Swinging for the fences


“Carolina is an incredible place to go to college, but it isn’t good enough for things to just stay the same. To be the best at anything, you have to keep improving, keep building, keep growing and keep going forward.”

Malaika Underwood ’03, ’05 (M.A.) is a world-class athlete — having played in a record seven international competitions for the USA Baseball Women’s National Team.

At Carolina, she was the epitome of a great student-athlete, posting MVP performances as an opposite hitter for UNC’s volleyball team and graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in international studies in 2003. She finished her collegiate career as a team captain and a recipient of two NCAA postgraduate scholarships.

That’s not all that Underwood is passionate about. She’s also a fantastic ambassador for her alma mater, and makes it a priority to support areas of campus that have made a difference in her life, particularly the volleyball program, the Global Education Fund, the Chancellor’s Unrestricted Fund and the College of Arts & Sciences.

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