Most of us in the Atlanta area have heard the story of Eve Marie Carson, the Student Body President of my alma matar, The University of North Carolina.  Eve grew up in nearby Athens, Georgia, where she was the student body president of Clark Central High School.  Eve was shot to death in Chapel Hill last Wednesday, about a mile from campus.   Her killer(s) have not been found, but the police have some pictures and leads, and they will no doubt be found.  The story has been on the news for several days, and was a focus of the national broadcast of the UNC v. Duke basketball game Saturday night.   Duke fans and students wore ribbons, and for one night, dispensed with the "creative" anti-UNC chants.

This Blog is, by definition, about negative events.  However, I am going to hi-jack it to celebrate a person who had amazing accomplishments at a young age (and had a completely different experience in Chapel Hill than I). 

See the Daily Tar Heel video memorial here and WRAL slideshow.

Here is some video from her high school teachers.

From the UNC website –

Teaching and working with children were key service interests for Eve. In 2006, she taught science at Frank Porter Graham Elementary School in Chapel Hill as part of UNC’s INSPIRE program, whose mission is to encourage young students to pursue science as an interest. In her junior year, Carson was a tutor at Githens Middle School in Durham. She was also an assistant coach in the Girls on the Run of the Triangle, a character development program for girls ages 8-12 that uses running to teach values and a sense of self.

Eve’s service extended well beyond the Triangle, however. In the spring of her sophomore year, she participated in a study abroad in Havana, Cuba, and she spent her summers working and volunteering in Ecuador (see slideshow) , Egypt and Ghana as part of the Morehead Summer Enrichment program. "I credit my prior experiences, especially my past two Morehead summers, for preparing me to get along with pretty much whatever comes my way," she wrote in an e-mail posted on the Morehead Web site. On campus, she became involved in Nourish International, an organization started by UNC students in 2002 for hunger relief. Eve served as freshman volunteer coordinator (2004) and co-chair (2005) for the group.

There are many more articles and news reports about other interests and activities.  I am sure it is no consolation to her parents, family and friends, but they can be proud of the amazing person she was.  She is, of course, one of thousands of students who have similar credentials.  Sadly, we don’t hear about them often enough and it takes a tragic death to bring these students to our attention.  So …. I am piling on and spreading the word.