I suppose you've noticed by now that Carolina's students are back in town. On campus, move-in started Friday, and classes for all students will begin Tuesday. But I don't expect many professors will open their lectures the way our elementary school teachers began the first day of class -- by asking their students what they did over summer vacation.
If they did, though, just imagine some of the amazing answers they might get. This summer, Carolina students went to Athens to study ancient Greek history and culture, cruised the Neuse River to do field research on estuaries, and took local internships to escort elderly patients to medical appointments and lead kids on hikes in summer camps -- and that only scratches the surface.
UNC as an institution was also very busy this summer. The campus seems much quieter June through August, but it actually hosts several important programs. Summer school is in session, with about 10,000 students taking a wide range of classes in a more intimate and intense atmosphere.
Our spring and summer orientation programs on campus give students who will be attending Carolina for the first time this fall a preview of what lies ahead. In addition, a small number of first-year students who are North Carolina residents, especially those from small and medium-size high schools, are invited to UNC's Summer Bridge program. This seven-week program of intense tutoring as well as social and cultural activities helps these students adjust to Carolina's much larger academic environment and diverse class setting.
Summer is also the time when we invite others to our campus, particularly those we hope to encourage to attend college in the future. Upward Bound is a federal program, administered through the School of Education, that gives 10th- and 11th-graders who are disabled or who come from low-income families a taste of the academic and social life of campus. After their senior year, Upward Bound participants come to campus for a week of Bridge Academy camp to attend workshops and finalize their college paperwork to ease the transition to university life.
But of everything Carolina did this summer, as individuals and as an institution, I think I'm most proud of a new program launched by our Office of Economic and Business Development. With funding from the vice chancellor for research and economic development, it created the Carolina Economic Recovery Corps.
Under the program, nine bright UNC graduate students and recent graduates fanned out across the state this summer to help our small towns and rural areas, in particular, navigate the complexities of applying for federal economic stimulus money. For 10 weeks, these interns lived in the communities and heard first-hand what their needs were, doing their best to match those needs with the funding available through the American Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
Will Washington's residents get the broadband grant that intern Charessa Sawyer informed them about? Will low-income, elderly and handicapped citizens in North Carolina's foothills be able to make their homes more energy-efficient, thanks to the efforts of intern Alison Gillette?
It's too early to tell. But we do know that four of the interns will continue to help in the recovery efforts. One will be working in the same place where she served her internship and three others have been hired by the state's Office of Economic Recovery and Investment to help those areas hit hardest by unemployment.
And in this economy, "I got a job helping others who don't have jobs get back into the work force" seems like a pretty good answer to the question, "What did you do this summer?"
Holden Thorp is chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Readers can contact him at holden_thorp@unc.edu.
