J.A. Campbell scholar already an experienced college student

Editor's Note: This is the second in a series on the winners of this year's competitive full-ride J.A. Campbell Scholarship. Today's spotlight features Taryn Barnett of Jackson Heights, North Carolina.

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Taryn Barnett was at home with her grandmother when the small UPS package - express mailed - arrived in her mailbox in February. Not expecting anything so soon after taking part in the highly competitive J.A. Campbell Scholarship competition just a few months prior, Barnett wasn't prepared for the news inside the small orange envelope.

"I opened it up and it read, 'On behalf of everyone at Campbell, we're pleased to announce you're a J.A. Campbell Scholar,'" Barnett recalls. "I stopped reading right there. I screamed, 'I GOT IT! I GOT IT!' … My grandmother and I just jumped up and down. We couldn't believe it."

Barnett is one of five high school seniors from the Class of 2026 to earn the full-ride J.A. Campbell Scholarship. As part of Campbell President Dr. William M. Downs' Strategic Plan that places more emphasis on enrollment growth at the undergraduate level, the competition for the scholarship was expanded to include more applicants in 2025. Barnett and four others beat out more than 200 students in the fall after a series of essays and on-campus interviews.

A native of Jackson Heights, North Carolina - an unincorporated community of barely 1,000 people outside of Kinston - Barnett says the scholarship lifts a huge burden off of her family.

"I grew up at the end of a dirt road - I'd say we're comfortable, but we never had a lot. And I knew I'd have to keep my grades up and apply for as many scholarships as possible to avoid the debt that comes with college," Barnett says. "When I found out I was named, I told my dad, and he said, 'Praise the Lord.' He went to seminary school, and it took him a while to get out of debt after college."

Barnett brings an impressive high school (and community college) resume to Campbell. A senior at Lenoir Early College, she was named the recipient of Lenoir Community College's Academic Excellence Award and the first early college student to be nominated by LCC for the statewide Academic Excellence Award. She will graduate from Lenoir Early College as a fifth-year "super senior" with a high school degree and two associate degrees - pulling this off while working full time at a local pharmacy and putting in countless volunteer hours at Jackson Heights OFWB Church, where her father Justin Barnett is lead pastor.

Barnett says she chose the early college route while in middle school after experiencing mobile learning brought on by the COVID pandemic.

"I liked the idea of smaller class sizes, and since I wasn't into sports, I could just focus on academics at LEC," she says. "It was the best decision I could have made."

She'll enter Campbell University as a freshman with "junior status." Barnett says she will major in English with a pre-law focus.

"Both of my grandparents were teachers, and my grandma was a outstanding influence on me, both helping raise me and as an academic role model," she says. "She helped develop a love of reading and literature in me. I feel like I'm called to be a lawyer, and English will help me develop my writing and better prepare for cases."

Barnett says her desire to help others fueled her dream to become a lawyer.

"I haven't always had it easy," she says. "I've seen what addiction can do to people. I know people who've gone through custody battles. I've seen the difference a good lawyer who cares can make in their lives. I'm a Christian, and my dad taught me that God doesn't see us for our crimes."

She's excited about her upcoming Campbell journey. She has an uncle who is a Campbell alumnus, and she recalls him giving her a stuffed Gaylord doll when she was younger.

"Campbell's always been at least a small part of my life," she says. "During my visits to Campbell, it just felt like home. It felt like everyone there wanted me to succeed. Campbell is a great university, and it's the place I'm supposed to be."

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