The night Tyrell Carter was admitted to University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, he couldn’t fall asleep.

That’s because Carter, a Washington High School senior, will be the first person in his family to attend college. He is able to in part because of UNC’s Carolina Covenant program, which allows eligible low-income students to graduate from the university debt-free through scholarships, grants and work-study, according to the program’s website.

“I just wanted a better life for me and my family,” Carter said. “Education, as I was always told, is the key, so I worked really hard, and I pushed myself.”

Carter is both excited and nervous to go to college, he said. This summer, he will be living on campus and participating in the Summer Bridge program, which helps first-generation students adapt to school.

“They mentor you and have study time,” he said. “They teach you study habits before you actually get into the fall semester.”

As part of the program, Carter will live in Chapel Hill from June 20-July 1 and take an English and math course.

When he applied to college, he was not expecting to get in to UNC, he said. Carter applied to UNC, North Carolina State University and Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and planned to go to Regent until the scholarship situation fell through.

However, he said that he is happy the way things worked out. Carter said that being a Carolina Covenant scholar is “kind of everything. It’s, like, what you work for.”

At UNC, he plans to study business administration and hopes to one day open a consulting firm.

In high school, Carter worked hard inside and outside of the classroom. As far as extracurricular activities go, Carter said he “did a little bit of everything.”

He was in both concert and marching band, where he was the section leader of the drum line. Carter also was yearbook editor his senior year, captain of the chess club and participated in DECA for two years. He’s also held down a job at Backwater Jack’s Tiki Bar and Grill for the past year.

Carter grew up in Washington and lives with his mother, Steffie Peterson. When asked about his mom’s reaction to Carter receiving admission to UNC, Carter grinned.

“That made her year, her decade,” he said. “She is really, really excited.”