Candice Powell sees Covenant’s power to maximize students’ potential
Powell, the director of the Carolina Covenant, spoke about the program’s 20th anniversary and its future.
As the Carolina Covenant celebrates its 20th anniversary, Candice Powell is also reflecting on her time as a Tar Heel.
Powell began her undergraduate career at Carolina more than 20 years ago, and for the past five years, has served as the Covenant program’s director. In her role, she works with individual students, thinks broadly about the program’s goals, and supports a team of professionals who facilitate professional, well-being and academic opportunities for students.
“It is a joy and a privilege to pull together talent and care across our networks of donors, partners and friends to galvanize energy around our shared value of the Carolina Covenant,” Powell said. “We really want to maximize the talent and promise our Carolina Covenant Scholars hold.”
The Well spoke with Powell about the Covenant’s anniversary, her memories and the future of the program.
This is the 20th anniversary of the Carolina Covenant. What does that milestone mean to you and the University at large?
The Carolina Covenant is one of many ways our University lives its values and is such a remarkable demonstration of our commitment to ensuring that talented students, regardless of their background or financial means, can enroll in and graduate from Carolina. At 20 years old, our program has grown tremendously and impacted thousands of lives. The Carolina Covenant is an exceptional point of pride for Carolina, and we are lucky to have these talented individuals say yes to us. Covenant Scholars could have gone anywhere, but they said yes to our University. I am personally, exceptionally proud as a Tar Heel, and as a North Carolinian to be part of something so special.
In your own words, what is the mission of the Covenant?
I think it’s twofold. We want to support students’ dreams and aspirations and maximize their talent by removing financial barriers. Exceptional financial aid is at the core of that. But we also want to remove other barriers that come from experiencing financial scarcity. This involves expanding students’ networks and encouraging positive self-concepts about where they come from and how they bring strength anywhere they go.
How has that mission evolved over the past 20 years?
I think people understand broadly that the Carolina Covenant provides financial aid to support students. But our initiatives to build strategic networks for our students–student to student, student to alumni, students to campus opportunities, students to campus partners in professional schools, alumni to alumni — all of that is new. I’m excited for people to learn more and to demonstrate the impact that these connections are having on our students’ career and academic trajectories, sense of belonging and possibility.
What experiences have left you with the most pride?
Every time I talk with our students, I’m struck by their extraordinary kindness and intelligence and how lucky we are to have them at Carolina. The caliber of student that is admitted to our University is already outstanding. If you consider that Covenant Scholars have achieved that caliber of success while also experiencing significant financial scarcity, it is even more humbling to be with them knowing that they are going to use all of those experiences to make our world better.
What do you hope to see for the Carolina Covenant in the next 20 years?
I hope that the Carolina Covenant’s scope and reach remains strong and wide at our institution and that our strategic networks of support for students are even more robust and active based on the work that we’re doing right now in 2024.
