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Capturing Carolina Photos showing how Tar Heels learn, work and play

Each day on the beautiful UNC-Chapel Hill campus, there are countless examples of Tar Heels learning, playing, researching, teaching and engaging with one another.

See photographs that capture what makes Carolina special.

Rolling in the deep end

Group of UNC-Chapel Hill students in scuba diving class underwater in Bowman Gray Memorial Pool.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍 Bowman Gray Memorial Pool
  • 📆 Dec. 2, 2025
  • 📝 Students in lecturer Tim Malone’s PHYA 227: Scuba course hopped into the pool one last time this semester to take their final exam, performing a series of dive tests. Stay tuned for a story from The Well about the class.

Colorful collaboration

A child and a policeman both painting a
  • 📸 Chase Martin/University Development
  • 📍 The Blue Zone at Kenan Stadium
  • 📆 Nov. 22, 2025
  • 📝 The Ackland Art Museum brought its “Color Triumphant” exhibit to game day in the form of a “paint by numbers” mural. Tar Heels used a team effort to complete the piece inspired by Vassily Kandinsky’s “Study for Autumn Landscape with Boats” painting. This community piece will be displayed at Memorial Hall from Dec. 2-9, and the real thing can be seen at the Ackland through Jan. 4, 2026.

Doors are open

UNC-Chapel Hill ROTC members walking into the Military and Veteran Student Success Center.

Free trim

  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍 Outside the Undergraduate Library
  • 📆 Nov. 7, 2025
  • 📝 Each week stylists from the Free Haircut Fridays student group offer trims at no charge from 1-4 p.m., a deal many Tar Heels take advantage of.

Open for business

Wide-angle shot of many people, spread across multiple floors of Bell Hall, celebrating its grand opening on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill as confetti falls.
  • 📸 Jeyhoun Allebaugh/University Development
  • 📍 Steven D. Bell Hall
  • 📆 Nov. 7, 2025
  • 📝 Carolina celebrated the grand opening of Bell Hall, a state-of-the-art building that doubles UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School’s space for learning, student life and community engagement. Bell Hall will start housing classes in spring 2026.

Scenic study spot

A UNC-Chapel Hill student, Isabella Sharpless, studying on her laptop while sitting horizontally across a bench outside of Old East Residence Hall on McCorkle Place. The Old East sign is seen in the background, as are the quad's trees and a brick pathway.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍 McCorkle Place
  • 📆 Nov. 4, 2025
  • 📝 First-year student Isabella Sharpless gets work done outdoors on a sunny fall day from a bench outside Old East Residence Hall.

Fun field trip

Schoolchildren cheering at a Carolina women's basketball game at Carmichael Arena.
  • 📸 Fletcher Jones/GoHeels
  • 📍 Carmichael Arena
  • 📆 Nov. 3, 2025
  • 📝 Hoops season has arrived, and thousands of local schoolchildren packed Carmichael Arena at 11 a.m. for Field Trip Day and cheered Carolina women’s basketball on to a season-opening victory against North Carolina Central — including an extended celebration when the Tar Heels reached 67 points.

Painting pumpkins

Three members of Carolina's CPALS club, Meredith Presnell, Kushi Tummala and Adeeba Quazi, painting pumpkins during a club social on Polk Place.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍 Polk Place
  • 📆 Oct. 30, 2025
  • 📝 Carolina students Meredith Presnell, Kushi Tummala and Adeeba Quazi paint small pumpkins during a club get-together for Carolina Pediatric Attention, Love, and Support. CPALS supports hematology-oncology patients and their families at UNC Hospitals.

Hands-on research

Junior Sofia Morais demonstrates the research of her team at the Experimental Engineering Lab table.

Sun shade

Three UNC-Chapel Hill students, Valeria Hernandez, Jaidy Moreno, and Victor Rayo, hanging out and on their phones under the shade of a tree on Polk Place on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. Wilson Library is pictured in the background in the distance.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Polk Place
  • 📆 Oct. 22, 2025
  • 📝 Many Tar Heels, including (clockwise from top left) first-year students Valeria Hernandez, Jaidy Moreno, and Victor Rayo, took advantage of the beautiful fall weather Carolina received this week.

