Jordyn Middleton ’25 interned at the Durham Boys and Girls Club (Photo by Jeyhoun Allebaugh)
Graduating senior Jordyn Middleton ’25 came to Carolina with a plan, but the opportunities she found along the way took her further than she ever expected.
By Audrey Smith ’10
Jordyn Middleton ’25 knew that she wanted to come to Carolina immediately after taking a tour during her sophomore year of high school.
“At the end of the tour I stood outside Chase Hall and just prayed, ‘God, please let this be it. This is where I’m meant to be,’” said Middleton. “I was so grateful when I was accepted and then learned that I was a Williamson Scholar and a Covenant Scholar and would be able to graduate debt-free.”
Middleton is a double major in media and journalism in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and in human and organizational leadership development in the UNC School of Education. Her time at Carolina has been full of opportunities she “never could have imagined” when she first arrived on campus. Now, as she approaches graduation, she’s equally excited for everything that comes next.
Opportunities after graduation
Middleton is a recipient of a Gerald Unks Fellowship through the UNC School of Education. The scholarship exists to support independent research and will allow her to spend the summer visiting museums and libraries in London, England; Madrid and Seville, Spain; and Lisbon, Portugal; and analyzing how gender depictions in media and culture have changed over time.
Then in July she will begin working as a third through fifth grade educator at a public charter school in Boston that primarily serves Black and Latino students.
Growth through service
Middleton isn’t new to working with young people. She spent the last three years interning at the Durham Boys and Girls Club. Over the years she has helped the program with administrative needs, assisted with food bank and clothing donation distributions to parents, tutored students, led activities to teach the students healthy habits, and managed after-school classrooms.
Middleton even brought the program Queen In You to the Durham Boys and Girls Club. She served as president of the organization’s Carolina chapter for a year and as its service co-chair for the past two years, and loves mentoring young girls of color in professional development, self esteem, etiquette, scholarship and community service.
For her senior capstone in human and organizational leadership development, Middleton was tasked with identifying an organizational need and finding a way to help meet it. She identified the Durham Boys and Girls Club’s membership waitlist, due to a lack of space and volunteers, as the core problem. She set to work converting a storage room in the Boys and Girls Club into an additional classroom where she herself served as the new classroom’s first after-school intern, allowing an entire class of students to come off the waitlist and be served by the program this spring.
“Carolina has given me the opportunity to make the changes I want to see in my own life,” said Middleton. “So now, whether it be working with the Durham Boys and Girls Club or looking toward my future career goals, I want to help other kids make the changes they want to see in their lives, too.”
Support from the Covenant
Middleton has used her time at Carolina to explore all of her passions, from engaging deeply with community service to exploring multiple career paths. Support from the Carolina Covenant staff helped equip her to make the most of every opportunity. During her junior year, Middleton began to have frequent conversations with Covenant director Candice Powell and assistant director for career development and outcomes Jessie Durham-Nash about her professional interests.
“There’s so much I want to do. I want to teach for a while, but I also want to go to law school, and eventually start a nonprofit,” said Middleton. “The Covenant team and the Covenant’s Career Accelerator program have helped me to be strategic and create a plan with specific goals as I think about pursuing all of my interests.”
As Middleton prepares for life after graduation, the Covenant has also helped with many tangible needs. The program purchased her first set of law school prep books and covered expenses related to out-of-state job interviews.
Middleton credits the Covenant for instilling in her a strong sense that no matter where she came from or what she looks like, she can make a difference in the world and in her life. As graduation approaches, she’s convinced that she has everything inside herself that she needs to make the changes she wants to see in her life.
“The Covenant has given me so much. I love this program because it positions students who might not otherwise be able to reach their full potential to realize dreams even beyond their dreams,” said Middleton. “When I first arrived at Carolina I never could have imagined all the things I’d be able to do – from simply getting all of the books I needed each year to being able to travel across the world to do global research.”
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