For immediate use
Five UNC-Chapel Hill students selected as 2016 Burch Fellows
(Chapel Hill, N.C.—April 15, 2016) – Five students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were selected as recipients of the 2016 Burch Fellowship, to pursue unique and self-initiated proposed experiences anywhere off UNC-Chapel Hill’s campus.
The Burch Fellows Program was established in 1993 by a gift from UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus Lucius E. Burch, III with the goal of recognizing undergraduate students at Carolina who possess extraordinary ability, promise and imagination. The program supports students who propose self-designed endeavors that will make a demonstrable difference in their lives and enable them to pursue a passionate interest to a degree not otherwise possible. Funding of up to $6,000 is available towards the expenses of each proposed project.
Burch Fellow applicants must give convincing evidence of exceptional intellectual, creative and civic or leadership ability. The proposed fellowship experience must be one that allows the pursuit of an intense interest well beyond the scope of an academic course, a vocational commitment, a summer job, internship or enrichment program.
The 2016 class of Burch Fellows is:
Sarah K. Adams, class of 2017, is from Greenville, South Carolina. She is pursuing a double major in music and communication studies from the College of Arts and Sciences. Adams will spend the summer in New York City studying the most difficult roles in all of soprano repertoire alongside her mentor and renowned opera singer and teacher, Karen Parks. She will also study the therapeutic benefits of music while singing at boys and girls programs, hospitals and nursing homes in and around the city.
Sarah B. Hart, class of 2017, is from Randolph, New Jersey. She is majoring in heath policy and management from the Gillings School of Global Public Health and minoring in Spanish from the College of Arts and Sciences. Hart will spend the summer in Tarapoto, Peru working as a Public Health and Traditional Medicine intern for the Runa Foundation. In partnership with traditional healers, local healthcare providers and community members, she will conduct a community health assessment to study current health risk factors, outcomes and treatment seeking behaviors.
Prakash Kadiri, class of 2017, is from Concord. He curated his own interdisciplinary studies major in film production and is pursuing a minor in writing for the screen and stage in the College of Arts and Sciences. Having written a fictional screenplay about four military deserters, Kadiri will spend his fellowship preparing for production and shooting the 50 minute feature film on celluloid, a medium no longer easily accessible to students. He will be shooting the film at locations around the state of North Carolina.
Aditi Senthilnathan, class of 2017, is from Apex. She is majoring in biostatistics at the Gillings School of Global Public Health and minoring in medical anthropology from the College of Arts and Sciences. Senthilnathan will spend eight weeks in Tamil Nadu, India exploring the roles and impacts of rural women hired at Aravind Eye Hospital, the largest ophthalmic provider in the world.
Karl VonZabern, class of 2018, is from Durham. He is pursuing a double major in political science and Spanish from the College of Arts and Sciences. VonZabern will conduct research this summer in Peru on the political ideology of indigenous peoples by interviewing and blogging about porters on the Inca Trail leading to Machu Picchu, as well as farmers around Cusco.
Read more about the Burch Fellowships on its website.
-Carolina-
Photo Links:
Adams:
Hart:
Kadiri:
Senthilnathan:
VonZabern:
About the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s first public university, is a global higher education leader known for innovative teaching, research and public service. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, Carolina regularly ranks as the best value for academic quality in U.S. public higher education. Now in its third century, the University offers 77 bachelor’s, 113 master’s, 68 doctorate and seven professional degree programs through 14 schools and the College of Arts and Sciences. Every day, faculty – including two Nobel laureates – staff and students shape their teaching, research and public service to meet North Carolina’s most pressing needs in every region and all 100 counties. Carolina’s more than 308,000 alumni live in all 50 states and 150 countries. More than 167,000 live in North Carolina.
Burch Fellows Program contact: Gina Difino, (919) 962-9680, Gina_Difino@unc.edu
Communications and Public Affairs contact: MC VanGraafeiland, (919) 962-7090, mc.vangraafeiland@unc.edu