Maggie Helmke ’23 and Roli Enonuya ’23, two graduating scholars, joined Catalyze to reflect on their four years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Maggie and Roli share with scholar host Stella Smolowitz ’26 about their favorite classes and memories, challenges they overcame, and advice for incoming and current scholars. The seniors also share their plans following graduation on May 14.

Listen to the episode.

At UNC–Chapel Hill, Maggie designed her own C-START (Carolina Students Taking Academic Responsibility through Teaching) class about poetry, while Roli was involved in the UNC Campus Y’s Helping Youth by Providing Enrichment (HYPE) program, where she served K-5 students at local community centers through social, cultural, and educational experiences.

Following graduation, Maggie will take her Global Perspective summer through the Morehead-Cain, then pursue teaching. Roli will travel to Columbia and Brazil for her Global Perspective summer, then take a consulting role in Atlanta. (Both scholars’ final Summer Enrichment Program were delayed to this year due to the pandemic.)

At the end of the episode, other members of the Morehead-Cain Class of 2023 share advice, kudos, and college memories. Thank you to Charlotte Dorn ’23, Amy Feng ’23, McKenzie Martin ’23, and Kartik Tyagi ’23 for sharing your story!

Music credits

The intro music is by Scott Hallyburton ’22, guitarist of the band South of the Soul.

How to listen

On your mobile device, you can listen and subscribe to Catalyze on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. For any other podcast app, you can find the show using our RSS feed.

The Catalyze podcast is a series by the Morehead-Cain Foundation, home of the first merit scholarship program in the United States and located at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The show is directed and produced by Sarah O’Carroll, Content Manager for Morehead-Cain.

You can let us know what you thought of the episode by finding us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram at @moreheadcain or you can email us at communications@moreheadcain.org.

Episode transcription

(Stella)

Welcome to Catalyze. I’m your host, Stella Smolowitz, from the class of 2026. Joining me today is Roli Enonuya and Maggie Helmke, both from the class of 2023. Roli is a political science and economics double major. At UNC, she was involved in Campus Y’s HYPE program, which provides social, cultural, and educational experiences for students at underserved community centers throughout the area. Maggie is a food studies and geology double major. At UNC, she enjoyed teaching a C-START class she designed herself about poetry. They are both graduating this year and have been reflecting on their time at UNC. Maggie and Roli, thank you for joining the podcast today. Can you tell me what you’re going to miss most about UNC?

(Roli)

Yeah, I’m going to miss a lot of things about UNC. I’m going to miss the community. I know it sounds cliché, but I haven’t really had a community feel like I have—being at UNC and being at the Morehead—I really do genuinely feel like I belong to something. And it’s scary going into the big world and not knowing where you stand. I’m definitely going to miss the community. I’m going to miss my friends. I’ve made really great friends here, and I’m just going to miss being a student because it’s a nice lifestyle.

(Stella)

Totally understand that. What about you, Maggie?

(Maggie)

Yeah, similarly, I am about to enter a bit of a period of transience, and I think I’ll really miss the constant availability of friends and support systems. It feels like wherever I walk on UNC’s campus, there is someone that I know that I get to have a conversation with and connect with, and that’s really beautiful, and I’m not really sure when I’ll have that next.

(Stella)

With this last month left of school, how are you spending your last moments as a senior on campus, and what are you most looking forward to?

(Roli)

I’m spending a lot of it just soaking up my last moments on this campus. I’m spending a lot of time with my friends. We hang out every day. I’m preparing for moving. I just rented a U-Haul, which is so scary. Yeah, I’m moving all the way to Atlanta. So, yeah, I’m just trying to sort out my future, get things down, but just soaking up what I have left of my time here because I’m really, really going to miss it.

(Maggie)

I have a bit of a crunch week this week, so I have a big paper and a couple of projects due. But in the midst of that, I’ve really been trying to soak up the sun, the spring in Chapel Hill is just amazing. So, spending time outside in the arboretum among the flowers and then also with friends. I love cooking with friends. So, convening over dinner, going to concerts at Cat’s Cradle, and trying my best to really remind myself of what I love about this place, and figuring out how to package up all those memories so that I can carry them with me onto the next step.

(Stella)

When you thought about yourself graduating a few years ago, did you picture yourself going into the field that you have chosen?

