Through independent exploration, purposeful challenges, and the support of a lifelong community, Morehead-Cain Scholars discover what they’re capable of and how they can make a difference.
This story is part of the 2026 Morehead-Cain Day of Giving series, celebrating a decade of collective generosity and the formative experiences, opportunities, and connections our alumni community has helped make possible.
Devin Duncan ’28, UNC–Chapel Hill Student Body President, at New Student Convocation on August 16, 2026 (photo by Jon Gardiner/UNC–Chapel Hill)
What does it take to develop leaders who strengthen communities?
At Morehead-Cain, the answer begins with a belief that has guided the Foundation for more than eight decades: investing in promising young leaders can create an impact that extends far beyond their years in college.
John Motley Morehead III established the Foundation in 1945 with a vision for educating and developing future leaders. Gordon and Mary Cain helped carry that vision forward through their extraordinary philanthropy, strengthening a legacy that continues to shape generations of Morehead-Cains.
Today, the Foundation fulfills that promise by identifying, investing in, and empowering a community of dynamic, purpose-driven leaders.
We call this college as it should be.
It is an undergraduate experience that combines rigorous study at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with purposeful challenges, opportunities for discovery, and a community that remains invested in scholars’ growth throughout their lives.
The Morehead-Cain Leadership Development Model is built on three interconnected elements: high expectations, stretch experiences, and sustained engagement. Scholars are encouraged to pursue ambitious goals, embrace unfamiliar challenges, reflect on what they learn, and apply their talents in service of others.
Alumni help make these experiences possible through their generosity, expertise, professional connections, and enduring commitment to the Morehead-Cain community.
Their impact comes to life through the stories of scholars and alumni.
When curiosity becomes connection
Lovelace Fund for Discovery
Kemp Gouldin ’02 and Olu Kopano ’26
For Olu Kopano ’26, an interest in how sports can strengthen communities led him to Egypt, where he connected with an alumnus using baseball to bring people together across cultures.
Through the Lovelace Fund for Discovery, Olu traveled to participate in an event organized by Because Baseball, a nonprofit founded by Kemp Gouldin ’02. The organization works with schools, orphanages, and community partners to help young people connect through sport.
During a Major League Baseball Play Ball Weekend in Egypt, Olu joined coaches and young athletes from different backgrounds, witnessing firsthand how a shared experience on the baseball field could foster relationships across cultures.
An introduction through another Morehead-Cain Alumnus connected Olu with Kemp, demonstrating how the alumni network can help scholars explore their interests and discover new opportunities.
More than $2 million in grants awarded since the Lovelace Fund’s creation in 2010
Named after Chuck Lovelace ’77, former executive director of Morehead-Cain, The Lovelace Fund for Discovery provides scholars with up to $8,000 in grants over their undergraduate journeys to develop new skills, pursue independent projects, learn from experts, and explore interests beyond their academic coursework.
Last year, 280 Lovelace Fund projects were completed by scholars, sending them to thirty-eight countries. Since the fund’s creation in 2010, more than $2 million has been awarded to support scholars’ independent exploration and discovery.
For Olu, the experience brought together two interests—sports and community building—and revealed how both could contribute to his future pursuits.
Listen to Olu’s conversation with Kemp Gouldin about Because Baseball and the power of community.
Learning to lead through the unexpected
International Gap Year and Outdoor Leadership
Morehead-Cain Scholars and their NOLS instructors, with the Alaska Range in the background
For Maria Tan ’30, an important lesson in leadership came far from a classroom, in Alaska’s Talkeetna Mountains.
Before beginning her undergraduate journey at Carolina, Maria spent three weeks backpacking with fellow Morehead-Cain Scholars through the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS). The course was part of her Outdoor Leadership experience, completed during her International Gap Year.
The group carried its own equipment, learned wilderness navigation and risk management, and gradually assumed greater responsibility for daily decisions. After demonstrating their skills, the scholars completed the final three days of the course independently.
Along the way, they encountered rain, snow, hail, physical exhaustion, and the unfamiliar demands of wilderness travel.
The experience challenged Maria to adapt, trust her teammates, and find strength in shared responsibility. She came away with a deeper appreciation for resilience and the importance of approaching others with humility, acceptance, and curiosity.
Morehead-Cain provides up to $8,000 in funding for approved gap years with a significant international component, giving scholars an opportunity to explore unfamiliar environments and gain perspective before beginning college.
17 scholars explored the world during their International Gap Year last year
While Maria’s Alaska course was a domestic Outdoor Leadership experience within her broader gap year, it illustrates how Morehead-Cain encourages scholars to begin challenging themselves even before their first semester.
