#GDTBATH: Jaime DiLauro
UNC School of Government student Jaime DiLauro is using the skills she's learning at Carolina to help North Carolina students achieve their college dreams.
Going to college wasn’t always in the cards for Jaime DiLauro.
She grew up in eastern North Carolina’s rural Halifax County, where only about 14% of people have a bachelor’s degree — less than half the national average.
DiLauro was determined to be the first in her family to go to college. As an early college student at Halifax Community College, she began to get the resources she needed to make her goal a reality. One of those critical resources was a college counselor from the Carolina College Advising Corps.
With the help of the Carolina College Advising Corps, which helps low-income, first-generation and underrepresented students apply to and enroll in college, she made it to Carolina. In 2017, DiLauro graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public policy and women’s and gender studies.
Now, as a second-year student in the Master of Public Administration program at the UNC School of Government, she’s gaining the skills to help other students achieve their own college dreams and fall in love with their universities, just like she did with Carolina.
In high school, DiLauro and her classmates toured universities all over the state with their college counselor. When she came to Carolina, something clicked. While taking a tour and attending a show at Morehead Planetarium and Science Center, she was overcome by the beauty of Carolina and moved to tears.
“I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with Carolina,” she said. “I had no idea it had a reputation of being ‘number one.’ But I came to campus, and I was like, ‘Oh, I love this place.’ I knew it was the place for me.”
She loved Carolina so much that it was the only college she applied to.
“I did a very dumb thing,” DiLauro said. “But thankfully, I got in.”
Since she earned an associate’s degree in her early college program, DiLauro could have graduated from Carolina in two years. But she wanted to dive deeper into her studies, so she stayed for four.
“After my first year, it became apparent that I was not ready to graduate the next year,” she said. “But having that sort of epiphany was really good because I got to explore my interests more deeply.”
She decided to double major and added a minor in social and economic justice.
As she was wrapping up her undergraduate studies, she saw an opening for an e-adviser position with the College Advising Corps and knew she had found a career path. In that role, she served and advised more than 200 students across the country.
“It made perfect sense,” she said. “I had such a transformative advisor who helped me get here. So, if I can do that same thing for people who are just like me, I’m fortunate to do it.”
After working as an e-adviser, DiLauro realized she had a passion for public service and the non-profit sector, which led her to Carolina’s Master of Public Administration program. DiLauro hopes that her work will help other students from towns like hers attend college and realize their potential.
“It’s no secret that higher education transforms peoples’ lives,” DiLauro said. “And it’s no secret that certain populations are left out and not included in higher education. So, I think that ensuring equal access is the most important thing that we can do.”
