Charles W. Hands III
Photo by Jon Gardiner
Charles W. Hands III
Chair, Carolina Covenant alumni advisory board
Class year
2014
Scholarships and enrichment programs
N.C. homes
Wilmington and Charlotte
Charles Hands is keeping his promise to the Carolina Covenant
The Charlotte attorney and former Covenant scholar mentors Tar Heel students who remind him of his younger self.
Charles Hands ’14 learned about the Carolina Covenant twice.
The first time came as a high school senior when he found out what the Covenant is.
Already accepted into Carolina, he opened another letter that told him he would be a Covenant scholar and have the opportunity to graduate debt-free. He jumped and celebrated with his mom inside their Wilmington home and knew Chapel Hill was in his future.
The second time came the spring semester of his first year as a Tar Heel when he experienced the program's comprehensive support system.
The adjustment to college was becoming difficult for the first-generation student. Hands decided to temporarily pause his studies.
Even as a student in Chapel Hill, Hands knew he wanted to support the Carolina Covenant beyond graduation. He now meets with and mentors Tar Heels as co-chair of the Carolina Covenant alumni advisory board. (Jeyhoun Allebaugh/UNC-Chapel Hill)
But he continued to hear from the Covenant’s student-support staff. He remained one of their students, and they still cared about him.
“The Carolina Covenant was checking on me every week, every month,” Hands says. “They gave me online classes I could take, and they let me know the path I could take to return.”
Hands came back to school that summer and made a promise to Fred Clark, the Covenant’s academic coordinator at the time.
“When I’m on the other side of things,” Hands recalls saying, “I promise I will come back, and I will always support the Carolina Covenant program.”
Hands is keeping that promise. He made it through that rough patch and never looked back, graduating from Carolina and attending law school at North Carolina Central University. He now practices law in Charlotte.
“I promise I will come back, and I will always support the Carolina Covenant program.”
Lawyering gives Hands purpose and fulfills his desire to help others, as does another role he serves in: co-chair of the Carolina Covenant alumni advisory board.
The volunteer position brings him back to Chapel Hill throughout the year and lets Hands mentor Tar Heels he sees himself in.
“I love meeting and finding those students because they recognize that I was just like them, but I was able to make it work,” Hands says. “I was able to be successful in this space, which lets them know, ‘I can do that, too.’”
More than
Carolina Covenant scholars in the past 20 years
Nearly
of undergraduate students graduate without student loans.
Coming to Carolina
While Hands now mentors college students, he was once unsure if college was in his future.
But his mother taught her son an important lesson early in life that’s stuck with him: “If you’re going to put your name on something, it needs to be something you’ll be proud of.”
Hands witnessed his mother live out this mantra through her work as a nursing assistant with older adults and people with disabilities. That, combined with lessons of perseverance instilled by his father, a Marine veteran, meant that Hands was always giving his best at school.
As a high schooler, he was selected to spend a summer doing scientific research on a college campus, a life-changing experience.
“I went back to Wilmington a completely different person,” he says. “I knew what college was. I knew that I could do it.”
Growing up in Wilmington, Hands modeled his approach to schoolwork and life after his mother's work as a nursing assistant, a role that required dedication and compassion. (Submitted photo)
When it came to picking a school, Hands needed to consider not only campus environment and caliber of education but also affordability. Carolina checked each box.
“The harsh reality was if I didn’t have the money to be able to make it there, it just wouldn’t be a possibility for me,” he says. “Receiving the Covenant and having a full-ride scholarship made it where, ‘Hey, I can actually come and just be able to focus on my studies and not have to worry about how am I going to pay for food, for housing, for books.’ I can really show up and just be the best me.”
“I didn’t feel alone anymore because I had the Carolina Covenant.”
While at Carolina, Hands found community through the Carolina Covenant and also enjoyed participating in Communiversity, student-led initiative that assists local schoolchildren. (John Roberts/UNC-Chapel Hill)
Hands found community with the Covenant, whether it was his regular meetings with Clark or pizza and movie nights at Peabody Hall with schoolmates.
“I didn’t feel alone anymore because I had the Carolina Covenant,” he says.
Hands also found joy by participating in Communiversity, a program sponsored by the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Research in Black Culture and History that assists local schoolchildren with after-school activities.
Hands graduated from the North Carolina Central School of Law in 2017 and now works as an attorney in Charlotte. (Submitted photo)
“It made me for the first time feel like I was impacting someone else,” he says.
Hands told Clark that he wanted to do something to help those around him, be visible in the community and inspire others. The academic coordinator told Hands a law degree would allow him to do all three and helped Hands and fellow Covenant scholars receive free access to LSAT prep courses.
As an attorney, Hands now represents clients in civil jury trials and also helps members of his community with family estate planning.
And when it comes to his work with current Covenant scholars, that's also something he can be proud to put his name on.
“I love knowing how they think,” Hands says. “I often say things they haven’t said, and they’ll ask, ‘How did you know that?’ It’s because that’s how I used to look at it when I was a student.”
Story by Brennan Doherty, University Communications. Video by John Roberts, University Communications.
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