Carolina Alumni Review - September/October 2009

Reunions
Homeward Bound
At 40, Project Uplift reunion shows value of minority recruiting

The invitation to Project Uplift’s 40th anniversary cel- ebration — its first official reunion — carried the weight of a summons for Christian Lopez ’07.

For all four years of his college career, Lopez had been an administrator of the student-run minority-recruiting program. He had near daily contact with Terri Houston, director of recruitment and multicultural programs, and Archie Ervin ’ 99 (PhD), associate provost for diversity and multicultural affairs. So even though Lopez, a financial analyst, had moved to Atlanta, there was no question he’d ask for time off and return to Chapel Hill for the weekend.

“Dr. E. and Ms. Houston send out a letter saying we’re doing this event — it’s like Mom and Dad saying you need to come home,” Lopez said. He called fraternity brother Muhammad Salameh ’07, who had volunteered with Project Uplift his senior year and was in Greenville preparing for his first year of medical school, and said, “Mo, we’re going.”

Lopez and Salameh joined about 75 others who journeyed from across the state and up and down the East Coast July 10-11 to reconnect and remember the impact of a program that thrived on a shoestring budget.

“About 43 percent of the students of color in the freshman class in the past five to seven years have come through Project Uplift,” Ervin said.

Every spring since 1969, selected high school students finishing their junior year are invited for two days and an overnight stay on campus to experience life as a Carolina undergraduate. High school guidance counselors nominate high-ability students to attend one of four weekends during UNC’s summer session to visit classes, tour campus and meet minority faculty members. Students start friendships while staying in the dorms and participating in discussions with admissions officers and current students about being part of an underrepresented demographic group on campus.

“Project Uplift dispels those myths that UNC, as a predominantly white institution, is not open to students of color,” Houston said. “The experience literally changes lives and, at the very least, changes perceptions.”

Up to 280 North Carolina students attend each weekend. Of those, 80 to 90 percent follow through with applying, and about 40 percent of those are admitted and enrolled. The program is free to students (other than a $10 application fee). UNC’s general fund covers the $165 per student it costs to host the program.

PHOTOS BY NANC Y E. OATES

Brandon Howard ’01, above left with Ericka Thompson, called Project Uplift “an instrumental program for me.” At left, from left, Muhammad Salameh ’07 and Christian Lopez ’07 volunteered with the minority-recruitment program when they were undergraduates.

matters membership

Number of GAA members*

66,722 Annual members

31,933

Life members 34,789

Total GAA membership (by percent of graduates)

26

Top five N.C. counties (by membership percentage) Hertford 34 Surry 30 Lenoir, Mecklenburg and Pasquotank (tie) 29

Top five classes (by membership percentage) ’56 45 ’ 59 42 ’ 57 41 ’ 60 and ’ 55 (tie) 40

Another look, top five classes (by number of members) ’ 77 1,296 ’ 71 1,269 ’ 81 1,239 ’ 83 1,234 ’ 79 and ’ 80 (tie) 1,213

* as of July 30, 2009

As general funds get tighter, Project Uplift,

like many Carolina programs, worries about its future. That concern fueled the idea for this year’s reunion.

“The UNC Tomorrow Commission says we must strive to find better ways of connecting this University to the people,” Ervin said. “This is one of the best examples of that.”

Project Uplift rolled out its Carolina blue carpet with a Cultural Extravaganza — a revue of dramatic readings, dance performances, step-dancing fraternity brothers and a line dance that roped all alumni onto the dance floor. The evening continued past midnight with the Master Blasta Summer Jam fundraiser. But everyone was up early for a brunch Saturday morning honoring some who had run the program decades before and stressed the importance of alumni support.

Brandon Howard ’01, an urban district manager in Bethesda, Md., battled Washington’s rush-hour traffic to pay his respects to the people who had made it possible for him to participate in Project Uplift in 1996.