(Roli)

In terms of job field? No. I’m going into consulting. I didn’t even know what consulting was until I was a sophomore when I applied. I still barely know what it is. I think that nobody knows what it is. And in terms of majors, no, I’m an econ and poli sci double major. I changed my major, I think, nine times. Yeah, my academic advisor was absolutely sick of me, so I came in as global studies and then just switched it around a little bit for fun. I didn’t imagine being here, but it all worked out so perfectly. So, I would definitely encourage people to trust the journey because, yeah, I’m happy with where I ended up, and I didn’t have to overthink it too much. It kind of just naturally progressed that way.

(Stella)

Yeah. Maggie?

(Maggie)

Absolutely not. Coming into school, I wanted to be a criminal defense lawyer, which is a great profession and really important for social justice, but not something that is my strength. I can’t really sit at a desk for a super long time. I also similarly changed my major about a million times, and at one point, Chinese was in there, stats was in there. I was an English minor for a while, public policy major for a while, and then I eventually settled on designing my own food studies major and then returning to geology, which was actually, like, my first declared major. So, that was kind of full circle moment. But I think I want to be a teacher, an experiential education teacher. So that’s pretty different from law. But, yeah, I’m really excited about it, and I think it’s a good path for me.

(Stella)

I’m really glad you guys just both were able to find your paths, even though it took lots of turns. I think that’s really important. And now you both seem, like, very excited, and I could tell that you were glowing when you both talked about your future careers.

So, Roli, how has the Morehead-Cain Scholarship helped you get to that field and that passion? And how does it encourage you to do what you’re pursuing now?

(Roli)

I don’t really have the words to describe what the Morehead has done for me. I came from a working class background in England. And to those of you who know the Sutton Trust program, that’s how I got into the Morehead. And again, I will never be able to express the gratitude I have for both the Sutton Trust Fulbright program and for the Morehead. They just provide so much, the resources, the network, the advising, and things like that. And just providing a community of people you can rely on is something I’ve not had before. It relates to every part of my life, but in terms of my major and things and my career, just, for example, moving to Atlanta and going into consulting, there were like a few Morehead alums I was able to connect with. And it was just an instant, people wanting to be there for you and supporting you because they know how special and valuable this program is. So the Morehead has just provided me just so many platforms and so many connections that I would never have had access to, and it just got me into the room where it happened. So, I’m very grateful.

(Stella)

I’m wondering what your favorite class was, and what made it so great.

(Maggie)

My favorite class, I’m going to go all the way back to first year. I took Intro to Poetry Honors. I’d never written a poem before the class, so I was in a bit over my head. And I remember, the class was centered around workshopping, and I remember, the second workshop, we were going around talking about each other’s poems, and one kid looked at another student and said, “You know, the great thing about this poem is that there’s so much to cut,” which was so mean. And the rest of the class kind of moved along that trajectory, and it really forced me to learn how to take criticism and give criticism in a brutal and beautiful way. But it was a learning moment for sure. And I’ll always look back on it and remember some of the comments that were made about my poems and learning a bit more about writing. So, it was a really valuable experience and something I’ll never forget.

(Stella)

Was that a reason for you to go into the C-START and create that kind of track? And did you happen to talk to your professor from that class about creating the C-START class?

(Maggie)

Yeah. So I did the C-START. It was a poetry C-START about poetry of community with my friend who I met in the intermediate class, so the class after that, and we really got close within that class. Their name is Joe Snow, and they’re actually going to do it. It’s really cool. They’re going to go do their MFA in poetry. So that’s funny. And I wanted to create a low-stakes environment for writing on campus that included some of that workshopping that I got to do in the Intro to Honors class. But I think a lot of people stray away from taking writing classes because they feel like they’re not a good writer and might not get a good mark in the class. So my goal was to make poetry more accessible, lower stakes, something fun that people can come and build a community around once a week.

(Stella)

Thank you for sharing about that interest. Roli, what was your favorite class, and what made it so great?

(Roli)

I remember taking Policy 75 when I was a freshman. I was looking for anything to fill my schedule, and I just dropped it into my cart because someone, I guess, dropped the class. And I’m so grateful they did because it was such a great class. It was about racial inequality in the U.S. and the public policy behind it. And as an international student coming into the U.S., I would urge any other international to really take a class that examines the nation’s history, specifically as it pertains to race, because it has such a complex and honestly ugly history that I think it’s our duty to learn about. And it just really hit me, and it just taught me so much about the history of the U.S. and where people fit into it, where I fit into it. I took a class on the African diaspora, which taught me a lot about myself and how I identify. So, I’m just really grateful for liberal arts education. In the U.K., I would have probably just taken one course for three years and be done with it, but I’ve just learned so much about the world and myself through these classes, so I’m really grateful for that.