A day to relish

A woman in a hotdog suit talking to a man.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Frank Porter Graham Student Union
  • 📆 Oct. 17, 2025
  • 📝 Shaunna Carlton, a benefits consultant and support center team lead in the Office of Human Resources, made the Total Wellbeing table stand out at the Employee Appreciation Day Department Fair with her hot dog suit. View more photos from Employee Appreciation Day.

Making a photo

Members of the Kappa Phi Lambda sorority standing on the steps of Wilson Library at UNC-Chapel Hill for a group photo. After pressing the shutter release, member Sophie Liu tries to run back to the group to get in place.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Steps of Wilson Library
  • 📆 Oct. 7, 2025
  • 📝 Members of the Kappa Phi Lambda sorority orchestrate a group photo using a camera’s self timer. After pressing the shutter release, Sophie Liu tries to run back to the group to get in place.

Picture Perfect

Ludacris wearing a Carolina Blue Julius Peppers No. 49 jersey as he runs down a brick pathway amid a crowd of fans and toward a stage on Polk Place to perform at UNC-Chapel Hill.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Polk Place
  • 📆 Oct. 4, 2025
  • 📝 “You might wanna take a flick, flick, flick, flick, flick” when Ludacris comes to campus. The star rapper performed in front of a lively and large crowd of Tar Heels ahead of Carolina’s football game against Clemson as part of the Chapel Thrill Concert Series, presented by the Rams Club.

Snacks and support

A member of the Carolina Parents Council, Kayte Ghaffar, giving a high-five to a student as she grabs a free snack as part of an event to encourage UNC-Chapel Hill students ahead of midterms.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Outside Davis Library
  • 📆 Oct. 3, 2025
  • 📝 Midterms are coming, and the Carolina Parents Council wants Tar Heels to know they’ve got this. The group, including member Kayte Ghaffar, handed out snacks and high-fives to students.

An exciting assignment

A UNC-Chapel Hill Naval ROTC student, Scott Groome, pictured through the window of a door in the Naval ROTC Building joyfully reacting and pumping his first after receiving his assignment during the annual service selection event.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Naval Armory
  • 📆 Sept. 25, 2025
  • 📝 Senior Scott Groome, a midshipman first class with the UNC Naval ROTC, receives his assignment during the annual service selection event, held privately behind closed doors. Groome received his preferred choice and will continue his education after graduation in Pensacola, Florida, as a student naval aviator.

You can cross!

  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍South Road
  • 📆 Sept. 23, 2025
  • 📝Crossing guard Hasan ‘Whiz’ Wilson is greeted by a student as he directs traffic on South Road next to the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower. Meet Carolina’s crossing guards in this Carolina Minute video.

Creative kicks

A Carolina football player, Miles McVay, painting a shoe alongside a child during the team's Kicks for Kids event.
  • 📸 Corson Schweizer/GoHeels
  • 📍Kenan Football Center
  • 📆 Sept. 22, 2025
  • 📝The Carolina football program, including offensive lineman Miles McVay, welcomed children with cancer and their families for the annual Kicks for Kids event. In partnership with UNC Children’s, Tar Heel players and their visitors painted shoes for Carolina coaches to wear during the Coaches Versus Cancer Game against Clemson this Saturday, Oct. 4. The game-worn shoes will be available for purchase through an auction.

Ackland in full color

A triangular piece of art within a frame titled

On the big screen

Rows of students, some with popcorn, in the Varsity Theatre at “The Summer I Turned Pretty” watch party.

Dribbling for a good cause

Student create a human arch for young ones to run under.
  • 📸 Kayla Davis/GoHeels
  • 📍Around campus
  • 📆 Sept. 14, 2025
  • 📝Carolina Athletics held its fourth annual Dribble for Victory Over Cancer event to support pediatric cancer research at UNC Children’s Research Institute, with grants awarded through the Dick Vitale Pediatric Cancer Research Fund at the V Foundation. Participants completed a 1-mile dribble across campus with men’s and women’s basketball players before wrapping up at Carmichael Arena.

