Sixty scholars from universities across the southeast recently completed the 2010 Science Enrichment Preparation (SEP) Program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The North Carolina Health Careers Access Program (NC-HCAP) conducts this eight-week, honors-level academic enrichment program annually for underrepresented minority and educationally/economically disadvantaged students planning to pursue health careers.
In addition to strengthening their basic science backgrounds through rigorous courses including human physiology, organic chemistry, physics and quantitative skills/ biostatistics, scholars also participated in health professions seminars, toured area health schools and shadowed local practicing health professionals.
The scholars were honored at a graduation celebration on July 9 and outstanding students were recognized. Highest honors awards were given to those students who attained the highest overall grade point average (GPA) for the entire program and were presented by Paula Borden, NC-HCAP associate director and pre-college coordinator.
Linda Ohadugha, a junior at UNC, received the overall highest honors award
given to the scholar with the highest GPA in the 60-student class. In second place was Devin Holland, also a junior at UNC; and Ethan Chavis, a UNC-Pembroke senior, was third in the program.
Established in 1971 by Cecil G. Sheps, NC-HCAP is an inter-institutional program of the University of North Carolina system designed to increase the number of underrepresented minority and educationally/ economically disadvantage students who successfully pursue health careers.