(Stella)

Awesome. You both touched on interests and classes that have nothing to do with your major, and I think that is so important. Are there any campus commitments that you found yourself very interested in, seemingly kind of out of the blue?

(Roli)

So you mentioned in my intro, I’m involved in HYPE through the Campus Y. I don’t do that for any other reason than I just love kids. It’s not to do with econ, it’s not to do with poli sci or consulting or anything. It’s just a nice way to spend my time doing something I really enjoy. I go there every Tuesday, and I just hang out with these kids, and they love it. They love having adults around that aren’t there for any reason but to just hang out with them and enrich their time if we can. So, yeah, that’s something I’m really glad I did because it’s got no academic or professional stake. I just enjoy it and enjoy spending my time doing it.

(Stella)

Yeah.

(Maggie)

I, kind of through a class, but I started volunteering in a local school garden, a middle school garden, and that was last year. And it’s been amazing spending time with kids. It’s such a refreshing “bubble-popping” event. “Bubble popping” referring to popping the UNC bubble. And the kids are so honest and fun, and I love building the garden with them and being outside. It’s really beautiful, active co-creation.

(Stella)

So you both are involved in, you just both talked about things that pop that UNC bubble, and go out and get involved in the Greater Chapel Hill/Carrboro community. Why do you think that’s important? And what are ways that maybe some other scholars could do that?

(Maggie)

It’s really important to pop the bubble because for the rest of our lives, we’re not going to be living in a bubble. We are responsible for approaching community in a way that’s very holistic and not—I think that the bubble can be really tunnel-vision inducing, and I think there are tons of ways to do that. There’s like, HYPE. There’s volunteering in local schools. They always—plug: Chapel Hill-Carrboro city schools always need teacher assistants and volunteers. Campus Y is amazing. Oh, my gosh, the Campus Y. I was also involved in Campus Y during my time here. And, yeah, that’s a great way to do it. There’s other ways, I’m sure.

(Roli)

I echo everything Maggie said. It’s just important to remove yourself from the bubble that you’re in and get into the real world because not the rest of the real world is a college town, which we forget sometimes. And you should also look into Student Life & Leadership. They have so many programs that will guide you if you are interested in getting off campus.

(Stella)

I’ll definitely have to look into those, those are great suggestions. While you both seem very successful and have gotten involved in these organizations that you love and are passionate about, we all know that failure is unavoidable. So what was your biggest challenge at UNC, and how did you overcome it? If you could go back in time, what advice would you give to yourself, or what advice do you have to scholars who may be experiencing similar dilemmas?

(Roli)

This is a bit of a cliché one because all Moreheads say this, but probably just failure. I was so bad at so many things, and coming in, obviously, where I’m from, we don’t have the whole liberal arts thing, so we don’t have to do, like, a history class from beyond the North Atlantic, random things like that. So I was just so bad at it, and I was like, “I hate this. Why am I doing it?” An example is like, I studied abroad, and I took a macroeconomics course, and I was so bad. And this is my major. Like, I need that course. I was so bad, my teacher told me to drop out. I was like, “No can do, I have to do this.” But I just persevered, honestly. I knew what my goal was. I knew I needed to get the class credit, and I just did what I had to do. I was resourceful. I knew I wasn’t necessarily good at math or academically, so I upped my grade in other ways. I was very very very vocal in recitations. I made sure I got my participation up, even if I was wrong. And I just encourage people to be bold and be loud, even if you’re wrong, because there’s no harm in effort. Effort goes a long way, and as long as you know what you’re trying to get and what you’re trying to aim for, and you’re audacious with it, normally you will get a good outcome.

(Maggie)

Yeah. My biggest challenge was in the spring of my junior year. So April, March of junior year, my dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and I had a whole GP planned. I was just about to submit my application for GP, and I dropped that immediately. And he ended up, I spent the summer with him. He went to hospice, and I really spent my days reading and hanging out and just really being with him. And then he actually passed away first the first week of classes this year. And that, I mean, it was just, it’s been immensely challenging, navigating school with such an immense loss. And I think there’s really only one way to deal with such immense grief and sadness, and that’s to lean on the community, and give yourself space and grace to take time to heal. I was really fortunate to underload during the fall, which gave me a lot of time to cook and bake and go on long walks with friends, and I ended up deloading a lot of my school commitments, which was really hard to do. All of the things that I do, I really loved, but I knew that I couldn’t juggle everything, and I think just engaging in remembrance of my dad every day is something that also has helped me through and being really committed to honoring his memory and everything that he did to get me here. So, yeah, that was my biggest challenge.

