Eve Carson

An estimated crowd of 10,000 — including some wearing Carolina blue ribbons on clothing bearing symbols of Duke and N.C. State universities — attended the tearful memorial service for Eve Carson held at the Dean E. Smith Center.

Her father, Bob Carson, said in a statement through Dean of Students Melissa Exum that students should find solutions for the greatest needs of the world, including violence, prejudice and inequity.

"In the midst of his grief, Mr. Carson finds hope — hope that Eve's generation will solve some of the most the pressing problems of our time," Exum said.

Carson Memorial

News 14 Carolina's Shelvia Dancy has more on Tuesday afternoon's service in remembrance of the slain student body president.

Transcending rivalries

Reporter Ann Forte has additional coverage as other schools honor Carson in their own way.

Several of Carson's friends, wearing T-shirts that said "The world is our dance floor" in memory of her love for dancing, spoke about her ability to excite and to mentor. They described her with dozens of adjectives that ranged from sleep-deprived to motivating.

Seth Dearmin, a former student body president and a friend of Carson, said "Eve was certainly more than a laundry list of superlatives."

"Let us today shed our last moments of silence for Eve," Dearmin said. "For though she led her life fully, she was not able to lead a full life. From this point forward, we must speak loudly and act boldly. Eve's mantle has been passed to us."

Others at the service included the top-ranked Tar Heel basketball team and Chapel Hill Police Chief Brian Curran, who has said the shooting appeared to be a random act of violence.

The 22-year-old Carson was fatally shot earlier this month. Murder charges have been filed against 17-year-old Laurence Lovette and 21-year-old Demario Atwater, both of Durham. Lovette is also charged with murder in the death of a Duke University graduate student.

Carson was a prestigious Morehead-Cain scholar and a North Carolina Fellow who studied abroad in Cuba and spent summers volunteering in Ecuador, Egypt and Ghana as part of a school program. The premed student majored in political science and biology major.

Carson was also the student body president of Clarke Central High School in Athens and graduated as a valedictorian there.

Carson remembered beyond UNC

Across the heart of N.C. State's campus, there were traces of Carolina blue on Tuesday. Many of the Wolfpack faithful donned their rival's color to honor Eve Carson, the UNC Chapel Hill student body president who was murdered on March 5.

"We know that Eve -- all her friends and all her family -- have a lot of support from the UNC community,” added N.C. State Senior Class President Zach Adams. “We wanted to come together and show them they have our support as well in Raleigh, North Carolina."

That is why students known for their Wolfpack red are now wearing blue and trying to raise money. The goal is to raise $1,000 for the Eve Carson Memorial Fund. So far, the students are more than halfway there.

"Most likely it will go toward a scholarship in Eve Carson's name, and it's going to be presented to her family and the Board of Trustees over at Chapel Hill," Chase said.

Across town at Meredith College, student leaders there are also encouraging their classmates to wear Carolina blue ribbons in honor of Eve Carson.

N.C. State's Carrie Chase says the more blue, the better.

"She was an amazing person, and she's the type of person that I aspire to be,” Chase said. “I think it's really important that we show UNC that we'll support them at this difficult time."

And show UNC that they can push rivalries aside when it really matters.

N.C. State students hope to raise their goal of $1,000 for the Eve Carson Memorial Fund by Wednesday.