NC-HCAP News

Tneshia Sweat receives first annual Patrena B. Majette Leadership Award
04.29.03

Chapel Hill, NC—As a student at UNC, Tneshia Sweat has proven herself a leader, both to her fellow students and to her community. This April, Sweat's hard work and commitment was recognized as she was awarded the first annual Patrena B. Majette Leadership Award by the North Carolina Health Careers access Program (NC-HCAP). A sophomore with a passion to practice medicine, Sweat is a proven scholar and, in her short academic career at Carolina, has won numerous awards. In addition to being a Pogue, Gates Millennium, National Merit and Robert C. Byrd Scholar, she received the Sonya B. Hayes Stone Black Cultural Center's Excellence Award, to name a few. She is also working as an undergraduate research assistant in the physics department at UNC.

Given all this, it is her commitment to leadership and volunteerism that is most inspiring. At a time when most students are just getting their bearings and thinking of majors, Sweat has volunteered at the pediatric playroom, the Ronald McDonald House and Communiversity. In addition, she's been active in minority student recruitment, Health Focus, the Campus Y and College Ministry. This past year, she headed the Voice of Many Colors Project of the Carolina Women's Center, was captain of the Relay for Life Team, was Education Committee Chair of the NC -HCAP Ambassadors Program and was recently elected Executive Coordinator for the 2003-2004 Ambassadors.

A native of Jacksonville, NC, Sweat plans to pursue a career in medicine and plans to become a pediatrician focusing on infectious diseases. Her goal is to work with children who have the AIDS virus.

The Patrena B. Majette Leadership Award seeks to honor the accomplishments of an NC-HCAP Ambassador Program member who has distinguished himself or herself among the group in the area of leadership. The recipient embodies the qualities of the award's namesake by being an emerging leader of vision, service-mindedness, superior communication skills and organizational focus. He or she will exhibit an outstanding ability to not only lead within the group, but also to become a campus and community leader outside of Ambassador-related activities. The award is named for Patrena B. Majette, the co-founder of the Ambassador Program and tireless student advocate and UNC-Chapel Hill administrative leader, and carries with it a monetary scholarship donated by Majette.

Established as an official UNC-Chapel Hill student organization in 1998, the NC-HCAP Ambassador Program selects outstanding, qualified students to help guide African-American, Native-American, Hispanic/Latino, and other underrepresented groups toward successful futures within the health professions. Ambassadors make presentations to campus student groups, conduct workshops on health care and health professions topics, assist NC-HCAP staff with off-campus projects, and serve as tutors and mentors to area public school students. In addition, they participate in activities and workshops that focus on career planning, preparation for graduate and professional school and financial aid.

For more information on NC-HCAP, the Ambassador Program, or the Patrena B. Majette Award, please call (919) 966-2264 or visit the NC-HCAP office in Suite 351 in the UNC School of Social Work, Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building.