advising Corps is part of Carolina’s response to the Access to Higher Education recommendations of the UNC Tomorrow Commission report (http://www.unc.edu/pse/files/CarolinaUNCTResponse.pdf ). To capitalize on the success of this program, Carolina has proposed the creation of a college access and advising course and curriculum. The goal is to create a curriculum that will help University students, pre-service educators, school counselors and student-service personnel provide exemplary advising to those who seek access to college, with a particular focus on advising low-income and underserved students, especially African-American, Hispanic and American Indian students.

Carolina College Advising Corps contact: Stephen Farmer, (919) 966-3992, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
National College Advising Corps contact: Nicole Hurd, (919) 962-2240, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Carolina Advising Corps Web site:
http://advisingcorps.org/page/carolina-advising-corps
National College Advising Corps Web site: www.advisingcorps.org