I did fail as well. I talk about writing, and I love writing, and I just got rejected from the poetry program. I just got rejected, and dealing with that rejection was, there was nothing I could do. I ended up taking another writing class, which I was actually quite good at, so that was cool. And I had to be brave to reenter the realm of failure, but that was a major rejection, really. I had to pivot after that. I was thinking I was going to be a creative writing minor, and I was not; I was rejected.

(Stella)

Well, I appreciate you both sharing some hard but also really inspiring stories about how, of course, you seem very successful, but it definitely takes some failures and challenges to get through that, and I think the listeners will really appreciate hearing your stories.

So looking back at your four years at UNC, this is kind of a broad question, but what is a memory that stands out? Whether it’s crazy, funny, surprising, any of that?

(Maggie)

It’s a bit cliché, but last year, the Duke game, Final Four, the university and the town just came alive. I have never seen so many people running around Chapel Hill. It felt like everyone I’d known in my, I took a stop out, so in eight years at UNC, was suddenly back in town. It was awesome running into folks that you’d kind of vaguely known a few years before. And then when we actually won, I rushed Franklin Street, and I was quite close, and so I was one of the first people there, and there was just this massive crush of bodies. Everyone, the collective joy was electric. It was amazing. And I ended up getting access, like, we went on a rooftop to overlook everything, and it was just this undulating sea of Carolina blue. People screaming, chanting, crying of joy, of happiness. And it really reminded me how cool of a community Carolina is and honestly how awesome school spirit is.

(Stella)

So at your time at UNC, is there anything that stands out that is something or someone you are grateful for? Or where did you find your closest community at UNC?

(Roli)

Coming in, I remember me and all the Brits were asking like, “Oh, do you think you’ll be friends with other Moreheads?” And we were like, ”Nah, it’s probably not going to be the best way to find friends. Let’s branch out and see what else UNC has to offer.“ And funnily enough, two of my best friends are Moreheads. It didn’t even happen on purpose. They were actually just cool, and then we started hanging out, and now here we are really really really close. And we’re not friends just because we’re Moreheads, we have so much more in common than that, which is like a nice thing. It’s not like we all bunch together and only have this insular community, so I’m very grateful for them. My biggest community is probably my friends. I’ve never had a friend group that’s so close. We’re so cohesive, and we’re all as close to each other as one another, and I’m just really really grateful for that. I feel like when we move from here, I’ve got people in different cities I can reach out to and just, friendships where people value you for who you intrinsically are is just such a nice community to have on campus.

(Stella)

How are you planning on staying in touch with that close community when you all live in different places? I know you’ll be in Atlanta, and I’m sure not everyone will be there. So what are your plans for that?

(Roli)

It’s tough. We’ve all tried to commit to like a girls trip once a year, so hopefully I’ll see them there, running it back for spring break. But also just we have social media now, we have each other’s numbers, and flights are really cheap. We’re going to try and see each other as much as we can, and just staying in contact and keeping updated and making our relationships a priority is really important.

(Stella)

Awesome. That sounds great. Maggie, what is something or someone you are grateful for?

(Maggie)

Actually, two of my closest friends I met, one at Finals Weekend, Megan Lienau, and the other, Charlie Tran, I met on my NOLS trip. And the continued friendship has been really beautiful. I mean, we’ve watched each other grow up from little baby first years who had really no idea what we were doing, into almost full adult human beings who feel a bit more confident about moving throughout the world. And we’ve all gone through so much together, and it’s been so great to have people that know you and remember you and have seen you change. So honestly, a lot of radical change. And yeah, that continuation of support. I also have had really some really really supportive professors, one in my major of food studies. She’s really encouraged me to go into food and really cultivate that love for it. And I have a geology professor who’s awesome. His name is Drew.

(Stella)

You both talked about meeting friends even as early as Finals Weekend or your freshman year. So when you think back to your high school self during that time accepting the Morehead-Cain, what aspect of the scholarship were you not aware of but ended up benefiting from?

(Maggie)

I didn’t know that the building had unlimited tea and coffee, and I come here almost every day for my tea order, which I make myself of two hot cinnamon spice teas, oat milk, and a sugar packet. And it’s gotten me through a lot of tough times.

(Stella)

I definitely think the free coffee and drinks and tea is a great perk of the scholarship.

(Maggie)

Yeah, I love it.

(Stella)

I love it. So you both talked about your contributions at UNC and all of your, you talked about HYPE, and you talked about C-START. And I’m wondering, what contribution do you think you’ll be remembered by, or what are you most proud of during your time at UNC?

