UNC News Service

CHAPEL HILL — As a new member of the Carolina College Advising Corps, UNC graduate Shamelle Ingram will work at Hillside and Southern high schools in Durham County this school year to help low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students apply for college and financial aid.

The Carolina Advising Corps, based in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions at UNC Chapel Hill, is one of 13 partnerships in the National College Advising Corps headquartered at UNC. The corps places recent Chapel Hill graduates — many of them first-generation college students themselves — as college advisers in low-income high schools across the state.

Ingram, who graduated from UNC in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in public policy, plans to attend graduate school for education policy. She said she is most excited about the opportunity to help students discover a career that will suitable for them.

“I have the ultimate privilege of assisting my students to find a college or career that best fits their needs and skills,” Ingram said.

Advisers work closely with guidance counselors and other school personnel to create programs that meet the needs of the students in North Carolina high schools. Typically, an adviser works in two high schools, helping students research and apply to a broad range of two- and four-year schools, with the goal of finding the one that fits each individual best.

Though Ingram is originally from Greensboro, she grew up in Trenton, N.J., and went to Trenton Central High School.

As a member of the advising corps, she said she hopes to also gain a better understanding of the factors that contribute to the education gap.

More than 75 applicants, mostly graduates of UNC’s College of Arts and Sciences, competed for the eight adviser positions open for the fall, said Program Director Jennifer Cox Bell.

The advising corps, now entering its third year, has 19 advisers serving 40 high schools in 21 counties across North Carolina.