Sierra Carter

Sierra Carter

Sullivan Award winner packs a lot (of scholarships) into four years

  • Hometown: Britton's Neck, S.C.
  • High School: Creek Bridge High School
  • Major: English
  • Video (1:29)

The recipient of the university's prestigious Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, Sierra Carter has a resume that reads like that of a CEO more than twice her age. At 22, the English major has garnered a list of accomplishments that will serve her well in her life after graduation.

In July, Carter will go to Indonesia where she will teach English. Until then, she said, “I have two months of packing.”

At Carolina, Carter was a Gates Millennium scholar, a Ronald E. McNair scholar, a Jane E. Hunter scholar and a recipient of the George Rogers Foundations of the Carolinas Inc. Scholarship and William Way Scholarship. A South Carolina Honors College student, Carter was a 2006 finalist for the Harry S. Truman Scholarship and has been on the President's List since 2003.

Active in student life, Carter has been a member of the Opportunity Scholars Program, the Empowerment Institute, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Alpha Lambda Delta, Women's Mentoring Network, Association of African-American Students, SAVVY and the Britton's Neck Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee. She was vice president of the Golden Key International honor society, a writer for the Garnet & Black, a site leader for the university's MLK Service Day and a member of the Bethel A.M.E. Inspirational Choir.

One of her fondest memories was the opportunity to be a student educator for the Earth Festival, an event in which university students helped elementary- and middle-school students learn more about their environment. She created a rap recording in “Spanglish” for the students.

“It was so much fun to work with the students,” she said. “It gave me a chance to be creative and teach at the same time.”

Instrumental in the development of the Minority Honors Student Union, Carter was named the TRIO Spotlight Student in 2005, a finalist for the 2006 USC Woman of the Year award, and a recipient of the TRIO Academic Award of Excellence (2003 - 2007). She received the University 101 Essay Award in 2003 and was elected a peer leader for University 101 in 2007.

It's no wonder Carter said that she will miss “the people” she met at the university. She's had the opportunity to know so many of them through all of her classes and activities.

“The faculty, staff, other students, the cafeteria workers ... all the people who make the university what it is,” she said, “are the people I'll miss.”

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The University of South Carolina's 2008 graduates are off and running. Some have already landed their first real jobs. Others have enrolled in prestigious graduate programs throughout the country. Learn more about a few of these former students and where they've landed.