Sustaining the service mentality

DukeEngage has aimed—but never fully succeeded—to meet two goals since its inception: connect the project experience back to campus and transform a student’s future endeavors beyond life at the University. In a visible effort to fulfill the second of these goals, the program has instituted a new opportunity that will allow 15 selected DukeEngage alumni to travel to Washington, D.C. in order to explore internship and career opportunities in fields related to service. Additionally, DukeEngage program directors will now have the chance to apply for funding to hold individualized post-program retreats for their students.

These efforts represent a marked effort on the part of DukeEngage to address students’ concern that DukeEngage is a one-off experience–one that does not substantively alter participants’ long-run choices. The D.C. study-tour opportunity will be a useful networking tool for students whose DukeEngage projects have caused them to consider a career in government or nonprofit work, giving DukeEngage a better shot at showcasing public service as a way of life.

Although a pilot program of 15 students is small, we hope the selective nature of this opportunity will draw forth the students most impacted by DukeEngage in order to connect them with resources for carrying their experiences into the future. We also hope to see an expansion of such programs, pending their success and adequate long-term funding.

Funding for post-program retreats addresses the tandem goal of bringing the DukeEngage experience back to campus in a systematic way. Right now, many students carry forth what they learn from DukeEngage by personally pursuing curricular and extracurricular service options on campus. But there is a dearth of post-program opportunities that require less of a time commitment—especially when a program’s coordinator is less involved. Programs that require little time commitment but sustain a service-focused mindset are sorely needed.

Civic Thursdays provide a positive example of this kind of effort. This type of program, which gives students a forum for discussion on leading a service-filled life, does not require a large time commitment, but fosters dialogue among students, keeping the DukeEngage mantra at the forefront of participants’ minds.

Often, the most effective campus connections correlate to a strong faculty presence on a program. We hope that on programs led by third-party organizations, DukeEngage will make an effort to fill this void and carry DukeEngage back to the University, despite the lack of a tangible faculty or coordinating figure to bridge students between these environments. We hope the availability of post-program funds will incentive just these faculty to create accessible programming.

Other possible outlets for DukeEngage to foster a post-project connection to campus include linking DukeEngage participants to the Duke Partnership for Service in order to find campus and community opportunities related to their summer experiences. This kind of linkage can also be extended between specific projects and academic departments or on-campus student organizations.

DukeEngage’s new programs reveal its serious commitment to the goals of impacting both its participants and the Duke community beyond one summer. We commend this effort to connect students with career opportunities that reflect the ideals of DukeEngage.