Please allow me to introduce you to Carolina Kelly, a second-year Communications Studies major here at Vol State. She’s originally from White House, Tenn., and is on track to graduate this May with her Associate of Science degree.
And, as of last week, she is the Tennessee Board of Regents Community College Student of the Year for 2025. We’re incredibly proud, of course, and I think you deserve to get to know her better.
(Answers lightly edited for brevity and clarity.)
Why did you choose Vol State?
Tennessee Promise. I was debating whether or not to go to college just because of how much money it cost. I was considering a school in New York City, and originally came to Vol State to get my general education requirements out of the way before I went to fashion school.
I ran fashion business in high school where I upcycled clothes for music performers. It became a dream of mine to make stage outfits for Bonnaroo. And I thought I would achieve that when I was like, 30, 35, but I opened up my own business during COVID and a local DJ reached out to me to make her a stage outfit for Bonnaroo. I was 17 at the time. And so that was like my life goals. I was like, man, what do I do now.
So I came to Vol State, and I took Dr. Hill’s communication class, and I was like, this is really cool and really interesting. She really opened my eyes up to just how many opportunities there are in the world and higher education specifically, and I became really passionate about higher education.
How did you get from Dr. Hill’s class to being a COMM major?
Well, I really enjoyed her first-year experience class, so I took her comm class and the information just seemed like second nature. I connected to it. And then she was telling me all these different career paths. I’ve always heard it’s one of the most versatile degrees and it definitely feels like it.
What do you want to do with your Comm degree?
So I want to go into public policy. Some of my long-term goals are ensuring that every person in America has the opportunity to go to college for at least two years for free because I know I’ve been very bleeds by that opportunity that comes with Tennessee Promise. I just plan to make that an opportunity for everybody.
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Carolina also serves as the Chapter President of Vol State’s Beta Delta Kappa chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa community college honors society, which recently earned a prestigious five-star chapter status, the highest possible rating. PTK members refer to her as “Madam President.”
Talk to me about your extracurriculars. How’d you get involved in those?
Pi Theta Kappa, I got an invitation in my email and it said top ten percent [of students]. So I went to the induction ceremony. Then fall came around and I started getting a lot more involved. And the last meeting of spring semester I was voted in as the president.
We worked with the college administration on a collaborative project. We focused on intimate partner violence prevention and education. So we already got a speaker from the sexual assault center to come in and talk about healthy dating relationships, resources that are available in the Middle Tennessee area, and we provided students with drink tester cards. We reached over 125 students with that.
And then with another student, Lex, we started NAMI On Campus, which stands for National Alliance on Mental Illness. So it’s a mental health initiative. We advocate for mental health services here on campus, organize people, making sure we’re all taking care of our mental health. We had our first event last Thursday.
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How do you think you’ve changed during your time at Vol State?
I think I’ve gained a very different and much, much wider perspective of people and some of the communities they’re in. I’ve seen people who are single moms, working full-time job who are also in college, and that motivation and that determination was astounding me. People who are my same age, working full-time, paying rent and in college. People who are retirees and they’re coming to class. My first day of classes, I had never been in the classroom with anyone who had tattoos, who was a mom. We’re all there for the same purpose.
What advice would you give to high school juniors and seniors who are thinking about where to go to college right now?
Go to community college. It prepares you. Community college prepared me, academically, socially, mentally. It matured me.
