Vetter scholar Emily Goins builds career skills
The daughter of a wounded Marine veteran, this first-generation college student aspires to be a teacher.
Emily Goins ’26, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, worked hard throughout high school. She always knew that she wanted to go to college but wasn’t sure how she would be able to pay for it.
Goins, along with her two younger sisters, was raised in a single-parent household by her father, a veteran injured during his service in the U.S. Marine Corps. She hoped she could be the first in her family to go to college. She first learned about the Carolina Covenant when a counselor at her high school shared that she could qualify for a debt-free financial aid package at UNC-Chapel Hill if she applied and was accepted to the University.
Goins took her counselor’s advice and was thrilled to be admitted to Carolina as a Steve and Debbie Vetter Carolina Covenant for Military Families scholar. She is one of the hundreds of Covenant scholars who are supported each year through various sources, which include many individual donors who are passionate supporters of the program. Today, Covenant scholars make up roughly 10% of the Carolina student body and lead the way in academic performance and community engagement.
Building career skills
Goins, an aspiring teacher double-majoring in English and comparative literature and human development and family science, serves on the Covenant student advisory council. In this role she helps coordinate service projects and well-being experiences for Covenant scholars. For example, through the student advisory council, Goins and other Covenant scholars worked in partnership with Upward Bound to encourage low-income high school students on their path to college.
Serving on the Covenant student advisory council has helped Goins develop important professional skills. She feels that she entered college a few steps behind her peers from more affluent areas who had greater opportunities to build professional networks and develop professional skills. But the Covenant team recognizes that difference and helps scholars, like Goins, build the professional skills that are needed as they leave Carolina and enter the workforce.
Jessie Durham-Nash leads the Covenant’s career services. All Covenant scholars can participate in the program’s career offerings, which include one-on-one coaching, workshops and networking opportunities. Additionally, the Covenant’s career accelerator program is offered for those who are interested in a year-long, cohort-based program that provides individualized professional development support to scholars. Professional development funding helps Covenant scholars engage fully with professional development opportunities that might otherwise be cost-prohibitive, such as conferences or internships.
“Many of our Covenant scholars come to Carolina both with less financial resources and less social capital, or people whom they can connect with for opportunities, than peers. Over half of our scholars are also first-generation college students, which amplifies these concerns, because they have to work harder just to learn how to navigate college life, let alone prepare for their future careers,” said Durham-Nash. “We are addressing this gap by creating intentional networks and opportunities for them in partnership with mentors, liaisons across campus and alumni.”
Giving back to students like herself is important to Goins, who spent six weeks this summer teaching low-income students in the military town of Norfolk, Virginia. She interned with Breakthrough Collaborative, which seeks to pair students with teachers from similar backgrounds who can relate to their experiences.
“The Carolina Covenant allowed me to come to college without taking on a financial burden for myself or my family,” said Goins. “And I really hope that my being here will be an inspiration to my younger sisters and show them that college is an option for us as first-generation college students.”