Climbing, remembering, honoring

Participants climbing up and down the stairs of Kenan stadium.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Kenan Stadium
  • 📆 Sept. 11, 2025
  • 📝On the 24th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, Tar Heels completed the annual 9/11 Memorial Climb. Starting at 6 a.m., they scaled 2,071 stairs, representing the World Trade Center’s 110 floors. Read about the event and view more photos.

Heels up

Monday Night Football

Wide-and high-angle shot of Kenan Stadium taken from its south end as fireworks go off at sunset, with the stadium's north end and the Bell Tower pictured on the horizon.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Kenan Stadium
  • 📆 Sept. 1, 2025
  • 📝A new era of Carolina football began Labor Day evening with the Tar Heels hosting Texas Christian University. A sold-out crowd watched the season opener, and even more came to campus for game day festivities that included tailgating and a performance by country superstar Chase Rice on Polk Place as well as the return of the team’s Old Well Walk.

Remembering Zijie Yan

Rich Superfine placing a white carnation on the newly dedicated bench to the late Zijie Yan in the Caudill Labs courtyard on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Caudill Labs courtyard
  • 📆 Aug. 28, 2025
  • 📝Richard Superfine, a professor of applied physical sciences, places a white carnation on a bench created in memory of Zijie Yan, an associate professor of applied physical sciences who died two years ago in a shooting at Caudill Labs. Two years after the death of Yan, the University dedicated a memorial site in his honor. Superfine, who is a woodworker, and his APS colleagues made the bench together in concert with the Carolina Tree Heritage Program.

Party time

Group of UNC-Chapel Hill students, staff and faculty hanging out at the Wilson Street Block Party on the street and on the lawn of the American Indian Center.

Singing at Sunset

Members of the Tarpeggios student a cappella group singing at Sunset Serenade on Polk Place on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill.

Marching into a new year

UNC-Chapel Hill marching band playing on the floor of Carmichael Arena on campus during a pep rally for new students. Seen in the reflection of a large drum is the face of another band member playing the cymbals.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Carmichael Arena
  • 📆 Aug. 16, 2025
  • 📝New Tar Heels heard the Marching Tar Heels play for the first time at the Rah Rah Car’lina Pep Rally, where they also learned school cheers, listened to volleyball coach Mike Schall speak and met Carolina mascots Rameses and RJ.

A Tar Heel family

Father and daughter rolling bags of luggage across a parking lot.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Hinton James Residence Hall
  • 📆 Aug. 14, 2025
  • 📝Move-in is in full swing at Carolina, and Tar Heels students aren’t the only ones with smiles on their faces. Plenty of Carolina dads and other family members have been beaming with joy as their loved ones begin an exciting new journey at UNC-Chapel Hill. View more move-in photos.

The finishing touches

Exterior view of the newly renovated Avery Residence Hall on Ridge Road on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. In the foreground is a black post sign reading
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Avery Residence Hall
  • 📆 Aug. 12, 2025
  • 📝Carolina students are now beginning to move into residence halls across campus, including the newly renovated Avery on Ridge Road just beyond Boshamer Stadium. The four-story building, built in 1958, now includes an elevator tower, as well as a new lounge and community kitchen spaces on each floor.

Roof work

Sky view of South Building from a diagonal angle on a sunny day on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill. Scaffolding is seen around the building and on its roof, and the Old Well is seen behind the building.
  • 📸 Rob Holliday/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍South Building
  • 📆 Aug. 5, 2025
  • 📝Work continues on the roof replacement for the 200-plus-year-old South Building. The project, which will also repair and modify the roof deck and repair the cupola, historic wood, gutters and paint, is expected to be completed this fall. Read more about campus construction projects.

Learning the Tar Heel alphabet

Group of incoming first-year students in a large hall in the Frank Porter Graham Student Union on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill at New Stduent Orientation performing an activity where they spell out
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Great Hall, Frank Porter Graham Student Union
  • 📆 July 25, 2025
  • 📝A Carolina education begins before the first day of classes. First-year students wrapped up New Student Orientation by learning how to use their arms to spell “UNC” and “Carolina,” useful info for Tar Heel sporting events they’ll soon attend.

