Adolfo Alvarez delivers a speech at new student convocation in fall 2025. (Photo by Jeyhoun Allebaugh)
Adolfo Alvarez ’26 went from not knowing if he was going to attend college to becoming UNC-Chapel Hill’s 2025-26 student body president — nothing short of an incredible journey.
As the first ever Latino student body president, Alvarez embraces the challenge of representing his peers, bridging connections across campus and leadership, and ensuring that every student feels heard.
“I represent 32,000 people, and when you really stop to think about that, it’s mind-blowing,” he said. “But I love it. Serving as president gives me the chance to show up for students, to listen and to learn from them. I believe we’re stronger when we bring different perspectives together.”
Alvarez has shown the tenacity it takes to be a successful leader throughout his life before Carolina. Growing up in Guerrero, Mexico, he moved by himself to the United States when he was 16 years old. He spent his senior year of high school living alone and working overtime at a QuikTrip gas station in Tucson, Arizona, to make ends meet.
Upon receiving his acceptance letter from Carolina, Alvarez was awarded the Carolina Covenant and a Wachovia Chancellor’s Scholarship.
“I didn’t have much in the United States at the time; it was just me,” Alvarez said. “Carolina offered to pay for my education and had it all figured out for me. Carolina gave me everything.”
Those opportunities set the stage for Alvarez’s academic focus at Carolina, where he is double majoring in media and journalism and global studies. This past summer, he interned in Atlanta, Georgia, with the Fortune 500 company IHG Hotels and Resorts, working with their global corporate affairs team and supporting the communications team. In summer of 2024, he was among the inaugural class of the OneCarolina Summer Internship Program, where students explore future careers in higher education philanthropy by getting real life experience in university development.
“In Hussman [School of Journalism and Media], we learn how to articulate things, how to communicate mass messaging and also balance the audiences you’re working with. That’s helped me in my term of student body president and at both of my internships,” he said. “Communication is such an important component of being in leadership.”
Since taking office, his administration has focused on transparency and meeting basic needs. He is working to improve communication between University administration and students, ensuring that changes in policy or direction are clearly understood in an era of rapid shifts in higher education. At the same time, he’s helping launch efforts like the Carolina Closet, a project to provide students with free access to professional attire for interviews, internships and job opportunities. The Carolina Closet complements efforts like Styled for Success in University Career Services to provide a cost free path to professional attire.
“This is a class divide that has existed at Carolina for decades,” Alvarez said. “Alumni from the 70s flagged the issue. By working with donors and campus partners, I hope to establish the Carolina Closet as a permanent resource, similar to a food pantry but focused on formal wear.”
The student government has also created a new department of basic needs, designed to mirror the basic needs task force led by Scholarships and Student Aid and the Office of the Dean of Students, with initiatives ranging from food security to helping students navigate eligibility for programs like SNAP and Medicaid.
Housing is another area of focus, with Alvarez advocating for solutions to the off-campus housing shortage through local zoning reform while also improving on-campus housing allocation. His administration is also interested in expanding representation for STEM students, encouraging their involvement in governance and advisory roles, where their perspectives are often underrepresented.
To address these issues, Alvarez is leading with openness and collaboration. Outside of his pillar goals, he hopes he remains accessible to the student body. “The best ideas don’t come from one person at the top,” he said.
Since election night, Alvarez’s life catapulted into a state of constant busyness that he’s never experienced before, but he’s not fazed by it. Instead, he’s grateful.
“My life has changed a lot,” he said. “You go from being just a student to being a text away from the chancellor and serving on the UNC Board of Trustees and speaking at convocation and being on the stage at graduation. It’s such a privilege to represent so many people, and I’m genuinely excited because it gives me a reason to talk to everyone. If I see a random event on campus, even if I’m not sure I’m invited, I’ll show up and say, ‘Hey, everyone!’”
For Alvarez, serving as student body president isn’t just leadership, it’s gratitude in action, a way to honor the University that changed his life by devoting himself fully to the students he now represents.
“I always knew that I wanted to pay back everything the University gave me,” he said. “I came from an environment of uncertainty and UNC only wanted me to worry about succeeding. I don’t see a better way to give back than representing the people, giving my energy and devoting my time to students. This opportunity is so full circle and exactly what I was hoping for, to give back to Carolina.”
Written by Terzah Dyer
