This year the American Indian Center awarded four fantastic Tar Heels with the 2021-2022 Carolina Native Service Scholars Award: Dalton Locklear (Lumbee), Lyric Locklear (Lumbee), Halona Lewis (Lumbee), and Elson Roaquin (Lumbee). We congratulate them on this accomplishment!
The Carolina Native Service Scholars Award seeks to honor the UNC Summer Bridge students who have demonstrated a commitment to service or leadership in a North Carolina Native community. These students are each given $750 to be used towards books and related school supplies. Carolina Native Service Scholars are encouraged to spend at least one year during their first two years at UNC working on a service project at the American Indian Center. At the end of their project, each Scholar provides a written summary of their experience to be shared with the family that makes this award possible.
All of our 2021-2022 recipients are phenomenal role models for the current and upcoming generations of Native Peoples. Dalton Locklear, Lyric Locklear, Halona Lewis, and Elson Roaquin are all unique in their own right, but seem to have a few common threads that have shown through via their submission essays. They all seek to make effective and long-lasting change in the Native Community. Additionally, they aim to amplify the VOICE of Native Peoples. See examples below.
- Fulfilling student leadership council positions for Carolina Indian Circle and Phi Sigma Nu Fraternity
- Opening a rehabilitation center to combat issues of substance abuse
- Practicing general medicine to bring awareness to common health concerns
- Becoming more culturally involved through dancing in traditional powwows
- Ensuring cultural accuracy in theatrical presentations
- Practicing law to help lower-income communities
- Providing counsel to political candidates who support policies beneficial to Native Peoples
Again, congratulations to this year’s recipients of the Carolina Native Service Scholars Award! Achieving these goals will take dedication and hard work! We, at the American Indian Center, are behind them every step of the way and look forward to celebrating their continued success.
