The Morehead-Cain Summer Enrichment Program offers four diverse experiences:
Each summer experience is customized to give Scholars greater self-knowledge and an understanding of how they can contribute to their local or global communities.Outdoor Leadership
Prior to Freshman Year (Three Weeks)
"Nothing could have prepared me better for the trials and tribulations of college life than the intense 28-day hike through the Yukon wilderness last summer. When I set foot onto the UNC campus, I felt ready to take on anything university life had to offer."
—Lisette Yorke '09
 Elias Clarke '09 on a mountaineering course in the Colorado Rockies. |
For three weeks during the summer after their senior year in high school, Morehead-Cain Scholars participate in outdoor leadership courses in wilderness locations across the nation. The courses teach them valuable teamwork and survival skills while enhancing their confidence and their appreciation for luxuries and comforts that are often taken for granted. After pushing themselves to their limits both physically and mentally, Scholars are ready to take on the challenges of college life and their commitment to UNC with renewed vigor and determination. |
Public Service
Prior to Sophomore Year (Eight to Ten Weeks)
This summer [as a teacher in Monte Cristi, Dominican Republic] I was given the opportunity to become the leader I have always aspired and hoped to be.
—Pam Della Valle '09
 Ali Tharrington '08 spent her Public Service Summer with Morehead Alumni Caleb '82 and Louise '88 King, missionary physicians who have rebuilt Shyira Hospital in Rwanda. |
The second year of the Summer Enrichment Program reflects John Motley Morehead's belief that along with privilege comes responsibility. This Public Service component of the Program places Scholars in eight- to 10-week hands-on community service projects across the nation and abroad. About 75 percent of the Public Service Scholars work in international settings, spending their summers in such places as Africa, the Far East, Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Scholars who work in the United States have interned with medical or dental community clinics or have worked as teachers with such organizations as the TEAK Fellowship |
and Breakthrough — programs that target economically disadvantaged but academically gifted middle-schoolers, helping prepare them to enter and thrive in college-preparatory high school programs. Morehead-Cain Scholars can also choose to work with a variety of youth and community service organizations both at home and abroad. |
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International Research
Prior to Junior Year (Five to Eight Weeks)
"The knowledge I have gained in the international research summer will without a doubt help me help others in a future career of international work.
—Matt Craig '08
 Nkem Okafor '06 (center) studied the impact of HIV/AIDS on children and families in South Africa. |
In their third Morehead-Cain summer, Scholars are given the freedom to develop a grant proposal for either a Travel/Study journey or an internship with an organization of their choice. Scholars have traveled to virtually every part of the world, in many cases fulfilling lifelong dreams and achieving long-held goals. Along with the usual handful of Scholars who use this opportunity to embark on intensive honors thesis research, many Scholars undertook a diverse range of past projects that include post-tsunami disaster-readiness research in Thailand and India; coral reef management and restoration in Australia, |
Fiji, and New Zealand; Latin American journalists' peceptions of the U.S. media in Panama, Argentine, Chile, and Peru; and Roman and Byzantine architecture in Italy, Greece, and Turkey. |
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Private Enterprise
Prior to Senior Year (Eight to Twelve Weeks)
I truly felt like I was a valuable and necessary part of the FIG [Financial Institutions Group at Morgan Stanley] team. I gained a remarkable skill-set from my experience. I became very focused on attention to detail and further developed my work ethic.
—Amanda Shintay 07
 Savannah Gelesko '06 explored dentistry by working as a dental assistant with Salud Family Health Center in Commerce City, Colorado. |
Before their senior year, Scholars are offered a variety of internships in the public and private sectors in fields such as manufacturing, public relations, the media, and finance. These eight- to 12-week placements are usually in metropolitan areas — New York, London, Washington, Toronto, Chicago, Cape Town, San Francisco — and are designed to give Scholars an insider's view of the corporate structure. Every effort is made to place students under the direction of top executives who are leaders in their respective fields. The purpose of the internships is to expose the students to the management of people and institutions and provide them with an experience that is as close to a "real job" as possible. |
Scholars have devised marketing plans, shadowed and assisted physicians, assisted in stage-managing Broadway productions and producing television shows, interviewed potential employees, and researched investment strategies for their sponsors. The Private Enterprise internship may or may not directly relate to a Scholar's career aspirations; the goal is to sensitize Scholars to the challenges of organizational management and leadership and to expose them to creative decision making. The Private Enterprise summer also allows the Scholar to "try on" a particular career or lifestyle to see whether or not it fits. |
