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Going beyond Degree Completion
A military dependent, Emily Goins was awarded the Carolina Covenant and the Vetter Military Family Scholarship. (Photo submitted by subject)
Serving on the Covenant Student Advisory Council has helped Goins develop important professional skills.
By Audrey Smith
Emily Goins ’26, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, worked hard throughout high school. She always knew that she wanted to go to college, but wasn’t sure how she would make it happen, or rather, how she’d be able to pay for it. Goins, along with her two younger sisters, was raised in a single-parent household by her father, a wounded warrior veteran who was injured during his service in the U.S. Marines Corps. She hoped she could be the first in her family to go to college. She first learned about the Carolina Covenant when a counselor at her high school shared that she could qualify for a debt-free financial aid package at UNC-Chapel Hill if she applied and was accepted to the University.
Goins took her counselor’s advice and was thrilled to be admitted to Carolina as a Covenant Scholar and Vetter Military Family Scholar. Shortly after being admitted, Goins received her financial aid package. As she reviewed the details, she learned that the Carolina Covenant financial aid package is a combination of many different funding sources that the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid pulls together to cover the full cost of attendance for individual Covenant Scholars.
Goins is one of the hundreds of Covenant Scholars who are supported each year through these various sources, which include many individual donors who are passionate supporters of the program. Today, Covenant Scholars make up roughly 10% of the Carolina student body and lead the way in academic performance and community engagement.
Building career skills
Goins, who is an aspiring teacher double majoring in English and comparative literature and human development and family science, serves on the Covenant Student Advisory Council. In this role she helps coordinate service projects and well-being experiences for Covenant Scholars. For example, through the Student Advisory Council, Goins and other Covenant Scholars worked in partnership with Upward Bound to encourage low-income high school students on their path to college.
Serving on the Covenant Student Advisory Council has helped Goins develop important professional skills. She feels that she entered college a few steps behind her peers from more affluent areas who had greater opportunities to build professional networks and develop professional skills. But the Covenant team recognizes that difference and helps scholars, like Goins, build the professional skills that are needed as they leave Carolina and enter the workforce.
Jessie Durham-Nash leads the Covenant’s career services. All Covenant Scholars can participate in the program’s career offerings, which include one-on-one coaching, workshops and networking opportunities. Additionally, the Covenant’s Career Accelerator Program is offered for those who are interested in a year-long, cohort-based program that provides individualized professional development support to scholars. Professional development funding helps Covenant Scholars engage fully with professional development opportunities that might otherwise be cost-prohibitive, such as attending conferences or working in unpaid or under-paid internships.
“Many of our Covenant Scholars come to Carolina both with less financial resources and less social capital, or people whom they can connect with for opportunities, than peers. Over half of our scholars are also first-generation college students, which amplifies these concerns, because they have to work harder just to learn how to navigate college life, let alone prepare for their future careers,” said Durham-Nash. “We are addressing this gap by creating intentional networks and opportunities for them in partnership with mentors, liaisons across campus and alumni.”
Giving back to students like herself is important to Goins, who is spending six weeks of the summer teaching low-income students in the military town of Norfolk, Virginia. She’ll be interning with Breakthrough Collaborative, which seeks to pair students with teachers from similar backgrounds who can relate to their experiences.
“The Carolina Covenant allowed me to come to college without taking on a financial burden for myself or my family,” said Goins. “And I really hope that my being here will be an inspiration to my younger sisters and show them that college is an option for us as first-generation college students.”
