DukeEngage announced four new destinations and one expanded program for Summer 2015.
Announced Oct. 1, two new programs—in Turkey and Peru—join the 24 existing international destinations. The 11 domestic options also grew by two with the addition of two programs based in California. With 39 total programs in addition to the independent options, DukeEngage 2015 will be the largest it has been since its 2007 inception.
Program directors, however, remain focused on providing new options with the programs rather than increasing the number of students that participate each year.
“We’re not really expanding this year—our goal is still to have about 435 students this summer,” said Eric Mlyn, the executive director of DukeEngage. In 2014, 425 students participated in DukeEngage.
In addition to the new programs for 2014, the Tucson, Ariz. program has expanded to include a Chiapas, Mexico component.
“We put out a call for proposals to Duke faculty every year,” Mlyn said. "All the programs came from faculty and staff at Duke who had ideas for exciting new DukeEngage programs."
DukeEngage receives anywhere from six to 20 new proposals each year, of which two or three are selected, he noted.
“[We look] at programs from faculty members who have deep ties to the community and its organizations,” Mlyn said.
New programs have been added fairly consistently since the first year of DukeEngage—with eight additions in 2012 and four in 2013. Although new opportunities are being added, DukeEngage administrators cycle off other programs each summer.
A total of two programs—one in Lebanon and the other in Chile—from 2014 were rotated out for 2015, Mlyn said.
In the long-term, DukeEngage is looking to increase the number of students which it can accommodate, however, for this to happen, there would need to be additional financial support, Mlyn said.
“If we keep the program the same way, then each year there will probably be two or three programs that will rotate in and rotate out,” he noted.
Staying stateside
This year's expansion of the domestic programs follows a trend of increasing the focus on service close to home—2014 saw four additions to the domestic destinations.
“We feel Duke has an obligation to remind ourselves we don’t need to look far to help local and national communities to address issues of concern,” Mlyn said.
The California program based in San Francisco aims to reach youth at risk, particularly the homeless youth.
San Francisco is a city with a very high rate of homelessness, noted program co-director Janie Long, associate vice provost for undergraduate education.
“We know a large number of LBGTQ youth are homeless because they’ve been kicked out of their homes because of their identities,” said co-director Rebecca Bach, associate professor of sociology.
She noted that the directors of the program wanted to focus on LGBTQ youth in the Bay Area, because many of these youths are at risk for discrimination or violence.
The program will focus on helping homeless LGBTQ youth develop career and job application skills. Students will work with these youths to create resumes or to obtain their GEDs if they dropped out of high school.
“I hope that the youth will learn that they have not been forgotten, that they are worthwhile human beings and there are those in society who want to see them succeed,” Bach said.
The second California program is based in Orange County. It is centered on the development of STEM programming within the national organization Girls Inc. The students will choose between working with elementary, middle or high school girls with week-long themed modules, such as a robotics camp.
“We hope that DukeEngage will provide easily accessible role models, allowing the youth to identify with someone who has been where they want to be,” said program director Christine Mulvey, research scientist and instructor.
She added that she hopes many male students will also participate in the program, providing strong male role models to at-risk girls.
“Duke students are very motivated and also very lucky, with many coming from favorable experiences,” Mulvey said. “We hope to expose them to other side of the coin and allow them to give back to those who don’t have the same opportunities.”
The expanded program in Tucson, Ariz. includes a 10-day stay in Chiapas, Mexico. The program is organized by BorderLinks in collaboration with DukeEngage. Its service goal is to follow the immigrant path from Central America to the United States, partnering students with community service organizations focused on immigration and border issues.
DukeEngage abroad
The program in Turkey is focused on conservation efforts and public awareness education related to sea turtle protection. Students will work with DEKAMER, an organization based in Dalyan that focuses on conservation and rehabilitation of sea turtles. The goal of the program is to conserve and protect sea turtles that use the area for reproduction and foraging.
“We’ve always felt that we needed to do a better job of providing civic engagement opportunities that deal with conservation issues, so the program in Turkey dealing with sea turtles is very exciting for us,” said Mlyn.
The other new international program in Peru is organized by the School for International Training in collaboration with DukeEngage. It aims to support the efforts of organizations in and around Cuzco, Peru, with focuses on indigenous rights, advocacy and support.
Considering the wide range of service opportunities and areas of focus available to students, program leaders noted that the experience is beneficial to the long-term career goals of Duke students.
“We want students to believe in and support the work of nonprofits,” Long said. “It’s our hope that the students who go through this program will come out with a greater knowledge of what it takes to run a non-profit organization, as well as a desire to become more involved with non-profits after graduation.”
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