Dark skies turn colorful

A double rainbow appearing above Manning Drive around medical facilities on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill.
  • 📸 Submitted to UNC Health by medical resident Sierra Smalley and nurse Amber Kirkley
  • 📍Manning Drive
  • 📆 July 17, 2025
  • 📝A rainy July continued Thursday in Chapel Hill. But once a late-afternoon storm passed, a double rainbow appeared, creating a beautiful scene near UNC Hospitals.

Chancellor tours WNC

UNC-Chapel HIll Chancellor Lee H. Roberts speaking with a woman on the edge of a road near grass in Asheville.
  • 📸 Jeyhoun Allebaugh/University Development
  • 📍Asheville, North Carolina
  • 📆 July 11, 2025
  • 📝For his inaugural summer tour to to promote progress and engage with in-state communities, Chancellor Lee H. Roberts traveled to western North Carolina to meet with area leaders and residents, discussing the University’s support for disaster recovery efforts, economic development and regional health care. Learn more about the tour.

Project Uplift explores Carolina

High School students looking at, and some taking pictures of, the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower from across the street of South Road on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill.
  • 📸 Sophie Hughett/University Development
  • 📍Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower
  • 📆 June 14, 2025
  • 📝Rising high school seniors learned about college life and the many opportunities at Carolina through Project Uplift, a summer enrichment and college access program designed to promote and increase access to higher education.

Fútbol at Kenan

Mexico National Team soccer players celebrating a goal in front of fans displaying Mexican flags in the stands of Kenan Stadium.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Kenan Stadium
  • 📆 Tuesday, June 10, 2025
  • 📝For the third summer in a row, Carolina hosted a professional soccer match. This time national teams squared off, with Mexico defeating Turkey, 1-0, in an international friendly that brought out fans of both countries.

Radical art

A woman taking a photo of an art exhibit called Radical Clay at the Ackland Art Museum on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Ackland Art Museum
  • 📆 June 5, 2025
  • 📝Art collector Carol Horvitz visited the Ackland to see her pieces on display as part of the art museum’s new “Radical Clay” exhibition, a “female-centric” collection of sculptural works by 36 Japanese artists. The exhibition will run through Aug. 31.

Perfect ending

Carolina women's lacrosse team taking a team photo with the NCAA championship trophy after their national title win against Northwestern at Gillette Stadium.
  • 📸 Anthony Sorbellini/GoHeels
  • 📍Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts
  • 📆 May 25, 2025
  • 📝Carolina women’s lacrosse won its fourth national championship with a 12-8 victory over Northwestern, closing the books on a perfect 22-0 season for the Tar Heels. The national championship was Carolina’s 63rd overall.

Touring the Tar Heel State

UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and administrators walking through downtown Warrenton on the Tar Heel Bus Tour.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Warrenton, North Carolina
  • 📆 May 16, 2025
  • 📝Carolina faculty and administrators split up on two buses (East and West) and hit the road on the Tar Heel Bus Tour, a chance to learn about the places students call home, explore UNC-Chapel Hill’s work and partnerships across the state and experience North Carolina’s cultures and geographies.

Never graduate

Members of the Class of 1975 high-fiving UNC-Chapel Hill's graduates at the 2025 Spring Commencement ceremony.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Kenan Stadium
  • 📆 May 10, 2025
  • 📝Class of 2025 graduates weren’t the only Tar Heels to wear Carolina Blue caps and gowns at Commencement. Members of the Class of 1975 returned to Chapel Hill for their 50-year reunion and received lots of love from Carolina’s newest grads.

The celebrations begin

A Carolina student, Ava Reeder, enthusiastically smiling while holding up a certificate at the Buckley Public Service Scholars ceremony.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📆 May 9, 2025
  • 📝Senior Ava Reeder excitedly displayed her certificate to family and friends at the graduation and cording ceremony for Buckley Public Service scholars. Check out more photos from graduation ceremonies across campus.

