#GDTBATH: Jessica Hamilton
As the co-chair of Carolina Fever, Jessica Hamilton is helping build school spirit by filling the seats at all Tar Heel competitions.
Jessica Hamilton knows what it feels like to compete with no fans in the stands.
As a high school softball player in Clinton, North Carolina, she felt how the empty bleachers can take a shot at the team’s morale. Now a senior at Carolina, she is helping build school spirit by filling the seats at all Tar Heel competitions.
“I want to make sure that we’re supporting everyone. These are people we’re in classes with, these are our friends,” Hamilton said. “I think it’s really important that we’re supporting all the sports equally.”
Hamilton, a pre-pharmacy student who is majoring in communications, is the co-chair of Carolina Fever, a student group that runs a rewards-based program to encourage students to attend University’s sporting events.
As long as students swipe their One Card before the start of a game and leave after the singing of the alma mater, they collect Carolina Fever points that can be used for rewards including T-shirts, meet and greets with coaches and guaranteed tickets for some of the year’s biggest games.
In her role as co-chair, Hamilton serves as a liaison between students and the athletics department, working with administrators to develop the Carolina Fever schedule and planning staffing for events. She also leads a cabinet of directors that conducts the group’s marketing, fundraising, special events and gameday tasks.
The opportunity to serve as a Carolina Fever leader, Hamilton said, has provided real-world experience that she plans to use in her pharmacy career.
“It’s helped me get a lot of professional development opportunities because I am meeting with people who are professional staff,” she said. “It’s been a really great opportunity to work alongside peers but have the chance to interact with people in the professional world and see what their jobs are.”
Hamilton and the Carolina Fever team work to get students to non-revenue generating sports, including gymnastics, wrestling, swimming and diving, track and field and softball.
“We want to bring more people to the sports that don’t get as much attention,” Hamilton said. “They’re a lot of fun, and sometimes students wouldn’t think to go otherwise. It builds the morale of the student section all around instead of it just being football and basketball.”
Those student sections, Hamilton said, serve as more than just a crowd of cheers for the Tar Heels on the field or court. It’s also a way to make new friends who share interests.
Hamilton said she struggled to find friends to swing by a tennis match with or to watch a wrestling meet with as a first-year student. Through Carolina Fever and the student sections it helps fill out, she found some of her closest friends.
“I’ve gotten to meet a close-knit community of friends through this group,” she said. “Coming here with so many students can be a little bit overwhelming, and it can seem kind of hard to find your group and find your niche of people. This makes the campus feel a little bit smaller.”
