Caroline Mitchell Carrico (’10)

CBU is a large part of Caroline Mitchell Carrico’s family — as exemplified by her alumni parents, Steve Mitchell (’85) and Ellen Romer Mitchell (’84), and her alumni siblings, Ryan (’13), Connor (’16), and Garrett (’18). And she met her husband, Gregory Carrico (’10), on the second day of their freshman orientation back in 2006.

“My parents are both CBU alumni, and we attended homecoming games several times when I was a kid,” Caroline recalls. “I enjoyed the basketball, but I loved watching the homecoming court. Those students appeared unbelievably adult and glamorous. Being on the homecoming court my junior year was a surreal experience. As I stood at mid-court during the presentation, I believed I was doing my 10-year-old self proud, even if I didn’t feel nearly as grown up as those other court members had always seemed.”

Caroline was a very active and involved student during her undergraduate years at CBU. She majored in History (graduating summa cum laude and as an Honors Diploma recipient) and minored in Global Studies, Political Science, and Psychology. As if that didn’t keep her busy enough, she was also very active in the Honors Program, Phi Alpha Theta, Alpha Chi, Psi Chi, and Order of Omega. When she wasn’t helping to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through Up ‘Til Dawn, she volunteered at Autism Speaks and the Memphis Child Advocacy Center and served as a mentor to younger CBU students by being a Peer Counselor. For those reasons and more, she was selected as one of the five members of the inaugural class of CBU Lasallian Fellows during her senior year.

She has continued to live the Lasallian mission, serving on the CBU Alumni Board from 2015 to 2018 and on the East Buntyn Historic District Neighborhood Associate Board from 2016 to 2019, during which she planned and led events designed to help make her neighborhood more inclusive of all who live there. On a much more personal level, Caroline is a living organ donor; she donated one of her kidneys to someone in need, putting herself and her own health at risk in order to give someone else a chance at a better life. 

On a professional level, Caroline was the recipient of a City of Memphis Ovation Award in 2020 in acknowledgment for her work at the Museum of Science and History (Pink Palace), where she spent 14 years creating exhibitions that explained the diverse history, culture, and communities of Memphis. Today, she is a writer, editor, and project manager at Storyboard Memphis where she continues to engage with local history, with a special emphasis on putting the past in conversation with the present.

The motto ‘Enter to Learn, Leave to Serve’ resonates deeply. There is a wonder and joy that comes from education, but knowledge without practice falls flat. My life is fuller when I take what I learn and apply it to helping make my community a more connected place.