(Maggie)

I don’t really think I’m going to be remembered, and that’s okay. There are so many people at UNC who are always doing really amazing things, and I’m leaving, I’m graduating, and there’s going to be a new group of super awesome first years coming in next year. And, yeah, I don’t really think I’ll be remembered, and I’m very at peace with that. I think that’s a beautiful thing to recognize that our place here is transient, and we made the most of it and hopefully impacted some people for the better. But at the end of the day, there’s a continuous flow of people moving in and out of here. It’s powerful to think of yourself as, honestly think of yourself as small sometimes. I’m just like a small part of this really big community here, and I found my place here, and I hope others can do the same.

(Stella)

That was beautiful. Thank you for your answer. So, last question. Some of the listeners of this episode may be UNC students who still have time before they graduate or even incoming freshmen. What is the one piece of advice that you would give them?

(Roli)

I would say say yes to everything. Well, everything, not dangerous things, but say yes to a lot of things. I don’t know if it’s like the way I grew up or anything, I’m a bit of a homebody, naturally, and it’s easy for me to just want to be inside watching TV. But just saying yes and being bold and doing things I wouldn’t normally do has just opened so many doors for me. For example, I studied abroad in Singapore, which I haven’t mentioned, but it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. I would very very very much encourage UNC students to say yes to that opportunity. There’s just not really another time in your life where you’ll get the chance to study in another country for five months or just live in another country for five months with such low stakes. I went to Singapore and had the best time, and even while out there, I did things I wouldn’t ever, ever thought I would have done. I thought I was going to stay in Singapore for five months and come home, but I met some wild and fun and incredible people, and next thing you know, I was on a remote island in Cambodia, and I was just having the greatest time and just saying yes to things. And it just opens doors and helps you meet people that just expand what you thought was possible in the world.

(Maggie)

I think this kind of goes back to the last question about what I’m proud of. A few months before my dad passed away, we were driving just down a road in Tampa, and he has two sets of children, so he has four kids, and he said, “I’ve raised kids 30 years apart, and I never wanted my kids, I never needed my kids to make a lot of money or be influential. Really, my main goal was to raise curious children, and I’m really proud that I’ve done that.” And I think that is the thing that I’m proudest of, is that I’ve cultivated curiosity, and that’s my biggest piece of advice to incoming students is hone in on that. Let yourself explore. Let yourself do things that might not align with your major, might not align with anything, you just think that they’re awesome and want to try it out. I mean, I took a class on mushroom foraging through the Lovelace fund, and that’s really changed my outlook on life. Find something fun and funky. Find something that you’re not going to put on your resume that you’re curious about. Mine was making recipes for different types of cookies, tampering away in my little kitchen with different types of flour, different sugars. I’ve been doing that actually since high school, but I got really into it in college. Yeah, do something you love, something that really lights your fire.

(Stella)

Awesome. So, listeners, say yes to everything, and find something fun and funky. Thank you guys for listening to Catalyze. I’m Stella Smolowitz from the class of ’26, and that was Maggie and Roli from the class of ’23. You can let us know what you thought of the episode by emailing us at communications@moreheadcain.org or by following us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook at morehead-cain. Thank you for listening.

(Charlotte Dorn ’23)

My advice would be that you should listen to your gut and to your body. And if you’re not in touch with your intuition yet, then you should really take the time to investigate what brings you joy and what brings you enthusiasm, and then really follow that passion and listen to that. Oh, and take care of yourself.

(Amy Feng ’23)

My name is Amy, and one person I’m grateful for is Tess McGrinder. She is my best friend and also part of the class of 2023. She always inspires me to be kind and wholehearted in everything that I do and always makes me feel better when I’ve had a hard day.

(Roli)

My favorite experience was studying abroad and just going to a place I never imagined going to. And that was all facilitated by this scholarship, which I’ll be forever grateful for.

(McKenzie Martin ’23)

I was on the all-scholar NOLS trip the summer before my freshman year, and I’m continually astounded by how close I’ve stayed with the six girls on that trip. So to Noor, Mabel, Miranda, Naomi, Tyla, and Eleanor, thank you so much for your friendship, and I’m so glad to have shared these four years with you. Love you guys.

(Kartik Tyagi ’23)

I’ve come to appreciate what it means to chart your own journey, to find what it is I’m really, truly passionate about, and with everything I’ve got, to go for it, to do so with the support of an entire community behind me, that of the Morehead-Cain network.