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Morehead-Cain Global Fellow Amadeu Neto ’26 spent his summer in North Carolina excavating with the Exploring Joara Foundation in Morganton, and came away with a lesson he’ll carry into art and diplomacy.The day’s fieldwork was done, and everyone was exhausted. So Amadeu Neto ’26 and the other students at the archaeology site in Morganton, North Carolina, decided to jump in the creek next to it.For

For her Outdoor Leadership summer, Maria Tan ’30 spent three weeks backpacking Alaska’s Talkeetna Mountains with fellow Morehead-Cain Scholars, and learned how a team can adjust to “new normals” and thrive.“The sun in Alaska in summer does not set,” Maria Tan ’30 said.She remembers crawling into a tent at midnight, the sun still blinding after a long day of walking through Alaska’s Talkeetna Mount

Raima Dutt ’28 spent her Global Perspective summer developing education strategy in a Hanoi boardroom and teaching English to fifth graders, experiences that showed her why effective education at scale must stay grounded in the classroom.The boat could only fit four people, so on her fourth day in Vietnam, Raima Dutt ’28 ended up separated from her friends in Ninh Binh.For ninety minutes, she drif

Samarth Desai ’29 and his Civic Collaboration team spent the summer turning Memphis’s pedestrian crash data into a public tool that shifts the conversation from blame to design.Two weeks into his summer in Memphis, Samarth Desai ’29 stood up at a “Tacos and Zines” night, where people share what they’re passionate about, and presented a small booklet about walking in the city.The zine didn’t offer

Melanie Cabrero ’27 spent her Professional Experience summer as a judicial extern for U.S. District Judge Jerry Blackwell ’84 and left certain of the career she wants.Melanie Cabrero ’27 started her summer unsure of almost everything.“Coming into this summer, my life felt unsteady,” she said. “I was unsure of what was next for me, so I walked in with little to no expectations, and imposter syndrom

Josiah Young ’27 spent his Professional Experience summer as marketing lead for Ver Coaching, a Durham sports tech startup.On his final day at the 2026 USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships, Josiah Young ’27 stopped in front of the giant USA Volleyball ball at the Indiana Convention Center and realized his journey had come full circle.In an AP Seminar thesis, he had argued that sports

Jon Ayden Horne ’28 spent his Global Perspective summer studying how four composers’ lives influenced their music.It was 5:30 p.m. at Notre-Dame Cathedral, and the late-afternoon sun was lighting up the Gothic facade when Jon Ayden Horne ’28 set up his stand and began to play his bassoon.People stopped. Before long, thirty to forty of them had gathered around him, listening to the music and taking

Dear Scholars, Happy Well-Being Day! I hope you use this day for a bit of rest, reflection, and contemplation.  In recent years, I have spent considerable time pondering what college should be for the leaders of the twenty-first century. I always return to a first principle: college must be a place in which one learns to think.  As William Deresiewicz put it in an address at West Point in 2009, “t

This is the first episode of “College as It Should Be,” a miniseries of the Catalyze podcast that features insights and stories from Morehead-Cain President Chris Bradford and current scholars and alumni.On this episode, Ali Slack ’28 sits down with Chris and Isaac Watkins ’27 to talk about creating a “gym membership for your mind,” and what it takes to actually slow down and think in a world buil

Elizabeth Alene ’28 spent her Global Perspective summer in Addis Ababa moving from meeting notes to her own diplomatic research on China-Africa relations.Thirty handshakes in the first hour.Walking into the Peace and Security Building on her first day, Elizabeth Alene ’28 met diplomats, senior policy officials, ambassadors, and China-Africa experts. Their excitement to work with her and their will

Benji Garland ’27 spent his Professional Experience summer at Kearney working on a first-of-its-kind telecommunications deal, and learned that the hardest part of systems work is explaining it to people.Benji Garland ’27 had never considered all the subtle, unsung aspects of his life powered by network infrastructure.Then the partner on the IT workstream described the impact of fiber networks: whe

Morehead-Cain Scholar Annabella Rozin ’29 and her team spent the summer listening to a Kentucky community imagining its downtown and its future.The interview was supposed to run an hour, maybe ninety minutes. Annabella Rozin ’29 and her teammates arrived at the park in their business clothes, notebooks ready.Three hours and several miles later, they were still walking.The man they’d come to interv

Anjali Sankale ’28 spent her Global Perspective summer in Dakar interviewing designers and artisans about sustainable fashion, and came home with a new framework for thinking about environmental systems.The constant clacking of looms filled the room.Inside textile designer Aïssa Dione’s large atelier in Dakar, weavers moved between machines, colorful threads, and large rolls of fabric. The energy,

Alexandra Newmark ’27 spent her Professional Experience summer at the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, North Carolina, and came home with a new minor and career path.Shivers were wracking her body. The northern wind was brutal, and the water was colder than anything Alexandra Newmark ’27 had imagined when she signed up to survey a seagrass meadow.“I’m from the mountains, so I tho

Suhan Asaigoli ’27 spent his Professional Experience summer with the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Senegal and found that the best technology starts with understanding a community, not designing for it.For Suhan Asaigoli ’27, some of the most formative learning of the summer happened over tea.Not in conference rooms or at computer screens, but at home with his host family in Dakar sipping at

The Morehead-Cain Foundation has announced the 2027 Morehead-Cain Global Fellows, who begin a one-year fellowship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC–Chapel Hill) this August.The twelve global fellows represent five countries—Brazil, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, and Turkey—with academic interests spanning biotechnology, computer engineering, law, nursing, and finance. They join a

Morehead-Cain Scholars spent the summer in Birmingham, Alabama, interviewing scholarship recipients, nonprofit staff, and program leaders to help Birmingham Promise build stronger pathways from college to careerOn the last day of her Civic Collaboration summer, Catalina Aldana-Archila ’28 felt the nerves rising as she and her teammates waited for the room to fill.The presentation was ready. What s

They’d just finished touring a dementia care facility and meeting its leaders when they stepped into the day activity space, where older adults spend time while their family caregivers get a few hours to work, rest, or handle their own lives. The team scattered to meet people, but Rayana Ba ’29 lingered for a second, working up the nerve to talk to someone. She sat beside a woman who was quietly c

Amy Stursberg of New York, New York, and Chris Schroeder of Washington, D.C., have joined the Morehead-Cain Foundation Board of Trustees, effective July 1.Stursberg is CEO of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Foundation and the Stephen A. Schwarzman Education Foundation. As CEO, she nurtured the Schwarzman Scholars program from an idea into one of the most prestigious postgraduate fellowships in the world

Morehead-Cain Alumni landed new jobs, received accolades, stepped into new seasons of life, and more. Here’s who made a move this summer.Richard Vinroot ’63 received the Order of the Long Leaf Pine in June, one of the highest civilian honors granted by the Office of the Governor of North Carolina. It recognizes individuals with a proven record of extraordinary service to the state and their commun