Artsy at the Old Well

UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus Gianluca Ciuffreda sitting down in the grass of McCorkle Place and painting a picture of the Old Well
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍McCorkle Place and the Old Well
  • 📆 May 8, 2025
  • 📝Carolina alumnus Gianluca Ciuffreda ’24 returned to campus and beautifully painted a campus landmark.

Coffee break

Hand of Chancellor Lee H. Roberts holding a cup of coffee with a the Tar Heel interlocked
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Outside the Frank Porter Graham Student Union
  • 📆 May 2, 2025
  • 📝Everyone needs a break and a boost during finals. Chancellor Lee H. Roberts and his wife Liza passed out coffee to students to help them power through the final few days of exams.

Makers share their creations

UNC-Chapel Hill students showing off their creations at the BeAM Makerfest.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Rams Head Recreation Center
  • 📆 April 28, 2025
  • 📝The annual BeAM MakerFest gave innovative and creative Tar Heels a chance to showcase creations from class or personal projects, share ideas or research prototypes and learn more about entrepreneurial efforts.

Campus visitors

Man taking a selfie with two llamas and three UNC-Chapel Hill students on Polk Place of the University's campus.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Polk Place
  • 📆 April 25, 2025
  • 📝You never know what you might see on campus — including llamas strolling through Polk Place. Students took photos as Justin Schwartz (right) escorted the animals ahead of the upcoming 1870 Farm summer camp, which will be held in Chapel Hill for the first time.

Playing together

UNC-Chapel Hill senior Ilan Socolovsky-Hull playing a guitar and first-year student Henry Rowen playing a banjo on McCorkle Place.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍McCorkle Place
  • 📆 April 24, 2025
  • 📝The end of the semester can be busy and stressful. Getting outside and playing music with a friend is a great way to relax, as shown by senior Ilan Socolovsky-Hull (left) and first-year student Henry Rowen.

Football in Ireland

UNC-Chapel Hill athletics director Bubba Cunningham taking a selife with other administrators posing with Carolina mascot Rameses.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Kenan Football Center
  • 📆 April 23, 2025
  • 📝For the first time in program history, Carolina football is heading abroad. The Tar Heels will open the the 2026 season at the Aer Lingus College Football Classic against TCU in Dublin, Ireland, news big enough for a customary selfie from athletic director Bubba Cunningham.

Lots to juggle

UNC-Chapel Hill students in juggling club juggling balls on the grass of Polk Place on a sunny day on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Polk Place
  • 📆 April 16, 2025
  • 📝Carolina has hundreds of student organizations, including juggling club. A sunny afternoon made for a good time to toss aside stress.

Heels celebrate Holi

UNC-Chapel Hill tudents dancing and celebrating with paint at the Holi Moli celebration on campus at Hooker Fields.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Hooker Fields
  • 📆 April 12, 2025
  • 📝Tar Heels from a variety of cultures and backgrounds brought color to Hooker Fields at UNC Holi Moli. Also known as the festival of colors, Holi is a Hindu tradition that celebrates love, community and the arrival of spring. View more photos from the celebrations.

Magic words

Back of Mary Pope Osborne seen speaking from the front steps of Morehead Planetarium and Science Center on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill during a rainstorm. Osborne was delivering the 2025 Last Lecture speech.
  • 📸 Jon Gardiner/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Outside Morehead Planetarium and Science Center
  • 📆 April 10, 2025
  • 📝When “Magic Tree House” author Mary Pope Osborne comes to speak, you brave bad weather. Tar Heels put on their rain coats and brought umbrellas to hear Osborne ’71 deliver the 2025 Last Lecture.

Seniors make the climb

Three Carolina seniors posing for a photo inside the Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower during the annual Bell Tower Climb.
  • 📸 Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
  • 📍Morehead-Patterson Bell Tower
  • 📆 April 9, 2025
  • 📝With Spring Commencement one month away, Carolina seniors participated in the annual tradition of climbing the Bell Tower. View more photos from the event.