Including Maria, seventeen scholars explored the world during their gap year and started their first year on campus in fall 2026.
For Maria, the lessons extended beyond wilderness skills. She discovered the value of relying on others, staying open to the unexpected, and finding joy even when circumstances were difficult.
Read Maria’s story of resilience, teamwork, and finding joy in the unexpected.
Creating Space for Purposeful Growth
Progress Conversations
(From left) Susan Adler Alesina ’86, Sebastian Nabatoff ’19, and Kendall Ford ’28 at Progress Conversations on April 25, 2025 (Photo by Emma Coye ’26)
With so many opportunities available during college, knowing when to pursue something new and when to reconsider an existing commitment can be a challenge of its own.
Progress Conversations help scholars make those decisions with greater intention.
Launched in 2024, the initiative pairs Morehead-Cain Scholars with alumni for structured conversations about their experiences, priorities, and aspirations. Since its inception, 177 scholars have been paired with fifty-one alumni spanning seven decades of Morehead-Cain experience.
Rather than prescribing a particular path, alumni serve as thoughtful conversation partners, asking questions that encourage scholars to examine their priorities, consider new perspectives, and make decisions aligned with their values.
More than 170 scholars have been paired with more than 50 alumni for Progress Conversations
For Dani Simon ’26, that reflection helped clarify an important decision.
A time-audit exercise prompted him to examine how he was spending his time at Carolina. He recognized that an activity he enjoyed was no longer providing the growth he sought, opening space to pursue a leadership role that would challenge him in new ways.
Through Progress Conversations, Dani worked with alumni coaches who encouraged him to focus less on following an expected professional path and more on the leadership and growth opportunities already in front of him.
The conversations gave Dani a chance to reassess his commitments and consider how he wanted to spend his remaining time at Carolina.
Explore how Progress Conversations help scholars reflect, grow, and make intentional choices.
Putting leadership to work in communities
Civic Collaboration
Civic Collaboration Team Minneapolis: Aran Jaiman ’29, Cora Hawfield ’29, Rowan Denis ’29, Caroline Dylewski ’29, and Logan Bly ’29
In Minneapolis, five Morehead-Cain Scholars spent eight weeks listening to neighbors, community organizers, nonprofit staff, and faith leaders to understand how people support one another during periods of disruption.
Through Civic Collaboration, the second summer of the Summer Enrichment Program, Logan Bly ’29, Rowan Denis ’29, Aran Jaiman ’29, Caroline Dylewski ’29, and Cora Hawfield ’29 partnered with Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light, where Buff Grace ’91 served as their host.
Their assignment was rooted in a pressing question: How do communities organize to help one another when familiar systems of support become more difficult to navigate?
The scholars conducted thirty-five interviews, learning how neighbors shared information, delivered assistance, and built networks of trust.
They translated those conversations into practical resources. Their findings informed a curriculum to help communities prepare for future disruptions, and the team developed a web application mapping aid and shelter resources across the Twin Cities.
The resources were designed to help residents locate assistance and strengthen connections within their neighborhoods.
19 Civic Collaboration teams worked alongside communities in North America in summer 2026
The Minneapolis project was one of nineteen Civic Collaboration experiences in summer 2026, marking the largest number of teams and scholars in the initiative’s ten-year history.
Civic Collaboration is one of four intentionally sequenced components of the Summer Enrichment Program, alongside Outdoor Leadership, Global Perspective, and Professional Experience.
For the Minneapolis team, the summer demonstrated the value of listening to a community before proposing solutions—and how research, collaboration, and practical tools can help neighbors support one another.
An investment that extends beyond Carolina
A grant that helps a scholar discover the power of sport to connect communities. A wilderness experience that strengthens resilience and teamwork. A conversation that inspires a more purposeful decision. A summer project that transforms community insights into practical resources.
Each experience is distinctive. Together, they illustrate the intentional approach behind college as it should be.
The generosity and engagement of Morehead-Cain Alumni help make these opportunities possible. Alumni invest financial resources, share professional expertise, open doors to new experiences, and offer counsel informed by their own journeys.
Their contributions strengthen a community in which generations of leaders continue to learn from and support one another.
That is the enduring promise of Morehead-Cain: an investment in one young leader can extend far beyond an undergraduate education, influencing the people, organizations, and communities they will serve throughout their lives.
As we celebrate a decade of the Morehead-Cain Day of Giving, these stories offer a glimpse of what that generosity makes possible, and the potential still waiting to be realized.
Together, we are investing not only in an intentionally designed college experience, but in generations of leaders prepared to make a lasting difference.
To the alumni whose generosity and engagement make these experiences possible: Thank you.
