Jared Keever

Hometown:  Dunn, N.C.

High School: Triton High School

Intended Major: Undecided

“The feeling of helping people is so much better than getting something for yourself.
Focus on serving others

Though studying abroad is a new experience for many college students, Jared Keever is already a world traveler.

He has visited the Ukraine twice and Belize three times on mission trips with the First Baptist Church in Dunn, where his father is a pastor. In the Ukraine, Keever and other volunteers built a center providing foster care for youths who might otherwise be homeless. Their work in Belize centered on the construction of hurricane shelters in an impoverished part of the country.

Keever, 17, will be one of 19 incoming freshman entering East Carolina University this August as EC Scholars – the most prestigious academic scholarship the university offers.

He considered numerous other North Carolina universities, including Wake Forest, UNC and N.C. State, but the opportunity to be an EC Scholar was too good to pass up. Urged to take a tour by his aunt – who works in admissions at ECU – he said the university “really felt like a place that could be home.”

Keever also felt that he wouldn’t feel pressured to immediately choose a major and career path at ECU. He likes history – particularly European history – and science, but isn’t sure what he wants to do with his life just yet. Whatever he may decide, it will likely focus on serving others.

“I like helping people and I feel like getting people out of bad situations is a good thing,” he said. “The feeling of helping people is so much better than getting something for yourself.”

Keever is looking forward to the annual day of service that ECU Honors College students participate in across the community on the day after move-in. And he hopes to spend part of this summer assisting victims of Superstorm Sandy in New Jersey who are still struggling to rebuild.

“There are still a lot of people who need homes,” he explained. “It takes time for that kind of recovery.”

In addition to logging numerous hours of community service during his tenure at Triton High School, Keever is president of the Beta Club and runs track and cross country.

His parents are Len and Catherine Keever.

  —  Kathryn Kennedy